#bye quick queue button

[bunniepaws]

why every tumblr mobile update they make it super fucking ugly and at least One of their features stops working bc of it

[soldierswar]

Kobik - Chapter V

Bucky X Reader

Fluff, angst

Warnings: Violence

Chapter Summary: Bucky and Sam are still away leaving you and Kobik on your own. Soon, you learn that the two of you may not be as safe as you thought you were. And you learn a little more about how Kobik uses her powers.

Masterlist (For previous/future chapters)

“Wait, no!” you exclaimed.

“You have to slide like this.”

You demonstrated the move starting off with the run and sliding down the wood floor sideways.

Kobik giggled.

“You can’t slide forward. That’s how you fall, kid!”

You were teaching her the Tom Cruise slide from ‘Risky Business', and having fun with it for the past hour or so determined to keep going until you both got it down.

She tried again wearing your socks that were obviously too big for her, but perfect for sliding. And once again she didn’t quite get it causing her to fall forward. She would have made full-face plants, but right before she��d hit the floor she’d begin to hover and bring herself back to a standing position. Honestly, you were pretty sure that the falling part was her favourite. You couldn’t blame her. Since she wasn’t actually getting hurt, watching her do it might have been your favourite part too.

The music that you were playing was so loud that you almost missed the sound of your buzzing phone on the table. It was Bucky.

You went to go pause it, but before you got to it Kobik managed to use her telepathic powers to turn it off.

Typical.

It had been three days since Bucky and Sam left. And if it weren’t for him calling at least once a day, you would have been a bit worried.

“Hey, Y/N,” Bucky answered before you even had a chance to say anything.

“What’s up?” you asked.

“You and Sam find anything yet?”

You could hear a light sigh come from him. He sounded tired.

“We think we’re close.”

“Think?” you questioned.

“We’re pretty sure we’re close to figuring out who they are and what they want. We just need to figure out how to stop them before they go any further in their heavy search for her.”

Your heart skipped a beat. You had almost forgotten that the reason that Kobik was with you in the first place was because people actually wanted to hurt her.

“How’s she doing?”

Suddenly there was a squeal coming from behind you followed by a loud,

“I got it!”

Bucky chuckled.

“Should I ask?”

“Just…dancing,” you snorted.

“How are you guys doing?”

Suddenly you heard Sam’s voice shouting in the background.

“Tell your husband to stop being an irrational asshole so we can get through the next 24 hours in one piece!”

You let out a groan.

“Sorry I have you on speakerphone.”

You ignored that statement.

“Do I really want to know?”

Bucky awkwardly cleared his throat.

“Nothing you need to worry about, doll.”

Doll. He only used that when he was trying to suck up to you in the worst way possible.

Apparently, the two were headed to the airport in the countryside of Sweden and Bucky was driving.

“And how are…you?” he asked. His voice was a little bit apprehensive, and you knew why.

“I mean—”

“We’re both fine,” you reassured. You both knew that you weren’t talking about you and Kobik.

“That’s good.”

You could sense a little bit of a smile in his voice along with a covert sound of relief.

“Have you called…I mean have you talked to…”

“Bucky,” you interrupted.

“Just get home in one piece, and we’ll get everything sorted out then okay?”

“What’s she talking about?” you heard in the background.

“Nothing,” Bucky replied annoyedly.

You playfully rolled your eyes. You knew he was going to keep this a secret for at least a little while longer.

You decided to let him go hoping that he would rest some rest on the plane ride back. When you said your goodbyes Kobik floated into your arms like a feather and said a quick hi, and bye. And before hanging up you also demanded Sam kick your husband’s ass if he didn’t behave. Sam happily agreed.

When you finally hung up you turned your head to an excited Kobik.

“Alright kiddo,” you said.

“Hit the play button.”

………………………………….

Kobik was surprisingly cuddly. And considering the fact that you were chronically sleepy nowadays, you couldn’t complain.

Despite the fact that it was only 5 pm, you didn’t want to move at all. And thankfully you didn’t have to. You laid on your side on the couch with SpongeBob playing on TV as Kobik slept cozily with her back against you.

You felt your phone buzz in your back pocket. When you took it out you saw a text message from Bucky asking if you were home.

You decided that you didn’t really feel like texting so you just picked up the phone and called him.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Y/N, thank God. I was just about to call you.”

His voice sounded panicked.

“Are you at home right now?”

“Yeah, what’s up?” you croaked.

Kobik stirred a little bit at the sound of your voice.

“I need you to get out, now,” he stressed.

“Wait, what?”

“I don’t have time to explain. Just head to our spot and be in the car within the next two min—”

Suddenly his voice was interrupted by a bullet shattering a window and hitting the kitchen counter.

Within an instant, Kobik was awake and alert.

“They’re here,” she said, grabbing you to jump behind the couch with her for shelter. She put her finger to her mouth signaling for you to keep her mouth shut.

Suddenly two men entered the apartment treading carefully.

“You think he’s here?” one guy in a blue shirt asked from the far corner away from you.

They were about 20 feet away from you with their backs turned to you. They were one motion away from seeing you. Actually, when you thought about it, it seemed unlikely that wouldn’t have seen you by now. And Kobik was uncharacteristically calm. And that’s when you noticed.

There was an almost invisible blue silhouette surrounding the two of you. Like a bubble; or some type of force field.

“Can they see us?” you mouthed.

She looked around her watching the two men passing back and forth in front of you.

She slowly shook her head.

“Do you really think that we’d still be alive right now if The Winter Soldier was in any close vicinity to us?” the other guy in a grey shirt answered.

“But the bigger question is where that little moneybag is. Kid killed my old partner. Weak-ass. How dangerous can a four-year-old with some powers be?”

Was that what they were calling Kobik? A moneybag? How much was she going out for like she was some inanimate jewel?

You took your phone out making sure that it was completely silent and began typing in the notes.

“Can we move while invisible?”

She nodded nervously.

You watched their patterns of movement and figured out how you were going to get to your bedroom which was where your gun was.

You wrote in your notes again.

“My room. Now.”

“Seriously, is anyone actually in here?” blue shirt whined.

Grey shirt shushed him and pointed to the keys laid out on the table near the front door, and your purse on the floor. It was obvious that someone was home.

He signaled him to stand on the other end of your office door which just happened to be the door across from your bedroom. They both counted down from three with their guns held tight in their hands anticipating some type of ambush and opened the door, storming in.

You took that as your queue and mouthed the words,

“Go.”

You bolted towards your bedroom and grabbed the case that held your gun. Kobik didn’t leave your side maintaining the illusion of invisibility.

After grabbing it you carefully walked out keeping Kobik close behind you. You saw that they were still in your office debating on who was going to open the closet door.

You took the opportunity of calm to fire three shots at the most dangerous-looking one and bolted back to the living room.

You couldn’t see who or where you shot exactly, but you could tell by the cries that you hit one of them.

One of them said something that you couldn’t quite hear. But the other one hollered,

“I just got hit in the fucking shoulder, you idiot!”

It sounded like grey shirt. Mission accomplished.

You almost smiled a little bit. Bucky was not going to let you be married to him without learning how to defend yourself to your best ability.

That was when you noticed that Kobik wasn’t at your side anymore. You began to panic.

“Kobik?” you whispered.

You turned to your left and found her in a corner under the counter of the kitchen. Keyword…You could see her.

Before you had time to get to her two bullets zoomed past your head by at least ten inches. You shot right back at whoever was hiding behind the office door trying to get you. Before he could fire another round you managed to shoot him right in the hand making him drop the gun. You ran over to Kobik to see if she was okay. Her terror was beginning to set in. Her hands shook, and her eyes were red trying to hold back tears and be brave.

“Are you okay?” you whispered.

And suddenly her eyes went from scared to terrified. That was when you noticed the reflection of a man in her eyes, and he was just about to shoot.

Kobik made a soft intricate motion with her hands, and just as she did the entire room transformed right before your eyes. Just like what had happened a few nights ago, this wasn’t your apartment anymore. This was that lab again.

She managed to separate the both of you from the other guys by a wall. You were now in a completely different room. She began to run towards a small door in the far right corner from you and waved her hand to make you follow.

You ran into the room and without using her hands she slammed the door shut and locked it. You were in a tiny room. There was a little bed in a corner along with a few toys, and a dresser to put clothes in. But it also looked and felt like a panic room.

“It’s okay now,” she said breathlessly.

“They can’t hurt us here. The wall's bulletproof, and they can’t see the door or hear us.”

“How do you know that?”

But when you looked into her eyes you knew the answer.

You let out a huge sigh of relief and wrapped your arms around her. She had been so good at keeping calm since the men entered, but as you started rocking her, her body began to shake.

“It’s happening again,” she whimpered.

You pulled away and placed your hands on her wet cheeks.

“Listen, kid,” you said.

“We’re gonna keep you safe. And I’m not going anywhere.”

She began to cry even more. But now she didn’t seem scared. She seemed almost relieved. She trusted you. And trusted that maybe just maybe, you were right.

…

Half an hour passed you and Kobik were laying face-up on the comfortable carpeted floor. For a room that was made up in 0.5 seconds, she really knew how to make her surroundings comfortable.

About 10 minutes ago you began to hear faint noises on the other side of the door. A bang here, a bang there, maybe someone yelling. You wondered if more people were coming in to look for you. Whoever it was, they didn’t sound happy. Maybe a boss or someone was yelling at them for losing the two of you. But you weren’t scared. As Kobik said, you were safe.

“Y/N,” Kobik said pulling your phone that she had just found from under the bed.

“I think this is yours.”

You shook your head and smiled. You knew that you must have dropped it, but you didn’t know that it followed you.

You remembered the last time that you had spoken to Bucky and how panicked his voice sounded right before bullets came flying through your windows. You couldn’t imagine how scared he must be. Or if even he was okay. The last time that you had heard from him was about 14 hours ago and he was about to fly back from Sweden.

You turned it back on to find 27 missed calls from both Bucky and Sam.

Right before you had a chance to call Bucky, Sam’s number popped up as he was calling. But you still had to be cautious.

“Who is this?”

“Who do you think it is?”

A huge sigh of relief escaped you.

“Are you guys okay?” he continued.

“We’re inside the um…apartment? And we can’t find you.”

Kobik seemed nervous to let your secret spot go.

“Just tell us where you are. Bucky’s currently interrogating two bleeding guys that he just handcuffed. I’m guessing that you had a little something to do with that?”

You snorted. But knew you definitely had to get out before any unnecessarily serious damage was done.

You nodded at Kobik telling her that it was okay. The coast was clear. And she trusted you. With one swift motion with her hand, the door flew open.

Sam was coincidentally in the same room as you guys but was startled when you opened the door.

“Shit!” he exclaimed.

“How did you guys…where did that door come from?” he then looked down at Kobik. His mouth opened and confusedly tilted his head.

“Y/N makes that face a lot too,” was the first thing that she said.

Under different circumstances, you definitely would have burst into laughter. But all you could do was walk over and hug him.

“Are you guys okay?” he asked looking you and Kobik up and down looking for any injuries looking relieved when you both seemed okay.

“Sam?” Bucky called from afar?

“They might still be—”

That’s when Kobik used her powers again and brought everything back to normal. In fact, everything that was damaged in the first place was also back to normal.

When everything was back in place you were in the same room as Bucky.

When he turned around, you had never seen anyone so relieved in his entire life. You ran towards him and he held on to you tighter than he had ever held on before.

“Y/N,” he gasped.

“Oh my God.”

“You know if you weren’t my husband I’d be sending you a medical bill for the cracked ribs,” you winced.

“What?”

He pulled away thinking that you were actually injured before realizing how hard he was squeezing you.

“When were you going to tell me that you landed?”

He shook his head

“I tried.”

You then remembered all of the unread messages that you had received while napping.

Right.

“Bucky!” Kobik exclaimed.

She had been distracted talking to Sam about what had just happened.

He smiled and let her jump into his arms.

“She’s a really brave girl this one,” you pointed out.

“I was lucky to have her.”

"Y/N I'm so sorry I never should have--'

You shushed him and reassured him.

"It's okay," you said.

"We're all fine. That's all that matters."

That didn't stop the expression of guilt in his eyes.

"Besides," you added and winked.

"You thought me well."

Bucky shook his head and brought you close hugging you and Kobik at the same time.

“I’m sorry to break up your little Hallmark moment,” Sam interrupted pointing to the two guys on the floor that were in fact cuffed, and bleeding on your wood floors and against the back of your couch.

“But we have unfinished business.”

Tagged: @teenagedreams-bucky @typicalnerd98 @veroxloki @white-wolf-buckaroo @acciosiriusblack @pastel-boy-sungjae @flightsandfantasy @noiralei @unstablesleepygal

[dual1pa]

late night swim

(gif isn’t mine)

A/N: Hi! This is my first time writing an Outer Banks imagine! Hope you like it :) requests are open for JJ requests!

Warnings: fluff, light smut

Word Count: 1.3k

Secretly dating a Pogue was tough. It was hard keeping a secret from your rich, privileged family. Yes, you were a Kook. You were more comfortable with your Pogue friends rather than your Kook friends: they all were so preppy wearing their Vineyard Vines button up shirts and kakis. You weren’t into it. You definitely preferred the Pogue lifestyle. And no, your parents didn’t know a thing and you planned on keeping it that way… at least for the time being. To meet up with your boyfriend, JJ, you would wait anxiously by your window and watch for him as he entered your backyard. Thankfully, your room was on the first floor so it was easy for you to get in and out quietly and safely. Sure, you could hang out with JJ and the rest of his friends daily, which you do. But it’s always fun to sneak out every night. The chance of getting caught macking on a cute blonde boy excited you. You had plans to tell your parents about JJ one day, you just didn’t know when that day would come. You desperately wanted your parents to be proud of you. You wanted them to accept the person you want to be with, and that person is JJ. A typical night with JJ would consists of heated make out sessions behind trees, walks around the neighborhood, or just ended up hanging out in your room. When you went out, you mostly stayed in the area of your house just in case something happened and you needed to get back in your room ASAP. You’ve been successful for weeks, you just hoped it stayed like that. - Once 12:00 A.M. hit, you were up and dressed waiting for JJ to come pick you up for another date night. You heard your phone ding, walking over you pressed on the notification. It was a text from JJ. “Wear a bathing suit under your clothes babe. Have an idea.” read the text. You bit your lip, trying to contain your smile. What did he have in mind tonight? You quickly changed into a black bikini and put on a pair of jean shorts and gray spaghetti strap tank top. Right on queue, JJ quietly knocked on your window. You turned off your lights and put some pillows underneath your sheets to make it look like you were asleep. You quietly opened the window and left it open just a crack so you could get back in. “Hi.” your arms wrapped around his neck, bringing him in for a wet kiss. “Hello, beautiful. Did you get my text?” “‘course I did! Have on your favorite bikini on.” you lean forward, biting down on his lip. He moaned at your gesture. “What do you have planned, JJ?” He winked and grabbed your hand, walking through the green grass not telling you a thing. You walked hand in hand down the dark road. The only light sources were the dim street lights and the moon. You broke the silence, “So you’re really not gonna tell me where we’re going?” JJ shook his head, “Nope. It’s a surprise.” Once we got to the surprise location, he double checked his surroundings before leading you to a giant backyard with a pool. “JJ… what are we—“ He cut you off, “Shh…,” he put a finger to your lips, “Mr. Jannsen lives here alone and he’s definitely passed out by now. Figured we borrow his pool for a couple hours?” Mr. Jannsen is a retired realtor and he isn’t the nicest of people. His wife died a few years ago. Once that happened, he turned into a grump who only leaves the house for essentials. People rarely see him… ever. “JJ, we literally can’t be here!” you whispered, pulling him back. “We can be here… as long as we don’t get caught.” he winked. He kept glancing at the house to make sure no lights or movements were seen. “What if he’s awake! You don’t know!” You couldn’t lie, you were a bit nervous. Luckily, if you were to get caught, the houses were pretty far apart that it would be hard to hear someone yelling “GET OUT OF MY POOL!” “Oh will you relax? Actually, get into the pool and I’ll get you relaxed.” he pressed a quick kiss on your lips and walked over to the side of the pool. He dipped a toe into the pool. 

JJ scrapped his shirt and shorts and got into the pool first. The pool light, thankfully, automatically goes off and on every night. Thank God it wasn’t motion censored. Once he was comfortable with the cool temperature of the pool he stretched out his hand for you to hold onto as you stepped into the water. He watched as you stripped into your bathing suit. You twist your hair into a bun. Don’t want your hair getting wet, not tonight. 

Goosebumps rose on your skin. When you make it all the way into the water, you latch onto your boyfriend. His hands roam your back and eventually land on your ass. Your legs end up wrapped around his torso. He dunked his head underwater, his hair slicked back due to the weight of the water. 

You got off of him, now standing.“This is fun. The thought of us getting caught is kinda hot.” 

“We won’t get caught!” JJ said for probably the hundredth time. 

He carefully pushed you backwards till your back hit the wall. His hands explored your body. His lips attached to yours, his tongue licking into your mouth. You moan into his mouth, moving your face so his lips hit your cheek. His hands roam up to the back of your bikini. He began to untie the string. Your bathing suit becoming looser. His hands went up to massage your breasts. You were so into what he was doing until bright lights lit up the backyard. Both of you stop your actions immediately. 

“Shit!” JJ whispered. The two of you got out of the pool as fast as you could. 

You grabbed your clothes and ran to hide behind the thick bushes. The both of you breathing heavily as you watched the old man come onto his porch and look out into his backyard. 

“Whoever you were better be out of here before I come down there with my gun!” Mr. Jannsen warned. 

Luckily, he didn’t see specifically who it was. He turned off the lights once he thought the coast was clear. 

“Fuck! That was close.” you giggle. 

JJ helped you tie your bathing suit so you could put your clothes back on, JJ the same. The two of you walked hand in hand laughing at the new memory you would talk about forever.

 “Are you gonna come with us on the water tomorrow? Gonna be a beautiful day.” JJ asked, opening your window enough for you to sneak back in. 

“Sounds amazing. I’ll meet you at John B’s house around 11?” you asked, giving JJ one last hug before sliding back into your room. 

“Sure. I think most of us will still be asleep at that time, but I’ll make sure I’m awake. You know where I sleep.” he leans against your window sill.

 “Okay.” your lips close to his. He closes the space between you and pressed a sweet, wet and long kiss to your lips. 

This was the hardest part of the evening, saying goodbye. If it was possible, he would just sleep with you and leave early in the morning but the people who work in the garden and on the lawn come really early in the morning and it would be impossible to sneak him out.

 “Bye, baby. I love you.” he said. 

“Love you, too.” you blow him a kiss. You couldn’t wait until you saw JJ and the rest of the new tomorrow.  

[twstwonderlandstuff]

Jamil with a doting and loving little sister

why the fuck does this exist- i dont fucking know

Spoilers for Scary Halloween Event ahead!

“Karin!” A young girl with long, dark hair yelled. “Please don’t run!”

“Eh? But aren’t you excited to see your big brother, Aniq?” Karin shot back, her loose, white hair flitting through the air. “I can’t wait to see what Scarabia’s doing for Halloween this year~!”

“I am too, but...” Aniq forcefully pulled Karin back, leaving Aniq to pout. “I can’t have you ruining the Asim family name looking like that.”

“Eh? But I’m the 12th, it’s not that important.” Karin dragged out, dramatically walking back towards her right-hand (wo)man/best friend. Pouting, she reluctantly let Aniq tidy her appearance- carefully tying the whit turban back in place, tugging the aqua-blue sleeveless top so it covers her decently, making sure the matching colored parachute pants reach her bottoms and shining the golden jewel that rests on her sandals it’s Jasmine.

“There, much better.” Aniq gave her a once over, satisfied at the appearance. “Wait, let me do yours too!” Karin insisted, roughly cleaning Aniq’s image. 

“Ah, don’t-” Aniq gave up, letting the girl do as she pleased- well, it’s not like anyone can see them, right? Just in case, Aniq gave the room they were in (Karin’s room) a onceover, glad that nothing was amiss.

In contrast to Karin, Aniq wore a very simple black cloak that draped gracefully over her shoulders and a collared, midi-length, grey dress that has buttons running its entire length. For a pop of color, orange, curly-toed shoes line her feet (it’s a witch)

“There~ you look better, see?” Karin grinned. “Now we can both look good!”

“Well, I guess... thanks.” Aniq replied, twirling around. “Well then, my lady, shall we go?” She teasingly asked, offering Karin an arm.

“But of course. We can’t have our brother’s anxiously wait for our arrival, can’t we?” Karin answered in kind, looping her arm in hers. 

“They don’t even know we’re coming, how are they supposed to wait?” Aniq sighed. “I wonder if this is really ok...”

“It’s fine, chill. My dad already said ok, and I forced your parents to take you with me!” Karin casually replied, stepping out of the room. A glare from Aniq made her soften her voice.

"You and your abuse of power...” Aniq sighed. “If my parents knew I told you to...”

“Hihihi... ahh, just relax already! We’re going to have fun, and you are prohibited from being anxious, do you understand?! This is a command straight from the master herself, okay?!” Karin commanded, booping Aniq’s nose.

“Hai hai~” The two of them laughed good-naturedly, chatting light-heartedly about other things.

*

"Woah!” Karin exclaimed. “Is this what NRC looks like when it’s Halloween?! It looks so cool...!”

“I know right?!” Aniq noticed a man with what seems like bandages, but made into clothes on him. “Oh, there’s a guy sitting there- let’s ask him for the directions of the Scarabia dorms- oh wait, isn’t that the dorm leader of Octavinelle?”

“Hmm, maybe? I think I remember someone looking like that when we came here last year.” Karin hummed, walking placentally towards the guy. “Excuse me, do you know where the Scarabia venues are?”

"Oh, welcome and happy Halloween. Yes, they are located in the Mystery shop.” Azul explained. “Do you have anything else to add?”

“No, that’s all. Thank you, and happy Halloween!” Aniq replied, flashing him a quick thank you smile before leaving with Karin. 

“Eh, you remember the way?”

“Duh~ I mean, do I not have good memory?” Aniq flexed lightly, grinning.

“Oh yeah, you helped me cheat on that test one time-”

“Ahhh shaddup don’t talk about that!” 

“Eh- but you’re the that brought up the topic!” Karin argued back.

“No, you did! I didn’t say a word about tests!”

“Oh yeah.. ahaha...”

“Ah, what am I going to do with you?” Aniq sighed, shaking her head and smiling. 

*

“There they are- oh...” Aniq’s spirit dissipated after seeing to long, long line that stood in front of the Mystery Shop. “H...how are we supposed to find big bro and Kalim-san now...?”

“Ahh, I don’t know...” Karin echoed, sighing sadly. “But I’m so lazy to wait in line...”

“I’ll wait for you, you go do something else.” Aniq suggested. “I think we passed a haunted house or something. You love those things, right?”

“Yup, thanks Aniq! Karin playfully teased, pressing her lips on Aniq’s cheek. “See ya!”

Aniq blushed deeply, but managed to wave her off. “Honestly, that girl...!” She grunted under her breath, a little bothered. “She’s way too affectionate...”

Aniq aligned herself in the queue, looking around. It certainly is more crowded then last year. I wonder why- oh, right, because of that picture of the ghosts and the cat. Ahh, I kind of want to see the cat... it looks so cute! She thought, smiling at the thought. And the cute girl too... I wonder why there’s a girl in NRC? Ah well, I can ask big bro, can’t I?

She grinned happily at the thought and accidentally overheard the chatter of a few people.

“Ahh, I wonder what angles I should take for the waffle?” Girl A pondered, asking her friend.

“I think from up high is good because the lighting is better. That way, the post will definitely get more likes.” Girl B answered, concluding Girl A’s response.

“Hey, are we going to actually eat the waffle? No, right? It’s so annoying to walk around holding this around...” Girl A sighed, hesitantly looking at the waffle store.

“But it says not to throw it here...eh, I’m sure its fine since everyone is doing it too!”

“Right, right!” The two continued chattering, but Aniq’s eyes went straight for the trash can.

She glanced at the pile of waffles and containers surrounding the trash can. Ahh, I don’t think big bro is going to enjoy that... She spotted several caterpillars and slugs on the trash can and sighed. Most definitely not.

Silently, quietly, she muttered a spell: Spread your wings, and turn the ugly to good.

After a few seconds, the pile of trash became a flight of butterflies, which quickly dissapeared and flitted into the air, along with the caterpillars and slugs.

“Woah, the trash just dissapeared! Is that the way they clean the trash?” Girl A gasped, shaking Girl B by the shoulders.

“So pretty! Let’s throw some more trash so we can see it again! Maybe if we put it on Magicam it’ll become viral!” Girl B added. 

That’s not what I meant to do! “Don’t-” The word slipped out before Aniq could stop herself. The two strangers in front of her glared at her. 

“Have you been eavesdropping on us? That’s rude.”

“Ah- I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help it when you said that you’d continue littering.” She countered calmly.

“Why not? It doesn’t hurt anyone, right?”

“Well, there is a sign clearly indicating that you shouldn’t throw trash, but if you ignore that, then yes, the actions you did obviously have no impact at all.” She chastised sarcastically, pointing towards the sign. 

“Ahh, so annoying! Let’s just wait for the waffles another time. I’m tired of waiting in line anyway.” Girl A said, shooting a dirty glance at Aniq, which she subtly ignored. 

“Yeah.. oh, let’s go to Savanaclaw! Maybe the rumor that...” The 2 customers walked away, letting Aniq take their place. 

**

2 people away from my order... come on, hurry up! Aniq thought impatiently. Ah, shit, where’s Karin?

She hurriedly pulled out her phone and called. After precisely 3 rings, Karin’s cheery voice rang from the other side. 

Hello?

Is everything okay on your end?

Ehh, are you worried~?

When am I never worried? Aniq deadpanned.

That’s true, yeah. I’m okay! I took a picture with THE Malleus Draconia, can you believe it?! I mean, there were these people who tried touching him, but I got a brain, so I didn’t do that. 

Heh?! Really? Woah, they have some guts! Aniq replied in surprise. 

“Next.” She stepped forward one step, noticing that the server had some wolf ears attached to them. Hmm, I don’t remember Scarabia students having animal ears... it’s probably for the costume.

Oh, and I found the cute girl in the picture you were talking about! 

Eh, did you find the cat and the ghosts too?! Send me the pictures ya! Aniq reminded her.

Yup, will do~ Karin replied fleetingly. They were swarmed with people haha! I pitied them, so I just... watched as the throng of people overwhelmed them. The people were saying something about the Malleus Draconia challenge, or something.

Eh, really? What’s it about?

Like, they have to film them touching him. Isn’t that crazy?

Well, more like moronic but yeah, I guess. I heard a few people talk about Magicam here too. ‘Let’s upload the waffle pictures! It’ll definitely get a lot of likes!’ then they throw it away! So stupid, right? Karin snorted.

...Are there people in the area-

Oh shit-

Oh my god you dumbass- Aniq could hear her friend laugh. Well, order some waffles for me, okay? I’m headed over there right now.

Aight then, bye!

Bai bai~

Click.

“Next, please!” The Scarabia student called, prompting Aniq to eagerly step forward, happy to see her big brother-

“Oh, is that you, Aniq?” Kalim cheerfully asked, prompting Aniq to quickly bow. 

“Ah, Kalim-sama!” Kalim laughed. 

“Raise your head up, jeez! I told you over and over you don’t need to do that, ya know~” Kalim lectured playfully, resulting in a quiet giggle from Aniq.

“Yes, master!” She inclined, using her left hand as a salute. “Can I take a picture- after I order, of course!”

“Sure!” Kalim agreed. “So, what do you want?”

“2 NRC waffles, please.” Kalim cringed at the word. “You’re going to actually eat it, right~?”

“Of course! What’s the point of buying food you’re not going to eat?” She casually answered back. 

“Don’t be so casual, Aniq.” Jamil’s voice floated through the booth. She grinned once she saw him. 

“Big bro!” Jamil was quick to give her a head pat, which she radiated from. “Aha, sorry... it slips out sometimes.”

“Hmm.” Jamil replied. “Kalim, the residents of Scarabia are asking for your help. Can you handle it by yourself?”

Kalim nodded, putting a thumbs up. “Leave it to me!” He then left to help with whatever needed to be done.

Aniq eyed her big brother. “Oh, you’re donned in a costume too, big bro.”

“All vice-dorm leaders and leaders are required to wear the costumes.” 

“Oh, did you make it, big bro?” Jamil shook his head. 

“No, Vil did- Pomefiore dorm leader.”

“Ahhh, you mean the pretty guy in charge of the mirror of chambers?” Jamil nodded. “I saw it on one of the flyers plastered on the walls.” 

"Ah, that makes sense. Ah, Aniq.”

“Mhmm?”

“Can you guess the theme of our dorm venue? I’ll add in a special treat if you guess it right.” Jamil teased, watching his sister’s eyes light up. 

“Really?! Well, um...” Her eyes quickly darted to take in the surroundings. The ragged carpet draped across the trees and roofs, with lanterns hanging from the trees. “Well, it’s very LHS (Land of Hot Sands)… oh!” She gasped, clicking her fingers. “Is it recyclable material? The carpets are made out of rags, and the lanterns out of reusable plastic.”

Jamil hummed, genuinely pleased. “You’re right.” Aniq beamed at the praise. ““I assume you’re with Karin?” He questioned.

“Mhmm, but she’s in the haunted house, or wherever Malleus Draconia is in. ”Oh, by the way, bro, what’s with the trash piling in front of the station? Are people really just buying the waffles to take pictures on Magicam?” Aniq asked, watching his eyebrows furrow.

"Unfortunately.” Jamil sighed. handing her the cones. "We tried telling them off, but they wouldn’t listen. They also bugged with Kalim’s tail.” Jamil smiled smugly, giving her the scones back. “Oh, and thank you for the trash.” 

“Ah, you saw, big bro?” She asked happily. Jamil shook his head. “You shouldn’t be using your UM so casually.”

“I know, I know, but it did help, right?” She grinned, but before she could continue, someone behind her whispered: “Oh my god she’s taking so long!”

“Oh, right!” Aniq quickly realized. “Um, chocolate for me and Mint choc-chip for Karin.”

“Of course.” Jamil got right to it, taking the wrappers from their containers. 

“How’s everything going, big bro?” Jamil raised an eyebrow at the question. “You know what I mean, with Kalim-sama... and everything.” Aniq asked, staring straight at her brother, who sighed deeply. 

"Don’t say that out in public.”

“But I’m worried! You’re doing okay, right?” Aniq frowned.

“It’s been... decent. He still treats me like a friend, no matter how many times I shrug him off. It’s annoying.” Jamil hissed, putting more force then usual when putting the waffles. “I’m just thankful nobody- except you- knows about this back home.”

“Ahaha... Kalim-sama is always like tha-” Her phone rang, interrupting her talk.

Hell-

ANIQ SOMETHING HAPPENED!

Jamil, well understanding the circumstances, quickly handed her the waffles, mouthing ‘For free.’ Aniq grinned in thanks and waved goodbye, walking away. 

What happened?!

I found this cute guy, and- Aniq wanted to slap her.

Oh my god, I thought you were in ACTUAL trouble you dumbass!

Hehe- anyways I found this really cute guy and he’s got ears and- OH MY GOD HE’S COMING MY WAY- oh nevermind he’s walking away...

Aniq couldn’t help but laugh at her friend’s simping level. I’ll be there right away. Maybe we can get you to score a date with him.

so basically lads

Aniq (which means classy in Arabic haha see what I did there): Jamil’s younger sister

Karin (a play on the Kalim’s name): Kalim’s younger sister

also they cute Karin’s just rlly affectionate 

[abbyilr1967]

Whatever You Need, I’m There - Peter Parker x Stark!Reader

Summary: Peter is going on a school trip to Europe. This will be the longest you two have ever been apart, you assure him that you will be fine, but it’s him you're really worried about. 

A/n: This kind of turned into an accidental mini-series, this part takes place during Spider-man: Far From Home. If you haven’t read the other parts here is the link for that: Out Of Time Masterlist. If you are new to my page I suggest you check out some of my other works here: Masterlist. 

Warnings: swearing. 

Word Count: 1.2k 

You run off of your father’s jet as soon as it lands among the field of flowers, leaving Happy behind you in your dust.  

“Peter!” you shout at him as he limps his way towards you. You can see he’s shaken up. 

“Y/n? Is that you?” he asks nervously. 

“Yes, Yes of course,” you respond. 

“Tell me something only you would know,” he shouts at you. You’re taken aback by his request but oblige, thinking for a moment before speaking. 

“Do you remember, when you came on our family vacation, and Dad caught us in the hot tub-” 

“Ok! Ok it’s you,” he cuts you off. He limps quickly over to you and falls into you. 

“Pete honey, what happened?” you ask as you cradle the back of his head against you. 

“I messed up, I messed up so bad,” his voice is muffled by your shoulder. 

“Let’s get on the jet, I’m sure we can figure this out,” you say as you usher him towards the jet. 

~

“Are you sure you’ll be fine without me? I can always stay back,” Peter asks you at the airport. 

“I’ll be fine, this trip will be good for you, no Spiderman duties. You deserve some time off,” you reach up to wrap your arms around his neck in a tight embrace. He picks you up by the waist and holds you close to him.

You remember when Peter told you that Mr. Harrington and the faculty at Midtown Tech were planning a trip for the kids that were killed in the blip. You thought you wouldn’t be able to go that long without Peter, he had been by your side ever since the death of your father. He was your rock, but you knew that you were his rock too. Peter was never one to share his emotions with anyone very easily, but you could tell that he was hurting. You knew he’d tell you when he was ready, so you didn’t want to push it too much. You knew he needed this trip to relax, and you were going to be strong for him. 

Peter sets you back down with a kiss, leaning his forehead against yours. 

“I love you,” he whispers. 

“I love you too, “ you whisper back. “Now go on, before you miss your flight,” you say as you let him go. 

“Goodbye,” he says as he reluctantly lets go of you. 

“Bye Aunt May,” he says as he kisses her cheek. 

“Behave,” she says as she squeezes him tightly. “I will,” he chuckles in response. 

Once she lets go of him he walks back towards his classmates, while you and May head towards her car. 

Once you reach her car, you climb in the passenger seat. When you’ve settled down you reach into your backpack, and pull out some of Peter’s sweaters, throwing it on over top of your t-shirt. 

May smiles at you. “You really love him don’t you,” she asks. 

“I really do, I’m gonna miss him so much, but I know he needs this,” you say. 

“He’s lucky to have you,” she says while turning the car on. 

“I’m lucky to have him too,” you say quietly as she drives off. 

~ 

You get back on the jet and set Peter down on the seat. 

“Let me find the first aid kit,” you say before leaving the main cabin. While you’re rummaging around for the first aid kit, you can hear Peter crying. Before you head back out to the main cabin, you listen to words flowing out of Peter’s mouth. 

“Don’t tell me to relax Happy, how can I relax after I messed up this bad!” Peter shouts.

“I trusted Beck, and I gave him the only thing Mr. Stark left behind for me, and now he’s gonna kill my friends, and half of Europe. So do not tell me to relax,” he says bitterly. You can hear him flop back down the chair, and you take that as your queue to re-enter the main cabin. 

You walk in to find Peter with his head in his hands. You walk over to him and place a loving hand on his not injured shoulder. 

“Let’s patch you up,” you say softly. He nods his head lightly in response. 

“Turn a little for me hon,” you say tenderly, Peter turns so his back is facing you. “Thank you.” 

You gingerly lift up the back of his shirt to examine his gash. You grab dab the cleansing towelette on his wound, and he winces. Once the wound is clean, you prepare the needle and thread for his stitches. 

“Last one,” you say as you finish off the stitches.

“Gah,” Peter pounds his fist on the table as you tug the last stitch closed. You set the items back in the kit, and close it up. 

“So,” you start. “How do we stop this guy,” Peter had been filling you and Happy in on everything that had happened since he met Beck in Italy. 

“Happy give me your phone,” Peter asks, holding his hands out as Happy tosses him his phone. 

“I need to figure out where they are,” he scrolls through Happy’s phone until he finds what he’s looking for. 

“London,” he said, turning the phone towards you, showing Flash’s live stream from the London airport. 

“Alright, let get going then,” Happy says as he walks towards the cockpit

“I’ll need a new suit,” Peter says, looking to you for guidance. 

“ I’ve got you covered babe,” you say as you stride over to the control panel towards the back of the plane. With the press of a button, the back compartment of the plane turns into a mobile work station. 

“My dad had it installed so he could modify suits on the go,” you tell Peter. 

“Holy shit,” You watch Peter walk through it, examining everything. 

You watch as he is drawn over to the workbench, he begins looking through all of the functions he could design his new suit to have. ‘He looks like a kid in a candy store’ you thought. You watch as Peter continues to work with the technology around him, smiling at him as he continues to design his new web-shooters. He looks up and his eyes catch yours. 

“What?” he asks playfully. 

“Nothing, you…” you take a second to admire Peter. “You look just like Dad,” you say. 

Peter stops what he’s doing, looking down at his feet. The expression on his face distorts. 

“I miss him,” Peter says. 

“I do too, but we’ll get through this, together.” you walk over to Peter and stand beside him, giving him a quick side hug. 

“Oh, that reminds me,” you say as you run past him and towards a storage compartment. 

“I’ve got my suit too,” you say giddily while displaying the case which held your suit. 

“I’ve always got your back, Pete.” 

“That’s why I love you,” he says lovingly before he goes back to working on his web-shooters. 

Once Peter has finally finished his suit, you both get suit up and get ready  to drop down into London. Peter climbs onto the outside of the jet, while you use the boosters in your boots to fly alongside him. 

“Hop on!” you shout through your intercom at Peter. In one swift motion he flings himself over onto your back. 

“Be safe out there,” Happy says before turning the jet in the direction of Peter’s friends. 

“You ready baby?” Peter says in the intercom.

“Ready as I’ll ever be Pete,” you reply as you both look ahead at the chaos ensuing.

[bi-bi-richie]

A Little Deadlight Never Killed Anyone ( 1 / 3 )

Richie is about to leave Derry, he's about to leave for the last time and move on. He's about to leave Eddie. But, first, he's got to carve something back into the kissing bridge he left in 1989. Little does he know that a short trip to find closure will give him everything he's ever wanted and more.

...

“Call me when you get to the airport, I just wanna make sure you’re okay.”

Richie nods, but he doesn’t take in what he’s really saying. He just does anything to make whoever is touching him go away. Does anything to be alone. The hand leaves his shoulder and Richie knows that it’s his queue to leave. He clutches the sling of his duffle bag and starts walking towards the door. If he was thinking clearly, he would’ve said goodbye or even hugged someone, but Richie doesn’t think he’ll be thinking clearly for a very, very long time.

Besides, he’s got somewhere to be now.

It was a warm day in Derry, most days in Derry were but this day just felt lighter. Like the air has cleared and people living there could finally breathe. Kids were rushing outside to play in their front yards and, for once, nobody felt afraid to lose them. Years from now, people would look back on it and think of it as the most peaceful summer they ever had despite the children who went missing right as it started. It was strange, but the missing children would soon be forgotten, just as they always were in Derry. Guess you can’t take the town’s nature away just as easily as you can take out the monster haunting it.

Nice days still had to end at some point, though, and that’s why Richie Tozier was slowly zipping up his black duffle bag and giving the room he had stayed in one final look before he shut the door. There was no happiness in Richie’s eyes, he was the polar opposite of the entire town but not all that different from the families who lost their children. Richie didn’t lose a kid, but he lost the love of his life. In his own crowded and complicated mind, Richie thought to himself, yeah, that’ll do shit to you.

Richie slowly padded down the stairs and looked down to see the faces of four of his friends. They all smiled at him, sympathy smiles no doubt, but smiles. Richie tried to smile back, but he couldn’t find it in him to do anything beyond the slow walking he was doing. How he was going to actually drive a car to the airport was beyond him. He wanted to smile back, he really did, but all he could think about was the two faces that should’ve been there and weren’t there. The two faces he lost despite not even remembering them for twenty-seven years.

“Will you be okay?” Someone asks, Richie doesn’t look up to see but the softness of the voice makes him think it was Beverly. Beverly. The girl who gets to go with her love, hand in hand with Ben and about to kiss Derry goodbye for the last time. The girl that Richie was beyond bitter and jealous of no matter how hard he tried not to be. He knows he should feel happy for her, and, truth be told, he really does, but he can’t shake the thought of why can’t that be me? From his head.

Richie shrugs and doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t meet anyone’s eyes and, lucky for him, everyone decides to stop trying to meet his. When Richie finally steps off the stairs, he feels a hand rest on his shoulder then another voice. Mike’s voice? Maybe Bill’s.

“Call me when you get to the airport, I just wanna make sure you’re okay.”

Richie nods, but he doesn’t take in what he’s really saying. He just does anything to make whoever is touching him go away. Does anything to be alone. The hand leaves his shoulder and Richie knows that it’s his queue to leave. He clutches the sling of his duffle bag and starts walking towards the door. If he was thinking clearly, he would’ve said goodbye or even hugged someone, but Richie doesn’t think he’ll be thinking clearly for a very, very long time.

Besides, he’s got somewhere to be now.

…

His carving was faded now, it was still readable but it was faded, but Richie could never forget where it was. He pulled his car over and took a deep breath before grabbing the swiss army knife he kept in the glove compartment. He padded over to the spot on the bridge slowly but with more enthusiasm than he did in front of the losers. He saw the carving immediately and smiled softly to himself, the memory of how he felt when he carved it, but his smile fell when he realized that Eddie would never get to see it.

Richie started carving it back in then, hoping that in some way, Eddie could see what he made. What he put there for him. Something that could never leave this world, unless, god forbid, someone would take down the bridge. But seeing as the bridge still works as well as it does the day it was built, and the laziness of Derry, something tells Richie it’ll be there for a very long time.

Richie felt tears welling up in his eyes as he finished carving the E in Eddie’s name and pulled back to look at what he had done. He almost sobbed, but he didn’t know who was around. With shaky hands, he pulled two fingers to his lips and pressed a kiss against them, then he pressed those two fingers against Eddie’s initial. How he was going to get along? He wasn’t sure now.

He started to back up then, getting ready to start accepting that this was his life now. He had lost the love of his life, where does someone even go after that? How does someone recover? What does that entail? How does he even start? He was asking so many questions in his head, and they were all so loud, he almost missed the cry from the water below the bridge.

“Guys!?” The voice cried. But not just a voice, a familiar voice. One that made Richie’s heart twist and his stomach drop.

“Richie! Bill! Beverly! Mike! Ben- someone! Somebody, please answer me!”

Richie looked down then and saw a sewer covered arm emerge from the bushes, it made Richie jump but he didn’t run like he would if it was the clown. Oh god, please don’t let it be the clown.

Then a whole body appeared. A man covered in sewer shit and bruises with a patch on his right cheek came out of the bushes. He was scared, frantically searching for any signs of something familiar because he was so obviously lost. He didn’t meet Richie’s eyes yet, but it didn’t take a genius to know what was going on.

It was Eddie.

Richie didn’t give it a second thought, he quickly jumped the fence (and somehow ignored the ache in his whole body after going up against an “eater of worlds”) and recklessly tumbled down the rocky hill.

“Eddie!” He cried out, loud enough to make the boy finally turn his head. Eddie’s face was filled with hope when he heard the voice then flooded with relief. He started running, well, run-limping, towards Richie with his arms stretched out. He might’ve been tearing up, but Richie wouldn’t know because his vision was already clouded by his own tears.

“Richie!” Finally, the two collided into each other’s arms. The hug was desperate, Eddie immediately threw his head into Richie’s shoulder, and even though Richie sort of wanted to do that too, he didn’t mind. He must’ve gone through hell. But, come to think of it, how the fuck was he here?

“Y-You died,” Richie choked out, he really underestimated how fucked his voice would be. “Eddie you died! How’re you here?”

Eddie pulled his head off of Richie’s shoulder and frantically shook his head, he was heaving for air but surprisingly maintaining it in a way that he hasn’t in years. For a short moment, Richie felt fear strike his heart at the idea of Eddie not being Eddie. For a short moment, he thought that maybe this could be the clown. But they killed the clown and Eddie was looking up at him with doe eyes that Richie just knew Pennywise couldn’t manage. It was Eddie. It had to be Eddie.

“The- The deadlights, Richie… I was caught in the deadlights.”

…

They were sitting in Richie’s still parked car on the side of the road. Eddie had thrown on one of Richie’s shirts, in any other situation, he would’ve swooned at the sight of it. Well, okay, he still is right now. Richie knew he had to get Eddie somewhere to clean up, hell, Richie still needed to call the losers but right now he wanted to know everything about what happened and how the fuck he missed his best friend running off and getting trapped for the entirety of the fight.

“Okay, explain it to me.”

Eddie shifted uncomfortably and sighed. “After the three doors, when you and I were standing there watching that fucking clown, I saw something behind us. I turned to see it but then everything went… went wrong. Everything around me was black, I couldn’t see you, or the losers, or the clown. I thought I was screaming, but I guess something else was happening. Eventually, I hit a wall or something, when I looked up I saw them. Three lights… Shit, Richie, I was so scared. It was so fucking bright I could barely see anything at all.”

Richie didn’t realize he was holding his breath until he sharply took one in. Logically, he knew this had to have a happy ending, Eddie was sitting right next to him and he wasn’t dead so something was about to go right, it still hurt to hear though.

“Then I saw him,” Eddie’s face shakily turned into a bright smile that melted Richie’s heart. “I saw Stanley.”

…

“Hi, Mike?” Richie spoke into his phone, “yeah it’s Richie. Yes, I’m feeling better, no, I’m not out of Derry.”

Eddie smiled from beside Richie, it was a shy smile, a quick glance then he’d look away but always turn back to do it again. A smart person would notice that he’s admiring him, not in a brotherly way, no that’s not right at all. He’s admiring him, he’s gazing at him, he’s lo-

“Yes, we’ll meet up at the quarry, I’ll tell you what’s up when we get there. Okay, bye.”

Richie pressed the end call button on his phone, then he turned to Eddie and smiled at him, “he likes to talk huh?”

Eddie laughed and nodded. They fell into a short silence then, a comfortable one but they knew that both of them still had questions. Still had things left unsaid. Eddie turned his head to look back out the window to look at the bridge and all the carvings on it. He read as many as he could see, then he noticed the sunlight bouncing off the blade of a knife that laid in the grass. Eddie wondered if anyone else was there, if anyone else saw Richie climb over the fence or saw them hugging. Then he saw it.

“Richie…?” Eddie said in a voice barely above a whisper.

“What’s up, Eds?” Richie responded, he looked up from his phone, probably reading text messages from his manager. He was doing that, actually. His manager had actually left a few bat-shit crazy messages demanding to know “what the fuck is going on” with Richie. Richie didn’t respond to any, he didn’t really want to talk to anyone besides Eddie. And, ever since Eddie’s comment about knowing that Richie didn’t write his own material, he hasn’t really been in the mood to be talking to the people who come up with his fake humor.

“Why were you here?”

Richie gasps at that, truth be told, he completely forgot he came here to redo the carvings. Though, seeing the man you love who you also saw die walking around is bound to make you forget a few things.

“There’s no roads out of Derry around here and you were leaving, weren’t you?”

Richie felt his throat go dry, “it’s just… It’s nothing Eds, I swears it.”

Eddie narrowed his eyes, “so that knife on the floor doesn’t belong to you?”

Richie looked over Eddie’s shoulder and cursed himself, of course he forgot the evidence. Then his heart sank as he realized that Eddie couldn’t have missed what was written above it. He had to of seen it, it was obvious and fresh in the wood. He looked back to Eddie with panicked eyes and immediately started thinking of the thousand different ways he could apologize or play this off.

“I’m gay.” He said instead.

Eddie raised his eyebrows in shock, like that was not at all what he was expecting his friend to say. Richie’s eyes went wider (if that was possible), “okay well- no I’m bi- wait no- shit. Okay, listen-”

He took a deep breath and shut his eyes, you’ve got this Tozier, just breathe. Then he opened his eyes and saw Eddie’s hopeful, yet confused ones.

“ImbiandIvelovedyousincewewerekidsbutIcouldntsayanythingandImstillintheclosetandIreallydidntthinkyoudseethisbecauseyouresupposedtobedeadbutnowyouveseenitsofuck.”

Eddie blinked, then he blinked again, and again. Well, what else could Richie expect considering he basically just vomited his feelings all over the place in the most incoherent way possible.

“You’re bisexual.”

Richie nods.

“You’re not out of the closet.”

Richie nods.

“You love me.”

Richie pauses, then he nods.

Eddie doesn’t react for a second, then his face splits into the widest smile Richie swears he’s ever seen. Before Richie can even react, Eddie’s throwing his arms around his neck and pulling him into a bruising kiss. Richie is so shocked he almost doesn’t react, but he’s not going to let this moment slip through his fingers, never ever again. He kisses Eddie back and it feels like magic, better than magic, it just feels perfect.

Eddie pulls away and smiles at Richie, “I love you too.”

Richie lets out a breathless giggle and goes in for another kiss and, of course, Eddie wouldn’t dream of stopping him. When they pull away, Eddie rests his forehead against Richie’s and they just breathe. It’s all Richie could’ve ever wanted. Then Eddie breaks the silence.

“I love you so much,” he whispers, “but I’m actually filthy, can we go somewhere with a shower now?”

Richie barks out a laugh and nods his head. It’s okay that they don’t get to kiss for much longer, there’s time for that later because nobody (and he really means nobody) will ever take Eddie away again.  

[bangtann-bangdamn]

Chapter One

<Jungkook x OC>

Jungkook isn’t sure if the girl in his dreams is real or a figment of his imagination. Until their paths cross one fateful morning.

Warnings - Some swear words.

Mina

Mina wasn't sure what roused her. She had been lying in her bed, amid a dream that involved a talking llama, a boat, and some fireworks, when a voice at the back of her mind told her that she'd been asleep for too long and she was going to be late. Bleary-eyed, she raised her head from where she had buried it beneath her pillows and blinked lazily as she gazed around her room. Sunlight was streaming through her windows.

"Shit," She muttered as she jumped out of bed, nearly tripping over her duvet as it clung to her legs. "Shit, shit, shit," she continued as she raced across her room to where she had thrown her phone the night before. It sat innocently on her cluttered desk, except, as she pressed the home button it didn’t respond. She checked the plug, tears springing to her eyes as she realised that she forgot to switch the power on the night before. She groaned as she rushed out of her bedroom and into the kitchen and looked at the clock on the microwave.

8:28am.

"Fuck," Mina groaned out as she sprinted back into her room. She flung open her wardrobe and picked out the first top and trousers she could get her hands on; a white blouse with cherry blossom petals and ripped black jeans. She pocketed her useless phone, knowing that she could charge it at work, before making her way into the bathroom. 

One look at her reflection had Mina wanting to smash the mirror. It wasn't that she looked bad. In fact, her face looked semi-decent for once. She wasn't puffy from sleep, and all the early nights she had managed to grab had pretty much eliminated the need to cover up the dark circles. No, it was her hair that let her down. Her usually tamed wavy brunette hair was a rat’s nest on top of her head. It was certainly going to take more than 5 minutes to fix. Mina took a calming breath as she grabbed her hairbrush from the counter. 

She could do this. She could totally do this. The trick was not to panic. 

About 30 seconds into brushing, Mina knew she was screwed. So, she changed her plans and threw it up into a messy bun. It still looked like a mess, but at least, she reasoned, it now looked like it was on purpose. She brushed her teeth in record time, opting not to use mouthwash this time before hurrying out of the room.

She paused by the kitchen door to look at the time.

8:38am.

She might make it. Might. She slipped her feet into a pair of Converses, knowing her feet would hate her later but not really caring in that moment. She needed to be out, out, out. 

Mina never ran anywhere. That was one of her rules in life. Mostly because she hated the feeling of being breathless and she hadn’t seen the inside of a gym since she had left school. But, if asked, she would give a philosophical answer of 'if she has to race to be there, it’s not worth her time'. Which was great in theory. But with a boss like Hoseok, it was run or be fired. So, she made an exception that morning to sprint her normal 20-minute walk. Especially because  she quite enjoyed her quiet little retail job. It was a somewhat expensive boutique on a fairly quiet street. Which meant they never had many customers come through the door. Now, that may seem like the business was failing, but the truth was actually quite the opposite. Whilst the store never seemed to attract many customers other than the occasional student hunting for the perfect prom dress or socialite, the online store thrived and the shop acted as a warehouse for the online orders. 

In short, Mina was never short of things to do at work. 

She paused outside the coffee shop on the corner of the street to glance at the clock behind the counter. She had 5 minutes to spare. She smiled, deciding to treat herself, especially as she could see that there was only one person in the queue. Plus, she could grab a coffee for Hoseok and maybe, just maybe, he might let her leave a little early.

And on top of the needed caffeine, Mina mused as she pushed open the door to the café, the guy who worked the morning shifts was cute too. Instantly she was surrounded by the smell of freshly brewed coffee. If there was one thing she looked forward to every morning, it was this. She let the scent wash over her, breathing it in deeply, before moving to join the line. This was the part of her day that she would usually scroll through Instagram whilst she was waited. It wasn’t by choice either. Mina hated the fake facade people posted of their lives online, but Hoseok had the bright idea of putting her in charge of the shop’s social media account. It was the compromise she had made with him to spend a couple minutes a day scrolling through the feed and interacting with customers for the nice little bonus Hoseok gave her every month. With her phone dead in her pocket, she was given the rare opportunity to shirk her responsibilities and pay attention to the world she occupied. 

There was the couple sitting on the plush love-seat in the corner of the room, whispering what Mina could only assume were sweet nothings into each other’s ears as they giggled to themselves. She couldn’t decide whether the couple were still in the honeymoon stage of their relationship, or if they were really that in love. She watched as they mauled each others faces with little regard to the general public and couldn’t decide which option was more disgusting.

Mina shuddered at their display of affection before moving her eyes away from them. It was, after all, inconsiderate of them to be shoving their tongues down each other’s throats when it was barely 9am. What happened to common decency? What happened to keeping some things behind closed doors?

Mina turned her attention back to the counter, wondering what was taking so long. She should have known it was all too good to be true. She should have clocked the unfamiliar face the moment she walked in, but she was preoccupied with her temporary freedom from her phone and delight in the idea of turning up to work on time and with coffee. If she had just glanced at the barrister, she would have realised that he clearly didn’t know what he was doing as he stuttered the customer’s order back, brow knotted in confusion. 

It was as if the universe wanted Mina to be late today, she groaned internally. But Mina couldn’t bring herself to be annoyed. Everyone had to start somewhere, and this poor guy clearly didn’t have a clue what he was doing. She could see the tears forming in the corner of his eyes and Mina could have sworn her heart broke a little for him. The woman he was serving huffed in annoyance as she repeated her order for the third time. Mina wasn’t sure what she could do to help. She had come across ‘Karen’s’ before and there was little that would quell their thirst for blood other than asking to speak to the manager. 

Thankfully, they were all saved from the looming meltdown when a familiar face appeared behind the barrister. 

Namjoon whispered something into the barrister’s ear before taking his place behind the counter and handing the woman her drink and the words Mina knew all ‘Karen’s’ longed for.

“It’s on the house.”

The woman left without further comment, and Mina swore she saw the smug smile creep across her plastic face as the woman passed her. Mina pushed down the urge to stick out her foot and trip the woman as she took her place at the counter. 

Namjoon smiled at Mina, his gaze glancing at her haphazard outfit with thinly concealed amusement. He was the prettiest guy Mina had ever had the pleasure of meeting, she thought not for the first time as her gaze lingered on his adorable little dimples. She had imagined asking him out on several occasions but always ruled it out. After all, they had a good thing going. His coffee shop was almost always her first stop before work and he always gave her a discount for being a regular. If he rejected her, Mina knew she wouldn’t be able to show her face here ever again.

And who was she kidding - of course he was going to reject her. She could hardly string an outfit together, let alone a flirtatious sentence.

"What can I get for you, Mina?" Namjoon asked and all Mina could see were his damn dimples. The first time she had seen the cute little indents, she had to resist from leaning across the counter and taking his face in her hands just to hold his cheeks. The urge had never really disappeared completely, she thought as she set about drumming her fingers against the counter.

"Whatever has the highest amount of caffeine and you can make two of in, oh I don't know... five seconds?" Mina sheepishly returned his smile.

"I don't know about five seconds, but I'll make you two iced coffees. That’s five-thirty-five. Cash or card?" 

Mina held up her card and tapped it against the machine as Namjoon set about making her two drinks.

Who knew brewing coffee could take a lifetime?

By the time Mina was backing out of the store, she had less than a minute to make it to the other end of the street. It wasn’t impossible; she could do it. She just needed to not spill the drinks all down herself in the meantime.

"Bye, Namjoon," Mina called as she walked back into the door, using her foot to push it open. She wasn't looking where she was going as she left the shop for the street. It happened in slow motion. Her gaze was tearing itself away from those amazing dimples as Namjoon waved good, the door closing behind her. Her head was turning but it was already too late as she took another step and slammed straight into the chest of someone. She could feel the iced coffee splash out of the straw and down her hand, but thankfully that's as far as it went. She bit back her retort of ‘watch where you’re going’. She didn’t have the time to stop, nor the energy to get into an argument. She was seriously going to be late if she wasted one more second. So, she settled for throwing a quick 'sorry' over her shoulder as she rushed as fast as she could without spilling another drop of coffee. She didn’t hear what the other guy had to say, let alone to see if she had spilt anything on him. She simply didn’t have the time.

The bell to Hope Boutique rang out above her head. 

"I know, I know!” She called out into the empty store. “But I bring presents." She grinned sheepishly at the stone-faced Hoseok as he appeared from the back room with his arms folded across his chest.

"What time do you call this?" He asked, staring down at Mina.

Mina glanced at the clock. "I'd say I'm exactly on time?" she shrugged and offered him the iced coffee. He continued to cooly stare her down for a moment before taking the coffee.

"I'll accept the coffee this time, but you know my policy on tardiness,” he snipped.

Mina placed her coffee beside the till before making her way to the backroom to discard her bag. "Hey, considering how late I could have been today, just be impressed I'm here on time and with coffee." She turned to face him with a cheeky smile. She had worked with Hoseok ever since she finished her degree two years ago. At the time, Hoseok was still a start-up with a big online presence. Whilst she had grown close to Hoseok over the years, he was always clear that when it came to business - it was nothing personal. She knew Hoseok liked her and that awarded her some wiggle room when it came to his rules, but Hoseok was a tough businessman.

Hoseok rolled his eyes at her smile. “We had a surge of orders today, so I’ve had to call in reinforcements,” He barked as he made his way into the stock room. He took a sip of his drink and smiled.

“Oh la la, so I finally get to meet the new guy?” Mina playfully called as she walked back to the counter for her own drink. The store wasn’t the biggest shop in the world. It had a modest floor plan with a small changing room to the side. It’s selling point was the large space behind the counter’s wall, hiding the true size of the store with the make-shift ‘warehouse’. 

“Yes, so go easy on him. I don’t need you costing me another employee.” Hoseok warned her as she stepped inside the door of the warehouse, but there was no malice behind his words. She could see his silent laughter behind his eyes as he referred to the temp that had quit the week before.

“Hey, if she can’t take some friendly competition, she was never going to survive Seokjin. I was doing her a favour.”

Hoseok shook his head at her. “That’s beside the point. The point is, I would very much like to keep this employee for the time being. So, don’t scare him off.”

“Ai, ai, captain. Now show me these online orders!”

Jungkook

Jungkook would never admit this to anyone, but his favourite time of the day was when he was asleep. It wasn’t because he could finally relax after a long tiring day at work. Nor was it because he was in control of his dreams when he felt like there wasn’t a lot in his life he could control.

It was quite the opposite.

Jungkook didn't know where he was. He never did to begin with. Everything was always in darkness. No matter how hard he tried, there was nothing for him to see. He had tried looking down when the dreams had started, trying to find his hands or feet. Yet all he would ever see with darkness. He knew they were there. He could feel them. 

Then, as quick as the blink of an eye, he would be transported. He'd be hustled into busy streets, or quiet libraries, or packed classrooms of a school he didn't recognise. He'd take a minute to look around, more than aware that he shouldn't be there. It felt so wrong, yet… so right. He knew these weren’t places he had been to and thus had no way of conjuring them in his mind. And yet… here they were. Faceless people would wander past him, their conversations an indistinguishable mumble floating past him. 

Every time it was somewhere new. He had tried controlling them, but every time he found himself gazing at the scenery with awe. 

Today it was a busy street; one he recognised for once. On the corner, he could see the cafe where Namjoon worked and where he often found himself when he wasn't working or playing video games at home. It was quieter than normal with only a few people milling about and the sun low in the sky. Jungkook took a moment to watch as a couple of faceless people walked around him as if he weren't there. As if this was a video game and they were a couple of NPCs.

He never knew when to expect these dreams. He wasn’t sure what triggered them, nor if there were any reason to them. And yet, the days they appeared never failed to spark something inside him. And it was all because of her. His gaze darted along the street, searching for any hint of her presence. Any moment now and-

He heard her laugh before he saw her. Soft, musical, delicate. Could a laugh be delicate? He was certain hers was. 

She walked towards him slowly, talking to the faceless man beside her. Jungkook wondered who the man was, before shaking off the thought. This was just a dream. She wasn't real; just a figment of his imagination.

Jungkook turned to check his reflection in the store window, running his hand through his hair to make sure it looked good. Then he turned, putting his hands in his pocket and leaned against the wall so he was no longer standing in the middle of the path. He licked his lips as he watched her approach, taking a deep breath in hopes of steadying his racing heart. He tried to look relaxed; nonchalant. As if he weren’t waiting for her arrival. As if this was all a coincidence.  

He watched as she twirled a strand of her curly hair around her finger for a second before brushing it behind her ear. She smiled at her companion, small dimples forming and her freckled nose wrinkling just slightly as she shook her head as she laughed. 

Jungkook was certain that he could spend the rest of his life staring at her and never grow bored. 

Then they were upon him. Jungkook thought, just for a second, that she wouldn't see him. It wouldn’t be the first time it had happened. That she would keep on walking and he would wake in his bed with heart palpitations and the fear that he would never see her again. 

But she did. At the last minute, she turned as if there were magnets attached to her gaze that drew her to him. She stopped walking, eyes widening in recognition.

"Hello again," she said softly as she smiled at him. 

Jungkook felt his body relaxed as he returned her smile. 

"Surprised to see you here." Vaguely, in the back of his mind, he noted everyone but the two of them had disappeared, their faint murmurs that lingered in the air acting as the only trace that they were a part of the dream in the first place.

"We should probably stop bumping into each other like this," she laughed, tilting her head slightly as she took him in.

"But then I wouldn't get to see you."

He watched as her blush slowly crept up her neck. She looked away. "You don't even know my name."

Jungkook took a step forward and reached for her hand. They were small in his hands and impossibly soft. He squeezed them as he looked down into her eyes.

"How about we fix that. I'm Jung-"

"-KOOK." Loud pounding sounded at his door. "Jungkook, I swear to god dude."

Jungkook groaned as he rolled to the side of his bed, rubbing his eyes before glancing at his clock.

8:30am.

"Jungkook!" The pounding continued. 

"I'm coming," he growled as he got to his feet. He padded his way over to the door, adjusting his boxers to make sure he was covered before opening his door. "What?" He looked down to where his roommate stood with his arms folded across his chest. 

"Didn't you look at your phone last night? Namjoon called a band meeting this morning." Yoongi didn't wait for Jungkook to respond before moving down the corridor towards his own room. "You have five minutes before I leave without you."

Jungkook groaned again as he slammed his door shut.

He was going to kill Namjoon.

<- (x) Chapter Two>

AN: Thank you for reading. If you want to be added to the tag list, send me an ask - but fair warning. This won’t be updated very often. I’m a slow writer, and this was originally written last year. It’s also one of the experimental pieces I have in my WIP so... yeah. It’s going to be a play by ear kind of story. 

[dork-knight-stephanie]

Born on a Monday

[A drabble written a while back that I was actually quite proud of, decided to share it]

How? How was this happening to her? Why now ?

Of course she was the only one on hand when Solomon Grundy decided to start causing chaos.

Bats was out, big bad Justice League business, above her pay grade. Robin and Red Robin we're doing some Titans thing. Thanks for the invite, boys. Nightwing had more than enough on his plate in Bludhaven, and Black Bat was off being a total badass somewhere else. Probably involving stabbing Shiva.

That left her.

Little ol’ Stephanie Brown.

She talked a lot of shit, and often backed it up. She fought a lot of things she probably shouldn’t have, but this call out genuinely made her worried.

She didn’t really have the luxury to think about that though, because she was already en route.

“Now you have to stay focused, Steph. If he gets his hands on you you're-”

“Yeah, I’m as dead as he is. I know, O. Stop reminding me. It doesn’t help. We both know you’d rather it be anyone but me out here for this but we drew a shitty hand tonight… now please. Let me focus.”

She scowled, her hands gripping at the handlebars of the Ricochet, resenting how much she sounded like Him just then, but the sentiment remained.

She needed to be fast. Smart.

Gritting her teeth, Stephanie caught sight of the wreckage of what was East End. Grundy had hit it like a hurricane. She felt sick to her stomach.

“Oracle, are there GCPD in the area?"

The clicking of a rapid search came over the comms, then her response,

“Yes, but they’re pinned down in the library, trying to help keep people safe. They can’t help you.”

Steph normally didn’t tut. That was normally a Damian thing. She tutted.

“I wanted them to get people out, so I don’t have to worry about that too. Tell them to start evacuating on my signal…”

“Wait, what will the signal be?”

“They’ll know it when they see it…”

She mutters, and floors it, heading for the Gotham Library.

She could hear him, roaring, tearing up street lamps.

Oh god she hoped this worked.

Lining up the hulking, grey frame on the sidewalk, she pressed a few buttons on her console, then released her grip on the handle bars.

‘NOW EXITING THE RICOCHET. GOODBYE.’

Batgirl was launched out the top of the vehicle, as it continued at top speed, slamming into the back of Grundy, spinning away, sparking on the asphalt.

“RRRRAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

Turning to find what hit him, he spotted the blonde bat, making a three point landing from her hasty ejection, her eyes on Solomon. The comms crackle.

“That was your signal?”

“Part of it… yep..”

She mutters, then throws one of her electro-rangs at Grundy, finding her mark as it sunk easily into his rotting flesh, jolting him. Normally, it would have dropped a person, like being hit with a taser, but all it seemed to do was make him mad.

Good.

She took off at a dead sprint, across the plaza, away from the library.

Behind her she heard him start after her, along with the dragging and scraping of something heavy.

“RRAGGH!”

Whatever it was, he just threw it at her. She couldn’t risk glancing back.

Taking out her grappling gun, aimed, fired, and started towards a building across the plaza.

The Ricochet crashed down on the line as she was mid-take off, Grundy's long range depth perception either terrible, or much better than she expected, cutting her off hard, jerking her heavily into her bike, knocking the wind out of her sails, only just managing to roll aside, to not be pinned beneath it as they both bounced to the ground.

“You’ve got his attention. Now what?”

Oracle asked, somewhat wearily, as Steph groaned slightly, rolling away, trying to regain momentum, feeling the heavy footfalls as he closed in.

“That was the signal… they better be moving…”

She pushed herself up off the ground, and started towards the nearest inclosed building.

“They are… but who is going get you out of there when this goes south?”

She vaulted though the window, feeling fingers brushing her cape, twisting and slamming the pane shut on the offending arm, taking a minute to look around her surroundings.

A tiny, ten seater coffee shop.

Yeah, no. Last stand worthy this was not.

“GRUNDY SMASH BAT!”

Gotta move…

Steph scrambled over the counter and out the back door, to the horrendous sound of the front of the building being bulldozed by the revenant, trying to make good on his word. The back of the coffee shop lead to an alleyway, feeding down between the back of office buildings, with trash, dumpsters, fire escapes, and  back entrances, and locked gates. basically a bullpen. Or a dead end, if played wrong.

“Steph! I’ve got Nightwing flying in to help you out, if you can just hold out until he gets there.”

“Sure, because I was just taking it easy this whole time….”

She would have rolled her eyes, but she was too busy using them to scope out the alleyway, looking for ways in which to maybe get an upper hand, maybe only come away mauled, only maimed, not murdered.

The only real answer she kept rolling back around to were the fire escapes, and dumpsters. She’d have to plan on the fly.

Keep Grundy in this alley, with her, until Dick got here. No big deal. Then the two of them could die together.

No, that kind of thought was gonna help. She fiddled with a set of buttons, the remote call for Ricochet, on her belt as she ran to the middle of the alleyway, hoping it still worked, turning to face the advancing Grundy, drawing her collapsible bo staff.

“Alright, Brain Dead Fred, come get some!”

Taking up a defensive stance, the Batgirl waited as Solomon Grundy barreled down on her. She knew hitting him would only wear her out. It would be best with energy conservation in mind. Especially since her vehicle in scuffed and thrown around armor seemed like it wasn’t capable of coming to her rescue.

That was fine. Better to know now then if she needed it.

With Grundy swinging wildly at her, trying to swat her like an annoying gnat, she circled around him, ducking, dodging and weaving like her life depended on it. Because frankly, it did.

She propelled herself from the ground onto a dumpster using the staff as a pole vault, taking a running leap across the chained shut lid at the fire escape ten feet away.

“STOP RUNNING!”

Instead of swinging for her, Grundy knocked grabbed the fire escape, and pulled, leaving half the metalwork hanging loose, and another five feet away.

“Stop being so slow then, Rotbrains.”

Skidding to a stop, dangerously close to his grasp, she tried to reposition, ready to begin her defensive dance again, starting to wonder how far out Nightwing could be now.

Unfortunately, Grundy may have been dead, but he wasn’t as stupid as Steph has hoped. He started circling her now too.

Once they had switched sides in the alleyway, without breaking eye contact with her, he dragged the dumpster that was just used as a launch pad into the middle of the thoroughfare, cutting her directional movement in half, unless she vaulted again. While theoretically not a problem, it wasn’t a whole lot of distance between them for her to have her back to him comfortably.

“Shit….”

She hisses, taking a half step back, running a quick inventory on what she had on her. Some smoke pellets, bo staff, magna-rangs, goopa-rangs, shock-rangs. She ditched her grapple before when she ate a face full of pavement before, which, was undoubtedly going to leave a mark.

“BYE BYE BATGIRL….”

Not likely. Not today.

Shifting her weight she got low, ready to start moving one way or the other.

It was a standoff, between the walking dead, and a dead man walking. Which was which? Who knew.

Grundy lunged.

Steph went to the left, slipping under his arm. She was fast. She was faster. She was thro-no.

She had a cape. And now Grundy had her cape.

Before she could reach up to hit the safety release on the cape, she had been jerked backwards, off her feet, and straight into the brick wall, like a ragdoll.

Everything went white, as she lost all her air.

Sinking down the wall, as the ringing started fading from her ears, her realised she could hear laughter. Grundy was laughing at her.

Struggling to push herself up, Stephanie let out a weak gurgle, then shook her head, trying again. Her mouth tasted like metal.

Ok, new plan. Getting up wasn’t going to happen. C’mon Steph. Think.

Grundy was looming over her now, a crooked grin on his stinking  face, she looked up at him, up. Up. The fire escape. Hanging loose, rockng from the force of her hitting the wall.

“SQUASH LIKE A BUG!”

Both fists, poised readys to slam down on her almost immobile body, Steph flung all her batarangs skyward with a yelp of pain, falling to her side.

“MISSED GRUNDY!”

She coughed slightly, blood splattering the concrete before her.

“Wasn’t aiming for Grundy….”

DEETDEETDEET GOOOOOP! KERRRKRACKKK!

That was her queue. She rolled away, under the dumpster, as the force of the good dozen specialised batarang pods explosively discharged, knocking the precarious mass of metal loose, falling onto Grundy.

Stephanie wasn’t sure if she could hear the hum of a jet overhead, or if she was imagining hearing Oracle yelling at her to stay awake.

But everything went black.

[hockeyandstuff91]

Three of a Kind - Part 4

Word count: 5,346

Players: Tyler Seguin, Andre Burakovsky, Tom Wilson, Jamie Benn

Other people: Katie

Warnings: Cussing, talk of a family member’s mental health

Authors Note: OH MY GOD! This is so long holy crap. This is only half of part 4 btw lol it was getting too long I decided I needed to split this part up too, so part 4.5 will be coming soon (I hope. I know it took me forever to get part 4 out as it is I’m sorry! I have been so busy with work and everything. October is my busiest month of the year, so I will try my best. Between this and my other series How did this happen? its gonna be slow updates for a little while). Also this part is a lot of back and forth between character perspectives because they all are doing their own thing, so I wanted to give a good look into what was really going on during this chapter for everyone. Part of this shows a bit of what Brooke has been dealing with over the last few months with her grandpa. So if you are at all triggered by mental health stuff (dementia and some aggressive behavior), skip past the part where she starts hanging out with Katie, her next perspective is when they are at lunch and that is safe :)

Part 1   Part 2    Part 3    Part 3.5    Part 4.5

(Brooke’s POV)

My eyes fluttered open, and I yawned, stretching. I smiled seeing Tyler was still sound asleep next to me. I turned my head over to look and see if Andre was still asleep but he wasn't there. My eyebrows furrowed for a moment before the smell hit me. My mouth instantly started to water. I sat up, scooting up onto the couch fully, turning to see that Andre was cooking away in the kitchen. I rested my chin on the back of the couch, smiling as I just watched him for a moment.

I felt Tyler's hand snake around my middle and his lips press to the back of my neck. "Morning babe," he mumbled against my skin, his voice gravely from just waking up.

I smiled and reached back, gently rubbing the back of his head. "Morning," I smiled.

Andre looked over, seeing us awake and smiled. "Morning," he called over.

I climbed off of the makeshift bed and walked over to the kitchen, wrapping my arms around him from behind. "Whatcha makin?"

He wrapped his arm around me, pulling me to his side and leaned down to press a kiss to the top of my head. "Some bacon, and waffles," He smiled down at me. "And I made some french toast just for you."

"Aww," I smiled and leaned up to give him a kiss.

Tyler walked over, slapping my butt as he walked by and grabbed a piece of bacon.

"Hey!" I giggled and Tyler smirked at me.

"What? I could see it. You aren't wearing panties still so I had to take my opportunity when I can," He winked at me and then opened the fridge door and grabbed out some drink options.

I felt Andre's hand slide down my side. I looked up at him and laughed, knowing what he was going for. "You guys are bad," I laughed and pulled back from holding onto Andre and turned to walk over towards the kitchen island. Just before I could get out of reach of him I felt him slap my butt too.

"Hey!" I laughed and jumped up on the bar stool.

It wasn't long before the dogs made their way into the kitchen, probably smelling the food that was cooking. Tyler got them their breakfast, the three of them running over to eat as soon as their bowls hit the floor.

Andre set all of the food along the counter on the island and Tyler set a plate in front of each of the bar stools for us. I had been sitting on the end of the counter until Tyler came up behind me and started to drag me and the stool to the middle of the island so that both the boys could sit next to me.

"Whoa!" I laughed, grabbing onto the seat so that I wouldn't fall. I smiled up at him and pulled him down for a quick kiss before I started to fill my plate with food.

"You are in a good mood this morning," Tyler said as he sat on the stool to the right of me.

I smiled at him and nodded "How could I not be? I've got three of the cutest and best pups ever, and two of the sweetest and most caring guys that take care of me like I'm a queen. I have 0 to complain about."

"You take care of the 5 of us all the time, you deserve being treated like a queen all the time," Tyler said and leaned over to press a kiss to my temple.

"I don't do anything special," I said softly, smiling as Andre sat to the left of me, leaning over to press his lips to my other temple.

"This household would be a mess without you," Tyler said before taking a bite of his breakfast.

I blushed softly before starting to eat my breakfast as well.

(Tyler's POV)

Breakfast had been very good, and after we were all done eating Brooke had decided to take a shower to fully clean up after last night. During breakfast I had an idea come to me that I thought would be really nice to do for Brooke, as well as the two of us guys.

"Hey Andre?" I looked over to Andre who was currently putting away the dishes from the dish washer.

"Yeah?"

"So I had an idea during breakfast," I started, talking quietly so Brooke wouldn't hear even though I knew she was still in the shower upstairs. "Brooke and I have gone on a lot of dates in our almost two years together, and I know that you two would enjoy being able to do that as well.. I know right now it kind of sucks because we have to keep this quiet for at least a little while longer, but I was thinking what if we have a date night here tonight? Brooke has been so stressed lately with whats been going on with her grandpa back at home and I feel so bad because we are in the middle of focusing so much on making the playoffs she hasn't really gotten much time lately where she gets taken care of, instead of doing all the taking care of."

Andre smiled and nodded "That's a really good idea. We gotta do it. She deserves a night off."

"Yeah. I was thinking of calling Katie to see if she can get Brooke out of the house for a few hours while we set stuff up. I was thinking of booking a massage for the three of us out by the pool since its suppose to be a nice night. So I'll handle doing all of that stuff."

"I can go pick up some candles and flowers," Andre suggested.

"That’s a good idea. I'm going to go call Katie before she comes downstairs," I said, making my way over to the living room to grab my phone.

I looked through my contacts, finding Katie's name and hit the call button, keeping an eye on the staircase from the archway into the living room.

"Hello?" Katie's voice came through the speaker on my phone.

"Hey Katie, are you busy today by chance?"

"No just hanging out by myself today until Jamie gets home later. Why?"

"Andre and I are planning a date night at the house tonight since the three of us can't go out in public still. I was wondering if you could get Brooke out of the house for a couple hours so that we could set up?"

"Awww!" She squealed into the phone. "That is so sweet and cute! Oh my god you two are amazing to her she is so lucky. Yeah I'll call her phone after I hang up with you."

"Shes in the shower right now but I'll text you when she gets out."

"Alright I'll be waiting for my queue!"

"Oh also would you and Jamie mind taking the dogs tonight? Maybe after you drop her back off?"

"No not at all!"

"Awesome. Thanks Katie. I'll text you in a little bit," I said, hanging up after she said bye.

I made my way back over to the kitchen where Andre was just finishing up putting the dirty dishes into the dish washer and turning it on.

"Alright when she comes downstairs I'm going to let Katie know to give her a call, and her and Jamie are going to take the dogs tonight."

"I'll offer to drive her over to their house that way she has to wait for Katie to bring her home-"

"That way she doesn't get back too early. Good idea. She will ask why you are taking her though so you'll have to make up an excuse about you going out anyways."

"Okay," Andre nodded.

After we finished cleaning up the kitchen Andre and I went and sat in the living room, waiting to start the first part of our plan. A few minutes later Brooke made her way downstairs and into the living room, her hair still wet from the shower. She smiled at both of us, sitting down on the couch between us both.

"How was your shower?"

"So great, I needed that," she smiled and rested back against the couch.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket, Andre noticing that so he took his turn to distract her while I texted Katie so that she wouldn't see. Not long after I hit the send button Brooke's phone lit up on the coffee table.

"Oh its Katie," she said, leaning forward and grabbing her phone. "Hellooooo?" she answered.

"Today? Yeah I would love to... When? Umm.." she looked up at the clock, probably seeing what time it was. "Yeah now is good. I think the boys are probably going to be busy with stuff today anyways."

She wasn't wrong, we were going to be busy, just not with the things she thought. Usually on our day off we would have practice but the coach had given us a day off to rest, conveniently I had forgotten to tell her that.

"Okay yeah I'll be over in a little bit!" She smiled, and hung up the phone.

"She wanna hang out today?" I asked, pushing a stray piece of hair out of her face and behind her ear.

"Yeah she said Jamie is busy and she was bored, and I figured I'll probably be pretty bored too with you guys having to go to practice and training afterwards. I'll probably be home before you guys are to start dinner."

"Take your time," Andre said, kissing her forehead.

"Alright well I'm going to go get changed then. Will you guys still be here before I go?"

"Yeah I have a few emails I need to answer before I go," I said, looking over to Andre.

He saw me out of the corner of his eye and he nodded "I'll drop you off at Katie's on my way to the rink."

Perfect.

"Aw you don't have to," Brooke said softly.

"It's okay I'm headed that way anyways."

"Alright. I'll be back down in a minute," she said, getting up off the couch and making her way back upstairs.

(Andre's POV)

It had been about 5 minutes since Brooke had gone upstairs to get changed to hang out with Katie. I grabbed my workout bag to make it look like I was going to the gym so she wouldn't be suspicious of anything. I left the bag by the front door and went back into the living room to wait for her to finish getting ready.

It was a few minutes later when she came downstairs. "I'm ready Andre," she called out as she started walking down the hallway. I got up and followed her towards the front door.

She poked her head into Tyler's office where he was sitting at his desk, looking through his emails. I stood in the hallway while she walked into the room to give him a kiss goodbye for the day.

I reached down, grabbing my bag off the floor and opened the door for her once she walked back out of his office. She walked out of the house before me and I looked in to see Tyler give me a thumbs up, before turning back to his computer, probably to start booking the massage.

I walked out with her to my car and loaded up my stuff in the backseat. "Thanks for driving me," she said, smiling at me as I got into the drivers seat, both of us putting on our seat belts.

"Of course," I smiled and turned on the car, backing out of the driveway and onto the street.

It was only a 10 minute drive to Katie's house and traffic was light so it didn't end up taking much longer than that to get there. I pulled into her driveway, parking and unlocking the door for her.

"Have a good day hanging out with Katie," I smiled at her.

"I will. Let me know when you get to the gym okay?" She asked, leaning over towards me for a kiss.

"I will," I said, pressing my lips to hers. I brought my hand up to gently cup her cheek as we kissed for a few moments before we both pulled away.

"See you later tonight," she said and got out of the car, grabbing her purse from off the floor and closing the door. I watched her walk up to the house and knock on the door, waiting for her to get inside before I pulled away and started driving towards the store instead of the gym.

(Brooke's POV)

"Hey!" I smiled and hugged Katie at the door. "I'm so glad you called, I was going to be so bored without the boys home today."

"I figured," Katie smiled and I followed her into the house, closing the door behind me.

"So just a chill day you think?"

"Yeah I was thinking like some movies and maybe go get lunch in a little while?" Katie asked as she sat down on the couch.

"Oooh I'm down for a day like that. I feel like I haven't stopped going for like the last two months I need a day where I do nothing," I laughed and sat next to her.

"I know.. Not to bring up the subject but how is your grandpa?"

I shrugged "I don't really know. I mean I have talked to him on the phone a few times and all he wants is to go home. And I don't blame him I mean I wouldn't want to be in a fucking psych ward either!"

"Me either," Katie said, shaking her head.

I sigh "I don't know. It sucks because I know he feels like hes a prisoner because he can't do anything. On the other hand I know he can't be home because it was starting to get dangerous and I was worried about my grandma, and him to be honest."

"Yeah you said he followed her to the car when she was trying to leave and tried to open the door but she had locked it?"

"Yeah and he has never done that before. If she has ever left because it got too much he just stayed in the house but it just was getting worse. And of course the doctors say hes doing really well and everything but I know that hes trying to be on his best behavior thinking that will allow him to go home. I don't think he is aware that hes not just there for testing to see whats wrong with him, hes also there for his and my grandmothers safety."

"Would he even believe that though?" Katie asked.

I shook my head "No he doesn't think that he is dangerous. And like as himself, when hes acting normal he's not, but when he has his episodes who knows."

"I'm sorry sweetie. I have seen how tense you have been lately, I know its on your mind and you hate being so far away. But even if you were home you know you couldn't do anything right?"

"I know. It just sucks because hes always been there for me growing up. He was the only grandpa I had and he would constantly, and still does even now, tell me that I'm number 1 to him."

Katie rubbed my arm, seeing that I was starting to get upset. "Okay lets change the subject. Today is a relax day so we wont think about that anymore. What movie should we watch? I know you are going to pick horror just to torture me," she laughed, turning on Netflix.

I laughed and nodded. "Well you do know they are my favorite.."

"Yeah yeah," she said, turning the the horror movie list on Netflix.

(Andre's POV)

I had been in the store 10 minutes and had found where the candles were, but there were so many options. There was a scent for everything! What was Amber Moon suppose to even smell like anyways? It was too confusing. I had smelled about 30 different candles at this point and now I could no longer smell anything.

I was about to call Tyler but then I figured he was probably busy with the other plans. I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and opened my contacts list, scrolling down and stopping on someone that I hadn't talked to in a little while, but knew that they would be good at helping me with this.

"Hey dude whats going on?" Tom's voice rang through the speaker on my phone.

"Hey, I was wondering if you were able to help me with something?"

"Sure. What is it?" Tom asked.

"Well I have a date tonight and-"

"Oh shit! Little Andre found himself a lady, nice dude!"

"Thanks," I laughed "Anyways I was wondering what kind of candles do girls like?"

"All girls are different dude. Taylor likes some tropical breeze candle, but I would stick to plain vanilla or no scent at all."

"They have those?"

"Yeah!" Tom laughed. "Why didn't you ask her before hand?"

"Its a surprise."

"The date is a surprise? Wow look at you go, Mr. Romantic."

"Yeah," I laughed, looking down the rows of candles to see where the unscented ones were, as well as a few vanilla. "oh my god these are expensive!"

"That’s the price of love dude. It'll be worth it."

"Yeah, just never thought candles cost so much," I laughed.

"So how did you meet her?" Tom asked.

"This is going to be very confusing and hard to explain.." I started, grabbing a few candles off the shelf and putting them into the cart. "Umm... well I met her through a teammate-"

"Oh your new boys down there are already hooking it up I see?"

"Well.. sort of?"

"What do you mean sort of?"

"Well I met her at one of the games we had, the first home game I played in."

"Oh, so shes friends with one of the guys?"

"Well.."

"Andre.. What did you do?" Tom asked, clearly skeptical of this whole situation.

"Nothing! Nothing.. Nothing bad."

"Yeah that sounds convincing-"

"No Tom, seriously."

"Alright if you say so. So is she hot?"

"Really dude?" I laughed.

"Alright sorry, is she pretty?"

"Yeah she is very beautiful," I smiled.

"Well what does she look like?!" Tom continued, I clearly wasn't answering his questions the way he wanted me to.

"Here let me just send you a picture," I said, pulling my phone away from my face. I opened up text messages and sent him a picture that I had taken with Brooke a few days ago at the last home game after we had won. "There," I said.

Tom was quiet for a moment and then I heard a gasp. "Andre what the hell? Isn't that Tyler Seguin's girlfriend?"

"Uh.. yeah."

"WHAT. DID. YOU. DO?" Tom asked, articulating every word and adding a slight pause between each.

"No no no he knows about it, hes okay with it!"

"What?! He knows about it? I mean I knew you were living in his house but this too?" He asked, very confused as to what was going on. "You are sleeping with the team's most well known player and hes okay with it? there’s no fucking way dude."

I sighed "Tom I'll have to explain more another time. I know this is super confusing but I swear to you he knows about it. It's not public knowledge yet because we still aren't sure how to go about that part yet, and its too soon. Please promise me that you wont tell anyone? Not even Taylor. I don't need this spreading everywhere until we are ready. I will call you tomorrow and explain to you in detail. I can even have Tyler talk to you about it if you want."

"Yeah yeah I promise I wont tell anyone. And sure yeah just give me a call, we are off tomorrow so.. Yeah," Tom said, a bit flustered, not sure how to react to this new information.

"Alright. Sorry dude I promise this will make more sense later. I just I gotta go before it gets too late."

"Alright. Have fun with your date I guess."

"Thanks. Seeya," I said and hung up. "Fuck that didn't go as planned," I sighed as I put a few more candles into the cart.

I looked up and saw a candle, an idea going off in my head. It was a chef candle, to cover up kitchen odors apparently. I pulled my phone back out of my phone and opened Tyler's contact and hit the message button.

Me: Hey Tyler, I just had an idea for the date tonight

Tyler: Shoot

Me: What if we hired a chef?

Tyler: I didn't even think of that. Good idea dude, I'll go do that right now

I put my phone back into my pocket and started making my way out of the candle aisle. Tyler had suggested a flower shop before I had left to get real flowers at, so there was nothing else here that we needed. I went up to the counter and started unloading the cart. I paid for everything and brought the stuff out to the car, putting it in back seat.

(Tyler's POV)

"Yes 7pm... Yes that’s the correct address. Thank you very much," I said as I hung up the phone.

The chef was hired and all set to go for tonight, I had gotten a favor from the team's massage therapist, Lilly, to stop by tonight, Andre was out getting candles and flowers, and when Katie dropped off Brooke later she was going to take the dogs with her. Everything was mostly in place but there still felt like something was missing though, I just couldn't figure out what it was. It was only when I went to go grab something to eat for lunch from the fridge was when I remembered what else I had planned to do.

I needed to go out and grab some wine and Jack Daniels, since Brooke didn't really like wine. I ate my food quickly, taking the dogs outside for a quick minute so they could use the bathroom before I started to get ready to leave.

I made my way out the front door, and down the driveway to where my car was parked. I pulled out and made my way down the road, passing Andre on my way out. I glanced at the time on the dashboard, seeing that it was around 2. Lilly was going to show up at the house around 4 and set up by the pool so everything would be ready for when Brooke got back home around 5. That gave me plenty of time to help Andre set up the backyard before anyone else got to the house.

I pulled into the shopping center that the liquor store was in, parking my car close to the entrance. I happened to glance over as I was getting out of the car, seeing Brooke and Katie walking down the sidewalk towards the restaurant that was in this same shopping center.

"Fuck," I said as I tried to not be seen by Brooke as I made my way towards the front door of the liquor store.

I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and texted Katie that I had seen them and to not let Brooke see my car, as I ducked into the liquor store, headed straight for the wine aisle. My phone buzzed in my pocket while I was looking at the choices. I pulled it out and saw that Katie had also seen me, but assured me that Brooke had no idea I was here, and they had just went in to have lunch so I should be safe.

I sighed with relief, not wanting this surprise to be messed up. She deserved it so much after everything she was dealing with. I finally picked a wine that I knew both Andre and I would like, making my way over to the area of the store where the harder stuff was located, grabbing a bottle of jack for Brooke and then making my way to the counter.

After paying for everything and making my way back out to the car, I decided to go out the opposite way that I came in so that I didn't drive by the restaurant in the odd chance that Brooke was to glance out the window and see my car.

The drive back home thankfully didn't take too long, I was too caught up planning out everything in my head the way I wanted it to go. I pulled back into the driveway and grabbed the bags, making my way inside. I found Andre in the kitchen, he had gotten a lot of real roses and was now taking his time carefully plucking each individual petal off the flowers. I chuckled and set the bag down on the counter.

"You could of just bought petals you know."

Andre looked up at me and sighed. "Really?"

"I mean maybe not from the flower store, but where you got the candles yeah."

"Well those weren't real, she deserves real," he said, going back to his task.

"Good point," I said, emptying the bags out and putting away the wine and whiskey for now.

For the next two hours Andre and I worked on cleaning up the little romance room that was out by the pool. We move some furniture around in there so that we had table space and a couch for all three of us to relax on. I tested the fireplace, making sure that it still worked. We hadn't been out here in so long, but it worked perfectly still.

I went back into the house to clean up the living room from last night as well as the kitchen and everything else, which Andre set out the candles and flower petals leading out to the pool and around one side of it, where the massage tables would be set up.

After we were done cleaning downstairs and setting up for the night Andre and I went upstairs to put the rest of the candles out around the bedroom and the bathroom, planning on drawing her a bath later towards the end of the night.

I checked my watch noticing that Lilly should be here soon to set up before Brooke got back, so Andre and I made our way back downstairs to wait.

(Brooke's POV)

Katie and I had spent most of the day hanging out at her house, only going out to grab some lunch at one of our favorite places to eat. She had been acting a little weird all day, but I didn't say anything not wanting to pry. I figured if something was going on, she would let me know.

We were in the middle of our third movie when we heard the front door open. Jamie walked into the living room and smiled at us.

"Hey kiddo," he said, sitting on the couch next to us. "How's it going?"

Jamie and I had basically become like siblings ever since Tyler and I got together. He was actually the one who convinced the two of us that we should be together in the first place.

"Good! How was practice and training?" I asked.

"Great," Jamie answered.

"That’s good. Tyler and Andre must be getting home soon then?"

"Yeah probably," Jamie nodded, looking over to the TV where the movie was still playing.

"Well I should get going," I said, slowly standing up from the couch and stretching a bit. "It is almost 5 and I promised the boys I would be home to cook dinner."

"Aww okay," Katie said, getting up.

"See you tomorrow night for the game," I smiled at Jamie, giving him a hug before we left.

The ride back to my house was really just a jam session for me and Katie while we played our favorite playlist off of spotify and sang along to it. It was fun doing stuff like this with her and not taking everything so seriously all the time. I was glad for the relaxing day that I got to have today. As much as I liked to be productive and do stuff, I also really needed the day off to do nothing.

As we pulled into the driveway I saw that both the boy's cars were there. "You wanna come in for a second?"

"Yeah sure," Katie smiled as she turned the car off and got out.

Both of us made our way up to the front door and walked in. I could hear soft talking coming from the living room, figuring the boys were probably in there. I made my way up the hall and saw Andre round the corner with all three dogs on their leashes.

"Hey," he smiled, leaning over to give me a quick kiss as he made his way out the front door.

"Well hi," I smiled as I watched him walk out the front door.

I turned back and started to continue making my way into the living room when Tyler rounded the corner, smiling at me.

"Hey," he said, pulling me into a hug, kissing my temple. "Hey Katie."

"Hey Tyler," Katie smiled back. I heard Katie's phone go off and she grabbed it out of her pocket, reading a text before answering it really quick. "Well that was Jamie. He made a to go order for dinner tonight so I'm going to go pick it up. I had so much fun just relaxing today, we need to do it again soon! Maybe when the boys are gone on the next away game," she laughed and gave me a hug.

"Yeah! That sounds like a great idea. Have a good night Katie," I smiled as I walked her back to the door.

"So how was your day?" I asked Tyler as we slowly made our way down the hallway.

"Good."

"Just good?" I asked, looking up at him as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

"Same old same old," he smiled down at me.

I heard the door open behind us, Andre's footsteps coming up the hall, but the usual clicking of dog nails on the hardwood floor was absent. I turned and saw that the three dogs he left with two minute ago were no longer with him.

"Andre where are the-"

"Katie and Jamie are going to take them tonight," Tyler interrupted as we rounded the corner into the living room.

"Wh-why?" I asked softly. And then I saw it. The doors were open to the backyard, fresh rose petals leading out the doorway, candles lining the path. I could feel my eyes get a little watery, realizing that they hadn't actually been at practice today, and this whole thing was a plan that they had come up with for me.

"Guys," I smiled and covered my face with my hands.

I felt Tyler kiss my temple. I pulled my hands away from my face and smiled at the both of them. I couldn't believe they had done all of this for me. How I got so lucky to get these guys I had no idea.

"Come on," Andre smiled, grabbing my hand and walking outside with me, Tyler following close behind us.

"This is Lilly. She is one of the team's massage therapist. She came out tonight just for you," Tyler said.

"Really?" I gasped. "Oh I haven't had a massage in forever this is going to be so great," I laughed.

Lilly smiled and extended her hand. "Nice to meet you. Whenever you are ready we can start," she said.

"Well I guess I should go change then," I smiled and grabbed the robe that she was holding up for me and made my way back inside to change.

TBC...

[bellarkefanfiction]

suddenly i see (this is what i wanna be)

*click through to read on ao3

written by: Mel | @mellamymake

prompt: "You stepped on my glasses and now I'm pretty much blinded and you have to accompany me everywhere till I can get my new glasses" for anonymous 

word count: 5178

"I can't believe you've managed to hide this for so long."

"To be fair, I wasn't hiding," Bellamy points out, a touch of colour rising in his cheeks. "I just don't like to wear them when I'm out. That's not hiding."

Or, the one where Clarke moves in with Bellamy and is shocked to discover that he wears glasses.

In Clarke's honest defence, she wasn't even aware that Bellamy wore glasses.

"What about beach week two years ago?" she demands, staring at the black frames balanced across his nose. "Did you have glasses then?"

He adjusts them with two fingers, peering at her through the lenses. "I think it's pretty safe to say I've had them ever since I got them, Clarke. Which is, oh, about fifteen years ago."

"But did you wear them?" she persists, her frown deepening. "I'm really sure I would have remembered you wearing them."

He pauses then, his brow furrowing. "Well. I always wear them at the end of the day. Like, right before going to bed. So..."

"So only in your room, then." At his nonchalant shrug, she throws her hands up into the air, huffing exasperatedly. "I can't believe you've managed to hide this for so long."

"To be fair, I wasn't hiding," he points out, a touch of colour rising in his cheeks. "I just don't like to wear them when I'm out. That's not hiding."

"You've been wearing contacts all these years," she mutters, shaking her head. "Those are contacts I've been looking at, all these years."

"It's not like I've been wearing a wig or something," he points out, looking vaguely offended. He pauses, looking at her. "Although, if you happen to come across a face mask made of something that looks a little like human skin—"

"Fuck you," she says easily, stretching her leg across the couch to kick lightly at his knee. Of all the jokes they've cracked between them over the last couple of weeks about moving in together to save on rent, this one definitely ranks near the bottom. "Okay, so why are you wearing the glasses now? Are you going to bed at—" she spares a quick glance at the clock in the corner of the news channel they're watching, "—eight forty-nine P.M.?"

He shifts, the flush returning to his cheeks. "Cute. And no, I'm not going to bed at eight forty-nine P.M. I ran out of contacts."

She raises a brow. "You what?"

He shrugs. "I ran out. I gotta get some more."

She stares at him, forehead crinkled with disbelief. "You've been successfully hiding behind your contacts for the last fifteen years, and all of a sudden you just… ran out?"

"Okay, again, I wasn't hiding," he says, pointing at her. "And, well, sometimes shit happens." At her questioning frown, he gives her another shrug. "Shit like, I don't know, when you accidentally throw out the contacts that were supposed to last you the rest of the year before you get a chance to pick up a new pair."

"You what?!"

He rolls his eyes, but the hue of his skin still looks distinctly redder than it usually does, even under the warmth of their living room lights. "I'll put in an order for new contacts tomorrow. Anyway, it's no big deal. They're just glasses."

Except it is kind of a big deal, for some inexplicable reason she can't quite put her finger on. Something the way those black frames sit squarely across his face just makes her stare, the angle of his jawline and the soft arch of his dark brows all suddenly ramped up to an eleven. Even his lips look fuller than usual, plumper and ever so slightly redder than she can remember them being.

It's like he's wearing the glasses, but she's the one seeing several times clearer all of a sudden.

"Yeah, okay," she mutters as nonchalantly as she can, settling back into the couch to pretend she's watching the news, instead of watching her roommate out of the corner of her eye.

She's just not accustomed to seeing him in glasses. That's all. It’s brand new information; she’s allowed an adjustment period.

Once she gets used to it, everything will go right back to normal.

“Coffee’s on the table,” is the first thing she hears when she flies into the kitchen, bag hanging off her arm and shirt still only half-buttoned.

She blows out a harried sigh of relief before flinging her bag into the table to free up her hands, one going straight for the steaming mug of coffee waiting for her, the other swiping up the piece of toast sitting beside it, already slathered with butter. "Have I told you you're my favourite roommate yet?" she says, trying to get in a sip of coffee through a mouthful of toast.

"Not lately, no," Bellamy says idly, squinting at her iPad as he flicks through Netflix. "You’ve got about twelve minutes to get to your meeting, by the way. Checked out traffic while you were in the shower — you're gonna wanna avoid 5th today."

"Fuck," she announces, not bothering to cover her toast-filled mouth. As quickly as she can without spilling everything down her front, she demolishes the rest of her toast within three bites and gulps down half her coffee.

"See you later!" she says, grabbing her bag off the table and dashing out of the kitchen.

"Shoes," he calls from the kitchen.

"I didn't forget," she calls back petulantly, even as she wheels around from the door to grab a pair of flats, stuffing her feet into them and whirling back to wrench the door open.

"Keys!" is all he says in response.

She does an abrupt double take, holding the door open with one foot as she twists round to snatch her keys off the side table. “Bye!” she yells, before slamming the door shut behind her.

--

meetings finally over! think i just booked 2 jobs :D

u eaten yet? want me to

pick up lunch omw home?

???

hello?????

[voice note from Bellamy]

uhhh all i hear is u sayin 'fuck. Fuck, shit' over

and over.. is that supposed to happen

why are u using voice notes that’s so weird

[1 image from Bellamy]

???????

i ask u if u want lunch and all i get is a

screenshot of oppenheimer's wiki page??

Om sajht def

ok u know what im just gonna

get ur usual from the diner

home in 20

--

Clarke kicks the apartment door shut with her foot, working her shoes off with her toes. "Okay, the diner was all out of chicken, so I got you beef instead," she calls, padding into the kitchen to set the large bag of food on the table. "You don't mind, do you?"

She sniggers to herself as she heads over to the tap for a drink of water, catching movement at the kitchen threshold as she turns. "Well, I don't actually care if you mind because beef is what you're getting." She swallows her first hasty gulp of cool water, swiping her hand across her mouth as she turns back around, glass in hand. "Hey, what was with the weird—"

She breaks off, taking in the way Bellamy's standing in the doorway, face all scrunched up as he blinks against the harsh fluorescent light of the kitchen. "What's going on with your face?"

His expression turns wry. "My face? Nothing. My eyes are a whole different story, though."

She frowns, taking two steps forward. "What's wrong with your eyes?"

He pauses, blinking hard. "Well. Actually, nothing. It's, uh— it's my glasses."

At first she's completely lost, brows furrowed in confusion. But then Bellamy extends a hand, his thick black frames sitting neatly in the flat of his large palm, and—

"Holy shit," she says, both brows shooting up high. "What did you do to it?"

One of the lenses is slightly cracked, a hairline fracture running along the side of it. The other one is practically shattered.

"I didn't do anything," Bellamy says dryly, stepping forward carefully. "Your bag, on the other hand..."

"My what? What are you—" All of a sudden, the memory of the way she'd all but slammed her bag onto the kitchen table earlier flashes up in her mind, including the stark realisation that she had been in far too much of a rush to bother checking that the coast was clear. "Oh. Oh, fuck. Did I do that? Shit, I'm sorry!"

Bellamy waves a dismissive hand, and she really shouldn't want to laugh, but the way he's focusing on her chin instead of her eyes is oddly endearing. "No, it's okay. About time I got a new pair, anyway."

"Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure you weren't planning to smash up this pair before you got a new one." She watches as he reaches for the bag holding their lunch, fumbling slightly with pulling out the containers. "That explains the weird replies to my texts."

He pauses, looking up at her (well, sort of). "Oh, yeah. Sorry, I was trying to tell you that I can't see, but I don't know how successful those attempts were."

"You sent me a voice note. Along with what I think is the last photo saved in your camera roll," she informs him with a dry smile, fetching another glass of water for him.

He grimaces, sliding one of the containers across the table to her. "Fuck. How incriminating was it?"

"It was a screenshot of Oppenheimer's wiki page," she says, switching the containers so they're getting the right meals. "Very racy stuff."

"Juicy," he agrees, stabbing a plastic knife into his side salad.

She tries to smother the snigger that bubbles up, but it's a half-hearted attempt at best. "Fork's on your left," she offers helpfully, popping the plastic top off her own container.

"Don't laugh," he grumps good-naturedly, waving his knife at her. "I'm blind."

--

For the most part, Bellamy doesn't seem all that bothered by his temporary handicap.

All the same, Clarke feels too responsible for his predicament to just leave him be. She spends the rest of the afternoon reading his texts and emails to him, and narrating her way through their Netflix queue when he wants to change shows (he can't quite see what's going on, but his sense of hearing is sharp as ever. Plus, he can almost sort of make out what's going on when he squints at the TV, especially once she turns the screen brightness up).

At five o'clock, she drives them both to the mall so he can order a new set of glasses, taking his arm in hers so he doesn't walk into a pillar or a glass door.

Upon reaching the optical store, she halts in her tracks, groaning in dismay. "They're closed."

Bellamy stops obediently when she does, turning slightly towards her with her arm still looped around his. "I thought it looked a little dark, but then again, I figured I'm probably not the best judge of that right now. Does it say if they're open tomorrow?"

She peers at the notice on the glass front, shaking her head ruefully. "Nope, closed on Sundays. Can you call your order in, or email or something?"

He cocks his head thoughtfully. "I can try. But I'd still have to come in to show my prescription."

"Shit," she groans, squeezing at his bicep. "Fuck, I really am sorry."

His other hand comes up to cover hers. "It's okay, princess. It was an accident. You don't have to keep apologising for it."

She starts them towards the Dairy Queen kiosk that's just around the corner. "I feel like I have to. If I didn't totally crush your glasses, you wouldn't have walked right into the bathroom doorframe earlier."

"True," he agrees easily. She jabs her elbow into his ribs, and he laughs, tightening his arm against his side so that she's pressed even closer, her mobility limited. "It's fine, Clarke. Seriously. Plus, I've never had an escort before. S'kinda cool."

"For you," she pretends to grouch, digging into her bag with her free hand. "All right, come on. DQ Blizzards on me."

--

"This is new," Miller observes when they arrive at the bar three hours later, arm in arm.

"This is a necessary precaution," Clarke corrects wryly, guiding Bellamy into one side of the booth with a hand on his arm and one on his back before sliding in after him. "We've got some news, guys. Bellamy's blind."

Jasper practically spews beer nut fragments all over the table. "Bellamy's blind?!"

"I'm not blind," Bellamy says loudly, as a tidal chorus of what's and Oh my God's start surging up around the table. "I'm not— Jasper, I'm not blind! I just don't have any contacts in right now. Or glasses. Or any sort of seeing aides that, uh, you know. Aid me with seeing."

Raven frowns, raising an arched brow at him. "You wear glasses?"

Clarke throws out an exasperated hand at her, turning towards Bellamy. "Thank you! See how well you've hidden this little factoid?"

"Okay, again," Bellamy says, blinking hazily at her forehead, "not hiding."

"Wait," Monty interrupts, face pinched with confusion. "I don't get it. What happened to your glasses?"

Bellamy heaves a melodramatic sigh. "They put up a valiant fight, but ultimately, even they couldn't stand up to the weight of having Clarke for a roommate."

"It was an accident," Clarke says with a roll of her eyes, grinning despite herself. "There was a thing with my bag. Anyway, the point is that Bellamy's blind now."

"Not blind," he argues lightly. "Just very, very myopic."

Clarke ignores him, deliberately elbowing him aside as she leans forward. "So if you've ever wanted to make a rude face or gesture at him," she continues, "now would be the time, people."

Raven and Miller instantly both hold up two completely different hand signs, each one just as vulgar.

"I don't know what that is," Bellamy says warningly, pointing vaguely in their direction, "but I can tell exactly who it is that's doing that."

Jasper somehow produces a Sharpie out of thin air, already breathless with excitement. "When do we get to draw on his face?"

"He's blind, Jasper," Monty reminds helpfully. "Not passed out."

"I'm not—"

"You're not blind!" Miller finishes mockingly. "As for 'passed out', well. The night has only just begun, my friend."

"You're not passing out," Clarke tells him once Miller and Monty head off to the bar to fetch the first round of drinks. She turns in the booth to face him, leaning in so he can hear over the buzz of the bar and the sound of Jasper and Raven fighting over the last of the beer nuts across the table. "I can make sure you don't walk into lampposts. I cannot carry you home all by myself."

Bellamy grins, and just for a moment or two, they're close enough that he can focus in on her eyes properly, their gazes firmly locking on each other. "What a good escort."

She rolls her eyes, punching him lightly in the shoulder. There's practically no force to it at all, so she just ends up pressing her knuckles into his arm, their faces mere inches apart. "Yeah, well," she manages to say, "don't get used to it."

She hopes that the way her throat goes dry at the end isn't audible in her voice.

Bellamy merely smirks, his mouth curving in that crooked way that used to piss her off like nothing else back when they'd first met. "Wouldn't dream of it, princess."

--

The thing is, someone does get used to it.

Funnily enough, that someone is her.

For some reason, it feels far too natural to be this close to Bellamy, looping her arm in his every time they're on the move, leading him over to the bar, or the pool table (to trash talk Miller from the sidelines), or the darts corner (so he can squint at the board and pretend like his vision's 'not that bad, I think I can make out the general bull's-eye area' and then proceed to punch three tiny holes into the wall before hastily giving up).

When his friend Harper from work stops by the booth to say hi, it feels far too natural to get up with Bellamy and walk together over to the table where three more of their co-workers are situated, her arm staying loosely interlocked with his even as they come to a stop. (There's a slight snafu when he introduces her to his colleagues. One of the group — Murphy, she thinks it was — raises his brows before saying "Oh, so you're Clarke." She's about to ask exactly what he means, but then Harper interrupts to ask Bellamy something about a meeting on Monday, and the statement just kind of gets buried under the ensuing conversation.)

She even feels disappointed by the couple of times she's not able to walk with him to the bathroom, watching Miller and then Jasper guide him off with a faint but distinct throb of envy.

She's never enjoyed the walk home as much as she does later that night, one hand neatly tucked into the crook of his elbow, the other wrapped lightly around his forearm in what's practically an embrace.

It's just to be safe, of course. They've both had a few beers. They're not unsteady by any means, but she doesn't see any harm maintaining a little closer contact than usual, especially with his shortsightedness exacerbated by the darkness of night.

He's familiar enough with their apartment that he can handle a shower without supervision (not that she was expecting otherwise), but she can't resist checking in on him one last time before going to bed.

He's already under the covers, but he props himself up on his elbows, smiling tiredly at her. "Thanks for looking out for me today." A soft snort. "Literally."

"Funny," she deadpans, smiling back despite herself. "Goodnight, Bellamy."

"'Night, princess."

--

Clearly, being (almost) blind isn't enough to convince Bellamy to stay within the comfortable confines of home, because by lunchtime they're heading towards their favourite taco stand that's two streets over from their apartment, arm in arm once again.

"I mean, it's Sunday," Clarke pretends to grumble, pushing slightly into his side to avoid an oncoming passerby, a large German shepherd loping before him on a leash. "That should be more than enough reason to, you know. Stay home."

Bellamy steps slightly to his right and away from the dog-walker, pressing his arm in against his body to pull her even closer. "Exactly, it's Sunday.A.K.A., the best day for tacos." He shrugs, not bothering to relax his arms outward even after the dog and his owner are well behind them, keeping them pressed flush against each other from shoulder to elbow. "It's just science, okay? Why are you trying to argue with science?"

She snorts. "Science, right. More like your greedy gut." Twisting her arm slightly in his grip, she pokes her index finger at his middle through the soft cotton shirt he's wearing.

He laughs, releasing her arm completely to grab at her hand with his. "No, it's science. Trust me, I'm a teacher. I would know."

"You're a history teacher, " she says in disbelief, letting her fingers curl around his.

"Who's friends with science teachers," he says, slowly and clearly as if for her benefit. "Hence."

She shakes her head, shifting a little closer as they let their still-joined hands drop down to their sides. "Ridiculous."

Well. It's a nice change from having her arm half-raised like that, she supposes. Probably better for her blood circulation, or something.

--

He eventually caves into her nagging and calls in sick to work on Monday.

"Even though this really doesn't count as a sickness," he grouches for the twelfth time, getting up to pour himself more coffee.

She's already in front of him, grabbing the empty mug out of his hands as she pushes at his shoulder in a silent command to sit back down. "Yeah, because not being able to see definitely doesn't affect your job. Not like you need that to write on the board, or grade homework. Or, you know.Teach."

"All right, all right," he says as she sets his refilled mug in front of him. "Point taken."

Later that afternoon, they're at the mall putting in an order for Bellamy's new glasses when they run into Monty.

"What are you doing here!" Clarke says, surprised. "You're not at work today?"

For some reason, Monty seems a little… off. Fidgety, almost.

"Had a late lunch meeting with a client," he says. After a beat, he lifts his thumb, jabbing it over his shoulder in the direction of the food court. "We just… had lunch."

Bellamy seems completely unperturbed by the way Monty's shoulders are rigid, the shorter man practically bouncing his weight from one foot to the other. (Then again, his nonchalance probably has a lot to do with the fact that he can't actually see Monty.) "Oh, okay. Good meeting?"

"Yeah. Yeah, good." Monty seems downright on edge at this point, his gaze constantly shifting between them. "I should go!" he finally blurts out after an awkward pause. "See you guys!"

"What was that about?" she wonders aloud, tugging on Bellamy's hand to get him to start walking again.

He shifts his grip slightly so that their fingers are more comfortably entwined with each other's. "What was what about?"

"Monty. He was all… weird."

"Maybe he's just late getting back to the office or something."

"Yeah, maybe," Clarke says as she leads them into the optical store. "Okay, where's your prescription?"

--

On Tuesday, Bellamy goes back to work, but only after Clarke makes him promise he's not going to try to write or read anything.

"You heard the optician," she lectures on the drive to his workplace. "No straining your eyes. You're only going to make them worse."

"Yes, I know," he says dryly. "Might have slipped your mind, but I've been going to eye doctors for slightly longer than you have, princess." He pats his messenger bag, balanced securely on his lap. "Besides, I've got a good six or seven documentaries in here to keep all my students occupied for the day. Don't worry about it."

"Easier said than done," she mutters, but she can't help smiling when he laughs at that.

She arrives to pick him up at exactly ten minutes past two, undoing her seatbelt and dashing out of the car when she spots him and Murphy emerge from the front doors.

She shoves down on the surge of protective concern, swallowing down the barrage of worried questions already on the tip of her tongue. "No visible bruises, I see," she says instead, taking his arm in hers.

Murphy rocks lazily on his heels. "Wait till you get his shirt off tonight."

"He's kidding," Bellamy says, mistaking her arrested flinch for distress. "I only hit, like, one thing today. It was the trash can. And I only sort of hit it. With my foot."

"So you… kicked a trash can," she supplies dryly. "Well done."

"Yeah," Murphy intones. "Usually, it's a kid."

They drive straight to the mall to pick up his glasses and a small box of disposable contact lenses, for him to use while he's waiting on his regular soft contacts to arrive.

"Does anyone ever work here," she grumbles when they arrive at the optical store to find the lights off and a sign taped to the door, with the words 'Back in five!' scrawled across in thick blue marker.

He shrugs, tugging on her hand as if to stretch out the rigid set of her shoulders. "That's okay. We can go grab lunch first."

They end up choosing a small Thai restaurant that serves up a mean green curry, splitting a small dish of mango sticky rice for dessert. They linger for far longer than is really necessary, sharing an extra glass of iced sweet milk tea between them as they enjoy the easy conversation and the relative emptiness of the restaurant, given the awkward post-lunch, pre-dinner timing of their meal.

"This is it," he says when they're back in the store, waiting on the optician to fetch his order from the back room. "As soon as those glasses get on my face, this prince turns back into a frog."

"Joke's on you," she deadpans, elbowing him lightly. "You've been a frog all along."

He laughs, his hand tightening reflexively on hers. "Harsh, princess."

It's really not that big a deal, or any notable size of a deal at all, but she finds herself holding her breath when the glasses come out of their shiny new case. There's an extra minute or so where the optician gives them a last polish, prattling on and on about all the lens fit and the design of the frame, but then finally, he's handing them over to Bellamy, and—

"Whoa." Bellamy blinks, the dark brown of his eyes looking even glossier through the clear lenses. "Let there be light." He spreads both hands slightly, his inky black curls curling against the top of the thick frames. "Well? What do you think?"

There's a lump in her throat, and she has no idea how it got there. She swallows hard.

"Oh, yeah," she says, a little weakly. "Definitely still a frog."

They walk back to the car like they always do; separately, hands at their sides.

--

The next three days are oddly uncomfortable.

Everything goes right back to normal. She holes up in her home office to work on her projects, Bellamy goes to school, they have dinner on the couch every night, with a bubbly sitcom or a quirky dramedy playing on the TV.

Even though nothing's really changed, she can't help feeling like everything's been knocked slightly out of alignment. Like the lines and shapes and colours that make up the world around her suddenly aren't quite as clear or bright as they used to be.

"What?" Bellamy says when he notices her staring one night. He lifts a hand, touching his fingertips to his thick black frames. "Look that bad?"

He'd originally planned to wear the disposable ones for the rest of the week, but on the first day wearing them, he'd popped them out within the hour, complaining that they just don't fit like his usual pair.

She rolls her eyes. "Oh, yeah. Nowhere near as pretty as your other pair," she says with a grin. They're both fully aware that these new frames are more or less identical to his old ones.

He shakes his head, mouth curved with a wide smile. "Well, you can quit worrying about it. My contacts should get here tomorrow." He taps at his glasses. "Say bye to these."

She's struck by the sudden realisation that she doesn't want to do that. She likes the glasses. She likes how much softer they make his structured cheeks and jaw look, how much fluffier his hair seems to grow, how much more relaxed his entire body seems to become.

"We're having dinner with Raven and Miller tomorrow," she says instead. "Don't forget."

--

Dinner is a loud affair, even with Jasper and Monty passing so they can attend a mutual friend's housewarming party.

Clarke's not sure what it is exactly about the night that makes it so enjoyable, but something about Raven's sharp snark and Miller's lazy sarcasm just seems to turn everything about twelve shades funnier than usual. The little Mexican bistro Miller's chosen for dinner is relaxed and comfortable, with great food and even better drinks, and for the first time in three days, she feels herself loosening up, smiling easier and laughing harder than she has in a while.

She drinks slightly more sangria than she'd originally planned to, but the light giddiness that seeps into her system is definitely borne of genuine joy rather than any hint of drunkenness.

"Raven's funny," she says as she and Bellamy start on the walk back home. "Miller's funny, too. We should hang out with them more often."

He chuckles, his head tilting sideways as he looks over at her. "We hang out with them all the time."

"No, I mean, like, just them," she insists, grinning helplessly. "Without Jonty and Masper."

He squints at her, expression teasing. "You drunk, Clarke?"

She laughs, shaking her head. She really isn't. It just feels like an invisible weight's been lifted from her shoulders. It feels good. "No. Just… happy."

He nods, seeming to consider her answer more seriously than she'd expected. "Good. That's good, princess."

Now she's the one cocking her head, squinting at him. "Are you happy?"

He laughs, but there's an unfamiliar edge to the sound that rings distinctly bittersweet to her ears. "With you? Always."

On sheer impulse, she reaches out, slipping her hand into his. "Good."

It's only when his hand curls around hers, big and warm, that she really, properly gets what it is that she's doing. It's all fine and dandy to hold her roommate's hand for the purpose of guiding him about while his vision's impaired, but—

"Oh." Forcing herself to loosen her grip, she works up a tense laugh. "Sorry. Force of habit, I guess."

Never mind that it's been three whole days since she'd last held his hand. Never mind that they'd really only spent three days before that even holding hands at all, which is nowhere near long enough to form a legitimate habit.

Bellamy blinks, making no moves to let her hand slip from his. "No, it's— it's okay. I mean, I don't mind."

It's fucking embarrassing to admit, but her breath hitches in her throat — actually hitches. Like she's a character in a cheesy romance novel. "Oh. Okay. As long as you're sure."

She's expecting some sort of wry crack, or maybe a dry, deadpanned reassurance that 'I've survived Jasper and Monty's homemade moonshine, princess. Holding hands with you is hardly going to kill me'.

The last thing she's expecting is for Bellamy come to an abrupt stop, tug firmly on her hand to turn her towards him, bring his free hand up to cup her face and kiss her.

She's kissing him right back before she can even quite grasp what's happening, her free hand twisting into his shirt, the other shifting slightly in his to pull him even closer.

After a long, glorious minute, he pulls back, pressing his forehead to hers. She can't quite tell that fiery warmth blazing between the point of their contact is coming from his skin or hers.

"I'm sure, Clarke," he says, smiling against her lips. "I'm absolutely, completely sure."

--

"See, I told you I was sure!" Monty cries when they walk into the bar the next day, one of his fingers pointed right at their joined hands.

"Holy shit," Jasper says, eyes wide. "Are you guys for real dating now?!"

Clarke pauses, frowning slightly. "Well, we weren't— this is new, it didn't happen till—" She sighs, giving up as the entire table predictably erupts into cheers. "Yeah, okay," she says, grinning at Bellamy. "We are, all right?"

"Told you love was blind," Miller says, sloshing his beer dangerously when Jasper shoves him in excitement.

Bellamy groans. "For the last time, I'm not blind!"

[my-dear-anonym]

Sketches:Part Three- Burrmads

Masterpost

----

Any further parts of this will be published in its own book which I will publish here shortly. It'll be called Sketches, so keep an eye out for it.

----

Warnings: Nsfw

----

The next morning, Burr was reluctant to get out of bed, afraid that James wouldn't be happy with him after last night, or that perhaps he went home. He was fairly certain that he screwed everything up. But eventually, the fact that he actually had to work today finally got him up and dressed. He walked out into the living room, laptop bag slung from his shoulder, car keys in hand to walk out the door only for a hand to yank him back by the collar and then rebalance him while spinning him around and shoving a plate of food into his hands. James stared up at him, still holding a glass of orange juice.

"What's this?" Burr asked.

"Breakfast," James replied, walking back toward the kitchen and setting the glass down on the table for him. "Eat up."

"I'm going to be late for work."

"Eat quickly," James said, sitting down at the table and digging into his own plate.

"But-"

James looked over at him, "You wouldn't want all my effort to be for nothing, would you?"

Burr grumbled and joined Madison at the table. "If I get fired because of you-"

"I'll call Washington and explain myself."

"Don't you work today too?"

"Yep." Burr looked him up and down, pointedly bringing attention to his pajamas. James grinned and plopped his laptop down on the table. "There, I'm at work."

"That's so unfair."

James smiled, "You're going to be late."

"Shit." Burr shoveled food into his mouth and then bolted for the door. "Thanks for the food James.

James nodded and waved him off. "When you get there, give Thomas this look for me," James said, demonstrating.

"Sure thing. Bye," Burr said, disappearing through the door. James chuckled and actually opened his laptop to do some work. Maybe he'd draw a bit today too.

Burr barely made it to work on time, clocking in and sliding his card in between Jefferson's and Hamilton's. The moment he settled in behind his desk, it actually kicked in. Madison not only stayed, but also made him breakfast. Burr didn't think that James was really that kind of guy. His morning was starting off unnaturally good, it could only be so long before-

"Burr!"

Right on queue.

He sighed and looked up. "Yes, Alexander?" He should really look into that work at home thing Madison had going. No wonder Burr never saw him around the office, he just thought they worked on different floors.

"Tell Thomas he's a bitch ass with no common sense."

Thomas appeared behind him and scoffed. "No common sense? Have you even read Common Sense?"

"What?"

"Thomas Paine?"

"Yes, Thomas, you are a pain."

"You're insufferable."

"Now that much is common sense."

"End my suffering."

"Sorry, you have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Death is not in that list."

"What if my pursuit of happiness is death?"

"Gentlemen," Burr interrupted. "Is there a reason you're here?"

"Oh! Right!" Hamilton ran forward and Jefferson leaned against the doorframes as Hamilton shoved a paper under Burr's nose. "I need your signature."

"What's this?"

"Just read and you'll get the jist. I need one more signature and no one else is willing. Not even dumb ass over there."

Thomas rolled his eyes and Burr looked over the document carefully before signing his name and handing it back. Thomas placed a hand on his chest, looking hurt as Hamilton snatched it back pridefully. "Aaron, you betrayed me."

Burr rolled his eyes. "Oh, James wanted me to give you a message."

"Oh?"

Burr, in his opinion, thought he imitated the look rather perfectly. Jefferson seemed to understand cause he paled slightly. "Hamilton, pack your bag, we're going home."

"What? Why?"

Thomas started pulling him from the room, "Because that was the 'My apartment better spotless when I get home or I'll drag you out, throw you in the trunk, fly you to Papua, New Guinea, and have your head stuck on a pole,' look. And we still have a lot to do."

"That was very specific for an expression," Hamilton's response floated down the hallway back to Burr's office as he was dragged away. Burr chuckled and returned to his work. At least that got them out of his office.

Hours ticked by, going exhaustingly slow, until eventually lunchtime finally rolled around. Burr was heading for the break room when his phone pinged, alerting him to a message from Madison.

Send me a picture of your face.

What? Why?

Because you're not here for me to stare creepily at while I draw.

Burr chucked. Suffer.

You bitch, send me a picture, I need a reference so I can draw those beautiful cheekbones.

Sorry, not a picture person. You'll just have to wait until I'm home.

James sighed and tossed his phone down and dug into his salad, staring at the drawing he had been working on right up until Burr decided to be a jerk and refuse to send a picture.

Burr returned home from work around five thirty, expecting to find Madison curled up on the couch with a book or something. What he found instead was a deserted living room. Did he ditch because Burr didn't send a photo? No, he's probably around somewhere. What Burr did find was a sketchbook left on the couch.

Now was the moment Burr had a great internal war. Don't touch it because that's private and Madison didn't say he could look, or just take a quick look through, Madison was such a good artist, Burr wanted to see what else he was capable of.

Before Burr could come to a decision, James walked out of the hallway, humming softly to himself and then froze upon seeing Burr.

"Aaron, I didn't expect you home for a little while yet."

Burr turned to greet him and then froze as well. James was standing there in nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist, skin still glistening from a recent shower. Burr tore his gaze away, meeting Madison's eyes, clearing his throat. "I, ah, usually get home around five thirty."

"Is it five thirty already?" James asked, looking around to check the time. "I didn't think I was in there for that long. Alright, let me go get some clothes on and then we can go."

Burr would much rather skip dinner and do something else. Or someone else. He lived out his fantasy in less than two seconds. I'm walking forward and pulling Madison against him, bending down and kissing him deeply. One of his hands holding his waist and the other tilting his head just right. Dipping down below the waistline of his towel to grip his ass, accidentally undoing the entire thing in the process, it pooling around Madison's feet. Burr picking him up and Madison wrapping his legs around Burr's waist as he carried him to the bedroom, their tongues clashing passionately the entire way.

Burr blinked instead, "Alright. Ten minutes?"

"Perfect," Madison replied, walking over to the couch and grabbing his sketchbook before returning to his room to get dressed.

Burr disappeared into his own bathroom. He didn't need to change or anything, but he probably smelled like work. He washed his face with cold water, bracing himself against the sink and studying his reflection. Was it just him or did he look a little sick? No, I was just him. This was his first official date with James. Maybe he just looked a little too serious. He smiled brightly in the mirror. That's better. Smiles fixed everything.

Burr rinsed his face and again and dried off, returning to the living room without his work bag and with the keys to his car. James emerged a second later, dressed in simple black slacks and a black button down. James really liked his black, didn't he? Burr himself was still in his choice from this morning, light creamish colored slacks paired with a deep purple button-down, a white tie, and a purple suit jacket. He actually shed his jacket earlier so it was still in his room.

"Ready?" Burr asked.

James nodded, patting his pockets to make sure he had everything before following Burr out the door.

One evening of wine and fine dining later, Burr and Madison were walking aimlessly down the street. It took a bit for them both to get out of the unavoidable awkward conversation at the beginning, but then the wine arrived and James perked up and started talking about different wines and what went best with what and which ones were his favorites and after that, it was easy.

They took a turn down a street and James was talking easily but quietly. Neither of them were much of talkers, but at this point, what else was there to do?

Burr didn't realize they were in a park until James stopped walking and sat down on a bench on the side of the path. Burr sat down with him and their conversation went quiet, both just soaking in the mutual quiet for a bit. Burr looked over at Madison as he seemed to examine the landscape with an artist's eye subconsciously and smiled softly, moving closer and taking his hand in his own. Madison looked down at their hands and then up at Burr before squeezing slightly.

It was a beautiful night, but nothing compared to the man sitting next to him. In both Madison's and Burr's opinion. And you know what? Burr decided that was the perfect moment to finally leaned down and softly kiss James. He pulled away shortly after, James looking up at him, the night making it hard to see the expression on his face.

"Aaron."

"Yes?" he asked, suddenly nervous.

James pulled Burr to him and continued kissing him.

"Does this mean we're official now?" Burr asked when they broke apart.

Madison laughed. "Is that what you want?"

"Yes."

Madison chuckled, "Okay, then we're official."

Burr grinned and pulled James to him and held him closely. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this day."

"Is that so? Was it worth it?"

"Blew me away."

***

James was curled up on the couch again, sketchbook perched on his lap and his pencil gliding over the page. A smile a tugged at his lips as he watched Burr fight off sleep and fail in the chair, his tea mug starting to slip from his loose grasp. Madison set aside his sketchbook and gently plucked the mug away before it spilled everywhere. He stood in front of Burr for a minute, drinking in the features that softened so perfectly with sleep.

He had tried so hard to stay up with Madison, but in the end, sleep had claimed him, just as Madison predicted it would.

He had two days left with him in his apartment. James looked up at the clock. One day. It was officially day two.

He scooped up his sketchbook again and scrutinized each of the smallest details before grabbing a pen and signing it in the corner. He was officially done. Carefully, he removed it and set it out, face down. Burr could have it in the morning, for now, James needed to figure out a way to get him into his room.

In the end, he ended up having to wake him and talking him into moving to the bedroom. Considering the moment Burr woke up, he insisted that he wouldn't fall asleep again and would stay up with James. At that point, James told Burr that he was going to bed too. Honestly, he'd much rather start another drawing, now that he had so many ideas running rampant in his mind, most of them including Burr, but he supposed he could start them tomorrow instead. Or, bring his sketchbook to bed with him. Yes, that was a much better idea. Madison grabbed it and walked with Burr into his room, making sure he got into bed and wishing him goodnight before walking off to get into his own bed. On second thought, if he's going to draw in bed, he's going to need some tea to drink.

After a quick detour to the kitchen, James returned to his room, setting up his phone with some headphones and scrolling through youtube, looking for anything of interest, just as he normally did. This time, going deep into the world of recommendations.

A song came up and he stopped scrolling, rereading the title several times to make sure he wasn't imagining anything before clicking it with a grin. Let's just say he stumbled onto pure gold. Perfect to draw to.

Hours passed without him hardly noticing. When he looked at the clock and saw that it was just after six, he swore softly. He hadn't meant to stay up all night. Well, at least he made some excellent drawing on his next drawing. James paused his music and wandered out to the living room, plugging his phone into the surround sound system, cranking up the volume all the way, and running for the kitchen.

Madison hated waking up, but, if he was already awake, he was perfectly willing to make breakfast. Two days in a row, he was on a roll with the breakfast thing. He started the stove and then played the music. The music filled the house softly at first. The singer had the softest, most beautiful voice that steadily grew stronger until it could probably be heard four apartments down. James was halfway done with breakfast when Burr stumbled out of his room, rushing for the sound system and jerking the aux cord out of the phone only to look up at Madison.

"Where did you find that?" he demanded.

Madison's grin only grew wider. "The darkest depths of youtube."

"How did you find it?"

Madison shrugged, "Stumbled across it. Aaron, you never told me you could sing. Why didn't I know about this."

Burr tossed Madison's phone down onto the couch and walked over to him. "Because I don't anymore."

Madison handed him the spatula and retrieved his phone and scrolled through it. "You should. Especially since I just bought your songs."

"You what?! James! No!"

"Too late, they're permanently on my phone. You're too good for you not to sing anymore."

Burr crossed his arms. "I can't believe you found out I used to sing from youtube."

Madison smiled and stole back his spatula, scooping food onto plates. "If I give you my drawing, I demand a song."

"James..."

"Not an option. I finished it last night, by the way. Here, eat your food," he said, pushing the plate into Burr's hands and going to retrieve the drawing. "What makes it even better," James went on as he returned, "Is there's even one with Thomas singing too. Can I get in on this too?"

Burr's imagination ran wild again, just for a moment. He could imagine Madison with him in a recording studio, like he used to do all the time. Madison would have a deep, smooth, melodic voice that could turn rough at the slightest mood shift. The way their voices would harmonize. Or even just here, in the house, Burr holding Madison close and them softly singing. Like some sort of scene from a movie. Burr loved James' voice as it was, imagine if James put all the emotion singing had behind it and the long, drawn-out notes.

"Aaron? Are you still there?"

Burr blinked, refocusing on Madison and smiling, then glancing down at the paper he was being handed. "Is this-"

"You're sketch."

Burr took it gently in his hands and turned it over to look at the artwork on the other side.

His breath was gone. Completely gone. He was in utter astonishment. Madison had drawn the two of them together, cuddling on the couch. Special attention had gone into Burr's face, how the gentle lighting played softly over his features. The entire thing gave off a feeling of calm peace and contentment. Burr had never seen a piece so realistic or awe-inspiring.

He looked up at James, who was sipping from a wine glass, when he got that Burr didn't know, but he seemed to be watching Burr with a disinterest like he didn't care one way or the other about the drawing. Burr gently set it down on the table, stealing the wine glass from James' hand, who watched him curiously.

Burr pulled him in, embracing him, "You have stolen my breath with which I use to form my words and so I cannot articulately state how much your drawing, or you as a person means to me." Burr pulled back slightly looking at Madison as the small man gazed back. "So I'm going to show you instead." Burr dipped his head down and kissed Madison deeply, pressing tightly against him and letting his emotions speak through his passions instead of his words.

Madison was taken aback at first but quickly responded, which absolutely delighted Burr, who was working to get his mouth open, tilting his head to kiss him better and deeper, hands slipping down from his waist to grip Madison's ass, picking him up slightly to press their hips together as James finally relented allowed Burr entrance. He jumped on the opportunity, kissing him harder, pushing his tongue into James' mouth, tasting the wine that flavored James mouth splendidly.

Burr pushed him up against the wall for support, starting to grind into him. James' hands grasped Burr's hips and pulled them tighter together, forcing them to still completely and softening out the kiss until he pulled away altogether, still tightly pressed against the wall by Burr.

"Aaron, darling, I think you've shown me exactly what your words couldn't."

Burr continued kissing down his neck. "I'd show more if you let me."

"Aaron, it's been a day. I'm not jumping into bed with you."

Burr let James slid back down onto the floor and nuzzled into his neck. "Fair enough, I'm willing to wait."

Madison chuckled and pushed him off, walking back over for his wine. "Better frame it before something gets spilled on it."

"Right! I need a frame," he said, disappearing into the back of the apartment to see fit he could find anything. James watched him go, shaking his head softly before retrieving his phone and putting back on the songs he was listening to earlier, turning down the volume so it was soft but still the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen, curling up on the couch, closing his eyes and listening to the smooth voice of his boyfriend float through the air from the speakers, sipping from his wine. He didn't pour that much so it was quickly gone. As was Madison, slipping quickly into sleep reluctantly, having not slept at all during the night.

Burr returned triumphant, a dusty frame clutched in his hand. The image of a sleeping Madison curled up on the couch brought a smile to his lips. He quickly cleaned up the frame and hung the drawing up on the wall in his room, returning to pick up Madison.

Madison, being the light sleeper that he was, woke up the moment he felt arms slip under him and lift him. "I'm awake," he mumbled.

"Well, you're about to be asleep. You didn't get any last night, did you?"

"No," he replied sleepily.

"Even though you said you'd go to bed if I did?"

"Technically, I did go to bed. And I meant to go to sleep, but I got distracted."

Burr shook his head, gently tucking Madison into his bed, smiling against when James clutched Burr's pillow, saying something about how it smelled like him. "Get some sleep, James. I have to go to work."

"I do too."

"No, you're going to bed and you can get your work done later."

"Fine. But you have to come home for lunch and wake me up."

Burr chuckled. "Fine."

----

[wannawrite]

Danced Into My Heart

Hotshot's Go Hojung X Reader [ fem ver. ] fem version because I might a male version ??? or gender neutral it. this is a safe space for all LGBT :) fLuffY

Word count: 3006

• your dance studio win a dance competition • Hotshot reacts to your video • and suddenly! boom! you guys are invited to a variety show with them but ofc something has to happen ;) ( hosted by MAUVE sunbaenims )

• Hojung really likes you ;) 

hello, my friends, it's about time I wrote something for my other bodybuilder Hotshot son. And about time I resurrected MAUVE and fly them back in from Taiwan...hehe. I'm sorry my works have been really lacking lately, I do apologise but our request box will be open until sometime next week, confirmed soon in an update. Blow it up while you still can ;) Why do people still sleep on Hotshot? Jelly is a bop. All their songs are bops. I hope you like this anon! also trying to make more of my works gender neutral... or you guys can request for specific versions and I'll try it out :) - admin L __________ "And, the first place winner is....101 Dance Studio! ( original™ ) Congratulations!" Taehyun announced, the rest of the members joined in with an applause. Meanwhile, you and your dance team could not even stop the excited screams and jumps as you viewed their live stream. The team had spent hours alone on the choreography, just thinking about the amount of time and effort put into booking the shoot locations and costuming made you feel so sick. You were glad all the hard work had paid off. First place in an international competition! How crazy was that? "Ahh, we will be watching and reacting to the videos of the winners of this competition! Also, there will be a special surprise for the first place!" Timoteo continued, eliciting more shrieks from you and your friends. "What? No way! What? What just happened?" Seulki spluttered out, her face hidden by her messy long hair. Cassandra just stared wide eyed at the screen in disbelief, her grip on Yeojin's arm was so tight you swore that your friend was going to pass out. "I think I'm going to die," Junho murmured, fanning his face in a daze. "How did we just-" "Winners, please check your email right after this! We'll see you guys with the official video soon. Bye!" Junhyuk waved to the camera and the VLive ended. An announcement was soon posted. Hotshot official Make sure to watch our reaction video uploaded to our youtube channel tomorrow! Congratulations to all the winners! #Hotshot 

There was a scramble to refresh the 101 Dance Studio email inbox. Junho clicked the refresh button about a hundred and one times per second, everyone was filled with anticipation. Yeojin and Cassandra huddled together, inhaling deeply. "Y/N, what do you think it will be?" Seulki asked you as she tapped your shoulder. "I'm nervous!" "Guys! I got it! We got the email!" Dear 101 Dance Studio, Congratulations on winning Hotshot's 'Jelly' dance competition! To congratulate you, we have planned something exciting. Pack your bags! Your team is headed to Seoul, Korea to appear on a variety show with Hotshot! read more...... There was a quiet pause to let the entire email sink in before everyone exploded into shouts of excitement. "Oh my god! Oh my god!" Chaos broke out. Cassandra was frantically the studio director - her cousin - while Yeojin flipped over a couple of chairs. Junho nearly passed out and you could only stop and stare in disbelief. It was crazy. "We're going to meet Hotshot!" ... Reality refused to sink in until the day itself when you were at the airport, dragging your pieces of luggage behind you. You could never fathom this, it was incomprehensible almost. The whole morning passed by in a blur, your brain couldn't process anything else but the mantra that you would be meeting Hotshot. "This is crazy," you muttered to Seulki. "Am I dreaming?" She pinched your arm and you yelped in shock but it did confirm that this entire situation was real and happening. Seulki was asleep throughout the entire duration of the plane ride so you had no one to rant your excitement to. It was painful. How could they be sleeping at this time? You groaned when you realised your entire team had fallen asleep. Sulkily, you played with the television screen but if you were honest, your mind was somewhere else. Hotshot could not leave your train of thought. It was crazy, you were going to appear on a variety show with them. Only significant people were invited to shows like this, what had you done? Maybe it was just a lucky fan encounter thing, five minutes of screen time was better than nothing. I suppose I'll only know when we reach... Though you promised yourself that you were too pumped up to sleep, you found your eyelids growing heavy and drooping. Eventually, you succumbed into a deep slumber. That didn't last very long. It felt as if the second you shut your eyes, the next they fluttered open, alert. "Y/N! Wake up! We've arrived in Seoul!" Seulki shouted, shaking your shoulders. She beamed happily, hardly containing her energy. "Come on! Hurry up!" You hastily unfastened your seat belt and waited for the snaking queue to move before retrieving your bags. Junho and Yeojin were on the phone with the organiser and manager respectively as all of you moved through immigration. Your hands reached to wipe the bleariness from your eyes, you wanted to feel and look refreshed. "Ahh, okay. Thank you," Yeojin said sweetly before hanging up. "Our car is already outside. Uh, they said we can rest awhile at the hotel before going down to the filming location for a briefing and rehearsal. Filming will start tomorrow at eleven in the morning. They have sent us the schedule, I'll print it out once we reach the hotel." "Wow. It's like we're being treated like idols," Cassandra mused dreamily, her eyes clouded over and if she was in a cartoon, there would be hazy clouds above her head. Seulki snapped her fingers. "Yah! Wake up! We're just...guesting on a show. We can't get used to this," she hissed but you knew she only had good intentions. You swung your arms around her shoulders. "Ahh, Seulki-ah, let us live a little. This is the most rewarding thing we've ever done. Let us enjoy our thirty seconds of fame," you sang knowing full well Seulki always gave in to you. You knew she just wanted to prevent you from getting caught up in unrealistic expectations or fantasies. After this, you would be flying home, continue with your mundane life and probably never get an opportunity like this again. You wanted to make the best of it. Yeojin yelled for everyone to hurry up. "The van is here! Let's not make them wait!" ... The morning sunlight flittered through the day curtains of your hotel room, the light cast speckles of warmth to kiss your skin lightly. It was a brilliant way to wake up. Cassandra had already gotten dressed in her attire by the time you opened your eyes. Luckily, there was a lot of time and you were quick at getting ready. "Ooh, sis you look amazing," Cassandra complimented as you changed into a black shirt and button up denim skirt. You thanked her before the two of you headed out for breakfast with the rest of the crew.

"I'm so anxious! I can't even eat!" Yeojin squeaked, stabbing at her food aimlessly. Junho was the only one appreciating the full capacity of the buffet table. Though you were nervous as well, you tried your best to eat a fulfilling meal. The day was going to be a long one, and you also could not confirm when the next meal would be. You felt the telltale buzz of your phone and quickly answered the call.

"Hello? This is Y/N from 101 Dance Studio," you greeted, unsure of who the person on the other end of the line was. All eyes at the table fixated on you.

"Hi, Y/N. This is the organiser for this show. We're so sorry to inform you that filming today is cancelled due to a mix up in schedules concerning the MAUVE hosts. Our apologies. We have already extended your team's stay at the hotel. Do drop by the studio today though, more information will be provided then. Thank you." Whoever it was sounded extremely flustered and worried, did had one job and someone messed everything up.

"Who was it?" Junho asked, eyes wavering. "Was it the organiser or manager? What did they say? Are we okay?"

Seulki smacked his arm, "Shush! Let her speak."

You breathed in deeply. "I don't know how to...explain? Rationally."

"Tell us! It's okay! What's the worse that could happen?" Cassandra pushed, smiling but her brows were creased in confusion.

"Um? The worse thing that could happen? Well, the whole show gets cancelled, we're flown back home and none of us gets to meet Hotshot after anticipating this for so long," Yeojin pointed out bluntly. Now it was Junho's turn to slap her shoulder.

"The organiser said filming has to be rescheduled, we're to head down to the building for a meeting though," you informed. "We don't have a lot of time. Let's go. Seulki, call the car."

There was a frenzy of confusion and panic even after the van's door had shut and raced towards the studio.

...

"We apologise for the mix-up but there's nothing we can do now since the MAUVE girls are already on their flight to Hong Kong and won't return until Thursday," one of the organisers told you, she looked genuinely apologetic.

I guess she's just thinking about the funds wasted on our hotel bills....... Today is only Sunday, we were supposed to be out by tomorrow but now we can only leave on Friday. Plus, our hotel doesn't seem cheap either.

"For now, uh, you guys can wait in your dressing rooms for Hotshot to arrive for the meeting to commence." She twisted the key in the lock and pushed open the wooden door to reveal a spotless dressing room. "We'll call you if anything. And...remember the contracts you signed, nothing is to be photographed and leaked to the public." You all nodded, reassuring her that nothing terrible would happen but once she was gone and at least two metres down the hall, Cassandra and Seulki started taking pictures.

"I'll drop them to my Dropbox in case they check our phones and delete them. I'll still have a copy," Yeojin said, taking pictures of the scenic view from the thirty-fourth level.

You rolled your eyes at your friend's antics but soon enough, your camera roll was bursting with pictures too.

All of a sudden, there were two sharp knocks on the door and everyone scrambled to find a 'normal' seating position. Another staff member opened the door and announced that Hotshot had arrived so he would be escorting you to the meeting room.

You had to bite your lips to stop squealing, your heart beat madly in your chest and icy shivers began to travel all over your body

Keep it together, Y/N. Pull yourself together. Do not be a mess. Professionalism. Be professional. 

After what seemed like countless corridors filled with more doors, the staff stopped outside a fancy glass door and tapped on it. He pushed it open and gestured for you to enter.

There was evidence that Hotshot had been here first, two roller chairs were left pushed out and some of their bags were in the room. The staff had turned to talk to his earpiece before quickly dashing out again.

"Woah......."

You could barely breathe. The atmosphere was so tense it choked you.

"Yo Cass, what do you think? Your family pretty much owns our asses anyway, should we introduce you as the leader?" Junho joked in an attempt to light up the mood. "You did dance Junhyuk's role anyway."

Cassandra nodded, at a loss for words. No one could even utter a word. In fact, you could hear the beats of your heart. Then, the door opened. Junhyuk was the first to walk in.

You quickly shot out of your seat and bowed. "Hello!" The rest of your friends doing the same.

The remaining members entered and a tall, well-dressed woman followed behind. She smiled at both groups. "Hi, thank you all for joining us despite...sudden changes made in the filming dates. We sincerely apologise but today, we shall carry on with the briefing but first, let us introduce ourselves."

"2...3..." Junhyuk counted down to the greeting.

"Hello! We are Hotshot."

You clapped enthusiastically, not believing you had witnessed their greeting with your own eyes. The boys introduced themselves one by one and slowly, you could feel your heart rate slowing down but face heating up.

Especially when it was Hojung's turn and he let his gaze lock with yours, lingering on your figure before beaming brightly.

Oh gosh......

You tuned out to whatever the manager was saying for a good ten minutes or so, spellbound by the attractive maknae. He was just a bit older than you but clearly more attractive than any other guy around your age in your hometown. As those thoughts filled your head, Hojung caught your stare, he smiled shyly. Flustered realising he had caught you, you quickly shifted your gaze to the manager as she explained what the show was about.

Oh my gosh! He caught me looking at him. How do I handle this now?

"To make up for the pushed back air date of this episode, we arranged with the producers to allow a special two-hour long episode! Which means that...you guys have to work together for awhile. The team decided on a cheerful concept so we're sending all of you Lotte World!" An applause broke out before she continued. "There's another contract to be signed before that and it will be filmed in the last few opening hours to after hours for better content. Honestly, we just need some cute fan interactive content so this is play time for you guys but you must collect at least an hour worth of proper footage."

This is crazy! This is just mad! We just danced to 'Jelly' and now they're sending us to play with Hotshot at Lotte World? What?

( I'm very unrealistic let me live ) 

"The cars will arrive at your hotels at four thirty in the afternoon sharp. We must film soon. The meeting is done, I need to move so Hotshot, be good and uh, you can get to know your fans a bit more," she said then hurried out of the room after bidding both groups goodbye.

"Hi! How are you guys? How was your flight?" Taehyun quizzed, eager to get to know you and your friends.

"Oh, it was good. They slept most of the way through," you replied, chuckling.

"Ahhh. We were very impressed by your cover. Thank you for working hard. You guys deserve to win. It was amazing!" Junhyun praised, clapping. "What are your names?"

“Hello, my name is Yeojin."

"I'm Junho."

"My name is Cassandra! Hello!"

"Hi, you can call me Seulki."

"Hey, I'm Y/N. 

"Seulki caught Hojung mouthing your name to test it out. She nudged you in the ribs, smirking.

"Let's bond well so that filming will run smoothly later on!"

...

You found yourself in the seat next to Hojung's, talking about anything under the sun to him. He was such an easy-going and excitable person it was fun to talk to him. His eyes always held such a playful gleam in them and they sparkled when he smiled.

"Y/N, let's be close friends. You can call me 'oppa'. Okay?" He suggested, winking.

Is ?? he ?? really ?? Asking ?? Me ?? That ?? Oh ?? My ?? God ?? It's only fair though since I am younger.

"Sure sunbae- uhh, Hojung oppa," you corrected, smiling bashfully.

"Ahhh," he muttered, cheeks reddening slightly as he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "What do you want to do at Lotte World?" He set his arms on the table and cupped his face. "Ahh, there's so much to do there!"

You managed to stammer out an answer which Hojung happily replied to. He seemed to enjoy talking to you, he was always grinning and making eye contact. It flattered you, really. Hojung was such a likeable person whom you could foresee being close to even after this stint had ended.

After awhile, a staff member came to collect both of you to usher everyone back to the hotels to prepare.

Hojung pouted, he handed you his phone. "Can I get your number? You know, in case you get lost or what not."

You chuckled, agreeing and punching your number in his phone. "See you later."

He smiled before following his hyungs out of the room.

...

As soon as the room was far behind them, San turned to Hojung and shoved his chest playfully with a smug smile on his face. "Yah, you're really too much! Is Y/N the only person in that room hm? Has she taken over your life? Is she the centre of your universe now?" He teased, laughing.

"Hojungie, you're terrible you know. Junho was calling you, 'hyung! Hyung!' so many times but you ignored him! So rude," Timoteo scoffed playfully. "Yah, so why do you like her so much? Is someone in loveeeeeee?" He gently pinched Hojung's cheek.

Taehyun collapsed in a fit of laughter. "Ahh, Hojung is so caught up with Y/N! She has him wrapped around her finger. Are you going to leave us now too?"

Hojung's face was bright red. "Y-yah! Hyungs, s-stop it. It's r-really nothing! I-I'm-" he stuttered, clearly troubled and unsure of what to do. Eventually, he allowed his protests to be drowned out by the teasings of his hyungs.

By the time they reached the van, Junhyuk had planned out the entire wedding and Taehyun was busy calling Sungwoon to tell him the news. San couldn't wipe the satisfied smirk off his face after Hojung's face was the colour of a tomato, ten different shades included.

"Hojung, are you going to ride the Ferris wheel with her?" He goofed.

"Are you going to kiss Y/N at the top?" Timo added with smooching sound effects.

"Ahh, we should probably give you two some privacy at Lotte World. It'll be like... the first date in your life?" Junhyuk joked, which earned a roar of laughter from the boys and a slap on the back from Hojung.

Hojung huffed as he fanned his face but secretly, he couldn't wait to see you again. Maybe it was a blessing that filming had been pushed back and that he could spend more time with you. Just the thought of being around you made him smile.

"Yah, what's that smile on your face? It's Y/N isn't it?" 

If only his hyungs could leave him alone.........

[paniccord-ff]

24. Part 4

Answering my phone “What’s good?” my manager is probably asking me where I am at, I am late as always “are you purposely coming late?” he questioned, it sounds busy where he is “not at all, just around the block. I am in the SUV so don’t worry” seeing Royalty from the corner of my eye “sit down Royalty” looking behind me, how did she even get herself out of the car seat “Kyrie did you get him out?” Rylee questioned him, I bet he did “yeah yeah, see you soon” he disconnected the call “come here” picking Royalty up and placing her on my lap “don’t ever do that again!” Rylee shouted at Kyrie “phone” my daughter grabbed my phone, letting her take it from my hand “it’s cool Rylee, don’t shout at my man back there” smiling at Kyrie, I don’t think Kyrie cares “we should have put him with my parents, I knew we should of” pressing a kiss to the side of Royalty’ cheek “I usually have my mom with me, this is the first time I have Royalty with me on my own. My mom should be around though” I am feeling so nervous “you will be fine Chris, you are a great father to her and you got me. I will watch her for you” look at my wife supporting me.

Royalty held my phone up at Rylee “cheese! Lee!!” Royalty shouted, Rylee put her hand up like she is shy “bye, you ain’t shy. Smile for the camera, you need to get used to it anyways” Rylee put her hand down “shall I press the button?” I asked Royalty, her little hands can’t do both. Pressing he button so the picture got taken “is it nice?” I asked Roro “pretty” chuckling at my daughter “she loves that word, you look beautiful. Come here” tapping the icon so the camera switched over, I gasped “it is us” Royalty held the phone up “you do cheese now” Royalty stuck her tongue out instead “eww, how ugly. You stank” pulling a face at the camera “noooo you silly” she yelped giggling before getting off my lap, taking my phone with her “cheese” she held my phone up to Rylee, I guess she thinks I am too ugly for a picture.

This is what I get for being late, I am in a queue until it is my turn to go next “is this how it is? We wait?” Rylee questioned, nodding my head “yeah, someone from the BET team will come. We get out and just walk the carpet, you know like the fashion show. Just stay close to me, Joe or Carlos. It is hectic but you will do well, you look so beautiful” Rylee smiled looking down at Royalty “I love you” I grinned at her “I love you too Chris” I am in awe with Rylee, I am so lucky to have her “I feel sick” Kyrie said, looking behind me “that best not be because I said I love you to your sister” Kyrie nodded his head “one day, you will be in love” the SUV started driving slowly, sitting back in my seat “this is going to be us” Joe opened his car door as the SUV came to a stop “oh god, that looks scary” Rylee said seeing the red carpet, Joe opened the car door for me. Getting out of the car, looking at the second SUV Rylee’ parents are in. Carlos is already helping them out, I just need to make sure they good while I am on that red carpet.

Picking Royalty out of the car and placing her on the ground “give me the phone baby” Royalty let me take the phone, holding on to my daughter’ hand. Placing my phone in my pocket, Kyrie got out before Rylee. Kyrie went over to his parents, Harvey is busy taking pictures of the crowd “don’t be shy now, come” Rylee is taking so long “I feel like I have sweated my makeup off” holding my hand out, Rylee placed her hand on mine as she got out of the SUV “no, you look beautiful” Joe closed the door, leaning down and sorting out her little trail at the back “you look fine! Do not worry” EJ said, I think that is ok and her trail is fine “you sure?” Rylee said, EJ checked Rylee over “just work the carpet, you good. See you inside” EJ rushed off, I think Rylee is nervous about this because it is a little intimidating to come out to this crowd.

Following the lady from the production team, the screaming pierced my ears and Royalty got scared “Chris!!” the fans in front screamed, Royalty grabbed my legs stopping me from walking. Picking Royalty up because she ain’t about to walk “it’s ok baby, they nice. Little crazy but nice” waving at the fans, reaching my free hand and touching their hands “I love y’all” I said waving, walking back over to Rylee, Carlos is walking behind Rylee’ parents and Joe is up front. I am relying on Carlos to not fuck this up, I am busy doing this “Chris!” the paparazzi is already shouting me, seeing French. He clocked me and came rushing over, he been wanting to see Rylee “my homie” he hugged me “you outdoing niggas with this on!?” French spat looking at my outfit “you look clean as fuck, it’s mini breezy here too” French waved at Royalty, she didn’t want to know and grabbed onto my neck turning her head away. French smiled so wide looking at Rylee “this is my other half Rylee, Rylee I am sure you have seen this face” Rylee smiled at him “nice to meet you” French said, he better move his hand “where did you find her homie!?” French looked at me laughing “nigga, shut up” I said hitting his arm “that is Rylee’ parents and her brother” I am not rude, I am about to introduce my in laws “nice to meet you all, now I know where she gets the good looks from” French said to Rose, Rose giggled hiding her face.

Placing Royalty down “hold Rylee’ hand, I will be back baby” I said into her ear, Royalty put her fingers in her mouth. Holding Royalty’ hand out for Rylee to take “I won’t be long, I just need to take some pictures” pulling my suit jacket down, looking at the lady on the carpet “stand there” she shouted, taking in a deep breath looking towards the cameras “breezy in the building, look over here!” licking my lips smiling “just a picture over here Chris!” placing my hands in front of me “walk this way” the lady shouted, placing my hands behind me walking slowly “Royalty Brown!! Royalty” looking at my daughter, she is hiding behind Rylee’ legs. Smiling at them “is that your girlfriend!” one shouted, waving them over. Joe pointed at Rylee and the family, nodding my head. Rylee eyeballed me, she is getting shy for nothing. Seeing Royalty and Rylee walk over to me, I am so proud of them. That is my family, I can’t want to make it official.

Placing my arm around Rylee, Royalty stood next to Rylee not leaving her side “come over here” waving Rose over, she shook her head “no!” she shouted getting all red “come here” holding my free hand out, she shook her head quickly walking over to me. Placing my arm around Rose “see you look good” I said to Rose, moving my arms away from them both “let’s go” walking around Rose, Joe pushed someone away and I couldn’t really see who “just quick questions, over there” the lady pointed at Terrence J, nodding my head making my way over to him “my man, Chris Breezy!” Terrence got his hand out to me, dapping him “nice to see you homie” looking behind me, just to check on my family “what are you up too? What is happening with the album?” he asked, looking back over at him “album is coming out very soon, erm in a few days you will get a release date. It’s a special album” I said, I can’t really say a rushed album can I “I have heard rumours about something, I see this is going to shock the whole world Chris. He is the one to watch people, I am with you brother” busting out laughing “yeah, if you want something exciting then watch out for me. I can’t say much but yeah” laughing nervously “I came with my girlfriend and my daughter” stepping back, I want the world to see my baby “nice to meet you Rylee, I have heard you took Dior by storm and now the BET awards. I thought you got a modelling contract?” Terrence naturally started speaking to her, Rylee looked at me all wide eyed as he put the mic in her face “no, I am just still working as normal” laughing at Rylee not knowing what to say “she is shy, don’t let it fool you though” I said laughing at Rylee now knowing what to say.

This is so crazy, I thought the fashion show was crazy but this. This is something else, I thought I saw celebrity’s there but here, I am seeing all my favourite artists. I saw Drake but I didn’t freak out, Chris would get so jealous and I don’t want that either. Royalty won’t leave my side at all, she is so shocked with everyone around. I am loving my family, they look so happy and smiling and my mom, she looks so full of life “ma!” Chris shouted, Joyce is here “I was waiting for you here baby” Chris hugged his mom, Chris’ sister waved at me. Waving back at her as Joyce rushed over to me “you look so beautiful” Joyce hugged me close “thank you so much, you too” Joyce is really hugging me tight, she let me go “my grandbaby, look at you” Joyce picked Royalty up “Rylee, this is my dad” Chris waved me over, walking around Joyce “hi Mr Brown, nice to meet you” his dad took my hand and pressed a kiss to my cheek “nice to meet you Rylee, I am Clinton” Chris actually looks so much like his dad, smiling at him “ma, dad. This is Rylee’ parents, Rose and Harvey. This is Joyce and Clinton my parents” Chris is everywhere “we need to move from here, I am sorry guys. I will see you all later, you all can meet properly after” Chris rushed out, we are blocking the way so I guess we need to move.

How crazy is this, we are front row here. Chris undid his button on his suit jacket sitting down, looking to the side of me. He is sweating, my poor baby. Opening my bag, I have paper towel in this thing just in case. Pulling it out, turning to face him. Lightly dabbing his forehead “open some of your button on your shirt” Chris smiled at me “I will calm down, just gets a little hectic you know” he explained, Chris is not about to open the buttons so I will do it for him. Unfastening his top buttons “well hopefully you cool down now” sitting back in the seat, Chris reached his hand over placing it on my knee “you look beautiful, I am so happy that you’re with me. Just to have your family with me too” he is being so damn cute “appreciate you” leaning over kissing his lips, reaching my hand up wiping the lipstick from his lips.

Chris got up from his seat, that is Diddy. Holy shit, I grew up to him. This is crazy “I love him!” My dad shouted, looking over at my dad before looking back at Chris. Chris had his arm around Diddy “this is my girl Rylee” Chris is introducing me to everyone, getting up from my seat “well hello beautiful” Diddy hugged me, I wasn’t expecting a hug but ok “you done well for your self young breezy” Diddy said to Chris “she is a keeper” Chris grinned at me all proud, he is getting me all shy with this “I better go, talk to you all soon” shuffling back as I sat back down, my dad got his hand out and Diddy gave him a high five “dad looks so damn happy” I pointed laughing “I love the guy Rylee” my dad is too cute, Chris sat down “they announcing my category next” Chris said to me “I hope you win baby, I know you will” fixing his shirt a little, I am so proud of my baby.

How do people keep a straight face when the camera is all in their face, they have the camera on Chris’ face but I am sat next to him and so I am in the picture also “so the award for Best Male R&B/Pop Artist goes to” Terrence J said opening the envelope “I am taking you with me” Chris said in my ear, moving away from him “you’re not” I said to him, I am not about to go up there “my man, Chris Brown!!” he shouted down the mic, Chris got up from his seat “I told you” getting up from my seat “I told you that you would get it” pressing a kiss to his lips, Chris shook my dad’ hand “I’ll be back” he walked off, I am so lucky he didn’t drag me along because I can’t deal with all that. Chris high fived some people as he walked up the stage, clapping for my man smiling. I am so happy for him, sitting down on the seat “Chris Breezy!” someone shouted, Chris laughed on the mic “thank you so much, I always appreciate the love I get from BET and the family. I know I haven’t been around for a while, my album will be out soon. I want to thank god, my fans and I want thank my daughter for inspiring me and keeping me humble, I also want to thank Rylee. She about to get all shy and say no, why me. But she has changed my life and I’m blessed. Thank you Rylee” forget Chris getting hot, I am too. My cheeks became so red and the camera didn’t leave my face “I love you” I mouthed to Chris as he blew me a kiss waving.

Chris came jogging back over to us “come here” my mom waved him over “give me a hug, I can’t get up” my mom said, Chris slowed his pace and walked over to my mom “I am so happy you won that” Chris leaned down so my mom could hug him “thank you so much Rose, I am happy you can be here” my mom kissed his cheek, this makes me so emotional. Holding back my tears, I need to not cry but this is so overwhelming. I hate that my mind has gone back on the fact my mom has cancer, I can’t imagine her not being here “my babies looking beautiful” Chris sat down, staring at my mom in awe “what is wrong with you now?” my mom reached over grabbing my hand “don’t you dare, you will ruin your makeup” it was too late the tear fell “oh no baby” I need to go and get my makeup fixed “Rylee, what is wrong” getting up from the seat, Chris grabbed my hand but I yanked it away before he could actually get a firm grip onto my hand. Joe came out of nowhere and scared me “everything ok” I stopped in my tracks “Rylee, what is wrong?” Chris stepped in front of me “I just need the bathroom, I just don’t want to lose my mom that is all” walking away from Chris.

Reapplying my foundation a little, it’s not as bad as I thought “boss, you can’t go in there” hearing Joe say, I froze in the bathroom mirror “I don’t care” hearing Chris say, the bathroom door opened “Rylee, why are you crying? I thought we was supposed to be all happy for this? You need to have faith and think that Rose will be fine, I have hope baby” I don’t deserve this man at all, staring at Chris in awe “you know you shouldn’t be here, thank you baby. You right, I need to have more faith but seeing you both just set me off. I am glad that the makeup didn’t really change, do I look ok?” placing the foundation in my bag “you look perfect Rylee” he is so sweet with me, god I love him “I don’t deserve you at all, to think I thought you was an asshole at one point” Chris chuckled “you changed me baby” picking my bag up from the side.

“You not going to move now are you?” Chris questioned, shaking my head “no why?” placing my left leg over my right “I need to prepare to sing, you better turn up for me. Don’t move ok?” nodding my head, placing my bag on Chris’ seat “I won’t move now, I want to see my man singing” Chris smiled at me before walking off, I shouldn’t cry again anyways “have you stopped being silly now?” my mom said in my ear “yes, I just got a little emotional but I am back” holding my mom’ hand, my mom shook her head smiling at me “stop it and be happy” she kissed my hand, finally the break is over “so this next performance was added just this week but we are all here for surprises, especially for this next group. I didn’t think I would see them perform but stand up for Jagged Edge” I did not know they was performing, my dad was the first one to get up.

If I knew Jagged Edge was coming, I wouldn’t have worn heels so high because this is stopping me from dancing. Laughing at my dad and his embarrassing dance moves “really?” I said pointing at him, he is so embarrassing. Waving him off “give it up for RUN DMC” I gasped “oh my god” I spat cheering, where is Chris and why is he missing this because it don’t take him that long to change. Seeing my parents dancing together, noticing Joyce stood at the side. My eyebrows knitted together, why is she stood there with the family. Waving them over, Joyce shook her head. Should I go there to them, walking towards her she shook her head “stay there” she pointed mouthing to me, Royalty waved at me “give it up for my man Chris Brown” I stopped in my tracks turning around looking at the stage clapping, I have no idea who to look at. The music cut off “Meet me at the altar in your white dress” Chris sang acoustically, looking at where everyone is looking. Turning my head behind us, seeing the light shining down at Chris as he walked down the crowd “We ain't getting no younger we might as well do it” he sounds so beautiful.

Smiling from ear to ear as he stood in front of me “Girl, let's just get married. I just wanna get married” he sang looking at me, the place fell so quiet and I hate this because all eyes on me. Can he please just go and perform. The crowd cheered as Chris moved his mic down to the side of him “thank you” he said, he is making me want to be sick because he is either nervous or scared, I can feel him “go on Chris!” someone shouted “this might be the crazies thing I have done, and I have done pretty crazy shit in my life” he paused laughing to himself “I met Rylee by chance and she was not interested in me at all and I kept on annoying her because as soon as I saw her I loved her, I never told her that at first. Rylee and I haven’t been dating for years but it already feels like that with her, her heart is so pure that at times I feel like I do not deserve it, I don’t deserve to hold someone so pure when I have done nothing worthy. When people ask me why I am not around anymore, why am I not in the clubs it’s because I have Rylee. She has made me a better man and I didn’t know what love felt like until she showed me, I didn’t think a nigga had a heart. She taught me things, she supports me and then tells me off when I do dumb shit. She is my soul partner because I am whole with her, this probably sound corny as shit but I don’t care” staring at Chris in shock, he said all of that looking at the ground. He looked up at me finally “you make me whole Rylee and I can’t see my life without you, my daughter loves you. You love my daughter like your own, I look into your eyes and I get so weak” Chris placed his hand in his pocket and then got down one knee “oh my god” placing my hand over my mouth, he placed the mic down at the side of him. He opened the box “Rylee Turner will you marry me and be my Mrs Brown?” is this real life, this is a dream. I froze staring at him feeling so lost “yes” I sobbed out “Oh my god, yes Chris!” Chris got up from his position and I just held onto him.

Holding onto Rylee, she won’t stop crying. I have no idea who been dapping me and saying congratulations “stop crying Rylee, I am just blessed to be with you” Rylee moved back from me “I am a mess, I can’t stop crying” I didn’t think there would be so much emotions “I am so happy for you both” my mom kissed my cheek, I didn’t even put the ring on yet “thank you mom” feeling Royalty hit my arm, picking Royalty out of my mom’ arms staring at Rylee. Walking around my family gathering at the front, crouching down in front of Rose “stop crying y’all” holding Rose’ hand “my baby girl is engaged” Harvey said, I didn’t even know he was crying “what did I tell you baby, the right man will come along and love you? Did I not, I am happy to know that you are happy Rylee. Stop it now, both of you are going to be so happy together” Rose grabbed Rylee’ hand and pulled my hand “I am crying happy tears, for the both of you ok?” Rose placed our hands together.  

Things got so hectic at the end of that, I had to perform and then I was backstage. Holding my suit jacket in hand walking to the SUV “she is in here yes?” Joe nodded his head “we stayed with them as we promised” Joe opened the car door for me, Rylee is sat in the SUV waiting. Getting into the SUV placing my jacket in the back “fiancé now” I said smiling “god, I am still shaking Chris. I need to re-watch all of that, is this real life? You want to marry me?” she said, I chuckled “yeah I do, it’s real life. You remember when we first started talking, remember Starbucks. Remember when you put me on a points list? Where you think I am at now?” Rylee paused laughing “god, you remember that. I would say ninety-nine point nine” I gasped “wow? Not one hundred yet?” she shook her head “one hundred is when we marry officially, I am sorry for crying so much. I am just so overwhelmed, I am still shaking Chris. I can’t take this in at all, I just heard everything you said about me and then my heart was all full. As much as you say I helped you, you also helped me. I was so scared of men, I was scared of falling in love. I cried because you saved me too, I cried knowing my mom will get to see me happy” Rylee is about to cry again, her voice has gone high pitched “I sound so terrible right now but I love you so much, god!” she spat as the tears fell, Rylee looked over at me “you getting me emotional here, I am just blessed baby” let me not cry.

Looking ahead of us, my drive way is packed “we will get out here, there is no reason to be waiting” opening the car door and climbing out, holding my hand out for Rylee to take “this is your home now, you living with me. This is our home” Rylee held my hand as she got out of the car “well you did put my apartment back on for rent so I got no choice” she got a point, she is stuck with me “I just want to say before we go up there, I love you so much and thank you for making my dreams come true. I could never repay you” shaking my head at her “I don’t want repaying, I just want to love you. We are equal ok?” pressing a kiss to her lips “I love you so much, come. I have a few more surprises for you” I am going all out today.

I am so glad the car came, my family started clapping as Rylee and I walked up the drive “surprise Rylee! For you” pointing at the Range, Rylee let my hand go “no, Chris. I can’t take this” turning around smiling at her “you ain’t got no choice, your old car has gone babe” Mijo walked over to me “congratulations the both of y’all, the keys” he passed me the Range key “You got the white Range and I got black, babe we matching. Stop it, it’s yours” holding the key out to her “I can’t Chris, this is too much” grabbing Rylee’ hand and placing the key in her hand “engagement present for you” placing my arms around Rylee “I don’t know what to say, thank you so much” I know she is in shock, I know there is a lot of shit happening.

Mijo has done well, I doubted him but everything is has it should be. Rylee is busy talking to my family, Harvey came at me holding his hand out to me. Holding his hand as he hugged me “thank you so much for making my daughter happy, this is a blessing and I am so proud to call you my son in law” he moved back still holding my hand “you know I would never do anything to upset her, money means nothing to me” I said letting his hand “it’s been a very crazy day, I want to go and take Rose to the hotel. She is very tried, I know she is trying to stay awake. You think we can go without Rylee knowing?” looking behind me “I haven’t even put the ring on her finger yet, hold up. Let me do something and then go, are you coming tomorrow? It will be less hectic then” I think I invited more people than I should have to the engagement party “we will come back, we will wait” let me go and get the paper, I want people to know what Rylee’ got.

“Can y’all like gather around here for me” placing the paper down on the island counter top “come here lover” I waved Rylee over “I just want Rylee to see the ring but also, I am giving Rylee her own part in Black Pyramid. She will have her own right to my company, I don’t want Rylee feeling like she has to look at me for money. She loves being independent so I drew up a contract, which she will sign” sliding the paper over to her “she will not only be my wife but my business partner, we are as one and that is how I want it. I want us to be on the same level, I know it’s a lot to take in but I want us to be equal” grabbing the ring out from my pocket “I never got to put the ring on your finger but I just didn’t want to lose it, it got a little hectic there” opening the box “oh my fucking god!” Rylee spat moving back all wide eyed “oh my god, Oh my god!” Rylee gasped “oh wow, that ring, oh god” she held her chest “five milli on that blood” Mijo had to say it “nooo, oh my god no! Chris no, this is too much. Oh god, stop. I think I am going to faint” laughing at Rylee, she is so dramatic.

I have never been so happy like this, this is all I have ever wanted in life, who would have thought a nurse from New Jersey is my soul partner. Placing my arms around Rylee’ waist from behind “oh put her down” my sister said “I am bored of sharing now, I want you all to leave” I said, my sister scoffed “I know what you want, I will make sure you are too tired before I go” my sister ain’t shit, pressing a kiss against Rylee’ neck “I love you” holding my phone out to my sister “can you take a picture of us please” Rylee turned around in my arms “I love you too baby” biting on my bottom lip “I am the happiest woman alive, thank you” smiling at Rylee “for that, I will sit on your face” Rylee whispered, I gasped smiling so wide laughing “thank you god! Yess!!” I shouted laughing “look over here then the both of you” my sister shouted at us, I don’t even care right now “don’t get changed out of this dress, I want to devour you and that means me taking you out of this dress” Rylee lightly bit her bottom lip “don’t do that, you will make me hard” she released her bottom lip from the grip of her teeth “naked in my heels, I want you to fuck me with my heels on. I want my legs in the air” my mouth feels so dry right now “you made me move now” my sister came to the side of us holding my phone up, Rylee placed her arms around my neck and kissed my cheek “I am just taking this picture, y’all are annoying” my sister passed me my phone. Looking at the picture smiling, tapping on my Instagram. Pressing the camera tab and selecting the picture my sister just took, captioning the picture ‘First lady of Black Pyramid, my wife, my baby, my heart. Mrs Brown, tonight was a blessing’ pressing send on the post.

[openwebsolutions]

Why to Choose the Right Payment Gateway for your shopping cart is so essential? And which one is the best?

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Why to Choose the Right Payment Gateway for your shopping cart is so essential? And which one is the best?

The technical world is in a phase of constant change where new ideas, innovations, and inventions are taking place every day. The masters of technology are working hard day and night to make this world a better place. One cannot deny the contribution of technology in making this world a better place. Almost everything is available at the click of a button. Life has become much easier after the contribution of technology in every field.

One such field where technology has revolutionized the working system is e-commerce. E-commerce itself is an amazing technology without a doubt. But, the gurus of the technology never stop working on a single technology. They work on the same technology, again and again, to make it better and better every day. And this new technology implementation in e-commerce is the Payment Gateways.

We are going to discuss every aspect of the payment gateways. But, before proceeding to the advanced part, it will be better if we discuss some of the basic parts. So that everyone will be able to catch up with the topic.

“A facility that is directly connected with an e-commerce website and allows the customers to take credit and debit cards as payment methods are known as the payment gateways.”

Studies and researches have found that people use the card payment methods more than any other method while shopping online.

According to an online source of 2018,

“Average e-commerce weekly sales reached just under £1.25 million in January, a figure that is steadily growing.”

But, there are still some people who are afraid of shopping online. And every group has one such person. They find it hard to believe that a shopping can be completed without facing any hassle or issue.

But, don’t let the fear stop you from enjoying the delightful shopping experience that the new technologies are providing.

Now that you know, what actually a payment gateway is, the question must have shifted to why it is important? Since the invention of the online payment gateways, businesses have been asking the same question in different ways. So, in this article, I will try to clear those queries of people, businesses, and e-commerce.

Why it is important to choose the right payment gateway for your shopping cart?

There are some reasons or you can say benefits of using payment gateways for the purpose of making online transactions. Those features make the payment gateways much for important than any other component of a shopping cart.

Every business aims for a high cash flow. To fulfill this goal, many businesses are opening their door for the online payment. There is an immense number of features associated with the online payment. The online invoice payment helps the companies in various ways as they save time, much faster, and save maximum efforts for the clients. The excessive cost that a company has to pay during the physical transactions can be reduced to a great extent. A company has the opportunity to receive payments from all around the world through online payment gateways making it one of the most hassle-free transaction methods. Not only that but also it reduces the amount of paper wasted in physical transaction making it a very good eco-friendly technology.

That is why it is so much important to choose the right payment gateway for your shopping cart. A poor quality and outdated payment gateway will not be able to provide full benefits to the users. Also, the payment gateways require proper security to protect confidential data. If you select an outdated payment gateway, you may have to face great loss due to data theft.

To better understand how important it is to have the right payment gateway, here are some of the exclusive benefits for you.

Top 8 key benefits of implementing online invoice payment solutions:

Safety in transactions:

Whenever money is involved, security becomes a crucial factor. With the increasing number of cybercrime rate, it has become important that online transactions have proper security. But, a proper online payment gateway always uses high-end encryption, and protect all the confidential data of both the customers and the merchant. The proper safety features of the online payment gateways will help you to conduct a fair deal in the long run.

Easy to merge with the shopping cart:

One of the best features of the payment gateways is that it can be easily combined with the shopping cart. So, the buyers have the opportunity to add all their desired products to the cart and calculate the overall value of the products with service taxes. You can imagine how convenient it will be for both the clients and merchant.

Say bye to long queues:

When you go on shopping, you have to wait in the long queues even in the convenient store. The convenient store does not seem convenient any more when it comes to payment. But, that problem can be easily avoided with the online payment methods. It is not only a blessing for e-commerce but also for the customers too. So, you can make your customers very happy with the online payment gateways.

Quick payment:

The best thing about the online payment gateways is that the payment can be made at the comfort of the house or office. So, there is no need to stand in line leaving all your other important works. Also, the gateway that accepts payment online provides a notification instantly informing the customers that the amount has been received. This will give a sense of relief to the customers and they will have more trust in your products or services.

Credibility for the merchants:

Everyone knows that receiving money through online payment methods is much more credible and secure than cheques and cash. The merchant receives the money in the blink of the eyes without any fear of losing money or cheque bounce. It is an exclusive feature that is possible to achieve with the implementation of right payment gateway for your shopping cart.

Credit card payments:

An amazing facility that makes the payment gateways important for the shopping cart is its EMI feature. Credit cards are popular for enabling people to make payments even if they do not have money in their bank account. And the best thing is that your customers will be able to break the large amount into smaller parts if you are selling expensive items. So, everyone will be able to purchase every kind of item from your online store. This will definitely make a difference in your business’s all-round growth.

Walking with the current trend:

When most of your competitors are using the online payment gateways for transactions, you cannot expect to gain the client’s trust with age-old techniques. Nowadays, receiving the payment through online gateways has been directly linked with a company’s reputation.

Last minute deals:

It is a common strategy of e-commerce to launch a last-minute cost-saving deal. You can also apply this technique to lure customers. But, to receive the payment at the last minute, you need the online payment gateways.

This will help your customers to grab the last minute deal and increase your sales rate.

The process continues…

Finding the best one

These are some of the exclusive benefits that are only possible to achieve if you select the right payment gateway for your shopping cart. Choosing the wrong one may do more bad than good to your business.

But, the question is which payment gateway is best in the masses. Of course, selection of the right payment gateway is a difficult task but only if you don’t know how to choose.

Just as Thomas Edison said,

“Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless.”

So, if you have started an e-commerce website and the payment gateway is not helping you much, there is no need to fear. Just remember this phrase of great Thomas Edison and continue your quest for betterment.

Let me make your task of finding the best payment gateway easy.

How to choose the best payment gateway according to your business needs?

There are lots of options available in the market which can easily confuse a person making him/her select the wrong payment gateway. Some of the popular online payment gateways for e-commerce are:

Authorize.Net

PayPal

SecurePay.com

2Checkout.com, Inc

PaySimple

BluePay Processing LLC

First Data Corporation

Fastcharge.com

ChronoPay

Paynova

Every one of them has some special features which make them unique and important.

There is no need to feel worried if you have no idea how to find the best payment gateway for your shopping cart. Considering the points given below will help you to find the best one according to your requirements.

How soon are you planning to launch your new website with online payment gateways?

Each one of the payment gateways available in the market has different features and working mechanism. So, if you are planning to launch your new website very soon, the best option will be to go with the online payment gateways like PayPal and Stripe. You can sign up instantly without creating a merchant account. If you are in a business where you have to face a large number of client’s traffic every day and use customized software like the legal app then going with this option will be your best step.

The amount you are willing to spend on the payment gateways

The budget is a crucial matter when you are setting up an online business to earn profits. If you spend more money on the payment gateways then you may face a financial crisis during the marketing, promotion, or other matters. So, calculate your budget before going for anything. Businesses like stock market have lots of money involved in a single day. So, it requires high security for which you may have to pay a high amount.

The three major costs included in a payment gateway are set-up costs + transaction costs + admin costs.

The best thing to do is to calculate all these costs and compare it with your budget. If it seems ok, then choose that payment gateway for your business.

Look for the security features in the payment gateway

Security is one of the prime components of the payment gateways. A slight mistake in the integration can cause you to lose a huge amount of money. Always choose a provider which is level 1 compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and that offers the best built-in security.

When you are going for a mobile app like the iOS software, the chances of cybertheft becomes high. So, a highly secure payment gateway should be your top priority to create a secure platform for both the merchant and the client. It will not only save your money but also enhance your customers trust toward you.

Look if the payment gateway has international exposure or not

If you are in a business like logistics and transport then you have to deal with international clients. So, if your payment gateway does not accept international payments then there is no point of putting it up there. The first thing to check for such business is if the payment gateway supports international or multi-currency or not. Also look if the payment gateway offers an interface with multiple languages or not.

Make sure to check if the payment gateway has an additional charge for the multi-currency payments from other countries or not.

Conclusion

These are some of the points that will help you to choose the best payment gateway for your business.

But, do you have any idea how the payment gateways work? Well, most of you will come up with a negative answer. There is no need to feel left behind if you don’t know about the integration part. Mostly, the integration of payment gateways is so difficult and complicated that this task is given to professionals like Openweb Solutions.

If you spend all your attention to the integration of the payment gateways then it will be much more difficult for you to give focus on other crucial matters of your business.

So, giving the integration task to a third party who can work as a link between the merchant and the customers will make your work a lot easier. The chances of any kind of mistake with the transaction will be decreased to almost zero.

That is why you should go for the professionals without taking everything in your own hands. So, now that you have got what you came looking for, everything is in your own hand. I hope you have enjoyed reading this blog.

Read other related articles for more information.