#cause like yep that's a real person right there.

[carnographix]

Another selfie under cut bc I have immense lesbian swag today

Silly little gay boy who lives on like exclusively coffee and tomato soup

[jinjeriffic]

DCxDP Prophecy universe

(Title subject to change)

Sometimes Danny really hated Clockwork. You’ll know him when you see him. “Cryptic and unhelpful as usual”, Danny groused. “You’d think the Master of Time could be a little more descriptive considering it’s his damned errands I’m running here, but noooo! I’m starting to think this whole apprenticeship is just an excuse to foist his busywork off on me.”

Here Danny was, aimlessly flying above the rooftops of Gotham, trying to figure out who he was supposed to be delivering his message to. He had a name, but no description and no location. I’ll know him when I see him my ass. Whoever this Damian Al-Ghul was supposed to be had better stick out like a sore thumb or Danny was never gonna find him. Speaking of…

Danny paused in mid-air. There was someone crouching on a nearby rooftop, peering over the edge. He was young, wearing a red and yellow outfit with a dark hooded cape. He wore a sheathed sword on his back that looked way too real to be part of some casual cosplay. Welp, if this ain’t him then Clockwork picked the wrong errand boy. Now, how best to approach this?

Danny considered his options. The cloak and apprentice staff Clockwork had loaned him gave him a suitably spooky appearance on top of his usual ghostliness but he wasn’t gonna go around scaring kids, armed or not. The friendly approach it is then.

“Hey there!”

Wow, the kid had some good reflexes. At the sound of Danny’s voice he jumped as if electrocuted, spinning around and drawing his sword in one smooth movement. He held the sword in front of himself in a defensive position and his stance showed that he knew how to use it. “Who the hell are you?” he barked.

“Easy there” Danny raised his hands in a placating gesture “I’m just here to deliver a message. I’m looking for someone named Damian Al-Ghul. You wouldn’t happen to be him, right?”

A deepening scowl was his only answer. “I repeat, who the hell are you?”

Danny sighed “Look kid, I’m just trying to do my job here. I have a prophecy to deliver, so if you’re not this Damian fella…” he trailed off invitingly.

“A… prophecy?” the kid hesitated before lowering his sword slightly, scowl still firmly in place.

“Yep” Danny popped the end of the word for emphasis “Phantom, apprentice to the Ghost of Time and part-time delivery spectre, at your service” he threw the kid a mock salute. “My Boss told me to come to Gotham to give a prophecy to you’ll know him when you see him” he dropped his voice to a lower register and made airquotes around the words, “and you’re the only memorable person I’ve seen tonight, so…” Danny spread his arms in exasperation.

The kid hesitated visibly before letting his sword hand drop to his side. “I am the one you’re looking for.”

“Great! Hang on.” Danny pulled a messenger bag out from under his cloak and started rummaging around in it, causing the kid (Damian?) to twitch “Now where did I put..? Aha!” Danny pulled out a faintly glowing envelope in triumph. It had a large purple wax seal on it and Damian Al-Ghul written in elegant cursive across the back. Danny floated closer and held out the envelope to the kid.

“The prophecy… is a letter?” Damian drawled, eyebrows rising in disbelief. Danny shrugged.

“What, did you expect a dancing, singing telegram? I only do those for the really good tippers” he shook the envelope slightly “So, are you gonna take this or what?”

Damian finally reached out and took the letter, turning it over to scrutinise both sides. Danny tucked his bag back under his cloak and rose into the air.

“Right, I’ve got other errands to get done, so… see ya!” he turned to leave.

“Wait”

Danny turned back to face the kid and to his surprise, saw that Damian was holding out some folded bills towards him.

“You know the tipping thing was a joke, right?”

“Tt. I am told it is rude not to tip delivery people” Damian sniffed “I am simply acting within expected social norms”

“Wow, um… okay” Danny took the folded bills from Damian. It looked like it would last him for a couple of good meals and he wasn’t exactly swimming in money, okay? Ghost apprentice wasn’t exactly a paid internship. “Thanks?”

“You’re welcome” came the haughty reply.

Danny shrugged and tucked the money into his bag. He rose back into the air with Damian’s eyes tracking his movement. With a wave of his staff, he opened a portal back to Clockwork’s realm and passed through it leaving Gotham behind.

****

Robin’s hand rose to the communicator in his ear.

“Oracle, did you get all that?”

Now has a Part 2!

[revasserium]

death before decaf

opla!zoro; 10,414 words; coffee shop/college!au, vague enemies to lovers, fencer!zoro, sports medicine!major reader, slightly ooc zoro (he's a bit more talkative), fluff and flirting, bff!robin, zoro makes the first move, zoro calling reader "princess", mutual pining, both reader and zoro are dumbasses, making out in locker rooms

summary: sanji and nami bet on how long it'll take you and zoro to finally crack over your caffeine-related discourse; or -- that one coffee!shop zoro au that literally no one asked for.

a/n: i keep on saying "this is the longest fic i've written to date" but this really is the longest fic i've written to date. and no, this will not be the only time zoro calls reader "princess" in one of my fics. trust.

one.

“How long did you say?”

“Two weeks, max.”

“Nah… you think?”

“Probably closer to a week. Week and a half.”

Sanji stubs out his cigarette on the bottom of his shoe before tossing the smoking nub into the bin, casting Nami a disbelieving look.

“They’ve been going on like this for like three months… and you think they’re gonna crack in the next week and a half? Nah, fam — I call bullshit.”

Nami shrugs, smirking, “Your funeral.”

Sanji scoffs as Nami pushes through the swinging double doors into the main body of the cafe, hitching a smile onto her face as she greets the customers already lined up in front of the counter.

“Yeah, whatever,” he mutters to himself, dusting his hands off on his apron before pushing in after her, putting on his best customer-service smile.

“Mornin’ folks! Welcome to the Straw Hats Cafe, where the coffee’s hot but the people are hotter — what can I get started for you, sweetheart?” he grins as he shoots you a wink and you flash him your best Colgate smile.

“Can I get a decaf latte with —”

“Oat milk, two pumps of caramel, and whipped cream on top? Oh — and a sprinkle of cinnamon cause you can’t have a fall latte without cinnamon, right?” Sanji finishes for you.

You nod, your cheeks flushed a bright, wind-kissed pink from the cold outside.

Behind you, a green-haired boy in a tight-fitting tee and no jacket scoffs under his breath, shaking his head.

“Yep! You know me so well,” you say, giggling and making a point to speak just a bit louder.

“Course I do, darlin’. It’s what I get paid for,” Sanji jots down your order and pushes it to the side where Nami’s already halfway done with making your drink.

“Ah, if it isn’t my favorite mosshead jock — lemme guess, double espresso, no sugar, no nothin’, right?” Sanji punches in the order just as Zoro makes his way up to the counter, his eyes narrowed.

“Yeah.”

Sanji grins, hiking an eyebrow, “Talkative as always, I see. Alright — that’d be —”

Zoro wordlessly slides a full punch card onto the counter and Sanji pauses.

“Ah — pardon me, I do believe that’s your free drink! You sure you wanna use it on an espresso? Maybe… you wanna try one of our seasonal specials? The maple spice latte’s one of our best —”

Zoro scoffs again, “I’m good. I like my coffee real, thanks.”

Down passed the pastries, you roll your eyes, making an exaggerated face as Nami hands you your drink with a grin.

“Y’know, if you guys just made out I feel like it would fix a lot of this unresolved tension,” she says, even as you nearly choke on your drink.

You’re still coughing when Zoro joins you by the finished drinks counter.

“I’d rather lose an eye than make out with someone who drinks decaf.”

Nami sighs, shooting you a meaningful look as she slides the double espresso toward Zoro.

You wipe your lips with a napkin before leveling him with a glare.

“Well I’d rather gouge my own eyes out than make out with someone who never grew out of his middle school emo-phase.”

“At least I don’t try to use sugar to fill the gaping hole in your life where a real personality should be.”

“At least I don’t make that gaping hole my entire personality.”

“Princess.”

“Edgelord.”

You turn resolutely away from Zoro and smile back at Nami and Sanji, both stealing glances at the pair of you even as they continue to handle the Monday morning rush.

“Thank you guys — I’m gonna be late for class.

Zoro tsks, taking a sip of his espresso.

“I’m gonna be late for practice.”

You huff, pivoting away from him towards the door, purposefully letting it swing shut behind you; Zoro swears as it almost makes him spill his coffee.

Back in the coffee shop, Sanji finishes another order just as Nami washes off her hands to take over at the cashier.

“One and a half weeks?” Sanji asks as he rolls up his sleeves and grabs a few metal cups for steamed milk.

“Yep,” Nami replies, shooting another look out the glass door where they can both still see your’s and Zoro’s silhouettes as you head towards the university campus, “Just about.”

“Alright then, you’re on.”

Nami’s smirk only grows, “Like I said — your funeral.”

two.

You’re fuming all the way to your first morning class — Bio-Organic Chemistry — that you don’t notice your friend Robin until she’s standing right next to you.

“Are you mad at your fencer-boy again?”

You roll your eyes, huffing out a breath, “He’s not my fencer-boy, and no. I’m not mad.”

Robin grins, “Your tone says different.”

You cast her a reproachful look, “I just… bumped into him at the coffee shop again.”

“Ah,” Robin says, her voice saturated with understanding.

You groan, “He just… pisses me off so much! Like, why’s he care how much sugar I put in my drinks or if I drink decaf? He’s just a muscle-head loser who thinks drinking espresso shots makes him somehow more manly or something. Ugh.”

Robin’s grin is amused when you turn to chance her a glance.

“Then… why do you care how he takes his coffee?” Her question is light, but you’ve known her for long enough to know when she’s teasing.

“I didn’t! At least… not until he made fun of my drink first. I mean, who does that anymore? We’re in college! Like, grow up!”

“Mm,” Robin hums, schooling her expression into one of careful consideration and marked compassion, “and of course, you’re just engaging in his… childish antics because he started it first, right?”

You sigh, cupping your very sugary latte between your palms as you both duck into the main lecture building, teaming with students shedding scarves and jackets, shaking off the late autumn chill.

“I know, I know it’s stupid but… he just… pisses me off so much!”

Robin chuckles, her smile distinctly sphinx-like as you press your lips into a pout.

“Well, we can talk about it after morning lecture, hm?”

You sigh and nod, waving her off as she heads down the hallway towards her Ancient Worlds class and you head upstairs for the sciences.

You spend the whole lecture in a mood and by the time you’re excused, your temples have started to throb.

But true to her word, you find Robin waiting for you at the bottom of the stairs, a thick leather-bound book clutched to her chest. You give her a questioning look.

“Just some light reading,” she says. You roll your eyes.

“Just say you’re a gigantic nerd and go.”

At this Robin laughs, falling into step next to you as you both start to make your way towards the dining commons.

“Have I ever denied that I was?”

You let out a noncommittal grunt.

Luckily, the commons isn‘t as crowded as it usually is and you both quickly find a seat.

“So,” Robin says as she slides into the seat next to you, propping up her chin on the heel of her hand. There’s a low, lilting tone to her voice that tells you there’s no getting out of it this time.

You sigh again, pursing your lips, staring down at your açaí bowl.

“So what?”

“Tell me about him.”

You scoff, “Not really much to tell — he’s… one of the fencers on the national team. So obviously, he’s got his own head shoved so far up his ass he can probably watch his own lunch dige—“

“So he’s quite good at fencing then.” Robin keeps her voice neutral, taking a contemplative bite of a banana.

“I guess — I mean we’re the top feeder school for the Olympic team, aren’t we?” You jab your spoon into the yogurt, nearly splattering Robin’s new book. She gently tucks it into her bag and motions for you to continue.

“I dunno, there’s not much to tell after that… he’s an arrogant jock who judges people by how they take their coffee,” and at this, you shove a large spoonful of yogurt and açaí into your mouth, glaring at nothing in particular.

“Doesn’t your practical applications class look after the fencing team?”

Again, you grunt, sinking a bit further into your seat at the thought.

“Yeah, I’ve been dreading that all morning, and the class isn’t till Wednesday.”

Robin’s smile is almost too academic as she carefully finishes her banana and gets started on an egg salad sandwich.

“It can’t be that bad, can it?”

You sniff, swallowing another huge mouthful of yogurt.

“It can,” you say, grimacing, “You should see the number of times I’ve had to hold back from dislocating his shoulder on purpose.”

Robin laughs her tinkling, all-knowing laugh, “Every day, I wake up glad to be on your whitelist.”

Your lips twitch into a reluctant grin.

“I’d be nicer too if I were as tall and pretty as you are. But since I’m not one of god’s strongest soldiers, I’ve gotta find other ways of defending myself, y’know?”

“I’m not sure what you do can be called ‘self-defense’ in a court of law but…” she smiles, “You shouldn’t sell yourself short either.”

You cast her a deadpan look, “But I am short. It’s like where 90% of my rage and spite come from.”

Robin grins, “You know that’s not what I meant.”

You make a rather childish face, but a comfortable warmth spreads from the center of your chest out towards all your extremities at Robin’s words. She cocks her head and continues.

“Plus… I’ve a creeping suspicion that your fencer-boy would agree that you’re prettier than you think.”

You freeze mid-swallow on your last spoonful of yogurt, eyes wide.

“Wait — what?”

Robin sighs, looking at you as if studying a particularly interesting monolith carved with all her favorite dead languages. You sit back, crossing your arms, feeling raw beneath her inquisitive gaze.

“You can’t still think that this little… feud you two have is purely based on a difference in coffee preference, can you?”

You realize you’re chewing on your bottom lip and force yourself to stop.

“I — I don’t know how it can be anything else though…” but even to your own ears, you sound distinctly unconvinced. Robin cocks her head.

“Think about it — when we were all little kids and running around on playground, which girls would get their pigtails pulled the most?”

Your frown deepens, “But we’re not kids anymore and this isn’t a play —“

“Yes, I know. Just humor me for a moment.”

You squirm in your seat, your heart thudding erratically in your rib cage, making you feel strangely breathless.

“It was… always the girls that the boys had a crush on,” you answer, your voice growing smaller with each word as the realization seeps into your skin like sunlight. And suddenly, it's too hot. The thought that Zoro might be doing this because he likes you isn’t something that’s crossed your mind. Or rather, it isn’t a thought you’d allowed to cross your mind.

“You know, boys aren’t technically considered ‘men’ until they’re in their mid-thirties,” Robin says, conversational and satisfied to have driven the point home to you. She leans back even as you reach up to press your face into the palms of your hands.

“But…” you try to grasp for some thread of logic that might be able to refute Robin’s claim but come up empty. She’s always been too smart for her own good. And yours.

When you finally lift your head again, it’s to find Robin still watching you, an oddly indulgent smile on her lips.

“C’mon,” she says, gathering her things, “don’t want you to be late for your next lecture.”

She has the audacity to wink as you hurriedly grab your stuff as well.

“Shut up,” you say, bumping her lightly with your elbow as you walk passed her, cheeks darkening with every step. Your next lecture, you both know, is the Nutrition of Sports — which is one of the few actual classes that you and Zoro actually share.

“Have fun in class!” Robin calls as you split ways outside the dining commons. You consider flipping her off but decide against it and opt to stick out your tongue at her instead.

Robin shakes her head, laughing quietly to herself. Really, she thinks, this is just starting to get interesting.

three.

You walk into Nutrition of Sports fully prepared to see Zoro slouched in his usual seat at the back of the class — except, he’s not there. You blink; he’s always been there, always early despite what others might assume of his punctuality. And yet.

“Lookin’ for me, Princess?”

You jump as you hear Zoro’s voice behind you, dangerously close to your ear. Jerking around, you find him smirking, arms crossed as he stares at you.

“N-no.”

“Tch.” He saunters into the room, his arm barely grazing yours as he drops into his seat, leaning back with a sort of damnable, feline grace, doing nothing to hide a huge, lethargic yawn. When he makes a show of stretching his arms over his head, you pause as you notice the way he winces, favoring his left side over his right.

You narrow your eyes.

“You’d be a shit poker player,” he says, grinning as he turns his eyes back towards you, catching you staring before you flush a deep purple and stomp towards your own seat, just one row ahead of him.

You noisily start setting up your supplies — an endless parade of jelly pens and perfectly coordinated sticky notes in aesthetically pleasing colors — pretending like you hadn’t heard him.

Thankfully, the professor hurries in soon after as the rest of the students file in.

Halfway through the lecture, you’re stifling the third yawn of the hour as you feel a small, crumpled something hit the back of your neck. You jerk around to find Zoro ducking behind his arms even as you spot the small wad of paper that he’d obviously just tossed at you.

You bend down to pick it up, only to find a note scribbled in slanted, uneven handwriting —

Sugar crash? Ha. Serves you right.

You nearly whip around but the professor clicks another slide and drones on. You huff, flipping the paper over to scribble on the back —

What happened to your arm?

You surreptitiously toss the note back to him and grin to yourself as you hear him sputtering behind you. The professor glances towards you. You flash him a winning smile as you continue to jot down notes; behind you, you hear the distinct sounds of Zoro scrambling to appear as if he’s paying attention.

The rest of the lecture goes by uninterrupted, though by the end, you swear that your hackles are raised from the way Zoro’s been staring at the back of your neck the entire time.

“What?” you ask, whipping around to face him.

Zoro, for his part, has the decency to look sheepish as he clears his throat and sighs, leaning back.

“There’s nothing wrong with my arm,” he says as he looks away, a slight darkness dusting the high of his cheeks. It’s not the first time you notice the bone-chiseled features of his face — like some gorgeous, careless god, rendered by the loving hands of a besotted Renaissance artist and preserved for the world to see — the way a constellation of freckles scatter across the bridge of his nose, the way his jaw is sharp enough to sting the imagination.

“Right. Fine. Sorry I asked.” You shove your notes and pens back into your bag, rolling your eyes as you shoulder your tote, “And… you’d be a shit poker player too.”

And with that, you turn and leave the room without a single backward glance.

You’re gone so quick that you don’t see the way Zoro stares after you, his own eyes narrowed into slits. You don’t see the way he frowns as one of his teammates nudges him with an elbow, reminding him that afternoon practice starts in 15 minutes.

four.

Tuesday night finds you slumped over a stack of books on the 3rd floor of the library, your entire body feeling odd and boneless. Hundreds of tiny flashcards are scattered across the top of the desk, each filled with a system you have to memorize before your test on Friday for your O-Chem course, when suddenly, a white paper cup appears in your field of vision, plopping onto the tiny slip of table still available between all your study materials.

“Hm?” you jerk up, blinking blearily up at a vaguely familiar green-haired figure even as he crosses his arms and sighs.

“There. Some real coffee. Looked like you need it,” Zoro says, glancing away the moment your eyes come into focus.

You stare at him for a solid ten seconds before looking back down at the cheap, watered-down cup of unsweetened coffee on the table before you.

Ew, you want to say, but somehow, “Thanks,” is what comes out of your mouth.

You reach for the cup, wincing slightly as you jerk your fingers back from the scalding exterior of the thin paper cup.

Zoro immediately leans down, snatching the cup from the table to blow on the surface. You watch him with wide, wondering eyes. It takes him a second to catch himself before he blushes a deep shade of maroon and clears his throat, quickly setting the cup back down on your desk, tucking both his hands into his pockets, looking anywhere but directly at you.

“It’s — careful — I mean — it’s from the vending machine downstairs so it’s not as fancy as the stuff we get from the coffee shop —”

Maybe it’s because you’re truly too tired, or maybe because Robin’s been right since day one but — you reach for the cup, carefully cradling it between your palms as you take a tentative sip and grimace at the watery, bitter aftertaste.

“Gross,” you say, though without any malice, glancing up at him. Zoro scoffs, dragging out an empty seat across from you, turning it around to straddle the chair, propping both his arms on the back as he looks at you. Your eyes once more catch on the way he’s gentler with his right side.

“What’s wrong with your arm?” you ask again, taking another tentative sip of the truly awful coffee.

Zoro grimaces, “None of your business.”

You sigh, the will to snark back rather feeble as you consider the mountain of vocab you have to memorize before your Friday test.

“Right, sure — keep your secrets,” you drone as you set the paper cup down and nudge it further away from you, “be mysterious for the next —” you check your watch, “eighteen hours before Practical Applications when you’ll have to explain to Coach Mihawk why you've been lying about an obvious injury three weeks before your next —”

“Fuck — okay.”

You pause, looking up from collecting your flash cards.

Zoro digs his fingers into his right shoulder.

“I — I think I pulled it at the tournament last week.”

Your eyebrows shoot up, “Your tournament was on Thursday.”

Zoro shifts uncomfortably, “And?”

“And it’s now Tuesday.”

Zoro doesn’t answer this time, but you have to actively fight down the urge to throw the no-longer-scalding-but-still-very-hot-coffee at his face. You tell yourself that the only thing stopping you is professionalism and sportsmanship instead of an unwillingness to damage his Michaelangelo-sculpted features.

“It’s been five days!”

Zoro’s expression flatlines, “Contrary to popular belief, I do know how to count.”

You bite back a frustrated scream as you push away from your chair and round the table to stand behind him, not giving him enough time to be bewildered before you press a palm to his right shoulder, already focused on finding the tender spots.

“Tell me where it hurts.”

You run an expert palm over the width of his shoulders, focusing on his right, fingers digging into various muscle groups until he winces.

“Ow.”

You grin as you find a tender patch to the right of his spine, almost beneath his shoulder blade.

“You strained your Rhomboid.”

“Gesundheit.”

You roll your eyes and reach over his back for the cup of coffee. You feel his breath hitch as your front presses full against his back.

“Hold still,” you say, pressing the side of the warm cup to the sore muscle.

Zoro makes a choked moaning noise that he tries to bite off, but not soon enough. It sizzles down your spine to curl at the base of your belly, spreading heat through your body in a way you have no urge to examine at this current point in time.

You hold it there for a minute, and then two, till the coffee’s gone lukewarm.

“Here,” you say, tugging the cup away to offer it to him.

He stares at the cup before glancing up at you.

“Caffeine helps with muscle soreness and pain — it’s probably why you’re so addicted to espresso all the time,” you offer by way of an explanation, even as he opens his mouth to ask. He closes his mouth and takes the coffee, downing half of it in a single gulp.

Then, he sets it down on the table before digging a crumpled packet of sugar out of his pants pocket.

“It’s… probably not as sweet as you usually like it but…” he presses it into the palm of your hand, looking anywhere but at your face, “should help the bitterness.”

And then he’s gone, slouching off towards the elevator bank, leaving you gaping after him with the packet of sugar in your hand, your rapidly cooling coffee, and a mountain of revisions you’ve got no hope of finishing tonight.

five.

Wednesday finds you practically sprinting as you reach your Practical Applications course, clutching at your chest as you burst through the gym doors, gasping for breath. Professor Kureha quirks an inquiring eyebrow at you while Mihawk, the fencing instructor, slates you a sharp, rueful glare.

“— as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted,” his bright hawk-yellow eyes flash back over the fencing team, “regionals are quickly approaching and we need you in top form. So — warm-ups stretches, everyone. Pair up and get to it. Zoro, up here with me.”

You duck your head and hurry towards your normal spot along the bleachers, slowing as you notice what looks like a cup of coffee from the Straw Hats Cafe occupying the place where you normally sit. You pick up the cup — it’s still hot to the touch.

On the coffee slip is a single word — Princess.

And though it’s in Sanji’s familiar coffee shop scrawl, only one person has ever called you that.

Heat crests up your chest, prickling at your cheeks. You don’t have to taste it to know that it’s your order — your favorite order. Briefly, you wonder if Sanji made Zoro recite the entire thing before agreeing to put it down, or if he’d spared Zoro the pain of having to say the word ‘decaf’ unironically.

And then you wonder if Nami teased him at all, waiting for his own drink on top of yours.

“Chop chop,” Professor Kureha says, grinning too wide as she wanders over, peering at you over her John Lennon shades, “you heard old Hawk-eyes — time to pair up.”

You hurriedly drop your bag and take a quick sip of our drink, letting out a soft groan of appreciation as the caramel-cinnamon goodness seeps into your blood vessels. Some nameless freshman hopeful from the fencing team is your partner for stretches and you patiently walk him through all the major motions, pushing on his back and laughing kindly when he can’t quite reach his toes.

You feel the faint tingle on the back of your neck that tells you someone’s staring, and you privately think that you don’t need three guesses to figure out who it is. But you don’t give Zoro the satisfaction of looking over till you help the blushing freshman finish all his stretches, giving him an encouraging pat on the shoulder, reaching up on tip-toe to ruffle his hair even though he’s got a solid four inches over you.

When finally, you glance over towards where Mihawk is putting Zoro through his paces, it’s to find him flickering through the motions — flashes of silver, lithe, fluid — and you find your breath held captive in your chest by the sight.

You’ve always known Zoro to be a graceful fencer, but grace has nothing on the way he flows from one move to the next, each muscle drawn like a bow-string, each intake of breath timed and perfect. His arms and legs move in tandem and there’s a bewitching rhythm to the way his body breaks and bends. It is beauty and strength, dance and magic — power and promise and the sword-tip’s whish of premonition.

When he finishes, you suck in a breath you hadn’t been aware you were holding.

You watch as Mihawk murmurs something to Zoro, who winces, looking chastened before Mihawk waves him away and Zoro sets down his epee, making his way over to you.

You open your mouth, about to make some snarky remark but Zoro reaches over his back with one hand and tugs his shirt off in a single, unbroken motion. You gulp, your voice failing you as your eyes settle on the strong ripple of his muscles as he tosses his shirt aside.

Zoro smirks, “Keep starin’ and I’m gonna have to start charging.”

You rip your eyes away, fire licking up the length of your torso as you reach into your bag for a roll of sports tape.

Zoro slumps down in the seat in front of you as you take stock of his sweat-slicked torso, your eyes still catching on the patch of swollen muscle beneath his shoulder blade. You reach forward and run a thumb along it, careful of the way he hisses.

“A hot-patch is only going to do so much,” you say, frowning as you drop the sports tape to focus on massaging the tender bit of skin.

Zoro groans, his eyes falling half shut as you slowly work at the various knots in his shoulders. Your fingers are slow and deliberate, applying just the right amount of pressure. And more than once, Zoro has to bite back what he’s sure would’ve been an indecent moan before it rolls out of his mouth at the way your soft palms press into the planes of his back, the tenseness of his shoulders.

“Keep moaning like that, I’m gonna have to start charging,” you say, much too close to his ear.

Zoro jerks, even as you pull back, laughing. The sound makes his skin prickle up with goosebumps and he doesn’t want to think about the myriad reasons why.

“I bought you coffee, twice,” he grumbles, cheeks pink, his mind still buzzing from the warmth of your palms.

You hum, your fingers flickering over his skin, pulling away for a second before he feels something wonderful and cool pressing against his sore, aching muscles.

“You’re right… you did buy me coffee twice. Even though the first time was horrible vending machine coffee and I used most of it as a heating pad for your injury.”

Zoro grunts, letting you manhandle him as you gently twist his right arm into an array of different stretches to test his range of mobility.

“Still counts.”

You put down his right arm to test his left. Zoro chooses not to think about the way his body tingles where your hands touch him, and especially not where you’re standing too close, your chest occasionally brushing against his shoulder. He chooses actively not to think about the way he can smell the soft, coconut milk fragrance of your lotion as you lean over him, rambling about doing the proper warm-up and cool-down exercises.

He grins as you reach over mid-sentence to finish your drink and you pause, watching him with narrowed eyes.

“What?”

He shrugs, “Nothin’… just that… seems like you liked your drink.”

Your eyes slingshot from his face to the nearly empty cup in your hands.

“I always like my —”

They widen when you realize that Zoro had in fact ordered a double shot of espresso in your usual drink instead of your normal decaf. And, that you’d been too distracted by him to notice.

“I — it — wh —”

Zoro languidly rises from his seat, grinning, “Thanks for the treatment, Princess. I owe you one — lemme buy you a coffee sometime, yeah?”

You stare after him as he makes his way across the room, back to the rest of the team for proper bouts. You force down another blush as you shove the now-empty coffee cup into the nearest trash can, your heart skidding to the rhythmic squeak of feet shuffling against the floors, the bell-like ting of epee blades, the murmur of the watching crowd.

six.

Thursday morning finds you ill-rested and grumpy as you join Robin in the quad, heading for the Straw Hats Cafe during free period.

“Trouble sleeping?” Robin asks, looking you over with mild concern.

You grunt, adjusting your bag, “Had coffee too late in the day.”

At this, Robin frowns, “But you only drink decaf.”

You grunt again, not looking at her, “Yeah, well.”

Robin blinks for a second before a knowing smile splits her lips, “Ah… so. Fencer-boy’s made his move.”

You round on her, fists clenched, “He has not! He just — he just bought me coffee!”

Robin remains infuriatingly unfazed as she stares at you, “Yes. And to most, that would constitute as ‘making a move’. And here I thought you were a fan of romance novels.”

You turn away from her, huffing even as your cheeks fill with color, “I — I am.”

“So?” she asks.

“So?” you echo, cursing yourself for sounding like a petulant child.

“So…” she continues, patient as always, “he bought you coffee.”

You crinkle your nose, your stomach a roiling mess as the pair of you make your way across the quad and duck into the cafe to Sanji’s bright, welcoming voice, your eyes scanning the queue even though you know that Zoro’s got morning practice. This does not go unnoticed by Robin, though she mercifully elects to not question you about it.

“Yes, he bought me coffee. But instead of decaf, he made it a double-shot.” You try very hard to make this sound like a personal affront, but Robin only dips her head.

“Ah,” she says again, and you feel the urge to run out of the building even as the pair of you shuffle towards the front of the line.

“Hi there, oh! I’ve got a special message for you,” Nami says as you get to the registers, her voice silken with glee as she reaches behind the counter to tug out what looks like a receipt. You glance down at the paper, confused, but she only winks as she moves to ask what Robin would like.

You inch to the side, distracted by this strange turn, your eyes dropping to the slip of paper, upon which is scribbled — Good luck on test tomorrow. Evening bout. Gym.

You stare at the cryptic message for a full minute before Robin ushers you toward the counter where Sanji is pumping out drinks, making girls blush as he winks at them each in turn.

“Ah, if it isn’t my favorite Decaf Princess — though… seems like your tastes are a-changin’ these days,” Sanji says, grinning wide as you get to the counter, pushing a steaming cup towards you. You frown at the drink — cinnamon sprinkled atop a perfectly placed dollop of whipped cream, underneath which you’re sure is your favorite drink order. You look back up at Sanji.

“A certain mosshead jock put in an advanced order for you — said to give you an extra shot of espresso for the test you’ve got tomorrow.”

You sputter as Robin laughs beside you, thanking Sanji for her own Long Black.

“You know, you could just be normal and call it an Americano,” you say as the pair of you make your way out of the cafe. Robin grins, sipping at her drink.

“I could… but where’s the fun in that?” she slates you a glance, “More importantly, are you going?”

“To what?” you ask, not meaning to sound so defensive, but you can’t help it, and even as Robin sighs, you know that it’s useless.

“To the bout,” she says, unruffled.

You hunch into your upturned collar and your thick, layered scarf, cradling your drink, the sweet scent of syrup and cinnamon wafting up to tickle your nose. You blush at the thought of Zoro’s voice, full of morning gravel, shy as he lists out all the extremities you like in your coffee order.

“Maybe. I mean… why not, right?”

Robin nods, humming as she takes another long drink, “Mhm — why not indeed.”

You nudge her; she nudges you back. You both laugh as a church bell rings out from across the quad, sending a flock of birds scattering through the misty, morning air.

seven.

Friday evening finds you pushing through the wide gym doors, pressing your hands over the skirt you’d painstakingly picked out, chewing on your bottom lip.

You silently curse at Robin for pulling out last minute, begging off to some Ancient Languages focus group.

“I bet it’s not even real…” you mutter to yourself as you slip into the front row of the bleachers, looking for an empty seat. You somehow manage to look up just as Zoro is about to go on, his mask under one arm, his blade in the other.

You raise your hand in a half wave before catching yourself and shoving it back down, scowling as Zoro’s lips pull into a lopsided grin. You drop into a seat just as Zoro tugs his helmet on and stretches his arms. You tense as you see the slight wince he twitches away as he tests the weight of his blade.

But you needn’t have worried — the bout is quick and decisive, Zoro scoring one point after another, his blade flashing through the air, bright as fish scales. And before you know it, the buzzer sounds, marking his victory. You leap to your feet, cheering with the rest of the crowd as Zoro tugs off his mask and pumps his fists.

You catch his eye and for a moment, the wild rumble of the screaming crowd fades to a dull, thumping baseline. He jerks his head towards the lockers and you nod, swallowing hard as you duck through the still-cheering crowd towards the back of the gym.

When you get there, it’s to find him methodically polishing his blade, his mask set to the side, his thick jacket pulled down to pool around his waist, the rest of his protective wear scattered in heaps on the ground around him. You have half a mind to scold him for being so careless with what you know is expensive gear but you can’t keep yourself from staring at the wide planes of back, curving up to his shoulders, the thick cords of muscle that flex up either side of his neck.

He looks up as you shuffle in, your skirt suddenly feeling a bit too short, too risque for the near-winter weather outside.

You clear your throat and cast your eyes about the empty lockers. You don’t miss the way his gaze skates up your bare legs, pausing at the place where your skirt brushes the top of your thighs.

“Uhm — how’s your shoulder?” your voice sounds too high, echoing strangely along the white-tiled walls.

Zoro licks his lips and puts down his blade, rolling his right shoulder.

“Better but… still not great. Mihawk’s making me to do PT.”

You nod, letting out a soft laugh, “I’m glad. You’d never do it otherwise.”

He scoffs, “You know what that means though, right?” There’s a raw, rolling tension beneath his words, a sort of thickened expectation as he stares at you with dark, meaningful eyes.

You purse your lips, your stomach tightening.

“I —”

Zoro gets to his feet, and you barely register the soft clatter of his blade as it rolls to the side on the bench. He closes the space between you in three quick steps and you find yourself marveling at his speed — wondering vaguely if this is how all his opponents feel when he slips forward, the tip of his blade digging into their shoulder or stomach or the bend of their hip.

“Means we’re stuck with each other. At least till you fix me for regionals in two weeks.”

Your back meets the icy chill of the locker doors and the words are out of your mouth before you can stop them —

“Bold of you to assume that you’re fixable in two weeks.”

Zoro quirks an eyebrow, even as you resist the urge to clap your hands to your mouth, cursing inwardly at whatever the hell made you say that out loud. Your heart thuds an insistent drumbeat inside your chest as Zoro leans casually against the lockers next to you. Like this, you can feel the heat of his skin, the rhythm of his long breaths as he looks you over with sharp, curious eyes.

You think you can taste the sweet, tepid weight of his breath. It smells faintly of coffee and mint and synthetically flavored protein bars.

“Then…” he drawls, propping an arm against the locker door right next to your face, his eyes flickering from your lips up to your eyes and back down again. Your gaze is unabashedly caught on the shape of his mouth, but when you finally force yourself to look up at his eyes, it’s to find them warm and amused.

“How long do you think it’ll take?”

You gulp, “To fix your shoulder?”

Zoro shrugs, “That and… whatever else you think needs to be fixed.”

You purse your lips, an entire kaleidoscope of butterflies erupting in your stomach at his words.

“Who knows? Might take three weeks… might take — forever —” your words cut off as he leans in to graze his lips against yours. And you’re momentarily caught between delight and bewilderment that you’re right — they do taste of coffee and mint and salt — but that they also taste of a dull, throbbing hunger as he leans in to kiss you proper. And then, the blooming realization that you’re just as desperate as he is, pushing in, fingers scrabbling against the skin of his chest as his skim along the sides of your ribs, the dip of your waist.

He kisses you so deep and so long that you’re actually gasping when he finally pulls away to suck a stinging hickey into the smooth of your collarbone, his fingers digging grooves into your thighs as he hoists you up to press you against the cold, hard metal of the lockers.

You let out a clipped moan at the same time he does, and his right arm twitches, though he makes no move to let you go.

Distantly, your mind registers the fact that he’s still technically injured, but the part of you that’s hungry and clawing at the base of your stomach with a fierce, immutable need refuses to listen to reason. It takes more effort than it logically should’ve done to extricate yourself from his grasp, to push him away despite his disgruntled sigh as he stumbles back and stares at you with dark, dangerous eyes.

“What —”

“Fuck —” you hiss, even as you let your head fall back against the lockers, the dull thunk pulling a wolfish grin to his lips.

“Yeah, well —”

“Wait — no —”

Zoro cocks his head, “No?”

You reach forward to tug him back, to kiss him as deeply and desperately as you dare, but you pull away before he can properly sink into the kiss and you pin him with a look.

“We — your shoulder —”

“Fuck my shoulder —”

You shake your head, almost delusional with the heat and want and the insanity of it all, “No! We can’t! We — we’ve gotta take care of it first!”

Zoro rolls his eyes, “It’ll get better if we just leave it alone —”

You shake your head again, laughing as he presses back in, slower this time, grazing his knuckles along the skin of your jaw, tilting you back towards him.

“It won’t,” you say, softly, letting him run a thumb along your lips, “but… if you let me take care of it. It will heal faster…” you trail off, letting the implications simmer beneath the surface of all your unsaid words, and it only takes a second for Zoro to consider before he lowers you to the floor and starts haphazardly gathering up his things.

You drag a hand across your lips, watching him.

“So…” you feel yourself blush as you muster up the words but Zoro scoffs, already impatient as he shoves his stuff into one of the larger lockers and slams the door.

“Mine. It’s closer.”

eight.

His, is — in fact — much closer than you’d thought. Only two blocks from the campus, and in one of the most expensive dorm buildings. You wonder how much he must be paying for it before you realize that he's on a sports scholarship, but you can’t even bring yourself to be bitter as he lets you into his spacious dorm, the giant living room scattered with game consoles and opened cereal boxes, leading to a short hallway that opens into his bedroom.

It’s cleaner than you’d imagined, with a set of light green linens drawn neatly over a full-sized bed, and two sets of pillows.

“Sorry for the mess,” he says, sweeping some energy bar wrappers into the trash from his desk as he tosses down his duffle bag.

You shake your head, looking around, your eyes catching on the thick volumes of fencing books, the endless stacks of sports magazines, the huge set of free weights on a rack in the corner by the closet.

“Uh… do you want a drink?” he asks, suddenly awkward as he scratches at the back of his head.

You turn towards him with a grin, “No. But I do want you to take off your shirt.”

Zoro blinks before he smiles and moves towards the bed, tugging off his shirt and tossing it to the side. You fight the urge to roll your eyes as he leans back on the bed, his perfectly tanned stomach flexing beneath the slanted desk-light as he watches you through lazily hooded eyes.

“On your stomach,” you say, your voice light and surgical as you open your own bag and tug out a tub of medicated massage cream.

Zoro stares for a second before the smile slips off his face to be replaced by a dull, knowing scowl. Still, he doesn’t argue as he flips onto his stomach and sighs, pillowing his cheek on his arms as he pouts at the wall.

“Like I told you — we need to take care of your shoulder first. Regionals are in two weeks. We can’t have you performing like you did tonight.”

Zoro attempts a glare over his shoulder as you carefully maneuver over his back and straddle his hips, warming your palms with the massage cream before setting to work.

“I still won.”

His voice is tight and petulant. You nod, sighing as you work your thumbs into the dip beneath his shoulder blade where you know he’s still sore. He hisses, jerking away from you. You pin him in place with your free arm and continue to roll your thumb across the bundle of muscle.

Two minutes in, you press a bit harder and he lets out a pitched whine that makes you pause in your ministrations.

“F-fuck —” he buries his face in his pillow, thumping a fist against his bed as you laugh and continue the massage, though taking care to be a bit more careful around his injury.

Nearly twenty minutes later, you climb off the bed and wipe your hands. Zoro groans, shifting to watch you with half-lidded eyes and color-stained cheeks.

“I know,” you say, holding up your hands, “that really hurt but you feel much better now, right?”

Zoro grins, sleepy as he blinks slowly up at you, “Yeah. Whatever.”

And then, a long moment later —

“Hey,” he says, his voice soft, flipping onto his side and shifting on the bed as if to make room for you, “stay.”

You freeze, almost unwilling to believe your own ears as you finish putting away your supplies. You glance at him with tight lips and hopeful eyes.

There’s a tiny grin threatening the corners of his lips as he sighs, making a show of yawning and stretching.

“It’s late… and I don’t really feel like walking you back.”

You fold your arms, “I could just call campus security to escort me.”

Zoro stills for a second but a moment later, he casts his eyes up at the ceiling, “Yeah… you could…”

You make no move to leave.

“But you still owe me coffee in the morning,” he says.

You frown, “Wait, what? How’s that?”

He glances at you, “I’ve bought you coffee twice.”

“Yeah, but I just gave you a free 30-minute medical massage treatment for your shoulder.”

“You would’ve had to do it anyway on Wednesday in Practical Applications.”

You narrow your eyes, “Professor Kureha might not have assigned me to you.”

At this, Zoro scoffs, “Yeah right. You’re the best, and so am I.”

“S-she might not have!” you say, though there’s no real conviction in your voice. You both know that he’s right.

“Yeah. Whatever.” He turns away from you, making as if to go to sleep.

You glare at his back, dropping your bag with a loud thump.

“If anything, you owe me coffee now. That massage was worth at least two coffees, if not more.” You plop down on the edge of his bed, scowling at the opposite wall.

Zoro is quiet for a beat too long and you chance a glance at him, only to find him peering you with a strangely indulgent look in his eyes. You blush, tearing your eyes away.

“How’s breakfast?” he asks, his voice once again going soft. Your skin prickles with heat.

“What about breakfast?”

“Coffee and breakfast. That enough to pay for the massage?”

You can’t help the smile that threatens to break across your lips as you glance back at him and catch his eyes.

“I…. guess.”

Zoro chuckles, the sound so low in his throat that it makes you shiver. Quick as anything, he reaches over to pull you down towards him, easily looping an arm around your middle and flipping you both so that you’re pinned beneath him. You barely have time to gasp before you find his lips on yours once more, slow and sweet and shockingly steady.

You kiss him back, letting him push you gently into the crumpled linens of his bed. His fingers are light as he slowly works your skirt down your legs, reaching behind your torso to loosen your bra and tug your shirt from you in a single, smooth motion.

You shiver beneath him and he pulls back to stare. You search his eyes, feeling suddenly uncertain.

“God, you’re gorgeous…”

Heat crests into your cheeks as you try to look away. But he tugs you back with his thumb and steals another kiss.

“It’s late…” he says, pulling away to press your foreheads.

You nod, chewing on your bottom lip. “Yeah, I know…”

“Let’s sleep in tomorrow.”

You laugh, shifting as he curls his body around you, tugging you easily against his chest and pulling the covers over you both. A moment later, the lights click off and you’re both thrown into darkness. You let yourself relax into his arms, wondering just how you’re going to explain this to Robin tomorrow.

“Don’t think too hard about it,” Zoro’s voice murmurs into the nape of your neck.

You grin, nodding as you press further back into him and he grazes a soft kiss along your skin.

“That kinda thinking needs breakfast and coffee first,” you say, to which Zoro chuckles, nodding as he lets you hook your ankles between his, your bodies settling against each other, warm and perfect, the curves and bends meeting like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle finally, finally finding each other at last.

You don’t have long enough to ponder on the light, musk-salt-sweet of his skin or the way you can feel his heartbeat as it threads along your spine or the way that somehow, the shape of him doesn’t feel foreign against the shape of you, before you’re already falling asleep. And to him, he doesn’t have time to ponder the lovely silk of your hair, just as soft as he’d always imagined, or the way your waist feels perfect beneath his hands, or how he’s somehow he’s always known the rhythm of your breaths before he too is falling into the warm embrace of a dark, sweet, restful sleep as well.

nine.

Saturday morning finds you both tangled in each other, the winter sun bright and cold as it slates through the slits of Zoro’s bedroom window. He wakes up first, shifting to stretch until he feels the weight of you beside him. And then suddenly, he's somehow achingly awake and aware of his body against yours, of your paced breaths and his own rapidly increasing heartbeat. For one bewildering moment, he can’t quite remember what brought him here, and then the scenes from the night before — the bout, the lockers, the kiss — the way you’d tasted, how utterly irresistible you’d been, blushing in the dim light of his room, your skillful fingers digging into his tender, swollen flesh — his own rash promise of breakfast and coffee — it all comes rushing back. Zoro lets out a long breath and leans in to brush his lips along your forehead.

You let out a light groan as you shift in his arms, and when you turn, it’s to find him watching you.

“Oh… hey.”

Your voice is quiet, almost shy as you bury your face in the crook of his neck, and he finds himself more endeared than he has words to say.

He clears his throat.

“Morning. Uh… sleep well?”

You laugh, the warmth of your expelled breath ghosting across his clavicle in a way that makes him shiver.

“Mhm… pretty well… and you?”

Zoro clears his throat, “Yeah. Guess it wasn’t… bad.”

He resists the urge to roll away, if only because your cheek is still pillowed on his arm, and he can’t bring himself to pull away from you just yet. So instead, he drops his nose into your hair and takes in the milky scent of your coconut lotion. Tiny, pin-pricks of desire shoot through him, teasing goosebumps into the skin of his back and arms, but he forces himself to lie still as you snuggle against his chest with a contented sigh.

“So… breakfast and coffee?”

Zoro grunts, “Hn. I did promise.”

You smile, letting yourself sink into the thick and syrup of his sleep-deepened voice, his moss-green hair even more tousled than it normally is as he adjusts his head on his pillow.

“Hey,” you say, breathless as you look up at him beneath the sweep of your lashes, your eyes so big and dark and wide Zoro wonders if they might swallow him whole.

“Hey,” he answers, just as breathless, uncertainty creeping up the center of his chest as he stares down at you, lying in the glistening, mercurial light, the bend of your shoulder kissed by the morning sun, the shape of you limned in silver and gold.

You lean up to kiss him before he has the chance to second-guess himself, and though he was the more bold, self-assured one last night, you press in against him this morning, the languid sweep of your tongue along his lips making him groan, helpless, against you. He tastes the satisfied grin at the corner of your mouth as he opens his own, his mind frizzing into gorgeous, white static as you spend what feels like hours exploring the sweet depths of each other's mouths — all tongue and teeth and kiss-swollen lips.

When finally you pull apart, he is more breathless than he’d planned for, his body too warm for his liking, an urgent, pulsing something burning at the base of his stomach as he fights the urge to shove you back and sink his teeth into your skin, to hear you hiss, to make you gasp, to leave the indent of his fingers along the soft flesh of your hips and thighs, to mark you as his in every way he knows how.

But instead, he places a lingering kiss on your cheek and sits up, slowly stretching his arms.

“Careful…” you warn, pushing yourself up as well, watching him, “how’s it feel?”

Zoro tests his right side, drawing his arm up and then to the side, and then pulling it across his torso.

“Whoa… so much better.”

You smile, satisfied.

Zoro chuckles, “Guess I really do owe you breakfast. C’mon.”

He slips out of bed, tugging open a drawer to toss you a thick sweater and a pair of sweatpants. For himself, he only tugs on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, even as you frown, squinting at him from where you’re nearly swimming in his clothes.

“You’ll freeze.”

Zoro smirks as he looks you over, reaching over to pull the hood over your mussed tangle of hair, “Nah, I’m fine.”

You pout, jerking open the drawer to pull out a sweater and tossing it at him.

“You have to keep your right side warm so your muscles don’t just seize up again.”

Zoro stares at the sweater in his hand, looking reluctant before you press your lips into an exaggerated pout.

“C’mon… I worked so hard on getting it better last night… please?”

Zoro groans, rolling his eyes as he tugs on the sweater.

“Yeah, yeah — fine. Let’s go.”

He doesn’t wait for you, nor does he extend his hand. But the pair of you walk elbow to elbow, hip against hip down the bright dorm room hallway, into the chilly Saturday morning air.

“Geez, if you’re gonna yell at me to keep warm —” Zoro reaches over to tug on the drawstrings of your sweater, frowning as he notices how much skin he can still see beneath the opening of the hoodie.

You blush, tugging at it as the pair of you make your way across the empty campus quad.

Halfway across the frost-kissed lawn, he wordlessly reaches out to catch your hand in his, tucking your entwined fingers into the depths of his pocket. You bite back a stupid, dopey grin as you duck your head, quickening your pace to keep up, your footsteps crunching in the dew-bitten grass, the freshly raked gravel.

ten.

There’s already a decent line at the Straw Hats Cafe, but when the pair of you walk in hand in hand, both Sanji and Nami pause for a second longer than usual. Sanji’s eyebrows jerk up his forehead while Nami’s lips curl into a much too satisfied grin as she turns back to the humming espresso machines.

You savor in the smell of freshly ground coffee, absently tracing your thumb over the back of Zoro’s hand.

When you both reach the front, Sanji looks between you expectantly.

“Well, well, well — I’d like to say I’m surprised but —” he shrugs, grinning cheekily, “Well then I’d be lying, wouldn’t I?”

Zoro clicks his tongue but you shoot him a sheepish smile, pursing your lips.

“So… the usual then?” Sanji asks, his fingers poised over the register.

“Yep,” Zoro says, curt as ever, though there’s a distinct blush on his cheeks that not even he can write off as anything else.

You nod as well, “Oh, but… I think I’ll try a non-decaf latte this time. Just one shot of espresso though, please and thank you.”

Sanji blinks at you for a second before letting out a startled laugh and nodding, punching in your order.

“Coming right up, sweet cheeks. Right then, that’d be 8.75 for the latte and 5.50 for the double espresso.”

Zoro reaches into his wallet and pulls out a 20, slipping it across the counter. Down the bar, Nami is humming, looking cheerier than you’ve ever seen her this early in the morning as she goes about making your drinks.

Sanji sighs as he shakes his head, handing Zoro his change.

Zoro narrows his eyes but Sanji cuts him off.

“Take it from me, fam. You don’t wanna know.”

You and Zoro share a puzzled look as you both shuffle down to the pick-up counter, where Nami is sliding your finished drinks toward you with a bright, knowing glint to her eyes. Zoro clears his throat and reaches over for a packet of sugar, nonchalantly tipping it into his drink before picking it up to take a sip.

You try not to gape as you grab your own drink, flashing Nami a quick smile before turning to follow Zoro.

He picks a table as far away from the counter as possible, tucked into a corner, nearly invisible to the rest of the shop. When you sit down, he frowns at your chair for a second before reaching out to tug you across the floor till your chair is next to his. He goes back to his drink without a single word.

It’s all you can do to blush and stare at your steaming cup.

“I thought we were getting coffee and breakfast,” you say after a brief moment of silence.

Zoro grunts, “We are. Coffee first.”

You nod, somewhat mollified as you take another sip of your drink. The warmth trickles down your chest to rest somewhere in the center of your stomach, spreading heat throughout your body in waves.

“We could just get a chocolate croissant,” you say, giving Zoro a sidelong look.

Zoro frowns, tapping his finger against the side of his cup, “Dessert isn’t breakfast.”

You scoff, “Says who?”

Zoro’s expression flatlines, “Says me. And I’m payin’ for it.”

You purse your lips, wondering if you should argue more before deciding against it. A few seconds later, Zoro sighs, casting his eyes about the cafe interior.

“We can have a croissant after real breakfast.”

You giggle into your drink, swallowing down the glee fluttering in your stomach, threatening to spill out of your still kiss-chapped lips.

“Kay, whatever you say.”

Zoro rolls his eyes and folds his arms, but his elbow presses against yours and he doesn’t make to move away.

Across the cafe, Nami leans to watch the pair of you, Sanji at her side, looking both stunned and somewhat pained.

“C’mon man, it’s not even been a week!”

Nami grins, rinsing out a few cups and placing them mouth down to dry before pivoting on her heels and holding out an expectant palm. Sanji sighs as Nami’s eyes glitter with mirth and a hard-won glee.

“Right. I think you owe me fifty bucks.”

Sanji narrows his eyes, glancing back at where you and Zoro are tucked into the corner of the cafe.

“Double or nothing on when they’ll have their first fight. I say… not till next week.”

Nami’s eyebrows twitch up. She looks back at where the pair of you are now bickering over where to have breakfast. A smirk teases at her lips.

She puts down her hand, “Alright then… but like I said — it’s your funeral, Sanji.”

Over in the corner, there’s the dull scrape of chair legs as you push yourself away from the table to fold your arms.

“— Belgian waffles are absolutely an acceptable meal for breakfast!”

Zoro rolls his eyes, though there’s still an amused spark behind his eyes.

“Breakfast without eggs ain’t real breakfast. And doesn’t count if it’s smothered in syrup either.”

You make an indignant noise, frowning even as Zoro tugs you back to press a napkin to your upper lip, where there’s a faint line of whipped cream residue.

Sanji backpedals immediately, “Uh — right so, I feel like we need to define what really constitutes a ‘fight’, yeah?”

Nami tuts, shaking her head, “Nope! A bet’s a bet. Now pay up.”

feedback always welcome :) reqs are closed.

[celestelunia]

I’ve been loving your fics so far! And I was wondering if you could write Jamil being poisoned/hit with a love potion and being all over gn!reader and they’re just kinda like really flustered (turns out the live potion only works on who ever the person already loves) so gn!reader confesses to Jamil once he’s back to normal! Ty!

Aw! Thank you so much! I'm glad you've been enjoying them! I've been having fun writing them lol

Sorry this took a while. Been slowly making my way through the list, but this is my first Jamil ask! I hope it came out okay and that you like it!

Warnings: None. Reader is GN.

"This....is just so weird...." You said as you sat on a cushion in the common area of Scarabia. A pair of arms were wrapped around your waist from behind as Jamil chin rested against your shoulder as he cuddled against your neck gently, causing you to blush.

"Ahahaha! I think it's cute! I've never seen him like this before." Kalim laughed with a grin as he placed his hands on the back of his head.

You didn't get all the details, but one moment you had walked into Scarabia to see your crush, and the next, he was suddenly all over you, showering you with affection.

Needless to say, you almost fainted on the spot at the sudden onslaught of attention from your long-time crush. According to Kalim, he had mentioned something had gone wrong in potions, and Jamil was hit in the face with a puff of dust and magic due to the mini explosion that was triggered by the event. Professor Crewel had mentioned that it would wear off in a couple of hours and to just look after him till it does.

Jamil had acted like nothing was wrong at first, and he seemed like his usual self, so Kalim figured whatever the professor might have been worried about was just a mistake.

That was until you walked into the dorm, and Jamil's personality did a 180! He turned into some kind of love sick puppy who couldn't keep his hands off of you.

"T-This isn't like him at all! I'm sure he is just being this way to me since I was the first one he saw when I came over! This isn't fai-ahhh!" You yelped when you felt Jamil warm lips against the side of your neck as he gave it a small kiss. Turning bright red, you had tried to free yourself, only to have your crush tighten his hold against you. This was torture!!

"Hmmm." Kalim hummed softly in thought as he paid no mind to your struggles. "I don't think that's right. He was with me the whole time and even saw a couple of students on our way back to the dorm, and nothing happened." He explained before pulling out his phone to check something. "We were trying to make a certain potion in class, but because I added the wrong ingredients, it completely changed the contents of the potion."

"So this is your fault?!" You yelled as you pointed at the housewarden who just laughed.

"Yep! I'm sorry!" Kalim grinned as he looked back at his phone.

With a pout, you huffed before looking back at Jamil, who was still happily cuddling against your shoulder. "This...isn't real, though. He wouldn't be like this with me if it wasn't for that potion..."

At hearing your words, Kalim looked up from his phone. He knew about your crush on his best friend, and you two often talked a lot when you were feeling down and frustrated about the situation. If he was being honest, Kalim thought you were perfect for Jamil. He needed someone like you in his life to balance him out. The housewarden paused for a moment as he debated on bringing this up. He really wanted you two to figure things out on your own, but maybe a little push wouldn't hurt, right?

"That's not entirely true." Kalim said as he watched you turn to look at him. "He only started acting this way the moment you showed up. The spell on this potion just amplifies feelings that already existed inside someone." He said with a warm smile.

At his words, your eyes widen. Was that true? If it was, that would mean...

At that moment, your whole face turned red as a puff of smoke appeared above your head as you were suddenly overloaded with this information.

Kalim grinned as he stood up from his spot in front of you. "He should be back to normal in an hour or so. Keep watching over him for me! Thanks, Y/N!" He said before heading off to give you two some alone time..

"Nooo! Don't you dare leave!" You had yelled, but it was too late as Kalim had disappeared somehow. How was he that quick!?

Over the next hour, you had managed to drag Jamil to his room, but he didn't make it easy. Having him being this clingy was killing your heart. As time went on, you noticed how Jamil was starting to get a bit woozy as you managed to get him on his bed in time before he seemed to fall asleep. Good. Maybe this was a sign the potion was exiting his system.

With a sigh, you pulled up a chair to the side of his bed as you waited for Jamil to wake up. At least now you had a moment to gather your thoughts.

If Kalim was correct, then that meant that Jamil felt the same towards you as you did him. Just the thought alone made your heart race! While Jamil did give you some special treatment from time to time, it wasn't really enough for you to figure out his feelings. He was a man who kept his cards close to his chest, after all.

Maybe you could be brave and finally open up to him about your feelings...?

After a moment, Jamil let out a groan as he slowly opened his eyes. Noticing the ceiling of his bedroom, he sighed before placing his hand against his forehead. He had a bit of a headache. What the hell happened? The last thing he could recall was doing potions with Kalim...

"You're awake. How are you feeling?"

At the familiar voice, Jamil's head snapped to the side to see you sitting next to his bed. Why were you here!?

"Y/N?" Jamil called out as he sat up in his bed. "What are you doing here?"

"I was asked to look after you. Do you remember anything?" You asked as you watched Jamil carefully.

At those words, Jamil frowned slightly, not liking how you asked. Why did he feel like something happened that he was missing? He didn't do something embarrassing in front of you, did he!?

Hearing his phone ding the vice housewarden reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Noticing it was a text from Kalim, he opened it to see a photo attached that made him almost drop his phone...

It was a picture of him with his arms wrapped around Y/N as he was basically cuddling with them from behind. 

What happened!? Was this real!? Feeling his face heat up, Jamil put his phone down before placing one of his hands over his face in embarrassment.

You, on the other hand, just watched as Jamil checked his phone before turning bright red. As you went to speak, you felt your phone vibrate, and as you pulled it out, you saw a message from Kalim.

"Jamil should be back to normal by now. I believe in you! You got this!" Was the text he had sent. In that moment, you got the feeling Jamil had received something from the housewarden as well.

"Jamil." You had called out as you got your courage together. When you saw him about to speak, you held up your hand to stop him. You were worried if he said anything that you might lose your nerve. "I like you." You had managed to get out.

At your words, Jamil froze up for a second before he suddenly turned his head towards you. His eyes full of surprise.

"I like you, Jamil." You repeated. "I know you have a lot on your shoulders, but it doesn't change that you're an amazing person. You're smart, a great dancer, and an amazing cook! I really love everything about you."

Feeling his cheeks warm up more, Jamil leaned his head back to look up at his ceiling. To think you would be the one to confess first. He really needed to step up his game...

"H-how about you stay over tonight for dinner? I'll make something special. Just for the two of us." He said before he looked back over at you with a grin. "Think of it as my way for saying sorry that you had to confess first."

At the offer, you blinked before you felt like your heart was going to explode. "Y-you really feel the same?" You whispered in surprise.

Jamil turned as he threw his legs over the side of his bed. "For a long time, but I kept finding excuses to not face this feelings. I shouldn't have put you through all of that. That potion mishaps just opened my eyes a bit more." He said as he made a mental note to give Kalim a lecture about being more careful in the future. He normally wasn't this open and honest, but he owed you that much after what he did to you. Maybe it was okay to be selfish for once.

"Come on." Jamil said as he gently poked your forehead before holding out his hand to you. "Let me treat you like royalty today."

You couldn't help but let out a small laugh as you stood up and took Jamil's hand. "Just be your normal self." You said happily as it felt like a weight had been lifted off of you.

To think a small mishap like this would work in your favor? You would have to make sure to thank Kalim later.

[badkitty3000]

One Fateful Day

Five x Single Mom reader, one-shot, 5k words

Warnings: None!

I received a request quite a while ago for a fluffy, sweet one-shot where Five befriends a single mom. Hope you like a super soft Five, cause that's what this is! ❤️

A/N: This image was made entirely with AI, as you can probably tell by the glaringly bad mistakes.

Five listened to the sound of happy children playing and screaming, along with the quiet hum of distant traffic and the crunch of bike tires as they rolled across the gravel pathways of his favorite city park. He found his usual bench, brushing off a few fallen leaves before easing himself onto it with the groan of someone years older than he looked. As soon as he was situated, he glanced around and waited. It never took long before they found him. Sure enough, less than 30 seconds later, the gang of ne’er-do-wells showed up out of nowhere.

Five’s bird friends consisted mostly of some mangy looking pigeons, a few brown sparrows, and one particularly ornery blue jay. They knew him by sight and would flock at his feet whenever he came to visit. As they gathered around, cooing, chirping and hopping excitedly, Five smiled down at them.

“Hi, guys,” he said quietly. “How’ve you been? Staying out of trouble?”

As usual, he received no real response, but more flitters and flapping of wings. That was ok, though. He didn’t mind the one-sided conversations.

Pulling a small bag of bird seed out of his inside coat pocket, he continued talking.

“Sorry I missed you yesterday.” He sprinkled a handful of the seed on the ground and watched as the excitement of the crew intensified. “Klaus needed a ride to the dentist. He said to say hi.”

Five watched the intricate dance of bird hierarchy unraveling before him. He already knew their order of rank and which bird was going to get the majority of the feast while the others waited their turns.

“Wren Franklin…be nice. Bernice isn’t taking your share, Jack Sparrow, so quit your squawking.”

He threw another handful on the ground. “Trucker Bob, it’s ok buddy…you get on in there, they aren’t going to hurt you.” Five suddenly stomped his foot at the blue jay, causing everyone to scatter for a brief moment before scurrying back again. “Sandra Jay O’Connor, I saw that! If I see you peck at poor Mr. Tippington again, you will be banned for a month!”

As Five cursed the blue jay while cooing soft words of encouragement to a small and plain-looking brown bird, he heard a quiet giggle nearby. Sensing it was aimed in his direction, he looked up. On the next bench over, he saw you. Your eyes sparkled as you tried to stifle your laugh. You looked abruptly away as soon as Five glanced at you.

Five smiled softly to himself. He knew he looked and sounded like a crazy person. But he sensed you weren’t making fun of him, just that you were amused.

“You laugh, but I’ve seen that bird fly right onto a man’s head and fly off with his toupee purely for spite. Granted, she was probably doing him a favor because it was god awful, but still.”

You looked at Five and laughed shyly again before shaking your head. “I had no idea bird crime was so rampant in this city.”

“Oh, yes,” Five nodded solemnly. “In fact, I advise you to stay away from the park at night. You might find yourself in the middle of a fly-by shooting. Lots of bird gang violence around here.”

“Is that so? Well, thank you for the heads up,” you said with a smile. Just then, your 5 year-old daughter ran up, out of breath. You handed her a bottle of water. “Ready to go, sweetie?”

The little girl nodded while taking a sip. “Yep.”

You got up and started to walk away, taking your daughter’s hand in yours. You stopped and looked back at Five, who was still watching you. “Have a nice afternoon with your friends there, and I hope Mr. Tippington is ok.”

Five grinned widely. “Thank you, and he’ll be just fine.”

You nodded with a smile and turned to leave. Five watched you go, ignoring the fact that his feathered friends were now clearly irritated that their benefactor had yet to give them their full ration of seed for the day.

Two days later, and Five was back on his favorite bench. As he was in the middle of another inciteful, one-way conversation with his buddies on the ground, he heard a familiar voice from behind.

“Go along and play, Cassie, I’ll watch you from here.”

When Five turned, he saw you standing there. Your eyes sparkled in the sunlight just like the first time he saw you.

“So, do these birds do anything for you in return for you feeding them? Like bringing you gifts, or doing your taxes?” you teased.

Five chuckled. “No. They just let me talk their ears off while they eat.”

“Huh. Do birds have ears?”

Five shrugged. “You know, I’m not sure. Maybe that’s why they don’t care that I’m talking at them.”

You laughed and gestured to the empty side of Five’s bench. “Do you mind?”

“Not at all.”

As Five moved over to make more room for you, you introduced yourself with a handshake.

“Nice to meet you. Five Hargreeves,” he said.

“Hargreeves? Why does that name sound familiar?” you asked, tilting your head.

Five sighed quietly. He really wondered why he hadn’t just picked another name by now. It would make things so much easier.

“Does The Umbrella Academy ring any bells?”

You were thoughtful for a second and then the lightbulb went on. “You’re kidding! You were…are…one of them?”

Five nodded. “Sure am. Good old Number Five.”

“I see,” you responded with a smile as you looked him up and down. “So, which one were you? I mean, what can you do?”

“Teleportation. Time travel.” He paused. “Pigeon summoning.”

You laughed. “Very cool. I can see your very impressive pigeon power in action now, but you’ll have to show me the others sometime.”

Five smiled. “Sure thing.”

You nodded. “Ok, Number Five. So, I’ve seen you around the park here a lot. Are you here with your kids, too?”

Five felt called out and a faint blush appeared on his cheeks. “Uh, no. No kids.” He was really hoping you didn’t think he was some creeper hanging out at the park for less innocent reasons. “Don’t worry, though. I just like to come here and feed these guys,” he explained, gesturing to the birds on the ground. “It’s like therapy but without the judgment and bill at the end.”

You looked dubious for just a moment, glancing over at the play structure where your daughter was swinging happily. But when you turned to face Five again, you relaxed. You glanced down at the birds. “They certainly seem to like you.”

Five shrugged. “I think they just view me as a human vending machine.” He held out the bag of seed towards you. “Want to be the hero?”

You nodded and reached into the bag, scooping up some seed and tossing it on the ground. The birds went crazy, tweeting and flapping their wings, making you laugh. Five grinned.

“See? They have no loyalty.”

“I see that. But you have names for them all?”

“Ah, well…some of them. At least the usual ones that come around. It’s rather interesting to observe their little avian society.” Five stopped, realizing that he sounded like a weirdo. “I’m sorry. I’m not a complete lunatic, I promise.”

You laughed, and once again Five could tell you weren’t making fun of him. You seemed genuinely charmed by him. You also had a very calming presence, he noticed. He didn’t feel awkward or on edge when talking with you, which was a refreshing change of pace these days.

“I don’t think you’re a lunatic. Believe me, I can spot them from a mile away and you’re not one.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear that.”

You jumped when you felt your phone vibrate in your pocket from an incoming call. You held it up to Five with an exasperated sigh. “Sorry, I have to take this. It’s my ex and he’s supposed to take our daughter this weekend, so I have to figure out the details.”

He nodded. “Of course.”

As you turned to walk away for more privacy, Five took a look over at the playground. He saw the little girl you had called Cassie, climbing up the ladder to the monkey bars. She was small and Five watched as she got to the top rung, hesitantly reaching out for the first bar to cross. As she swung out, Five could see she wasn’t truly comfortable with what she was doing, and the ground was pretty far below. He stood up, looking over at you, but your back was turned as you were trying to focus on the call. When he turned back to the girl, he saw it start to happen like it was in slow motion. On the second bar, one of her hands started to slip, leaving her dangling by a few fingers. She let out a scream that got your attention, but it was too late.

Just as your daughter lost her grip with her remaining hand and began to fall to the ground, Five blinked directly under her, catching her just in time. As he stood there with your daughter in his arms, both of them looking shocked, you ran over in a panic.

“Cassie! Oh my god, are you ok?”

She nodded, still looking up at the mysterious man that had appeared out of the literal blue to save her. “Yeah.”

Five set her down and she ran to you, hugging you tightly around your waist. You held her to you and looked up at Five.

“Thank you. Thank you so much. I can’t believe I wasn’t watching…but you were…oh my god if you weren’t here…”

“No problem. I’m just glad I got there in time.”

You choked back the tears you could feel coming on. “I’m a terrible mother, aren’t I? I just let my kid fall off the monkey bars because I wasn’t paying attention. What kind of person does that?”

Five smiled gently. “A normal one. Of course you’re not a terrible mother.”

“You don’t even know me,” you sniffed with a smile.

“True. But in the very short time we’ve been talking, I can tell that you’re a great parent. Just like you can sniff out the lunatics, I can spot a shitty parent a mile away.”

Cassie let go of you, glancing back at Five with a smile and then back at you. “It’s true, mommy, you’re not shitty at all.”

“Cassie!” you gasped in horror at your daughter’s language.

Five tried to hold it in, but he had to laugh, which made Cassie laugh, which then made you laugh.

 “Sorry, I think that’s my fault,” Five said.

“Well, I’d like to blame you, but the truth is I have a bad habit of swearing like a sailor myself. I just usually try to keep it to a minimum around her, but I’m not always successful.”

Five nodded with a smile before crouching down in front of Cassie. “Maybe next time stick with the swings, ok?”

Cassie frowned, her eyebrows scrunched together as she crossed her arms. “Swings are for babies. I can DO the monkey bars, but these were slippery. Someone made them slippery.”

Five looked back up at you with a grin, then back at Cassie, fixing his face so that he was serious again. “I bet they did. That seems like a very logical explanation; I can tell you are very smart.”

Cassie uncrossed her arms with a smile and nodded. “I am! I get in trouble at school for saying I’m smarter than the other kids, but it’s not my fault. I’m only telling the truth.”

“We’re working on being humble, aren’t we Cassie?” you said in a reproving way.

Five chuckled and leaned in to whisper to Cassie, making sure he was still loud enough that you could hear. “I completely understand. I have the same problem.”

The little girl nodded solemnly, recognizing a fellow put-upon genius in her midst. She looked back up at you. “Can I go on the slide now?”

“Are you sure you’re ok?”

“Yes, I’m ok.”

“Alright, then. I promise I’ll be watching.”

As she ran off to the slide, you turned to Five. “I should probably go over and stand at the bottom. Just in case.”

“Oh sure, I understand.”

“Really, I can’t thank you enough, Five. You’re amazing.”

Five put his hands in his pockets and smiled shyly. “I think amazing is a bit much, but you’re welcome.”

“So, will you be coming by to feed your buddies tomorrow?”

“Most likely, yes.”

You nodded thoughtfully. “Well, I was thinking that I might bring Cassie back here tomorrow as well. Maybe around 2pm? Do you think you’ll be here then?”

“I think I will definitely be here at 2pm.”

“Great. I’ll see you then.”

With a smile, you gave him a small wave and turned to go join your daughter at the slide. Five watched you walk away, unable to keep the growing grin off his face. This was the most interaction he’d had with anyone that wasn’t part of his family in a very long time and it felt surprisingly good. Really good.

The next day, Five was already waiting at his usual bench when you and Cassie found your way over to him. When he saw you, he stood up, holding out a cup of coffee for you. His own cup was on the bench next to where he had been sitting.

“I wasn’t sure how you liked it. Or, even if you drank coffee, but here you go. It’s just black.”

As you took the cup, you giggled. “Yes, I do drink coffee, and black is perfect. Thank you so much, that wasn’t necessary.”

Five shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “I was getting one for myself anyway, so it was no trouble.”

Cassie watched as you and Five stood there smiling at one another, but not saying anything. Her eyebrows came together and she looked up at Five, tilting her head to one side.

“My mom said your name is Five.”

Snapping out of his trance, he addressed Cassie. “Yes, it is.”

“That’s a number.”

“Yes, it is.”

“That’s how old I am.”

Five nodded. “You seem very mature for your age.”

She paused, eyeing him up thoughtfully. “Five’s a weird name.”

“Cassie!” you cried out, completely embarrassed at your daughter’s lack of a filter.

Biting back a laugh, Five pretended to look confused. “What do you mean it’s weird? I know at least a dozen other people named Five.”

Cassie paused, trying to determine if he was telling the truth or not. Then she shook her head with a small smile. “No, you don’t.”

Five grinned. “See? I knew you were smart.”

You laughed at their interaction, looking around. “So, where are your friends?”

“Oh, I haven’t put out the buffet yet. They’ll be here though.” He turned to Cassie. “Would you like to help feed some very ungrateful birds with me?”

The little girl’s face lit up. “Yes!”

“Ok, then, here you go,” Five took out his usual bag of birdseed and handed it to Cassie. “Just start sprinkling it on the ground. They’ll be here before you know it.”

As she took the seed and started to throw handfuls around and up in the air, laughing to herself, you and Five sat on the bench and watched. Sure enough, after about a minute, the small flock began to swoop in. Five identified all of them that had names, which made Cassie laugh even harder. As she giggled and let out little shrieks of joy while she continued to throw them more food, you turned to Five.

“I haven’t seen her this happy in a long time.”

“Really?”

You nodded. “It’s been really hard on her since the divorce. She has to go back and forth from house to house every week. It’s stressful and I can see it taking a toll on her. Which, naturally, makes me feel like shit.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Five said earnestly. “But even if it’s hard on her now, it will be better for her in the long run. Kids are resilient and she really is very smart, so I have no doubt she’ll be fine. What happened with you and your ex, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Well,” you sighed, “it’s a long story. But the short version is that we got together when we were young and just outgrew one another over time. He’s not a bad guy, but we argued all the time. The love was gone and we just didn’t want to fight anymore.” You looked over at Cassie with a guilty frown. “I just wish I could protect her from all of this.”

Five was silent for a moment as he took that in. “Look, I’m not a parent and I don’t pretend to know anything about marriage, but I can tell you that it sounds like you did her a favor. Growing up in a house with constant bickering can be stressful in its own right. And not seeing any love between parents is even worse. So, she’ll be more than fine. You showed her that everyone deserves to be happy and she’ll carry that with her as she grows older.”

It had been so long since someone had said exactly what you needed to hear, that you immediately started to tear up. Hurriedly wiping your eyes, you laughed at yourself.

“Sorry, I’m not sure what’s wrong with me.” You looked up at Five with a grateful smile and patted his hand that was next to yours. “Thank you for that. You have no idea how much that means to me.”

Five swallowed nervously and looked down at your hand on top of his. “You’re welcome. And who knows, maybe you’ll find the right person down the road.”

“Yeah,” you said quietly, taking in his clear green eyes. “Maybe I will.”

“Mommy look!” Cassie shrieked with a laugh, jarring you and Five out of your moment.

You quickly pulled your hand away, turning your attention back to your daughter. She was standing there, smiling ear to ear, as a small, skinny pigeon sat on her shoulder like it was the most normal thing in the world.

“It likes me!”

Five laughed, shaking his head. “I have been coming here for months and not one of those damn birds has ever sat on me like that.”

You laughed, too. “Unbelievable.”

“What’s this one’s name, Five?” Cassie giggled.

“Oh, uh…yeah, that’s…Fred.”

As Cassie continued on, feeding and talking to Fred, you looked over at Five. “What was that about?”

He ran a hand through his hair and lowered his voice. “I actually call that one Fuck Face.”

When you doubled over with laughter, Five grinned from ear to ear. He’d never made anyone laugh like that before, and it was the best he’d felt in a very long time.

Over the next few weeks, you and Five built up a close friendship. He listened to your stories about single mom life and how it could be lonely and difficult. You listened to his stories of his traumatic past and how he was attempting to live as a normal man for once in his life. The conversation came easily and you never felt awkward around one another. Soon, he had integrated himself into your life, and into Cassie’s, too.

She loved spending time with Five, and on the days when you didn’t see him, she always asked about him. He liked to tease her and she was always ready with her own zingers to sling back at him. When she told him bad knock knock jokes, he would groan and tell her how horrible they were, but he would be smiling the whole time. You would sit back, watching their banter, thinking how cute they were. 

There were more play dates at the park, more bird feedings, then lunch at a café, and eventually Sunday dinners at your house. Five had never felt this comfortable in his own skin before, and he actually thought he might have found what he had been looking for this whole time. Happiness.

Even though he had become such a big part of your life in such a short time, you and Five had not moved past the friends stage. You were still a little gun shy after the divorce, and you weren’t even sure Five was interested in you that way. Sure, there had been several times when you had caught him looking at you in that way that made your heart do a little flip in your chest. And maybe your breath hitched a little whenever his hand brushed against yours in passing. But you liked how things were between you. At least for now.

Five wasn’t sure how you felt about him, either. He knew you were coming off a bad relationship and you probably wanted nothing to do with men for the time being. He definitely liked spending time with you, though. He found he looked forward to it more and more. Seeing you smile when you saw him was the best part of his day. But he didn’t want to assume you were interested in anything more. If he made a move and you shot him down, not only would it be embarrassing, it might ruin what you already had. And that was too important to lose.

The three of you were at the park again, and you watched as Cassie dragged Five off toward her favorite twisty slide, taking his hand and pulling him along while he pretended to grumble about it. After he was forced to slide down the plastic slide, you laughed loudly when you saw him reach the bottom.

“What?” he asked, brushing the dust off of his pristinely pressed slacks.

“Your hair!” you laughed. “The static made it stick straight up!”

He patted at his crazy hair with a frown and tried to smash it down, which made you laugh even harder. After Cassie came tumbling out of the slide herself, Five pretended to be annoyed with her.

“Hey, kid, you didn’t tell me that slide would mess up my hair.”

Cassie giggled. “You look funny. Like a porcupine.”

After Five fixed himself as best he could, Cassie took his hand and tugged on it again, this time trying to get him to crouch down to her level. When he did, she rested her hand on his forehead for a second, pulling it back with a frown. Then she looked at Five with a shake of her head. “You don’t feel hot.”

“Should I? I’m not feeling sick.”

She looked over at you. “I heard you talking to Taylor’s mom at the bus stop and you said Five was hot.” She put her hand on his cheek. “He feels normal.”

If the ground suddenly opened up and swallowed you whole, you would not have been more grateful. Instead, you remained frozen, your face on fire and your mouth trying to form words that wouldn’t come.

“Uh…” was all that you stammered out.

In true kid fashion, Cassie was oblivious to the faux pas she created. As Five slowly stood up again, and Cassie skipped off to the swing set, unbothered by it all, his eyes met yours. The self-satisfied smirk on his face spoke a thousand words.

“You said I was hot?”

“I…no…I mean well yeah…kind of…” you tried to stumble your way through a cohesive sentence.

Five adopted his typical cool stance, with his hands in his pockets, as he continued to grin like an absolute asshole. “So, is Taylor’s mom cute? Did you give her my number?”

After a few more seconds of being mortified, you started to see the humor in the situation. You relaxed and laughed quietly, looking at the ground with a shake of your head. “Damn it, you’re an asshole sometimes, you know?”

“But still hot, right?”

“You’re never going to let me live this down, are you?” you said with a groan.

Five shook his head slowly. “Probably not.”

As you ran a hand down your still-flushed face, you sighed. With a raised eyebrow, you jabbed a finger in his direction. “You fucking know you’re hot, too. That’s what makes it worse.” When he laughed, but didn’t deny it, you sighed again.

On your way over to the swings, Five bumped you with his elbow. “You’re pretty hot yourself, you know.”

When you looked over, you saw the corner of his mouth turn up as he swallowed hard. His eyes skirted away from yours as he looked at the ground.

“Thanks, Five,” you said, suddenly feeling very warm again.

“You’re welcome.”

It was a few days later when your little trio was walking to the park from your house. After Five had joined you for dinner, you had decided to take some of the leftover bread to his group of feathered friends. As you got close to Five’s regular bench, Cassie stopped him.

“Wait. Can you do the whooshing thing with me?”

Five chuckled. “You mean blinking? I suppose. If your mom doesn’t mind.”

“You can do my mom, too,” Cassie added.

Trying to hide a laugh, he nodded. “I would love to do your mom.”

Even though that little side comment sent a tingle down your spine, you pretended you hadn’t noticed. “It’s ok, you two go ahead.”

Five shot you a very devious grin before grabbing you both by the arms and blinking you over to the bench. Your shriek of surprise was cut short as you appeared out of his portal. Cassie was falling on the ground in a fit of giggles while you tried to catch your breath with a hand on your chest.

“Sorry,” Five said, unsuccessfully holding back his own glee.

“You are not, liar,” you laughed.

With a shrug and a grin, Five handed Cassie the bread for the birds. “Here you go, kid, they should be pretty happy with this feast.”

When Cassie opened the bag and spread the crumbs on the ground, the birds descended, recognizing their new, smaller food-bringer.

“Mr. Tippington, it’s ok,” Cassie cooed to the little brown bird that had become her favorite. “Trucker Bob, you’ll like today’s dinner, it’s bread!” She swatted the angry blue jay away, just like Five had shown her. “Sandra Jay…you be nice or no one will be your friend.”

Sitting next to Five, on the bench where you had first saw him talking to those ridiculous birds, you turned to him and studied his profile. You knew his face more intimately than anyone else’s, you thought. How many times had you stared at it while he was talking? Taking in the sharp angles of his jaw and the way he swept the hair out of his eyes with an agitated hand. It made you wonder…what was stopping you from doing what you really wanted?

Out of nowhere, you leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. When you pulled back, you couldn’t help but let out a short burst of laughter because the expression on his face was one of complete and utter confusion.

“Sorry,” you said, looking down at your lap. “I couldn’t resist.”

After a few seconds of Five trying to get his wits about him again, he smiled. “I’m so glad you did that first.”

“What do you mea—”

Your question was cut off by Five’s lips meeting yours, his hand coming to rest on the back of your neck. His kiss was soft and pure, and unlike any other kiss you’d had before. When you finally opened your eyes, meeting his gorgeous emerald ones, you felt so good you couldn’t contain your giant grin.

“I’m not sure what took me so long,” you confessed.

“Me either,” Five said with a chuckle before leaning in again, letting himself get lost in the softness of your lips and the sound of your quiet, contented sigh.

It was magical, pure and simple, and he wasn’t even sure how this was even possible. He wasn’t sure he was deserving of it, but he would take it.

“EW!!!”

You and Five jumped, pulling apart abruptly as Cassie looked on, hands on her hips.

“That’s gross,” she complained.

“Sorry, honey, uh…Five and I were just…”

“Mommy, I’m not dumb. I know you were kissing and it’s definitely yucky. You’re going to get germs.” She paused. “Are you married now?”

Five laughed, and covered your hand with his. “No, we’re not married. But we like each other, is that ok?”

Cassie thought for a moment, the birds around her seeming to stop and think with her. “Yeah, it’s ok. Just remember I want a baby sister, not a baby brother.” Then she turned back to her birds, ignoring the two shocked adults.

“Well…sorry about that,” you responded with a cringe.

“No need to apologize. These are all good things to know. Yes to a baby sister, no to a baby brother.”

“Oh my gosh,” you said, covering your eyes in embarrassment.

Five gently moved your hand away. When you looked back at him, his soft smile told you everything you needed to know. And when he leaned in for another kiss, you felt like you were finally where you were supposed to be.

“I want this. Do you?” he asked, his voice heartbreakingly quiet.

You nodded. “Yes. I feel like…like we’re meant to be somehow. Does that make sense?”

“It makes perfect sense,” Five said before kissing you once again, cradling your face in his hand.

Five had found what he had never dared to dream of. Someone he didn’t have to lie to, or pretend with, or put up a wall against. You liked him for who he was, and he wasn’t ashamed of anything when he was with you. You brought out all of the good within him, and he never felt safer than when he was with you and Cassie. You and she were his found family; the key to his happiness.

As for you, you had finally found the right person. Somehow, Five had become your best friend and confidant. And now, he was something more. Someone that understood you and knew the real you, all the way down to your bones. He was all you had been waiting for, and you couldn’t wait to start a new chapter of your life with him.

[samandcolbyownme]

Summary: Colby is readers fake date to a wedding

Warnings: SMUT18+, strong language, friends to lovers, alcohol consumption, reader has a bridezilla for a sister, fake dating, hair pulling, fingering, cute pet names, unprotected slightly drunken sex, filthy

Word count: 5.6k | not edited

Not a request

╔═══━━━─── • ───━━━═══╗

"You'll be at the rehearsal dinner on Friday night, right?" Your mother asks, causing your, bride to be, sister's head to perk up.

"Yes, mom. I'll be there." You close your laptop, leaning back against the couch, "What time again?"

"How do you-"

Your mom cuts your sister off, "It's at six, but try to be there no later than five thirty."

"Do you have a date?" Your sister asks turning towards you, "Because I want it to be an even number, you know." You take a slow, almost silent breath.

You didn't want to lie, but you also didn't want to sit and be ridiculed by your bridezilla sister, so you did what you had to.

You lied.

"Yes, Clara. I have a frickin date, now would you just-"

"You do?" Your mother and sister both say at the same time, both slightly shocked.

"Yeah." You stand up, tucking your laptop between your arm and side, "I haven't said anything because it's new and I don't want you guys scaring him off."

"We won't." Clara says getting up, "Who is it?"

"You'll know when we come to the rehearsal dinner." You look at her, and she smirks, "Is this guy even real? You've been know for making up fake boyfriends before."

"I was seven, Clara. Would you let that go!?" You walk away from her, "Please.." you stop, turning around, "Just please.. don't ruin this for me."

"Why would I ruin it for you? It's my day. If anything shouldn't ruin anything it's you for me." Her words instantly piss you off, "Alright. I'm going to leave now before I-"

"We'll see you Friday, honey." Your mom cuts in, walking over. She lowers her voice as you make it to the front door, "You know how she is, y/n. You grew up with her for heavens sake."

You roll your eyes, "Yeah I was kind of hoping she'd grow out of her bratty personality but I guess we all don't get what we wish for."

Your mom kisses your head, "I know. But you'll understand one day." She smiles slightly, "I'm excited to meet this mystery man."

Yeah, me too, you think, "I'm sure he'll be excited to meet you guys." You smile, "Alright, I'll see you Friday. Love you."

"Love you. Drive careful." Your mom says before watching you walk down to your car. You get in, turning the car on and your mind instantly starts to race.

Who is going to be your secret mystery man?

.·:*¨ ✘ ¨*:·.

The next day, after an hour of scouring Tinder for someone who could potentially want to platonically join you for a wedding, there's a knock on your door.

You toss your phone down as you stand up, walking over to open your door.

In your mind, you thought it was probably just your sister coming over with another rule or more questions, but to your surprise, it's Colby.

"Oh my god." You gasp, practically jumping into his arms, "When did you get back?!" He walks into your apartment, arms still around your waist, "This morning."

"How was your trip?" You put your hands on his shoulders, leaning back to look up at him, "I didn't think you'd be back for another week or so."

He turns to shut your door, "Yeah, so did we. Our plans got cut short and honestly Sam and I both agreed that we didn't want to get arrested again so we skipped out on the abandoned school."

You laugh, shaking your head, "I wouldn't have liked that phone call, but I mean, at the same time it might have gotten me out of going to my sister's stupid wedding."

Colby raises his brows, "Oh yeah." He frowns slightly, "That is this weekend isn't it."

You lean on the counter, nodding your head slowly, "Yep, and I am absolutely dreading it."

"Why? Isn't everything pretty much done?" He leans against the counter across from you and you laugh, "Everything on their end, yes. My end, not so much."

"What do you mean?" Colby asks and you can feel your face heating up from embarrassment, "Well.. um." Colby laughs slightly, "Come on, y/n. Tell me."

"Clara wants all the guests to bring a plus one." You start out and Colby nods, "okay?" You sigh, "And me.. being the loner that I am, don't have one and to make a long story short-"

"You told them you did when you really didn't just go get them off your back?" Colby finishes your sentence and you look at him kind of shocked, "Y-yeah. That."

He chuckles slightly and shakes his head before looking at you, "Do I know you? Or do I know you?"

"You know me." You smile, "So I've been on Tinder scouring the options for someone who would remotely se-"

"No." Colby cuts you off again, "You don't need to use that. You can't trust anyone on there." He shakes his head, "I'm back early. I'll go with you."

"What?" You laugh slightly, "Really?"

He nods, "Well yeah, you can trust me and you need a date, and I'm available, so." He smiles up at you, "What do you say? Can I be your date to this wedding?"

You smile, tilting your head, "I would love for you to be my date to this wedding."

Colby stays for a little bit longer, you fill him in on the dress code, what the menu is, and everything else involving Clara's strict rules.

"Are you okay with staying in a hotel Friday into Saturday, possibly Saturday into Sunday? Depending on how the night goes and how drunk I get to avoid my snobby family."

He laughs, "You had me at open bar, so I figured we'd be staying somewhere."

"Glad you picked up on that already." You laugh, letting out a sigh, "I have to go pick up my dress. Clara insists that guests wear Navy blue or black and her bridesmaids are in a pale, dusty pink color." You roll your eyes and Colby tilts his head, "I don't know, I think navy blue will look good on you."

You shrug, "We'll see."

.·:*¨ ✘ ¨*:·.

It honestly wasn't weird that you and Colby were going to a wedding together. You and him have been good friends for so long, and honestly, it feels right.

You can trust him. He won't push anything on you that you don't want. He knows enough about your family because he's who you constantly bitch to.

He's your best friend, as you are his.

It was totally platonic.

Or so you both thought.

Colby was going to be there any minute and you can feel your heart gradually thumping harder the closer the time got to his arrival.

"Shit." You huff, looking at your back in the mirror at the bow that is lopsided and definitely not up to par for tonight's event.

There's a knock on the door and you hurry out, heels clicking against the hardwood floor until you stop at the door, "Hey."

"Wow." Colby nods as he walks in, "I was right."

"Right about what?" You say as you turn to face him from closing the door. He motions to your dress, "Navy blue looks good on you."

You smile, "Thank you. Can you tie this for me?" You turn around and Colby steps towards you, "Let me guess, it has to be perfect?"

You laugh, "Yes sir, it does."

You feel the strings pull against your skin, "Alright. Let me know how I did." You nod and walk back into your room, turning to look at the bow in the mirror, "Better than I could have done."

You grab your suitcase, containing your other dress for the actual wedding and comfy clothes for after, "Alright." You sigh looking up at him, "Let's do this."

"You have an hour and a half to collect yourself, y/n." He chuckles as he takes your bag, "I think everything will be fine."

You raise your brows, making sure you have everything before you walk out, "that's not enough, Colby. You know that. There's a reason you've never met them."

"Do you think they'll like me?" He presses the elevator button before looking at you. You smirk slightly, "You're a successful YouTuber with awards, I don't think you have any worry."

He nods, laughing as you both step onto the elevator, "If that's all it'll take."

"Trust me, once I tell them who you are, they're going to try and steal you every chance they get." You look over at him, "My mom will want to know all about the ghostly other side."

"I'll be happy to inform them." He smiles and you shake your head, "You don't have to. I know you do that stuff on the daily, so it's totally okay for you to say no."

He chuckles, "Well just take it one step at a time."

.·:*¨ ✘ ¨*:·.

The car ride consisted of you and Colby giving your do's and don't's, and to be honest.. There isn't much either of you listed in the don't category.

Colby pulls into the parking spot outside of the restaurant, "You got this." He looks over at you, "If it gets, too bad, but focus on me. I got you."

You smile, "Thank you for doing this."

"You don't have to thank me. I'm just glad you didn't have to come with a random asshole." He laughs, "You ready?"

You look forward, taking a deep breath as you see your mom and dad walk in, "I don't have a choice.. so.." you look back over at him, "Let's go."

He gets out, walking over to your door and opening it up, "You'll be fine." He closes your door, turning to wrap his arm around your waist, "I promise."

You smile, wrapping your arm around his waist, "I owe you, big time for this."

"I'm sure we can come up with something." He smiles as he opens the door, allowing you to walk in first, "Where do we go?"

You nod towards the side, "I think there in a priva-"

"Hello, are you here for the y/l/n-Marris rehearsal dinner?" The host asks and you nod, "Yes, we are." He nods, "Follow me this way."

He leads you to the side and your hand searches for Colby's, squeezing nervously as you grow closer to facing your family, "Right in here."

The host motions in and you nod. Colby gives him a quick 'thank you' before walking in.

"There she is!" Your mom says standing up, walking over to be the first one to greet you, "How was the drive?"

You hug her, "It was good. Mom." You motion to Colby, "This is Colby. Colby, this is my mom, Heather."

"It's so nice to finally meet you." Your mom says laying a hand on his shoulder. Clara walks up, "So he isn't a made up boyfriend like before. I honestly can say that I'm surprised, y/n."

Clara smirks at you before reaching her hand out to take Colby's, "I'm Clara. The bride to be. Thank you so much for coming."

Colby glances at you and you raise your brows. He looks back to her, "Yes, congratulations. I'm Colby."

She squints, "Wait. Is your last name Brock?"

"Clara." You sigh, "Let's not make it-"

"No, babe. It's okay." Colby winks, "Yes, my last name is brock." Clara's mouth drops, "No frickin way, mom." She looks to Heather and points to Colby, "This is Colby, from Sam and Colby. The ones that Cash watch on YouTube."

"The ghost hunters?" Your mom raises her brows, "Oh he's going to have a cow."

You laugh, moving to Colby's side, "He just got back from two week trip over seas, can we please just treat him like a regular person please."

"Fine, for now. But I have a few questions." Your mom laughs as she points to Colby and you whisper, "Told ya."

He chuckles and nods, "Yes. Find me later. I'll be happy to talk to you." You smile, staring at Clara, "Come on, honey. Let's go find our seats."

Colby walks with you to the table, and holds your chair as you sit down. You look over at him as he sits down, giving him a smile, "So far so good."

He smiles and nods, "Agreed."

"Y/n."

You look up, "Hi dad." You smile, "This is Colby."

Colby stands up, reaching to shake his hand, "Hello, Mr. Y/l/n. How are you?" Your dad raises the glass in his hand, "Good now that I got one of these. Would you like one?"

Colby shakes his head, "No sir, I'm fine. Thank you."

Your dad nods, "So I hear your this Colby Brock? What's all the fuss about?"

Colby chuckles, "Oh. That." He nods, "I do a YouTube channel with my best friend from back home and we do paranormal investigations."

"Is that right?" Your dad tilts his head, "Do you make a living off of it?"

You stand up, "Dad."

"It's okay." Colby looks at you, "Um yeah. We're pretty successful with it. We have over eleven million followers on YouTube alone and we've won a teen choice award."

"Well I'll be damned." Your dad chuckles, "That's more than asshat McGee over there can say."

You laugh slightly, "Dad, be nice."

Your dad chuckles, "Sorry. I just.." he leans in to Colby, "I cannot stand Daniel. He's all looks, no brain. But you.." he lays a hand on Colby's shoulder, "I like you. You got your head on straight and you've amazed me in less than five minutes. I hope you stick around."

You can feel your cheeks warming up, "Okay dad. I think they're getting ready to start." Your dad smiles, "I'll be back don't you worry."

Colby nods, "I'll be here, sir." Your dad nods and turns to walk over to your mom before you and Colby sit back down, "Well." You lean in, "You got the approval from both of my parents in a matter of minutes, so that's a good thing."

"We got this in the bag, baby." Colby laughs and you smile, gaze still lurking on him after he looks away.

The clinking of forks on glass snap you out of your stare and you look away from Colby, picking up your slim Champagne glass.

.·:*¨ ✘ ¨*:·.

"I can't believe how well that worked out." You say as you walk into the hotel room. Colby follows behind you, closing the door, "I told you everything would be okay."

"You know, my dad probably wasn't kidding when he said he liked you more than my sisters fiancé." You sit on the bed, slipping off your heels.

"Really? I guess he never really did elaborate on that." Colby chuckles as he loosens his tie, "Is he an asshole or something?"

You shrug, "I mean, yes and no. He is great to my sister, but at the same time, just the way he is and shit. He owns a company so his head swells, I guess."

"Mm. Yeah I've met people like that." Colby sits next to you, "Do you want the shower first?" You let out a sigh, "Yeah, I guess I can go first." You stand up, "Can you untie me."

Colby smirks as he reaches up, pulling the skinny string to loses your dress, "There ya be."

"Thank you." You smile at him before you walk towards the bathroom.

After your shower, you throw on one of the robes they have hanging on the wall and walk out, "All yours, Colbs."

He gets up. Unbuttoning his shirt as he walks towards the bathroom. You sit down on the bed, pulling your suitcase over. You rummage through, pulling out a pair of pajama shorts and a t-shirt.

Once you heard the water run, you stand up to shrugging off the top of your robe. You slip your shirt on before slipping on your shorts. You lay the robe down, sitting back down on the bed and switching the tv on.

A little while later, Colby walks out, "They really went all out with the hotel choice, didn't they?" He runs the towel over his hair and you look over at him, "Oh yeah. Everything has to be perfect for little Miss Priss."

Colby laughs, sitting down on the bed, "Why is she like that?"

"She's the baby of the family. Always got what she wanted growing up. She wasn't pushed to be perfect. She was born perfect." You laugh slightly, "I love her to death, but she is so annoying at times."

"I only have a brother, so I don't know what it's like to have sisters, so. I can't really offer any advice on that."

You scoff, "Lucky you."

"Alright. So enough yapping about that. Let's talk about tomorrow." Colby moves up next to you, laying on his side to face you, "I know we talked in the car a bit, but that was mainly for tonight."

"Tomorrow is going to be filled with a bunch of rich bitch snobs. So we have to be on our a game, they'll pick up apart if they get even the slightest whiff of us pretending to be together." You look at him, "It's going to be a lot, on us."

He shrugs, "I have no issue going all out."

You smile, shaking your head, "Neither do I."

"Well that was easy." He chuckles moving up to get under the covers, "I'm glad we're on that level to where nothing really can bother us."

You lay back, facing him, "I know. I honestly feel bad that I didn't think of you first."

"No one knew we'd be back a week early, so don't beat yourself up over that." He reaches over, brushing hair in your face.

You and Colby have had rumors started that you were dating, more than once, but you guys always shot them down because it's was just strictly platonic between the two or you.

Key word, was.

"Yeah, kinda wish you guys got arrested so I didn't have to go to this. I could be on a beach somewhere, but instead-"

"You're stuck here with me. I know. It's awful." Colby smirks and you roll your eyes, "Oh yeah. The worst." You laugh, "Alright. We better get some sleep because if I show up with bags under my eyes tomorrow, it won't be good."

He nods, "Alright." He pauses, looking down at the blanket for a few seconds before rolling over to switch off the light, "Goodnight."

.·:*¨ ✘ ¨*:·.

You feel a hand gently shaking you and hear a quiet, "Y/n. Hey."

"Hmm." You go to roll over but Colby's hand stops you, "We never set an alarm." Your eyes go wide, "Fuck." You sit up, looking directly at him, "What time is it?"

"Almost nine thirty."

You kick the blankets off, "Shit. We have to be at the place by ten." You pull your dress from your suitcase, you forgot to get it out and hang it up so it's slightly wrinkled.

You start to laugh as you toss your dress on the bed, "I totally forgot to set an alarm." Colby laughs, "Yeah, that was the last thing on my mind."

You nod mumbles a quiet, "Yeah, I know what you mean."

"Alright, so if you want you can have the bathroom, I'll get dressed out here." Colby pulls his suit off the hanger and you grab your makeup bag, "Okay. We got this."

Colby can tell your frantic about this, he knew you didn't want to get yelled at. He walks over, placing his hands on your cheeks, "Breath, y/n. Don't rush. Just take your time, we'll figure something out."

You nod, "Okay." You take a deep breath, "I'm going to go do my makeup, my hair will just have to get brushed."

"You'll look beautiful either way." He smiles and turns you towards the bathroom, "Now go. Get ready."

About ten minutes later, you walk out, "Okay. Dress." You point to the spaghetti strap midi dress on the bed. Colby nods as you pick it up, "I'll just-"

"You don't have to leave the room, Colby. It's fine." You slip your shirt off over your head and Colby tilts his head slightly before his eyes meet yours, "Nice - I-i mean, yeah. Okay."

You laugh as you slip the dress over your head, pulling down your pajama shorts as the dress falls over your thighs.

You kick your shorts away from your feet and sigh as you smooth out the dress, "Do I look okay?"

"More than okay." He nods, "How do I look?" He poses and you laugh, "You look.." you swallow the words you really want to say, "Very handsome, Colbs."

He smiles, "Thanks." He checks his phone, "Alright, we have ten minutes to be there." He snaps his fingers, "Shoes."

"Fuck. Yes." You grab your heels, hopping towards the door as you slip them on, "Okay. Let's go."

You quickly make your way down the hall to the elevator, cursing it quietly as it feels like it's taking forever, "Oh my god."

Colby chuckles quietly, "I know."

The door dings and opens and you get on, pushing the lobby button repeatedly until the door closes. Colby wraps his arm around your waist, "Deep breathes, babe. You'll be fine."

You nod, what he called you not registering, "Well make it. It'll be fine."

As soon as the doors open, you're quickly making your way out to the car and getting in. Colby starts to drive as you bring up the address for the venue.

"Okay, next street you're going to turn right. Arrival time is nine fifty eight so we're just going to barely make it." You look over at him and back down at your phone.

Colby nods, "They can deal. It's not like we're showing up after the ceremony."

You laugh, "If she would have just made me a bridesmaid this wouldn't have happened."

"Yeah why aren't you?" Colby glances over at you and you sigh, "I'm not as rich as her friends so.”

"That's not a good reason." Colby shakes his head and you nod, "I know. But it's whatever, she just won't be one of mine, if I ever get married."

Colby smirks, "You will."

"How do you know?" You look over at him, wanting him to keep going. He shrugs, "I just know." He winks at you, smiling as he comes to a stop, "Do I turn here?"

You look down, "Um, no. Not this one but the next, turn left and it's straight ahead."

He nods, "Who ever you end up with will be one lucky son of a bitch."

You smile, your cheeks turning a darker pink, "I don't know about all that."

Colby sighs, "I know I'm one lucky son of a bitch, even if I'm just your fake date." He glances over at you and you smile, "Yeah, me too."

He smiles and lifts his finger off the wheel, "We made it."

"Oh good." You let out a sigh of relief, unbuckling as he comes to a stop. You pull out your lipstick from your purse, applying it to your lips as Colby walks around to open your door.

He waits until you're done, taking your hand as you climb out, "Let's go have some fun."

.·:*¨ ✘ ¨*:·.

Throughout the ceremony, Colby's hand would be one of two places.

Holding your hand, or resting on your thigh.

You felt giddy and happy.

You haven't ever felt these kind of feelings for Colby before, so you were also really excited that you were this close to him.

You rested your head on his shoulder as you watched the ending of the ceremony. You caught yourself a few times, daydreaming about what your wedding would be like, and you always imagined it to be Colby.

"You may now kiss the bride."

Everyone starts to stand up and cheer, clapping for the newlyweds. You got up with Colby, clapping and wiping away your tears from your eyes as quick as you can before they strolled down your keys.

"Are you okay?" Colby asks quietly. You nod, "Just because I think my sister's a bitch doesn't mean I'm not happy for her." You laugh slightly and Colby wraps his arm around you, pulling you into him as you sniffle.

You wait to be dismissed before making your way up to the where they have all the tables.

"We are table number nine." You hold up the name card that has Colby's name above yours, "These are so cute."

Colby nods, "They really are."

"Y/n. Colby."

You turn around to see your mom and dad, "Hey, guys." You hug your mom, "Did you make it through without crying?"

She laughs, "Are you kidding me?"

You nod, "Yeah me either."

Your mom looks to Colby, "Don't you look handsome." She leans in, hugging him before your dad shakes his hand, "Good to see you again, son."

Colby smiles, "Great to see you guys. You both look great."

"He's so sweet. I like him a lot." Your mom nudges you and you nod, "Trust me. I do, too." You smile as you look over at Colby and he stares at you, nothing but love in his eyes.

"We're going to go find our seats before they do the entrances." Your mom smiles, "I'll find you later." You nod, "Yes. Please."

Your dad smiles at you and Colby before walking after your mom.

"So. You like me a lot, huh?" Colby teases as he nudges you with his elbow. You roll your eyes, smiling as you nod while looking at the floor, "Can we not talk about this now?"

He laughs, taking your hand in his, "Fine by me." He leads you to the table, sitting down with you. You guys make small talk, mainly about the venue and how the ceremony was beautiful.

"Y/n. Hey." Your older sister, Teresa, comes up. You look up at her, "Hey, T." You look at the boy next to her, "Hey Cash."

"Hi aunt y/n." He smiles and points to Colby, his voice going quiet, "Is that Colby?"

Colby smiles as he looks between you and him, "You must be Cash."

Cash's eyes go wide and he tugs on Teresa's hand, "Mom. He knows my name." She laughs, "Honey, he's saying your aunt, of course he knows your name."

Colby moves his chair out, pulling the other one out, "Do you want to sit down? I have a friend who would like to say hi to you."

He's going to call Sam.

Cash looks at Teresa and she nods. He runs around sitting down in the chair next to Colby, "I watch your show all the time."

Colby chuckles, "Isn't it scary for you?"

Cash shakes his head, "No, well. Sometimes I have to cover my eyes but you guys make me laugh, too."

You look at Teresa and smile as you look back at Colby. He pulls his phone out, "Let me see if I can get-" he pauses as the phone rings and Sam answers on the other end, "Ayo. Whats up, Colby?"

Colby smiles as he sees cash lean over, "I have someone here who would like to say hi." He turns the phone towards Cash and he has a huge smile on his face, "Hi Sam. I'm Cash. Y/n is my auntie."

You laugh slightly as you listen to Sam, "What's up, Cash? Is Colby being nice to you?"

"Dude." Colby says with a laugh, "Of course I am, right buddy?" Cash nods and laughs, "He's so cool."

"Cooler than me right?" Sam asks and Cash looks between everyone and hides his face. Sam laughs, "You can say yes. I definitely think he's cooler than me."

Cash unhides his face, giggling as he nods.

"Alright." Colby cheers, "Fist bump." He holds his fist out and Cash knocks his small fist against Colby's as he continues to giggle.

"Alright, honey. We can come back later. We have to go find our seats, aunt Clara is coming in soon." Teresa says and cash sighs, "Okay, mom."

"Good to meet you, Cash. Thanks for watching our videos." Sam says and Cash nods, waving as he climbs down from the chair.

"Thank you, Colby." Teresa smiles and Colby nods, "No problem at all. We can get some pictures together after everything settles again."

She nods and takes the boys hand, "Say thank you." Cash smiles and gives a small, "Thank you" before walking away with Teresa.

"Have fun you two." Sam laughs and you lean over, flicking him off. He does it back and Colby laughs, "Alright. I think they're coming in. I'll talk to you later."

"Later losers." Sam says with laugh before he hands up. You shake your head, "He so funny." Colby laughs, nodding as he sets his phone down, "He sure is."

.·:*¨ ✘ ¨*:·.

You walk back from the open bar, two drinks in hand, "another one for you." You set a drink in front of Colby and he leans in, "Thank you, baby."

You smile, biting your lip as your eyes move from his lips to his eyes, "You're welcome, baby."

He smirks, pulling his lip between his teeth. He rests his arm on the back of your chair as he leans in closer, "You know.. I kinda don't want to be here anymore."

"Is it that bad?" You giggle slightly and Colby shrugs, "I mean, everything is fine. Prefect even." His hand brushes against your arm, "I don't want to be here anymore because I think we need to talk about what we put off earlier."

He tilts his head as he waits for what he's saying to click in your inebriated mind, "Oh." You raise your brows, "I see."

He drinks the last of the liquid in his glass and stands up, holding his hand out. You copy what he did and lay your hand in his, following him out of the venue.

"We can't drive." You giggle as you jog up to get close to him. You stop at his car and your back is pressed against it, "Who said anything about driving anywhere?"

You smirk, moving slightly so he can open the back door. You sit down, moving backwards as he climbs in after you. He closes the door behind him and you lay your hands on his cheeks, "You and me?"

He nods, "You and me."

His lips meet yours and it's like fireworks go off all around you.

You moan against his lips and he slides a hand up your leg, pushing your dress up. His fingers slip into the thin layer of your panties before dragging them up and down your slit.

"I thought.. we could just be friends.." Colby whispers against your lips before he leans back, "But we can't."

"You're right." You lean forward, kissing him as his fingers slip inside of you. You moan, working to undo his suit jacket before sliding your hands down to undo his belt.

His fingers curl inside of you, and he groans lowly as you palm him through his pants, "Fuck."

He slips his fingers out, moving to push his pants down and you try your best to get your panties off.

He lifts up, pulling them over your one foot before moving to hover his body over yours. He pins his arm under your knee before the tip of his cock rubs against your soaked cunt.

You let out a whimper, grabbing the collar of his shirt to pull him closer to you. You gasp, eyes rolling back as his cock slides into you.

Your leg tightens around his arm, "F-fuck."

"You feel so fucking good." Colby groans lowly before crashing his lips into yours. His hand slides up, sliding around to tangle his fingers into your hair, "So fucking good."

You moan as he tilts your head back, kissing down your neck. Your hand slides around, gently pulling his hair as his thrusts grow harder.

His hand loosens the grip on your hair, "Fuck, you're going to make me cum."

"O-okay." You nod and he kisses you, "with me, cum with me."

You slide your hand down, applying pressure to your clit as he focuses on his thrusts, "So fucking beautiful." His voice is low, "Can't believe you're mine for real."

You both laugh slightly, which turns to moans as you feel closer than you did a second ago. You add more pressure, whimpering as you throw your head back.

Colby’s hand slides to the back of your head, moving it forward to rest against his forehead, “I fucking love you.”

You whimper, “I love you. I love you.”

The knot in your stomach snaps and you let out a long and slightly loud moan, clenching around him as you feel his cock twitch inside of you.

Both of you take a second, getting your breaths back to normal.

“You think anyone saw?” You ask with a slight laugh.

Colby shakes his head, “I have tinted windows, not a sound proof car, so the real question is, did anyone hear?”

Your mouth drops slightly as he laughs and you roll your eyes, “Well, I mean. You’re not wrong.” He smirks, reaching down to grab something to clean up with.

You sit up after wiping off, fixing your panties before pulling down your dress, “So now what?” You look up at Colby and he smiles, “First, I get to do this.”

He grabs your chin, leaning in to kiss you. You smile within the kiss and nod, “I could keep doing that.”

“Second.” He leans back, “We go eat some more food so one of us is sober enough to drive back to the hotel because we definitely aren’t done yet.”

.·:*¨ ✘ ¨*:·.

Sorry I’ve been MIA, I hope this wasn’t too shitty.

Let me know how you liked it! Love you all 🖤 thanks for reading!

Likes and reblogs are much appreciated!

[macsmoods]

can I request a hobie brown x fem! spider person and they kinda adopt miles and gwen. They see them and they’re like “yep these are our kids now.”

FOUND FAMILY

Hobie Brown

Summary: You and Hobie have been together for about 6 months now. When Miguel introduces everyone to the new recruits there’s an immediate liking between the 4 of you. Soon you and Hobie find yourselves becoming protective.

not edited—requests:open ——————————————————————— •“I’m excited. It been awhile since we got new recruits” you said excitedly walking to the conference room. You hands were locked together as you swung them back and fourth.

“Me to. Hopefully there not jack asses like the last to.” you nodded in agreement as he finished talking.

You flashed Miguel a smile which he, obviously, didn’t return. You sat down next to Hobie. You leg bounced up and down nervously as you waited for miguel to begin.

“Calm down darling.” hobie said placing a hand on your knee. Although it had been half a year of being together he still found simple ways to make you blush.

“Alright let’s begin.” miguel yelled out. “As you know we have 2 new recruits. They will be treated with respect and won’t be treated indifferently. Understood?” he said looking at Hobie.

“He touched my hair alright. What i did was in the right. Plus he only fractured his wrist, nothing worse” a hobie explained hand in the air in defense.

Miguel rolled his eyes before beginning again. “Alright please give a warm welcome to Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy.” Everyone watched as they walked in.

Gwen was short and had shaved part of her head. It seemed it had been died with different colors. Miles seemed tall enough with a black and red suit.

You watched as Miles gave a timid wave seeming nervous while Gwen smiled confidently.

“Ok go sit down.” Miguel said in a bored tone. You waved them over to the seats next to you.

They walked over sitting. “Hi i’m y/n and this is my boyfriend Hobie.” you said extending your hand.

They both shook it smiling back. “It’s nice to meet you.” gwen said. You took your focus back to miguel. You grabbed Hobies hand with a smile as you sat next your new friends. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~•“Gwen! Get down from there people are staring!” you scolded as the blonde stepped off the table. “It’s not a joke Gwen you could get hurt.” Gwen and Miles laughed as you and Hobie glared.

“ok mother dearest.” gwen retorted sarcastically.

“I swear they never listen.” you whispered to Hobie. He grabbed your hand squeezing it.

“It’s ok darling. It’s just a phase.” you smiled at that. Quickly it was wiped from your face as you heard a gag.

Miles and Gwen were faking vomiting. “Ok guys real mature.” Hobie said.

“Bye mom. Bye dad.” They said leaving the table.

“Get back here now!” Hobie yelled. You gripped his hand as they walked away. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ • “What were you two even thinking!” you said slamming your hands on the desk. “First you leave this dimension without telling us an then you show up at a fight you were told not to be at by multiple people.” you yelled.

“You could have gotten hurt, or worse killed. So not only would you cause great grief to me and y/n you would also be causing a huge disruption in your dimension!” Hobie yelled.

Gwen scoffed at that. “Would you like to say something?” you snarled.

“This is bullshit! You aren’t are parents so stop acting like it. We are adults who can make are own decisions.” Gwen yelled. “Cmon miles we’re leaving.” They both stood up.

“No i don’t think so! Get the fuck back here!” you yelled but they were already out the door and down the hall. “fuck” you whispered.

Hobie pulled you into a hug kissing your head. Hot tears spilled on your cheeks. “Are we really that bad Hobie?” you whimpered.

“No baby. It’ll take some time before they realize why we’re here. We may not be there real parents but they need someone to take care of them here.” hobie said.

He leaned down attaching your guys lips. “Cmon we have to get to the meeting.” you sighed.

You walked down the hall making it to Miguel’s office. Both you and Hobie stood in. the corner ready to listen.

“There’s a new anomaly!” miguel’s voice echoed through the office. All the spiders went quiet. “For this mission I will need Y/n, Hobie, Gwen, Miles, and Peter. B. That is all. The following people will be debriefed by me. Others please make your way to Lyla for further instruction.”

Your squad walked towards Miguel as he sat atop at his desk. The tension was high as you watched Gwen and Miles move further from you and a hobie.

“There being jackasses. Don’t let them bother you.” Hobie leaned down and whispered. You smiled as Miguel began.

“This new anomaly is one we have seen only few times. The plan is simple. Take it down. We leave right now.” at that Miguel stepped into the portal. Miles and Gwen quickly followed leaving you, Hobie and Peter entering last.

Immediately you saw them already fighting. Quickly running you began to bring civilians to safety. Miguel and Peter could handle the anomaly.

You and Hobie worked together swinging grabbing anyone they could bringing them to safety. Gwen and Miles were doing the same, well you hoped they were.

You noticed a small child in the middle of it all scared. You swung and ducked grabbing him by his waist lifting him into the air. You found a safe place where people could help him.

Running back to the scene you noticed it had quieted down.

“damn that was a quick one.” you commented walking up to Hobie. His eyes were glossed over. “Hey what’s wrong hun.” you looked in his direction to see Peter and Miguel trying to move a bus.

“Hey what’s going on.” you yelled running over. You attached webs attempting to help.

“Gwen. Miles. Bus.” miguel muttered.

“no, no , no!” you yelled. You pulled and pulled Hobie joining. “God damnit you stupid kids!” you’d creamed. With one last pull the bus flew out of the way.

You and Hobie ran towards them pulling rubble off them. “Miles, Geen cmon let’s wake up ok. Your gonna be okay. It all gonna be fine.” Hobie pleaded shaking them. Your eyes blurred as you watched.

“Y/n, Hobie.” Gwen choked out.

“Oh my poor girl!” you cried throwing yourself around her. “Oh Miles!”you yelled embracing him as he sat up. Hobie wrapped his arms around you guys as well.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry i’m a horrible person. All the shit i said. We really do see you as our parents. We need you guys.” Gwen cried.

“shhhh it’s gonna be ok. We are all ok.” Hobie whispered hugging everyone even tighter. ———————————————————————

Authors note

This was so cute to write. Such a fun request hopefully i delivered it well. Should i do any other fandom one shots? ( ex. obx,marvel,etc.)

sincerely,

macsmoods🌊🫧

[lyssak09]

Hey can i ask a Yandere archangels hcs (separated) where their obsession is their soulmates?

Pronouns for the reader can be She/her

I didn't know exactly if you meant them in like a soulmate AU or something so I just did some soulmate AUs from the wonderful @creativepromptsforwriting. Some have different soulmate AUs than others. I really enjoyed writing this! Happy reading 💙

Yandere Archangels soulmates

Lucifer

Name & Telepathy

Archangels weren’t made for humans, so why the fuck did a name replace his vessel’s soulmate’s name. 

When Lucifer took over Nick’s body he never thought about the soulmate thing his father put in place for you humans. Nick’s soulmate had already died so he didn’t really think about it.

Til he felt a burning sensation on his left arm one day, Lucifer saw Sarah’s name (Nick’s deceased wife) disappear and a new name replace it, Y/N.

You on the other hand were born with the name Lucifer on your left arm. Your parents couldn’t believe someone would name their baby Lucifer! When you were old enough to fully understand the whole soulmate concept you just thought your soulmate had cruel parents to name them that.

The thought that the Lucifer is your soulmate never even crossed anyone's mind. 

Lucifer wanted to know why he had a soulmate, he did research and found nothing about archangels having soulmates. This must be another cruel joke from his father. Like he could ever have a soulmate.

He tried to ignore it and pretend nothing changed. But a part of him wanted to know if you were real or not. Lucifer thought about you more than he would ever like to admit. To the point you could hear his thoughts, sure you’ve heard of soulmates being connected telepathically but never thought you’d be one of those who are.

“Why the fuck would he give me a soulmate? I fell from heaven because of humans, I wasn’t his favorite anymore because of them! They’re a broken, flawed, and murderous species! It's so like him to make one be my soulmate” You heard someone say, you shot your head up, looking for the owner of the voice. Finding nothing you try to brush it off and continue with what you were doing. “I wonder if I’m her soulmate? Now that would be a plot twist.” You hear the voice laugh. You’re either going crazy, or you can hear your soulmate. “Imagine, having the devil as your soulmate! HA! ‘Mom, Dad, I’d like you to meet my boyfriend, Lucifer’ that would be fun to see.” The voice cackles. Yep, you’re going crazy.

Hearing him in your head has caused you to think about the crazy person who’s your soulmate, causing the telepathic connection between you to reach him.

“I can’t believe my soulmate is crazy. He thinks he’s the devil! He’s gotta be in an institution or something.” Lucifer hears right as he’s killing a lone angel. He stares at the angel whom he has in a choke hold, “Did you say something?”. The angel looks at him like he’s nuts. “Yeah, you’re right, it's probably nothing. Anyways, enjoy your snooze fest wings!” Lucifer grins then disintegrates the angel. “The person who is supposed to complete me says he’s the devil. I mean, that's crazy! I hope he gets help before I meet him if I ever meet him.” He hears the voice again, Lucifer whips his head around but finds no one is near. He thinks before he gains a smirk, “I guess she is real. I have a soulmate.”. Lucifer laughs before looking up at the sky, “Thanks pop, this should be fun”

Since hearing your voice Lucifer is interested in meeting you now, there’s got to be a reason why God made you for him. He won’t admit it but he enjoys hearing you when you talk to yourself, he gets to learn more about you. And unfortunately, you are in fact interesting.

The more he learns about you/hears you the more he feels for you. Finding you has become a priority for him now. Lucifer finds your inner thoughts and monologues you do to be both stupid and adorable at the same time. He’s falling for you without meeting you, not that he would admit that.

Lucifer will finally figure out where you are because of your thoughts. He comes to stake you out, he doesn’t expect to be smitten by your idiotic and stupid pretty face. It makes him angry how he feels about you now, not only was he falling for you just from hearing you and your thoughts, but now he’s actually physically attracted to you!

Lucifer will secretly watch you, either he’ll do it himself or have a demon do it for him if he has matters to attend to. Watching you, your daily routines, and how you interact with people doesn’t help Lucifer in trying to find out why you’re his soulmate. But it does unfortunately cause him to fall for you even more.

He’ll ‘coincidently’ bump into you sometimes, just to interact with you, even if it's just for a second. Lucifer tells himself he does it to learn about you and your weaknesses, but he just wants to see you and talk to you.

It starts to become less of a coincidence that he’s almost everywhere you are and more of a very creepy purposeful thing in your eyes. To the point where you just straight-up confront him on it one day.

“Look Nick, I’m starting to think you’re following me everywhere and it needs to stop. If you have something to say then just come right out with it.” You scold the man, expecting his smile to fall, but no… He smiles wider. The man you call Nick seems like he’s about to say something but he stops himself. “I’ll see you tomorrow Y/N,” He says giving you a look you can’t decipher. You shake your head and continue walking home.

The next day you would in fact see him again. Not knowing everything is about to change.

You enter your living room and find ‘Nick’ looking around it, picking up and staring at the photos you have up. “What the hell are you doing Nick? Why are you in my house!” You scold the man and her turns to face you. “I’ve come for my soulmate” ‘Nick’ smiles then pulls up his sleeve a bit up and shows you his left arm, your name clear as ever on his arm. You feel a shock and panic course through you, you scramble to look at your arm, knowing that it has said Lucifer all your life, and it still does. Confusion washes over your face. “My arm says Lucifer, not Nick.” You replied, your eyebrows furrowing. ‘Nick’ walks towards you. “My name isn’t actually Nick babe, it’s Lucifer. And we’re meant to be” He smiles and then his eyes flash glowing red…

“I know why my father made you my soulmate, why he made us soulmates. The irony of me falling for a human, the very species that caused me to fall and no longer be favorited or accepted by him, is too much for him to not enjoy.”

He takes you to your new home, Hell. Lucifer will confess how he didn’t want you at first but you’re so special and different. How could he not fall for you?

Gabriel

Telepathy & Dreamy

Archangels don’t sleep, right? Then why is he dreaming?

Ever since he went to earth and became one with his vessel (who is unnamed) he blinks and then finds himself in some weird place. A dream maybe?

He’ll be in said place for however long then ‘wakes up’ back wherever he was, more like he blinks then is back in his house or whatever. Like he never left.

The times he was shoved into this world/place (?) would vary. He couldn’t do much in this place. Mainly watch what happens. The main constant in the place was a girl, which happens to be you.

As he witnesses what must be dreams, he learns more about you.

You’re the best part of humanity he’s seen in a very long time.

Gabriel will start doing research, finding out what he’s witnessing is in fact someone’s dreams, his soulmate’s actually. He learns this is a part of the soulmate thing his father put in place for you humans. 

Why he’s yours or why you’re his, he doesn’t know. But he frankly, doesn’t care as to why. He just wants to know more about you.

Gabe will learn how to gain more control of your dreams, trying to manipulate them slightly, in hopes of talking to you.

Gabriel was quietly watching your dream from the sidelines. He found you so cute and adorable. Seeing what your brain comes up with as you sleep was also fascinating to him. He can’t wait to finally be able to interact with you and your dreams. Gabe is already picturing all the dates he’ll take you on in your dreams. 

You didn’t believe you had a soulmate for a long time, unlike most people when you dreamt you never saw someone consistently in your dreams, aka your soulmate. So when you started to see this man in your dreams you didn’t really think he was your soulmate, just something your brain conjured up.  

Until the man came up to you in your dream and spoke to you. You were happy to finally have a soulmate. The man you learned is named Gabriel and he was beyond giddy to finally be able to talk to you.

From then on when you would dream Gabe would change the dream, making it like dates. So you could learn more about him, don’t worry he already knows everything about you now 🙂

Gabriel doesn’t tell you that he’s an archangel or that angels and god actually exists yet, so when he tells you about himself he makes it simpler. “Oh, do I have siblings? Yeah, I have 3 brothers I was close to, the others I never really interacted much with since they were made way after me.” “Do I still see my brothers? HA! Hell no, not after the war- I mean the falling out between two of them.” “Am I close to my parents…..uhm no, my father abandoned us basically.”

But the longer this goes on he starts to show more of himself to you, his unhealthy feelings towards you. Becoming too touchy, sharing way more information about yourself than he should know, and getting irritated when you mention any male in your life. 

Gabriel starts to come off too strong. “You people believe in marriage right? We should do that then. Secure the deal legally!” 

He says that the 3rd time you talk to him in one of your dreams.

Gabe starts to push the idea of meeting you way quicker than you’d like. If you mention that he’s moving too quickly for you he’ll get upset. 

“What-what do you mean? We’re soulmates Y/N! You were literally made for me! My father made you for me! We’re meant to be!” Gabe exclaimed in frustration. You give him a strange look. “What do you mean ‘your father’?” You try to question him, Gabriel lets out a sigh before explaining that he’s an archangel and his father is God, who happens to actually exist. ‘He’s crazy! He thinks he’s an angel? He cannot be my soulmate!’ you think before trying to wake up and get away from him.

He didn’t appreciate you cutting your time together short. Nor will he appreciate it when you start trying to avoid him by not sleeping. Not only is that unhealthy for you but you’re staying away from him! He hates that. It feels like you’re abandoning him, and we all know how he feels about that.

Gabriel starts searching for you, which isn’t too hard since he knows way too much about you. While you’re trying to find out if you can get rid of a soulmate, or at least keep them out of your dreams.

Unfortunately for you, he knows what you’re trying to do, luckily for him, he can hear your thoughts if he focuses on you. You don’t know he can do that as your soulmate. 

After the fifth night of staying awake, you’re starting to get the sleep deprivation effects, such as hallucinating. Which will give Gabriel a huge advantage.

He’ll come for you after finally figuring out where you are in the world. It’s late at night and you’re too exhausted to fight against him or even realize that he’s real. You just think you're hallucinating when a man looking like your soulmate randomly appears in your room.

You honestly made it way easier for him to take you home, if you had slept more you’d be able to fight against him, maybe he wouldn’t have had to take you so quickly if you slept and met him in your dreams. But it's too late for it now. He easily scoops you up and takes you to your new home, his home.

“Welcome home, sweetcheeks”

Michael

Danger alert & name & telepathy

When Michael took over Dean’s body he didn’t expect to gain a soulmate, especially you. You were Dean’s soulmate, your name was on his left arm and everything. But after Michael was in his body for a couple of weeks he felt a weird sensation on Dean’s right arm, your name was starting to appear. 

He was more confused than anything. Why would his father give you two soulmates? Why would he make you his soulmate in the first place? 

Michael couldn’t understand why Chuck gave him, an archangel, a soulmate.

As much as he would have liked to ignore this, he couldn’t. He was intrigued. Not just because he somehow has a soulmate, but because you are his soulmate. His destined vessel’s soulmate is also his! That is fascinating to him.

So he’ll go through Dean’s mind to learn about you, even change up the imaginary bar he made to keep Dean preoccupied, to involve an imaginary you. He’ll learn more about you and why you’re so special to Dean that way. And it keeps Dean from realizing he’s locked away in his own mind/body for a bit longer.

The more he learns about you and sees memories of you from Dean the harder he falls. Who could see that coming?

Michael becomes obsessed with you, you’re not like other humans. Maybe that's why his father made you his soulmate.

He’ll also start to become overprotective, especially since he can feel when you’re in danger thanks to Dean’s soulmate connection to you.

You could be on a hunt with Sam or a dangerous research mission (to find a way to get Michael out of Dean’s body) with Cas, and be in danger till whatever creature was about to/was harming you all of a sudden disintegrates. But there won’t be a sign or a trace of what killed the creature.

You were pinned down by a vampire, trying to get it off of you while Sam fights his way towards you. This was supposed to be a simple hunt and research mission! “Y/N!” You hear Sam yell your name as he gets closer to you. “Y/N! I’m coming!” He yelled just as the vampire was going to bite me. I close my eyes and wince, but the weight against me disappears. I sit up a bit, All that's left of the vamp that was on me is some ashes. Sam and you look around trying to see who or what saved you, but find nothing. Not noticing Michael hiding in the shadows of the warehouse with you guys.

He won’t get to meet you for a while since you’re off helping Sam to get him out of Dean’s body, and he’s busy running around Earth. 

Michael has the upper hand though. You and Sam don’t know that he can hear your thoughts, because that's not a typical soulmate connection to have. You don’t know that you’re his soulmate yet either. So whatever plans you and Sam come up with are easily foiled by him.

Michael likes to try and implant thoughts into your subconscious using the telepathy he’s gotten as your soulmate.

He might convince Dean to work with him by manipulating him and telling him you can be his forever if he just works with him, Michael will even supply that apple pie life Dean wants. 

Michael will still be in control more often than not if Dean agrees though. He’ll let Dean control his body much more often than he currently is if works with him.

And how could Dean resist? Not only would he gain control of his body back, but he’d also get his soulmate and the dream life he wants, and he’d be able to finally act on all of his dark feelings for you while being able to blame it all on Michael.

You still only have Dean’s name on you though. This will infuriate Michael once he finds out. How can you be his soulmate but he’s not yours? It makes him angry and jealous. Shouldn’t he be meant for you just like you are for him?

But it doesn’t matter, as long as you’re with him then everything is fine.

He is extremely manipulative. During one of your attempts to get him out of Dean’s body, Michael takes note of how much you love Dean and how you’re willing to do anything for him. He wants you to feel like that for him. 

So one day after another failed attempt to save Dean Michael makes a deal with you. Give yourself up and you’ll have Dean back. You want to immediately agree but why does he of all people want you specifically to give yourself up?

You demand to know why and he smiles. “Because I want my soulmate by my side.” His smile turns into a grin as he pulls up his sleeve on his right arm, revealing your name on it. You gasp, your jaw unclenches, going slack, and you scramble to look at your left arm. You’re afraid that his name has taken Dean’s place but find it hasn’t changed. “As much as I would love to explain it, I don’t know why my name isn’t on your arm when we’re destined to be together. But that doesn’t matter right now. Will you come with me or not?” He leans towards you as he crosses his arms. You pace in thought for a moment before looking at him, shoulders slumped and frown. “You promise you’ll let him go? Like vacate from him, find a new ‘vessel’ or whatever?” You question and nervously fidget. He licks his lips quickly before gaining an even wider grin, “Yes. I’ll leave his body.”, Michaels lies right through his teeth. He’d be stupid to give up his true vessel, the one that makes him even more powerful than he already was. But you don’t know this, so you reluctantly agree, thinking you’re saving Dean. No matter how much Sam screams at you to not say yes, that we’ll find another way to save him, you can’t hear him over the thought of Dean being free again. “I’ll go with you.”

[halcyone-of-the-sea]

Hal, i can't say how happy i am to see you hit such a big number, i've been following you since the beggining and it's so amazing to see this community grow, i love how everyone that interacts is so kind and overall amazing, you deserve that and much more, and i hope things in your personal life keep getting better!! ❤

For the event, i would like to request, if possible, a small drabble of Keegan with a daughter, it can be anything, really! I'm a single mom expecting a baby, and i just need to see a strong military man caring for a child, all your other parent fics just hit the hard in the feelings, so i wanted to see my favorite in this prompt too!

—Hold Her Close

⇢ ˗ˏˋ 5k Drabble Masterlist ࿐ྂ

╰┈➤ ❝ [Keegan cares for his young daughter.] ❞

He holds her carefully as she sits on the back of his neck, hands firm on her legs as they dangle around his shoulders with their tiny little shoes. The child was giggling, no more than seven, as her hands tangled in the black locks of Keegan’s hair and pulled without any real strength; her eyes stared at all the sights to be seen. 

It was early at Fort Santa Monica, so early the mist was still in the air and the chill caused the protective father to suit his daughter into a jacket that puffed around her frame. She’d been crying last night, and rather than ask her to try and fall asleep again, he’d gone on his morning run with some company. It didn’t bother him, of course. 

She was yours and his daughter—she could never bother him for as long as he lived. 

“Having fun up there?” He grunts out, blue eyes shifting up as the child giggles out a small ‘yep,’ and returns to gazing around with glittering eyes. She was so tiny, he thought to himself. So easy to pick up and infect those little eyes with wonder. Everything down to the way the dew looked in the grass was a foreign world to her—mixed with magic and innocence he never wanted to see gone. 

“Which way, Sunshine?” Keegan asks, blinking forward at the split in the sidewalk; left or right?

“That way,” her pudgy hand points, and booted feet obey without question. Left it was. 

The soldier hums and puffs out a breath of condensation into the air, t-shirt and running shorts swaying around him. 

“If you get cold,” he utters, “you tell me, okay?” 

“Okay!” Keegan pushes down a smile, blue eyes so soft you could mistake it for dyed room-temperature butter. While he wouldn’t get the workout he had intended in the brightening sun of the morning, with the sound of waves lapping in the air and the scent of his sweat dripping off his nostrils, he’d still enjoy this. 

“Can we get hot cocoa?” A hand slaps his forehead and he chuffs a laugh, flinching slightly at the tiny connection of skin. 

“Careful, Kid,” the soldier mutters but nods as his daughter's giggles make his chest swell. Damn him, he was done for the moment he’d seen her in the NICU. “Yeah, fine, we can get some hot cocoa. You know something though?”

His daughter's face is above his as he leans his neck back, looking up into her bright face. She blinks, smiling wide.

“What?”

“You’re gonna have to give me a kiss first, Sweetheart.” 

“Ew!” She laughs, and Keegan holds her body still as it moves all around in her childish delight, legs kicking out as the man laughs under his breath. 

“C’mon,” he huffs, “nothing for your Old Man? I’m hurt. You give Riley kisses on the nose all the time.”

She’s still laughing, holding onto his head. Keegan decides there’s never been a more perfect sound. Without another word, a little smooch is pressed into his hairline, an overdramatic ‘mwah’ sounding off with a raise of hands upwards. 

He beams, eyes crinkling and lips pulled back with a wide smile as he shakes his head in amusement. Moving his face forward, the normally stoic soldier sighs and continues on, his daughter on his shoulders and his heart full. 

[w0rmm1lk]

Hi again!!! Could you do a M!reader x bakugou Where does Bakugou find out he's gay? he never worried about sexualities, and after meeting the reader he discovered that he liked guys and started ignoring him for fear of being rejected 😭 but then at the end the reader admits that he is pansexual and is in love with Bakugou and has a fluff ending!!!

les gooooo im so happy im getting so many requests tbh--

characters: Bakugo

reader: Male

summary: every since Y/n walked into that class bakugo immediately knew he hated(fell in love with) him.

warnings: coming out, swearing, hinted shinkami

other details: bakugo being in denial about being in the closet, Pan!reader, fluff, confession.

les gooo

(hope you dont mind the headcannon format! trying to get through my requests and headcannons make it easier :') )

-this man fell head over heels for you the second you stepped in the door. you could feel his face heating up just at the sight.

-of course, like any other person bakugos first thought was, "Oh I probably fucking hate this guy if I'm reacting like this right?"

-no.

-you both got to know each other better due to being paired up in training a lot.

-bakugo was honestly annoyed with himself to learn he didn't hate you, he wanted to be "friends"

-yep.

-he swears just friends.

-you two hung out a lot, mostly with the others.

-others being; Kirishima, denki, sero, and Mina, yknow the group.

-the topic of Bakugo possibly having a crush didn't pop up until a bit after school one day. Bakugo was forcibly dragged along with the rest of the group to go to a restaurant together.

-kaminari was ranting about some purple-haired mind controller he was crushing on.

-bakugo didn't think much of it until Mina pointed out one thing.

-"You know, the way you talk about shinsou and what you guys do together sounds awfully a lot like Bakugo and Y/N..."

-"Wait! You're totally right! bakugo do you like him?!"

-"he totally likes him!"

-they were both met with a small explosion of anger and almost real explosions to the face.

-"im not gay!"

-everyone just kinda stared at him in disbelief for a second.

-finally, sero actually spoke up to break the silence.

-"Wait... youre not...?"

-ultiple explosions were fired causing the group to get kicked from the store.

-once they got back to the dorms bakugo immediately shut himself into his room.

-he was intending to actually sleep but his mind was clouded purely with thoughts of You..

-he actually began questioning himself.

-the next day bakugo couldn't keep his brain from focusing on you.

-he noticed every time you spoke, sighed, yawned, walked, breathed, he was way too focused.

-he tried to keep his mind off of you.

-it was all fine until kirishima was trying to talk to him.

-'bakugo you're listening right?"

-"..."

-"bakugo?"

-"..."

-"hey man--- you good-?"

-it took a few moments before kirishima looked to see what bakugo was so focused on.

-Y/N.

-he was staring you down.

-"ohhhhh, yknow, I'm starting to think Mina and kaminari were right-"

-somehow that out of everything snapped bakugo out of his thoughts.

-"I don't like him!"

-kirishima stiffled a laugh

-"Uh-huh, sureeeee you don't."

-bakugo had a weird look on his face as he turned back to look at you.

-his ears turned a bright red when you noticed him staring and smiled slightly in his direction.

-kirishima looked between you two for a moment.

-"okay kaminari and mina were definitely right."

-"For the last time shitty hair- Im not gay!'

-class a was lucky with how high quality these desks were, otherwise, bakugos would have been burnt to a crisp with that explosion that came out of his hands.

-bakugos small fit of yelling caught a lot of students' attention, usually they ignored bakugos rants but this one seemed to interest a few.

-"uh-huh."

-"I- why are you looking at me like that! go die."

-he shoved past kirishima leaving the room.

-you assumed he had left for the dorms.

-you learned just how wrong you were when you left the classroom and immediately someone grabbed your hand dragging you to a slightly secluded area behind the school.

-"...bakugo?'

-he didn't reply and shoved you against the wall. you could feel your face heat up at the position but then you realised Bakugo's expression.

-he was pissed

-like, if you don't run then just pray for your survival pissed.

-"The hell is with your quirk!? it's making me feel all weird these past few months!"

-"Bakugo the hell are you talking about--"

-"Your quirk dumbass! it-- it's making me feel all these weird emotions whenever I look at you- i- it makes me feel warm in shit! like- like I actually like you! So tell me! What the hell is your quirk!?"

-you didn't know whether to laugh or confess at this point.

-"Bakugo- my quirk is (quirk), which is very much not related to what you're feeling--"

-you could see bakugos whole face flush red.

-yet for once he didnt look mad, he looked almost embarrassed.

-his mind was racing with thoughts realizing; "oh shit I'm actually gay."

-there was a very long awkward pause. you could see Bakugo's thoughts racing purely in his expression.

-after almost a minute he finally spoke up.

-"Then.. go out with me dumbass."

-What he said caught you by surprise, your face heating up at these words.

-"Wait what--

-"I said go out with me! Are you deaf or just not interested!?"

-"I mean I am interested... just- a little surprised that's all."

-he pulled away so you weren't shoved against the wall anymore.

-"It's late as hell- let's get back to the dorms."

-"Ah! right-"

-"Of course someone like you is gay."

-"I'm pan.. but- close enough I guess."

-"What the hell does that mean?!"

-not only did you learn about Bakugo's feelings towards you. you also learned he had no clue about the large list of sexualities outside of gay and straight.

ngl struggles once again, mainly with the confession part

[diazsdimples]

"You're the only person I could even fathom doing this for" + Buddie

"You're the only person I could even fathom doing this for," Eddie grouses as he and Buck weave their way through the crowd, heading towards the meetup point near the starting line.

There are ten other teams (couples? Eddie's never entirely sure what to call them) also milling around, waiting to be called up. Among them are what feels like hundreds of crew members, camera people, health and safety coordinators, you name it.

Buck nudges Eddie's shoulder with his as they walk. "And can I just once again reiterate how grateful I am that you agreed to come. I could have asked Hen or Chim, but I don't think they would have been so keen."

Eddie snorts. "Hen and Chim would have walked off before you even finished the first leg." He hoists the overly large backpack up his shoulders, swinging it around to do a last-minute check that they've got everything they need.

"They just can't keep up with my boundless enthusiasm," Buck replies airily. He grins down at Eddie. "It's not their fault, I suppose. You're just the only person I know who's got a chance at keeping up with me."

"Yeah well, I did say I'd have your back." Eddie puts on a show of sighing loudly, but there's no hiding the grin that's pulling at the corners of his mouth. "I probably should have seen this coming."

Buck stops, causing a crew member to dodge him and shoot him a dirty look. He remains oblivious to this as he regards Eddie with amusement.

"You should have anticipated 7 years ago, when you said you'd have my back, that I'd sweet talk you into coming onto a reality TV show with me?"

"Yep. Exactly that. Silly of me, really."

Buck laughs, a bright sound that makes something in Eddie's chest warm. Buck's smile is a beautiful thing to behold and Eddie can't help but grin right back.

"You're ridiculous," Buck chuckles, falling into step beside Eddie once again as they make their way over to the tent where the other racers are waiting.

When Buck had approached Eddie with the idea of applying for the Amazing Race USA, it had initially seemed like a harmless joke, a "yeah we should totally do that," without any real intention of actually applying.

And then Buck had shown up at his house with a tape recorder and a grin, and had begged and begged and begged for them to record a clip to send in. Had it not been for Christopher's puppy eyes ("please Dad, I'll be the coolest kid in school!") Eddie probably wouldn't have gone through with it. But Buck knew Eddie's weakness (his son) and boy had he weaponised him.

They sent in the tape the next day within a week had received a callback, and now here they were, several weeks and one somewhat awkward conversation with Bobby about why he'd be losing two of his firefighters for a month later, wondering how exactly they managed to push past all the other people applying.

Eddie wasn't one to turn down the opportunity to win a million dollars, not that that amount of money went particularly far in this economy. As he'd joked to Buck, if they won he'd use his share of the money to pay off Christopher's student loans, and then buy himself an ice cream with the leftover cash.

Also, he'd get to travel the world with Buck, which was a huge selling point. Eddie knows he's whipped when it comes to Buck. The idea of travelling with him, seeing the world, competing against others, being at their peak BuckandEddie, it would have been too good to pass up.

They finally reach the tent where the rest of the racers are, and are immediately swooped on by a hoard of crew members, checking over them, making sure they're mic'd up, general TV show admin, Eddie assumes.

"No turning back now, huh," Buck comments, trying to seem as nonchalant as possible. Eddie, however, can see right through him. He hears the slight quaver in Buck's voice, notices the way Buck doesn't quite meet his eye, how Buck's eyes are flickering around him as though on high alert.

"Hey," he says as he places a hand on Buck's shoulder, his thumb brushing against Buck's pulse point. "We're going to be okay. It's going to be fun! Just breathe, okay?"

Buck takes in a deep breath, his shoulders rising and pressing against Eddie's hand before releasing it. Eddie rubs his thumb back and forth over Buck's neck, giving him the smallest of squeezes.

"Right," Buck nods, his mouth quirking into a half smile. "Just us versus the world, huh?"

Eddie returns his smile with an easy grin, and he has to resist the urge to lean over and press a gentle kiss to Buck's cheek. "You and me, and 11 countries. We've got this."

There's a loud foghorn noise, signalling the teams to line up at the starting line, facing the host. Eddie's hand moves to cup Buck's cheek, patting him once, twice, before dropping down to his side. Buck flushes a beautiful pink and together they make their way to the line, ready to begin the adventure of a lifetime.

Gonna tag some friends who might be interested.

@theotherbuckley @hippolotamus @daffi-990 @bidisasterevankinard @neverevan

@spotsandsocks @aroeddiediaz @steadfastsaturnsrings @watchyourbuck

[jeansplaytoy]

Complaining - Ony. 6

<<part five part seven>>

arguing , angst (?) , ony being the “worst” , language , mentions of cheating / lying .

the waits are killing me too . NOT PROOF READ forgive me .

“so you sayin… this nigga told you he wasn’t going to the party, at the same time he was taking me.” you crossed your arms.

ony sat on the same couch as you, different distances because your hits hurt. even though he apparently didn’t have anything to lie about.

“yeah.” his ex girlfriend said, glancing at him across from you. ony looked at you and smacked his lips. “ian gon lie. y/n you gotta be the dumbest person i know if you believe that.”

“boy shut the hell up.” you rolled your eyes at him. you looked back at the girl. “you got message proof?”

when she turned the phone around after a few seconds, you didn’t even bother looking fully at the messages. the only thing you saw was “ian goin to that par-“ and that’s all you read before you closed your eyes and took a deep breath in.

ony frowned and looked at the messages. “man hol’ up-“

“shut up. you, you do know he literally just wanted me to start taking to him again, right? like before that party?”

“he ain’t tell me that.” she crossed her arms.

“yep. you can go.” you muttered before getting up and going upstairs. as you heard his ex girlfriend get up and leave, ony followed you to his room.

“bruh-“

“i’m good man. ion even wanna hear it.” you pursed your lips together.

“ma, im being dead ass serious when i say she lyin.” ony said with his hands in his pockets by the doorway. “right then what did them messages say?” you squinted. “ony sighed inaudibly and longingly. “that ain’t me. on some real shit.”

“yknow… ion even know why i bothered tryna restart wit’ you. cause i really thought we could have something and i thought we was gon make it this time without fucking up, but it’s always you, onyankopon.” you stared at him while getting your things from around his room.

ony started to open his mouth and say something, but suddenly he closed his mouth and stared at you with now, blank eyes. “okay.”

you frowned a little and paused what you were doing. “okay?”

“if you ain’t gon believe what i’m telling you, even though i’m not fuckin lyin, then what else can i say? ‘y/n forgive me for telling the truth. i love you.’ i’m sicka that shit.” he said, still leaning on the doorway.

you blinked for a couple seconds. “you.. make me so fuckin’ sick. honestly, i wish i never met yo ass. like everything you do just hurts.” you threw your things on the bed.

ony just walked over to his bed and sat down. “right. cus you can’t seem to believe one fuckin’ thing that be comin outta my mouth and you so fuckin gullible, you believe everything another bitch tell you.” he scoffed and laid back, putting his arms behind his head.

“alright.” you raised your eyebrows, grabbing your things and starting to walk towards the door. “don’t… worry…” you said, picking up the things you were dropping on the way out. “bout me.”

you thought everything was finally gathered until one thing from the middle of the stack dropped, then everything dropped.

yep. that’s it.

you let out a deep, agonizing groan and looked back at ony, who just stared at you. “you done?” he raised his eyebrows. you furrowed your eyebrows and inhaled, your breath shaky as you did so. “i like you for real ony…” you scratched your head and looked at the ground. “you just don’t know.”

“y/n, i promise you i know, but i’m tryna tell you.”

“i’m not bouda sit here and listen to no lies ony. she showed me the messages, i’m done wit this whole thing.” you shook your head. ony sat up and rested his elbows on his knees. “what the fuck i gotta do to prove to you that ion want nothing to do wit her nomo? you can look at my messages from when we started talkin again, you can ask around, ion know what else to say to you.”

“why the fuck would you wanna show me the same messages she showed me?” you frowned. “you know what, this is why-“

ony dragged his hands over his face. as you went on and on about how stupid he was, he stared at the floor, covering his mouth with his hands and slowly shaking his head.

he should’ve never cheated.

he should’ve never lied.

your whole personality wouldn’t have changed. that’s the only reason you’re acting like this, and he knew that.

“i’m sorry.”

you stopped your rant and looked at him. “what?”

“i’m sorry, it ain’t gon happen again. is that what you wanna hear?” he looked at you with bored eyes. you pursed your lips together. “so it did happen.”

“naw. no. hell no. but if you want a sorry, or whatever you want, you got it. i’m just tryna be happy witchu bruh.”

you stayed silent, picking up your things, feelings tears swell in your eyes. never in your life have you cried over a nigga but here you are, doing just that.

“is you cryin?”

“i’m calling mikasa so she can take me home. don’t call me, text me, ion wanna hear yo voice. just delete my contact or some shit because…” you shook your head, leaving out of onys room.

going downstairs, you took out your phone to call mikasa.

“hello?”

“come pick me up. you got my location.”

before she could say anything back, you hung up.

so much for talking things out.

[paper-starz]

WELCOME HOME THEORY 2: The Theory Strikes Back

Good evening, gentlemen, gentleladies, and gentlethems,

Or Good night

Or even good morning,

Whenever you are, I humbly come to you all with another theory.

This time, its our favorite morally questionable sentient house, Home!

So strap in, buckle up, cause I have STUFF TO SAY.

THIS WILL BE VERY LONG AND IT WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THE UPDATE!!

Alright, so to begin, what the HECK is going on with Home?

They are one of the most mysterious characters in Welcome Home, we don't know much if not anything at all. And what we do know... wellllll......

Yeah definitely not menacing at all.....

The only thing that we do know of Home is well… ^ This and the fact that it and Wally are sentient.

Ok, let’s backtrack. HOMES SENTIENT???

Yep! While it was implied in the first update that it was aware of us, this handy-dandy audio clip confirms that Home (like Wally) is aware of “You” (Whoever this “You” person may be. Either literally us or the Question Answerer).

Now, what exactly Home is saying is still up for debate. Some say that it’s “Help Me” while others say it’s “Hello”. (It’s incredibly hard to know what’s exactly dots and dashes with Homes banging) but one thing is for sure, Home is communicating with us.

“AHHHH HOW SCARY! THE CREEPY DEMON HOUSE IS GONNA KILL US” D:

And that’s where you’re wrong, dear viewer. While Home is clearly morally dubious and incredibly suspicious, like Wally, I don’t think it’s necessarily evil.

Take for instance this link right here. It’s an honestly cute lil audio of Wally singing to Home. But while that is adorable, it’s the ending that I really wanna focus on.

Wally: …Do you like it? Home: *Creaks* (it’s Morse code again! Spells out IDO) Wally: Thats good… I think…

Ok why did I bring this old little clip up? Oh ya know… no reason… OTHER THAN THE FACT THAT WALLY CAN’T UNDERSTAND HOME ANYMORE!!!

Ok, I know whatcha thinkin’ “Why not anymore?”

Take a listen at another audio clip, this time it’s a secret one!!

The clip is about Barnaby and Home having a conversation with one another! But if you listen real closely… Home is not speaking in Morse code! It’s their own lil Home language, still consisting of creaks and bangs… yet Barnaby doesn’t seem to have any trouble understanding Home.

So how come Wally can’t understand Home and yet Barnaby can?

It’s because Wally’s sentient now. He’s getting more real. More human. Cartoon logic does not apply to Wally anymore! To us, Home is speaking in gibberish! Since it’s gibberish to us, then it’s gibberish to Wally!

And Home knows that, so it does the next best thing and tries using another language to hopefully communicate better. Now that I’m listening to the first audio clip again (so-below), it makes sense why Home is “speaking” slowly. It’s not used to communicating that way. It’s hard to tell their dots from their dashes, their bangs from their creaks, and it’s pauses are sometimes too long and too short at the same time! In a weird way, Home kinda has an accent when speaking in Morse code.

It’s kinda sweet just how hard Home is trying to communicate with Wally and us. Makes ya forget that Home has a weird portal and a flesh heart inside of them.

“WAIT WHAT?!?” (<- That’s you)

Yeah, remember when I said the more sentient something gets the more “real” they get?

Yeah, it’s also been happening with Home too. Go on any doodle audio file, and you can hear assumably Home’s heart beating away. You can hear it very clearly in this audio right here! I doubt the Playfellow Workshop made Home with a literal BEATING heart, but hey, Home is where the heart is I guess…

And now, the portal thing.

“Since when did Welcome Home ever had a portal??”

Oh since the very beginning actually!

First updated “portal” picture

Many people (including yours truly) theorized that this swirly spiral was a portal to the real world. It seems that we have more evidence to support this theory too!

First updated portal (shown left) and second updated portal (shown right)

Hey…. Wait a second…. Is it just me or it the portal getting…. Bigger?

The first update it was small, even the black goo wasn’t as bad… on the second picture, the spiral is INCREDIBLY large, and now the goo is coating the trees.

Well, isn’t that ominous.

"But wait. If Home has a portal... where is this portal even going?"

Both portals have the same black goo surrounding it, the same white eye in the center and the same swirl.

It's going to the Restoration team. And look at where the portal is placed. It's on the ceiling. "As above"

and the one in Welcome Home is "So below"

So perhaps the portal in Home is on the floor... This CANNOT be a coincidence I swear!!

With weird goo covering everything. And like, thats not all!

If you compare the items that the Restoration team uploaded onto the site in the first update and on the second update, you'll notice that the items have grown significantly larger.

At first, it was just envelopes with paper crammed inside of it. As if the person was trying to cram in as much information as possible. It isn't neat.

About us page: All of the paper materials tucked away inside the envelopes we have received are usually crammed together and covered in paint and ink.

Now, in the second update, the items have grown larger.

These items are much larger than mail, and I believe it also has something to do with how much bigger the portal has gotten.

Pretty soon, we might have full-grown puppets jumping in. But now that begs the question... Why is Home doing this?

Well, I think it's because Home really wants to help Wally.

As you inspect the website, there's a bunch of evidence that Wally is growing increasingly desperate for some other kind of sentient connection. It's been growing so much that it starts to get worrying...

Let's go back to the conversation between Home and Barnaby, notice anything weird? Not really? Well, I noticed that every bug audio file was in the perspective of Wally. Here, Wally is just staring at his half-finished painting, even Barnaby comments on this and finds it odd that Wally stopped painting.

It looks to me that Wally was dissociating. There, but not really there. He's been disconnected from reality because it feels unreal to him.

And Home sees that. As soon as the conversation turns to Wally, Home goes dead silent. When Wally still does not respond, Home releases a series of quick creaks and bangs to try and get Wally's attention. It doesn't work. Once Barnaby says Wally's name, it snaps him out of his dissociative state.

And Home is worried about Wally.

It gives a whole new look to the infamous "so-below" image.

Home isn't looking at Wally, it's looking straight at us. Eyes shaking as Wally seems like he's begging. Home doesn't look malicious here, Home looks like it's begging us to do something to calm Wally down because it physically can't anymore.

Home and Wally don't have a lot, if not any facial expressions at all. And shaky eyes in cartoons are a good indicator that someone is scared.

And if Home (in this link) is saying "Help Me", then no wonder! Heck, even the freaking disk is shaking!

Home is reaching out to us for help because it can't comfort Wally anymore and I don't know about you but that is SAD.

Two puppets that recently gained sentience can't even get the comfort out of each other because they can't communicate anymore :(

So, all Home can do is wait and watch Wally.

And if help won't come to you, well, having a handy-dandy portal is very helpful!

You can go to the help instead.

[beatrixstonehill2]

"Time for bed, tomorrow's the big day! Say goodbye to my big fat breasts! I can hardly believe I'm going through with this but you guys tagged me and this cause is really important! I told ya, if I'm tagged I wouldn't back out of the Breast Cancer Awareness Month Challenge! Plus I can't wait to be a part of the compilation video at the end of the month and flaunt my flat chests and cute scars! I could watch those for hours, it's so hot seeing so many girls with huge breasts like mine smile and flirt with their chat as they lose them for good!

Now, as you guys know, I do love my boobs but I'm right there with most of TikTok it is soooo hot seeing girls having to lose their boobs, and for a good cause like this? I can think of no better purpose for my big fat tits! The scary part is that they'll stream the whole thing on the Breast Cancer Awareness official TikTok, so you guys are gonna watch me chop off my boobs in real time! Oh, did I not mention that part, you know, the main draw of those whole stream that everyone loves? Yep, for solidarity we have to do it ourselves. Pump our titties full of numbing meds and grab a knife or an axe or whatever creative thing you can think of! One girl who was a chemistry major at my college dissolved her KK-Cup boobs in a big container of acid!

Me, I'm more traditional. Well, my daddy is really into wood work. I don't think he'll mind if I borrow the table saw! Won't that be fun? Kind of a mess, but fun! I bet you'd all love to see that and if I draw it out I'm sure we can hit my goal of 200K for the chartity! I'll hold up my severed titties for all of you to see, and don't worry, the organization will send a person from their med staff to stitch me up, after I flaunt my missing boobs a bit of course! By the way, to keep the incentives rolling I promise if we hit 500K I'll have the med staff remove my clit! I just know we can hit this goal and I'm super excited to lose my clit for you guys! Next year I'm totally talking my little sister into participating! You guys better tag her. I can't wait to see her big fat mouth-watering udders get destroyed!"

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Wasted 12

Warnings: drug dealing/use, violence, noncon, and the usual. Proceed with caution.

Feedback is always welcome. Love you and thanks for the wonderful responses so far.♥♥♥

The other girl (snickerdoodle) in this one is from Black Light

Part of The Club AU

Steve walks you home. He’s such a gentleman. You’re not used to that and it still makes you a bit leery. Still, the night leaves you feeling lighter. It was fun and it should keep that dealer idiot off your back. Not to mention his end of the bargain; rent is square. 

You check your phone as you settle down on your lumpy mattress. Your happy Steve isn’t bold enough to want to come up. The apartment is barely worth what you pay for it. Small and shitty but it gets the job done. Only Snick has been up there and she’s not spiteful enough to judge anyone. You think she might like Steve. 

Well, they won’t ever meet. As much as you enjoyed the date, you can’t keep him strung along. You’ll let him down easy at least. He may have had a chance with that lumbering drug mule hanging around. 

You sigh. The first nice guy you’ve known and you won’t ever look at him without thinking of the nastiest piece of shit you’ve encountered. Besides, you’re you. You’re too rough around the edges for a guy like Steve. 

You can’t help but smile as you think of the picture he drew of you. He made you look much more beautiful than real life. Yep, it could never work. You would only disappoint him. 

You squint at your phone. You haven’t heard from Snick in days. You open up the chat and send yet another ‘hey, sup? Everything ok?’ Is she even seeing these? Maybe she came to her senses too. You’re just as mismatched. She’s young and bright-eyed and wonderful and you weathered and weary and bitter. 

You give it twenty minutes before you shut off the light. You’re exhausted. As you close your eyes, a flush heats your body. Without meaning to, you think of Steve and his soft lips. At first sight, you wouldn’t be so enamoured but something about him is special. You know you don’t deserve that. 

Sleep comes quickly. Dreams of the bus terminal and the restaurant and the flashing lights of the club intermingle in a distorted panoply of senseless scenes. You wake with the usual knot in your temple that can only be cured with coffee. 

You brew it in the dingy percolator as you scroll your phone. Snickerdoodle still hasn’t answered. You’re going to go check on her. If this is over, you would like to know. You’re not even mad, she deserves friends who aren’t trashy. 

And Steve deserves to know. You cringe at his good morning text. ‘I had a great time last night. Maybe we can do it again?’ 

How do you say it? You should do it in person but you’re not risking another run in with his buddy. You hate doing stuff like this; not turning men down, you’re a pro, no, you hate texting important shit. 

You tap the call button. Maybe it’s too early but you can’t type out what needs to be said. It’s not just for you, but for him. He would be hurt if he ever found out about Bucky. 

He picks up on the first ring, before you’re ready. Why didn’t you have your coffee first? You hold your forehead as he greets you with a boisterous, ‘good morning’. 

“Hey, Steve,” you counter evenly, “I just got your text. Last night was... really great.” 

“Yeah, it was,” he agrees in a smoky tone. 

“I just figured I’d do the courtesy of saying it to you, not texting it but uh, I don’t think this is going to work out. I have a lot going on right now and I’m not looking to date,” you push out the words as a stolid silence grows on the other end, “I’m sorry, Steve.” 

“B-but...” he croaks, “we had such a good time. We... we kissed.” 

“I know, and it was amazing, you’re a good kisser. The next girl is going to be so lucky but Steve...” you sit up and inhale, “I’m really not the type you wanna hang out with.” 

He sniffs and you hear him moving around, “it’s ‘cause of him.” 

“Who?” 

“Bucky. I’m not stupid. You know him somehow. You don’t like him.” 

You sigh, “yeah. I don’t and he’s your friend so I can’t.” 

He’s quiet again, “you two slept together. I don’t care” 

“Steve, it’s... not just that.” 

“It’s not fair,” he sneers. 

“Steve, I’m doing you a favour. Really. I sell bus tickets, I live in a fricking slum, I am saving us both a lot of disappointment,” you insist. “So, thank you for last night. That’s the best date I’ve ever had. Truly. I hope you find someone who can give you what you need.” 

“But you--” 

You hang up. It hurts more than you expect. Wow. 

You tap over to your chat with Snickerdoodle. You text again. Call. No answer. You’re starting to get really worried. 

You put the phone down and pour yourself a cup of coffee. It’s Sunday and you have the day off. You have to figure out what to do. If you stay here, you’ll only stew in your isolation. Maybe a walk. 

You finish your coffee as you pull out some clothes. A loose tank and denim shorts. Perfect for a day out in the city. Looks like it’s going to be sunny to. You finish your morning dose of caffeine and wash up. You’re not looking to draw attention, you don’t need any makeup. 

You grab your purse and head downstairs, stretching as you step out into the bright daylight. Maybe you’ll find your way through Snickerdoodle’s neighbourhood. It’s only three connections on the bus. You would know. 

Your name stops you short. You turn to the deep voice calling you. Steve marches down the sidewalk, scarily intense despite his stature. 

“Hey, can we talk?” He strides up and stops, only a step away.  

You’re too stunned to answer. You really didn’t expect this. How did he even get here so fast? 

“We talked, Steve,” you breathe at last. 

“You talked. I didn’t,” his blue eyes bore into you, “let me buy you a coffee. Let me make my case.” 

“Steve, please, let’s not make this messy--” 

“You led me on,” he accuses. 

“We had a nice date, alright?” You use your customer service tone to soothe him, “didn’t we? So let’s leave it at that.” 

“Why won’t you listen?” He hisses. 

“Steve, you’re not listening,” you shoot back. “You can do better than me..” 

“No, I can’t,” he snips, “and I don’t want to.” 

You push your lips together and nod, “I’m saying no. Alright? No.” You shake your head a look away, deflated, “I didn’t think you were like him, I thought you knew what that meant.” 

He says your name and you sidestep him, “wait,” he tries to grab your arm and you shrug him off, “I’m sorry, just give me another chance.” 

“Leave me alone,” your voice breaks crisply, “I don’t want to make a scene.” 

To your relief, he does. You hear his soles slap the pavement as he stops short and you strut off without looking back. You’re disappointed. Even if you never meant to see him again, you had some hope he wasn’t like other men.

Nope, they’re all the same. They never listen. 

[milaisreading]

Hi! it's me again, can I request a scenario where the manager is on a day off and visits a cafe and meets Sae's mother with him? and after getting along with each other Sae's mom told Sae to drive her home, and the paparazzi saw Sae with her hand on her waist and manager is wearing a sundress and started a new issue with her being pregnant and accepted into the family? I really loved how you wrote the misunderstandings and more rumors part. Thank you if you'd write this!

Author: At this point I might make a chapter where they are dating for real with how much of these rumors we made😭😭 thanks for the request🩷

Warnings ⚠️: Reader uses she/her. Requests are open

⚽️Blue lock belongs to: Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura⚽️

"Marc! Come back here!" (Y/n) scolded as she held the redhead's hand tightly, glaring sternly at him.

"But aunty, it's so boring." The boy pouted as his free hand pulled on the girl's (f/c) dress. (Y/n) glare softened and she patted the boy's head.

"You just know I can't be mad at you, huh?"

"Yep! Because I am your favorite!" The boy nodded his head as he giggled when the man at the counter called their name.

"Our food is ready~" Marc cheered as he pulled (Y/n) along to get the food.

'He really is my favorite person.' (Y/n) agreed in her head.

"And then Itoshi scored the goal! Aunty, you really should have seem it. Nobody on PXG was ready for it! Even Itoshi #2 was left speechless." Marc talked about the last game Real Madrid and PXG had as he ate his fries, (Y/n) nodding along as she added a quick word here and there. She did watch some parts, but due to the hectic schedule in Bastard München she had, she wasn't able to watch all of it.

'It's kind of funny that he keeps calling Rin Itoshi #2."

"Really? And what was your favorite part?"

"Hmm... probably the part where Itoshi Sae scored the winning point! It was so fun-"

"Oh? Marc, (Y/n) I knew I heard someone familiar." The girl and Marc looked up, only to find Sae and a unfamiliar woman with dark green hair looking down at them.

"Ah Sae-san, you are back in Japan?" (Y/n) smiled as she got up from her seat to greet him while Marc immediately hugged the football player.

"You must be (Y/n)! I am so glad to finally meet you." The woman smiled as she moved past Sae and (Y/n) bowed.

"Yes, (L/n) (Y/n) it's nice to meet you ma'am."

"Same here, I am Sae and Rin's mom, Itoshi Minako. I heard a lot about you from my sons. Sae, she is much prettier in person, you were right." The woman smiled and looked at Sae, who had an embarrassed look while hugging Marc back.

"Mom!"

"T-thank you, ma'am. Do you want to join us, the restaurant is pretty packed today?" (Y/n) offered, trying to get over the embarrassment while pointing at the two empty seats next to her and Marc.

"You don't have to-"

"That's a nice idea, thank you." Sae's mom nudged him and then looked down at Marc.

"And you must be Marc...we heard a lot about you." The woman chuckled nervously as the other two blushed, remembering the article that came out a while ago.

"Mhm! I am a huge fan of Itoshi! He is the best!" The boy grinned as the older woman started gushing over the cuteness.

They sat at the restaurant for the next hour or so and talked about random things. Sae gave Marc some tips and tricks as a beginner and the boy in return would ask him about his job. (Y/n) and Minako would look at them from time to time, finding the interaction adorable. Minako would then move to ask (Y/n) some questions about her job and her opinions about her sons, which (Y/n) found odd, but answered them regardless.

Minako's eyes had a strange look to them, Sae noted, and he could feel like something weird would happen soon.

"Well, Marc and I need to go now."

"Do you have anyone to pick you up? It's pretty late." Sae raised an eyebrow as (Y/n) put on Marc's jacket.

"Don't worry, Sae-san. I will call a taxi, my home isn't far away-"

"No, no. Sae will drive you two home." Minako interjected, causing Sae to look at his mom oddly, but flinched as he noticed her glare at him.

"There is really no need, Itoshi-san. Besides, you need to go home too-"

"I need to finish some shopping anyways, don't worry about me. Sae, doesn't mind it either." The said boy looked at (Y/n) and gulped, nodding his head in agreement.

"A-ah thank you so much... alright then, I will just go and call my brother to inform him, come on Marc."

(Y/n) smiled as she pulled the boy away. The two Itoshis watched them keenly before Sae turned to look at his mom.

"Why did you offer me, mom?"

"Didn't you tell me you liked (Y/n)?"

"Well yes, but-"

"No but, Sae. This is your chance to spend some extra time with her! Plus I love this girl already, I can't wait till I start picking wedding dresses with her~" the woman giggled as Sae's face turned red and shook his head.

"(Y/n) doesn't like me that way-"

"But you do, now try and make her to like you back. Ahhh~ I can't wait for the possible grandchildren."

"Grandchildren?!" Sae blushed even more, but didn't protest the idea much.

Once the two said goodbye to the older Itoshi woman, Sae escorted (Y/n) and Marc to his car and drew off. (Y/n) gave him the directions to her house, the two would talk about some random things, mainly about their jobs, with the occasional interjection from Marc. Soon tho the boy fell quiet and (Y/n) looked at the backseat, smiling softly.

"Ah~ he fell asleep. I guess all that walking and eating tired him out." The girl commented as Sae nodded his head.

"So your family is in Japan?"

"Yeah! Big brother wanted to visit his mom and for her to see Marc again, and my sister-in-law always liked summers here more than in Portugal." Sae nodded his head.

"So you two share the same father?"

"Mhm! He married my mom 5 years after his divorce to bug brother's." Sae noticed a sad look on the girl's face as she mentioned her mom, but decided to say nothing and switch the topic.

"Sorry if my mom jumped this idea onto you."

"Oh no! Not at all, I am just sorry that you had to bother yourself driving us here-"

"It's not a bother. I don't mind helping you. Besides, Marc is adorable when he talks about football, he seems passionate about it, more than I was at his age at least."

"He really is. He looks up to you and Isagi a lot, actually. It's always fun when he talks about a game of yours." (Y/n) smiled as Sae nodded his head.

"You sure you don't want me to carry him?" Sae asked as he held (Y/n)'s bags while she carried the sleeping boy out of the car.

"No Sae-san, you did honestly too much by now. Thank you so much again." (Y/n) smiled as the redhead stood silently for a moment, admiring her smile. Sae was about to speak up again, but someone clearing his throat behind them interrupted him.

"Anyways Itoshi, thank you for bringing my sister and son back, have a nice evening."

The two looked at a man, a few centimeters taller than Sae as he was glaring at him.

"Big brother! You are here already, I thought you were still at your mom's house." (Y/n) raised her eyebrow as Sae glared back at him.

"We had to cut the visit short since she wanted to visit you and dad as well. Come on now, she made your favorite cake." The (h/c)-haired man said as her took the bags out of Sae's hands and waited for (Y/n) to join him.

"Thanks again, Sae-san. Have a great evening!" (Y/n) smiled and the taller nodded his head. He watched the two walk towards the house and Sae couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Great, now I have to deal with an overprotective brother..." Sae sighed as he smiled and got into his car.

"(Y/n), he is perfect for you!" The red-haired woman, Isabella said as she took her son from her.

"You two were spying?!" She asked in disbelief while looking at her dad and the woman.

"A little..."

"(Y/n)!"

"Sis!" (Y/n) and her sister-in-law looked at the father and brother, who were fuming.

"He is too old for you." The father said.

"Isn't he like 2 months or so older than (Y/n)?" The Portuguese woman questioned.

"Too old, and he looks like a punk." The brother butted in and the two females looked at each other in disbelief.

"Aahhhh!!" The next morning screams were heard through the (L/n) household as (Y/n) and her brother ran to the kitchen.

"What is it?!"

"Is someone hurt?!" They looked around frantically around the room, only to find their father pale as a ghost and Isabella.

"(Y/n), you never told me Sae proposed to you! Look! It also says you are pregnant! I will become an aunt, oh my God!" Isabella said as she showed the two this morning's newspapers, crying as (Y/n) gulped at the rage her brother was radiating.

"He touched you!"

"He didn't, I swear we are just friends!!"

"Come on honey, (Y/n) is an adult now." Isabella protested as her brother shook his head.

"She is still a baby!"

"I hate my life..." (Y/n) groaned as she saw the picture of her and Sae leaving the restaurant yesterday.

"SAE ITOSHI!" Rin and the said boy flinched as they heard their mom's yells while their father stayed silent, eating his breakfast.

"Yes mom?" The redhead asked as his mom stormed into the kitchen, holding her phone.

"I am offended, happy, hurt and excited, all because of you." His mom cried as Rin and the father looked at each other.

"What happened? I didn't do anything, I swear." Sae defended himself.

"Clealry you did. Look at this, my own son. My own flesh and blood won't tell me got engaged. And that I will be a grandma soon! Is that why you wanted me to meet (Y/n) yesterday?!" Rin spat out his drink while their father looked at Sae in disbelief. The redhead took his mom's phone and read the article she was showing him.

"Mom... (Y/n) and I aren't engaged, I swear and that meet up was an accident-"

"Really? Because you look all cozy holding her waist, Sae you fucking backstabbing brother!" Rin yelled, enraged at the picture. Sae started shouting back as their father tried to shut them up. Meanwhile their mom took her phone back and dialed a number while sobbing.

"Hello? Mom? Did you read this morning's newspaper?"

The arguments became louder as Minako continued sobbing.

"Yes, my poor baby seems to be embarrassed to admit it, but the girl is such an angel. I met her yesterday, finally we can pass the heirloom onto a girl. Oh! I already know some places where I can take her wedding dress shopping!" The woman cheered as Rin chucked a glass at Sae, who dodged it.

"Are you out of your mind, Rin?!" Their father yelled.

"Ahh~ no, Rinnie is just excited to be getting a sister-in-law AND a nephew or niece, he just doesn't know how to express it."