#don't worry i am only up an hour or so past my usual time lately

[shadeswift99]

go to sleep shade

You cast spell "Go To Sleep" on target: Shade at 9th level. I immediately fall flat on the ground and do not move for 8 hours.

[brailsthesmolgurl]

"Where's Mummy?"

A oneshot fluff, entirely headcanon based, featuring all 3 of the LNDS men being a father. Requested by a lovely follower of mine. Hope this is an enjoyable read for you all. The names of the kids are based on my take, but if you want to include names of kids you had thought of with your husbandos, you may slot that in on your own will!

Want some angst? Go with this series of mine, tears guaranteed: Damnation

Warnings: Fluff as per usual however, there shall be suggestive themes for this, soooo let you imagination run free :)

RAFAYEL - FATHER TO A GIRL

"I'll be fine. Stop worrying would you?" Rafayel groaned with a smile. "Our daughter will be alright." He walked beside you, accompanying you towards the front door. "I am more worried about you with your work instead. So take care of yourself, please? For our sake?"

His concern made you rolled your eyes playfully, leaning in to give him a long kiss. "I will be home by evening, I promise." Your eyes stared into those mauve purple eyes of your husband's, only to have him yank you back into his arms and pressing his lips to yours again. Provocating you into a minor makeout session. Breaths becoming heavier by every passing minute.

You bit your lip the moment he pulled away, reminiscing the feeling of his soft and tender lips against yours. "Don't want you to be late, unless you want to call in sick for the day, hmm?" He winked, a hint dropped for you to decipher. "You know I can't Rafayel." Your answer made the man pout, arms crossed, but eventually surrendering to the reality of your situation. He press a small kiss against your cheek and sent you off on your way. He stood at the entryway, watching you get onto your bike and rode it out of the front yard and onto the empty streets.

Heading back in, he sat at his usual thinking corner, eyeing the piece of artwork he had yet to finish. Thomas was expecting this piece to be done by two days ago. But an artist's work should not be rushed, Rafayel being an advocate for quality over quantity. He sighed, walking over to pick up his palette stained with an array of colours, before sitting himself in front of the artwork and continued working on his piece.

Hours had passed since then, the strokes of the painter finally stopped when his artwork is finished. He grabbed his phone off of the coffee table and called Thomas. "Rafayel, where the hell is the piece of---"

"It's done, you can come and collect it tonight once it is all dried up." Rafayel spoke, then Thomas started to inform him about the upcoming interviews that he has to attend, one for the local magazine, one for an exhibition taking place abroad... Pitters and patters of feet across the marble floor made Rafayel lost his focus. He turned around to find his daughter, Mariela awake. "Daddy duty calls."

The phone call ended abruptly, with Thomas ending his note on 'There was also an artwork you have to---' Call ended. Ever since Rafayel had taken on his duties as a father, he made sure his works are delayed long enough just so he could spend time with his own family. Recently, you had been called on for many more missions as there has been a shortage of deepspace hunters.

Rafayel and you had discussed about the delegation of responsibilities while being parents to a newborn. Rafayel insisted that you should quit your job so that you could stay at home with him and Mariela. Money not being any concern to your family to begin with. But you could not, you could not abandon your duties as a deepspace hunter, especially when there are not a lot of new recruits coming in.

So you both settled on a solution that meets both ends. Rafayel would delay his paintings and take care of Mariela if you happen to not be at home, but your sacrifice would be to not work past evening times. Him not wanting you to overexert yourself and still being able to spend time with you as a family. The miniature version of you and Rafayel clumsily walked over to him. Small and chubby hands rubbing her cheeks in circles.

"Good morning my little fishie." Rafayel knelt down and gave her a hug, a usual greeting for morning and night. "How was your sleep?"

"Good." She replied, arms curled around her father's neck as he carried her up in his arms. "Where is mummy?"

"Mummy has to work so today, you will hang out with daddy, yeah?" Rafayel sat her at her baby chair by the dining table. He took a plate of ready-made mini pancakes and poured a cup of warm milk into a cup. "Mummy even made you your favourite breakfast." The idea of having his kid eating such sugary stuffs in the morning is unfavoured. But since y/n had woken up extra early today to prepare the breakfast for her daughter, Rafayel will let it slide for this once. but we all know he too soft of a father to reject that if it ever happens again

Watching his child dig into the pancakes, Rafayel started allowing his mind to wander. Mariela's name came about while his wife was pregnant, and you had both agreed on wanting your child to have names related to the sea to remind the child's origins of being half-Lemurian. Rafayel was thrilled to have their names being related to the waters he used to live in and so the naming process is entirely within his control. Both of you settled on Mariela eventually, the name a direct representation of the star of the sea.

...

When y/n rode past the main gates and towards the yard, you found you husband, with your daughter standing next to him, waiting for you at the front of the door. Mariela the size of a toadstool next to her 6' tall father. But her big, doe-like eyes took the shade of Rafayel's, a mirror of his lilac-blue mixture. "Hey there!" You greeted excitedly, quickly pushing yourself off of your motorbike and rushed over to hug your daughter tightly in your arms.

"Mummy!" The brunette toddler giggled, arms wrapped around her mother and head tucked into your neck. The hug between the two was interrupted with Rafayel hugging both of them. Three of them within a circle of a hug. "Hi, mummy. I missed you."

"I missed you too, so so much." A big kiss was given to the toddler's cheek and they all walked further into the house. "What did you do with daddy today?"

"Daddy taught me how to draw fish and he taught me Wewuma." She spoke, a wide grin evident on her cherubic cheeks. This made y/n confused and you turned to look for Rafayel for an explanation but sees him being on the phone. Assuming it is Thomas on the other end of the line.

"That's good darling." You held her close to you, legs directing towards her bedroom. "But I think it is nap time for you okay? Mummy and daddy will make dinner and then later we are going to have pasta!" Mariela's eyes lit up at the word 'pasta', for she is a huge lover of carbs just like you. No doubt you two are of the same bloodline.

Once you had laid your daughter to nap, you started prepping the ingredients in the huge kitchen. Rafayel came by your side and hugged you from behind, breathing in your scent deeply. "I missed you wifey." He mumbled into the crooks of your neck and drew circles on the side of your hips.

"What is wewuma?" You turned over slightly, the question directed towards your husband. But his expression matches yours, confusion written all over his face. "Our daughter said you taught her wewuma today."

That sentence made Rafayel laughed, releasing you from his embrace and with him smacking his hand against the marble counter a couple of times. "Wewuma!" He continued his laugh, but mellowed down when he noticed that you became more confused than ever. "I taught her how to speak Lemurian." He said, the wide, cheeky grin not leaving his face anytime soon.

"Oh." Realisation hits you about his lesson for the day and you shake your head, chuckling at how your daughter had the word pronounced earlier. You can't blame her, as she is not a preschooler yet. Rafayel attached himself to your back again, his lips pressed a kiss to the shell of your ear and you blushed. Despite being married for quite some time, his intimate actions never failed to make you feel like a giddy teen girl.

"Lemurian is already a dying language. So, wifey..." He nibbled your ears lightly, whispering his question quietly. "How about we make one more little us?" His arms tightened around your hips and you felt something pressed against your bum, making you gasped in teasing pleasure. He turned you around forcefully and pushed you up onto the kitchen counter effortlessly, spreading your legs. "Right here. Tonight."

˚ · • . ° .

ZAYNE - FATHER TO A PAIR OF TWINS

"Thanks a lot, my love." You leaned forward to hug your husband, after knowing that he had planned an itinerary for you to get yourself pampered for a whole day. That includes making the necessary bookings and paying for all of the expenses. Not to mention the extra money he had given you so you may use it to buy anything you please from the mall you would be visiting later in your itinerary. "You deserve it. Given how much you had cared for the kids the past few days as I was busy with work." He leaned down slightly, pressing a kiss to your forehead as a loving gesture. "In return, I shall take care of the kids today."

Zayne fetched you to the middle of Linkon city, where all of the activities planned out in the itinerary are located before he headed back. Not wanting to go home to his toddlers being awake from their sleep. When he arrived home, he heard the creak of a door as he was placing his shoes on the shoe rack. Lumi and Iver, hand in hand, facing their father.

"Daddy?" The both of them spoke in sync, given their connection as twins. Fraternal twins, a rare occurrence for any mothers in life. They are considered a miracle given the statistics whereas out of 100 births that happen, only 2 mothers would end up with fraternal twins. And the percentage of getting fraternal twins are way lesser as compared to conceiving twins of the same gender.

Short way to put it, y/n and Zayne have a very special family, in fact they may be one of the few families within Linkon city to have a pair of fraternal twins. Hence, they are very lucky indeed. Both of the twins were named after snow or winter season, with Zayne's evol being the main inspiration. Zayne's daughter Lumi, carries the meaning of snow and light, while Iver's name means winter in French.

Contrary to their names, none of them have any features that are pale as the cold weather, except for their milky white skin. There had always been a debate on which child inherited the looks of which parent, in this case, Lumi looks like her mother and Iver takes on his father's looks. And it could easily be differentiated from their hair and eye colour.

"Both of you just woke up?" Zayne's voice was gentle, going over to both of his kids and bending down to their eye level. They are both 3 years old, so you can imagine how tough it was for him to lower his height just to meet their eyes. "What do you want to eat?"

"Daddy, can we watch you make eggs?" Iver asked, his hazel green orbs twinkled under the sun rays shining in through their sky light. "The ones that are flat?" He even used his hand to draw a line in the air, to demonstrate the word 'flat' to his father.

Zayne smiled, nodding his head and walked towards the kitchen with the two toddlers bobbing behind him. Their standard breakfast had consisted of nothing but nutritious food which are vital for their growths. For their father is a doctor afterall. Zayne sat them both into their respective baby chairs and put on an apron, not wanting to dirty his outfit, and he started to cook, with the twins watching his every move. A few 'wah' and 'daddy, daddy, do it again!' slipping from their mouths every once in a while when Zayne does something out of the blue.

Half of the day passed, Lumi and Iver sat in the living room after Zayne had given them a bath and a change of clothings. They will be heading out soon for dinner. Zayne has never been a huge fan of cooking, but only does it out of necessity. The same rule applies even now, breakfasts can be done at home but for dinners, if time allows for both of the parents, Zayne would much rather eat out with his family.

"Daddy, time! Time!" Lumi shouted from the living room when they heard the cuckoo's chime, hailing from the handmade wooden clock that you bought a while ago. Although the toddlers had yet to enter pre-school, they are both surprisingly fast-learners. 9 months in, both of them had already started learning alphabets, and by now, their vocabulary has expanded beyond the age of usual three year olds. You strongly believe Zayne's genes are the cause behind this.

Zayne appeared from the room, a long-sleeved black turtleneck clad to his well-built physique, his iconic black slacks makes yet another appearance, and his hand held a dark grey coat. The weather was getting chilly and he decided to bring along a coat for you, the colour identical to his.

"Lumi, Iver, get your coats and I will help you to wear them." Zayne instructed, picking his car key off of the key holder on the wall. He had decided to go with the Maserati Levante i am not sponsored by them but the cars does scream his taste today, a comfortable SUV for his family of four.

"It's okay daddy. Iver will help me." Lumi responded, arms held up horizontally as Iver put on one of the sleeves for her light grey coat, then running over to the other side to help her to put on the remaining sleeves. "My turn." Lumi did the same for her sibling. When they are both done, they walked over to Zayne and held their arms up in sync again, urging their father silently to help them to tie their coats.

Zayne did just that, hair as dark as the night cascading in front his face when he bent down to help his kids tied a knot to secure their coats. Satisfied at the way their knots turned out, he gave each of them a kiss on their cheeks. "Are you both excited to see mummy?"

"YES!" Both of the kids shouted, arms raising, a sign of elatedness. Zayne held onto both of their hands, one on each side and slowly walked them to the car.

...

Zayne had chosen a western restaurant for dinner, reservation timing marked at 6pm. Now, here he sat, with both of his kids secured tightly behind in baby car seats. He was parked temporarily at the valet parking, patiently waiting for his wife. Soft piano music was played in the car to ease the silence as the kids were sound asleep in the back.

Seeing a familiar figure closing in, Zayne got out of the car and walked towards the passenger side, greeting you with a warm hug. "I could not have asked for a better day to pamper myself." You sighed contently, face flat against his chest, inhaling the scent of his cologne. A scent he would only use whenever he is out with you, a soft mix of pine wood and oakwood as the top notes, vanilla as the middle notes and cinnamon as end notes. A scent you are all too familiar with.

"Then I shall plan more of this for you." He leaned down and pressed a kiss to your lips. "You must be hungry, I had already booked us a table at one of the nearby restaurants." He opened the car door and you got into the car. Getting into the car, he added. "The kids are sound asleep behind, I will wake them up once we arrived at the restaurant."

"Hello my babies." You greeted once the car door to the back was opened, watching your twins stirred in their sleep, before eyes slowly fluttering open.

"Iver..." Zayne cooed to his son, standing on the other side of the door, unbuckling the baby seats for the twins. "We had arrived at the restaurant. Let me give you a lift, alright?" You had never imagine Zayne with kids, given how cold he is of a person. Not mean and ignorant, but just, monotonous, quiet and calm. Having kids with him was unexpected, but him asking for kids was even more shocking.

The young man lifted his son into his arms, smoothing the back of his son's coat to make sure he is fully covered from the brazen cold wind and he headed in after locking the car. With you, holding onto your half-awake daughter behind in, walking swiftly into the restaurant.

The dinner was enjoyable, with the twins munching on to their kids meals and with you sat next to Zayne, having a delectable meal based on the waiter's recommendation. "The food here is good." You commented and your twins looked up, Lumi smiled and nodded, while Iver, with his face stuffed, nodded as well. "So what have you kids been doing today?"

"We watched cartoons." Lumi said, eyes mimicking your eye colours radiating her giddiness. You assumed the cartoons would be more educational rather than entertaining as Zayne does prefer the twins having to gain some form of knowledge from the cartoons. For him, the method is practically killing two birds with one stone. "Daddy also read some storybooks for us." Iver added in, still chewing onto his food, which made Zayne leaned forward to wipe the boy's lips clean with the napkin. "And we took a nap on daddy's chest."

"Be careful of choking, Iver." Zayne warned, his tone soft, giving him son's cheek a soft pinch. Zayne's lips tugged upwards, there is no way he could be mad at his own twins. That is how much he loves them.

"That is good to hear. Sounds like an eventful day for today. And I think daddy did a great job." You happily stated, resuming your meal. A hand on your thigh made you jerked slightly and you looked over, your husband's smile had exchanged for a smirk.

"It is my responsibility to take good care of the kids." He eyed the twins, and facing back to you, his orbs turning a shade darker. "But, it is also my responsibility to make my wife feel good. Mentally..." He trailed off, hands smoothing up your thighs till his thumb glided slowly over your intimate area. The table cloth a good disguise as Zayne's fingers worked his way to pull your panties to the side, collecting the wetness that was pooled there.

You shot daggers towards your husband as this is a public area but he paid no mind to you. The tip of his middle finger, the one adorning the wedding ring, slowly pushed its' way inside of you, pumping an agonizing pace into you. "And physically, of course." pls do this to me too Zayne, i want more babies too

˚ · • . ° .

XAVIER - FATHER TO A SON

"DADDY! DADDY! DADDY!" Lucian came bursting in through the door leading to his parent's room, causing Xavier to stir in his sleep. Eyebrows furrowed at the loud sounds of his son's voice at the early start of the weekend. The copy of Xavier jumped onto the bed and grabbed ahold of his father. "Wake up daddy!"

"Yeah, yeah I am awake now." Xavier yawned, rubbing his eyes with one hand and the other coming up to secure his son on him so he don't fall off. "What's the matter?"

"Mummy said you can take me to go get ice-cream today." His light blue eyes just a tone lighter than his father's when he propped himself up on his father's chest, patiently awaiting for a response. "Daddy please?"

"Okay okay." Xavier chuckled, hugging his son tight in his arms and the young boy laughed. With that, Xavier got out of the bed, with Lucian in his embrace. The hallways outside of the room wafted the smell of noodles and he knew immediately that you are still within the house.

But he was wrong, when he saw you being all dressed up, in a white t-shirt and blue jeans, sitting at the front of your door when you are tying the shoelaces to your sneakers. "Where are you going?" Xavier asked.

You turned at the sound of his voice and watched as Lucian was placed onto the floor by his father and the little boy came running to hug you. "I am heading to the mall with Tara for a little while. She needed me to help her pick out a dress." Standing up, you checked your outfit in the standing mirror for one last time. "At the meantime, you okay with bringing Lucian out for ice-cream?"

Xavier smiled and nodded obediently, taking long strides to press a loving kiss to his wife's lips and he sees her off. Lucian waving his small hands to say bye-bye to his own mother. "Have you eaten yet kiddo?" Xavier asked his son, only for the toddler to shake his head. "Alright, come on, let's have breakfast together. Then we will go for ice-cream later."

Xavier placed Lucian into the baby seat at the dining table and he took off the lid of the pot that was on the stove and he noticed that you had made tomato soup noodles. A dish that you had recently learned from social media. Your first try at making this dish however, was a failure. With Xavier finishing the tasteless noodles and struggling with diarrhea for the next few days. This time, he had his fingers crossed, hoping that the soup would be edible and not cause any unwanted effects.

Before giving the bowl to his son, Xavier tasted the soup base first, to taste if it would be too hot for his son to ingest. To his surprise, the soup was sweet and tangy, which marks a win for your cooking this time. He hungrily filled up his own bowl, before scooping a few spoonfuls of soup and noodles into Lucian's bowl. He also made sure to cut the noodles short enough so it would not cause Lucian to choke on his own food.

"Did mummy made this?" The 3 year old asked, eyes wide, moving in between his father's lips, and to his bear-shaped plastic bowl. Lucian have had a fair share of his father's cooking. The experience of watching his father cook was just as traumatic as eating the food his father had made. There was even this one time, Xavier nearly set the kitchen on fire because he added in some cooking wine into a very hot pan filled with oil and that made Lucian cried for the whole night.

"Yes, your mum made this." Xavier ate his noodles, slurping onto it like a champ. "If she asks me to make breakfast for you, we can just skip breakfast and go for ice-cream instead." Xavier acknowledges his incompetence when it comes to cooking, and it is the only one thing he would not dare to compete with you. he just cant cook anything that deals with fire or electric, just admit it with me boys and girls

...

"Daddy, what do you want?" Lucian asked his father, looking at the flavours that was on display. "Do you want the blue one? Or the green one? Or the red one?" He swung his short legs back and forth, all the while sitting on Xavier's shoulders. The little one did not feel like walking earlier on and that was why Xavier gave him a lift on his shoulders.

"Which one would you like kiddo?" Xavier smiled politely at the waitress behind the counter and the waitress returned the smile, a blush coming onto her face. Who would not blush at the sight of a good looking young man with a son that looks just exactly like him? "How about the blue and red one?"

"Okay!" The young boy excitedly agreed, watching the process of the ice-creamed getting scooped out of the canister and placed onto a cone. Xavier slowly lowered his son down and held onto the hand of the young boy before making the payment at the counter. "Thank you!" Lucian spoke to the cashier when the ice-cream was handed to him and they both took a seat by the window in the store, facing the streets.

Xavier had always wanted a boy, the sole purpose being he could train the son well enough so you can be protected. You were not buying into his idea to begin with but the moment you found out that you were pregnant with a boy, Xavier could not be more than glad. He was so happy to the point he said. "We should name him Lucian, as he shall be the light in our lives." Xavier's words touched your heart and since then, Lucian has been the light in both of your hearts. just like you are the light in OUR HEARTS hello?

The young boy took a lick out of the blue ice-cream, then switched to the red ice-cream and took another lick. Seeing his tongue turning purple, Xavier pointed at his son. "Your tongue is turning purple because of the ice-cream, kiddo." Taking his phone out, he took a picture of Lucian with his purple tongue hanging out of his mouth. He then sent the picture to you, with the caption 'Brain Freeze'.

"Daddy, here." Lucian stretched his arm out, the ice cream in hand and held it in front of his father's face. Xavier took it as an invitation and he took a big bite out of the ice-cream. His action made the young boy flabbergasted, mouth forming an 'O' when he realised that his father just bit off a whole chunk and now he is left with a few more lick of ice cream.

The son's intense gaze at the ice-cream made Xavier felt guilty that he took such a huge bite. His son was not much a naggy child, but he still would not want to upset his little boy. "I'm sorry kiddo, I can---" He wanted to offer to buy the boy another ice-cream but Lucian only laughed, his tone amused.

"That is so funny daddy, when you go AHHH---" Lucian mimicked the way Xavier bit the ice-cream, mouth widely opened and face all crinkled up to show just how big of a bite Xavier had conducted. His son's reaction made Xavier laughed as well, Never knowing his son has such a sense of humour.

The door opened, chiming of the bells at the door could be heard and Xavier looked up, seeing you walking in with a bag in your hands. "Hey boys!" You called out and Lucian turned in his seat and called out to you, arms opened and waiting for you to hug him. Xavier took the ice-cream out of his son's hand so he would not dirty your shirt and he stood up, taking his place to stand next to you.

"How was the outing with Tara?" Xavier took the bag from you and pulled a chair over from the other table as you set your son back down onto his chair. The ice-cream that your husband was holding previously was returned to its rightful owner.

"It was eventful. We only managed to find the dress she wanted at the highest floor." You fanned yourself, sweat beading at your forehead. Your husband took a piece of tissue out of the tissue holder and he dabbed it across your forehead, not wanting to ruin your makeup since you are still on an outing with him. "Thanks a lot."

"No problem." Xavier purposely avoided your gaze, hiding his smile. "The tomato-based noodle soup you made this morning is very good by the way. I enjoyed every bite of it." He complimented, looking over to his son and noticing the young boy, staring out of the window, in the direction of two kids playing by the park, chasing one another.

"Daddy, mummy." Your son's voice beckoned the both of you to turn your heads to face him. His stubby little fingers pressed against the window, pointing towards the two kids at the park. "Can I have a brother?" The way he phrased the questions sounded like siblings could be bought off of a shelf. Your jaw dropped.

But Xavier was expecting this, expecting the fact he would not just settle for one child. He loves you so much, not only as his lover, but he also loves the way you look, with your stomach bulging during the days you are pregnant, carrying a miniature version of him inside. And not to mention, he enjoys the process of giving you a baby. Just the thought of seeing you pregnant again, his cerulean eyes catch yours, similar to a gaze of a predator awaiting to jump onto its prey. He reached his hand out to take yours on the table, giving it a small squeeze of comfort.

"Of course you can." Xavier's gaze darkened, hungry for intimacy. He dragged his fingertips up and down your arms, and stopping right at the back of your hand to draw mindless circles on it. Doing all that without getting his eyes off of you. "Daddy will not stop until you get a brother."

Sorry this took wayyy longer than expected, the toughest part was to find the pictures that would match the faces of the kids and also having to do research for their names and figuring our scenarios that would make the fathers take care of their kids. Other than Rafayel, Zayne and Xavier are going to be out most of the time due to their work!

But I had fun creating this piece, hope you guys enjoyed this! Lots of love <3

[cenittxnadir]

Lunch Box SingleDad!Miguel O´Hara x Reader

I think i'm going to make a small serie of SingleDad Miguel. Its going to have small fics, drabbles and headcanons. This is the second one I make, but is not a sequel so can read it any order you want.

You have been dating Miguel for awhile now and everything was perfect. Gaby and you got along quite fast, a little too fast. But she loves you and you love her.

Her favorite thing is the weekend, that means that you would stay at their house, so she has you and her dad for two whole days. She knows that Miguel has a time consuming job yours was a little more flexible but still.

Miguel loved how things were going, he was really happy but he couldn't help to feel a little bit jealous about the little bond you made with her daughter. Don't get him wrong, he loves you both, of course his type of love is different from one to another. He loves how you care for Gabriela and how she loves to spend time with you, but sometimes he feels that he's left outside. He just couldn't help it, he wants to have that communication that you have with her daughter, she tells you things that probably she would never tell him about, on the other side, he wants to have your full undivided attention only for him. There are days when he doesn't want to share his daughter and others when he doesn't want to share you.

You knew about it, he gets all grumpy when he hears you talking low in Gaby's room when you have your "girls night". He has tried to walk "by accident" in the middle of your chat only to get a "it's nothing" in response and then a few giggles when he leaves the room. Gaby and you use this to bother him.

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It had just past one of those weekends, and now it was monday, your day off, so you didn´t left.

Miguel heard his alarm sound, he turn it off with a groan and turn his boby to reach you, but he felt your bed space empty he got up quickly from his place looking for you, you were nowhere in the bedroom, all lights where out except for the little light that came out under the door meaning someone was on the kitchen or living room.

Against his will he got up, he felt cold without your presence. He rubbed his sleepines off his face with his hands. He didn´t want to get up yet, he would dragg you back to bed and sleep late until he had to "call sick" so he can spend more time with you.

When he arrived to the kitchen he saw you there, looking for something in the freezer, you were still in pijamas wich was pretty much some shorts and a shirt courtesy of Miguel's closet. He can hear the sizzle of the pans on the stove and the smell of whatever you were cooking.

"What are you doing up? It´s 6:15 am" His voice was low and groggy.

You gave a little jump, you didn´t expected to see him awake you turn to see him with a hand in her chest. "Dios mío Miguel, give me a warning." He just kept looking at her waiting for an answer. "Oh, I´m making a lunch box for Gabriela"

"Why? She eats at school" He look at you more confused

"Oh, well hehe, she told me that last week there was an insect on her smash potatoes"

"Why I didn´t knew about this?" An insect on his daugther´s food!? That was unacceptable, he would definitely change her from school.

"Because she didn´t want to worry you, besides i´m more than happy to cook for her, its not the first time I make her a lunch box, I usually made them in my apartment and bring them to her school in my luch hour" You star packing everything in her lunch box - funny thing: it was from Spiderman-

His eyes never left you, he followed every movement you made until his stomach rumbled in the middle of the silences. You looked at him. "I´m going to start breakfast. Go get ready."

He gave one last look to the lunch box then he turn to you standing in the middle just like a small kid. "Hmmm... Love? Can i get..." he lower his voice.

You turn to see him "You can get what?"

"I said if I could get..." Again. He wisper

"Mi amor habla más fuerte, no te entiendo. ¿Qué necesitas?"

"Que si puedo tener una yo también" He exchange looks between the lunch box and you.

"A lunch box? You want me to make one for you?"

"Yes please"

You couldn't keep yourself from smiling "Claro que si mi amorcito, I can make you one" You grab his face "Go get ready for work"

Minutes later everyone had finished eating Gabi clean the table while Miguel was getting his stuff in the trunk once he was done he told Gabriela to get in the car and wait for him.

He ran back to the kitchen to grab his lunch box in the counter.

"Wait Miguel, you forgot your dessert" You handle him a small box similar to the bigger one which contains the main food only that this one was cold. "Keep it cold until dessert time my love, its a surprise"

"Gracias"

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He can´t concentrate in work, he was constantly looking to the small freezer that he kept in his office, far from Hobie - he tend to stole his food- checking allmost every minute his watch hoping time moves faster so lunch time could arrive and finaly eat whatever you made him.

Finally lunch time arrived and he enjoy every single bite of his food, he felt like a kid again, eating home food in peace. Once hi finished his food he began to clean everything until he found the small box, he was full but he didn´t care it was his dessert, made by his lovly girlfirend, of course he´s going to eat it.

He opened the box, it took him a while to process what was happening, he grabbed what was inside lifting it up to get a better look. It was a strawberry, a blue one, with something red on it. Once he took a better look he almost let a squeal scape his lips, they were straberries covered in blue chocolate with some marks made with red chocoalte pretending to be his Spiderman mask.

He was definitely going to hide them from Hobie.

[sofiareidings]

Coffee Runs

Summary: The guy who's been coming to the cafe you work at finally asked why you've never called him by his name.

A/N: I'm sorry this story is so late, especially since I missed Monday's post. School has been so busy this week and I've also had a bunch if extracurricular lately. I'll try and be more on time from now on (Don't hold me to that) Also! I got the idea for this one shot from @hanllo-kitty

Word Count: 0.8k

Song Suggestions: Invisible String - Taylor Swift

It was a good job, a great job really. The cafe was in a nicer part of town and people would subconsciously give nice tips so your pay was good. Rarely were customers terrible. Most people that came in were students or really busy people rushing in and going.

There were a few regulars. Like Joe, Joe was an eighty year old man who came in everyday for a coffee and a sandwich. While he waited he would talk about the lotto numbers and how his kids were doing. There was also Lola, she was a journalist who spent most of her day sitting in the corner of the cafe while refilling the same cup until closing.

But there was only one regular you would think about while getting ready for work.

Come on, I don't know his name. Don't shoot the messenger.

He'd been coming in for the past three months almost everyday, right after the cafe opened for a coffee. He always looked a little tired and acted like it too. He barely made conversation and normally shuffled out of the store in the same fashion as the other overworked people; quickly.

You hadn't learned his name yet. He always seemed to forget to say it when you asked, which resulted in you making up something.

"Guy with the sweater vest!"

"Guy in the purple!"

"Guy with the scarf!"

You get the point.

He was your favourite regular because of his looks. God, even when he was incredibly sleep deprived he looked beautiful. He had brown hair that fell just below his sharp jaw. Brown eyes that always happened to be in the light from the cafe window, making the small gold flakes in his eyes shine. He was normally dressed in a sweater vest and neutral pants, he probably worked at some type of office. The one part of him that stood out in his outfits were his converse, odd for the rest of his outfit. You could've sworn a few times you saw brightly coloured mismatched socks.

***

The sound of the cafe bell echoed through the nearly empty shop, having only opened half an hour ago. Smiling in the direction of the person walking in you quickly noticed it was 'Guy with *whatever he had on*" who came in. Something was different, he had thick glasses on. That was new.

"Hey, just the regular coffee and donut?" You put the order into the computer, looking back up at him. Taking in the new look.

"Yeah, thanks." His lips creased into a line, you called it a tired smile, the same one he made everyday. He handed over his money and poured the change into the tip jar then stepped back to wait for his order.

A couple minutes later you came back to the counter with his order. "Guy with the glasses!"

He did his usual, smiled and grabbed his order saying bye. But just when he reached the threshold of the door he paused and turned. "Why do you do that?"

Having already turned around you paused, this was the first time he'd talked to you in a clear voice. You weren't really sure what he meant. "Do what? Did I get your order wrong?"

He cleared his throat and seemed a little frustrated. "You never say my name, you just call me guy with something. Is it just to annoy me?"

"What? No, you've just never told me your name." Laughing a little, realising the misunderstanding.

"I didn't?" His face changed to confusion, "Oh my gosh, I didn't." He realised his mistake then his face flushed a shade of red.

"Don't worry, it's okay. Guy with the glasses." You laughed, looking around the cafe for a minute, strange it was still pretty empty.

"I am so sorry, I thought I told you and you just wanted to annoy me. I feel like a jerk, you seem so nice." Genuinely sorry he apologised profusely. "Can I make it up to you?"

Deciding to take the chance, you'd been daydreaming about this guy for months. "Well, maybe you could take me on a date." A little shocked by your own boldness, your face went up like twelve degrees.

"Uh, yeah…" He trailed off, clearly flustered. "Yeah, I would really like that."

"Well then, it's a date." You beamed, internally jumping up and down out of excitement. Since when were you so forward? He made that smile he made everyday before turning towards the door again.

That's when you realised.

"Wait!" You shouted, louder than you expected. Causing your coworker to drop a cup. "You still haven't told me your name."

"It's Spencer. I'll make sure to be back tomorrow." He nodded again and chuckled lightly before finally walking through the door.

God could tomorrow morning come any quicker.

[starstruckmoony]

Can I get a FIC abt the reader being Theodore’s gf and best friend and she’s embarrassed and alone in her dorm bc of cramps and they are REALLY REALLY bad and he just comforts her and they snuggle and he gives her his hoodie and fluffy!! (I’m dying from my cramps in my bed rn 🙏 I need comfort from my book bf)

thank you for this request anon!! i am so so so sorry for taking longer than i should have but i've just been all over the place with requests and in just general this past week 😭 so yeah i am a little late but i hope you're feeling better and that this meets your expectations <333333

in between.

masterlist , requests

pairing - theodore nott x slytherin!reader

trope/tags - fluff

word count - 1.7k

warnings - descriptive period pains

waking up in time for class was always difficult for you. not even because you were lazy or didn't care about your grades enough, but mostly because theodore, your boyfriend and number one favourite person in the world, had an annoying little habit of staying inside of your room until pansy chased him out because she wanted her beauty sleep. most of the time, that would be somewhere around two in the morning. and you had to get up at six. four hours of sleep. wonderful. usually, you didn't mind. you didn't like getting out of bed, anyway.

but this morning, you very much minded. your eyes snapped open, you weren't entirely sure what had woken you up. you grunted, irritated, and disappeared under your two blankets to shield yourself from the cold of the dawn, sighing when your realised you that you'd have to get up in no less than ten minutes. with transfiguration as your first class, too. how you loved having to turn tables into chairs first thing in the morning.

but then you felt it. a terrible sensation in your abdomen, so harsh it felt like sharp knife was slicing through you. it took everything in you not release a pained moan. the discomfort spread almost all the way to your upper thighs, coming in constant strong waves. you groaned, hiding further under the covers and curling yourself up into a ball.

you wanted to cry. not only were you exhausted, but you were also in a tremendous amount of pain. you had got your period the night before, and it was going kind of smoothly... as smooth as they go... so you weren't really expecting to wake up with a dying wish to pass the hell away barely five hours later.

pansy's footsteps sounded throughout the room, and you heard the bathroom door shut. you didn't move a muscle. a few moments later, it opened again, and she paced around for a bit, shuffling through her trunk and then your own when she couldn't find a clean pair of socks. she was humming some tune as she got ready, seeming to be in an okay mood, but then she scoffed. her steps got louder as she neared your bed, pulling the covers off of you.

"bitch, you'll be la– oh merlin, are you alive?" she was a little startled seeing you resemble the appearance of an ill victorian child, but nevertheless took a seat at the edge of your mattress, "no." you dragged out, retrieving your precious blanket. you couldn't recall the last time you felt this bloody awful.

"period cramps, huh?" she made a sympathetic face at you, very familiar with that struggle. you only nodded. she hugged you and stayed like that for a bit, before standing up and walking over to her drawer. she dug out a few chocolate frogs and tossed them over to you.

you muttered a strained thank you, collecting them all. you placed them onto your night stand, grunting. you knew that they probably wouldn't help as much as you wished for them to, but you still appreciated your friend for trying. it was the least she could do in those circumstances.

she sighed, picking up her bag and throwing it over her shoulder, "i'll tell mcgonagall you won't be coming in today." you sat up immediately, getting a bit stressed, "don't tell theo."

"huh?" she deadpanned, eyeing you like you had gone mental.

"i don't want him to worry." you explained with a shrug, wincing when the cramps got stronger. you knew what your boyfriend was like, meaning you were aware that he'd come running right to you if pansy were to tell him about the dreadful state you were in. you didn't really want him to see you like that. your head was beginning to hurt, too.

she rolled her eyes, "as if he won't come looking for you the moment he sees you aren't with me." she bent down and picked up a dirty stocking, throwing it at you. and she was right. theodore loved you more than all of his friends combined, so you could already picture him bolting through the dungeons and straight through your door after seeing that you were missing. he wouldn't even have to be told why you weren't present.

pansy left then, leaving you to suffer all alone. you were barely able to get out of bed to clean yourself up. even moving around was hard. it took you about two minutes to drag yourself to the bathroom and and another fifteen to leave it. managing your hygiene had never been more exhausting.

just as you collapsed back into your bed, ready for a few more hours of torture, the door of your room opened. there went theodore, holding one of his hoodies, a bunch of period products you weren't sure how he acquired, and some chocolates he had stolen from lorenzo's drawer. your heart may have simply melted.

"hi." you peeked at him from beneath the covers, your voice small and tired.

"oh, love." his face twisted with concern as he took in the sight of you. he quietly shut the door and was next to your bed in a matter of seconds. he clumsily set all of the things he brought onto your nightstand, eager to have you in his arms as soon as possible. he shrugged off his robes, kicking his shoes away too. you tried to sit up, and once you did, he took the opportunity to take the shirt you had slept in off of you. he replaced it with his hoodie before settling down next to you. it smelled like him, which was also one of your favourite things in the world. you sighed, a warm feeling overwhelming you.

"tell me if you need anything and i'll get it for you, okay?" he brought the blankets all the way up to your neck, throwing an arm around you and pulling you close. he was willingly missing out on classes for you. could you just let that slide?

"theo–" he placed a finger against your lips to hush you, "i can take one day off, it's not like it's gonna kill me." he retrieved his hand.

"but–"

"no buts." he made you get closer, and you let out a startled giggle, momentarily forgetting about the pain you were in.

you laid there in silence for a little while. theo was rubbing comforting circles into your back, pressing a kiss to your forehead every now and then. it eased you a little bit, and you weren't feeling so terrible anymore. the pain was still there, but whatever he was doing made it a little easier to bear.

"is it really bad?" he questioned after seeing you had scrunched your face up. you hummed and he sat up, reaching under your bed. "where is it– oh." he pulled out the hot pack he knew you sometimes used in similar situations, heading for the bathroom to fill it up with warm water. he returned rather quickly and reclaimed his position on the bed. he adjusted your pillows and placed the hot pack against your stomach, throwing an arm around you again. it made it a little difficult for him to pull you completely against his chest, but your own comfort mattered more to him.

"thank you." you sighed. he gave you a look, not a particularly annoyed one, but one that told you that you didn't have to thank for him doing things like that. he pecked your nose, the urge was too difficult to resist. you exhaled comfortably, taking a hold of his hand and intertwining your fingers.

he began massaging your knuckles, and you shuffled closer, as close as it was possible, burying your face into his chest. he kissed your hand this time before releasing it, and tangled his fingers in your locks instead. you loved it when he played with your hair, and he loved it just as much, mostly because you were giving him a fantastic excuse to touch you.

"what explanation did you come up with for missing classes today?" you questioned, suddenly feeling curious. your cramps slightly reduced in their intensity, so you didn't mind talking or even getting up for a bit.

"i just told it as it is." he shrugged, continuing to play with your hair. he tucked a strand behind your ear, smiling at you.

"what?" you chuckled in surprise.

"i told mcgonagall my girlfriend wasn't feeling well and that i wanna take care of her." he was so, very causal about it. you were surprised he actually knew what to do to help you. you did assume he asked pansy, but it at least meant that he cared. and it made you that much more happy to have him there with you.

"really? what did she say?" you raised an eyebrow.

"she was a little annoyed but she understood what i was getting at," of course she did, she couldn't not, "and then she told the other boys to take notes," he grinned proudly, "draco especially."

you burst out laughing, "that did not happen."

"yes, it did," he snickered against your cheek before placing a big, loud kiss against it, "you can ask anyone." he pulled back, but did not move away. you were so close that your noses were touching.

"hm, i think i'll take your word for it." he smiled again, and you pecked his lips, another way to thank him for doing all of that for you, "i love you." you whispered.

"i love you more." he gave you a cheeky grin.

"wrong." you retorted playfully, poking at his chest.

"that's up for debate." he put his hand over yours, holding it in place.

"do not argue with me." you warned, not very seriously, though.

he snorted at your teasing reply, but didn't push the discussion any further. on a different day, he probably would have. that one adored getting on your nerves more than anyone else in the world, but he wasn't so stupid to do it when you were having such bad period pains. there were other things to be done. he said he'd give you cuddles, and kisses, and hugs, and snuggles, and even more kisses and everything in between. and he did just that. that one time, and all the other times.

[lunitawrites]

Both Sides of the Moon - part one

pairing: biker!joel miller x fem!reader rating: explicit word count: 2.8k summary: After a troubled childhood you move back to your hometown. You are trying to avoid facing the dark past of your family, but you realize it will be harder than you thought when a mysterious stranger appears in town trying to take revenge. TWs: no-outbreak AU, age gap (reader mid-twenties, Joel is late forties), loss of parents, reference to sex work, reference to foster homes, guns, knife, alcohol consumption, cigarettes, Joel being violent towards reader, petnames, reader has hair long enough that it can be grabbed, otherwise no physical description, no use of y/n a/n: hey! so this is my first attempt at writing, I really hope some of you out there will like it. I am eternally grateful to @papipascalispunk who reviewed and edited my work. Thanks a million to @toxicanonymity and @hier--soir for their suggestions! Shoutout to the other Joel Millers on bikes: a minute from home by @agentmarcuspike, jailbird by @toxicanonymity and little mouse by @katiexpunk & @josephquinnswhore masterlist

You are fidgeting with your nametag in front of the mirror, trying to apply it to your uniform, but you must have bent the needle when you removed it last time because it won't stay up now.

“Don’t worry about it darlin’,” you hear Arlene shout from the kitchen, “It's a small town, everyone knows you by now.”

“I suppose they do,” you mumble and drop the pin to the dresser. She's always been nice to you, almost mothering you, since you started working together in the diner. You take one last look in the mirror, smoothing out your uniform and walking through the kitchen to start your 7 PM shift.

It's a slow start. The townsfolk don't start coming until the sun paints the sky purple and orange, until the dust strats to settle and the cicadas’ song fills up the night. Your shift begins at the bar; whiskey, beer, salted peanuts, a smile or two for better tips. The bar fills up with a subtle buzz, stench of alcohol and anticipation.

Later on in the evening, Sam asks you to wait tables instead. You usually prefer staying behind the bar, but it's Friday night, the dining area will get busy soon. Arlene will need the extra pair of hands taking the orders anyway, so you pick up your notepad and pen and head out to the floor. 

You are always cautious out here, you have to be. The men are not violent, but they always try to take what they think they deserve. A brush of a knuckle on your thighs, eyes lingering on the swell of your breasts, an inappropriate comment disguised as a compliment, fingertips on the curve of your hips as they pass by. Sam, your boss, always makes sure that it’s not more, keeping an eye on you at all times from behind the bar. Sam is one of the few people who knows about your past, who knows that there were times when you were giving a lot more than a smile for some crinkled up bills, who knows that just a few months ago, your uniform was nothing more than a pair of thigh highs and your underwear.

—

You were six when your dad died, and you moved away with your mom right after. You stayed with her for another few months until they diagnosed her. She passed away before the next Christmas. By January, you were in your first foster home. After you got out from your last foster home with nothing more than a few pairs of clothes and the fifty dollar bill that you stole from your foster dad's wallet, you really didn’t see another option for survival. 

It started at a gentlemen's club called Red Rose, just outside of Austin, all neon lights and kitsch, velvet and satin from a decade before. They gave you a room in the motel next to it, but only if you worked the after hours shift, so you agreed. You didn't know what after hours meant at the time, but you would have agreed to almost anything if it meant that you would spend the night in a bed and not somewhere outside.

The after hours, you learned quickly, meant selling your body to anyone who took interest in it during the opening hours of the club. So while you did spend your night in a bed, it was with a truck driver named Dylan, who paid you hundred dollars for an hour of you being a good girl, as he described. Forty of those dollars covered the motel bill and twenty went to the club manager for organizing the deal.

You spent six years working at Red Rose, eventually saving up enough money so you didn't have to stay at the motel. You rented a flat with black mold and sticky linoleum floors, sharing it with three of the other girls from the club. You were driving an old Chevy that one of the girls passed onto you after she moved up north. Six years of Dylans and Bobs and Johns and Joses and Miguels. Six years of sweat and spit and bruises and slaps and come, until you couldn't anymore. 

You moved back to your hometown, although it was never really your home, and while you knew little about the circumstances of your father’s death, you were still afraid to come back, terrified to face the past. But as it turned out, you never had to, as if there was some silent agreement amongst the town that they never spoke of your family. No one gossipped, or if they did, they did so silently that it never reached your ears. They welcomed you into town as if you were a stranger. 

You moved into your old family home at the edge of town. White paint chipped from wooden boards, almost two decades of dust and sorrow covering every inch. You slowly made it your own home, settling into the master bedroom that was once your parents’, but leaving every other room untouched. You have not dared to open the door of your old bedroom yet. 

You still drove the old Chevy when you started working at Sam’s six nights a week, the only diner in town, serving the majority of the people who lived there.

—

It's Friday, which means a good crowd and better tips. Friday means an extra drink for everyone to celebrate yet another week survived in this dusty town in south Texas, just above the border. So you move among the tables with a smile so wide that your face starts to hurt.

It's almost eleven now and most of the tables are occupied; workers for their well-deserved after work drink, youngsters pregaming before driving up to Austin for a night out, some couples leaning over their drinks to be closer to one another, families finishing up their meals, greasy hands stopping you to order another basket of fries. The buzz is loud now, the air in the diner thick and heavy with alcohol and laughter. A usual Friday at Sam’s, until it isn’t.

The door squeaks open, heavy footsteps on the floor, broad shoulders in the doorframe. You really shouldn't be able to hear it over the sound of Friday in the diner, but you do. You lock eyes with deep amber, a pair of sad eyes, searching for a place to sit. Strong arms hidden under a black leather jacket, dark wash jeans, disheveled brown curls, almost halo-like, lit by the street lights behind him. The diner seems to catch up with you, surprised faces turning to the direction of the door, sentences left unfinished, whispers let out, cheeks turned red in surprise, Adam’s apples bobbing up and down. Is it? It can’t be. The sounds of Friday fun turn into whispers, and whispers turn to silence. Fear creeps up in your spine, something primal, something unexplainable.

He walks up to an empty table, heavy boots on sticky floor are the only sound now. The squeal of a chair, denim rubbing against the fake leather of the booth, fingers tapping on the tabletop, an impatient sigh. You move your feet from where they were rooted to the ground just a minute ago. Sweaty hands flipping paper on the notepad. You clear your throat before closing up the space between you and his table.

“What can I get you?”, your voice comes out raspy, almost scared. He looks up at you, a faint smile on his face, eyes not quite meeting yours. Instead, he looks at your lips, gaze burning on your skin, you press your lips together, as if you could hide them entirely. Your eyes flick over to the bar, searching for another pair of brown eyes, searching for comfort. But comfort is not what you find, Sam looks back at you with a wild gaze, almost panic in his eyes.

“Whiskey, neat,” the stranger says, now looking at his hands on the table.

“Coming right up!”, you answer with fake cheerfulness in your voice. Legs heavy as you move, “A whiskey, neat,” you say when you reach the bar, waiting for Sam to prepare the drink. You understand that the questions are not for now, the questions are for later. The people slowly turn their attention back to the drinks in front of them, conversations starting again. But still, the air stays as if it was frozen the minute the stranger came in, Friday never has been so quiet at Sam’s diner..

“There you go”, you say as you place the glass in front of him, voice heavy with the accent you thought you never had.

“Thanks, sweetheart,” he says, not looking up at you this time.

Time feels slow, dragging on every minute, every second of the night. You cannot take being inside anymore. You feel like you are going to suffocate.

“I am going on my break,” you say quickly and don’t wait for anyone to acknowledge, just disappear through the kitchen. 

The muggy evening air hugs your skin as you open the back door of the diner. Being outside is just as suffocating as being inside, but at least it's quieter. You take a cigarette out from the crumpled package in your apron, place it between your lips but don't light it just yet. You should quit. You exhale sharply and put the cigarette back. Istead, you lean your head back to the wall, looking up at the moon. She's in her full glory tonight, casting pale light to the dark forest in front of you.

You are not sure what happened inside. This man who you are sure you have never seen in your life just woke up something deep inside you. You feel like you are drawn to him by a strange force, a force that is so foreign to you. There was a certain kind of sadness in his eyes that you only see when you look into the reflection of your own eyes. Grief. Lost. Denial. Something that balances between madness and sanity. 

You hear the front door open with a squeaking sound. Footsteps, drunk laughter and heavy drawls take over the silence of your break. You are about to go inside when you hear an intoxicated voice call out:

“Where do you think you’re goin´?” the drunk man shouts. “You think you can just walk in here and have a drink like the rest of us? Like you fuckin’ belong here.” he spits. The rest of the men stop talking. Now he is the only voice. “Let me tell you. You don´t. You should not come around anymore. You are not welcome here and you should know that.”

“So what happens if I do  come around?” the stranger's voice is laced with coldness. You slowly start walking to the front. You need to see him again. You need to understand what's happening. You feel yourself shaking, despite the warm humidity of the night. 'You should just stay out of it,' the voice in your head says, but you keep walking.

You peek around the corner of the diner. There he is with six men from the town. They all seem fairly drunk. They seem like they are looking for trouble.

“Well, if you are so fuckin´ sure you gonna come around,” he drawls “we might as well just give you a taste of what we are plannin´ to do with you. Right, boys?” he laughs and the men laugh with him, like a pack of coyotes. They all sound way too drunk to do any real harm, but there are six of them against him.

“Try me” the stranger grits through his teeth. He doesn't seem to be afraid, he seems like he would not care if he lives or dies. He seems like someone who gave up a long time ago.

“That ’s enough!” You shout and start walking up to the crowd. ”Go home or I will call Sam out and we will see who won’t be allowed to come around here anymore”. The loudest one flashes you a drunk grin and says: “That is just fuckin’ hilarious. You wanna protect him?” he asks.

“I am not protecting anyone, it’s my job to keep this place running. So I am doing just exactly that.” you say putting your hands on your waist. “Now, gentlemen, I would appreciate, if you all went home and cared about your wives and kids just as much as you care about your liquor. I reckon you had enough fun for tonight. Go! All of you!” you order them.

You are surprised to see that they do. It might be the mention of their wives and the reminder of how they would react if they saw them coming home drunk and all beaten up. The loudest one turns back for a second and addresses you. “You don’t know what you are doing.”

“I guess not.” you whisper and turn your head to the stranger.

“You didn't need to, darlin’. I can defend myself,” he says, drawl thick as the night above you. 

“Mhm, you seem like the type who can,” you say with a half smile. He laughs at that, but there is no humor in it. It should not be possible for a laugh to sound that sad.

“You new around here?”, he takes a step forward, cornering you to the wall. His eyes are searching for the name tag on your uniform. As he cannot find anything his eyes flick back to your face again. His gaze lights something up in you, deep inside your stomach. Frozen flames licking your insides. You are terrified of it, you are terrified of him.

“You can say that, moved back recently. And you? It seems like everyone knows you around here.” you say, heart pounding in your throat. 

“Wasn't hard to sense that, was it?”, you can feel his breath on your skin. Whiskey, burning on your cheeks.

“No,” you say, casting down your eyes. Somehow his proximity makes you restless. His presence makes the blood rush faster in your body. Your reaction is almost instinctual, you want to rip his flash and sink your teeth into him. To be closer or to get away. You are not sure.

He must sense it, a sly smile across his lips. He lifts his hand, hovers his knuckles over your cheeks tentatively. You are red burning fire. He brushes his knuckles over your left cheek, your chin, the curve of your neck. He rests his palm on your shoulder at last.

“You are shaking,” he murmurs. He takes his hand away. It's almost like you couldn't breathe while he touched you. Lungs filling up with air again. You lock eyes with him. “So what's your..,” he starts but cannot finish, Arlene opens the back door and calls your name. 

“Everything okay here?”, she asks.

His eyes darken. Amber turns black. “It's you,” he says, “I should have fuckin’ known.” One hand grabbing your hair, the other turning you around. Rough denim scratching the back of your thighs as he pushes you up to the wall. Head knocking on wood, you feel dizzy. You hear Arlene’s muffled scream, the door opening again. Cold steel pressed into your throat, you taste your death. “I couldn't have planned this better, could I?”, he whispers into your ear.

“Who the fuck are you? What do you want from me?”, you spit, fear blinding you as you try to grab a hold of him behind you.

“You don't know who I am? That's good. That´s just fuckin’ good”, he laughs, blood freezing in your veins from the sound of it.

You hear footsteps, Arlene’s breathy cry in the background. Boots then. Heavier than she could be. 

“Joel Miller,” Sam says with venom in his voice, “Leave her the fuck alone!”

His gun is pointing to Joel’s temple. Sam takes a step closer, “Get out of here. Right fuckin’ now.” Joel slowly releases the handful of hair he still has in his fist. As he does, a bitter smile spreads on his face.

“Another time then,” he murmurs, low enough that only you can hear. He steps back, walks slowly to the parking lot where he swings his leg over a 1990 Harley-Davidson, the exact same model that is in your father's garage. 

You look at Sam, eyes blurred with tears and confusion.You are certain of one thing, and one thing only. Joel Miller wants to kill you.

—

Thank you for reading! Comments and reblogs are much appreciated. Please let me know if you'd like to be on the tag list for the next parts!

[nyimasu]

───── 𝑃𝐴𝐼𝑁𝑇 𝐼𝑇 𝐵𝐿𝐴𝐶𝐾

PAIRING — yoshida hirofumi x fem!reader

SYNOPSIS — it just so happens that you and yoshida have been crushing on each other for some time and now it's time to take it up a notch.

CW — reader is a civilian, aki is really salty here y'all but deep down he's a cinnamon roll <3, canon universe (slight differences), mutual pining, wet dreams, blindfolds, multiple orgasms, creampie, monsterfucking at the end but nothing serious yet

WC — 4.9k ;; cross-posted on ao3

ANYA'S CORNER — all characters are aged up here and well, this might as well be the first of other fics about yoshida *sighs* time will tell but i hope you enjoy this in the meantime!

"Oh, God. What the fuck did you do to your hair now?"

"And good morning to you too, Aki. Today you are bitchier than usual. Did the Fox Devil pee in your bed this morning?"

He gives you the finger, then unties your hair just to let out a frustrated grunt two seconds later. Despite what everyone thinks, you and the boy by your side are just best friends. Actually, more like platonic soulmates. Sometimes you wonder where you end and he begins and vice versa.

What led most of them to think so is Aki's antics. He's quite physical with you: kisses on the cheek, hugs, casual ass honking, you name it.

No matter the circumstance, you are always within reach for him to tease.

But this time around he does so much more than that.

"I get it: you wanted a fresh start after what that bastard did to you. You should’ve let me beat some sense into them, as I suggested to you when you were sobbing in my lap, and save your scalp from a mental breakdown at 3 AM in our bathroom. I would've never imagined it was this bad.

Just- do you smell it? Ugh. The chemicals are burning my nose.

I’m about to barf."

"Come on, don’t be such a baby. It’s not that bad."

Aki catches a strand of your hair between his fingers and tugs at it, annoyed. Its white-silvery hue is glossy, and unbeknownst to you both, the texture isn't so frizzy, either. But the stink of bleach is still here, haunting your best friend’s nostrils.

"After the shift you better go home and wash your hair again. I won’t come near you a minute longer if you ignore me."

"Will you stop patronising me if I say yes, you Karen?"

He eyes you, expression blank. He gives nothing away as he deadpans, "Probably."

"Still better than hearing you ramble like a grumpy old man, anyway." you walk past him hiding your smile before he can reply and go in the back, getting ready to start another day.

You both work as bartenders/waiters in a cute cafeteria nearby the college you and him go to. The paycheck is good and combined, you and the boy are able to make ends meet smoothly.

The only downside is the total lack of spare time: the moment your shift ends, Hayakawa has to hurry up and start his. Most of the time, you two have to work side by side during the busiest hours of the day, all due to your boss’ laziness in scheduling decent shifts.

The only moments you can talk a bit without worries are the ones outside the flat, college and in front of the lockers in the back of the cafeteria.

However, that day you feel good.Really good. You haven’t felt that way since your partner — now ex-partner — dumped you right in front of your family’s house three months earlier.

“My family doesn’t think you’re the one for me. You know what they say about those who don’t meet their standards, don't you? And you're so... weird. Yeah, you'll never be good enough for them.

We should stop our relationship before it gets any further.”

The idiot had the audacity to use their own relatives to cover their ass behind such blame excuses to justify cowardice. They didn’t want to commit, you could see that in those eyes you once found difficult to look away from.

When you did, it was too late. Your heart had already been broken.

On top of that, you are going to see them for the rest of the year; they are two years ahead of you and Aki, but they still attend some of your classes, as well. Moreover, you always see each other at the entrance every morning.

It's torture, looking at them living their best life whereas yours is still drowning in nostalgic waters.

Your hand closes around the uniform you have in the locker. The thin fabric of the plain black shirt cracks as you wear it, soon after joined by a tight pair of white jeans.

Then your eyes fixates on the shoes you're supposed to wear and let scoff, "Hell no, I won’t wear these infernal devices today."

The polished high-heels in the cabinet stare right back at you as you finish to dress up, even as you close the locker and head back to the counter. No need for them today.

Aki is leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, waiting. The moment you brush past him, his big hand takes one of yours to place them on his heart.

His pretty eyes scanned your figure once more, searching for any sign of distress as he breathes, "Are you really okay?"

Your gaze softened. "I’m more than okay, Aki. Stop worrying about me."

"How can I? It’s what best friends do: looking out for each other."

"And your best friend is telling you that she’s fine." you yank at the ends of his topknot with your free hand and smile, "Besides, today is a new day. From now on, I want to be a better version of myself.

They won’t have anything of mine anymore."

You both walk back but before any of you can do another step, the boy corners your body with his. Your back collides with the cold surface of the counter, yet the warmth in the eyes of your best friend makes up for it. His height engulfs yours by a lot, so it's no big deal for him to tower - no, hover - over you.

He stretches out a hand, fingers lightly grazing your cheeks. "Promise?"

"Yes, I promise. Let's get to work, now."

Your hand covers his for a split second and he finally nods, planting a kiss on your forehead as he lets you circle him to take position by his side.

There is no way he would give up so easily. He's up to something.

You want to investigate some more but it's not the right moment for it. Being it is almost opening time, and there are a lot of people already behind the glassy doors, students, mostly, you decide to postpone. If he's going behind your back-

The doors open right at that moment, and the momentum cuts off your thoughts. For now.

You are smiling a lot that morning and it doesn't go unnoticed.

The rings on your hands don't, either.

Some regular customers even dare to slip their phone numbers in the cash they hand you over to pay, grazing your slender fingers to catch a glimpse of the shiny bands wrapped around them, but you always turn them down with a shy smile.

The stares you can handle, but nothing more.

You make small chats with everyone passing by the register and at some point you must’ve gone to tie your hair into the usual bun because Aki’s slaps on your thigh stops you halfway.

Turning, you look at him, puzzled. "What?"

The boy looks at you up and down twice before replying, "That colour looks gorgeous on you. Keep your hair down."

"You should do the same, Pineapple Head." you reply, genuinely confused because to be honest, he is prettier than you with his hair that way.

The look your best friend gives you is murderous before nodding at the next client who walks to you you. And with that, the conversation hangs over your heads again.

That day, lots of students and teachers come to grab something to eat before rushing back to classes. But what surprises you the most is to see a familiar face among the group who just walked in, settling in a table not far from the bar counter.

Aaand goodbye good vibes.

"Are you kidding me?"

"Aki, don’t." you hiss, hand already reaching for the boy's. His knuckles turn white as his eyes melts your ex's chair, the idiot looking up right then. Seeing you and Aki, however, has them immediately bend their head forward and avoid your gaze. Pathetic.

Already feeling what's about to happen, you grab Aki by his bare arm and hiss, "Don’t do anything stupid."

"I won’t," his blue eyes pierce right through you and clarifies with a short, "Not in public, anyway. The same goes for you.»

"As much as I hate to admit it, they're a client. They must be respected even if they’re in the wrong.

But that won't stop me from being salty."

You leave without looking back, heading towards the rather noisy group. As soon as they see you coming their way, everyone stops whatever they're doing and stare at your silhouette. The one who doesn’t even flinch is the one who should’ve hidden behind the table, on their knees.

Their eyes lock with yours while one of their hands strokes a girl’s thigh right beside them.

So they were already with someone else, uh? Judging by looks alone, she's a far more “normal” fit than you've ever ever been.

Do they really think something like that would hurt you, after everything they said to you?

"Hello, eveyone. Are you ready to order?"

The friends who snap out of their minds first order straightway, while the person you thought you loved till some months before take their time, talking with the short brunette whose hand is now an inch away from their thigh. Then, acting as if you just arrived there, your ex turn to tell you what they both want.

You write it down quickly, adding ‘spit in their hamburger ♡’ right next to the order.

"I see you dyed your hair and got a new tattoo. Seems like I dodged a fucking oddball, after all."

You put down the digital pen and shoot your ex a customer smile. Finally the other shoe has dropped.

"You know what’s funny about oddballs? You never know where they’ll hit next. Next time it might be your face, how about that?"

You feel one of their friends trying to trip you. The reason why they do it? No idea… until you step on the foot that almost have you face-first on the floor, pushing on it with your whole weight.

"Hey, you stepped on my foot!"

You pin the boy next to your ex with your gaze, "I could do so much worse than this, but I won’t. You know why?» you lean closer and sigh. "You’re a client. I can’t do anything tangible now, but wait until my shift is over. I’ll shove my leg so far down your throat you’ll suff-"

"I’m taking it from here.

Go."

Aki’s chest crashing against your back cuts you off. Turning, you see him looking at the group with a customer smile. A real one.

Then his fingers take a hold of the tablet still in your hands with one, smooth move. You go to snap back at him, but you know better than being too petty.

If he hadn’t stepped in, you would’ve ended up picking a fight that would cost you the job and a demerit note.

The implications in his tone snap you out of it. Your eyes set on him as you smile, just as you apply more pressure on the boy's foor.

"Of course. I’ll be at the bar if you need me."

The blonde-haired stranger curses you out but does nothing else to stop you again. You don't look back, not even when you hear the chick next to your ex speak ill of you. It should’ve hurt your feelings, but that girl looks so naive that you actually feel bad for her. She's too caught up in your ex's spell to understand that they are just using her for sex.

What a disappointment your ex turned out to be.

The moment your best friend comes back to the counter, any sense of anger and annoyance has left you.

Clients keep you busy until you manage to push your ex’s presence in the darkest corner of your mind. Saying you are grateful to them is an understatement.

Time goes by pretty quickly and before you know it, it's almost lunch time. Meaning you are about to end your shift.

Despite this, once you have some time to talk, the tall boy next to you turns on his heels so abruptly you swear you hear his bones crack.

Aki is speaking through his teeth when he whispers, "What the hell was that? Are you trying to get fired or what?"

Your hand reaches Aki’s to press it against your chest. "I could never leave you and your pretty face all alone in a place like this, Hayakawa. But that bastard still has the power to push my buttons all at once and I just can’t stand the sight of them. And that poor girl… I feel sorry for her."

"Your ex is not your problem any longer, remember? You finally get to live your life away from that shithead."

All of a sudden, Aki isn't looking at you anymore. His attention shifts on a group of people that is walking in now, and you look at them too from above your shoulder. The five of them are so beautiful that the people still in the cafeteria turn to stare at them.

But most importantly, they are deadly.

You recognise their uniforms, how could you not? Devil Hunters are a big deal, especially around colleges and other crowded places. Most of the devils’ attacks affect those ones, so at least a couple of them are always around to patrol the area and call the police in case of need.

Something in your best friend’s gaze set off all your alarms and you push him away. "You know them."

"Oh, we both do." he deadpans, fingers itching to grab the cigarette pack in his pocket. He still have three hours left before he can go on break, so he can't really sit out this one.

You snap your fingers in front of him to get his attention and when you do, he raises an eyebrow, unfazed. The one who's boiling is you and you alone, and you implode with an esasperate sigh.

"So this is what you’ve been up to, uhm?"

Aki cracks his fingers. "I don’t like the accusations you’re trying to make."

"Oh, bite me. Don’t tell me I wouldn’t notice you looking at the door like a teenager in love waiting for their sweetheart to show up.

Come on, what is it?"

Aki leans against the counter, bringing you closer to him. "If I promise to tell you this, will you do something for me in return?"

Oh-oh. Every time he asks you to do him a favour, you end up tangled in things bigger than you.

As if he reads your mind, Aki rolls his eyes. "Nothing complicated, I promise."

You fold with a scoff, arms crossed on the chest. "Fine. What do you want?"

He tries to fight back a smile. Unusual, for Aki Hayakawa rarely holds back on his happiness. Not anymore.

When he first met you, five years ago, his perception of life turned upside down. Including his view on showing emotions.

"I have this friend… hey, listen to me before saying anything, okay?" his thumb draws little doodles on the counter's space close to you.

"Like I was saying, I have this friend who’s always been kinda into you. I wouldn’t mingle if I wasn’t sure he might be a good influence in your life.

You know how protective I am of you."

This time you're the one to raise an eyebrow, suddenly feeling self-aware. "So you want me to go on a date with him or something?"

His eyes widens in shock. You fear he might have a heart attack if he keeps staring at you like a lunatic on stereoids.

"Woah. You’re the one who suggested it, not me. I was going to ask you if you could do me the courtesy of grabbing a coffee with him, just to chat, but you went all in by yourself. I won’t be the one to change your mind, now."

You say nothing for a while. Rather, you glance at the table the Devil Hunters are at to see what all the fuss is about.

Three girls and two boys are chatting, and the closest to the counter are a boy with sandy hair and a girl with strawberry locks. Her horns look so cute but on a second glance, their pointed edges look very sharp. A Fiend, you correct yourself.

Another young woman with pitch-black locks that descend on her face like silk curtains sits across them, right next to the tallest girl out of the three. She wears her long, blonde hair in a ponytail and out of the bunch, she seems to be the most stoic one. An eye patch covers her right eye, but that doesn't mean she has her guard down.

As for the rest, you can tell they are quite unique: the boy with red hair is stunning, achingly so. He looks like an angel- Wait.

"No-"

Aki nods, suddenly serious. "Yes. They are part of the same division I was in a few years ago. The one you convinced me to step back from when we got into college.

If you look closely, I’m sure you’ll recognise some."

Aside from Chainsaw Man — you got the chills just thinking about his true devil form — the Blood Fiend, Quanxi, the Angel and War Devil there is another person in the group. One you came across many times when you went to Public Safety’s Headquarters to hang out with Aki.

His dark eyes land on you just as you smack away your best friend's hand. By the time you regain your posture and finish staring at Aki, you turn and a scream build up in your throat.

The woman with the eye patch is now sitting at the bar counter, legs crossed and her gorgeous face resting on a hand.

She's fast.

Shitty human reflexes.

Her voice tone is quiet yet adamatine as she says, "Hello there. So you’re the one who convinced Aki to quit Public Safety."

You gulp and wonder if she hears it. Probably yes.

"H-hello, Lady Quanxi. I never thought I’d have the pleasure to make your acquaintance. And well, I wouldn’t say I forced him or something.

I just gave him a little push, that’s all."

She waves a hand in your direction, then looks at the tall boy next to you. "She’s cute, Hayakawa. Too cute for this world, I might say. Are you sure that she is your best friend? You seem too grumpy to have someone this cheerful around that can suck up with your dry sense of humour."

Your best friend exhales sharply, staring back at The First Devil Hunter without blinking. You don't dare to laugh, but a small snicker escapes you nonetheless.

It's as if you are watching an older sister scold her younger brother.

"Of course she is. And she's too cute for you, Quanxi. Hands off her, please."

The woman raises her hands, then returns to the table at human speed. After she does so, your eyes almost escape your skull when Aki pinches you. Out of surprise, you slap him across the face.

"Oh! What the fuck was that for?!"

"You startled me, you idiot. Were you trying to set me up with her? With Quanxi?" you start to sweat profusely. "Man, I don't know if I’m in for that type of thing. I mean, she’s the embodiment of ride or die — literally. I don't think I'm ready for that kind of carousel yet-"

Aki stops your rambling by shaking his head. Then he takes his hand into yours once more and points a finger towards the table.

"Look closer."

Dark, lush hair frame a slim face now turned in your direction, his beauty mark under the lips unforgettable. His eyes, despite being so piercing, carry the same warmth his smile radiates.

Yoshida Hirofumi.

Pretty sure the chemical burning Aki warned you about is eating your brain, you stare at the Devil Hunter in awe. "Nah, that can’t be. I must be dreaming. Pinch me."

Hayakawa does so again. Harder this time.

You punch his arm in retaliation and he simply huffs at your little tantrum. However, he drags you in a bone-crushing hug shortly after. Accepting it amidst laughs, you laugh in the crook of his neck and wait for your nerves to calm on their own.

So the person you had a crush on for the longest time ever feels the same about you. The fear of being rejected by him is what kept you from acting upon your feelings. Rather, you locked them away in a corner of your heart.

After all that time, after every heartbreak you went through, he's still there waiting for you?

An idiot. That's what you are.

Still looking at Yoshida, you dare to smile and your heart is filled with joy when he does the same. You whip your head towards Aki to look at him through the corner of the eye.

"Okay, I’ll go on a date with him. Let’s see how it goes."

The one to take the group's orders and bring them everything is your best friend. You prefer to watch the scene unfolding from afar. Hayakawa stays behind for a while, chatting with your crush.

Right before coming back he leans closer to Yoshida, whispering something along the lines of 'hey man, she wants to go on a date with you or whatever', but the group overhears it all the same and Hell breaks loose.

Not literally, but you fear for the well-being of the cafè for a good second.

Denji and Power are still howling, feet on the table and head thrown back in amusement, when Aki heads back to the counter with a satisfied grin; Quanxi and Yoru looked at one another for a moment, then each of them grab the kids by the legs and they facepalm on the table.

Angel is having none of it, and keep eating his ice cream as if nothing happened.

You and Yoshida seem to have the same thought because when you turn to look at him again, the dark-haired Devil Hunter is doing the same from above his shoulder. His smile reaches his pierced ears and something in your stomach stirs. Probably butterflies. Or hunger.

"He’s literally breaking his neck to get a better view of you. Goddammit, come here. Why am I doing all of this by myself?

Listen: now that we're settled, go and ask him when you two can go on a date."

Your heart drops at your feet. "Uhm excuse me, where you not there talking to him a minute ago? Hell no. You go."

Blood escapes Aki’s body, leaving him staring at you dead in the eye.

He acts as if you just said you killed his cat.

"I wouldn’t go on a date with Yoshida Hirofumi even if he was the last person on Earth. He’s your boo, not mine."

You stomp a foot, pointing a finger at him. "Stop it. I hate when you say “boo”. It's cringe.

Also, you were the one to set me up with him in the first place. Take the fall for it."

If looks could kill, you'd be burning amidst the flames of Hell by now. "No, I won't. And guess what? You're two adults perfectly able of talking to each other but neither of you was bold enough to confess, so I had to step in and set you two up. He never stopped asking about you, even after I left. And you talk in your sleep, don't you?"

His tone is steady, but there is a hint of amusement in his voice when he whispers:

"I’m tired of hearing you calling out his name in the middle of the night while you squeeze a pillow between your thighs. Fuck him and get over with it."

A shocked gasp falls past your lips and when you look back at the table, fearing the Devil Hunter heard you. They haven't, except one.

The man of the hour is gone. Oh, no. No.

NO.

Horrified, your gaze lands in front of you. More specifically, on the chair Quanxi was previosuly sitting on. Now Yoshida is sitting there for God knows how long, and a sly smirk is painted all over his face.

Aki follows your gaze, pinching your arm again. But you have no will or strength left in you to strike back.

Damn it. Your crush had just heard your best friend say out loud you have been dreaming about him for years. Wet dreams, at that.

Every night.

Hirofumi perches himself on the wooden surface, leaning so close to you that breath gets stuck in your throat.

"Have you now? Care to walk me through some of them over a coffee? Or dinner, maybe?"

Actually, you did more acting than talking. In fact, you showed Yoshida pretty soon some of the best bits of your wet dreams with him. Date after date, week after week.

Now six months had gone by since Aki set you two up and that night, right after you came home from a dinner out with the Special Division, you both had gone insane.

It all started as a joke: you under him on the bed, riled up because of all the teasing at the table, with the blue scarf around his neck dangling between your faces with every kiss Yoshida left on your cheeks, your neck.

Then one thing have led to another, and you eventually started the fire with a simple smile. Hirofumi have come to know you pretty well over time.

He was damn sure it wasn’t an innocent one. “Time for another round, isn't it? Come here.”

Yoshida had giggled in your ear and just like that, you relaxed and returned to the present.

His hands graze your trembling ones for a split-second. The soft fabric of the scarf he used to cover your eyes smells like him and you take in the scent as he continues to worship your body, so tensed and ready to snap under his.

Even after you have come three times, once while your lips are wrapped around his cock with a hand shoved in your drenched panties and twice under the relentless attack of his mouth and fingers, sensory overload still hasn't overcome your body. Stamina is one of your strongest suits, and so is Yoshida's.

He wraps a hand around his dick, coating it in your release to pump it two, three times as his words reaches you.

"Think you got another one for me? Uhm?"

"Y-yes."

Your ragged breath fans over his face as he leaned down to kiss you again. His tongue came out to play with yours as you sense the head of his cock breaching past the entrance of your pussy — he is huge. You barely have time to moan and arch against him before Yoshida straightens his back and placs your hands on his waist.

"Hiro', you feel so good- Fuck."»"

His fingernails bury themselves in the tender flesh of your thighs as he bottoms out inside you, cock pulsing and twitching against your walls. Another desperate whimper leave you right after, because he isn't moving.

Is he really throwing a gauntlet? When he's balls-deep inside you?

Fire begins to boil in your veins and it feel amazing. Pouting, you brace yourself on your elbows. Even blindfolded, you can almost see his eyes transfixed on your boobs. But when you pout again, his gaze shifts to your lips.

Yoshida always make sure to reward you when you beg for his cock.

"Please, baby. I can’t take it any longer. Please, move.

I need you." your voice is feeble, tears already pooling in your eyes. You are at your limit.

He tries to control himself, yet another shiver runs across your skin when he suddenly pulls you flush against his chest. With the new position, his cock goes even deeper and you writhe in ectasy. He is dangerously close to hit your cervix.

Again.

"Of course. You asked me so nicely, princess."

His hips start to move against yours slowly and you sigh, relieved.

But now, his pace changes. You should’ve expected it, but nonetheless you find yourself resting your forehead on his collarbone as he fucks you stupid.

The bed creaked under his movements and Yoshida urges you to lay on your back once more; when you comply, he slips out of your pussy just to slam back in. His eyes fall onto your face.

"Come on. Cum for me one last time."

You let yourself go with a strangled moan, breathing heavily against Yoshida as he draws a fourth orgasm out of you, fucking you through it as his own has him curse under his breath.

You milk him dry, but he still thrusted a few times more to pump his cum back into you. Only when you twitch in overstimulation does he stop and as soon as the softness of his scarf leave your eyes, the dim light shed by the moonlight help you see Hirofumi’s proud grin.

"You did so well." he whispers in the dark, caressing your hair as you both calm down. His heartbeat follows yours for a while but once you are stable enough to speak again, your fingernails trace his cheekbones and he tilts his head.

"Box checked for 'Wet dream n° 52'. You're even crazier than me for following through with them." you chuckle.

"Oh, shush. How many are there again?"

"Roughly around a hundred but who's counting?"

His gaze darkens but doesn't move a muscle. Tonight, you've done enough exercise for a week.

"Poor Aki. He’s not going to be happy about it."

"He’s a big boy, he’ll manage. It’s not like we never had sex while he’s in another room, remember?"

His hips snap against yours, teasing you, and a whimper builds up in your lower abdomen. "Yoshida."

He whispers against your lips, unbothered, "I didn't do it."

"I did."

You try to scream, you really do, but your partner is holding you so tightly against him that you eventually muster up enough courage to train your attention towards the place where the voice came from. To your shock, it did come from Yoshida.

No, from behind him.

And a gush of lust escapes down your thighs, excitement dripping down the already ruined sheets.

It's really happening.

All you do is watch and whimper in anticipation as a tentacle climbs up your leg, its head reaching the strings of your and Yoshida’s mixed releases. Hesitating at first, the tentacle then lapped up the juices and poked at your clit. Your hips buck into its touch and after you do, it vanishes again.

It only lasted a moment but it left you craving for more and Hirofumi's lust-blown gaze shows he has enjoyed it, too.

"Well, it looks like the Octopus Devil likes you enough to come out and play."

"I figured. Let it be from now on. I want to try something out."

The dark-haired boy’s grin now reflects yours. "Is this a spoiler for the next wet dream we're going to reenact?"

You kiss his beauty mark, beaming with mischief. "Oh, yes. Wet dream n° 53: 'Paint it, black'.

Fitting, right?"

© azanthys — do not copy, translate, repost and modify my works. do not recommend them outside tumblr and ao3.

[warmaidensrevenge]

It's not a never.

Pairings: Eddie x best!friend fem plus size reader

A/N: Hey there. Sorry this upload was late. I had to work an unscheduled shift. But anyway, here it is. I hope you all enjoy this. Please feel free to share or comment. I'm always a sucker for comments. As always, thanks for reading. Kay love ya byyyeeee.

I do not give permission for my work to be posted anywhere else. Please respect all creators. All pictures and songs were from a Google search and found on Spotify. A credit to the original posters and artists.

Word count: 4,135

Warnings: 18+ No minors. Language, angst, slow burn, sexual situation and not proof read. All a

Part 3: Hope

Summary: Rejection, friendship, love and heart ache. What's next?

The next day Eddie was hoping to have that long conversation. But you were nowhere to be found. He waited in the quad in the usual spot in the morning. But you didn't show. He kept looking at the cafeteria door every time someone walked in during lunch, hoping you would come. Still nothing though.

The last chance he would see you was in Mrs O'Donnells class. He knew you had to work after school so he wouldn't be able to see you for the rest of the day. 

When he sat at his desk he noticed your backpack in the seat next to him. So you were there. You were just ignoring him.

The worst thing that could happen, did. He confessed how he felt and you were avoiding him. Now he wished he hadn't said anything.

The classroom door opened and you came in with some guy. You looked like you didn't sleep at all. You were pale and looked like you were gonna pass out. 

Did he do that to you? 

You then caught his eye and smiled a little. He lifted his hand to wave but you turned around to talk to Mrs O'Donnell.

“ Hey, teach. Umm this is Glenn. He's interested in taking over my column in the school paper. I already showed him around the workspace and how to lay out the stories.”

Mrs O'Donnell grinned. “ Perfect and did you teach him-”

“ Yes. He knows how to use the computer and how to search for information.”

As soon as the conversation was over, you went to sit down.

He leaned in. “ You feeling okay?”

You raised your hand and rocked it from side to side. 

Now he was worried. “ Want me to get you some medicine or something to drink?”

You shook your head. “ I'm okay.”

His brows pinched together. Even your voice sounded different. “ Are you-”

“ Mr Munson. Is there something you would like to share with the rest of us?”

He looked towards the front of the class at Mrs O'Donnell. “ Umm what?”

She looked over her glasses at him. “ Mr Munson, as happy as I am to see you finally graduate, there are still some students that are here to learn.”

He gave her a thin lip smile and looked back at you. “ Sorry Mrs O'Donnell.”

She started the class and you ripped out a page from your notebook and handed it to him.

“ I feel like death but I'll be okay. Can I come by after work? We can talk.”

He looked at you and nodded. He then folded the note and stuffed it into his pocket.

-

It was almost 8 pm. Eddie kept looking at his watch for the past hour. Preparing for the talk. 

But once his uncle left for work, he started getting ancy.

That's when he needed a smoke.

He went outside and sat on the steps. After the first cigarette was burned out, he lit another. Then headlights blinded him for a second. He quickly tossed the smoke after he heard you coughing.

You got out and made your way to him. Somehow you looked worse than before.

“ Hey dude. Sorry I'm late. I'm feeling like dog poop.”

He stood up. “ Anything I can do? I can make you some tea.”

You coughed again. “ Tea would be nice. But I don't want you to get sick. Besides, I can't stay too long. My parents want me home before 10.

He looked down at his watch and frowned. You guys only had 40 minutes. “ Well, do you want to come inside?”

You shook your head. “ No. That's okay. I would totally fall asleep in there. It's best if we stay out here. The fresh air will do me good.”

So far this conversation wasn't going well. Which started to make him feel insecure.

He then watched as you walked towards him and sat on the steps. Pulling him down to sit with you.

He swallowed thickly. Trying to figure out what to say. “ How did you get so sick so fast?”

You sniffled and shrugged. “ I guess my body isn't used to getting sneezed on the back of the neck in the subway.”

He chuckled lightly. “ Gross.”

“ Yeah. But it's just the flu I think, so I'm not dying.”

He grinned. “ Good.”

The tension started to build after that. The silence that ensued was almost unbearable.

“ So... why do you think you've fallen for me?” You asked all nonchalantly. 

He sucked in a sharp breath and rubbed his hands on his knees. “ Ermmm I- honestly I don't know why this happened. All I know it's that no matter how hard I try, I can't stop thinking about you.”

You sighed and nodded slightly. “ Since prom right?”

He licked his lips and leaned his elbows on his knees. “ Yup.”

You went quiet for a second. Then you coughed. He looked at you and offered up some water and a cough drop.

“ Eddie, I'm fine. Really…let's continue…So you find me attractive because of how I dressed at prom?”

He hung his head. “ It started that way.”

“ And now you don't?”

“ N-no. I do. It's just more. You know.”

You nodded. “ Why?”

He looked at you. “ What do you mean?”

You met his gaze. “ Why is it more now?”

He shrugged and looked away. “ I guess I just see that you're amazing.”

Your laugh was a little raspie. “ And I wasn't amazing before?”

His eyes found yours again and he smiled. “ Guess not.”

You shoulder bumped him. “ Shut up.”

You guys chuckled for a second before it got serious again.

“ What about you?” He asked. “ When did it happen for you?”

You leaned back a bit. Resting on your hands behind you. Looking up at the stars. “ I want to say it was after I got over the crush I had on Jason.”

His eyes went wide. “ That-that was 2 years ago.”

You turned your head towards him. “ Yeah…it was. I guess you can say my type changed.”

He leaned back too and mimicked your actions. “ Why didn't you say anything?”

You faced the sky again and closed your eyes. “ You were seeing Marci. Then after her, there was that girl from the bar.”

He watched you as you sat up straight and looked at the ground. 

“ I came to the conclusion that it was stupid to like, like one of your friends…then it got harder. Being who we were around each other. Close, comfortable. And I tried to not let it affect me…but then nana died.”

He sat up too and turned his body towards you. 

You sniffled again. “ It's not the fact that you were there for me. But how you were there for my mom. How you were there for my dad…I remember when you and my dad were playing pool in the garage. It was the first time I heard him laugh in weeks. And with my mom…that's when you started hitting on her, just to get her to smile. Well that and you knew it annoyed me…I fell in love with you then. But I also knew that I couldn't do anything about it because you were family. And I didn't want to lose you too.”

When you started to cry he put his arm around your waist and pulled you closer. 

You wiped your tears on your sleeve. “ You have been different since prom. And I thought it was because we're graduating soon. I thought it was because you were gonna miss me.”

“ I am gonna miss you.”

You turned to face him. He bore deep into your eyes. 

“ Not as much as I'm gonna miss you.”

His heart was racing. You were so close. Your lips were merely inches apart. 

“ I really want to kiss you.” He confessed in a soft tone.

You didn't look away or try to get out of his embrace. And he took that a go ahead. He closed his eyes and leaned in. 

He could feel your hot breath against his lips and it sent shivers down his spine. 

Just before your lips touched, he felt your hand on his chest. Then you moved your head down. Making him pull back slightly. 

“ Eddie.” You whispered. “ We can't.”

He held you a little tighter. “ If it's cuz you're sick, I don't care.”

The look you had in your eyes he knew that wasn't it. So he let you go and felt broken. This wasn't what he wanted.

“ Eddie, I'm sorry. As much as I wanted this I-” you cut off and stood up.

He couldn't look at you. If he did he would end up crying.

“ I get that you're hurting right now. And I'm sorry that I'm the reason for it… it's just…Eddie please look at me.”

He flexed his jaw and did his best to not break down. When he finally looked at you, all he saw was his very sad sick friend. He knew you didn't want or mean to hurt him. And he felt like he would have never seen you so upset if he just kept his mouth closed.

“ I need you to hear me okay? We graduated in less than 2 weeks. After that, everything changes. And it's gonna be harder than we think to say goodbye to each other…if we do this now, it's gonna be that and so much more.” You shook your head. “ And I can't do that. I can't just be all in with you, just to have to say goodbye in 2 weeks…all I want is for things to be normal. I want to hang out with you and the guys like always. I want us to watch movies and play video games. I want to spend as much time together as possible. Because in a few days you're not gonna be an 8 minute drive anymore. I won't be able to hug you or laugh with you. I won't be at your band practices or show up to gigs…I just want the little time we have to be friends….just friends. Cuz I don't think I can handle anything more than that.”

He sat there and understood everything you just said. And though you rejected him, you were right. 

He wanted you. All of you. But risking these last few days for something that was gonna end before it could even start. It wasn't ideal. Still, a few days with you would be better than not having you at all. Right?

He could argue and tell you that he would give anything to call you his. Even if it was just for a moment. But he wasn't going to. 

Instead he got up and wrapped his arms around you. “ You're right. You're always right kid…I'm just sorry that I was late to the party.”

You hugged him back and apologized too.

“ Let me take you home.”

You pulled away and shook your head. “ No. How will you get back?”

He gave you a little smile. “ I'll walk.”

You coughed then refused.

“ It's okay.” He assured you. “I need time to lick my wounds.”

Your eyebrows knitted together and you gave him another sad look.

He gave you a little smile. “ Really. This was actually the nicest rejection I've ever got. Now common. Before your mom calls the cops.”

-

He gave you one last hug before turning to leave you on your doorstep. 

“ Eddie.”

He looked over his shoulder. “ Yeah?” 

“ You know with us, it's not a never… it's more like not right now.”

He pressed his lips into a thin smile. “ Gareth was right.”

You raised a brow. Silently asking what?

He sighed and put his hands in his pockets. “ He said that talking to you about this might make me feel better. “

“ Did it?”

He grinned. “ Yeah.”

You waved him goodbye and went inside. He spent the next 30 minutes wishing things ended differently.

…

Graduation day

Everyone was so excited to finally receive their diplomas. Eddie kept his promises. He gave his classmates the bird and ran off the stage. 

He didn't go far though. He waited in the parking lot for everyone. Secretly, he wanted to run out before everyone so he could grab the graduation gift he got for you. 

There was a second there where he felt like maybe the bouquet for roses and balloons were too much, but he didn't care. 

And seeing your face light up when you saw them was everything. 

You gave him a big hug and thanked him. “ I still have to pick yours up.”

He still kept you within arms reach but took a half a step back. “ You didn't have to get me anything.”

You just smiled and turned to give everyone else a congratulatory hug. 

“ What the hell boy?!” Wayne said, hitting him upside the head.

“ Geez! I'm sorry man. I had too.” he said, rubbing the back of his head.

Wayne gave him a death stare but then smiled. “ Congratulations son.”

He grinned and gave him a hug. “ Thanks man.”

Soon after the pictures were taken, everyone got dinner together. 

The whole night Eddie watched you. He saw your smiles and heard your laughter. But in your eyes there was a hint of tears. 

He wished he could kiss that away. He wished he could hug that sadness out of existence. But he promised to just be your friend until you gave him the go ahead. 

Little did he know he would get his wish.

As the night went on, all of his friends ended up at Gareth's after the parents and parental figures went home. 

First was playing a few songs in the garage, while you sat listening. Then it was talking and playing video games. 

Sometime in the middle of it all, you disappeared. Which of course prompted Eddie to look for you. 

When he found you, you were outside on the porch swing.

“ Hey! Whatcha doing out here? It's almost our turn.” He said, taking a seat next to you.

You gave him a sweet little smile. “ Nothing much. Just going through the year book.”

You scooted closer to him and showed him the pictures of clubs and prom. 

“ Do you remember when I went through a phase where I thought records were the best way to listen to music?”

He nodded. “ Yeah and we stole a bunch of milk crates to store your giant collection.”

You let your head fall back. “ And none of them fit in the damn things.”

You both laughed at the funny memory. And once it died down he shook his head.

“ I cut my shin climbing that barbed fence….when you saw the blood you nearly passed out.”

You giggled. “ But I didn't. I patched you up and kissed your wound.”

He shoulder bumped you.“ Then you passed out.”

You both chucked. But soon after, it was quiet. He moved closer to you and put his arm on your shoulders. His thumb subconsciously caressed your arm.

“ Oh! Almost forgot.” You said leaning forward and pulling out a black leather box from your backpack. 

You handed it to him after.

He grinned and opened it up. There laid on a little silk pillow was a gold watch with leather bands.

“ Uhh wow! This…looks…expensive.”

“ It's from my parents and me…it's engraved on the back.”

He glanced at you before looking back at the Hublot. He slid it off the tiny pillow and turned it over. Silently reading the inscription.

‘ To E.M,

Follow your dreams.’

“ I love it.” he whispered. “ Help me put it on yeah?”

You turned slightly towards him and removed his old watch. Then replaced it with the gifted one. 

He stared at it for a second. Really appreciating the beauty of it. Then he noticed you still had your hand in his. When he looked at you, you were biting your lip and looking down.

You must have sensed him staring and you met his eyes. 

He swallowed out of nervousness, when he saw a glimmer of something in your eyes. 

“ Ummm…here. You can have this one.” He said turning towards you. He reached for your right hand and put on his old watch. “ Now you have something to remind you of me.”

He made eye contact again. This time though he swore he saw you gulp too.

“ Like I could ever forget you, Eddie.”

He smirked a little and kept staring deeply into your eyes. What were the chances that you might want to kiss him now? Should he try again?

“ Kiss me.”

His mouth parted a touch as he sucked in a breath. “ W-what?”

You leaned in a bit and whispered it again.

This was it. The moment he had been dreaming about since his feelings changed. 

He lifted his hand to cup your cheek. Gently dragging his thumb across your bottom lip. All the while moving closer.

His heart was racing and he held his breath. Your lips just barely grazed one another right before the front door opened. Causing you and him to pull away from each other.

Gareth came out. “ Guys! It's your turn. What are you doing?” 

Eddie looked the opposite way of you and cursed under his breath. Yet another moment gone.

“ Emm n-nothing. Just reliving some memories.” You answered.

Gareth looked at both of you with suspicion. “ Okayyy… So you guys coming or what?”

Eddie stood quiet. Trying to hold back his frustration.

“ Ummm actually… I think I want to sleep in my own bed tonight.” You said, making him look at you. “ Do you think you can give me a ride?” 

-

During the drive to your house you asked him to take you somewhere quiet. So Eddie drove out to a spot near skull rock. 

When he turned the van off you sat there fidgeting. 

“ So uhh why did you want to come here?” He asked.

He heard you sigh a little before watching you get up and climb to the back. He followed right after.

You guys sat across from each other. With the tension getting thicker by the second, you took off your shirt.

He sat there in utter amazement. Your chest was so full and looked so soft, his mouth nearly watered. 

“ Eddie?”

He looked up to find your very curious eyes on him. 

“ Are…are you sure?” He nervously asked. 

You smiled softly at him before unclasping your bra. 

He groaned lightly at seeing your buds harden as the air hit them. 

He watched as you took off your shoes and your bottoms. Until all that was left was your panties.

You looked back at him and cleared your throat. Breaking him from his trance.

He quickly took off everything but his boxers and pulled you to lay next to him. 

As you both stared deeply into each other's eyes, he caressed your arm. 

“ Can I kiss you now?”

You scoffed a small laugh and nodded.

He raised to lean on his elbow and cupped your face. This time, his thumb traced the apple of your cheek. 

It was a kiss that carried the weight of desire and love. All things unspoken and built up emotion was poured into that one perfect kiss. It was passionate and all consuming. But at the same time it was terrifying. 

You had awoken something in him with your lips. It was chaotic and peaceful.

It was magic.

That's all he could describe it as. 

The kissing could have gone like that all night and he wouldn't have cared. But as fingers traced the contours of one another's bodies, things became more intimate. 

The warm air of the van was charged with fevery intensity. With every kiss and touch being a silent invitation to explore more.

Heavy breaths and soft moans bounced off the walls. Creating a warm loving bubble of passion neither one of you wants to leave.

Eddie's lips travel down your neck and across your chest

Your raised skin gave him the indication that you liked what he was doing. He moved lower to kiss your plush belly.

Your hands get lost in his hair as he reaches for your underwear. 

He looks up at you, silently asking for permission.

You bite your lip and give him one small nod.

He peels them off slowly. Getting them past your bottom and over your knees. Finally down your calves and around your ankles. 

Next, his blue plaid boxers join your garment somewhere in the van.

Once protection is in place, he settles between your legs. Crashing his lips into yours in a wet needy kiss.

This wasn't just sex. Not just some hook up. This was you. This was love making.

His lips hovered over yours as you two became one. A hushed gasp left your lips as he pushed himself in. His mouth fell open and his eyes squeezed shut at the feeling of you hugging him ever so tight.

He went slow at first. Conquering your pulsating warmth inch by inch. Claiming it as his and only his. Because it was. At least for tonight.

Then when you got used to his length, he picked up his pace a bit. With your hips pushing against his to get him to go even deeper. 

He opened his eyes to see you had yours closed. With your mouth slightly agape and your brows furrowed. 

You were stunning. The sounds you were making and the face you made out of pleasure, made him want to record it and take a picture. Just so that he could have evidence of the best night of his life.

Moans and grunts grew louder the closer you both got to a release. And all he could think about was making sure you came first.

Then a few more delicious thrusts and he felt it. He felt your warm wet velvet walls flutter then began to tighten.

You were almost there.

That's when his hip thrusts became short. He hit a small spot deep within you. Causing you to mewl out his name. It was like ramming into a pillowy wall. Making him experience a different type of pleasure he's never had.

And just like that, his and yours orgasm took over your bodies. Making his toes curl.

His body jerked as yours trembled after the fact. 

And once he toppled off to the side he shook his head in disbelief. 

He laid there for a second, trying to catch his breath. Afterwards, he pulled you into his arms. 

He was exhausted. And from your slow and steady breaths, you were too.

“ How do I let you go to California after that?”

You snuggled up closer and rested a hand on his chest before answering in a sleepy voice. “ I guess... the same way I have to let you go to New York.”

His heart cried out in a shaky sigh as he felt the prickle of tears. 

You were right. It was going to be impossible to say goodbye tomorrow. 

Rather than letting the reality of the outside penetrate the small bubble of heaven you guys created. You held each other. 

Following heartfelt words and promises to keep in touch, he felt himself drifting to sleep. 

Then he felt you tracing something on his chest. He tried to focus on it before falling asleep. And when he figured it out, he smiled and kissed your forehead.“ I love you too.”

Wrapped up in the warmth of your love, you both fell into a peaceful slumber.

…

The morning came too fast for his liking. Though you both were happy, you both got dressed in silence. 

Even the drive to your house was quiet. When he pulled up in your driveway you sat for a while. Staring at your house. 

“ I had a really great time last night.”

You looked down and grinned. “ Me too.”

He reached for your hand and laced his fingers with yours. “ What happens now?”

You shrugged. “ I…I think we should leave things how they are. We had an amazing last night together. And I wouldn't change it for anything…But the truth is, it's better if we just take it for what it was. A really great goodbye.”

His heart sank but he had to agree. There was no way you guys could be together right now. Not with all the plans that were in place.

You gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek before hopping out of the van. 

His heart felt like it was breaking seeing you walk up the driveway. But then you stopped and turned around. You gave him that sweet little smile he loved so much and came to the driver side window. 

“ Hey ummm mom promised to make pancakes today. If you want to join us.”

Then there was hope. Hope for something more. Hope that last night wasn't just a goodbye. But the start of something truly worthwhile.

He smirked. “Definitely. I love your mom's pancakes.”

…

@salenorona23 @browneyes528 @ohmeg @eddiesguitarskills @trashywormeateroffics @crookedcrone

[th3-c0rps3-r0gu3]

shadows

chapter 4.

Pairings: Natasha X Wanda, Natasha X umbrakinetic teen fem!reader, Wanda X umbrakinetic teen fem!reader, Avengers X umbrakinetic teen fem!reader.

Warnings: swearing,

3rd person.

"hey has detka have you seen y/n it's been four hours. She's not in her room."

Natasha says to her girlfriend concerned. It's way past the time y/n should be in bed but Natasha can't find the girl to tell her that.

"I took her to the library."

Wanda responds. She seems less concerned but she hadn't seen y/n exit the library so she assumed she was still there.

"I'll go check. Thanks mylashk."

Natasha says heading for the library.

Natasha enters the library and starts to look around. Someone is definitely here as there are books missing from shelves everywhere. Whoever y/n is no where to be seen. After about thirty more minutes Natasha is about to give up. That is till she sees a mountain of books surrounding a beanbag. A bean bag that held y/n.

Y/n pov.

I don't know how long I've been in here but in all honesty I don't care either. I've been able to read so much! And no one has tried to stop me or yell at me like other bookstore customers. Then a voice breaks me from thought.

"there you are y/n I was getting worried."

It's natasha. She standing Infront of me but she doesn't look angry.

"oh.. sorry."

I am still way to quiet. I was better with Wanda. Not that I should say that. I'd offend Natasha and that would lead to.. I don't think about it.

•red head seems worried.•

•why worried? Nobody worries for us.•

•red head relieved now though.•

•did we relieve her?•

•yes.•

I drown out the shadows again. Natasha just looks at me concerned. I really need to get used to that look being aimed at me. It's.. unsettling.

"you need to go to bed now. It's late. You need sleep y'know."

Natasha says. She seems calm.

"ah.. ok. Sorry."

I say quieter. I really need to get better. Speaking to solely shadows is getting to me. Natasha nods at me.

"if it's ok but have you read all these books?"

Natasha asks. That surprised me.

"only half. The right side is ones I've read and the left I haven't."

I'm louder this time. Still quiet but louder. Good. Natasha looks at the piles. Granted the right side has more books than the left but y'know it's not that bad. Natasha then nods again.

"ah ok. Goodnight y/n."

Natasha then leaves. I get up and walk down to my room. It's quiet. Thank god. I enter my room and sit on the floor again. I'm not ready for a bed yet. Not after the years of sleeping on concrete.

It's morning. And it's bright out. I really need to darken this room.

•bright!•

•too bright.•

•tone it down!•

I try and block the shadows again but their too loud and I cant.

•make it dark again!•

•white bright too!•

Right. I need black paint. I'll find a way to get that. But I should visit the book store and see Sandra.

I walk into the main area and see Wanda and Natasha talking to a blonde woman who I assume is carol. All three turn to me.

"morning y/n."

Wanda says smiling. I'll need to get used to that. Sandra is usually the only one who smiles at me.

"morning.."

I say quietly. Damn I thought I made progress at being louder.

Wanda starts to introduce me to the blonde woman. I half don't listen. Anything I miss the shadows can tell me. Eventually Wanda stops rambling and America smiles at me. Still unsettled by the smiles.

"hey uhm.. can I go back to the bookstore. I help out there and stuff.."

I murmur nearly silent. I really really need to be louder.

•ohh visit Sandra?•

•who's Sandra?•

•friend!•

Natasha's voice breaks through the shadows muttering.

"course you can kiddo. We can walk down now if you want."

I simply nod.

The walk was quick and quiet. Thank the gods. I enter the bookstore and greet Sandra while Natasha walks away.

"hey kiddo how is living with literal superheroes?"

Sandra asks grinning while she pulls out boxes of books that need shelving.

"it's ok. Better than I expected. But I need to darken my room.. it's too bright."

I say. Here at least I speak normally.

•room is definitely too bright.•

•see Sandra again!•

•ooh yes Sandra!•

•hello Sandra!•

I let the shadows rumble their greetings as Sandra explains where the books need to go. I already know where they need to go. I've done this so many times now.

3rd person pov (with Nat and Wanda)

Natasha returned to the compound and sighed as she walk through the door to her and Wanda's level.

"well? How was the walk?"

Wanda asks from the kitchen. Natasha comes up behind her hugging her.

"quiet. She really doesn't like to talk."

Natasha responded.

"what are you cooking? It smells heavenly detka?"

"it my paprikash Nat you should know this by now."

Wanda responds giggling. Natasha smiles.

"ahh silly me."

°three hours later°

Natasha and Wanda have been watching sitcoms for the past hour now but Natasha is starting to worry about y/n.

"detka is y/n coming back alone or am I going to pick her up?"

Natasha asks the red head snuggled beside her.

"I dunno. If your worried we can walk down to find her."

Wanda sits up and turns off the tv.

"and now that you mention it I am starting to worry."

Y/n pov.

I finished shelving ages ago and now I'm reading. After about a million questions from Sandra and the shadows screaming in my ear holes I finally have some peace. And a bonus is the Sandra supplied me with black paint. So there's the brightness issue half fixed. Next is to get light blocking blinds. If I can gather the courage to ask for them that is. But that's an issue for future me to deal with.

"hey kiddo. You will still visit me despite the fact you live with heroes now right?"

Sandra's question confuses me. Why would I stop coming here?

"of course I'll keep coming. Why would I stop?"

Sandra seems a little guilty looking now.

"well you live with heroes. You hardly need a bookstore owner backing you up now. I'm half surprised you came in today."

The older woman explains. I frown.

"I live with heroes but honestly they scare the hell out of me. Besides. Your my friend. I trust you."

I easily explain. At least with Sandra I can speak normally. Then two red heads walk in. Two easily recognisable red heads. Why in Satan's name is Wanda and Natasha here?

•why they here?•

•shhh that's rude!•

•rude but good question.•

"shut up...."

I mumble to the shadows who finally listen to me and quiet. Wanda sees me and smiles. God I need to get used to that. Or she could stop doing it. Though I doubt she will.

"hey y/n. We were just wondering when you were going to be back?"

Wanda asks me. Natasha is talking to Sandra. Wanda then consequently notices the black paint.

"what's with the paint?"

The Slovakian asks.

"oh uhh.. my room is a bit bright and um.. I decided to darken it by painting it black... if that's not ok I won't and I'll just give this back to sandra..."

I murmur. God I'm still too quiet. I'll work on it.

"oh sorry. I never stopped to think if the rooms as bright. I can help paint if you want. It'll be fun!"

Wanda responds.

"and if it's still too bright we can get light cancelling blinds so then you won't need to deal with sunlight too much. You didn't seem the type for bright spaces anyway."

I sit there surprised by Wanda's response. I was expecting a scolding but this is better.. I think. Then Natasha comes over.

"alright you two let's go. Before it's dark out."

The Russian grabs Wanda's hand gently and waits for me to get my stuff before we leave.

"bye Sandra! I'll come back and I won't forget you! Promise!"

I call out to sandra.

"I'll hold you to that kiddo!"

She responds. I then follow Natasha and Wanda out and back to the compound.

Me and Wanda have just finished painting my room black while Natasha put up the sun block blinds.

"there we go. Now your room isn't so bright."

Wanda says proudly looking over our paint job.

•ooh finally not bright.•

•better much much better•

•no sun! Black everywhere!•

•we in heaven?•

I struggle to drown the shadows out. The joy I feel combined with them is too much. Oh well their rambles can go on I suppose. Natasha moves next to us and kisses wanda. I cringe internally. Is this how couples are meant to act?

"brilliant job detka. The paint looks brilliant."

Nat says and Wanda smiles.

"I'm glad the curtains didn't fall on you."

Wanda responds. Is that how your supposed to respond to that? Natasha doesn't seem unhappy...

"yes well how about we go shopping tomato fill the room up."

Natasha proposes. I perk up. Does that mean book shopping? Or drawing shopping? Will I get a new sketchpad?

"that's sounds like a brilliant idea. Y/n how do you feel?"

Wanda turns to me.

"oh.. uh yeah sounds good."

Still to goddamn quiet.

A/n: I honestly thought I posted this ages ago. Then I go to Wright chapter five and what's in my drafts? This. Oops. Sorry for those who actually like this series for the late post.

[hairstevington]

i can't tune you out (part 1)

Eddie Munson x Steve Harrington

Summary: Eddie Munson is an up-and-coming rock and roll artist living in LA. Steve Harrington (under the stage name HARVEST) has been taking the radio by storm lately. When the fans start shipping them together as a couple, Steve and Eddie consider it an opportunity to boost their upcoming albums. There's just one problem - they can't stand each other. (Link to Ao3)

Part 2 Part 3 - the rest on Ao3!

Word Count: 4.5K

Warnings: Rockstar!Eddie, Indie!Steve, modern day AU, enemies to lovers, slow burn, fake dating/PR relationship, they are both assholes lowkey but they'll get better later in the fic I promise, Drunk!Steve, Nancy is still a heartbreaker, oh look Robin and Chrissy are also here

A/N: Here you have it folks, the much awaited return of Rockstar!Eddie. I've had this story on the backburner for a while now and am so excited to dive into it! Don't worry - I will be updating Flowers and Ink soon, I just got inspired and wrote this first chapter as a little teaser for you all ;)

It all started with a t-shirt. 

Steve was playing his own show the night Robin went to a Corroded Coffin concert with a friend from work. He wasn’t upset or anything, because Robin had been to Steve’s shows countless times in the past. Besides, he didn’t like Corroded Coffin’s music anyway. 

Apparently, Robin liked the show enough to go to the merch table, where she bought a Corroded Coffin t-shirt, and the rest is history.

-

“Ridiculous,” Steve muttered to himself. His dryer was busted AGAIN, which meant he had to call the stupid landlord to have it fixed AGAIN. 

He’d been so busy with shows that he hadn’t had a lot of time to do laundry, and this was him finally catching up. Of course, the damn thing broke. Now he had no clothes. 

He sighed and went to the designated Robin drawer she insisted she have at Steve’s apartment. She was there a lot of nights anyway, so she always kept some pajamas and things just in case. Thank god for Robin’s love of oversized clothing. 

He grabbed the first shirt he saw, threw it on, and headed to the grocery store. 

Steve wasn’t even conscious of what the shirt said. Maybe he should have glanced in the mirror before he left, but he was tired and just needed to get food for the week. He’d been out of town on tour for a while now, so there was nothing at home. 

People were staring at him, but that wasn’t too unusual. His stage name was HARVEST, which was nice because he could separate himself from his music when he wanted to. His persona when he performed was vastly different to the guy wandering a grocery store in his best friend’s clothes, and he liked that. It was freeing. It gave him some semblance of privacy, because most fans of his music didn’t even know his real name. 

The more devoted fans, however…

People took his picture sometimes without asking first. That was common. It wasn’t great, but it was common. Steve was never that concerned with looking ugly on the internet, anyway. Although, if people went up to him and asked, he usually said yes if they were nice about it. 

It took about three hours for the notifications to pour in. Steve ignored them, at first. His publicist would handle whatever it was. But then, Robin called. 

“Steve!” she greeted when he answered. “You wore my shirt out?”

“Uh, yeah?” Steve responded. He looked down to see that it was a band t-shirt. Nothing too crazy about it. “That okay?”

“Yeah, it’s fine,” she assured him. “It’s just funny because somehow now people think you’re Corroded Coffin’s number one fan.”

“That’s…strange,” Steve said, confused. “All because I wore their shirt one time?”

“Yeah, well people looked into it and they found out you and Eddie Munson went to high school together -”

“Ah,” Steve acknowledged, starting to understand. 

“- and now people are shipping you with him and all that.”

“Wait, what?” Steve’s face fell. “They’re - Like, that’s insane. It’s only been a few hours and - I mean, I don’t even know the guy.”

“Yeah, but do you remember that TikTok you made last year?” she asked. “The one where you took the metal song and stripped it down, sang it in your style instead?”

“Uh, yeah, I think so.” 

Steve did that a few times with a variety of genres. He liked taking music to weird and unexpected places. So, sometimes when there was a viral song or sound, he’d put his own spin on it. 

“Okay, well that was a Corroded Coffin song,” Robin explained. 

“It…was?” Steve genuinely had no idea. He didn’t look into the artist before he’d made the video. 

“Yeah,” she confirmed. “You seriously didn’t know?”

“No,” Steve answered. “So, that combined with the t-shirt and now people think I’m having an affair with this guy or something?” He scoffed. He’d never understand why people were so hellbent on creating stories from nothing.

“It’s just the internet, Steve,” Robin replied. “People say all kinds of things.”

“Yeah, but -” Steve sighed, shutting his eyes tightly. It wasn’t just that he was being shipped with some random guy, it was that Steve wasn’t even out yet. It was kind of a whole thing he and his team had been working on. His new album was supposed to announce it, not some random pairing based on zero evidence.

“Yeah, I know,” Robin said. Steve knew she understood completely, even without him saying anything. She knew his sexuality before he did. “I promise it’s not a huge deal. Sorry the internet sucks.”

“Thanks,” Steve responded. He hung up, groaned, and collapsed onto his couch, where he fell into a deep sleep. 

-

“Eddie, we can use this.”

Eddie held back the groan he so desperately wanted to let out. He was on the phone with his manager, Carla, who had just told him that people online were pairing him with some other musician that Eddie had heard on the radio a few times and - yikes. It wasn’t his vibe. 

“Use it for…?” he asked, completely nonplussed. He picked up a rubber band ball on his desk and rolled it around in his hands. 

“You both have albums coming out soon,” she continued. “So, if you’re dating him then - I mean, think of the publicity.”

“Dating him?” Eddie echoed, confused. “Aren’t we jumping the gun, here? Do we even know if this dude likes other dudes in the first place?”

“No, but you should find out,” Carla insisted. “I mean, it’s HARVEST, Eddie. His music is everywhere right now.”

Eddie knew that much, at least. He didn’t listen to the music when he could help it, but people talked about it all the time. The mysterious HARVEST who wore disguises on stage and left cryptic posts on social media. Eddie couldn’t think of a single person he wanted to date less, and he didn’t even know the guy’s name or what he looked like. 

Eddie, on the other hand, had been busting his ass to maintain the little audience he’d accumulated over the last five years. Corroded Coffin started as a high school passion project, then devolved into a more serious band that played sporadic shows in his hometown, and then went through a series of changes and replacements until Eddie was the only original part of it that remained. Well, that and the name, of course. 

Eddie Munson. Corroded Coffin. They were pretty much synonymous at this point. The fans he had knew who he was and what he looked like. He rarely used social media, but when he interacted with fans he was blunt and to the point. No games. No mystery. This HARVEST guy kinda seemed like a tool. 

“Yeah, I’ll pass,” Eddie said, snapping one of the rubber bands rhythmically. 

“Eddie,” Carla prodded. “If you do this, you’ll blow up. Think of what you could do with the money. Merch. A tour. A vacation. A new house. Whatever you wanted, you could get.”

Money sounded nice, but it’s not like Eddie was living in poverty or anything. Well, he was in a tiny apartment in a shitty area of town, but it was Los Angeles. Who could afford anything more than that? Besides, he’d lived in places that small and shitty his whole life. Then again, he’d never had any other choice. Money would give him the choice. 

The popularity aspect was also intriguing, because Eddie loved attention almost as much as he loved music. Sure, there were downsides to fame, but he adored the glimpses of it he’d had so far, and it’s not like being around HARVEST was going to turn him into Leo DiCaprio or something. 

“Okay, so if I agree to this, what does that mean? Do you want me to DM him or something?”

“Actually,” Carla said. The playfulness in her tone caused Eddie to drop the rubber-band ball, because she only talked like that when she had a creative idea that he tended not to like. “He’s going to be at this launch party tonight that I may or may not have gotten you an invite to…”

Yup. That sounds about right. 

“So you want me to crash the party and proposition this guy?” Eddie asked. 

“Of course not,” she replied. “You’re invited, so it’s not crashing.”

Eddie had to chuckle at that one. She was a sneaky one, sometimes, and damn good at her job. 

“Fine,” Eddie agreed. “Send me the details and I might go.”

“Will do!” Carla responded. He could hear how excited this made her, and he was glad at least one of them was into this whole thing. “You don’t have to do anything too wild, okay? Even if you’re just spotted with him, it will spread the narrative that something is going on. Deal?”

It felt a little gross to go somewhere just to track a random guy down and cling to him for popularity. It was kind of a dick move, really. Then again, Eddie was kind of a dick. 

“Deal,” he replied. 

-

“This will never not be the coolest thing to ever happen to me,” Robin said, as she always does when Steve takes her as his plus one to events.

“Yeah, well since Nancy dumped my ass, get used to it,” he teased. “You’ll be filling in for a while.” Steve nudged her shoulder, causing her to laugh. She was wearing this beautiful, brand new jumpsuit. It was pressed and ironed and cost almost a full paycheck. Lucky for her, she didn’t have to pay for it. Steve was doing pretty damn well for himself financially.

The Uber driver pulled up to the bar and dropped them off. Since it was the grand opening or something, the place was entirely closed off and only people on a list were allowed in. 

“Name?” the security guard said at the door. 

“Uh,” Steve stuttered. He never knew which name was on these stupid lists. “Steve Harrington, and my guest.” He gestured to Robin beside him, who blushed. 

The security guard nodded, crossed them off, then opened the door for them to go inside. 

“Holy shit!” Robin said as they walked in. The place was nice, even by Steve’s standards. They headed to the bar to order their first round of drinks. 

Steve went to these kinds of things pretty often - he’d go, have a few drinks, hang out with people, then do it all again a few weeks later. He enjoyed them, for the most part. 

Well, except for one thing. 

Steve choosing to do music under the stage name HARVEST was great in a lot of ways. It was kind of like the whole Miley Cyrus vs Hannah Montana thing, except Steve wasn’t gonna show up to these parties wearing sunglasses, a wig, and an ugly vest - his signature look when he performed. He showed up as Steve, who was a nobody, and that felt kind of lame. To everyone else at the party, he just looked like a normal guy. Even Robin stood out more than he did. 

Steve had this whole thing where HARVEST rarely posted anything or did interviews, and when he did he was in disguise and using a voice changer. It started as a joke and then just…stuck. HARVEST was a completely separate entity from Steve. HARVEST was all the parts of him that made him popular in high school, and Steve was whatever was left underneath. 

He and Robin enjoyed the night anyway. They were handing out some sponsored cocktail throughout the night until everyone was good and drunk. Whatever was in that thing was lethal. Steve had only had two and he was feeling pretty tipsy. Robin was already on the dance floor after one. She’d pulled him to the photo area while a slower song played, urging him to get a picture with her and commemorate the night before she got too sweaty from dancing. 

They held up their branded glasses and smiled. The light flashed so bright they both winced, then laughed at their dramatic reaction. When they began stumbling away from the camera, Robin paused. 

“What?” Steve asked, confused. 

“Eddie Munson is here,” she said. 

“Where?” Steve asked. She pointed vaguely in Eddie’s direction, trying to act like she was just playing with her hair. Steve searched the room until his eyes locked in on the curly-haired brunette that the world wanted him to be with, apparently. Eddie was at the bar, talking up some of the other guests. “What is he doing here?” Robin shrugged. 

Steve had never seen Eddie at one of these parties before. His band wasn’t really that popular. Their only claim to fame so far was a chorus of one of their songs going viral on TikTok. Then, like an idiot, Steve had done a cover of the damn song, and now he was in a whole mess of a situation. Eddie Munson was going to inadvertently reveal Steve’s bisexuality before his album even came out. 

It wasn’t Eddie’s fault, and Steve knew that. Fans were going to say what they were gonna say. But still, Eddie being at the party was a crazy coincidence, considering the circumstances. 

Steve took a sip from his third cocktail and decided not to think about it. 

-

Eddie had never in his life been invited to something like this before. He’d had to talk to a guard and get let in, like some bigshot celebrity. If being around this HARVEST guy gave Eddie more opportunities to go to shit like this, maybe it was worth it. 

Once he got inside, he went to the bar to get a drink. They were serving some cocktail that Eddie had no interest in drinking, so he ordered a whiskey on the rocks as he chatted with the people around him. They were all nice, although it was a bit too loud to have any actual conversation. Plus, most of the guests were well on their way to being drunk. 

All in all, it was Eddie’s exact kind of chaos. 

He scanned the room for a man that matched his only reference point of what HARVEST looked like. Eddie had seen a few pictures of him on stage, and his outfits were always a little out there. He had different hair every time, but his absurd style stayed consistent. 

Nobody at this goddamn party looked like that. 

“Hey,” Eddie said after nudging the person beside him. “You know where HARVEST is?”

He realized as soon as he asked that he probably could have just Googled him to see what he looked like. Whatever. 

“Uhh, you mean Steve?” the woman responded. “He’s here somewhere. His date is in this gorgeous glittery blue jumpsuit. Find her and you’ll find him. He follows her like a shadow.” She finished her description with a light chuckle. Eddie turned back to face the rest of the bar and continued searching the crowd.

Okay, first of all - Steve? The man, the myth, the legend known as HARVEST was actually just…a guy named Steve? Eddie almost burst out laughing. 

Secondly, he brought a date. Of course he brought a date. A woman, at that. Eddie wasn’t cool enough to have a plus one, but Steve on the other hand…

Wow. Eddie didn’t think he’d be able to find the glittery jumpsuit as fast as he did, but it really was a dead giveaway. It sparkled under the lights of the bar, and the girl next to Eddie was right - it was gorgeous. Steve’s date was gorgeous overall, actually. No wonder he was following her around. 

“Him?” Eddie asked, pointing to the guy dancing with the woman in the jumpsuit. 

“Yup,” the guest at the bar confirmed. She took the last sip of her cocktail and set the glass down on the counter. “So, do you wanna dance?”

Eddie froze. He wasn’t a huge fan of dancing in public, and he also wasn’t sure if this dance was just a dance or if it was something else. 

“Well, I, uhhhh -” he began. “I mean, I’m like - ya know - gay.” She laughed in response, her face red from the alcohol. 

“No shit,” she replied. “You obviously have heart eyes for Steve, and he’s dancing with someone else, so let’s go out there and you can make him jealous and I can dance until someone who likes women steals me away.”

Eddie grinned. This chick was dope. He held out his hand for her to take it, and then he walked her to the dance floor. He figured that he could strike up a conversation, get Steve to take a picture with him at the photo area, and then call it a night. 

“What’s your name, by the way?” he yelled over the music. 

“Chrissy!” she yelled back. 

“Eddie!” he responded. She smiled at him, and he couldn’t help but notice how drop-dead gorgeous she was, too. Everyone at this party was perfect-looking, actually, and it was intimidating and weird. Eddie was grateful he'd decided to wear his nicer clothes. 

And then they danced. Eddie did his best to jump to the music and twirl Chrissy around. Over the course of the first song she managed to glide them through the crowd and strategically place them right by Steve. 

Chrissy was a total boss. 

“STEVE!” she shouted, acting much drunker than she actually was. She threw her arms around Steve, who returned the hug with a warm smile. “How are you?”

Steve said something, but it was so loud on the dance floor that Eddie couldn’t hear it.

“I’M ROBIN,” blue jumpsuit woman said. She looked like she was having the time of her life. “NICE TO MEET YOU!”

“YOU TOO!” Chrissy replied. She turned to Eddie. “THIS IS MY FRIEND EDDIE!”

Oh, shit. Okay then. 

Robin and Steve just kinda looked at him and didn’t say anything for a moment. There was no equally loud greeting for Eddie Munson, no sir. He immediately felt judged, and almost bolted right out of there. He didn’t fit in with this crowd at all. 

“H-hi, Eddie!” Robin finally said. “I actually know you! I went to your show a few weeks ago!”

“Woah, really?” Eddie responded, shocked. Nobody had recognized him here, yet. Maybe he wasn’t so different from these people after all. 

“YOU’RE A MUSICIAN, TOO?” Chrissy asked, amazed. Eddie nodded. Suddenly, the most beautiful man Eddie had ever seen approached Chrissy and asked her to dance. He recognized the guy as this famous actor who’d been in a ton of movies. Score for Chrissy, although she was perfect, too, and barely fazed. Instead, she took the actor’s hand and smiled. “GOTTA GO, SEE YOU GUYS LATER!”

And then, she was off. What a crazy life these people led.

Steve spoke again, but only Robin could hear him properly. She nodded, then gestured for Eddie to follow them to a less loud part of the bar. 

“Much better,” Steve said once they could all hear themselves think again. The light in the bar was dim, so it was hard to make out all of Steve’s features, but Eddie could have sworn he looked familiar. “So, you’re the famous Eddie Munson?”

Eddie thought for sure he’d heard Steve wrong. Like, he must have, because no way in hell Eddie could be considered famous among this group of people. Unless Steve was being condescending, in which case…ugh. Sure, whatever. 

“I - I mean, yeah,” Eddie replied. He turned back to Robin, who he already liked more than Steve. “So, you’ve seen Corroded Coffin in concert?”

“Yeah!” she said, her face lighting up at the question. 

“Why?” Eddie asked before he could stop himself. Robin and Steve laughed. “I just mean, you’re not really my usual demographic -”

“I’m full of surprises, Eddie,” she teased. “Okay, so I only went because my friend had an extra ticket, but still.”

“Ouch,” Eddie responded with a laugh, clutching his heart as if he’d genuinely been distraught. 

“What the fuck is in these things?” Steve said, staring intently at the drink in his hand. 

“It’s basically a long island iced tea with all their cheapest liquor and a splash of sprite,” Eddie answered plainly.

“How did you know that?” Robin asked, amused. 

“I asked,” Eddie replied with a shrug. 

“The bartender?” Robin pressed. Eddie nodded. 

“Yeah. I have this thing where I never shut up, so I tend to talk to everyone,” Eddie joked. Well, it wasn’t really a joke. “Anyway, how many have you had?” Steve’s brow furrowed as he desperately tried to remember his drink tally.

“One more than he should have had, apparently,” Robin said, taking the glass from Steve and setting it down on a table. “I’ll go get him some water.” 

She disappeared with no further warning, leaving Eddie alone with Steve. Am I supposed to babysit this guy until she comes back or something?

“So, you and Robin,” Eddie said, shifting back and forth on his feet. He really could not for the life of him stop talking, especially with whiskey coursing through him. “Are you guys, like -?”

“Just friends,” Steve snapped back. He almost seemed pissed at the question. “She’s been my best friend for, god, I dunno, since college.”

“Cool,” Eddie replied. Steve was clearly very drunk, and Eddie wasn’t sure how much of that was contributing to his standoffishness. “Are you okay, man?”

“Why're you even here, dude?” Steve asked, his words slurred. “What made you come here?”

“Uhhh, I was invited?” Eddie answered. This guy’s a real trip.

“So it wasn’t because strangers online want us to be together, and if that happens you get more fame or whatever?”

Oh, damn. While that's exactly what was happening, Eddie sure as hell wasn't going to admit it. To save face, Eddie did what he did best - he defaulted to assholery.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” he responded. “I’m here for the same reason you are.”

“So, it’s a total coincidence that I see you at one of these things for the first time the same day people started talking about us online?”

“Maybe I’ve been to a ton of these parties and you’ve just never noticed,” Eddie retorted. 

“I doubt it,” Steve shot back. 

“Why?”

“Because you’re hard to miss, Munson. Always have been,” Steve replied. 

“Always?” Eddie echoed, confused. Then, the lights hit Steve’s face and illuminated it entirely. Enough for Eddie to remember where he’d seen him before. 

“Got your water!” Robin announced as she returned. She handed Steve the new glass, and he took it without breaking eye contact with Eddie. 

“Ohhhh my god,” Eddie said, stunned. “You're Steve Harrington. HARVEST is Steve goddamn Harrington.”

“Sure is,” Steve replied, his voice even. 

“I missed something, didn’t I?” Robin asked. 

“I mean, kind of,” Eddie said, raising his voice. “Just a couple years of King Steve bullying the school Freak.” Robin turned to Steve, alarmed. 

“Wait, you bullied him?” 

“How did you not know it was me?” Steve asked, getting agitated now. “Did you seriously come here to try to mooch off me without even doing your research first?”

“I never said I came here for you,” Eddie replied. 

“You didn’t deny it either,” Steve reminded him. “You still aren’t, by the way.”

“Okay, fine!” Eddie relented. “You caught me. I came here to cash in on your fame, like some poor commoner in need of charity, and I didn’t even bother to look you up first because honestly? Your music kinda sucks.”

“Oh, I definitely missed something,” Robin muttered nervously. 

“You wanna talk about shitty music?” Steve said through gritted teeth. 

“Okay!” Robin interjected, inserting herself between them. “No more of this. It was nice meeting you, Eddie, but I think we should split.” 

“No need,” Eddie replied. “You stay, I’ll go. You’re the ones who belong here anyway.” He did a slight bow and walked away, leaving Robin and Steve behind. 

So much for fame. 

-

@lemondar93 i thought the whole #steddie thing was a reach but saw them together tonight and uhhhh 👀 idk there's something there

@izzierosieb wait omg at the Frolique grand opening? How tf did you get in??

@lemondar93 suuuuper lucky! Matty was supposed to go but he’s sick and I was backup!

@geegeedaheed tell us everything!!!!

@julijmonroe if steddie is real I will actually lose my mind wtf

@chasityseventeen no fr because we have so little and yet I’m already INVESTED

@belloca123 NOT THERE ALREADY BEING FANART OF THEM AHAHAHAHA

@camerohno Everyone just remember that these are real people and we shouldn’t be speculating about their lives even though they’re obviously secretly married

@lemondar93 LMAO

-

Steve woke up the next morning with the hangover from hell. After Eddie left, he and Robin stuck around for another song or two before heading out themselves. 

Steve never really liked Eddie that much in high school because he was a show-off. He loved making a scene in the cafeteria and he always acted like he was better than everyone else just because he refused to like anything that was popular. Sports, music, TV shows. They were never going to be friends, because Steve usually liked the stuff that other people liked. He used to follow the pack, so to speak, and do what the people around him expected him to do. Eddie tended to do the opposite. Eddie was abrasive and loud and obnoxious. 

Back in high school, anyway. Steve knew that people had the capability to change (after all, he sure did), but after reuniting with Eddie at the bar, he was skeptical any growth or development had actually occurred in the last six years. 

Eddie was still a dick, and Steve had no interest in ever seeing him again. 

He pulled out his phone to see that it was still blowing up. There was a new tag trending - #steddie. Yikes. He’d also gotten even more followers. Then, another update caught his eye. 

His new album had double the pre-orders it had the night before. 

He’d put his heart and soul into this album, and he wanted more than anything for it to be recognized. He was popular, yeah, but mostly for a couple singles that played on the radio all the time. This album was a piece of art from top to bottom that Steve had painstakingly planned and created from scratch. 

Maybe. Maybe this stupid ship with Eddie Munson could be worth something. But not enough to contact the guy. No way. 

Steve opened his Instagram and then felt his heart drop. 

@nancywheeler: Life hack - date a photographer so you get amazing candids on vacation 💕

It hadn’t even been that long since Nancy left Steve for Jonathan Byers. Well, maybe it had been long enough, but still. Cute couple’s posts already? 

Oh, no. Steve wanted Nancy to feel like he did, and he knew what would do the trick. She was always a bit of the jealous type.

God dammit.

(Part 2!)

---------------------------------------

@paintballkid711 @abraca-fxckyou @allbimyself26 @jellybabiesforall @allbymyselfexceptformycactus @justaloadofgarbage-blog @alliemunsonsstuff @undreamingscatworld @thefruityfours @hobbitnarwhal @calivanus @wreckmyplans-thatsmyman @antheia @goodolefashionedloverboi @lillemilly @missmagillicuddy @steviesbicrisis @gamerdano @menamesniall eyeslikewildflowers111 @callmesirkay @stringischeese @eds-trashmouth @mnl-enuh @redfreckledwolf @itsanarrum @soulsofstarsliveinyourveins @gregre369 @stevesbipanic @momotonescreaming @aryakanojiaa @wrenisflying @comicmadlover @lilacrobin @itch-my-b0nez @anonymousbandgirl @disastardly @dangdirtydemons @daisyellsong @val-from-lawrence @starryeyedpoet17 @taikawaiteatea @clumsiluni @hollysimone @swimmingbirdrunningrock @witchofhawkins @steddiegarbage @suddenlyinlove @ricekristytreaty @eddielives1986

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for leaving paper notes in my neighbors mailbox asking them to quiet their loud dog?

First things first I (24f) have extreme anxiety, I just started therapy and have taken medication in the past. Confrontations are very hard for me. I cry very easy lol.

Lately our neighbors (behind our house) have been keeping their dog outside. He is very large, I think a St Bernard, and has a bark that can cut through walls. My room faces the backyard, and gets the full blunt of his barking. Only a broken wooden fence separates our yards. Nothing can be done about this.

Earlier this and last month, they have been leaving him out more, and he doesn't seem to like it. He'll bark at their back door endlessly until they let him in. His bad spews go from 30 minutes of barking to almost over an hour at times, sometimes several times a day, usually midday right when I'm home from work, and unfortunately at night, around 9:30pm.

(He does not bark inside much, he is so loud I can hear him from inside their house with my window closed, but he is usually quiet inside.)

Its gotten so bad if he barks once, I get anxious right away and tend to shut down, the sound has become a "trigger" of sorts for my anxiety. Mostly due to the unknown factor of how long he'll bark...

I was terrified to introduce myself to them, so at the support of my friends, I left a very VERY kind note in their mailbox, asking if they could shorten how long he barks. (Note almost sounded like I was a pushover lol, I didn't wanna be a Karen...but 30min to an hour is excessive for sound...)

After the first note, I do think the times he went on long barking spiels shortened, but it wasn't totally gone, as on and off he'd go off again for long periods of time. About a week or so later, I left another note thanking them for understanding, but also subtly saying he's still barking a lot...

It was then great for almost two weeks! Hardly barked at all! But last week he started up again, nearly 2 hours total straight on Saturday, over 40 min on Sunday...

I am thinking of leaving a final note with a contact email to try and talk...

But I'm scared I was TA for leaving notes at all, I have no idea what kind of people they are, or if the notes annoyed them or not...I don't want enemies and my parents know nothing about this, as they don't think its a problem. But it is illegal here to have a barking dog for that long, I checked...AITA for leaving these notes?

I can handle small amounts of barking from him! I know dogs gotta dog, but for 30min to over an hour, to maybe even 2+ hours a day...its too much to handle...and trust me when I say, he's loud...

I may still leave my email for them to try and talk, but I've been so worried what I have been doing was wrong...gotta love anxiety huh?

What are these acronyms?

[bethelighthalazia]

We made it.

Summary:  Seonghwa talks to a friend from his past, whom he hasn't spoken to in a long time. Written entirely in Seonghwa´s pov.

Genre: angst

Pairing: Seonghwa & fem!reader, platonic!

Word Count:  775

Warnings: talking about death, major character death mentioned

There was the usual beep of her phone, I let it ring for a while, then the mailbox answered. Again. “This is the number of y/n, please leave a message and I'll get back to you soon!” There was her little chuckle at the end, it always makes the corners of my mouth go up. I wanted to tell her about the day, that we'll have another concert tonight and that she should be here.

“Y/n, guess where I am! Remember our spot at the Han river? The view hasn't changed at all.”

Almost not changed, after all, we hadn't met here for what feels like ages. My life has gotten very busy lately and I didn't have much time to catch up with my best friend. I had promised to come here at least once every week after I couldn't come here every day anymore. 

“I’m taking a little walk, the concert tonight makes me a bit nervous, yes. But I know how hard I worked for it, and the others too. You should see San's costume, it shows a lot of skin again.” I couldn't stop a chuckle, it's nothing new that San shows off in his costumes lately. “Mine is not bad either. But I don't have much skin showing. I'm so excited, but also scared. What if ATINY doesn't like the songs we chose for the lineup? Or what if not many people come to see us?”

I know I'm being ridiculous, yet those fears always let me stop and think. ATINY, our fans, always support us so well. 

“Hongjoong says hi, by the way. He would have joined me, but he couldn't come because our producers needed him for something. Wooyoung still annoys me a lot, but he has a heart that's so pure, he's a good friend. I hope you will see us tonight, it's being recorded for international ATINY too! I should eat something in a bit, otherwise my stomach will growl on stage, but don't worry, I always eat well, I promise. I'll make sure that the others do as well, just like with you back then! Remember our trainee time? We always cared for each other and I never changed this habit…they call me their mother now. Mother Seonghwa, could you imagine? It feels so surreal to stand on that stage tonight, you know? I-” “This number's mailbox is full and cannot accept any further messages.”

A cold wraps around my heart, I dreaded this moment. Slowly, I lowered my hand, but somehow I didn't want to press the button to hang up.

With a heavy heart, I looked down at the flower in my hand, her favorite flower, and threw it into the river. It wasn't really ‘our’ spot, if I am being honest. It was the spot of the accident, her accident. Y/n’s car had been pushed into the fencing of the bridge by someone else who lost control over their car one winter. She had been on her way to the company for practice. 

Taking a deep breath, I swallowed down the lump in my throat and put away my phone. It's time to head back, the concert is soon and I still have to get ready. 

I missed her so much, but I also kept my promise. A promise we all had given to each other long before our debut. To never stop pursuing our dreams. To someday make it onto the big stages and to become a real idol.

The next hours that followed, I was in some sort of automatic mode. The stylists and staff only a blur around the eight of us, it's just another concert, right? Just another performance for ATINY that we pour our hearts into. But, why did this concert have to be on the anniversary of y/n’s accident? 

“We will go on this stage for you tonight. And all eight of us will carry you in our hearts, y/n.”

Even our chant stung in my heart this time, but I didn't feel sad, I felt energized and ready. The performances went well, neither of us made mistakes, the technical team worked exceptionally hard to ensure that everything went smoothly too. We all were happy and ATINY had such a wonderful night as well. We all finished the concert with a smile, even though I had tears in my eyes. With my eyes up to the sky, I felt like I could reach the stars. Like I could reach our favorite star up there.

“We made it, y/n. Like we promised, we became idols! And we miss you so much!”

© by bethelighthalazia. Do not repost, copy or translate. Unless stated otherwise, those works are mine and born from my own ideas. I don't have any claim on the mentioned real existing Idols whatsoever.

[undiscovered-horizon]

"Pacify Him" - Tenth Doctor x Reader

🫀REQUESTS ARE OPEN🫀

SUMMARY: It's your boyfriend's birthday! The Doctor insists on tagging along as a friend, of course. Maybe you did tell him to be 'decent' but how could he know that 'not getting into a stand-offish argument with your boyfriend' fell under that category? Despite all reason and evidence, he still claims to not be jealous.

WORDCOUNT: ~ 1.8k

A/N: I'm in my Melanie Martinez era and I will not apologize

"Where are you going, mister?" you asked the Doctor when you noticed him following you out of the TARDIS. He was supposed to drop you off for your boyfriend's birthday party and pick you up a few hours later. In your mind, it would do you both some good to have a rest from each other's constant presence. The Doctor as it turned out had a different opinion.

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Come on, I love a party!" The tone of his voice sounded nearly as if he was offended.

"Yeah but not domestic ones."

It wasn't something he could argue with - whenever anything akin to a family dinner turned up, he always found a perfect excuse or ruse to get out of it. The only parties he attended were the ones with no strings attached. For a lack of better expression, he was a 'hit and run' kind of man.

"Well, you're not married, you don't even live together, so it's not really domestic, is it?" The Doctor said those words with seemingly no seriousness and so you were sure he remained oblivious to your own desires and worries: you were thinking about taking your relationship with Mark further but doing so while travelling through all of time and space did not seem like a good idea. It would definitely... complicate things.

But perhaps Doctor's sudden interest in familial intimacy was something positive - perhaps he was beginning to recover from his 'brooding loner' persona. In that case, you simply couldn't deny him that moment of bravery.

"Alright," you said with a sigh, "I'm bringing you with me, but!" You pointed your finger at him. "Be decent, I'm begging you."

"I am wearing pants, see?" The Doctor pointed at his usual dress pants. He even gave you a twirl as if there was anything worth showing off - he wore that very same outfit every day, after all. Despite the suit being clearly worn out he was still going to be the most elegant-looking person in there.

"No facetious comments and alien technology, alright?"

"I'll do my best."

He shut the door behind him but you couldn't actually hear it over the noise of the party going on in your boyfriend's house; the loud music was audible from the street. Looking up through the windows, you could see some familiar and unfamiliar faces laughing and drinking from plastic cups. Compared to what you've been through the past few months, that sight was so mundane you couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness. One day you save the universe and the other you drink cheap tequila with blackcurrant juice.

You gave the Doctor a quick glance only to notice a slight grimace on his face. He didn't even make it to the party and he was already hating it. But if he truly had no desire to mingle with your friends, why was he forcing himself to?

"Second thoughts?" you asked him in a joking manner.

"Nah, I've been through worse."

"Serious question," you said to grab his attention. Doctor's eyes opened wider as his eyebrows raised - all of the universe around the two of you and he cared only about your words. "Which one is worse: arm wrestling a Cyberman or going to a house party?"

He looked away for a moment before answering. "I- well... Do I get time to prepare?"

"Sure." Your shoulders shrug slightly.

"Maybe I could even win..." he quietly considered for a moment. "What's the prize?"

"You can't be seriously considering arm wrestling a Cyberman."

"Hey, it was your idea! Now come on, we don't want to be late."

You shook your head at him despite the wide smile on your face. The Doctor was magnificent at putting on a light-hearted facade that you liked to pretend was genuine; it was a lovely sentiment to hold even for a minute that he wasn't a man haunted.

The doorbell rang only once when you heard someone unlocking the door - you were expected if not awaited. There, behind the door, stood the one person you have missed the most. His face lit up when he realized he was actually seeing you. Shortly after, Mark was already hugging you tightly.

"Oh, baby," he murmured against your hair. For him, it's been three months since he last saw you, so such a reaction shouldn't come off too bizarre.

"Hey, babe," you greeted him. His reaction was slightly amusing to you, mainly because you've never seen him being so clingy. It felt nice to be missed, to be cared about so much.

Mark leaned away to look at you again as if he still was unsure that you really were in front of him. His smile was so wide it nearly looked painful - as if happiness could have a face.

"I was beginning to think you wouldn't make it."

"Are you kidding me? I'd go back in time if I had to!"

Your little joke earned a quiet chuckle from the Doctor, who was patiently third-wheeling. It wasn't visible on his face but he was feeling uncomfortable at the show of affection - part of him wanted your fondness to be an exclusive good, something he wouldn't have to share with anyone.

"Doctor, this is Mark, my boyfriend. Mark, this is the Doctor, my... research partner."

"The Doctor?" Mark repeated in confusion.

"Yeah, we all just call him that. The entire team." No matter how vile it might sound, you were really good at lying to your partner. For better of worse, you never though it would be a useful skill to have.

In the distance, you noticed a familiar constellation of blonde locks, denim jackets and black high heels - your high school friends. It wouldn't be a stretch to say you haven't seen them in literal years. You could feel your heart start to beat a little faster as pure excitement made the tips of your fingers tingle.

"I'll leave you to it, boys. I'm going to catch up with girls," you said while pointing at a group of women around your age standing in the faraway corner of the room.

The Doctor watched you run away to the group. Judging by their exclamations and tight hugs, the excitement and longing were mutual. Only after witnessing that scene, yearning to one day touch your heart in the same way, did he turn back to your boyfriend to attempt a polite conversation. Maybe he could try and learn what exactly you were seeing in him. "So, Mark, how did you two meet?"

"She didn't tell you?"

"No, must've slipped her mind. In fact, she doesn't talk much about you at all." Although it was true, there was no need to rub it in. Unless someone was looking for malicious satisfaction.

"Oh, really? Anyway, we met in high school through a mutual friend but didn't date until university. She was on the experimental research team, I was sure I was too stupid for her to date me."

"Yeah, I can imagine," the Doctor nodded along.

"Hey, man, can I tell you a secret?"

"I love secrets."

"You can't tell her, alright?"

"Scout's honour." He wasn't fond of the direction the conversation was heading into. There were only two things men wanted to keep away from their significant others and Mark did not strike him as someone capable of adultery.

"I want to propose."

"Oh." For a moment, the entire universe stopped. Only static was resounding in the Doctor's head but heart-wrenching panic set in rather quickly afterwards. He knew that if Mark was to ask you to marry him, you'd say yes. And he wasn't sure what he was going to do if that was to happen...

"You spend a lot of time working with her, right? I thought you could help me out a little."

"Oh, yes, we spend a lot of time together. It's practically only the two of us, all the time."

"Thank God, because I feel like I'm starting to overthink things, you know?" Mark appeared completely oblivious to the sublime message in Doctor's words. The thought of having 'competition' never crossed his mind, it seemed. "I thought of buying a minimalistic ring. Thin band, a small diamond, you know the lot."

"She'd hate it," Doctor answered with a shake of his head. A grimace appeared on his face as he imagined the scene. "Yeah, no, too common. It should be something rare and interesting. She absolutely hates ordinary things. Shouldn't you know that? You're her boyfriend. Never mind that, don't you think she deserves something more thoughtful?"

"That's why I'm asking for a second opinion! I don't see her often these days..."

"See, Mark, here's what I don't get. You don't see her often, you talk about proposing to her and when she shows up, you don't even talk to her? You want her to be your wife and you've talked to me, a total stranger, more than you've talked to her. I'm about to think you want to marry me."

"You're a funny guy, you know? Come on, she just went to talk to her friends." Mark either did not pick up on Doctor's passive-aggression or he purposefully ignored it. "And here she is coming back."

For some reason, those two were exactly where you left them - at the door. Although they were talking, you could tell there was some tension between them: Mark folded his arms and Doctor stood with his hands in his pockets. If the two most important men in your life, at the moment, were going to get into a fight, your reality was going to become a lot more complex than it already was.

"Are you two going to stand here all night? Let's get a drink!" You pulled both of them in the direction of a table with alcohol, soda and juice. The Doctor knew he was in for a long and frustrating night but at least he got to spend it with you.

Although at first you were preoccupied with retelling Doctor all the hilarious or outrageous stories your friend had told you, you quickly noticed something was off about him.

"From my perspective, it looked like you were acting jealous."

"What? No, I didn't."

"Look, I get it. I really do. We spend so much time together, just you and I, then suddenly my attention was someplace else. It's okay to feel upset."

"Why would I be jealous? I already know I'm your favourite."

The two of you laughed and the situation was momentarily defused or so you thought - the Doctor kept on thinking about your words and his own feelings. He knew perfectly well (he witnessed it) that you had so many lovely people around you. Even without him, your life was whole. Tragically enough, without you, his life was about as empty as the Void and he refused to openly admit that to himself. It wasn't doing much good though: his lungs were filled with smoke, yet he pretended there was no fire.

He didn't yet know how but he knew he had to make a move soon if he wanted to be a little more than an adventure.

[crystalsnow95z]

can i request jimin being overwhelmed with bts' schedule? his body cant take it anymore plus his mental state is decreasing as well. bts members take care of him tho

I wrote non stop for 5 hours and this is the result.. I'm sorry it got so long.. I was thinking about cutting scenes out, but sorry it's just a raw draft.

Tw is marked with green lines. I'm sorry, I love writing nightmares it's a problem..

"Jimin-ah, wake up, we have a meeting to go to before practice." Hoseok crawls on top of Jimin,hugging him to his chest. "Jiminie..J.M..."

"Mm..Hobi-hyungie..? What time is it?" Jimin answers him with a yawn voice coming out hoarsely. He tries to blink the sleep from his eyes,but they just droop back closed .It felt like I only just went to sleep.. how can he be so cheerful?

"It's 5:00.. we need to get to the office by six.. come on, Seokjinnie-hyung made us breakfast." Hoseok tries to coax him out of bed with the promise of food, but Jimin had no appetite.

It's five? We didn't get home until three last night.. no wonder I'm so tired..

"Can I sleep a little longer instead of eating?" Jimin asks groggily, trying to push Hobi off of, trying to turn over. "I'm so tired.."

"No, Minnie, we already didn't have dinner last night.. you have to eat now, or you won't have time to eat until late afternoon.." Hoseok pulls the blanket away from him, pushing the hair out of Jimin's eyes so the sunlight hits his face. "I know you're tired.. I am too, but you need to eat.." He adds gently, stifling a yawn.

Jimin opened his eyes to look at Hoseok, seeing the dark bags underneath his eyes. His usual cheerful demeanor washed away by exhaustion. Guilt knotted in his stomach for complaining. "I'm up Hyung.."Jimin speaks softly, sitting up to try to stretch his tired limbs, my muscles screaming in protest.

Hoseok gets off the bed with a yawn. "Go wash up and join us to eat. Everyone else already got their shower.."

He already waited until the last minute to wake me? I'm the last one up..

"Thanks hyung."Jimin makes it to my feet, feeling the blisters on the bottom of his feet."Aiish, my legs feel like lead.."

"Mine too.." Hoseok admits, rubbing the back of his calf. "I'm glad we have a meeting instead of going straight into practice.. you should get checked out just in case you pulled a muscle, though. Where does it hurt?"

Hoseok gently runs his thumb across the back of Jimin's lower leg, feeling the knots that plagued his body. "Aiigo, Jiminie, no wonder it hurts so much.. we'll have to schedule a massage day for everyone.." he says sympathically, trying to gently massage the pain away, but Jimin sucks in his breath, his eyes tightly closed, making him stop. "Sorry.. I'm sorry.

"It's okay..the shower will help.. don't worry about it hyung. It just surprised me. It didn't hurt that much.." Jimin gathers some clothes to quickly shower, going into the bathroom. Jimin frowns at his reflection, noticing the dark bags and red pimples that dotted his forehead and cheeks from the mix of stress and sweat.

"My skin is in really bad condition. There's no way I'll clear it up by the time we film our music video.." He murmurs to himself, trying to do a quick skin routine.

Maybe I should pretend to be worse off than I am just so I can sit out practice.. I can't keep up..I've hardly slept the past week and it hurts to move..

He turned on the hot water quickly stripping out of his clothes and getting in. The water felt amazing on his sore muscles, ebbing away the pain.. I wish I had more time to enjoy..

He tries to massage the pain away with the shower head, trying to get rid of the tension in his muscles, but being the last one to shower the water didn't stay hot for long.

With a deep sigh, he put it back in place, quickly washing my hair, ignoring the pain in my shoulders from scrubbing. The others are in pain too, and they managed.. I can do this..

"Jiminie, are you almost finished?" Jimin barely heard Jin over the running water, his voice hoarse from coughing all night. "We only have twenty minutes before our meeting."

"Almost.. I just need to wash my face.." I calls back to him, quickly washing the soap out, turning off the water and grabbing a towel. Hyung sounds awful. Did he get worse overnight?

Jimin opened the door to peek at him,seeing the dark circles under his eyes and the bright red nose that wasn't there last night. "Hyung, did you take medicine?" He asks with concern, reaching to touch the back of his neck, relaxing when he doesn’t feel warmer than usual.

"I did this morning. I'm fine, don't worry. It's just a small cough and annoying sniffles, it'll pass in a few days." Jin smiles to try to reassure the younger member, but he could hear his congested breathing. "Are you okay? Hoba said he couldn't get you up this morning.."

"Yeah, i just didn't hear him the first time. You need to wipe your nose hyung." He quickly changed the subject back to him, not wanting to complain about my aches when he was suffering more.

Jin enters the bathroom, getting some toliet paper to blow his nose, turning away from Jimin, yellow mucus filling thin tissue."are you sure? You've been quiet lately.."

"I'm just tired.. that's all. We've been nonstop working for the past two weeks working on this album. I just don't have the energy. I'm fine."Jimin speaks softly, getting dressed in comfortable clothing.

Jin starts coughing, covering his face with his arm.

"Hyung.." Jimin quickly fills a cup with water, offering it to Jin who takes it, sipping the water to try to stop his body from coughing. "You need to take it easy.."

Jimin turns on the hairdryer, not wanting to hear the oldest member suffering. Hyung started feeling sick yesterday, but he still got up early to make us breakfast..

"I know things are chaotic right now, but once we finish promotions, things will be better. i made coffee for everyone." Jin rubs the younger members' shoulders, trying to help ease the tension in them.

"Thanks hyung." Jimin fakes a smile, knowing full well there's a high chance of having a tour if the album goes well. I don't think we can keep up at this pace...

Most of the members fell asleep on the way to the building, feeling even more exhausted as the woke up. "Jungkook-ah.. Jungkook-ah wake up." Jimin hears Taehyung's voice trying to wake up Jungkookie, who wasn't budging despite Taehyung's shaking.

Jimin looked around to see that only him, Yoongi, and Taehyung were awake. He l turned to Hoseok, who was leaning on his shoulder, fast asleep.

"Hyung..Hoba.. we're here.." He tried to help wake up Hoseok gently poking his cheek. Jimin has better luck than Taehyung, the rapper opening his eyes slowly, blinking rapidly, trying to process where he was. "We're here Hyung.."

"Huh..?" Hoseok stretches, looking around, rubbing his eyes, sounding only half awake, clearing his throat to speak louder."Here already? It feels like I only just fell asleep.."

"We don't live far from the studio, but it feels like I only just closed my eyes.." Jungkook complains with a yawn, eyes just barely open.

"Here, take a sip Jaykay." Hoseok takes his coffee from the cup holder, offering to Jungkook.

The mankae takes a big sip, the caffeine temporarily waking him. Hoseok takes a long drink, offering it to Jimin who shakes his head.

"Better?" Hoseok asks, rubbing the back of the mankae's neck.

"A little.." Jungkook replies with a yawn.

"Let's go inside, the cold air should help wake us up." Namjoon opens the car door, stumbling forward from over his own foot. "Aiish.."

Jimin quickly grabs his shoulder to steady him, his stomach dropping when he realizes how small Namjoon's shoulders felt. Why didn't i notice how thin he was getting before? He lost so much weight.. "Namjoon-hyung are you okay?"

"Thanks..yea I'm fine, I'm just a little groggy, that's all.." Namjoon gives the same reassuring smile Jin gave Jimin this morning, only worrying him further. "We'll just end practice as early as possible and get some sleep."

We always say we'll end practice early, but we never do.. we always just push through anyway..

Taehyung leads Jungkook by the shoulders to the building, the mankae already falling asleep again. Jimin turned to check on Jin, but Hobi was already on top of it, letting Jin lean against his back as they walked.

Everyone's exhausted..

Jimin's stomach fluttered with worry, then with guilt for his shower thoughts. How could I even think about skipping practice when everyone else is suffering too..

As soon as they make it to the office room,he takes a seat, sliding off his shoes,the others following suit.The meeting only started five minutes ago, but Jimin already found myself unable to concentrate on the manager's words.

The last thing he wanted was to talk about work. Jimin is more focused on the other members, seeing that the older members were trying to pay attention, but Namjoon continued to have to ask them to repeat themselves, and Yoongi kept misunderstanding them, clearly unable to focus.

Jin was struggling to just stay awake, trying to quietly cough into his arm to not interrupt, Taehyungie kept nodding off, jolting upright again when he felt himself falling forward.

Lastly, Jungkook was using a rubber band on his wrist to stay awake, snapping it against his skin every few minutes and that bothered Jimin the most, seeing the red ring forming around his wrist.

"The pre-order sales are high.."

Jimins head picked up as soon as Jimin heard the words instead of excitement, a wave of anxiety filled his stomach, and his blood pounded in my ears. He knew exactly where this would go. Interviews,music shows, extra rehearsals, and plane flights.. We'll barely have time to sleep.. we can hardly handle what we have now..

"Are you sure we could handle going to Japan to America for a promotion? Maybe we can delay it for a few days?" Hoseok sounds timid to ask them, lacking his usual confidence.

"It's the only day Jimmy-sii has open this month, and that's who you requested to help promote in America. I could find another host for you." The manager starts rapidly typing on the conputer, but Jin puts his hand on his shaking his head.

Jin goes to speak, but only a hacking cough comes, quickly getting a tissue to spit the phelm into. "Sorry.."

Jimin tries to speak up to say that we can't keep up with all of this, but his throat tightens, and no words are coming out. I want to help.. what's wrong with me?

Jin clears his throat, bowing his head. "Sorry..I was just going to say a show with Jimmy should be okay, we only perform one song and just chat.."

With Jin's approval, everyone okays the plans but Jimin, who stays quiet. He watched our schedule fill up until the whole month was filled except for the 26th, his breath getting caught in his throat. I haven't seen the schedule this bad since our love yourself era..

Taehyung noticed it, too. His body tensed up when the final changes were made, and it looked like he wanted to speak up against it, but he just couldn't do it. If they can do it,so can I..it'll be fine..I'll be fine..

"Do you have a concern, Taehyungie?" Jin encourages him to speak, but Taehyung shook his head.

"No, no..I'm okay..um..I'm just worried about burn outs.." Taehyung says looking down at his hands, twisting the ring on his thumb. "But..it's okay.."

"We'll just have to keep morals high.. we survived before, we can do it again." Hoseok reassures him getting up to wrap his arms around Taehyung. "We'll be okay if we stick together."

"Alright Hobi-hyung.." Taehyung still sounds uneasy about the situation, but he doesn't say another word about it.

The nightmare is repeating...

Jimin bites the inside of his cheek, willing the tears not to come as the subject changes, just staring blankly st the hellish schedule wishing Hoseok would comfort him too...

"TaeTae, Jaykay, Jiminie..it's time to wake up.." Jimin vaguely heard Namjoon calling his name, then feels a slight pinch to his cheek. I don't even remember falling asleep..

Jimin blinked his eyes open, trying to gather his thoughts.. "Where are we?" His voice comes out deep and raspy as he looks around the room, recognizing it as one of the waiting rooms of SBS hall. "Ah..ah Right.."

"We're going to do the prerecording in 10 minutes.." Namjoon informs Jimin sniffling softly, wiping his nose with the side of his hand. "Help me wake the others. My voice isn't that great right now.."Jimin could see the redness that the makeup artist tried to cover up on Namjoon’s nose and hear the congestion in his voice.

Namjoonie-hyung is getting sick too.. it's been three days but Seokjinnie hasn't gotten any better.. are the others sick too?

Jimin gently shake Taehyung, who was lying in my lap, his eyes partly open, hoping it was just the makeup that made his usual golden skin look pale.

His breathing is normal and i don't see a thick layer of makeup on his nose like Namjoon, maybe I'm just paranoid..

"Tae wake up, we need to go.." Jimin shakes a little harder, Taehyung finally responding to him, looking up at him sleepily.

"Yes.." Taehyung sits up with a yawn, fixing his earpieces in place with a dry cough.

"Are you feeling okay Taetae?" Jimin asks,trying to smooth down Taehyung's hair, trying to keep his voice steady. He's sick too..

"Yeah, my throats just a little sore.. it's nothing. I just need a bit of water.." Taehyung stands, stretching up to try to wake up his stiff muscles.

"I'll go get you some water." Jimin gets up, wincing when he stands, his legs tingling. He takes two steps before he feels Jungkook grab him.

"Are you okay Jimin-sii?" Jungkook asks, getting up to support him. "You're limping.."

"Yeah, my legs are just asleep.." Jimin moves away from Jungkook with a smile, not wanting anyone to worry about him, relieved to hear Jungkook's voice was unaffected. "It's fine. I'll just walk it off."

"Kids stretch before we go out." Yoongi tells the younger members. "I don't want you getting hurt because you didn't stretch."

"Yes hyung." Taehyung replies, taking a seat on the floor and stretching his back with a soft whine. "Ah..it hurts.."

Jungkook gets on the floor in front of him, touching his feet to Taehyung's and stretching forward, reaching for Taehyung's hands. "I'll help you."

"Ah, Jungkook-ah, I don't bend like Jiminie.." Taehyung whines pulling on Jungkook instead, turning the tables on him.

"Ahh..ahh that does hurt.." Jungkook pulls away from Taehyung, a small giggle escaping. He gets his revenge by taking the older members foot, stretching his leg then gently running his fingers across the back of his leg

"Ah. No...Jungkook-ah that tickles.. stop it.." Taehyung tries to squirm away, but his giggles turning into a cough, Jungkook quickly pulling away.

"You okay?" Jungkook rubs Taehyung's back,trying to stop the coughing. "Im sorry Hyungie..I'm sorry.. I just wanted to try to cheer you up."

Jimin rushes over to him with the water, trying to do what he can to help the younger members,helping Taehyung take a drink. "Taehyungie are you okay?"

"Jungkook was tickling me.." Taehyung whines to Jimin, going into his arms. "Take care of him for me."

"What am I supposed to do?" Jimin raises an eye brow, leaning over to tickle Jungkook, knowing he full well he wasn't nearly as ticklish as soulmate.

Jungkook giggles, wiggling away from his touch. "Jimin-sii no.. not there!"

Taehyung is trying to cheer Jungkook up, and vise versa.. now Taehyung is trying to include me too.. but I don't think I can force myself to pretend anymore..I'm so tired of smiling when I'm not happy.

"There. I helped.. now I need to stretch too. You can handle him Tae." Jimin forces himself to keep a playful tone, pushing Jungkook into Taehyung’s lap. "Stop playing around, we're short on time."

"Looks like that nap helped.. they were all silent this morning.." Namjoon watches the younger members torture each other, forcing each other to loosen the tightened muscles while Jimin stretches on his own, wincing when he tries stretching as he used to.

The treatment is wearing off.. i can't even reach my ankles right now without it hurting...

"Jiminie just got a massage done yesterday, but he's still in pain, and Taehyungie is coughing now.. he wasn't coughing last night.." Jin frets over his dongsaengs despite the fact his voice was worse clearing his throat just to get his voice to come out strong.

"I think its all just acting.." Namjoon notes, watching them with worry. "But Jimin is really struggling to even just pretend..he doesn't want to play.."

"We'll keep an eye on him.." Hoseok promises, frowning when he sees Jimin moving away from the other two to get some water.

"The IV is finished, I'm going to remove the needle." The staff member warns Jin before removing it.

"Thank you.." Jin bows, adding a bandaid to his inner elbow and rolling down his sleeve to hide it.

"We got five minutes.." Yoongi alerts the team, giving Namjoon a tissue. "Take it easy okay?" He adds softly to Namjoon, gently rubbing his back.

"Ah, thanks Hyung.." Namjoon takes it, flushing pink when he feels his nose dripping, quickly blowing his nose. The staff do last minute touch ups, the time passing by in an instant

The members barely have enough time to gather together, placing their fingers in a pile. Jimin could feel Jin's hands trembling on top of his and Taehyung suppress a cough,making his breath catch in his throat.

"After this, we'll be on a flight.. we can rest then. We just have to make it through today. We can do this. We just need to watch out for one other." Namjoon tries to motivate his team.

But we'll be jet lagged...

Jimin thought bitterly, taking a breath as Namjoon counts to three.

"Bang bang bangtan!" Jimin cheers loudly, trying to hype himself up, as well as drown the sound of Jin coughing. When Yoongi looks away, he sees the marks of cupping therapy on the oldest rapper's back, reminding him even if Yoongi didn't complain, he was still hurting just as much as he was, possibly more..

I'll give it my all..just like the others.. even if it hurts..

"For you, I could pretend like I was happy when I was sad

For you, I could pretend like I was strong when I was hurt.." Taehyung starts fake love, his voice coming out a half note lower than usual, the members popping up from behind him.

Jungkook gets into his position trying to keep his eyes forward, following the note change. Taehyung stumbles a bit when Jungkook uses him to get up, but Jungkook quickly puts his hand to the floor to help support himself making it to his feet without falling.

Tae's still exhausted.. and Jinnie-hyung..

He could see the oldest member coughing, trying to keep his head down so the audience doesn't notice, his mic piece away from his mouth.

He has to sing after me.. He's shaking already... we are going right into the next song after this one without a break.

Jimin was so focused on Jin's coughing that he didn't get to his spot on time, quickly running to the center to sing his part, heat rising in his cheeks at his obvious mistake.

Jin tried to sing, but his voice cracks, coughing before quickly recovering to sing his part. The notes were too high for him even with Taehyung changing it, placing his hand on his throat to try to push past the pain.

He can't do this.. I'll just help him with his part.. we can do this.. It's fine.. it's fine.. i have to keep calm...

Jimin sees the tears shine on Jungkook's cheek when he passes him, making his throat tighten and his vision blur with unshed tears.

Jungkook can't handle watching us all suffer. Jimin loses it when he hears the congestion in Namjoon’s voice, seeing his leader's hands shaking when he moves them.

Jimin tries to sing his part, keeping his head cast down to try to keep army from seeing the tears falling.

I can't break down here, I need to stop.. I won't be able to help hyung..and if Jungkook sees me he won't be able to calm down.. I have to do this..

Jimin took a deep breath, the mic catching it a sob coming out against his will. His heart sank when he felt the eyes of his members on him. Jungkook's voice was unstable, his emotions getting the best of him.

Jimin sings his part through the uncontrollable tears, pouring all his emotions into the song, singing for both himself and Jin, the higher notes straining his vocal cords. His heart pounded in his ears, a cold sweat covering him as he struggled to get his body to move.

I'm ruining Hyung's part..why can't I hit the notes right?

Jimin feels his knees trembling, trying to collaspe from underneath him, but he pushes himself to move forward anyway, getting into his position, wiping his face as next verse comes, trying to stop the tremors before his turn.

Jimin jumps when he feels someone wrap around him, seeing the crooked fingers of Jin across his chest. Instead of being comforted by his brother's embrace, it only fueled the wave of guilt that engulfed him.

I'm ruining everything..

"Stop Jimin-ah.. you're just barely on your feet and you're looking pale.. it's okay if you can't do this.." Jin whispers by his ear.

"I have to.. you're on stage even though this morning you could hardly speak over a whisper-" Jimin's voice breaks into a cough, Jin squeezing him closer.

"Just because I do something, doesn't mean you have to do it too.. it's okay.."Jin whispers. "You don't have to-"

Jimin pushes Jin away when he heard his part coming, quickly getting into his spot, stumbling into it. He couldn't let his team down, and he could hear Army cheering for him.

I just have to make it through two songs.. just two songs..

Jimin finds his voice again, pouring his emotions into the song, nearly falling forward, dizziness washing over him when he tries to straighten up again,eyes widened with shock when he heard Jin's voice after, taking Jimins hand.

He's doing this for me..

Jimin continued through the performance until the end,ignoring all the signs his body was giving him to stop. He felt himself shivering despite all the lights making drench with sweat, he couldn't open his eyes without feeling a wave of vertigo try to send him crashing and his head pounded violently.

I need to get water..

Jimin thought desperately, going to the edge of the stage, but that was the last thing he remembered before everything faded to block.

(This got very dark very quick with this night mare. Tw. Mention of su*cide,blood and de*th. Please skip to the next green line if your sensitive these sort of things.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Where is everyone?

Jimin found himself in a dimly lit hallway alone. He knew something was wrong.. he could feel it in the pit of his stomach. That's when he heard it. The sound of Jin coughing. He runs towards the sound, leading him to a locker door. "Hyung..hyung open up.. open the door..I want to help you.."

"I..i..can..can't breathe.." Jin wheezes in-between coughs that are only getting worse. Jimin felt his heart sink into the pit of his stomach, his breath catching in his throat.

"Hang on hyung.. I'm coming.." Jimin runs back a few steps, slamming into the door with all his might, but the door doesn't budge, a shot of pain making Jimin gasp sharply. Jimin takes a breath, rubbing his injured shoulder before repeating it again, this time pushing all his weight against the door, sending a wave of pain up his arm, a soft scream escaping.

I'm not strong enough.

Jimin holds his shoulder, limping from the pain shooting up his leg, screaming for his fellow members.

"Namjoonie-hyung! Jungkook-ah!" Jimin calls desperately, his voice trembling as he hears Jin's cough worsen. "Taeh-hyu..yungie, Yoon..yoong.." Jimin coughs, unable to catch his breath.

"Jiminie.." Yoongi comes out of one of the rooms. "What's.." he stops mid-sentence when he hears Jin coughing, running towards the sound. Yoongi kicks the door open, rushing to his hyung’s side.

"Hyung..Hyung.." Yoongi trembles, rubbing his hand across Jin's back. Jimin followed right behind, his blood turning to ice when he sees the scarlet drops of blood coming from Jin's mouth, his sleeve soaked in it from him covering his face.

"Jimin..the..the med..mee.." Yoongi tries to get the words out, but the tremors made it impossible to breathe, let alone speak.

Jimin rushes to the bathroom, understanding what he wanted so desperately finding a pill bottle with Jin's name on the label, rushing to the bed. "I found it hyung.." Jimin struggles to open the bottle, the lid not turning no matter how hard he twisted.

"Ji..jim..min.a..you..you..need..need to op..pen it. Jinnie-hyung will.." Yoongi's voice comes out as a whisper, tears streaming down his face like waterfalls.

Jimin twisted, gripping it so tightly all the color drained from his muscles, his hands trembling with effort, but by the time he got it open, Jin's coughing had already died down.

"Its.. it's too late Jimin..it's too late.." Yoongi's voice was eerily calm, his eyes staring blankly at the limp figure that used to be his dear Hyung.

"No...no Seokjin..it..it can't be too late.." Jimin shakes a pill out of the bottle.. putting it inside of Jin's parted lips, but Yoongi was right, Jin's lips were already becoming cold..

Yoongi took the bottle, shoving pill after pill into Jin"s mouth, but to no avail. "No...No..!" Yoongi screams, making Jimin's blood curdle. "It should've been me..it..shouldve..." Yoongi looks at the pill bottle he was holding, his mind clouded with grief. He tips the bottle back, swallowing mouthfuls of pills in an instant

Jimin's eyes widen with horror when he sees Yoongi's eyes roll back in his head, his body slumping over.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hyung no!" Jimin screams, waking himself up from his nightmare, bolting up right, looking around the room, noticing he was back home. "Hyung! HYUNG!" Jimin screams desperately, unaware that he wasn't alone in the room, Hoseok wrapping around him.

"Jimin, baby it's okay, it's okay.. it was just a dream.. you're okay..you're okay.." J-hope hugs his distraught dongsaeng to his chest, but Jimin was too frantic, pushing him away.

"What happened?" Taehyung rushes into the room with Jungkook at the sound of Jimin's screams, rushing to his side.

"Jin..Jin.." Jimin tried to get the words out, but he couldn't even breathe.

"I'll go get him, it's okay Hyung.. don't cry..don't cry.." Jungkook runs out of the room, going to get Jin, who was asleep in his room as per doctor's orders.

"Hyung..hyung wake up..Jimin needs you.." Jungkook removes his headphones from his ears when he noticed them in. "Jin wake up please!"

Jin sits up, groggy from the medicine he took, instantly waking up when he sees Jungkook, his doe eyes shining with unshed tears.

"What's wrong?" Jin asks, hugging the mankae to him, confused when Jungkook pushed him away.

"No, no not me. Jimin-sii.. Jimin-sii needs you. Come please." Jungkook pulls on Jin's hand, gently getting him to his feet.

Jin runs to Jimin's side, Jimin instantly reaching for him, his breath coming out in high pitched whimpers.

"Aiigo, my baby, come here.. hyung is here now.." Jin sits on the bed, squeaking when Jimin squeezes all the breath from his lungs.

"Hyung..hyu..hyu..ng..yo.y.ou're okay.." Jimin sobs into Jin's chest, soaking his shirt.

"Breathe baby, you need to breathe.." Jin rubs Jimin's back, speaking breathlessly from Jimin's grip, forcing himself not to cough. "I'm okay..I'm okay I promise..don't cry..you'll make yourself worse Jiminie.."

"Wh..where's..where's.." Jimin tried to ask a question, but a bout of coughing stops him, his lungs burning for air he was depriving them from.

"Yoongi went to get more medicine and Joon-ah went to talk to staff.. they'll be back soon okay? Everyone's okay.." Jin promises, wiping Jimin's tears away. "Just calm down for hyung.."

Jimin nods, trusting Jin's words, taking deep breaths. " im.. I'm sorry.."

"It's okay, you need to apologize for being scared, but please don't hold me so tightly..you're squeezing me.."

Jimin let's Jin go, watching the oldest member breathe heavily.

"You can hold me tightly Jimin-ah.. it's okay.." Taehyung hugs Jimin, wrapping tightly around him.

Jimin couldn't calm down completely, despite Taehyung whispering sweet nothings into his ear. His heart still pounded wildly in his chest and his voice still came out in shaky gasps.

"Jiminie-hyung is really shaken up.." Jungkook says with a pout, his eyes threatening to form tears.

"He'll be okay.. once we're all together he’ll feel better.." Hoseok reassures Jungkook, putting an arm around him."Hey Jaykay, let's go make dinner for everyone." Hoseok tries to distract the mankae, pulling him off the bed.

"Ah, okay hyung.. Taehyungie-hyungie take care of Jimin.." Jungkook says softly, hugging Jimin tightly and going with Hoseok.

"Do you want to talk about it, Jiminie? It might make you feel better." Taehyung asks softly, leaning his head on Jimins.

"I want Yoongi-hyung.." Jimin whimpers.

"He'll be back soon honey.. i promise.."

As if on cue, Jimin hears the door open, picking his head up. "Hyungie! Y-yoongi!" Jimin calls to him,his voice trembling.

Yoongi rushes into the room when he hears Jimin, dropping the bag onto the floor. "Jimin, jimin what's wrong?"

Jimin gets to his feet, hugging Yoongi tightly, only furthering Yoongis confusion.."You got a bad fever, Jiminie."

"You're okay.." Jimin sniffles. "You're here.."

"Im okay? What do you mean? Your the one who scared the fu*k outta me.. you nearly fell off the stage but Jungkook followed you to the side when he noticed you started staggering.."

"He had a bad dream.." Jin tells him softly.

Yoongi leads Jimin back to the bed. "It's okay, Jiminie, I'm perfectly fine. You don't need to worry about me. I'm just a little stressed that all. Jinnie-hyung is the only one you should worry about, but the doctor said he'll be fine with some rest.." Yoongi says the last part looking at Jin, upset to see him awake again, but understanding why.

"Me too.. I've been so worried about everyone.." Jimin sniffles, tears forming in his eyes. "I'm sorry Hyung..i..I should've let you sleep instead of..of.."

"Hey, baby don't worry about that. Im feeling a lot better after a quick doctor visit.. I just need to rest without performing for a few days.." Jin says soothingly, forcing himself not to cough. He didn't want to worry Jimin. Not when he was so unstable.

"But our schedule..We've been working so much.. ever..everything is stacking up..it's suffocating.." Jimin says with a shaky voice, his body shaking as his emotions swell up.

"Hey..hey. its okay..You don't have to talk about it Jiminie-" Yoongi starts, but Jimin puts up a finger, stopping him. He had to get it off his chest.

"I go..got so scared..I was w.e..wat..ching ev.ever..rything fall ap.apart..Namj-joon-hyung not be..ng able to thi.th..nk str..a.right and get..geti..ng sick, Jinnie-hyungs cou..ugh ge.getting w.worse by the day, gook forcing him..h.m..self to smile eve.." Jimin starts coughing, taking a deep breath to try to stop his voice from trembling before starting again. "and..and, Hobi-hyung hasn't lau..ghed in four days.. not real laugher, the one where his whole body moves.." Jimin coughs, Taehyung opening a water bottle to try to get the 95er to drink, but when Jimin meets his eyes, he just sobs again."And Taeh..hyun..gie.. it fe.fe.lt like o.o.oone wron..wron st.step and..and..plu..nge b.ba..go..in. into dep..dep.res..res.sion.. a.a.nd I can't wa..wa..tch th.th.t..at ag..ag..ain..I can't.."

"Shh.. it's okay, I'm okay.. please don't cry, you’ll make your fever worse.." Taehyung uses his thumbs to wipe away Jimin's tears. "I'm okay.. okay, really. Please..you need to calm down.." Taehyung holds out his arms, wanting to hold Jimin close to calm him down.

"Oh Jiminie.." Jin says softly, cursing himself for letting this build so much. Tears flowed down his cheeks, looking away from the others. "Namjoon will fix this.."

"And..and Yo..Yon..g..hyu..Hyunh..you d..don..sm..amile..an..any..more.. and..i don't..do..nt want.." Jimin gasps for air, his lungs burning while he struggles to catch his breath, his voice cracking. "I don't..don't w..w..an..to..lose..you.." he whimpers the vision of his dream flashing in his mind, not Hearing Jin over his hyperventilating and blood rushing in his ears.

Yoongi presses his lips together, fighting back the urge to cry. "Hey..hey none of that. Im not going anywhere.I'm not depressed, just tired and worried about my brothers. Don't worry about me okay? Just worry about yourself right now." Yoongi speaks gently, taking Jimin's pinkie in his. "I promise im okay.. but if you don't stop this I'm going to break down."

Jimin wraps his small pinkie around Yoongi's, taking a deep breath. "Ok..okay.." He closes his eyes, trying to calm his nerves, not wanting to make Yoongi cry.

Yoongi continues to gently trace shapes on Jimin's back while Taehyung holds him close to him, humming songs he knows Jimin loves. Jimin felt the weight lifting off his chest to get everything out in the open.

"I need you to take medicine for me baby, we need to get your fever down.." Jin says getting a the fever reducer from the bag on the floor.

Jimin nods, sitting up right. "Water..my throat hurts.."

"Of course, whatever you want.." Jin gets him water and pills. "Here baby, open up."

Jimin parts his lips, letting Jin push the pill onto his mouth, taking the water bottle and gulping down the water.

"No, no Jiminie, drink slowly or you'll throw up.." Jin takes the water from him. "You can drink more later okay?"

Namjoon enters the room to check on him, rushing to his side, touching Jimin's cheek. "Jimin-ah, are you okay? Hoba told me you were crying.."

"I..I can't do this hyung.. i can't keep pushing like this..i can't watch everyone slowly suffer..not again..." Jimin admits softly, coughing into his fist. He held his breath subconsciously, waiting for Namjoon to say that we couldn't afford to slow down, but Namjoon just hugs him whispering the four words Jimin desperately needed to hear.

"We're taking a break.." Namjoon promises.

"But the schedule-"

"Fu*k the schedule. We're past those days.. we don't have to destroy ourselves anymore.. We're taking a break. I'm not going to watch my team suffer again. We're going to make a new schedule next week, and the company already posted that we were taking a short break. It's all handled now, Jiminie.." Namjoon says softly, stroking Jimin's hair, smiling when he feels Jimin relaxing, his shoulders slumping as the tension leaves them. "I'm sorry, Jiminie.. I shouldn't have let that schedule push through in the first place. I promise.. I'll be a better leader from now on.."

[ox1-lovesick]

★ — stargazer. kth

pairing. astronomy major!kang taehyun x gn!reader genre. fluff, college au warnings. none (?) wc. 1.3k

synopsis. there are two things that taehyun loves most in this world. stargazing, and you. although stargazing with you, might just climb it's way to the top

a/n. HAPPY TAEHYUN DAY !??!! (ignore how late this is) in my solomon era. FIRST WORK OF 2023 WOOHOO (i forced myself to write this) she's not online rn but this is simultaneously for my day 1 @lsrfmxt i miss you sosososo much and i hope you enjoy this when you see it 😔 also mind you i am in no way an astronomy expert all information is from google and bing LMAO

you've always been fascinated with the stars ever since you were younger.

the only way your parents could get you to calm down from a tantrum was to take you outside and sit you down in front of the sky, letting the stars soothe your worries. most kids your age would prefer dinosaurs, or hello kitty, finding your interest with the planets a bit much for their little heads. it was a bit much for anyone since you could go on about them for hours on end.

"i've seen it a thousand times but it's still just as breathtaking" taehyun said, making you hum in agreement. it took a while to find someone who was as enamored with the sky as you were, and it didn't help that your fascination only grew as you did. the highlight of your day was climbing up to the rooftop at night and watching them twinkle in all their glory, tracing constellations with your fingertips. for most of your life it was just you and the stars, not really having anyone to share your love for them with. but then you found him, in your second year of highschool

you were so similar to each other that it almost scared you. your professor had assigned you as partners for a research project and you bonded instantly. your love of the night sky stemming from childhood, being the only thing that kept little you entertained. the way you both would stay up until the early hours of the morning trying to find every constellation and zodiac you could, even forcing your parents to get a national geographic subscription to watch documentaries about the planets and other galaxies. you were practically the same person down to the T.

"we should get going soon, we have to be up early" you reminded him. it was 3 am on a thursday, meaning the two of you had an early morning of classes to get to "5 more minutes, i haven't seen it yet" his tired eyes still trained above you

it was promised (by earthsky.org) that venus would be most visible today. of course, you both are busy college students so you didn't sacrifice hours of sleep on a website alone. with some research of your own using stolen lab equipment, you and taehyun had figured out that it would in fact, be visible from earth throughout the course of this month. so here you were, sitting on your campus grounds staring at sky

the both of you had planned this morning for weeks. figuring out what day would have the most promise of you seeing the planet without the use of a telescope, how you were going to sneak out of your dorms and what you would do should you get caught, and most importantly what snacks you were bringing. although with no sight of venus for the past hour and a half, the whole thing was proving to be quite a bust.

"i don't think it's going to show, tae" you sighed.

"we'll see it, i promise. just have some patience" he asks, fingers tugging at your sleeve. "i've had patience, for 2 hours now. besides, venus isn't going to disappear, we can come back tomorrow"

"no, we can't" he breathed, almost soft enough that you didn't hear.

taehyun never liked staying up late, despite that being exactly what his major needed him to do. every time you went stargazing with him you were on a time limit. two in the morning was the most he could take before getting sleepy, so you'd usually head back to your dorms by now, but today he was adamant

"something up? you hate staying out late"

he sucked in a breath. squinting his eyes at the sky. why was it being so cruel to him the moment he needed it most "i wanted to impress you. so, if venus doesn't show in all it's bright red glory that would mean all the calculations i did were wrong. also, kai hates sleeping alone so i had to pay beomgyu to stay with him for the night."

he runs a hand through his hair, moving his fringe away from his eyes. it had completely slipped your mind until now, he'd been researching so diligently you'd almost forgotten just how much he hated doing things like this, despite how many nights he'd spent complaining to you.

his fingers still playing with the hem of your sleeve. "you wanted to impress me?" taehyun looked to you with wide eyes "no- i mean, you're the top of our class and always calling me useless so i had to prove myself or something..." you stifled your laugh to save him some face, but you couldn't help the smile tugging at your lips as he shied away from your gaze.

taehyun had always hated star tracking, because like most things within your major — at least right now without the proper equipment — you could never be on point. he craved precision, and that's what kept him ahead until now. you on the other hand loved it for that exact reason, knowing you could never guess 110% was the best part of it, and your professor agreed with you. he loved giving you assignments with no definite answer, seeing how far you were willing to go. it frustrated taehyun, and made his grades drop significantly, while you stayed at the top of your class

he spent hours- no, days doing something he hated just to impress you.

"you don't need to impress me" you chuckled. "it wasn't to impress you, i needed some practice in that field anyway.." he mumbled. "is that so?" "can we just keep looking for venus please" he cleared his throat, allowing his gaze to shift back to the sky. you chuckle, allowing yourself to do the same.

you sat in a comfortable silence for a little bit. lying under the stars. the sun would rise soon, and then you'd have to get ready for another day of endless work, there was a possibility beomgyu would tease the two of you for having 'alone time' together like he always did. but you weren't going to think about that for now, taking in the morning breeze against your skin, and basking in the feeling of taehyun's hand tightly wrapped in yours

"why work so hard, taehyun?"

his face scrunched in confusion. "what do you mean?" "it seems a bit useless, no? giving it your all when you'll never be able to see how far your research will go" he makes an 'o' shape with his mouth. you've talked about this before, whether it was all worth it or not in the end. he obviously had to work hard, he needed to get good grades, get his degree, and eventually get a good-paying job, that was the end goal, no matter what job you had

but that wasn't the answer you were looking for, it wasn't the answer he wanted to give you in any case.

"I work hard for you" he starts

"I work hard so that one day you can say "my husband is an astronomer""

he didn't dare to look at you just yet, afraid your silence was a rejection. he took a leap of faith, hoping that everything wasn't just in his head, and all the lingering gazes and touches did mean something.

"astronomy does seem like quite useless as a profession. but that's what makes it fun, isn't it? knowing there's so much out there that you couldn't possibly see it through to the end within your lifetime. it's intriguing. and besides, i can't be second best forever. i'll have to surpass you someday"

he catches the grin spreading across your face in the corner of his eye. breathing a shaky exhale in relief

"are you saying you want to marry me?" he feigned annoyance "out of everything i just said that's all you caught?" you didn't reply, looking at him expectantly. he shrugs in response "maybe"

"okay, deal. if we spot venus in the next 10 minutes, you have to take me on a date"

[bakedbakermom]

Stained

Chapter 1: Sanguine.

Read on Ao3; tagging @today-in-fic @ao3feed-msr

But first, a word from the author. I first wrote this fic when I was about 14, circa late 2000. It was very much a product of its time, both of who I was/how I wrote then, and where the respective shows were in their runs. I found it recently in an archive I will NOT share, and was stunned to find that it actually did have some good bones--and, as is to be expected, plenty of cringe, but I try to look on my past self with indulgence and sympathy in that regard; we are, all of us, unfortunately fourteen at some point. There were even a few beautiful lines in there that I lifted entirely. I don't think I've ever gone 20+ years between a first and second draft, but here we are, in 2023, and I am back on my XF/BTVS brainrot for a second pass (and third, and fourth, as editing commands me). This fic takes place in late season 7 of the X-Files, post-Hollywood AD; and season 5 of Buffy, post-Intervention. Do those seasons line up at all? Nope. But let's be real, neither show was all that great at keeping consistent timelines. Besides, time is an illusion and canon is a sandbox; if we're not going to play, what's the point? As for how a crossover like this works when there are references to one work within the other work? Short answer: Don't worry about it. Long answer: I have lost my mind and you can see my spiral into madness here (contains a few minor spoilers/background info for this fic)

Fic is COMPLETE and will be updated Sundays and Wednesdays.

Scully unlocked the door to room 217 of the Sunnydale Motor Inn and slipped inside, hoping the brief spill of buttery sunlight wouldn’t disturb the occupant. The soft snick of the door plunged her into sudden darkness, but her eyes adjusted quickly; she was getting used to the dark. Inside, little light pierced the drawn curtains, and what did filter through was stained a deep crimson, as if a haze of blood hung in the air.

She eased herself down onto the edge of the rumpled bed that filled half the room and prodded the lump of blankets she assumed was her partner. The lump moaned and shifted, and from the opposite end, Mulder’s tousled head appeared. A shock pierced through her when she saw how pale he had become, how dark the circles were under his eyes; she tried not to think about how he had been sleeping upside down, like a bat. He would only tease her for the comparison. “How are you feeling?” she asked softly, hoping she sounded calmer than she felt.

He groaned, his voice barely more than a croak. “Half dead.”

She lifted one auburn brow and tried to smile. “Oh good, only half.”

Mulder sat up stiffly, his bones creaking and popping like the hinges of a haunted house. The sheets fell away from his bare chest, now a sickly white instead of his usual golden tan. He shoved a pillow behind his back to prop himself up, as if the effort of sitting was too much for his withering body. His eyes narrowed into tiny slits and he winced. “Isn’t it a little bright in here?”

“Mulder, I can barely see you.”

“Oh. Right.”

Something shameful flickered in his eyes and she reached out to take his hand; his skin was dry and frighteningly cold, the bones beneath it not quite right. She pushed the fear down with a thick swallow. “Don’t worry about it. The sun will be down in an hour or so.”

They relied so much on touch to communicate these days. A subtle brush of fingers to say I am here. The pressure of his hand on the small of her back, We’ll be alright. A tear thumbed away from a cheek, Your pain is mine too. A kiss pressed tenderly to a forehead, We’re not done yet.

Touching him was different now. Strained. Stained. Death lived in his skin; it was a void she had to force herself across with every caress, because each time she touched him, she was reminded of what lived inside him. 

What it had tried, gleefully, to do.

Her memories of that night in the graveyard were murky at best, flashes of blood and terror glimpsed only through a dense fog like a stormy night at a drive-in, and it was a relief to her that she was spared the worst details. Her body was healing, and though she knew that repressing emotional trauma was an unhealthy coping mechanism, it was the only thing allowing her to function. The reckoning was coming for her, sure as the sun outside was edging toward the horizon; when the darkness came, it would swallow her whole, just as it was trying, now, to swallow her partner.

The darkness was inside him, a part of him, and she could not touch one without wanting to recoil from the other. She hated the relief that filled her as she released his hand to reach into the paper bag she had brought inside with her. “I got you something to eat.”

His eyes lit up as they landed on the small styrofoam container, the kind usually filled with soup or pasta salad to-go, with the name of a local butcher on the side: Sunnydale Fine Meats. Its logo was a cartoon pig holding up a link of sausage speared on a fork, the little speech bubble near his mouth proclaiming it both local and delicious. Scully found the image horribly macabre. “Beef or pork?” Mulder asked, taking it eagerly from her hands and giving it an appraising sniff.

“Lamb,” she said, and when he wrinkled his nose, “Sorry. It was all they had left.”

“Don’t worry about it, Scully. I imagine it’s a popular take-out spot in this town.” He squeezed her shoulder gently, and she fought not to pull away from the chill of his touch. “Thank you. For all of this.”

He stood slowly, accompanied by another symphony of popping joints. He tightened the drawstring on his sweatpants—when had he gotten so thin?—and carried the container to the microwave in the room’s tiny kitchenette. Her stomach lurched as she realized he was heating the contents. Ninety-eight point six.

Mulder glanced up and saw her staring, then looked quickly away. “Tip from Spike,” he muttered. “Says it’s easier to… get it down… this way. That I’ll get used to it faster if it’s warm.”

“Is it really that bad, compared to..?”

A shudder passed through his body, but not of revulsion. She shouldn’t have reminded him about that, but he answered anyway. “It’s like day-old coffee versus a chocolate shake. With whipped cream. And extra cherries.” His voice dripped with a hunger bordering on lust. “I can handle it, but I’d rather have… well.”

Compassion and pity warred with a visceral disgust and the sudden roiling in her gut pushed her to feet. She couldn’t watch this.

“I’ll let you eat,” she said, too fast, nearly lunging for the door. Stupid, she yelled at herself the moment she realized what she was doing. Don’t give him anything to chase. Not when he’s hungry.

His hand clenched painfully tight around her wrist before she even heard him move, and her heart started to hammer beneath her sternum. She knew he could hear it, watched his pupils dilate as the sound reached him, and his gaze fell on the pulse fluttering in her throat.

The dark centers of his eyes grew inhumanly huge, nearly eclipsing the warm golden green, and his tongue flicked out to lick his lower lip.

Scully stood very, very still.

Her blue eyes were cold and hard as she met his stare. Do not flinch.

“Mulder,” she said carefully, threading steel into her voice. “Let me go.”

He held on, breathing harder than he had any need to, nostrils flaring as he took in the coppery scent of her fear, fingers constricting so tightly she felt the fine bones of her wrist grinding together and the tingling static of the circulation failing in her fingertips. She would have a new bracelet of bruises tomorrow. A sound between a moan and a growl bubbled up from his throat.

Scully’s free hand began to inch toward the chain around her neck when suddenly the microwave beeped from across the room, breaking the tension like a splash of cold water. He stepped quickly away and turned his back to her, shoulders hunched and shaking.

“God, Scully, I am so sorry.”

If her hand trembled as she laid it on his back, they both ignored it. “I know, Mulder. It’s okay. I know.”

“No, you don’t,” he said gently, his voice choked and breaking. “And I’m glad you don’t.”

She forced herself to move closer, to cross the death-black void that had bloomed between them; the fear she felt was a small price to pay to erase the pain written so clearly across his face. She wrapped her arms around his abdomen and laid her cheek against the icy expanse of his back. He flinched as the tiny gold cross on her necklace made contact with his skin; she pulled away just enough to tuck it into her shirt, then squeezed him even tighter. “You’re so warm,” he murmured, placing one hand over hers where it rested against his stomach. “It’s so nice to feel warm again.”

Her throat constricted painfully as she fought away the tears threatening to spill from her eyes, and it was a long while before she trusted herself to speak. Her voice came out small, empty of anything but helpless fear. “What are we going to do?”

He sighed and rolled his gaze heavenward. There were water spots on the ceiling. “Shoot me?”

“Yeah, a lot of good that would do.”

Mulder huffed out a barbed little laugh and turned within the circle of her arms. His hands came up to cup her face, and the defeat in his eyes nearly broke her heart. A single tear slid down his ashen cheek, glinting red in the fading light. Red as blood.

“I’m scared, Scully,” he whispered. His thumbs brushed tenderly over her cheekbone for a moment before he folded around her, his face buried against her neck and his arms painfully tight around her. “I’m so scared.”

She held him as he wept, stroking his hair and whispering soothing words neither of them would remember later. It was not really her words he needed, merely her touch, the comfort of knowing she cared enough to brush up against the monster inside him if it meant that the man could feel the touch of her body, small and warm against him. His tears soaked into the collar of her t-shirt until it stuck to her skin.

No, not tears. Saliva. He licked the place where her neck met her collarbone and moaned. His hands came up to thread his fingers through her hair. He pressed himself tightly against her, and she felt him growing hard against her hip. Her gut clenched, and not just from fear.

“Mul—”

His name died on her lips as something sharp pierced her skin, a sudden warmth spilling down her shoulder. She struggled in his grip, a fly in a web, and he bit down harder.

Scully had an unfortunate amount of practice stuffing down her gibbering panic, translating the adrenaline that threatened to paralyze her into action instead; she summoned every drop of strength she could manage, twisting at the hip, and used the strength of her legs and torso to shove him back. Her hand immediately flew up to press against the wound on her neck as she stared at him, blood trickling between her fingers and her mouth open in shock and fear.

A monster stared back at her from the place where his face should have been, thickly ridged brows and serrated teeth dripping with crimson and eyes gleaming the fevered yellow of a jungle cat. It wore her blood like warpaint, like a sacrificial mask. A growl rumbled forth from what had been Mulder’s throat and its hands clenched and unclenched at its sides as it prepared to strike again. It dropped into a crouch, shoulders hunched, muscles rippling unnaturally beneath the surface of its skin. Its features twisted into something like joy.

Scully wondered if she could free the gun at her hip before it reached her; a bullet might not drop the thing, but she could slow it down.

Even vampires feel pain.

A sudden shudder passed through the creature and a high wail of grief tore from its throat. Slowly, the face softened, melted, Mulder’s familiar features coming back to the fore, dazed and afraid. He touched a finger to his chin and revulsion crossed his face as he realized he was streaked with her blood; the stain of it was shockingly dark against his skin. He turned away, shame-faced, but not before she saw him lick his lips clean.

“Get away from me,” he growled as she started to reach for him. She snatched her hand back as if burned, as if he would bite it. He collapsed onto the bed, his head buried in his hands. “I can’t—I don’t want to hurt you again.”

“I’m all right, Mulder,” she said, though her knees threatened to buckle beneath her. “You didn’t hit anything important. I’m fine.”

But her hands shook as she grabbed a handful of tissues from the box on the nightstand and pressed them to her neck; they soaked through more quickly than she had expected, red blooming across the flimsy paper like roses on snow. She dropped them and grabbed another bunch, ignoring the way his eyes followed the sodden ones to the floor. She forced herself to take a step forward, then another, and then to sit beside him on the bed. Her free hand found his shoulder, and though they both flinched at her touch, neither moved away.

“I could have hurt you, Scully. I could have—” He gulped, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. “I could have killed you.”

Her hand on his shoulder tightened and she forced him to turn towards her, not with the strength of her hand—pitiful compared to the strength he now possessed—but with the tenderness of her touch. She cupped his chin and waited for his eyes to meet hers; she held his gaze, blue staring unwavering into green. “You didn’t, Mulder. And you won’t.” She took a deep breath. “You’re just hungry, that’s all.”

“Yeah,” he said, nodding shakily. “Speaking of which.” He pushed himself to his feet and crossed to the microwave, fishing out the container and pulling back the lid. His face twisted and fell as a rancid, metallic smell wafted through the room.

“No good?” she asked, nose wrinkling.

“It’s gone all lumpy.”

“Coagulation,” she explained, the medical doctor inside her rising to the surface. “Clotting factors catalyze plasma proteins into sticky threads, forming gel-like clumps that slow blood loss from a wound.”

“Charming. It looks like tapioca pudding that’s been left out for a few centuries.”

Her stomach turned at that mental image. “I don’t know much about your new… dietary requirements… but I’m pretty sure you shouldn’t eat that.”

He sighed, closing the lid and dropping the whole container into the wastebasket beside the mini fridge. “It’s okay, Scully. I can wait.”

“No,” she said matter-of-factly. “You can’t. Mulder, you’re barely standing. You won’t be able to hold yourself back much longer, and you won’t be any help with research tonight.” She laughed, though there was no joy in it. “You can’t even make it through a single stakeout shift without a sack of junk food, and that was before you took on a ravenous, demonic parasite.”

Her voice grew hollow and detached as she realized what she needed to do. “If you snap and… hurt someone… you’ll never forgive yourself.” And I’ll never forgive either of us. She drew her pocket knife from the front of her jeans and turned it over and over in her palm, hoping she’d cleaned it recently, hoping it wouldn’t hurt too much. “No, Mulder, you have to eat.”

“What are you—?! No—!”

But she had already flipped open the blade and pressed it into the creamy flesh of her forearm, below the bend of her elbow. She pushed a little harder, letting a thick bead of blood well up before slashing firmly downward, opening herself to him with a small whimper of pain. Thick rivulets of red, glimmering like jewels, trickled down her pale skin, pooling in the trembling cup of her hand.

Mulder managed to hold her gaze for a brief moment, his face a silent plea for forgiveness—for what he had become, for the hunger he was powerless to fight, for what he was about to do to her. She smiled her benediction as tears fell from her eyes. “Just don’t take it all.”

As the scent of her blood reached him, the demon’s form bubbled up to the surface—and its face was full of nothing but pleasure. It lunged forward and closed its mouth over the wound, its teeth piercing deep as it suckled ravenously, its tongue probing obscenely beneath her flesh. Its hand closed around her bruised wrist almost tenderly, like an apology, pinning her in place; small sounds of satisfaction came from its throat as it gulped her down. It moved off the bed and knelt before her, its free hand spreading her thighs and gripping her firmly as it settled between them.

Deep inside her heart, in a place she rarely thought of and never shared, she felt a tremulous thrill at the need this monster had for her. She knew all the legends, the place vampires occupied in folklore as seducers and devils. She could rattle off theories about devouring blood being a puritanical metaphor for sex: the penetration of the fang as it corrupts innocent flesh, the blood spilling from the bite the way some women bleed during their first intercourse.

Hell, she’d seen that Anne Rice movie more times than she would ever dare to admit.

But no dusty book of folktales or moody Hollywood film could have prepared her for the desire that flooded in to fill the space her blood left behind as it flowed into Mulder’s mouth. Her heart pounded, her breathing grew rapid and shallow, and maybe she could blame that on the blood loss—but not the way she throbbed between her legs as he tongued her open wound.

Pity it took this for Mulder to finally put his mouth on her.

Through the ecstasy of her pain, she felt him pull away. Her head was swimming, and she drew several deep, steadying breaths, feeling out the weakness in her body before deciding she was mostly all right. Not much worse than the annual Red Cross drive at the bureau. She debated asking Mulder for a cookie; but his refusal to meet her eyes, even as the face of the demon faded away, killed the joke before it passed her lips.

“That’s enough, Scully.” He looked around for a moment, as if puzzled to find himself kneeling between her legs, and dropped his eyes as he moved away. “Um. Thank you.”

“Are you sure? I’m a little dizzy, but you can have more if you need it.”

A small amount of color had returned to his cheeks, but the circles beneath his eyes were still dark as bruises. Even as he shook his head and stepped away from her, his eyes lingered on the still-oozing cut, on the thin trickle sliding down her arm and dripping off the tips of her fingers. It landed on the dingy carpet with a patter like raindrops.

She moved quickly into the bathroom and shut the door; she didn’t want to see him licking the floor.

The face that met her in the mirror above the sink was even paler than usual, her freckles like dark constellations spread across the expanse of her skin and circles under her eyes nearly the same purple as Mulder’s. She would have to return to her room and apply more makeup, and find something to cover the mark on her neck, which she was relieved to see was smaller than she had imagined. She shuddered as she moistened a washcloth and wiped away the crust of dried blood that had formed around the punctures, remembering the heat of his mouth, the way her body had coiled with pleasure even through the haze of pain—and the way his body had responded to the hot pulse of her blood in his mouth. Maybe it was a good thing Mulder couldn’t see his reflection anymore; she found herself unable to meet her own eyes, and she had only been the vessel. How must he have felt, drinking of her very life?

In the medicine cabinet, she found a small bottle of hydrogen peroxide and used it to clean the wounds on her neck and arm. Rummaging under the sink produced only a box of moldy bandages, too small to cover the slash she had made. It was deeper than she had first thought, blood still seeping sluggishly down her arm, and she made a mental note to be more careful next time.

And she knew, eventually, there would be a next time.

They had said the pull of human blood was strongest in newly-turned vampires, and she had witnessed firsthand how he struggled to consume animal blood. If it was a choice between feeding him herself or allowing him to grow hungry enough to snap and prey on a helpless stranger, she would choose to open her veins every time. At least she had a gun and a cross and her FBI combat training to fall back on.

She grabbed a thin towel from the pile beside the shower and ripped it into strips to clean and bind her cut.

As she worked, she found herself slipping with relief into the cool, clinical detachment of science and medicine, pondering the physical reality of what her partner had become, because the mystical side was beyond her realm of expertise. If she sent a sample of his saliva to the lab, would she discover the presence of anticoagulants, painkillers, aphrodisiacs—chemicals to make the victim more compliant and allow a vampire to feed more deeply? And, she thought with a blush, explain my reaction to his bite? Could his pale skin contain some kind of photo-reactive substance that burst into flames upon contact with sunlight? She had seen vampires bleed; what moved that blood through their bodies, when they had no detectable pulse? What sort of electrical activity would she find in his brain, how did he keep from rotting if his cells were no longer alive, and what was the mechanism of the change that came over him when the demon came out to feed?

By the time she had tended her wounds to her satisfaction, Scully had a long list of questions; even without the answers, she felt more secure in her skin than she had in days. Yes, something horrible had happened to her partner. Yes, she was adrift in a sea of paranormal mystery that she didn’t fully understand. But this was not the first time she had found herself faced with a daunting new reality; she had survived all that had come before, and she would survive this too. She was a medical doctor, a trained FBI agent, and a veteran of more than seven years worth of hauntings, monster hunts, and demons—both personal and literal.

She would face this. For Mulder and for herself. She would find answers, maybe even a cure, if not in the science she held so sacred than in the dusty tomes of mysticism and myth. She took comfort in reminding herself that they were not alone in this quest, that Mulder had somehow stumbled across a band of unlikely allies in this coastal town whose sunny days only belied nights filled with terror and death—allies who had spent years battling the stuff of nightmares and usually won. Even now they waited in town for Mulder and Scully to join them.

She stepped back into Mulder’s room to find that night had fallen completely, filling the room with an inky darkness. The lights were off—he didn’t need them to see in the dark anymore—but she found him by scent and touch just the same and laid a hand on his shoulder.

“You’d better get dressed, Mulder. It’s time to go see the Slayer.”