#for both angst and comedy purposes

[mintytrifecta]

So is Spiders-Man going to show up or what 

[anggeese]

WAIT WAIT XVN AU WHERE xiao and venti dies except venti confesses before he breathes his last (because yknow he's dying and fuck it, it doesn't matter if xiao rejects him [he's oblivious and doesn't realize xiao is in love with him]. He admits that he has no plan of telling xiao because of that reason).

And xiao is both grieving and pissed because why tf did venti (and him, by extension) wait until it's too late to let the other know that the feeling is mutual. So after he dies too, he made it his next life's mission to find venti (both threateningly and lovingly) and knock some sense into him.

Venti, on the other hand, is NOT ready to have this conversation and runs away (tries) the moment xiao finds him

[chuluoyi]

MARRIED ON PURPOSE

- gojo satoru x reader

"for one, i can show you incredible things!" jujutsu, madness, heaven, sin. the strongest sorcerer is sure to show you all of that during the whole duration of your six-month marriage contract.

genre: marriage of convenience, enemies to lovers, crack, fluff, slight satosugu angst/comfort, kamo!reader, very suggestive. gojo clan is portrayed as very traditional, meanwhile kamo clan is rather unpleasant here

note: the unholy amount of times i've edited this story *sigh* but okay i must drop it here or else i'm going to keep editing it and losing my mind. despite my misgivings and all, i really had fun writing this and i hope you enjoy it! wc. 5k !

a part of 1K MILESTONE EVENT

series masterlist | oneshot masterlist

Some would say... marrying Gojo Satoru would be living the dream.

“Don't look that sour now, wife.”

“…sigh.”

A playful nudge at your side, a lighthearted voice— “You're going to make them question our veeery happy marriage, you know… We don't want that now, do we?”

But to you, it was more like nightmare dressed in a daydream.

It was peak comedy because why would you put marrying Gojo Satoru in your life plans? He was incorrigible, a child trapped in a man's body, and there was also the very fact that you hate him. His only redeeming trait was being born in the esteemed Gojo clan, and now held the title of the strongest.

You know you must have accumulated karma, but out of everything else, why must you end up in this predicament?

Hailing from the great clans of jujutsu society, both of you know well that marriage is the essence to make the clan greater. And when it involves the big three clans, its importance amplifies even further.

It was just that you two were too rebellious to follow it through, for one reason or another. Everyone knows Gojo Satoru was faithless to any woman, and you were not exactly thrilled with the idea of marriage as a whole.

He was the one who came to you, proposing this insane idea of a temporary marriage.

"Look at it this way," Satoru said with a wry grin, contrasting your puzzled frown on that fateful afternoon. "It's either me or Zen'in Naoya for you, isn't it? It's so clear which is the better man."

That was what grated you the most. You would be damned if you married the misogynist.

"What do you get from this arrangement, really?" you questioned begrudgingly.

His name would give you security, stop the harassment from your clan, and maybe even a better life, but you didn't quite get what he'd get from the offer he willingly extended to you.

Satoru flippantly shrugged. "Nah, you are not exactly my type, but you're still far better than the boring puppet my family have considered to be my wife."

"Who?"

"Don't remember her name. All she goes on about is that she'll be the good wife and mother of my child. Ew."

Seven hells. You scowled. Gojo Satoru and his penchant for chasing the thrill. Boring women would kill him before an actual curse would.

"And hey, for one," he shot you a smirk, visibly smug. "I can show you incredible things!"

"That's not the point! Gojo, do you even realize—" your voice rose, pulsating with righteous fury, "—how serious all of this is? My life, your life! We're going to be stuck—together!"

"Six months," he blurted, tilting his head slightly. His sunglasses slipped down just enough for you to catch a glimpse of his sparkling eyes. "It's enough time to work through our shits, and by then if you have enough, we're through."

At that time, it seemed feasible. Both of you tolerating each other to avoid a much worse match.

. . .

BACK TO PRESENT—barely a week ever since you were paraded around as his wife, now you and Satoru were stiffly poised in the studio in your formal garbs, capturing your official wedding photos.

At that time, it seemed feasible, but now, it felt like a chore, as you realized that conversing with him either spiked your blood pressure so much that you wouldn't even be surprised if you ended up with hypertension or completely sapped your energy that you were left exhausted.

"Come on, show a smiiile," Satoru said in a sing-song voice, gesturing toward the camera as it flashed for the pictures. You were beyond appalled, shooting a glare in his direction.

"I am smiling, Gojo."

"Liar. You're pouting, wifey~"

Sigh… this really is going to be one hella of a ride, huh?

MONTH ONE, and you found out that Gojo Satoru is apparently as mad as people made him out to be.

"You've got to be kidding me!" you fumed, right after he hauled you into one of the rooms in his grand, traditional estate. Your glare pierced through him, a blood vessel ready to burst. "We never agreed on ‘consummating’ the marriage!"

You wrote him a goddamn contract. And the three conditions of this chaotic marriage are: one, it would only last six months; two, no personal feelings involved; and three, nothing borderline disturbing.

And this, you concluded, was the height of what could be called as disturbing.

"We will not," Satoru replied with a hint of disdain, grimacing, as if the notion didn't sit well with him either. The audacity! "We're just going to make it as if we are—"

"And why?! Why should I do that?!"

"Why else? Because my old fart believes that we indeed haven't done so."

"Then it's your fault? For failing to convince him? Why turn it into my problem!"

"Because, dear wife," he drawled, his tone taunting on the final note. "Now we're on the same page, in case you have forgotten."

Great clans and their hollow expectations spare no one, not even Gojo Satoru. They place importance in the most banal things, such as the continuity of sacred bloodlines and such.

The only alternative wasn't appealing either. Should you be found out that you married only to divorce... sigh, you didn't even want to know how big of a scandal it would be. One thing was certain: your clan would chop you to shreds.

You really had no choice, huh?

"Five minutes," you warned, glaring at him. "Make it loud. Make it so that no one wouldn't question this anymore."

Oh and sure he would. As Satoru pulled that shit-eating grin, you were in for another ride. You waited out until several maids were nearby, left the wooden door ajar, and began the show—

His hands wrapped around your waist—the feeling was peculiar, but you ignored it—and you let him pull you near that open door. He snuggled his face on your neck—his hair tickling you in the process, but you ignored that peculiarity again—as he started making suggestive noises. "Mm, you're so pretty, darling."

You could hear those maids gasp in surprise. And to add the flavor, you faked a moan.

This is... kinda fun? A twisted part of you suddenly found satisfaction in fooling the maids. A smile tugged at your lips as you shoved him away, and Satoru eyed you in surprise and irritation.

"Husband, you're... insatiable," you worded languidly, and he immediately caught on your act, grinning. "Anyone can walk by, you know."

"Oh? But that's the point." Satoru's bright blue eyes twinkled with utter mischief, and even you couldn't deny the exhilarating rush. "I want them to know."

And suddenly you got this very brilliant idea. You swiftly moved past him and sent the books and trinkets on his desk flying to the floor, causing questionable noises.

"Oh my!" a girlish voice exclaimed.

"The master! And the lady!"

Satoru shook his head, thoroughly entertained. And you rolled your eyes. Those nosy maids would finally have enough now, and this charade would end—

"What's happening here?"

The old fart. Both you and Satoru grunted in unison. You really thought you would leave it up to the maids to spread the word, but then you were taken by surprise when he wrapped his hands around you and flung the door open, slamming you against it—and damn it hurt!—offering everyone a front-row seat to your charade.

The maids squealed. His grandfather raised a righteous, demanding eyebrow. You wanted to scream.

"Hey, gramps," he greeted jovially, breathless, his grip on you tightening and you felt heat radiating from his palm. "Ah, sorry, opened it by accident—the wife here is feisty, you see."

Your veins felt ready to burst. Was this a part of his plan all along? How would you show your face before your grandfather-in-law now that he had seen this... atrocity?!

"So, yeah, we'll resume our business!" Satoru, the idiot, said it as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "See ya!"

With that the door slammed shut, but oh no, it was not the end.

"Mmmph!?" you protested, unintentionally loud and eyes widening in alarm when Satoru muffled your mouth with his hand.

The rotten bastard! You found it nearly impossible to breathe, shooting daggers at him. "Mmmrgh! Mmmrrgh!"

"Oh... so that boy really does it huh," you heard the elder mutter in thoughtful manner from outside—and you were in disbelief at how trusting he was—before rounding the stunned maids and barked, "What are all you doing here? Go!"

You nearly sagged with relief when Satoru loosened his grip slightly, allowing you to breathe, as his meddlesome grandpa finally stalked away. Done. This horrible act was over! But wait, why did he still had his hand on your mouth?

"That went splendidly!" he snickered, appearing rather pleased with what had unfolded. "Now, if only we work together like this more often—"

This is… my life now, you lamented the reality. The feeling of his calloused hand on you made you feel things, honestly speaking, but another emotion—and impulse—currently overpowered that.

Seething with resentment, you fiercely chomped down on his hand hard, causing him to swear and pull his hand out of you.

"You—you devil! You bit me!"

"Serves you right!"

Okay, he was bad. He was insufferable. But to be frank, sometimes it wasn't all chaos.

And what's more, by MONTH TWO, you realized that being married to Gojo Satoru also comes with several perks.

"Miss, please, you're trespassing—"

You looked at the police with the haughtiest look you could muster, unamused. "Don't you know who I am?"

"No, but it shouldn't—"

"I'm that man's wife," you declared regally, motioning towards a certain tall shuttlecock a few meters away. "Is that not clear enough for you?"

For one, no one can look down on you anymore, because should they try, you have the power to raise your chin high and declare yourself as the wife of the infamous sorcerer. The very moment you did, that nosy police stopped yapping, and let you through.

The cursed boy, Yuta and his classmate had just been trapped inside a barrier a curse user pulled down, and you were assigned to look into this case by the headquarters. As much as it boggled you—because certainly, the strongest sorcerer was enough to investigate this—you still had to do your job.

“What is this?” you asked Satoru, who was observing something far beyond what your measly ordinary eyes could see. “What happened here?”

He turned to you, all with bandaged eyes. “Hmm? Oh, you’re here too?”

“Don't act surprised. Answer my question, Gojo.”

"You’re too uptight, wifey," Satoru's lips curved upwards playfully. He had taken to addressing you with pet names as of late, if anything, only to get a rise out of you. "Isn't it the time for you to start calling me by my given name?"

You let out a weary exhale, exasperated. "I'm serious, did you find anything? Who is behind this?"

"Nah, nothing for you to worry about," Satoru waved his hand dismissively, grinning. "More importantly! Let's head back and have dinner! My treat!"

You weren't that oblivious. You noticed things too.

"What do you want tonight? Sukiyaki? Sushi?" he hummed nonchalantly. "Or shabu-shabu?"

You gave him the stink eye. "Is that all you think about? Food?"

"As a responsible husband, it's my duty to feed my wife, no?"

"News flash: temporary wife."

"But still my wife, regardless. I overheard you earlier. Being Mrs. Gojo is convenient, yeah?"

You ignored how a part of your jolted at the emphasis he placed on that word, grunting. "Nah, it's meh."

Call it a feeling or hypothesis. It was similar to how he treated his students. He always said the dumbest things, but it actually served to make them feel at ease.

Then it occurred to you, could this be actually his attempt to change the subject?

"You can't cheat your way out of this." You shot him a pointed look. "You know something. Tell me."

"Hmmm? And what would I get in return?"

"Don't make this difficult. I'm on this assignment too!"

"Nah, if you call me by my name, I might consider it."

Hah. You should really read a parenting book one of these days. Taking on your husband was more or less the same as facing a kid.

"Satoru," you tested, the name rolling out of your lips far easier than you thought. Somehow, using his given name felt like some sort of a leap of faith.

He stopped right in his tracks, turning to you. His glossy lips quirked into a meaningful smile, and you felt funny.

"Wasn't that difficult, was it?" he winked, and you covered the strange heat creeping onto your face by rolling your eyes and huffed.

Needless to say, he still didn't tell you even a clue. You finally gave up, thinking that if he insisted on not disclosing it, then so be it. You trusted him on this, even as he turned your help away, and you hated admitting it, because, well…

You’d trust him with your life. He knows how to handle this better than anyone.

Being a a woman in Kamo clan is, in fact, not any better than in Zen'in—you're regarded more as a commodity than a human being.

"When will you bear the child of the bearer of Six Eyes?" in your father's eyes, you were but a tool to tie the Gojo at his hip, and your worth probably wasn't even twice of Noritoshi's. You had known he would ask this when he summoned you to Kamo ancestral home, and you weren't that naive—you had asked Satoru to join you too. But your father had insisted him to stay at the foyer, while he dragged you into his chamber.

Just because you had seen it coming didn’t mean you liked it. "Is that all? Do you really make me come here just to ask me that?"

And what came next was like a crack of thunder.

"How insolent!"

You shuddered, hating how his voice still had control over you. You wanted to stay deviant, but you couldn't keep yourself from shaking. You thought you would have to endure this shit just like you did before, until—

"Now, now... That's my wife you're talking to. I'd watch your words, if I were you."

You had never whipped your head so fast.

There stood Gojo Satoru, your husband, in all his glory. He was smiling but it was clear that he was displeased, evident from his cutting remark, and most notably, how he had unveiled his striking cerulean eyes for all to see. Truth to be told, you didn't expect him to barge in here at all.

"Gojo-sama," your father bowed his head, displaying utter respect towards him, contrasting the blatant disrespect he showed towards you just now. Satoru paid him no heed, as took big strides towards you and seized your arm, prompting you to rise to your feet.

"What is this? Why are you yelling at her?" His voice lacked its usual hint of amusement or teasing, sending a chill down your spine.

"Gojo-sama, I apologize for my tone towards my daughter earlier. I was just trying to educate—"

“My wife. She is my wife now, and it would do you better to remember that,” Satoru asserted firmly, putting emphasis in the way he addressed you, his gaze hardening. "She is an adult. There's nothing left for you to educate her." Pausing, he added, "And the way I saw it, you were just unnecessarily rude."

"Gojo-sama, there were just certain things in our clan that—"

"Please, don't call on us again," Satoru interjected decisively with a light yet firm voice. You could swear your heart was somersaulting at the sight of him staring down your natural enemy. "I'm sure you're aware, but your daughter bears my name now, and she will get the respect she is due. I will have a word with anyone who fails to treat her accordingly."

Somehow or another, Satoru whisked you away from that hellhole, your hand tightly clasped in his. Your relieved sigh didn't go unnoticed by him, as he looked back to you.

"Have you gone soft?" he teased, eyeing you with a playful snort. "Did you forget who your husband is? You've got nothing to fear. Not even him."

"Thank you," you murmured. Your heart was still pounding and your mind blanked, rendering you unable to engage in your usual banters.

His clear blue eyes widened a touch, blinking at your display of vulnerability, Then, he wore the most innocent expression, even sporting a silly smirk—the hardness from earlier gone. "I was really cool, huh? Totally made you swoon I bet."

And in MONTH THREE, you realized, as he laced his fingers with yours, as his laughter filled the air, as calmness swelled on your chest, and as you loudly snorted at his remark, that—

You felt warm, so warm, in fact, and maybe—

"Pfft, you wish."

—maybe... being with him isn't so bad after all.

MONTH FOUR, and you finally found out that it was Geto Suguru.

Everyone knew that your husband and the criminal used to be the best of friends. You saw them during your high school days, and heck, you used to think that Geto was the better man.

You could only imagine what he must feel.

. . .

When he got back to your shared house after the whole ordeal—after he ended his best friend with his own hands, Satoru honestly didn't expect that you would be waiting for him.

"You okay?" you asked him, brows furrowed in concern. It was probably one of the very few times you had displayed emotions other than contempt towards him.

It felt strange because he was used to your jabs, and he was not sure what sort of expression he should pull now, because truthfully, now he felt empty. Blank. All he comprehended was that he had killed Suguru, that he was gone, and that was something he must do.

It would be just like any other day if hadn't just committed a murder. On someone he held dear.

"Of course, who do you think I am?" Satoru swiftly replied, sounding smug—or at least tried to. "I'm the strongest. I’m unscat—"

"No, not that." You frowned, meeting his gaze squarely. "After everything."

Satoru struggled to choose how he should react, partly because most of his energy had gone after walking Yuta back and reassuring him earlier, and by default, the two of you should be hellbent on hating each other and wishing for this contract to end soon.

"Aww, are you worried about me?" he quipped with a touch of sarcasm just because he had to, to show you that it wasn't enough to ruffle him.

Because he is still the strongest, even when alone. Especially when he is alone.

You let out a sigh, looking away. "Can't I?"

"Whoa, that's sweet of—"

"Don't fool yourself," you stated in straight-laced manner, meeting his gaze with a composed expression. "You're not okay. You might be Gojo Satoru, but no one will be after doing what you just did."

You might be Gojo Satoru, but no one will be after doing what you just did.

Despite himself, his smile fell, and his chest burns. What is this? Were you sympathizing with him?

Does that mean that you don't see him as the entity... that was the strongest?

Before now, Satoru remembered you as the most uncooperative Kyoto girl he had ever met. Your first meeting in high school sealed your fate as the two of you could hardly get along. You didn't mince words, you didn't take shit from anyone else—heck, sometimes when he thought of you, what came up to mind was an impenetrable diamond.

Which was why he chose you. You were someone he could trust. You were pretty in the eyes and certainly wouldn't bore him either. His reasons were purely based on logic. And after four months with you, Satoru came to a conclusion that you indeed fulfilled all his expectations, if not more.

And he felt comfortable, or dare he say, secure even. He felt like he had gained a friend, who could see past his bravado and wouldn't judge him for it.

"You're..." you sighed, casting a sympathetic glance at him, your forehead slightly creased. At that moment, Satoru couldn't help but think you were incredibly endearing, fretting over him. "...an idiot."

"Heh." I really am, aren't I?

"I never knew him well..." you chose your words carefully, hesitant. "Did you try to convince him, before this?"

He barked a bitter laugh. "I did, we even made a scene in front of freaking KFC," he remarked with a scoff. "He didn't listen to me, until the very end."

You wanted to tell him “You have done everything you could” but the words faltered on your tongue. You couldn't bring yourself to say it when you saw the faint quiver of his lips, the slump of his shoulders—the very sight of a boy grieving the loss of his friend.

Your heart pricked too, somehow, seeing that expression on him. And you once again realized that your silly, exalted husband was just as human as anyone else who made him think he wasn’t.

"And you know what he said in the end?" Satoru's tone was flippant, as if asking the most normal thing around, but carried a trace of grief, evident in the slight drop in his tone if you squinted. "He said he didn't regret it, not even a bit."

"I'm sorry," was all you could manage.

Satoru's smile was lopsided. Now that he had finally accepted it, something inside him finally bleeds, and it freaking hurts. The pain gripped his chest like a swirling inferno.

But then, you boldly clasped his hand in yours, gently tracing soothing circles on its back.

"What?" he peered at you, feeling a ghost of a smile forming.

"Consider this emotional support."

And he chuckled softly. Despite the lingering ache, despite the gloom he was sure he would carry for the rest of his life, he felt the pain was more bearable with you by his side, somewhat.

How?

You blamed it on the alcohol, because it was MONTH FIVE and you were kissing Gojo Satoru, daringly.

"We shouldn't be doing this," you rasped between kisses, breathless, as your own sinful hands plucked the buttons off his shirt. The intoxication might have played a part, but the intense heat coursing through you made it hard to think straight.

Satoru crashed his lips against yours again, consumed by blind lust. "Yeah, we shouldn't," he replied in a rush. His breath was hot as he trailed his lips down your jaw and neck next, savoring the softness of your skin.

You two had attended a banquet for the elite, and you were unbelievably beautiful. Standing by his side as his wife, you drew admiring glances, with everyone marveling at what a remarkable couple you made. The Gojo heir who was born with the legendary Limitless and the Kamo heiress, as lovely as her clan's name was powerful.

His deft hands roamed the curves of your body, exploring every inch of you. The warmth of his hands tickled something inside you as you closed your eyes to sink into this very moment. Next you knew, his bare body was against yours and you were stripped out of your evening dress.

Lust flickered in his honored eyes, as he took in the sight of you in your undergarments.

"You're really pretty, you know," he whispered. The intensity with which his eyes scanned your form made you nearly squirm. "Shame we don't always get along."

"You're one to talk," you retorted, a hint of exasperation in your tone, as you willed all other thoughts away. Thoughts like what comes after this. Thoughts like—

Is it heaven or sin, if you feel both at once?

His thumb tenderly caressed your plush lips, a hint of a smirk on his beautiful face.

He has long been thinking about your body. He was but a man, after all. He just didn't expect that you wanted this too.

There was always this tension, only this time, neither of you could hold it back anymore. Perhaps it was impulse—hell, most certainly it is, but there was another thing, something more that even Gojo Satoru still didn't dare to say out loud.

"Eager, are we?" he taunted when you leaned in, yearning for the touch of his lips on yours again.

You huffed. “Shut up and kiss me.”

A rush of heat flooded your cheeks at the slip of those words. You were about to rectify it, taken aback by your own boldness, but then he drew you close, silencing any further protest with a gentle hush—

"Too late, sweetheart," his husky voice entered your ears, lips curling into the most wicked smile, and you were in a trance. And Satoru was once again convinced, that choosing you as his wife was the rightest thing there was.

If the two of you went with this, then there would be consequences. Things would become more complicated, harder to sort out.

But, he decided, as he captured your lips in another heated kiss, everything else can wait.

MONTH SIX, and you were dreading the day of your divorce.

You brought this upon yourself. Whenever you reminisced about that night, you wanted to smack yourself in the face and bang your head against the nearest wall.

This marriage has a time limit. And you were doing it out of convenience in the first place.

You weren't supposed to… goddammit—fall in love with him.

But what's done is done, there is no going back in time. Awkward exchanges and lingering stares had been gnawing at your insides these days, and you were sure Satoru too must have noticed them too. You two used to be more relaxed with each other, and he'd even flirt with you, but weeks ever since that night of drunken passion, you almost reverted back to your high school personas—ignoring each other.

This was tough. You didn't like this. And more than that, you were faced with a more pressuring matter...

Gojo Satoru, with everything he possessed, could have had any woman he wanted. This arrangement with you was temporary in the first place, soon he would forget you and flit to the next woman.

The thought made your heart ache, because you had involuntarily gave your heart away to him. Siiigh… What a predicament you put yourself into, huh?

With just a month left together, maybe you should just make the best of it.

. . .

If you thought that things were any better with Satoru, then you were sorely wrong because he too, was debating with himself often nowadays.

Days spent with you were fun and fulfilling. You irked expression somehow had made its mark in his heart. You were pretty, fit to be by his side publicly and preferably, behind the closed doors. With you, he didn't feel the need to carry this facade of being strong—he could be a clown tripping over his own trap and you would amuse him with your deadpan expression.

And ever since that night, he was constantly reminded by how soft your skin was against his. It almost drove him crazy now that he was deprived of it.

How was it the last month already? He wasn't ready to let you go yet.

When he got back home later after his class ended and found you in the dinner table setting the food, all he could muster was, "Hey. Haven't eaten?"

You whirled around to face him in surprise. "Oh... you're back. Just about to. Want to join me?"

Of course he would. And yet as the two of you sat down, it was so painfully awkward Satoru felt like he was dying inside.

Why couldn't he pull off a smart line or two? Where did his suaveness go? He was smoother than this, surely, with his colorful history. One night of passion was supposed to enhance the relationship, not to derail it. What happened to you both?

The salt was near his side when you reached to grab it and bumped into his hand. "Uh-oh."

Turning towards you, he found your spooked expression and your adorable eyes widening in surprise. "S-sorry..."

It was just freaking salt! Salt! Why on earth were you apologizing?!

Enough, he thought. This utter madness of being jumpy with each other. He'd start from his side.

Does he want you to keep being his wife even after all this ends? Yes.

Why? All reasons already listed above.

Does this mean he likes you? Apparently and supposedly, yes. Because if it isn't then he doesn't know what this funny feeling driving him mad is.

With that sorted out, then he only had one more thing to confirm. He put down his spoon and crossed his arms together. "Tell me the truth. Do you like living with me?"

His question obviously took you by surprise. "Huh? What brought this on?"

"Just give me an answer."

"You're so pushy," you grumbled, lips pursed, and he felt like you were finally back to your usual dynamics somewhat. Good.

"Sooo, the verdict? Do you enjoy being with me or not?"

Because to him, it was a resounding yes and more.

Ignoring the warmth that surged to your cheeks, you rolled your eyes. "Surprisingly, not bad, yeah," you admitted, mustering the courage to meet his gaze. "You're annoying, an idiot, a bit crazy—"

"Hey!"

"—but eventually you're still... manageable," you added, feeling your face truly start to sizzle. But covered it up by looking down and playing with your fingers as you still had more to go on. "What I want to say is... I'm glad that I agreed to this—with you—because I can’t imagine it with anyone else."

An unfamiliar tingling emotion rushed to his chest as his face too started to heat up, letting your words sink in. Is he blushing? Oh God. He sure is. And so did he feel hella giddy.

Then it’s sealed.

Suddenly he procured a piece of paper from his work uniform and showed it to you. You first saw his lazily scrawled signature before it dawned on you.

The contract. You almost forgot that you made him sign that looming piece of paper. You were almost dismayed, thinking that he would end this right then and there, but then—

“Well, then… I suppose we no longer need this.”

Riiip~

Your eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when Gojo Satoru tore out your contract right in front of your face, the most brilliant of his devilish grin adorned his handsome face, as he took of his blindfold to see you far clearly than ever. Heavens, you are cute, he thought.

“Soooo~ seems like you’re stuck with me from now on!”

You gaped, awestruck at the blatant meaning of it all, feeling how your heartbeat started to pick up the pace, when he pulled the rag out of your feet once more by tilting his head to the side, looking at you with a winning smile.

“Let’s start over! What did they say again? Ah, yeah. Here’s to the first day of our lives!”

[bonny-kookoo]

Jungkook

𝐎𝐟𝐟-𝐃𝐮𝐭𝐲 | Dogworthy

"Oh you'd be surprised by what this tiny package has to offer."

Tags/Warnings: Police Officer!Jungkook, Dog Hybrid!Reader, Partners to lovers?, Alternate law-system/made up laws, crime, futuristic, sci-fi, body-modifications?, Fluff, romance, Adult themes (sex, alcohol, mentions of drugs but no consumption), Comedy?, Angst, gender prejudice but it's resolved, past injury, MC tackles a guy?, wholesome police action, Seokjin being a menace

Length: 4k words

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Jungkook and you have been partnered for almost four years now.

When he was training, he always wondered what his future hybrid partner would be like. Would they be older than him? Younger? He's seen a lot of officers with their hybrids- he will probably get a male partner, as it's the norm most of the time, female hybrids too fearful and nurturing most of the time. What he didn't think would happen was to be partnered with you- because, if he just had to look at you, he'd never think you'd work in the police force in the way that you do.

Basic tracking? Maybe. But actual criminal pursuits and field work? No way.

It's not until you both started training that he saw beyond your mere physical appearance. From seeing you in action in defense and attacks, to learning how to command you properly- and now, living with you, since he has to be ready as quickly as he can if a job comes in. You could loose valuable time if you had to go back to the station and get your partner and then respond to the call, after all. So Jungkook and you live in the same apartment- with you having your own room, while he takes care of you as a part of his main job.

Your diet, exercise, healthcare- all of that is a part of his job as a hybrid canine handler.

And it's a good job- it offers him a way to feel needed and valued, gives him a purpose even when he's off-duty. Although he has to admit, that sometimes, he does feel a little bad- because vacations he takes are off-limits for you, due to insurance reasons. Jungkook would have to file in for actual ownership over you, and that's out of the question after merely a four year span. You have to be with him for at least five.

And he knows handlers who haven't filed in for ownership after more than ten years even.

Turning off the stove as he prepares your breakfast, he hears the familiar sound of your room opening, before your naked feet tap into the bathroom to shower and get ready for the day. You typically wake up as soon as he does- you've told him that it's a simple instinct thing, that you've begun to adjust to his rhythm at this point in time, and it makes everything a whole lot easier. Because you can be a little grumpy whenever you have to get up early- so whenever you wake up yourself, it take a big weight off his shoulders.

When you walk in later, your food is already cooled off enough for you to sleepily dive in- a sight Jungkook has gotten used to by now, as he sips on his own coffee, watching you. "We're on call for today." He tells you, though he will probably have to tell you again later when you're actually awake. "Means you don't have to rush." he offers, and you nod, humming a reply as you eat your breakfast, tail floppy and hanging down, no tension in your body yet.

If anyone saw you right now, they'd never guess what your job is- or what you've been through already.

Like the first time you bit him, faint scar still decorating the back of his hand- which was entirely deserved, now that he looks back at it.

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Jungkook feels a bit.. odd, looking at his coworkers play around with their hybrid partners.

All of them are male,, roughhousing playfully, no need to hold back as they throw toys back and forth, chasing birds and just.. having fun. Meanwhile you're busy napping in a sunny spot, unbothered by the loud sounds of everyone enjoying the sunny weather.

"Having a hybrid can be exhausting, huh?" A friend of his and fellow handler, Seokjin says as he sits down next to the younger police officer who just shrugs. "Is she adapting well?" He wonders, and again, Jungkook shrugs, watching everyone playfight with a sense of longing. You've finished your basic training with Jungkook a few weeks ago- so it's not even been half a year yet that you both have worked together.

"Maybe." He just answers.

"You don't sound too enthusiastic about that." Jin jokes. "What's wrong?" He worries, always a bit protective over his younger friend.

"I don't know. I think because- you know, she's female, I feel like I can't really warm up to her." He admits. "It's weird."

"Did you even try and connect with her?" Seokjin offers. "She's pretty sweet if you ask me. I trained with her a bit when she joined here."

"Then change with me?" He asks. "I take Yoongi, and you take her." He offers, making Seokjin sigh- before he shakes his head, patting the younger one's back.

"Oh boy, you need to learn a thing or two first." He laughs a little, before he leaves him alone. And for a good moment Jungkook doesn't understand- until he looks over to where you're sitting, glaring, but not in an angry way.

You're clearly hurt.

Later that day, when he opens the car door to let you out, he wants to offer you a pat on the head like he always does after a finished day at work-

but this time, you bite, teeth leaving a clear imprint in his palm, causing him to retract it in shock. "I'm sleeping in the car." You huff, arms crossed before you move to crawl into the furthest corner of the car, refusing to come out.

"You can't sleep in the car-"

"I can, and I will!" You bark back, as he signs, runs a hand over his face, and closes the door to walk around to the other side- but the moment he opens the door there, you've crawled into the opposite corner, and it's not a game you're playing, very obviously. "Leave me!" You growl. "I'll tell them you don't wanna be my partner tomorrow so you can get a new hybrid." You huff annoyed.

"I didn't mean it like that-" he wants to defend himself, but in all honesty, he did mean it like that. He doesn't know what to do- he feels this odd sense of awkwardness with you, and he blames it on your gender by default, not really looking past that for any other cause.

It was the easiest thing to do- and back then, Jungkook used to be lazy like that.

He slams the door shut in frustration, and even walks inside his apartment to get ready for bed. So be it! If you want to go be petty in the car, you can be his guest!

But the minute it starts raining, he feels horrible.

He shouldn't be so mean to you just because you might not be what he was expecting to get. You can't do anything about that- it's not your fault you've been paired up with him.

So he opens the car door and sits inside the back with you- rain pattering on the roof of the car, as he awkwardly plays with his hands. "I wanna sleep." You tell him. He nods. It's late.

"The come inside." He sighs, looking at you. "I'm sorry I said what I said. I.. that was uncalled for, and you have every reason to be upset." He agrees. "But.. please be upset inside. Where I know you're safe and warm and all that." He awkwardly requests.

"I'll still let them know you don't wanna be my partner." You mumble, wanting to get out- but he reaches out to you instead before you can open your door, not caring about being bitten again.

"Dont." He requests. "I want to make this work. I just.. don't know how." He explains himself. "I'm worried I might be too rough with you or I might upset you more than once or twice." He tells you. "I'm worried."

"...you were still mean." You huff. "Just because I'm a female dog hybrid doesn't mean I don't want to play tug.. Just because I'm a female doesn't mean I can't play-wrestle with you like the others sometimes do in the yard. You could've just asked." You express, and he nods, realizing that now as well.

"Will you let me be your partner still?" He asks, and you nod after a moment.

"We can try."

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He's putting down his empty cup of coffee now, before me walks into the bathroom to fetch a hairbrush and hairtie.

As he starts to run the bristles through your hair, your tail wags sleepily- you enjoy things like these a lot, no matter in what context. Jungkook has grown on you over the years, and he'd even go as far as to already say that he'll take you with him into retirement- you just fit so well together at this point.

As he gathers your hair in his tattooed hand, he's gentle with it- knows that it gives you a headache if he pulls the hairtie too hard against your skull, and he doesn't want that to happen. It took trial and error to figure out things like this, and as he makes sure that the ponytail stays low on your head, he can't help but remember the moment he first got a taste of the dangers of his and most of all your job.

It was terrifying.

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It's your third major job.

Your first two went down effortlessly- you got this, after an entire year of working together. You're a good team, and he prides himself in knowing that he, in his opinion, has the best hybrid in the entire policeforce right now.

So he doesn't think when he opens the metal enforced car door of the back where you're sitting, pacing, waiting for something to do- eyes wide open and tail wagging, ready to receive instructions as he looks at you.

He steps aside, points to two people running.

"Get 'em!" He calls out, and it's your signal to do what you do best, boot pressing against the edge of the car as you practically fly out.

It's always surprising so everyone who sees you working for the first time just how fast and most of all efficient you chase after suspects or criminals. You make up for your lack in height by instead using shortcuts and taking on obstacles, and with your heightened senses, no one can escape you for long.

Jungkook runs after you, a little slower, gun drawn as he calls out numerous times for them to stop running- but they don't.

They never do.

And all goes well- one of the suspects tripping so another officer can cuff him down, when Jungkook hears a sound he never wanted to hear in his life.

Your voice, crying out, yelp echoing in the alleyway out of his sight.

Adrenaline is pumping in his veins as he rounds the corner and aims his gun at the man still holding the metal pipe. "Put the pipe down!" Jungkook calls out, voice angry and dripping as much authority as he can put in it. "Put it down!" He commands again, and at this point in time, the man understands that there is nowhere to run with multiple officers arriving behind Jungkook as well.

And when he tries to run you're there, doing your job despite clearly being hurt- tacking him down, so that responding officers can cuff him and take him to a car where his friend is already sitting inside.

Jungkook will never forget the sight of you there.

Scratches on your cheekbone, and later on at home, purple bruises where the metal pipe had connected with your leg- bruising it badly, but not enough to break.

You got away easy.

What he'll never forget is the blame he placed on himself though, because it was your little ponytail high on your head that he made rather sloppily that morning which gave the man a good piece to tug on- forcing you down so he'd been able to get you off of him and into a vulnerable position.

Ever since then, Jungkook either puts your hair in a low bun, or a low ponytail tucked once into your hairtie to keep it out of the way.

Because he never wants to feel that guilt again.

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You're slowly waking up as he finishes up your hair, patting your head a little before he walks past you to bring your brush back into the bathroom.

Jungkook is an odd person to you.

He used to by almost childish- and not in the funny way. He'd also been extremely competitive to the point where it didn't feel at all as if you were partners- but as if he had to find reason after reason as to why you didn't need a hybrid for this or for that.

Tracking? Nowadays, most people have trackable body-mods like he himself has, so why need a hybrid? And wouldn't it be easier to just use a regular dog?

Intimidation was useless according to Jungkook, because no one would ever be intimidated by a hybrid like you. A male dog hybrid, maybe- but not you. That one, you remember, hurt a lot- because it tugged on every little insecurity you had.

Chasing could just be done by the cops themselves- Jungkook even trained to be able to outrun you, just to prove a point. Funnily enough, when it comes to actual field work however, he missed the key difference- because it's not just speed. It's about calculating where a suspect might go, and how you can be there faster to catch up.

Clearing rooms was done in the past by officers anyways- so why use a hybrid now? One could just use a scanner outside to search for any signs of live in a building.

It was weird to you. If he hated hybrid work so much, then why sign up for it? Why train for it?

And then it hit you. He didn't hate hybrid work. He just didn't want you.

You're not sure when that changed- maybe he just accepted the fact that you're his partner now, or maybe he simply grew up. But these days, things are easy. Trust is easy.

And that's one of the most important parts of your job.

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You're on a regular patrol, walking around just so you can get some stretches into your legs from being in the car for so long, when Jungkook spots a woman, child in her arm, running through a field. It's clear that she's searching for something, and it must be important.

"Hey!" Jungkook calls out, walking closer with you walking behind. You're intimidating to some people due to people being aware that police hybrids are trained to be highly responsive to things like noise and faint signs of aggression- so you keep your distance, especially from children. "Everything alright?" Jungkook wonders, walking almost lazily to ensure the woman doesn't feel threatened.

"Ah- yes, I just lost my keys." She sighs, carefully rocking her child. "I don't know where- we were just playing around and they must've fallen out of my dress pocket when I didn't notice." She expresses in frustration, making Jungkook nod.

"Well, how about we help?" He offers, looking over his shoulder at you, who's tail instantly starts to wag at the prospect of a job. "Can she get closer so she can pick up the scent?" He asks, and the woman nods, holding out her hand for you to smell, her wrist providing optimal scent for you.

And then, Jungkook nods, and tells you to search.

Jungkook watches as you roam around, uncaring of the taller patches of grass or bugs you scare up into flying away in the field. "She's walking exactly where I walked.." The woman says, and even the toddler in her arm is now quiet, watching with big brown eyes as you search around, causing Jungkook to chuckle.

"Hybrids are really good at tracking." He explains. "They can somewhat see scents they concentrate on- it's pretty interesting." He shrugs, when you suddenly call his name, making him look at you. "Bring it here!" He calls to you, and you nod with excitement, running towards him to drop the keychain into his hand, the woman sighing in relief.

"That's my keys! Oh god, I would've been here hours!" She says happily, though her toddler tries reaching out for you now, clearly interested in your big ears in top of your head. "No no no, she might not like that honey." She scolds gently, but Jungkook smiles.

"If you're nice and don't tug, it's okay." He explains, as the mother let's her toddler down onto her feet, as you sit down into the grass, letting the child closer, her tiny hands feeling your ears.

"Ah this is so adorable.. is it okay if I take a picture of them together?" The mother asks, and he nods, happy that he's getting these moments.

Jungkook and you are set to soon move from active duty to community police- something Jungkook signed you both up for when the most recent team resigned after seven years. A new, fresh set of officers was needed- and considering that you've never had any mishaps in your entire time of service, the department though that you two and two other teams would be perfect to raise the people's trust in the police again, just like the teams before you already started to do.

So moments like these, captured and shared, are important. Because it's word of mouth, it's people telling people that there's nothing to be afraid of.

Making your way back home, Jungkook stops at a fast food place- walks in with you, causing a lot of people to stare, since it's not something many officers tend to do due to the uniforms you both wear being not really subtle.

But the tenseness of the room quickly melts away as you jump excitedly next to Jungkook when he orders you your favorite food- and a small cup of icecream to go along with it. Your tail wags wildly, and Jungkook can't help but laugh as you carefully walk up to the counter to get your icecream first before anything else-

a thank you falling from your mouth, as you begin to dive into your treat.

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Jungkook laughs when you lay your head over Taehyung's lap- the young man having just finished his training, now set to start his additional training time to receive a hybrid of his own.

He's scratching your ears, playing around, clearly unaware of the fact that you're not a pet at all. "She's so cute!" He laughs when you slip a little, Jungkook helping you dust off your vest for you.

"Oh she's even cuter when she tackles murder suspects!" Jimin laughs as he walks in, giving you a small bottle of water, Taehyung tensing up. "And she's got a great grip once she gets her teeth on you. Jungkook would know." He chuckles. "Do you still have that scar?" He wonders, and Jungkook chuckles, nodding before he pushes up one of his sleeves-

clear bitemark faint but still visible, Tattoos having lost the ink in those spots, especially the two most prominent points from your canine teeth.

"Wait- how'd that happen?" Taehyung asks, watching how Jungkook pets your head, having noticed you shrinking in on yourself as you remember the day.

"It was my fault." Jungkook shrugs. "I forgot my training, and this was a consequence." He offers, pulling you to sit on his lap now, everyone on break sitting on the concrete part of the large yards where hybrids train and play.

"How come?" Taehyung asks, as you lean your back into Jungkook's front, looking around.

"It was right after a job." Jungkook says. "She was still high on adrenaline because she had to both chase someone and hold them down while they were armed and shooting." He remembers the day. "When I brought her back into the car, I reached out to pat her head, just like I always do- but because she was still in her work-mindset, she bit out of instinct." He shrugs.

"Oh." Taehyung nods, understanding. "I guess.. she can be underestimated?" He wonders, and Jimin laughs.

"Oh definitely!" He says, pushing Jungkook's shoulder a little, causing you to growl out of instinct. "Sorry munchkin. But, you should've seen them train! Jungkookies face every time she'd tackle down the instructor was hilarious to watch!"

"Wait, instructor Welsh?" Taehyung asks, making everyone nod in amusement. "But that guy is a beast.!" He wonders, looking at you with wide eyes-

though you just nod proudly and wag your tail.

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"Seokjin, I'm about to commit a first-degree murder right now, I swear." Jungkook groans, head on the table while the squeaking echoes through the breakroom, Jin however laughing loudly, windshield wiper laugh almost as high pitched as the new toy he brought for you.

"Oh come on- you can't tell me that isn't cute!" He argues, watching how you put the toy back on the table, pushing his shoulder to get him to throw it again-

and he groans again as if in pain, throwing it anyways, because Seokjin is fucking right.

You are too cute.

[dustteller]

I think there's a lot of untapped potential in the fact that Esen is, for all intents and purposes, a pretty normal dude, and the two most important people in his life are most certainly not. To some extent Esen is aware that Ouyang and Baoxiang are weird, but he has no idea about their internal monologues and just how fucked up both of them are.

There is so many posibilities here for comedy and angst. Either of these two could reveal anything about their internal thought process to Esen (probably half convinced that these are Normal Thoughts that Normal People have) and Esen's immediate reaction would be "What, and I cannot stress this enough, the fuck," because in fact no that is not a normal thing to think and normal people are not like this. Normal people like Esen would be incredibly horrified and worried if they were to hear anyone they loved express these thoughts. Even worse when Ouyang and Baoxiang end up enabling each other into thinking that their thought processes are reasonable. Esen would have to break it to them that no, it is literally just you two, why are you like this, do I need to call someone.

[alexxncl]

‼️NIGHTBRINGER LESSON 39 SPOILERS‼️

masterlist | lessons/events | all lessons | lesson 38 | lesson 40

this was hilarious until i remember that satan is indeed the avatar of wrath and has destroyed the house of lamentations more tines than i can count on both hands. then it got slightly less hilarious, but it's still hilarious

ik we all joke about lucifer being satan's dad bc he technically is but this is PEAK father-son behavior 😭 satan throwing a temper tantrum, no pun intended, over not being able to adopt a cat is one of the funniest things ever actually

y'all know i love me some angst but dear GOD am i happy that we're getting something lighthearted after the emotional rollercoaster that was lesson 38

also we got our room back hehe 🫶🏽

aaaaand now they back to brothers

"nuh uh" "uh huh" DAMN just let him have the cat 😭

shithead lucifer my beloved 🫶🏽 and it's even more heartwarming bc we can see how much he's relaxed and recovered from the incident in cocytus. him smiling and laughing and joking with his brothers freely after the fear of losing them has finally been dissipated has to be a weight off of his shoulders, and a weight off of his brothers' shoulders, too. he's probably been less of himself since the fall, and this is probably more reminiscent of the lucifer from back in the celestial realm

i hc that mammon's familiars/crows just roam around the house freely, so this is even more frustrating for satan bc he's like "well if mammon can have pets, why can't i?"

oh baby :(((

just when i thought we'd gotten away from the angst, i was reminded that we are (i am) indeed on lesson 39 outta 40...ykw at least i was happy for a little bit

10/10 storytelling and writing. i love it when siblings ACTUALLY act like siblings, bc some media doesn't do sibling dynamics justice

granted, solomon isnt their sibling, but lucifer said it once AND doubled down bc he saw that it pissed satan off the first time. the older sibling in me smiled

ik i've said this before but...

lucifer says he hates when his brothers pester him like they don't get it from him 😭 oh no, if it isn't the consequences of your own actions!

now i feel like mammon might be onto something...what if he actually is stronger than lotan? but he doesn't want things to go past empty, playful threats bc hurting lotan would devastate levi, and he adores his little brother too much to do anything that irresponsible. more on this here

the brothers ever 🫶🏽 petty sibling dynamics always get me

satan reusing asmo's phrase after lucifer and solomon used it against him is peak comedy

ADHD TWINS

i can't do long, complicated shit for the life of me without getting sidetracked or overwhelmed

...unless it's these long ass posts

but that's different...kind of

so THAT'S why he was giggling and kicking his feet the whole time?? "hehehe" my ass you sly bitch

also, you can see the amount of pride lucifer feels towards satan just by the way he's acting throughout this entire lesson. he also knew wholeheartedly that satan would, one way or another, find a way to summon the white dragon. he egged satan on and teased him on purpose, which probably made his powers stronger. but i feel like the teasing also was a mask for encouragement

it was obviously still teasing at the heart, but there was a little more to it that reflected how proud lucifer is of his baby brother for coming into his own

also satan initiating the family picture at the end ??? I SOBBED

the lucifer from our timeline would NEVER allow a pet into the house. but the lucifer from our timeline also didn't get to heal the way this lucifer did, so now i'm kinda sad just thinking about that

maybe he thinks having a pet would mean that they're permanently staying in one place? and he still doesn't feel secure enough in his place in the devildom even after all the time he's spent there, even after making a home and a name for himself and his brothers. maybe he considered letting satan get a pet once mc came into the picture, and still toys with the idea, but keeps deciding against it for some internal reason that he won't address

MY WIFE MY BELOVED THE LOVE OF MY LIFE IS BACK

they really do invite any and everyone into the family. i love them so much it makes me insane

completely unrelated but i never realized that the kiss sounds are different for each brother ??? is thus just a nightbringer thing or am i just too far removed from the og game

[sldlovescartoons]

I’m just going to put this out there because I was going to write a proper fic but it’s look like that’s not going to work out so I just want to ramble about some ideas for a bit. For the purposes of this little post, I’m just sort ignoring anything that has happened in campaign 3 and things attached to the plot line, mostly becayse we don’t know where going to happen in the end yet. All things said here just sort of assume none of that all happens. Just in case.

So, at some point in time, Essek comes to a sort of realization that he’s… being stupid. He can’t effect real change to atone for his wrongs as a transient on the run from the government. It’s just punishing himself, his friends, and his boyfriend, and he doesn’t want to do it anymore. He wants to get Transmogrification cast on him, but he’s worried that he still might be caught, the people who would seek him out have magic to look in his mind if they suspect his new form. They might need to fake his death.

And then Caleb is like: well, we don’t have to fake it at all.

Because Caleb has a copy of Clone. And so a plan is made, they’ll grow a new Essek, make a spare spell book, and a new spell book to match the his new identity they are crafting, and when the year is up, the Nein will turn Essek in for treason. He’ll get executed, and once he wakes in his fresh pod body, they’ll escort him to the spell circle to start his new life.

The comedy potential in the planning stages for his new identity and form is great. Angst too.

After Essek picks his new name, he starts to insist they start to call him by it almost exclusively, and the Nein don’t want to, that seems weird. Essek’s insistence that he’d only had the name Essek for 30 years, he was barely used to it in the first place, it was no big deal and den members change names all the name because for many reasons, it soothes the M9, but also creates more questions. Like what was your Child Name, huh, hot boi? (He refuses to tell them as a point of pride. His child name was so silly!)

He and Caleb work very closely on his new form and there are disagreements:

On the angsty side: Essek puts forward that with some light modifications and a higher level of casting, they could also give the target the lifespan of the chosen race over the original. They could make him a human in his 30’s and they could spend the rest of both of their lives together. He doesn’t care about living a long time, just being with those he loves and atonning for his sins. Caleb refuses vehemently, that’d be paramount to killing Essek with his own hand and he refuses to do it. He makes him swear that he won’t do anything stupid when the Nein are all gone. He almost calls off the whole thing.

On the funny side: We have Essek, who as a member of a noble den had a through sex education that throughly covered gender and tried to prepare the young drow in early schooling that they could be in, or one day be in, a body much different from theirs. They try to ease they into the idea that might someday give birth, or might have already done so in a previous life. Gender and Body Dysmorphia are covered throughly. Gender is kind of bullshit to him. His form is kind of bullshit. He was acquainted with the fact his body might not always be or have been what it is at a very young age. He is largely unconcerned with how his new form will make HIM feel, he’d get used to it easy. He wants to know what Caleb would like.

Caleb, on the other hand, is trying to reduce body and gender dysmorphia as much as possible after his experience getting to know Nott/Veth. He’s trying to figure out how close they can get to the original without getting caught. To make it easier for Essek to adjust.

Caleb has absolutely no idea how to deal with Essek suggesting giving his new form a much larger penis (because he knows Caleb is a little bit of a size queen) or intersex body configurations (because Caleb likes both, right? He could very be both. He had some cousins that seemed very happy that were intersex or nonbinary.). He turns him down, explains why, but that doesn’t stop Essek’s brain train.

So naturally, when Essek asks if Caleb wants biological child and suggests they could just make him a woman if he did, the other man absolutely loses hugs shit and chokes on his tongue in shock. In take a long time to calm him down and the drow’s assurance that it wasn’t a big deal, he had a soul sibling (he actually used a weird drow word, but that’s what it meant) that his father gave birth to when he was woman and his mother was a man, they married into Den Mirimm to strengthen Den relations! Happened all the time! Did not in fact help Caleb much, he had several questions.

Just a lots of Essek taking the whole much less seriously than most of the Nein because of his upbringing.

They end up make him a male elf roughly his age with very tan skin. They make up a whole amnesia story, Fjord and Jester pretend to find him washed up on shore. They wait 4 months him and Caleb to ‘start dating’ and two months after that to move in, claiming a ‘whirlwind romance’. They are married within the year. (Because fuck them breaking up because of lifespan angst, that’s bullshit and I refuse to entertain it lol.) They get to be happy together and make the world better as a pair, a unit, and Essek continues their various cause they’d taken up well after Caleb dies an old man.

[justimajin]

The Profit & Love Statement » Pt. 21

↠ Pairing: Seokjin x Reader

↠ Genre: Fluff, Comedy, Angst

↳ 4.5k / CEO AU

↠ Summary: Through hours of endless training and hard work, Kim Seokjin is finally the CEO of Kim Electronics. He has everything at his hands - status, money, power. He owes it all to you, his rigid and sarcastic mentor who overseed his entire training. But as he steps into the shoes of becoming the CEO, he can only wonder what it means for your relationship now.

↠ A/N: If anyone would like to see the clip referenced in this chapter for research purposes, here it is.

↠ Next Update: Tuesday, November 21 (series masterpost here)

Jin is hunched over, features screwed shut. 

You’re currently inside his office, keeping a hand on his back and watching as he curls up in pain. 

A huff leaves you. “I told you not to overdo it.” 

“And I told you I had to!” He protests – only to immediately regret it and deeply wince. 

A defeated sigh leaves his lips. “I just wonder how long I’ll be like this.” 

“By the looks of it, a good week.” You retort, “Why didn’t you just take the day off?” 

“I’m the CEO…” He mumbles, opting to plant his face against his desk. 

You let out a long drawn-out sigh. In this case, the single person responsible for his dilemma was simply himself. 

Planting a hand against your hip and cocking up a brown, you’re extremely blunt with him. 

“Well, this is what you get for karaoking so hard.” 

Jin glances at you, a pout on his lips from your choice of wording. But you don’t budge, knowing exactly how this all conspired. 

The whole concept of the evening came from one person. 

“Karaoke?”

“We should go!” Jungkook exclaims, speaking with you as he makes his coffee. “I already asked everybody.” 

“I don’t know,” You bite your bottom lip, “I’ve never done it before…” 

“It’ll be fun,” He insists, slipping a card out from his suit’s pocket. You peer at it, noticing the words ‘brand new location’ at the top, which happened only a street away from your workplace. “Bring Seokjin along too.” 

You snort, “Are you sure the two of you won’t start fighting?” 

“No promises.” He says with a sly smile. 

You had decided to bring it up to Jin after work – who to your surprise is extremely onboard with the whole idea. He surprises you even more by mentioning that he actually loves doing karaoke and that he even dragged Namjoon down with him one time, to which you could ask him just how talented he is at it. 

Ultimately making the decision to go, you’re not quite sure what exactly to expect when you open the door to your assigned room. 

Your irises round at the pure chaos. 

The very first thing you notice is how cramped the room is, an abundance of both snacks and alcoholic drinks littering the humongous table in front of the karaoke machine. The second thing would be where all your friends are situated – Hoseok and Taehyung are loudly cheering next to the machine as Jimin sits on the bench sheepishly with Yoongi, slowly clapping his hands as the latter holds an amused smile with crossed arms. 

The last thing you notice is Jungkook holding one of the mics in his hand, abruptly switching from singing softly to straight up rapping, leaving you astounded. 

Behind you, Jin glances around with a huge smile and you slip in next to Yoongi on the bench. 

“Having fun, I assume?” You shout a bit loudly over Jungkook’s vocals. 

He grins, appearing to have had a drink or two. “You came at the best part.” 

Jimin shuffles closer to Yoongi, making eye contact with you. “Jungkook’s pretty good, Y/N!”

You hum in agreement, watching him continue to rap as Hoseok takes the other mic, hyping him up with background sounds. Taehyung reaches over, smiling as he offers you some fries they had previously ordered, something that you gladly take. 

Your eyes widen when Jin slips off his suit jacket, tucking it next to you. 

“You’re going?”

He cheekily winks. “Of course, I have to show you how talented I am.” 

After a couple more lines, the song ends and everyone claps for Jungkook. He wipes some sweat away from his temples and Jin leans over to Hoseok, presumably asking him for the second mic. 

Jin smirks, rolling up his sleeves. “I bet I can rap better than you.” 

“Is that a challenge?” Jungkook inquires. 

Your gaze nervously darts between the two of them, already seeing the brewing tension. However, you fail to acknowledge the playful look in Jin’s eyes as the music begins and Loner by Outsider starts to play. 

Your mouth draws wide open when Jin starts rapping. 

You’re not the only one with the stunned reaction, the friends surrounding you are all instantly struck with awe with how effortlessly he raps – even Jungkook, who quickly pitches in with hyping him up. 

At one point, you, Jimin and Yoongi start bobbing your heads to the beat, fascinated with his good flow. Hoseok chuckles when he skips over some words, but still claps for him nonetheless as he continues. 

But then you’re leaning against Yoongi, attempting to stifle your laughter when he starts sounding angry, almost like he was reprimanding someone instead of karaoking. 

After speeding through the words but still managing to stay on beat, he draws towards the end of the song and Hoseok quickly encourages him to drop the mic, to which he does. 

Everyone practically roars with a cheer, loud enough to alert nearby rooms. 

Jin appears absolutely exhausted, but gets tackled by Hoseok and Jungkook, who are still cheering for him. Even Yoongi shouts, clapping his hands with a proud smile. 

He stumbles over to you, grabbing a drink from the table. Your eyes are glued to him, still staring in awe. 

“I didn’t know you could do that!” You exclaim over the song Taehyung begins to sing. 

“Do what? Rap like a genius?” He quirks up a brow, clearly amused from your reaction. 

“Well, yeah!” You profess, “You were amazing!” 

He grins, leaning down and pecking you on the cheek. “Just wait till you hear me sing.”

Putting his drink down, he heads over to Jungkook for the mic. The latter looks up at him with bright eyes, whispering something along the lines of ‘we need to do a song together!’ to which Jin fondly nods at. 

A warm smile stretches on your lips. 

***

Jin wasn’t lying. At all.

After Taehyung finishes his song, he takes the microphone and puts on a balled, before handing Jungkook the second mic. 

The soft music plays and you are thoroughly shocked for the second time of the day.

His voice is both beautiful and melodious, akin to being angelic. Jungkook joins him after one line, harmonizing effortlessly and their voices mix together, resonating throughout the room. 

As Taehyung hugs Jimin who giggles at the action, Hoseok raises his drink and sways side and side while Yoongi hums along, a small smile on his lips. 

You are left with simple staring – being impressed once again by him. It’s something he practically thrives on, darting his gaze over at you consistently and fishing for compliments, which you gladly give to him.

The rest of the night flashes by – more songs being added to the queue and empty cartons and bottles scattered all over the table. Everyone ends up being either drunk out of their mind or utterly exhausted with the strain on their vocal cords. 

You were forced to wrench off Jin from the karaoke machine once the clock struck midnight, but he had continued to sing, running high on energy as he bounced up and down. Hoseok ended up helping you, turning off the machine as you grabbed Jin’s hand and brought him outside with everyone else. 

Which segways into your current dilemma – aka Jin managed to karaoke to the point where his back gave out.

“I’ll need to leave.” You inform Soyou, eyes downcasted. “I have... bit of an emergency.” 

“Of course, Y/N.” She immediately responds, “Please keep me posted about it.” 

You nod, thoughts running astray. 

About my boyfriend’s karaoke condition? Of course. 

Turning to head towards your cubicle, Yoongi peeks out from his side. 

“Is he alright?” 

“Not really.” You mutter, “He’s been in pain all day and refused to call in sick, so I forced him to take the rest of the day off.” Taking your bag, you sling it against your shoulder, “I’m leaving too, he needs someone to look after him.” 

“Well, he did put on quite the show yesterday.” He points out, voice soft. “I hope he gets better soon.” 

The corners of your mouth lift, and you leave, waving at Yoongi as you do. Heading down on the elevator, you find Jin at the front, still hunched over against the wall and waiting for your arrival. 

To your shock, he’s with someone else. 

“Your back is giving out?” The man throws his head back, laughing loudly. 

Jin scoffs, “How come you’re fine and I’m not?!” 

“Because you’re old and I’m still youthful, of course.” 

“Yah!”

Jungkook childishly snickers and you’re stunned to see Jin begin to protest more against him.

“Jungkook?” You question, watching him whirl around with crossed arms. “What are you doing here?” 

“What does it look like?” He gestures to Jin, “Someone had to make sure our lovely Ahjussi made it to the elevator.” 

Jin’s eyes are boiling in rage and you’re speechless as Jungkook grins, like he knows he’s said something to tick off Jin. 

“How dare you call me that?!” 

“That’s what you get for being old!” He calls out. “I’ll leave him in your care, Y/N.” 

You playfully roll your eyes, “Get back to work already.” 

His eyes crinkle and he spins on heels, lightly jogging back. 

Leaning down, you take one of Jin’s arms and place it around your neck, letting half of his weight rest on you. 

“I didn’t know the two of you were so close.” You sing-song, walking outside with him. Rummaging through your pockets, you locate your phone and call for a cab. 

“He’s such a brat.” He remarks, “But I suppose he’s not so bad...” 

You chuckle, setting your phone down. 

“Says the person that was jealous of him.” 

“Hey, that was before I got to know him!” He protests. 

You let out a sigh, recognizing and waving the cab driver closer. He stops right in front of the two of you by the curb, and you help Jin inside the car. 

“So sorry.” You smile cheekily in his direction. “You’re right, I won’t say anything else about your new best friend.” 

A deep pout mars his lips and you giggle, slipping into the car with him. 

“You need to stop moving around!”

Jin grimaces, features twisted up. He keeps shifting around, attempting to stagger forward towards your apartment on his own. 

A pained huff leaves him, “How else am I supposed to walk then?!” 

“I told you already, just lean against me.” You chide, attempting to support his weight. He walks rather lop-sidedly, another wince running through him. 

You finally arrive at your door and jam your keys in, turning the lock. 

Entering inside, you let the door close behind you and trudge towards your couch, to which Jin plops down on quite dramatically. 

You let out a huge exhale of relief, spinning on your heels into the direction of your bedroom. A quick glance at the clock tells you it’s still early in the afternoon and that Yuna wouldn’t be home anytime soon, still being at school. 

Returning to your living room, you emerge with a blanket and toss it onto Jin. 

“Don’t get up.” You state. 

He recoils on the couch with a laugh, “I wasn’t planning to.” 

Lightly shaking your head at that, you swiftly pace over to your kitchen and place a heating pad in the microwave. After a couple of minutes pass by, you take it out. 

Stepping back over to the couch, you help Jin into a seating position and assist with tugging off the suit jacket he adorns from his broad shoulders.

“Ow.” He loudly winces when you pull too hard on one arm, and you remorsefully grimace. 

“Sorry.” 

You manage to yank the article of clothing off, much to Jin’s protests. He lies right down on the heating pad you give him, with it positioned underneath his back. You unfold the blanket you had given him earlier, covering him entirely. 

“I think that should be okay for now.” You huff, glancing in his direction. “Are you comfortable, Jin?” 

Instead of his voice, silence greets you back. Curiously, you get up and peer over at his face, only to see his eyes fluttered shut and small snores already beginning to leave him. 

You softly smile, taking that as his response. 

***

A deep breath leaves your lungs. 

Your eyes are squeezing shut as your heart races in your chest, fingers trembling. 

Opening them up, you let the feeble confidence take over. 

You take a step into your kitchen. 

The plan was simple – Jin had been dozing off on your couch for a couple of hours. In that time, you had gone to the grocery store and picked up a handful of ingredients, arrived back home and checked on him, and then proceeded to change out of your work clothes and into your pajamas. 

Jin hasn’t said anything to you yet, but the tension in movements and the fatigue radiating from his eyes are enough to tell you how well work has been going for him. Coupling that with the spiking pain he’s now having to deal with and the deep slumber he’s plunged in, you made the assumption that he would awaken around when it was time for dinner. 

To put it in short and simple words, your plan is to essentially make your boyfriend a nice home cooked meal the moment he wakes up. 

Sucking in a harsh inhale, you take out the chicken, broth and rice, hoping to make something that is both filing and delicious. 

You first begin to preheat the oven for the chicken, before proceeding with taking out two pans. In one, you heat the broth to make soup and in the second, you put the rice into a pot of oil. After that, you douse the chicken with layers of oil and salt, to then begin cutting giant chunks of vegetables for the soup. 

You pause for a moment – heavily considering if perhaps consulting a recipe would be the best in this type of situation. 

You wave the thought off, firmly believing that your hard work will be enough. 

Sweat gathers at your temples as you focus on cutting pieces from the veggies, dunking them straight into the boiling soup. The oiled and generously salted chicken goes into the oven as the rice soaks up all the oil in an instant. 

Two hours pass by like seconds. There’s a giant soup filled with broth and floating with humongous vegetables, and chicken that’s simultaneously flaky but oily. It’s accompanied with crispy rice, something you’re especially proud of. 

It’s not long before Jin stirs. 

“Hey,” You softly call out from the kitchen, “How are you feeling?” 

“Better.” He blinks his sleepy eyes, grasping onto his shoulder. “I still feel the pain, but it’s less intense.” 

“That’s good.” Your eyes avert, landing on the meal displayed on the kitchen counter. “Say, do you have a minute?” 

He grins, “I always have time for you.” 

You recoil at the mushy statement. “I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.”��

“You know the normal response is to call something like that romantic, right?” He stands up from the couch and you hurriedly rush over to him, resting your hand on his arm. 

“Don’t strain yourself.” 

“I’m not, don’t worry.” He chides, eyes landing right on your display. “What’s all this?” 

“I…um, cooked for you.” At his inspecting gaze, you look the other way. 

“Wait, what?” He looks touched, voice dropping into a whisper. “You cooked for me?” 

You shyly nod, feeling squeamish underneath all the attention. His eager eyes are sweeping all over it, as if trying to memorize the food before him. 

He takes a pair of chopsticks right away, digging in. 

Your irises are large, attached to his words and surveying every hint of emotion that arises in his expression. 

He chokes. 

You simply watch as he abruptly bursts out into a chain of coughs, before he’s pounding a hand against his chest, as if forcibly trying to keep the food down. 

Once he swallows, you blink. 

“W-Wow, it has such…unique flavor…”

His tone is too sweet, unlike his regular humorous one. 

You deeply sigh, all too familiar with this type of reaction.

"Is it bad?" You quietly ask.

"N-No, of course not!" He accidentally coughs again, clamping a hand against his mouth. 

“Jin…” You sincerely whisper, reaching out and holding onto his other hand, "I'd rather you tell me the truth instead of just letting me poison you." 

There’s something that flickers in his expression – the realization dawning that you’ve caught on and he can no longer bluff. 

He remorsely looks at you. 

"So…I can be completely honest?" 

"Yes.” You state, encouraging him.

He sucks in a deep breath, and the Jin you’re very familiar with emerges.

"It's horrible.” He states, before a cord finally snaps and he’s unloading everything, “Like really horrible. It tastes like the rice’s been deep fried and the chicken’s been covered with oil and way too much salt. The soup is also so bland, like it barely has flavor–" 

"Hold up!" You snap, "Can’t you be a little nice in giving criticism?! I’m not going to just improve overnight!” 

He nods, voice dipping into an overly sweet tone, but somehow the deeply rooted sarcastic bits don’t go unnoticed by you.

"Alright, so rice isn't supposed to be crispy and the chicken doesn't need to be salted so much. It also doesn’t need to be cooked for that long so next time, make sure to set a timer. The soup needs more salt and pepper in it, but don't go crazy with it, okay?" 

A pout lines your lips, his words actually being kinder and quite informative. “Okay…”

“Good,” He kisses your cheek, hand already lifting the dish. “Now let me handle this.” 

“Wait, no!” You spin around, tugging on his shirt. “Jin, I wanted to do this for you. I just can’t have you cooking again, I–” 

You grimace, acknowledging that you would just have to profess your shortcomings and simply ask.

“I-I want to learn.” 

He raises a brow at that, and you can see it all unfold. 

There’s a huge smug smile on his lips. Almost as if he’s aware of the skills he has. 

“If you want to learn,” He taunts, crossing his arms and arching up a brow. “You have to say the following – ‘Kim Seokjin is the best cook in the world.’” 

“Are you serious?” You snap, “How childish are you?” 

He turns around, beginning to clean up the counter and sweeping the dish away. Your hands shoot out immediately, grasping his wrist. 

“W-Wait!” You deeply exhale, willing every fibre in your body to not roll your eyes. 

Sarcasm weaves in as you repeat his words. “Kim Seokjin… is the best cook in the world.”

Your voice quiets down in the end and Jin leans in. 

“Sorry, what was that?” 

“Jin!” You whine, and he laughs loudly, squeakiness echoing through the kitchen. 

“Okay, I’ll teach you.” He announces. “But listen to me carefully.” 

You eagerly nod. 

Jin crosses his arms, a heavy gaze to his eyes and a scowl lining his lips. 

“You need to measure it out first, Y/N.” 

“Measure out the salt and pepper?” You spin around, bewildered by his instructions, “I just dumped it in.” 

An annoyed ‘tsk’ leaves him. He scans the contents of the broth, before grabbing a spoon and tasting it. 

He cringes. 

“Now it’s way too salty.” He offers the spoon to you and your reaction is the same. 

A deep exhale leaves you. “I’ll just start over.” 

“You don’t need to start over.” He grabs some pepper and a glass of water, “You just need to correct the overseasoning.” 

You observe as he pours water and seasons it with pepper, stirring it carefully as it boils. Lowering the heat, he dips the spoon into the mixture and brings it up for you to taste. 

You’re stunned. It’s not per say incredible, but it tastes so much better than before. 

“Your measurements have to be precise, and that includes your timing too.” He preheats the oven, showcasing the time he was setting it up on, “I think you heated it properly, but you left it in for too long.” 

You hum and he moves, filtering around the kitchen as if it was his own. 

He brings over a board, knife and vegetables. “We also need to seriously work on your chopping skills.” 

Taking up the challenge, you grab an onion and start obliterating the vegetable. 

“Woah, woah, hold on!” Jin takes the knife away from you in an instant. He brings it to the board, slowly cutting the vegetable and coming into a natural rhythm with it. 

He catches your gaze. “See? Gently. No need to murder the poor onion.” 

You scoff as he pauses and hands the knife back. 

You attempt to mimic his actions, but he nearly shrieks when a slice of onion goes shooting out and your knife slides against the board.

He latches onto your hand, whispering underneath his breath. “And here I thought no one could be worse than Namjoon…”

You swivel, “What?” 

“Nothing!” He sings-songs, chuckling in a high tone. Deciding to come up behind you, Jin’s hands gently reach over to envelope your own shaky ones. 

He proceeds to swiftly cut the onion, following a rhythmic motion. 

Much to your complete surprise, you’re actually able to cut a few decent chunks. “I-I can’t believe it…” 

“It just takes time and practice, Y/N.” Jin smiles, stepping back and letting you continue. He spins around, checking in on the chicken inside the oven. 

However, a painful sting abruptly emerges, and you’re forced to set the knife aside. 

“Ah–” You rub your eyes, regret filling you in an instant when it burns even more. “Oh my god.”

Jin turns around with a frown at your words, only to see thick tears streaming down your eyes. 

He hurriedly abandons the chicken, grabbing onto your hands, “What happened?” His gaze darts all over the cutting board and then back to inspecting your hands, “Did you hurt yourself?” 

“No, I just–” You squeeze your eyes tightly, “I-I think it’s something in the air.” 

Puzzlement crosses him at that, but then his field of vision lands onto the cut up onion and suddenly everything makes sense. 

“Hold on–” He brings you closer to the sink and turns on the faucet. Reaching over, he helps to splash water onto your eyes until the burn finally begins to subside.

The coolness of the water lets you see again, and you blink in disbelief towards him. 

“What was that?” 

He smiles lop-sidley, “It's what happens when you cut a lot of onion. You have to be careful about them stinging your eyes.” 

You’re flabbergasted at the notion. Not only did you not know crucial information about the blasted vegetable, you hadn’t even cut them properly enough to notice. 

It all boils up, the tension merely amplifying your frustrations towards cooking. 

“This is so hard!” You proclaim, planting a hand against your temples, “How am I supposed to know all this when I’ve never done it before?” 

You huff and Jin leans back, attempting to hold back the amused smile on his lips. He doesn’t do a great job though, and you’re glancing at him perplexed from the reason, but then it dawns on you– 

He’s smiling like the once very annoying intern he was. 

“It’s okay.” He tenderly pats your back, a presumptuous grin on his features. “I still think you can do it.” 

You loudly scoff as he snickers. 

***

The hours churn by easily and with Jin’s much needed assistance, you are successfully able to cook the chicken and create a broth that doesn’t want to make your insides recoil. He ends up cooking the rice, deep distrust running through him when you genuinely thought cooking it in oil was the right way to go. However, you observed the way he carefully shimmers it in water until it’s completely soft. 

There’s an entire meal presented in front of you and he flops down onto a chair near the kitchen counter, long overdue for his back to act up again. 

“Wow.” 

You whisper, staring at it all in amazement. 

Glancing over, Jin grimaces a bit and you smile gratefully. “Thank you.” 

“Don’t mention it.” 

“I still mean what I said before, you know?” You sway side to side sheepishly, “Cooking isn’t easy, but it’s a good skill to have.” 

Jin softly grins at that and you curiously take a bite, eyes widening. 

“It tastes so much better!” 

“See what happens when you don’t drown stuff in salt and oil?” He teases and you chuckle, “Now next time, make me something like this instead of trying to kill me.” 

“I was not trying to kill you.” 

“Are you so sure about that?” He glances at the previous dish, the crispy rice meeting his gaze. 

He raises a brow and you stare at him silently – before the two of you are bursting out in laughter. 

The door to your apartment widens. 

Yuna stands by it, throwing intrigued glances at the sounds resonating from the kitchen. She walks in to see you standing by the counter with Jin seated on a chair facing you, alongside the entire buffet displayed on the counter. 

At the sound of her footsteps, you swivel. “Yuna!” 

You embrace her and she looks around, “What happened here?” 

“I cooked!” A shudder runs through her spine immediately, and you quickly try to ease her thoughts, “It wasn’t just me though, Jin helped too!” 

Curiosity runs through her at that and you spin around, filling up a plate for her. Yuna sets her bag down, sitting on a chair next to Jin.

“How was school?” He questions, her eyes brightening up. 

“It was fun, we’re working on our next play now.” 

“I look forward to seeing it.” He grins, and she smiles back at him. There’s a plate of food landing in front of her, and she pokes her fork at it in wonder.

You tightly grasp onto Jin’s hand, breath hitching as you watch her raise the spoon to her lips. As she slowly chews, your heartbeat seems to grow louder and louder. 

A deep frown crosses her features – making you tense, but then it’s replaced with utter confusion, and she stares back at the plate you’ve given her. 

It’s when she goes for another bite that you freeze. 

“I-It’s good…” She whispers, as if she was suspended in disbelief. Her gaze lifts, staring at you in awe. 

“It is?” You question in astonishment, despite having already tasted it yourself.

Yuna nods, before breaking out into a wide smile. 

You are absolutely ecstatic, watching her eagerly go for more bites and humming in content. 

Jin practically yelps when he’s tackled into a hug, surprise flickering onto his features to see your arms wrapped around him.

Although he slightly winces from the sudden weight, he merely just chuckles and hugs you back.

[faithshouseofchaos]

Retiring this to someone else I don’t feel like I wouldn’t do it justice 😭😭

So the reader has worked with Lewis since the beginning of his early Mercedes days; they have a pretty close relationship/friendship and because Lewis is best friends with Nico, of course, the reader is too. Before Nico retires the reader tries to repair their friendship because she loves them both so much and Nico tells her to drop it and that he doesn’t want anything to do with Lewis and you know that breaks her heart because she loves him too. So time skips to the future and the reader still works with Lewis and of course, there's sexual tension the kind of sexual tension that’s awkward for everyone else around them so the boys (idk Danny Seb Fernando Jenson, and Mark) take matters into their own hands because Jenson and Mark are Presenters with Nico and they can’t stand seeing Nico’s sad Puppy dog eyes because he refuses to talk to you and Lewis. So the guys trick all three of you into a room together and they won’t let you three out until you get over yourselves. So you're stuck in this room with your best friend whom you have sexual tension with and your ex-best friend whom you also have sexual tension with. Lewis and Nico refuse to talk to each other and it’s so awkward that the reader just snaps and complains calling them both selfish childish jerks and admitting that the reader had feelings for them both. And of course what little angst without the smut now it can be full smut or allusion of smut.And for comedy purposes let’s say the guys locked the three of them in a room that has survivalince and they see everything and when the smut happens they’re all like (Omg!!!) and they can’t look Lewis Nico or the reader in the eyes.

[damnfandomproblems]

Fandom Problem #4097:

Pretentious nerds on here acting like "because polyamory exists, there is no NEED for love triangles :)" Yeah nothing NEEDS to exist, and yeah love triangles blew tf up as a form of marketing a while back and so of course there's some remaining backlash, yeah in sometimes they're frustrating and tedious. But, it really sorta overlooks reasons why people liked them in the first place before they got overdone to death. It has the potential both for angst and for comedy, with two people directly competing to be more charming than the other. Sometimes people can connect with the feeling of lost love, or maybe feel some catharsis for the other finding some other purpose if they can't be with the person they want.

Also at least 99.99% of the time one of the characters is just ungodly annoying as fuck and I just super don't want them involved anywhere near whatever it is the other two have got going on.

[hwaseonghwasworld]

Brothers best friend chapter 4: I’m Sorry

Summary: Yunho doesn't want his baby sister (Y/n) dating any of his friends especially Mingi since they are like brothers to him and it's an issue when all Y/n's friends are dating Yunho's friends but he wouldn't let Y/n talk to any guys since he's so overprotective, it's such a shame that she's been with Mingi for almost 2 years and no one knows. What will happen if Yunho finds out?

Song Mingi x Reader

Warnings: cursing, smut, fights

Word count: 740

Genre: series, angst, comedy, fluff, hidden relationship, High school au

Updates: probably Friday at 10pm BST

"I’m your father's significant other," I stated as I peered down from the upper level, taken aback by Yunho's clenched fists as he struggled to contain his anger. "He is on a business trip," I continued, attempting to clarify the situation. "Perhaps you have the wrong residence. My partner is occupied with his work and does not have the time for any romantic involvement."

"He typically meets with me after his business trips, which is why he informed you that he would return in a week. However, the actual duration of his trip is only three days. When he states that he will be gone for two weeks, he is actually scheduled to return in one. Do you understand what I am implying?" I wished to approach Yunho to calm him down, but he appeared as though he might strike me, so I remained seated and listened.

"He visits me during those additional times," I continued. "So, are you suggesting that my father lied to me?" The woman did not appear apologetic; rather, it seemed as though she was doing this on purpose, which enraged me. "No, he was simply attempting to keep it hidden for a while, you know, since your mother passed away three years ago, and we have been together for two years."

Did my father only mourn my mother for a year before moving on? Did he not love her? "And why are you here?" Yunho's tone became increasingly passive-aggressive as he attempted to be polite, and I did not blame him, given that the woman was smiling at everything she said as if she enjoyed it.

"I thought your father would be here, but I suppose not," the woman replied. Yunho gave her a sarcastic smile. "Okay, bye." "Perhaps I should stay until he returns," the woman suggested. Yunho's expression changed from a fake smile to a neutral one. "Yeah, that's not going to happen. Goodbye."

He slammed the door in her face, and I ran to my room since he was going to go upstairs. I called my father to inform him of what had occurred. "Hello, honey, what's going on?" "A woman came over claiming to be your girlfriend. She's lying, right?" My father sighed, obviously not wanting us to find out just yet. "I'm sorry; I didn't want you both to know this early."

I couldn't believe he had kept this from us for so long. He always told us that he would never keep secrets from us, and this... this was a significant secret. "So when were you going to tell us? Once you get married? Once you have a child with her?" "You dated her two years after Mom died!" My father attempted to calm me down, but it only made me angrier. "I know; I'm sorry."

"Look, why don't you order yourself something, new clothes, jewelry, anything?" I scoffed at the fact that he was attempting to buy my forgiveness. "Not everything is about money! I just want to talk to you and ask why you kept this from us!" "It's because I didn't want you guys to be angry with me." "I'm not angry, Dad. I just wanted to know why."

"We'll continue this conversation as soon as I get home. Alright?" "I'll see you later then. Goodbye." I said goodbye to my father, and he ended the call. I walked to Yunho's room and knocked on the door since I knew that if I walked in, he would start shouting since he was angry, and it would be much worse.

He let me in and looked at me with annoyance. "What do you want?" "I just spoke with Dad, and he had a reason for not telling us." "What is it, then?" He appeared a little sad, and I sat on his bed and explained it to him. "Because he knew you would react that way, he wanted to tell us at the right time."

He began shouting as if I were the one who had kept it hidden, and I could hear the pain in his voice. "Mom died! I don't think there will ever be a right time." "I know, but-" "Y/n, just get out of my room." I rolled my eyes and hit him with his pillow before leaving his room. I put on my AirPods and listened to some music while making a smoothie, attempting to figure out why he was being such a salty asshole.

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Masterlist

Taglist: @scarfac3 @huachengsbestie01 @tunaasan

[tediousdelusion]

the absolutely most chaotic modern steddy hands au i can imagine is established couple ed and izzy with recently out divorce attorney stede.

like, izzy and ed got married young. maybe because they were drunk in vegas. maybe for the spousal immunity since they are and always have been involved in some less than reputable dealings. but they aren't exactly a "real" married couple in their own minds even tho they live together and their lives are needlessly intermingled.

ed is going through his midlife crisis. he's unhappy, wants to find out that there's more to life. and izzy is done with his shit after the most recent flight of fancy. because i love irony, i think that he buys a boat and comes up with some flimsy justification for why he needs it for "business purposes."

and so izzy threatens divorce, like he has a million times. and ed doesn't buy it because izzy is all talk. but izzy is serious this time - or at least he wants ed to think he's serious - and so he goes and hires a lawyer. not some bus stop lawyer either, no. he wants the real deal and his name is on the joint account, dammit, so ed's money can pay for it too.

enter stede bonnet, divorce attorney at law.

stede is from one of those old legal families. his father was a lawyer and his grandfather was a lawyer and his great-grandfather was... well, you get it. and stede doesn't really want to be a lawyer, but he doesn't have much choice in the matter. his biggest rebellion is practicing family law instead of becoming in house counsel for an investment bank.

for forty-odd years he plays the part of the good son, well after his father is dead. marries the girl he is supposed to, has two kids, a nice house, a steady job. and sure, he's never really happy happy, but he's a divorce attorney! every day he sees marriages so much worse than his own that he figures what he and mary have must be the best a person could hope for.

until woops! actually, no! his marriage is just as bad as half his clients' and now he's going through this whole process himself and oh, yes, on top of it all, he just realized that he's gay!

so between chauffeuring the kids, reading about all the gay culture he's missed in the past four decades, and catching up on his other cases, he ends up meeting one izzy hands. sad case, stede hates to see the end of a long marriage, but it seems easy enough.

except things aren't easy at all because 1) izzy and ed don't actually want to get divorced and 2) stede is starting to fall for ed, izzy's enigmatic and charming husband.

ed is falling for stede, too. of course he is! stede is interesting and new - he comes from this old family tradition that ed's never seen before, but he's also creative and witty and fascinated by ed. and so ed takes it upon himself to help introduce stede to gay culture, preferably by a hands on demonstration.

izzy knows what's going on. of course he does. he's seen ed take interest in someone before, knows what it looks like. but what he doesn't like is that stede is starting to return his interest. stede is izzy's fucking lawyer. if anyone should get to fuck him, it should be izzy.

cue a series of rom-com style hijinks where ed and izzy are both trying to seduce stede, stede is trying to save izzy and ed's marriage, and all three of them think they know what the others want. for more angst and more comedy, you can throw in some actual ethical rules, like how lawyers aren't supposed to start fucking their clients. (there's also a lot of conflict of interest here but shhhhhhhh)

of course, this ends in a throuple. exactly how could go a few ways. maybe izzy walks in on ed and stede and stede is waiting to be fired, but izzy just loosens his tie and joins them in bed. maybe they make it all the way to the first court appearance and when the judge asks if they really want the divorce they're like, nah. he's shagging the lawyer but i guess i want to be fucking him too. maybe stede forces them all to go to lucius sponsored couples counseling and they get perma-banned when they start making out on the couch.

anyway, no matter how it happens, i think stede quits divorce work to become izzy and ed's criminal defense attorney and they all have a long and morally bankrupt good time together

[lazystar]

The Office: Romance Day | Or The Office SKZ version

Word count: ~7.2K

Tropes/AU: Friends to Lovers, Fake Dating, Office AU

Age restrictions: 18+ MDNI pls! same w Ageless blogs TY :)

CW/ Content notes: Fem!Reader, ANGST, Himbo Changbin aka LOML, Author not knowing anything about corporate work, Cursing (it’s me y’all be fr), mentions of aliens (don’t ask), mentions of s*x with aliens like 2-3 times (again don’t ask but if you must ask it’s for comedy purposes no alien s*x happening here besties). Alcohol consumption and drunken behavior. Jeongin is a lil toxic when angy, sudden kissing but all parties are okay w/ it.

Y/N = your name, Y/E/C = your eye color, Y/H/C = your hair color

Tumblr operates on a system of re blogs! Support your writers by reblogging, sharing to your friends or commenting to spread your favorite pieces to other readers! Tysm 🫶🏻

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You had never expected to become an employee at JYP Corp, let alone fresh out of university. You at an office job, in a cubicle? You would have laughed at the notion a couple years ago. But here you were, living in the big city of Seoul, at the top of the sales team at JYP. Before graduating university you had always imagined yourself as a star, or somewhere in the big leagues, but adulthood had changed you, you were happy living that basic life. That is, you were living a basic life until a certain man bumped into you one day three years ago on your way to the copier. That man was Yang Jeongin, a new member to your team who quickly became your best friend both in and out of the office. After the incident of him nearly knocking you over that day he had apologized via coffees and lunches for days and those meals had brought you two close. Conversations began with small talk, then office gossip, to now where you two could debate about if aliens would ever hypothetically be good in bed. He said no but you said yes. Resulting in the random airdrop of pictures of very disturbing fan art of alien characters and a text of “You mean to tell me you would let THAT hit? Side eye Y/N, side EYE.” It was safe to assume work had brought you together with your platonic other half.

But then even this dynamic was changed when you had caught the eye of one of the marketing team members, Changbin. He was attractive in a way that you couldn’t deny. He was sweet, charming, charismatic, funny, and honestly a great catch. But, he just wasn’t someone you saw yourself dating. However, where Changbin lacked was in his ability to accept a no when it came to dating. His ego was severely inflated, being the office crush for almost every other staff member, he just could not fathom that you didn’t see him that way. You had to take your lunches with Jeongin from the break room to cafès down the street to avoid the ever so charming male. Ranting to Jeongin about your misfortune of catching the eye of the office’s resident Gaston became a daily occurrence. At first Jeongin found it hilarious, but recently he’s begun to tell you to stop worrying about Changbin’s feelings and to focus on yourself. Jeongin had always said you were too nice for your own good and Gaston from Marketing as you two had once drunkenly dubbed Changbin truly started to make you realize this.

Everything changed though one mild December day, you had been able to spend some extra time on your work outfit and makeup before you arrived at the office. Your lips painted a festive red, which stood out against your black office dress and blazer. To put it simply you looked like a dream come true and just so alluring, like a Hollywood starlet, a vixen, the comparisons could go on for days as you seemed to collect admirers with every step. Even Jeongin couldn’t help but stare as you strolled over to your desk and let out a low whistle as you walked by. You let out a laugh setting your bag down and shook your head as he pretended to flex mimicking JYP’s resident macho man. Your laughter quickly fizzled out upon accidentally making eye contact with the marketing department’s resident heartthrob, who smiled at you and began strolling your way with a swagger and confidence that only told you he believed that upon the 83rd attempt to woo you he would finally see success.

As soon as your brain registered that Changbin was walking your way you quickly moved into Jeongin’s cubicle like a scurrying mouse. You didn’t even know why you went to his space other than to hide, even though Changbin had seen you, you two had made eye contact for heaven’s sake! Y/N what are you doing?! You weren’t even sure. What you knew was at this point you had exhausted every excuse, every gentle let down, basically every option you could think of to explain to the sweet muscular male that you were not interested in him being your office fling, rendezvous, anything more than a friend. Every option beside looking him in the eyes and explaining you were not the Belle to his Gaston, nor the Beauty to his Beast had been utilized and those last two were a bit harsh by your standards. So now you had to pull at straws for the one option you had left and it was the one you had come up with in the seconds you had before another riveting wink, smirk, “Meet me for dinner and drinks after work gorgeous?” combo came your way.

In Jeongin’s cubicle you met his raised brow and opening lips with a move that may just change your friendship as you know it, but like many great heroes in history you knew desperate times call for desperate measures.

“Don’t ask me any questions just please kiss me right now!” The panic in your whispered voice, your hand on his necktie, the pleading look in your eye’s conveyed to Jeongin your desperation in the moment. As Changbin’s footsteps approached closer and closer you pulled on Jeongin’s tie to bring his face closer to yours, he couldn’t help but smirk at your panic, his smirk was also was in response to the fact that you chose him to play your office lover, even if it was to get the office Adonis off your case.

“I have several questions, comments, and concerns but…okay.” He teasingly whispered back and cupped your cheeks, the warmth of his hands eased your rapidly firing brain synapses and his lips met yours. Your eyes naturally closed and you couldn’t fight the smile that made its way to your lips as you two shared the kiss. Your hands had almost settled on his arms when an awkward cough behind you cut off the moment between you and your best friend of two years.

“You know you really could have just said you and Jeongin were a thing, instead of giving me the run around Y/N.” Changbin grumbled. “I’m happy for the two of you though, genuinely, you make a cute couple.” His Hollywood smile shone at the two of you. His voice was bright and cheerful, but it also was loud, thus it carried across the whole sales department floor.

Soon enough the ruckus of “Wait Jeongin and Y/N are together?!” and similar statements rang over the clatter of keyboards and other office equipment. Your “relationship” became the coffee pot, water cooler, lunch room, basically entire office gossip. Floor by floor it became the hottest ticket at JYP Corp. The “Jim and Pam” of JYP, Y/N and Jeongin.

Two nights later over some wine and shitty reality T.V. you broached the subject with Jeongin. Pausing the latest episode of whatever toxic show you two had chosen to roast that month you looked at him, “Might as well play into it so why don’t we just be one another’s fake office date until it blows over?” your shrug and blunt tone baffled Jeongin ever so slightly. You didn’t seem to care one way or the other but it seemed like the logical solution to being the subjects of office drama.

“You’re fucking crazy Y/N, you know that? But fuck it, let’s do this.” He somehow had conjured up some legal pads and pens like a wizard, he scooted over so he sat closer to you as he drew up the “Jim and Pam Rules” which he had dubbed the guidelines to your forays into acting. The rules of fake dating in the corporate rule.

Rule Number 1. No stupid ass pet names

“Waitttttt. This means I can’t call you my pookie bear?” you pouted playfully.

“Y/N call me that and I’m exposing your alien fetish.” He deadpanned.

“IT’S NOT A FETISH I JUST THINK ALIENS WOULD HYPOTHETICALLY FUCK LIKE GODS!” A swift and perfectly aimed pillow to the head shut you up from your impending one-woman-debate regarding alien prowess in bed.

Rule Number 2. No catching feelings.

“Jeongin this isn’t some slow burn fanfiction or teen romance novel. You’ve seen me puke and cry simultaneously because that one ex boyfriend I had said I had weird eyebrows two years ago.”

“So this should be easy for me to follow.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?! Nevermind I don’t wanna know…I should have asked Felix from the Social Media team to pretend to date me instead. At least he would have been nice to me.”

“YOU TAKE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW! WORST FAKE GIRLFRIEND EVER ALREADY”

“RIGHT BACK AT YOU MEANIE”

Rule Number 3. We “break up” before the company New Year’s Party.

This way you two don’t risk getting into any cheating rumors if you somehow get drunk and find someone else attractive.

The two of you didn’t need to debate or bicker over this rule, it was logical, you wanted to subdue drama, not create more. So putting an end date on a fake relationship made sense.

Rule 4. Nobody can know it’s fake.

Self explanatory.

You didn’t create rules about cuddling, holding hands, kissing, or other forms of physical affection, because those had become staples in your friendship. Plus couples are affectionate, you need this to look real.

With rules in place everything seemed like it would go perfectly, nothing to lose, peace at work to gain. Like you had said this wasn’t a drama or like that. So you both set off on Operation Jim and Pam not knowing how truly drama-esque things would become.

A few days had passed and to your relief Changbin had been leaving you alone, as were any of the other office flirts and nosy colleagues you seemed to attract. This was more than likely due to how the office gossip began to report on your relationship with Jeongin. The talk of the office was now always about his morning routine that as your romance became public, revolved around you. Every morning you would find Jeongin waiting for you with your favorite coffee and pastry in his hands. He would escort you to your cubicle, pull out your chair, hang your coat up, and make sure you had what you needed. Before he would begin his work he would leave a sweet note on your desk stating how you were amazing at your job and to have a great day. At the end of the day he would wait for you to carry your purse, give you a sweet kiss on the cheek, and walk you home. He was the boyfriend drama script writers dreamed of. But you knew it was an act, but forgetting sometimes didn’t hurt, you were allowed to delude yourself that everything was real for a few moments a day. It was only fair that you permitted yourself that speck of happiness.

Outside of work he would be your best friend who would laugh with you about your odd obsession with aliens, who would rewatch Twilight, the Office, and other early 2010s media with you. This brought you to right now, the next meeting of the Jim and Pam Operation. You two had been invited to drinks with your coworkers the following weekend to celebrate surpassing your quotas last month and seeing a rise in profit margins over the past few weeks. The two of you had easily been able to use the quotas as an excuse to avoid answering relationship questions but now you would be unable to make excuses whilst surrounded by everyone who was a part of making these victories happen.

“How we met will be easy, everyone knows we met at the office. Hyunjin saw us bump into one another. He told me the other week if he had known you and I would have ended up dating he would have tried to play cupid so he could brag about it.” He noted sipping his glass of wine as the television flashed the iconic blue hues of the first installment of the Twilight series. “Pfft who really thought this movie was going to be so iconic? The plot though is atrocious. Think about it, Bella should’ve picked them both. Polyamory exists and it would have saved us so much bad writing. I stand by my idea that they honestly should have just dated each other. Bella gets two hot boyfriends, Jacob wouldn’t have been attracted to Refrigerator or whatever the hellspawn’s name was. So no creepy subplot to worry about. All would have been right in the world. ” You snorted at his monologue of how he would have made the Twilight universe sane with the introduction of polyamorous relationships and pelted him with a piece of popcorn. It hit him square in the cheek and you couldn’t help but laugh harder at his whiny pout as he rubbed where the kernel hit him.

“Focus Innie we need a solid story so we don’t get the office detective squad on our cases about how we aren’t actually dating. So we met at work, who confessed first, when did they confess, how, you know the details every grandma asks?” You count on your hands as he nods along. Neither of you had thought this part out before now.

“Okay let’s say I confess while we were having one of our lunches,you looked so beautiful in the sun at the café. Your eyes sparkled [Y/E/C] your hair looked so gorgeous and like a [Y/H/C] halp in the light. I was mesmerized and I just couldn’t stop myself and I confessed how I always found you beautiful and adored your personality as we got closer as friends. You returned my feelings, we hugged and kissed and the world stopped for a moment. Bam! Now here we are madly in love making everyone jealous of how perfect we are.” He smiled and you couldn’t help but blush and look away for a moment. You had this strange feeling in your chest and you couldn’t understand why his explanation made your heart beat just that much faster. You covertly pinched yourself and brought yourself back into the moment and looked back at him.

“U-hum yeah that-that’s perfect. When should we say you confessed, like how long had we been dating?” You stuttered through the question internally cursing yourself for being so affected by his words.This was all an act, this wasn’t real, don’t act like it’s real. You kept mentally repeating those phases like a prayer to the universe above. Until a snap, snap in front of our face brought you back to the present.

“Y/N are you okay? You spaced out for a moment”.” You nodded, not trusting your voice for fear it would crack and so would your ability to hold back on your newfound crush. He smiled and continued. “I said we should say 2 months ago, we loved the café during the fall so that makes sense and the time frame would be logical for keeping things low key until now.” You agreed, the conversation was over as was the film. The two of you cleaned up your mess and he left hugging you good night. You felt this odd weight in your chest. You didn’t know why, everything you and Jeongin are doing is pretend, so why does it feel so real sometimes?

Drinks were flowing as the celebration at Bar Levanter began to get rowdier. You had been glued to Jeongin’s side the entire night, his hand resting on your lower back, your arms wrapped around his bicep. You reminded yourself several times to begin asking him when he took up weightlifting as his muscles felt firm under your grip. You two easily bounced your story of your whirlwind romance from coworker to coworker. Until Changin swaggered up to the two of you. Bang Chan was trailing behind him shaking his head and pinching his nose bridge in frustration. Changbin and Bang Chan were best friends and the whole office knew it, however unlike Gaston’s sidekick LeFou in the movies, Chan didn’t go along happily with all of the antics Changbin would get into.

“Well well well if it isn’t the happy couple everyone’s been talking about! I didn’t get to ask you two how this,” he gestured towards your embrace with Jeongin, “happened. So tell me everything. I love romance stories and to be honest your relationship is adorable.” You and Jeongin went the extra mile cutting off one another’s sentences and giggling when you said the same things at the same time. To an outsider it truly did look like you both were infatuated with one another. It seemed to solidify yo Changbin that you were not interested in him nor would you be for a long time. You sipped a couple more cocktails, growing tired from the alcohol and socialization you found yourself curled up closer to Jeongin on the long bench of the booth you were sitting in. The two of you looked quite intimate, your chest was pressed against his left arm. Your right hand was playing with his hair at the base of his neck, the other playing with his fingers lazily. A soft yawn escaped your lips which you had taken your right hand from his hair to cover. He looked down at you, an endearing look on his face as your eyes met his, a grin spread across both your faces and giggles erupted between the two of you. The night was winding down and coworkers were pouring out the doors saying their goodbyes.

Jeongin kissed your forehead and tried to get you on your feet. He stood next to the booth encouraging you to get up so he could walk you home, he grew a tad frustrated as he spent minute after minute tugging on your hand. His frustrations faded fast as he began chuckling at how your tipsy state reduced the put together woman he knew as his best friend to a woman with the same level of pouty as a toddler. He’s seen you drunk on more than one occasion and he knew alcohol took your walls down and made you lose your sense of maturity, and your sense of reason when it came to doing a non preferred task. Jeongin sighed shaking his head, then tilting it he silently beckoned you to leave. He went so far as to raise a brow giving his “Y/N this is your last warning face.”. But you ignored it and wanting to stay in your comfy spot on the bench.

“Innieee I don’t wanna leaveee!” You stomped your heel clad foot on the hardwood, sticky floor of the bar, your arms were crossed with an exaggerated pout on your lips. You repeated the motions a few more times, shaking your head in protest.. Before you could escalate to a drunk toddler tantrum, Jeongin tsked at your behavior and cut you off.

“Darling it’s late, it’s almost midnight, I need to get your drunk cute little butt home before you do anything stupid, and so I know you make it home safe baby.” He chastised you. A giggle rang from your lips at his words, his choice to mention your ass of all things was incredibly surprising.

“Wait YOU just said my BUTT is cute?! You never say stuff like that to me, Innie!” You bowled over cackling like it was the funniest thing you ever heard. Jeongin sighed, rubbed his temples, and proceeded to scoop you up bridal style in his arms. He tightened his grip on your legs and torso as you briefly thrashed about. He hated playing babysitter but for you he would do it all, plus he got to make fun of your antics whilst you complained about your hangover.

“PUT ME DOWN! HEY!” Jeongin shook his head and carried you out of the bar. Your exclamations of protest and questions of what Jeongin meant by you having a “cute butt” fading away as you two left the bar.

Changbin had watched the scene and your response to Jeongin made him question the whole relationship you apparently had with Jeongin. He looked over to Chan.

“If you had been dating someone for say two almost three months you’d probably accept that they’d compliment your body right?” He asked, taking a swig of his beer.

“Yeah? Why?” The Aussie member of marketing responded.

“Y/N seemed almost shocked Jeongin ‘said she had a cute butt’. Now don’t get me wrong she’s adorable, you know how big my crush was on her for months.” Changbin sighed thinking briefly about if he had made a better move before Jeongin, he would have been the one you looked at with stars in your eyes and he would have been the one to carry you home tonight.

“I mean it’s their relationship but that is a little weird if you ask me. It did seem kind of sudden that they amped up the romance factor after you saw them kissing, and the kiss kind of came around when you tried to rev up your terrible ways of asking her out.” Chan pointed out.

“That’s the last time I take dating advice from Seungmin and Han. Yikes. But you’re right something seems a little fishy. I don’t want to start picking it apart though. It’s not our place to do that.” As Changbin said, the little devil on his shoulder began to speak right in his ear. Well whose place is it but yours, this could be your chance to get in between them.

Nothing between you and Jeongin had changed after that night. You two still had your movie nights, karaoke, lunches, and your other activities. While smiling with him on the outside, on the inside your heart was slowly breaking, time was flying and the party was now only two weeks away. The past few weeks had made you notice more of the features in your best friend that you overlooked previously. How his dimples grew deeper as he grinned, the way his eyes would smile with him, the way his hair fell in soft waves, the smell of his musky yet floral cologne, the way he’ll subtly smell the perfume you wear by nuzzling into the crook of your neck during hugs. Most of all you noticed how he made you feel like home. You had broken the most sacred rule among the ones you and Jeongin drafted. Rule number 2, you had caught feelings. You knew you had to end things fast, you couldn’t risk dragging your heart through this any longer. The next day you had told Jeongin to meet you outside for lunch instead of walking with you from your desk like usual. He didn’t say anything but the quirk of his brow before the thumbs up he gave in response told you he knew something wasn’t right.

You urged him over to the side instead of heading to your usual café right away, this made his suspicions grow even more and the classic eyebrow quirk and questioning gaze you had grown infatuated with almost made you decide to go back on your plan but you stood firm. You knew for the sake of the ruse you had to end things publicly with some coworkers in earshot so you chose the front of the building on the benches.

“Jeongin, we should break up. This needs to end.” You said as soon as both reached the cold gray concrete benches that resided just outside the behemoth office building. His eyes widened in horror, his hands slightly shook, he gaped at you, he had several questions milling around his mind. He had forgotten the inevitable break up, having fallen into a happy routine by your side. You knew you had to rip the bandaid off no time like the present to do so. He sat down, body shaking with emotion and he looked to you, your calm expression making him wonder what you felt to lead to this choice. Was this the end of your friendship?

“What do you mean? We’ve been so good together, this has been working so well? Why?! Give me a reason, something! You can’t just drop this on me like it’s okay!” His voice was quiet and cracking from the turmoil that fueled him with every syllable. He looked everywhere but at your face as he spoke, you were grateful he didn’t look at you. If he did you would have probably taken your words back and apologized whilst covering his face with lipstick coated kisses. You had to remain firm, you were hurting yourself with this plan, you had gotten so caught up in the act of lying you had forgotten to be true to yourself and now two people were hurt. You were breaking your own heart, you didn’t know however, how badly you had destroyed his.

“It’s time Jeongin, you and I both know what I mean. I adore you but it’s time to call it quits, you’re my best friend and I think we should go back to being friends.” You practically whispered. “Thank you for everything you have done for me, you will always be my best friend, never forget that.I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you beforehand. I couldn’t think of how to approach this, please understand this is for the best.” You placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and gave him a soft squeeze before bundling your coat up tighter and walking through the cold late December snow. The white surrounding you glistened as the tears fell down your face. With every step the cracks in your heart deepened, every sniffle burned from the harsh winter air. It was like Mother Nature was punishing you for breaking your own heart. Your tears froze to your cheeks like icicles of heartache. The air in your lungs burned with every breath. Your walk home took much longer than usual, you had to stop and sit on snow coated benches to avoid running into others from how blurry the tears had made your vision. You were a wreck, shaking and sobbing, gathering looks from strangers. You couldn’t tell any of your friends the real reason you were so torn apart about this “breakup” without breaking a rule. You were in limbo grieving your romance that never was on your couch, alone. Absolutely heartbroken and alone.

Meanwhile on the bench Jeongin was still sitting, he shivered with every breath and his head was clutched in his hands. His teeth chattered from the cold wind whipping around him as his own tears froze to his skin. His chest felt empty, his heart cracked with each shaky breath he took in. His friend Hyunjin found him outside in his office coat shivering from the tears combined with the cold December air. Hyunjin consoled him for what felt like hours, holding Jeongin to his chest and rocking him like a child as the younger male sobbed.

After calming down Hyunjin escorted Jeongin to the sales team manager to discuss transferring teams. After discussing the matter the sales team manager Lee Minho knew for team morale and for two of the best employees at JYP it’d be best to keep you two apart in the office while you both healed. Minho emailed you too telling you he had some extra PTO in the budget and due to your diligence you had earned a few days off. You knew he likely saw everything as your breaks overlapped but accepted his show of sympathy as it granted you time to cry in peace.

Your long weekend ended the following Wednesday. You now had only seven days until the party and your heart was still smashed like a piece of pottery on the floor. Your ticket had long since been paid for as was the show stopping dress you had bought for the black tie affair. Every time you looked at that dress hanging in your closet encased in its garment bag you broke down. Jeongin went with you to find your party dress, the dress code had just gone out that day.

•Just after you two began fake dating•

“Black Tie? What does that mean, like we are all expected to be dressing like we are Will Smith in ‘Men in Black’?” Jeongin asks you as you both look at your phones reading the email. You point out the bottom where dress code guidelines are given and he gives a dramatic exclaim of, “Oooooohhh I get it now!” That same day you both go around Gangnam looking for gala appropriate clothing, thankfully your bosses had given company wide raises which allowed even menial employees like the two of you the luxury to afford clothing in the most expensive shopping district in Seoul. Jeongin had chosen his suit already and was waiting on you to try your final dress before you would resort to begging a friend for a gala gown of theirs. When you had stepped out in the dress you had chosen as your final pick Jeongin immediately faked a dramatic swoon and began to act as if he was worshiping you. You laughed slightly at his exaggerated reaction to the dress, he ended his little performance and sat back down in his seat to watch your own reaction to the dress.

You stood on the small podium in the shop and turned in a small circle showing off the dress’ ability to accentuate your curves and the right aspects of your body. The dress was a long slightly fitted gown with bishop sleeves, buttons down the bodice that perfectly matched the shade of the fabric, giving the gown a subtle classic touch. The deep v neckline accented your chest in a classy way that didn’t draw too much attention. The crimson color of the fabric enhanced every ounce of your beauty, looking in the mirror you didn’t see yourself the way you usually did. In that mirror wasn’t “Y/N the young woman working in a corporate job who was content with living a mundane life.” No, before you in your reflection was “Y/N, the young woman who had made early adult life her bitch” You felt like a queen, an ethereal goddess, a gorgeous, and powerful woman. You felt like every woman you had looked up to as you stared at your reflection.

You bought that red dress, but you didn’t buy the confidence it gave you. You couldn’t transfer the way you felt on that podium to your mental bank account to use as needed.

You didn’t know it at the time, but that confidence came from your hype man Jeongin’s support, and you couldn’t buy that either. you went home with a gorgeous gown and an air of elation around you.

•End Flashback•

The office felt lonely. You missed your friend, you missed your notes and coffees, you missed Jeongin being Jeongin. When you had come in you were quickly informed that Jeongin had transferred over to the international sales team and was the talk of their section of the buildingHe was a valuable new asset but he was apparently very quiet and avoidant of conversation. With his absence and the rumors already circulating about the breakup, Changbin had already swung back into action. He walked over to you as you were at the coffee machine preparing a cup to get you through the work you missed. Upon seeing him you began to abandon your Holy Grail of caffeine and walk toward your desk. He caught your wrist and gave you a pleading look.

“Hey Y/N, sorry about what I heard about you and Jeongin. Wait! Don’t leave just yet! Please! I have a little more I NEED to say. I’m sorry for not initially respecting you and your boundaries, I got some stupid advice and I uh have learned now not to take advice from others when one suggestion from them doesn’t work the first time around. Oh and uh not to keep asking someone out when they said no the first time.” His hand awkwardly rubbed against the back of his neck and he looked down. THE Changbin was nervous, looking like the human embodiment of the sweat drop emoji? Letting his guard down around you? You placed a gentle hand on his bicep and gave him the best smile you could. you knew that he needed some comfort. You could tell that this was eating at him a lot.

“Thank you Changbin, really. You’re actually the first person to just briefly talk to me about the breakup, everyone keeps asking questions instead of just saying

‘I heard about the breakup, that sucks. I hope you both are doing okay. let me know what I can do to help.’’ So thank you for just talking about something else even if it’s still dating related.” You mirthfully laugh and give his arm a soft squeeze and smiled kindly at him again. “You know I think we got off on the wrong foot Seo Changbin, friends?”

“Friends.” With grins on both of your faces you interlocked hands and shook like it was a business deal.

Your new friendship with Changbin was nothing like your friendship with Jeongin. Changbin would drag you to his workouts to teach you new techniques to add to your own very mild workout routine. He would be your cooking guinea pig. He would be the more wild person to get you out of your shell. But he wasn’t Jeongin, he wasn’t someone who knew you like the back of his hand, wasn’t as in sync with you, he was different. But leading up to the party, different was good, different was what you needed. Different wasn’t what caused your pain.

Jeongin heard about your friendship with Changbin and was seething. His mind raced with so many emotions and questions. Had you replaced him? Had he been so naive? Did he mean nothing to you? Was this all just a game? Had you ended both the ‘relationship’ and your friendship without really explaining to him? Was any of it real to you? The relationship with you was real from the moment he was able to kiss you better than the panicked one the day this fiasco began. To Jeongin it was real each time he would play with your hands and envelop your fingers in his. It was real the first moment he smelled the way your scented shampoo and perfume lived in harmony whilst you hugged. He was infatuated with everything about you, he wrote that rule whilst breaking it, he had loved you from the moment he agreed to kissing you. Now here you were playfully elbowing the man you wanted Jeongin to help you push away. Was this all a joke? Did you use him to get Changbin to change his strategy? He had no clue what to think or feel. All he knew was he was upset and he needed the truth.

The night of the party came and you and Changbin walked into the beautiful venue arm in arm. The company booked a glorious ballroom in a high rise building in Gangnam, with beautiful chandeliers and a balcony overlooking the city. The windows have a perfect view of what would be the midnight fireworks. The setting was glorious, the food was spread through the room so guests could mingle, and of course the alcohol was bottomless. A recipe for either a magical night, or a tragic night, you as the chef had to decide.

You and Changbin made your way to the balcony and he wrapped his suit jacket around you and you leaned your head on his shoulder. For a while you sat in silence watching the bustling city below you. The sounds of honking cars, drunken cheers, and music lulled you into a sense of melancholic peace.

“Y/N, so never told you but I figured out you and Jeongin weren’t actually dating.” He muttered quietly so no one else would hear him, unfortunately you were not so tactful. The gulp of champagne you had just taken was still in your mouth, however it quickly flew out of your mouth and onto the immaculate marble floor. No one thankfully saw your spit take. Trying to regain composure, you dabbed your mouth clean with a napkin and gave your friend a shocked glare.

“Wait, what, how, what, again huh?!” You harshly sputtered in confusion and slight panic. You were careful to keep your voice hushed even though you wanted to squawk like a panicked bird at this revelation.

“It was the bar night, you drunkenly questioned a compliment from Jeongin and acted like he never complimented you or your physical features and Chan and I found it weird and basically we ended up kinda analyzing how you two interacted. It almost seemed like you were faking a relationship, but I can see now your feelings for him were so real. You really loved him didn’t you?” Changbin opened his arms and you quickly found purchase gripping his shirt and nodding, you focused on holding the tears in as to preserve your makeup and his shirt. Changbin softly rubbed your back and whispered soft affirmations to you to help ease the pain. After seeing how hurt your breakup, if you could realistically call it that made you feel he knew he couldn’t have you, and he was more than okay with just seeing you happy, even if you had found that happiness in another man’s arms. He had mentally moved on from you being the object of his affection and already saw you as a good friend. His affections for you, now platonic felt much better. You gave Changbin a small smile, it didn’t quite reach your eyes. He gave you a knowing one back and brushed off your whispered words of gratitude.

The heartfelt interaction between you two was cut short by an angry Jeongin storming over. “Changbin, if you could excuse us for a few moments I need to steal Y/N for a few minutes to talk.”

“I- Y/N are you okay with this?” Changbin’s apprehension seemed to make the tension among the three of you grow like a bamboo stalk, sharply and quickly. You knew Jeongin and you needed to talk, you just wish it wasn’t right here and right now.

“Binnie I can do this, go have fun. We can talk later. I promise I’ll be okay.” You whisper and hand him back his coat. You quickly followed Jeongin down a corridor far enough from the gala to have a private talk.

“So I see you found a new best friend, or is Binnie your new boyfriend?” Jeongin’s voice was sharp as a blade, cutting you down with each word. Hurt and shock must’ve flashed in your eyes because before you knew it he had stepped back to add more distance between you two. He backed up against a wall trying to not make eye contact with you. “I’m hurt Y/N, fucking broken, you didn’t just fake breakup with me you ditched me for the next best thing, you fucking replaced me. For all I know I was a pawn to make him realize how you wanted to be treated, I could have been a tool to show him how desirable you were, or a tool to make yourself look better to others?! YOU GAVE ME NO REASON! Nothing! No communication either. You never once took a moment to check in on me, not a single time were you asking about my department change, it was like the next shiny thing came and I was forgotten in the mud like a toy, Y/N. Were you too absorbed in yourself to notice I was dying out there?” Your knees gave out as you slumped to the floor and sobs wracked your body. you had selfishly tried to guard your heart, and in the process you broke his and your own if you had been honest and told him your feelings, this wouldn’t have happened and you knew that.

“I don’t even know what to say to explain to you how undeniably sorry I am for what I did. I didn’t want our fake relationship to ruin our very real friendship and I guess it kind of did.” Your words cut Jeongin as did your tone of hurt and reluctant acceptance. You reminded him of how he never had gotten to really call you his, and him raising his voice in hurt may have made things worse. With nothing to lose he continued laying it all out to you.

“I guess you’re right. Well at least you’re happier now with him huh?” He sneered looking down at your shaking form. Your red dress was pitched up as you clutched your knees to your chest. All he could compare you to in his mind was the saddest gumdrop he had ever seen, and he just wanted to take it all back and hold you and say everything was fine. But it wasn’t fine and he was too far gone to stop.

“Why are you so upset I worked it out with Changbin and we’re friends now? Why is that such an issue to you? Communication is a two way street Jeongin and you never once reached out to me either. But that I guess is whatever, what isn’t is you being so mad I made a friend when I was also hurting. So again… Why. Do. You. Care?” By the end of your rant your finger was poking his chest on each of those four words. Your eyes boring into his and your glare matching his. The next thing you knew two hands were clutching your face and your back was pressed against the wall where he was previously standing. You both exchanged a heated kiss, teeth clashing together in an uncoordinated embrace, the kiss went from messy to passionate as you both found rhythm. Hands wandered briefly, panting breaths were exchanged. Saliva transferred from one mouth to the other as his tongue began to find its home in your mouth. It was a crescendo of emotions and need, the days of pining, embarrassment, and turmoil being left behind in exchange for desire, adoration, and pure magic. Your fingers quickly found his hair and his stayed on your cheeks gripping onto your skin like if he wasn’t holding you down you would slip through his fingers. He put every emotion he had into the kiss. Both of you felt hot salty tears run from your eyes as you parted to take deep breaths. Before Jeongin let his desire to kiss you again take hold of him, he knew he had to explain himself, he wish he could throw all of his mistakes into an abyss, but he knew he had to tell you the truth.

“Because I am so undeniably in love with you. I realized right after our plan was underway. I didn’t know how to tell you. I was instantly drawn to you, I truly didn’t know it was possible to meet a piece of heaven until I met you. That’s why I’m mad, because I could lose you, and losing you to him would break me beyond repair.” His voice cracked and cut in and out due to how hard he was fighting more tears.

“Jeongin look at me. Baby, look. at. me.” You tilted his chin with your fingers and looked directly into his watery eyes. “I ran away because I was scared, falling in love with your best friend is terrifying, the day I ended the fake dating was just after I realized how much I loved you. The day we got this dress, I realized I only wanted your opinion on my event wear because you made me feel beautiful. I fucking love you Yang Jeongin and that is terrifying to me.” At your confession, he pulled you into a warm embrace and nuzzled his head to your neck and inhaled the comforting scent of your perfume while you listened to his heartbeat as it settled. As you both hugged and whispered sweet words affirming your feelings for one another you heard a some exclamations coming from behind Jeongin. You had an instinct to look over his shoulder and there were Chan and Changbin exchanging cash with some other coworkers who had all bet on your relationship actually coming into fruition. As you smiled at the sight, you made eye contact with a beaming Changbin who held a big double thumbs up your way, you giggled and shook your head and looked up at your boyfriend, who was now very real. He smiled down at you and shared in your giggles of pure joy. The party began to grow into a full roar as midnight grew closer.

“5….4….3….2….1! HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

As one chapter of life closed and another opened, you shared your first very real kiss, of your now very real relationship. No rules, no faking, no bad pickup lines, and to Jeongin’s chagrin; a beefy new friend to help you get strong enough to carry Jeongin out of the bar when he’s too drunk. Who would have thought a less than stellar acting performance, coupled with some jealousy and a himbo sidekick was what was needed for JYP’s resident versions of Pam and Jim to get together after all.

The End

Tag List:

@veryjeongintxtkid @thisisnotjacinta @shycreationdreamland

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©️ LazyStar

Disclaimer.

If you made it this far make sure to like the fic and show it love with a lil reblog ;*

Please do not share my work on any other platform without my express written permission. Please do not translate my work and repost it to another website. Do not place ANY of my work into Chat GPT or similar AI programs.

This is a work of fiction any real people mentioned (Stray Kids) are characters in this piece. This is not to be used for any real comparisons or depictions of the real people mentioned:)

No one sue me pls i am poor.

[brunchable]

A Soulmate Who Wasn't Meant to be — Part 4 || Doctor Strange x F!Reader

Word Count: 4K Themes: Sabotage, Protective Stephen, Push n Pull, Comedy(?) Special Mentions: Peter Parker, America Chavez, Tony Stark A/N: Don't mind me, I was laughing my ass off while working on this one xD From angst to comedy. . .let's lighten up the mood a bit. If you don't find this funny then I have a shallow sense of humor.

You rose from your slumber like a dracula rising from the dead. There was a pounding headache right behind your forehead, you feel nauseous though your stomach is empty. You look around the room suspiciously, no signs of a man, so how did you get home and who changed you?

“I am not drinking that much ever again.” you moved ever-so-slowly on the edge of your bed, waiting for your nausea to settle before standing up. You rub your eyes and yawn, when you notice a glass of water on your nightstand along with a strip of paracetamol for the pain.

“Did I do this? I probably did.” You shrugged and took two tablets, “Ugh, I can’t even drink coffee—I’ll just drink tea.”

You dragged yourself towards your kitchen to make yourself peppermint tea to relax your stomach. You grabbed the kettle and turned the tap on to boil water when your doorbell rang. Glancing at the clock, you wonder who could be paying a visit so early in the morning.

You open your door to find Stephen at your front door, carrying a brown paper bag.

"Hey—"

With an empty expression you slammed the door to his face and headed back to the kitchen to make yourself a cup of tea.

"I figured you'd get a hangover so I bought congee."

"Son of a fuck—" You almost jumped out of your skin when you saw Stephen casually taking out food from the bag, onto the counter, "Do you not understand the purpose of me slamming the door to your face?"

"Actually, I do. I have a habit of disobeying the whole purpose of things." Stephen takes the lid off the bowl and points at the rice porridge, "Eat."

You rubbed both sides of your temple, "Get out."

"Seriously?"

"Yes! Seriously! You can't walk into my house uninvited! That's an abuse of power! OUT!" You pointed towards the door.

"No. We're going to eat and we're going to talk." Stephen stubbornly stood his ground and pushed the bowl towards you. Your phone then began to ring in your pyjama pocket.

"Oh shit—I forgot about this." You glanced at Stephen and glared at him, "Don't answer the door." You pointed at him and ran to your bedroom. Shortly after you left him, the doorbell rang and like the good listener he is. He went to see who it was.

Stephen peaked and found a man patiently waiting for you to open the door, he chuckled to himself, "You've got to be joking with me."

Stephen teleported himself outside, just around the corner and pretended to be one of your neighbours by pretending to open the door next to yours. Like all the other dates you've had, he was going to do you another favour. He just couldn’t help himself, especially when the jerk actually shoved a condom in his front pocket and gave Stephen a conspiratorial wink.

Oh. A perverted bastard. Stephen tilted his head.

At that moment Stephen didn’t care if this would send you running for the hills or slap a restraining order on him, he was getting rid of the asshole.

"You’re not here for (Y/N), are you?" he asked, pulling fake keys from his pockets.

The man frowned. “Yeah, why?”

Stephen made a show of cringing as he quickly looked at your door as though he was making sure that you weren't watching them.

“I really don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Stephen mumbled.

“Why not?”

He gave the man an “Are you kidding?” look and had to stop himself from laughing as the man shifted nervously.

“Surely you know….,” he said, purposely letting his words drift off.

“No, my friend set me up with her,” he said, shooting a nervous glance towards your apartment.

Stephen rubbed the back of his neck, sighing wearily. “It’s really not my place, but I’m not sure this is such a good idea.”

“Why?” the man practically whined.

After a pause he shook his head, “I’m sorry, but I really don’t like talking about it. All I can tell you is that you really need to be careful.” He gave the man a pointed look as he stressed, “Really careful.”

The man’s eyes widened as his mouth dropped open. He took several steps back, shooting nervous glances towards your door.

“I, uh, just suddenly remembered I have somewhere I’m supposed to be.” With that he practically jogged back towards the elevator and left.

Stephen chuckled as he made his way to your front door. He knocked on the door and wasn’t too surprised when a minute passed and there was no answer.

Suddenly, a loud, wet hacking cough had his brows creasing.

The front door slowly opened as you said, “I’m sorry I took so long,” another hacking cough, “to answer,” another cough, “the,” cough, “door. But, the doctor said I was still,” several loud and disturbing coughs later, “contagious, so I— Oh , it’s only you,” You said with a relieved sigh.

His lips twitched as he took in your new outfit. On your head was one of the ugliest puke green knitted hats that he’d ever seen. Your oversized ratty bathrobe was worse, but the large wadded up ball of tissues in your hand was a nice touch. Wow. You were faking it.

“Love the hat,” he said, smiling as he walked back into your apartment. Laughing, you pulled the offending hat off and chucked it at him. He caught it before it could hit him in the face, “What’s this all about?” he gestured towards you to get up with the hat.

“Nothing,” you said quickly.

“Looks like date repellant to me.” Stephen shrugs and takes a seat on one of your highchairs, dragging his own bowl of congee in front of him.

"Didn't I ask you to leave? You're not invited here or in my life. Why are you still here?"

"I knocked on the door and you opened it, so technically you invited me in." Stephen smiles yet it didn't reach his eyes, "Eat. Your congee's going to get cold."

You growl at his audacity to order you around your own home. You thought if you just gave him what he wanted, he'd leave quicker so you swallowed your pride and sat beside him.

"You better not have some sort of magic in this food." You mumbled while stirring your spoon around the bowl.

"Christ. This ain't hocus pocus. Don't worry, your food is clean," Stephen reaches over and takes a spoonful from your congee, "Happy?"

You mumble to yourself and begin to eat. Stephen has been eyeing the muffins on the centre of the counter and helps himself.

“Please, help yourself,” you said dryly as you noticed him taking one without asking.

“Thank you, I think I will,” he said happily as he proceeded to bite into it.

“What are these amazing plans you have for tonight?” he asked between bites.

“Another date,” you said.

“I guess that means our love affair is over,” he said with a pout.

You snort,“God, you're delusional.”

“I’m hurt.”

“You’ll survive….with therapy of course, want me to contact Tony for you?” you asked.

“Is this another loser? Your date?”

You looked away and mumbled something.

“I’m sorry I don’t speak mumble,” he said.

"I'm just going to be straight with you, Stephen," You sighed, "You can't just walk back into my life like nothing happened. Seeing as how you’re so confident with yourself only mean you really have no fucking idea what you put me through. You probably think I'm obsessed with you."

"No, I don't—"

"Shut up. You will listen to me. It took me months to realise that you did me a favour by breaking my heart. I had settled for you—you really weren't that great for me. You never made me feel pretty—you were constantly thinking about her. You made me resent her so much, I can’t even say her name, but you know who I'm talking about. You were rarely there for me—you worked long hours, coming home around 2 or 3 am in the morning and I made excuses for you. I lied constantly to myself to make it work. Telling everyone that you love me even though my friends constantly complain about you."

Stephen stared at you in silence, after you didn't speak for a while, he wiped his face and swallowed something hard that was stuck in his throat. Stephen took your hands with his thumb stroking the back of it gently.

"Give me a second chance. I promise I'll treat you better than I did. I realize that now. I was stupid, very stupid—"

You rolled your eyes and pulled your hands away, "Don't make promises you don't intend to keep, Stephen. It's too late to make things right."

"I don't want a second chance to make things right. I need it to prove to you that I can do so much better. I know I wasted all my chances to tell you how I really feel. You are all that I could ever want, and every passing day I wish I could find the words to convince you to come back. Think about it. Please. . ."

You bite the inside of your cheek. There was no way you were going to let yourself cry in front of him, "No. Please leave."

Stephen exhaled softly as he waited for you to say more but you remained avoiding to look at him in the eyes. Stephen nodded and got up, "Okay, I'll leave but I'm not taking no for an answer. I will do whatever it takes. Watch me."

You close your eyes and shook your head. You felt the familiar glow of his portal, the same one, the moment he left you alone. You stared at the wall for a long while, you told him you weren't going to think about it. . . so why are you thinking about it?!

You grabbed your phone and dialled Tony's number, it was like a second instinct. Most of the time he answers, but unfortunately not this time. He must be busy with his industry, so you left him a message.

"Hey Tony, so Stephen finally decided to make his way back into my life. . . he asked me whether I could give him a second chance. It was really hard to say, but I said no. I just—I don’t know. Anyways, I better not disturb you. Say hi to Happy and Dum-E for me. Bye."

▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎

You head out to run a few errands and as you walk down the street. Tony flew over the city and emerged from an empty alley to join your walk to the mall. You were too preoccupied with your own thoughts to notice the man walking right beside you.

“So I got your voicemail.” Tony told you which caused you to jump.

“Geeze—What is up with people startling me today?!” You mumbled and unclutched the centre of your chest.

“Happy says hi back by the way, as well as Dum-E. So where are you headed?”

“Just out to buy some toiletries.”

“I see. So, what are you going to do about Stephen?”

You sighed and shrugged, “I don’t know. . . at first I thought I wanted to hurt him back but I don’t think I have the heart to do that.”

“You don’t have to hurt him but you can make him suffer. Make it difficult for him to get that sweet, sweet second chance—make him grovel. What do you want? Do you want him back? Do you want to move on? What’s your gut telling you?” Tony glances at you and notices that you were thinking deeply about it.

“I don’t know. . .”

Tony sighed and halted. You halt as well and that’s when he places both his hands around your arms and turns you to face him , “Making him suffer is easy, (Y/N). This probably isn't good advice but he needs to know what he lost because of his slack and stupidity. If—no, when he starts to make an effort, keep rejecting him. Push him to his limits, see how far he would go to get you back—but remember, his efforts do not represent how much you’re worth, it represents how much he’s worth. Got it?”

You nodded, allowing Tony’s words to seer into your brain.

“Good.” Tony sends you an endearing smile, “Now smile. Did you know that a smile is the most beautiful curve on a woman?”

You chuckles and shake your head, “Yes. Thank you Tony. You always give me the best advice.”

“Anything for my best girl—you want to get shawarma? I feel like eating shawarma, I haven’t had one in a while.”

“My treat or your treat?” You asked.

“Your treat of course, who am I? Bill Gates?” Tony waves his hands dismissively.

You shake your head, “It should be your treat, you’re the billionaire here.”

“How do you think I got rich?” Tony jokes and lightly nudges you, “Kidding, it’s my treat but you have to treat me with cheeseburgers next time.”

▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎

The Following Night.

“I had a really nice time,” Luke said, probably for the tenth time. You forced yourself to smile and of course, lie.

“I did, too,” you said, hoping he wouldn’t ask you to elaborate on what you'd found nice, because you would be hard pressed to find something nice about this evening, except of course that it was nice that it was ending.

This was absolutely the very last time you went on a date with any man Gabbie, one of your oldest and dearest friends, suggested.

One would think after Gabbie set you up last time with the taxidermist, who cross-dressed, you would have learned your lesson. Not that there's anything wrong with that, the guy was just creepy—he did nothing but stare at you all night. You apparently hadn’t because somehow you’d agreed to go out with this loser. It hadn’t started off badly.

In fact, he’d been on time and you thought he was rather cute in a nerdish way. He was tall, a bit thin, but still, he looked nice. His clothes were clean and he smelled good. The first clue that something just wasn’t right occurred when you’d arrived at the restaurant.

That’s when his mother called for the first time. Yes, the first time, as in there was more than one call from his mother.

In fact, during your four-hour date, it lasted that long because he took so long to eat, she’d called a total of twenty-three times.

Yes, you were very sure it was his mother, because he’d sat at the table when he took the calls and the speaker on his phone was rather loud. The reasons for the calls ranged from, she missed him, wanted to know if he’d rather come home and eat what she cooked, reminded him to clean his room tomorrow, and her personal favourite, she wanted to know if he was still with “her.”

Judging by her tone and the amount of calls, his mommy was not a happy camper about her little boy dating.

Granted, her little boy was thirty years old and according to him had never lived on his own. Why would he when he lived with his best friend? Meaning, mommy dearest. Of course, he did spend a good amount of time complaining about how unfair his mother could be. Who knew that a thirty year old man could still be grounded for not picking up his dirty socks? You certainly hadn’t.

You could not wait to get inside your apartment and change into a pair of jeans and a tee shirt and have a good laugh about this with Tony.

“Well, here we are,” you said brightly as they pulled into the driveway. “It’s been fun. Thank you again,” you said quickly as you practically ran from the car.

“This is a really nice building,” he said, from somewhere close, too close.

You looked back and bit back the curse that threatened to leave your lips. The man was following you through the entrance. You wanted to cry, really, you did.

When would this nightmare end? You walked up to the elevator and plastered another fake smile on your face. Both of you entered the elevator and he ended up walking you all the way to your front door.

“Well, thanks again.”

“You’re welcome.” He gave you a shy smile before he leaned in to kiss you. Thankfully you saw that one coming and turned your head in time to receive a rather wet kiss on your cheek.

Ew…. You barely stopped yourself from wiping your face. You’d scrub that off in a matter of minutes in a scalding hot shower, you promised yourself with a grimace.

“Oops. Sorry,” he mumbled as he leaned in to give you another kiss. Faster than even you thought was possible, you had the front door unlocked and opened. You stumbled back, saving yourself from more slobber.

“Well, it’s been nice, but-”

“Can I come in for a cup of coffee?” he asked eagerly and then of course had to add, “I can stay out as late as I want tonight.”

Oh, you knew he was lying. Someone was going to be in so much trouble when he got home. You mentally tsked him. You opened your mouth to politely refuse when the yelling began.

“Help me!” you jumped. What the hell? It sounded like Stephen was right in your apartment. “Help me, please! Somebody please help me! Why won’t somebody help me?”

“What’s that?” Luke asked nervously.

You didn’t stop to answer. You were already running towards the direction of the screaming. My room? You threw the door open and stumbled as you came to a halt five feet into the room, which put you directly in front of your bed.

“What the hell….” Luke stopped behind you.

Yes. What the actual hell is he doing here?! When he said he was going to prove things to you and do whatever it takes this isn't what you had in mind.

“Oh, thank God you’re here, (Y/N)!” Stephen said, sounding happy for someone who was tied to your bed and wearing only a pair of boxers, “I know you said it turns you on knowing that I’m tied to your bed waiting for you, but I really need to use the bathroom and stretch my legs before we begin….,” his voice trailed off when he caught sight of Luke.

Stephen sighed dramatically.

“I thought we agreed that you would tell me ahead of time before you added someone to our bed.” With a roll of his eyes he said, “It’s fine this time. Lucky for you I think we have plenty of lube.” He looked thoughtfully at Luke, who was still staring at Stephen dumbly. “I hope you’re not a screamer. The last guy screamed his head off every time I-”

“You’re sick!” Luke cried, cutting Stephen off. “Stay away from me and don’t try to call me either! I’m telling my mother about you!”

You didn’t spare Luke a glance as you glared at the man with the huge shit-eating grin tied to your bed. You were vaguely aware of your front door slamming shut.

“Is that for me?” Stephen asked, looking pointedly at the Styrofoam container in you hands.

“No, but I guess sharing is caring,” you said as you walked around the bed and placed the container on his chest and opened it. You didn’t miss his eyes widening in pleasure.

“Is that-”

“Peanut butter frosting, yup,” you finished for him. It was both your favorite. He licked his lips as he stared at the huge dessert.

“Wow. Is this a gift from saving you from that loser? Untie me so I can dig in,” he said absently as he continued to stare at the cake, probably trying to decide which end he was going to attack first.

“You can’t get free?” you asked tilting your head.

“Nope.”

“You did this to yourself?”

“Yup. Now cake, woman.”

“Uh huh…..” you stepped away from the bed and headed for the bathroom.

“Wait, where are you going?”

“I’m just getting something to untie you with.”

“Hurry.”

“Sure thing,” you said, glad he couldn’t see your shit-eating grin.

▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎

Peter and America wiped the tears off their cheeks as they struggled to stop laughing. Peter failed miserably and fell to his knees when he leaned too far back to his chair.

“Ha-ha, keep laughing while you can, who's paying the pizza for both of you?” Stephen snapped.

“I can’t….I can’t….believe….she….shaved….your legs!” Peter said between gasps and laughter. The little shit. Thankfully Stephen was wearing a shirt to cover up his now hairless chest and armpits.

“How long did she keep you tied up?” America asked as she heaved. Stephen shot a glare at the girl.

“I don’t know why you find this so funny, this was both of your ideas. This should outrage you that someone would take advantage of me like that. Where’s your loyalty?”

“Nothing you can bitch about will be any worse than what you’ve done to everyone else over the years. In fact, I believe (Y/N) is now my hero.” Peter smiles and bats his eyelashes.

“She’s dead to me,” he said with a sniff.

“Uh huh,” America said, stealing another slice of pizza and taking a big bite, "To be fair, you deserve that for sabotaging her dates these last few weeks."

"Does she know?" Peter asked, now sitting on the chair again.

"What?"

"That you're the reason behind why she's still single."

"I don't know. . .but she probably will know now if her next date goes horribly wrong." He shrugs.

"Oh my gosh! If you want her back that's not the way to go." America shook her head confidently, "You might be book smart but you're dumb when it comes to love."

"Sorry? Say that again?" Stephen taunted America.

"She said you're dumb when it comes to love." Peter repeated for America.

"What do you know? Both of you are just kids."

"Kid with a girlfriend here." Peter raised his hand.

"Alright, since both of you are experts, what should I do?" Peter opened his mouth to say something and Stephen turned his head to the younger lad, "And it better not be a reference to pop-culture."

Peter and America look at each other and smile cunningly, "We'll help you. . .under one condition."

Stephen scoffs and then laughs, "I'm not that desperate."

"Yes you are." Peter pressed his lips together and nodded, seeing through Stephen's bullshit.

Oh how he wants to strangle this child so bad.

"Condition one: You have to treat us pizza every Saturday for one year. Two: You have to teach me how to drive. And three: You'll have to enrol Peter's friend, Ned, and train him to Karmar-Taj." America sets the condition firmly to Stephen.

"Enrol? What's Kamar-Taj? Hogwarts?" Stephen chuckles but the two youngins didn't laugh, "Alright fine! But we're going to do this properly. No funny business."

"Yes." America pumps her arm, "What should we name this mission?"

"Nothing! This is not a mission, we are not naming this mission!"

"How about Operation Reconciliation?" Peter tapped his chin, both him and America ignoring Stephen.

"I like it! It rhymes as well. You're so smart Peter."

Stephen chucks his arms in the air and shakes his head in disapproval.

"Hang on. . . Are you sure you want Stephen to teach you how to drive?" Peter asked. In his peripheral vision Stephen's laser eyes were burning through him, "I-I mean. . . I want to learn too. . ." Peter laughs sheepishly.

"Too far. . ." America whispers before clearing her throat, "Anyway, we need to plan the first phase of Operation Reconciliation. Hmmm. . . Can you play any instruments?" She finally addresses Stephen.

"Yeah, I can play the Piano and the guitar."

America rubs her hands together, a broad smile growing from ear to ear, "Perfect. Let Operation Reconciliation: Phase Sadness commence."

TAGS: @sherlux @frostandflamesfanfic @gaitwae @shit-post-things @seasonofthenerd @patbrdac @evelynrosestuff @singhfae @severuined @farfromjustordinary @lovecleastrange @samisubi @mochuchi @faithinhome @ohchoices @junkertown-princess @sigyncevans @dragonqueen89 @the-royal-petals @hiddlechive @bobateadaydreams @lykaonimagines @valbensherstep @strangeobsessed @calsjack @crowleyspett @goldencherriess @jyessaminereads @fandom-lover-4 @tis-vereon @rbymoon @ronsbadidea @sunshineyrosie @strangefilms @justmewoo @imherefordeanandbones @winsteria @arioneway @strangefilms @siredlust @strangeions @gwephen @strangesweetheart @allie131313 @lokislov3 @classicrebound

[ghost-format]

Is Tim Drake still canonically missing his spleen, or is it never talked about again?

Because realistically, Alfred and Bruce probably did know about it. And I figure Bruce would have enough money to get him a new one.

Don’t get me wrong, I love spleen-less Tim, both for angst, comedy, or just being interesting purposes.

But c’mon. Mr. Constantly Checking Vitals and Doing Scans Just In Case, would probably realize.

[rainisawriter]

High&Low Masterlist

Since I reblog a lot of shit constantly, my fics can easily be lost to time lmao So, here is a handy little post to compile them all together.

If you want to see all of my current WIPs and planned fics (both fanfic and original) you can click here.

If you want to see all of my original short stories that I've posted, you can find them here on WordPress.

If you want to see the other High&Low fics I've written, not posted here on this account, you can check them out here on WordPress.

If you feel so inclined and would like to tip your taco-starved writer, please check out my Ko-fi page here.

✦ = denotes a fic posted on WordPress and not Tumblr.

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-> Cobra

☔ Over-Protective / magic, fluff, violence, halloween / 2k ✦

☔ Decorations / fluff, halloween / 1k ✦

☔ A Helping Hand / fluff, slice of life, romance / 2k

-> Yamato

☔ To Be Family / fluff, family / 4k

-> Lassie

☔ Pumpkin Spice / fluff, comedy, romance, halloween / 4k

-> Shibaman

☔ Like My Own / fluff, slice of life / 6k

☔ Witch Hunter / magic, fluff, angst, drama, romance, halloween / 4k ✦

☔ Made With Love / fluff, romance, slice of life / 5k

-> Takajou Tsukasa

☔ A Gift for You / angst, fluff / 3k

-> Hanaoka Fujio

☔ Needing You / fluff, friendship / 5k

-> Murayama Yoshiki

☔ Stealing All the Breath Right Out of my Lungs / fluff, slice of life / 2k

☔ Utopia / fluff, slice of life / 4k ✦

☔ A Competitive Streak / fluff / 616 ✦

-> Nakagoshi Dai

☔ Spilled the Salt / fluff, slice of life, romance, halloween / 2k ✦

-> Smoky

☔ Interview / vampire au, friendship, soulmate au, fluff, halloween / 4k ✦

-> Takeshi

☔ Autumn Rain / fluff, halloween / 1k ✦

☔ Strange One / fluff, comedy / 3k

-> Hyuga Norihisa

☔ Royal / fluff / 2k ✦

☔ Rainy Night Cuddles / fluff / 347 ✦

☔ Contract / demon au, supernatural, comedy, halloween / 1k ✦

☔ Hyuga & the Three Kittens / fluff, slice of life / 4k

-> Agyo

☔ Cursed / fluff, romance, halloween / 4k ✦

-> Fuuta

☔ Writing Purposes / friendship, friends to lovers, fluff / 1k ✦

☔ Morgue / angst, supernatural, romance, halloween / 2k ✦

-> Hiroto

☔ Bound / demon au, fluff, comedy, friendship, supernatural, halloween / 9k ✦

-> Bernie

☔ The Sun & Moon / fluff, angst, halloween / 6k

-> Ice

☔ A Halloween Miracle / fluff, romance, slice of life / 5k

-> Amagai Kohei

☔ The Ugly Duckling / fluff, angst / 7k

-> Ito

☔ You're All That I Adore / fluff, slice of life, domestic, slight angst / 4k

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-> My favorite fic ever written ^-^)/♡

Rain (Shibaman) by @star2fishmeg

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