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shina913 · 2 years

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The Boyfriend Experience | PJM

The Boyfriend Experience: Jimin

The BFE: Masterlist

Pairing: Escort!Jimin x Virgin.Fem!Reader

Rating: M 🔞; NSFW

Genre: sex!work AU; fluff; smut

Warnings: legal sex work (in this AU); sex for hire; cussing; explicit sexual conversations; alcohol consumption; dirty talk; exhibitionism; clit play; breast/nipple play; heavy petting; oral sex (mutual); protected sex; orgasm denial; stamina!; multiple orgasms; (somewhat) rough sex but with aftercare

Word count: 9,132 words

Summary: 💬 By the time he knocked at the door, I was a bottle of wine deep. I answered sheepishly, gripping onto a nearly empty wine glass. He let me know that it’s everyone’s first time once and that there was no need to be nervous. I didn’t need to do anything I didn’t want to.

A/N: This was supposed to be posted by Jimin's birthday but I couldn't get my shit together and RL got in the way so ...here we are! Anyway, I kept flip-flopping on my ideas re: how to write the reader-insert character here so I hope this characterization works out fine.

A/N2: As in my other fics, I listen to a lot of music while I write. For this one in particular, I had my Miguel playlist going--specifically, the song, "Use Me." It also helped that I watched that Run BTS performance multiple times 🤣

A/N3: Also, I want to thank @internetjunkdrawer for beta'ing this, sending me suggestions, and just being my reliable Jimin consultant 😜 Thank you, @itdoesntmatterwhy as well for allowing me to run a couple ideas by you and making sure that this scenario was plausible and that OC wasn't a caricature or silly stereotype! 😘

‼️IMPORTANT: Although the narration will include Jimin's name, OC/Reader will not address him as so because she booked him under an assumed alias. Weird, I know but--let's just go with it 😉

“Crap!” You gasped after picking up the empty bottle of wine. You only intended to have a couple glasses–maybe three–to calm your nerves. Next thing you knew, you’d downed the whole thing.

Before you grab another one out of your kitchen, your apartment’s buzzer goes off making you jump. Even after drinking a whole bottle of wine, you were still edgy. Could anxiety burn off alcohol? Was that even possible?

You stood and attempted to take a step, but you almost lost your footing on wobbly legs. Welp...that certainly answered your question about the alcohol.

You shook your head, refocusing your vision and smoothed the creases on your dress before walking towards the intercom.

“H-hello?” You spoke nervously into the box.

“Hi, YN. It’s me.”

You were expecting a deep, husky, come-hither voice–like one that was made for phone sex. Instead, he sounded like a completely normal guy…a normal guy whom you were paying to have sex with you.

How did you even get to this point?

A couple years back, at an office holiday party, you had drunkenly confessed to your work-wife that you were a virgin. She was incredulous at first and thought that you were pulling her leg. But you told her, absolutely zero experience with dick.

Since then, she’s made it her mission to get you laid. Secretly trying to fix you up during happy hours or random nights out with her.

Once, you came very close to going all the way. You confessed to your date that you had never had sex before. From that point on, the dynamic turned for the worse. He treated it as a fetish and it ultimately put you off.

Needless to say, you stopped dating for a while. Until your friend asked you what you planned to do for your 30th birthday.

You hadn’t really thought about it since it was months away. You figured a nice dinner with your closest friends would suffice.

Why don’t you try this app?

It all started with a damn app. You thought it was another trash trend that she was trying to get you into. But this wasn’t your run-of-the-mill dating app.

An escort service?

There was no way you were paying anyone to have sex with you. It just sounded…wrong?

Out of curiosity, your friend let you browse through her app. She had recently become a member and was raving about her experience, following her most recent breakup with her boyfriend.

As you scrolled through, you had to admit that these guys were hot and promised discretion. But they came at a premium price.

After a week of thinking it through, you asked your friend to officially send a referral to the company. Days later, you heard back and received your own confirmation to access the app.

You browsed through it, then closed out of it. Browsed. Closed out. You did this several times for the next few weeks. It was almost part of your daily routine. There was one profile in particular that kept calling you back and this whole time, you’d been gathering up the courage to actually book him.

Finally, after a particularly difficult week, you opened the app again. You scrolled down to his profile and tapped on it. Unlike in the past where you’ve repeatedly chickened out after ogling at his photos, you finally click on the date-picker icon and zero-in on one particular day. By some stroke of luck, he was free. You took it as a sign–so you clicked on “book,” and a few minutes later, received a confirmation notice.

Your heart raced at the memory. You had many opportunities to cancel–but you didn’t. And tonight was the night. You release a deep breath, calming yourself down.

“Come on up!” You buzzed him right in.

You round the corner to your kitchen and discard your empty bottle then quickly check yourself in the mirror. You look slightly flushed and your pupils dilated…but it didn’t bother you. It was just the alcohol working itself through your veins.

Seconds later, you hear a knock on the door.

“It’s just a guy…calm down,” you mumble to yourself before grabbing the door handle.

“Hi there,” Jimin said with a small smile.

“Holy shit,” you breathed out.

The corners of his mouth quirked into a chuckle.

For a supposed casual night in, he was still dressed to impress. He wore a light gray suit and a white button-up without a tie.

Nope–this was no normal guy. The soft crinkle in his eyes that he had when he smiled was in stark contrast to the rest of his look. His hair was brushed to the side and those plush pink lips were like magnets that you were immediately drawn into.

“Will you invite me in?”

You shook your head. “O-of course,” you stammered. “Oh my god. Where are my manners?” You said in a slightly higher-than-normal octave. “Come on in!”

He walks–no–struts in and takes a quick look at your living room before turning back to face you.

“Can I give you a kiss on the cheek?”

It took you a second to realize that you were the only other person in the room and he was asking if he could kiss you on the cheek!

“Yes,” you answer meekly.

He smiled again, closed in on you and planted a soft kiss on your cheek. You felt a little flutter in your belly and it made you smile.

“You smell nice. What’s that?”

“YSL…Black Opium.” You weren’t sure if it was sensual enough. Although you contemplated getting a Chanel sample or something a bit more spicy-smelling, you ended up going with your everyday perfume. Besides, you couldn’t stand any of those scents anyway.

He hummed. “I can smell the vanilla and coffee notes–sexy.”

You were surprised at his in-depth knowledge of women’s perfumes but your cheeks warmed up at the thought that he found it sexy.

“You can put your stuff over here,” you walked over to your dining area and pointed to one of the chairs.

“Thank you,” he responded politely as he set his bag down.

“Would you like a drink?”

“I’d love one,” he replied.

You smiled and offered him a seat on your couch, urging him to help himself to some food.

“Uh–sorry I didn’t have dinner set up. I figured I’d ask you what you felt like eating rather than making assumptions. I have a charcuterie board, though?”

His eyes drift over to your coffee table where you had refreshments set out. “Wow, that’s nice of you. I’m honestly fine with whatever you like. I’m not picky,” he smiles.

He gestures towards your sofa “After you.” You smile nervously and walk back to the living room, where he follows close behind you.

“Do you prefer red or white?”

“I’ll drink whatever you’re drinking.”

Well…you had just downed a bottle of white before he got here so maybe it would be helpful to retrieve a fresh bottle if you were offering it.

While he settles on your couch, you excuse yourself to go into the kitchen to grab the bottle of white you had chilling in the fridge. After uncorking it, your eyes drift to the plain envelope that you had sitting on your countertop. You presumed it might be rude to have the money in plain sight sitting in the living room.

Cash in-hand, you return to the couch. He sat there with his jacket off, completely relaxed with his legs in a figure-four position, his arm draped across the back cushion.

Reaching for the bottle, he takes it from you and pours two glasses. You mouthed your thanks and proceed to the next order of business.

“Here’s uh–your…” You struggle to find a formal word for it, until you settle on, “Your compensation.”

He reaches out for the envelope. “You mean, my fee?”

You grimaced. You were paying him for sex but you felt that he deserved some respect. “I just didn’t want to be too blunt about it,” you muttered.

“Nothing blunt about getting paid for a job, YN. And thank you,” he says after accepting the envelope and sets it aside. He reaches to pick up the glasses on the coffee table and hands one to you.

He raises his, inviting you to a toast. “Here’s to a night of fun.” You raise yours and clink it against his. “To a night of fun,” you echo before taking another healthy sip.

“Mm…Is that a vintage?” He comments on the wine, holding up his glass to the light.

“It is. It was a good year. I have memberships at a couple different wineries. This one in particular is one of my favorites,” you divulged.

A smile ghosted his lips. “Soon to be mine, too.”

He took another sip and you followed with a longer swig.

An awkward silence falls. A few moments later, you shift in your seat and clear your throat to gather your nerves. “So…d-do we just get into it?”

He smiled warmly at you. “Why don’t we talk a bit more? Get comfortable, get to know each other. We don’t need to rush into it.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to come off too eager or anything,” you chuckle nervously. “It’s just that I’ve never done this before, so I don’t really know how this works.”

His tone was sincere and reassuring. “That’s alright. And you have me until the next morning, so we can take our time.”

You blew out a sigh of relief after he reminded you of your booking. “Right.”

You could have booked him for just a couple hours, which was about the average time for an experience. But for your particular case, you thought it would take some more time.

“How was your day today?” The question seemed so mundane but it was casual and you could tell that he wanted to make you feel at ease.

“Fine. Good,” you gave him a small smile.

“And what was good about it?” His gaze was so unnerving. The look in his eyes had this odd combination of calm turbulence. It was a look that said, ‘I want to take good care of you…by nailing you to the mattress.’

You fluttered your eyelashes and giggled nervously. “To be honest with you, I spent half the day getting ready because I was really looking forward to tonight,” you finished with a whisper.

“Well, that makes both of us then,” he smiled before taking another sip of wine. “So tell me, what would you like to get out of this experience?”

You inwardly cringe. You had filled out the intake questionnaire and comments section. Wrote out fantasies and things you’d like to try. You didn’t really want to repeat all of that in front of him. “You read my profile, right,” you ask carefully.

“Yes, I did. But I would still like to hear it from you. Maybe you missed a few details or changed your mind since you filled out your profile.”

You thought about tip-toeing around it but Jimin didn’t seem the type to mince words. He looked like somebody who appreciated honesty.

You’d contemplated this date for weeks…maybe even months! It took you a while to actually pull the trigger on this and it was mostly because your birthday was closing in. Another year older, another year of an unremarkable, nonexistent sex life.

You purse your lips and shrug your shoulders sheepishly. “Nope. Nothing’s changed…I just want to have sex,” you say quietly. “Pretty boring, I know.”

“There’s nothing boring about sex…at least, it shouldn’t be,” he interjects.

You mentally kick yourself for that ‘boring’ comment. Why did you book him if you thought it was going to be boring? You could have just gone to a bar and picked someone up or just slept with the mailroom guy at your office. That guy seemed like he could be really discreet, too.

But no…You did not want the mailroom guy. You wanted this experience to be special and memorable. People can think you were shallow for this but at this stage in your life, you wanted someone who not only knew what they were doing but one who was also far better-looking than any average guy at a bar…or a mailroom.

As soon as you came across his profile, he looked like the perfect guy who ticked all of your boxes.

“So…I hope you don’t mind but I’ve made a list. I’m a huge fan of efficiency and I want to be able to make the most of my time with you.”

His eyebrows lifted, his interest piqued. “Oh, nice. I like that.”

“I’m kind of a Type-A, so…” you trail off apologetically.

“I don’t mind,” he says softly.

After he assures you, you picked up your phone off the coffee table and pulled your notes app up on the screen. You peered up at him as he waited in anticipation.

“Let’s hear it,” he coaxes.

You start to read off your list. “So…oral sex–you go down on me, and then I’ll go down on you. I read on your profile that you’re okay with that. Is that still accurate?”

He smiles and nods politely and urges you to continue rattling off activities you’d like to try during your booking.

“And there’s regular cowgirl and reverse cowgirl…definitely want to see what that’s about,” you muttered. “I also want to try doggy-style if…that’s what they still call it?”

“Last I checked, that still applied,” he smiled.

“Okay, great! And uhm…I also want to try standing sex? I’m a bit of a yoga enthusiast and I heard that’s sort of a must-try position?”

He grinned and nodded in affirmation. “That all sounds very achievable.”

You breathed out a sigh of relief. “Oh, okay! I was afraid that I didn’t book enough time for this.”

His eyes widened. He was perplexed but he didn't make it obvious to you. Clearing his throat, he asked, “Y-you mean you want to get through all of that…tonight?”

“Well, yeah,” you answer matter-of-factly. “I thought that we might as well knock out as much as we can because let’s face it, you’re a little expensive and I’m not sure if I would like to book another session,” you clarify.

While the overnight rate was cheaper than the hourly rate, what you were paying him still wasn't considered chunk change. You wanted to make the most of your experience and get your money’s worth.

He shifted in his seat. “I understand,” he says with a warm smile. “And we can try all of that but I want to make sure that you’re fully satisfied, not because you’re crossing out a to-do list.”

You sighed. “I just wanted to try a variety of things other than ‘missionary.’”

“There’s nothing wrong with ‘missionary’. If you take your time with foreplay and your partner knows how to position you properly to hit the right spots. You can get some good orgasms out of it.”

Your eyebrows lifted. “Oh…” You responded in a slightly higher octave.

“I can show you how good ‘missionary’ could be,” he said with a slight twitch of his brow.

“O-okay,” you stuttered with a voice unrecognizable as your own. “That’s…uh, okay. I can add that to the list,” you say shakily.

Silence falls between you two as you exchange tense gazes. He took another sip of his drink and you watched as his tongue licked off some errant droplets of wine that were on his lower lip.

“Was there more?” He queried with a soft smile.

You blinked furiously as the wine started to settle into your veins, making you speak before you thought about it. “I’m sorry, I was just a little distracted–you’re…really, really good-looking. And I-I just…I didn’t expect–” You halt your babbling. “Sorry. I’m…I’m…I’m just–”

“Hey,” he rests his hand on your knee quelling your anxiety, “Stop apologizing. It’s just us here and I get that you’re nervous but you don’t have to be. You can trust me, okay?”

You nodded at his reassurance.

“And thank you for the compliment. I think you’re beautiful,” he added.

You feel a slight flush on your cheeks, muttering your thanks, then exhale sharply to reset your thoughts. “How long have you been doing this kind of work?”

Really, though, what else would you talk to an escort about?

“A while now,” he answers simply.

“And…do you enjoy it?”

“I do, as a matter of fact,” he responded with certainty. “I find it rewarding. A mutual fulfillment of pleasure.”

“Really?” You were skeptical. “You get pleasure from all of your clients?”

“Yes,” he answers confidently.

You found that hard to believe. A normal person can’t possibly be attracted to or get off on just anybody… “And you’ve never met anyone whom…you didn’t want to have sex with?”

He chuckled softly. “So far, that hasn’t happened to me.”

“Huh. That’s pretty unbelievable,” you remark before taking a gulp of your wine.

“You’d be surprised. When you have an innate desire to please your partner…” His fingers subtly brush your arm. “It fuels you…and you experience the same high.”

This piqued your curiosity even further. “And exactly how many–”

He shook his head and tutted. “Tonight should be all about us, YN. Just you and me. Nobody else.”

You nodded wordlessly. It was amazing how he had this silent, soft power to him. From the outset, he sure didn’t look like it at first. He seemed like someone you’d go see a chick-flick with at the movie theater, hold hands or share an ice cream sundae afterwards then he’d walk you home and end the night with a kiss on the cheek.

But the longer you sit here with him, you’re finding that he still looked like the type to go see that chick flick with you…except in this scenario, he’d be finger-fucking you in the back row, while you try your best to muffle your orgasmic moans. Then, he’d take you home and end the night by licking ice cream off your naked body.

Your chest heaved as you took in a deep breath at the thought of this man ravishing your body for the rest of the night.

“Are you alright?”

You gulped audibly. “Uh–y-yeah. Yes!” Your voice is shaky but you try not to make it obvious.

Unfortunately, your efforts fail because he still senses it.

He calmly takes your glass and sets it on the coffee table. You swallow hard when he scoots closer to you. His hands came up and pushed through your hair and brushed your cheeks with a gentleness.

Cupping your jaw and tilting your head up slightly, he asks, “May I?”

Ignoring the fluttering of nerves in your belly, you held his gaze. “Yes.”

He took your breath away with a kiss. His tongue traced the seam, then dipped inside, licking and teasing.

He lowered you against the couch’s headrest, your body flushed with his, moaning when he shifted to lie half over you. Your hands slid up and down his back, your leg lifting to hook over his hip. He caught your lower lip between his teeth and stroked the curve with the tip of his tongue, making you sigh.

He groaned in response…the sound was so erotic it made you wetter.

Your back arched as his hand crept beneath the hem of your dress and snaked upwards to squeeze your thigh under the material.

“Your skin is so soft,” he murmured against your mouth. He kissed his way following your jawline, then buried his face in your neck. “Do you like when I touch you?”

“Mm, yeah…hmm…” You moaned incoherently in response.

He continues to suckle on your neck, he pulls his hands from underneath your dress. It now traveled up your torso, where he gave your breast a gentle squeeze. He felt your nipple harden under your bra.

Things were escalating quicker than you had expected. If you didn’t take hold of your senses, you’d sooner pop your cherry on your couch. It wasn’t what you had envisioned for your ‘perfect night.’

“Hmm…my bedroom is uh, right around back there,” you utter softly.

He lifted his head. “It doesn’t have to be in the bedroom…” He planted a soft kiss on your chin, “…Or on a bed,” then darted his tongue in that notch at the base of your neck.

“So…you mean…h-here?” You squeaked.

“Yeah. Why not?” You hadn’t thought about having sex on the couch. And though it sounded appealing, you’d rather be comfortable.

“Uhm…I think I’d prefer the bed…if that’s okay with you?” You felt weird that you had to ask him about this. You hoped you hadn’t killed the mood.

“Of course, we can do that. Remember, it’s not about what I want. This night is all about you and I want you to fully enjoy yourself. So if it’s the bed you want, then…” He trails off and holds his hand out to you. You take it and you both walk towards the bedroom.

You weren’t exactly sure whether it was the alcohol, your nerves…him? All of the above? Either way, the path to your room felt much longer than it usually did.

Once in there, he sits you on the mattress and remains standing in front of you.

He slowly starts unbuttoning his shirt. You watched him carefully, his mouth was lax, his eyes hooded. Anticipation has your stomach churning and your thighs clenching shut.

With his final button unfastened, he closes in with his shirt draped open. You suddenly have the urge to run your tongue down his center.

As if reading your mind, he coaxes you. “Go ahead.”

With his permission you reach up and run your finger down his chest. While he looks down to follow your trail, he nudges his way between your thighs. You look up at his face and see his lips quirk at the edges and his eyes sparkle, the slight crinkling in the corners softening the moment’s intensity.

He dips his head down. As your lips brush, only very lightly, your body giving way as he crawls over you. Your hands fly up to his hair making him growl his approval as he moves his hands to the base on your spine and urges your body closer to him.

His tongue licks into your mouth and your heartbeat spikes. His hands drift down your body, gripping your thighs, his hands sliding upward beneath the edges of your dress until his fingertips find the lace of your panties, making you gasp.

“Uh…w-wait.”

He immediately stops. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, no,” you respond quickly. “I…” you exhale sharply. “I’m sorry, I’m just really nervous. I’m in my head about it.”

He brushed your cheek gently. “Listen, if you’re not ready–”

“No, I am, it’s just…ugh,” you shut your eyes and groaned.

At this point, he rolls off you and sits up while you remain lying down, hiding your face in your hands.

“Hey, come on. Talk to me,” he urges softly. “What are you feeling or thinking?”

“I’m sorry if I’ve wasted your time.”

His eye brow creases in confusion. “Wasted my time?” he echoed. “H-how?”

You uncover your face and find the strength to sit up and meet his eyes. The beauty of this agreement was that you can terminate the experience at any point. Their business guaranteed satisfaction. And although you knew in your mind that he would no doubt satisfy you, you weren’t sure if you’d exactly satisfy him.

“I mean, you can definitely keep the money. I know that we had a deal and–”

“Is that what you really want? To terminate?”

“W-well…” you sighed with hesitation.

“Aren’t you attracted to me?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, of course I’m very attracted to you. You’re perfect!”

“Then why?” He asks.

You shrug your shoulders. “I just…felt like doing something crazy,” you mumble.

“And do you do crazy things often?”

You shook your head vehemently. “Oh no, no. Very rarely.”

“So you consider yourself to be rational most of the time?”

You nodded softly.

“You said it yourself, you’re a Type-A so…this means that you thought about this very carefully. This wasn’t a decision that you took lightly. How long did you consider this before you decided to book me?”

You let out a sharp breath. “I don’t know…weeks? Maybe even months after I gained access to the app.”

He regards you intently. “Okay so…that means that you weren’t doing this on a whim. You thought about this carefully and decided that you want this. But…now that you have me, why won’t you take me?”

You shook your head. “It’s not you. It’s…” You let out a sigh of frustration. “I don’t know why this wouldn’t just come naturally to me. I’m a grown woman, not a teenager…this is just embarrassing.”

“There’s nothing embarrassing about being a virgin.”

That was something you’d never added to any of your dating profiles in other apps but somehow, the promise of discretion and professionalism gave you a sense of security to divulge this on your Boyfriend Experience app.

You groan in frustration. “It’s just sex! I don’t know why I’m so torn up about this.”

“If it’s just sex that you want, why go through with this? Why hire me? You’re a beautiful woman and I’m sure at some point, someone’s propositioned you?”

“Yeah,” You sighed. “But…I guess…maybe this whole time, I’ve been searching for something specific. And I think, to make that happen, I probably have to pay for it.”

“Alright, well…you have me right here.”

“Exactly why are you still here? I just offered to pay you for the entire night for practically doing nothing.”

“I’m here because I find you interesting.”

“Interesting?” You chuckle incredulously. “Right…an almost 30-year old virgin is interesting.”

He shook his head softly. “I see that you’re conflicted about this. And to me, that’s interesting. I want to know why you feel this way.”

“Is this the first time you’ve ever met a woman who can’t make up her mind?”

“I’ve met women who can’t decide what entrée to order at a restaurant or what shoes would match their dress perfectly. But if at the end of the night, we end up in a bedroom together? They know what they want at that point.”

You hug your knees to your chest. “Honestly, I never really thought about it much until I realized that my 30th birthday was coming up. I don’t know about you but sometimes, a milestone like that puts things into perspective.”

“Because everyone else in the world has got such an exciting sexual roster?” He asks wryly.

You laughed. “No, it’s not that. I put off sex not because nobody ever caught my interest. It’s just that I’ve heard so many stories from my girlfriends and even a couple of my guy friends where they talk about their first times. Some of them have fond memories of it. Like, how special and romantic it was. And then you get stories of the ones who hated it because either they felt pressured, their partner blew their load too early, or that neither of them had any clue about what the hell they were doing.”

“That pretty much sounds like how most people’s first times are,” He chuckled.

“But that’s just it, right? Why can’t mine be an experience that was completely enjoyable, memorable, and pleasurable? Is that an unrealistic expectation?”

“I think, if anything, that sounds very realistic and practical of you,” he says without a trace of judgment in his voice.

“Really? You don’t think it’s too idealistic? Or delusional?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I feel like everyone has some idealistic vision of how their first time would go. Doesn’t matter if you’re 16 or 36. You want to have good memories about it. You just want everything to go well.”

He wasn’t lying. It’s what you hoped your first time would be like. None of these awkward memories from when you were a teen or whenever your friends had lost their virginity.

Then he inhaled sharply. “I will say that most of us romanticize it too much. Like, the lighting has to be right with some music playing; or that you have to be in love with that person first and when you’re done, you cuddle until the sun comes up and then you’re going to be together forever.”

You laughed because when he came through your door, you had music playing, some candles, wine…You weren’t in love with him but you at least wanted to get the mood right for this moment.

“I’m not trying to be cynical or make fun of people who dream of that. Now that I’m,” he cleared his throat, “A bit more seasoned in that area. I think that as long as you feel some connection with that person and you’re doing it on your own terms, that’s what matters.”

“And you’re able to form a connection with all of your clients?”

“Of course.”

“Because you have to?” You thought you were finishing a sentence for him.

He exhaled quietly and smiled. “In my line of work, it’s all about choices. It’s what you choose to do. And whatever that choice is, you have to be in it, 100% because otherwise, what’s the point?”

“But you have off-days, I’m sure? Like, you wake up feeling like shit, not wanting to be this walking, talking fantasy for someone?”

He chuckled softly. “Who doesn’t have days like that? I’m still human. If I feel the need to take a break, I do. I turn the app off and then nobody can book me on those days. I can’t take care of my clients if I don’t take care of myself first.”

He then adds, “Also, we don’t want to make anybody feel as if they’re obliged to do anything…and in turn, clients can’t and don’t force us to do anything we don’t want to either. This is why we have these conversations, to have that fail-safe.”

“Hm,” you smirked. “That makes sense.”

You hesitate to ask and don’t want him to feel as if he’d wasted his time completely. “Would it be okay if we talked some more?”

“Of course,” he smiled warmly.

“I’ll get the wine then,” you remarked.

“Good idea.”

******

“What do you do when you’re not, you know, working as an escort? Do you have a day job?”

He leaned back against where his head rested–which was on your thighs, while you laid, curled up on your side, your elbow supporting your head. You didn’t mind the position. You were both completely comfortable.

In keeping with the spirit of comfort, you change out of your dress and into an oversized sleep-shirt over your carefully selected lingerie. You figured, in case things escalated again, you’d be prepared. He kept his shirt off–you weren’t exactly sure if he meant it as a way to entice you–which, let’s face it, you were practically drooling. But so far, he hasn’t made a move to pick up where you left off.

He sighed. “I used to have one, during my first couple years doing this. And then ultimately, it became too hard to keep up with all of these different schedules so I quit that and never looked back.”

You couldn’t imagine how challenging it would be for him to meet with clients and try to make it to a nine-to-five. And you figured that with what you were paying him, he certainly can afford it.

“Do you go out when you’re not working?”

“Nah, I’m sort of a recluse,” he laughed.

Your eyebrows lifted in surprise. “No way!”

“I am. It may not seem like it but sometimes I just like chilling at home. I don’t sleep much when I’m working so I try to catch up on that when I’m off.”

“You don’t sleep much because…your clients keep you up?”

His eyes were tickled with amusement. “Not all the time,” he says. “I often have trouble sleeping when I’m working.”

“What do you do when you can’t sleep?” You wondered with curiosity.

“I work out or…watch TV late at night.”

“How much interesting TV could be on at like, 3 in the morning?”

He chuckled. “Oh, you’d be surprised! I’ve developed a habit of watching people dig for gold in this random hole where they find the most random shit except actual gold,” he jested.

You laughed out loud.

“Seriously! They find random doorknobs from, like, the 17th century. Which, by the way, they actually hired and paid an expert to test and confirm the age. And I’m like–who the fuck cares about a rusty old doorknob? Where’s the gold? Seriously, it’s been over five years of this and at no point does anyone think, hmm…maybe there is no gold after all,” he ranted very passionately.

At this point, your elbow gives way while you collapse in giggles.

******

You ended up ordering food to be delivered at your place. He put his shirt back on but left it unbuttoned. It was difficult not to get distracted by his tattoos or his chest, in general but you tried to keep your focus on the conversation.

For the next couple of hours, over takeout containers, you continued talking about the most random things, sharing appetizers and eating off each other’s plates. You laughed and made jokes as if you’d known each other for years. He was a great conversationalist and for the first time since he walked through your door, your nerves had settled.

He looked more relaxed as well and it wasn’t just because of the alcohol. It must be difficult being in his shoes. Trying to keep up your interest in someone’s rambling stories about their life and all the while trying to seduce you into bed.

Now, he didn’t look like somebody intent on seducing you. He just looked like a normal guy. A normal guy whom you enjoyed having a conversation with.

After you put away your leftovers, you move back into the bedroom, and the conversation takes a slightly different turn.

“Seriously though, why haven’t you had sex with anyone? I’m sure there’s no shortage of horny guys out there. Is it a purity thing?”

You laughed heartily. “God, no! No, no…” You shook your head in between giggles.

“And you’ve never had any experience with sex at all? No kissing, touching…what about masturbation?”

“Oh, pfftt,” you blew out a raspberry. “I said I was a virgin, not an innocent! I’ve dated before and it’s gone as far as heavy petting? But no legitimate penetration, so to speak.”

He laughed and nodded at that. “Okay.”

“I’ll also have you know that I’ve invested in a very nice vibrator, since I’m a big girl and I can afford it now,” you both laughed. “And we have a really great relationship. In the end, we both know which of us feels used.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Ahh, so you’ve had an orgasm then?”

“Yes, I have,” you say simply. “Just…not with anybody.”

“I hope we can still rectify that tonight.”

His eyes glistened when they gazed at you. Though, not the same way they did when you both sat on the couch. There was a sincerity to that look–a sincere desire to give you what you need. A desire to please you.

A calm washes over you and you decide to try something.

“Could you please do me a favor?”

“Sure. Since you asked so nicely and if it’s in my power, I’ll do it.”

You hesitate for a beat. You figured he’d make up something on the spot but you needed a little boost of confidence. “Can you tell me…if…if you find me attractive?”

At this point, he sits up on the bed and moves closer to you.

Cupping your cheek, he runs his thumb gently across your lips. “You know, the moment you opened the door, the first thing I noticed was your mouth. When you talk, I just could not take my eyes off it.”

You feel a warm flutter within your chest. Afterwards, his lithe fingers drift lower to your neck, his fingers brushing over a specific spot. “I also noticed your freckle here. When you swallow, it draws my attention to this vein on your throat.” You swallow reflexively, earning you a small smile from him.

“And this here,” his thumb grazed the notch at the base of your neck, right between your clavicle. “Mm…I think it’s just sooo sexy,” he purred.

A shiver ran down your spine, making your breath hitch. You blink slowly, trying to stop your eyes from reflexively rolling to the back of your head.

His hand traveled back up to your face, his finger brushing your ear. He was so close to you that you could hear his ragged breathing. He was as aroused as you were, his cock tenting under the sheets.

“So, to answer your question: yes, I find you very attractive,” he rasped slowly..

With that, you let out a small whine and practically attack his mouth. The sudden onslaught doesn’t seem to take him by surprise as if he had fully expected you to play into his trap. And you didn’t mind it one bit.

You sighed and he took advantage of the opening, dipping his tongue inside. His kiss was confident, skilled, and just the right amount of aggressive.

Pulling back to cradle your jaw, he looked into your eyes. He rubbed the tip of his nose against you, his hands sliding along your bare arms.

“Are you sure about this now?”

“Yes. Absolutely, yes,” you breathed out.

Jimin’s hands slid back up your shoulders and onto your throat, leaving a white-hot trail across your skin. Cradling your head, he tilts it back and seals his mouth over yours again.

He settled over you, his chest hot to the touch. He helps you push his shirt off him, dropping it to the floor. His ardent mouth moved down your throat, his hands pushing your bra up to palm your breasts through the sleep-shirt you put on since taking your dress off hours ago.

You lift off the mattress, struggling to rid yourself of your shirt, which he helps you with. Then, you reach back and unclasp your bra, tossing it to the side.

In an instant, he was back on you, lips wrapping around your nipple and suckling, his weight supported by one forearm on the mattress, his other hand pushing between your legs.

He cupped your clothed heat, his fingertip gliding over the material, grazing the seam of your cleft. His tongue flicked over your nipple, then sank his teeth into the hardened tip.

His hair tickled your skin as his open mouth slid over your cleavage, his chest expanding as he breathed you in, nuzzling and wallowing in your scent. He captured the tip of your other breast with hard, deep suction. The pleasure shot through you, your walls clenching in reflex.

He moved down your torso, licking and peppering kisses across your stomach. Once he gets past your waist, his shoulders force your legs wider until you feel his hot breath over your cleft. His nose pressed against the wet material, stroking you. He inhaled with a groan.

“You smell intoxicating.”

Jimin fiddled with your panties’ waistband, peering up at you for approval. You lifted your hips and gave a small wriggle. That was all he needed to pull the constricting material off. It was soaked through anyway.

“Did you wax?”

The question takes you by surprise. “Y-yeah. Why?”

“When? Today?”

This is a really odd time to ask about personal hygiene. You blinked a few times, “Uhm…like, three days ago?”

“Hm, good.”

“Okay, but what does waxing have–”

“Because, if it’s only been less than 24 hours, I can’t do this,” He held you open with his thumbs, and dragged his tongue over your clit. Your back arched with a cry, all your senses out the window. Tilting his head, he thrust his tongue into your opening, teasing and fucking it rhythmically.

”Is that good?” He paused to check on you.

“Ohh….ffffuckk…yes, it’s good,” You writhed with pleasure, your core clenching and releasing.

He smiled mischievously. “Alright, guess I’ll continue then.”

His lips were around your clit, sucking, tonguing it. He was eating you with an intensity that you were helpless against. The flesh between your legs was so swollen and sensitive, so vulnerable to his expert mouth.

When you feel yourself tipping close to the edge, you wrench yourself away from his hold.

“Wait, wait–n-not yet,” you breathed out.

He pauses his oral assault on you. “Were you close?”

“Yes, but I don’t want to cum just yet.”

He chuckled in confusion. “Oh-kay…” he dragged out.

You sat up and captured his mouth. You taste traces of you on his lips–it was incredibly arousing.

“I want you,” you moaned.

He gasps as you unfastened his pants, reached inside his boxer briefs and wrapped your hands around him. But he obliges, deepening your kiss further.

You shifted positions, until he was leaning against your headboard. You moved lower, sank to your knees, pulling his pants low enough to give you the access you needed.

He exhaled harshly. “YN, are you sure—”

You cut him off when your lips wrapped around the tip. He reached back, the whites of his knuckles showing how hard he gripped the lip of your headboard.

You held him in your hand and mouthed the plush head, sucking gently. The softness of his skin and his scent made you moan. You felt the vibration ripple through his entire body and heard a rough sound rumble in his chest.

You peered up at him and he touched your cheek. “Lick it.”

Aroused by the command, you fluttered your tongue across the underside and moaned with delight when he oozed with pre-cum. Fisting with one hand, you hollow your cheeks and draw rhythmically.

“Hmm…fuck yes…just like that.”

The erotic sounds he made and the way he slowly bucked his hips into your throat spurred you on. You were so turned on by his pleasure. His hands pushed into your hair, pulling and tugging at the roots, the twinge of pain making you greedier.

Your head bobbed as you pleasured him, his veins pulsing through the length of his cock. You released him with a pop. Tilting your head to the side, you slid the flat of your tongue up his length.

You were in complete awe of him as you watched his head fall back, fighting for breath.

You rested your hands on his hips, frantically working your lips and tongue, desperate for his climax. His balls were tightening, you cupped and tugged on them gently, making him gasp in pleasure.

“Ah, YN…stop.” His voice was a guttural rasp.

“Stop.” He dislodges your jaw from him, pulling you up to his level and gives you a swift kiss. “As much as I really, really want to keep fucking your mouth, I think we should take care of you first.”

You roll off him and he gets up off the bed. He reaches into his back pocket and produces a foil packet before pulling his pants and boxers off. You watch intently as he rolls the condom down his length.

You swallow roughly when he swiftly tugs at your ankles and positions your bottom at the edge of the bed.

“Just so we’re clear, you need to tell me at any point if you feel discomfort or there’s anything that you don’t like. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” you respond firmly.

His fingers parted your folds and rubbed your clit in slow circles, making you moan. Finding that you were still soaked for him, he leans in, hooking your legs to his waist and lined himself up to your center.

“Try to relax, okay?” You nod.

“Ready?” he asks urgently. You nod again, because speech has evaded you at this point.

He rips his hand from between your thighs and in one calculated movement, he moves his hands to your bottom and lifts you. Slowly, carefully, he pushed in, making you tense up instinctively.

Ow! Fucking hell!

This was not a vibrator or some other fake dick you’ve been used to. It was the real thing. The sensation was…different.

Sweat misted his brow. “YN?” he pants. “Are you okay? Do you want me to stop?”

You inhale sharply. “Just…two seconds. I just need a few seconds.” You slowed your breathing, wrapping your legs around him tighter, adjusting to the mixture of pleasure and pain. You know he’s not even all of the way in.

Your hands slip over his sweat drenched back as he holds still for a few moments, giving you time to adapt to the feeling.

“Okay, keep going,” you assure him. He pants as he slowly withdraws from you, re-entering on a deliberate, steady thrust. This time he’s a little deeper and the fullness is making your head spin.

“Can you take more?” he asks urgently.

More? How much more is there?

You took some calming breaths. When you felt like you had a handle on it, you kiss him slowly, arching your back and pushing your breasts up to his chest. You thrust yourself upward, deepening the connection.

“YN, tell me you’re ready.” he breathes.

“Yes, I’m ready.”

With your prompt, he extracts himself and drives back inside of you. You sigh, tilting your hips forward in acceptance as he moans in appreciation and repeats his swift thrusts, again and again.

The soreness from the stretch slowly fades with his steady rhythm. Before you knew it, you were bucking your hips against him greedily, but in sync with his movements.

“Fuck, you feel good,” he breathes on a deep plunge. Your head lolls back against the mattress, lost in the pleasure of it all.

In one swift move, he pulls back and pounds into you. You cry out but not from the hurt. You’ve taken him to the hilt and loving every bit of it. You reach up behind him and grip his shoulders as he increases his thrusts, slamming into you, repeatedly hitting that sensitive cluster of nerves in you. You yelp in pleasure when he finds your lips, plunging his tongue into your mouth.

Slowly, you feel that familiar buildup of pressure within while he ate you out minutes ago. But right when you feel like you’re about to fall apart, he pauses his assault and pulls out of you.

The feeling of emptiness has left you confused and somewhat hazy. Distantly, you hear him grab a hold of your hand to pull you up off the mattress.

“C’mere,” he beckons you off the bed–which, you weren’t even sure how you managed to support your own weight since your legs felt like jello.

He motions for you to stand in front of the wall.

“Keep your hands there,” he says, propping your hands up. You do as he says and he rewards you by planting a soft kiss on your shoulder. He positions himself behind you, gently urging your legs apart while his hands roam your front. He massages your breasts in his hands, making you gasp when he pinches and pulls on your overly sensitized nipples.

One of his hands slides down your torso and abdomen until it settles between your thighs. His fingers parted your lips, feeling around for your clit.

“Oh my god,” you choked out once he hit the target, making you lean your head back against him.

“Good?” His warm breath tickled the shell of your ear while he nipped at it.

“Hmm...yes,” you drawled while his fingers rubbed and circled your flesh. You couldn’t help but reach your hand back towards his nape to pull him closer to you. If he worked in a couple more circles around your clit, you swear, you could have exploded right then.

“Tell me what you want, YN,” he whispered in your ear.

“You…please,” you whined, grinding your groin to his touch.

“I’m here,” he answers. “What do you want me to do?”

“I want you back in, please,” you begged pathetically before that delicious pressure in you deflates.

Lowering your hands from the wall, he adjusts your position while you jut your bottom out for him, pushing your back down slightly. His hands steadied you as he pulled your hips closer to him, opening yourself up so he could slide back in.

A low, broken cry escaped your mouth as he adjusted you at the right angle, taking your breath away when you felt him slide in deeper. The stretching was even more intense this way. It was unbearably arousing. If he ever allows you to cum tonight, you feel as if you’d shatter into a million pieces and never recover.

Your core trembled, clenching desperately around him. He made a rough sound, pulling out just a little before sliding back slowly. The tip of his cock massaged the bundle of nerves deep inside you that no premium-priced vibrator would ever reach.

Palms slipping and sliding restlessly against the walls, you moaned gutturally, repeatedly.

“Fuck, that’s it,” he said urgently. “Let me hear how much you like it.”

“Oh, fucckkkk…” Your legs shook violently on a particularly deep, measured stroke, your weight supported only by the wall and his hold on you.

You could do nothing but take what Jimin gave you, the rhythmic push and pull, the sounds of skin on skin filling the room–it was an incredibly dizzying environment.

One of his hands left your hip, and cupped your cheek, turning your face slightly back towards him, seizing your mouth and groaning into it while continuing to pound into you.

Everything in you goes rigid as that same all-too-familiar feeling threatens to spill out of you.

Your breaths become more constricted. “Come on, baby. I know you’re close…” he said gruffly, sliding his other hand down to your center to tease your pulsing clit.

Finally, it became too much. You came with a breathless cry, shaking violently, your hands squeaking over the wall as your sweaty palms slipped. He keeps his firm hold on you and plunged deeper and harder, his fingers still on your clit, driving you insane. One orgasm rolled into another, your cunt rippling around his relentless thrusts.

You held onto him, trembling, tears pooling in your eyes. Raw moans spilled from him, making you so hot and slick that your body offered no resistance and instead welcomed his desperate need for his own climax.

His mouth twisted in a grimace of agonized bliss, his eyes losing their focus as his orgasm built.

He came with a deep, hoarse growl, spurting so hard into the condom, you felt it. His whole body jerked hard, then shuddered. Over and over, heating you from the inside with thick washes.

He collapsed against you, his lungs heaving for breath.

******

“Are you okay?”

He laughed in response as he stood by your bathroom’s doorway. “You’re asking me? Shouldn’t I be asking you?”

“I’m good. Sore but otherwise, good,” you say calmly.

There it was again, that soft crinkle in his eye when he smiled. As if he didn’t just fuck you senselessly moments ago.

You pull the sheets back from the bed, where you sat and patted the empty space next to you, inviting him to get in.

“Are you sure?” He asked with a hint of hesitation. “I told you, I’m fine sleeping on the couch.” He was in a pair of sweats now and not much else.

You roll your eyes. “I wouldn’t do that to you. Now c’mon, get in.”

With your permission, he slid under the sheets and made himself comfortable next to you.

“Do you feel any different?”

You paused and thought carefully before you answered him. “You know what? I don’t,” you laughed. “I thought that some proverbial curtain would lift and things would look or feel differently but…no. I feel the same.”

He hummed noncommittally. “Hm…okay.”

“I mean, don’t get me wrong. This isn’t a testament to what we just did. And…that was pretty mind-blowingly euphoric back there.”

He laughed heartily. “Aw, c’mon, YN! Don’t fuck with me.”

“Well…too late for that now,” you countered wryly.

He doubles over as he’s in absolute stitches, making you laugh as much.

“I swear, I had to pick pieces of my brain off the floor. Is that normal for you?”

He sighed heavily after calming down. “I mean…” he shrugged. “You’re giving me too much credit.” Then his expression turns accusatory, “You told me you hadn’t done any sort of sexual activity with anyone. So, where’d you learn to suck dick like that?”

“Porn.” You say flatly.

He threw his head back in laughter. “Seriously?”

You scoffed. “What did I tell you? I’m a virgin, not an innocent.” Not gonna lie, you did do a bit of ‘research’ before tonight. True to your Type-A personality, you needed to know what you were getting yourself into. Unfortunately, you had to use an incognito browser and painfully to wade through dozens of pop-ups of erections and weird-ass shit before finding the more helpful videos.

“Well, shit,” he blew out a puff of air.

After a few beats of silence, he turns to you again. “Look, I know you had a list–”

You giggled. “Ugh, that seems so embarrassing now.”

“Hey, it’s not embarrassing to have goals.”

“Don’t patronize me,” you teased.

“I’m not patronizing you. Just saying, at least you have a good idea of what you want.”

“I guess, yeah.” You relented.

You glance at your phone’s clock then stare back at the ceiling. You had no idea how other partners would compare to him. Did you even want other partners? This would be a very expensive venture if you decide to keep this up with him.

Moments later, as you start to feel the fatigue settle in, you feel him brush your bare arm. You thought it was probably his insomnia keeping him up. “You know, we still have a few hours before our time is up.”

You turn to him, eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets. “You have the energy to do that again?”

He shrugged. “I brought a few condoms, and…I’d really love to see that ass bounce again. Maybe with a reverse cowgirl?" As soon as he sank his teeth into his bottom lip, you knew you were done for.

You were happy to indulge in Jimin a bit more. He ticked all of the boxes that you had on your list and even added a few more that had your mind melting from multiple orgasms by the end of your experience.

It was the perfect way to ring in your 30th birthday.

You’ve reached the end! Thank you so much for reading!

If you loved it, please comment, reblog, or send me feedback! 📩. I love hearing from readers! If you didn’t like it so much, I would still like to hear about it. Help me become a better writer! 💜

Tagging: @internetjunkdrawer @itdoesntmatterwhy @deepseavibez

#bts fanfiction #jimin #jimin x you #jimin x reader #jimin fanfic #park jimin #jimin smut #bts smut #bts park jimin #bts jimin #pjm smut #TheBFE x pjm

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countessofwisdom · 11 months

Text

I Don't Think It Could Ever Be You

TGCF (Heaven Official's Blessing) Spoilers

A post-Black Water Arc conversation. Angst. Little to no plot, just a scene. (WC: 852)

***

Shi Qingxuan never meets his eyes. "I just think... whatever affections I held for you all those centuries, it died that day."

His eyes narrow. "Your 'affections' then, must have been so fickle."

"Maybe it was," he replies too quickly, remiss of the knife he has grazed on someone's skin, "or maybe I just realized that day that I didn't know who these affections belonged to."

Shi Qingxuan has always treated the word love like a word meant to be given, or it is human nature to say 'I love you'. He gave it to his brother, his drinking buddies, to lost souls, and helpless devotees.

He also remembers giving them to a certain god.

"...maybe it's not fickle. Perhaps, I still hold these affections. Not towards you, but the man you pretended to be."

His fist clenches. "Ming Yi is long dead."

"But you revived him, didn't you? You took his name, his appearance, and you stepped on the heavenly capital wearing his shoes. The footprints you left were his," his words seeped with contained venom. Yet, a sliver shows crumbling composure—revealing a tiny child within that wailed and thrashed, begging for his brother back.

You took my name, my fate, and you might as well have ripped my limbs off my body. My fate is not yours, it is mine, he once yelled to a statue a million years ago.

An uncomfortable sense of dread creeps up and He Xuan does not know if it is a mutual feeling. Shi Qingxuan's eyes are devoid of the light it once had, unwilling to tell. Every word created invisible rifts and insurmountable walls between them.

Suddenly, he does not want to know, for something tells him that it is not.

"It was just a name," is the response he settles for.

It was just some clothes. It was just a face. It was just some mannerisms he borrowed.

But it has always been him.

Especially, when all Shi Qingxuan sees in him are truths he wishes he could turn a blind eye to.

Shi Qingxuan shakes his head. "It was Ming-xiong who I saw all these years, I just... I don't… even if I know it's you now, it doesn't erase his name from my memories. Even more, I can't replace his name with yours just like that. Especially…"

His throat yearns for the bitterness of wine whenever he thinks of him. He wants the dizziness and dopamine, if that is all the reprieve he is going to get. Ming-xiong could have been his drinking companion but he was dead, and He Xuan was a stranger who murdered the only person he could lean on.

No matter what, Ming Yi (the one he knew, at least) and He Xuan are oil and water. It tears him into a million pieces to see their silhouettes settle in on a single shadow. He wants to pretend that, somehow, all those years, his affections were received by a person he knew, and not the person he thought he knew.

Black Water then continues against his better mind, "Then if I had told you my real name that day we met, and If I told you who I really was, would it have been…" possible?

Could you have chosen me?

No, his mind quickly reprimands him. He would never choose you.

But at least, he hoped, that even if he didn't choose him in the end, Shi Qingxuan would have hesitated not choosing him for one second. For even a split second, he was his choice.

But the deafening silence that follows tells him a plethora of things he wishes he could cover his ears to.

It told him of Shi Qingxuan's hesitance; maybe he found his question ridiculous (it truly was), maybe he is already cursing him to death, plotting his vengeance. That would have been better. But gods, Shi Qingxuan chooses to bear the guilt of his brother's sin and he hates it.

The silence resettled him to the world they roamed. The rushing river holds memories of pasts that could not be reversed. The wind fluttering along with his hair ever so gently sends shivers down his spine. It reminds him of the reality he has to face.

Everything is real.

He really killed Shi Qingxuan's brother/The Water Tyrant and he does not regret it.

Or does he?

He does not, doesn't he? How could he regret it?

He is hurting. At the same time, he has never been so relieved, like a thousand voices inside his head finally went silent.

Fury drove him into doing what he did, fury sparked by the death of his family and his humanity that demanded justice, but he also did it to alleviate pain—to make living bearable. He thought the pain would dissipate as easily as taking a god's life.

…he doesn't know what's right or wrong anymore.

After what seemed like a million years, Shi Qingxuan speaks.

"He Xuan..."

This first time he says death's name.

"I'm sorry…"

And the last heartbreak he gives him.

"I don't think it could ever be you."

#tgcf beefleaf #tgcf spoilers #beefleaf #xuanxuan #tgcf novel #heaven official's blessing #shi qingxuan #he xuan #ming yi #black water arc #tgcf fanfic #tgcf #black water sinking ships #why is tagging so hard #tgcf imagines #heaven official’s blessing

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xxxdizzy19 · 3 months

Text

𝕲𝖔𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝕽𝖊𝖉 Big post about my sarentu oc

With release of 1.03 update I decided to start a new game and came up with a final design of my ikran and my sarentu boy, at last (you can't even imagine how many times I changed their appearance). Anyway, Zandar is still Zandar. He's the only character I feel comfortable with, his face type, etc. Ikran is final as well (red is my favourite). Now we are truly bonded, lol I beat the game at least 2 times and Pandora still won't let me go. The world is so beautiful I can't. I'm sure many of you will understand. By this point I had already thought of Zandar's personality. I want to share with you my thoughts about his personal characteristics and his relationship with other Sarentu kids. I'll use some old screenshots you might have already seen !!! WARNING, big amount of text and some SPOILERS for those who haven't played yet !!! 𝙼𝚎𝚎𝚝 𝙵𝚞𝚛𝚢 𝚉𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚛'𝚜 𝚒𝚔𝚛𝚊𝚗

𝚉𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚛, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚛 My imagination is so sad to be honest, yet I wanted to add a little bit of personality to my boy instead of sending the same endless screenshots. I really love to read about others original characters tho and it is inspiring. Zandar feels so ordinary compared to them. The only thing I can say about him in general is that I imagine him not being that shy and unconfident in his behaviour like the main hero of the story sometimes, and he's not that diplomatic and kind as them too. Less patient, more impulsive in his actions, but he's honest, a straightforward person.

Nah, Zandar is not some kind of "badass guy". He's simple, maybe not that much mysterious and interesting for someone, and I like it this way. Somewhere deep inside he's just as hurt as Nor is, but he's much better in hiding it and instead of pouting Zandar prefers to act. Peaceful Sarentu ways of solving problems it is something Zandar does not understand yet.

𝚉𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚁𝚒'𝚗𝚎𝚕𝚊 tandem of brute strength and elegance

Ri'nela is his mental safe harbour. In their chatter he finds comfort. He admires her wisdom, optimism and hope for the future of the Sarentu clan. He believes in her, trusts her, and wants her to become a tsahik one day. Therefore, he provides her mental support, shares the burden of leading people, offers any help that she may need, though she never asks, being stubborn and proud in her own way. Zandar even started to think that perhaps he has developed romantic feelings for Ri'nela after all, yet even the single thought about that itself is already enough to scare him away. He believes that Ri'nela is too good and kind for such hardened person like him. She's such a pure soul in his eyes. Zan is not even sure if his feelings can be mutual, because Ri'nela has always been soft with him, so the poor guy doesn't want to bother her. The irony of the situation is that he has no fear of battle, but is afraid to show what's going on in his own heart. He doesn't have the right words and has a hard time imagining himself in any kind of relationship to be honest. This is why Zandar understands Anqa's feelings so well and gladly helped her with Priya.

𝚉𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚂𝚘'𝚕𝚎𝚔 RDA's nemesis

Growing up among humans, Zandar quickly realized that RDA understand only language of power. No peace with those who want to take your home and kill Pandora's wildlife for fun and trophies. Ahari's death made Zandar even more ferocious and extremely cruel, especially towards RDA. No surprises here. He does not remember his own father, but he found shadow of him in So'lek. Almost every day they hunt down RDA soldiers together, including those who were involved in extinction of So'lek's clan. Young boy loves to listen stories of an older warrior about his journey, sitting by the campfire and drinking zangke. He is on the same level of thinking as So'lek, so they both agree on a lot of things.

𝚉𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚎𝚢𝚕𝚊𝚗 older, younger

One of those things, for example, is Teylan's inner desire to please humans, especially Mercer. After everything they have witnessed at TAP, Teylan's "obedient dog" behaviour made Zandar sick. RDA humans understand only language of power. Still, he loves Teylan like his own brother and after Mercer's defeat he tries his best to help him feel more na'vi, to find his own way among their people using the example of Kametire, but sometimes he's too harsh with Teylan. Anufi and Okul help them a lot. And under Solek's small guidance, Zandar teaches Teylan to hunt and fight. When Teylan is ready (and if he wants to do it), Zandar will help him to make a bond with his own ikran among those who flies Clouded Forest skies.

𝚉𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙽𝚘𝚛 the lost one

Common grief unites injured souls. Zandar, his sister Ahari and Nor were always very close, because they had the same thoughts about human "culture and civilization". After Ahari's death Nor and Zan became even closer friends. Boys shared a deep respect for each other and stronger than ever before, they were both determined that they should not let RDA erase their na'vi identity and destroy their home.

Not a single day goes by without Zandar thinking about Nor. He misses him and often wonders where he could have gone. Zandar decided that when things at headquarters were more or less sattled he would go on a journey to find his best friend.

Zandar is very protective of their little Sarentu family. The bond these kids share is the only weakness he has, but in the same time it is his biggest strength. So he'll keep fighting for all of them, for their future. In the name of Ahari and mother, Kataru. For the only home he has, for Pandora.

#avatar frontiers of pandora #frontiers of pandora #afop #na'vi oc

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jakedamikasa · 11 months

Text

Coffee shop Mikasa x readermasc (Version Inglês)

Hello!! are you ok? this is my first time posting something, especially on this site. English is not my first language and it is not even influential, this text translated in google translator

!!!!I will post the translated text in Spanish and Portuguese (their original language)!!!!!

will have things +18!!!!!

-My day today was very busy, besides the university I had countless tasks to do, I just wanted to have some time to breathe a little, I didn't even go out with my friends and hookups anymore. I had a spare hour to put things in order a little bit, luckily there was a cafeteria near the university so I could stay a while and not worry about being late in that hell, I mean, university. —When I enter a little bell rings above my head, the cafeteria was empty and the silence was great, I print a smile of relief and I go to the chair to sit down, I leave my backpack on the table, opening it and taking out my notebook , while turning it on a person beside me, the person wore a uniform and I deduced that it is a waitress taking my order, when my eyes meet yours I feel a slight connection, it seems that the woman feels the same because her pupils dilate - Good morning, sir! Would you like something to eat or drink?- in a sweet voice the woman asks -I'll have a chocolate cake- I ask, the woman wrote it down quickly -Would you like anything else?- she asks waiting for my answer -That's all for now, thank you - the woman nods with a smile and returns to the counter. In a few minutes she returns with my piece of cake on a plate accompanied by a spoon -Bon appetit, anything just call! while eating the cake and typing some things on the notebook I feel someone looking at me, at the time I already knew who it was since there was only me and her in the place, I look away from the screen to the girl who was already looking at me, we stare at each other for a few seconds but these were the longest seconds I had, the girl had short black hair, her gaze was very penetrating and gave anyone a chill, one thing that caught my attention was her scar on her right cheek, that made her more attractive. There were 10 minutes left for my classes to start, I didn't even notice the time pass because I was focused on looking at the notebook and the woman, I quickly put my things away and put my backpack on my back, I go to the counter -I wanted to stay longer and eat other things, but I urgently need to go - I say taking my wallet out of my pocket -It's okay, I gave reais - I hand my money to the girl and turn to run, but I come back and take a pen -this here is my number, send me a message that in five minutes I answer- I write my number on a piece of paper and before running out I give the girl a wink and run out.

— It's been a few weeks since I gave my number to the girl with black hair, who called Mikasa, in such a short time we became intimate with each other, our conversations were always intense and long, we almost didn't run out of topics, in one of those subject we found out that we had a mutual friend who was Armin, Mikasa has been his friend since childhood while I knew him at university. As soon as the university gave us a good time, Armin took advantage of the best possible way and every weekend he asked me to go out with him, his boyfriend Eren and Mikasa, of course I always accepted, and in the middle of these outings me and Mikasa we stayed several times, it was at the most kisses and a squeeze on the waist or the ass, at first I took the initiative but soon after it was Mikasa who took control of the situation, I didn't think it was bad, that made me quite excited but I didn't want to admit it .

— On my cell phone screen it was 02:34 on a Sunday, we were at a party that Mikasa and Armin's friends had, only there were only people I knew, except for me that nobody knew and I didn't know almost anyone, except for Hange and Erwin -I heard you're staying with the shorty's sister, is that true?- Hange asked, there was me, her and Erwin in a corner but not so far from the people -Who?- Erwin points to her boyfriend, Levi, who was picking up drink -Why do you ask?- I feel my cheeks blushing -Gossips around here travel fast, when you least realize it everyone already knows- she says putting her arm around my neck sipping her energy drink -I like her- I say out of nowhere, Hange and Erwin then they open a smile -Good thing we know that, you would even be a great couple, if I'm not yet- Erwin commented. A few minutes passed and some more people arrived, and one of them was a person I knew in time, Annie, when I see the girl I widen my eyes and she is also surprised, we started talking and catching up, it was I haven't seen her for a few months and we just kept in touch on the cell phone, in a moment of the conversation Mikasa appeared out of nowhere interrupting us so that we could go to the living room because everyone had gathered there, Annie went ahead leaving me and Mikasa, the girl puts me against the wall and looks me deep in the eyes, I feel her hand going inside my shirt and hooking my abdomen where it scratches hard -I'm watching you- she whispers in my ear and then pulls away, taking her hand, my body shivers all over, I lift my blouse looking at the size of the scratch -If you want more, just keep going- she warns, my head immediately lights up and a smile appears on my face, this joke will be interesting

— All gathered in the room, we were chatting away until Eren had the brilliant idea of a game equal to truth and dare, but the difference is that in the 'truth' it would be 'question' and everyone agreed with this idea, in the beginning it was quite funny and a lot of revelation, only in these minutes we find out that Connie has already been with a man thinking he was a woman, but in the end he liked it, that Sasha has already been with a lot of people, Hange has been with a married woman, Levi and Erwin lost their bv together, Eren and Armin have already gotten stuck at the mall. When I least expected it, the bottle stopped pointing at me and Connie -Have you already made out with Annie?- everyone is silent, Hange makes a sign for Sasha to slap Connie, Mikasa who was sitting next to me raised an eyebrow waiting for my response, Annie who was beside me give a corner smile -What? Why the question?- I ask in surprise -Since Annie showed up you haven't stopped talking to her- the almost bald guy says -We're just friends, the most that happened between us was a kiss, but I already belong to someone else- everything The world screams as I blurt out the last sentence, and for the first time I can see Mikasa blush a lot. The rest of the game went very smoothly, Annie and I participated more and did a lot of shit, it was already 03:27 and we were still playing, everyone's focus shifted to the trio of goofs, Mikasa stiff-faced left her hand in my thigh and gave it several squeezes and scratches, with time it increased and sometimes she got close and bit me very quickly, I decide that it's time to leave, I say goodbye to everyone and ask Mikasa to take me home, before as we left we heard screaming directed at both of us

— As it was already dawn, I invite Mikasa to sleep at my house today and she accepts, I ask her to accompany me to my room to show her the bathroom and give her some clothes, when we enter the room the first thing she did was sit me down on the chair and sit on my lap tightly -Today you were talking a lot with Annie- she says running her fingers over my chin while looking at me -My plan would be to stay with you, but you didn't seem busy- she continued with her finger up to my neck -And what are you waiting for? I'm all here for you- I say taking my hands to her waist but she soon stopped them -I didn't give you permission to touch me- she says right away getting up from my lap -I was only in my underwear and lay down on the bed, that's a order- she commands, without thinking twice I obey her, as soon as I lie down on the bed she appears with a cloth -How rude, she wouldn't do that to me- I tease Ackerman, she had a look of anger and lust, she grabs my hands wrists and ties them tightly leaving them above my head -You're lucky we're not in my house- she climbs on the bed and bends over getting close to my ear -You get ready, I'm going to make you my little bitch- she says with her nails scratching my thigh hard and going up to my abdomen, she starts to distribute several kisses on my neck until she starts sucking it hard, eliciting weak moans, she descends her kisses to my chest and gives a weak bite on my nipple while the other one she squeezed hard between her fingers, I moved my body feeling pain but at the same time pleasure, she played with my chest and belly giving several scratches everywhere. She went down even more until she reached my waist down, the girl got between my legs and slapped my thigh hard without warning -You're such a perverse little bitch, you're already all wet with so little stuff- a smile grows on her lips. lips -Isn't it, you little whore?- another slap on the my thigh she transfers, I held back my moans and closed my eyes tightly, my body shook with her slaps -Now the shitty bitch doesn't speak, but to keep talking to your little friend you had a mouth- she digs her nails into my other thigh , with her other hand she sticks it inside her underwear -Fucking hell, you're a complete submissive, you're so lubricated- taking her hand out of her underwear, she observes how sticky her fingers were just in the entrance, she passes on my abdomen and returns with her fingers there again, she bends down getting close to me -So far I haven't heard even a moan coming from her mouth, is it difficult?- without warning she sticks her fingers strong and deep making me moan dragged - I want you to beg, beg through my fingers- your gaze against mine, I felt a dominance coming from the girl that I would do anything -Faster- I speak softly but Mikasa doesn't want that -Beg you submissive shit what do you want to?- she raises her voice and squeezes my clit -I want you to fuck me!- -Say more- -I want you to stick your fingers hard in me- -Beg more, dog- -I want you to fuck your little bitch with your fingers, make your little bitch moan your name!- Mikasa opens up her smile and speeds up her finger movements, three fingers going back and forth really deep and fast, I couldn't hold back my moans -F-fuck, Mikasa- the girl liked to as I was in front of her, she loves how she managed to dominate me, how I moaned her name and her fingers in my pussy that tightened more and more -Enjoy- she whispers in my ear already knowing I was there

— I wake up feeling warm, when I open my eyes I see that I'm lying on top of Mikasa, she was caressing the strands of my hair -Good morning, honey, are you okay?- she asks giving me a kiss on the forehead, I felt it all those slaps and scratches burn until now, I don't answer and she soon gets bad -Sorry for doing all that yesterday, I couldn't control- hug her kissing her neck -Don't worry, I liked it a lot- ackerman pulls me for a passionate and comforting kiss -Are you able to walk or do you need help?- she asks placing me beside her and getting up -I need help- the woman takes me bridal style, I am impressed with her strength and how strong her arms were - Now let's eat some before I end up eating you again-

#attack on titan mikasa #attack on titan #mikasa x leitor #mikasa ackerman #aot mikasa #leitor trans #mikasa x reader #shingeki no kyojin #snk #aot #mikasa aot #mikasa imagine

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quinloki · 8 months

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(I-uh-I saw the Reverse Self-Ship post you made via a mutual and I noticed you were cool and also an adult One Piece fan so-uh-I'mma leave my lil infodump if you don't mind. Also if you have any pronouns you prefer let me know so I can use the proper ones!)

So as of last week I'm now holding hands with the entire Monster Trio from One Piece. Zoro was an immediate infatuation (and the reason I started watching it aside from just finally having time to invest), meanwhile Sanji and especially Luffy I thought were platonic but I was proven wrong pretty quick.

Uh-I headcanon Sanji as a closeted bisexual and in my little self-insert AU I end up being his kind of "bi-awakening" I guess or at least the first thing that makes him ask the important questions. Uh-I have one self-insert that has a good amount of plotting but I've been primarily using an isekai trope for self-inserting. And since it's already an AU for the isekai and the self-inserting itself-and because I'm really attached to the concept of magic(*cough*andimstillnotoverowlhouseending*cough*)-I made my self insert a descendant of the nearly extinct species of magic users aka witches. So I'd have to figure all that out along with the universe itself and Bi panic.

I think the isekai concept came along as I got a lot more attached to the Straw Hats in general since I'm always a sucker for friendship and found family tropes. And when I got into One Piece life had been taking a bad turn so this is kind of an escape for me.

Back to the self-ship though-I'm still not sure how the relationship would start-but I'd end up being just this 5'4 pink-haired autistic male who ended up being the boyfriend to 3 big strong (but also lovable) pirates. And since I'm shorter and they're also a lot stronger than me, they pick me up a lot out of nowhere just because I was there. I'd take cooking lessons from Sanji, I'd nap with Zoro, and I'd teach Luffy some drawing. But I can't have one without the others now, I love them too much now.

I have little nicknames I'd have them call me, some even pre-relationship. Sanji would call me "Cotton-Candy Head" because of the pink hair (but with a lot more affection than when he started calling Zoro Moss-Head) and then "Little Prince". Zoro would call me "Pinky" for the hair and then after I broke out of my shell a bit he'd call me "Puppy" because once I get comfortable around people I got big ol' golden-retriever energy. Luffy would probably call me "Nugget" and "Squishy" (I have a round face and also I can see Luffy looking at me and having a moment kinda like that one of Dory from Finding Nemo where she goes "I Shall Call Him Squishy And He Shall Be Mine. And He Shall Be My Squishy")

And then I have nicknames for them:

Zoro- Matcha Boy/Man, Teddy Bear (I feel like considering the naps and stuff, he would give good snuggles. I mean-the plush I have of him is nice to snuggle with.)

Sanji- Honey Bun, Sweetums (Because he's the biggest sweetie, his hair is a shade of yellow like honey, and honey buns are good!)

Luffy- Sunshine, Cap' (He's the captain of the thousand SUNNY and he's a bright ray of sunshine in my day and Cap sounds cute to say for him as the Captain of the crew)

And I'mma leave it at that. Uh-thanks for the opportunity to talk about my selfships! Take care of yourself and drink water!

ah! \o/ I love this - my friend has an OC story where the OC is a witch - but not an isekai style. I love isekais. LOVE them, I don't give a heck what anyone else thinks of them, I love them. (I mention this because I love the witch idea, and you both did it very differently too! Similar concepts don't bother me because people always end up with different details and that Delights Me <3 )

I've got notes for my own self-insert via isekai for a few different titles cause my blorbos don't mesh well. It was quite a good idea to fall for the monster trio cause they're all already all there and together XD

The pet names are sending me \o/ they're so cute xD I love little pink-haired masc witch from another world!

Thank you very much for sharing ❤️

#quin answers #self ships

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happygaytimes · 2 years

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Right I’m having a rant bc it’s the middle of the night and I can’t sleep and I’m pissed off.

So basically my mate started dating this girl a few years ago and the whole relationship (abt 2 years) she was v jealous of me and his ‘relationship’ she spent the whole time accusing me of trying to steal him away. Now she knew i like girls, me and him were basically siblings, we have been friends since we were like 8 etc etc.

So this was neither here nor there when we were in high school. She’d just come and sit between us at lunch n shit. But at our high school prom she started acting v childish and strange. She wouldn’t let us get a photo together. Wouldn’t let him sit at the table with our friend group, any time I tried to talk to him she’d come over and start kissing him and wouldn’t let him drink at all. Which all pissed me off but whatever.

Now about a month after they both moved away for uni (to the same city) he came home to help me out with a project and we decided to go to the pub after. She saw this on my story and called him bawling her eyes out saying he was clearly off sleeping with me, so I took his phone and told her to grow the fuck up and hung up. Later that night I posted on my story a video of me and him drunk in the train station singing theatre songs (we done drama together) and she snapped me going ballistic saying I was singing love songs to him (Gaston from beauty and the beast) then blocked me on all socials.

Anyway they broke up like a month later bc he realised she was being super manipulative etc and I’ve not heard from her since. But she anyway she must have a burner account bc my friends started sending me ss of her posts a while back saying she looked to be copying me a bit. (For contest she’s a v femme K-pop stan, MUA, long blonde hair, lives in dresses type girl. And I’m a more androgynous metal/rock type person with short split dye hair who lives in band T’s n cargos)

So it started off a bit strange but I didn’t question it, she started wearing maiden and Metallica tops while admitting she doesn’t like the bands. Then she started copying my hobbies and always posting like 10mins after me. But tonight it’s gone a bit too far, I posted a selfie of me in graphic liner and eye shadow that matched my split dye (red and very dark, almost black, purple) with a maiden top and the caption “headache hours”. And who’d guess it, an hour later a picture of her with the exact same makeup, colours n all, a Metallica top and the caption “my head hurts”.

Idk what to do at this point. It’s obvious she still thinks he likes me and is trying to win him back but he has no interest and if I say anything to her she’ll know our mutual friends have been showing me her posts. But it’s getting a bit fucking creepy now.

#happygaytimes #rant #happygaytimes rants #not so happygaytimes #what the fuck

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morvantmortuary · 2 years

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I saw a hearse at target while running errands and obviously it made me think of Maxi, and since the paint was not so good it made me think Maxi probably takes very good care of the hearse keeping it polished and clean. Thoughts?

first of all, I'm always tickled when people see things that make them think of the morvants out and about! <3 thanks for sending this in, lorna :3

second of all, you're absolutely right - that hearse is his baby.

I mean, you're the center of his universe, of course, but he and the hearse have a very long, committed history. It's nearly vintage by now (I'm still trying to figure out exactly what year in my research, I'll be sure to post when I think I've got it narrowed down), but it was his dad's before him, and the only thing Maxi got in Vincent's will that he actually wanted (not withstanding that it technically belongs to the business, but the business is his now too, so that's moot).

He learned to drive hearses in this particular hearse - he kind of learned to drive those before he learned how to drive a regular car, from going on regular pick-ups with his dad as a teenager and Vincent occasionally being too many drinks in to drive properly. He's an excellent driver under pressure, and you've never seen someone more careful when it comes to respecting lights and signage. He made sure that thing never got a scratch on it unless it was a downright act of god usually because his dad would take it out of his skin if he brought it home less than perfect, but now it's mostly out of habit.

(It's kind of funny now if you have a small car and ask him to drive, though, because he gets in and thinks he needs waaay more space than your car actually takes up. You'd think this man's trying to park a boat when he's only sitting in your compact, and him in anything beetle-sized is just hysterical.)

not to mention, considering how often the pair of you use it for... unorthodox purposes, with the carpet he put in to fold down and cover the bier pins, he wants to make sure it's always spotless for you, just in case. he enjoys the memories immensely as he's giving the inside that extra polish, though, and can occasionally get a little dreamy and unfocused when he's working in the back, his face oddly flushed.

But when it's nice out, on a sunny afternoon and business is kind of slow, he'll take his time washing and detailing it, making sure it's always perfectly presentable. The last thing he ever wants is a grieving family feeling uncertain about the care their loved one will receive because the hearse is less than pristine. He considers it a major part of his first impression for clients, and will occasionally keep it parked somewhere visible when they come for pre-planning just for that extra emphasis on his attention to every detail.

You've offered to help him before - it's a pretty big job for one guy - and he always says he appreciates it, but you don't have to. He likes being able to kind of zone out as he's doing it himself, the simple acts of cleaning letting him mull over other things. (Before the two of you were dating for real, that was usually you - something you'd said the last time the two of you hung out, the way he was still giggling about a joke you'd made, listening to whatever song he'd noticed on your spotify most recently, that sort of thing.)

Now you'll at least sit outside with him, the two of you listening to some music or a podcast that has your mutual attention while you work on something else on your tablet or your phone. You're always waiting with some lemonade for when he needs a break, and he actually put in a porch swing for you after the October incident, just so you'd have somewhere to sit while he's outside. The two of you sit there together when he needs to cool off from the more humid afternoons, leaning against each other's shoulders and rocking slowly back and forth in the breeze while some song drifts through the air like a dream.

(Occasionally, you catch him looking a little flustered when he's cleaning the back, the hole-y jeans he's wearing for the job suddenly looking a touch tight, and you take the opportunity to sneak up behind him, pressing a kiss between his shoulder blades over the thin fabric of the tank top he's got on and asking if he'd like to come help you with something inside for a minute.

He always eagerly takes you up on the offer, and the two of you always walk out again not long after slightly more disheveled than when you walked in - but with notably matching smiles, like you're both resisting the urge to grin.)

thanks for taking the time to send this in, lorna, and sorry it took me a minute to get to it! <333 cheers to the importance of hearse maintenance ;)

#nice people #lorna!! 🖤🥰#maxi vibes #maxi morvant #morvant mortuary #monsterkisser fics #(idk why but I had armstrong's rendition of 'la vie en rose' in my head when I wrote this ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

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obx-snippets · 3 years

Text

eyes blue like the atlantic | JJ Maybank

Gif by @lydiaas

Summary: Y/n and JJ have been going strong for over a year but their bond is tested when she gets roped into something that turns into a dangerous situation fast

Word count: 10.6k

Pairing: JJ Maybank x Kook!reader

Warning(s): !season two spoilers! drowning, weapons, angst, drinking, slight cussing, mentions of abuse, let me know what I missed!

a/n: ayeeee hello again! Let me just say season two made me punch the air and cry at the same time! I was pretty iffy about posting this being that it’s been forever! To anyone who read my content, I hope you enjoy! As always leave feedback! And also a special thanks to @pogueszn for all the help and support!

___________

Being in a relationship with JJ Maybank was an oddity that never normalized.

Not even a little.

Y/n couldn't even recall the moment they shared their first conversation. No less when they were introduced. He was a friend of a-not-exactly-friend, so there was no mutual binding in any interaction they shared. As a fresh new Kook to the Outer Banks, she didn't even know she was a said kook. Not until a family by the name of the Camerons greeted them at dinner at the country club. They offered a particularly offensive warning to stay away from Pogues and that they were supposedly lousy company. A different species, if you will. The name was distasteful on their tongues, and Y/n ignored them the remainder of the night, starting on her fifth roll of bread.

Y/n recalled briefly the first time she saw him that night. His scarred knuckles as he served them their dishes were one of many details that pulled him from the rest. That and the rings he sported. He asked her in a posh accent if she'd like more water, and once she tilted her head up, bread still in her mouth, she paused. He was too gorgeous to be a Pogue. Eyes too bright yet mischievous, hair perfectly smooth yet mused purposely. And that smirk that formed on the corner of his mouth once she narrowed her eyes in recognition of his station in the Outer Banks. He definitely wasn't supposed to be there.

"Shirley Temple, thanks," she had replied.

The blonde puckered his bottom lip with a nod, "One fancy cherry lemonade coming up, madam."

Now she never found out his name, not when he was hustling out the front door after some ruckus back in the kitchen. She nearly choked on her drink when he ran behind her chair, knocking her forward. But she titled her cup just in time and caught her orange juice before it could fall on the purple silk dress. (and yes, the pogue didn't get her the right drink. Purposely so, but she was still amused) With a hand over her lips to catch the liquid that escaped her mouth, she looked over her shoulder with incredulous eyes. The blonde pogue hopped on one leg to regain his footing as he briefly jogged backward to send her a wink before making a run for it. Her parents mumbled their annoyance with the disturbance, but she was forced to tighten her jaw from smiling.

Only a month later, she had made friends with the Cameron siblings, Rafe and Sarah. Y/n was shocked at how perfectly symmetrical the people on this island were. While she had fun undressing Rafe with her eyes, his apparent drug addiction made him more unappealing by the day, but he was a good listener. At least when he was high. And Sarah was a girl who gushed sunshine and smiles. It was impossible not to laugh when Sarah's cheeks nearly touched her eyes when she giggled. Or the time they were drunk in her dad's yacht, singing High School Musical karaoke. She was the worst singer, and y/n only applauded because her ears were deceiving her. Then she would weep about this boy named John B.

_______

The moral of it all, Sarah Cameron, was her reason for feeling welcomed to the Outer Banks. And the reason she was being dragged to a kegger. It sounded like a strip club, and she was about to tell Sarah she wasn't into that sort of thing until the girl laughed at her flushed face. She informed her it was simply a party on the beach where Pogues were the host and Kooks were the crashers. But no one could differentiate the two since they were too drunk to care. It was free beer, so who the hell cares.

With every few steps she took, Y/n adjusted her hair or scratched her inner thigh from the chafing. Rafe passed her a brief glance and chuckled. Sarah leaned her head forward to try and get her attention, but she was too immersed on her phone, probably texting a friend to evade speaking. It took a silent language of the eyes from the Cameron siblings for Rafe to swipe her phone and pocket it away. Y/n opened her mouth, but Rafe was already making a light jog toward two boys. Sarah offered a light laugh as she linked her arm in Y/n's, feet uneven as they made it to the sand.

After squeezing past sweaty bodies, they stumbled across a shaggy-haired brunette with a broad smile and eyes only glowing when they met Sarah.

"Hello lover," she mumbled with a lazy smile as she easily leaned into his embrace, placing a chaste kiss on his grinning lips.

Y/n rocked back on her heels as she fumbled with the button of her white cardigan, head lightly bobbing to the music.

"Yo," John B bellowed, making y/n's lips pucker, eyes wide in reply. "Your hands are empty, and that is a major no for a kegger. "Here." John B pressed on the valve, letting the lukewarm liquid slosh in her cup before it filled to the rim, leaking over his paw-like hand.

The brunette urged her to grab it, and she laughed as the beer spilled on her hand as well, finally cupping the bottom and side of the cup to keep it upright.

"Welcome to the Outer Banks, kid," John B lifted his cup before taking a large gulp.

Y/n lifted hers in return with a scrunch of her nose before sipping it lightly, already cringing at the strong taste. "That's disgusting," she uttered, looking down at the cup.

"Have fun!" John B shouted as the music boomed louder, throwing an arm over Sarah's shoulder.

_____

The kegger went on, and y/n was on cloud 9. Her heart was akin to a drum. It was in sync with the music that rammed from the speakers. She lost her sandals sometime during a song that made her hop until her calves burned. The heat was a drive and an excuse to keep drinking to salivate her tongue. Her throat was already drying up when a random girl started screaming a song with her. The girl slurred her number, claiming they had to catch up some time, but Y/n only stood there, lips agape and nodding as she acted like she would remember those numbers by the end of the night.

It was then when she realized she only had three drinks, and she was ready for more. She craned her neck and nearly fell back as she tried finding Sarah. When she spotted Rafe, it took her only a few steps to realize his lips latched to a girl that was far too small for him. "No…" she shook her head, kicking sand as she spun around to maybe find John B. Because where there was John B, there was a keg.

As she pressed through the crowd, some people tried grabbing her hand to dance, and she just shook her head and replied with a quick apology before moving forward. Just when she spotted John B and went to tap his shoulder, a clear cup was placed in her hand instead. She blinked a couple times, processing before her eyes met a taller boy. She's lived there long enough to pick out the unfamiliar clothes, and Sarah made sure she knew all the terms to differentiate people. Kooks, Pogues, and the boy who had given her a drink, a touron. Though y/n did not consider herself a lightweight, her mind was too buzzed to care what he had given her. It was liquid, and her throat was dry. She shoved her hair from her face with the back of her hand and mumbled 'thank you' before taking a drink. Then she asked for more. And Maybe she had seven more cups. Maybe.

The drunken state she experienced was unlike anything she had ever felt. Anytime she spun, she was flying. When she laughed, it sounded like she was in an everlasting tunnel. Things fogged together if she looked around too fast.

Then her stomach twisted, and she wanted to knock the tourons teeth in. The dickhead didn't even make her stop as she asked for more. The back of her head pounded, and her fingers did not relieve any of the pain as she massaged her scalp. She pushed past drunk teens, hoping she would make it to an open space to breathe. Her numb feet were uneven with every step, and she was close to twisting an ankle. She turned around quickly, hoping she made enough space between her and the crowd to spot Sarah.

But she jolted forward, her drink spilling over the rim when her back collided with a chest. "Ah, sorry, sorry," a boy mumbled quickly, hand on her back to steady her.

Y/n brows were knitted, colors mixing too much from a far-off fire. Only when she looked up did familiarity dawned in her eyes, making her head tilt. It had been a month since she'd seen the pogue's face. Blonde hair tousled about in no particular direction, and cerulean eyes holding interest for only a moment before they dragged down to the unfamiliar cup in her hand.

A string of panic ran through JJ and lifted his hand, knocking it from her own. The girl gasped, stepping back as it hit the sand, the dark area dampening and some moistening her ankles. JJ recognized the cup, and an angry breath flared through his nostrils as he looked over her head at the party, trying to find the touron that crashed his kegger. It wasn't the first time they visited, spiking drinks and passing them around like a sample. JJ had fallen into the trap once, the citrus taste leaving him quenched but desperate for more. He nearly pounded one of their faces in when he caught Pope three drinks in and some guys dancing against him as their hands trailed to his pockets.

"You are very clearly new here," he laughed, hands on his hips as if he was a hero who saved the fair maiden. But from y/n's shiny eyes staring down at her fallen drink, he was no hero. Seeing this, JJ lifted a hand, not wanting to touch her when she might rage in a second. "Listen, you really really didn't wanna drink that. I mean, a thank you would be fine, but uh, if you want, we can just get outta here. I know a place--"

That's when she sniffled, her bottom lips trembling like a child whose lollipop was covered in sand. In this case, it was her spiked drink wasted. JJ internally panics, head pivoting quickly for someone who was maybe looking for this random crying girl. And pretty crying girls were a no for JJ.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong? What's with the tears and all that," JJ gestured wildly with his pinky while his remaining fingers gripped his cup, his other hand placed on her shoulder.

"You knocked my drink over! What the fuuuuck man," she snapped weakly with a hiccup and pressed both palms to her eyes. Her cheeks were flushed in anger, and her eyes began to swell. She looked like a baby fish if JJ was honest. A hot one at that. She swatted his arm away from her and took a step back, and when he stepped forward, her eyes widened as if she measured his audacity.

JJ stood dumbfounded, hands clenching at his side in frustration. He wished Kiara would swoop in and offer the girl a walk on the beach or braid her hair or whatever girls did to comfort girls. But now he looked like an asshole standing in front of a crying drunk and not doing anything about it. His eyes trailed down for a moment, and she was too dazed to see him staring. And holy shit, he couldn't hold back his smile now.

He recalled her familiar eyes that kept looking for him at the restaurant he used to work at before he was fired. It was teasing at first, serving her orange juice instead of a Shirley temple. And then a lemonade. Then wine. But he could never give her a proper order before he was booted for trying to swipe a man's wallet from a table. But then he caught himself looking her up and down when she would walk to the bathroom. Her laugh from across the restaurant and how she tried to cover a snort.

And he sure as hell told the Pogues about the new Kook he met. They made fun of his choice but knew JJ well enough to know she would be forgotten in a few days. Or hours if his joints let him think properly. Many made a common misconception that JJ landed a girl and forgot them a day later as if he earned his night of pleasure. But he thought about them for a week, two at most afterward. He hated to admit he attached quickly but admitting it made him look like he would give his heart to any girl who asked. But letting someone in meant talking about this feeling and being vulnerable, and that was something he couldn't bring himself to do. He wasn't strong enough to let his guard down when it has been an instinct growing in his kind of household. So sure, let the majority of the Outer Banks think he was a player.

But his smile vanished quickly when he realized he had seen her somewhere besides at the restaurant. "Fuck your Sarah's friend," he mumbled angrily, pulling his hat from his head, strands covering his eyes before he shoved it away. He recalled offering to take pictures of John B and Sarah at the Wreck, repeatedly tapping the white circle, saying it made better choices to pick from. That's when y/n's caller ID popped up on Sarah's screen. JJ's interest spiked immediately, and she commented on her hot friend before the phone was snatched from his hand. Sarah would absolutely annihilate him if she found her friend spiked and in his company. Moreover being the reason why she was weeping like a child.

JJ looked down at her again, and her eyes were still mourning her fallen drink. "My-my drink--"

"Yeah, sorry, but like you really really didn't wanna drink any more of that shit. Seriously--"

Y/n swiped his drink out of his hand, the both of them watched it fly in the air for a brief moment before it hit the sand. JJ stood frozen, his fist closing where his cup was previously, biting his lower lip and narrowing his eyes. His perfectly fresh cup of beer was now wasted in the sand because a drunk Kook couldn't control her intoxicated state. His head snapped toward her, and she looked away at the same time, puffy eyes attempting to look angry, her crossed arms weak.

He didn't have time for this. JJ huffed, grabbing the girl by her forearm, dragging her across the sand despite her nearly tripping ten times. He wasn't in the mood for babysitting. And to think he was on his way to scooping up a girl he had an eye on for the past thirty minutes.

JJ cussed violently in a whisper when he saw the top of Sarah's head peeking around, most likely seeking the friend he currently had by the arm. "Shit," he murmured, pulling his hat from his head and slapping it on y/n's head. She gasped as if she had gone blind and stopped, but JJ put an arm over her shoulder to keep her moving.

His savior came in an unbuttoned shirt and a cap as he sat in front of a fresh fire, hands moving animatedly as he spoke to some tourons.

JJ shooed them away with the flick of his fingers, and Pope clicked his tongue, glaring up at JJ.

"Pope, hey, man, I need your help." JJ stammered, taking his hat off her head when she sat down on the driftwood across from Pope. As soon as JJ took his hat back, the girl frowned and reached up to snatch it back, but JJ lifted it from her reach. "Yo, this is mine. Relax."

"My hat…" she whined, hands dropping to her lap in defeat.

"No--"

"J," Pope said, itching his chin, eyes flickering between JJ and the puffy-eyed Kook. "Mind telling me who this is?"

JJ opened his mouth to answer but closed it once he didn't remember asking her first. "What's your name?" JJ asked quickly.

"Y/n," she sniffled, rubbing her nose with the back of her hand till it reddened from irritation.

"Y/n."

Pope sighed, resting his elbows on his knees. "Hey y/n," he spoke gently, catching her eyes. "Are you okay? What happened?"

JJ squeezed his eyes shut, already predicting what she would do. Her eyes welled with tears so fast you would think her dog died. Pope's eyes widened, and his head shot to JJ with accusatory eyes, awaiting an answer. "What did you do to make this girl cry?" he snapped, keeping his voice low to avoid any confrontation.

"I knocked her drink over! But for good reason--"

"When is there ever a good reason to knock over a drink JJ?"

"When it's spiked, man! It was those tourons again, and I saved her ass! If--if Sarah finds her like this with me, John B is gonna freak out, so would you help me?"

Pope sighed, already making his decision and fixing his shirt. "First, give her the damn hat."

"C'mon, man--"

"Now JJ or I'm getting Sarah."

JJ begrudgingly placed the hat on y/n's head, and his eyes stayed on her a moment too long when a wide smile touched her lips. "Thank god. It's so bright out." she hummed, adjusting the cap, unaware that it was pitch black outside.

Pope cleared her throat, bringing her to look at him, "Hey, your Sarah's friend, right?"

She nodded, head bowed like a child prepared to be scolded.

"Alright, well, I'm Pope and--"

Then she was lulling her head back as if she heard the worst news, tears once again forming in her eyes. "Of course it is," she whined. She opens her mouth to express her annoyance at the weird names on the island when she suddenly stopped. Her brows furrowed in confusion. She felt her chest heave once. Then twice. She knew what was coming, and so did JJ.

"Okay! Let's get you to the bushes!" JJ ushered her up from the log, snatching the hat from her head to toss it to the sand. He pulled her by the arm, his other hand already twirling her hair upward. She nearly didn't make it to the bushes when she let the spiked drink spring up from the deepest confines of her stomach. She threw up pure liquid, but JJ still looked away as he held up her hair, continuing to catch hairs that fell to her face.

JJ looked over his shoulder for assistance from Pope, but the boy was giving him a thumbs-up as he backed away from the situation.

"Pope! Get your ass over here!"

"You got it, man! You're welcome!" he said, sipping his beer and padding over the sand to find better company.

"You didn't do shit!"

So JJ stayed there, holding up y/n hair, patting her back.

_________

That was a year ago. Now the memory was a reason to be scolded. She had found JJ at the Wreck with the Pogues days later, apologizing continuously. After that, bumping into each other was slim to never. She still caught his eye at parties, nodding in hello, and that was that. But moments where they did speak, y/n blushed at the thought. He would swipe fries off her plate on his way out of the Wreck. Telling her he's grabbing a pen from her locker on his way to a class he should have in twenty minutes ago. Or did a little handshake with her at keggers that they didn't even notice they made up. But then they moved on.

Now everyone and anyone knew JJ was never one for commitment. That was a fact that that could not easily be diminished. And she was not oblivious to when he stared across the HMS pogue where she lounged on Rafe's boat. Or when she spoke to tourons, one look over her shoulder made them pale. JJ would be standing behind her, scaring them off with a devilish stare. When she accused him of the action, he denied it, looped an arm around her neck, rubbing his knuckles into her head.

When they got drunk at Kook parties, they would sit crisscrossed on an island top, a bowl of chips in her lap as she was immersed in conversation with JJ.

"And then I swerved the ski around and rode my own wave, and BAM, a shark jumped out--"

"J, I was their idiot, it was a dolphin, and you screamed."

"Mmm, false," he flickered her nose, "I did not scream. I was very manly about the situation--actually, did you know sharks and dolphins are in the same family--"

"No, they're not!"

And then their friendship became something melded in between. The annual bonfire. JJ's fingers were fire against her hips as she swayed them to the music. They were intoxicated, per usual, because anyone who wasn't, well, you might as well leave the bonfire. Pogues knew JJ was whipped for Y/n, and how could he not be. She was gentle yet cunning. Added commentary to his crude jokes instead of telling him to shut up. But she never lied to him. She put him in his place when no one else did, and she never tried to be a pogue. Nor did she try to be a Kook. She was someone who was herself and didn't let that determine what JJ meant to her. He shares what abuse he's gone through and how his father was now locked up. She didn't pity him and stroke his arm and tell him she would always be there for him like other tours did. It was a load of bullshit. But Y/n...she lifted a shot and tilted her head from where she sat on a broken lawn chair in John B's backyard.

"To keeping your head up. Cuz you're strong as hell J."

JJ sniffled through a chuckle, shaking his head and lifting his own glass. "Hell yeah."

"Salud."

Feeling her body against his blurred his vision, and he had to see her face. Had to know if she was basking in the same bliss as he was. He spun her around with force, her eyes wide in surprise as she cracked an amused smile. She gripped his shoulder for balance. "C'mon more dancingggg," she laughed, drumming her hand on his head, making JJ swat her hands away playfully.

"Let's play truth or dare," he said, the toothy grin he sported making her knees nearly give from under her. She scrunched her nose in adoration nonetheless.

"Mkay truth."

"Alright, I dare you to kiss me."

The bubbly feeling from the beer she downed was now dialing down as she processed what he had said. Her smile faded slowly and stopped her movement. It was now she noticed the anticipation clouding his eyes, the constant flickering to her lips. It was also when she realized they were on the highest level of the bonfire, away from pogues and kooks alike. It was somehow quiet despite the music. He embers rising from the fire reflecting in his blue eyes as he awaited her response.

"I said truth…" she mumbled, a smile she tried to fend off, lifting the corner of her lips.

JJ squeezed his eyes shut. "Okay, so hypothetically, if you had said dare, would you kiss me?"

"Mmmm not--not quite how you play the game--"

"Okay, but this is for instance, now. So in the instance, you had said dare, would you kiss me?"

"Ya know I'm not a firm believer in hypotheticals because life happens and things happen for a reason, so me picking truth was meant to happen--"

"Y/n/n, would you just lay one on me!"

Y/n leans forward quickly, lifting herself up and pecking his lips gently. She fell back on the heels of her feet, backing up a bit. JJ stood still, his tongue grazing over his bottom teeth, a teasing smirk making y/n's face crimson.

"So have you ever laid one on someone cuz that was pretty pathetic--" JJ's laugh stopped him short, and y/n shook her head, scoffing.

"Screw you, J--" she went to turn around, embarrassed and flustered.

She felt herself jerk back at the force JJ pulled her arm back. His other hand pulled her forcefully into his chest, nearly lifting her off her feet. His lips slanted against hers, kissing her so deeply she gasped into his mouth. JJ smirked against her lips, clearly amused by her shy stiffness. He released her arm and slowly slipped his hand through her hair, and pulled her closer.

The moment of bliss was overwhelming. His lips tasted of sweet liquor, and the feverish kiss made her dizzy. He was passionate yet greedy to have her all to himself at that very moment. Her hands were instinctively gripping the front of his shirt until her fingers slowly reached his throat. Then his chin, slightly pulling away. His eyes were fogged with desire.

Her wide eyes and the way she tried to speak made him want her more. Then, she just had to graze her thumb over his swollen bottom lip. "Fuck," he muttered deeply, already pushing her into the wooded area where lights from the fire had to fight through the underbrush. He reattached their lips once again, desperate to taste more of her. Her hands ran through his hair. Caressing him despite his desperate hands. She was his perfect balance. His warm hands slid under her shirt, pinching the skin of her waist. She opened her mouth to cuss but was instead greeted with his tongue grazing against hers.

"Thank you," he mumbled playfully, earning a slap to the back of his head.

Now they snuck around any chance they had. He dove through her window every night despite her parents knowing they were together. They shared secret kisses at keggers (mostly more than a kiss). The thrill of sneaking about was exciting and made her heart break through her chest anytime she caught a glance of him. Just knowing she would see him that night made her bubbly. Sure they had a public makeout at the bonfire, but everyone was too wasted to remember. They were each other's little secret.

Y/n was moping in her bedroom, folding clothes, when her phone shook her whole nightstand. She grunted as it had cut off her music. She balanced on one foot as she leaned over and swiped to answer and tapped on the speaker.

"What up whore," Y/n called out as she resumed her folding. She found a plastic wrap in one of the pockets and mumbled an 'oh my god' before tossing it behind her.

"I love the sound of my girlfriend's voice when she calls me whore. Really makes me blush," JJ's voice over the speaker sounded muffled as if he was holding the phone far from his lips.

"But we don't have cute nicknames J. I can call you crack fiend? Or like add a Y to the end of the crack to make it sound cutesy? Crackyfiend--"

"Babe is fine, thanks. Or call me JJ. or even dadd--" She swore she heard another voice.

"Nope! You can shut up now!"

She could practically hear the smirk on his lips as he chuckled. "Didn't have a problem calling me that the other night."

Y/n blushed and aggressively whipped out a fishing shirt from the pile to fold. 'What do you want, babe?"

"First, whatcha up to?" he asked lightly.

"Doing your laundry. Why?"

A light wrap on her window made her lull her head around to meet JJ's gaze through the window. She wanted to scowl at him. Honestly, she did. But she couldn't help it when he tilted his head and practically slammed his head against her window. "Are those new spandex?" he asked, eyes trailing down her legs.

She clicked her tongue and strode toward the window.

JJ leaned his weight on the bottom frame as he smiled at her cheekily. She shook her head and pushed his face away with her hand, making him break into a light chuckle.

"Yes, they're new," she teased, hearing him whistle and struggle to get his leg through the window.

"You wear them well. Very fair choice." he wrapped his arms over her shoulder and around her neck loosely. She giggled at his posh tone, and he sweetly kissed the side of her temple. "So I have a proposition," he mumbled against her skin.

His tone was unsteady, very unlike the confident aura he wore like a crown. But Y/n pushed away from the unwary feeling and passed him a brief glance before resuming her folding. "What do I get out of it?"

JJ hummed in thought, though his following words were already planned prior to crawling through her window. "I take you out on a fancy-ass date on the HMS."

"Fancy date?"

"Mhm…"

"On the HMS pogue?"

Y/n's shoulder shook with her light laughter. 'Well, let me at least change if it's so fancy."

JJ opened his mouth to tell her that wasn't quite the plan at the moment but closed it quickly. If she willingly left with him now, it would be less of a struggle of carrying her out.

"I mean, you can just go like that? Just slap some jeans on, honestly," JJ said quickly, hands digging in his pockets. He's known to use his hands a lot when coming up with lies, so it was best to act as naturally as possible.

Y/n squinted skeptically, pinching the strap of her navy green tank from where she now stood in front of her closet. "This is fancy attire?"

JJ shrugged, "This is mine," he retorted, mocking offense as he gestures to his cargo shorts, t-shirt, and red cap.

Y/n took the bait.

"Eh, fair."

She folded the last of JJ's stuff before she paused, feeling around the shorts in her hand. She pulled out a black, lacy material and her cheeks burned when she heard JJ weakly concealed snort. She yanked her underwear from his pocket and hid it behind her back. "Why the hell do you have this! I've been looking for it everywhere, asshole!"

"You weren't looking for it last week--" He giggled like the mischievous child he was before y/n was throwing his folded laundry at his face.

____

It took another fifteen minutes for Y/n and JJ to finally walk out the front door. She was at least excited to have some alone time with JJ. When they said no one knew they were together, she meant the kooks. But the pogues have caught them more than once. Whether it be her walking out of his room, shuffling weakly from the night before into the kitchen to retrieve juice. Her grogginess fogged her from the realization that Kiara nearly spits out her cereal at the sight of her in only JJ's shirt and underwear.

She paused and choked on her caprisun when she turned around. Her dainty hand covered her mouth, muttering apologies which just made Kiara and John B smile all the more. Pope, like the gentleman he was, kept his eyes on the tv. JJ walked out of his bedroom soon after, casually planting a kiss on her cheek before walking out to the porch to smoke a joint.

But it was an unspoken rule to never let the kooks know. They would give her hell for it. Not out of shame for dating a pogue but for the constant complaints that would be made. Especially from Rafe.

They were walking down the driveway when JJ slipped his hand into hers and gave it a squeeze. His warmth consumed her, and she couldn't tell yet, but it was an excellent diversion as a car began approaching from around the block.

"I swear I'll make it up to you," he said slowly in a low tone, eyes flickering over her shoulder.

"What do you mean…" she laughed nervously, not yet assuming the worst. But then she heard an engine and turned to see Pope in the driver's seat of Haywards truck. "What the hell is this?" her tone was sharp, and JJ wanted to take a step back, but he assumed her anger would only ignite more. He's never been more afraid of a woman. The sternness in her eyes awaited an explanation, and he suddenly wanted to abandon the plan Pope, and he devised.

"The proposition…" he laughed nervously in hopes of defusing the tension.

"I am not going on a scavenger hunt, JJ!"

"Y/n/n I can explain--"

"Absolutely not--"

JJ was already pushing her by her shoulders to Hayward's truck. To any onlooker, and JJ was sure there was knowing Kooks lived for gossip, this was a kidnapping from the way she yelled at him over her shoulder. Pope waved nervously when she begrudgingly gave in and plopped in the back seat. But he was only greeted with a stern glare, and Pope turned around so fast, his back cracked.

As Y/n expected, JJ needed her for something important. And, of course, anything important had John B's name all over it. He was on the run last she heard. John B was a lot of things but not a murder. They told her the plan as casually as if they were telling her what groceries they needed from the store. She was to crawl in a sewer. Retrieve a gun. A gun.

Her eyes went wide, fingers digging into the material of the seats. She was certain JJ wanted to kill her. Get her arrested even.

JJ was wise to take the shotgun because god knows she would have strangled him with a seatbelt.

________

The sun was beating, water shifting against Y/n, JJ, and Pope's knees as they stood before the sewer opening. JJ kept looking at his girlfriend as she tried processing the fact that she had to crawl in a germ-infested metal hole. Or she was contemplating how to kill him if this plan went south. Drowning? Choking? Kick him in the face for using his blue eyes to entice her out of the house? Get creative and do all three? They've been dating for six months, and he knew she would do anything for him if he only asked. But this was beginning to make his breathing heavy. His heart was dropping to the pits of his stomach at the thought of her crawling in there alone. His eyes fell on her hand, fighting everything to not grab her hand, but she would only push him away. Her hands were pinching the side of her jeans, and he cursed himself. Never again, he promised himself. He cracked his neck, thumb tapping his nose before he sighed deeply.

"And it's a gun I'm grabbing, yeah?" she asked, eyes squinted against the sun above.

"Yup," Pope confirmed with a pop.

"Right." she looked at JJ, who only offered her a glance as his arms were crossed, lower lip between his teeth. She probably thought she hated him. She was furious, but JJ was too precious to hate. She only held love for him even if he dared to test her limits as to what length she would go for him. And this was far, and yet she didn't think it was the limit. She would go farther, and that's what she was afraid of.

"I want forty dollars for this," she demanded, her fingers twirling her hair into a bun.

"Yeah yeah, done! Totally!"

"All yours!"

"We just gotta divide evenly...you got any fives, J?"

But their transaction died in their throats when she whipped around. "Each," her words were final, hands-on her hip despite her short stature.

Pope smiled widely but stopped short when y/n wasn't reciprocating the humor. "Like...like forty each? Forty each--"

"Are you the one getting sewer worms?"

"Does fifty work?"

"Wonderfully." Her sweet smile made a chill run over Pope's arm as she snatched the bill from his hand, handing it to JJ. "for the date."

JJ nodded with enthusiasm, feeling an inkling of hope that she wasn't breaking up with him over this. "Anything you want."

"I want sushi."

"Done." JJ dared grab her face gently and place a kiss on her head. "Ya know, I wouldn't ask you to do this if it wasn't important. It's for JB, and if this is the way to clear his name--"

"I get it. I get it…" she said quietly. "Doesn't mean I'm not pissed off." she grabbed his wrist with such tenderness making him breathe out deeply and downcast his eyes to the water as she pulled him away. "Don't lie to me again."

She slipped away, his hand reaching out only far enough until she's gone, and his fingers only hold the memory of her warm fingers brushing away from him.

JJ closed his eyes, running a hand down his face with a deep groan from his chest.

Pope clasped a hand on JJ's shoulder, giving it a shake. "She'll be fine, man. It'll be quick," he assured, but JJ could tell when Pope was bullshitting him.

They approached the iron gate that previously blocked the sewer hole.

"How ya holding up y/n?" he asked, hearing his words echo off the walls.

_____

"Shit," y/n mumbled as she felt her hand slide over something slimy. This was officially the worst place she's ever been. And she's been in bad situations. The air was humid and thin, forcing her to take deeper breaths than necessary. The pungent smell consumed her senses, making her swallow the urge to gag and kept crawling. "I'm fine!" she called back.

"Do you see the gun?" Pope's voice made her head spin and a knot formed between her eyebrows.

"Nothing."

"It's probably at the bottom of the catch basin."

Of course, it was. It was only logical for something so heavy to fall straight down due to its weight and not flow with the sewer current.

The metal was warm against her palms, and she nearly slipped when she made it to the basin. She peaked her head out, eyes skyward to only squint when light met her eyes. She then looked down, heart racing knowing she had to swim in the waste.

She took a shaky breath through her mouth before she scooted backward, her hand gripping the ladder and let herself sink into the lukewarm water. Her skin crawled when she got to her feet steadily, feeling the slosh of water beat against her legs.

Y/n began reaching and swaying her hands through the water, feeling bits of god knows what graze her hand. She found a plastic soda can and cracked a smile knowing Kiara would not be pleased. A hair then caught her fingers, and her whole body shook as she wiggled it away and frowned. "No, no, no. Awaaay from me."

She kicked around, hoping to feel something heavy, anything that could possibly be a gun. Suddenly, something hit her elbow, and she gasped. It was hard enough, and relief filled her heart. "Guys, I think I found something!" she called gleefully. But it was textured against her hand, making her nose wrinkle. Dead fish? "Gross…"

"What you got, babe!"

"Is it the gun?"

Y/n whipped her head slightly, attempting to move a strand from her face. She lifted it to the light, and her heart stopped. Bile filled her throat, and her mouth fell agape. She unclenched her fingers around the cut-off arm. "Oh my god! Oh-oh! You guys, there's something dead in here!" she screamed, tossing it away and stepped back till her back hit the ladder to create a distance between her and the body part. Tears stung her eyes as she rested her head against one of the bars, taking deep breaths to calm her racing heart. This was a nightmare.

"What!"

"Like a person?"

"Yes--yes! It's an arm!" she repeated, the lump in her throat evident through the strain of her voice.

"Y/n don't touch it! That's how you get worms!" JJ informed, and Y/n hit her head softly on the ladder, hearing the pain and panic in JJ's voice. She knew he was already accusing himself.

"I touched it already!"

"Could it be Gavin?" she heard Pope ask JJ. Y/n snapped her head to the exit, eyes wide. The name was immediately tied to a face. "Gavin is dead?" she cried; the news and smell of the sewer made her dizzy.

"Y/n y/n calm down! Do you have the gun?"

She was about to shout at him that she was too busy holding down the onset of a panic attack at the news that Gavin was dead and the fact that she was in a watery prison until her foot made contact with something. And this time, it didn't feel like a body part. She risked it all, knowing the sooner she had the gun, the sooner she could crawl out and kill Pope and her boyfriend. She let half her body sink, and her hands dragged against the bottom of the catch basin. And a laugh of disbelief escaped her lips despite her situation. She brought the gun above the water, and she's never been happier to hold a weapon. She quickly tucked it into the back of her jeans and opened her mouth to tell the boys the news when she heard the wild sloshing. The water around her began gurgling like a child blowing bubbles into their drink.

Panic rose in her chest, her head pivoting as she watched the only way out began to fill with water. She couldn't hold her breath that long to make it out, even if she tried. Someone flushed the sewers. "Oh shit!" she exclaimed, her hand blindly looking for the ladder as water bounced off the wall and hit her chest. "Guys! Guys, the water!"

JJ's mind went blank, his chest breaking in half with something he never felt. It was an overwhelming fear. A fear in which he couldn't predict what would happen next. Like when his father would come home stoned, and he came hurtling toward him. That wasn't his fault. But this time was different. He couldn't wait to see how it would play out because it was on him now. He laid out the path, leading his girlfriend, his best friend, into a death trap.

"Y/n! Get back now!" he shouted desperately, fist coiled around the iron bars.

"I can't!" she cried out as she began climbing the ladder, but she slipped from the soft material of her shoes, dunking her back in the catch basin.

"Y/n!"

She broke the surface, coughing out sewer water as she fought the current and grabbed hold of the bar, yanking herself up.

JJ and Pope's lungs burned, shouting her name continuously. She heard their struggle even over the loud crashing of water.

Her throat was on fire as she called for JJ and Pope to save her. She made it to the top and helplessly pushed upward. "JJ! Pope!" her weeping was pathetic, her heart hammering in her ears as if a warning that she should just let go.

Her fingers peeked through the heavy iron lid. She felt the vibration of rapids footfalls and her name being shouted. Then his eyes were all that fille her view between the opening of the cover. JJ's cerulean eyes sailed her in lost moments they shared. Moments where they shared breaths in bed, eyes keeping her planted. Moments where she cried, and she had to pause for a moment because she realized JJ's eyes would never leave her crying face, even if he was uncomfortable. He made her feel seen as more than her title allowed.

JJ stared down at her, lips agape, face wet and frustrated. He was kicking himself internally, she could tell. She just wanted to hold him.

"JJ. Please, p-please get me out!" she cried, hands slamming on the metal lid. Panic set in when she felt the water creep up her waist. "Pull it!"

"We're gonna get you outta there, hold on!" JJ grunted desperately as he and Pope squatted and pulled upward, but it didn't grind out of place. The muscle of his arm strained, veins in his neck defined. He could already feel his fingers bruising. The water bubbled just past her shoulder, and she felt her shoulder tense, knowing time was up. She didn't think dying would feel like this. Calm yet so frightening.

"JJ! Please! Guys!" she craned her neck, lips brushing the iron, sucking in the last bit of air time allowed.

"Head up, alright! We almost got it!" JJ pleaded, his voice cracking when he felt warm tears on his cheeks.

"Cmon cmon…" Pope groaned.

"What the hell…."

Pope looked over his shoulder, Rafe Cameron towering over the scene, brows furrowed.

JJ heard the guilt in his voice, and a vein ticked in his cheek as his jaw tightened. He was determined to save y/n before beating Rafe with the iron lid. But when he felt water at the tip of his fingers, he stopped breathing. Y/n was drowning. "No, no, no, no…." JJ let out a scream of frustration.

Then the two boys felt Rafe kneel next to them and helped pull the lid. They didn't care to tell him off and say it was his fault. They couldn't let you die like this.

The air y/n grabbed was short-lived because her lungs were desperate, hitting her chest for relief. She inhaled the water and her grip on the lids loosened. Her nose burnt, and her lungs were set ablaze. A pressure pressed against her chest, and her vision fogged. She felt her body descend slowly. The light from above was growing smaller and diminished until it was a coin being flipped in the air into the sun. A glimmer you can't touch. A hope of safety never to come. Her body told her to stop, and she obeyed.

Then the light got brighter, and she heard muffled shouts. A warmth encased her wrist, then her waist, and suddenly she was encased in brightness…

____

JJ grunted as he pulled y/n up and out of the sewer. Rafe had her by the ankles and helped place her on the warm cement. Pope was panting on his knees, arms, and fingers sore from pulling so long.

"Hey, hey y/n wake up!" JJ stammered, eyes glossed with regretful tears, lips quivering. Saying her name was too hard. He gently tapped her cheeks while moving wet strands from her face.

"She's not breathing…" Rafe muttered, cracking his knuckles as he paced the street.

"Whose fault you think that is?" Pope sneered at him.

"Why the hell did you send her down there!"

Pope shook his head as he crawled over to y/n's side, eyes downcast to her unmoving figure.

JJ placed the heel of his right hand where her heart is and interlocks his fingers. He started compression,s her name falling from his slips silently in praises as if that could wake her up. He pinched her nose and opened her mouth, giving her shaky rescue breaths. "C'mon y/n," he stuttered. She was still, and he was being torn apart. He wanted to kiss her properly one last time. It should have never been her.

Then her body jerked, and everyone finally breathed. Water leaked from her mouth, and JJ let out a laugh of ease as he assisted her by rolling her on her side. Her coughs were rough, her hands flat on the warm cement. If she could lay on the street and dry while warmth embraced her like an old friend, she would. JJ ran a shaking hand up and down her back, pulling wet hair from her face as they hovered over her eyes.

"Holy shit, are you okay?" JJ sputters out.

Deadly slow, y/n turns her head up, eyes ringed red. "Do I look okay?"

JJ wanted to smile but held it back as he grabbed her hand, helping her to her feet. Pope sighed, bending his back as he let out a groan. Y/n swore she had seen Rafe, but he was gone, and she wondered if she swallowed too much sewer water.

JJ's hand ran up her arm as she tried to collect herself, basking in being able to breathe proper air. He tried cradling her cheek, wanting to console her, and hold her and caresses every inch of her and apologize and love her. "Baby --"

Y/n pulls back, already missing his familiar warmth. "Give me a second, please." she breathed, hand grabbing her other wrist as she held them over her head, taking a few steps away.

JJ nodded, knowing she had to collect herself. But he couldn't deny the way his heart fluttered watching her moving, eyes alight with life. Air finally flowed through him properly instead of nervous breathing. He smiled at his hands, not caring that the skin of his fingers was bruised and peeling. She was okay.

"Here," she said dryly, handing the gun to Pope. The boy smiled widely, yanking a handkerchief from his back pocket and carefully grabbing the weapon from her hand. He thanked her, and she merely nodded with a thin smile.

JJ licked his lips and approached y/n as she turned to face him. "I shouldn't have sent you down there," he says, his eyes meeting hers despite the torture it caused him. She was still roughed up. Hair dripping, dark splotches on her cheeks and clothes.

"Oh, you think?" She tilted her head in challenge. JJ has never been so happy seeing her back to herself. She began tying her hair back with another hair tie that was around her wrist.

"Okay, but in my defense, you did agree to go in … so technically, you're also to-"

JJ's words died on his tongue when y/n whipped her head around, eyes set in a hard glare, jaw set. "Finish that sentence, "she dared darkly.

JJ wrinkled her nose, realizing his mistake, shaking his head. "No…"

______

Y/n hasn't seen JJ in over a week.

Her phone void of texts or phone calls. Then again, she had herself to blame. She silenced all her messages, after all.

Everything happened too fast for her to properly process the moment. It wasn't until she stood under the warm showerhead of her bathroom did she realized she was cringing against the water. Her lungs were filled to the brim with sewage. She finished her shower quickly, wrapping herself in a warm quilt as she laid in bed. She would be lying if she didn't lie in wait for a couple hours, hoping to hear a familiar knock on her window. Or if he was creative that night, he would create a beat until she was pounding toward the window, scolding him for being so loud. She missed how the sheets slipped away, and his body would press against her back, hand slipping under her shirt so slowly that it made her squirm. His scent alone made her lean back further into him as he would bury his face in her neck, planting sweet kisses.

She didn't care if she was still angry. She just wanted to see JJ again.

Friday morning, Y/n sat crisscrossed on a lounge chair in Sarah's backyard. She appreciated the sun more than ever. It was a great contrast against the murky sewer warmth, and she took in every beam, hoping her body would forget. Something cold and wet was suddenly pressed against the back of her neck and made her yelp. She heard Sarah's giggles as she dodged Y/n's hands swatting at her.

"I brought you a drink," she laughed, dropping on the chair across from her. Her blonde hair still collects droplets from when she jumped in the pool earlier. Sarah couldn't understand why y/n would willingly stay out in weather like this, but she couldn't deny the killer tan y/n was getting.

y/n grabbed the wet bottle with a mocking smile, the condensation running down her arm. "Thank you."

"It might be a little warm, they weren't in the fridge for that long, and Wheezie used all the ice for some weird science project." she scoffed, cracking open the lid before taking a few sips.

Y/n shrugged, waving off the apology. "It's okay, thank you" Sarah's lips puckered at her dry tone as she watched y/n pick at the lid with her nail.

"Of course." Sarah laid back on her lounge chair, eyes closed as she stretched her arms up like a feline. She inhaled deeply before settling her hands over her head, eyes closed. "So, you and JJ, how's that going?"

Y/n tilted her head side to side in contemplation, setting the bottle by the legs of the chair before laying back, hands on her bare stomach. "It's going good, you know, besides me almost dying in a sewage pipe because he asked me to go in."

Sarah sat up on her elbows, watching incredulously as Y/n made her fingers walk over her stomach, face neutral despite the news she just broke. "He asked you to go into a sewage pipe?" she asked, voice rising an octave.

"Yeah!" Y/n exclaimed, frustration rising in her chest, her mind reminding her exactly why she and her boyfriend were not on speaking terms.

"You very clearly love JJ a lot more than I love John B. I'm not crawling into a sewage pipe for him."

Her words were true, and y/n hated it. She opened her mouth to keep talking before she heard the distant sound of a car locking. She turned her head, the sound familiar as she has heard that same obnoxious engine since she moved to the Outer Banks. "Hey, I'll catch up with you later, okay?" y/n said, already standing up, her fingers grazing Sarah's arm in parting.

Sarah gazed up, full lips pulling down to a worried frown. "Text me if anything," she mumbled.

Y/n nodded before swiping her shirt and shorts from the ground and heading into the cold house. She slipped on the sandals she had left at the door and grabbed the phone she had left on the counter to hold back any temptation of seeing JJ's messages.

The person she'd hoped to bump into walked through the front door, face ashen and tired. Rafe Cameron paused at the door when he saw Y/n figure standing before him, clad in a purple bathing suit. She subtly became aware of her appearance when his eyes flickered down, and he cleared his throat. "Morning," he murmured, trying to brush past her, but her hand latched onto his wrist just above his watch.

"So are we just going to ignore the fact that you tried to kill me the other day?" she whispered harshly, looking up sharply at the side of his head, eyes refusing to meet her own.

Rafe looked down at her, jaw set before a mocking smile touched his lips. "Don't know what you're talking about," he breathed, pulling his hand away and walking toward the kitchen. "And put some clothes on, you'll get sick."

Y/n scoffed and slipped her shorts on before padding over to the island counter, leaning her hands on its cold surface. "Oh really? Turning the valve on the sewers with me inside, not ringing any bells?" she snapped quietly for Sarah's sake.

Rafe breathes heavily through his nose, dropping his keys on the counter before challenging her stare, copying her position across from her. "Why were you in the sewer?" his question was more so of a scolding, and she didn't want to believe Rafe Cameron gave a shit about her.

One of Y/n's shoulders lifted in a shrug, "Why did you try to kill me?" she shot back.

"I wouldn't have done it if I knew it was you!" he snapped.

"So you're saying you try to drown people in sewer drains often, then?"

They both went silent, eyes still trained on one another. She could see the battle happening in his brain just by the look in his eyes.

Y/n straightened, eyes dropping down to her hand where a silver ring JJ gifted her was looped around her pinky finger. She heard Rafe groan, placing both hands atop his black backward cap. "I'm sorry," Rafe muttered before trudging away.

______

JJ cast his line, resting his forearms on the weathered wood of John B's dock. His consciousness taking the form of boulders, anchoring his heart and dragging it to its current resting place in the pits of his stomach. He was running off of a few measly hours of sleep, his guilt not allowing him more than a few moments of peace before everything came rushing back to him.

Y/n's cries were forever embedded in every crevice of his mind, sending chills up his spine and twisting his stomach in sailor's knots. JJ never pretended he was the smartest -- it was rare for JJ to go a day without doing something stupid. But sending his girlfriend into a sewage pipe to retrieve a literal murder weapon would have to take the cake.

Despite his attempts to reach her, he hadn't heard from her since that day. He didn't want to assume that this was the end, but he couldn't keep the thought from popping up every once in a while. JJ didn't mean for her to be in danger, for the pipe to get flushed and for her to almost drown. But he assumed that was his own fault. Never thinking past action even when it regraded the ones he cared about the most.

He hadn't gone this long without seeing her. His skin was crawling with the craving to feel her -- he didn't even have to be touching her; he was just yearning for her calming presence. Having her skin on his would be a bonus, but he would be happy with her sitting near him, he would take anything she could manage, and he would be grateful.

He sniffled, blinking away unwanted tears as his gaze remained on the line that separated the orange sky from the glimmering water. Evening wind tousled his hair, howling over his ears enough that he didn't hear the wood creak from behind him.

Then he felt that presence. Familiar, her scent enclosing him in comfort. Akin to butterflies flooding his stomach and making him breathe properly again. Her elbows brushed against his own, feeling the material of her oversized navy cardigan skim his skin in greeting.

The wind filled the silence, his eyes betraying him as he glanced to his side. His lips fell open slightly at the sight of her, licking his lips. Light danced over her eyelashes as he watched her gnaw on her lower lip. Then she caught his lingering gaze and flashed a small smile before looking ahead again. JJ grinned to himself, looking down and shaking his head. Her smile was calamity onto his heart.

"Catch anything?" she asked softly, her fingers lacing the ring on her pinky.

"Not yet," he replied, rolling his shoulders.

He saw her lower herself from his peripheral, and the silent request to join her made him quickly pull the line in and put it away.

Paranoia filled his mind as he sat beside her, the wood creaking under his weight. He let his feet sway over the edge while a leg was tucked under her, her other foot swinging in tandem with his own.

"You know that I would never put you in danger on purpose," he said, voice steady. His eyes were trained ahead, not willing to look at her closed expression. She had all the right.

"I know," she mumbled, eyes darting to his thumb tracing over his bruised fingers.

"I would never hurt you on purpose." JJ felt pain in his throat, where he swallowed the rawness that he's been holding in for days. He's replayed this conversation in his head, but she was real this time.

"I know."

He felt her shift next to him, and then he felt her skin on his hand. Her dainty fingers that have doted on him now grabbing his hands and running her fingers gently over the bruised skin he got from the sewer lid. Scars formed when he screamed her name. When he saved her so desperately to have her with him again.

"None of that was supposed to happen, you were never supposed to be in any kind of danger." JJ's voice cracked, eyes finally lifting to catch the warm tear gliding down the apples of her puffy cheeks, lips quivering. He wasn't alone in this pain. "I would have never made you go in there if I even had an inkling that anything like that would happen. You don't know how terrified I was when you were in there. If anything happened to you, I could never forgive myself. You were never supposed to get hurt."

Her eyes stayed on her hands in his warm ones. "JJ, it's alright.." she sighed, shaking her head and closing her eyes. She couldn't bear the heaviness in his tone. In the way, he beat himself up for every mishap that happened between them.

"No! It's not!" he snapped, his hands moving with his frustration toward himself. Y/n finally met his watery stare, seeing his gleaming blue eyes ringed red. "You could have died! If me and Pope didn't get the top off in time, you would have drowned! You were stuck in a sewage pipe, screaming for me to help you, and I couldn't get to you! I almost didn't! And for what? A fucking gun that isn't even gonna do any good for us anyway--"

Y/n reached for his hands as he continued on," Hey! It's alright, I'm not mad at you!" JJ went still in her grip, shaking his head as his tongue poked the inside of his cheek, looking away. "Yeah, it was scary, but I'm not mad at you--J look at me." she stared at him helplessly, wanting him to know she meant every word. Reluctantly, he met her eyes, thumb running on the palm of her hand.

"I would do it again if it meant helping you. Because I love you more than I should."

JJ laughed softly through a sniffle, his mouth curving into a smile. She couldn't hold the fluttering that filled her chest at the sight of him. The sun catches his ocean eyes like a sunset in winter. Her cheeks were warm, a lopsided, teasing grin breaking through her lips.

JJ then shook his head and kissed the backside of her hand. "You're never doing that again, I swear to god." His voice was light as a cloud as he laughed gleefully. "I'll never let you do anything like that again."

Y/n gaped with an incredulous laugh, gently backhanding his arm. "You were the one who told me to do it!"

"Since when do you listen to my stupid ideas!"

______

taglist: @pogueszn @bricksatanakinswindow @cordeliascrown @acvross-the-universe @x-lulu @ponyboys-sunsets @casper17 @moonshinerbynight

#jj maybank #jj mayback x reader #pope heyward #jj obx fic #jj obx #sarah cameron #rafe cameron #jj maybank imagines #jj #fic #Outer Banks #season 2 #john b routledge #john b obx #kiara outer banks #obx fanfiction #obx #romance #Angst.

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honeystwiggypeach · 2 years

Note

Hello there love your Chubby babies series ;-; is amazing

Sooo I was wondering how does the Haikyuu dad’s would react to hear that y/n is pregnant for the first time 👀

Love ya tons my sweet little sis

Haikyuu Boys/Dads reaction to being told that the reader is pregnant!

Ahhh!! Hi! I can definitely do that! Love ya tons as well sis!!

This is one of my great mutuals!! She helps me come up with tons of writing ideas and overall she has super pretty writings as well!! We ended up discussing that the characters for this would be Kenma, Aone, Yamaguchi, Ushijima, Ukai Jr., and maybe just maybe Matsukawa! (I’ve also added in Oikawa for funsies)

After this conversation we talked more about Ukai as a dad, and ended up turning out with a series I’m going to start working on and hopefully post soon after this called Wedlock!(When I post the series I’ll tag the master list for it!)

⚠️content warning ⚠️ for kidney stones, vomiting, cursing, unplanned pregnancy, not knowing about pregnancy, pregnancy!

Fem!reader

Kenma

Kenma’s reaction was very blank at first. Like he definitely loves you and would also love to have a baby with you but it just kinda took him by surprise when he came home to see you sitting at the table arms folded across your chest with some serious look on your face.

His first instinct is to ask if he’s done something wrong but before he can Your up and giggling as you hug his arm repeating the fact that your pregnant as you smile up at him.

And he kinda just tenses up😭 like it’s not even that he doesn’t want a baby cause he definitely does too, he’s just so surprised that your pregnant and after you’ve calmed down a bit he begins to kinda wiggle around as the realization sets in and he kind of just hugs you super tight. He’s got his head on your shoulder and you can faintly hear him mumble your pregnant to reassure and get it to click in his mind.

Aone

Aone…he wants a baby so bad it used to be that he wants a baby girl but at this point he’d take any gender of baby😭

He just wants a baby and he’s like terrified to tell you cause you’ve been married maybe three years and whenever someone asks when you’re gonna have a baby you just brush them off and say when the time comes, so he fears that maybe you don’t want a baby at all.

Boy is he sorely wrong, you’ve been having the same feeling when he nods at your awnser for not having kids making you terrified to tell him that you do want a baby!

Anyways, you’ve been having some pains when you walk in the area close to your kidneys, at first you thought you could tough through it kinda just writing it off as a kidney infection in your mind. So you drink tons of water. Anyways the pain doesn’t go away and you just have to pee a lottttt!! So now by this point both you and Aone are kinda worried about it being kidney stones but you keep telling him that it’s fine!

Sure whatever he thinks, then at some point the pain is so bad that you finally agree to let him bring you to the emergency room. He does and they do their little thing and eventually send you to the OBGYN for an ultrasound.

The doctors asking you to describe your pain and everything else and just kind of nods a tad concerned when they see absolutely nothing in your kidneys and they’re like…and you’re 100% certain there’s no chance your pregnant? As they run that really cold gel onto your belly.

They stop themselves mid sentence as they look at a fully developed fetus on the monitor…they end up like mumbling that you’re pregnant and you and Aone are both crying and the doctors like and it’s a girl… and they also tell you that the baby has dropped quite a bit meaning that at this point your water could break fairly soon!

Then that night your water breaks and less then 48 hours after finding out you were pregnant you deliver a healthy baby girl who Aone absolutely adores.(also it’s not impossible to not know you’re pregnant! But for a situation like this I’d imagine that the reader would be carrying her pregnancy more in her back and like lower then front and higher, front meaning her belly would be more of the common like pregnancy bump!)

Yamaguchi

Mmm, Yamaguchi definitely ends up crying. You have a cake set on the table with some words to announce the pregnancy!

The baby though you aren’t so far along has made your bladder rather weak…or maybe it’s the fact that you’ve been drinking a lot more water then normal since finding out…so you leave the table and go to the bathroom not hearing the door shut behind you.

After you come out of the bathroom you see Yamaguchi crying at the table as his head is in his palms and you’ve begun crying because now you’re frustrated.

“You ruined the surprise.” You say half-heartedly as he turns to look at you.

“Are you serious?” He asks sniffling as he looks at the cake and you nod and as soon as you do he’s darting out of the chair to hug you while he sniffles.

Ushijima

Another one who’s kinda just blank except he knows full well that your pregnant before you do.

In his defense you cried a lot more in the last five months then ever, and in the start of that threw up tons!

He not only suspects that your pregnant but at this point is almost 100% sure that you are!

Love is there any chance you could be- a dog barks.

Honey could you possibly be-a squirrel literally lands on top of his head.

At this point he’s kinda given up trying to ask and around a month passes without him trying to ask until you get nauseous at the smell of crayons. That night he manages to ask you clearly without any interruptions, only one is your snores as it’s three am.

So and he would never do this normally but it’s urgent! He shakes you awake and you’re like what??? As he’s asking and he’s like not even asking if you’re pregnant anymore he’s asking you to pee on this stick as he nudges the test in your direction and you just nod tiredly taking it from him and going to the bathroom half asleep.

You crawl back into bed and he’s like so what was it??? And your just like I left it on the sink, and he nods and some hours pass as he’s wide awake but can’t get up to check the results.

You eventually wake up to see him wide awake slight dark circles where he explains that you took a pregnancy test while kinda half asleep…

Your like it’s gonna be negative and push the door open to see a positive test, and he’s like I knew it as he slams his pillow onto the bed he’s been holding it since three am.

Both of you kinda just stare at the stick in shock.

Ukai jr.

(This is very vaugly going to be similar to the series I plan to write!)

Ukai and you had been an established couple for well over a year with the two of you even talking about having him move into your tiny one bedroom apartment.

Well that ideas quickly crushed when one night you’re trying to eat dinner with Keishin and end up vomiting. Yeah and that’s not the only time it happens by the third time after dinner he sits you down and just hands you a pregnancy test and you kind of just nod at him before reluctantly heading off to the bathroom.

When you’ve finished you call him back and tell him that he’s got to be the one to look at it first and he’s just like…no you🤨 goes on for awhile and finally he’s like fine, and looks and he’s eyes go wide and immediately says your dads gonna kill me.

By the end both him and you end up crying happy tears mixed with frustration as you hug each other on the bathroom floor😭

Oikawa

Mmmm it’s planned. He’s settled down from volleyball and retired at this point, before his retirement he continued to tell you that it would be better to hold off on having a baby until after he gets free time as he doesn’t want them to grow up without him there. And the two of you do end up waiting.

At like 36 Oikawa is finally becoming a dad. It’s maybe his last tournament in Argentina, yoh couldn’t attend and it’s been like four to five months since he could see you in person, because you moved back to Japan which was the plan for what the two of you would do after Oikawa retired so after he finished his last game he would just fly back to Japan where he had already began renting a house, that you moved into!

Anyways, sure it hurt him a bit that you couldn’t be at his official last game due to some work reasons which is the main reason as to why you had moved back to Japan before him but he was just extremely happy to see you.

He sees you with his hoodie on in the airport and it’s like floating on you because Oikawa is tall so the length of the hoodie is like very long(nice description😭) he runs up to you and hugs you and kinda squeezes you enough to feel a hard bump.

He looks down at you as he’s like feeling your belly and pushing the hoodie up trying to push you off to see it while you just hug him tighter to mess with him.

Eventually you let go of him and let him see the little bump…and he’s crying while he smiles and he’s hugging you more…he’s having a little emotional roller coaster all by himself and he’s like why didn’t you tell me?

You can tell he’s not angry just confused, you explained that you didn’t want him to feel guilty or get side tracked for his last game, and that makes him cry more!

Matsukawa

He keeps asking if your joking…normal the two of you go all out for April fools, you normally like but a red contact in your eye and tell him some bs story and he falls for it and him just like hiding all the toilet paper or something but it gets more intense every year.

This year however it was not a joke, the past three weeks you had horrible nausea and a bit of back pain, enough to make you take a pregnancy test…

Completely forgetting about the date you call Matsukawa in and your like they’re positive… and he at first just walks out saying no😭

You’re like what do you mean no??

He’s like “that’s not funny to joke about (Y/n) you know how bad we want a baby!”

And you’re like dude what the fuck are you talking about ??

He eventually is just like “ go on say it (Y/n) I know you’re dying to just say April fools!”as he sits on the couch pouting with his arms crossed.

You just blink at him before smacking him with the pillow and yelling about how it wasn’t a joke and how you were dead serious about being pregnant and he just pauses before it clicks and he’s spinning you around in a hug while peppering kisses all over your face telling you that he can’t wait to be a dad and that you’ll be a great mother!

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wonlouvre · 3 years

Text

pairing: non-idol!mingyu x non-idol!female oc genre: fluff just because we love it word count: 2.9k+ WARNINGS: none! (pls tell me if i missed anything!)

Kim Mingyu is always caring and always loving. 💌: it’s true... kim mingyu has found his way to my heart. lol just kidding! it’s the vlog and ugh!!!! he’s so soft, sexy and domestic (don’t u dare disagree with me) and i had to talk about it!!! PLS SEND THIS SOME LOVIN <3 thank you!

1. Finding excuses to touch each other in little ways

Mingyu always gravitates towards you whenever your circle of friends get together. He seems to always find a way to be right beside you, regardless if the space is too small for his tall build. It doesn’t matter if you're sitting on a single seat sofa, the arm rest is plenty comfortable to lounge on (it’s not). And when you’re chatting with your friends other than him? He will just stand where you are, also listening (as if you don’t have enough ears already).

But more than that, you think it’s him finding excuses to touch you. It’s not necessarily the bold hand holding type or resting his arm around your waist kind of touching. It’s more on the subtle grazing of his knuckles against yours, shoulders bumping or his arms on the backrest, warming the back of your neck (when you’re finally on a big couch).

It’s a little suspicious because you and Mingyu never established anything about crossing the boundaries of your friendship. In fact, it’s not only until recently that you started sending text messages other than the time and location of your meetup. You’ve known him for a short while. You met him through a mutual friend and that was it. You became part of their circle, him with yours. You now share text messages of what time you get off of work or what you are having for dinner. You even talk about the current drama you’re watching until midnight even though you’re already tired and could pass out anytime soon.

You honestly don’t know how it all started, but you’re not complaining. At all.

You’re not complaining whether it be him excitedly running to you once you arrive or patiently waiting until the person sitting next to you leaves and slowly fills the vacancy. You also don’t mind when he removes the stray strand of hair you didn’t notice while you’re talking and puts it behind your ear. You’re also not uncomfortable when his gaze lingers to your face when he thinks you don’t notice.

You’re no different anyway.

Your fingers always absent-mindedly find their way to the soft fabric of his shirt whenever he walks ahead of you. Sometimes, your hand rests a little longer on the back of his neck when he leans the other way to answer one of your friend’s questions while you speak to the one on your side. The bravest display of affection you have ever done was not only rubbing your hand against his back but slipping it underneath his sweatshirt where you could feel his bare skin and taut muscles because he said he was cold.

That was the first among many.

Eventually, you start grasping Mingyu’s hand when he offers it whenever you’re walking to the restaurant, park, cafe or the parking lot without the need to look behind you . He just holds them out, trusting that you’ll take it. You actually do. Every single time. You don’t see it, but it puts a wide grin on his face.

2. Slowly becoming more comfortable with each other

It was a long tiring day at work but you couldn’t say no to Minghao’s birthday dinner invitation. He’s the mutual friend that led you to meeting Mingyu and aside from the long history the two of you share, you are grateful for him bridging you and Mingyu. Plus, his party always has the best foods and drinks.

Mingyu must have seen right through you. Your shoulders were slumped and face casted down when you entered the house and removed your coat. Mingyu was waiting for you, leaning on the beam post as he scrolled down his phone to kill time. He offers you a small smile to which you return immediately. The day doesn’t sound so bad anymore.

It gets better when he meets you halfway and envelopes you in a big warm hug. Your arms didn’t hesitate to circle around his neck, face nuzzling to his neck and smelling his scent you have grown familiar with. He almost swept you off of your feet and pressed a kiss on the side of your head, but he restrained himself and settled for a hug in the meantime.

“Ahem,” you hear Minghao’s voice, making you reluctantly let go of the baby giant standing in front of you. “It’s my birthday. Shouldn’t I get a hug too?”

You chuckle and make your way towards him. You give him a hug, but only with one arm because Mingyu was holding the other one back, his fingers interlaced with yours. “Happy birthday, Minghao.”

Your friend mutters a sincere thank you. Afterwards, he sends a cheeky wink to Mingyu as if to tell him that he knows. In return, Mingyu just glares at him. You’ll never probably know about this teasing exchange, but who knows, Minghao always finds a way to have the upperhand. He’ll save this story after the two of you officially date.

“Make a move already,” Minghao says and nudges his friend who’s left alone after you excused yourself to the restroom.

“Shut up,” Mingyu groans and down the drink he’s holding. “I’ll do it soon, you impatient prick.”

Minghao just gives his signature giggle.

You return after five minutes and Minghao’s wink doesn’t go unnoticed. You frown when he snickers as he takes his leave. He must be getting drunk, you thought and find your place beside Mingyu once again, his arm around your shoulders while yours around his waist.

“What was that all about?” You ask and look up to him.

“Hmmm?” He hums and intently meets your eyes. “What is it?”

“Minghao,” you answer. “He just winked at me. Were you guys talking behind my back?”

Your narrowed eyes and sulky pout makes Mingyu smile in adoration. He shakes his head and leans down to lightly bump his forehead against yours. For a moment, your heart stops beating at the action. You thought he was about to kiss you.

“No, of course not,” he assures you and ruffles the top of your head. “It must be the alcohol.”

3. Remembering little details about each other

There’s this one habit that you noticed Mingyu has been doing. His hair is short compared to yours, but even with that length, he likes to pull some strands and twist them around his fingers. At first you were confused, but when you witnessed him sleepily do it after he woke up from a quick nap, you were sure nothing looked more endearing.

These days you do it for him and that makes him drift to dreamland in an instant. It wasn’t an intentional act. The first time was when you were in the car on the way to the rest house that you’ll be staying at with your friends. He was squirming and couldn’t seem to find a comfortable position. You felt bad because he looked like he really wanted to get some shut-eye. So without any hesitation, you gently grab his head and let it rest on your shoulder. Mingyu becomes small beside you once he wraps his arms around yours. You were only caressing his hair in the first few minutes and it’s not until later you started doing his habit. He was snoring all throughout the ride and you weren’t bothered by one bit.

On the other hand, Mingyu noticed that you only use one pillow. Not only when you sleep. You just seriously have one pillow on your bed and that’s it. You told him it’s inside one of your cabinets when he asked you where the other pair was when he visited (he goes to your place now, alone). He asked why and your only answer is that you don’t want it to accumulate dust.

“I sleep just fine with one pillow for my head to rest on anyway,” you tell him while placing the hot mug on the center table.

“Noted,” he says and pat the cushion of your couch for you to sit on. “I won’t give you any then for your birthday.”

You roll your eyes, but smile nonetheless and finally take your seat.

Mingyu takes the remote and presses play to start the movie you decided to watch. You snuggle closer to him and rest your head on his shoulder. Almost like an instinct, Mingyu wraps his arm around you without tearing his eyes from the television.

“You could be my other pillow,” you murmur under your breath and if Mingyu was too engrossed in the film, he wouldn’t hear you.

Good thing he wasn’t. Because he heard you loud and clear.

Remember when Mingyu said he won’t buy you a pillow for your birthday? He didn’t. But he did on one random day.

Your hands were by your hips as you watched him take your now old pillow and replace it with the brand new ones he bought. He must be out of his mind if he thinks he can just barge into your bedroom and change your decor. Well, you must be also out of your mind because you’re allowing him to do so.

“Can I know why you’re suddenly changing my pillow?” You question as you follow him around.

“You’ll sleep better with these,” he guarantees, fluffing them up.

You cross your arms and challenge his claims. “How do you even know that?”

“I asked around and did my research,” he answers and takes your hand to pull you to the mattress. “Doctors also recommend this particular pillow design.”

He makes you lay down and when your head hits his gift, you can’t deny the instant relaxation your muscles felt. You thought you were going to fall asleep right this moment.

“How is it?” Mingyu asks, still standing as he peers down at you. “Feels good, right?”

“Lay down with me and you’ll find out,” you boldly offer, looking him directly in the eyes.

Mingyu blinks in astonishment, but doesn’t back down. He quickly removes his slippers (the one you bought only for him) and takes the space on your other side. This is the first time he’ll ever lay beside you on your bed and you honestly don’t know how to feel. In a good way. A really really good way.

“Oh wow,” he says with a sigh and closed eyes. “This does feel good.”

You smile and prop yourself on your elbow to face him and bop his nose. “You didn’t have to buy me this, but thank you nonetheless.”

Mingyu opens his eyes before holding you close to him, your head on his chest and his one arm underneath your body. He briefly kisses your forehead and closes his eyes again.

“Anything for you.”

4. Showing that they care for one another

“I can always cook for you, if you want.”

Mingyu, being the ever all around and caring person that he is, decided to make you lunch. He cooked you your favorites because you mentioned at your dinner date (yes, you finally call your times spent together dates) that you missed eating them and cooking has been excluded from your schedule because of your lack of energy to do so.

Your smile is beaming while you fix the collar of his coat. He hasn’t even showered yet by the looks of his disheveled hair and familiar yellow t-shirt you saw during your video call last night. He probably woke up earlier than usual to cook and rush to get here.

“You know that I will appreciate that, right?” You ask and pat his chest. “But no thank you. I’m just busy this week. I will find a way to cook again.”

Mingyu purses his lips and nods. “Well, just say the word and I got you.”

You giggle and kiss his cheek. “How’s the song you’re working on with Wonwoo by the way?”

It was Mingyu’s turn to smile as he tail behind you to your bedroom. He mentioned this collaboration once (he talked about it for hours but that doesn’t matter) and his heart swells with pride that you remembered. You know that he has a lot of interests and that he’s good at doing them. Recently, he’s been immersed with music composing because he had the chance to visit Jihoon’s studio and watch him do his magic. Bringing Wonwoo along was a piece of cake because of their similar tastes.

“It’s doing great!” He answers and plops down on your bed. “We’ll try to finish recording this week and then we’ll continue from there.”

“I’m so excited to hear it,” you genuinely say while caressing his face. His eyes were closed when he nodded and smiled. He’s really sleepy now. “You can stay here if you want. Nap, shower or whatever.”

Mingyu has stayed the night countless of times. He has his own drawer of clothings, slippers, toothbrush, facial wash, soap and shampoo among many other belongings here already and if he had his own key, he can also just saunter his way in. But out of respect for you, he doesn’t. He can’t wait for that to happen though.

Mingyu doesn’t need to be told twice, immediately removing his warm coat and dropping it to the floor. You roll your eyes and pick it up, folding it neatly before placing it on the chair. You watch him slip underneath the blanket and hold the pillow you use close to him, slowly falling asleep.

You breathe out a dreamy sigh and lean down to kiss his forehead. “See you later, baby.”

5. Slowly, but surely falling in love

How do you even start finding the right words to describe how Mingyu has made a huge difference in your life? He tells you how you did all the time. You, however, can’t seem to exactly point them out. Your boyfriend (for the nth time, finally) is not bothered by one bit but you feel bad because you want him to know, you want to assure him.

He just shakes his head at you and pulls you closer to his naked torso, coaxing you to sleep and not let it get in your head. You relent after a while, giving his pecs a soft kiss and closing your eyes.

The following morning, Mingyu wakes up early because he has to meet with the director and production crew that will bring their music video to life. They took a break after the song was finished to breathe and let ideas flow naturally without any force. The song was beyond amazing and you are proud of what he and his best friend accomplished. He’s on a roll these days and you're happy for him.

Mingyu remains on the bed, picking up his phone from the nightstand to check the time. His other arm remains wrapped around you, running soothing circles on your shoulder as you continue to sleep. He lowers the brightness level before scrolling any further, afraid that it will awfully wake you up. He has the option to get up, but he prefers you to not get cranky because he left.

Eventually, Mingyu has to force himself up but not without leaving kisses all over your face. You were already awake the moment he woke up. You were just stalling for time with your eyes closed so that you can keep him close to you. When he detaches himself, you finally open your eyes and follow his body walking towards the bathroom.

The bedroom is dark from the closed curtains, but the light he turns on is enough for you to get a good grasp of how sexy and handsome your boyfriend is. You ogle at him and you’re proud of it. He has caught you numerous times already, but he admits that he’s the same with you. It doesn’t matter if you’re wearing a hoodie matched with sweatpants or a lace camisole paired with an underwear of the same material. His eyes will follow you.

After stretching your limbs that fell asleep with you, you sit up and stand from the bed as well. You put your slippers on and grab the cardigan he always leaves on the chair and drape it over your upper body. Mingyu hears your movements as he brushes his teeth and smiles at your sluggish steps towards him.

“Breakfast?” You ask while wrapping your arms around his waist, your cheek resting against his back.

“I’ll grab some with Wonwoo hyung,” he answers, rinsing the toothbrush. “Do you want me to cook for you?”

You shake your head no and plant a kiss on his warm skin. Even at this point of your relationship, Mingyu has been consistent. Always caring, always loving.

“It’s okay. I’ll probably fall asleep again in the living room once you leave.”

Mingyu turns around and wraps his arms around your waist. You lean towards him and let his body engulf yours. He kisses, once or twice, the top of your head before reluctantly letting go to shower.

“Let’s have dinner together tonight,” he says. “I’ll cook.”

“No, I will cook,” you rebut and he just shakes his head. “I love you, Mingyu.”

Mingyu almost slipped on the cold tiled floor. You laugh and he glares at you.

“I told you not to surprise me like that!” He complains and shuts the curtains closed.

You roll your eyes and walk outside to the living room.

“And I love you too!”

#kim mingyu #seventeen #mingyu #mingyu scenarios #seventeen scenarios #seventeen imagines #mingyu imagines #seventeen fluff #mingyu fluff #seventeen fanfic #mingyu fanfic #seventeen oneshot #mingyu oneshot #mingyu scenario #seventeen scenario #mingyu imagine #seventeen imagine #fic: with mingyu

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broadstbroskis · 3 years

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take my hand, wreck my plans | william nylander

a/n: if you’ve been around this blog for a while, you’ve probably seen me talking about “willy fake dating fic” for quite a bit now...well here she is! settle in for a long read (the longest i’ve posted in one go before) and i hope you enjoy reading it as much as i enjoyed writing it! so so so much love to literally every single person who cheered me on while writing this, but extra special thanks to @denis-scorianov and @danglesnipecelly for all your love and support

also shoutout to my girl tswift for the title, evermore still slaps

word count: 21.5k

It’s right in the middle of the busiest hours of the day when Steph’s text comes in, which means Aubrey barely even reads the message. She sees the words dinner and Friday and responds that she’ll be there, and then goes back to trying to fix the clusterfuck of code that one of her coworkers messed up earlier in the morning before her project has to get sent off to a client at the end of the week.

By the time Friday comes around, she’s only just managed to fix the code but the project is finished enough to send off as a first draft, so Aubrey races over to Steph and Mitch’s place after work, knowing she looks frazzled as hell from the look on her best friend’s face the minute she enters their kitchen. “Sweetie.” Steph says, then bites her lip.

The feeling is mutual to Aubrey, because she’s giving Steph the same once over that Steph’s giving her. She’d arrived from the office, which took casual Friday to the extreme, in her favorite leggings, denim jacket, and converse- still enjoying the last bit of summer before Toronto turned to fall. Meanwhile Steph was dressed up for the evening in jeans and a flowy top. Her hair was done, her makeup looked beautiful; nothing about her screamed casual dinner at home. Certainly not like the messy ponytail Aubrey was rocking, after running over from work.

“Wine?” Mitch offers, breaking the silence, and Aubrey nods immediately, forgetting entirely about...whatever is going on here in favor of the alcohol she’s been needing since she arrived at the office today.

Mitch pours a glass and offers it out, but honestly, fuck that; Aubrey reaches for the bottle instead and takes a sip. “Nope, listen, these motherfuckers-” And then, she cuts herself off abruptly as she catches sight of the single most beautiful man she has ever had the pleasure of even having in her field of vision, leaning against the counter.

“No, go ahead.” Blondie grins, and fuck that, of course, he’s got the most beautiful smile too. “These motherfuckers, what?”

“Fucked up a huge project at work this week.” Aubrey finishes, pretty lamely, compared to how heated she’d started that sentence.

“Gonna start throwing that at Matts.” Blondie grins again. “Anytime he fucks up a pass to me. This motherfucker.”

“Heh.” She laughs, lifting the wine bottle in a cheers-esque manner, and then, not knowing what else to do, she takes another large sip.

Blondie is still grinning when Aubrey brings her bottle back down and Mitch is doing a very poor job of hiding a laugh, but it’s not hard to see that Steph’s making murder eyes that Aubrey pointedly ignores, so Steph turns her attention away with a sigh. “What’s up, Will?”

“Oh, uh, Matts and Alison nominated me to see if there was anything we could do to help.” Will says smoothly.

“We?” Mitch raises an eyebrow, at the distinct lack of we that arrived with Will.

“Well.” Will shrugs, like that should explain everything, and maybe it does, because Mitch only snorts.

“We’re okay.” Steph jumps in. “We’ll all be out soon.”

Will nods, and leaves Aubrey with one last grin, before he turns and heads out towards their back patio, which must be where dinner is taking place, but as soon as the door shuts behind him, Aubrey turns to round on Steph and Mitch. “What the fuck?”

“Me, what the fuck?” Steph, her best friend since grade school, knows exactly what she’s talking about. “You, what the fuck?”

“This was a setup?”

“You didn’t know?” Mitch cries, turning immediately to his girlfriend and looking incredibly offended.

“Yes she did!” Steph defends. “I literally texted you: Mitch has a single friend we think you’d get along with if you’re interested. Are you free friday for dinner? We were thinking of having you all over. And you said: sounds good I’ll be there.”

“Well, in my defense, work was a dumpster fire this week and I really only skim-read that text.”

“Well now I know why you showed up like that.”

“Rude, Stephanie.” Aubrey sticks her tongue out at her best friend, grinning immediately afterwards, because Steph’s her best friend and she’s the only one she would let talk to her this way. “Just for that I’m not using a glass the entire night.”

“Not like your first impression could get any worse.” Steph deadpans.

“Meh.” Mitch shrugs. “It’s Willy. He’s done way worse.”

Steph sighs, pinches the bridge of her nose, and then looks over. “Could you use your one free hand then to take a second bottle of wine out then please? For the rest of us who’d like some, to share?”

Aubrey grins. “Gladly.”

That this was meant to be a setup couldn’t be more clear to her as the three of them make their way out to the porch with more drinks and some snacks. Mitch and Steph have dragged some of their comfier patio furniture around the firepit; there’s a couple curled into each other on one of the couches, an empty one with Mitch’s favorite type of beer on the table next to it, and one seat open on the couch that’s occupied by Will.

Aubrey shoots Steph a look as Steph practically leaps back onto the empty couch, and then she slips herself into the empty seat next to Will. That level of distinct lack of chill is really her thing, thanks Steph.

Steph merely grins back, formally introducing her to everyone around them. And okay, their friends are cool- like Aubrey knows they are; she’s met more than a few of Mitch’s hockey friends before. She’s many-a-time fifth-wheeled dinner with Mitch and Steph and Matt and Syd. She, Mitch, and Steph still had a group chat going with a bunch of Mitch’s old teammates from the Knights. Hell, Strome and McDavid had joined Mitch in playing with her and Steph on their families’ summer softball team last summer.

But she just can’t seem to understand what they see in Will that they think he’d be good for her. Like sure he’s nice enough, and obviously good looking, and like, yeah she has a good time while she’s there, but like, sparks? Nothing.

Regardless of the lack of sparks between them, it is a fun night, and she curls up in one of the guest rooms in Steph and Mitch’s that night, fully planning on laughing at them the next morning.

Except, the next morning, Mitch is already gone for practice and Steph’s first question is, “So when are you going to see Will again?”

Aubrey frowns. “Uhh I don’t know. Probably whenever you have us both over for dinner again?”

Steph frowns back. “What?”

“What what?”

“You didn’t, like, give him your number? Make plans? Anything?”

“Why would we?”

“Because he’s perfect for you?”

Aubrey gives her a look. Was Steph even at the same dinner that she was? They, like, barely interacted; Will chatting more with Auston and what’s-her-name or Mitch and Auston, and her with Steph pretty much the entire night. “Perfect for me? Seriously? That’s the guy you think is perfect for me?”

She huffs. If Aubrey didn’t know her best friend better she’d think she was offended, but, well, she does. “Yes!”

“No!”

“I mean, at least give it a shot!” Steph needles.

Aubrey pulls a face. “Why? So we can break up and make things super awkward at anything you and Mitch throw for the rest of your lives? No thanks.”

“I’m telling you.” Steph says. “Perfect match.” But she drops it after that, suggesting brunch, an offer that Aubrey immediately agrees to.

-----

It’s a quick stop for Aubrey to pop home to change and pick up her roommate, Erin, before the three girls head over to what’s long been a favorite brunch spot, laughing as Aubrey and Erin watch Steph fire off a series of snapchats to Mitch featuring her bottomless mimosas- her favorite way of asking to be picked up on his way home from practice.

Erin laughs so hard she almost snorts mimosa out her nose as Aubrey and Steph recap dinner from the previous night, but once she recovers, she hits Steph with a look. “I am begging you to invite me to this next time, solely so I can watch the two of them interact.”

Aubrey gasps as Steph laughs. “Rude!”

Erin giggles, beginning to recount the date she’d gone on last night-her fourth with this guy from the gym she belongs to-and Aubrey finds herself nodding along with Steph in all the right places, as friends should, happy that Erin’s happy, especially after her shitty last boyfriend, and eager to meet this guy for more than the five minutes he’d shown up at their door.

Her story is interrupted-for Aubrey, at least-by the vibration of her phone, and she checks the text from an unfamiliar number, rolling her eyes when she sees the message.

hey this is will, followed by an amount of emojis that could only actually be from Mitch.

hi mitch. She sends back.

lol. Comes the response. sorry.

you don’t have to apologize for mitch. i’m familiar

Will reacts to that with a haha and then it’s a while before she checks her phone again, enjoying brunch with her girls and laughing at the look on Mitch’s face as he comes to pick Steph up and realizes he’ll be driving her and Erin back as well.

he’s really found his place between annoying and relentless. Will’s texted, when she checks again a little later, at home on the couch and pleasantly tipsy, deciding what to Netflix with Erin.

that’s his sweet spot. Aubrey sends, and then points halfheartedly at The Office on the screen, well on her way to a post-brunch nap.

-----

Aubrey knows Mitch and Steph well enough to know that’s not the end of it, and sure enough, the subtle (and not so subtle) hints keep coming. But luckily, training camp is about to begin, and so even if they do keep coming, Mitch, and by extension, Will, are both too busy for Mitch and Steph to push anything too crazy on her and Will.

Until suddenly the season begins, and even though things are still crazy for them, suddenly they’ve got days off or afternoons free and she finds that the subtleness of the hints becomes gradually less subtle.

jesus fuck. Will sends one afternoon and she laughs at it immediately, even as he continues typing. tell steph i’m sorry but mitch had to go.

She laughs loudly, which earns her a look from her nearest coworkers. right there with you.

considering just lying and telling him i already took you out last week to just get him off my back jfc.

tried that already. knew i was lying right away. Aubrey sends back. She appreciates him trying, but come on. That was like, the first thing she tried.

well, Will sends, and then those annoying three dots appear and disappear about four times, before he finally finishes. let’s just go somewhere then and get them off our backs.

time and fucking place. She replies.

-----

Aubrey meets Will at a bar that’s close to her work, a couple days after that text exchange, just in time for the end of happy hour. He’s got a drink in front of him already, that he quickly finishes when the waiter comes to take her order, so he can order another one while she orders one of her favorite cocktails, before it becomes full price again at the start of the next hour.

“You know, I thought Mitchy would have been more…” Will trails off, looking thoughtful, but then continues after a moment. “Smug, when I told him we were going out tonight. What’d Steph say?”

“Oh don’t get me wrong. They’ll be smug to each other.” Aubrey tells him, confident that the two of them are at home right now boasting about the fact that they were right. “But if they think we’re actually on the same page now and they say anything that I hear, that would be the end. Downward tailspin, cut my hair six inches, new tattoo, you name it.”

Will laughs. “So it’s like that?”

She nods. “A little lacking in some impulse control.” She holds her thumb and index finger up to him, with about 10cm of space between them, to show him just how poor it is, and Will laughs again.

“Guess I’ll just have to wait for a nice, big I told you so tomorrow.” He says.

Aubrey snickers. “One a day for the next few weeks more like.”

Will shrugs. “Meh, I’ll figure something out to give him a taste of his own medicine.”

“We should.” Aubrey nods absentmindedly, as a comment she’d made to Steph right after the initial dinner comes back to her.

“Should what?” Will frowns.

“Give them a taste of their own medicine.”

“Where are you going with this?” Will asks curiously.

Aubrey grins, as the idea starts to form. “A tragic break up to make things so awkward for the two of them that they’ll regret setting us up in the first place.”

Will pauses for a long moment, but then he grins and leans toward her. “I’m listening.”

-----

Steph is bouncing when Aubrey walks into their weekly Thursday barre class. She’s sure she knows why, but Aubrey gives her a strange look anyway when she slides in next to her. “What?”

“What?” Steph repeats. “Seriously?”

Aubrey laughs. “Use your words, Stephanie.”

“Bitch, you know what I want.” Steph says, which makes the woman in front of them turn and give them a scandalized look.

Aubrey giggles. She’d really just wanted to annoy Steph a little but that was totally worth it all. “Yeah I know. It was good. Like whatever.”

“I hate you so much.”

“I’m going to see him again!”Aubrey protests. “What more do you want from me? I’m not going to like, profess my undying love for him after one date. I’m not Mitch.”

“It was like, our fifth date, and he didn’t profess his undying love for me! He just said he loved me!” Steph huffs as Aubrey snickers. She laughs about it now, they all do, a thing she teases both of her friends about, but she vividly remembers the panic Steph had been in coming home from that date.

“Well.” She says, grinning. “I guess I’ve got four dates to go then. Or maybe Will does.”

“Will’s too chill to do anything like that.” Steph decides, just as their usual instructor enters. “Ridiculous shit is definitely more your move.”

Aub thinks back to her date with Will the other night, where they’d carefully crafted an entire narrative to start this fake relationship, and fights back a grin, because she’s pretty sure Will can be just as ridiculous. He just does a better job at hiding it.

-----

Just after noon one day, a few weeks into her arrangement with Will, Aubrey’s phone buzzes and she more than welcomes the interruption from the current project she’s working on.

need a favor. Will’s sent, followed immediately by, please.

sure, what’s up?

His name pops up on her screen next and Aubrey frowns, swiping to accept the call. “Hey.”

“I’m downstairs.” Will says and she frowns, both at the skipped greeting, and at his words.

“Of my office?” She blurts.

“Yeah.” Will says, like it’s the most casual thing in the world, and Aubrey pushes her chair back abruptly.

“Uh ok. I’ll be right down.” She’s already pushing the button for the elevator, waving off the coworker calling after her, asking if everything’s okay.

Will’s waiting outside, with two cups of coffee in hand, and even though he’d said that he was, Aubrey’s still kind of surprised to see him. He passes her one of the cups in his hand and she takes it, thanking him as she does. “So what’s up?”

“I need a favor.” Will says, starting to walk, and Aubrey follows easily, sipping on the latte he’d brought her.

She laughs. “You said. What do you need?”

“The team’s got this thing on Friday.” Aubrey gives him a look, because she knows what the thing the team has on Friday is, Steph’s been talking about it for a few weeks now, and it is not as casual as Will is throwing it out to her right now. “And I think I need you to come with me.”

“Do you though?” Aubrey says. “Do you really?”

“I tried for you not to.” Will admits, shooting her a grin, which she appreciates. “But, well, it’s a thing I would have brought any other girlfriend to and then Mitchy opened his mouth too…” He trails off.

“So find a dress.” Aubrey sums up.

Will nods. “Please. I’ll pay for it.” He adds, but she brushes it off.

“If we’re still stuck in this for Blue and White, you can buy me a dress then.” She grins, and Will returns the grin.

“Deal.”

-----

Fixing her curls one last time in the mirror by the door, Aubrey grabs her clutch and runs downstairs to meet her Uber. She’s late, not like super late, but more so than she’d hoped to be, even after texting Will that she was running behind with work and that she’d have to meet him at the venue probably, if he didn’t want to be late.

She shoots off a text to him when she gets in the car, letting him know she’s on her way, and makes polite chatter for a few minutes with her driver, leg bouncing anxiously until he pulls up to where she needs to be.

Will’s standing outside the door when she pulls up, like he’s waiting for her as if this was an actual date, looking at something on his phone in the meantime, which gives Aubrey a minute to take a peek at his suit. He looks good; she might not have any desire to actually date Will, but she can absolutely admit to both herself and anyone (including Steph) that he’s probably the most objectively attractive human she’s ever met, and the suit only ramps that up. It’s custom made, perfectly fitted, a navy blue that brings out his eyes, and maybe a little more casual than some others she’s seen but in a good way.

His choice in suits makes her feel better about what she’s wearing. Aubrey’d been trying to work off what Steph was wearing, while making sure that what she'd picked out wasn’t overly fancy for the evening or too similar to what Steph had already chosen, ending up in a knee length dress with a sheer high neckline.

“Hey!” She smiles, catching his attention, mildly disappointed that he doesn’t even flinch in surprise, only looks up as smooth as can be and returns her smile.

“Hey.” He slips his phone in his pocket, reaching out for her hand.

“Fuck, I’m sorry.” Aubrey says immediately, that terrible feeling of letting anyone down instantly relieved when Will waves her off.

“You haven’t even missed the entire cocktail hour.” He says and she feels her eyes widen as he nods solemnly. “Yeah, it’s like that.”

“Our first stop better be to get me a glass of wine.”

Will laughs, pressing the button for the elevator. “Wouldn’t dream of it being anywhere else.”

Will refreshes his own drink as well, and selects a red wine for her after Aub hems and haws over the options for a minute, a choice that she almost can’t bring herself to take a sip of once the glass is in her hand, for fear that she’ll never be able to drink another Malbec again, guessing this one is well out of her price range based on name and bottle appearance alone. (She takes a sip anyway, it’s as delicious as she’d expected).

Will’s smiling, as if waiting for her reaction, like there’s not a wine she doesn’t like (well, chardonnay, but like, even that she’ll drink if it’s all that available). “Should we do this?” Aubrey asks him, ready to watch him be roasted by teammates for the evening, and he nods, hand moving to the small of her back, leading her deep into the crowd.

But for all the shit he claims to have taken recently about her, they must be on their best behavior, out in public. Everyone he introduces her to is nothing but friendly; the few people she’s met before this event greet her with smiles and open arms, welcoming her into the fold.

“Are you sure these are the same teammates you warned me about?” She asks Will, when they have a minute to themselves, just finishing up a long and very nice conversation with Justin Holl, Jake Muzzin and their wives, and thinking of the series of texts he’d sent her this morning about “all these assholes.”

“They’re being nice, just for you.” He insists. His arm is still at her waist; it’s barely left there all night.

“Ugh, so I grew up with seven siblings and I’m not even going to be able to use the skills I got from that to throw down?” She jokes. “What was the point?”

Will actually stops walking for a second, drawing her into him quickly when she stumbles, not expecting the abrupt stop in walking. “You have seven siblings?”

Aubrey nods, wondering if she should bother getting into her family dynamics right now, and settles for a short version. “On my mom’s side, yeah. My parents divorced when I was a baby, and they both remarried. My brother and I have more siblings from both of them; it’s just like a whole thing with my dad.” She winces.

Will’s grinning again, though, like he didn’t even catch it, and he points to himself. “One of six.”

“Oh my god!” She blurts out excitedly, before she can help herself. There’s not many people she knows with sibling counts even close to hers, step and half siblings including, let alone a family like Will’s. “See, you get it!”

“Get what?” She hadn’t even realized that Mitch and Steph had approached them, until Mitch pokes in nosily.

“That younger siblings are actual monsters.”

“You talk to your sisters everyday!” Mitch frowns, because he doesn’t get it; he never has.

“Yeah, your point?” Aubrey gives him a look as the others laugh around them. “That’s literally what having younger siblings is, and you just don’t know it because you are one.”

“Shots fired.” Steph nudges him.

“You’re the younger sibling too!” he nudges her back.

“Mmm, traditionally, Aub and I count all our siblings together, soo.” She trails off, laughing at the look on Mitch’s face.

Aubrey’s nodding; their families had grown up so close that it wasn’t uncommon to see Steph and her sister hanging around with Aubrey and her brothers, from the time they were children, all the way until today. “That’s why when Cam starts driving me crazy when she’s here next weekend, I’m just dropping her at your place. Basically the same thing.”

“Ohh, so she’s definitely coming?” Steph asks, eyes wide.

Aubrey nods. “Confirmed it with my mom today, I’m going to meet her halfway.” She pauses for the briefest of seconds. “Want to come?”

“Yes! Coffee on the way?”

“Obviously!”

“Yeah, Will and I are definitely going to sit this one out.” Mitch nods firmly.

“You weren’t actually invited, but okay.” Steph pats his shoulder mock-comfortingly. “But we should all do dinner when we get back!”

It takes everything in Aubrey not to show the internal panic on her face. She’s insanely close with her sisters, despite the age gap- she’s close with all her siblings, the brothers that she’d grown up probably terrorizing their parents together and the younger ones that terrorize them all now. It was probably unrealistic to think she could make it through “dating” Will without him meeting any of them, especially knowing how close Steph is with them too. “Yeah, that would be fun.”

She feels Will squeeze her side gently, almost comfortingly, but before they can get much further with this conversation, someone’s coming around and asking them to find their seats for dinner, so they split off to their tables, with promises to make plans for the following Friday over the next few days.

-----

Will’s quiet on the drive home after dinner, in his very expensive car, which is fine because Aubrey spends that time marveling over it. Like, she knew he was boujie, but, wow.

“Is your sister staying all next weekend?” Will asks, abruptly interrupting Aubrey’s caress of the soft leather of the seat beneath her legs.

“Hm? Oh yeah.” She nods. “Cam’s been a super pain since Kayls started high school this year since she’s still back in junior high, but worse since Kayls just got invited to her first high school party and it’s next weekend.” She sees Will’s wince out of the corner of her eye and laughs. “Oh my god, you don’t even know the half of it! When I texted Cam to invite her up next weekend, she was like why would I want to come hang out with a bunch of old people like you anyway?”

Will’s laughing and Aubrey’s jaw drops until he shares, “When I was home last summer, my youngest sister made me drop her off at a friend’s house three doors away because I wasn’t cool enough to be seen with.”

She actually laughs at that- if Will, an actual professional hockey player, isn’t cool enough to be seen with, then who is?- but the attitude is so familiar. “They’re super close, Kayls and Cam, and like I kinda get why Cam’s being super annoying about a lot of shit. Like, I know she feels like she’s being left behind. But god, does she have to take it out on the rest of us?” She shakes her head, clearing both the thoughts and a piece of hair out of her face. “It’s just the age, my mom and I talk about it all the time. They’ll be nice again in a few years.”

Will glances over at her briefly with a look of panic on his face, before flicking his eyes back to the road. “That’s not really a comforting statement. As someone with three younger sisters,” He clarifies. “Not someone meeting yours this weekend.” Aubrey giggles. “But actually, I was wondering what your plans were with her on Saturday night? If you wanted tickets to the game for you guys?”

“Oh!” Aubrey blinks in surprise. “That would...that would actually be really nice. She’d like that.”

“Yeah?” She can hear the smile in Will’s voice.

“Well, she’d like the flex on all her friends on Monday.” Aub admits, knowing that her sister could probably care less about actually seeing a Leafs game. “And on the boys, they’d be super jealous.” At his glance, she clarifies. “Cam’s a triplet.”

He mutters something under his breath and she giggles again; she’s pretty sure that was Swedish and she can guess what it was. “But they’re not coming?”

“Not this weekend.” She confirms. She is definitely not hosting all three of Cam, Tyler, and Danny for the entire weekend. No way, no how. “But once they find out you’re offering tickets? I’m sure my phone will be ringing.”

“You know where to find me.” Will shrugs, pulling up in front of her building. “Thanks for coming tonight.”

Aubrey grins at him. “Fooled Steph and Mitch no problems.”

It feels like it takes a second for the comment to register with Will, but when it does, he returns the grin. “Yeah, no problems.”

-----

Steph waits until they are well on the road to meet her mom and both sisters (because in a surprise twist that everyone saw coming, a high schooler got grounded and a party was cancelled) sitting in stop and go traffic, before bringing up what Aubrey knows she’s been dying to ask. “So how’s Will?”

“Fine?” She responds, before she remembers that she’s supposed to know these things and hastens to finish. “It’s been a busy week with like, work and this shit, but like, he’s good.”

Steph makes a noise, like she’s unsatisfied with that answer and Aubrey gives her a look after she’s braked with the masses, waiting for it to pick up again. “But, like, how are the two of you?”

Ah. Ok. So that’s what this is about. “We’re good.” She assures Steph, absolutely certain her best friend is going to see right through her. “Just like, figuring shit out, you know? It’s still new.”

Steph’s nodding. “I mean, it wouldn’t be if you’d just gone out when Mitch and I first brought you to dinner…”

“Stephanie.” Aubrey says warningly, picking up speed, probably with too much hope that the traffic has cleared.

“Fine!” Steph laughs. “I know, I can’t say I told you so to you or you’re going to panic and break up with him and probably dye your hair and get bangs or something, but like. I’m super happy for you guys. You were so cute last week.”

“What?” Aub says blankly, because she really doesn’t have much else to say, but it doesn’t seem to matter, because Steph’s on a roll now.

“Like, Will couldn’t take his eyes off you the entire night.” She continues. “It was super cute; he kept, like reaching for you, you kept finding him.” She taps Aubrey’s leg excitedly. “Ok, I know I said I wouldn’t, but I’m too fucking excited and I knew you’d be perfect for each other, I knew it.”

“Oh, look! There’s a tattoo place right at the next light.” Aub says loudly, even though she has no intention of getting a tattoo right now- all four of her tattoos were impulsive decisions and the three threats she’s made since she’s gotten in the car feel like far too much thought, not to mention the time crunch they’re on to get back for dinner-but it does serve as the threat she intends. Steph clearly has no desire to try and talk her out of getting one today and switches the topic to something she just saw on the Insta of one of their friends, which lasts them until they pull into the parking lot that’s serving as the meeting point.

“Aub!” For all that Cameron pretends she’s too cool for everything, just like every 14 year old Aubrey can remember, she throws herself at Aubrey the second that Aub and Steph get out of the car.

Aub squeezes her back, wondering when she got so tall. “Hey Cammie.” Cam swats at her as she pulls back. She hates that nickname, the one that Aub and her three older brothers have called her basically her entire life, but they’ve never stopped, no matter how much their youngest sibling had begged. “Where’s Kayls?”

“Here!” Kaylee huffs from next to their mom, who’s chatting with Steph, has been since she hugged her the minute she got out of the car.

Aubrey’s eyes narrow, taking in the sibling who looks most like her. “Is that my sweater?”

“No.” Kaylee says too quickly to be true. “Are we ready? We have dinner plans, right?”

“Meeting Aubrey's new boyyyyfriend.” Cam sings, and Aubrey shoves her hand in her sister's face.

“Not if you’re going to act like that, we don’t.”

“Girls.” Their mom pauses, mid-reach for Aubrey, to give her youngest two daughters a full-on mom look. “Be nice.”

Aubrey laughs at the looks on their faces, before clutching at her mom. “Hi momma. Love you.”

“Love you too.” Her mom squeezes. “Thanks for this gift.” She whispers and winks because Aub knows that her mom loves all eight of them dearly, but these two in particular are driving her nuts right now. “See you Sunday, at Luke’s.”

“Bye, I’m sure I’ll call you ten times before tomorrow!” Aubrey waves at her mom as she gets in her car, sliding back into the driver’s seat of her own, where Steph, Kaylee, and Cam are chattering to each other as they buckle their seatbelts.

It’s just as she’s pulling back onto the road that Kayls gasps. “Aub, I think I forgot to pack toothpaste.”

“Ohh, me too!” Cam realizes.

Aubrey exchanges a look with Steph quickly. It’s not looking promising that she won’t be making a call to her mom, to talk her off the ledge.

-----

“What do you mean, you didn’t bring pants?” Aubrey rubs her temples as she stares at her sister.

Kaylee shrugs. “I forgot to pack them.”

“I forgot shirts.” Cam calls from the bathroom, where she’d just showered. “Can I borrow one?”

“Did you bring anything?” Aubrey asks wearily. “Toothbrush? Underwear?”

“Of course I brought underwear.” Kaylee huffs, sounding legit offended, like she didn’t forget to pack pants on a weekend trip away.

“Well excuse me for thinking you might not have, since you didn’t bring anything else!”

Her phone buzzes on the nightstand again; it’s got to be the third or fourth time, but she’s honestly been so caught up in her sisters that she hasn’t had time to check. “Just, like, grab whatever from the closet. We’re already late.”

Sure enough, it’s Will texting, letting her know he’s downstairs. be down in a few, She responds, not bothering to go into the whole pants story. “Girls! Three minutes!” She grins at their shrieks, packing a couple things into her purse and laughing to herself as she listens to them get ready. “Kayls! Cam!”

“We’re ready!” They rush out together, Kayls dressed in a pair of her favorite jeans and Cam in one of her favorite sweaters-how they always manage to find her favorites is ridiculous-but they don’t have time for her to make them change.

“Ugh.” Aubrey just says instead, ushering them out and locking it behind her. “Come on, Will’s been waiting.”

“Will’s here?”

“Yes?” She frowns at the two of them. “Where else would he be?” But Kaylee and Cam are already giggling to each other, enough for her to roll her eyes to herself as she leads them out to Will’s car, knowing it’s definitely too much to expect them to just be cool.

“Hey.” Will greets, as she slips into the passenger seat.

“Hi.” She returns, smiling at him.

“Uh, hi?” Cam says impatiently from the backseat. Will laughs, but Aub gives her a look.

“It’s been literally two seconds. Could you, like, chill?”

“Nope!”

Aub side-eyes her again, but turns back to Will. “These are my sisters, Cam and Kaylee.” They greet him eagerly, a sentiment he returns, and then spends the entire car ride to the restaurant where they’re meeting Steph and Mitch at answering every question they ask with absurd patience.

“Oh, I smell garlic.” Kaylee says, once Will has dropped his car off with valet.

“It smells delicious.” Aub corrects, because it’s definitely heavy on the garlic, but it smells heavenly.

Will smiles over at both of them, though Aub’s not sure if he means it more for Kaylee or her. “This is one of my favorite restaurants.”

“Really?” She blurts out, before she can stop herself, and he nods, reaching for her hand.

“Great food.” He confirms. “Come on; Mitch and Steph are already here.”

That certainly serves to get her sisters moving-all her younger siblings have stopped being impressed by Mitch but they still love seeing him just as much as they love seeing Steph- and they push their way into through the doors quickly enough that Aubrey rushes to catch up to them, not trusting them alone, and tugging Will along with her.

Cam and Kaylee have already found Mitch and Steph, already chatting away with the two of them, like they didn’t just see Steph two hours ago in the car, and Aubrey and Will slip into the last two seats at the table.

“You good?” Will nudges her as they sit.

Aubrey nods. “Yeah. Pretty good.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Pretty good.”

“Well, Frick and Frack may legitimately drive me crazy this weekend but.” She shrugs. “We’ll see.”

“What happened to dropping them off with Steph if they drove you too crazy?”

She laughs. “God, if only, Will. If only.”

“Will!” Kaylee interrupts, looking up briefly from her menu. “What’s good here?”

“Will! What’s this mean?” Cam adds and Aubrey takes a deep breath, even as Will looks like it’s his absolute pleasure to walk them through the names of some of the different dishes on the menu.

“Wine, please.” Aubrey requests from the waiter, the second he arrives at the table. “Literally, anything you’ve got.”

But Will waves that off, ordering a bottle of red for the table, in perfect French. “Show off.” She grumbles at him quietly and he grins at her from over the top of Cam’s menu, before he goes back to helping her out.

From her other side, Steph’s hiding her own smile, or rather, doing a very poor job at hiding one. “What?” Aubrey presses.

“Nothing.” Steph says. “Just happy to be having dinner all together.”

“Well that’s bullshit.” Aubrey calls her out, at the very blatant lie; Mitch snorts into his hand to cover his laugh. “But always happy to be having dinner with you too.”

Steph beams, clinking her wine glass with Aubrey’s the second the waiter fills them both. “Again, tomorrow, pregame?”

Aub looks over at her sisters, who have moved away from asking Will menu questions and are, instead, asking him questions about the bun in his hair. “Assuming you aren’t bailing me out of jail instead? Sure.”

-----

Aubrey Dupont: we’re going to do apps with steph pregame but want to say thanks again for tix tonight! want to do dinner again with us after if you’re free?

Will Nylander: i’m free dinner sounds good 😁 it’ll be late though once I get out

Aubrey Dupont: that’s fine! Id say breakfast but we’ve got to leave pretty early tomorrow to get to my brothers to knock a wall down!

Will Nylander: ….holy shit cam was serious

Aubrey Dupont: 😂😂lollll yeah they’re opening up the dining room and living room! We’re all going out to take the wall down, we’re supposed to meet Steph and Mitch and then head out

Will Nylander: lol does mitch know? he booked us a tee time Sunday

Aubrey Dupont: stfu he did not😂 lol he probably just doesn’t want to get iced that early

Will Nylander: haha what??

Aubrey Dupont: hahaha the first time steph brought him home to meet our families, it was my parents Christmas Eve party, my brothers iced him like three times in the first hour. He was so trashed he couldn’t even walk back next door to Steph’s house.

It’s just like a thing we do, all our siblings and he was not prepared for it at all 😂

Will Nylander: sooo if I left one in his locker this week, how much trouble would you be in?

Aubrey Dupont: lol a lot but it’d be worth it, you should 100% do that

Mitch Marner: we’re knocking down a wall tomorrow wtf why didn’t you tell me? I’ll brave a Smirnoff to knock down a fucking wall. What time are you and Will picking us up?

Will Nylander: i fucked up, sorry

-----

“That’s really cute!” Zach Hyman’s wife smiles as she hands Kaylee her phone back.

“Thank you.” Aubrey mouths to her, as Cam and Kayls flock to the phone to check out the pictures she’s taken of them, and Alannah smiles at her knowingly. Aub’s sure she’s got sisters of her own.

“I’ll see you soon.” Alannah promises. “We should do dinner soon, the three of us, next time the boys are out of town.” And then she’s pushing her way toward Zach before Aub can respond to anything.

“Not a word.” Aubrey says warningly to her sisters, as Steph snickers, thinking of how picky the two of them are about pictures almost always.

“These are actually really cute though.” Cam says, like she even means it.

“Yeah, she did good.” Kayls adds, sliding her phone back into her purse.

“So happy they meet your standards.” Steph says dryly.

“They are the ones to meet.” Kayls flips her hair and it’s all Aubrey can do to fight back a laugh. She honest to god forgets how funny they are sometimes, when they’re driving her as crazy as they are now.

“You’re too much.” Aubrey tells her and Kaylee grins, looping her arms around Aub’s shoulders and squeezing tightly. “Okay, now you’re really too much. You’re suffocating me; get off! Look,” She nudges Kaylee away, noticing quickly that Mitch has appeared recently- without Will, but with Auston-and tries to draw her attention there instead. “Mitch is here, bother him instead.”

Kaylee peers over. “Honestly, who even cares about Mitch? I’d rather bother Will instead.”

Mitch’s jaw drops as Steph and Auston laugh, but Aubrey feels the tension immediately in her shoulders. “Jesus Christ, could you just say thank you to Will so he doesn’t think you’re a literal monster like the rest of the world does?”

“Thanks, Will!” Kaylee and Cam chorus, and she glares at them right up until she feels a presence at her side and realizes he’s actually right there.

“It was great to have you guys here this weekend.” Will smiles at them, sounding absolutely sincere, not a hint of sarcasm.

“We had so much fun.” Kayls is already gushing before Aub can even turn her death glare to her.

“What’d you guys do today?” Will asks her and again, it’s the sincerity that gets Aub, like he actually cares to listen to her sisters tell him about the brunch place that she and Steph took them to this morning, the stores they hit afterwards, a few of their favorite spots, before they had to go home and get ready for the game.

He’s sweet and attentive, asking all the questions that he should and nodding in all the right places. “You guys still want dinner?” He asks, probably as soon as he can find a time to interrupt. He’s got to be absolutely starving after that game.

“Yes.” Aubrey answers for them all; she doesn’t really care what her sisters actually have to say on the matter. If Will’s hungry, they’ll eat right now whether they want to or not.

“Can we go back to that bakery we went to earlier, first?” Cam asks, and Aubrey straight up glares at her, but before she can even say no, Cam’s already whining to her. “Oh my, god, seriously? Stop, Aubrey!”

“Ryan, like, swears you’re fun; I just don’t see it.” Kaylee adds, about their brother, the one just younger than Aub.

And like, Aubrey knows they’re just trying to get under her skin, but like, Jesus Christ. “That’s because Ryan’s an actual adult and whenever you two come up here I have to be your literal mom, because you forget to bring toothbrushes and pants and use manners!”

“Take like four deep breaths.” Will says, in that chill way he is about basically everything, and immediately Aubrey feels her glare swing over toward him. That’s basically being told to calm down and there’s literally nothing fucking worse than that, doesn’t he know that?

Probably not. He’s probably never been told to calm down in his life. Jesus, what was it again that made Steph think he was perfect for her?

Mitch, probably recognizing that Aubrey’s about to lose it, pulls Cam into his side for a one-armed hug, mentioning that he’s starving, which at least cues Kaylee into the fact that Will might be too. “Yeah, dinner does actually sound good.” Her eyes flicker over to Will first, before landing on Aubrey, and only when Aub sees the flicker of remorse in them does she actually take that breath that Will had mentioned.

“What time are we meeting in the morning?’ Steph asks, and Aub knows she’s looking to smooth over any potential blow up.

“9:22.” She deadpans, laughing at Mitch’s face.

“It’s supposed to be a nice day!” He protests. “I wouldn’t have made a tee time if you two had told me we were knocking down a wall! I had to hear it from Willy! What’s this shit?”

“Kicked out of the group chat again.” Aub shrugs, even though she knows well and truly that he hasn’t been- and won’t be again until sometime early spring, when someone does it symbolically for a day as they do every year.

“I’ll kick you out of the group chat.” Mitch says childishly, as Steph tries to collect him, Auston already ready to leave, and promising Aub that they’ll make plans later that night about the next morning.

“Will, where do you want to take us tonight for food?” Kayls asks, as they part ways in the lot.

Will looks a little startled. “Oh! Uh, what-where do you guys want to go?”

“We want to go where you like to eat.” Cam says. “We’ll eat anything.”

Will looks at her for confirmation and Aubrey nods; none of them are picky eaters. “Sushi?” He suggests and both girls nod excitedly, racing off towards Will’s car. “See?” He nudges her as they walk to catch up. “They’re fine.”

She glares up at him; he bumps her again and then again, repeatedly until she smiles. “They’re not awful.” She agrees, especially now that they’ve reminded her just how nice they can really be, at times.

Will’s grinning, matching her own smile. “I know you love them.”

“Don’t call me out like that, William.” He mimes zipping his lips and she laughs. “Ugh, you dork. Let’s go eat.”

-----

Kayls and Cam are in peak hurricane form, only barely dressed and nowhere near packed and ready to go, when Will texts to announce that he’s arrived to pick them up in the morning, so Aub just responds with her apartment number and tells him to come up.

He arrives at her door a minute or two later, with a guest in tow. “Mitchy invited him.” Will explains sheepishly, as he and Auston make themselves at home at the breakfast bar in her kitchen.

“Sorry to just, like, crash.” Auston adds.

Aubrey blinks at them. She feels like Will, of all people, should know better. “There’s legit eight of us; we adopt strays all the time.” He cracks up at that; they both do actually, and she smiles, just as Kayls shouts something about Cam stealing her leggings, from where they’re still in her room gathering her stuff.

“They’re not even yours!” Cam shouts. “Aubrey, tell her I got them first.”

“Well I was planning on wearing them!”

“Well you didn’t say that!”

“It’s just like being at home.” Auston says, smiling fondly enough that Aub laughs. “Make sure you check the straightener before you leave or they’ll fight about who forgot to turn it off in the car.” And then she straight up cackles; that’s a fight she knows well.

Auston and Will are both laughing as well, even as she hears her sisters shout for her. She ignores it, running her hands over her temples and turns towards the cabinet. “Coffee?” She asks them, and they both laugh as a muffled shout can be heard.

“Please.” Will says and Auston agrees so she pours mugs for them both, making idle chit chat, interrupted occasionally as they wait for her sisters to finally appear and be ready to leave.

They do, eventually, far later than Aubrey would have liked, and late enough that she’s grinding her teeth about it, loud enough that Will nudges her gently when she passes him to get her coat. He’s right though, it’s not like they’re in a rush to get out to her brother's house, but she’s anxious enough by that point to get moving that she doesn’t even realize what Kayls has taken from her closet to wear until they’re all climbing into Will’s backseat. “Oh my god, what are you wearing?”

“They’re literally yours!” Kayls snaps back and that’s not a lie, but it’s not what Aub’s got issue with either. It’s the absurdly clashing patterns in her leggings and oversized long-sleeve.

“I never wear them together.”

“That’s because your fashion sense is basic a-f.” Kayls pronounces each letter individually and Aub knows, she knows that Will and Auston are laughing at the look of disbelief on her face, even if she can’t see them. “You should take some tips from Will; his is on point.”

“Thanks, Kayls!” Will beams at her through the rearview mirror.

Aubrey ignores him. “Will’s homeless, that’s why he dresses like that.” She deadpans, which he protests immediately even as Auston cracks up.

“You’re not homeless.” Cam says to her, and it’s the fake innocent thing that does it for Aub. “Will could live with you.”

Aub pulls a face even as Auston just laughs even harder and Cam stares at her like she’s waiting for an actual answer. “Walked right into that one.” She mutters to herself, as Will meets her eyes in the mirror. He’s fighting back a grin; she can see the laughter in his eyes. “Will, coffee at the next Tim’s, please?” She’s going to need one to get through this.

Will’s full on grinning now, but he pulls off at the next exit in search of coffee and hands over his credit card before she can even object. The rest of the ride to her brother’s house feels like it passes in a flash, Kayls and Cam tumbling out of the car to greet Luke practically before Will’s even put it in park.

The only thing that stops Aubrey from having a complete heart attack is the immediate sense of calm she feels from no longer calling herself in charge. Luke’s here; he can deal with this shit now.

She feels Will laughing at her as they exit the car. “I thought you’d be more nervous.” He says, as they walk toward her brother, side by side, with Auston.

She snickers. “For what?” And then leans herself into Luke for a hug. “Hi!”

“Jesus, what’d you give them before you brought them here?” Luke returns the hug.

“Literally anything that would shut them up.” She says, dead serious, and then introduces Will, and Auston, almost as an afterthought.

Luke is friendly and welcoming, like she knew he would be. They’ve never had the overprotective sibling relationship she hears about from people. They’re too close in age, only a year apart in school; or too close in general, sharing too much as they grew up shuffled to their dad and stepmom’s every other weekend for their court-mandated time. She’s never doubted that he has her back, but he lets her live her life, no matter how stupid the decisions she might make (though he’s certainly not shy about telling her when he thinks she making one).

“Fitz and Steph and Mitch here yet?” She wonders, as they walk inside, the chatter between her sisters and sister-in-law already evident.

“Running late.” Luke says. “But Ryan’s upstairs sleeping. He stayed last night.”

She grins at him, contemplating running up to wake him, but in the end decides against it, settling for following the sound of her sisters’ voices into the kitchen. Rachel’s standing at the counter, setting out snacks and listening patiently as Kayls and Cam detail their entire weekend to her.

“-Will got us tickets for Saturday’s game-”

“-we ate at this amazing sushi place-”

“Rach!” Aubrey interrupts, tugging her sister-in-law away from Kayls and Cam, who are talking over each other. “Come meet Will.”

Rachel sends her a grateful look and immediately turns her bright smile at Will and Auston, introducing herself to them both and offering them drinks. By the time that she, Luke, and Aub finish getting drinks for everyone, Ryan’s coming downstairs, rubbing a hand over his face sleepily, and the introductions begin all over again.

Then Aubrey and Steph’s parents come in with her two youngest brothers, which cues another round of that, and then finally, Steph, Mitch, and Fitz roll in, which has Aubrey cackling when Auston leans over and whispers. “You didn’t tell us your brother is Little Fred?”

“What the fuck are you on?” She frowns at him, but Will’s got the same look on his face.

Will nods over at Fitz, the stepbrother who’d been in the same grade as her growing up and one of her best friends for about as long as she could remember. Said brother is currently trying to mess up Cam’s hair with one hand, while fighting one of her triplets, Tye, for the last danish. “He’s come out with us a few times, I guess with Mitch? He looks like Fred.” She gives the two of them a look. Literally the only thing her brother and their goalie have in common is red hair. Will shrugs. “Little Fred.”

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” She declares. “The bar is so low.”

“Must be.” Ryan nudges her side. She hadn’t even heard him come up beside her. “Dating you and all.”

She flips him off and he grins; Ryan’s actually the sibling closest in age to her, with the way all their birthdays work out, but from Luke to Ryan, all four of them are close and when Steph and her sister were added in there as well…well, the group chat gets chaotic.

“Hey!” Her mom snaps her fingers at them. “I don’t want to see any of that today.” And Aub can feel it in her face, the look she’s giving back to her mom, like certain that she’s not serious, because, honestly, has she met any of them? She peeks over at Ryan; he’s fighting back a laugh and that’s all it takes for her mom to lose it, the seriousness on her face quickly turning into a laugh.

It’s enough to get them all moving though, toward the wall they’re going to be tackling today, where they’re divided into teams by her stepdad and Steph’s dad, the only two who competently know what they’re doing.

“Ohhh!” Cam says immediately drifting towards the power saw. “Can I use this?”

Will pulls it away from her hands before she has the chance to even touch it and Aubrey’s calling out to her stepdad. “Mike! Are we stuck with these people all day?”

“Yes.” Her stepdad calls back; he’s already showing Tye and Danny how to demo their end of the wall.

Aub looks at Will and immediately mouths, “I’m sorry,” but he’s already loudly laughing at her. She kinda hates that he’s laughing at her, but she hates even more how contagious his laughter is.

-----

It’s a little past dinner time and Aubrey’s exhausted, too tired even to take her empty pizza plate to the kitchen trash can from where she’s sitting on the family room floor.

Around her, the rest of her family is in a similar state. Ryan’s actually asleep on one end of the couch, and on the other end, Auston’s half-heartedly grumbling at Derek Carr and the Raiders, while Steph’s lying across Mitch’s lap on the other side of the room. It’s about as quiet as they’ve all ever been, even Mitch and her sisters, which is how she knows they’re all exhausted.

Next to her, Will’s been quietly munching on a plate of fries since he finished his pizza a while ago. Aubrey reaches over and steals one from him. “Hey!” He protests.

“You’ve had the whole plate!” She thought she ate a lot; she honestly doesn’t know where he puts it all. “I just wanted a couple!”

“A couple?” Will repeats and Aubrey nods with a grin, reaching out and swiping another one from the plate. “Keep this up and we’re going to have to stop for second dinner on the way home.”

“I could probably eat again by then.” She rationalizes, stealing another.

Will laughs, sliding the plate over a few inches toward her, and Aubrey grins triumphantly. It’s quiet for a minute, or mostly quiet, the only sound for the next minute Auston moaning about a fumble, and Kaylee and Cam asking a question about it and then giggling to each other about it before they even get a full answer to it.

It’s Auston’s perplexed face that reminds her and she nudges Will as she goes in for another fry. “Hey.” She bumps him again, grabbing his attention. “Thanks.”

Will hums, sounding almost confused, and glances over at her. Every time Aubrey thinks it’s impossible for him to be more good looking, he proves her wrong; and always doing the most innocent things. He’s just looking at her, with this tiny little smile, but the light’s catching his eyes and they look impossibly blue and gentle, so soft like the rest of him does right now, in a way he almost never publicly is. “For what?”

“For putting up with my sisters all weekend and their increasingly ridiculous comments.”

Will laughs and he’s so close that she can feel the vibration. He’s leaning back against the wall again, but his head’s tilted a little, just barely leaning against hers, and Aub leans into it a little as he starts to talk. “My two youngest sisters play this game, every time we go to the airport, yeah? After we’ve said goodbye and everything. It’s like this competition between them, for who gets the last touch. And they’ll like chase me down as far as they can until I get to security, back and forth between the two of them…”

Aubrey’s already giggling, picturing the scene. “Same shit, different day,” She summarizes the weekend.

He flicks his finger across her nose and she giggles again. “Bingo.”

-----

It’s only when they’re back in the car and on the highway back toward Toronto after stopping for sushi for a second dinner that Auston says, sounding entirely too casual to actually be casual, “So, like, what’s really going on here with you two?”

Aub feels her stomach drop and it takes everything in her not to look at Will, who of fucking course, plays it enitrely cool. “What do you mean?”

Auston leans forward, from the middle seat in the back, which he’d generously offered to take so that she could sit up with Will even though she’d insisted he’d want the leg room up front; she’s starting to wonder if there was more to it than that. He gestures between the two of them. “It’s just, like, not how you usually are with girls.”

Will’s head whips back to look at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?” He demands.

“Will!” Aubrey hisses. “Eyes on the road.”

Auston’s cackling as Will turns his attention back to driving, but continues to eye him up through the rearview mirror. Aubrey twists in her seat; she can still stare him down. “So anyway,” He continues. “There’s that. And then, I mean, I was in the car with him when you literally texted him your apartment number. That was pretty sketch.”

Aub swings her gaze over to Will. “It came over Bluetooth.” He defends.

She pats his thigh. “Stick with hockey, kay?”

He laughs, and when she looks back at Auston, he’s laughing too, but he’s also got this thoughtful look on his face. “So anyway, what’s going on?” He presses.

“Steph and Mitch.” She says finally, after exchanging another look with Will.

“Ah.”

“That’s it?” She frowns at him. “That’s all you have to say?”

“Well, I mean, I’m sure there’s more to it, but like, I have met them before.” Auston grins when she and Will both laugh. “So what’d they do now?”

“Do you have an hour?” Will drawls.

“I have beer upstairs.” Auston offers, since they’re basically pulling up to his apartment, and since Will looks over at her for confirmation, Aub barely even takes a second before agreeing.

“Any wine?”

-----

It’s actually kind of crazy how relieving it is for someone else to know about her and Will, outside of the two of them. Aubrey hadn’t even realized how much it was weighing on her until it’s not, until the three of them had spent three hours laughing about it, recapping the entire thing and then just laughing about nothing.

She notices right away that it's equally relieving to Will, that the two of them will drift over to Auston when the team does something together, or that she’ll get a snapchat from one of them from the road that features Will and Auston off doing something ridiculous.

Steph calls her out on it one day, when the two of them are at a game one night. “I did not introduce you to Will for the two of you to spend time with Auston.”

“You ditched me last night!” Aubrey protests, but really, Steph’s not wrong. That was one time, because Mitch’s brother wanted to introduce his new girlfriend to them, and she’s been out here avoiding invites like it’s her job.

Steph continues like she didn’t hear a thing. “I introduced you to Will so that we could have great couples’ friends and hang out all the time, so why aren’t we?”

“I thought you introduced me to Will because we’d be perfect together?” Aubrey bitches and Steph gives her a look, so Aubrey promises that she and Will will do dinner with her and Mitch again soon.

Dinner soon, to Steph, apparently means that weekend, and Aubrey finds herself in Will’s car again, with a bottle of wine and a plate of dessert, driving out to Etobicoke on Friday night. “I like that I’ve claimed this seat now.”

Will laughs. “What?”

“It’s always set where I want it to be!” She grins. “Perfect leg room!”

Her phone buzzes as Will laughs again, but it only takes a quick glance at the screen to click back out of it. “You okay?” Will asks.

“Huh?”

“You just got real quiet, real quick.” He says, turning onto Steph and Mitch’s street. “Everything alright?”

Aubrey huffs out an aggravated breath, trying to decide what, if anything, she wants to say. “My other dad is being...my other dad.”

“Oh?” Will parks in their driveway and she huffs out another annoyed sigh as her phone buzzes in her pocket, knowing it’s just her half-brother again with more shit about their dad.

“He’s like…” She gathers her stuff and tries to find the words as they walk inside. “I don’t even know. Everybody’s been freaking out since some lady tagged him in a bunch of pictures on Facebook last week but my siblings are at dinner with him right now and they asked him about it and he told them he’s not seeing anyone.”

“Wait, seriously?” It’s the first thing Steph says to her; Aub’s been bitching to her about the whole thing for a week now and she’s more than familiar with her issues with her dad.

“Yes!” She cries. “My sister asked if he was seeing anyone, he said no. I guess one of the boys asked if he’d taken any trips lately, because of the pictures, and he said no. So he’s just straight up lying and I don’t know why!”

“Maybe,” Will says. “He’s not actually lying.”

Aubrey pats his arms gently. “You’re new here, so I’ll let that terrible thought pass.”

Will looks taken aback but she can barely spare a thought for that as Mitch says, “Maybe he got secret-married again and is just waiting until you’re all there to tell you-OW!” Steph elbows him hard and he grins anyway. “What? I’m just saying!”

“I already went to therapy once this week, Mitchy.” Aub mock-glares at him. “I cried for three hours and only didn’t dye my hair blue because Steph came to pick me up for the game. I don’t need to go again. Keep that shit to yourself and get me some wine.”

Mitch laughs; he’s equally familiar with her post-therapy routine and her feelings for her dad. “Alright fine.” He says, but there must still be something on her face because Will’s hand comes to rest on her shoulder right after that and he rubs it gently for a minute before he comes to sit next to her.

Conversation turns lighter after that- to Mitch’s brother’s new girlfriend, who Steph liked and Mitch thought was only okay and then to Will’s sister’s new boyfriend, who he hates-before they’re all more focused on food and a game later in the evening.

It’s easy to ignore her phone buzzing when Aubrey and Mitch are dominating Steph and Will at Codenames (or calling cheaters, because Will and Steph most definitely are), but much harder to ignore in the car when she and Will are alone again, and Aub barely even notices when Will doesn’t make the turn for her place, instead just driving straight to his place.

“Oh.” She says quietly when he finally parks and they’re in the garage, instead of just pulling up out front of her building, like he has been recently.

“Didn’t want you to dye your hair blue tonight.” Will deadpans and Aubrey laughs, surprised that it’s kind of watery.

“Fair, it was definitely a risk.”

Will smiles at her gently. “I’ve been told my guest room is supremely comfortable.”

Aubrey raises her eyebrows; she can siphon out the source of that one. “I hear your brother has pretty shitty taste.” She says and he laughs, that loud one he’s got that she can’t help but smile at because it sounds so ridiculous, but Aubrey’s already getting out of the car, ready to follow him up before he can see.

Will’s condo is pretty much everything she expected- a lot of modern pieces, a lot of white, very Scandanavian- but there’s plenty of Will in it as well. A lot of family pictures. Some hockey stuff-both Leafs and Team Sweden-but not an overwhelming amount.

She’s still looking at some of the pictures (he looks so much like his mom) when he returns with a couple glasses of wine, and she accepts hers with a gracious smile. “Thank you.”

“We’ve been at this long enough for me to know that wine’s your thing.” He jokes and she laughs.

“I meant for bringing me here.” She shoves at his shoulder; annoyingly enough he doesn’t even move. “I definitely would have done something stupid.”

“What are friends for?” Will smiles and there’s that annoyed feeling again, maybe even more so than just a minute ago, tugging at her stomach, for really no reason. They are friends now, in pretty much every sense of the word. They hang out, they text, they do all kinds of things. It’ll actually probably be hard for her, to not be friends with him, or at least pretend to be, when they have to “break up” for a bit to annoy Steph and Mitch.

“Yeah.” Aubrey says and it just sounds off so she takes a sip of her wine right away so he can’t see whatever her face is doing. “If you were really my friend, you’d let me borrow some sweats to sleep in. You know. Since you kidnapped me to bring me here.”

“Ohh, I don’t know if we’re that close.” Will says, but he’s laughing as he walks toward his room so she knows he’s kidding.

It’s a pretty quiet night between the two of them once they make themselves comfortable, just chilling on the couch and watching Netflix, and Will’s not stingy with his pours so Aubrey pours herself into his guest room a little tipsy, and maybe that’s why she texts him from bed. You were right, your guest bed is pretty comfortable.

*Supremely* comfortable. Told you so 😜

-----

Aub’s still in Will’s absurdly comfortable guest bed when her daily FaceTime call with her sisters comes in and she answers it without thinking. “Hey.”

“Where are you?” Kaylee asks immediately. “That’s not your room-oh my god, are you at Will’s?” She blurts and Aubrey wants to smack herself.

“That’s Leafs stuff!” Cam exclaims, popping her head into the frame. “You never wear Leafs stuff! Oh my god, do you live there now?”

“Back up, calm the crazy.” She’s cutting off this spiral before they’ve got the story of her and Will eloping spread to her entire family.

Kayls pouts. “You never let us have any fun.”

“I do not want a call from Grandma this afternoon asking me why I got married to the blond hippie from the Leafs because you two can’t keep your mouths shut and she saw one bad picture.”

Cam’s jaw drops in outrage. “That’s so rude, we would at least send a good picture out! Like she’d know how hot he really is; there’d be no need to google and accidentally come across a picture of him in a Sugo hat.”

That’s it. She’s up for good now. Aubrey throws the blankets off herself and sits up off the edge of the bed, rubbing her temples in hopes it’ll make her tiny hangover headache go away. Limited success. “You googled him?”

“Of course we googled him!” Kayls says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “Aub, oh my god, he’s got-”

“I’m leaving this room right now.” Aubrey warns; she’s already at the door. “Stop talking about him like he’s not here.”

Cam immediately launches into a story about a couple of the girls on her field hockey team and something that had happened at practice after school yesterday, a story that she’s still detailing when Aubrey walks into the kitchen to find Will also looking into his phone with a fond look on his face as a loud jumble of voices shout back to him in what she can only assume is Swedish.

“Coffee’s back there.” He points, greeting her with a smile. “And mugs above it.”

“Thank you.” She’s pretty sure, from the expression on his face, that he knows how much of a lifeline that’s about to be for her.

“Hi Will!” Kayls calls and Aub glares at her, but Will calls back a greeting in return before returning to Swedish, but definitely in an argumentative tone.

It’s a couple more minutes of that-listening to Will speaking in Swedish and going through her usual morning nonsense with her sisters-before Will lets out the smallest groan and then looks at her. “My sisters want to say hi.”

“Oh.” Aubrey says, surprised more than anything.

And before she can really say anything, Cam adds. “Yes! Then we can talk with Will!” Which is how she finds herself sitting next to Will with his dog curled in her lap, both their phones in front of them, speaking with her sisters and two of Will’s sisters.

It’s pretty much maximal chaos, but when they both end their calls a few minutes later, Aubrey’s still smiling as she runs her hand through the dog’s fur and Will’s laughing to himself. “Mmm, good luck to you.” Aub nudges him, easy enough to do since she’s still sitting flush up next to him. “When they’re in town next month. They’ve probably all followed each other on Instagram by now already. Best friends in no time.”

“Gonna be busy with games.” Will says weakly. “Practices, media things. Think it’s gonna be your problem.”

“Like hell.” She laughs, shaking her head when he joins in and doesn’t stop. “Oh my god, that was not that funny!”

“Just thinking of all the ways they’re going to torture us when they’re all together after they’ve spent the last month talking shit about us in a group chat.” Will says, somehow still laughing about that, because he’s literally the most chill person on the planet. Like of course he’s not even bothered by that.

“I don’t have enough food in me to deal with that thought.” Aubrey declares, laughing decidedly less at the thought of actually meeting Will’s family. In person. Where they’ll have to actually see her and see what a farce this is. “Feed me.”

Will shrugs. “Let me change and we’ll grab brunch.”

Aub looks down at the very large sweats she’s borrowed to sleep in. “We’ll stop first, yeah?”

“Depends on how hangry you are.” Will calls back, already walking away.

She pulls a face at his back at that one. She’s actually pretty hungry, but like, she’s not dumb enough to go out to brunch with him in a walk of shame. Not when there’s already a group chat forming about her on Instagram. She doesn’t need Leafs Twitter coming for her too.

-----

It’s easy to settle in a routine from there; meeting Mitch and Steph for dinner a few times, joining Steph for games and then leaving with Will for a second dinner after, and easily splitting off to spend time with her own family and friends or catching up with them when Will is off on road trips.

It’s so easy to settle into a routine like that, a relationship routine, that she lets herself get lulled into a false sense of security, the message from her dad catching her off guard completely one day.

“What’s wrong?” Will asks, when they’re at dinner after a game. It’s their thing now; pick a restaurant and grab some food right afterwards before he drops her off at home. It’s a nice way to wind down actually; she usually looks forward to it.

Tonight though, Aub has been uncharacteristically quiet since they met up and she was a downright bitch earlier when she and Steph were fighting about something. Like, she knows they’ll forget all about it tomorrow, but still. She owes her best friend coffee at the least. “Hmm?” She looks up at him, barely hearing his question.

“What’s wrong?” He repeats, giving her a look before she can fight him against answering.

She pushes her food around a little-very uncharacteristic for her, and she can tell even Will’s picked up on that. “My dad wants to meet us all for dinner this week, which means he probably did get secret-married again.”

“Oh.” Will makes a face and Aubrey returns it, laughing when he contorts his even worse. “And that’s-I mean-again?” He finally settles on and she nods, ready to drop this bomb.

“It’ll be wife number six, but secret wedding number three.” She says, delighting in the way his jaw drops. “This is just, like, what he does; he just announces he wants to have dinner with us and then shows up and is like and here’s my new wife, like it’s super casual, and then we all wonder why I need therapy when he’s out here hiding wives and families like it’s a fulltime job.” She finishes, only realizing how heated she is about it when she looks up to find Will staring at her with wide eyes.

“Um.” Will starts.

“Sorry.” Aub hastens, flushing.

“No!” Will says. “No, don’t apologize at all, you can, like, share whatever you want. I just...I got like half of what you just said.” He gives her an apologetic look. “Missing a big chunk of this story.”

“Right.” Aub nods, pretty proud of how calm she sounds. Dr. Seth is going to be so impressed with her next week. “Sorry. We haven’t talked about the two secret families he was hiding when I was growing up. Ok, I’ll back up.”

“He what?” Will cries, but Aub waves him off, diving into the whole history of her dad, her half-siblings, and her step-moms...as well as their various divorces.

“...and that brings us to now.” She takes a sip of her wine thoughtfully; Will has long since drained his and refilled. She’s pretty sure she didn’t miss anything. “And dinner that’s going to be an absolute disaster.”

“Do you want me to come?” Will offers.

“No!” She says immediately. That’s like-god, that’s the worst idea ever. They do not need to get her greedy father involved in this, who’d take one look at Will and see dollar bills. She’s accepted that she can’t change the way her dad treats her (after many years of therapy); she’s got another dad who loves her and it’s not fine the way her dad doesn’t remember her birthday or what she does for work or pretty much anything important about her, but it is what it is. But like, she’s not going to subject Will to it. “It’ll be-fine.”

He raises an eyebrow. “You think so?”

“No.” She shakes her head. “But thanks anyway.”

Will purses his lips. It’s clear that he doesn’t love that answer, but he doesn’t say anything more on the subject, asking her instead if she wants to split a dessert, as if he doesn’t already know the answer to that question, and Aub, grateful for the change in topic, even agrees to let him pick this time.

It’s a rare gift.

-----

Aubrey knows she had a little too much to drink at dinner with her dad, but she’s not so drunk that she can’t recognize that this is Will’s door she’s standing in front of, knocking loudly and repeatedly.

She has only a moment to contemplate that-that it’s here she chose to come to after yet another disaster dinner, instead of Steph’s or her brother’s or back home to her own place-before Will’s opening the door, the confusion passing quickly over his face when he realizes it’s her.

“Hey.” He beams and steps back, silently inviting her in, but Aub doesn’t want him to go further away from her. That’s why she came here. “Whoa, hey!” Will says, as Aub steps in the condo and presses herself against him. “Are you-” He lets out a strangled choke as she tiptoes up and loops her arms around the back of his neck. “-okay?”

“Peachy.” She says, pulling him down to kiss her.

It’s not really a great kiss; Will’s kissing her back for a moment, and then pulling back. “Wait-”

“No.” She whines, leaning in for another, and he does it again, caught up for a moment in kissing her, but then it’s like his thoughts catch up to him and he breaks it.

“Aub, we shouldn’t- we aren’t-”

And like why shouldn’t they? They’ve been doing this fake relationship for a while now and not able to hook up with anyone else because of it. He’s objectively the hottest person she’s ever seen. There’s no reason that’s coming to her right now that says she shouldn’t. “We’re friends now!” Aubrey says, running her palms over his shoulders. God, why weren’t they doing this the entire time? “Right?” And Will nods, slowly, but it’s a nod, “It’s fine, friends hook up all the time.”

“You really want this?” His thumb brushes her cheek as she nods and only then does he pull her back in for a kiss.

-----

If Aubrey thought Will’s guest bed was comfortable, it’s really got nothing on his actual bed. She rolls over, curling into the pillow a little more and opens her eyes to see the sliver of sunlight coming through catch the edge of Will’s face, that one piece of hair that’s sticking up that should be unattractive, but is totally not.

It’s really just unfair.

The sound comes from behind her and Aub jumps when she realizes it’s Will’s alarm going off. It seems like it barely even fazes him; he just reaches across her and silences it; his arm falling across her when he drags himself back.

“Hi.” She smiles.

“Hi.” Will laughs and it lights up his whole face; she can’t help the hand that comes up to trace over his features. “Come on, that’s not fair.

“What’s not fair?” Aubrey asks innocently, trailing her nails down his chest.

He groans. “I have to go. Skate.”

“You don’t have to go.” She pouts and he groans again.

“You’re making it really hard to have to.”

“Good.” Aubrey giggles, only stopping when Will shuts her up with a kiss.

“Really hard.” He repeats as she rolls her hips into his.

“Fine.” She sighs, flopping onto her back, and she knows the move does exactly as she’d intended when his eyes go right to her chest. “I guess I’ll just have to stay here in bed until you get back.”

“Please do.” He insists, leaning over to kiss her again. “Fastest skate ever.” Will promises.

“You can’t control that.” Aubrey reasons, even as Will’s shaking his head at her while he climbs out of bed.

“Fastest skate ever.” He repeats.

She can’t really confirm or deny that it is; but when he does return, pulling her out of a doze by jumping on top of her, there’s coffee on the table for her too. It’s cold by the time she gets to it.

-----

“You guys are being weird.” Steph comments one night, as Aub’s cheering after Will scores a tie-breaking goal.

“What?” Aubrey gives her a look. “What do you mean?”

“You and Will.” Steph says, like it should be obvious. “You’re like-” She breaks off, making a noise of frustration.

“You’re in the honeymoon phase.” Alannah supplies helpfully and Steph lights up.

“Yes!” She cries and Aubrey glares over at Alannah but she merely smiles back. “But it’s like, you’re back in it? Like, you weren’t for a while and now...you can’t take your hands off each other again!”

Aubrey doesn’t really know what to say to that. She’s not denying that she and Will have been all over each other ever since that first night they slept together. She can’t even remember the last time she went to her apartment for anything more than to pack clothes and she’s lost track of the number of times she’s reached out for him only to find Will already reaching for her.

But before? She can’t think of any moment where they were ever like they are now. Like there’s too much space between them even when she’s right next to him. Or this pull that brings her toward him no matter where he’s at.

But she doesn’t...she doesn’t know what to say about that. Because it’s not like anything has changed between them. They’re still friends; they still laugh and joke as usual, still gossip about their friends together, are still just waiting to drop a big break up on Mitch and Steph.

Nothing’s changed, even if maybe, she thinks, something has.

So she shrugs at Steph and says, “We’re just happy. Is that so bad?”

Steph beams and leans her head against Aubrey’s shoulder, and like, Aub knows that’s exactly what she’d been hoping for since she introduced her to Will, but Aubrey still feels like something wasn’t right about what she said.

-----

Aubrey tugs on the Nylander jersey that drapes over her frame as she and Will walk into the hospital conference room. “Are you sure about this?”

“It’s tradition.” He grins. “Stop playing with it.”

“That’s what she said.” She says as dryly as she can, managing to keep the face until he laughs, and then she cracks up with him.

That’s how the two of them walk into the conference room where the team is meeting; laughing so loudly that everyone stops what they’re doing to turn and look, but she and Will only get a bunch of fond smiles before everyone turns back to their own conversations.

Steph gives her a knowing look when they approach hand in hand, which Aubrey ignores pointedly. “You didn’t warn me we’d have to actually go things wearing this dumb jersey when you plotted to get us together.”

“Oh I didn’t?” Steph says innocently as Mitch and Will sputter in protest. “Must have slipped my mind.”

“Dumb jersey?” Will nudges her.

Aub shrugs, looking up at him with a cheeky grin. “It’s a little big. Might have some trouble getting out of this thing.”

Will grins. “I’m sure some help can be arranged.”

Mitch feigns gagging. “There are children around.”

Wills hand drags up her side briefly-too briefly- as he grins at Mitch. “Where, Mitchell?” But he backs off and Aub does too, both of them catching up with teammates and wives and girlfriends around them.

Or they back off a little, but Aub still finds herself drawn int0 his orbit, especially once they start splitting off into groups to move through the hospital to go see the kids. His hand will brush against hers as they move between rooms; she’s bumping her shoulder against his arm comfortingly as they talk with parents.

It’s not very subtle, but they don’t need to be. Except…

“What is going on?” Auston hisses at her, in passing, as he’s about to step inside the room Will’s just about leaving.

“Nothing.” Aub says innocently, but Will reaches for her hand when he leaves, opting for a fist bump with Auston instead, and Auston’s eyes widen, but Aubrey tugs Will along before he can say anything. “Come on, let’s grab some water real quick!”

The diversion doesn’t last long; Auston catches up to her only two rooms later while Will’s in talking hockey with a little girl and she’s waiting outside, leaning against the wall. He joins her, looking in as well for a moment, before looking over at her. “This is a terrible idea.” Auston says flatly.

“You were on board with it!” Aubrey hisses, trying to keep a smile on her face.

“That was before I realized you guys were sleeping together. Now it’s going to backfire and go to shit.”

Aubrey frowns. “Why?”

“Why?” Auston repeats, like he can’t even help himself. “Oh my god, you don’t even-” He stops abruptly.

“Don’t even what?” She prompts, when it’s clear he’s not going to continue.

But he doesn’t continue. He just rubs his temples for a minute and mutters under his breath. “Fuck me, how do I have to be the smart one here?”

“Hey!” Aubrey protests, offended. “I am always the smart one.”

“Not right now.” He says cryptically. “And it’s hard to tell who’s being dumber: you or Willy.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Aubrey frowns, but Auston’s already walking away. “Auston!” He ignores her. “Auston!”

“Hey.” Will’s reaching for her arm gently. “What’s wrong?”

Auston’s out of sight now anyway. “Nothing.” She shakes her head, clearing her thoughts and then looks up at him. “Next room?”

-----

“What are you doing Friday?” Aubrey looks up from scrolling through her family’s group chat; Will’s peering at her from across the island.

“Nothing.” She says, after thinking about it for a minute. “What’s up?”

“We play my brother on Saturday.” He says and the shoe doesn’t drop until he adds, “So my parents and sisters are coming in for a bit. Watch the game. Do early Christmas. Hang out a bit.”

“Oh.” She bites her lip. It shouldn’t-it shouldn't be weird. He survived a whole weekend with her sisters, he’s met her entire family; they’ve gone out a few times with varying numbers of her brothers since then. It just...feels weird now.

Will eyes her carefully for a second but continues. “They come in early Friday morning and I made dinner reservations for that night, if you want to come with us.”

He says it super casually, the way he is about pretty much everything, but she knows him well enough now. There’s a little hopeful tone at the end of it, almost like a question even though it’s not phrased as one. “Yeah.” She says, and even though she’s already nervous about this dinner that’s literally days away, it’s worth it to see the smile grow across his face. “I’d love to come with you guys.”

“They’ll be excited.” Will says, which really undersells just how excited his sisters actually are when they do roll into town later in the week.

Daniella throws herself at Aubrey the second she walks in the door, chattering excitedly about meeting her, and spending the weekend together, and dinner that night, all before Aubrey can even put her purse down. She doesn’t know what her face is doing but whatever it is is bad enough that Will says something to his sister in Swedish and follows it up with a glare when she giggles something back to him.

It works though; Daniella detaches herself, but she does stay close, almost bouncing along next to Aubrey as she steps further inside. “Come on.” Will nods toward the kitchen. “My parents are in here.”

Fuck, his parents. She takes a deep breath. “Cool.”

He grins. The panic must definitely be showing on her face, but his sister just keeps talking through it- Aubrey can relate- or Daniella just doesn’t notice it in her excitement. But Will does, still grinning at her, and she brushes against him purposefully with her shoulder as she goes to follow Daniella, only for him to grab her hand as she passes.

“You don’t have to be nervous.” He squeezes her hand and the only thing that stops her from frowning is his sister. It’s kind of a harsh reminder of the circumstances that she is meeting his family under, the details behind what’s happening here, and that someday-probably soon even- they’ll go back to...well, she hopes that they’ll at least still be friends.

Even if they stop hooking up.

Danielle goes right up to Stephanie in the kitchen, the two of them whispering to each other in a way that immediately reminds Aub of Kaylee and Cam, enough that she has to fight back a laugh. But it’s Will’s parents that really draw her attention. Michael and Camilla are exactly how she’d pictured from every story Will’s ever told her, full attention on her as soon as she and Will enter the kitchen.

“This is Aubrey.” Will introduces.

“Hi!” She smiles, hoping it’s bright and warm enough to hide her nerves.

And it works- or more likely, Will’s parents are as perceptive as he is- because they jump right into chatting easily with her.

She loves them immediately.

They’re warm and friendly, like they’re welcoming her, even though they’re the ones who spent hours on a plane recently. Will’s mom- Camilla, she insists- draws her into a conversation about her family right away- “William told me you have many siblings as well.” “Mum!” “Mum, they’re the best!”- which keeps them going for a while until Michael reminds them they have a reservation to keep.

“You can keep talking at the restaurant.” He teases Camilla, who’s glaring at him. “Some of us are hungry!”

She rolls her eyes at him- a look that is so similar to one Aubrey’s seen Will make a thousand times- but it serves to get all of them moving. They do keep talking at the restaurant, Camilla shoving her own son out of the way to pull Aubrey in the seat next to her, and Daniella sliding in the seat on her other side before Will can grab it, only for him to mutter something to her in Swedish, sending her quickly sliding over to the next one.

Dinner seems to fly by but it’s actually a few hours later that they’re returning home, pulling out a bottle of wine for a night cap. Aubrey’s just about preparing to go home to her own place before Will’s mom stands up and kisses the top of her head, right in line with all her own kids, promising to see her in the morning, and then the night wraps up and Will’s pulling her into his room, like it’s any normal night.

“Are you-” She trails off abruptly as Will walks right to the closet, like no strange thing. But, what did she even want to ask? Are you sure you want me to stay? It’s not going to be weird if I do?

“What’s up?” Will pops his head out of the closet.

“Nothing.” Aubrey shakes her head, moving to brush her teeth. She’s not even sure she knows where that question was going; she can’t explain why tonight feels weirder than any other night that she’s climbed into his bed before.

It does though, and that’s made even more evident by the way she tosses and turns once they climb into bed and turn the lights off, settling in on what’s become her side of the bed, right after she brushes her teeth and runs through her nightly skin routine.

It feels like it shouldn’t be so hard to sleep- it’s been a long day, following a long week, preparing for Will’s family to arrive, but she can’t seem to get comfortable and her thoughts are racing.

She rolls over again, facing Will this time, only to find him looking at her with amusement. “You okay?”

“Can’t sleep.” She admit, biting her lip

Will grins, pulling her close. “I can fix that.”

“I’m not having sex with you while you’re parents are here!” Aubrey hisses.

“No?” Her breath hitches as his fingers dance lower down her stomach and then-

“Will!” She laughs, as he gently pinches a ticklish spot.

“Shh!” He’s grinning, she hates him so much. “My parents are-”

“Don’t say it.” She says, surging up to kiss him so he can’t finish that sentence. God, she hopes his walls are thick.

-----

“Stop.” Aubrey hears Will right outside the door. “Go away.”

She can hear one of his sister’s respond, but the actual words get lost in the chaos of her own sisters’ FaceTime, which she’s wrapping up as she lies in bed. It’s loud enough outside that she knows Will’s family is awake already, bright enough that she probably should get up, but she’s too comfortable to make herself move.

“Daniella!” She hears, followed by something in Swedish just as the door opens and a blonde head pokes in.

“See! She is awake!” And that’s all the warning she gets before Daniella is jumping up right next to her.

“Daniella!” Will snaps again, but Aubrey’s already sliding over to make room for her.

“She’s fine.” She assures him, wrapping her arm around Daniella’s shoulders as she cuddles in close.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Daniella says to her brother, not bothering to pull herself away from Aubrey’s iPhone screen, where she’d barely wasted a minute before jumping into chatting with Kayls and Cam.

Will’s leaning against the dresser and shaking his head in amusement, watching as Aubrey manages to finish up her call (a task much harder with Daniella in her ear, calling just as much nonsense back as her sisters do), but there’s a soft smile on his face that Aubrey almost can’t bring herself to look at, so she starts twirling her hand through the ends of Daniella’s hair.

“I can’t believe you two.” Daniella huffs, and she’s so much like Will, just loving her hair played with; Aubrey tries to hide her grin because she knows he’d fight her on it if she had to say it out loud right now. “Not even inviting your sisters here for the weekend.”

“Why would we invite ourselves into that kind of roast?” Will says dryly. “The two of you are bad enough.”

“Like you’re not going to talk about us anyway,” Aubrey adds. “I’ve seen the receipts.” She teases. “I know you talk about us on instagram.”

“You talk about us on instagram?” Will demands immediately.

“No.” Daniella says, unconvincingly.

“They talk with my sisters every day.” Aubrey whispers to him and laughs when he turns his outraged face toward his sister, who avoids his gaze completely.

“Seriously?” Will cries.

Daniella shrugs. “We have a lot to say.”

“I’ll give you a lot to say.” Will says, mock-threateningly, before throwing himself on the bed on her other side and poking his finger in her side until she’s laughing so hard that she’s begging for him to stop. He does, after one last poke, which Daniella returns with a pout. “Go get dressed.” Will nudges her. “Or Aubrey’s going to go to brunch without you.”

“Aubrey wouldn’t do that.” Daniella says confidently, standing to leave. “She’s nicer than you.”

Will barks out a laugh. “Is she?”

Both Nylanders turn to look at her, just as she’s swinging her legs out of bed and Aubrey shrugs. “I wouldn’t leave your sister behind.” She says, grinning when Will laughs and Daniella’s got her phone out of her pocket before she even leaves the room.

-----

Will and Alex are close. Aubrey knows this. She knows they talk pretty much everyday whether it’s texting, Facetiming, or even actual phone calls. They’re brothers, sure, but more than that; they’re best friends.

And maybe that’s why it’s hard not to shrink under Alex’s gaze the second they meet. It’s not that he’s not friendly when Will introduces them, returning the smile she gives him.

It’s just that his gaze feels piercing in a way that none of the rest of his family did. It feels like Alex sees through all of her but more than that; he’s studying all of her and doesn’t like what he sees.

God, she doesn’t know what she’s going to do if Alex doesn’t like her.

She tries to be bubbly and bright, more listening than contributing to this conversation that’s mostly just brothers catching up. She knows that dinner later, and at their early Christmas celebration tomorrow, will really be when she gets to make her big impression on him.

“Willy!” John Tavares calls, looking apologetic about the interruption.

“Be right back.” Willy pats her arm gently before jogging down the hall and now Alex’s full attention is on her. Now she can’t help but shift her weight from foot to foot, even as Alex smiles at her. “So, Aubrey, huh?”

She fights back the urge to bite her lip. “Yup.”

“It’s exciting to finally meet you.” He grins and Aubrey’s jaw drops a little. “Will talks about you all the time.”

“He-he does?” She asks quietly. It’s about the most unexpected thing Alex could have said to her.

Alex bursts into laughter. “Uh yeah.” He says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world, but before she can press anything further, Will’s back, slinging his arm around her shoulders and squeezing her into his side tightly.

“Ready for second dinner?” Will presses a kiss to her temple.

“Always.” Aubrey leans into him, ignoring the knowing look that Alex is sporting currently and the feeling in her stomach that doesn’t quite feel like butterflies.

-----

Aubrey tries to give it a few days after the Nylander’s leave town, hoping the feeling in her stomach will calm itself, but when it’s been a week and it hasn’t settled, she’s forced to admit that she’s going to need outside help.

Can you let me in? She sends, when she’s sure she’s outside the right door.

Open. Come in.

She frowns at the response, opening the door. “I don’t love that!” She calls as she walks deeper in the condo. “You should really-” She stops abruptly, as a blonde whips her head around to glare at her and Auston stares at her wide-eyed. “Oh!”

“Oh?” The blonde repeats, kind of mockingly, but also seething, and Aubrey doesn’t really know what to do, so she looks over at Auston, who’s pointedly avoiding both of their eyes. “Unbelievable.” She shakes her head, shoving past Aubrey and only when the front door slams does she hear Auston breathe.

“What the fuck?” She asks him immediately, “You could have just said no, it wasn’t a good time to come over!”

“I wanted her to leave!” He protests. “I tried everything! She even volunteered to come take Felix on a walk with me!”

Aubrey cackles, barely managing to compose herself at Auston’s glare. “Well, go and get his leash. We can walk and talk.”

She gets quickly distracted by Felix’s excitement for a walk, snapping like twenty pictures on her phone, before Auston finally prods her about the reason she even wanted to meet today. “So what’s up?”

She takes a deep breath. “Am I in love with Will?”

“Are you in love with...are you fucking kidding me?” Auston responds immediately, looking at her like he had that day they were at Sick Kids- like she’s completely missing something that everyone else knows.

“I’m gonna take that as a yes.” She says reasonably.

“Oh my fucking god.” He says, sounding distressed. “Don’t you have, like, a therapist for this shit? How did I get drafted for this?”

“I mean, yes, I do, but I haven’t gone into the details of it with Dr. Seth before this and I don’t think an hour would cover it.” She says; she’s thought about that already. Auston rubs his temples. “Stop that.” Aubrey chides. “Your hairline is bad enough.”

“Well you’re not helping!” Auston cries. “Jesus Christ, am I in love with Willy? Where the fuck have you been?”

“Egypt, I guess.” She says and he stares at her flatly until she explains. “Denial?”

“Fuck off, I hate you so much. Oh my god.” He groans. “Willy would have laughed so hard at that, fuck you.”

The worst thing is that she knows he would have. He’d have laughed and laughed and laughed, his eyes crinkling and his smile bright and warm, so loud that she couldn’t help but join in.

“Holy shit.” Auston says quietly, watching the smile on her face. “You’re really in deep.”

“Ugh, yes.” Aubrey groans, covering her face. “I hate it. I hate these feelings. I hate not knowing. I hate-”

Auston cuts her off, choking out a laugh. “Not knowing? Not knowing what?” And then he chokes again, once he looks over at her. “Not knowing if Will-” He stops abruptly looking like he’s got a secret that he shouldn’t be telling. “Come on, you aren’t this dumb.”

“You’re being serious?” She says quietly, looking over at Auston hopefully.

He avoids her eyes, bending down for a minute to pet his dog, but Felix absolutely betrays him by trying to run towards a new smell on a nearby bush, giving him absolutely nothing to look at instead of her. “I mean, come on.” Auston gives her a look. “Don’t make me say it.”

“Did he say it?”

“No.” Auston shakes his head, tugging gently on Felix’s leash to turn around. “But Aub, really? He brought you to meet his whole family.”

“He met mine too.” She reminds him. “And so did you!”

Auston shakes his head. “You...you just don’t see how he looks at you.”

Aubrey bites her lip, but she can’t resist asking. “How does he look at me?”

Auston doesn’t even have to think before he responds. “Like the rest of us aren’t even in the room.”

“Oh.” She says quietly, looking down at the ground. Felix is just trotting away happily, like Aubrey’s entire world hasn’t been flipped on its axis.

Auston, at least, seems to recognize the effect of what he’s said. “Look, even if you’re not ready to talk with him, just, like, look at the guy. You’re not in this alone.”

She’s definitely not ready to say anything, but, well, she could give that a try. Just try and see what Auston sees.What everyone sees apparently. “Alright.” She agrees.

“I won’t say anything.” Auston adds. “You two can figure this mess out on your own.”

“You’re the best.” Aubrey declares, leaning up to kiss his cheek.

“I know.” Auston smirks, pulling Felix’s leash out from under her feet.

“Jerk.” Aubrey laughs, shoving his shoulder gently. “If you didn’t have the second best dog in the world right here, I’d push you harder.” She crouches down to scratch Felix’s ears, only for Auston to pull him out of her reach.

“Second best?” He cries, outraged. “Nuh-uh. You don’t get to pet my dog after that kind of disrespect.”

“I just ranked your dog above Zeus!” She protests. “But Pablo’s my boy.”

Auston releases his hold on the leash a little and Felix trots over toward her arms as he teases, “I thought we just agreed Willy was your boy.”

“Yeah, well,” Aubrey scratches behind Felix’s ears, smiling as his tongue lolls out. “Man’s best friend.”

-----

Will’s acting funny when Aubrey sees him the next day.

She only catches him for a few minutes before the game, when they briefly cross paths at his place when she goes to pick up a jacket she left there, and she doesn’t know how to explain it, but something just seems...off.

It’s like...he barely looks at her when she’s in there digging around what’s become her side of the bed and then he brushes past her, muttering something about how he needs to go and for her to just lock up whenever she’s done, which would be fine, except he usually waits for her if she’s around when he leaves so they can walk out together.

Something’s just off.

“Are you sure you didn’t fight about anything?” Steph frowns at her, later that night. “Even like a small, stupid thing that maybe you brushed off? Because you do that.”

“No!” Aubrey swears. “At first I thought he was just annoyed about the book, because the book I’m reading right now takes place in Sweden, so like every few pages I ask him if it’s real? Or what it’s like?”

“God, you must be the most annoying girlfriend.” Steph giggles.

“Don’t even, I know everything about you and Mitch.” Aubrey pokes her and Steph giggles again, admitting defeat. “But no! He wouldn’t even look at me! Something’s up!”

Steph purses her lips. “That is weird.” She admits. “It’s very...not Will.”

“No!” Aubrey cries. “Will doesn’t sit and let things stew! He doesn’t care enough about what people think about him for that.”

“So why is he acting like this then?” Steph asks and Aubrey blows out a frustrated breath.

“I don’t know!” She says. “And I just want him to tell me what’s going on.”

The rest of the game is fairly uneventful for the two of them, slipping quietly out of their seats after the win and chatting between themselves and a few other friends as they all wait. One by one, the boys all make their way out of the locker room, and Aubrey frowns as even Auston and John walk out, stopping briefly to chat with her, before even they go, until finally, finally, Will steps out, his face flickering when he sees her.

“Hi?” She says, a little annoyed.

“Hi.” Will says, like nothing’s just happened, like he didn’t just do a double take of the worst kind at her mere presence.

“What’s wrong?” She frowns, reaching out for him and gently sliding her hand on his forearm.

“Nothing.” There’s no other word for it; Will flinches.

“Will.” Aubrey breathes as he shrugs off her arm.

“It’s nothing.” He repeats. “I’m just tired.” Which is so clearly a lie and she frowns, ready to call him out, but he reaches for her hand and says, “Let’s go eat,” with such finality that she doesn’t really know how she’d bring it up.

All she knows is that his hand feels cold in a way it never has before and the silence they sit in at dinner is like nothing she’s ever felt with him, even before they started sleeping together.

-----

“Merry Christmas!” Cam throws open the front door dramatically before Aubrey, Will, Steph, and Mitch have barely even shut their car doors. “Come on, you’re late!”

“Oh boy.” Aubrey mutters and she hears Steph and Mitch laugh.

Will, however, is as quiet as he’s been all drive up to her parents for their annual Christmas Eve party- as quiet as he’s been all week, as he’s been since whatever happened- and it makes her wonder why he even came. She’d told him he didn’t have to come if he didn’t want to; he’d just given her this tiny smile and asked her what time they had to pick up Mitch and Steph.

“How are we late?” Steph asks, as all four of them start yanking off coats and scarves the second they walk in the door. “None of the neighbors are even here yet!”

Cam huffs at that bit of logic and turns on her heel, walking away from them as they laugh, which cues Aubrey’s brothers into their arrival. Tye and Danny poke their heads around the corner of the wall, calling for Mitch immediately to show them how to do something on a new video game, but right away they’re thwarted by their mom. “Later.” Mitch whispers to them, as Tye and Danny grin, following the four of them into the kitchen.

In the kitchen, they find Aubrey and Steph’s moms working in tandem- the way they always have on Christmas Eve- to finish the appetizers and set food out. They stop only briefly to greet their daughters and their daughters’ boyfriends, and to direct them on where to put the desserts they brought, before they’re shooing them all right back out.

“Dads in the basement?” Steph asks, like they all don’t know the answer already, and Danny nods, leading the way down the stairs, where Fitz and Ryan have already started a beer pong game against Mike and Tom.

“Shotty next.” Mitch calls, while he waits for Aubrey and Steph to say hi to their dads.

“You gonna be able to walk back next door?” Fitz snorts out a laugh.

“That was one time!” Mitch protests. “Nobody warned me how much drinking there was on Christmas Eve!”

“It’s like we hadn’t spent the last four months together before that.” Aubrey deadpans, focusing more on watching Will greet her stepdad with the same enthusiasm as he had her mom, and her brothers, and Cam.

But then, he comes back to her side, and when she goes to tangle their fingers together, his hand stays limp, just kind of letting her do what she wants, not returning the gesture at all, instead of pulling her closer like he used to.

“Guess I thought you two were the anomaly.” Mitch teases. “Then I learned I’d have to bring my A game all the time.”

“Yeah buddy.” Tom says, looking over at his daughter’s boyfriend right after he sinks Fitz and Ryan’s last cup. “Who’s with you?”

-----

By the time Mitch and Will get demolished in beer pong, Aubrey and Steph are fighting back a laugh at their dads’ light buzz already going and the neighbors have started to arrive, which brings a temporary pause to pong play for more introductions.

The neighbors all love Will, which, of course they do. Aubrey’s not surprised at all. He’s funny and charming and personable, just has this air that draws people in, and every one of her mom’s friends finds her at some point after they meet Will to gush about how wonderful he is.

“Yeah.” Aubrey says, almost helplessly to Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Morris, as she watches Will with Kayls and Cam across the room. “He’s pretty great.” They smile knowingly at her, Mrs. Jones winking as she passes, leaving Aubrey to watch them with a fond smile on her face.

It’s Will who notices her staring first, because of course it is. Kayls and Cam are oblivious to everything around them. He catches her eye, still laughing about whatever they’re talking about, and there’s a second where his smile grows when he sees her, a second Aubrey feels a grin growing across her own face.

And then it all stops abruptly as something flashes over Will’s face, and as quick as the grin was there, it’s gone.

Aubrey frowns and watches as Will returns to talking with Kayls and Cam again, but notices the smile on his face seems forced now. She wants...well, she doesn’t know exactly what she wants, but she’s tired of not knowing what’s going on with him.

“Hey.” Fitz nudges her shoulder. “It’s too early for you to be sad about going to your dad’s tomorrow. Come take a shot with me.”

“I-” It’s not that. She starts to say, but stops herself. Today’s not the day to try and tease out whatever’s going on with Will. Whatever it is could wait until after Christmas. “Yeah, sure.”

Fitz grins, leading her over to the makeshift bar, corralling a few friends as they go, but by the time he starts pouring, the crowd around them has gotten bigger. Will’s standing next to her, but the space he’s left between them feels so purposeful, and it only makes Aubrey frown as she listens to Fitz’s Christmas toast, as he cheers to a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, to good friends and great family. “And a way too cool future brother-in-law.” He jokes. “Don’t fuck this up, Aub!”

“Yo!” Mitch protests loudly as Aubrey feels the breath get stuck in her chest.

She can’t even look at Will, so tense she can hardly bring her shot glass up to her mouth. The alcohol barely even burns and she knows it’s not because she’s too drunk to taste it; the numbness of her brother’s comment still stinging, and it’s well after she’s deposited her shot glass on the counter that she realizes, “Where’s Will?”

Mitch frowns, looking behind them. “He was right here, wasn’t he?”

Aubrey nods slowly, trying to stand on her toes and search for him. “Can you just-” She starts.

Steph’s right on her wavelength. “You look up here; we’ll check downstairs.”

Will is nowhere to be found on the main floor, so she heads upstairs and finally finds him in the room they’d thrown their bags in earlier. “Hey.” She breathes out a sigh of relief. “There you are.”

“Here I am.” Will says quietly. He’s in front of the taller dresser, looking at the bulletin board covered in pictures from high school and college- one of the few relics left in the room from when it was hers before her mom refashioned it into a guest room.

“I’m sorry about Fitz!” She blurts. “He didn’t mean any-”

“We should be wrapping up soon, right?” Will says abruptly, interrupting her.

“What?” Aubrey frowns, shocked. That is...not at all what she thought he’d say.

“This?” He gestures between the two of them. “Like, Mitch and Steph definitely think we're a thing. Can call this off soon?”

“Um.” Aubrey tries to breathe but something’s definitely restricting that ability. “We…what?”

“We can stop this pretending.” Will says, like it’s obvious, and Aubrey feels her stomach drop. This...this was all pretend to him. “Do that break up that’s going to crush them. The whole reason we did this.”

“Right.” She swallows the lump in her throat. “Uh yeah, we can do that.”

Will shrugs. “Cool.” He says, and then turns and walks away, leaving Aubrey standing there wondering where exactly she went wrong.

-----

“Ok.” Steph snaps her fingers and only then does Aubrey look up from the Leafs vs. Calgary game that her best friend invited her over to watch that she’s paying absolutely no attention to- and hasn’t actually been able to focus on all night. Her best friend is standing in front of her, holding a new bottle of wine, and looking concerned. “I’ve asked for your glass like four times now. What’s going on?”

Aubrey bites her lip and holds her glass out. If she’s going to do this, they’re both going to need refills. “I have to tell you something.”

Steph frowns immediately but fills Aubrey’s glass and then her own. “Uhh, ok? What’s up.”

Aubrey doesn’t know whether she needs a deep breath or a sip of wine to settle her nerves. She goes for both. “Will and I aren’t together.”

And maybe...maybe that was the wrong way to phrase it, because Steph’s face just falls. “I’m so sorry, babe.” She says, reaching out and rubbing Aubrey’s arm. “I really thought-” She shakes her head and Aubrey’s still trying to figure out what she said wrong, what she can say to make her see what she really means. “Are you okay?”

“No.” Aubrey says and Steph looks like she wants to reach for the wine bottle and pull her in for a hug at the same time, until she continues. “No, I mean; Will and I aren’t together now because we were never really together at all and no, I’m not okay either, actually, now that you mention it.”

Now Steph frowns uncertainly, like she doesn’t know what to say. And that look? The one on her face right there? If it didn’t feel like her heart was already breaking, she’d be cherishing that look.

Now she can’t even enjoy it.

“You’re going to have to explain this one to me.” Steph says, her voice carefully neutrally.

So Aubrey does- beginning with the night that Mitch and Steph had had them over and her and Will’s plan to get them to stop nagging, to when they’d started sleeping together, to how it felt like they were together for real and on the same page, right up until they weren’t.

“I wanna be so mad at you right now.” Steph says, after a long silence.

“You should be.” Aubrey admits. “I would be.

“Well, you’re making it really hard looking so sad.” Steph glares. “And being so dumb.” Aubrey’s jaw drops, even if the callout is probably well deserved. “Will looks at you like you are the center of the universe. He looks like his entire day has gotten better every time you walk into the room. For God’s sake, he willingly met your dad on Christmas last week! You cannot honestly tell me you think he doesn’t really want to be with you!”

“He told me he wanted to stop!” Aubrey cries. “He was the one who said we should do the breakup!”

“Well if you don’t want to, then tell him!” Steph dares.

“Stephanie.” Aubrey frowns.

“What?”

“I can’t do that!” Aubrey hisses.

“Why not?” Steph pours another glass of wine for herself and then passes the bottle over. Aubrey accepts eagerly. “Did Will tell you why he wanted to stop this...dating thing?”

“...no.” Aubrey sighs. It’s another thing that’s been driving her crazy.

“So ask him.” Steph says plainly. “And tell him you don’t want to stop.”

Aubrey bites her lip nervously. “But what if he says no?”

“Honestly the worst thing that happens here is that you still break up.” Steph says gently. “But this really just sounds like a matter of you two actually needing to talk about where you stand. Will’s not a mind-reader, Aub; he can’t have known you didn’t want to stop things, especially if this was all your idea in the first place.”

Ugh, she’s right. “I hate everything about this.” Aubrey sing-songs. “Including the fact that you even introduced us.”

Now Steph grins. “You do not hate that we introduced you. You just hate feeling vulnerable.”

That’s too accurate to address, so Aubrey flips her off and reaches for the wine again.

-----

Will picks her up for the Leafs annual New Year’s Eve party and it’s unfair because no one should look that good dressed in black pants and a sweater, but there’s Will waiting by the car with a beanie on his head and a pea coat left open, for maximal torture is the only reason Aubrey can think of.

“Hi.” She breathes, running across the street to him as best she can in her heels.

It takes him a second to respond. “Hi.” He says finally, opening the door for her. “You uh, planning on blinding us all tonight?” He teases, once he slides into the backseat of the uber with her.

Aubrey giggles at the lame joke as she looks down at her glittery skirt. It’s such a lame joke but she’s just so relieved he even made it. That they still have dumb things to laugh over. “Hmm, over-under on how many of us are wearing something sparkly tonight. 10?”

“Over.” Will answers immediately and she giggles again.

The ride doesn’t take long so it’s only a few minutes before they’re pulling up to the club, where they run into Travis Dermott and his girlfriend exiting their uber at the same time. “Nine more.” Will whispers in her ear, as Kat turns to greet them, and they both catch sight of a sparkly tank under her jacket.

“Hush.” Aubrey bites back a laugh, but only barely, before she pulls Kat in for a hug. Inside is about as loud as she’d expected but once they all step upstairs into the VIP section roped off for them, it’s easier to hear, easier to think, and easier to breathe.

Or at least, it is for a moment. She can feel Will’s eyes on her from across the room, where he’s at the bar ordering drinks for the two of them, and she and Kat have gone to say hi to more people.

“So, uh.” Steph says, in lieu of hello. “I don’t think Will’s being weird anymore.”

When Aubrey turns and follows Steph’s eyes, Will’s still looking at her, unashamed in his gaze or getting caught. He winks back at her, grinning when she smiles at him. “No.” She says slowly. “I guess not.” Steph just grins at that, kind of smugly, and Aubrey huffs at that, turning away to greet Morgan and Tessa behind her.

It’s not long before Will returns with drinks, still grinning as he pulls her immediately to the dance floor. He pulls out some of his most ridiculous moves and Aubrey laughs, harder and harder the more she drinks, and then finally falling against him after he and Mitch attempt the Toosie Slide together.

“Why are you laughing?” Will demands, wrapping an arm around her waist and taking her hand, leading her into some weird kind of slow dance, even as the song changes into something by The Chainsmokers.

“I just like seeing you like this.” She grins.

His brow furrows. “Like what?”

“Just-” She doesn’t know how to explain it. How open he is right now, how loose and easy and warm he looks because he’s just able to be himself, and how happy she feels to be with him, especially when he’s like this. “Just happy, I guess.”

Will grins again and presses a loud kiss to her temple, that she barely has time to giggle at, because he says, “Always happy to be with you,” like it’s the most casual thing in the world.

And Aubrey gasps in shock, but she doesn’t think Will even notices, because he’s dipping her back over his arm right after that and then she’s too busy laughing again.

-----

Steph flops down on the remaining couch seat and ignores the look that Auston sends her in favor of fanning herself with her hand. “Sure.” He says dryly. “I’ll move over a little.”

“Would you? Thanks.” She snickers and he shakes his head fondly at her.

“How about you?” He looks over at Aubrey. “Gonna squish me in the corner even more?”

Aubrey’s already settled herself on his other side, on the edge of the couch. “Nah, I’m good here.” She bumps her shoulder against his.

“Is it even possible to squish you in the corner?” Steph muses.

“Why are you squished in the corner?” Aubrey asks, confused. “What, you couldn’t find a date for New Year’s?”

“I make it a point to not bring dates to holiday parties.” Auston says and Aubrey’s jaw drops.

Steph’s snickering into her palm though, so it’s clear this particular brand of assholery isn’t unfamiliar. “Holidays and events.” She cackles. “Keep those expectations low.”

“Although now that I know that all it takes to make a girl leave is to just have you walk in my house the next morning…” Auston trails off thoughtfully.

Aubrey shoves at his head, ruffling his hair on purpose, but she can’t help but laugh along with him. “Don’t you fucking dare. I’ve got better things to do than that.”

“Like what?” Steph says, too innocently to be real. “Will?”

“I’m leaving.” Aubrey stands, as Steph and Auston both laugh. “I don’t have to listen to this.”

“Is noon good tomorrow?” She hears Auston call after her, while Steph cackles next to him. “How about 12:30?” She flips him off over her shoulder, without looking back, instead pushing her way around Fred and his new girl, to find Will where she’d left him at the bar with Mitch.

But at the bar, she finds only Mitch, who’s looking a little confused. “Where’s Will?” She asks.

“Um.” Is all Mitch says and Aubrey frowns immediately.

“Mitch, what happened?” Aubrey says flatly and Mitch caves right away.

“I don’t know!” He says. “We were just ordering drinks, watching you guys, everything seemed fine, and next thing I know, he was walking away!”

“Well where did he go?” She asks impatiently, barely waiting for Mitch to point before she’s shoving her way through the crowd.

It feels like she circles the entire building before she finally finds Will, and it’s more like she happens to run into him than she actually finds him, which just annoys her even more, enough that she grabs his hand and pulls him outside to a spot far enough away that it’s quiet enough to talk.

It’s not quiet- it’s still New Year’s Eve and there’s people all around them going up and down the street- but it’s far enough from the door that they can’t feel the music anymore, at least.

Will’s staring at their hands, still linked, but he’s not saying anything, and even though she’s the one who dragged them out into the cold, he’s the one who started acting weird in the first place, and she feels her annoyance grow. “I thought we were having a really good time tonight?”

Will sighs. “We were.” He pauses. “I was, at least.”

“Ok, I was too.” Aubrey says slowly. “So, what happened?”

Will sighs again. “Look, it’s fine, like this was never supposed to be a thing with us, yeah? I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at me. I’ll get over it.”

She’s so confused. “Get over what? Why are you mad?”

“I saw you,” Will says. “Coming out of Auston’s one morning. I was driving past, after practice on my way home.” He shrugs, almost casually, but she can see in his face how hurt he is. “And like, we were never supposed to be a thing.” He repeats and she frowns. Why does he keep saying that? “So I’m not mad at you and I can’t even be mad at him. But I saw you and Matts together and I knew I liked you more than you liked me.” He shrugs again, trying to play off his words as light as casual, but Aubrey’s trying to put the pieces together of what he said. “I know you’d rather be here with him tonight, but that’s why I can’t do this anymore.”

“Oh my god.” She breathes. “You’re so dumb.”

“Hey!” Will protests.

“We’re so dumb.” She corrects, because, really, it’s the truth. “I was at Auston’s that day because he was the only one who knew about us at the time and I needed to talk to someone about if I’m in love with you!”

Will doesn’t move for a second, the longest second of Aubrey’s entire life. “Where, uh, where’d you land on that one?” He asks, like he’s kind of nervous for the answer.

And Aubrey can relate; there are butterflies in her stomach, even though she’s positive she knows how this is going to end now. “Pretty strongly in favor for.” She says and Will beams, that bright smile that lights up his entire face. “I didn’t get to tell you earlier, but I’m always happy to be with you, too.”

“That’s good.” Will says mildly, and Aubrey grins, waiting for the rest. “Because I really love seeing you smile like that.”

Her jaw drops a little. She’s not upset about what he said at all; it’s just so not what she expected him to say. And in that moment of silence, Will grins down at her once more, before leaning down to kiss her.

-----

It’s late the next morning by the time Aubrey tumbles out of bed, yanking a t-shirt of Will’s over her head. Will’s been up for at least an hour already, and she kisses his cheek as she passes, giggling as he lightly pats her ass in return.

“Coffee’s still warm.” He says.

“I still love you.” She teases. “That’s not changing just because you kept the pot warm.” Will flips her off and returns back to the game he’s playing on his Switch. “Have you seen my phone?”

“Near the front door.”

Most of her stuff is still by the front door, thrown hastily down when they’d come in late last night. Her phone’s still got a little battery left, filled with messages from late last night and earlier this morning, but one in particular catches her eye.

Steph LaChance: i told you so 😉

#william nylander #william nylander fan fic #william nylander fanfiction #william nylander imagine #Hockey Fanfiction #hockey fanfic #nhl fanfiction #nhl fanfic #nhl imagines #hockey imagines #my hockey fics

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ffamranxii · 3 years

Text

HAIKYUU!! COUPLES HEADCANONS

DAISUGA

-Daichi goes to the gym to work out. Suga goes to the gym to ogle Daichi

-Suga has a massive sweet tooth

-Daichi cooks, Suga cleans

-Suga is a little shit who is not above seducing Daichi in public. He can say the most lewd things without batting an eye while Daichi blushes furiously

-Daichi and Kuroo once hooked up at training camp. They do not talk about it

-Daichi is good friends with Michimiya and Kiyoko. Suga is closer to Asahi

-Daisuga rarely fight and are often asked for relationship advice. Daichi tries to discourage this because “guys I didn’t realize Yui had a crush on me or that Suga was in love with me for three years.”

-Daichi can’t dance, won’t dance, and refuses to acknowledge the time he got trashed and twerked

-Suga dislikes his given name unless it’s said by Daichi, who is the only person allowed to call him Koushi

-Suga is extremely flexible. Daichi is not.

-Daichi or Suga getting hit on makes Daichi uncomfortable. Getting hit on amuses Suga, and Daichi getting hit on makes him horny

-It took all of high school for Daisuga to get together, because Daichi is oblivious and Suga assumed Daichi wasn’t into him. Daichi’s dumbness and their mutual pining becomes a fond, shared joke several years later

-Daichi has no gag reflex.

-Daisuga have a very fat, very orange cat named Ninja. He’s surprisingly fast and agile despite looking like a furry basketball. (Daichi is a dog person and did not even want Ninja at first. He suspects Kuroo had something to do with this. Suga sometimes playfully gets upset because “Ninja likes you better than me, Dai!”)

-Everyone expects Suga to be the dominant one but Suga is more than willing to be submissive for Daichi and has on several occasions

ASANOYA

-Noya gets up before sunrise to run. Asahi would rather die than leave his bed before 8am

-Noya turns the coffee pot on and cooks breakfast to lure Asahi out of bed

-Noya is surprisingly patient, gentle, quiet, and kind when it comes to Asahi and his insecurities

-Noya is the type to bottle his insecurities and fears until they explode. The only one who can calm him back down is Asahi

-Asahi makes bratty faces when he thinks Noya isn’t looking

-Noya and Tanaka spend a lot of time with Daisuga because of the Daichi&Suga&Asahi&Kiyoko friendship. Asahi and Ennoshita become good friends

-Asahi doesn’t understand the distance between Noya and his sisters because Asahi is very close to his

-It is impossible to embarrass Noya

-Asahi gets a lot of inspiration for his fashion designs from traveling with Noya

-Noya knows how to braid hair and likes to play with Asahi’s

-Asahi enjoys physical affection but dislikes overt PDA. Noya would happily climb Asahi like a tree in public if Asahi would let him

-Only Asahi calls Noya by his given name

-Noya knows he likes Asahi early on but Asahi’s panic (“omg someone LIKES me?? NOYA likes me?? My crush??”) at his confession prevent them getting together until after the Date Tech match (after Asahi rejoins the team).

-Noya is affected by wanderlust and that’s why he travels. Sometimes Asahi joins him. They get married in Canada during one of these trips. (I once read a fantastic asanoya fic where a significant event happened in Canada so Canada is my asanoya place now)

-Noya sends Asahi a postcard from every place he’s ever visited. Sometimes he’ll spend over half an hour trying to find the *best* one, only to buy them all and send them as a sort of big long letter. Asahi saves them all in a photo album that lives on the coffee table. (Some people have a coffee table book, Asahi has a photo album.)

-Noya prefers to top. The one thing he’s really uncomfortable with is being on the bottom (physically laying beneath someone and also sex).

KUROKEN

-Kuroken have a black cat and a calico and enjoy naps on the couch with the kitties. Kuroo has SO MANY pictures in his phone of Kenma curled around the kitties.

-Kuroo: “Love you.” Kenma: “Hate you.”

-Kenma CAN cook, but likes that Kuroo likes taking care of him

-Every game Kuroo has ever owned is multiplayer because he only games with Kenma

-Kenma’s favorite games involve critical thinking and puzzles. Kuroo enjoys watching him play

-Kuroo is an introvert masquerading as an extrovert. Kenma is an introvert. They enjoy quiet nights in.

-Kuroo has anxiety. Kenma always knows when Kuroo is anxious and how to fix it

-People make Kenma anxious. Kuroo makes himself anxious.

-Kenma’s nicknames for Kuroo are Kuro and Koroemon. Kuroo calls Kenma Kyanma and kitten

-Kuroo has been in love with Kenma for as long as he can remember, since they were kids. Kenma knows this, but doesn’t understand he feels the same way until Kuroo goes off to college

-Kuroo is the one who discovered Daichi’s lack of gag reflex. He’s delighted to learn that Kenma lacks one as well

-Kenma moves more slowly than Kuroo. He’s not as comfortable with physical affection and sex as Kuroo is. Their relationship progresses slowly, and Kuroo lets Kenma lead.

-After Kenma’s confession, how he feels about Kuroo is one of the very few things Kuroo does not doubt or make himself anxious over.

-Kuroo can, will, and has go(ne) on and on and ON about Kenma until someone shuts him up. It drives Yaku up the fucking wall in high school.

-Kenma does a retro game stream once or twice a month made up of games he and Kuroo used to play as kids. Kuroo actually games with him on those days and Kenma’s followers are quick to notice and speculate because Kenma has literally never gamed with another person in the same room before. Sometimes Kenma can only post the actual gameplay because Kuroo ruined the footage of them by being excessively sappy. (Kuroo is NOT above flirting and dirty talk to get an edge and Kenma doesn’t really think his fans need to know that.)

-Kuroken do not talk about Kuroo’s mom or sister

-The Kozumes love “Tetsu-chan” and Kuroo’s grandparents adore Kenma. Kuroken get along with each other’s families better than they do their own.

-Kuroo is tactile. He’s that ass-slapping friend. Kenma thinks he’s ridiculous

-Kuroo used to be dislike Hinata, because Kenma and Hinata are extremely good friends and Kuroo was afraid Hinata would take Kenma away from him. Kenma has assured him he doesn’t like Hinata like that but Kuroo doesn’t warm up until Hinata starts dating Kageyama

BOKUAKA

-Akaashi is 100% in charge of the house and the financials and his word is law. Not because he’s an asshole but because Bokuto is whipped

-Akaashi is a screamer. Bokuto has a big dick.

-Bokuto is the calmest between him and his sisters. His sisters have formed an Akaashi fanclub

-Bokuaka kiss a lot during sex

-Bokuto fucking loves owls

-Akaashi used to be embarrassed over being a manga editor but Bokuto thinks it’s the coolest job ever, “even better than mine!” When his authors need references, Akaashi sends them pictures of Bokuto. Bokuto takes this responsibility very seriously

-Bokuaka exclusively refer to each other by first name but Akaashi can’t break the habit of using -san

-Akaashi and Kenma are very good friends. Bokuto thinks they might even be better bros than him and Kuroo. (Kenma is one of the few people Akaashi calls by first name, and one of the only people who calls Akaashi by his.)

-Akaashi overthinks as a result of anxiety, but he doesn’t think he has anxiety. He prefers to call it “seeing the issue from all sides”

-Akaashi and Bokuto do yoga together. Bokuto behaves himself surprisingly well around Akaashi in yoga pants

-Akaashi decided to attend Fukurodani after watching Bokuto play and literally for no other reason

-Bokuaka are the embodiment of love at first sight and their relationship has an unreal, almost storybook quality to it because they are literally perfect for each other. Because of this, Bokuto doesn’t understand why other people struggle so much to start and maintain a relationship, no matter how many times Kuroo tells him “just because your relationship is straight out of a movie doesn’t mean the rest of the world works like that”

-Bokuaka have a koi pond in their backyard and have named all the fish. Bokuto always asks about them when he’s away for games

IWAOI

-Iwaizumi cooks and cleans because he’s always been the one taking care of Oikawa, but he refuses to fold the laundry because “I’m not doing everything for you, you fucking freeloader”

-Iwaizumi cooks healthy “old man food.” Oikawa’s sweet tooth suffers

-Oikawa is that guy who puts more cream and sugar and other additives in his coffee than actual coffee. He’s tried all of Starbucks’ seasonal drinks and never gets the same thing twice

-Iwaoi have very heated arguments about if Godzilla can kick King Kong’s ass or not. Iwaizumi of course sides with Godzilla

-Iwaoi once fought about the original purpose of Stonehenge and now no one can mention England without it coming back up

-Oikawa only became comfortable with his glasses because Iwaizumi likes them

-Iwaoi have been friends since they were in diapers. The whole volleyball team took bets on when they’d announce their relationship

-Both the Oikawas and the Iwaizumis respond when either boy calls for mom or dad. Oikawa calls his sister Nee-chan while Iwaizumi says Oneesan

-Iwaizumi’s favorite of Oikawa’s features is his legs. Oikawa is in love with Iwa’s arms

-Neither of them can remember when they started liking each other or how their relationship started

-Iwaoi are shockingly codependent and do NOT do separation (during university in Argentina/California or for away games) well

-Deep down Oikawa is extremely insecure and worries he isn’t enough - in volleyball, in school, in his family, in his relationship. Iwaizumi always knows when he’s putting on a front and how to cheer him back up

-Iwaizumi is secretly so soft and weak for Oikawa

-After the Olympics Iwaizumi moves to Argentina to be with Oikawa and they get married. They move back to Japan after Oikawa retires from volleyball and after gay marriage becomes legal there

-Oikawa keeps various plants around the house and the patio and is extremely proud of them. He paints all their pots and even names some of them (which Iwaizumi thinks is disgustingly cute). His most prized plant is a lucky bamboo he bought on a whim when iwaoi first moved in together.

-Oikawa can’t deepthroat. It makes him so jealous that Iwaizumi can

-Iwaizumi blushes whenever Oikawa gives him a genuine compliment

-Iwaizumi has a praise kink. Oikawa has a “whatever comes out of Iwa’s mouth” kink

-Iwaizumi has dom tendencies.

#haikyuu #headcanons #daisuga #asanoya #kuroken #bokuaka #iwaoi #updated it #sawamura daichi #sugawara koushi #azumane asahi #nishinoya yuu #kozume kenma #kuroo tetsurou #bokuto koutaru #akaashi keiji #iwaizumi hajime #oikawa tooru

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lolabangtan · 3 years

Text

Chuck-Will-widow’s call | kth

There’d a kid climbing up a tree, you remember, to see the chuck-will’s-widows. He’d look at them for hours. Now there was no kid but a young, tall man with ruffled black hair and a pair of sturdy shoes. Oddly enough, the first thing you noticed about him was that you had seen him before. The song of the birds opened your memory to a childhood you thought was lost.

Word count: 10k

Warnings: country boy, i love uuuuuuuu

Most of it is plot and convos, so if you want to go directly to the smut don't hesitate and go for it bestie i won't judge

# sub!tae, noona!reader, tae is a farmer and your long-lost childhood friend, oral sex (female receiving), foot fetish, morning wood lol, reader calling tae ‘puppy’, ugly make-out, mutual dry-humphing, orgasm delay, unprotected vaginal sex (remember guys you can’t go wrong if you shield your dong) Tae is the kind of guy who can’t help staring at your juicy body.

I honestly don’t know how to describe this. Merci de taking into consideration that I wrote this listening on repeat to Mariah Carey’s Fantasy.

Growing up seemed far away. Life felt endless, unbeatable. The summer breeze against your face during your walks in the countryside, or the thirst of your skin for the shade of a tree after hours under the sun. Moving out of your aunt’s house was the first sign of losing your childhood. Now you were an adult with an adult job at an office and an adult car parked in an adult flat building.

“What are you doing this weekend? It’s been like a century since we last went out for a drink, just the two of us.”

You looked up from your coffee mug to stare at him. “I can’t.”

“Why?” Seokjin frowned. “You hate doing anything during the weekend unrelated to alcohol. That’s why we’re friends, remember?”

“Yeah, but this time I’m busy for real,” you replied, chuckling against the cup. The office kitchen was suddenly silent. “I told you about the house where I grew up, right? In the south, my aunt’s. My cousins have put her in a retirement home, and she left me the house, but it needs to be renovated. I have to go and see what state it’s in.”

“You? Not her kids?”

“I was the one who was raised there by her, not them. They lived with their dad. I guess you could call it an act of small, personal revenge,” was your answer.

Seokjin whistled. “Damn it, I would’ve done the same if my kids had put me in a nursing home. So, this house – is it like a pretty cottage where you can grow mushrooms and kiss your sapphic girlfriend or rather like an old cabin in the middle of a dried out cornfield?”

“It’s just a house,” you cackled, “I don’t know. The size is fine, it is a cute old house, and my aunt did use to keep an orchard and a flower garden, but I’m not sure if it’s still there. I’ll tell you when I come back.”

“Well, you know what they say,” Jin muttered then, placing his mug back on the counter before leaving: “reject humanity, return to monkey. Now” – he smiled at your growing laughter – “I do have to go back to my office; Namjoon needed my help with something about… the gala, I guess? I have no idea. Well, yes, keep me posted on that cornfield house. And send me pictures, I wanna see the place we will retire.”

You watched him leave with a silent nod.

It didn’t matter how hard you tried; the memory wouldn’t come back to you. It was faded, it all was faded – the colours of the wildflowers on the fields, the shape of the tree at the entrance, the sounds of the birds coming from the windows; how could you describe it to Jin if you had already forgotten about it yourself? A sharp, acute pain pierced your heart.

You came back to your office and turned to your secretary. “I’ll be leaving early today; I need to pack.”

“You’re leaving town?”

“Yes, I’m going back to my hometown,” you said, “but you can hit me up if anything happens, I’ll try to stay reachable, and with signal. By the way, do you have M Han’s documents? The ones from the Paris deal.”

It took you longer than you expected to finish the workload you wanted to get rid of before leaving for the week. By the time you were done, it was already late, and the spooky figure of Seokjin was staring at you from behind your office’s windows right before smiling the second you set your eyes on him.

“That was so fucking terrifying,” you said as soon as you walked out after gathering your stuff, closing the door.

“Thank you,” he cackled. “Are you going straight home? Want me to give you a ride?”

You groaned in exhaustion. “I’d love that.”

On your silent way to Seokjin’s car lot, he broke the quietness with a generic question about your day, claiming that none of your cats would bother to ask once you got home. You laughed at his antics half-heartedly.

“I’m just a bit off,” you confessed after Seokjin prodded about it. “About the house, I mean.”

“Your aunt’s?”

You nodded. “It’s just that it feels like I cheated her? I never really bothered to take care of her after I moved out for college. A phone call here and there every week, which then becomes once a month, and suddenly it’s just making sure we’re still alive every few years. I can complain all I want about my cousins, but they were the ones who looked after her when I left.”

“And yet she left you the house,” Seokjin interrupted. “Don’t think any more of it – unless you think she actually belongs in a retirement home.”

He then opened the car door like a gentleman and gestured you to get in. You obliged, giggling again; he really had the talent to lift your spirits. It’s not like you often needed him to but receiving that email from your aunt’s lawyer had felt like a punch in the stomach.

“So, I’ve been waiting for you to tell me, but I guess I’ll have to ask.” You were already on the road, the city lights glowing in the darkness of the night, blurred by the engine’s speed. “Any rustic sweetheart waiting by the cornfield? You haven’t dated anyone since the Roll-Royce guy, and it’s been ages since then. Perhaps your heart will always belong to some country boy?”

“Can you please stop talking about the countryside like it’s just some cows and old people chewing on a wheat straw?” you snarled, looking through the window.

Seokjin laughed apologetically. “Sorry, you know I’m a city boy. My knowledge is limited.”

“And based a couple of old movies,” you continued. He kept silent, and you realized he hadn’t forgotten about his question. “There was a boy, one of the farmers’ kids, but it was a long time ago, and we just kissed once, and we were like ten!”

“What happened then?”

“Puberty.” You shrugged. “And we probably didn’t even like each other. It was a game, you know, we were playing adults. All kids do. But he was two years younger than me, so we didn’t really have time to hang out anymore when I started middle school. We would meet after he caught up with me, but it was— it was not the same. Everything had changed.”

Seokjin sighed. “That’s kinda sad.”

“Well, I was focused on college,” you said; “everyone knew that I’d attend some prestigious place and find a well-paid job in the city. That’s where my parents lived, after all. They wanted me to grow up somewhere nice, and the town had already served its purpose by then. I knew it, he knew it, my aunt knew it.”

After a couple of seconds of thoughtful silence, your friend spoke again, curiosity filling his voice: “What do your parents think about this whole thing? Your aunt leaving you the house and all.”

“Haven’t told them,” you muttered, “yet.”

Seokjin didn’t say anything else. Shortly after, you arrived at your flat and watched him leave after you turned down his offer of driving you to the station on Saturday. Instead, you hailed a taxi the morning of the departure and got dropped off at the train station. Already sitting on your place, you got a text from Seokjin:

A friend of mine quit his job as a reporter and left town by railway. You frowned, confused, but then he sent you another one. It was an ex-press train.

An old lady took the seat next to you. Chuckling, you replied: “I can’t believe I laughed.”

That’s my secret talent. Anyways, he continued, enjoy your weekend off. Don’t give it too much thought, you know, and try to make the most of it. Who knows. You waited patiently for a continuation of his teasing words. Perhaps you’ll come back with a country boy hanging from your arm.

“Why do you want me to get laid so badly?”

Because you need it lol.

Having been crouched down during your chat with him, you sat right on your seat, putting down the phone on your lap with a thoughtful grimace.

It didn’t take you long to fall asleep, since you had to wake up so early in the morning. However, the lump in your throat was still there when you woke up. There was a movie playing in the background, but you languidly tilted your head towards the window, looking at the landscape. It was recognizable, the mountains and the little houses sprinkled here and there.

A sudden spasm made you gasp – the faded images in your head had begun to regain their colours. You could now hear the sounds of your childhood, the birds chirping, the baker’s voice as she handed you the morning bread.

When you realised, two think tears streamed down your cheeks.

You wiped your tears, tilting your head in embarrassment as the old lady next to you stared in concern. “It’s— this movie always makes me cry.” You tried to laugh it off, but you turned to the screen hanging from the waggon’s ceiling and saw the Emoji Movie playing. “I just love it,” you added without any more courage.

The old lady just handed you a tissue in silence, and you thanked her with a nod of shame.

How would you deal with these feelings, you didn’t know. How would you come back to the house, pretending you had never left for a ‘better’ life in the city, you didn’t know. You had no idea what you would find when you arrived.

Or who.

You sighed. Damn Seokjin and his match-making services. He should take care of his love life before bothering to meddling with someone else’s; because now you were sitting on a train, with your head full of fears, wondering if you would meet Kim Taehyung again.

Yes, you said you didn’t even like each other, but it’s not like you didn’t drag out your childhood crush all the way to high school and college. True, there was no comparison to how you had felt when you were younger, but even if your regard for him had changed in form, it had not grown any smaller.

But there was no point in messing up with your feelings right now.

One hour and a half into the trip, you began to search for taxis around the train station, or any other way to get to the town. You suddenly remembered about the one-bus line, so you checked the timetables and reserved a ticket.

Finally, your train arrived, and you were able to get out of the carriage with your luggage.

“Damn it.”

You knew it was almost summer, and it was hot in the city where you lived, but this was something else – your skin didn’t take long to begin to sweat and blush under the relentless midday sun. As you sat down, your eyes wandered, looking for the bus station.

“Y/N!”

The voice made you raise your head, completely weirded out; who on earth had recognised you after so long? And what could they be doing here, out of all places!

“Excuse me?” you asked, trying to be as polite as possible.

“My God, look how tall you’ve grown!” the man exclaimed. “If it wasn’t for your eyes, young lady, I wouldn’t have known. I’m Sunwsoo. Your aunt called me last week and asked me to pick you up.”

His face began to feel familiar, and you finally recognised him; he was the warehouse clerk. His wife also kept a grocery store. Your aunt had always been friends with them, and Mr Lee used to drop you off at school whenever she couldn’t.

He led you to his car and offered to carry your stuff, but you couldn’t bring yourself to accept the kindness.

“Also, my youngest opened a repair shop in the next town over, so he’s going to take over the renovation plans for the house.” The old man sensed your concern, so he laughed it off. “Don’t worry, the place’s fine – just a bit old, that’s all. And your aunt couldn’t spare the time to take care of all the repairs it needs. Some redecorating would do it good, too, but only if you want. It’s your house now.”

It’s your house now.

It didn’t take you long to reach the village. Mr Lee let out a chuckle as he watched you glue your face to the car window, trying to absorb every detail of the scenery. Even the smell of the soil felt now like something you’d never stopped having around in your life, as if you’d never left.

Mr Lee stopped the car in front of a path up the small hill. “Here we are. These are your keys to the house, and the car’s,” he said as he handed the heavy set of keys to you. “We’ll have lunch at twelve; in case you forgot, we live right next to my wife’s grocery store.”

“Lunch?” you asked, more surprised than you had intended.

But, again, Mr Lee only laughed. “Yes, lunch. Unless you want to do some shopping and eat alone, of course.”

“No, no.” You smiled. “Lunch sounds lovely, I’ll be there. And thank you for everything, really, I was kind of overwhelmed by all this; I just didn’t imagine my aunt would’ve everything so well sorted out.”

“Of course she has! She was eager to have you here. It’ll take her some time to come and see you, but don’t worry about it – we’re all eager to lend you a hand with this, Y/N. Welcome back.”

Getting into the house was harder than you thought. Although everything was exactly the same outside, the house had changed completely: the hall was dark, and you could tell that no one had lived there for some time. The walls were splintered, the wood on the floor creaked under your feet, and the paper on the windows was torn.

You could only see the shadow of your child-self running through the courtyard.

Mr Lee had told you how to go to his wife’s store in case you wanted to do the grocery shopping as soon as possible, so you left your suitcase in the main bedroom; you’d have to get used to sleeping on the floor, apparently. You’d have to check if the floor heater was working, too, although you probably wouldn’t need it, given the weather.

Your phone started ringing. “Yes?”

“Yah!” Seokjin’s voice yelled from the other line. “Why didn’t you call me when you got there? Are you okay? Did you get kidnapped or something?”

“I’m perfectly fine, thank you,” you laughed, “just got dropped off.”

“Really? Who did?”

“A friend of my aunt’s. He used to drop me off at school, too, when I was a kid.”

Seokjin inquired after your trip with a couple of questions more before claiming to be too busy and wishing you good luck repairing the old cabin by the cornfield. You thanked him, chuckling, and took a look around when he hanged up.

You’d better get to work as soon as possible – you could talk to Mr Lee’s son about the plans for the house renovations tomorrow.

The store was easy to spot; Mrs Lee greeted you as if she had expected you to arrive there some way or another, which you would’ve done anyway. She asked you about your job and asked if you were still single. “You know, my younger son is single too,” she said, smiling slyly, “but I know he wouldn’t be first on the list.”

You blushed slightly and changed the subject, “I’m gonna get only basic stuff to survive at least a week.”

Mrs Lee helped you picking the groceries and helped you put them in the bags. Meanwhile, she asked you how long you had planned to stay, and you said that long enough to make the house decent to rent or sell.

“You will sell the house?” the woman exclaimed.

“Well, I’m not sure,” you mumbled. “It’d be hard to manage it from the city, and I work too much to come here often enough. I could ask someone here to help me with it, of course, but—”

“Think it through.”

She was going to say something else, but a customer behind you prodded to be attended, so you rushed goodbye and left with your groceries.

Walking back to your house, you remembered a shortcut and turned left instead. A clean building appeared in front of you, taking you by surprise; there had never been a shop in that corner of the town. You checked the sign by the door.

So there’s a coffee shop here now. Cute.

You read that they had Wi-Fi available for customers, and you almost jumped out of joy. At least you could try and catch up with work during the time you’d have to stay there – just thinking that the pile of work waiting for you upon your return wouldn’t be as big made you utter a sigh of relief.

You were so immersed in your thoughts that you didn’t hear the door opening, and you banged your head against the hardwood, falling on your ass. Whoever was coming out of the café said they hadn’t seen you and apologised.

“Don’t worry, it was my fault,” you insisted as the stranger helped you get up.

You walked away from the shop kneading your forehead and wondering if it’d leave a little bump. Lunchtime was getting closer, so everything was silent out of a sudden, except for a soft chirping coming from the trees in front of you and the sound of a bicycle’s warning bell ring.

As the stranger got off the bike, the song of the birds opened your memory to a childhood you thought was lost.

There’d be a kid climbing up to the top, you remembered, to see the chuck-will’s-widows. He’d look at them for hours. Now there was no kid but a young, tall man with ruffled black hair and a pair of sturdy shoes. Oddly enough, the first thing you noticed about him was that you had seen him before.

“Taehyung?” you suddenly asked.

He smiled at you with his boxy grin, and for a second you completely forgot about the pain, until he left the bicycle in the rack and ran towards you.

“Noona!”

As Taehyung stood in front of you, waiting eagerly to greet you, you mouthed, “Kim Taehyung!”

That was the only thing you seemed able to say. He smiled again, saying that he had been told you’d be coming for a visit soon, and offered to walk you home as he continued with his barrage of questions. For an instant, you felt that his eyes were all over you, and as complimenting as that was, you thought he was just trying to find how you had changed over the years.

“I’ll stay as long as the renovation of my aunt’s house lasts,” you said, and you lifted the heavy bags in your hands. “I just came back from doing the grocery shopping.”

“Oh! Let me help you with that.”

You didn’t stop Taehyung from taking charge of carrying one of the bags as he walked his bike, and you took the opportunity to examine him conscientiously; he had grown quite attractive, frankly, with his golden skin and black, ruffled hair covering his forehead carelessly. There was still the distinctive laid-back stand in his way of walking, and the naturality of every single one of his gestures. You could swear he smelled like warm soil.

“Would you like to catch up over a coffee one of these days?” you asked, not quite sure he’d accept. “We could meet tomorrow in the café.”

Taehyung didn’t look too convinced, but he nodded. “Sure, I’d love that.”

You rushed to break the silence once you got to your house, “It was lovely to see you. You look… taller, and older. Well, of course you do.”

Idiot.

“Yeah,” he muttered, smiling softly, “it’s been a long time.”

“Taehyung!” Before the boy left, you called him again and made him turn to you. “Are you still living in the farmhouse?” He nodded instantly. “Would you mind if I dropped by to say hello one of these days?”

“Sure.”

You stood in the entrance hall after saying goodbye and coming in. What the fuck was that? How come Taehyung had changed so much? – well, it was normal to go through several changes in literally ten years of your life, but STILL. He probably didn’t even want to go for coffee with you, but he had seemed so happy to see you at first! Was he trying to keep a distance? Well, you were supposed to leave again, so it wouldn’t be a surprise.

“Fuck!” It was already twenty to twelve. How had the morning gone by so quickly?

After taking a quick shower as you picked an outfit in your mind, you got changed and rushed out of the house, grabbing the keys on your way out.

The lunch with the Lees was nicer than you expected. They bothered to inform you of all the news that had happened in the town since you left; some – the older ones – your aunt had already told you, but most of them you didn’t know about.

You also discussed the repairs with their youngest son, as they had already checked the state of the house before you arrived. It wouldn’t take too long, but they thought that perhaps you’d like to take over the redecoration, to make it cosier. Mrs Lee stared at you as you thought about your answer.

“I’d love to, really,” you said, “but my boss won’t let me stay away from work for that long.”

“What did you say you do for a living, Y/N?” asked the eldest son.

“Event planning.”

Mr Lee laughed. “Sounds like something you can do from here… I know you want to rent it, and it’s not for me to tell you what to do, but I think you owe your aunt at least this.”

And he was completely right. But how could you stay for a while and gather the courage to leave? Not when everyone had been so welcoming so far. Well, except Taehyung, perhaps. However, you couldn’t just forget about your job and your car and your bills to grow vegetables and kiss your lovely farmer.

You changed to something lighter as soon as you got home. At five o’clock Lee Sungjae, Lee Sungwoo’s son, and his crew arrived, tools in hand, to begin with the reparations under your command.

An hour into the chore, you brought them something to drink so they could have a break:

“The house is really nice,” said one. “A little decoration would go a long way, but I’m afraid we can’t help you there.”

Sungjae chuckled slyly. “Why don’t you ask Kim Taehyung? I hear he’s been into handicrafts lately.”

“Yeah, my sister ordered a vase from him for her living room, and she hasn’t been able to shut up about it since then. And he’s always had a very… refined taste for that stuff, hasn’t he?”

“Oppa, you just want to take work off your hands,” you retorted.

And it would’ve been a great idea if only the artist himself hadn’t spurned you just a couple of hours ago. Had he just forgotten about your friendship? You couldn’t really blame him, but he could’ve at least pretended to care. Just thinking about it made you sink into your seat with a grimace.

They finished up the work a couple of hours into the evening and left, claiming that the work would be finished in less than half a week. You nodded; the problem with the house was not that it needed to be repaired but rather the lack of human touch. It looked like a ghost house where no one had lived for years, and that was exactly what had happened. Your job here was to make it look alive again.

As you predicted, the bed-more-like-a-blanket-on-the-floor left you rolling around all night. The mix of anxiety, nerves, and expectation ended up being a cocktail of emotions that you just couldn’t handle, and you woke up the next morning with only a couple of hours of sleep on your back.

The shrill ringing of a bicycle finally woke you up. You tossed and turned on the blanket as the sound became louder and you finally came out into the garden and peeked over the fence.

“Taehyung-ah!”

He smiled widely as soon as you peeked your head over. “Noona! Did you just wake up?”

“You got me,” you laughed; “yesterday was quite a long day, you know, full of emotions— but I’ll be ready if you just give me a second,” you said, pointing at your bedroom.

“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to rush you.”

You ran back into the house before Taehyung could say anything else and walked out after barely five minutes, already dressed and having brushed your teeth. He pointed at the back of his bicycle and you sat behind him with a smile growing on your face.

“What?” he asked then.

Suddenly you and Taehyung were a thousand years younger; he’d ask you to sit behind him to ride you home, forgetting about the awfully long uphill, and you’d frown and question his riding skills.

“Nothing,” you muttered with a soft chuckle, “I’m just having a déjà vu.” He puckered his lips, wanting to say something, but nothing came out of them. “I guess things are still the way they were seven years ago.”

Now you did feel Taehyung’s back stiffening against your chest as he rode down the hill. What had you said now that had upset him?

You decided to continue, “I mean, they’re not exactly the same, of course; I know it’s a bit hypocritical to pretend that I’m still a local— but yeah, some things are still the same, even if all those years have passed already.” Like the fact that I’ve never stopped crushing on you.

“And those things will never change, right?”

You didn’t really know what he meant with that question, but the sudden – or not so sudden, had you been paying attention to his warning instead of being absorbed in your thoughts – halt of his bike made you bump into him like a cheesy movie, pressing your chest against his back. Thinking you were going to fall off your seat, Taehyung rushed to hold your thigh, but you just stayed still, grabbing at him like your life depended on it. Could he feel your heart pounding against him? You were certain that he could.

“You okay?” he asked, turning to you with concern.

“Yeah, I—”

“Just be careful.” And with that, he turned back to start pedalling again, but you didn’t miss the way he flexed his shoulders. Did you hurt him or something?

Shortly after, the sight of the coffee shop appeared, and Taehyung parked the bicycle after you hopped off. He greeted the owner, whom you didn’t recognise, and he explained that she bought the lot and moved in with her family not so long after you left.

“Taehyung-ssi, good morning. This is Y/N, right?” You nodded slowly. “Everyone knows everyone here! And Taehyung-ssi couldn’t stop talking about you when we knew you were coming back. You’re the niece of—”

“I’ll have an iced tea, thank you.”

You turned to Taehyung when he interrupted her. “I am. I just came for a visit and to take care of the house. I’d like an iced latte, please. Could you also make us some toast with jam?”

“Sure, what kind? Our strawberry jam is homemade, and we make it with the harvest from the Kim’s farm.” You went for the homemade jam without hesitation; it had been a long time since you had tasted his family’s strawberries. “I will bring your order to you in no time.”

The waitress left and you were finally alone with Taehyung, nothing else to do but stare into each other’s eyes in silence or chat. You opted for the latter, and the two of you engaged in a very generic conversation about what you had been up to these years.

“So” – Taehyung chuckled softly, awkwardly, as he fidgeted on his seat – “you came alone, didn’t you?”

“What do you mean?”

Before he could explain his question, your phone rang, ‘handsome Seokjin’ glowing on the screen. You sighed after mouthing that you hadto take the call and groan-asked Seokjin what the hell did he want.

“Wow, everything fine, gorgeous?”

“Until you interrupted, yeah,” you said, forgetting Taehyung was next to you. He cleared his throat, and your order finally arrived.

“Oh, is your country boo-boo with you? What was his name again? Tell him I said hi.”

“You’re impossible, really.” God, were you blushing? Damn Kim Seokjin, he was getting his sweet revenge, wasn’t he? “I’m busy now. Whatever you need right now, talk to my secretary. I’m on my week off.”

“But M Han—”

Alas, you had already hung up, turning to your drink with the urgent need of cooling down the heat on your cheeks. You were impossible too – almost ten years and you hadn’t got over your crush on Kim Taehyung. Why was he so cute and handsome and charming and genuine? It’d have made it a thousand times easier if he wasn’t.

“We can meet some other time if you need to work now,” he muttered.

But you snorted. “I specifically asked them not to bother me with work this week. I’m trying to focus on the house, and the people… This place’s changed so much, it’s crazy.”

“Did you visit your aunt yet?”

“I called yesterday, as soon as I arrived,” you said, “but my cousins won’t let me see her. I guess they’re still a bit bitter about the house.”

“That house has always been yours, noona.” Taehyung’s sudden serious tone caught you by surprise. “This place, the house, the town – it will always be your home, for as long as you want it to be. You just have to take it.”

You ran your fingers through your hair with an anxious laugh. “Everyone’s been so nice to me since I arrived, I kinda feel like an impostor, taking any willing hand to get on with the house while I pretend I still know them. Whatever I end up doing with the house, it will disappoint someone, so I guess I’m just doomed to annihilate the peace and happiness of these people.”

“Noona… I’m really happy you’re back.”

“Are you?” you retorted, rolling your eyes. Fatigue was taking its toll on your filter as you spoke. “You didn’t seem to be when you walked me home yesterday.”

And he took that personally. “I really was! How could you say that? I was just nervous because you weren’t as excited as me.”

“I was having a… an epiphany, okay?” you cried.

“About what?”

About the fact that I’ve been in love with you for seven years, dumbass. But you just couldn’t say that, could you? Of course you couldn’t – what if he was already married? What if he already had kids? And a dog!

“About being single. Tell me, do you have someone special?”

Nice save, Y/N.

Taehyung smiled shyly again, and you melted. “No, I’m not seeing anyone… So, you came alone?”

“Alone and sublime, yep.”

The conversation didn’t last much longer, as Taehyung needed to head back home and you didn’t want to have lunch too late; you still had to call Seokjin and ask what the hell was going on with M Han. After asking the old lady if you could come every morning to use the Wi-Fi, Taehyung walked you home in silence.

“Fucking finally.” Seokjin almost grunted from the other line. “Han wants to talk to you about the promotion you asked for.” Oh, no. Not now. “He’s in if you are, but he’s still not sure about it, and neither I am – are you sure you want to move to America? I mean, you’ll earn more money, yes, and the job is way more prestigious—”

“You’re right, I’m not sure.”

It took him a while to say something. “What? I was trying to put some pressure on you, but this— what on earth happened?”

“I’m tired of working my ass off just to work it off even harder, that’s it.”

“Are you— are you quitting, Y/N?”

“No,” you said with a blank face, shrugging, “just turning down an offer. I’ll call you later, Jin, okay? The repair guys are about to arrive, and I need to tidy up a bit.” And then you hung up without giving him the chance to say anything else.

The repairs and renovations to the house went smoothly. Within a week they were almost finished, with just a few finishing touches, and by the next day it was ready and all that was left was to decorate it to make it look like a home again. You had agreed with Seokjin that you would not neglect your work before rushing anything, so you went down to the coffee shop every morning to catch up.

Every day, when you came out of there after a hard day’s work, you would run into Taehyung coming down on his bicycle. Sometimes he would be on his way to the post office, sometimes he’d go shopping, or to see a friend, or come just for a ride – and every day he offered to walk you home.

Hell, it couldn’t be good for your health, getting used to seeing him with that lazy morning look of his, grinning at you like it hadn’t any effect on you. Did he like you? Sometimes you thought he did. What you wouldn’t give to go back in time and yell at your teen-self not to leave, that you were in love, that those butterflies in your belly weren’t because you were good friends. Ah, what you wouldn’t give to be a child again, taking long walks around the country and picking flowers because you only wanted to make him smile.

Do you like me, Taehyung? I need to know. It’ll change my life in a second if you do. Fuck America, Fuck Han Minhyuk, fuck the gala. Just three words. Well, four: ‘I like you, noona’, and my world is yours.

“What’s on your mind?” Wow, your heart was beating so fast it hurt. “You look thoughtful.”

“Nothing,” you said. You know, like a liar. “Well, I was wondering— now that the repairs are finished, we’ve only got the redecoration left, and I’ve heard wonderful things about your pottery. I could really use your help.”

Taehyung stared at you. For a second, his eyes snapped out of thought, and you wondered what kind of sudden thought had crossed his mind and made him lose focus. But then he just licked his lips, like he always did, and your gaze danced down, eyes lingering on the view as he spoke. Had he noticed? You hoped he hadn’t.

You agreed to meet tomorrow to discuss the old furniture and make some pottery. You really trusted Taehyung’s taste, even if finding new pieces of furniture looked like a hard thing to do, and obviously you were eager to spend some more time with him.

“Wow, Taehyung, this— this is amazing!”

Your eyes wandered around the room as soon as you stepped in. Vases, egg cups, paintings, candlesticks, and photographs, among many other things, decorated the walls of what Taehyung had called his art room. You were dumbfounded, and your astonishment made him grin bashfully.

“Thank you… I spend most of my free time here, especially when I’m feeling a bit blue,” he said.

Taehyung soon led you to his potter’s wheel. He also showed you how to throw pot, placing the clay on the bat and showing you where to put your hands. You were in the middle of summer, you know, and wearing any clothes besides the bare minimum to cover for decency was a suicide mission. He was a nice guy, the kind of man in-laws loved, but he just couldn’t help but stare at your cleavage when you anchored your elbows tightly against your body, pushing up your breasts. You could’ve said something, but his gaze made heat rush through your body, and you moved them a bit to the side so the view would get even better.

“Now you have to cone it,” he muttered, standing in front of you, “one hand at a time.”

“How?”

You could feel the way Taehyung’s chest swelled against the loose fabric of his tee before he moved to sit behind you. “Like this.”

His sweaty skin brushed against yours, and you had to fight the urge to rub your back against his chest. To have better access to the clay, Taehyung followed your hands and put his palms over them, cheeks pressing against each other. You wondered how the hell he hadn’t burst out in flames yet, given that his skin was burning. Hell, you were burning too, and it wasn’t only because of the heat.

“You’re really good with your hands,” you muttered, eyeing him as the real meaning of your words kicked in.

Taehyung just licked his lips, swallowing hard, and pressed his chest against your back before coughing, moving his hips away from your lower back in a jerk. You wanted to know what was wrong, or if your comment had made him feel uncomfortable, but he got up from the seat.

“I” – Taehyung sighed more loudly than what he intended – “I need to use the bathroom for a second, just— keep raising the wall. Get the sponge and squeeze the clay with your fingers.”

Alone in the silent room, you leaned back on the seat. Was he turned on? Because you sure as hell were. Damn it, everything had been a bucolic, cottagecore-like dream until he showed up in the picture, and suddenly it was a wet spiral of dirty thoughts and carnal cravings.

The sound of the door shoved you out of your thoughts, and Taehyung came back, fringes wet and cheeks cold. He stood in front of you with a piece of Chamois leather, a wooden piece, and wire.

After a couple of days, you had already learned how to throw pottery on your own decently, and Taehyung showed you a couple of designs that he thought you’d love. Indeed you did.

He helped you buying new furniture, everything made by the townspeople or by close neighbours, and paint the walls. You were especially proud of the sitting room, as it now looked like the cosiest room in the world, nothing like your living room back in the city. The day you finished up the decoration, you invited him to stay over for a few drinks.

“I don’t really drink much,” he said. You smiled, a bit disappointed, and claimed it was no big deal. “Do you— do you have fruit flavoured soju? I can drink that.”

You sat down in front of the courtyard and stared at the plants in the middle, recently planted and just watered. The sun was already setting, painting golden everything under it. It was just like any other evening in the country, with a good friend on your side and a nice drink in your hand, but somehow it was not exactly the same.

The conversation went from one thing to another, you never ran out of topics to talk about. Taehyung listened attentively, tongue almost hanging out of his mouth, and you couldn’t help laughing.

“You look just like a dog right now,” you said. “Are you hungry, puppy?” Teasing him, you petted his head as he stared at you with, funnily enough, puppy eyes. “Noona will give something to eat if you’re good.” He stared at you in silence, but you were still laughing. “C’mon, puppy, you can loosen up around me! You act like we don’t know— sorry, am I making you uncomfortable?”

“No—” Taehyung choked on his spit for a second, getting up. “It’s late, I should head back home. What time is it?”

“Half-past two,” you told him.

“We’ve been drinking for five hours? No wonder I’m like this…”

You were going to ask him about what he meant, but then you noticed both of you were quite drunk, and he still had a half-hour ride home – by bicycle.

“Do you want to stay over?” you asked him, walking his way as he got ready to leave. “You came on your bike, and it’s so dark now… Besides, we’ve drunk; I don’t know if it’s safe.”

“I wouldn’t want to disturb.”

“Please, Taehyung, you wouldn’t disturb me even if you woke me up tomorrow banging on a pipe.”

He sighed, stifling a smile. “I guess I can stay over… Do you mind if I take a shower before going to sleep? I’d need a towel, though, and…” He’d need clothes too, but he wasn’t sure you’d have anything for him.

You gave him a towel and showed him how the shower worked to get the right pressure. Once Taehyung closed the door, the sound of the water running made you close your eyes, but you recovered and went to your room to get some clothes to change to. It was a warm night, rather hot, and a cool shower was what you wanted the most. Before that, some light clothes were all you had.

The bed was ready, so you left your pyjamas on the pillows.

Where would you and Taehyung sleep? The new bed was big enough for both of you, but you weren’t sure he’d feel comfortable sharing it. You certainly were.

Right after Taehyung got out of the bathroom, you grabbed your clothes and took a quick shower. By the time you were ready to go to bed, it was already three in the morning, and all the work done felt heavy on your shoulders. You plumed into the bed and stretched your arms, yawning, while Taehyung stood awkwardly in front of it.

“God, I’m so tired. I feel like we’ve been working for half a year and drinking for another half.”

As you got into bed, you waited for him to say something about where he’d sleep, but he just got under the blanket with you.

You turned to face him as he said, “Goodnight, noona.”

“Goodnight, puppy.”

When you woke up, disoriented by the suddenness, you didn’t know what time it was. It took you a solid minute to come back to your senses, the drowsiness still making you look around in the dark like a zombie – and then you felt it.

Something hard rubbing against your crotch, something hot and slightly wet, arms tangled around your body, and Taehyung’s voice whimpering against your chest. You had intertwined your legs with his hips at some point, allowing him to rub against your core.

A quick jolt of pleasure sparkled in your lower stomach, and you pressed your lips together to stifle a groan. Fuck, he was really hard beneath his underwear, the red wet tip of his dick teasingly peeking out of the restrictive fabric as he shoved it against you, as if he were trying to actually get inside of you. When did he take off his trousers?

“Tae— Taehyung,” you muttered, caressing his scalp.

That only made him nuzzle your breasts, looking for your nipples and sucking them over your top. You instinctively thrust against his dick, your half-asleep mind slowly falling apart.

Just a couple of layers. You’d get rid of them and it’d be your skin against his, your hips against his, your legs against his. For a second you wondered if you were dreaming. Would it be fucked up if you raised your shirt so he could suck them properly?

His hands grabbed you to press you against him, whimpering a broken ‘noona’ as his tip felt your warm entrance through the fabric. Well, it wasn’t the first time you dreamed about this.

You took off your shirt. “Suck them good, puppy.”

If he was able to hear you, he was definitely listening, because it didn’t take him half a second to take one of your nipples into his mouth and flick his tongue around it. The sharp pleasure of his mouth along with his tip teasing your clit made you moan. You were going damn crazy so, to reciprocate, you snuck your hand under his shirt and played with his right nipple.

“N-noona, noona, please.” His eyes were half-opened, gaze trying to focus on your face while still getting used to everything around him. “Noona, fuck,” Taehyung called again, voice wet and breath warm against your chest, “are you— are you awake, noona?”

You chuckled. “If I’m not, I’m gonna have to give my brain a rise for this—”

“I— I’m close.”

“Already? You’re going to come just from humping me in your sleep?” You wanted to try something, and you hoped it’d work. “Nasty puppy, can’t even hold it for a minute.”

“No!” he cried, dick twitching against you. “I’m good boy.”

“The best,” you cooed, stroking his head as he nuzzled your breasts between kisses.

“Noona said she’d give me something to eat if I was good.”

You let him get on top as he kissed his way down to your thighs, breathing heavily against the warm fabric of your underwear. Taehyung waited patiently for you to take them off, and then he pounced between your legs, tongue going instinctively for your soaked entrance.

“Slower, Tae, don’t rush it,” you said, running your fingers through his hair as he looked up to you. “I’ll tell you how I like it – hum over my clit with your lips closed, flick it back and forth with your tongue, up and down. If you’re going to use your teeth, do it gen— fuck! Yes, puppy, just like that!” He was a quick learner, and soon he was flicking his tongue and pressing down on your clit, making you throw back your head with a groan.

As Taehyung started to get hyped, falling completely into the mood with your sounds and the way your thighs shivered and thrust up against his mouth, his lips kissed and sucked on your clit, and his hands lifted your hips to dive deeper into your core. The knot inside of you was growing bigger and bigger with his ministrations, the sweet tension almost unbearable.

“Hands off, puppy,” you managed to say, almost breathless; “it’s rude to eat with your fingers. I’ll let you know when you can use them.”

Tae peeked out from between your legs, looking at you with doe eyes full of mischievous, faked remorse. Your fluids were all over his face, staining his cheeks and his lips, and even his eyelashes, but there was nothing but lust and adoration in his eyes. “Sorry, noona. I’ll make it up to you.”

“You look so good like this, with your face all soggy. Do your eyes hurt? Want me to wipe them?”

“No,” he muttered, giving his tongue a short break, “like them like this. Hurts so good.”

He then resumed his kissed on your clit, sucking it as his tongue lapped the fluids gliding down your labia. The pent-up tension was creeping up your spine like electricity.

You raised your hips instinctively. “Fingers, now,” you practically growled, and he obliged instantly. “Bend them a bit and— y-yes, puppy, just like that. You’re doing so well” – Taehyung whimpered against your clit at your praise, thrusting down on the mattress to find some relief – “I’m close, baby. Keep going.”

Taehyung’s fingers slipped in and out of your entrance with ease, his knuckles soaked with your fluids as they spilled down his palm. He alternated watching your cunt swallow his digits and your face contracting in pleasure.

Impatiently, you ran your fingers through his wet hair and instructed him not to stop using his mouth, panting a ‘tongue’.

“Fuck, fuck, puppy,” you groaned, raising your hips and hugging him with your legs, “I’m— I’m almost there, baby! Keep going, just like that!”

With one last flick on your clit, your thighs tensed around him, hips thrusting up into his mouth like crazy. Your whole body convulsed, clenching around his fingers in relief. You probably didn’t notice your growing grip on his hair, but Taehyung didn’t seem to mind – in fact, he had to press his lips to avoid hissing against your cunt, jerking his hips against the mattress like a bitch in heat.

He moved away from your clit, leaving only two fingers in to help you ride out your climax while your head plummeted back on the pillow.

“Was it good?” he asked, craving some praise.

In silence, you nodded and pointed at his boxers as you sat up, his erection bulging awkwardly and almost crying for attention.

“Show me, puppy.” Taehyung rushed to take them off, but you stopped him. “Just pull them down for a second so I can see it.” Biting his bottom lip, he did as told, and you took a good look at his hard length, the tip angry red and wet with precum. “I bet you want to come. You do deserve a treat after eating noona out so well, so I’ll let you pick.”

You didn’t miss his eyes looking down at your bare feet by instinct. You raised your eyebrows, intrigued, and told him to sit on his knees and rest his hand on his thighs. Lifting your leg under his expectant gaze, you probed his clothed crotch with your plantar. You then felt his length twitch beneath your touch, making you lick your lips with a grin and clench in excitement.

“It’s so easy to please this puppy, so easy to get him hard. Is it not, puppy? You could come in a second just from humping my foot, I wouldn’t even need to move it, am I wrong? I could even just get you a pillow and you’d come all over it anyway.”

Taehyung was holding back tears, choking back a desperate whimper, and fighting the urge to thrust up against your foot, firmly rubbing his dick with the sole while your toe stroked his bare tip.

“Look at you, sitting properly like you haven’t been rock-hard since before you woke up,” you continued, this time rubbing your toes gently against his balls.

“I’m really close, noona,” he whined, “I’m going to cry if you keep teasing me.”

“Is that threat?”

He shook his head, panicking. “N-no, I—”

“Puppy thinks he can order his noona around,” you said to yourself with a merciless chuckle, “when just a minute ago he was begging me to touch his dirty little dick with my precious feet, claiming he’d do anything.”

In a desperate attempt to convince you, Taehyung panted heavily against your cheek, and you noticed his flushed face felt awfully hot against your already warm skin. There was a feverish gleam in his black eyes, staring at you like you were not in the physical realm but rather a conceptual body stepping on his cock.

“Taehyung?” you called, placing a hand on his back. “I think we should take a break – I can feel your heartbeat beating through.”

He sobbed suddenly against your shoulder. “Please.” Gently, Taehyung then took your hand away from his back and placed it on his balls, almost satisfied with the paltry yet overwhelming jolt of pleasure your touch caused him. “Please, noona, you can feel it, right? – how hard they are, so heavy, full of cum and all for you. Let me fill you up, please, let me come—”

You panted against his neck, nibbling the sweaty skin and palming his balls as your thumb stroke the slit just to hear him choke on a groan. “Do you have a condom?”

“No,” Taehyung groaned. “Are you clean? I’m— I’m clean for sure so if you want, of course, we can—” You silenced him with a kiss and told him you were. “Thank God,” he almost cried, “I’m so hard, noona, so hard.”

“I’ll help you with that,” you cooed.

“Get on top, noona,” he puffed then, “please. I want to last, but I’m too worked up.”

“Tae, you don’t need to last, I already ca—”

He nuzzled your chest and cried, “Please, noona! I wanna feel you come all over my dick, clench around me while you call me a good boy because I made you cum again. You felt so good around my fingers, fuck, so hot and wet, using them to come. I want you to use my dick as well.”

“Are you listening to yourself?” You ran your fingers through his hair, softly at first, and pulled him up for a kiss. “I hope you don’t expect me to be soft and gentle with you after all the filthy stuff you’re saying.”

Groaning when you bit his bottom lip, Taehyung licked the swollen flesh before placing your hands on his hips to rush you to get on top. You looked at each other for a second as you lined up his dick with your entrance, and you bent down for a long kiss that slowly moved down to his jawline and earlobe, drawing a whimper from his throat.

“Noona—”

Without a word and still kissing, you pressed your hips against him, feeling it slip inside after you pulled down his boxers. Taehyung tensed under you and whimpered against your lips, hugging your waist.

“Noona!” he whined. “You should have warned me, I wasn’t prepared! I don’t want to moan like a little virgin—”

You thrust down into him again, earning another groan. “But you sound so good, puppy, I guess it feels good being inside of your noona. Does it, puppy? Do you like getting fucked and kissed like this?”

“So good.” Taehyung rested his head on your shoulders, drawing you closer and helping your hips. “I’m— I’m not gonna last.”

“Will you make more sweet sounds for noona, then?”

As one of his thumbs moved to your clit, you bit down on his jawline and put his hand away. He whimpered in surprise and you took the opportunity to pin him to the bed, grabbing his wrists while you kept on ramming.

“The fuck did I say, mutt? Hands off until I give you permission.” He nodded with a choked groan when you slipped your hands under his shirt and pinched his nipples.

Your legs began to feel numb, so you started circling your thumb over your clit, trusting Taehyung not to grope you again. You weren’t surprised to feel the knot growing again in the pit of your stomach, given how turned on you were. He looked so good under you, having totally given up control, completely surrendered to you. His eyes were glowing dark, his lips swollen and flushed red, fringe plastered to his skin.

“You look so beautiful right now, Taehyung,” you muttered, bending down to kiss him. The tension inside of you was reaching the limit. “Completely at my mercy, so fucked out. Are you close?”

He sobbed, closing his eyes tight. “Y-yes.”

You accelerated your thrust, slipping into his dick and using all the strength you had left to slide off him up to the angry-red tip as it twitched inside you to the rhythm of his breathing. Your thumb flicked on your clit again and suddenly you were coming on his cock, wet walls clenching around him with no control.

“Taehyung, fuck!” you groaned.

Tae rushed to help you ride out your orgasm and lifted your hips up and down onto his dick. “I’m coming, noona, noona, I’m going to come! F-faster, faster. ” His hips pounded up against yours one last time before you felt him tense, warm cum spilling into you. “Noona— fuck! So good, so good, yes!”

As the energy left his body, you turned you around so that his head rested on you without bringing him out of his reverie.

“You were so good, puppy, made noona cum so hard,” you cooed to his ear, stroking his hair as you both came down from your climax. “Did it feel good when I came all over your cock?”

Taehyung panted against your chest, “I’m going to dream about this when you leave.”

“What do you mean?” you asked, holding your breath. “I knew you were anxious for me to leave, but I didn’t expect you to be so eager that you’d fantasise about it just a second after I’d given you the fuck of your life.” Before he could say anything, you got out of the bed. “I’m going to clean myself up a bit. You should do the same.”

You closed the bathroom door behind you, still trying to catch your breath. Your legs felt numb and your body as a whole was sore but although you usually enjoyed the feeling, now it only made the swelling of your heart worse.

It didn’t take you long to clean yourself up, and before long you heard a knock on the door.

“Noona.” Taehyung’s voice came from behind the door. “Y/N. Can I come in?”

You thought about it for a second. “Yeah.”

“I—” He closed the door behind him and stared at you. As you stared back, you felt like there you had never seen a gaze so pain-filled in your life, and your heart shrunk in your chest. “I didn’t mean to offend you, really. I wasn’t thinking.”

“Why did you say that I was going to leave so calmly then, like you didn’t care?” you asked, sitting down.

“Everybody knows you’re not going to stay. I do care, I care a lot – but it was clear that you just came to check on the house and say hello. Nobody expects you to, even if some people are a bit too nosy… But are you—” He took a breath. “Are you going to stay?”

As you looked up at him and the lump in your throat finally unravelled, your shoulders shivering now that the tension was pouring out of your body.

“I don’t know!” you finally cried, bursting out in tears. “I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do! And it’s not so easy as to quit and splash out all my savings living here.”

“Do you want to stay?”

You wiped your tears and sighed. “Big cities are the saddest when you are an adult. When you’re young they’re dynamic and vibrant, but when you’re past your youth they… drain you of the will to enjoy things. I guess I could work it out if I ever found the energy to try.”

Taehyung kneeled in front of you. “I’ve been waiting for you to come back for a long time.”

“Hm” – you played with his hair with a playful smile before answering – “if I had known you felt this way I would have teased you a lot more.”

“Can we cuddle now?”

“Silly puppy,” you giggled, kissing him.

“She gave you the house,” he began to say then, following you to the bed, “because she knows you’ll take care of it properly – she knows you’re the only one who’ll do it.”

“Well,” you muttered, “I know someone who can do it even better.”

“So this is the sitting room; we thought about getting a TV so you can keep watching that show you told me about, but I guess we’ll still have to stick to Taehyung’s to do that.” He smiled next to you, and you kept pushing the wheelchair through the corridor. “This is the kitchen. You may have noticed the new cutting-edge appliances, so feel free to use them all and ask me for help if you have questions.”

Your aunt chuckled. “I’m sixty-five, Y/N, not stupid. Oh— that’s one of your crafts, Taehyung-ssi, right?”

“Taehyung and I made this one together,” you told her.

“Like in that movie? What was it called – ‘Ghost’?” You blushed, recalling the day, and rushed to get the idea out of her mind. “Hm, I won’t ask about it then. I don’t think I want to know.”

“Auntie, really, if you don’t stop messing with me I’m going to take you back to your kids,” you joked. You knew she wasn’t going to take you seriously.

But the old woman only laughed loudly, patting her knee. “As if they were going to take me back! You’ve condemned yourself for life, missy. Here, take me to the garden; I want to see what you’ve done to my flowers.”

When you walked out into the garden, your aunt asked you to leave her alone with the plants; she loved talking to them, and she claimed they had a lot to tell each other. You came back to the house with Taehyung, and he took your hand to kiss your knuckles.

“I’m glad I won’t be the only one getting teased in this house.”

“I wouldn’t act so cocky if I were you,” you retorted, biting down on his bottom lip as he stifled a groan. “You can laugh all you want, but I’m the one who’ll have you at my mercy in bed at night.”

Taehyung smiled against your lips before pecking them. “You promise?”

“It’s getting a bit cooler outside!” You broke the kiss reluctantly and went to the garden when aunt called. “Take me to the living room so I can read and then you two can snog all you want,” she said as Taehyung helped you push the wheelchair back inside. “When did you say this Seokjin guy was coming? Monday? And then you’re going into town with him until Wednesday? Ah, Y/N, you work too much, we should keep some cattle instead.”

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