#for some reason we went clothes shopping before going to a party together and he got new underwear

[some-things-about-life]

can't believe i have zero game even in my dreams

[fandomtherapy44]

Dean x reader So American One-shot

Summary: A vague plot based off this incredible song and my love for Dean Winchester

Paring: Dean Winchester x reader

Word count: 2,011

Song: So American-Oliva Rodrigo

Divider

saradika

Drivin' on the right-side road

He says I'm pretty wearin' his clothes

And he's got hands that make Hell seem cold

Feet on the dashboard, he's like a poem I wish I wrote

I wish I wrote

Dean Winchester the guy that stole my heart and shattered my heart in the span of three months. It was my last year of high school. In the last stretch I was the top of my class. Going to Harvard, I never went out of line, always on time for curfew. My parents expected me to be perfect. So I never went out with friends or party’s I was asked out but the answer was always no. My whole goal was to get there and to continue to be perfect but then I met him.

It was the last three months of school. A normal school day with me focused on my work and my teacher announcing that we were getting a new student. All of my classmates were talking about who would join a school in the last three months. Then everyone went quiet when he walked in I wondered why so l looked up and it was the most handsome guy I had ever seen. “Uh hey my name is Dean Winchester and I'm looking forward to all the party’s for the end of senior year!” He fist bumped the air and everyone whopped and clapped in agreement but me. “Dean, why don’t you take a seat next to Y/n.” Damnit. He walks over to me with an egoist bob of his head. “Hey I’m Dean.” He held out his hand with a smirk. “I know.” “Well miss Knowitall what’s your name.” “Look dude can you leave me alone and focus on your work.” “Gesse I was just trying to be friendly.” 

Couple weeks had passed and Dean did not stop try to talk to me which got really annoying. “Hey Y/n you going to the football party this weekend?” “No” “Why?” “Because Dean I have to work on the Graduation speech.”  “Ooh you're the valedictorian smart and pretty.” I was a little too flabbergasted to respond so I just kept working as I always did.

The bell rang and I got up quickly to not have to look at Dean but my teacher had other plans. “Y/n just one minute You too Dean.” Why me!? “Yes Mr.Baker” Dean and I were now at the front. “Dean these last few weeks your grades have not been the greatest.” “Mr. Baker, what's the big deal? It's almost the end of the year.” “That’s exactly the problem Mr.Winchester if you do not pass the next test you won’t graduate.” Damn that sucks but why am I here. “Seriously!?” “Yes Seriously but I think a tutor would really help you.” Oh no no no. “That’s why I have Miss L/n here.” NO “If she is willing to take you on I think you can pass she’s top of the class.” Both of them look at me in questioning. I looked at Dean’s face and for some reason I did something I never thought I would I said yes.

That was over ten years ago I went to college and continued to be perfect but I never forgot that Damn handsome Dean Winchester. I got my dream job at the top too. I never really dated after Dean. I couldn't, I couldn't give my heart again. 

And he says I'm so American

Oh God, I'm gonna marry him

If he keeps this shit up

I might just be in lo-lo-, lo-lo-, lo-lo-, lo-lo-lo-lo-lo

“Thank you for doing this.” We were at the coffee shop early in the morning before school. “Yeah sure but you have to be committed, that means no party’s no girls…” “Hey I am going to be Mr.School I might even go above you.” “Okay Mr.school when you get more than a c then we'll talk.” I tapped his book. “Damn ok so Miss scholar has jokes.” He gave me his smile and that was the first time that my heart quicked a little bit. 

I was getting drinks with friends. The music was loud and lights blinding but I could still see him through all of that. I was sure it was him even though we were both eighteen when we last saw each other. That golden brown hair the green in his eyes looked like the sun mixed together with the tops of pine trees. The freckles dusted over his face like glitter. It didn’t matter if it had been ten years since I had seen him, I memorized every detail of him. He was chatting up some beautiful blonde woman and it was like I was back in highschool before he and I got together. 

I gave my friends an excuse that I had to work early the next morning and got up at a quick pace and shuffled my bag over my arm and I practically ran to the exit. When I entered the dance floor there were so many people that I couldn't see my footing and I tripped over my own foot. But luckily someone caught me. 

I was pacing back and forth in the hallway sweat running down my forehead looking at the clock every minute. The door opened very slowly and Dean walked out with head hung low. “Oh Dean, maybe I can talk to the teacher for you and you can retake it.” He holds up his head and brings a smile on his face. “No need cause I passed!” I paused for a second and I hit his shoulder. “Dean Wincheseter! Don’t you ever do that again!” He was laughing at my fake hits now. “OKAY okay I won’t teach now let’s go celebrate me gradienting highschool.”

I start to follow him and then think about how it’s almost eight. “Wait Dean, it's almost eight and I have curfew.” “Come on Y/n this is a big accomplishment on both of us. And you deserve it more than any of us.” He was right, I had worked my ass off. I deserve this. “Okay well if I'm going to break a rule then we are going to do it right.” “Great what’d you have in mind?”

We were on this cliff that overlooked the city that I found when I was a freshman and that was probably the last time that I was here. I looked over to Dean biting into his burger and the juice dripping down his lips and I couldn't stop thinking about… “Y/n y/n?” Dean was waving his hand in front of me. “Huh sorry.” “So how does it feel to break a rule miss perfect?” I sipped my drink to really think about his question.

“I haven't been here in years because I wanted to put my all in school work so my parents could know that their sacrifices meant something. I haven't had a damn burger in so long so I could only eat “brain food” my parents would say. I haven't breathed in the night cold air in the fear that I would get a cold. So to answer your question Dean it feels fucking amazing.” I grabbed my burger and took a huge bite. Dean looked a little shocked at that but happy too.

“Well it looks like we both taught something to each other. I’m glad I can leave you like this.” “Leave? You're leaving?” “Yeah my brother and I only went to school here while our Dad was doing … work.” “So this is kind of also a send off for me and I couldn't imagine spending it with anyone else. I just wanted to thank you for helping me.” “It was nothing really.” “No Y/n you are the first person who’s looked at me and saw more.” “Well you saw more then miss perfect.” “As I said before smart and beautiful.” At this point we had gotten closer on top of the old chevy impala and he leaned in and kissed me.

I apologize if it's a little too much, just a little too soon

But if the conversation ever were to come up

I don't wanna assume this stuff

But ain't it wrong?

I think I'm in love

I looked up and it was a very tall handsome man with shaggy brown hair. If a moose had a human from this would be him. “Are you okay?” I stopped to shake my head. “Yeah I’m fine thank you.” “Here, why don’t you sit down.” He brought me over to the bar. “Hey can I please get some water for…?” He looked at me for my name. “Y/n.” “Here you go.” “Thanks.” “No problem.” I glugged down my water. “Oh I didn't even get your name.” “It’s-” “Sam!” A voice called out from behind him. I looked up and nearly choked it.was.DEAN. I got up quickly and spilled the water all over me but that didn't matter. “Ah thank you but I got to go!” I got up and ran out. Dean came up to Sam. “Who was that huh Sammy?” Dean raised his eyebrows up and down. “No, just some girl needed help.” “What was her name?” “Y/n” “Y/n? Huh”

It was the next morning and the whole night my head was filled with sweet fluffy dreams of him and that's how I knew I woke up because it's not reality. I went to my regular coffee shop. It was the same one from those years ago. I turned with my drink in my hand and I collided with a hard chest. “AHH Im so sorry.” I grabbed napkins and started to wipe and I looked up and it was the man I had been trying to avoid. “Y/n?” “Dean Hi” I wanted the earth to swallow me. “How are you doing?’” “Good look Dean I got to-” “Go work of course well if you want to catch up I'll be in our spot tonight.” Dean walks out. And I'm left to wonder what to do.

I drove to the spot it was still abandoned as the last time we left it and just as breathtaking. I got out of my car and I saw that old chevy Impala and Dean standing there. I breath in deeply to prepare myself. “Hey.” “Hi.” “So how’s life?” He asked me. “Uh good you?” “I wish I had the same answer.” He leaned against the Impala. “That bad huh.” “You have no Idea.” “And I'm guessing you went through college being the badass you are.” He always made me laugh. “Badass I don’t know about that but yeah college you?” “Yeah, college was never really for me. I went into my dad’s business.” “Well, whatever makes you happy, but college is missing out on one of the smartest people I've ever met.” He laughs.

“Wow, that coming from miss.Scholar is huge.” “Oh, shut up.” I pushed on his shoulder. “Look I'm really sorry how we left things.” “It's okay Dean you to go.” “No, it's not I regret it every day.” “We were kids we couldn't control our situation.” “Still.” “Well, were adults now so how do you feel now after seeing each other again.” I said standing closer to him like all those years ago. “I feel like I should have held the girl tighter who changed my life closer.” “And I feel like I should have held the boy closer.” At this point we were right up against each other. And I did something I thought I never would do again. I kissed him. 

And he laughs at all my jokes

And he says I'm so American

Oh God, it's just not fair of him

To make me feel this much

I'd go anywhere he goes

And he says I'm so American

Oh God, I'm gonna marry him

If he keeps this shit up

I might just be in lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-love

[ryanmarshallryan]

HUNGRY HALLOWEEN (Written back in 2020)

Since everyone was stuck inside for quarantine, Carter mourned he wouldn't be able to visit any fun Halloween parties this year. He loved spooky season, and wished he could go to a haunted house or something. His boyfriend Greg cheered him up by bringing home a bunch of new decorations to put up, and they baked an immense amount of spider shaped cookies, pumpkin cakes, caramel apples, and so much more, and ate so much that they felt like bloated zombies.

Greg brought home a gift for Carter on the evening of Halloween It was an old book of spells he had found in a shop he had never seen before. He thought Carter would love its mystery. Carter thought it would be fun to try out some of the spells and potions included. They still had so many leftover Halloween treats, so Carter decided to start with a "Brew of Insatiable Hunger" which was meant to allow and force the drinker to consume everything they desired. He thought it would help them eat the rest of the Halloween treats. He mixed together the listed ingredients, like granulated sugar, cranberry juice, chocolate, and for some reason, avocado. He mixed in a few more spices it called for and let it simmer for a while. He recited an incantation written at the bottom of the recipe, with a hand motion over the pot of the concoction. It bubbled unexpectedly and seemed to be ready.

Greg smelled the interesting aroma of the brew, and came to the kitchen to see how things were going. Carter and Greg each took a glass of the brew and chinked them together in cheers. Immediately after they swallowed, their hands went to their stomachs. They were starving.

The rest of the Halloween treats were gone in five minutes. They started cooking pasta, heating up left overs, and basically eating everything in the house. They even ordered take out. They were also getting quite horny from the exciting binge-fest, and took off their shirts and sensually flirted as they found more things to shove into their mouths.

"Even just a small glass of this brew made us this hungry. Imagine if we drank the whole thing." Greg questioned.

"Do it, you won't" replied Carter.

Greg raised his eyebrows, took a final swallow of the pizza he had been eating, headed over to the pot of the brew and tilted the rest down into his throat and chugged. Greg felt like his stomach had grown six sizes, even though it still looked like the same bloated paunch it had been all week. Greg gave a mischievous look to Carter, "I could eat a horse. Two. At once." Greg's stomach roared in agreement.

In a passion mixed with horniness and spooky sensation, Carter stripped off his clothes and started lathering himself with butter, "What are you waiting for? If you're really that hungry, then prove it."

Greg rushed forward and pulled Carter into a warm embrace as they kissed passionately. Greg helped rub butter all over Carter's body, then hoisted him up onto the counter. Greg knelt down as Carter shoved his feet down Greg's throat. They both moaned in pleasure. Carter kept nudging forward off of the counter as Greg took more and more of Carter's legs into his mouth and down his throat.

"Eat me, you sexy monster!" Carter exclaimed as Greg leaned forward, grabbed Carter's waist and shoved him in further. Carter's hard-on hit against Greg's face until he shoved that down his throat too. Carter laughed as his feet entered Greg's stomach and were tickled by the stomach acid inside and all the other food he was joining. Carter pinned his arms to his side as Greg jolted back his head, sucking Carter's torso and arms in like a big noodle. They both moaned in pleasure as Greg gave one giant final swallow and Carter was swallowed fully, down into Greg's churning stomach.

Greg could feel Carter playing around inside him, as the doorbell unexpectedly rang. Greg had some trouble getting up, but he was able to waddle over and open the door to find 3 teenage trick or treaters asking for candy. They looked a bit surprised at the odd shape of Greg's gut, but assumed it was a weird costume.

"I ate all the candy, but if you really want it, I could make room for yeh." Greg said jokingly, as he slapped his gut and burped. Carter jolted around inside Greg and freaked out the teenagers, who all ran away screaming. Greg chuckled as he felt his extended belly moving and groaning with Carter inside.

Just as Greg closed the door and began walking to the couch, the bell rang again. It was one of the teenagers. Timidly the young man asked, "How did you get your stomach to do that?"

"Oh, my boyfriend Carter put himself on the menu tonight. Say 'hello,' Carter. A trick or treater is here." Carter bounced inside Greg and exclaimed some muffled greetings.

The timid teenager looked shocked, but excited "Could I join him?"

"Oh, I wouldn't ever actually eat a kid, I was only joking back there - "

"I'm Jared, 19."

"Why are you trick or treating -"

"I like candy and no one can tell you're an adult if you wear a good enough costume."

Greg paused for a moment. Carter jumped a bit. "Well if Carter's okay with it," Greg's belly bounced up and down like an assertive nod, "Sure why not. I'll have to warn you, it's probably gonna be your last time trick or treating..."

Jared shrugged and walked inside the house. Greg closed the door as his stomach growled even louder, hungry for one more meal this hungry Halloween...

[hermitcraft-8]

Deiforms, Chapter One: The End of All Things (Part One)

masterpost

“All roads lead to Rome” is a stupid phrase. All roads don’t lead to Rome. In fact, very few roads do lead to Rome these days, only five major ones, which is about the same amount that leads to your average shopping mall.

To be honest, there’s more roads leading to Rome, West Virginia, and that’s not saying much.

There’s the main road, of course, a highway that rolled through the middle of the town, which carried most of the passerby through, on their way to Charleston, or DC, or further. There's Church Road, which is more of a street than a road, and Penelope Street, which is more of a road than a street. There’s also a good few other roads, smaller, coming through Altus or Snyder, that carry locals and people who know the area.

In total, there's seven roads that go through Rome, West Virginia, which is two more than the amount of roads that go through Rome, Italy.

It was on one of these roads that Sean O'Lainey crashed his car into a mailbox, late one September night, although he didn’t stop until he reached town.

This was for two reasons- first, he knew who owned the mailbox he’d just bowled over, and knew that his consequences would not be particularly merciful. Secondly, and more predominantly, because he was drunk, and a little sleep deprived, and really shouldn’t have been driving at all. He neither thought to pull over or think to check on the mailbox until he was long out of sight.

But once he was stopped, he stopped for real, stumbling out of the car and sitting on the sidewalk, staring up at the neon light for the local diner- the only one in town. After a few deep, shaky breaths, he fished his phone out of his pocket, squinting at the screen for a few good minutes, before finding what he needed.

The phone rang for only a few moments, before, with a click, it stopped.

Neither spoke for a moment, before Sean remembered who he was talking to, before he remembered that he would have to be the first to talk, and sighed. “Hey bro. How much to convince you to pick me up?”

“Twenty. You at the party still?” The voice, a dry, hoarse, smoker’s voice came through, the faint sound of keys being grabbed in the background.

“Nah, I left, I’m at Frost’s.”

“How the hell’d you get from Jean-Paul’s to Frost’s?”

“Drove.”

“You drove?!” There was a long, fruitful pause, before a huff. “Did you wreck your car?”

“No,” Sean said, before pausing, thinking, and shaking his head hard. “I ran over the Robyn family.”

“What?”

“Not the family. Their mailbox. I don’t know why I said the family,” He thought. “I’m kind of drunk.”

“Man, you’re a lightweight. I’ll be there in ten. You gonna need to pick up your car tomorrow?”

“We have school, don’t we?”

“It’s a Sunday.”

“So…?”

A sort of huffed laugh, and the sound of an engine starting. “No, Sean, we don’t have school tomorrow.”

“Okay, then, no.”

“Yes, you do, or it’ll get towed.”

“Then why’d you ask?”

“I’m hanging up now.”

“Bitch.”

The line went dead.

Sean stood up, stretching his arms over his head. The air was finally starting to cool off, and the hem of his t-shirt wasn’t quite enough to cover his stomach. He shuddered and lowered his arms.

Sean was, to put it simply, an odd looking young man. He was tall, easily six foot, and lanky, with pale pale skin and a buzzed head of bleach fried hair. His eyes were mismatched, one pupil perpetually dilated and surrounded by pale blue, the other surrounded by dark brown. His skin was covered in freckles, his face full of piercings. His clothes were all the wrong size, his shoes held together with duct tape. He looked like a Frankenstein’s monster of a man, all the wrong bits in the wrong places, but the result was very nearly a positive one.

A car pulled up.

Unlike Sean’s rattly old pickup truck, this one was a good deal newer, and in a much better condition. Some would even call it a nice car.

The passenger side window shuddered down, and Sean stumbled over, leaning his head in.

“Hey cutie. Need a ride?”

“I’m not supposed to get in strangers' cars,” Sean fired back, but reached through the window to unlock the door, climbing into the familiar car that he’d been climbing into for the past two years without a hesitation. “Sorry for waking you up.”

“You didn’t wake me up,” Ash Costello lied. “You feel alright?”

Sean shrugged, letting his head roll to the side while he gazed at his best friend.

He was short, and stout, with a mohawk of curls that were ever so slightly longer in the back than the top. His face was permanently scrunched in a scowl, almost a look of disgust. He had the saddest little goatee in an attempt to make his baby face any less of a baby face, and it didn’t quite work. The braces didn’t help.

“You smell like shit,” He said, finally, glancing at the rearview mirror. “Did someone throw up on you?”

“No,” Sean grumbled. “But your cousin tried.”

“Kyrie?” Ash sounded nearly surprised. “Kyrie went to a party?”

“Yeah, and got drunk off his tits,” Sean picked at his cargo pants. “Think Lori drove him home.”

“Hm.”

Sean stared out the windshield. “Are you mad?”

“Mad at Kyrie? Why would I be, he’s 18, he’s a big boy-”

“Mad at me.”

The car was silent.

Sean groaned, letting his head hit the window with a hollow thunk.

This was a song and dance they’d done nearly every weekend for two years, up until about a month ago, when Sean had finally gotten his own truck. They both thought that would be it- the end of Sean’s pathetic dependence, the end of Ash having to haul his friend home.

“Why didn’t you call my sister?” Ash finally asked.

“What?” Sean scowled. “Why would I-?”

“She’s your girlfriend.”

“And you’re my best friend-”

“You don’t get it, do you,” Ash snapped, suddenly, stopping at a stop sign and twisting to look at Sean, look him in the eye. “She’s your girlfriend. You’re supposed to be her problem.”

Sean blinked at him, stupidly, before the words registered, and he clenched his jaw. “Yeah, well. Well… well-!”

Ash exhaled, hard, turning back to the road. “I didn’t mean… I don’t know, you’ve been avoiding me for this whole time-”

“-Have not-”

“You ditched me at lunch, Sean,” Ash cut him off. “You sit with her, and Dean, and that Robyn girl-”

“-Lillian, she’s actually really nice-”

“Sean.”

“Ash,” Sean whined. “I didn’t mean to ditch you, I just… you and Miki and Lori… you’re cool, but you guys are… you’re just…”

“Not cool?”

“No, you’re-”

“-No, no, I get it,” Ash said, firmly, pulling up in front of Sean’s house- not going up the driveway, just stopping at the mailbox. “Don’t worry about it.”

“...Would you rather I had called Madi?”

Ash stared out the windshield for a moment, before sighing, looking around, eyes finally landing on Sean. “No. Maybe, I don’t know.”

Sean hissed out a breath through crooked teeth. “Fine. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Monday.”

“Whenever.”

And he got out.

Neither said goodbye. Neither said I love you. Neither said anything they’d always said. Ash drove away and Sean walked up his driveway, and neither of them slept well that night.

And somewhere in the world, an abacus clicked.

[shadowredfeline]

Three in One Post

For my P-Pal's Drawing.

Tory 😺🩰: Looks really adorable Riya you brought home a pink rabbit. I bet Jenny will love that. Also, Maybe we should enjoy some treats together and dance afterwards. 😊

And for my P-Pal's On this Day Post.

I remember seeing Maxwell's style in Peppa Pig, normally I only remember the US Dub when it used to air on the Cartoon Network Tickle U block, which normally doesn't have good ones on Kid shows. But I know Peppa Pig was Brought back only on Nickelodeon, they only did it in the UK Dub which now gets overboard and is too popular for kids. Even when they showed so much merchandise for Peppa Pig. Even the storyline is lazy and that narrator is always like "Oh Dear! De ta de ta de!" I know these narrators can be over the top depending on which narrator I'm listening to. Even if they didn't keep going like "Oh Dear! Ha ha ha ha ha!" And some kids shows sometimes don't need a narrator. Thomas and Friends Narrating is good because depending on the American or British Dub, they're both good. But with other kids shows, like say Bluey for Example, that show doesn't use a Narrator, since the show is a lot like Peppa Pig, except it has Dogs and the show doesn't use a Narrator and I like that, because the story goes on depending on the story. And when I saw Maxwell's style in the Bluey Universe, it looked really good. Especially if Maxwell wants to tag along with Bluey, Bingo and their friends alongside their families and friends.

And for Response to both my P-Pal and my A-Pal about the Gumball Video.

Yes, I know the Castle Episode where Gumball, Darwin and Anais spend their casual time with their dad and have a party with a bunch of people. But Nicole didn't have to get too Brutal with the People. And yeah I also don't like the Finale episode either like where the Wattersons face the consequences, the Finale would've been better if the Wattersons were sent to a Different Cartoon Network world. Like say they went into the Regular Show universe, except Gumball got separated from his family and was sent to the Park. Gumball decided to get his mind off of Elmore and he even applied for a job as a Park Keeper and Benson assigned Gumball to work with Mordecai and Rigby and the three of them managed to do some of their work and tasks and managed to get them finished. And Mordecai and Rigby kinda like having Gumball around, even Benson toned down his anger since Gumball, Mordecai and Rigby finished their jobs at the right time. But if things get worse like how Benson yelled at them for no reason after saving the park, then his boss, Mr. Mallard, Pops' father, then Demotes Benson to work with Pops and Skips and Nicole Watterson is the new Park Manager, and Darwin will work with Muscle Man and High Five Ghost, and Anais and Richard will enjoy their time at the Apartment. Since that's where Nicole, Richard and Anais live now. And Nicole Watterson will only get angry only if either the Park is in danger by Bad guys or during Park Prank Wars against Jean. And Benson will give Nicole advice about taking on a Prank War and Muscle Man will give her Advice too. And at normal times, I'm sure everyone will get advice from Skips. And at the Coffee Shop, it's only Penny and Eileen working at the Coffee shop now and Rigby and Gumball will enjoy getting drinks and meals anytime. Even if Margaret found a different job.

And that's how I would rewrite the Finale episode in Gumball.

Or if Gumball doesn't get a movie soon, I hope we can work on Cartoon Network in Persona 5 where we have Gumball enjoy his Modern day life in the Cartoon Network town looking a lot like Tokyo. And Penny and Morgana will be there with him, as well as for their Cartoon Network friends and Professor Utonium.

[joe9cool]

Collide-Justin Herbert-11

"Happy Belated Bitch! Did you get my gift?" Sara was relaxing in her hot bath while chatting with Bella. Justin was at therapy and practice, so he would be gone all day. The sinus infection had cleared up beautifully over the next two days, thanks to the antibiotics and nasal sprays. Justin was right about the yogurt.

She was upset because she missed Bella's birthday. Usually they spend their birthdays together. But this time, between the illness and the premiere there was no way Sara could make it to New York.

"Oh my god I did! Thank you so much! I'm wearing it now as we speak." It was a $40,000 Bvlgari watch with her sign engraved in it. "Don't worry about missing my birthday dinner, my mom was a killjoy. Making sure I didn't break my diet." Sara laughed. Yolanda was something else. "Did you even get cake?" Bella was silent. "Oh come on Isabella!"

"I got a cupcake!" Sara rolled her eyes. "Unacceptable. Everyone gets cake on their birthday! When you come visit I'll get you one." Things were silent on her friends end "what?" "Well it's funny you should mention me visiting you cause……"

Sara gasped and almost dropped her phone in the water. "No fucking way!" On cue they both screamed. "Bitch when did you get in?"

"Marc and I just checked in this morning! We're staying at his apartment!" Another scream came from both girls. "Marc wants to do a bar thing at Jerry's since he's never been. You should get your coworkers. Also bring Justin! I want to meet him!"

It was Sara's turn to be silent. "I don't want to overwhelm him."

"Oh come on! He's your boyfriend! We have to meet him eventually." She knew that was true. "You know what? I'll see if he wants to come. I know they have a game Monday at home. There's no reason for him not to!"

"Perfect! How does Friday night sound?" They also made plans to go shopping for outfits as well the next day. Once they hung up Sara thought about how Justin would react. Would he object? Think it was too soon? I mean it was only fair that he met her friends. She had met his parents, his team, and technically his brother's girlfriend. ( although she didn't really remember it) why couldn't he meet her friends? He knew about them and she's spoken about them before. 

After the water got cold, she got out and wrapped herself in her warm bathroom and went to her huge walk in closet for some comfy lounge wear. She decided to go to Justin's side. They had.a small space in each other's closets for clothing and other personal items. As Sara was going through his things, she thought about his closets at home. If he was going to come meet her friends, Nike sweats were unacceptable. He had suits and polo tops and khaki pants. But he had no jeans, no casual wear. Once she grabbed a sweatshirt and slipped into it she grabbed her laptop and started online browsing at men's clothing stores. Instead of going to Louis Vuitton and luxury men's clothing she went to Macy's. Luckily just like any girl she peaked at the size of Justin's pants and shirts

After a few hours and spending $900 at macys she couldn't help but go on Nordstroms. They had so many nice accessories and a few cologne bottles. He smelled nice with his soap. After overnight shipping and taxes she had spent around $2000 for Justin. He was worth it though and besides money wasn't an object. It was almost sweetest day, it was a gift for her sweetie.

By the time Justin got home it was 8pm, and Sara couldn't wait to tell him the news. After he made sure she took her medicine. 

"So my best friend Bella and her boyfriend are coming to town." He looked up from washing his hands. "Oh yeah?"

"Marc is throwing her a belated birthday party with our friends and some cast members at Jerry's Thursday. I know you have a shortened day Thursday. Everyone wants to meet you." He sideeyed her.  "Whose everyone? 

"It will be small like around 10-12 people

 Plus it's Jerry's! Super lowkey."

"Uh yeah I don't know we play Monday night primitive with the team in the same division. I got to spend every moment preparing."

Sara was getting frustrated. "Justin only for a couple hours. My friends know I have a boyfriend but they want to meet them."

He shook his head. "I'm not comfortable with that. All of these people know we are together. What if someone takes a photo and it gets around? I don't need that right now."

Tears started to sting at Sara's eyes. "I met your friends. Why can't you meet mine."

Justin didn't look at her "technically they are my teammates."

That was it. How dare he disrespect her. Without another word she got up. Not caring what she was wearing she grabbed her keys and headed to the front door. She didn't want him to see she had been crying. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going for a ride. Don't wait up." Unfortunately Justin used his size to his advantage and she was pulled back and forced to face him. "Are you crying?" She looked away. "Talk to me"

"Why do you always have to be an ass? I've met your family, your 'teammates' on a short notice. You can't do this one thing for me?" He didn't say anything, so she continued on. "Yes pictures will be taken. But none on social media. Even if they were my friends know how private I am and wouldn't do that to me. The fact that you think the worst like that is insulting. Are you embarrassed to be with me? 

Justin's eyes widened. "No! That's not it at all! It's just….." Sara wasn't playing games and was death staring at him. "It's just intimidating, okay? I'm not used to your world. Meeting all of these people, I don't know. I feel like they know how to say and do the right things and then there's me."

"Justin, they are all people just like you and me. We don't say and do all the right things. We're human. You think I wasn't terrified of meeting the people you keep near you? But I did it. Because I care about you. But I feel like you don't really care about me" the tears came back.

Justin grabbed her face. "Hey no I promise that isn't it. I care about you alot. I'm sorry if I make you feel like I don't. That's not what I'm trying to do. I'll go with you, just please don't leave my side."

She nodded. "I won't. I would never do that to you. This is a 50-50 Justin." He nodded and kissed her. "I love that you call me out on my bullshit."

"Well I'll be doing it more often." She smiled. "Do you have a late day tomorrow?" He had to think. "No just more tape and some practice. Should be home by 5."

"I got a surprise for you." He raised his eyebrows? " Really? Does it involve you naked?" She ran her hands up and down his chest. "If you're a good boy. Then yes it can." Truth be told she did pick up some lingerie. Though whenever they had sex it was usually her in her normal bras and underwear. Justin didn't care cause it usually came right off with the clothes. 

She wanted to explore and try new things. Things with Justin were great in the bedroom, but they were vanilla. He did mention tying her up once and she wondered how many kinks he had that didn't get discovered.

All the other bitches he's been with were probably boring she thought bitterly. 

"Sara?' She looked up. "Yes

"You  look like you're ready to smack me." She smiled. "Just lost in thought I guess. You wanna watch a movie and make milkshakes?"

He smiled back. "That sounds great." 

She headed over to the fridge and pulled out all the items, while he looked for a movie she pulled off her hoodie and left herself just in a bra. Grabbing the can of whipped cream she opened her mouth and let the cool cream hit her tongue. She made a total show of it as well. When she was finished she grabbed one of the Moschino cherries out of the jar and tilted her head back again. Using her tongue to pluck the cherry of the stem she moaned. 

During chewing she opened her eyes to find Justin staring at her. She smirked, and decided to take it a step further, she reached behind and took off her bra. Once she was exposed her nipples started to harden from the chilly air and being under his stare. Grabbing the whip cream he gave her a look as If to say 'I dare you.' She sprayed a strip up her sternum and also on her nipples.

Everything happened so fast. 

She was lifted up on the counter as she felt his tongue everywhere. He sucked and bit on her neck and then licked the cream off her nipples before sucking. "Oh god Justin." He moaned before she felt her bottoms being pulled off. Sara pulled Justin up towards her so their lips could meet. "How are your ribs?" Dhe asked when they broke away. 

"Why do you always ask me that when we have sex?"  She laughed. "No, I wanted to ask so I can ride you." He groaned. "You're gonna kill me, you know that?"

Not wanting to wait,she pulled him to the floor. Once he was in position she grabbed his dick and proceeded to lower herself on him. Eyes rolling in the back of her head she heard him moan "that's it. Oh god, so good." Bouncing on the balls of her feet, she found her rhythm. Justin played with her breasts and occasionally slapped her ass. "Justin," she breathed out. "Choke me?"

"Huh?" He got out of his pleasure fogged brain. "Are you sure?" He had never done that before. He was so much bigger than her.

"Justin please choke me!" He took his hand off her breast and wrapped it around her neck. After applying some light pressure. "Justin Yes! Yes! Yes!" More pressure. "Oh my god I'm gonna cum!" Slowly she reached behind her and began applying pressure to his balls. Justin's eyes rolled in the back of his head. "Sara. Ugh. " letting out a loud moan He emptied himself in her. She continued to bounce. His other hand went down and began to rub her clit. In just ten seconds she fell apart and fell to the side.

"Ow." He turned to look at her while catching his breath. "Oh shit. Did I go too hard?" She shook her head. "No, it was great. I just forgot we weren't on the bed." They both started laughing. Justin gathered Sara in his arms and smiled when she planted a kiss on his chest. After a few moments. "We need to put that ice cream back in the fridge."

Justin shrugged "well we were gonna do milkshakes." Eventually they got up and dressed. The milkshakes came out perfect and they watched the movie. During the movie Sara's phone dinged with messages. She saw Justin's eyes look down at her device. "Who is that?"

She shrugged "I don't know. Just ignore it."

Ding

Ding

He gave her a look. She grabbed it and saw it was an Instagram message.

Jbbigbear is now following you.

Hi.

I heard you're not feeling well. Justin was saying on the plane Sunday. Hope youre feeling better!

She smiled. That was sweet.  She followed him back and responded.

Hi! I am feeling much better. Sinus infection. Those are always fun!"

Jbbigbear: I get those alot. You do sinus rinses?

No. Too afraid to do them.

Jjbigbear: try it sometime they help so much!

Thanks! I definitely will! This feeling is awful.

"Who is that?" Justin normally didn't care, but she was even paying attention to the movie.  "It's Joey."

"Bosa?" Sara didn't notice but Justin's jaw clenched. Bosa never extended himself. Was he a friendly guy? Of course, but not this way. "He was just asking me how I was doing. You told the guys I was sick?"

“Yeah they wanted to come over when we got in, but I was talking to Erika and she said she was home. Why did you lie by the way?"

"I didn't want to bother you. You had a game." He rolled his eyes. "So? I would have had one of your people check in on you."

Putting her phone down she scooted closer to him. "Justin I know football is more important right now." He was silent.

"What makes you say that?" She looked surprised "well I mean, you live and breathe football. Look at Tom and Gisele, he chose football over her and the kids."

"That's a shit example, if I have a family I'm not going to be playing football forever. Some things are just more important than football."

She had to ask the million dollar question

 "Would you say I'm more important than football?"

"Yes." He didn't hesitate. It was a second thought. Which for him was unusual. Everything came after the game. With Sara his things changed. It was different, it was…. Nice. She smiled and kissed him. Laying her head on his lap they turned back into the movie

After a while Sara was bored. She began stroking his legs.  Once she did that for a while her hand crept up to what she wanted the most. Justin sucked in a sharp breath. "God you are insatiable. Dirty girl" She giggled and he lifted up so she could pull down his sweats. Once his cock was freed she spit on him to create a lube. After a few seconds of jerking her spit mixed with his precum.  She ran her thumb across his tip and he moaned. "Please Sara take it in your mouth."  She pretended to think about it for a moment.

"Stop teasing." He growled, then gasped as she did what she was told. She moaned as she hollowed her mouth. After a few bobs she pulled off. "Justin fuck my face."

"Okay. Uhh fuck. Squeeze my thigh if it gets too much." He gathered her hair in a makeshift ponytail while went back to work and took him all the way to her throat. Once she relaxed. She felt Justin's hands apply pressure to her head. Tears gathered at her eyes as she became wet as Justin used her like a sex doll. She fucking loved it. She was gagging on his dick and Justin was loving it as well. He was so into it he forgot he was supposed to be forcing Sara on him. This allowed her to pull up for air, a trail of spit left on his dick and she begun jerking him again

Justin's head was back, mouth wide open as his moans became louder. She opened her mouth as he began shooting on her face and in her mouth. She kept sucking as he finished and she felt his hand pull her off of him. "Holy fuck" She looked up to see Justin staring at the ceiling. "You are amazing." 

"Unlock your phone." Slowly he did and handed it to her. She tapped the camera app and turned it to selfie mode. With his cum on her face she took a couple photos and handed it back to him. " a little something for when we are away from each other"

Justin had a dopey smile on his face. A regular occurrence when he came. "You look beautiful with my cum on your face." She giggled as she got up to wash her face. After that they cuddled and watched a couple of shows before falling asleep.

—-------------------☆☆☆☆☆☆☆—-------------------------------------------------------

"I feel stupid." Sara swatted at his shoulder. "Shut it! You look great! Incredibly sexy!" He looked at himself in her mirror. This was something he would never wear. A snug fitting v-neck shirt with dark jeans. On his feet were Ralph Lauren shoes.. he grabbed the dark Jean jacket and put it on. Okay, he had to admit he did look good.

When he came to Sara’s after practice he was greeted by a ton of packages and boxes. "What's all this?"

She had a huge smile as she was pouring dressing on a big bowl of salad, no doubt their dinner. "It's your surprise!" He turned and looked at her. Eyebrows raised. "This isn't you naked."

She rolled her eyes. "Maybe that will come later if you're good. I got you some presents for sweetest day!"

His face softened. He was touched. "Babe, this looks expensive." He saw the huge Nordstrom box, and the barney's box. "This must have cost a fortune. I can't accept this!"

"Well you're gonna have to. You can't insult your girlfriend by refusing this." He smiled. "At least tell me how much this all cost." She shook her head. "No way that's rude. You would have a heart attack." 

He picked up a Rolex box. He stared in disbelief. "Sara, that is Rolex! You know how much that is!"

"It's expensive, I know. However I shot an ad campaign a year ago. I asked them for a favor. Open it first."  He carefully unwrapped the package. Once taking the lid off he saw the watch. It was a gorgeous sapphire face with diamonds around the face. It was gorgeous. He was getting choked up. "Baby you really didn't have to.

She walked up to him. "Let me spoil you please "

Once he put it down he unwrapped all of the other boxes. He had to admit he felt like a kid on Christmas. Once everything was unboxed, he was surrounded by new clothing, casual and golf as well as pregame fits. Sara went to her bedroom and got the last box, Justin's eyes followed her as she reappeared with the orange box with the blue ribbon. 

‘Louis Vuitton’ He looked. “Sara I can’t.”

She set the box down and sushed him. “First of all, before you say something, I didn’t technically buy it. It was a gift when I attended Paris Fashion week last year. They asked me to pick out a bag and I chose this one. I said I would give it as a gift sometime, and I havent found that time til now.” All of her friends were wealthy, and she hooked up all of her hometown friends many times before. Her sisters were wealthy, especially the one with the NHL husband.  Justin never bought himself anything expensive based on what she had seen. She felt like he deserved this.

Unwrapping the bow and lifting the led he unfolded the wrapping paper to reveal the Damier Graphite Keepall Bandouliere 45 bag. It was gorgeous, he had to admit. It did make him feel better that it was given as a gift and not something she purchased. He stood up and kissed her. “Thank you so much. I don’t deserve this.” She pressed her face against his hard chest. “You’re welcome. Now I want you to try some stuff on, I need to see if it fits.

Which brought them to where  they were now. He felt like he was a kid again, trying on stuff at the store while his mom fussed about. He put on the next outfit, a gray button up, sleek black pants and dress shoes. Okay, he was feeling this. After about twenty outfit changes he was ready for his surprise for being a good boy. He put the clothes away in Sara's room where he saw the Victoria's Secret. He gave her a shit eating grin. "So this is my gift? I've been good"

Sara didn't miss a beat. "You got a ton of gifts already." He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her stomach. "Don't tease me" He growled. She smirked. “I am not, I am offended you would think I would do that.” His large hands were rubbing her stomach, lifting her shirt in the process. “I don’t know if you deserve it, you weren’t going to accept my gifts.”

All of the sudden she was bent over on the bed. She felt Justin’s large hand on her ass before she felt the smack. “I spent so much money on you and this is what you do? I don’t think you deserve this pussy.” She felt his weight on her as she felt him whisper in her ear. “I don’t think you can make that call.” Her leggings were pulled down, along with her underwear. She moaned as she felt the sting of a slap. The next sound was shuffling as he pulled down his pants and underwear before he pushed into her. Sara gasped as she felt Justin’s large body cover her as he began to thrust. “Faster! Faster!” She breathed and he obliged. 

“Oh god baby you feel so good.” Justin gasped out as he lifted himself up to change the angle of his thrusting,which his partner enjoyed. “Uh uh uh!” Sara cried out as she felt Justin near his end. His hand snaked down and rubbed her clit, which sent her over the edge. Once they both finished, they both collapsed on the bed. They both scooted up the bed, both exhausted, Justin pulled Sara close to him and they both fell asleep.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was Friday night, and instead of Justin relaxing and getting ready to watch tape. He was getting a facial. Sara had come over to his place while he was at practice to get ready for her best friend's party. He was nervous, it had been on the back of his mind at practice that he was going to be at a party with supermodel Bella Hadid, and other celebrities. Granted, it was a party of fifteen people and he knew Joe and his wife would be as well. It was still nerve wracking. 

When he got home, Sara made him take a hot shower. It was to help his pores, once he did that. Sara got to work with a mask on his and her face. Then she took some roller looking thing, while she put slimy serums and an under eye mask.  “This is gonna help with your skin looking good.” She stated as she put some clear substance on his lips. He tried to swat her away when she took the tweezers and began plucking his eyebrow hair. “Stop that hurts” She hit his hands away. “Oh please you get slammed by 200 lbs men every sunday and you’re complaining?” She rolled her eyes. “You made me sit through last night’s boring ass game.”

He pouted. “I thought you liked watching football.”

“I like watching you play football.” She smirked. “I also like watching Joe Burrow too.” He groaned as she plucked another hair. “Not him, do you know how many times I have heard everyone fawn over him?”

“Well have you looked at him?”

“I have, many times, thank you very much. Just to let you know we played them last year and we won.”

“I could go low blow right now but I won’t” she got off of him. “Now how do you feel?” He rubbed his face. “Like a million bucks.” He did feel good. While he usually just washed his face, his skin always had some sort of blemish or issue. The entire time Sara was lecturing him about products and moisturizer. Also how important SPF was especially living in California. “Ill get you a skincare starter routine.” Sara told him as she began to slip on her undergarments. Justin stared at her for a minute before he came back to reality. “You will not, you spent too much money on me already. I cannot let you do that.” She rolled her eyes.  “Well I can get you this stuff for free. I already have a shit ton in my cabinet from brands and PR packages.”

He smiled. This was different, his girlfriend talking about giving him skincare, him going to meet her friends. Going out in public where people knew they were together. It was weird, but not in a bad way? This was a natural part of any relationship, but as selfish as it seemed he liked it just being the both of them. Sara turned around and smiled at him as she curled her hair and his heart skipped a beat. She looked gorgeous, a black sequined jumpsuit with the bottoms being see through underneath black spandex shorts. Hair was curled, makeup was smokey (she did her hair and makeup herself. Didn't want to risk tipping anyone off) He was wearing the gray button up shirt with black pants and polo shoes. His hair was styled with a bit of gel and he was shaved. Sara waved him over in front of the full length mirror. Once she had her sky high heels on she took a selfie in the mirror. Looking like a perfect polished couple, she opened her phone to text Marc and Bella they were on their way. 

Justin wanted to drive to Jerry's. It made him feel manly. Also the main reason being he had to focus on something besides how nerve wracking this was. They took her Mercedes due to slightly tinted windows in the evening. The whole way Sara noticed he was quiet and tapping on the steering wheel. She grabbed his hand and held it with both of hers and it still didn't even cover his. "Hey. At the end of the day they are people just like you and me. Okay." He looked over for a second and nodded. "You know there are people out there who are having the same reaction at the thought of meeting you and what do you say to that?"

He smiled. "That I'm just a man from Oregon."

"Exactly and they're just people from parts of the United States, and I'm just a stubborn woman from Pennsylvania." He laughed. It seemed to calm him down a bit, but she could tell there were nerves, which was to be expected. Meeting new people is daunting. Once they pulled into Jerry’s and saw all of the cars he wanted to turn around and leave, but he knew this was important to Sara, and he did force her to meet his team and parents, which he hasn’t met hers yet. 

Sara had posted a few selfies to her insta. While many of her friends and family responded and hyped her up there was one that stood out. 

Jbbigbear: You look great! Have fun. Post tons of pics!

Saracwozniak : You sound like my mom!

Jbbigbear: if I had told you my real thoughts I wouldn't sound like a mom.

Saracwozniak: down boy

Once they got in they barely recognized the place. It was Decorated to the nones. Balloons and flowers everywhere. There was a DJ set up in the corner with a photo booth. Food was catered and in the middle was a two tiered cake. Justin saw Bella and what he assumed to be her boyfriend talking to others including Joe and Alisha.

Bella spotted them first, and Sara was thrown into a hug with the tall, slender supermodel. "Ahhh it's been too long! I can't believe I missed you while you were in New York!" She pulled away and her focus was on the man taller than her. "You must be Justin." She hugged Justin. "Holy shit you're huge!" Justin blushed. "Sorry it's just I've never come face to face with a football player before." Once Marc pulled away from Sara's hug he shook Justin's hand.

Justin was introduced to quite a few people that night. From Sara's coworkers to Bella's model friends. It felt like more than fifteen people. Everyone was welcoming and friendly. But he still sat at one of the tables in the corner while Sara was pulled away into her friend group. 

He was browsing his phone and saw an incoming message from Taylor

Thanks for the flowers, I don't understand why you would send them.

He was about to formulate a reply when he felt the chair across from him move. He looked up and put his phone away when he saw Bella and the blonde with the two first names. "Where's Sara?"

"She's in the bathroom. We thought this would be a good opportunity to get to know you." The blonde. Anna? Said 

"Look. Sara told us how you were and that you didn't like all this fame stuff, and we get it it's overwhelming. I'm sure you think we thrive off it but we are very private people. Ann-Sophie hid her pregnancy from the media until it was leaked halfway through. Marc and I didn't start making appearances til we were together for at least a year."

Justin was very uncomfortable. "I don't understand where this is going."

"We understand that you and Sara love your privacy, but when this relationship goes public. And whether you like it or not, things are gonna change. We want to make sure you are in it. Sara likes you a lot, and we want to make sure you are on the up and up. Otherwise we will fuck you up."

His eyes widened, not believing that he was being threatened by models. "Are you threatening me?"

"It's a promise." They saw Sara approach the table. "So she tells us you're from Oregon? What part?"

He stuttered a bit before Sara reached the table. "Eugene. Right by Oregon University where I went to school." Sara sat next to him "what were you guys just talking about" She gave her girlfriends a look.

Ann-sophie threw up her hands. "Nothing! God why do you always think the worst of us?"

Sara didn't miss a beat "cause you two are usually doing the worst." Justin laughed.

"We just wanted to know the guy you've been ditching us for."

"I haven't been ditching you two. You guys are in New York. "

Suddenly the DJ announced the food was open. Justin and Sara grabbed their plates and sat back down, this time being the two of them. "So tell me what did they really say to you?"

He looked up from his plate. "They wanted to kick my ass if I hurt you." She threw her head back in exasperating fashion. "Oh my god I'm so sorry! They are not actually going to do it."

He smiled. "I get it. It's okay" he didn't want to mention the part where they stated about going public with their relationship. Now was not the time. But after a few minutes in silence he had to ask. "Hey listen."

"Mind if we join you guys? Joe and Alisha occupied the two empty spots next to them. "No it's fine." Sara smiled. The two began to fall into conversation. At one point Sara went to grab Justin's hand across the table to hold it. He pulled away, which didn't go unnoticed by Alisha. "So are you ready for the new season to start?" Joe asked, oblivious to the anger Sara was feeling.

"Yes I haven't read the full script but its gonna be crazy with all the plot twist and turns"

"There's so many sex scenes though." Sara nodded. "Yes Greg and I have a few

This time Justin butt in. "Huh?"

She waved him off. "My character and her main off and on dude. We are supposed to have this insane argument and then we have sex. Then there's one I can't remember the details of."

"Oh really. "Justin was jealous. It made her smile

Justin's phone rang. "Excuse me, I'll be right back." He stepped outside the bar.

"What the fuck was that about?" Alisha questioned as soon as he disappeared.

"Wait what?" Joe looked between the two women. "She tried to reach for his hand and he backed away from it. Also I have not seen him even make an effort to anyone in this party besides Bella and Ann-Sophie and they approached him"

Sara sighed. "I don't know, we were doing so well. We made it official as well. But I don't know. He's not comfortable with all this.”

Alisha rolled her eyes. "He's still your boyfriend though, like has he ever heard of compromise?" Joe put his hand on her arm. "Babe stop. Everyone is different."

The topic was dropped and Sara went to check her phone.

Jbbigbear: I'm seeing pics of the party. Everyone looks well. Also a karaoke machine? I'm offended I wasn't invited.

Saracwozniak: You do karaoke? I'd never peg you for that.

Jbigbear: what? It's fun. Give me a few drinks and I'll be up there with the classics. I used to party hard in college Sara  I went to Ohio State.

She wondered if she should have brought Joey instead.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hello?" Justin was confused as to why a restricted number would be calling.

"Hellloooooo" it was Taylor, 

"What the hell? Why are you calling me?"

"Why'd you send the flowers?" She was drinking. This was great 

"My manager sent them. I wasn't made aware of it til she told me."

"So thats it? Is really ocer?" She was slurring. He never pegged her as a big drinker. Usually having wine when they hung out."

"What is going on with you!? This isn't you. We agreed on the conditions."

"Jusgin you just ended things one moments your fine and then it's like you want noothing to do with me." She started crying and he cringed. He couldn't believe he was doing this shit right now. "Listen, I'm not doing this right now. I'm watching tape right now. Sober up and don't do anything stupid."

"It doesn't sound like yourrrr home."

"Goodbye." He hung up and took a deep breath. This was ridiculous, he was going to have to lay down the law with her.

He headed back in to find Sara and her friends singing karaoke. He recognized ‘Real Slim Shady playing.”

“You want one?” He looked over to find Marc with a Corona in hand, he took one and took a swig of it. “Thanks”

“Those girls really are something arent they?” He turned to look at Marc. “What do you mean?”

“I saw them corner you at the table earlier, giving you the usual ‘hurt her I’ll kill you talk.”

“And you know that cause?”

“Sara, Ann-Sophie,and Gigi gave the exact same talk to me. These girls are tight, they have all been in toxic relationships. They look out for each other." He slapped Justin on the back. "I know this is overwhelming, trust me. I was an art dealer. Then one day this brunette walks into my shop. I asked for her number, thinking she wouldn't call me back. But here we are."

Justin smiled. "We met at Joe and Alisha's wedding. My buddy forced me to go. She's made the first move on everything." Marc laughed. "Sounds like Sara. She is great, you know? Sweet, always putting others first."

"She's fantastic." Justin agreed. "My whole world was football. Everything was the game and ball. Right now I'd be watching tape." This was the first time he had admit to anyone, even himself, that he was crazy about the brunette dancing in a circle her friends created.

Marc smiled. "Well I'm glad you're here. You need to explain the game to me.  I got a client that gave me tickets to the Jets game. I didn't want to offend him so I have to go, but I don't know shit about football."

Justin went over the rules with him until it was time for cake. After it was sliced up and served, everyone hit the dance floor. Despite Justin being a terrible dancer, he found out a couple beers later he didn't care what anyone thought. The couple danced the night away. Oblivious to everyone around them.

The songs were very fast paced. Until the DJ decided he wanted couples on the floor. At one point when Sara was getting water, Justin asked the DJ to play a slow song

Once Sara came back he nodded at the DJ who made the announcement. "Alright everyone this is a special request. Let's give everyone a break from twerking." The crowd laughed. "Everyone grab your partner and have a dance. This song is called 'Quitting you'

To Sara’s surprise, Justin grabbed her hand and led her back to the floor before the song started playing

I think about you all the time

I can't get you off my mind

If they only knew

Who I'd been talking to

You got a place off the park

I'll come by after dark

Cause I was scared when you let me in.

The tears gathered in her eyes as she looked at Justin. He met her gaze and smiled.

And it hurts

All through out my insides

I couldn't stop if I tried loving you

I'll never learn

So I'll call you when I'm outside

Said the keys behind the porch light of unit 2 

And I thought of maybe quitting.

But there's no quitting you 

Bella and Marc were among the couples on the floor watching Justin and Sara 

"So what do you think of them?" She asked her boyfriend. Marc smiled 

"I think they're great. Opposites attract, and I think if they can survive the fame. They will get married."

Bella wasn't sure. "We will see."

Every couple was so into each other on the floor that they didn't notice one of the guests' phone camera on Justin and Sara

It was 1am when they left the party. Sara had promised Jerry that she was going to send in a cleanup crew in the afternoon in addition to a large amount of cash.

After the group disbanded in the parking lot Justin drove home, being the more sober of the two since he only had two beers. She was a little tipsy, but it was wearing off since she was snacking on the leftovers after all that dancing.

However right now she was horny. "Justin?"

"Yes?" 

"When you get to this light make a left and then another left and park." He looked around.

"Uh we are talking about a back road with forests. There's nothing around."

"Yes, exactly."

"Uh I don't think that's safe."

"Oh okay." That changed his tune and he followed her directions. Once he parked he turned towards her. "Do you want privacy?"

Before he could get another sentence out of his mouth she kissed him furiously. "Get in the back seat. " She stated.

"I don't give a shit. Once you make the second turn just park it. I'm gonna be sick." She lied

"Babe you said you were sick." "No I'm not. Now get in the back seat." She unbulcked herself and ungracefully slid into the back seat. Causing Justin to laugh. He was still unsure. "This isn't a good idea. What If the cops come."

"One. This is going to be quick. Two. No cops come by here. Me and my Friends have been here alot. Now please get in the fucking back seat!"

"Fine!" He opened the door and got in the back, knowing he was too large to do what she did. Once he got situated in the back. "Uh how is this going to work?"

She pressed the button to open the sunroof. Wishing she wore a dress instead, she took up the lace bottoms before beginning to remove the jumpsuit. Justin got to work undoing his pants and underwear. Eventually she got nude, and he began to kiss and suck at her nipples. She moaned, grateful for any kind of touch. Running her fingers through his hair. She grabbed his dick and sank onto it, both of them moaning. Justin was huge, so Sara's head was poking out the sunroof. It was a funny sight, and it will probably be funny later but right now the young couple were on a mission. Justin buried his face in her breasts as she grabbed the opening of the sunroof to help her bounce  "Justin!" She moaned as he rotated his hips to match hers. Maybe it was the alcohol, or the danger of being caught that Sara came fast. Justin followed after with the aftershocks of his partner's orgasm.

"Oh my god." He breathed as Sara laid on him. After a minute she got off of him and went to grab napkins out of the center console. She noticed the look he gave her. "I eat a lot in my car." He laughed and she joined him. "I've never done this before."

He kissed her. "Me either." Once they dressed and got back on the road. He reached for hand. "I have something to ask you?"

 She raised her eyebrow at him. "So the week of the 23rd is a bye week for us. I wanted to go home for a few days. See family."

"Yeah I'll watch over Nova." He snorted.

"Thats not what I wanted to know. I want you to come with me. We could drive up there. It's 8 hours, and I have a house close to my parents. We can stay there, or-" He was rambling, it was cute.

She kissed the back of his hand. "Of course I'll come with you! I've never been to Oregon.” She kissed him on the cheek. The rest of the way was filled with a loving silence, an unspoken agreement that she was to spend the weekend at his place.

Once he pulled into his garage. She slipped out and entered his house, him behind her. “You know all that dancing and sweating. I feel really dirty." She unzipped her jumpsuit. Despite the fact that they just had sex in the car, his mouth was dry.

"I'm not tired at all." Sara continued. "Wanna join me in the shower?"

Without a word, he followed her into the bathroom.

A.N. Hey Guys! wanted to get some this out. Remember my inbox is always open and I am always down to talk about anything.! Also, next chapter is going to have a surprise meet and greet between 

[topwxntersoldxer]

Dance With Me - Bucky Barnes

Summary: Being Tony's best friend and going to one of his famous parties and meeting Bucky Barnes.

Requested: No

Warnings: none :)

A/N: This is a repost. I had this previously posted on my other Tumblr account.

"Come on y/n considering I hardly ever see you anymore it’s a good chance for us to catch up and for you to meet some of the people living here in the compound." You and Tony walked through the compound it seemed unusually quiet. You been to the compound before but usually you hear or seen a lot of people around. " You mean you want me to come but abandon me for every chick you find good looking while I look lost because I don’t know anyone else there." You looked up at Tony he was your best friend for most of your life and he was like a brother but sometimes you knew him better than he knew himself. " Please y/n" Tony gave you a pouty look knowing you would give in and he knew once you rolled your eyes that means you would give in. Tony proceeded to tell you the details the only problem is that you didn't have a good dress so you'd have to go shopping. On your way out you pulled out your phone as you were walking to the door accidentally bumped into someone "I'm so sorry" You looked up and it wasn't anyone that you recognized in the compound before. "My apologies doll" He gave you a wink and a smile and continued down the hall. You couldn't shake off that feeling but something felt off to you.

Thinking of what Tony said about you not seeing each other anymore you felt guilty. The two of you hung out all the time until you began working as a traveling writer and photographer which was the reason you didn't see each other often. You stopped at the diner that the two of you used to go to all the time and picked up your phone and dialed his number. "hey so I did some thinking and I was thinking maybe we could spend the day together. I know we haven't hung out as much as we used to and I feel guilty. So I was hoping you wouldn't mind" you can just feel Tony smile through the phone. " are you officially asking me to spend the day with you just like old times" You began to laugh " yes I am and you know where to meet me" you hung up the phone ordered and sat down waiting for Tony. Once Tony met you the two of you talked about the stuff you missed and Tony proceeded to take you to a dress store once you told him you didn’t have any clothes for tonight. The two of you spent the day walking around,  catching up and Tony took you shopping to different stores. You finally found a cute Short Velvet Emerald Green dress with some matching silver shoes and earrings for tonight.

Once the two of you got to the compound the two of you went to go get ready for tonight. You made sure you showered, shaved, prepped your skin, did your makeup, began doing your hair before heading downstairs to the party to find Tony, who you couldn't find anywhere. It was such a beautiful night outside and considering there was so many windows around the building you moved towards them and just gazed out the windows. "if you love a beautiful sky like tonight you would love Wakanda at night such a beautiful sight". You quickly turned to your side where you heard a voice mostly startled because you didn't know that anyone was next to you. It was him the guy you bumped into in the compound earlier. As you stuttered trying to form a sentence he laughed "Names Bucky doll I didn't get your name after you bumped into me earlier". You brushed your hair back behind your ear and felt your cheeks blush a bit before answering "sorry about that but I'm y/n, Tony's friend." He gave you a smile similar to the one he gave you earlier. "well y/n it’s a pleasure to meet you. Let me show you something" He extended his arm out to you and of course you took it and he lead the both of you went upstairs to the roof.

 It was beautiful you never been up on the roof before but the sky looked beautiful and it was a beautiful sight over the shining lights of the city. "it's so beautiful up here" you turned around and he was walking towards you and stood next to you  "I come up here a lot its peaceful no one comes up here. You can see the bright lights all around the city at night and all the stars in the sky, its beautiful. Some nights when I can't sleep I just sit up here where its peaceful and just admire it" You turned to look at Bucky with the light shining on the roof it was easy to see the scruff of his beard, his long hair pulled back. "What's your story" You watched as Bucky turned to look at you and now you were able to look at all the beautiful detail in his face. "I mean you don’t have to if you don't want to I'm just curious" Bucky looked down as he chuckled and smiled at you.

 Bucky then began to tell you his story beginning from joining the military and being Tony's friend you already knew about Hydra and a lot of the other crazy things that happen in his life. So Bucky also told you about Hydra, being in Wakanda everything until this moment. All you did in the moment is listen to Bucky in that time and just listening to him you knew it was hard for him to talk about. "I'm really sorry all of that happened to you" You gave Bucky a weak smile before leaning your head on Bucky's shoulder before getting a quick shiver. The one thing you hated about nights like tonight is that it was cool at night and gets cold quick.

Bucky looked down on you before he took off his jacket and wrapped it around you. " You didn't have to do that" your voice came out lower than you expected it to. "You need it more than me doll" You slid yourself into his jacket and looked up at Bucky. "Thank You and Thank you for the night I had a good time" Bucky gave a small chuckle. "I hope you don’t think the night is over with y/n." Bucky then extended his hand out towards you "May I have this dance" You gave Bucky a smile "I shouldn't be surprised you dance" you let out a chuckle before grabbing his hand. One thing about being Tony's Friend is you learned how to dance. Bucky slid one arm around your waist and met your hand. You followed his lead and every step. You never danced with anyone as graceful as he was. Every dip, spin and step was more graceful than the last. Something about the way the two of you danced just felt safe and peaceful.

 This is a moment that could last forever. You leaned your head on his shoulder and just danced with him. He gave you one last spin and pulled you close to him whispering in your ear "who knew I'd be spending my night with someone as Beautiful and Darling as you" he stepped back to look at you. He brushed a couple strands of your hair behind your ear before leaning forward towards you and resting his forehead on yours. "who knew" your voice came out lower than you expected. You lifted your head that was still resting on his to look at him.

You couldn’t help but notice how handsome he looks before stroking his face with your hand tracing your fingers around his jaw. Hooking one finger under his jaw and lifting his face to yours pulling it towards yours and brushing your lips against his before leaning in and kissing his lips. You didn’t know how to describe it but kissing him was unlike anything you felt before. You wrapped your arms around his neck and wrapped your fingers in his hair deepening the kiss. He was the first one to pull away but kept his forehead on yours. The two of you were still trying to catch your breath from the intense moment that was just shared.

It was awhile before either of you said anything just enjoying the moment while it lasted. “You know I wanted to do that ever since I saw you” Bucky said brushing your hair out your face. "From the moment you first bumped into me doll and became speechless over my extremely good looks.." before Bucky could finish you slapped his arm causing him to start laughing. "first I was not speechless and two even if I was it was not over you" You began chuckling. "its okay to admit it doll but I can really make you speechless." You giggled and Bucky flashed you a smile before shaking his head. "I meant by taking you on a date y/n but I can do that if you want me to" he winked at you. "I'd love you to take me out Barnes" you kissed his cheek. You turned around to walk away "wait where are you going" You turned around with a smile on your face. "I'll be waiting on you to take me out goodnight Barnes" and with that you walked off. It wouldn’t be the last time you see Bucky Barnes but just the beginning of something amazing.

[h0rr0rsaxo]

So I have the Kerian request. Its uh...rough? So there is zero obligation to do this...

So Keiran kidnaps Anni after nearly killing Varrick and the others and he makes Anni choose between going with him to Russia and being his or refusing which would end up with all her friends dead. So she is forced to go with him. So years later she is in Russia with Keiran. Keiran has a very nice job as a "CEO"....hes really part of the mob and Anni knows it but they both have been married for a few years and even have a set of twins a boy and a girl named Dimitri and Masha. So Anni is kind of like a housewife. Keiran has this huge house that is ridiculously fancy and he buys Anni all these fancy clothes and jewelry, but their relationship is still rocky. Anni really tries her best to love him and sometimes she does, but other times she just hates him and Keiran knows it so he tries to make up for it with money and petnames. But Keiran comes home, Masha and Dimitri are eating dinner and happily ranting to Anni about their days at school and Keiran goes to give Anni a kiss. She does it begrudgingly and that's when Masha asks Anni a questions.....

"Mommy...do you and daddy love each other?"

Anni freezes and Keiran stares at her, having that cold, hardened look on his face as he narrows his eyes at her. So Anni answers...

"Of course, Masha...we love each other very much."

The rest of the night goes by normally, Anni is taking care of the kids while Keiran smugly watches and Keiran eventually tells them to go to bed. So Anni is left with Keiran and she's cleaning up and he comes from behind and starts to kiss down her neck, muttering russian praises and petnames and muttering about how he knew she'd come around.

"You are so beautiful, moya printsessa" (aka my princess)

(I am so sorry this is so long, if you have any questions then feel free to ask and add or change anything you'd like tsym!!)

[ forced marriage. || simp party. ]

Warnings: Yandere behavior, smut.

Tags: @insane-horror-movie-addict

A/N: Tumblr is giving me issues rn..

Word count: 3,735

Keiran was never a problem.

They occasionally challenged each other as they went on separate missions together, drank together in bars, hung out together in said bars. Most people even dared to assume she was at least dating him with how often the two were around each other but of course they weren’t— Varrick would even dismantle these rumors before she had the chance to. Keiran and Anni were barely even friends– just enemies, that's all there was to it. And it’s not like she found them unattractive– hell, anyone with eyes could see that Keiran was hot. But they were just enemies and it was reasonable that she never once expressed interest in being anything other than that so she never acted on those subtle feelings. Who could blame her? Keiran was an actual psychotic narcissist.

Anni stayed single and mostly content for years during the first year of her proxy work, while Keiran had the occasional short-lived relationship and a few flings. He sometimes approached her about them, sharing details she'd pretend didn’t make her as uncomfortable as they did, not out of jealousy, but out of lack of experience. She never understood why they’d tell this strange man about their relationships or sexual habits. It’s not like she could offer advice or even conversation but she listened because that’s what 'friends' are for— she just assumed that perhaps he was lonely?

So, when Anni had her first date with a human– some handsome barista she met at a coffee shop a week earlier– she decided to ask Keiran for tips on how to properly win him over. She expected she’d get advice and some soothing words of confidence, but what she got instead, well… it unsettled her.

Instead of being assuring, Keiran became hostile. Aggressive. Panicked. She'd think she just told him she was trying to date a God instead of a perfectly normal person— because the way he was reacting was outrageous. Keiran paces the length of the room, blocking the door leading out while he simply stares at her from where he sits just inches away.

"A human? Really?" Keiran huffs under his breath, irate and frustrated– a complete 180 to the quiet tranquility he usually embodies— he barely spoke, and when he did, it was in Russian. 

"Yeah," Anni scowls, crossing her arms as she watches the demonic Russian man warily. "What’s wrong with that?"

Keiran laughs mirthlessly. "What’s wrong with that," he mimics, rolling his eyes and then focusing on her. "This isn’t about humans and you know it, malen'kiy." she frowns, something in the way he’s looking at her stirring unsettling feelings. Keiran's gaze has always been intense. She used to blame it on his proxy position, his intelligence, whatever, but looking closer now she realizes there’s something off about him– something wrong.

"I… I gotta go." Anni feel the need to leave, like she's in danger despite being surrounded by her supposed friendly enemy. Clearing her throat, she moves to stand, avoiding eye contact with Keiran when he turns to look at her. She brushes invisible dust off her clothes, a nice set bought in preparation for her date, and pretends she doesn't feel uneasy at the way he goes completely still and glares at her. "I don’t know what’s wrong with you guys today but I have somewhere to be so-"

She takes one step towards the door before Keiran suddenly stands, never once turning away from her. Anni makes a run for the door but he is quick to catch her, pinning her to the ground easily as he approaches with a roll of duct tape. He works in harmony to tape her limbs together, one of his palms covering her mouth as she kicks and screams while he wrangles her in. "If you value her friend's lives, you'll stay still."

He knows she’ll never give into him, knows she’ll never love him, but he never wanted that in the first place. Her reactions and begrudging dependency on him were enough, and playing around with her emotions had always proven to be fun.

Until he fell in love.

The mere prospect of loving someone other than himself was an unfamiliar feeling to a man that believes himself to be God. She was nothing special, nothing more than another human in game, another pawn on his chessboard -- and somehow, she'd touched his heart without meaning to. Now, he was going to have to take her— and make his mother proud by bringing home a beautiful little wife. 

— . — . —

Years has passed since he had taken her— was it even years? She didn't truly know, she somewhat just knew a lot of time had passed.

Anni wakes up early in the morning to start her day as a housewife. Keiran's mansion is huge and it takes a lot of effort to maintain it. She starts by making breakfast for Keiran and herself, preparing a spread of eggs, toast, bacon, and coffee. As she lays out the plates, she can't help but feel a little resentful. Keiran buys her all these fancy clothes and jewelry, but it doesn't make up for the fact that their relationship is still rocky.

After breakfast, Anni sets about the task of cleaning the house. She dusts the shelves, vacuums the carpets, and polishes the furniture until it gleams. She takes pride in her work, knowing that Keiran appreciates a clean and tidy home. As she works, she can't help but think about their relationship. Sometimes she loves Keiran with all her heart, but other times she just can't stand him. She wishes things could be different, that they could have the kind of love that lasts a lifetime.

As the day wears on, Anni continues her chores. She does the laundry, waters the plants, and prepares dinner. She tries to make the meal special, hoping that it will bring her and Keiran closer together. She sets the table with the good china and lights candles to create a romantic atmosphere. Keiran comes home from work and compliments her on the meal, calling her pet names like "sweetheart" and "darling". Anni smiles and tries to forget about the times when Keiran has hurt her.

Anni's eyes traveled up to meet his just as his thin eyelashes fluttered open to reveal those gorgeous royal blue hues. His head tilted to one side, eyes squinting with peaceful and divine delight. A small, genuine smile decorated his pallid countenance -- a smile she couldn’t help but return with equal fervor and sincerity. Even if sometimes she felt like she didn't love him, it was one of those rare moments where she'd treat him like her husband, instead of an enemy.

No words needed to be exchanged, only gentle glances and the metaphorical beautiful melody they created together.

Normal. This felt normal. This felt like her old life again. Right? For the first time since he’d taken her from everything she'd ever known, she felt like a normal couple -- one without grandiose and lavish aspirations, one that could enjoy simple moments like this, one that could enjoy each other’s company without worry of ulterior motives... one that could love, sorely and wholly.

As they sat opposite of each other, she realized this was the first time she truly felt as if she was on the same side as this man. No longer at odds, no longer confused by his presence and aspirations. He was a man with layers, a Russian doll with so many smaller, so many fragmented pieces within his core that even he had lost sight of who he was and who he would be. He was Elysian ambition itself, and that had gotten him lost in the magnificent and rich world he’d crafted within his head.

A world without crime. A world without punishment.

He had made himself a martyr, a scapegoat for the greater good. Like a child with an overactive imagination, Fyodor sought to make his ideals reality -- and that would bring about both her ends. Perhaps she was another layer in his matryoshka, insignificant when not part of a whole. He had brought her into his world and she was to truly be happy with him someday; but for now, in these all-too-fleeting moments, she was at peace. The gentle Fyodor before her was her home away from home. He was her reprieve as much as he was her tormentor, her respite as much as he was her abuser.

Anni would never understand him, would never forgive him. He was still galaxies away from her despite how near he sat. But in this rare moment, she felt closer to him than ever before. Everything was interrupted when he got a call from his "normal CEO job", and she was back to despising him— especially with his constant lies being exchanged with her. She just wanted him to be honest with her— just something!

After dinner, Anni and Keiran retire to the living room to watch a movie. He forces her to cuddle with him on the couch, holding hands and laughing at the funny parts. Anni feels a sense of contentment, knowing that for this moment at least, they are happy together. But as the movie ends Keiran kisses her, saying he has a call to take and leaves, Anni can't help but feel a sense of sadness. She knows that their relationship is still rocky, that money and petnames can't make up for the lack of real love and connection. As she lies in bed, Anni wonders what the future holds for her and Keiran. She hopes that they can find a way to truly love each other, to overcome the obstacles that stand in their way. But for now, she resigns herself to the role of housewife, doing her best to keep the mansion clean and tidy, and trying to love Keiran as best she can.

Masha and Dimitri are sitting at the dinner table, their faces animated as they excitedly tell Anni about their days at school. Masha talks about her art class, showing Anni the drawing she made of their dog, while Dimitri talks about a science project he's working on.

As they chat, Keiran comes home and walks over to Anni, leaning in to give her a kiss. Anni turns her head slightly, doing it begrudgingly, still feeling resentful towards him. But as Keiran pulls away, he notices the happy chatter of their children and the warm atmosphere of their home. He smiles, feeling grateful for his family and the life they have built together.

"Hey, how was everyone's day?" Keiran asks, taking his seat at the table.

Masha and Dimitri talk excitedly, telling Keiran about their school projects and the friends they played with at recess. Keiran listens attentively, asking questions and showing genuine interest in their stories. Anni watches them interact, feeling a sense of warmth in her chest. Despite their problems, they are still a family, and moments like these remind her of the love that they share. 

Anni looks at Masha, taken aback by the sudden question. She tries to smile, but her heart feels heavy. Keiran, who had just come in to give her a kiss, looks at Anni with concern. He knows that their relationship is not perfect, but he had hoped that their problems were not so obvious.

Anni takes a deep breath and looks at Masha. "Of course, we love each other," she says, her voice strained.

Masha looks at her mother skeptically, sensing that something is amiss. "But why don't you look happy together?" she asks innocently.

Anni feels a lump in her throat, struggling to find the words to explain their complicated relationship to her daughter. "Sometimes grown-ups have problems that they need to work out," she says, trying to keep her voice steady. "But we still love each other and we're trying to make things better."

Masha nods, but her expression shows that she is not entirely convinced. Keiran puts a hand on Anni's shoulder, silently offering his support. Anni feels a flicker of gratitude. Despite their problems, Keiran is still there for her, trying to make things right.

As they finish dinner, Anni can't help but feel a sense of sadness. She had always wanted her children to grow up in a happy, loving household, but she knows that their reality falls short of that ideal. She wonders if there is any hope for their relationship, if they can ever truly find the love and connection that they both crave. But for now, she focuses on being there for her children, listening to their stories and laughing at their jokes. She tries to put on a brave face, knowing that they deserve to have a happy childhood, even if their parents' relationship is not perfect.

As the night wears on, Anni helps Masha and Dimitri with their homework, and Keiran retires to his study to catch up on work. Anni feels a sense of loneliness, wishing that she could share her thoughts and feelings with Keiran, but knowing that their relationship is too fragile for that kind of honesty. As she tucks her children into bed, Anni feels a sense of sadness wash over her. She knows that she loves Keiran, but their relationship is still rocky. She wonders if they will ever find a way to truly connect, or if they are destined to live in this limbo forever.

After putting Masha and Dimitri to bed, Anni heads back to the kitchen to clean up the dinner dishes. She pours some soap into the sink and starts scrubbing the plates, lost in her thoughts.

Suddenly, she feels a pair of strong arms wrap around her waist, and a warm breath on the back of her neck. She turns around to see Keiran standing behind her, a mischievous glint in his eye.

He starts kissing down her neck, whispering Russian praises and pet names in her ear. Anni feels a shiver run down her spine, her body responding to his touch despite her earlier resentment towards him.

Keiran pulls her closer, his hands roaming over her body. Anni feels a sense of longing, feeling the connection that they share despite their problems.

"Ya znal, chto ty pridesh'," Keiran mutters, his voice low and seductive, "Moya khoroshen'kaya lisichka." 

Anni feels a flicker of anger, knowing that Keiran is trying to manipulate her with his charms. But at the same time, she can't deny the chemistry between them, the way her body responds to his touch. As they continue their embrace, Anni feels a sense of confusion. She knows that their relationship is complicated, that they have issues that they need to work through. But at the same time, she can't deny the passion that they share, the way Keiran makes her feel when he's close to her, "You are so beautiful, moya printsessa."

As they pull away from each other, Anni feels a sense of uncertainty. She knows that they have a long way to go before their relationship can truly be healed, but at the same time, she can't deny the spark that still exists between them. As she finishes cleaning up the kitchen, Anni feels a sense of resignation. She knows that their problems won't be solved overnight, but at the same time, she can't help but hope that she finds a way to truly love each other. Right as she's lost in her thoughts— Keiran takes her, and brings them up to their room. Before she can realize what just happened, he pins her down onto the bed.

"I don’t know, how you’ve done it, but I’ve fallen so deep in love with you," He turns and faces her, grey eyes peering into her own. "I love you, malen'kaya lisa." he responds. "And tonight, I need you." 

Anni heart swells and his hands trickle across her skin like nectar. He pulls the hem of her silk camisole up and over her head, allowing Keiran to drag his tongue over her bare skin. He takes hold of her left nipple with his teeth and sucks slowly on the sensitive area. Not daring to leave its twin forgotten, Keiran twists his index finger and thumb around the bud, only satisfied when the both are erect to their fullest.

Throwing her head backwards and letting out a low moan, Keiran smirks and trades treatments. Her face flushes when she feels the heat growing in between her legs. Upon letting go of her breast, he shifts and aligns himself overtop her. He tastes different places on her neck, searching for her favorite spot. Releasing a sharp breath when his nose grazes a sensitive area, Keiran takes the opportunity to leave a dark hickey. She takes her fingers through his hair and brings his lips down to hers, demanding his tongue in her mouth.

When he gives Anni what she wants, she trails her hands down his sculpted abdomen and plays with the elastic waistband to his underwear. Before she has the chance to relieve him of the fabric, Keiran breaks off the hungry kiss and flips her onto her stomach.

With a leg to her left and right, he keeps her from moving away. "Keiran," she whispers, "do not tease me please."

He smirks like the devil. "Then where would the fun be?" he replies, sly as a fox. Her panties are torn away, leaving her completely vulnerable to him and his wishes. "Do you wish to know what I plan to do with you now?"

"Tell me, my love," She purrs in response. He's ecstatic when she refers to him like that— it was one of the rare times she was affectionate when the children weren't present.

A wet sound breaks the silence. Keiran pulls his fingers from his mouth, saliva dripping generously from the tips of his digits. Pressing his index finger to her slit, he whispers into her ear, "I will make you mine, printsessa." As the words roll off his tongue, he inserts an index finger into her core. She squirms as the heat grows stronger and she inches closer to pleasure. He watches her in her submissive state with lust blazing bright in his eyes. Quickly becoming bored, Keiran adds another finger and begins to pumps the two around in lopsided circles.

Anni's breath catches in her throat, a strangled moan trying to escape her lungs. Panting, she forced herself to turn over onto her back. Once she's managed to flip, Keiran pulls one of her legs over his shoulder and roughly holds onto her other. A third finger thrusts into her core. Taken by surprise, she moaned out loud – much louder than she intended.

"Don’t suppress it," he smirks, "Let me hear it…"

"You tease me, I tease you, Keiran," Anni says back, dragging a hand along the side of her body. His eyebrows furrow and he frowns for a moment. Then, he smiles. After pumping fast and hard for a minute and leaving her on the edge of a climax, Keiran pulls his hand away. He then continues to lick off his fingers and then leave to fetch something in the dark.

Keiran returns holding a small, reflective packet in one hand and a towel in the other. Already knowing the contents of the object, she moves to the edge of the bed, sling her legs over the side and pulls his body towards her own. His chest muscles align perfectly with her face, allowing her to drag her tongue across his porcelain skin. Every so often, she kisses him tenderly. His arms fall limp with the torn open wrapping hanging loosely from his hand when she twists her tongue around his own nipples. Keiran inhales sharply, to which her smile, pleased with her revenge. 

Moving up slowly, she is eventually standing upright, directly in front of Keiran. He watches her silently as her fingers twine around the band of his boxers and pull them down. His erect member nearly stands perpendicular to his body. He then lowers her gently back onto the bed and slips the condom out of the wrapping and onto himself. Licking her lips slowly, she watches eagerly as the plastic stretches over his hardened member. 

"Are you sure?" Keiran asks softly, gently touching her cheek.

She places a kiss in the center of his palm and nods. "I love you."

Keiran smiles – he has a beautiful smile. "I love you too."

With that, he pushed himself inside of hed. Unlike she thought, pain slaps her hard before the wave of completeness fills her. She cries out and then moans as Keiran grunts. He slowly begins to thrust further into. Upon seeing her doing alright, he pushes harder and faster. Not after long, he manages to hit her G-spot and she releases a loud scream. "Keiran!"

Still moving, Keiran digs his fingers deeper into her hips and forces her to sit up with him. She pressed herself closer to him and dragged her nails across his back. Short shouts fill the air as she draw closer and closer to her climax. Sweat trickles down her body and she struggles for oxygen.

"K–Keiran," She pants, "I–I’m going to cum!"

He does not respond verbally; instead he thrusts even harder and even faster than before. His grunts all sound as if they are being cut off, they are so short. "Aah–," he sounds.

With the last thrust, she feels as if the pit of her stomach releases everything it holds and she is rewarded with a feeling of satisfaction and happiness. Keiran, not quite there, pushes twice more into her before letting out a shout and releasing his seed as well. Keiran pulls out, reaches for the towel and hands it to her. She takes the item and wipes herself off. He takes the cloth back and removes the condom and cleans himself up as well. After slipping on her panties, she lies back in the bed and watches as Keiran changes into a fresh pair of underwear. He pushes the covers over and nuzzles next to her. With his arm possessively around her, he kisses her face gently. her temple, her forehead, between her eyes, her nose, her jawline, her lips.

Sleep falls heavy over both of them. In the silence, when the land of dreams is ready to pull her under, Keiran whispers.

"I love you."

[dicktective]

[werner herzog in the mandelorian vc] eye would like to see 'CALIFORNIA HERE WE COME' 👀

bahahaha well it's written partly by myself and party by kat but i'll share some of what i wrote:

It starts with Robin. 

Not that he was ever the sort of person to believe in like, fate, or God, or whatever, but every single action--every single moment up until this exact moment in time--started with her.

Beneath him, as his feet dangle knee deep in the depths of the cold morning surf, he tries not to feel overwhelmingly suffocated by this particular fact. Because he can’t hate Robin. He can’t. He knows that none of this is actually her fault--that he and he alone was in charge of the series of spurious, half-baked ideas that lead to this particular sequence of events--but god, why didn’t she try and stop him? 

Oh, right. 

She had. 

She had tried to tell him this was a dumb idea--just wait it out for another year, dingus’; we can move in with each other then--and Steve had looked her, scoffed with his eyebrows raised cheek achingly high, and let an incredulous: fuck that. 

So he bought a van. 

He put in his two weeks notice with his boss at Sears--the older woman was almost sad to see him go--said he had a way with the customers--and took out a bank draft.

He bought a van, packed it in a moment of ill-conceived anger directed vaguely towards his father, and spent two days driving to California. He got lost only once (or maybe twice), but when he showed up outside the dormitories of UCLA, unshowered and half asleep from two uncomfortable nights spent sleeping curled up on the floor behind the driver seat, Robin had nearly killed him. 

He had to listen to her rattle off a list of all the reasons why dumping half of his savings into a stupid van (a really, really ugly one, she added) to follow her halfway across the country was crazy! And also, Steve, where the heck do you think you’re going to stay? I already told you before I left you can’t crash at the dormitories and apartment prices in downtown L.A are crazy. 

“The van,” he had simply told her. As if this van was going to be the solution to all of his life's problems. 

“The van,” Robin had parroted. “The van with no mattress, no running water, and no way to cook a meal in it.”

Steve had just shrugged, but one of the first things he had done was go pick up a crappy mattress from one of the local Salvation Armys. 

And for a while it was fine. 

He spent a few days parked outside the dormitories and they would get lunch together, or sometimes hangout in the park near the campus library and there was even the occasional movie night when Robin's roommate was out visiting her boyfriend.

But then classes picked up and Robin got busy. The security guard at her dormitory complex told him politely if not firmly that because he wasn't a student at the university he couldn't keep parking there overnight. There was no place to shower and he couldn't keep sneaking into the building with Robin to wash his clothes without getting dirty looks.

Also eating a steady diet of gas station food--of bagged jerky and teeth-rottingly sweet snack cakes--was really starting to do a number on his stomach.

He didn't tell her his.

Instead, he went back to the same Goodwill where he had picked up the mattress and bought a surfboard. 

He smiled and told her half-truths about how amazing this all was. Of mornings spent at the beach and afternoons getting sun tans. Of all the sites he was seeing. The people he was meeting. Of this killer wave he hit the day before and God, Robin, you should have been there to see it. 

Robin always laughs and smirks and rolls her eyes when he talks about it all. About surfing at sunrise (she still doesn’t fully believe that it’s something he’s capable of, he believes), of the late afternoons spent sleeping on the beach, of the weird cat he sometimes gets to see when he’s grocery shopping in the gas station near the freeway. 

“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself, Steve,” she had told him. “I’m glad this is working out.”

The water beneath his board swells in a sudden and unnatural crest and Steve’s fingers clamp down on its edges, steadying himself just to stay afloat. 

Then, he turns and looks to the beach. People are slowly arriving, slowly unpacking beach towels and folding metal chairs. There’s a kid with a ball and a family with a dog and a group of teenagers perched in a huddle near the sandy stairs leading to the boardwalk. Steve sighs and begins to paddle the board back towards shore. 

He woke up to another parking ticket. It was there, plastered in its disgustingly muted pink under the rubber edge of his van's windshield wiper. It’s another thing he won’t tell Robin. Another half-truth. 

Because a part of him really wanted this. A part of him had wanted her to be wrong. 

She isn’t though--and rarely has been. 

But again, Steve won’t tell her this. He can’t.

[dreamerwriternstargazer]

Okay

Airport dream

So I’m in an airport heading home from Saudi, only it’s not like Doha airport it’s a bit different but I know that’s where it’s supposed to be

We come down in this big crane lift over a…. A pond in the middle of the airport, but it’s almost like a lake it’s so big, and there’s this landing that reaches out into the middle of the lake and branches off into different shops

My mum likes this clothes shop we go into while we’re waiting and we wander in but I’m a little wary for some reason

Warning; this dream will include…. A lot of random sexual assault because it just happens apparently it’s the only way my brain creates conflict in a dreamscape that or my family conflict

Anyway I’m wary because there’s some creepy guy who’s kind of been following us but hey maybe he’s just going to the same gate. He’s really disturbing me though and he does try to touch me as I go out and I immediately yell at him

But I want to rush out of there and mum quickly buys a nice dress and we go

My dad took the kids to another store, and surprised us with a puppy! A labradoodle to be specific, white and cute and fluffy, idk why but I expect it’s because my youngest sister asked for it. My little brother also somehow set loose a…. Turkey and I’m cross and scolding him for losing the cage, we have to find the cage

Because apparently it’s ours

And I lose my temper at him and smack his hand. I feel very bad for that even now, he cries and says he’s sorry and I feel terrible

I go to find the cage, and put the bird in

I also get the puppy to jump into a bag I’ve no idea why he’s so chill with it but he is

And I come back to my parents sitting in a restaurant-y area outside the pet shop, and I hug my little brother and apologise over and over. He’s feeling better by the end of it and we spend some time together

My dad then goes off with the kids and my mum and I are left alone, she then gets a mischievous look and bolts off suddenly, up over the bridge to the clothes shop she went to before and I run in after her

I didn’t describe it the first time very well, it’s a large circular room with some mirrors here and there and a fluffy carpet, and sparkly party dresses hanging on railings set into the wall

There’s doorways that lead to more rooms and I’m a little frightened because it feels… wrong, losing my mum in this dress shop labyrinth, I’m running through and calling her name and calling for her to come out, almost crying and she’s responding playfully. I then cry out that she needs to come back please I’m frightened and she does, because it really was getting Grecian there, this infinite clothes shop with these saleswomen who just stand there smilingly. I feel half certain it was the workshop of that witch from Sea of Monsters who turned Percy into a guinea pig

Mum’s dressed in a blue sparkly dress that I’d quite like so she says I can borrow it and we leave

We go back to that seating area, it’s in the main airport and it’s this very minimalist design; long dark wood table rows with wooden bar stools, and shorter tables as well round the edges of the area, where there’s seats built into the walls of this large wooden frame that extends up and over us quite high. Like a very modern coffee shop aesthetic I suppose, we can look out to the waterfall and lake through the frame since it’s got large square gaps

As we’re waiting I get harassed a bit, or we do, I’m immediately angry and defensive with these two sports dudebros coming up to us trying to touch me and my mum I threaten to film them and when it gets worse I immediately whack them in the face and tell them to get lost, take mum’s hand and we rush off because we should be with the kids and dad trying to get to the gate anyway

We start walking down to the gate as a family, we go down into this tunnel area you know like when a highway road dips down into a tunnel, and there’s lots of other people walking down too. I’m wary because I think those sports bros might be going the same way and I’m also worrying about losing bags

I’m a little bit behind the rest and they get into the elevator first, the lift that we arrived in, I think the tunnel goes underneath the big lake so we reached the lower floor of the lift

I take the lift myself and end up on a…. Disturbingly empty floor, the attendant who rushed me into the elevator tells me I can cut through here to get to the plane so I try to but I get attacked again by that creepy old guy from the first encounter

At this point I’m very triggered and very done and knock him out COLD, kicking punching and scratching my way through

It’s a bit of a blur honestly I was so terrified, and on this isolated horror car park looking floor as well. I cut through and make it back to the rest of the family Alhamdulilah and it’s a night flight so it’s dark outside

Now the next bit is so odd because I’m not sure if I fell asleep in the dream and dreamed it or it continued with this it feels like a continuation, and to be clear everything at this point shifts into a fairytale style of illustration, like.. like the illustration style of the unadoptables

But I think I found a little abandoned baby, a girl, or maybe I was just seeing her story in my mind

She’s abandoned and she must be taken in, yes that’s it and I have a house a very nice grand house on a precipice in the middle of a lake and she starts to grow up there, but I want a bigger home for her. It sort of looks like a slightly gothic style cottage on the outside, like Aunt Josephine’s house in A Series of Unfortunate Events only not black, the walls are brick yellow and the roof is a dark purple. Inside the walls are a dark turquoise and the furniture is dark purple and gothic as well, and there’s a fireplace and it’s really lovely, the little girl is now about 4 and I want her home to be bigger, so I call up an uncle. Somehow I have a rich English uncle who’s an engineer, or maybe he’s not related to me at all considering… you know… white. But I feel a kinship and I ask him if there’s any way we can expand it and I say money is no expense (I swear I’m a rich old maid or widow or something!!!) and he hems and haws and says well there is SOMETHING they could do; the way they got the cottage there in the first place

He starts to send in high pressure bursts of water into the lake to break down the rocky formations at the bottom so they can extend the landmass of the precipice, APPARENTLY THE ENTIRE COTTAGE AND PRECIPICE IS ENGINEERED AND COMMISSIONED BY ME THE FIRST TIME

I dive into the water to watch it happening and I’m in this crystal clear lake water, staring as they look on in a cave with a curved glass window

I could have just watched from the cave but I’m extra and have a large lung capacity apparently

And then I wake up :D

[grapementos]

I LOVE YOUR WORK SO MUCH!!!!Can I ask for a cheater bakugo, kirishima or deku? ( can you do all three? That would be awesome 🥲) and pls make the ending v angsty (on the other persons side lmaooowjwisj) like, y/n dates their best friend or something LOL

This is literally my first time, so I’m sorry if it doesn’t make sense 🥲

meliora

(adj.) latin for “the pursuit of better”

a/n: AHH NONNIE ILYSM TY FOR THIS REQUEST. i’ll have all three characters i promise, but for now take kiri. i hope this angst is up to your standards 🥺 and your request made sense dw mwah xoxo also— AGED UP CHARACTERS.

midoriya’s part. bakugo’s part.

cw: cheating, crying, mentions of alcohol/under influence of alcohol, suggestive if you squint, kissing.

kirishima was indescribable.

you'd never before met a man that was so utterly wonderful in every way. every move he made was perfect in your eyes. he could do no wrong.

and he loved you just as hard. he was willing to shout it from the rooftops the second you had an ounce of doubt. you were never his secret--you were his most prized possession; he loved showing you off and flaunting the fact that he, 'had the best partner in the world.'

every one of your friends put money on the two of you getting married and staying together (even bakugo, surprisingly.) you were counting on that outcome.

still, you had disagreements from time to time, just like every other couple, but you had enough patience and sense between the two of you to be rational. you openly discussed your insecurities with each other, only to be met with open arms and gentle reassurances.

you didn't tend to entertain the idea of soulmates, but what other explanation was there? what other phenomenon could be held responsible for your seemingly destined relationship?

whatever it was, you were in love with your soulmate.

that's what you thought, at least.

that's what you thought until he cheated.

he cheated at a party you didn't even want to attend. but, because you loved him, you did. you attended the party only to find your drunken boyfriend eating some random person's face in one of yaoyorozu's million guest rooms. you remembered it so vividly.

it was a sight that was branded in your brain--you couldn't even blink without seeing them together, kissing with such desperation, such hunger.

"ei?" your voice had quivered, phone dropping to the floor, "what.. what're you.."

you wanted to scream when his dazed eyes met yours, glazed over and burning with a look you'd never seen in them before.

"y/n? that's not.." he stammered, looking back and forth between you and the person, "i'm not.. who's this?" as if finally realizing that was not, in fact, you, he shoved them off, crossing the to move towards you.

"you tell me, kirishima! you're the one with your tongue down their throat!" your eyes stung, every part of you trembling with utter betrayal.

"i.. i thought'was you!" he slurred, eyes pleading as he reached out to grab your arm.

you jerked back as if you'd been burned, "me? kirishima, i look nothing like them!" fat tears rolled down your cheeks as you stepped back, blinking quickly to clear your vision.

"s'tp calling me that.. s'not my name." he frowned, "m'so sorry, so sorry.. let's go home, please. let's just go home." he begged, eyes still unfocused. he was definitely not in any condition to drive.

so you decided to take care of him. one last time.

you drove him back to your shared apartment that night, ignoring the questioning looks you received from everyone.

they knew. they'd seen kirishima go upstairs with that person, and yet they let you see it for yourself. likely because you wouldn't have believed that your perfect boyfriend committed such an unspeakable act.

you helped him into the apartment after a long drive consisting of a stop at a gas station to buy some water and kirishima's loud wails and apologies. the entire ride you only spoke three words to him:

"drink your water."

he clung onto you as you guided him to your bedroom, helping him change into more comfortable clothes.

and then the two of you were seated on the bed. silent. alcohol long worn off.

"y/n, please-"

"i'll be gone by the morning. i'm taking everything in one trip." you couldn't look at him. if you did, you'd see his eyes that made you weak, and your resolve would crumble. you would forgive him, you were sure of it. all it took was a look.

"no!" he nearly shouted, sobs racking his body, "no, y/n, you can't. you can't leave me, it was a mistake, i'm so sorry!" his hands tangled in the duvet, presumably because he was too scared to touch you.

"and why can't i," you cursed the way your voice cracked, "kirishima? tell me, please. tell me right now that there is no reason for me to leave you. tell me that you did nothing wrong. tell me that what i saw tonight wasn't real. please tell me i made a mistake, and that i'm crazy, or- or i need glasses or something."

he was trying to talk over you as your voice kept raising, growing more and more desperate as your resolve cracked.

"tell me i didn't see you kiss them!"

he was silent, for his deed was there. out in the open. and he knew he couldn't tell you any of that. it would be a lie. a cold, hard lie you wanted nothing more than to believe.

"thought so." you muttered bitterly, getting up to start packing your clothes. just as you stood, another tsunami of misery slammed into you. you paused, back facing him.

"i just.. don't understand." you whispered, "i thought we were so happy. were you bored? is that it? we've been together so long that you got tired of the same old thing?"

before he could speak, you spoke again, voice heavy with tears, "and why don't i want you to feel the same hurt i do? i should, right? i should be angry and cursing your name and not want to be anywhere near you. i should have left you there at the party and let someone else take care of you."

"why didn't you?" he mumbled after a beat of silence.

"because i'm truly in love with you." you finally looked over to meet his gaze, "i guess soulmates really don't exist, huh?"

-

true to your word, you were gone by morning. you had everything in your car, leaving a note on the counter for kirishima to read once he woke up.

thankfully, you'd arranged to stay with a friend while you searched for a place to relocate. you expected it to take less than a month if you looked consistently and weren't too picky.

what you didn't expect, however, was a message from the one and only katsuki bakugo.

it was him requesting to meet up with you at a coffee shop you were familiar with, which you reluctantly agreed to. as soon as you sent the text, however, you knew it was a bad idea. he was friends with kirishima and was probably only meeting with you because he asked him to.

it was too late, you decided, so you went to get ready for your mysterious rendezvous.

once time rolled around and you were seated at the table with him, you were shocked to find that he met with you on his own accord.

"i don't do people favors. especially cheaters." he’d explained after you mentioned your concern.

it stung. the reminder.

bakugo must've noticed because he swiftly distracted you.

"stop staring off into space, idiot. i invited you here for a reason."

you found that he wanted to help you. when asked why, he just looked off to the side, as if contemplating.

"i know how you feel. let me help you."

"i thought you don't do people favors, bakugo?"

"listen, do you want my help or not?"

you did. you really did. you felt so alone and tired.

so you agreed. and the rest was history.

BONUS:

you eventually fell out of love with kirishima. he'd always have a special place in your heart, but time managed to heal the wound you thought would be the death of you.

of course, you still had love for him, but when you saw the flash of hurt in his eyes after you exchanged vows with bakugo, you couldn’t bring yourself to feel any regret.

you likes? eh? eh? 👀 seriously tho i hope this was what you wanted 🥺 reblogs appreciated !

are you in pain, @zuroki ? hope so <3

[ao3komorii]

Tangling with the Lifeguard (Pool Party Sett/Reader)

The Pool Party Sett story is done! I’ve gone with a beach!AU sort of setting where league races exist in a modern-day beach sort of place. Also sorry to any MF or Syndra mains, they don’t really come out the best in this xD Hope you enjoy, and as always, there is a smut warning for the end!

---

The sun was shining high in the sky, crystalline waters lapping against the shore as beachgoers took advantage of the perfect summer day. Taking in the scene from your place in the shade of a tree on the border between the beach and parking lot, you let a smile grace your lips as you mused on just how much this place seemed to not change, even after so many years.

The last time you had set foot on this beach, you had been twelve years old, full of excitement and unaware of the harsh realities of the adult world. Your parents had brought you here for that summer, now thirteen years ago, the beautiful beach an unforgettable experience. You had left after that summer with treasured memories, and a new friend, that same friend the very reason why you had returned to Port Navori beach after so long.

Taliyah had been the same age as you, with fairly lax parents who let her roam the beach by herself, even as the small twelve-year-old she had been. You had bonded instantly, spending almost every day together, and keeping in touch through letters, and later emails and text messages.

You had long said that you had wanted to come back and visit the lively beach town, but the timing hadn’t been right, not until this year.

You were done all your schooling, and had quit your high-stress, low-pay job, and as Taliyah had said on your last phone call, you had no reason not to visit. Her parents had been travelling the world since they retired, so you would have her house all to yourselves.

In your absence, Taliyah had become a fairly accomplished surfer in the local scene, working at an ice cream shop on the beach to support her expensive pursuits. She had been so insistent that you couldn’t find yourself able to refuse her offer; work in the ice cream shop with her in the day, and then spend the rest of your time catching up with each other. You had missed your friend dearly, and had accepted the offer without a second thought.

And now here you were, waiting at the beach’s edge for Taliyah to show up. She had told you to dress for the beach, sounding casual as was her usual, so you had worn a swimsuit with a short, flowy shoulderless dress on overtop. Unwilling to look like a lobster by day’s end, you had carefully layered yourself with sunscreen, and now all you needed was for your friend to get here already. Just when you were about to get out your phone to text her, an excited call of your name had you re-stowing the phone in your bag and looking back to see your friend bounding across the parking lot towards you.

Taliyah, dressed in a two-piece water suit and carrying a tropical-flower-print surfboard, came to a stop before you, leaning her surfboard against a tree to free her arms to tackle you in a hug.

“You’re finally here!” she grinned, surprising you with the strength of her hug. “We’re gonna have so much fun!”

“So what’s first?” you asked as you pulled back from the hug.

Taliyah hummed. “I guess I’ll show you the shop.”

You followed her onto the beach, recognizing the small bright blue building from the pictures she had sent you before. Taliyah took you around the back, fishing a key out of her pocket before unlocking the door and leading you into the small room.

There were large tubs of ice cream in the middle of the room, the walls lined with containers of various toppings and machines. On the back wall from you were two windows, glossy menus pasted to the doors that would display out when they were opened. Upon walking closer to the menu signs, you noticed something.

“Hey, it says we open at nine, but it’s ten-thirty…”

“It’s fine,” Taliyah replied with a shrug. “The owners are pretty chill. If anyone complains, I’ll just tell them I had to train the new employee.”

You playfully rolled your eyes. Sometimes you really envied Taliyah’s ability to be so carefree. Her calm energy was a big help for you, having got advice from her on numerous occasions over the years.

Taliyah came over to where you were, eyes flitting boredly to the menu boards before turning her attention back to you. “So I’m thinking we get you taking orders while I make them.”

“Works for me,” you agreed. It certainly sounded easier than figuring out what a poro float was supposed to be. You never knew ice cream stands had such fancy options now, used to the simple menus of ice cream cones and bars back at the shops in your hometown.

You were about to open the order windows when you were stopped by a rustling noise from the back of the store. You turned to see Taliyah digging in a cardboard box in the back corner, pulling out some folded-up fabric that was the same sky blue as the stand.

“Didn’t think you’d get away without an embarrassing uniform, did you?” Taliyah teased, tossing some of her fabric pile your way.

You caught the bundle, unfolding it to find an apron with Poro Palace Frozen Treats in pink bubble letters, little white fuzzy animals dotting the apron. There was an accompanying blue visor hat that looked like something out of a kid’s store. You reluctantly slipped both items of clothing on, looking back to find that Taliyah had done the same.

“Stylish, huh?” she smirked, striking a modelesque pose.

“We look like we work at an amusement park, Tali,” you laughed.

“Feels like it sometimes with all the annoying kids that come by,” she replied. “Okay, you can open it up now.”

Taliyah settled herself down in a chair in front of the section of ice cream tubs, and you reluctantly turned to unlatch and open the windows, unsure of exactly what you were getting yourself into.

The small room lit up with the outside sunlight streaming in from your window to outside, the immediate glare of the sun making you wish you had worn sunglasses.

Almost immediately, the masses were upon you. You noticed a woman with several children in tow who perked up as she laid eyes on you, striding over to you with her children right behind her, pushing each other as they scrambled to be the first one to get over to you.

You heard Taliyah groan behind you. “Get the pen ready. They always have the most annoying orders.”

You rose an eyebrow, but picked up the pen and notepad that sat beside the cash register as the woman came to a stop before you.

“You know, I’ve been waiting for an hour already. You young girls don’t know how hard it is for mothers,” the woman complained, not letting you get a word in edgewise. “Alright, tell her what you want.”

“I want a brownie sundae!” a small boy with blue hair who clearly intended to make full use of his outdoor voice shouted. “But with cotton candy ice cream and pop rocks and I want only blue candies!”

“Uh…” The kid was talking too fast for you to write, but luckily Taliyah had your back, a got it ringing out from behind you.

You weren’t sure how you had managed to get their orders out before they melted, messing up their total several times before Taliyah had to come and help you out. With a last snide look and a fistful of blue napkins, the mother and her little terrors left the stand at last.

“She’s the worst,” Taliyah said, bringing your weary gaze her way as she cleaned off an ice cream scoop. “I accidentally put one red candy in that kid’s sundae once and he screamed until I remade the whole thing!”

You winced. “Feels like we got off easy today.”

“Yeah,” Taliyah agreed. “Helps that they order the same thing every time, so I’ve got some practice.”

“Are they all this bad?” you asked, turning away from the window after seeing no potential customers nearby.

“Not all of them,” she replied with a strained smile. “I swear the heat just brings the jerk out in some of the people here.”

Speaking of jerks… your conversation was interrupted by an impatient-sounding throat clearing noise from behind you. You whirled around to see a redheaded woman with heart-shaped sunglasses and a revealing swimsuit leaning against your counter. She was staring at you like you were gum she had stepped in, flipping some hair over her shoulder when she knew she had your attention.

“Five cherry snowballs,” she said, dropping a few coins on your counter, some of which bounced and hit the floor. “To the red umbrella, thanks ice cream girl.”

Without any further interaction, she turned on her heel and strutted away, hips swinging as she went, leaving you wondering what had just happened.

You slowly turned back to face Taliyah again. “Um, do we usually deliver?”

“Nope,” she answered. “Not to people like that anyways.”

“But…” you protested weakly. You knew Taliyah got away with a lot here, but you didn’t want her to lose her job because some rude girl complained to her bosses. “I’ll just take them over and next time I’ll just say we don’t deliver.”

“Still tempted to put rocks in their snowballs,” Taliyah joked as she set about piling the scoops of red ice.

Soon you had a tray with five cherry syrup-coated piles of shaved ice in little plastic bowls with accompanying little plastic spoons stuck in the side of the dishes.

“I’ll be right back,” you said, heading past Taliyah to the back door, opening it to find yourself back out in the mid-morning heat.

The sand still felt uncomfortably hot underfoot, even with your flip flops on. With how hot it was out, these would have to be delivered as soon as possible to not be a puddle by the time they were eaten. Your only problem was that you had no idea where to go.

The redhead had said that she would be at the red umbrella, but of course nothing at this ice cream stand would be that easy. Standing just outside the hut, you were treated to a veritable rainbow of colored beach umbrellas. You counted at least ten red ones scattered across the beach, none particularly standing out to you. You didn’t have many options, and were forced to go with the most tedious one; checking every red umbrella until you found the girl and her group.

The first umbrella had been a bust, as had the next five. The sixth had led to a sweaty old man who told you that you were just in time to help him sunscreen his back. By the time you had hurriedly fled from that creep, it had been about five minutes of searching, the snowballs on your tray looking considerably droopier than they had been when you had left the shop.

You stared down at the tray of melting treats, unsure of what to do now. Should you go back and have Taliyah remake the snowballs? Try a few more umbrellas and hope you got lucky? You really hadn’t been anticipating this much stress when you had agreed to work here with Taliyah for the summer.

You frowned at the now-more-water-than-ice treats, your decision made. You couldn’t serve these, not as melted as they were. You would go back and help remake them and see if Taliyah had any insight as to which red umbrella was the right one. You turned around to head back to the stand, only to trip on your overheating flip flops and fall forward with a cry.

You had closed your eyes with a flinch as you fell, but opened them with a start as you heard a grunt from right in front of you. Looking up from your position in the burning sand, you felt like your heart was going to stop in your chest.

Standing before you was the most attractive guy you had ever laid eyes on, with fire red hair and a pair of black animal ears that looked soft to the touch. He was dressed in a tight pair of swim shorts, a lightweight red jacket tied around his waist. He had a flower lei around his neck, but that was the only thing that he wore on his top half, his insanely-well-built torso on full display, a torso you realized with horror was currently splattered with red syrup and shaved ice.

You looked from the hot guy to the ground, the sand around you speckled with plastic cups, spoons and napkins, your tray turned upside down in the sand. You slowly risked a gaze back up, only to see the guy staring down at you from behind his pink-tinted sunglasses as a clump of ice fell from his stomach to the sand just in front of your hands.

Embarrassment forced you to spring up, grabbing some stray napkins from the ground and dabbing them against the mess of syrup and ice on the man’s abdomen.

“I’m so sorry, I–” You looked up from your apologizing to see the man silently staring at you, your hand freezing in place as you realized that you were basically feeling this guy up through the napkins, the realization making your cheeks burn with shame and embarrassment.

“I’m really sorry!” you cried out, pulling your hands back. He still hadn’t said anything, and you realized that you couldn’t just stand here like an idiot, your flight instinct kicking in as you reached down to grab your tray before moving around the man and fleeing in the direction of the ice cream stand.

“Hey, wait!”

The man tried to grab your arm as you passed, but you were faster in your embarrassment-fueled retreat, and soon the hot stranger was far behind you. You didn’t stop running until you were back at the shop, the empty sand-logged tray clutched tightly to your chest, your heartbeat pounding in your ears as you shut the door, making eye contact with a confused Taliyah.

“Hey, are you okay?” she asked, getting up to approach you when you didn’t respond. “Talk to me. What happened? If that snob said anything to you–”

“No, no, she didn’t,” you replied weakly, sinking to the floor with your back against the door. “I didn’t even get to her.”

“Then what happened?” she pressed, bringing you a glass of water and prying the tray from your hands at last.

She ushered you to your feet and down into her chair, taking a seat on one of the counters. You took a deep breath, taking a sip of the water before recounting the events of the past ten minutes to Taliyah, who listened silently.

“…I didn’t know what to do, so I just ran,” you finished, setting your water down to bury your face in your hands.

“It’s no big deal,” Taliyah replied gently. “Everyone has embarrassed themselves in front of someone. Remember that time I tripped over my board in front of that group of tourists?”

“I covered him in cherry syrup, Tali,” you groaned. “I don’t think I’m cut out for this.”

“It’s your first day,” she stressed. “You’re bound to mess some things up.”

She stood up, returning to the shaved ice machine. “Now how about we remake those snowballs and then I’ll–”

Taliyah had frozen in place, a plastic cup in her hand as she stared straight ahead.

“Tali?” you questioned, standing up. “Are you–”

“That guy you dumped the snowballs on,” she quickly interrupted. “Did he have majorly cut abs and animal ears?”

“Uh, why?” You felt a jolt of fear shoot up your spine as you followed her gaze to see the man from earlier currently approaching the shop, well-defined abdomen now minus the sticky mess you had spilt all over him. “Oh god, it’s him!”

You and Taliyah exchange wide-eyed glances before you dove down out of sight, hiding behind the tubs of ice cream like they were a fortress.

“Please get rid of him!” you begged. “I’ll do whatever you want, I just can’t face him!”

You heard Taliyah sigh. “Fine, but this means you’re coming stone hunting with me tonight.”

You agreed immediately, even if the prospect wasn’t overwhelmingly appealing. Taliyah was always eager to add to her collection of shiny stones, but was so picky that it often took hours to find just one stone that met her standards. But right now you were so desperate that you would have promised her anything just to make the angry hot guy go away.

From your position behind the ice cream tubs, you could only hear Taliyah’s voice clearly, the general noise of the beach preventing you from hearing what the furry-eared man was saying. You wanted to peek out from your hiding spot, but found yourself chickening out. You really didn’t need him catching sight of you and making Taliyah’s job even harder.

You had gotten so in your own head with panic that you had completely tuned out of your surroundings until a hand waved in front of your face and you realized Taliyah was crouching in front of you, calling your name.

“You okay?” she asked worriedly.

“Is he gone?” you replied quietly.

“Yeah, he’s gone,” she confirmed, standing up and grabbing your forearms to pull you up with her. “Now help me remake those snowballs and then I’ll fill you in.”

You bit your lip as you scooped shaved ice into a row of plastic cups as Taliyah readied the cherry syrup. Soon you had five pristine-looking snowballs on your slightly-sandy tray, the sight of them bringing you back to your moment of collision with the cute guy.

The tray was snatched from your field of vision by Taliyah, who headed over to the rear door. “Be back in a few. Try not to freak out too much while I’m gone.”

And then the door was closed and you were left alone. Looking over at the order window, you decided that you were probably safer to just resume your position behind the ice cream tubs, unwilling to risk being out in the open in case the guy decided to come back.

While she was gone, you couldn’t help but fret over exactly what had been said between your best friend and the mysterious hot guy. She didn’t seem to be upset, so clearly their conversation hadn’t been that intense. Or maybe it had; Taliyah was a fairly relaxed person, so it would be difficult for a random angry customer to really get to her. But that didn’t quite make sense either; if he had yelled at her, you would have heard it over the noise of the beachgoers. All you were doing was overthinking yourself to death, exactly what Taliyah had told you not to do.

And it was there you remained until Taliyah returned, closing the door behind her and placing the serving tray in the sink before she turned her attention to you at last.

“Calm down, it’s fine… I think,” she said.

“You think?”

“Well he didn’t seem mad,” she explained. “He asked if a girl that looked like you worked here and I said you went home sick. Said he’d come back another time.”

“Another–” Oh god. Was he really so angry that he was willing to come back just for the chance to yell at you?

“I can see you freaking out,” Taliyah scolded. “Don’t. You’re fine. Musclehead or not, he’s not going to kill you just because you spilled shaved ice on him.”

She was probably right; hot shirtless guys on the beach likely had more important things to do than yelling at clumsy ice cream shop workers. By tomorrow, he would probably forget you ever existed, and you could go back to enjoying your time working alongside your best friend.

 The rock collecting that night had been long and boring, at least for you. Taliyah hadn’t found any rocks she liked enough to take home, only ending the search after she had found some sea glass that she had deemed acceptable to add to her collection. You could only hope that you wouldn’t owe her any more favors any time soon, unsure if you could survive another late night rock hunt.

The next morning, you entered the shop alongside Taliyah, who put her bag down and began to set up the day’s supplies. Considering it was ten minutes past opening time and Taliyah had insisted that she didn’t need help setting up, you decided that you might as well just open the order window for the day, hoping that mom and her group of demon kids wouldn’t be waiting out there, only to unlatch the widows and see something arguably worse.

The window had only been open a peek, but it was enough for you to see the large figure of the man from yesterday standing ten feet or so from your shop, his back facing you as he stared out at the beach. In your brief glimpse, you also noticed that the jacket wrapped around his waist had a white plus sign in a circle as well as the word lifeguard in white blocky letters above it. Oh god, of course you had gone and pissed off a lifeguard on your first day here.

You shut the barely-open windows with a too-loud slam that made you wince before you quickly locked them again and rushed over to Taliyah.

“Tali, he’s here again!” you hissed.

“Huh?” she replied, pausing her task of refilling a container of sprinkles. “Muscle guy?”

You nodded frantically and Taliyah frowned, putting the sprinkles down and approaching the order window herself. You watched as she opened the window ever so slightly, peering out for a few seconds before closing it back up.

“Well… can’t say I was expecting him to actually come back,” she said evenly.

“What do I even do?” you asked, staring at the order windows like they would burst open at any second and reveal you to the clearly-determined lifeguard. “He’s a lifeguard, Tali! What if he bans me from the beach?”

She rolled her eyes in response. “He can’t just ban you from the beach. Lifeguards don’t have that much power. If they did, I would’ve been banned a long time ago for all the times I’ve surfed after hours.”

“Then what does he want with me?” you asked, looking away from the window.

Taliyah shrugged. “You’d have to ask him that.”

“But what if I… don’t?” you replied weakly. “He’ll give up eventually, right?”

“I mean, maybe?” she said. “But it might be easier to deal with him now and get it over with.”

You saw her point, but it wasn’t her that was being pursued by a tall, muscly lifeguard with a vengeance!

Taliyah clearly caught the reluctance on your face and sighed. “Fine, I’ll switch with you for today. Now let’s go over how to make the basic stuff before we open.”

True to her word, Taliyah had allowed you to hide in the back making orders, telling the lifeguard guy that you were off today. You watched him walk away from behind the shaved ice machine, hoping that your ordeal was finally over, but your hopes were quickly dashed the next day as you went to open the store again, only to see the same broad back facing you from just outside the shop.

Taliyah had reluctantly agreed to switch again that day, and the day after. But by day four, even the promise of helping her scavenge for rocks again wouldn’t get her to agree to switch.

You closed the window again, turning to Taliyah with pleading eyes, but she was having none of it.

“It’s been four days,” she said, arms crossed. “Clearly he’s not giving up. You should just see what he wants.”

“But…” The thought still terrified you. You knew you deserved to be yelled at for what you had done, but it was made that much worse by the fact that the subject of your plight was just about the hottest guy you had ever seen.

Taliyah shook her head at you. “Okay, but I’m not doing orders again today, so if you want to keep hiding from him, we’ll have to move onto plan B.”

Plan B, as it turned out, was a mascot suit of sorts; three fluffy poros stacked on top of each other like a snowman. A poro each made up your upper and lower body, the last poro being the head of the costume. You looked incredibly awkward, the arms and legs of the costume hairy and tipped with little brown claws. You were momentarily stunned by the sheer lengths you were going to just to avoid this guy, but you were already in the costume, so you reasoned that you might as well follow through with it now.

Taliyah put the costume’s head on you and your world was plunged largely into darkness, minus the mesh one-way view out of the top poro’s eyes. You were helped to the back door, some fliers for the store shoved into your hands.

Taliyah helped you walk out front, and you were pretty quickly swarmed by kids. You couldn’t see the lifeguard guy, but the relief that coursed through you was short-lived, swallowed by the immediate explosion of business brought on by your costume.

One thing you hadn’t considered in your haste was the heat. You weren’t sure if it was the costume or if today was hotter than usual, but very quickly you found yourself becoming a sweaty mess under the weight of the dense, furry costume.

The longer you were in the costume, the worse you felt, but you were determined to stick this out. So you handed out fliers and posed for photos with children while Taliyah ran the stand.

You wished that you could wipe the sweat from your face, but you weren’t sure if you could even reach up to remove the costume’s head yourself due to the awkward shape of the costume. So you endured the ever-increasing heat, only feeling wearier as the time ticked by.

You waved goodbye to a group of kids as they left with their ice cream cones, the sweltering heat really bearing down on you. As you went to turn and head back to the stand to ask Taliyah to help get the head off, a wave of dizziness crashed over you. You took one step towards the stand, and then another, and then it all went dark as you felt yourself falling forward, too weak to stop your descent to the ground.

 You woke up with a heavy head, feeling foggy with confusion. The last thing you remembered, you had been heading back to the stand…

Immediately, you realized that you weren’t at the ice cream stand, and you weren’t wearing the poro suit, or even your beach dress. Sitting up in the cot you laid in, you found that you were wearing only your swimsuit.

As you sat up, a blue ice pack that you hadn’t realized was there fell from your forehead and into your lap. Picking it up, the pack only feeling slightly cold, you turned to look around the room, still unsure what exactly was going on.

You were in a room of some sort, guessing it was afternoon by the minute amount of light filtering into the room, even through the closed curtains. There was a fan gently whirring above your head, but otherwise the room was silent.

There was another cot beside yours, and a table nearby with a few red first aid kits stacked on it, some bandages messily spilling out of one of them. There was a sign pulled over the door, the side facing you reading come on in, we’re open.

You got up from the bed, shuddering with disgust when you noticed just how sweaty your whole body was. The bed squeaked as you got up from it, your knees hitting a bedside table between the cots that you hadn’t noticed had been there. On the small table was a glass of water, as well as a white fan that was emblazoned with what looked to be a group of cats waterskiing.

You picked up the fan, letting out a small laugh at the silly-looking cartoon cats on the fan. It looked like something you could win at a carnival booth.

“If you can laugh, then I guess you’re feelin’ alright.”

A deep voice from behind you made you jump, fingers fumbling the fan, which fell onto the floor with a clatter that was only made louder in the quiet room. You turned to look behind you, only to fall off the cot in shock when you saw the very lifeguard you had been trying so hard to avoid standing in the doorway of a small office you hadn’t noticed was there.

“Hey, careful!” He quickly crossed the room to squat down in front of you, taking your elbow and helping you back up onto the cot. You were too stunned to resist and found yourself falling into his chest as a wave of dizziness hit you.

“You okay?” he asked, and you tried to nod, but your head was spinning too much to focus. “Hey, hold still.”

He placed his hands on your shoulders, keeping you steady against him until you were able to regain your focus. When he was satisfied with your condition, he pulled back, releasing your shoulders and instead reaching out for the glass of water on the table next to you.

“Drink,” he instructed, handing you the cup before standing up. “I’ll be right back.”

He stared at you for a moment before finally turning back and heading into the office at the back of the room.

You watched him go, feeling on edge, but complied, bringing the glass up to your lips and taking a long drink. The last thing you wanted to do was give this guy more reason to be upset with you. You were surprised at just how refreshing the water felt, and you had soon downed the entire glass, placing it back on the table when you were done.

“Alright, lay back down,” the lifeguard instructed as he returned.

“What?” you replied. What was he going to do to you? How had you even got here? Where was Taliyah?

He stopped before you, furrowing his eyebrows as he looked down at your shaky, terrified form. “Are you–”

“I’m sorry!” you exclaimed, bowing your head. “I didn’t mean to spill the snowballs on you! If you need to yell at me, go ahead. I’m sorry I didn’t just come out sooner and–”

It had occurred to you mid-ramble that he had yet to say anything, and you cut off your babbling, slowly looking up to find him staring at you with what you could only describe as a bewildered look on his face.

He blinked. “Is that why–”

“I’m so sorry!” you interrupted, bowing your head again. “If you want to ban me from the beach, I get it!”

“Ban ya from the beach?” he replied with a bark of laughter. “The only thing I wanted to do was get your number.”

“My… what?” You had to be hallucinating. There was no way he had just said that.

“Lay down first,” he spoke sternly, and you complied, still feeling stunned by his words.

Once you were laid down, he picked something up from the bed, which you recognized as another ice pack. He placed it on your forehead, the cool pack immediately flooding you with a feeling of relief. Closing your eyes, you let out a tired sigh, suddenly feeling fatigued.

“Get some rest, princess. We’ll talk when you’re up again.”

You took his advice, the cooling from the ice pack lulling you back to sleep, your eyelids too heavy to keep open.

When you woke up again, you felt infinitely better, your head clearer and body feeling less overheated. The ice pack on your forehead was room temperature, and it was now dark outside. There was a light illuminating your left side as you sat up in bed, turning to see the office in the back with its light on.

The cot squeaked under you, which was responded to by the squeak of a chair from inside the office, the red-haired lifeguard emerging from the office and approaching your bedside.

“Feelin’ any better?” he asked, and you nodded, biting your lip nervously. “Got you some more water.”

You looked over to the bedside table to see the water cup refilled and took hold of it, grateful to have something to focus on other than the intimidatingly muscular man before you.

You drank the entire glass before you forced yourself to finally address the situation before you. “Um… why am I here?”

“You passed out,” he replied bluntly, taking a seat on the cot next to yours. “Overheated yourself in that rat costume.”

“They’re not rats, they’re poros,” you replied, unsure of what to say.

He let out a huff of laughter. “Poros that important to you that you’re willin’ to fry yourself for ‘em?”

“No, that was…” you trailed off. Well, you might as well just admit it. If he had gone out of his way to care for you after you had passed out like an idiot, then he deserved the truth. “I was avoiding you. I was scared you were going to yell at me. My friend didn’t want to keep covering for me at the window so I decided to wear that stupid poro costume.”

“So that’s what that was about,” he replied. “And here I thought you were avoidin’ me ‘cuz you weren’t interested. Gave up on gettin’ your number and then got news that someone passed out from heat stroke.”

You were still having a hard time comprehending the asking for your number part, so you instead chose to focus on the other half. “Heat stroke?”

“Not sure what you expected, wearin’ that costume in this heat,” he said. “Can’t say nobody’s ever been afraid of me before, but giving themself heat stroke just to avoid me is a new one.”

He sounded somewhat self-deprecating, and you immediately felt bad. You had clearly misjudged him, and realized that he hadn’t even mentioned the snowball incident himself.

You forced yourself to meet his eyes, even with as awkward as you were currently felt. “I’m sorry for giving you so much trouble, and for spilling snowballs all over you. I’m just really sorry.”

He laughed. “Ain’t nothin’ for you to apologize for. I’ve had worse get on me since I started workin’ here, and usually it ain’t from a cute girl.”

You tensed in your seat, tearing your gaze from his to look down at your feet, your cheeks feeling warm.

“Hey, don’t go overheatin’ yourself again,” he scolded, standing up from the bed. “If you’re not interested, that’s fine, but I think it’s best if I take ya home. Don’t need your friend yellin’ at me again if you pass out on the way back.”

As much as you wanted to deny his assertion of you being not interested, you couldn’t muster up the courage, so you instead quietly accepted his offer of help. You would have to ask Taliyah what he had meant when you got back.

It was surprisingly cold on the beach at night, the icy breeze sending shivers along your skin. You stared out at the dark ocean waves, entranced by the water crashing against the sand, when your focus was broken by some soft fabric being laid over your shoulders.

You turned to look over your shoulder to see Sett just behind you on the steps of the lifeguard office, the jacket that was usually around his waist now laying on your shoulders.

He caught your curious look and raised an eyebrow. “You nearly cooked yourself to death today, I ain’t about to let you freeze yourself to death now.”

“Thanks,” you replied quietly, reaching a hand up to keep the jacket around your shoulders.

Your feet met the soft sand as you followed Sett towards the parking lot. The beach was totally empty, an odd contrast to how things were in the daytime. It felt weird to actually see the shape of the landscape unobscured by giant beach umbrellas and a sea of bodies. You only looked away from the empty scene when you realized that you had left the sand, and Sett was staring expectantly at you.

“…what?” you asked, getting the feeling that he had said something that you had missed.

“Which way?” he repeated with a quick glance at the street ahead of you.

“Oh right,” you replied. “My friend lives on Sandstone Way.”

Sett’s ears perked up. “By that tacky souvenir shop?”

“Yeah,” you laughed. “Right by there.”

You giggled at Sett’s assessment; you had noticed the eye-hurtingly brightly painted store when Taliyah had walked you to her house from the train station. She had rolled her eyes at the store as you surveyed the display of t-shirts with embarrassing designs on them, stating that sometimes they got some good rocks in, but it wasn’t worth the amount of tourists always asking for directions when she was walking around the neighborhood.

Looking over at Sett out of the corner of your eye, you were struggling to think of anything to say. He was dressed in just his sandals and shorts, his sunglasses forgone and giving you a clear look at his golden eyes that seemed to glow in the dark.

“So this your first summer here?” Sett asked, breaking the brief silence as you walked side by side. “I know I’d remember you if I’d seen ya before.”

“I was here for a summer when I was a kid,” you answered. “But everything looks so different now. Maybe I just saw this place differently when I was a kid.”

“Nah,” he dismissed. “It never used to be this busy here. Tourists bring money to this place, but it means it’s always loud around here.”

The conversation was slowly helping you feel more comfortable with the intimidatingly handsome lifeguard. You felt dumb for putting so much energy into avoiding him.

“So have you always lived here?” you asked.

“Born and raised,” he answered with a grin that you couldn’t help but feel looked a little sad. “Ma used to work at the boating shop… and the laundromat… and the candy store.”

“All at the same time?” you asked incredulously.

Sett shrugged. “Didn’t have much of a choice. Pa ran off on us when I was a kid, and it wasn’t like anyone would hire a fatherless runt to work for them.”

“Sounds like it was hard,” you replied. “Did you ever find out where he went?”

“For his sake, I’d better not,” Sett sneered. “I heard ma cry missin’ that scumbag more times than I can count. There ain’t a family here for that bastard to come back to.”

“How is your mom doing?” you asked as you turned onto Sandstone Way, passing by the tacky tourist shop, the flashy paint on the walls too bright even at night.

“She’s doin’ good,” he answered, finally looking happy with a satisfied smile. “Got her to quit her jobs when I started workin’ enough to pay the bills.”

“You’re a good son,” you complimented him. “She’s lucky to have you.”

You smiled at him, coming to a stop before Taliyah’s house. “Well, this is me. Thanks for walking me back.”

“Take care of yourself,” he said. “I don’t wanna see you passin’ out again.”

“I’ll try not to,” you replied. “No more poro costumes for me.”

“On that topic,” he purred, leaning closer to you. “You never gave me an answer.”

“An answer?” you squeaked, flustered by his sudden closeness.

“I’ve been tryin’ to get your number for days now,” he replied, and you did your best to supress a shiver from running up your spine. Was this real life?

You wet your lips with your tongue nervously, unable to miss how Sett’s sharp eyes watched the movement.

“I, um, I don’t have my phone on me,” you said, immediately realizing how dumb you sounded. You didn’t need your phone on you to tell him your number! You hastily made to amend your statement. “…but if you come by the stand tomorrow, I’ll give it to you!”

“Oh?” Sett’s grin was wide, gold eyes flashing dangerously. “I s’pose I could find some time to stop by. See you then, sweetheart.”

Sett turned to walk away, but you stopped him with a call of his name. “Wait, your jacket–”

“Keep it for the night,” Sett replied. “I’ll get it from you tomorrow.”

You reluctantly agreed, stunned silent by his bold flirting, his jacket sitting warm on your shoulders as you watched him walk away. You stared at his broad back until he was out of sight, only then turning to head inside, knowing Taliyah would be waiting.

 The next morning she was still on you as you spent some extra time getting ready.

“I still can’t believe he gave you his jacket,” she teased with a grin. “I mean, I figured he was probably into you, but–”

“You what?” you replied as you paused styling your hair.

“I kept telling you to talk to him,” she replied. “No guy like that is going to wait outside your work for days in a row just to yell at you for spilling ice on him. But I didn’t think you’d believe me if I told you.”

“I just feel so stupid giving myself heat stroke just go avoid him,” you lamented.

“Yeah,” Taliyah frowned. “If I had realized it was that hot out, I never would’ve let you go out in that thing.”

“It’s my own fault for being so dumb,” you insisted.

“But hey, it all worked out, didn’t it?” Taliyah grinned as she slipped on her water shoes. “You’ve got a hot lifeguard coming to visit you at work today.”

“Don’t remind me. I’m still super nervous,” you said, adjusting your beach dress over your most flattering swimsuit.

“You’ll be fine,” Taliyah replied. “He’s clearly super into you. You should’ve seen him when you passed out yesterday.”

“What?” You had been so tired last night that you had only told her the basics before crashing for the night, completely forgetting to ask her what had happened yesterday.

“Someone got him when you collapsed,” she told you. “You should’ve seen his face when he pulled off the poro head and saw it was you inside the costume! I tried to come with, but he told me he’d handle it. I maaay have threatened his life if anything happened to you, but just a little.”

You laughed. So that’s what Sett had been referring to.

Taliyah came up from behind you as you stared at your appearance in the mirror, resting her chin on your shoulder and meeting your eyes in the mirror. “Relax, you look great. Fuzzy ear boy isn’t gonna know what hit him!”

“Fuzzy ear–” you sputtered, laughing at Taliyah’s choice of words. “I guess his ears do look pretty fuzzy.”

“Well if he lets you pet them, tell me how soft they are!” she teased, pulling back from you to grab her bag. “Now let’s go. You’ve got a boy to meet!”

You somehow felt even more nervous today than you had the few days you had spent avoiding Sett. You were still having a hard time wrapping your head around the fact that a guy that looked like he had walked straight out of a fireman’s calendar was coming to your little beachfront ice cream stand for the sole purpose of getting your phone number. And his jacket, which was folded neatly on the countertop beside you.

You weren’t exactly sure when he was going to come. Usually, he would be there waiting outside in the morning before you opened, but all you had opened up to today was a sparsely-populated beachfront, no handsome lifeguards to be seen. By two in the afternoon, your anxiety had begun to get the better of you.

“Stop pacing,” Taliyah scolded you. “He’ll be here.”

“But what if he decided not to?” you said, taking a deep breath to try and calm yourself down. “What if this was just a joke?”

“Then I’ll go kick his butt,” she responded plainly. “He’ll come. Relax.”

You were about to reply, when a ding of the service bell at the order window had you spinning around, ready to take an order, only for the words to die on your lips when you laid eyes on the well-muscled lifeguard with the fuzzy black ears just outside the order window, sending a grin your way.

“Here to pick up my order,” he said, leaning an arm against the window.

“Your… order?” you replied, too entranced by his appearance to properly make use of your brain.

“A pretty girl promised me her number if I came by,” he replied, looking down at you through his sunglasses.

“I… right… I…” You turned back quickly to see Taliyah staring expectantly at you, mouthing the word number at you. Right.

With slightly shaky hands, you reached for the small notepad at the front counter, taking that and a pen in hand and trying not to focus on the fact that Sett was watching you as you began to write.

Double-checking that the number was right, you handed the paper to him, your fingers touching as he took it from you. Remembering about your other promise, you reached over to grab the lifeguard jacket from the counter beside you. You went to hand him his jacket, surprised when he didn’t take it from you.

“What time do you get off?” he asked, and you answered a quiet six. “Give it back to me then.”

With a short wave and a grin, Sett made a show of stowing the phone number in his pocket before sauntering off and leaving you standing there slack-jawed.

“See? Was that so hard?” Taliyah called from her seat at the ice machine. “Now you just have to keep it together for your date.”

“I don’t know if I can,” you said, leaning back against the counter.

“You did last night, didn’t you?” she countered. “He’s just a guy. A really hot guy, but still. Don’t freak yourself out. You deserve a nice guy. It’s just a bonus that he has more abs than spiders have legs!”

You let out an amused huff. Taliyah was right, as she always was. You needed to get over yourself and let yourself have a good time tonight.”

But for now, you had customers to deal with. You and Taliyah let out a shared groan as you saw the nightmare mom and her army of brats heading towards you. You both returned to your posts, hoping their overly-complicated orders would be right on the first try this time.

 Taliyah let out a yawn, stretching her arms high above her head before beginning the process of cleaning up for the day. After the last customer left, you hastily closed the order window, not wanting to give anyone the chance to come and beg about how it was only five minutes past closing and they’ve been wanting a banana split all day. You had learned your lesson from that mistake on day two.

Once the order windows were closed and locked, you joined Taliyah at the side counter, helping to return all the different containers of toppings to their rightful places. You found your hands moving slower, your nerves slowing you down in order to prolong the inevitable.

Taliyah eventually got tired of your pitiful attempt at stalling for time and gently removed the container of blue sprinkles from your grasp. “Just go, I’ll finish up here.”

“Are you sure?” you asked, and Taliyah sent you an unimpressed look. “Okay, fine, I’m going, I’m going.”

“I hope you know I expect all the details later!” she grinned as you made your way to the door, hesitating with your hand on the door handle for only a moment before opening the door.

It was mercifully less warm outside today than it had been yesterday, not to mention that you were also minus a heavy mascot costume. Yesterday hadn’t ended too badly for you, but you would still prefer to not end today in a hospital if you exacerbated your current heat-sensitive state.

You weren’t sure if you preferred if Sett was already there, or if you got there first to wait for him; neither option seemed to abate your nerves. But of course, the lifeguard was prompt as always, leaning against one of the beams that held up the awning above the order window.

You didn’t think you had been making much noise walking along the sand, but he seemed to hear you, turning to face you with a grin as you approached.

“Ready?” he asked as you came to a stop before him, tucking some of your hair behind your ear in an effort to keep your cool.

“Yeah,” you answered, impressed that your voice hadn’t come out squeaky with how nervous you were.

“Good,” he replied, before his grin turned teasing. “Was half expectin’ ya to come on our date in that rat costume.”

“Poro!” you corrected again, trying not to get flustered by his mention of this being a date. You weren’t sure what else it would be, but you couldn’t help the butterflies that fluttered in your stomach when he had acknowledged the obvious.

He surprised you by taking your hand, pulling you along with him as you tried desperately not to stumble and fall into the sand.

The beach crowd was beginning to thin out, people heading home or to one of the many beachfront restaurants nearby. Watching as a kid packed up his sand toys, you wondered if one of those restaurants was where you were headed as well. Sett hadn’t told you anything about what the plan was, and you found yourself curious when he led you to the bright white lifeguard office.

At first, you had thought that maybe he had forgotten something, at least until you followed him into the small building to see what looked to be the table that had previously held all the first aid kits, now decked out in a soft-looking purple picnic blanket. On top of the makeshift picnic table was a spread of various tasty-looking finger foods, the scene completed by two chairs pulled up to the table, cushions with a starfish pattern placed on the seats.

You were perhaps too dumbfounded by the sight, as you snapped out of it to Sett calling your name, looking over at him to see him looking surprisingly tense. You should probably say something, you realized.

“It looks great,” you said, meaning every word as you looked over the table. “Are those cabbage rolls?”

“Ma helped me make ‘em,” Sett explained, looking bashful for the first time since you had met him as he raised an arm to scratch at the back of his neck. “Helped me with all of this, actually. Never done anythin’ like this before.”

“You mean a picnic?” you asked curiously.

Sett chuckled. “Picnics. Dates. Not a lotta women ‘round here who wanted anythin’ to do with a fatherless half-breed.”

You had a hard time believing that; you had noticed several mothers checking him out as they packed their family’s stuff to leave the beach. But the hint of something sad in his eyes made you reconsider. You had no memory of seeing someone like him that summer you had spent here, but it wasn’t like that was a surprise to you. You and Taliyah had been in your own little world at that time, only ever spending time with each other.

“Well I’m excited to try your cooking,” you said, figuring a change of subject was for the best.

Sett grinned as he sat down. “Should be decent. Haven’t poisoned anyone since high school.”

Your eyes widened, hand freezing on its path to grab a cabbage roll, startled eyes darting to his.

Sett let out a bark of laughter at your alarmed face. “Relax. Wouldn’t poison ya. Maybe those kids that keep swimmin’ into the boating zone, but not you.”

“Thanks… I think?” you replied, biting your lip as you stared down at the cabbage rolls, weighing your options.

“Wasn’t real poison anyways,” he scoffed, taking some rolls from himself. “Not my fault sugar and salt look the same.”

You laughed, grabbing some food for yourself at last. “I suppose they kinda do.”

“Ma didn’t wanna hurt my feelings, but I knew when I tried some myself,” he explained.

“It was nice of her to try,” you offered.

“Too nice,” he said. “Ma is always too nice. Never said anythin’ bad about my old man, even after what he did. Had to work three jobs for years because of that bastard, but not a word.”

“Well I’m sure she’s glad she has you,” you commented. “Even if you give her food poisoning sometimes.”

“Once,” he corrected, taking a bite. “Learned my lesson the first time.”

You followed his lead, finding the food to be entirely poison-free, and actually the best home-cooked meal you had eaten in a long time. The conversation moved to swapping work stories, and you were unsurprised to find out that the mother and her the demon children had been a thorn in Sett’s side as well.

“They really buried sleeping sunbathers in sand?”

“Five times in a day one time,” Sett grouchily confirmed. “Last time Braum went to handle it. Said I would bury those little assholes under the sand if I had to go yell at them one more time.”

You sympathized with his pain. You felt lucky that you had only experienced the tip of the annoyingness iceberg with that group of little terrors.

“Braum?” you inquired as you both left the lifeguard office, the beach now fully dark.

“Fellow lifeguard,” he answered, nonchalantly taking your hand in his as you made your way off the beach. “Bald, giant moustache, even bigger than me. Better at the whole gentle-but-firm thing than I am.”

“Oh, I think I’ve seen him before. He comes by for poro pops sometimes,” you said, mind drawing a picture of the surprisingly friendly man in the small purple swim bottoms with a weakness for poro-shaped ice pops. “So are you the head lifeguard then?”

Sett considered your question. “Guess I am the boss of ‘em. All of the other lifeguards are always comin’ at me with problems to solve. The extra pay doesn’t hurt either if I wanna keep momma from feelin’ like she has to work.”

“Say thank you to her from me for the dinner. It was really good,” you said as you passed by the familiar tacky souvenir shop.

“She’ll be happy to hear it,” he replied with a soft smile that made your heart thump in your chest. “I know she wishes she had more to cook for than just me.”

You both came to a stop before Taliyah’s house, and you sneakily glanced over just to make sure Taliyah wasn’t peeking out from a window, which she wasn’t. You turned your focus back to Sett, only to find him closer than he had just been. How was he so good at sneaking up on you?

A large hand came up to cup your jaw, thumb brushing against your cheek, and your face was tilted up towards Sett’s. You were glad it was dark out, because otherwise you knew your reddening cheeks would be obvious.

“Still afraid of me?” he asked, voice low, lips so close to yours that you could make out a small scar that crossed over his bottom lip.

“No,” you answered, making no move to pull away as you stared up into his eyes. “Not unless I was about to taste your high school cooking.”

“Smart,” he replied with a smirk. “But I’m talkin’ about right now, because if you don’t turn and run into that house, I’m gonna kiss you.”

Your bag almost tumbled from your grasp, but you held fast as you stared at Sett, whose own had already become half-lidded. You had no words to describe how much you didn’t want to run right now, so you didn’t use any, instead angling your face further upwards, trying to make your willingness abundantly clear.

With a grin, he leaned down and kissed you.

Pulling back slightly, he dove back in, his other hand coming to your waist to pull you against him. You happily leant into him, your hands on his firm chest.

When he pulled back again, you opened your eyes at last, feeling almost as dizzy as right before you had passed out from heat stroke.

Sett looked content, and you were only hoping you looked half as composed as he did right now. He leaned back in to give you one more peck before pulling back from you entirely, the cold from the air outside immediately apparent as soon as you were minus his warm hands against your skin.

“Think I’ll stop by tomorrow,” he said. “Been cravin’ a cherry snowball for some reason lately.”

 Sett was a man of his word, you learned, though you were less happy to see him the next day when he asked if he could order a cherry snowball served like last time, and then laughed as you had proceeded to sputter like a broken machine.

His visits became daily, sometimes bringing Braum with him, who continued to surprise you with the sheer amount of poro pops he was able to consume in one sitting. Quite a few nights a week, you had found yourself all around Port Navori with the half-Vastayan lifeguard. You were surprised at how supportive Taliyah was being, considering you had originally come here to spend time with her.

“Gives me more time to surf,” she answered with a shrug when you had asked her. “And maybe that boyfriend of yours can convince you to stay here after the summer is over.”

“Boyfriend?” you yelped, and Taliyah raised an eyebrow.

“You aren’t? I thought he would have made it official by now. It’s been over two weeks… have you guys even done it?”

“Taliyah!” you scolded her, switching back to professional mode as a group of people approached the stand.

As you helped prepare their orders, you couldn’t help but think about what she had said. You and Sett had kissed quite a lot actually, but he had yet to do more than that. But it was far too embarrassing a subject for you to have the confidence to broach, so you had resolved yourself to just be content with things as they were.

It was just your luck that right then was when Sett had decided to make his daily visit to the stand, approaching the counter as the other group left.

Taliyah apparently wasn’t done pestering you for the day as she sped to meet him at the counter before you could get there yourself.

“Hey!” she greeted Sett with a sly smile as you stood frozen behind her, nervous about her motivations. “You’re on your break, right?”

Sett raised an eyebrow. “What about it?”

“Well,” she said, in the voice you knew meant that she wanted something. “There’s a surfing contest I entered, and it’s almost my turn and it won’t even take that long and–”

“Tali!” you interrupted, rushing over to the counter.

“All I need is an hour,” Taliyah insisted, before pulling you beside her at the counter. “And she needs some help while I’m gone since lunchtime is when most of the people come by.”

“I’m fine, I–”

“I’m in,” Sett cut in, eyeing you with almost palpable smugness.

“Awesome!” Taliyah replied, immediately shucking her apron and hat onto the floor in her haste to get out the door. “Have fun, see you after I win!”

“Taliyah!”

Your call of her name fell on deaf ears as she already had her board and was out the door, leaving you standing at the counter with Sett still leaning against the counter.

Sett reached up to pull his sunglasses off, tucking them into his packet, his golden eyes fully uncovered and sparkling with mischief, the sight alone making you feel weary.

“Well? You gonna invite me in?” he asked. “Not sure I’d fit through the window.”

You scrambled to meet him at the back door, not wanting him to try and get into the shop through the order window that was less wide than he was. It was a strange feeling to open the back door of the shop to a guy that was almost too tall for the doorway, and another thing entirely to try and corral him into behaving as you tried to keep the ice cream stand functioning while Taliyah was gone.

“Aren’t lifeguards supposed to set a good example for others?” you huffed, wiping ice from your apron. At least he hadn’t made things truly equal and put cherry syrup on the ball of shaved ice he had pressed against your neck.

“Not when I’m off the clock,” he answered. “Besides, it’s my once in a lifetime chance to see what workin’ one of these is like.”

It would definitely be only one time if you had anything to say about it. If the almost-hour with him here had taught you anything, it was that Sett was not cut out to work in an ice cream shop.

The scoops of ice cream he doled out were easily twice the size of the ones Taliyah did, which made for happy customers, but a less happy bottom line if he was here for more than an hour. He was also lacking Taliyah’s patience, and you were forced to sideline him when an especially picky middle-aged woman came by who insisted you remake her smoothie four times until it had an acceptable pH level. The woman’s complaints had miraculously stopped the moment Sett had approached the window himself, becoming so invested in flirting with the handsome lifeguard that she had snatched her next smoothie attempt from you without complaint, not even glancing your way as she batted her eyes at him, only leaving when he excused himself with an excuse of needing to make more orders.

You approached Sett to check on him and found yourself pulled down into his lap as he leaned back in the chair.

Huffing, he pulled you against him, nuzzling against your neck. “Don’t know how you deal with that. Couldn’t pay me to make her damn smoothie one more time.”

“You get used to it,” you replied. “Don’t you deal with worse as a lifeguard?”

“Yeah,” he grunted. “But nothin’ sayin’ I gotta be nice when I deal with ‘em.”

“That’s true,” you laughed.

“If anyone complains, they can go somewhere else. Ain’t another beach within a hundred miles as well-run as this one,” he bragged, kissing at your neck.

As much as you were enjoying his sudden affection, you knew time was running low until Taliyah would return. You made to pull back to tell Sett that, but were instead pulled into a kiss that took you a few breathless moments to find the strength to escape.

“This Friday,” he murmured, face inches from yours. “There’s a party at the pool. You should come with me.”

You had heard about the exclusive pool parties on this beach from Taliyah, but hadn’t expected to ever get an invite. The pool, which was at the far end of the beach from the ice cream stand, was as exclusive as it got. Gated with walls so high that you couldn’t see in, it was the membership-only place to be for all of the elite in the beach town of Port Navori.

“Is that… okay?” you asked hesitantly.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” he countered, and you didn’t really have an answer. “It’ll be fine. Come. Have some people I wanna introduce ya to.”

The door burst open at the same time as you nodded your agreement, revealing Taliyah clutching both her dripping board as well as a shiny blue ribbon.

“You won?” you asked, trying to disentangle yourself from Sett, who reluctantly let you up.

“Easily!” Taliyah gloated. “Nobody else stood a chance. So how were things here?”

“The money ain’t worth the drama of this place,” Sett griped.

Taliyah laughed. “Smoothie lady come back with a vengeance?”

“I’ll take kids buryin’ sunbathers up to their ears over this any day,” he replied with a grimace, standing up and stretching.

At his mention of ears, Taliyah had brought both hands up to her own head about where Sett’s were on his head, and you quickly waved at her to cut it out before he saw. Thankfully she did, but you could tell that you were going to get asked if you had pet his ears yet as soon as his fuzzy ears were out of earshot.

“I’ll text ya the time when I know it,” Sett said, giving you a quick kiss on the head and a two-fingered salute to Taliyah before heading out the back door.

“So?” Taliyah asked, pulling the chair up to the ice cream station after she had stashed her prize ribbon in her bag. “Are they as soft as they look?”

“I didn’t pet them,” you answered.

“It’s been over two weeks!” she complained. “Has he at least asked you to be his girlfriend yet?”

You shook your head. “He did invite me to a pool party with him on Friday at that fancy pool.”

“Really?” Taliyah responded, eyes wide. “You have to tell me what it’s like! I mean, I’ve seen satellite photos, but it’s not the same…”

“I’ll probably be too nervous to remember any of it,” you grumbled.

“This is your chance!” Taliyah encouraged. “By Friday it’ll be three weeks. You need to ask him if he sees you as his girlfriend or not.”

You reeled back, waves of anticipatory anxiety rolling over you. “I don’t want to scare him off. What if this is just casual to him and I’m too dumb to see it?”

“Then you’ll know,” she replied. “I know you. It’ll eat you up if you put this much energy into a guy without knowing how he feels about you. So ask. If he says no, then at least you’ll have an entire store’s worth of ice cream to drown yourself in after!”

Taliyah was right. She was always right. You knew that you couldn’t keep whatever this was up without knowing where you stood with him. The more time you spent with Sett, the more you wanted, and if he intended to keep things casual, you would rather know sooner so you could make an informed decision.

So that would be the plan then. Go to the party, have a good time (and get some photos of the pool for Taliyah) and then ask Sett about the state of your relationship. Sounded easy in theory. You could only hope you could muster up the courage to go through with the plan when the time came.

 After hearing that the party was to start at four, Taliyah had gone all out, closing the stand at two so she could help you get ready to impress the snobs. You hadn’t put up too much of a fight, happy to have her help and her company, as your nerves only climbed higher the closer it got to four o’clock.

“You’ll be fine,” Taliyah said as she styled your hair. “You’ll only feel worse if you don’t get an answer from him. And with how good you’ll look at the party, he won’t be able to say no!”

“Thanks, Tali,” you replied gratefully. “I promise I’ll get you a bunch of photos of the pool. And whatever else you want.”

“What I want is for you to stay here for good,” she said. “So really I’m just doing myself a favor by helping you. This place has been a hundred times more bearable since you’ve been here, and I want it to stay that way.”

“Still,” you persisted. “I feel bad that you’re going to so much trouble. If you want anything, just let me know.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Taliyah dismissed with a wave of her hand. “You should get going, don’t wanna be late to the fancy pool party.”

She practically shoved you out the door, and then you were alone, walking down the mostly-empty sidewalk. As you walked along the street, you couldn’t help but dwell on the possibilities. What would happen at the party? What would Sett say?

If he told you that he wasn’t looking for anything serious, what would you do? It was hard to have an answer for until you were in the moment, since a lot of it would depend on what Sett’s answer would be.

You walked through the parking lot, and then onto the beach, passing by kids building sandcastles and games of beach volleyball as you walked towards the end of the beach where the pool was. As you made your way to the fancier end of the beach, you began to notice the differences that marked the split between here and the side of the beach that you were usually on.

The shops on this side of the beach were much fancier, the sand littered with designer beach chairs and umbrellas. It was crazy just how different two ends of one beach could be.

The pool was noticeable from a great distance, or at least the wall white walls that surrounded it were. At least you weren’t going to get lost and miss the party entirely.

You approached the pristine white stairs that led from the beach up to the pool entrance, equal parts excited and apprehensive. The entrance was an open doorway, covered by a deep blue curtain and guarded by a muscled bouncer in white. The sight alone was intimidating; why hadn’t you just asked Sett to meet you beforehand?

You plastered a reluctant smile on your face before approaching the man. “Hi, I–”

“Name,” he interrupted, not looking up from his clipboard, sunglasses too dark for you to see his eyes.

Well it wasn’t like you hadn’t expected some level of standoffishness from the elite side of the beach. Keeping your smile up, you told him your name, waiting the prerequisite few moments for him to leaf through the list.

He seemed to have found what he was looking for, as his hand with the clipboard went to his side and he moved over to the curtain, pulling it to one side to allow you to enter. He had said nothing further, but seemed to be staring in your direction, so you took that as your cue and walked towards the now-open entryway and into the pool.

The entryway led into a hallway with pristine white walls, soft lighting hanging overhead. You could begin to hear chatter as you got closer to the end of the hallway, exiting into an explosion of sight and sound.

The pool was huge, and there seemed to be an intricate gold pattern on the tiles at the bottom. The pool was surrounded by lounge chairs and umbrellas, tropical foliage bordering the inner walls around the pool.

There were people all over, in and out of the pool. There was also a bar in the center which seemed to be very popular, as many people were carrying around intricate-looking cocktails.

More than the scenery or the people, your eyes were scanning the area for Sett. You checked your phone again to make sure, finding that it was the time he had told you to be here for. Maybe he was just running late or…

Your rising concern was broken up by the tap of designer wedges on the granite heading your way. You looked up from your phone to see two girls heading towards you, one of which you realized you had seen before.

The stuck-up redhead that had been the reason you had been out on the beach to spill the snowball on Sett in the first place was striding towards you, not a hair out of place underneath her likely-expensive sun hat. At her side was a lilac-haired woman in a swimsuit with a plunging neckline that was color blocked with various shades of purple. Together they made quite a striking pair, but your previous encounter with the redhead had you wishing that Sett would get here soon to save you from the impending conversation.

“Look, Sarah,” the purple-haired one sneered as they came to a stop before you. “So eager to pretend she’s one of us that she rushed right over.”

You took a step back, but that only seemed to embolden them.

Sarah lowered her sunglasses, staring at you like you were in her way. “Sad when they don’t know their place, Syndra.”

“Sett invited me here,” you replied defensively.

The women exchanged a pointed look before Sarah raised an eyebrow at you, a hand on her hip. “You ever think about why that was?”

“What?” you replied, unsure of what she was getting at.

“She doesn’t get it,” Syndra said with a cruel undertone in her voice that unnerved you.

“Look around,” Sarah said sharply. “Really look. Do half the people here look like they belong?”

You looked around, not sure what you were supposed to be seeing. A man with a hook-nose sat at the pool bar, flanked by women in skimpy bikinis. A humanoid form that seemed to be made of water conversed poolside with a large purple man in a ratty straw hat who was holding a ukulele. What were you supposed to be noticing?

“Sett is too nice to break it to you, so the job falls to me,” Sarah said with a smirk. “This is our annual loser fest. Charity case race. Bring-a-freak-to-work-day.”

“Pig party,” Syndra supplied.

“Yeah, pig party,” Sarah repeated, noticing your confused look. “Don’t know what that is? Poor thing.”

“I don’t–”

“It’s pretty simple,” Sarah interrupted. “We take half the summer to find the biggest freak we can, and then we bring them all together and crown a winner, and by the looks of you, Sett is really going for the top prize.”

You gasped, eyes wide, suddenly feeling like you were going to be sick.

“Aw, you really thought he liked you, huh?” Syndra mocked with fake sweetness.

“He didn’t… he never…” you stammered, clutching your bag to your chest.

“Well duh,” Sarah replied haughtily. “He wanted to win. Do you tell a pig when it’s about to become bacon?”

“What is meaning of this?” Braum accused, storming up to your group. “I have not heard of such a thing!”

“Need-to-know, Braum,” Syndra dismissed.

“And you didn’t need to know,” Sarah added.

You felt numb. This whole time… is that why Sett wouldn’t ask you to be his girlfriend? Why he never did more than kiss you? All this time, he had just seen you as a prize pig for an ugly date contest? It all made sense now, why he had been so desperate to get your number. He had never liked you… it had all been one sick joke. You should’ve known; nobody as attractive as Sett would ever see you as anything but a freak. And was too cowardly to come and tell you the truth to your face.

“Look, she’s crying,” Syndra taunted. “Don’t cry! Soon you’ll be queen pig!”

You couldn’t do this. You couldn’t stay here with all these people who saw you as less than human as your heart was breaking into pieces. You were so, so stupid, now wanting nothing more than to cry in peace. So you did, turning and running as fast as your legs would take you out of this awful place.

“Bye, piggy! We’ll ship you the ribbon!”

You heard Braum shout your name, as well as the cruel laughter of the women, but you didn’t stop running. Not when you got to the beach, nor the parking lot or the tacky souvenir shop, the sayings on the gaudy shirts too blurry to read through your tears. Your feet didn’t stop until you were at the doorstep to Taliyah’s home, out of breath, tears running down your cheeks.

The door opened, Taliyah’s face appearing in the doorway. “Hey, did you forget– wait, what happened?”

 “Settrigh, stay still!”

Sett frowned, but did as his momma requested, allowing her to tie the ends of his hair after she had finished arranging it. He loved his ma dearly, but he really didn’t have time for her to redo his hair ten times right now.

It was getting way too close to the start time he had given you, and with how nervous of a person you were, he had intended to be on time, but that was before his mother had discovered the reason why he was cutting their visit short today.

Ma was aware that he had been seeing someone, had been ever since Sett had needed help making food for their first date.

“You do intend to let me meet her, Settrigh?” she asked, stepping back once she had fixed his hair to her satisfaction.

“Yes, ma,” he answered, standing up from the chair.

He wasn’t exactly surprised by his momma’s eagerness, considering this was the first girl he had ever dated, let alone considered introducing to her. This world was shallow; he had learned that early in life, which may be why he found himself so drawn to a girl who had put her all into having nothing to do with him. You broke up the monotony in this busy beach town and gave him something to look forward to other than seeing his ma for the first time in a long time.

Sett knew he was working on a time limit. You had mentioned that you had planned on only visiting Port Navori for the summer, and the summer was half over already, which meant his chances to convince you to stay were also halved, which is where tonight came in.

He had been taking things slow, not wanting to come on too strong and scare you off like he had watched happen to many a beachfront pick-up artist. He had been unwilling to rush things and lose you, but the slip of the calendar into August had forced his hand.

He would be lying if he said he wasn’t a bit apprehensive as to how today would end. How would you take him asking you to be girlfriend? He could only hope that he hadn’t misread you entirely.

He didn’t go to the pool parties often, but it seemed like a good way for him to introduce you to his friends, as they didn’t often all gather outside of those parties. He knew you would likely feel out of place, but Braum would be there, and he intended to stick by your side the entire time. And then after the party, if things went well, then maybe he would end the night with you as his girlfriend, but the party would be the first step.

As he left his ma’s house, he found his mind turning to the party. If you were wearing that red swimsuit you had worn last week, then it was going to be a difficult night for his self-control. His desire to take things slow had really taken a hit then, his only saving grace being ma’s lecture on being a gentleman pounding in his head as he tried not to look at how your chest was half-busting out of your top as you leaned over to pick a thread off of his glove. You were really too hot for your own good, which made him all the more eager to see you.

He knew he was running late, the party having started at least ten minutes earlier. It wasn’t his style to be late, but he was also pretty helpless to defy his ma. He only hoped that you hadn’t given up on him and left.

He took the shortest route possible, which included a short trek through some bushes that left him more leafy than he would’ve liked, but it was all forgotten when he spotted the stairs that led up to the pool entrance.

He was able to bypass the doorman who was only half as big as he was and seemed to be wary of interacting with him, stepping out of the way as Sett approached. He pushed past the curtain, hurried steps heading down the hallway. You hadn’t been waiting outside, so clearly you had been able to get in. He tried to fight back the excited grin that wanted to take over his face, but it was a losing battle as he entered the pool area, eyes immediately scanning the area for you.

“Your cruelty is unimaginable!” Braum’s booming voice carried easily through the air. “That girl has done nothing to be deserving of such treatment!”

What had Braum so worked up? Generally he was an easy guy to get along with, easily Sett’s most tolerable co-lifeguard. Not much phased him, which was a little concerning. But Sett had other priorities, the most important being locating you.

You weren’t in the pool, and didn’t seem to be sitting in any of the chairs. Maybe you had gone to the bathroom and would be right back–

“Well how else was she supposed to know Sett is too good for her? She clearly wasn’t going to see reality without a little help.”

Sett’s ears perked up, his attention snagged by the mention of his name, but especially by the latter half of the sentence. He turned around to see Sarah Fortune with Syndra at her side, who had her arms crossed and looked bored. In front of them was Braum, looking more irate than Sett had ever seen him.

“What’s this about?” Sett asked in a warning tone as he approached, the fur of his ears standing on end, leaving him feeling like he wasn’t going to like where this was headed.

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Sarah dismissed, flipping her hair behind her shoulder with a flick of her head. “We just showed a daydreaming little clout chaser the way out.”

Sett’s eyebrow rose. “A what?”

“Your ice cream girl,” Braum cut in. “These two have told her that this is a party for pigs. They have told her that you intend to bring her here to win ugly contest, and then she had run off.”

“What?” Sett growled dangerously, but the two women remained nonplussed.

“We did you a favor,” Syndra stressed. “If we get a reputation of letting just anyone in, then we’ll lose all status as members of the ruling class of the food chain. So we decided to throw this little pig party to make you come back to your senses.”

“You’re one of us, Sett,” Sarah added. “This pool doesn’t have room for little nobodies who don’t know their place.”

“Rather be a nobody than whatever the hell this is,” Sett snarled angrily, the full knowledge of the truth turning his bad feeling to a mix of simmering fury at the two women, and worry for you. He hated himself for being late and allowing this to happen to you. “Save your concern and don’t talk to me again.”

“But we were–” Syndra started, but Sett wasn’t in the mood.

“If you even look at her again, you’ll have me to deal with. And unlike that girl you just bullied outta here, I ain’t so nice.”

With that, Sett turned on his heel and stormed towards the exit to go do his best to fix this mess.

Braum quickly followed behind him. “My friend, I am sorry I could not stop them in time.”

“Ain’t your fault,” Sett replied. “Wish I’d have known. Gotta go see if she’ll even talk to me at this point.”

“I wish you luck,” Braum said as exited the hallway and emerged out into the sunny late afternoon.

Sett parted from Braum, taking the stairs two at a time as he surveyed the area, trying to see if he could catch sight of you. He quickly crossed the sand, making a beeline for the ice cream stand, even if it seemed like a longshot. He passed by a group of kids throwing sand on an older man sleeping on a towel, but ignored it and kept going. If anything was on fire, Braum could put it out. Sett’s sole focus right now was finding you and hoping you’d let him explain himself.

His chest felt heavy with anger and regret. How could he have let this happen? He hadn’t realized how cruel those women could be, and it had led to them making you believe he thought you were some freak he was using for convenience, which could not be farther from the truth.

Seeing those two talk about you like you were a pariah had brought him right back to when he was younger, to what he had endured at the hands of people just like Syndra and Sarah. People who had ostracized him, did their best to make him feel like he didn’t have a place here. Sett-the-beast-boy-bastard; the words had haunted him for a long time.

He had grown tough in response to the years of bullying, but you hadn’t. This was your first exposure to how awful this place could be. He and ma had dealt with it for years after pa ran off; he had nearly gotten expelled from school after a particularly bad fight with a kid that had made one too many nasty comments about his ma to his face.

Sett stopped, letting out a frustrated sigh as he saw the large closed sign on the front windows of the ice cream shop. So that was a bust. Without giving the store a second look, he continued on towards the rocks and then up to the parking lot.

There was only one other place to try. Chest tight, Sett followed the same path he had the night of your first date, the same path he took every time he walked you home. The walk there was one long blur, his feet unable to stop moving until the familiar house was in sight. Without a moment’s hesitation, Sett approached the front door, rapping his knuckles against the wood. When no answer came, he tried again, and after a few moments, the door opened to reveal Taliyah, who glared once she caught sight of him.

“What do you want?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

“Is she here? I need to talk to her,” Sett said, urgency bleeding into his voice.

Taliyah sighed, stepping outside and closing the door behind her. “You’re lucky I’m even talking to you after this. You don’t deserve to talk to her if that’s how you let your friends treat her.”

“They ain’t my friends,” Sett argued. “If I’d have known they were gonna pull that shit–”

A sly smile lifted the corner of Taliyah’s lips. “Good answer. If you had said anything else, then I’d be slamming the door in your face right about now.”

“Then can I–”

“Talk to her?” Taliyah interrupted. “Nope. Not a good idea.”

Sett’s face must have taken on a darker quality, because Taliyah retreated back a step, raising her hands in the air in mock surrender. “Relax, tough guy. I didn’t mean it like that. But she’s a little too upset to talk to you right now.”

The information only made Sett feel worse. He wanted so badly to talk to you, to do what he had wanted to do before this mess had happened and make you his girlfriend. You had never felt farther away than you did right now.

“Give me some time to calm her down. I can get her to be at the pier at seven, then the rest is up to you,” she said, levelling him with a stern look. “I know this wasn’t your fault. That’s the only reason I’m giving you a chance. She really likes you, so try not to make her feel any worse than she already does. Bye.”

And then Taliyah was gone, retreating back into the house and leaving Sett standing on the doorstep.

 “Brought you some water,” Taliyah announced as she entered the room, glass in hand.

“Who was at the door?” you asked.

She shrugged. “Someone looking for my dad. Told them he’s not here.”

You nodded. It was probably too much to hope that it would be Sett. You winced as you thought his name. You hated how much you wanted to see him, someone who had used you to win some popular kid ugly date contest.

So it had all been a lie then? All the things he had told you about his life, his family? Every time he had kissed you, was he picturing kissing one of those girls instead? Is this really what popular people did for fun? You felt stupid for falling for it, for falling for him. You were so stupid.

With some prompting from Taliyah, you took a sip of the water. After she had made sure you had drank the whole glass, she sat down next to you, taking the glass from you and setting it down on the bedside table.

“I should have known,” you croaked.

“Known that popular girls are bitchy? Maybe,” she responded.

“That it was too good to be true,” you corrected.

“You’re acting like you’re eighty,” she scolded. “There are other guys out there. Ones who don’t have shitty friends.”

“Yeah, I know,” you replied. “But I really liked him. And I didn’t even get to pet his stupid fuzzy ears.”

“Well if you’re joking, then you must be doing okay,” she said. “How about we go do something to take your mind off of things?”

You frowned, and she rolled her eyes. “Not right this second. I’ll give you until six-thirty to get yourself ready to go.”

Taliyah got up off the bed and headed towards the door. “I’m not gonna let your night be ruined because of a couple of snobs.”

She closed the door, leaving you alone with your thoughts again. You laid back on the bed, intent on taking some time before you got ready to just veg out. As much as the notion of going out didn’t excite you right now, it was probably better than being a mopey mess all night. There would be other guys; it was just a shame that you had liked this one so much.

Two hours later, you were walking down the street with Taliyah. Your getting ready to go had consisted of washing your face of all the smeared makeup from your crying, brushing your hair into a semi-decent state and then watching dumb cat videos on your phone until you felt like you didn’t want to crawl in a hole and die.

Taliyah had assured you that you didn’t look bad, which you might have believed if you hadn’t seen yourself in the mirror as you were leaving, but at this point you were beyond caring about how you looked right now.

Taliyah had refused to tell you where she was taking you, and so you were forced to follow her down the familiar path towards the beach, unsure of where it was you were being led. Part of you was worried that you might run into Sett, but then the more rational side of you took over; he was likely back at that pool, partying it up with those girls and lamenting that you had run off before he could win his ugly date prize. It was crazy to realize just how flawed your judgment had been.

You had expected to be walking onto the beach, as it was where you two usually spent most of your time, but Taliyah didn’t go to the parking lot, instead heading towards the rockier section of the beach. You hadn’t been over here before, only vaguely aware of the area as a prime fishing location, bait shops and the like lining the street across from this part of the beachfront.

She took you past the fishing spots, down to near the end of the beach, where there was a small pier that went about thirty feet out into the sea. Like most of the beach at this time on a weekday, the pier was empty, most of the fishermen also having headed out with their day’s catches.

Taliyah led you down the pier to the small bench at the end of it, pushing you to sit down. When she didn’t do the same, you looked up at her, confused.

“I’ll be right back,” she said. “I’m gonna go grab something to help cheer you up. You just enjoy the view for a bit.”

You decided to follow her advice, staring out at the water. There wasn’t much to see other than some boats in the far distance and some buoys bobbing in the water that marked the swimming section from the boating section.

It was kind of nice in a way, the calm waters helping you to relax as you watched the waves roll in and out. You stayed like that for a while as you allowed yourself to zone out until you began to wonder how much time had passed. Pulling out your phone, you saw that it had been almost twenty minutes, and yet there was no sign of Taliyah as you looked around.

You had assumed that she went to get you two some food, which likely was still the case. Some of the places here tended to have rather large dinnertime crowds, so a twenty minute plus wait wasn’t exactly unusual. You had no idea where she had gone, so all you could do was wait. If she wasn’t back by seven, you would just text her and ask what was up.

You let yourself be taken in again by the rolling waves as you continued to wait, trying to recall what kinds of restaurants there were on the beachfront. It couldn’t be that fish and chips place; Taliyah had spent a full half hour last week complaining about how stale their food was. Or the taco place, since it had been closed for renovations for the past week. You had been trying to think of a third option when your concentration was broken by someone taking a seat next to you on the bench.

You looked over, expecting to see Taliyah back with some food, but instead nearly jolted off of the bench when next to you was the very man you were out here trying to forget.

Just seeing him when you were feeling so pathetic sent a jolt of you weren’t sure what up your spine, your flight instincts screaming at you as you made to stand up, only to be stopped by a firm grip on your wrist.

“I know you don’t wanna see my face right now,” Sett said. “But I can explain.”

“Explain what?” you replied meekly. “Those girls explained enough.”

“I haven’t,” he insisted. “Just listen for a minute. Then you can leave, or punch me, whatever you want.”

You took a look around, still not seeing Taliyah anywhere. You weren’t sure what he could have to say that would make much of a difference, but you sat back down, and he let go of your wrist.

You turned reluctantly to face Sett, waiting for him to talk first.

“Never told ‘em to do somethin’ like that,” he said gruffly. “Didn’t even know about it ‘til I got there and you weren’t there.”

“But they said…” you started, taking a breath to keep yourself calm as you prepared to recount the hurtful words. “They said you were only spending time with me so you could win their whole ugly date contest.”

Sett’s eyes narrowed, the skin of his knuckles tightening on his curling fists. “First I’ve heard of it. Ain’t no way you’d ever place in an ugly contest anyways.”

His words threw you. “Wait, so you don’t think I’m ugly?”

He snorted, a grin playing at his lips. “Well I was plannin’ on askin’ you to be my girlfriend after the party, so nah, I don’t think you’re ugly.”

“You–” you gasped, pulse skyrocketing. This was not how you expected this conversation to go. You were half convinced you were experiencing auditory hallucinations until Sett reached over, pulling you into his side.

“This is my fault,” he spoke lowly. “If I hadn’t been late, I’d have been there to stop that from happening.”

“What happened when you got there?” you asked quietly.

“Braum told me what happened, then those two tried tellin’ me they did it for my sake,” he growled. “I thought I was used to seein’ through bullies from how I grew up. Doesn’t matter now, they won’t be botherin’ you anymore unless they wanna find out why momma says I got her temper.”

“Why were you late anyways?” you asked.

He groaned, leaning his head back against the bench. Even with the sun mostly set, you could clearly see a pink tone to his cheeks.

“What is it?” you pressed, curious about why the intimidating lifeguard was suddenly being so shy.

He let out a long sigh, finally meeting your eyes. “Ma was doin’ my hair.”

You looked him over, realizing that his hair did seem to be tied differently today. The only thing that looked the same was his ears, just as fluffy as they always looked. You could almost hear Taliyah’s voice screaming in your head to pet them. Speaking of Taliyah…

“Taliyah!” you gasped, trying to extract yourself from Sett’s grip, but failing. If Taliyah was to come and see you here with the guy she had taken you out to forget about… “My friend, she’ll be back any second and–”

Sett laughed, and you were immediately left with the feeling that you were missing something.

“She ain’t comin’ back,” he said amusedly. “I’ve got you all to myself for the night… if that’s what you want.”

“Taliyah set me up?” you breathed, not having suspected a thing.

“I asked her to,” Sett explained. “Wasn’t about to let you go ‘cuz of some shallow assholes.”

Taliyah was much sneakier than you had given her credit for, you realized, but you couldn’t bring yourself to mind right now. Though that didn’t mean you weren’t hungry, your previous stress melting away and removing the only distraction from your empty stomach.

“So,” you hummed. “Are you still going to ask me to be your girlfriend?”

You still had no idea what would happen by the end of the summer, but you really wanted this. You wanted him.

“Yeah, was plannin’ on it.”

 You had thought about it all the way back to Sett’s house. Was it really for the best to go back to your city when the summer was over? Back to your parents’ house to find an equally demanding and unfulfilling job?

The more you thought about it, the more you wanted to stay. Taliyah was here, Sett was here, and other than your brief nasty encounter at the pool earlier, this summer had been the best one you’d had in a long time.

Sett seemed intent on giving you more reasons to stay as he was on you pretty much as soon as you entered his house. You had been standing in the entryway, looking at a picture of what must have been Sett and his mother when he caught you off guard, picking you up from behind.

You yelped, turning your head back to face him just in time for him to dart forward to snatch a kiss.

“You’ll have time to look around later,” he said as he walked down the hall, nudging a door open with his shoulder and then taking you into what looked to be his bedroom.

Once again, you were scarcely granted a look around before Sett had overtaken your attention yet again. You were swiftly carried over and deposited on the bed, Sett eagerly caging your body down against the sheets with his own.

“I wanted to go slow,” he said against your ear. “Didn’t wanna mess things up. But that’s not what you want, is it?”

“No,” you gasped as he snaked a hand under your dress, and then under your swimsuit bottoms. “I… I want…”

“This?” he inquired, thumb brushing against your clit, causing you to jolt against him with a breathy moan. “Waited a long time to hear that.”

Seeking more room to work, Sett pulled back to reach down and pull down your swimsuit bottoms, tossing them to the side. You watched with reddening cheeks as he returned his attention to you, head disappearing under your dress next.

His first lick against your pussy felt back-archingly good, but you didn’t have a lot of room to move with Sett’s hands holding your lower half in place. His tongue felt slightly rough, bringing pricks of pleasure-pain along its path.

Closing your eyes tight, you tried not to squirm, but it was difficult as Sett’s tongue prodded inside you before moving back to sucking at your clit. It felt good, almost too good, but you found yourself wanting more than his mouth against you.

“Sett,” you moaned. “Please…”

You weren’t sure if he got the message until you reached down to grasp at one of his hands. He pulled back from you, wiping one forearm against the wet lower half of his face as he sat back. His position on his knees on the bed allowed you a good look at the decently-sized bulge in the front of his tight swim shorts.

Sett caught your eyes, reaching one hand down to cup his cock through his shorts. “All you, sweetheart. Still think I think you’re ugly?”

You somehow managed to shake your head, speechless from his ardent display of his body. Sett seemed to bask in just how speechless he had made you, a sexy grin overtaking his face as he stared down at you.

“Couldn’t ask for more than this,” he said. “But if you want more…”

He was such a tease. With a burning face, you relented.

“Could you just put it in me please?” you asked, too shy to make eye contact.

“Can do,” he replied, and you could easily hear the smug satisfaction in his voice.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Sett stood up from the bed to pull his shorts off, wincing slightly when he pulled the tight fabric over his painfully-hard cock. Tossing the shorts to the floor, his attention quickly returned to you.

Giving his cock a few slow strokes, he watched you sit up on the bed. Feeling a burst in confidence from his display, you reached down to the hem of your dress’ skirt before pulling it up and off your body, Sett’s hungry gold eyes unable to look away from you as you moved onto your swimsuit top.

Once your top was off, Sett struck, pulling you towards him. Sitting at the edge of the bed, he pulled you onto his lap, reaching around to your front to cup your breasts as his mouth went straight to your neck. His hands were warm against the sensitive skin of your breasts, rolling your nipples under his thumbs as his teeth scraped against a sensitive spot on your neck.

You felt his hard cock under you and shifted yourself against it, Sett letting out a deep groan in response. You could feel how wet you were, but this wasn’t enough. You needed to fuck him, needed this building tension to come to a satisfying end for you both.

You turned in his lap, looping your arms around his neck and leaning down to kiss him. Sett was happy to meet tongues with you, one hand resting on your ass until you pulled back from the kiss.

You met eyes with Sett, who began to help you lift yourself up, lining up his cock with his other hand. When he brought you back down onto him, you both sighed as you were fully seated on his cock at last.

“Nothin’ else would feel as good as you,” Sett groaned as he began to help you move and up and then back down onto him. “Never wanted any girl as bad as I want you.”

You were much less coherent, moaning out his name as your hands grasped against his chest. With a further burst of confidence, you reached a hand up to his ear, running your fingers along the fur and enjoying the resulting groan, the next upward thrust of his hips hitting even better into you. Maybe you would leave this out at Taliyah’s interrogation later.

“There,” you moaned as he shifted you in his lap, his cock hitting even deeper inside you. “Right there, Sett.”

“You’re so tight,” he groaned, pulling you down into a rough kiss as he held you close, thrusting up into you as you eagerly moved along with him, needing to make this gorgeous man under you cum.

Sett came first, stilling for a moment before pulling you slightly back to put a finger to your clit, letting you cling to him as you followed him over the edge.

Once you had both come back down from the clouds, you were set back gently on the bed so Sett could run off to grab a cloth to clean you up with. You watched him leave the room, still having a hard time comprehending just how you had ended up this situation.

You definitely had some phone calls to make tomorrow. Your parents would be surprised, but you would probably focus on the Taliyah part rather than the new boyfriend part of your reasoning. Taliyah would be overjoyed for sure; you’d have to thank her for her meddling when you saw her.

As Sett returned, you realized something.

“Wait, is your mom home?” you asked in horror. You hadn’t made any effort to be quiet during sex, forgetting about his mother until he re-entered the room.

Sett laughed at your mortified face. “I don’t live with ma, so no.”

“Oh god,” you breathed in relief. “I was worried I was too…”

“She ain’t here,” he replied as he joined you on the bed, handing you the cloth he had grabbed. “You can be as loud as you want.”

You dropped the cloth, burying your head in your hands, Sett’s amused laughter ringing in your ears as you tried to content with just what you had signed yourself up for.

[prettytoxicrevolver]

Engaged | Mat Barzal

Requested? Nope

Warnings? None

Summary: Mat proposes to you

Word Count: 1,929

Everything in italics is a flashback!

“Good morning (y/n)!!” you hear someone yell and you instinctively pull the covers over your head.

The person jumps onto your bed, pulling the covers back down and your eyes peek open to see your best friend grinning above you.

“Tito, go away,” you groan trying to yank the covers back.

“(y/n), get up,” he says

You shake your head and hide further away into your bed. Tito being his excited puppy-like self won’t take no for an answer and finds your waist, wrapping his arms around you and pulling you up out of bed. You end up in his arms bridal style, with a look on your face that could kill.

“Choose your next words wisely,” you warn, finally opening your eyes to look at him.

“I have coffee and food downstairs. Take a shower and then we can go shopping,” he says and a smile creeps onto your face.

“Wise man.”

Tito grins, carrying you into the bathroom and dropping you down before telling you he’ll be downstairs. You shower quickly, getting dressed in something decently cute, and head down to the kitchen where Tito waits.

“There’s my girl,” he says and you curtsey fakely making Beau laugh.

“Yeah yeah. Where’s my coffee?”

Beau laughs, holding your coffee out to you which you happily take. You take a sip and hum in agreement. Beau laughs once more and you spin, heading towards the door.

“Well let’s go!”

The minute Mat received the text from his best friend that you and he were off shopping, he heads over to their shared apartment. He anxiously grabs everything, the rose petals, the outfit he would change into, the ring, and anything else he thinks he needs to propose. He bounces around the apartment, anxiety running through him, as he runs through the plan in his head one more time.

He had wanted to propose to you for ages. The idea coming strongly to him one night when he came home late from a game, your sleeping form curled into the couch, wearing his jersey, and your homework set out before you. He leaned against the doorframe and thought that he wanted to come home to you every single night. And every single day after that, that was the only thought in his head. That he needed you here, with him forever.

He employed the use of Beau, both of yours best friend. He knew he had to get everything ready and had to get you out of the house for the day so you wouldn’t be suspicious of his actions. He told Beau to get you a cute outfit and go as far as get your nails done together for the day before Beau would bring you to the building where he was proposing. He hoped everything was going to go perfectly.

You were becoming slightly suspicious more and more as the day went on. You weren’t sure exactly what was going on, but when Beau suggested you tried on every dress you set your eyes on, decided he would pay for most of your clothes, and then said you should get your nails done and the two of you could talk during it you knew something was up.

Far be it from you to decline a free manicure, so as you and Beau sat together at the salon you cast your eyes over to him.

“What is going on?” you ask and he coughs, stuttering for a moment before responding.

“Nothing? Why would something be going on?”

“No reason,” you decide and he nods.

Once your nails are done Beau tells you there’s one more place you have to stop. You get to the strangely familiar building, the two of you climbing to the top floor. Your nerves take over as Beau leads you to a room. He casts you a smile before swinging the door open. Your jaw drops at the sight before you.

It was a penthouse, one of the more gorgeous ones you had ever seen. Rose petals litter the floor, light music playing in the background, and there was Mat standing just past it all. A white button-down stretches across his broad shoulders, gray slacks falling over his legs. His back is turned to you and you take a moment to gaze over his figure.

“Go,” Beau whispers behind you.

You smile at your best friend, making a mental note to thank him later. You step into the penthouse and the door shutting causes Mat to look at you. He turns, his hair falling over his eyes and a nervous smile appearing on his lips.

“Come here,” he says holding a hand out to you.

You make your way over, a nervous step about you but you take his hand and he pulls you in. Mat wraps an arm around your waist, pecking your lips nervously before taking a step back.

“Hi baby,” he says.

“Hi. What’s all this?” you ask your head swiveling to take in the decorations, the music, and the gorgeous view.

“Okay I’m gonna say a lot right now, so just give it a second before you say anything okay?”

You nod and Mat smiles, intertwining your hands in front of him. You look up into his stunning hazel eyes and a smile widens across your lips.

“Do you like the view?” he asks and you finally cast your eyes across the balcony to see the skyscrapers littering the sky, a beautiful sunset falling in the back.

“It’s beautiful,” you breathe out and Mat smiles, staring lovingly down at you.

“Yeah, it is.” You turn to look back at him and Mat grins at you.

“My love, you have been the most important thing in my life since I’ve met you. I know every single person from announcers to the press to media to even fans has hyped me up and given me the biggest ego possible. But none of it matters unless I have you by my side.”

You let go of one of Mat’s hands, to come up to your mouth, shaking nervously.

“You bring out the best in me, you always have. And there are millions of girls who throw themselves at me when I’m on the road,”

Your smile drops for a moment, your head tilting to look at Mat and he giggles lightly. He holds his free hand up, telling you to wait a moment.

“Hey (y/n/n),” you turn to look at Tito, and he nods his head in the opposite direction.

You look to see a girl, hand wrapped tightly around Mat’s bicep, and gazing up at him as if he’s the greatest thing God has ever made. She wasn’t wrong to look at him that way, but you should be the only one to do that.

You grimace at Tito, handing him your drink which he takes, smiling knowingly. You march over, trying to keep your jealousy in check as you approach Mat and the random girl.

“Well hi darling,” you greet coldly and Mat looks up at you, panic flashing across his face before a proud smile sits upon his face.

“And you are?” you ask swiveling your attention onto the girl.

“I’m,” she starts and you hold your hand up to stop her.

“Not his girlfriend I’ll tell you that.”

The girl flounders before you flash her a smile that gets her to turn and rush away. You turn to Mat, and he shakes his head, a laugh approaching his lips as he raises his glass.

“You are terrifying when you’re jealous,” he says and you smile.

“Just protecting what’s mine,” you shrug and Mat sets his glass down.

“No need. I’m not gonna go anywhere.”

“But none of them are you. No one will ever compare to you. You are my everything. You make my stomach erupt in butterflies every time I see you and you remind me that all of those cheesy love songs are true. And as much as you jokingly say you hate it, I know you love it when I serenade you”

“Mathew Barzal come back here!” you call to your boyfriend who rushes up to the microphone in the middle of the bar.

“Hi everyone,” he says and you press your face into your hands.

“I just wanted to come up and sing some karaoke! This song goes out to my beautiful girlfriend.”

You groan, the rest of the boys you came out with laughing and patting you on the back as they watch their teammate and your boyfriend make an absolute idiot of himself on stage. It was one of your favorite songs, and you smile like a dork, holding a hand up to your lip as you bite it trying to push the smile away.

“Baby, I love you!” Mat yells at the end of the song.

You cackle loudly and Mat makes his way over to you, pressing a kiss to your lips.

“And even if you’re not listening to me serenade you, I know you’re here for me through anything and everything. Fuck you would bail me out of jail if I needed it,” he says and you giggle lightly and nod.

“And you’ve loved me on my best days,”

You sit anxiously waiting for Barzy to come out of the locker room. The isles just won the game that gets them into the playoffs, and you were beyond excited to sit and watch every game. Just as you were looking around, you feel a pair of arms wrap around your waist.

You shriek, before giggling loudly knowing Mat’s strong arms around you. He sets you down, and you spin around, your arms coming to wrap around his shoulders. He slips his around your waist, holding you tight against him. You both giggle excitedly, and Mat pulls away for a moment quickly pressing a kiss to your lips.

“You’re going to the playoffs!!” you yell and he smiles wide.

“And you’ve supported me, cheered me on, and loved me through the worst ones,” he continues.

“And darling,” he says, grabbing your hands again and you look up at him.

“You’re even there to take care of me when I’m fucked up,” he admits and you laugh.

“Baaaaby!!! Oh, baby girl!!” Mat yells and you flinch knowing he’s drunk.

You turn and Mat drapes himself over you, the alcohol apparent on his breath. He smiles lopsidedly, pointing to someone random over your shoulder.

“Hey! This is my girl, and I love her so much!!” he yells drunkenly, and you grin.

“And my love, you’re drunk.”

Mat frowns at this accusation, but when he sees your face again, a smile reappears. You grin, falling for this boy even more at the moment before grabbing one of his hands to rest firmly over your shoulder and dragging him out of the party.

“And this is easily the longest speech of my entire life, but you’re everything to me. I come alive when I’m around you and you always bring out the best in me and I-” he pauses and you squeeze his hands in encouragement.

He keels down, pulling one hand away and digging out a velvet box. He pops it open, before casting his eyes back up at you.

“I guess what I’m saying is that I fuckin’ love you. And I want to know if you will marry me?”

“Mat you’re so dumb of course,” you say diving into his arms.

“I love you so much,” you tell him pulling back as he slips the rings on your finger.

[helenazbmrskai]

This Summer

Guess who’s back with another yoongi fic featuring my favourite trope so here’s another brother’s best friend au, I wanted to try a different setting for this one since I like summer camp aus a lot (and there’s not enough of it on this site I tell you) and I never did something similar to this also I’m sorry that there will be mistakes in here because I wrote this in three days but I’ll proofread it once I have the energy.

🏕️Title: ‹This Summer›

🏕️Pairing: ‹brother’s best friend and camp counsellor! yoongi x new camp counsellor! reader ft. brother and camp counsellor! hoseok›

🏕️Genre: ‹brother’s best friend, summer camp, camp counsellor, romance, fluff, angst, smut, idiots to lovers›

🏕️Summary: ‹This summer you’re going to stop liking min yoongi for good. The plan is flawless until it’s not (but you’re not the only one with plans.)›

🏕️Warnings: ‹smut, making out, oral (both parties) receiving, penetrative sex, condom sex, dirty talk, yoongi is jealous of jungkook having your boobs against his chest, y/n avoids yoongi like it’s her life mission for like 5k straight, a lot of angst but there will be fluff too so don’t worry, awkward tension, sexual tension, clueless hobi, everyone is stupid in this, jungkook likes meddling with y/n’s life a little bit too much, poor tae facing yoongi’s wrath without any reason lol›

🏕️Word count: ‹12.3k›

🏕️Masterlist l read radio sweethearts if you want another brother's best friend yoongi l enjoy!

Your brother is a ticking time bomb, no one knows when he’s going to take something into his head, he’s that annoying sibling that’s always full of energy and twists everyone around his pinky finger on family dinners. You love him with your whole heart, considering you ripped that mean girl’s hair out in elementary school when she called your baby brother (who is older than you but shh) ugly and made him cry.

Hoseok and you are polar opposites he’s cheery and positive always have a big smile on his face, ready to help all the old ladies with heavy shopping bags cross the street while you’re on the quiet side and often misunderstood.

It’s easy to see on holiday dinners and get-togethers that your relatives favour him over you because you’re less talkative and friendly, he has better achievements in life whilst you struggle with school but those you’re close with know the real you and awkward conversations about your nonexistent boyfriend because you’re so deeply in love with your brother’s best friend is not the best ice breaker your distant grandmas try to pull on you. Even so, when Yoongi decides to tag along to those said dinners accompanied by his parents and little sister, might just hell break loose.

The second man who basically acts like he lives in your house is your best friend slash knight in shining armour and partner in crime; simply named Jeon Jungkook for good measure who is your next-door neighbour. You have tons of unforgettable memories with him as he was the one you went to prom with, annoyed all the teachers on field trips with your loud rap battles and cried on each other's shoulders as you graduated high school together.

Your friendship with him came as a surprise to all your family members as they originally thought your brother and him will become close but instead, he spent most of his time with you while yoongi and hoseok with their other friends hang out separately. On rare occasions, your group would mix and go to see a popular movie or play games at the arcade on someone’s birthday.

Summer usually is the time when things are a little slow. No assignments to do or classes to attend, your brother leaves in early July for this summer camp that’s half a day far away from your home with his friends and the last two summers even Jungkook applied to be a camp counsellor as he likes to be surrounded by kids and nature just like your brother does so literally, everyone left for some time leaving you alone in your hometown with nothing to do but it was better this way because away from Hoseok meant that Yoongi will be far away too.

Your brother tries to persuade you every year to go with them but you always have to decline, sometimes your no is firmer than other times because Hoseok is excellent at using his puppy eyes on you.

However, this summer you had other plans. There’s no bell to ring once the last class is dismissed for the semester, tired from your finals you’re going to dedicate at least a week to catch up on your sleep and fix your eating habits but you have a big smile on your face as you climb into Jungkook’s run-down Ford slamming the car door behind your body since they don’t function properly sometimes. This car is his prized possession, got it for his 18th birthday after he successfully passed his test (at the forth try) and bragged about his driving license to you for over two weeks although you only dared to sit next to him after two months. Jungkook named his car Adonis and forbid you of disrespecting his little baby if you want to ever get a lift so you let him be.

Back to your important inner turmoil, you decided you will no longer simp over Min Yoongi your brother’s best friend and this summer you’ll get over him as a grown-up woman. Being in your second year at the local University that all the boys attend it’s surprisingly easy to avoid your brother and his friends and how everyone’s schedule seems to be so packed all the time during the semester, you don’t see them as much as you used to in high school.

”This was your last final, right?” Jungkook turns the ignition key ready to leave this hellhole of a place, holding your headrest with one hand as he turns to see the back of the car so he can back out of the parking lot without any accidents. You grab the smoothie from the cup holder before humming in agreement and take a sip whilst taking in your best friend’s features you haven’t seen for the past week.

”As soon as I get home I’m going to sleep till the next century.” Your dramatic response earns a chuckle and a jab to your left boob as he didn’t take his eyes off the road while delivering his hit. Jungkook wears his signature white tee with a pair of dark blue jeans no traces are left of the stress both of you went under, he was luckier than you as his finals ended a week ago.

”School sucks, we couldn’t even have fun together and I’m leaving next week. I’m going to miss you, you know. You really won’t come with us?” He tried to make you rethink your decision just like your brother but not even his bambi eyes can waver your summer plans, this time you fully intend to have one more Min Yoongiless summer, this silly crush you have on your brother’s best friend can’t continue.

”There’s always one place left for you at the camp Y/N. Hoseok would love to see you there too and we could spend so much time together.” The idea of spending a few weeks with Jungkook sounds nice but a voice in your head reminds you that Yoongi will be there too. He could be yelling at children and wear his trademark grumpy expression but you would still find something attractive about him. The worst part is that he’s never like that with you.

Yoongi is not as talkative as Jungkook or Hoseok, making him be more like you, at first you thought that your crush developed because he seemed to understand you in a different way your brother couldn’t. He cares for his friends, always making sure to show them by doing thoughtful gestures.

Hoseok tells his friends all the time that you and him are a package deal it’s either both of you or none of you, sometimes people have a problem with that but these five boys he hangs out with for years now are the good exception. You like them even though you don’t like all of Hoseok’s friends.

”I’m sorry Koo but I can’t, we talked about this before.” It’s not like you hate children because you don’t you’re not the best with them but they are ok, the heatwave is what you despise in summer camps. You love being in an air-conditioned place without bug bites all-around your ankles and not even the campfire with yummy marshmallows could persuade you to like outdoor activities.

Summer camps are just not your thing.

”What do you mean you signed me up?” The black t-shirt slips through your fingertips, it has a band logo at the front you remember Hoseok liked back in high school, his suitcase is halfway filled with clothes when he decided to tell you he faked your signature to sign you up as the new summer camp counsellor.

You admit that you have a weird talent for making nice origamis that kids would probably love to learn and a good addition to the routine activities, he would have swayed you with compliments if it weren’t for the fact that he faked your signature and signed you up for something you definitely said no to but still decided to do it without your permission. You heard nice things about the camp itself since it got renovated two years ago and Hoseok’s friends are nice people, he said their co-workers are nice people and your best friend would be there too, don’t get the wrong impression there, you even heard that the camp leader Seokjin is nice and a fun person not strict at all unless it concerns the kid's safety because he will not allow that.

”Don’t be mad, please. Jungkook and I just thought that this could be a fun experience for you, things will get busy next year so it’s going to be the last summer together like this. Pretty please?”

You sighed defeatedly as you can’t possibly say no to that when he phrases it like that. Hoseok looks at you with his round big eyes full of hope. Your summer plan was flawless until…it’s not.

Jungkook came almost knocking down your front door when you called him to come over after you were finally done helping Hoseok finish packing for the trip, you scolded your best friend for not stopping your brother as soon as he learned his scheme about ruining your summer plans you felt furious but he picked up on his way over to your house your favourite coffee flavoured candies and it made you forgive him too easily as you were soon munching on the treat.

It’s a huge disadvantage on your part that he knows your preferences so well. Now you can understand why he always seems so frustrated with you when you make him his favourite dish to get him to forgive you, this is just too much power to have over someone and when he crushes you with his tight hug listing out the things the two of you can do at the camp all of your remaining anger vanishes.

You will think about Min Yoongi later.

That later, however, comes sooner than you anticipated. Sitting on the kitchen stool drinking your coffee while all Hoseok’s noisy friends get a fill of breakfast and a cup of coffee, you have the unfortunate fate of housing all the boys to dine before getting on the road and after a lost rock, paper, scissors thanks to your brother’s ridiculous bad luck you become the host.

The kitchen got filled with animated chit-chats as they place a toast or two on their plates over the noises you almost don’t hear Jungkook next to you asking for the jam but you pass him the jar silently. Yoongi and Jimin are the only ones missing from the group because Yoongi has to drive Jimin to his parent’s place to pick up his car that he got repaired recently so they were running a bit late.

Namjoon is a new addition to the group after Hoseok met him in Uni so you don’t know him that well but he’s nice as far as you’re concerned, you talked to him a few times and his interesting topics never fail to entertain you. Jin steals a toast from Namjoon’s plate so he doesn’t need to get up and fetch one for himself but Namjoon looks too tired to care as he munches on his remaining one toast that his friend can’t steal because it’s halfway in his mouth.

Seokjin’s parents run the bakery on the main road so everyone knows him, he got introduced to the friend group when you were still in high school and you and Jungkook were regulars at the shop. Jin always sneaked a pair of baguettes for the two of you exclusively after you were finished with school.

It’s nice to see all these familiar faces after the stressful semester you had, momentarily forgetting about your problems you feel thankful that Hoseok went out of his way to ruin your plans and sign you up for this train wreck of an adventure, it’s been a while since everyone was together like this.

The doorbell rang interrupting Jungkook and Seokjin’s argument about who’s going to get the last toast piece but Hoseok perked up at the sound yelling excitedly that Yoongi and Jimin are here. Your brother quickens his pace after rising from his seat to open the door for them and grins when they step through the threshold.

Greetings are exchanged between friends and the place becomes livelier as the last pieces decide to join the puzzle, Jimin sees you first and knocks into Jungkook’s shoulder while he tries to get to you to give you a warm hug.

It’s been a while since you last saw Yoongi face to face, you’re added to the boy's group chat so in some depth you knew how he’s doing. He has been over at your house a few times hanging out with Hoseok but you always stayed late inside the library on the days he visited using the weak excuse that you need to catch up on school work so you had no chance of crossing paths with him coincidently while you were searching for a glass of water in the kitchen it’s humiliating enough that he saw you exit your bathroom wearing only a towel when you were a teenager.

Your curves became more defined and your body matured a lot over the years and knowing that he saw you like that when you had no ass or boobs. It’s embarrassing. Hoseok liked you that way because it meant no man would thirst over you as he liked to call it. The memory of him telling the boys that you’re off-limits and made them swear at the ’bro code’ to stay away from you is crystal clear in your mind even if now you are in your twenties.

The memory only makes your situation difficult as Yoongi probably doesn’t feel the same way.

As soon as Jimin steps back and releases you from the hug he has Jungkook in a headlock the next second, wrestling with the younger playfully, Jungkook is probably the closest to Jimin after you.

”Hey, it’s nice to see you.”

Yoongi has a half-smile on his face as he approaches you hesitantly pulling you into a hug like Jimin did but his approach is more gentle and careful as he pats your back with featherlight touches. His scent envelops your senses tuning out everything else that’s not him, it feels like forever that you hugged him, normally the two of you greet each other but rarely hug like this.

”Yeah, you too.” You murmur the words into his shoulder but he must have heard you because the side of his lips turned slightly upwards after you separate.

There are two cars available for the eight of you and Seokjin yells that it’s a matter of a game of rock, paper, scissors and everyone agrees as this is the common way your group chose who is riding with who.

”Easy, the losers ride with Jimin and the winners with Yoongs.” Jungkook is the first one to initiate the rules and everyone agrees except Jimin who whines about why he takes the losers but no one pays attention as the bloody battle starts. The first contestants are Namjoon and Hoseok and your brother ends up loosing while yelling like a banshee and making up excuses that he wanted to show rock and not paper as Namjoon choose scissors as his weapon.

You come up next with Jungkook as your opponent and you let a wicked smile appear on your face because no one knows him better than you, you know his move before he even thinks it through and you show paper getting your well-deserved victory.

Just later you realise that winners ride with Yoongi that you reconsider your decision, you were so caught up in your rivalry that’s your friendship’s base foundation with Jungkook at this point that it slipped your mind entirely.

Taehyung and Jin are the last ones to compete and the battle ends with Taehyung winning the last space in Yoongi’s car leaving Seokjin to dramatically kneel like a wounded soldier making fake sobbing noises. Taehyung ends up changing seats with Jungkook last moment and finally, everything is set to get going.

Jungkook and Namjoon take over the backseat as they loaded their luggage at lightning speed so they can claim their spot first leaving you with the only option to have the passenger seat at the front.

Yoongi obviously got behind the steering wheel entrusted with the task of operating the car throughout this long drive to the summer camp sight. Taehyung, Jin and Hoseok got into Jimin’s car like it was decided by the game.

The camp is bigger than you expected and the renovations got the place a little modern touch to it while still maintaining a close feel to nature with all the wooden houses and trees around but your favourite part is the lake at the far end of the campsite.

You share a room with a girl counsellor that spends her second year here, still, relatively new like yourself so it’s easy to befriend her. The campers will arrive the next day early in the morning Areum informs you as you two walk to the dining area to have the first meeting before everything starts.

By the end of the day, everyone knows you’re Hoseok’s little sister and new people approach you every now and then to confirm the facts and know a little bit more about you since everyone seems to like your noisy brother here (not that it surprises you), it looks like the counsellors are excited to start a new summer here and the atmosphere easily pulls you in, you watch Jimin and Jungkook have a water fight just to catch in the corner of your eye the figure of your brother pushing an unsuspecting Seokjin into the lake when he stands too close to the edge.

The day goes by like a flash as you hang out with Areum, she shows you her favourite places that consists of the greenhouse and the other side of the lake where there are built benches and tables for outdoor picnics.

Jungkook pouts during dinner fake crying that you replaced him and you have to forcefully spoon feed him to stop him from embarrassing you in front of all these unfamiliar people that gathered to have some quiet dinner. So everything goes smoothly, you have such a great time that it scares you.

It’s getting pretty late when all counsellors gather around the campfire to roast marshmallows and catch up with each other’s lives, you’re still new so you use this time to get to know Areum a little bit more since you and her are going to be responsible for entertaining the kids inside the art room alongside with Taehyung who teaches the kids how to paint.

You tell her about your silly hobby that landed you this job and she gets really excited to see your origami creations, you show the same enthusiasm when she reveals her major is classical statuary.

Even though Yoongi was always nearby it got easy to ignore his existence when so many new things surrounded you. It didn’t mean he fully left your thoughts throughout the day but made you feel that sense of false security that you could get over him. That all those years of pinning for your brother’s best friend could just vanish if you told your heart to stop skipping beats when he calls your name. Boose soon gets introduced to the mix and by the time midnight rolls around everyone is pleasantly buzzed and when Jungkook enters the state that he hangs off of you like a koala nuzzling his cheek into the crook of your neck you decided to call it a night.

You wake up with your head thumping inside your skull slightly feeling hangover; your roommate is in a similar state as you two approach the dining room getting small slices of bread to make a light sandwich.

You’re mid-bite into your food when you see Yoongi enter, walking alongside with your brother he catches your gaze sooner than you were able to look away and after they get their fills on their trays your loud brother flops down next to you with the loudest greeting that he could possibly muster up alerting everyone in the ten-metre radius.

Yoongi and you groan at the same time telling him to shut up like it’s a scripted response and your eyes meet for the barest of seconds before you focus on your half-eaten sandwich.

It’s hard not to look at him. Despite his gruff exterior, he’s very good at dealing with children, your activity where kids can learn how to fold origami is always after his cookie baking lesson and he smells like rough cookie dough and chocolate ship when he leads the kids into the art room where you would have all the coloured papers ready at each desk and folded a sample beforehand so they can use it as a reference if the instructions don’t look clear enough in the printed page.

The idea for this lesson formed last night, you were up all night as you researched on the internet how to fold hearts. It kept you up till the sun rose as you were trying out every folding technique that would look pretty but easier to do for the kids, you even accidentally cut your finger with the scissor while you were working using only the faint light from the lamp on the bedside table.

Yoongi greets you like he usually would wearing a little smile at the corners as he lets the kids inside first holding the door open for them, he always leaves silently after he delivered the campers to the art room but this time the door slides closed behind his form as he got dragged into the room by a kid named Minsung holding onto Yoongi’s hand he stood awkwardly while everyone else had a decided seat to take.

”Can Yoongi join us today Y/N?” Minsung asks holding Yoongi’s hand as he leads him further into the art room and every kid looks expectantly at you waiting for you to agree and seeing their faces you nod with a smile pulling out the chair next to you beckoning the embarrassed man to sit beside you.

He didn’t think you would say yes if he’s being honest. After you finished high school and he and Hoseok went to University and got busy with life he started to see you less and less, at first he didn’t think much of it but after some time it looked like that you’re actively avoiding him.

He has no idea why (that’s what eats him from the inside out on sleepless nights) he doesn’t remember saying or doing something that would make you upset and even now when you keep bumping into each other you seem skittish around him and he doesn’t like that, hence he even talked to Hoseok about this and your own brother couldn’t give him an answer why you started avoiding him.

”Do you know how to fold origami?” You ask him slipping papers in front of him as soon as he seats himself beside you, your heart beats inside your chest violently when you get enveloped in his scent yet again reminding you of the hug you shared that you’re afraid he’s going to hear it.

”I barely know how to fold my clothes.” The nervous joke lightens the mood as the kids laugh loudly the poor attempt at making you be more comfortable with him earns a little snort that makes a blush creep up your face rapidly in embarrassment but Yoongi thinks you sound adorable. You think you sounded like a troll.

”It’s fine I’ll help you.” Your little smile is still there even though your eyes are no longer on Yoongi as you focus on the kids, you tell them first what they will make and then go into detail how they can fold it while using the instructions and clearing some of the confusing images for them to understand it better. Lastly, you encourage them to not be afraid to ask if they have questions and you’ll gladly help them. It falls silent after as everyone gets absorbed in their work and you start making extra origamis for the children as usual until someone needs help.

Yoongi looks intent on finding out using the illustrations how to proceed and even though your instructions were pretty clear and well detailed he couldn’t figure out how to do it, he wastes two papers before he even got to the third step.

You see him struggling and he clearly gets worked up over it considering the number of creases appearing on his forehead once you get back to your desk after helping a kid figure out the instructions you move your chair closer getting his attention with the movement, your knees touch in the process but neither of you makes any moves to instal more distance between your bodies.

”Can I show you?” You reach for the scrambled paper but stop midway to look up and ask for permission.

Yoongi nods his head sliding the mess closer to you, observing as you unfold the paper and restart making more accurate lines and you immediately see what’s wrong with his shape. His measurements are off, even when he folded the paper in half that seemed uneven because he tried to fold it in one go and the paper sometimes moves around if you’re not careful enough.

After you fixed it and slid the paper to be in front of him you tell him your advice in a soft-spoken way. Heart still hammering inside your chest due to the closeness you share. ”Don’t rush through the steps, take your time while you fold it.” Your fingers touch briefly when you pass him the paper and you resume your working so it would take away from the embarrassment of how loud your heart beats because of him.

He looks so good today wearing a black oversized t-shirt with small prints in the front and even when his hair is damp with sweat his smile is able to melt your resolves any time you gaze up at those dark eyes.

Kids can be very attentive and they easily see how Y/N looks so smitten with Yoongi if those stolen sideway glances are anything to go by, every time he shows up you became a nervous ball of a mess it’s not rocket science to know you have a huge crush on the boy, the only mystery that campers can’t figure out is why you tiptoe around each other when Yoongi doesn’t seem indifferent either.

They often catch him looking at you as they run around the campsite during leisure activities led by Hoseok.

Minsung and Soohyung share a knowing smile as they watch them fold origami and it’s not overlooked by either of them when you focus back to do your work and Yoongi takes glances in your direction mesmerized by you, the task seems easy when he watches you do it.

A knock is followed by the appearance of your camp leader Seokjin leaning onto the doorframe interrupting your little bubble, looking at the kids with a fond expression before he addresses Yoongi and they leave together to discuss something, the activity is almost over as you learn glancing at the clock and Jungkook soon appears where Jin was a little while ago to get the kids.

Jungkook and your brother are the ones responsible for the outdoor activities and at the end of the day not only the kids are tired but their counsellors too by constantly running around to ensure everyone's safety.

Yoongi wanted to talk to you and help you clean up, have a real conversation in private, but things never turn out as he wants them to there seems to be always an obstacle standing between you two so he follows Jin to discuss a camp-related issue while he wishes he could spend a little more time with you.

If only you would tell him what he did wrong so he can fix it, this awkward state you two got stuck in makes him sad for some reason.

There was a time when you were greeting him with a big smile on your face and ask him about his day, he vividly remembers your chubbier cheeks and crooked teeth when you were younger but he doesn’t mind your feminine growth over the years, Yoongi always thought you will grow up to be a beautiful woman.

He remembers your prom dress, it was in a navy blue colour that complimented your fuller curves he only started to notice in your last year in high school, Jungkook posed beside you like you were Mr and Mrs Smith as your parents took pictures of you two and he found himself smiling fondly at you.

It was Hoseok’s birthday when the air shifted from platonic to something else in the short span of ten seconds, both of you were a little tipsy and you were sitting at a corner table together because neither of you wanted to hit the dance floor, the bar was packed and guys tried to hit on you numerous times just to be chased away by your brother’s antics.

You didn’t seem to mind that he prevented every guy from making a move on you and as you were all alone in a small booth chest to chest to hear each other over the loud music while you tried to tell him a story about Jungkook choking on fries at Mcdonalds when the waitress suddenly slipped her number scribbled onto a napkin trying not to ugly laugh yourself. His nose accidentally bumped into yours as he suppressed a laugh and if the others didn’t choose that exact moment to take a breather and have more drinks he thinks he would have probably kissed you right then and there.

The other time he felt something different while he was around you was when you and his friends took a trip to Busan to see the sea and you wore that one piece bikini, the bottom and top half were connected by a line of fabric but let your sides and hips be visible under the little clothing you had on.

Guys turned their heads when you passed them and he couldn’t even blame them like Hoseok because he looked at you a few times as well trying to seem as subtle as he possibly can since Hoseok otherwise would have killed him knowing that his best friend was ogling at his little sister.

”Don’t you dare!” Your yelling draws the attention of the kids and counsellors equally that’s how loud you are as your best friend approaches your form sitting under the umbrella trying to cool yourself down since today’s temperate is insanely (and unreasonably) hot. ”When we get home I’ll draw all your action figures a moustache using permanent markers. I’m not joking stop right there!”

Your horrific expression is validated since Jungkook has this shit-eating grin on his face when he’s about to do something you’ll most definitely not like, knowing him from your early stage of childhood when he was just a lanky anime fanatic and you were flat like a wooden board with huge pimples you’re an expert at distinguishing his different expressions and actions.

”You’re cute to think that will stop me.” Jungkook chuckles grabbing you by the waist as he drapes you over his shoulder effortlessly walking with you to the edge of the lake despite your efforts to break free from his grip, your friend jumps into the water with you still firmly clinging onto his body. The kids around you laugh at your friendly banter as you rise from the water like a lake monster and you duck Jungkook’s head underwater to make him pay for your ruined clothes and makeup.

Coming to help you, Jimin manoeuvres his boat next to you and stretches his hand out followed by a big grin to drag you out of the lake but it appears to be more difficult as you two almost flip over but you manage to unceremonially flop down next to him dragging your fingers through your hair to get the hairs out of your face.

”You really want war, Jeon. Just you wait but don’t blame me if I shave your hair off while you’re sleeping.” Coughing between your threatening words Jimin starts patting your back, rubbing your spine to help you feel better.

Jimin oars closer to the dock and you land your feet on the ground again without any more incidents occurring while Jungkook swims all the way, making comments about your appearance making the campers giggle alongside with him as your face gets warmer, once both of you are secure on land Jungkook hugs you close despite your distaste, your clothes cling to your body uncomfortably and droplets from his hair land on your cheek as he moulds your bodies together.

”Let me go, I’m not talking to you.” You try to push him away but instead of letting you go he scoops you up from the ground and spins you around, begging for your forgiveness but you don’t give in so easily.

Yoongi observes the scenes before him with a sour expression, he doesn’t even realise how he glares at Jungkook holding you that close to him while both of you are dripping of lake water, your boobs are entirely pushed against his chest as your best friend giggles midst of you struggling to break free.

Next to him Hoseok sits relaxed in his chair sipping his cold drink, shaking his head in faux amusement happy to see you have a good time here, your brother is normally very protective of you when it comes to guys but with Jungkook he knows that you guys are just best friends it’s hard to see you two otherwise when he witnessed your first period crying onto Jungkook’s shoulder that you’re going to bleed out and your poor friend almost dragged you to the hospital because he thought you were being real but soon learned that you overdramatise things when it’s that time of the month.

He often finds you in a weird position while you watch tv with Jungkook’s head on your tummy because the pressure and warmth of his head make the pain more bearable cuddling under blankets because you get needy when you’re on your period, your brother knows all of this because when your best friend is unavailable he has to fill the space and lay his head on your stomach until the feeling goes away.

He had his doubts in the early stage of your budding friendship when you first started to hang out with each other because things can get weird easily between friends if they are not the same gender but Jungkook proved to Hoseok multiple times that he supports you and would walk through fire for you. Nothing happened between you two in romantic aspects, there was no shift, even though someone who doesn’t see you daily interacting with him would assume something is going on.

”I’m going to change.” You announce to no one in particular, the way your shirt clings to your curves as you’re surrounded by male counsellors you don’t know adds extra pressure and their eyes on you make you uncomfortably fidget in place, your make up is probably smudged on your face giving you a panda effect.

”Wear this your bra is showing.” Jungkook gives you his wet shirt but the black material conceals your body to look decent enough and you thank him he could easily sense your distress and he feels a little bad that he pulled that trick on you. He had to coax you into wearing that bikini at the beach last year buttering you up with compliments so the two of you could finally get going, he knows better than anyone that you’re shy and insecure about your body if someone you don’t know sees you, you don’t hate your body but it makes you feel anxious if some stranger looks at you like you’re his meal for the evening and he totally gets it.

He glares at every single one of them who looks at you inappropriately alongside your brother who shares the same sentiment as him. You deserve to be treated right, that’s why he was super angry once you told him about your first time, that guy just stuck it in without making you cum.

Hoseok doesn’t know, however, you only told Jungkook about your unpleasant experience when you were tipsy, you had to tell him at a house party while playing truth or dare, you had to share something he didn’t know and considering he’s your best friend not much was there to confess. You hoped that he was drunk enough to forget about it the next day but he surprised you with ice cream and you talked it out with him, he can be immature sometimes though when the situation needs him to be serious he’s there for you. He never once made fun of you for something you felt insecure or not confident about.

Areum takes in your dishevelled look as soon as you step through the entrance of your current accommodation, opting for a quick shower to wash the dirty lake water off your skin you tell her what happened vaguely before disappearing behind the bathroom door and she snickers silently seeing your grumpy face.

Jungkook marches to the seat next to Hoseok the playful glint is still there as he rakes his fingers through his hair shaking the droplets out of his locks like a dog and the way female colleagues eye him didn’t go unnoticed by either Yoongi or Hoseok for that matter. Your best friend is not as dense as you think he is because for a while now he connected the dots why you seem to avoid Yoongi at all cost.

It shocked him at first but now observing your interactions closely he calls himself a fool that he didn’t realise it sooner. Your best friend knows about the ’you can’t woo my baby sister’ rule because it’s applied to him as well, Hoseok cornered him one day after you left to bring up snacks for a movie night and told him awfully descriptive outcomes what will happen to him if he tries anything on you all the while he pushed him against your lavender walls, that day he learned that smiley Hoseok can be scary sometimes.

It’s been years and his overprotectiveness lessened because you dated guys here and there and Hoseok was always supportive of you and your soon-to-be boyfriends, but you didn’t go to second dates with any of them.

He found it strange at first but after he found out about your little crush on your brother’s best friend some things clicked and your behaviour wasn’t soo odd anymore, Jungkook didn’t read too much into it at first because he thought it’s going to be a fleeting flame but it’s been years that you harbour feelings for the older man.

Yoongi was a harder nut to crack because he’s better at masking his feelings than you but he can see how his eyes linger on you when he thinks no one’s looking, his slip-ups are subtle ones and it would go over his head if he wouldn’t be so tuned in searching for his reactions.

His gut feeling tells him Yoongi feels the same way you do (his face might not be as expressive but his eyes are sparkling every time he finds you in the crowd) although he can’t be one hundred percent sure, the benefit of the doubt that makes him keep question every move and look he throws your way his confusing actions indicates that even Yoongi doesn’t know how he truly feels about you so Jungkook didn’t bring up the subject because he’s not sure how to approach this without making this more complicated.

He doesn’t want to give you hope when he can’t guarantee his intuition is right so he choose to silently observe and let things unfold naturally but it gets harder with time to ignore how you two are dancing around each other like idiots. Well, at least before now you straight out refuse to be in the same room as him.

At this point, he’s convinced that neither of you is going to make a move to let the other know about your romantic feelings, he wanted to respect the fact that you didn’t want him to know about your feelings towards your brother’s best friend but enough is enough and he’s tired of seeing you avoid the matter for another year like this.

His plan so far doesn’t seem to work, he convinced Hoseok to sign you up for the camp against your will but things don’t go forward as you keep avoiding the problem so he needs to give both of you a little push from the sidelines to end this.

He doesn’t like the idea of you hurting if he’s being wrong about this but the rejection would be better than living in denial, not knowing if he reciprocates your feelings, he hates seeing you cry but he’ll be there to kick ass and support you. Jungkook makes up his mind and calls Hoseok’s name to grab his attention.

”What do you think about one of your friends dating Y/N?”

Hoseok’s brow raises in question and Yoongi’s body stiffens at the mention trying to seem unaffected but Jungkook detects the slight change in his demeanour. ”Why do you ask? You’re not in love with my sister, are you Jeon?” He can’t stop laughing as he hears Hoseok accusing him immediately, he gets comfortable in his seat before answering. Waiting a little before responding to get a dramatic effect, he spends too much time with you as he realises he picked up some of your theatrical approaches.

”God, no. She’s my best friend I know too much about her to think like that.” His laughing subdues into small chuckles, he saw you at your worst and best moments, seen you naked by accident. You’re beautiful and funny but he doesn’t see you as a woman. Yoongi’s eyebrow twitches at the mention of ’knowing too much’ but Jungkook’s next words are the final blow for him to grip the armrest.

”I heard Taehyung is gonna ask her out and I wanted to know what you think about it.” Hoseok schools his features quickly after that, he didn’t know Taehyung liked you like that but he has no right to control your life or tell you who you can consider as a potential love interest. You can like whoever you want, he tried to show you his support when you introduced some of your dates to him and he’s going to keep his promise even when it comes to his friends.

You were always close but after he began to tell you who you can or can’t see your relationship became distant until he realised his mistakes, you forgave him easily because you love your brother a lot and he loves you just as much so after a heartfelt conversation between the two of you he promised not to do that to you ever again.

You’re aware he did this to protect you because you’re his precious little sister and big brothers could get unreasonably overprotective so after you almost drifted apart and even though you two talked it out. The fact that because of a boy you argued with Hoseok you decided you’ll never act on your feelings for Yoongi for the sake of your relationship. Jungkook doesn’t know that’s the main reason you keep avoiding Yoongi but he couldn’t have known because you two never touched upon the subject.

”It’s her decision.” Hoseok shrugs finally and Jungkook nods with a smile eyeing Yoongi who seem to absorb the answer he didn’t think he would get.

You’re aware of your feelings so it’s time for Yoongi to reflect on his thoughts and figure out what he wants.

Jungkook thinks that his plan might just work if he keeps up the good work. You can thank him later.

Taehyung is an unsuspecting victim caught up in Jungkook’s spider web to get you guys together. He likes every kind of art-related stuff and Jungkook showed him some of the origamis you folded for him as he has a few of the smaller ones stuffed inside his wallet under your graduation photo and of course when Taehyung asked you to teach him you agreed with the biggest smile on your face.

You took it as a great opportunity to get to know him better because you’re the least close to him in the group, not because you don’t think he’s a nice guy but before this there were not many occasions to bond with him.

He has the talent for it you realise this soon and you two spend hours inside the art room together folding new pieces after you’re free, he even suggests as a beginner what’s easier to make so the kids can be encouraged rather than making them do hard ones and be disappointed by the end result.

He visits you often and brings you tea to chat about art at first but gradually you get to know more about each other’s personal lives all the while you make origamis together. You skip lunch sometimes when you get too caught up experimenting with new shapes and Jungkook notices the displeased expression on Yoongi’s face every time someone asks about you and Taehyung’s whereabouts just to hear you two are yet again holed up inside the art room laughing and chatting.

He got even grumpier than normal and lashes out without any reason, the others dismiss his behaviour as he probably had a bad day but his best friend knows something is up with him, it’s not like he lashes out on the children because he smiles at them like he used to but his quick mood changes are getting on everyone’s nerves lately. Hoseok knows that something bothers him but every time he asks about it he says it’s nothing.

Jungkook sits beside Hoseok as he goes on and on about he has no idea what’s gotten into Yoongi lately and he’s close to rolling his eyes at him, no wonder you two are siblings he thinks. Both of you are idiots.

Yoongi didn’t show up for breakfast and you’re nowhere to find as well, he knows you’re not with Taehyung because he sits at the table behind him with Jimin and Seokjin telling each other funny stories about the kids. He shows some of the origami pieces he folded and Jimin compliments him while Seokjin tries to stuck one inside his pocket so a friendly banter breaks out at their table.

”.. and he doesn’t even tell me what’s the problem. Hey, Jungkook are you listening to me at all?” Hoseok waves his hand in front of Jungkook’s face who munches on the garnish almost finished with eating while your brother’s plate is full of food because as soon as Jungkook joined him at the table, since he couldn’t find you in the crowd, started complaining about how difficult Yoongi is being as of late and it’s too early to deal with this bullshit.

”Yoongi is upset because Y/N hangs out with Taehyung too much. If you look at the signs you would have seen that he obviously likes your sister but because of that stupid rule you made neither of them is acting upon their feelings for each other.” The outburst momentarily shuts up Hoseok, his mouth hangs open like a fish out of water blinking rapidly and it’s noticeable how the wheels are turning inside his head as he processes the information.

”Yoongi likes my sister?!” The three surrounding tables turn after hearing Hoseok’s signature banshee yell and Jungkook audibly sighs at the shocked expression he’s sporting like he suddenly grew four heads and three legs. He just might because the food is weird sometimes.

You tell Areum you have to pick something up from the art room and you’ll join her a bit later to eat breakfast hiding your hands in your hoodie’s pocket as mornings tend to be on the colder side, she gives you a thumbs up as she walks towards the dining room and you wait until she gets out of sight to turn on your heel.

You visit the art room first but what you’re searching for is not there and you head back to your cabin to see if you brought it back by accident without you realising it.

You made that origami star Taehyung whined to you about. He wanted to make one but it just can’t seem to look like it should be as he showed you his attempts. It took you a few tries to succeed as well since folding the edges were quite tricky to figure out.

On your way to the dining room, you bump into someone and the star you made end up on the ground slipping out of your grip. Raising your head instantly to apologise to the person, you were not ready to face Min Yoongi out of all people, he picks up the origami and hands it back dusting it off before giving it to you.

”Thanks.”

”Uh, everything’s alright? You seem to be in a bad mood.” You’re hesitant to address the elephant in the room, you didn’t really witness his mood swings as others because you spent most of your time in the art room but seeing him now with dark circles under his eyes a grim expression on his handsome face, it speaks volumes of how true it is, and you would hate to get on his bad side because you ask a question everyone probably asked before you.

”I’m fine.” Yoongi tilts his head towards the sky and sighs, you wait for him to say something else but that’s all he does before he walks past you.

You grimace at the lack of response, sure, things were awkward nowadays but he never straight out ignored you like that, he didn’t even look at you while he answered and left just like that.

When you join Jungkook and your brother for breakfast they have a weird aura around them and you’re itching to interrupt their silent talk as they eye each other like you’re not sitting right next to both of them.

What is wrong with anyone today, huh?

”Okay we need to do something, things can’t continue like this.” Jungkook places his hands on each side of his hips as he captures everyone's attention when he climbs on top of one of the tables like he’s about to give a grand speech about something world-rocking kind of important matters.

”I agree. I can’t even say something to Yoongi that doesn’t end with him taking my head off.” Jimin and Taehyung agree immediately since they had to deal with his temper for the most part.

”And what do you suggest we do?” Hoseok puts his weight onto the broom as he speaks, after Jungkook told him that his best friend is in love with his sister everything made sense in a way.

Why he asked about you a lot like how’s school or how’ life going for you, made sure to get something for your birthday every year, he thought that he’s nice to you because you’re his little sister, after all, he told him to treat you right. He couldn’t be more wrong about it, however. They are supposed to be best friends and Hoseok didn’t even know he liked you like that.

”I think you should talk to her Hobi. She doesn’t act on her feelings because she thinks you wouldn’t like them together, maybe if you tell her it’s ok to date each other they will end our suffering. I don’t think I can manage this moody Yoongi for another day he looked like he’s about to murder me in my sleep.” Because of Jungkook’s scheme, Yoongi went extra hard on Taehyung and the poor soul didn’t have a clue why he’s suddenly replaced as Yoongi’s personal punching bag.

Hoseok makes sure to visit your cabin after they are done cleaning and it would be an understatement to say he feels a little nervous. It’s weird that he’s here to tell you to go after his best friend as it is.  

He already had a talk with Yoong in their cabin before he came here and his friend seemed terrified when Hoseok told him he knows that he’s in love with his sister.

All the colour drained from his face and he actually took pity on him that it feels him with so much dread that his best friend knows he likes a girl, even if it’s his sister he’s happy that he found someone he likes.

Hoseok tells him that nothing is going on between you and Taehyung so he should stop torturing him, Jungkook just tried to make him jealous by saying that, it felt nice for both of them to talk openly about everything.

Yoongi told him about the party when he almost kissed her or when they would stay up all night talking to each other about everything and nothing, he shares his genuine feelings and admits that for a while he didn’t know what he felt for her but he wants to be with her.

You had similar reactions like his friend, at first you tried to deny the fact but later when Hoseok reveals everything and speak about Jungkook’s plan, you gave up to lie and instead tell him you liked him for three years and you tried to move on but you couldn’t that’s why none of your previous relationships seemed to work out.

Your brother feels stupid for not seeing the signs, maybe Jungkook was right and he’s really an idiot.

It’s awkward knowing that he feels the same way about you you’re not gonna lie, it feels like a dream but at the same time, you’re afraid one day you’ll wake up and realise all of this was just a fragment of your imagination.

Hoseok’s support was a pleasant surprise and even though you want to strangle your best friend with your bare hands for meddling with your business and literally shouting out to the world you love Min Yoongi to the moon and back moments ago to have everyone witness your face flame up you decide against all expectations and you give him a bone-crushing hug because without him all of this wouldn’t have happened. All that matters is that he likes you back.

”How did you know?” You curiously ask and Jungkook feigns he’s thinking about the answer whilst pinching your cheek, that smirk he wears when he’s about to say something stupid makes you reconsider. You shouldn’t have asked.

”I mean I discovered it recently so you were quite good at hiding it because normally I always sniff out your secrets right off the bat but as soon as I focused on your reactions it was easy to tell.” He points at Yoongi standing a few feet away next to Hoseok and he suddenly burst out laughing.

”I saw you running into a fucking tree when you saw Yoongi wet because Hoseok threw him into the lake.” You clasp your hand over his runny mouth before he can embarrass you further, you were not ready to see Yoongi blush so cutely at the comment while Hoseok doubled over because he laughed so hard seeing your face after Jungkook said that.

You denied it in a high pitched squeal. ”That fucking tree wasn’t there that’s why!” Everyone seemed to find your excuse hilarious as they laughed continuously at your attempts of saving your last piece of dignity but even Yoongi chuckled couldn’t contain his biggest smile to take over his features as he thinks you look so cute when you’re embarrassed, and you like him back.

”Can we see a kiss at least if we had to put up with grumpy Yoongi for an entire week, I really started to fear for my life, you know?” Jimin chimed in, it was endearing to see Yoongi turn bashful in front of you.

”Now that it was brought up Jeon Jungkook I can’t believe you used me like that! I had no idea why you suggested that I try to learn making origamis from Y/N. Our friendship is over!” Taehyung points at your best friend accusingly and he only scratches the back of his neck.

”I did it for a good cause…wait Tae where are you going? Look I’m sorry…” Jungkook chases after the former boy trying to hug him from behind but Taehyung doesn’t reciprocate it and your friend starts whining at that telling him that he’s so sorry while Jimin and the others unoccupied at the moment resumes their staring at the both of you to move and kiss finally.

Even Namjoon and Seokjin who were silent until now joins in and chants alongside the others to ”kiss kiss kiss kissss”

You let out a shy chuckle taking the first steps in his direction and his eyes go wide in surprise when your shoe touch. Kissing his cheek instead you tiptoe to reach his height so you can easily circle your hands around his neck and pull him down to hug you, it reminds you of the hug you shared with him before the whole trip to the summer camp started but this time it felt different.

His embrace was warm and inviting as he held you by your waist his chest vibrated against you as he laughed when your friends demanded a real kiss.

Yoongi found himself sitting beside you inside the art room as you explained how the kids can make bunny-shaped origami out of the grey coloured papers in front of them and his hand immediately found yours under the table to intertwine your fingers together once you sat down next to him.

You try to suppress a smile as you watch over the kids ensuring that they don’t cut themselves with the scissors but your body betrays you as you subconsciously lean into his frame he smells like vanilla extract and chocolate. He showed the kids how to make muffins in today’s lesson, it turned out good because Yoongi measured the ingredients while the kids only mixed and did simple tasks such as portioning out the dough or decorating the top of the treats.

Someone had two or three muffins left on their table as they worked, focused on their folding technique occasionally they stole bites making you and Yoongi giggling under your noses when you would catch chipmunk cheeks.

Yoongi helped you clean up after the lesson throwing out leftover papers and sweeping the floor before you joined the others for lunch.

Things changed in the group’s dynamics after you started dating Yoongi but overall they were happy to see both of you happy.

Even though Jungkook likes to make jokes about how you two are basically joined at the hip for days and soon after starts to complain about how you spend less time with him now that you have a boyfriend, he’s clearly happy for you. It’s a new situation for everyone and Hoseok has a hard time picturing you with his best friend but seeing you so happy with him he supports your relationship wholeheartedly.

After you’re done with the activities for the day you and Yoongi retreat into his cabin as everyone else stays at the campfire. They see the two of you slip away hand in hand, howbeit no one dares to comment on it but you see Jungkook having an inner battle to stop himself from yelling out ’use protection’ luckily Taehyung stuffs his mouth with a handful of chio chips before that could happen.

Your boyfriend pulls you closer by tugging on your intertwined hands caging you between his arms and the door, kissing the corner of your mouth he moves downwards to kiss over your jawline and neck, smiles into the juncture of your neck when you chase after his lips as he pecks your cupid’s bow next, impatient to feel his lips against yours you pull at a fistful of his hair guiding his mouth to capture his lip between your teeth. Yoongi grunts into the kiss tasting your sweet mouth never cease his hunger for you, only leaves him wanting more and more.

”I can’t believe you’re mine.” He seals his words over your feverish skin with in between kisses, marking up your neck, nibbling and kissing every inch until your breath becomes laboured under his sweet attacks.

You weave your fingers into his hair whilst a soft mewl leaves your parted lips as his knee parts your legs to brush against your centre.

He presses his thighs further into your throbbing pussy swallowing the noises you make getting lost in your body heat. He wants to take his time with you licking every corner and dip until you shake and pant his name.

”Wait. What about my brother?” You jump a little when you feel his hand on your ribs travelling up until he cups your breast over the shirt you’re wearing. Kneading your flesh over the fabric your body relaxes into his touch it’s enough to leave you breathless seeing his expression so earnest to please you, pupils dilated as he looks at you under his hooded lids it’s hard to control his urges when you look good enough to eat.

”He stays over at Namjoon’s don’t worry about him.” Yoongi catches your earlobe with his mouth biting down on your shell playfully, the sensation makes you heave a gasp, the words barely registering in your brain.

”Off. I want this off.” Feeling especially bold today you sneak your hands under his shirt caressing his sides with your fingertips, pecking his collarbone that peaks through the collar of his clothing. A whine resonates within your throat when your boyfriend steps back to pull his shirt over his head revealing his stomach and shoulders for your hungry eyes to feast upon disliking the cold air that fills the space once his body is not there to keep you warm, you pull him close diving in to connect your lips in a heated kiss tongue licking into his mouth.

His hands wander under your clothes this time mapping out your smooth skin following the lines of your sides to find the opening on your bra, once he gets the clasp open he traces your spine with his index finger grabbing your ass with both hands as his wandering hands reach south. Your moan gets lost inside his busy mouth that explores your hot cavern at the same time his hands cup you over the fabric of your leggings. It doesn’t give your throbbing pussy justice when he decides to rub your clit and drag his fingers over the dampening material.

”Let’s move things to the bedroom shall we?” The innocent peck he places onto your cheek makes your heart flutter, excitement and love mix inside your veins sweetening your blood as your pulse quickens under his adoring gaze. You nod kissing him again before you let him guide you to his door, not separating from your sensually moving lips as he blindly closes it behind your entangled forms.

He removes your pants and shirt in one go, letting the garments form a pile on the floor promising your sweet release with each removed clothing until the only remaining barrier that keeps your naked glory from his piercing gaze is slipped down your shaved legs, he feels how soaked the material of your cotton underwear had become after so little foreplay and he finds himself insanely turned on by the discovery.

Yoongi eagerly encloses his mouth over your erect bud eliciting airy moans when he alternates between sucks and licks on your sensitive mound paying equal attention to both sides as he massages the neglected one with firm hands whilst he blows air to the saliva coated nipples and watch your expression morph into torturous pleasure but he’s not satisfied with your shy suppressed noises.

Your slick oozes out of your empty opening running down your thighs and stain the bedsheet your clit aches to be touched and your hole clenches around nothing as your lover keeps his head between your boobs kissing and licking your skin there until your nipples get too sensitive to his touch, red and swollen when he rolls it between his fingers. His leg parts your thighs keeping them wide open so you can’t get any stimulation until he decides to move lower.

Seeing how you shake under his body parted lips keep asking him to give you more, he doesn’t have the heart to deny you any longer as he starts to rub your thighs keeping your legs open for him to bury his face between your beautiful cunt swollen and needy for his touch he lets his tongue dip between your folds tasting you first before gently sucking on your clit.

He hears you call his name perfectly in tune with his tongue’s strokes as he intends to eat you up. Your essence covers his chin as he licks your hole clean lapping up everything your precious body can produce for him dipping inside the tip of his tongue your muscles tense up ready to get filled with something bigger and Yoongi’s cock twitches inside the confine of his underwear.

He doesn’t need to remove his undergarments to know his tip is red and slick with his precum desperate to fill your empty hole up but before that, he coats two of his fingers in your wetness and pushes them inside parting your walls gently to ease you into the feeling preparing you to take his cock.

Your hips buck into his hand as he curls his long fingers inside your velvety walls feeling your muscles constrict around his digits he moans with his head thrown back as he imagines his dick getting the same treatment later, your musky scent and visual laying beneath him taking what he gives you drives him crazy with need.

Perking up at the sound you open your eyes blinking to get the blurriness fade dreamy half-lidded eyes watch as his fingers fill you up and you almost close them again because of the pure ecstasy his expert hands give to your overwhelmed body.

You see the painful tent that formed inside his briefs before the numbing pleasure could consume you yet again and there’s a wet spot in the middle that lets you know he gets off on seeing you enjoy yourself. His hips unknowingly to him ruts against the sheets to get some kind of friction realising that he focused solely on your pleasure and put it aside to chase his, he’s so different from the partners you previously slept with and the sudden urge to please him overtakes your selfish side to just receive and receive.

You palm him over the wet spot following the outline of his hard dick to give him some well-deserved relief and he immediately grinds into your palm letting out breathy groans and low moans, you don’t mind at all when he gets lost in your touch instead and momentarily forgets about his goal to get you prepped nicely for his cock. The fingers he has inside you stills and your head clear out a little, you’re able to focus on his face learning what he likes as you study his reactions to your movements, you know his moans will probably become your favourite sounds.

You take advantage of his current state to switch positions, letting his fingers slip out of you as you get rid of his underwear grabbing his thighs to lower yourself while he sits down at the edge of the bed.

Taking his tip into your mouth to taste his precum you feel Yoongi’s nails digging into your scalp as you swallow around him trying to get him into your mouth as much as your poor jaw can handle. Holding the base of his cock to guide him back into your wet cavern you set a slow pace, stroking what you can’t fit.

”You look so good sucking my dick baby.” You learned that he tends to be on the quiet side even in the bedroom, his reactions however are good indicators of how you’re able to affect him with every swirl of your tongue. Letting him use the hand tangled in your hair to set the rhythm of your movements your vision blurs as tears swell in your eyes due to the quickened pace and force he starts to fuck your mouth but he pulls out before he could get too close to cumming.

”I need to have you know. Lie down on the bed with your legs spread wide for me.” You follow his instructions showing him your drenched swollen pussy as he climbs on the bed after you, admiring the way he ruined your cunt before he reaches for a condom retrieving the item from inside his drawer.

He touches himself in front of you watching you squirm under his gaze as you wait for him to roll the condom down his length, your body aches to finally be filled with something bigger.

”Yoongi. Fill me up.” You part your pussy lips for him revealing your hole clenching around nothing, beckoning him to fill you up Yoongi looks at the sinful image in front of him saving this memory of you for later when he’s alone with his hands but today he plans to have your cunt wrapped around his cock rather than his fingers.

Your drenched walls suck him in as he enters you, hips lowering in slow motion to bury his entire length inside, nice and steady, gripping his shoulders for support you moan into the sloppy kiss feeling so full.

You hear his guttural moan loud and clear just as his breath hits the shell of your ear and your walls squeeze around him, wet squelching sounds ring beside your mixed love language thriving off the sounds he grunts directly into your ear encouraging you to meet his movements in the middle.

It feels like you stand in front of the gates of heaven when Yoongi increases his pace thrusting in and out, not being able to stop as he feels his balls tighten with the need to cum he parts your legs even more as he watches his dick emerge from the pussy he owns now coated in your juices taking his hard length and moan out every time his tip curves to touch your sweet spot with each delivered stroke.

You cum first around his dick, he helps you ride out your pleasure only pulling out when you whine from oversensitivity and he rolls the condom off to finish as well, watching your spent pussy glistening with your cum he uses the sight in front of him to get off, he collects your slick to lubricate his shaft as he starts to jerk himself off faster.

Once your breathing evens out and you see the concentration on Yoongi’s face while he lucidly moves his hands up and down his throbbing cock with the desperate need to cum you touch his hips drawing soothing circles onto his sweaty skin taking him back into your mouth to help him reach his high.

He comes in your mouth with a soft cry throwing his head back as you keep sucking him licking his sensitive tip until he pulls your head off with a shaky hand stroking your cheeks with his thumb.

”So friends and family, let me introduce you to my boyfriend Yoongi. You might have already met him before.” You joke in front of your relatives of all ages and you see in the corner of your eyes how Hoseok rolls his eyes.

© helenazbmrskai lll Please do not copy, reblog and like instead!

[ikaroux]

Zhongli: The Dragon Dance. (Part 1) (EN)

Version française

f!reader

Aaaah Zhongli, my sweet Zhongli, writing about followers is really painful in itself given their longevity... I didn't come here to suffer, okay! *crying in a corner*

Les Ost pour ce chapitre :

Broken Hero Onmyoji

Rabia Honkai impact

Masterlist

The port city of Liyue was abuzz with excitement as the New Year's Eve celebration took place. The streets were brightened by the laughter and chatter of passers-by and lit by paper lanterns decorated with cut-out designs of dragons, maple leaves, herons and more. Various flowers from the region decorated every part of the city, right down to the ponds with golden carp. You could see dancers strutting a flexible dragon figure in the image of the Geo Archon in the streets. Street vendors shouted at the top of their voices, selling the merits of their goods or the deliciousness of their food. Everything seemed beautiful and magical.

You had come from Mondstadt to spend the end-of-year celebrations here, with some friends who lived in the city. They had suggested that you go and see the fireworks which would take place later in the evening, but your curiosity led you to walk through the streets of Liyue alone before joining your friends.

This year the festival organisers asked the inhabitants of Liyue and their guests to wear a mask which was offered to them by the city. You knew that the festival was to end with a kind of masked ball that would take place all over the city, with musicians placed here and there, sometimes in the corridors overhanging the streets or in the harbour by the sea.

The organisers of the ball wanted everyone to be able to enjoy a moment of joy and happiness without fear, without fear of the gaze of others.

You would walk along the wooden quays, your fox mask partially covering your face. You gazed at the reflection of the city lights on the surface of the water, a smile on your face. The street was crowded but you loved it, the atmosphere was so similar to your beloved city.

As you turned your gaze to observe the quay parallel to yours, you noticed the refined figure of a tall man. His posture was refined and elegant, he stood upright with his arms crossed behind his back and his eyes fixed on the horizon. He wore a long coat that matched his build perfectly, his hair, tied back in a simple tail, swayed in the sea breeze. He wore a golden mask with the image of a dragon.

The man seemed to notice your gaze lingering on him, turning his face towards you. The masks only hid the upper part of the faces, so you could see the soft smile on his lips. Embarrassed, you ran away, slipping through the crowd of people enjoying the shops on the harbour.

As you reached the centre of the city, the sweet sounds of the typical instruments of the region echoed through the streets. You could recognise the erhu among all the instruments that were playing.

Men, women and children began to dance happily, some laughing, others giving each other longing looks.

Seduced by the warm and loving atmosphere, your lips stretched into a wide smile before quickly disappearing as a large gloved hand reached for yours. You quickly turned to see who had surprised you, thinking at first that it was one of your friends who had found you. You opened your eyes wide when you recognised the man in the dragon mask. He pulled you to him, placing his free hand on your hip, he began to dance with you, guiding you perfectly to the rhythm of the music. You were mesmerised by his amber eyes watching you intently under his mask, the soft smile on his face making your cheeks warm.

You gradually began to relax in his arms, laughing out loud as he twirled you around before pulling you back against him, a husky laugh gently rising from his throat at your adorable reactions. After several minutes of energetic dancing, he moved his hand up your back, pulling you closer to him in a slower, more sensual dance. He gently placed his cheek on the top of your head as your face rested on his chest, breathing in the lily scent that wafted from him. As you swayed gently on your feet, he picked up a silk flower that decorated one of the columns that littered the street, supporting the upper floors of the houses. He placed the little pink button in your hair (colour), admiring how well it suited you.

Your dance was suddenly interrupted when the dull sound of fireworks was added to the melody of the musical instruments, your attention instantly turned to the play of light in the sky. Your pupils shone with a new brilliance at the sight.

Dazzled by the beauty of the fireworks, you glanced at your mysterious escort, hoping that he was enjoying the show as much as you were.

Your cheeks turned a deep red as you noticed his eyes were fixed on you, your hands still linked together. He moved his face closer to you, pushing a few strands of hair out of the way.

"Thank you for the evening. "he whispered in your ear.

Without giving you time to answer, he brought the back of your hand to his lips and placed a tender kiss on it. He reluctantly let go of you before stepping back, giving you one last look before disappearing into the crowd.

"No, wait... don't go... your name... give me your name!"

But now he was out of your sight, regret tainting your heart. Why didn't you ask him before?

"(Y/N)! "

Hu Tao's voice called to you in the distance, bringing you out of your thoughts. She was accompanied by Xiangling, Chongyun and Xingqiu who waved their hands at you, their faces lit up with big smiles. Taking one last look at the place where your mysterious date had disappeared, you finally joined your friends, ending the evening with them.

Zhongli was sitting on the terrace of his flat, a steaming cup of tea in his hands. His gaze was lost in contemplation of the liquid in its container.

He was still wondering why he had left without asking your name. Even after living for thousands of years, he still felt a little foolish.

Perhaps he should have invited you to share a cup of tea with him? Perhaps he should have taken off his mask and introduced himself to you properly?

Zhongli had rarely had regrets in his long life and today was one of those rare moments. A sigh escaped his lips, from the moment he had met your gaze on the docks, you had intrigued him. He had immediately noticed from your manner that you were not from Liyue. From Mondstadt perhaps? That's what your clothes suggested.

For some reason, you dodged his gaze when he turned his attention to you, running away from the platform that separated you from him.

Curiously, Zhongli couldn't help but follow you, speeding up to avoid losing sight of you. Eventually he caught up with you, admiring your wondering eyes for a few seconds. He would have liked to take off that fox mask to better admire you, why? He didn't know. What he did know was that at that moment he wanted to share an intimate moment with you, wanting to create a peaceful and sweet memory with a stranger whose smile was brighter than the most precious of diamonds.

Zhongli had felt an intense happiness arise in him as you relaxed in his arms. He savoured the breath you projected on him as your head rested on his chest, your warmth comforted him, your laughter fascinated him, your eyes (colour) captivated him. Why was he gone? Why had he left? He might never have the opportunity to see you again. Zhongli knew, after accumulating 6,000 years of knowledge and wisdom, that feeling desire or attraction for a mortal could become something painful for both you and him. Zhongli might not be the Geo Archon anymore, but he was still a follower with a long life expectancy...

Yes, he knew... but knowing didn't stop you from hoping.

You had a hard time to wake up, the evening of the new year having been rather animated. After the fireworks, you all went to Xiangling's house to have a last drink, without alcohol for some of you, Hu Tao, Xingqiu and Xiangling taking care of the atmosphere of your little party. You were able to talk with Chongyun about your evening, the magic that the stranger in the dragon mask had worked on you still haunting you. Chongyun had listened patiently before suggesting that you might try to look for him in town tomorrow, and even though the mask had prevented you from seeing him, his presence remained intact in your mind.

So you slept at Xiangling's house. When you woke up, she was preparing breakfast with a big smile on her face. Xiangling had prepared a home-made hangover remedy for you with your meal made of blue lily of the valley flower, sweet flower and apple juice extract.

"Thank you Xiang, it's delicious."

"You're welcome (Y/n). And you have to be in shape for today!"

"Fit? Why?"

"Didn't Hu Tao tell you? We're going to show you around the city today. And then..." -She walked over to you, her hand covering the side of her mouth as if to tell you a secret. You moved closer to her.- "We need to find your handsome stranger in the dragon mask!."

You choked on your food.

"H-How did you...I didn't...!"

"Chongyun told me about it last night before he left! He didn't like seeing you so sad so he thought we could look together today."

You sighed, desperate. You couldn't blame Chongyun, after all you hadn't told him to keep it to himself and besides this boy was far too adorable to be sulking.

After you finished eating you went to take a shower before changing your clothes, combing your hair and finally applying some light makeup to your face. Hu Tao met you downstairs at Xiangling's flat, finishing his discussion with an elderly lady who greeted you with a brief nod before leaving.

"Good! (Y/n) it's time we took care of your case."

"My case huh..."

Hu tao grabbed your arm, leading you into the sparsely populated streets of Liyue. She showed you some shops while you described your dance partner's appearance to her.

"A tall, elegant and polite man with a long coat you say? Eeeeh... Reminds me of someone."

Hu Tao paused for a moment to think before being interrupted by the deep voice of a man calling out to him.

"Hu Tao there you are, I have a small... favor..."

His amber eyes met your eyes (colour), a long silence settled between the four of you, Hu tao and Xiangling swinging their eyes towards you and then the newcomer. The man did not take his eyes off you, his mouth slightly open. It was him, you were sure, it was him!

Zhongli looked at you without saying anything, too amazed to find you so easily when he had just come to Hu Tao to ask for his help. He had recognised your eyes from the moment he saw them.

He cautiously approached you, forgetting everything around him. He took your hand in his, a gentle smile appearing on the delicate features of his face. You were even more beautiful than he had imagined. He could feel your fingers trembling with emotion in his hand, tightening it to soothe you.

"Ah- I, you..."

Zhongli paid no attention to Hu Tao and Xiangling's curious looks. He was focused on you, only on you. Drawing you to him, his hand again on your lower back, he began a few dance steps to assure you that it was really him. Your tears rolled down your cheeks as a smile lit up your face. Several minutes passed before he stopped twirling you around to the beat of his heart.

"What is your name?"

"(Y/n)"

"(Y/n), what a beautiful name." -He brought your hand still buried comfortably in his to his lips, placing the most delicate of kisses.- "Zhongli. May I invite you to drink tea with me?"

"With pleasure."

Zhongli knew that forging bonds with a mortal could be painful.

He knew but... he would take that risk.

[stayevildarling]

Wilhemina Venable x Reader- When the time is right - Pt 1

Part 2, Part 3

word count: 3.8k

warnings: mention of scoliosis, angst + fluff at the end

A/N: This story is kind of an AU. Reader meets Venable when Wilhemina is light Mina (orange hair, adorable, cute, friendly) and they get together. One day Wilhemina breaks it off suddenly and they only reunite years later but Reader is met with a much darker version (dark Mina).

Also, this used to be on my Wattpad but I decided to completely rewrite it and add multiple parts

Taglist:

@lunaticwhittaker, @rainbow-hedgehog, @mrsdeanhoward, @alexajbitar, @in-cordelias-coven, @kenzbro, @loverofallthingssarah, @twistedpoeticjustice, @billiebeanhoward, @minaslittleone, @lilypadscoven, @vintagepaulson, @ninaahs, @whitelotus00, @httpfiftyshadesofgay

-Flashback-

''Are you serious right now after all we have been through?'' you try hard not to scream but it feels like your body is on fire, your lungs are burning, heart racing and your eyes watering. You cannot believe you are having this conversation with your girlfriend Wilhemina right now. After a whole year of knowing each other and eventually giving the relationship a go she is talking about moving on.

'It's for the best'' is all she said in return and then she walked out, cane in her hand hitting the floor hard and not once did she look back, she ignored your cries, you begging her to stay and please turn back around. You keep repeating this is a nightmare and you are gonna wake up any minute to her holding you in her arms. But it was no nightmare and she did walk out of your shared apartment and ever since that day you have tried to move on. But no matter what you did working, moving out of the apartment, meeting friends, getting to know new people it didn't work, Wilhemina was always on your mind, when you are asleep she would visit in your dreams, when you are driving or outside and a song plays, she is there in your memory as if she never left in the first place.

-End of Flashback-

Even right now as you are walking through the streets on your lunch break, coffee in your hand and earphones in your ears listening to music she is here again.

''I never needed you like I do right now....I never hated you like I do right now'' as you hear those lyrics your heart skips a beat and it feels like it is breaking all over again. You tried everything you could think of, start a new job in a new field, you moved to a new city but nothing seems to be able to take your mind off the redhead, clouding your mind, her touch still so present lingering on your skin, her voice still ringing through your ears and the smell of lavender following you wherever you go.

Currently, you are working for a company in California, in the social media department and to promote the brand and their work. It's mostly boring but you do enjoy social media and advertisement so you gladly took the job considering it comes with a higher paycheck and a brand new apartment. There was nothing left in your old city, no friends anymore because you drove them all away as they always talked badly about your ex-girlfriend and the feelings you still have for her. No family because you were kind of always on your own and after quitting your job there, there was nothing holding you back. The woman with red-orange hair and a purple obsession is currently on your mind again and no matter what you do she is stuck in your head, like a catchy record and it hurts. As you think about her a wave of flashbacks hit you, with no way of putting a stop to it and keeping the storm at bay.

''Wilhemina Venable, nice to meet you'' was the first few words that you ever heard her say and for a moment you were so struck that you couldn't even say anything. ''Cat got your tongue hmm?'' was what she said afterward and what got you to snap out of it, introduce yourself, and shake her hand. And when you touched her for the first time you knew you would never ever get tired of feeling her soft hands.

You would also never grow tired of looking into her beautiful brown eyes or the soft smile she would give you whenever she would see you. Back then you just finished college and you took your first job and she was your co-worker. Starting a relationship with a co-worker is sometimes frowned upon and there probably are good reasons for that but you didn't listen, not to your friends telling you not to do it and not to the other co-workers after they noticed the glances you and Wilhemina exchanged at work. But you both never let that stop you and you fell for her and you fell hard.

Although you had some crushes before, mostly on teachers in college or celebrities, you never had been in a relationship before. Every morning before work you would get up so early and make sure to put your best clothes on, you would improve your makeup skills and try different hairstyles to impress Wilhemina and you did. She would notice how often you would come around to her desk and ask her silly questions you both knew the answers to but you pretend you didn't. And eventually, she took all of her confidence and asked you out and that night was the most magical night of your life.

You went to an expensive restaurant and after she took you home and she gave you something that night that was precious and you held onto it till today. Patience. She was your first love and she made sure to not rush, to not hurt you, to be there for you and hold you whenever you needed her. After your first date, you went on some more magical nights together, before you were ready to allow her to love you and to love her in return and she made you feel things you never felt before. She would make your whole body feel beautiful and worthy, all your insecurities left whenever you were around the woman who had many insecurities herself due to her back. And that's probably what you admire most about her, the way she made you feel whenever you were with her.

Thinking about all this, you think back to the many dates you both went on, to restaurants, shopping, the movies, car dates, attending work parties together, going to get drunk together. Life felt so easy with Wilhemina around, although she was a few years older than you she was pure, she was funny, soft, kind, precious and she was innocent. She would always treat people with respect and offer help and you loved her beautiful and kind personality. You never thought that one night after being with each other for almost a year she would randomly walk out of your life and not once turn back around or try and talk about it.

Hearing the lyrics repeat, you sigh and shake your head because it is true, one part of you needed Wilhemina back in your life because no matter what you do you can not get her out of your head or heart for that matter. Part of you does hate her for leaving and walking out, you never cried harder in your life than the night she left and you couldn't function for days. All you did was cry, toss and turn in the bed or curl up on the floor in a little ball until you couldn't cry anymore but the pain never stopped. It took days and in the end, your friends who picked you up again, taught you how to take care of yourself again by eating, showering, getting dressed, and going to work and you hoped that moving and changing jobs would change something.

As you are sitting in a park, only a few blocks away from your new workplace, watching people having picnics, playing with their kids, walking their dogs, or doing exercise you realize that all this wasn't worth it. Moving away, leaving your job, apartment and friends did nothing, you still miss her and she still haunts you. You miss her gentle side, the soft Mina as you used to call her, who would hold you in her arms, who would say soothing words until you would fall asleep, and who would make you feel better after a hard day at work, hold you after a nightmare or would let you ramble about another one of the co-workers annoying you. You miss telling her about your days and how you feel because you could be free with her and be who you are and you haven't been that way in a very long time.

Checking your phone you notice your lunch break is over in five minutes so you toss your empty coffee cup in a nearby trash can and walk back to your office. Today has been particularly boring because all you have to do is answer people's dm's and requests on social media because currently there is no campaign going on. As you walk back to your desk you put your coat and bag away and start logging onto your laptop. That's when you hear your boss on his way to your desk and you can't help but internally roll your eyes. He isn't a bad guy or anything, he is in his fifties, grey hair, always wearing a suit and he treats you with respect and you appreciate him but whenever he would approach you it means a problem, like an advertisement going wrong or a complaint or a new major client and that means longer hours and staying in the office till midnight. Not that you mind considering there is nothing or no one to come back home to.

''Y/N'' he says as he finally reaches your desk. Looking up from your desk, you force a smile and reply ''Yes Mr. Odell what can I do for you?''. By his posture, you can tell he is in some kind of distress.

''Listen we have a potential new client and I want you to come to our first meeting with them'' he says excitedly and you question why he can't just bring his assistant. ''I can't bring Janet she is sick so I need you to get your things'' he explains and you log off your computer, take your coat and bag and follow him outside the building. It is quite chilly, so you are glad that you put a jacket over your blazer.

As the familiar buildings and streets fade into the distance, you try not to zone out like you usually would but these days your mind would often be preoccupied with daydreams or memories as if someone else was entirely in control of your thoughts.

''I have a meeting with a Mr. Pfister and Mr. Nutter'' he says absent-mindedly while looking into his calendar and talking about the company you are headed to. Snapping out of your thoughts, you nod and mumble ''Of course Mr. Odell'' before averting your gaze back to the window looking at the hectic city and people going on about their days. Your thoughts wander back to work and you try to think of a few possibilities to advertise their products, as that might not be as easy as you originally thought when agreeing on accompanying your boss.

The first thing you see as you walk into a large unfamiliar building, following your boss's steps,  is a front desk with some employees sitting there, it seems that this building is home to a few companies and different departments as they guide people into different parts of the building. You watch as your boss approaches the front desk,  ''Hello may I help you?'' a woman with blonde hair asks politely.

''Yes I have a meeting with Kineros Robotics'' he says and she looks at you, then him again, and points towards a sign. ''It's to your right just follow the signs'' she says and you notice how her facial expression changed from nice and friendly to cold and possibly scared? after your boss mentioned the company name. Reading people's expressions and understanding their underlying feelings, has always been something you are good at but you quickly shake the thought away and follow your boss.

As you walk down the corridor you see a young woman with long brown curled hair wearing a blouse with flower prints and a skirt run down the hall with a box in her hand, her heels echoing through the building. ''I'm sorry'' she mumbles hectic and nervous as she zooms past you and you give Mr. Odell a questioning expression before reaching the department.

''I'm so sorry there was a bad accident on the 101'' you hear the woman say and then you hear a sound that sounds both so familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. The cane tapping. For a moment you freeze, knowing this isn't just any cane tap as you are so used to a certain redhead woman expressing her emotions partly through the very device that helps her keep her balance. Despite not having heard the sound in over a year, you know exactly who must be on the other end of the hallway.

Temporarily you freeze, thinking maybe her leaving you and breaking things off with you, has ultimately clouded your senses and affected your brain and maybe you are imagining everything. After all the rational part of yourself, is trying to remind you that there is no explanation right now as to why she would be here of all places.

However, the next thing you hear is a clear confirmation that your brain is not tricking you, it's not your mind so clouded by her absence, she is here, the only thing keeping you from seeing each other is a wall and a few steps apart. As you hear a familiar voice your heart stops beating and your throat goes dry.

''Not as bad as the accident that brought you into the world'' that is all you heard and although her voice sounds more cold, harsh and raspy you are fully aware that Wilhemina is sitting at the end of that corridor. For a moment your body goes into a state of shock, your ears ringing, vision blurring, and your heart beating out of your chest.

Shortly after the girl what you assume now to be an assistant comes running back towards the corridor with tears in her eyes and her heels making the same clicking sound. She zooms past you and Mr. Odell again and all he says is ''Damn she seems feisty'' and you know it's aimed at Wilhemina and for a moment you debate whether to just turn around and pretend to be sick or needing to answer a phone call but you know you can't back out now, after all, you have missed seeing her for too long now.

All you wanna do is see her adorable orange hair, that you used to run your fingers through and untangle some knots after she had a long day, the dorky glasses that you sometimes made fun of, and beautiful pastel purple probably everywhere if this truly was her workplace after all. ''Come on'' your boss says, pulling you out of your thoughts yet again and you walk into the large room.

Eyes instantly wander to the source of purple in the room and the source of darkness in your heart and emptiness ever since she left but not only does your heart stop for a moment as you take a look at her, you blink a few times, now actually sure whether this is real or some kind of nightmare.

Wilhemina's hair is a much darker shape of red now and styled into a tall sharp quiff, no sign of her usual high ponytails anymore or the lighter and orange shape it used to be. You notice she doesn't wear glasses anymore and you are convinced her eyes look an even darker shape than before too. She is wearing a dress and it's also a very dark shade of purple with matching earrings. Even her makeup is darker, and as you see her sitting by her desk you can't deny how intimidating she seems, looking at some files, her cane resting on the desk right beside her. Even the cane is different now, it has a snake shape at the top and it's not the old plain one she used to have.

For a moment you believe you just walked right into your own personal nightmare, the funny, sometimes sassy, and beautiful girl you used to love now seems like a completely different and somewhat evil person. The Wilhemina you once loved and still have feelings for, as they never truly changed, seems gone and it seems like she was replaced by a new one, a colder version.

She would have never spoken to anyone like that or treated someone the way she just treated that girl that seems to be her assistant, by the looks of it. All the staring and observing Wilhemina happened in a matter of seconds although it feels like an eternity, everything is silent for a moment, all that is to be heard is your own heartbeat and the typing on Wilhemina's keyboard.

You watch as your boss approaches her and you follow him and finally, Wilhemina looks up noticing the presence of someone else in the room and her gaze is focused on him, so she hasn't seen you yet. He tries to shake her hand and says ''My name is Mr. Odell I have an appointment with Mr. Nutter and Mr. Pfister'' and she just looks at him and his hand with a slightly disgusted expression but she doesn't bother shaking his hand.

''Very well'' she says and takes a glance at you for a split second, noticing a second person in the room and her eyes wander back to her laptop thinking you are just some assistant but when she realizes who you are she immediately looks back over to you and she doesn't avert her gaze at first.

Wilhemina takes in your features for a moment, the sense of fashion, dressing smartly and formally but at the same time stunning as she always said, your hair, the improved makeup skills, and still the same details she always loved about you. She doesn't look into your eyes yet and you are interrupted when two men walk over.

One of them has brown hair and the other blonde hair and you try hard not to chuckle when you see them because they look hideous. ''Mr. Odell, nice to meet you'' they say and shake hands. ''This is Y/L/N maybe someone could show her around while we finalize the details?'' your boss suggests, taking you by surprise, and one of the two turns to Wilhemina and says ''Miss Venable would you give this beautiful lady a tour please''.

For a split second, you are convinced, she is about to kill him but you aren't sure if it's about the tour or compliment. ''Of course'' she mumbles and your boss and the two men leave and you are left there with your ex-girlfriend and awkward silence filling the room. You haven't looked up or into her eyes yet and it terrifies you, she terrifies you.

Wilhemina has no idea what to do or how to react after not seeing you for two years and the last time she did she walked out of your life and your relationship. The redhead looks at you and without looking into your eyes yet she knows the pain, she can see it and she can tell this is killing you inside, the last thing she ever wanted was to cause you pain.

You take a deep breath with your eyes closed and turn to Wilhemina and your eyes instantly lock and you look into her dark brown eyes and not leave her gaze for one moment. She takes a few slow steps towards you, her cane hitting the floor, and with every tap and echo in the room, it feels like your heart is ripped into more pieces and your past is here confronting you right at this moment.

''Mina'' is everything you can say but it comes out as a whisper while your voice cracks. Your ex-girlfriend's eyes close right away because she has missed hearing you call her that for the past two years but as she opens her eyes she reminds herself internally, who she is and that she is currently at her workplace.

''Follow me'' she instructs and you follow her while she walks down a corridor and into a room with big machines. While you follow her you can't understand what would have happened to her to turn into this cold-hearted person. She used to be the sweetest and kindest person you knew but clearly, something has changed. You cannot take your eyes off her and as she walks you into the room with machines, she explains about the work they do here and how they do it and as much as you try to focus and look at the things she shows you, you can't and Wilhemina notices.

''Do I bore you?'' she suddenly snaps in that cold voice again, her nostrils flaring and your heart feels like a knife was just thrown right into it. ''I'm sorr- sorry I-'' but you can't even think of a good enough excuse so you just look at the floor and try hard to keep your emotions at bay.

''Anyways, these are the machines and devices we use, whenever someone places a custom order we make sure to fulfill that order as efficient and quick as possible'' Wilhemina explains her voice still stern, sounding like she has given this tour so many times, she has memorized every single word.

However, you do notice her looking at you the entire time she explains and it seems like she wants you to say something but there are too many things that you want and wanted to say to her for years but you never imagined one day you would run into her like this. For several minutes the two of you stand in the rooms with machines, Wilhemina explaining and you trying hard to focus on her words intently.

''Y/N'' you hear the voice of your boss coming from the door, the two strange-looking men behind him, and you look at him, noticing the satisfied looks on their faces, indicating the deal worked well, and he says ''I'm finished, thank you, Miss, for giving her the tour'' he adds now focused on Wilhemina. ''Let's go'' he says and you walk in his direction without looking back at her and just as you are about to walk out of the door you look at her and say ''Thank you'' and then you walk out.

As you walk out of the large office building, back through the same long corridor, and past the front desk, you can't hear anything your boss is trying to say and the entire car ride back to the office you try and wrap your head around what just happened, abandoning every single word Mr. Odell is saying.

''This didn't happen wake up Y/N wake-up Y/N'' you keep repeating in your head but it's no use this is no nightmare this is reality.