#guys new squeaky toy just dropped

[imp-thing]

He looks like he’d squeak a little squeaky noise of pain if I squeezed him

[charliemwrites]

Woof, grrr, woof

No content warnings

Your trip to the vet turns up nothing. No microchips, and none of the staff recognize the wolf-dog. They’re the only vet in town too, and he looks too pristine to have come from another…

“You’re a weird little guy, huh?” you muse on the car ride to the pet store.

The vet office was kind enough to make a file for him, standing name “Buddy”. If you get to keep him, you’re definitely changing it. They also gave you a spare leash so that you wouldn’t have to leave him in the car while you shop.

It’s a pitifully flimsy thing, but the dog seems leashed trained and does tug. Could probably let him off it and he’d stay glued to your side.

The shopping is even weirder. He doesn’t seem very distracted by treats or food, only snaps at other dogs when they get into his personal space. Otherwise, he just stays right next to you, tongue occasionally lapping at your hanging fingers.

“Beautiful dog,” a man says to you. An older guy, rugged, looking at toys.

You shift. “Thank you.”

“Should really be feeding a beast like that a raw diet.”

“Raw diet?”

“What they get in the wild. All that processed shite ain’t good for ‘em.”

You thank him for the advice over the dog’s grumbling. A quick internet search on your phone reveals it’s not a bad idea, actually. Not too expensive either.

“Raw it is,” you muse.

He tilts his head, make a low “woof”. You scratch absently at his ears as you continue shopping. Let him pick toys - his favorite a squeaky grenade of all things that he refuses to put down. You get a big matching set of food and water bowls, a cushy dog bed, a parasite repellent. Even some dog pads in case he’s not house trained.

You stall in the leash aisle, a bit overwhelmed by the choices of leashes and collars and harnesses.

“How do you feel about pink…?”

Snort.

“Yeah didn’t think so. I didn’t like the rhinestones anyway. You’d probably end up eating one and shitting glitter.”

A long whine.

“Oh, sorry, is that embarrassing? Poor love.”

The gentlest scrape of big teeth at your knuckles. You chuckle and tap two fingers on his sandpaper tongue. His head jerks back, tongue flicking in offense.

“S’what you get, dummy.”

Shaking your head, turn back to the selection. The pup huffs, shakes his head, and noses at something lower. It’s a deep green - army, you think the shade is called - collar with a silver buckle instead of a snap clip.

“Not bad,” you muse. “Matches the whole woodsy vibe we’ve got going.”

You find the matching leash and harness set, dropping it in your cart. You receive several more compliments on your big gorgeous dog, though he refuses to let anyone pet him. You awkwardly make excuses that he’s a recent rescue and try to avoid further conversation.

The last stop is at the kiosk for a tag. You can’t just let him go without one, but you despise officially naming him “Buddy.”

You end up just putting your name, number, and address on there. A matte black heart engraved with silver.

“What do you think?” you ask, offering it for a sniff.

The dog doesn’t even pretend to be interested, just takes the opportunity to drag his tongue over your wrist again. You huff and wipe off on your pants.

“Gonna have to take another bath at this rate.”

You ignore his grumble - it’s uncanny at this point, how quick he is to respond - and guide him out to the car. He hops into the passenger seat, flops over into your lap first chance he gets. You have to nudge his snout away from your crotch again, but he seems satisfied with a hand smoothing over his head.

Home is warm when you arrive. You set up your new dog’s things, buckle him into his new collar, tag and all.

“There,” you coo, dropping smooches all over his head. “Look at how handsome you are, sweet boy! Can I have a kiss?”

You yelp as he barrels you over onto your back, well over 100 pounds of wolf-dog stretching over you. You turn your face away as he licks at your mouth, trying to get inside. You remember reading somewhere that that’s a wolf thing; just another tick in the “hybrid” box.

“Gross, gross! Nooooo,” you laugh, covering his snout. You squeal as his tongue flickers between two fingers. “Nasty boy! You’re so rude!!”

He finally lets you up with much coaxing, looking far too pleased with himself.

You make yourself dinner, providing your dog with scraps of chicken and unseasoned veggies based on your online reading. He seems happy with the offering, eats it all up with gusto.

As the evening comes, you stretch out on the couch. Finally feel brave enough to put on a scary movie now that you’ve got a big-ass deterrent.

Your dog even climbs up to cuddle, head on your chest while you hug him through scary parts. The really interesting part comes at the end, during the climax.

“Heeeeeere’s Johnny!”

Your new companion perks up, eyes on the screen.

“Oh? Is… is that your name? Is your name Johnny?”

His head snaps around to you, ears straight up and eyes bright.

“Johnny…” you croon, trying it out.

He makes a little “boof” noise and wriggles closer.

“Johnny baby,” you continue, grinning. “Johnny boy. John John the bon bon.”

It’s utter nonsense, but it makes his tail thump against the cushions, leaving slobbery kisses of excitement all over your neck and jaw.

“Alright alright!” you laugh, dropping a kiss on the top of his nose. “Johnny it is. Thank fuck I don’t have to come up with a name. Was thinking of calling you Philip or Simon or something.”

You yelp as he starts to make gagging sounds, nearly kicking him off the couch before it seems to subside.

“Good lord, bud,” you breathe as he grumbles and settles his head on your thigh, puffing out a big breath through his nose. “You’re gonna be a handful.”

Previous | Next

Masterlist

[lttl3babybug]

Do you have any regressor Nightcrawler headcanons?

YEAESYESTWSYESTES

sorry. I’m a really normal person about Kurt, I promise.

Regressor!Nightcrawler Headcanons

🫐Kurt regresses from 1-8. So much baby fits into that little guy

🫐If he’s regressed smaller he is a picky eater and I mean as picky as picky can be

🫐When hes 6-8 though? That little guy will eat handfuls of dirt if left unattended

🫐He has done that. On multiple occasions.

🫐He’s a padded baby and cautionary kid, having someone watch him every 5 seconds so he doesn’t eat dirt or have an accident

🫐Very much likes building blocks, like the wooden ones

🫐Builds towers and just stares at them

🫐He will sit for hours watching the blocks do nothing like 0_o

🫐It’s quite cute actually, and slightly disturbing

🫐He is a cuddle bug, bamfing into your arms every chance he gets

🫐He gets along with other regressors but prefers to be with just his cg/sitter when baby

🫐Especially because they knock down his block towers (Logan)

🫐But it’s mainly cause he can only say limited words and mainly babbles or whines

🫐Baby Kurt is bottle fed and he loves it, he gets to cling to his cg while they feed him and run their fingers through his hair

🫐He loves being swaddled and carried

🫐Just being carried in general

🫐He will lay on the floor and whine to be picked up despite being table to teleport

🫐Toddler/kid Kurt is like the textbook definition of feral toddler

🫐He is outside. Do not bring him inside.

🫐He is in the dirt 90% of the time, he does outside all squeaky clean and comes back in with his fur mud clad and like 10 new bruises, cuts and bug bites

🫐He doesn’t even notice them till someone points them out

🫐Love hate relationship with plasters, on one hand he loves the fun designs but on the other hand ouchy they hurt when they rip his fur off while being taken off

🫐He’s a friend to the insects, showing his cg/sitter or friends all the caterpillars and beetles that crawl on him

🫐He is definitely more social as a kid/toddler, mainly cause he can form coherent sentences

🫐Prefers if his playmates are also in more of a toddler headspace but there’s been plenty of times the team have seen Kurt playing with baby Logan while using his tail to hold up a bottle or sippy cup for him

🫐He holds everything with his tail cause it leaves his hands free

🫐He’ll hold his sippy cup with it so he can use both hands to make mud pies or macaroni artwork

🫐His favourite snack, no matter how small or big he is, is bananas and yoghurt. Chopped bananas and yoghurt.

🫐He’s not prone to tantrums but that’s not to say he hasn’t thrown them

🫐He will yell and bite and oh good god do those bites hurt

🫐He has sharp little fangs that will make whoever he’s bitten bleed

🫐He’ll bamf away till someone finds him and puts him in time out

🫐He cries the whole time he’s in time out, sitting on a chair in the naughty corner

🫐He will very sincerely apologise to anyone he bit or yelled at while crying

🫐Might even make them a drawing or a colouring page as an apology gift

🫐He will also tail behind them with his tail between his legs and ears dropped

🫐Despite being able to communicate better while regressed older he will revert to German sometimes and gets very frustrated when the others don’t automatically know what he’s saying

🫐He really likes toy cars and rolling them at people so they roll them back to him

[fountainpenguin]

Riddle watches New Wish - Post #5

They're so cute...

OH, she set them up!! Here we go!

Wanda making squeaky toy noises when Cosmo hugs her is all I've ever wanted.

"We're real, all right! ... Real fairies. Not real humans."

BUDAWHAAAAAAAA-? Thank you Cosmo for just confirming elastic skin, which has been one of the most important headcanons in my worldbuilding. I did not expect you to do that for me, but... thanks?

Pfft, Wanda changing her legs.

ERG??? Is that you?

Okay, there's that "We've been retired for 10k years" implied time travel bit; I think I remember that from the story bible + early convos with my friends, so at least I came prepared to expect that.

This is either time travel - which plays perfectly into my established "Cosmo ate a time key during dinosaur times and has been running around through time unsupervised for ages" headcanon anyway, LOL - or they're flat-out lying to Hazel, seeing as the audience already knows Timmy is confirmed as a recent godkid, so... Hm.

SLDKFJSD I love how the guy who accidentally sent his baby stroller down a steep hill is wearing a #1 Dad hat. "My expensive stroller! ... I mean, my baby!" - Yeah, we're still in FOP. All the parents are terrible here.

Setting her up as loving french fries and then turning her into a fly who found french fries was clever.

Cosmo once again being so close and yet so far to his mark. Good to see him back!

Me when I return my would-be murderer's daughter, who is a bug.

I AM SO GLAD that even in 10,000 years, Wanda's small talk skills have not improved far beyond "I'm Human McRealPerson" and "My husband is a grilled cheese sandwich" from back in the day, sdlkfj. That's my girl!

oh no, the Venus flytrap gift they brought over is about to go so wrong.

Yep, she's still goin'. Talking about the carwash.

GIRL check your fingers.

OH MY GOSSSSSSH, he's dressed for a classy party in Fairy culture. Cosmorella? We thought you were dead!!

... That's an ant? I would've guessed tick.

It's a guy ant? Buddy, are you sure you're supposed to be foraging?

Let's go!!

SDLKFJSDKLFJSLKJF noooo... No, no, no, no, no... Not the thing I use to symbolize memorials for the dead, c'mon!

It IS an accurate item for a Fairy house- these were all over the place in Fairy World during the old show, AND in that color, though you usually see more than one "wand" per pot.

I'm super impressed the artists studied the old interior design customs. Huh.

Cosmo lives here. Also, BABY!!

OOH, I'm excited that Cosmo and Wanda's window overlooks Fairy World because it's kind of a portal. I did something super similar with a rat cage in an upcoming Frayed Knots scene, where Anti-Cosmo and Wanda are godparenting together during school. Nifty!

He even confirmed it's a spell on the front door! Wow. Somehow, Past Me nailed that.

"We can choose which world we go out into!" -> /Me with my 'fic where Kevin Crocker is confused that Shirley's Pizza Parlor has an exit on the other side that goes to Retroville.

Cosmo: We lived in Timmy's fishbowl for 20 years. Wanda: It was 7.

You are both wrong- it was like 68 <3 But honestly, I forgive you for not wanting to tell Hazel time was frozen for 50 years. I don't think she'd like that. Actually, I don't think she was born yet, because my vision is time freezing at the end of Season 4, and Dale was rescued in Season 2, so... Yeah, she wasn't born. Still, you don't wanna just drop that on someone.

That's actually very funny that Cosmo and Wanda are struggling because they're out of practice during their retirement.

THERE'S THE SIGN!! Way to go.

Oh, and the credits are done in a similar style to the old ones? Even the colors? That's so cute! That's also nice that Hazel's VA was a story editor too- That probably helps with the passion and vision.

That was cute. I liked it. Huge relief to see something well-researched and made with love after "Fairly Odder" was a struggle for me.

I've got a little more time tonight, I might be able to get one more episode done before bedtime.

[normal-internet-user]

DOG DAYS

♡~~♡~~♡~~♡~~♡

Summary: You recently got a new puppy, and Mikey loves him alot. like, alot.

Warnings: None!

Requested: Nope!

GN Reader!

.........................................

"Dang it, Bear, get over here!"

You let out a huff as you chased your new german shepard puppy down the hallway of your apartment. Bear had been a total sweetheart on day 1, but now that he had gotten used to his new home, he's as energetic as your friggin boyfriend.

You had wanted a pet for a while, and actually intended on getting a cat, but the moment you saw Bear at the shelter, you knew you had to take him home.

With a huff, you cornered the puppy. The little menace was wagging his tail, your phone in his mouth. As quickly as you could, you snatched him up off the ground, taking the phone from his mouth.

"Bad doggy, we don't take peoples stuff."

Bear whined, looking at you with those adorable maple eyes.

"My goodness, I can't stay mad at you, can I? you are just like your dad." you sigh, putting Bear down on the couch, you handed him one of his squeaky toys.

You checked over your phone, grimacing at the drool all over the screen. Grabbing some tissues from the coffee table, you did your best to wipe the drool from the screen.

A ping sounded from your phone, letting you know you had just received a text. You opened the message from your boyfriend,

Orange Crush: Omw Anglecakes!

(Nickname): See u soon babe!

You looked down at Bear, who had stopped chewing his toy in favor of staring at you with his big happy eyes, and his tounge hanging from his mouth.

You giggled, picking up the puppy, you spoke in a high pitched baby voice, "Guess what, Bear? Daddy's on his way! are you so excited? you are?"

Bear wagged his tail faster, licking your face as you giggled. You walked the two of you into the kitchen, setting Bear down on the lanolium floor. You pulled a frozen pizza from the freezer, then turned on the oven to pre-heat.

Bear started to bark excitedly, spinning around, as you heard a knock from the window in the living room.

You run over and unlatch the window, with Bear jumping excitedly behind you as Mikey enters your apartment.

"Hey there, babe." he greets, giving you a peck on the lips, before turning away and holding out his arms for Bear, "Where's my little guy?"

Bear barked, jumping into Mikey's arms excitedly. You giggled and shook your head, the two where just too cute. "How long are you staying over, babe?" you asked, walking into the kitchen to put the pizza in the oven.

"I was hoping to stay the night, sound fine to you?"

You nodded, leaning on the counter as Mikey walked into the kitchen holding Bear, "Sounds perfectly fine to me. Then you can help me bathe Bear."

"Wait really? I get to help? Awsome! You hear that, Bear, it's bath time little dude!"

You laughed, patting Mikey's arm, "Chill out, Mikey. we can give him a bath after pizza."

Mikey nodded with his usual smile, taking Bear into the living room, "Let's go play tug of war! where's your rope? huh, Bear? where's your rope."

"Don't pull on the rope to hard, babe! you could hurt his little puppy teeth." you call over your shoulder, starting to clean the dishes from earlier that day.

"I know, Anglecakes! trust me I'm a professional!"

"Mikey, that's what you said when you tried to land a flip off my fire-escape. Then you busted your face on the sidewalk."

"That was one time!"

You laugh, and place the final clean dish on thr drying rack. Still chuckling you walk into the living room, plopping down on the couch, watching your boyfriend and dog tug back and forth on Bear's bright orange rope. (Mikey had insisted it be orange, since, "Orange is the superior color!")

Bear started to lead Mikey in circles around the coffee table, doing his best to get the large turtle to drop the rope. Mikey was doing a good job at keeping up, until Bear jerked the rope, causing Mikey to lose his grip. Bear took off running down the hall, rope in his mouth.

Mikey was just aboit to chase after him, when the small dog tripped over the large rope. Both you and Mikey laughed at the look of utter confusion on his face.

The poor thing had zero idea how he had tripped, and he looked all around, trying to find the culprit.

Suddenly an idea popped into your head, and you smiled, "Oh, my poor baby!" you cooed as you picked up Bear, "Oh, it's ok. oh, poor Bear."

Bear looked up at you, then at Mikey, then back at you, then started to give little whines. Now Mikey was confused. You tried your hardest not to laugh at the absolute dramatic show Bear was giving, as you continued to coo at him.

The oven dinged, taking your attention from the faker you were holding. Passing Bear to a still confused Mikey, you rushed into the kitchen to get the pizza from the oven.

After cutting the pizza into slices, you called out to Mikey, "Food's done!"

Mikey and Bear came racing into the kitchen, Bear sitting down next to his bowls, waiting for you to fill them. Once you did, Bear tail wagged happily as he began to eat.

After dinner, you and Mikey gave Bear his promised bath. Then with worn out puppy, and an even more worn out turtle, the three of you layed in your bed, Bear curled up in between the two of you. You gave Mikey a kiss, "G'night babe."

"Night Anglecakes."

[uses-for-fics]

Tactona 420

Anders Holmvik x Reader

Another Monday morning and another boring ass meeting. Alice had been droning on and on about numbers when she finally introduced the new product of the week. Apparently it had been some toy race car that would link with a headset. Just as she caught your interest, she had lost it. She had started up a new rant about some meeting she was going to attend. You really didn’t pay much attention to her squeaky voice. The only good thing that ever came out of these meetings was getting to spend some time with Anders. Not necessarily ‘with’ Anders but hey, getting to sit behind him as he made jokes with his buddies was close enough for you. His laugh was melodic, his hair always looked so soft and fluffy. Don’t even get started on his smile, it’s so perfect. You always got butterflies in your belly whenever he’d pass by your cubicle and gave you a friendly hello. Oh but how could you forget his hands. Sometimes you’d imagine what they could do, so big and yet so gentle. It’s like you could feel them on you right now. Or maybe it’s cause they were, you hadn’t realized you zoned out until you felt Anders poking your shoulder.

“Hey Y/n, you good? I’ve been trying to get your attention for a minute now”. He smiled at you. God if you weren’t sitting down right now, your knees would’ve buckled. Adam butted in. “Yeah dude you should’ve seen your face! You were so spaced out! I was going to stick a pen in your mouth but Anders wouldn’t let me.” You turned to look at Adam as your smile fell. “Thank you Adam.” You said flatly.

“Yeahhhhh. So I actually wanted to ask you, were you thinking on joining the Tactona 420? Blake, Adam and I are making a group but hey wouldn’t hurt to have some friendly competition.”

You smiled back at Anders. “I would love to!”

“Sounds good!” He got up from his seat.

“But.” “But?” He stopped in his spot. You dropped your head. “I can’t, I promised Jillian Id fix her computer today. Apparently she ‘accidentally’ downloaded malware when she was downloading videos of ‘cute cats’, I don’t know why she just doesn’t say she was trying to illegally watch magic mike again, we’ve all seen her ogle face before.”

Adam laughed. “Yeah it’s the same one you make when you’re looking at Ders! Ooooo burn!” He lifted his hand to high five Blake but Blake just shook his head and dropped Adam’s hand down. “Nuh uh.”

Anders chuckled. “Thank you Adam.” He said sarcastically. “Why don’t you go with Blake and start modifying the car?” Adam stood up with Blake. “Oh hell yeah, it’s gonna beat the crap out of all of your guys' cars!” Adam yelled as Blake pushed him out of the meeting room. Anders rolled his eyes. “Well if you finish soon, it’d be great to have you there.” He smiled but quickly covered it up with a cough. “As a cheerleader obviously cause we’d soooo wreck your car up quickly,,,,dude.” He gave your shoulder a light punch.

You awkwardly laughed. “Ha ha. Yeah dude, I’ll so try to be there.” You gave him finger guns. “Guess I’ll see you later dude.” He started walking out of the meeting room backwards not breaking eye contact. You laughed as he gave you a wink and finger guns back. This man was going to be your demise. You decided you should start working on Jillian’s computer cause from all those shady pirating sites she has visited, you could only imagine how fucked it was going to be. A good two or three hours passed before your back had started to feel sore from sitting there for a while. You made calls all day for work but at least then you’d try to distract yourself by drawing at your desk or walking around your cubicle or staring at Anders. It’s not weird! It wasn’t your fault that your cubicle was right across from his and it definitely wasn’t your fault if your eyes occasionally would wander over there and would watch whatever dumb activity him and his friends were doing instead of work. You stretched your back until you felt a crack and stood up.

Maybe you could find something to snack on before having to get back to Jillian’s desk. You walked into the break room to find Adam smashing his toy car’s cover with a hammer and yelling. “I DONT KNOW WHAT IM DOING!!! Oh hey y/n.” He put down the hammer and toy car cover.

“Heyyy Adam. Um you ok buddy?” You stood by the entrance, not wanting to get closer to him.

“No I’m not ok. Blake killed his rat and Anders doesn’t want to join my team so now I have to mod my own car but I DONT KNOW WHAT IM DOING!!” You shifted on your feet weighing if you should help him or not. You were basically almost done with Jillian’s computer. Probably a half hour more and you’d be done but, this is Adam. He’s always so moody and he’s always joking about how you like Anders. He wasn’t wrong but you weren’t going to give him that satisfaction, or maybe you could. If you helped him maybe he could help you out. You smiled and walked closer to his car. “Maybe I could help.”

Adam’s head jerked up to look at you. “Are you serious?” You nodded. “For sure! I’m clearing Jillian’s computer right now. I know a thing or two about tech, all I need to do is mod your car into being faster than the rest.”

Adam jumped up. “Fuck yes!! Let’s start building right now so I can wipe Anders stupid smug smile with my dust.” You grabbed Adam by the collar before he could head out of the room. “Woah there! I didn’t even get to say what I get in return.” Adam shook his head. “Uhh doy dude, you get to spend time with me obviously! What else could you want?”

You rolled your eyes. “Gross. Actually, I wanted to see if you could setupadatewithAndersandI.”

Adam’s face twisted. “What?”

You groaned and looked down. “I wanted to see if you could set up a date with Anders and I.” Adam broke into laughter. You huffed. “Fine I won’t help you!” Adam grabbed your arm before you could walk away. “Dude I’m laughing cause that’s so easy. Have you not seen the way he acts around you? ‘Look at me I’m Anders! I can’t walk around y/n because she makes my legs shake! I’m so stupid and tall” Adam’s walked around mocking Anders.

You grabbed the stuff for his car. “Shut up that’s not true. Now let’s go fix up your car.” Adam continued mocking Anders all the way to your desk. You had been fixing up the car for a couple minutes now occasionally slapping Adam’s hand away before he could fuck something up. He’d finally gotten distracted by something. He gasped loudly making you jump in your seat. “Adam! What the fuck!” You turned to him noticing the book in his hands. He was looking through your sketchbook. “Adam! Give that back!” You tried to reach out for the book but he scooted back. “No way dude! You’re so down bad for Anders!!! I knew you liked him but there’s no way you actually have drawings of him!” “Adam that’s not funny. Please give it back.” You kept trying to reach for it but Adam kept scooting away from you. “They’re not half bad, maybe if you showed them to him he could overlook the whole stalker thing and ask you out.” You groaned. “I have no idea why I ever decided to help you! You’re such an idiot!” Adam stopped. “Hey! I may be an idiot but I am not stupid! At least I try to go for a date when I like a girl and I mean really try! You haven’t even tried to make a single attempt at asking out Anders the whole time that you’ve worked here. Maybe you could learn a thing or two from me.” With that, Adam turned to walk out of your cubicle but bumped into the side wall.

You giggled. “Maybe you’re right Adam. I should try. How about we go win this race and after we’ve wiped Anders, I ask him out.” Adam smiled. “HELL YEAH! LETS KICK ASS!”

He ran out of the cubicle fist pumping. “I’m not done with the car yet!” You yelled but he was too far already. You turned back to the car, you had to fix this car like if your life depended on it.

You managed to finish fixing up the car not long after, finally arriving to where the races were being held. Adam turned to look at you. “Dude! Took you long enough! I’ve been waiting for you for hourssssss!!!”

“It hasn’t even been 30 minutes!” You yelled back as you walked to him.

Anders turned to face you from his spot next to Adam. “Hey! You made it Y/n!”

“Hey Ders.” You stand next to him and smile.

Anders face started to turn a bit red. “Ders? You’ve never called me Ders before.” Your smile fell. He quickly went to speak. “I like it! You make it sound nice.” You got bashful. “Ha thanks I guess. Just thought we’re close enough to use it.” You looked up at him. “There’s actually something I wanted to tell you.” You placed your hand on his hoodies zipper.

He looked down at you and gulped. “What’s up.” You smirked and then zipped up his hoodie. “After the race.” You winked and went to go stand next Adam.

You handed Adam the updated controller and started explaining the buttons. Just as you finished up explaining them, Jillian got into position to start up the new race. “Start your engines!” She put the flag up in the air. You handed Adam the headset. “Good luck.” You walked away and went off to the sidelines. Anders winked at you and put on his headset. You face heated up. At least he couldn’t see you right now. “Go!” Jillian yelled as she threw the flag down. Just as the race started, it ended. Blake had ran in a few laps left, Adam had blocked the tunnel causing a blockage on the track. Anders flipped his car making it a ramp so Blake could jump it and win. They all hugged and jumped together as they cheered.

After they had their little celebration, Anders stepped away and walked over to you. “Hey.” You looked at him. “Hey.” He bumped his shoulder with yours. “Soooo what did you want to talk about?”

You got bashful. “I wanted to ask if you’d like to go out sometime.” You turned away from him.

“Like on a date?”

“Yeah. Like on a date.” You started getting nervous. Maybe Adam had been punking you this whole time and wanted you to embarrass yourself. Before you could freak out more, Anders had answered.

“Sure.” Your eyes widen. “I’m so glad you asked actually, I’ve been so nervous to ask to be honest.”

“Really?” You smiled up at him. “Yeah I actually didn’t think you felt anything for me and just thought I was a boring ass coworker until I saw your drawings”Your face turned beet red. “Oh no.” You covered your face with your hands. “Oh no no no. You’re gonna think I’m a creep!”

He grabbed your wrists and moved your hands from your face. “No! Not at all. I was confused at first to be honest. I noticed you kept staring at me and jotting something down so when you left to the bathroom one day I scoped your cubicle and found your open sketchbook to a drawing of me. By the way I got to say you’re really good at catching my handsome face. I’d love to pose for you anytime.” He smirked.

You laughed. Your face could physically not get any redder. “Yeah, maybe you should. There’s actually this pretty cool art museum I like to visit.”

Anders beamed. “I love museums! There’s currently a Scandinavian exhibit I’ve been wanting to check out!”

You slapped his shoulder. “No way! I’ve heard of it! I’ve been wanting to check it out on my days off!”

Anders intertwined his hands with yours. “How about we go together?”

You inched closer to him. “I would definitely not say no to that.” Just as you guys inched closer, Adam yelled.

“I did that you guys! That was all me!” Blake grabbed Adam. “Dude shut up.” Blake pushed Adam to the elevator and everyone started heading out too. “Well.” Anders cleared his throat. “I guess we should head back to work.”

You let go of his hand. “I guess so.” You got on your tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss. “Last one there is a rotten egg.” You gave him a light shove and ran towards the elevator. He smiled and ran after you. “Just wait til I catch up to you!”

[wincore]

romeo roulette | jung yoonoh

pairing: jaehyun x fem!reader

summary: if finding your soulmate is the same as a damn game of russian roulette, you are determined to not pull the trigger at all. except, you know who your soulmate is and he doesn’t—and given a choice to pretend, you find that jaehyun is the lesser of the two burdens to bear.

genre: soulmate au, office au, fake dating, fluff (a lot), angst (a little), romcom, magical realism (??)

words: 21.2k

warnings: language

song recs: playlist here !

a/n: behold ! a kdrama compressed in a fic ! ok i was lying there was more than a little angst but all in good fun <3 i have never experienced working in an office (thanks to the panny) but i tried making it as accurate as i could !! hope you have fun with this <3

It’s not that you’ve never been looked at with a lover’s gaze, it’s just that whatever look Jaehyun has been giving you is mildly uncomfortable. It’s not supposed to be that way. Hell, even his hand clasping yours are a little too clammy for your liking.

Jung Yoonoh. Get your act together.

You wish he were a better actor than this. For someone used to eyes on him in each and every room he’s in, he’s not very good at making eye contact. You’ll be saving this performance. Not to stroke your own ego but at least you know how to behave under strong gazes.

There are three people staring at the two of you and your fingers intertwined, scrutinizing your postures and the expressions on your faces. Maybe Jaehyun should face them instead of glancing at you wordlessly. He’s a terrible liar for someone who acts so smooth. 

You look up with a short smile. The aforementioned three are your coworkers—former class rep at uni and your current boss Doyoung, your friend Soojin and Jaehyun’s friend Sicheng from IT. None of them look happy—like it concerns them. If there was a competition for nosy coworkers, this entire group would be winning awards left and right (and that’s including you). 

They’re going to find out, an annoying voice giggles inside the quiet corner of your brain. Like hell, they will. You didn’t take up acting lessons in college for nothing. You just need to focus on the details.

This whole charade dates its beginning to a week ago. 

If someone were to tell you Jung Yoonoh from marketing is your soulmate, you would most certainly either laugh or take it as a genuine insult. Hence, you were glad when you found that he isn’t. 

It was an accident. You had glimpsed at his soulmark, right below his collarbone, at a particularly wild office afterparty—and somehow, you thought it was fitting that his tattoo was a little red heart. For someone born on Valentine’s day (which you know from a night out with coworkers, not because you’re remotely interested), if his soulmark was not something as disgusting as a heart, it would be the textbook definition of irony. But then again, fate is a funny thing. Your soulmark is a heart roughly the same size, with a little more intricacy in the form of a piercing arrow.

Despite all, however, if someone were to ask you if Jung Yoonoh is the worst person to be your soulmate, the answer is no. You can name at least five coworkers off the top of your head that you’d choose him over. You would choose him over Doyoung (and especially his nagging), you would choose him over Taeyong because he’s too hot and you also don’t like men in a higher position than you are, you would choose him over Jungwoo because you suspect he’s secretly a furry. Jaehyun is certainly better than your deskmate Dongmin who, despite an angelic smile, is: a) too distant to make actual conversation with, and b) in a relationship despite being your soulmate. Sweet-tempered Dongmin doesn’t even know it’s you. You’d love to be the bearer of bad news but this one—you’re not exactly ready for it yourself.

So that’s the explanation for why you hunted down Jaehyun and in a desperate attempt to not seem pathetic, coerced him into a role that has carefully picked benefits for either of you. You just have to bite the bullet sometimes.

“And I get what out of this?”

“Me? Temporarily, that is.”

Jaehyun laughs in amusement and you drop your smile, almost offended. If you were a gift, you’d certainly be an attractive, spicy, hot one—he doesn’t have to look at you so incredulously. In a neat business suit, Jaehyun is as kempt as ever though his tie could do with some more work.  As an HR assistant, his appearance pleases you. However as a person, the perfection annoys the hell out of you. He could show himself to be more human. It would make your job (both the actual and the metaphorical) easier.

“I’m leaving,” he announces with a nonchalant exhale. “You keep messing around during work hours like this and people are going to think you’re jobless.”

“Wait!” 

You jog up to him and block his path, crossing your arms as you huff at his indignance. 

“I said no,” he repeats, and when he tries to evade you, you push him back with your palm flat against his chest. Jaehyun doesn’t show any more discomfort than usual, biting the inside of his cheek.

“You haven’t found your soulmate, right?” you say, taking a deep breath. If you have to resort to psychological warfare, so be it.

His smile wavers and he straightens, no longer leaning against the printer desk. “No. How does that matter?”

“It matters because you’re going to be my pretend-soulmate. Now, don’t be a pussy.”

He opens his mouth and closes it, furrowing his eyebrows. “You can’t always trick me into doing what you want.”

“I’ll ask Doyoung if you say no.”

“See—enough with the tricks, they don’t work anymore. I’ve known you for two years.”

“I really will ask him.”

“Not convincing enough. You don’t even talk to Doyoung outside work.”

You groan into your hand, taking a few moments to come up with another plan. How is your obvious charisma not enough? You certainly can’t tell him how rejected you feel with the whole Dongmin situation even if his rejection hasn’t officially come yet. It’s too embarrassing for a grown adult to go through. You don’t mind being lonely for the rest of your life if you’re successful. There’s a price tag on each decision you make anyway.

“I’ll treat you to lunch every day. I’ll pay.”

You cross your arms, tapping your foot in anticipation. They say the way to a man’s heart is through the stomach. Besides, Jaehyun hates spending his lunch money on himself. This ought to do something.

Jaehyun places his hand in front of his mouth in mock surprise. “Oh no, out of your beloved paycheck? That’s kind of scary, honestly.”

“Jaehyun. Stop messing around. I’m being serious.”

He purses his lips, hesitation across his face. You don’t like the way he thinks, with quiet, lost eyes and no clear giveaways on his lips.

“Okay. I’ll do it.”

You smile in relief though you try somewhat to not let it show on your face. 

“On one condition.”

Your eyes dart across his face, nothing that tells what he might suggest next. You hate when you don’t get to decide on things.

“You have to come visit my family next month and pose as my soulmate—”

“No way.”

“—and when this whole game you’re playing is over, you’re going to say I rejected you.”

You stare at him, weighing the odds. 

“Fine,” you say finally, voice pitched in slight annoyance.

Jaehyun shrugs.

“But I tell my parents that I rejected you. Or they’ll come after you with a task force or something.”

You mutter the last part.

He grimaces, holding his breath for a good few seconds and then letting it go.

“Alright. It’s not like mine and your parents know each other—or will ever meet.”

“Fine then,” you say. “We have an agreement.”

“We have an agreement,” he repeats.

Now, back to more pressing matters. The people in front of you aren’t a stupid lot—even if you've seen Doyoung spend $500 on plush toys, seen Sicheng absentmindedly walk into a desk and pretend to not be in pain for the next five minutes and Soojin somehow convinced a senior to get her coffee because she thought he was an intern (in her defence, it worked). 

The only way is to act through. You clear your throat.

"We… we discovered it last week. Our signs match."

Technically, you drew an arrow with a permanent marker over Jaehyun's tattoo in an attempt to resemble yours. It's not awful, but perhaps not perfect. 

“Discovered? Like just happened to find out?” Doyoung asks.

“Isn’t Jaehyun’s on…” Soojin leans in to whisper hurriedly in your ear. “On his butt? Did you guys sleep together?”

You contort your face in disgust. “The what? What? Who told you that? And no.”

Soojin makes an ‘ah’ sound and leans back. “I should stop listening to office rumours then.”

"You should." You glare at her.

Sicheng is the only one without questions at the tip of his tongue but the look on his face worries you most. 

“I’ve never seen your tattoo, now that I think about it,” he muses, turning to Jaehyun. “Although we’re roommates.”

Jaehyun clears his throat, looking around with shifty eyes. "Why is… why is everyone looking so suspicious?"

"It's just… so sudden," Soojin says, looking around at the others.

"Yeah," Sicheng mutters.

"Soulmate fraud is a big deal too, you know that right?" Doyoung informs. "You could get put in jail."

You throw up your hands in exasperation. "Why would we pretend? We don't have any reason to. And, uh, you're sure about the jail thing?"

You look at Doyoung, hoping your question didn’t come off too squeaky. 

"You’re right,” he says, sighing. “It’s so unlikely for soulmates to work in the same company, let alone the same building.”

“Oh, yes, I’m so lucky,” you mutter under your breath.

Doyoung sighs. "Look, we're happy for you. It's just that… it's a little sudden."

"Literally what I just said," Soojin says.

"Literally what she just said," Doyoung agrees quickly, not wanting to pick a fight. Sometimes you wonder who the real boss is.

"Look, just because we don't even acknowledge each other or find each other remotely attractive or wouldn't even be each other's office Christmas card candidate—"

Jaehyun nudges your side with his elbow and gives you a look that seems a lot like "You're making it worse".

You clear your throat. "That's what happens to most soulmates! You think you're going to land the perfect one and boom. You get a chump from marketing."

Jaehyun makes a sound of protest. "I didn't want a snob from HR either."

The two of you glare at each other, and you find that clenching his jaw makes Jaehyun slightly (around 0.05%) more attractive, or at the very least more bearable to look at.

Doyoung gasps. "Okay, I get it. You're having adjustment issues. I know a guy for that. He's helped every newly found soulmate couple adjust with each other."

"We don't need that," you interrupt, offering your fakest smile.

"You do," Doyoung responds, his smile equally fake. "I'll drive you this weekend if you're free. He’ll give you one free session. No more, because we all know how capitalism works."

People have got to stop copying your fake smile. You wish you could have it copyrighted because after all, it’s the same smile that tricks interviewees into thinking they got the job. It’s not evil if you say it isn’t. You open your mouth, look at Jaehyun doing the same and when you can't come up with an excuse, give up and nod. 

"Don't look so resentful," Doyoung says, tone slightly complaining. "I'm not doing this as your boss. We were friends in college and I'm just doing you a favour. A friendly favour."

Soojin hums in deep thought. "I feel like this is some sort of nepotism."

"I feel like you should open a dictionary once in a while," Doyoung mutters, only to get a vaguely threatening look from Soojin.

"Anyway," Sicheng diverts, eyes curious when he turns to Doyoung. "Why did you call us here?"

"Ah." Doyoung's eyes widen. "I heard promotion rumours."

Sicheng lets out a loud huff of annoyance. "You summoned us here for company gossip?"

Doyoung crosses his arms. “So, you’re not interested?”

“Who said that?” Sicheng responds quickly, leaning in.

The five of you huddle closer in a circle, looking as conspicuous as a cult. 

“You guys know that Jinyoung’s leaving, right?” Doyoung starts.

Soojin gasps audibly only to get a smack on the arm from Doyoung. “Why’s he leaving? He's like employee of the month every month. ”

A few chuckles pass through the group at her discontentment from months of losing out on the title.

“I heard he found his soulmate. Lucky ass gets tax benefits too now,” Sicheng complains. “Why is he leaving?”

“Oh, look who’s interested in gossip now,” Soojin coos.

Sichengs turns red in the face and looks away, clearing his throat. “You’re gonna answer my question, Doyoung?”

“Oh! Right.” Doyoung looks up from a text. “He got rejected by his soulmate.”

Soojin covers her mouth this time when she gasps and you can’t say your jaw doesn’t drop as well. 

“Rejected? Like our picture-perfect Jinyoung got rejected?” you repeat, trying to process the information. “Please don’t tell me he decided to be an idiot and sign a mutual rejection.”

“No, he didn’t lose his senses,” Doyoung responds with a duh undertone. “He’s getting the compensation money.”

You sigh. “Man, I feel bad for him.”

Jaehyun hums in agreement. There’s a hush over the group and you feel fear rise in your chest. You don’t want to be rejected. You’ve seen how happy Dongmin looks with his girlfriend—he’d reject you in a heartbeat. Of course, you could just receive the compensation money from the one-sided rejection and get it over with but you refuse to. It hurts to not be wanted. It hurts to not be wanted by someone who’s supposed to want you. To be specific, it hurts your pride. Every time you see the damn arrowed heart on Dongmin’s wrist, which he tries so hard to cover with his watch, you feel like throwing up. You’re glad yours isn’t as easy to spot—resting right above your hip bone.

“Anyway, someone’s getting promoted to that HR specialist position.”

You gasp. “Is it me? It’s me, right?”

Jaehyun rolls his eyes and you elbow him. “What’s with you?”

“Don’t get too excited,” he says, shrugging. “Isn’t it stupid to get your hopes up over a rumour?”

Doyoung breathes out. “Wow, (name) really sucked the life out of you, Jaehyun.”

You glare at him when Soojin breaks into a fit of laughter. “You- you know what that- you know what that sounds like, right?”

Your face contorts into disgust and you shake your head. “Let’s be more professional, alright, Soojin?”

She clears her throat and straightens her clothes, like a teenager being reprimanded. “I’m your senior. It’s embarrassing when you say that to me.”

Jaehyun speaks up and turns to you. “I think lunch break is almost over.”

You raise an eyebrow. “So?”

“You’re forgetting something.” He smiles, dimples showing, but his eyes come off menacing.

“Fuck,” you mutter under your breath. You forgot about that stupid lunch promise. 

“Hey. Professional,” Soojin warns.

You groan and link your arm through Jaehyun’s, making him bite back a smile. What is it with men and getting weirdly happy about lunch?

“We’re gonna go get lunch,” you announce.

“Ooh, (name)’s ditching quality time with coworkers for dates now,” Soojin coos.

You roll your eyes and exit the office, stopping to wait in front of the elevator.

“I think that went well,” Jaehyun says, shrugging lightly.

“Shh. What if they hear us?”

“Do you think they’re X-men? We’re a long corridor and closed doors away.”

You huff, crossing your arms. “Still…”

Jaehyun’s smug smile makes you want to smack it right off and this isn’t the first time you’ve felt this way with him. You swear he’s not as bad as some of the guys you’ve met but Jaehyun is simply annoying. An A grade nuisance. You can trust him though. If Soojin says he’s a reliable guy, you’ll believe her—she doesn’t bluff when it comes to seeing right through men, though she does have a tendency to believe stupid rumours.

“Your acting was shit though,” you snipe.

Jaehyun lets out a low sardonic laugh. “At least I was subtle when I was messing up.”

You cross your arms and huff. “You know what? You can take the next elevator ride.”

“Huh?”

You step into the elevator just as the doors open and quickly jam your finger to the close doors button. The look of betrayal on Jaehyun’s face is subtle but it’s enough to satisfy you. As the saying goes, when one door closes, another one opens—it’s very applicable to elevators. He can take the other one.

However, almost immediately after, the elevator doors open and you groan, opening your mouth to send a sarcastic congratulations to Jaehyun for pressing the button on time.

Your words hitch on your tongue. Dongmin greets the two of you with a smile, standing beside Jaehyun, who has his eyes averted from you.

“Hey,” Dongmin greets. “Congratulations. I heard the news.”

“Thanks,” you croak, clearing your throat with a bit of heat on your cheeks. Jaehyun looks like he might burst into a fit of laughter any moment and you shoot him a subtle glare.

“Where are you headed to?” You ask.

“Oh, I’m going to grab a sandwich from the cafeteria.”

“We’re also headed to the cafeteria,” Jaehyun declares, with a smile that’s almost devilish.

“No, we’re not,” you say quickly, making Dongmin raise an eyebrow. You hold back a groan. If only Dongmin weren’t raised to be the politest man you know and a little bit more of an asshole. 

You hum and turn to Jaehyun. “I told you about that new cafe. Remember, honey?”

Dongmin makes an ‘o’ with his mouth. “Nicknames, already? Ah, I’m so jealous. It must be great to get along with your soulmate.”

Oh, the sweet summer child that Dongmin is.

Jaehyun furrows his eyebrows. “Oh, won’t it take too long, darling? We have—”

He makes a show of checking his Rolex, a gift he received from his superior that he spares no chance to flex.

“—Around ten minutes left.”

You hold back a groan and plaster on your smile. “Come on. Now is the best time.”

“That sounds like a load of—”

You elbow Jaehyun hard in the gut and a restrained sound dies in his throat, eyes widening in the sweet look of discomfort taking over his features. You smile triumphantly and turn to Dongmin with an immediate change of expression.

“I’ll see you in office later,” you say, bowing slightly.

Dongmin nods and gets off on the fifth floor. You watch in quiet relief as the elevator door closes and turn to your dear companion, irked.

“Did you have to do that?” Jaehyun asks, voice raspy with pain.

“You deserved it. Don’t you dare make this a bigger mess than it already is.”

“You came up with it.” Jaehyun straightens, finally. Apart from the few loose strands of his neatly parted hair, he doesn’t seem all that disgruntled.

“And we’re going to set some ground rules,” you declare, closing your arms.

Jaehyun straightens to his full height, the space between the two of you diminishing. 

"Okay," he agrees. "Then we both get a say in it. It's a contract, after all."

"Fine. First rule, no being weird around Dongmin."

Jaehyun chuckles. "I think you need to be more careful about that than I do."

You pat his cheek. "Focus. Just don't- don't be around him for too long."

Jaehyun purses his lips. "Why are you so uncomfortable around him? I thought you were doing this because you didn't want to reject him."

You glance away, feeling uncomfortable. "It doesn't matter. I just don't want him to know."

Jaehyun hums. "Fine. My turn. No calling me a chump."

Your cheeks puff up as you try to contain your laughter. "It bothered you that much, huh?"

Jaehyun furrows his brows. "No one's ever called me that before. It's always 'oh my god, he's so handsome, who is he?' or 'ooh, I might faint from how hot he is'."

You giggle. "Alright, handsome."

Jaehyun exhales, his puffed cheeks making him look like a resentful five year old instead of a grown man with a professional job. You pause before you get back on track.

“No nicknames,” you blurt. “It’s weird when you call me something endearing. And your flirting feels kind of threatening.”

“What do you mean, baby?”

“See! You’re doing it again.” You cross your arms at the look on his face; anything close to victorious over Jaehyun’s features is unbearable to you.

He raises his arms in exasperation. “How are we supposed to make this work if we act like we don’t care about each other. Guess why Doyoung’s taking us to couple therapy?”

You huff, slightly pissed off. “You’re saying it was my fault?”

“I’m saying we could have avoided that with better acting.”

“You think you’re so—���

The elevator door opens with a ding on the first floor and you turn to find a bunch of interns back from their lunch break. It would be much less of an awkward affair if you and Jaehyun weren’t well into each other’s personal spaces, noses almost touching and with a mutual glare which could be easily mistaken for a look of something more sensual. You jump away from Jaehyun and leave the elevator as fast as you can, feeling far too conscious of yourself. With long strides, you exit the corporate airs of the building to a sunny, fairly populous sidewalk. 

Jaehyun catches up to you, bending and trying to catch a glimpse of your face with an incredulous smile over his.

“Don’t say a word, Yoonoh.”

“Ooh, you’re saying my name now.”

“This isn’t funny!”

“I find it plenty funny.”

“That’s because of your trash sense of humour.”

“Mhm.”

“Don’t look so smug.”

Mondays are the days that make you want to scream in agony, not Thursdays—though they are pretty high up on the worst days of the week list. Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe pretending to be in love with someone you simply cannot be in love with is an awful idea. 

Soulmates don’t need to be in love with each other, you think to yourself. There’s plenty of soulmates who are just in it for the financial benefits; you can just pretend to be one of them. This dilemma is starting to fray your nerves and Jung Yoonoh, with his lax disposition and dimpled cheeks, is making it worse. And to top it off, you now have to take him to your favourite (kind of secret) cafe in the name of the lies that slipped your tongue. It was supposed to be a quiet comfort spot for you.

You blow a puff of air out and dismiss the thought. Comfort spots aren’t real anyway when you’re all grown. There’s bound to be a breach. 

However, you will not let the (lacking) romance department of your life get sorted out by someone who doesn’t even know you. Lady luck would be an acquaintance to you at most. If fate is a game of chance after all, you might as well be the one spinning the roulette. You look at Jaehyun, piecing together the perfect plan for this seemingly frivolous play-pretend. The game is in your hands now. 

You blink at the figure of Jung Yoonoh under February sunlight on a modestly busy sidewalk. It’s not something to be surprised at—however, the stark contrast in attire makes you stare longer than you intend to. Wearing a black graphic hoodie and pair of worn out jeans, Jaehyun looks about as casual as you can bear. It’s always weird to see coworkers out of formal clothing.

“Are you just going to stare at me till Doyoung comes and picks us up?” he asks. 

You roll your eyes. 

“You look nice,” he says, and you glance down at your outfit with a flush of heat over your cheeks. It’s just a short A-line skirt, stockings and a sweatshirt. This is as basic as you get. What’s worse is that his comment didn’t sound sarcastic.

“You- You look nice too. I guess.” Once in a while, you will say something extremely stupid and pretend it never happened. The frequency increases around Jaehyun for some damn reason.

“You guess? I’m pretty sure I look more than nice.”

“And how long did you look at yourself in the mirror and practise catchphrases this time?”

Jaehyun’s ears turn the shade of cherries and you press down your smile. You knew that time you caught him talking to himself in front of a car window would play to your advantage. 

“What’s that you’re holding?” you ask, eyeing the plastic bag he’s holding.

“Ginseng,” he answers, staring blankly at the cars passing by. “I heard the couples therapist is in his sixties so he might find it useful.”

“Oh, old people stuff,” you muse quietly. “That’s quite thoughtful of you.”

You should’ve brought something, you think for a moment before realizing that couples probably don’t give separate gifts. 

“Thanks,” you mutter.

He raises an eyebrow. “For what?”

You shake your head. “Anyway, we might as well kill some time. Twenty questions. Let’s go.”

He laughs. “What are we, in college?”

You wrinkle your nose. “Don’t make us sound like we’re thirty. I bet you’re the kind of guy who has his retirement plan figured out.”

“Wrong,” he emphasizes, face leaning closer. 

“Fine. I’ll start the questions, you unsalted block of butter. How many relationships have you been in?”

Jaehyun opens his mouth and closes it, ears turning red. “That’s your first question?”

You roll your eyes. “Okay. I’m guessing it’s single digit and on the lower side.”

He rolls his eyes. “How many relationships have you been in?”

You shut your mouth. There’s a moment of silence, a breeze passing you by, carrying winter away in its arms to make room for spring. 

“Never found a relationship worth it,” you mutter, glancing away. 

Jaehyun hesitates before opening his mouth. “Me neither.”

“Good thing for us, eh? Love makes people crazy.”

Jaehyun faces you with a clipped smile. Never did you think Jaehyun from marketing would be relating to you on a personal matter.

“Oh, but I’ve had enough hookups and I can bet you’re mediocre at best in bed.” 

Jaehyun glares at you. “I am not and I can prove it to you.”

“Is that an invitation into your bed? No, thanks.”

He opens his mouth to retort but is interrupted by the Hyundai Grandeur pulling up to the sidewalk and rolling down the driver window to reveal Doyoung. He looks as overworked as usual, but his eyes are more tired, a bit of makeup covering the dark circles. You’ve heard his soulmate is a makeup artist for an idol group and wonder how they even came to be. Does fate throw darts randomly and pick its choice?

“Get in. Quick,” Doyoung instructs. “I have to drop you off and head home. My family is visiting. I didn’t even get a warning and they think I’m in a gay relationship with Taeyong because we still have our friendship rings from college.”

You want to laugh and agree but Doyoung looks rather pissed off so you hold it in. The two of you do as told, getting in the backseat and shutting the doors in sync. The car smells rather leafy mingling with the scent of fresh clothes and you eye the jar dangling from the rear-view mirror. You open your mouth to ask what scent that is when Doyoung’s voice rings out.

“What’s that?” Doyoung signals to the bag with Jaehyun.

Jaehyun looks down. “Ginseng extract.”

“Oh, the gift pack?” Doyoung asks. 

Jaehyun nods and Doyoung chuckles, shaking his head. “If that’s for Mr. Lee, forget it. He hates gifts. Something about inward appreciation and shit.”

Jaehyun groans, massaging his forehead. “What do I do with this then? Is this guy a priest?”

“Give it to Doyoung,” you suggest. “His family’s visiting.”

You hear an audible hum of approval from the driver seat and turn to Jaehyun making a face of reluctance. Maybe he isn’t so magnanimous after all, you think smiling.

“You’re both quite tame today,” Doyoung remarks, just when the silence is starting to swallow the inside of the car. “Makes me wonder if you need Mr. Lee after all.”

“We actually don’t…” You shake your head. “We’re here and it’s free so why not?”

Jaehyun shoots you a questioning look. It’s not like you can cancel when you’re in Doyoung’s car and already on the way. You’ve known your boss long enough to know the wrong answer to his questions. You look outside at Seoul streets and sigh. 

Jaehyun looks at you, your focus elsewhere and wishes this would end already. He has no idea what overcame him to accept your ridiculous offer but he must be just as ridiculous. At the very least, he finds you quite lovely to look at—not that he’d ever admit it to you. The foundation to this weird bickering friendship (if he can call it that) would be ruined by that. His ego, however, has been boosted up a few notches from the fact that you called him for help. He looks outside the window, holding back a smile. It’s a sunny day.

The therapist, Mr. Lee’s office building is a fancy one with an even fancier lobby. Baby pink leather couches cushion your bum nicely as you wait for your appointment. The architecture is that of a corporate firm and you feel quite at home with the large glass walls by the revolving door. This therapist guy must be rich as hell. The receptionist wears a formal uniform; her blouse is light pink with a grey pencil skirt and you like the look of it. You wonder if asking her where she bought it is time-appropriate. More couples sit around you and you, unfortunately, have to scoot closer to Jaehyun as a result. You do not want to catch that disease they all have. Why are they even here for therapy if they’re smiling at each other in that sickly enamored way? 

Now that you’re here, you’re starting to feel that this arrangement was ill-decisive. You should’ve done a better job of acting. You wonder if you can get a refund for that college course on acting, pouting as the ticking wall clock gets on your nerves. Even the marble floors are pink; the walls are mahogany red and there’s a heart-shaped wall clock, and should you glance around more, you’re going to nauseate yourself. This guy certainly takes his job seriously—or just really likes pink-red themes.

A woman in her early thirties exits the elevator and announces your names, and you click your tongue at the fact that she used Jung for your surname. It sounds distasteful. 

You follow her, starting to get nervous. You really hope this Mr. Lee isn’t as good as Doyoung says he is. Your fraud falling apart within three days is too embarrassing a defeat, not to mention bordering on illegal if found out. What the fuck does the government care about broken hearts and beneficial relationships? It’s so nosy. You understand the financial situation in case of happily bonded soulmates but apart from that, there really shouldn’t be this much discrepancy in the name of love.

Love drives people crazy. You’d rather not lose your good sense in the name of something so inane. After all, money makes the world go around, not love. 

Restricting a gag at the deep red heart on the door, you push them open with Jaehyun to find an old man sitting on a similar baby pink couch as in the lobby. He gets up to greet the two of you, the wrinkles on his face deepening when he smiles. Despite everything, he has a sort of grace to him, the one that comes with growing old elegantly. An upbeat song plays on a record player attached to the wall, although at a very low volume, and the tune reminds you of Animal Crossing. 

“Doyoung told me about the two of you,” Mr. Lee says, gesturing at the two of you to sit down. “How long has it been since you found out?”

“Six days,” you answer at the same time Jaehyun answers, “Four days”.

The two of you look at each other.

“Four-Six days. We didn’t keep track.”

“Ah,” Mr. Lee says. “How do you propose to celebrate your anniversary?”

You hesitate opening your mouth and declaring that you don’t really need to do that crap. Mr. Lee notices your expression and breaks into gentle laughter. 

“I’m kidding. Anniversary dates don’t matter,” he laughs. “It’s okay to celebrate your 100-day on the wrong day. Don’t worry.”

You purse your lips. To your dismay, Jaehyun isn’t as bothered by the sickly pink environment and Mr. Lee’s relaxed demeanour.

“I have a hundred percent success rate,” Mr. Lee assures the two of you, looking directly at you.

“That’s what I’m worried about,” you mutter under your breath and get a nudge from Jaehyun, who has his politest smile on.

You can’t believe Jaehyun has a better customer service mode than you do. If you didn’t know him, you’d be fooled into thinking he’s the nice guy character every office has. Unfortunately, that one goes to Dongmin. You hate getting stuck with nice guys (unless they offer financial stability).

“I think Doyoung might have been exaggerating,” Jaehyun explains calmly. “Whatever he told you.”

“He told me the two of you have a bickering problem. And staring at each other when the other isn��t looking.”

You cough. “That is not true. The staring part.”

Jaehyun narrows his eyes at you. “I knew you were checking me out,” he mutters.

You roll your eyes. “Keep dreaming, Jaehyun.”

Mr. Lee laughs. “Your bickering seems to be quite affectionate. I don’t know what that boy was worried about.”

You press your lips together into a thin smile, annoyed that anyone would ever describe your interaction with a man as affectionate. It makes you feel like an idiot. You were always better off alone—the universe was wrong to assign Dongmin to you. Maybe you needed to see the apparent love of your life clearly in love with someone else to snap you to reality.

“However, what is a playful lover’s fight in the beginning can turn into real fights.”

“Right,” you mutter. “It’s all fun and games in the beginning.”

“The two of you have almost no animosity—you’ve known each other before you discovered the soulmark, right?”

The two of you nod, having already reconciled yourselves to this session. It’s a one-time thing, you tell yourself. It will be over soon.

“The soulmate information shouldn’t influence the relationship you already had. If anything, it should be drawing you closer. First time awkwardness is common.”

He’s starting to sound a lot like your high school sex ed teacher. You get the idea to pretend to be sick and get out of this early.

“Company policy too,” Jaehyun mutters. “Unofficial company policy makes office romance out to be some sort of sacrilege.”

“You know, I was the CEO of your company so I do know the policies,” Mr. Lee says, smiling in the confident, reserved way senior citizens offering wisdom do. 

You choke on the water you were taking a sip of, a coughing fit overcoming you and Jaehyun hesitates before awkwardly patting your back.

“Huh? CEO? I’m sorry?” you manage. 

Mr. Lee lets out a loud, hearty laugh. “I stepped down two years ago.”

“That’s when I joined,” you and Jaehyun say at the same time.

Mr. Lee smiles at the two of you wordlessly. “I have an idea for the two of you. Why don’t you try turning your ‘I’s into ‘we’s? Do some activities together and when you talk about it, you’ll find yourself much closer.”

You narrow your eyes. “You know, Mr. Lee, I’m a little curious about your relation with the company—”

“My recommendations won’t help you get promotions faster.”

“Dammit.”

Jaehyun chuckles beside you but a glare from you turns it into a suppressed smile. The one thing that wouldn’t be a waste of time opened its door and closed it right back. 

“But you know how promotions work,” you press, leaning forward.

An alarm rings, so pleasant in tone that you know it’s a Samsung. Unfortunately, it’s the ugly flip model and you question Mr. Lee’s taste (and wealth).

“Oh, look, time’s up,” Mr. Lee announces, and you think you catch a hint of nervousness in his voice. 

Jaehyun springs up before his ears turn red, embarrassed by the gusto with which he himself got up and looks at you expectantly. You get up, sighing.

“Next time, Mr. Lee,” you warn. “I will get those details.”

“I charge by the hour.” He smiles.

“Stop threatening the therapist,” Jaehyun mutters to you, taking your arm and turning to leave.

“Oh, and,” Mr. Lee calls. “It’s always better to be honest than to pretend.”

You blink in surprise when Jaehyun tugs at your arm, bowing in thanks and leaving the room with you.

“Was it just me or did he see through us?” you whisper to Jaehyun.

He shakes his head, whispering back, “There’s no way he could tell. He’s probably referring to something else.”

“Like what?”

Jaehyun doesn’t answer.

“Tell me, are you always so domineering towards strangers even?” he asks. “I just thought you liked to press my buttons because I’m easygoing.”

You scoff. “Don’t flatter yourself. You’re not as cool as you think you are, especially since you get so hot and bothered by me.”

“It’s just you,” he whispers earnestly and your pulse rises. “No one else.”

You cough to kill the awkward silence and walk faster to the elevator. Jaehyun follows at a leisurely pace and it’s never occurred to you before but the sound of someone’s footsteps can also be annoying, proof currently standing beside you.

The elevator doors open, and much to your appallment, a young couple happens to be full blown making out inside the elevator, hands where there certainly shouldn’t be in broad daylight. Jaehyun whips his face away, clearing his throat loud enough for the couple to detach themselves from each other and hurriedly exit, fixing their clothes on the way.

“So he wasn’t lying about the success rate,” Jaehyun states quietly, a look of resigned horror on his face.

You can’t even respond for a few moments, following him into the elevator and shaking your head to get rid of the thought that inevitably jams itself inside your head. It might have a point, however.

"Maybe we should kiss too," you think out loud.

Jaehyun stiffens, looking at you with wide, fearful eyes. "No."

"We have to kiss, we're dating!" You exclaim, hands on your hips.

"We're not actually—ah, whatever. It’s not worth bickering with you."

"Why? Afraid you'll fall in love with me?”

Jaehyun shakes his head, and you’re suddenly aware that your bickering keeps drawing you closer to each other, your faces nearer than you’d realized.

"If anything," he starts with a confident smile. "You better not fall in love with me."

"Oh, please. You're taking this way too seriously."

"You're the one that wants to kiss me."

Your cheeks heat up. "You're- I- That's not—argh, fuck you."

Jaehyun looks smug, and you have the unstoppable urge to punch it off his face. You take a deep breath. Violence is not the way, (name).

“If we were a few years younger, you’d be begging for mercy under me,” you seethe.

Jaehyun’s eyes shift over your face in confusion, ears burning bright red with each passing second. Before he can open his mouth, you let out a short yell.

“Not like that, you pervert,” you say, leaning away from him. 

“I didn’t even say anything. On an unrelated note, were you a delinquent in school?”

You roll your eyes. “Kind of. I had a temper and a sharp tongue.”

“And now you’re a people pleaser. That’s quite the development.”

You smack his shoulder. “You’re getting on my nerves, punk.”

He makes an ‘oh’ with his mouth before smiling. “You totally did the delinquent accent.”

“I’m guessing you were the shy, little boy who flushed red at conversations about kissing.”

Jaehyun clears his throat in annoyance. “I was not. I was quite popular in high school and college, you know?”

“Yeah,” you mutter. “It’s that face of yours.”

“Sorry, what? I didn’t catch that.”

“Oh, look, we’re on the first floor.” You exit the elevator, leaving a puzzled Jaehyun to follow in stumbling steps.

“I don’t think Doyoung’s picking us up,” you state. “You take the bus? Or do you have a car to flex? I don’t ride in anything below a Tesla, unless it’s Doyoung because he’s technically my boss.”

“You’ll have to do with good old rented Hyundais,” he answers.

You exhale. Maybe he’s getting used to you. The bus stop is opposite the building, the structure squeaky clean and a bunch of people waiting on the seats. It’s a busy place and you wonder if the scammy-therapist-slash-your-former-ceo’s business has anything to do with that. You sit the first chance you get, shoulders pressed against Jaehyun’s for the lack of space and admiring the passing traffic. Seoul really just depends on the lenses you see through. Work days make the screen tinted grey and blue and you hate them often but some days, it’s good to experience those. Weekends are brighter, sunny and usually not with Jaehyun but he doesn’t really put a damper on them either.

You scan his side profile, a little envious when you realize that his confidence isn’t misplaced. You might have trained yourself to be more of a pleaser over the years but he’s the sort of person people come to like naturally. Moreover, his skin is perfect and his hair is always looking styled even in a mess. Fate and Life are partners in crime when it comes to being unfair.

Jaehyun turns to look at you and you snap your head to your lap, turning on your phone and staring at the homescreen for a good few seconds.

“Twenty questions,” Jaehyun announces. “Let’s play again. I’ll go first. Do you check me out when I walk away?”

“What is this, playing my own cards against me?” You scoff. “You’re so full of yourself.”

“So, yes or no?”

“Sometimes,” you mutter. “But it’s not the good kind of checking out. I’m checking out how terrible you look with your mess of a tie.”

Jaehyun laughs, the sound a hearty rumbling sort and you can’t help but smile back at that. It’s kind of cute when he laughs—the sound of it and the way his cheeks are dusted pink.

“My turn,” you say with a cheeky smile as you lean in to whisper. “Have you ever had a wet dream about me?”

Jaehyun chokes on air, coughing out the surprise as he stares at you dumfound. You stick the tip of your tongue out and throw him a wink, thoroughly enjoying this victory against him. It feels great to fluster someone like Jaehyun.

“No,” he says with clear emphasis. 

“Even the night you said I was so unbearably hot very loudly to Sicheng?”

Jaehyun leans back sighing, covering his face with his hand. “I was tipsy. And it was my first night out with coworkers. Give me a break.”

You giggle. “Honestly, it wasn’t that bad. There were worse incidents that night. An intern threw up on Doyoung’s shoes—I can’t even imagine the horror the poor girl experienced.”

Jaehyun shakes his head, smiling through his hand. 

“Have you ever sent nudes?” you ask, wiggling your eyebrows.

He sighs. “Maybe. Have you?”

“Oh, wouldn’t you like to know?”

He curls his lips. The answer seems to be no but you’re at least seventy percent sure he would be attracted to you in a world where your personality traits weren’t being nosy and annoying.

“Do you think you’re a good kisser?” Jaehyun asks, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

“Definitely.”

He scoffs, a smile tugging at his lips.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You cross your arms.

He shrugs, leaning in slightly as though flirting (if he had the audacity). “We could test that.”

You feel your cheeks heat up. “What happened to no kissing in the contract?”

“It’s not officially there.”

You roll your eyes, glancing away. “You know, I’m starting to believe you were some sort of desperate fuckboy in college.”

“I- I was the hottest dude on campus and if we went to the same college, you would be pining after me. I literally had the Campus Prince title and girls would follow me to see me in class.”

He crosses his arms, a frown tugging down his lips.

“Ooh, Jung Yoonoh’s getting fired up,” you say in a monotonous voice. “Wonder how many girls you pulled with your chewed up fuckboy dialogue.”

Jaehyun scoffs but he clearly finds your accusations amusing, as hinted by his unbothered smile. He asks a question again.

“What’s more important to you—truth or happiness?” 

The question catches you off-guard. Jaehyun’s eyes are delicately curious, nothing too strong and even so, you find yourself holding your breath under his gaze.

“Huh?”

“Twenty questions. We were playing?” Jaehyun raises an eyebrow.

“Right.” You clear your throat, rubbing the back of your hand. “I… I’d choose happiness, I think. I’m… I’m not sure.”

“Really?” He doesn’t look too hellbent on taking apart your answer so you breathe out. He’s starting to pry into you finally. “I think the truth will make you happier.”

“That’s not- that’s not always true.” You look away, hoping the quietness of your voice ends the conversation there. You don’t know how to talk about it—you never really have. You’ve ugly cried over the lack of your love life to a stranger after five shots of whiskey but you don’t think you can talk about things like this sober. You don’t even know why you answered. Jaehyun makes you feel oddly comfortable.

Jaehyun shrugs, getting up when the next bus halts in front. 

“What did you major in?” you ask, following him.

“Business,” he answers before thinking. “Kind of hated it. But I started out with IT and that was somehow worse.”

You gasp, taking a seat beside him on the bus. “I started with IT too! It was a nightmare. You took that Database Management course?”

Jaehyun smiles. “It was like the course equivalent of reading the back of a Wi-Fi Router.”

You laugh. Maybe he isn’t so different after all. 

“You know, you do look like a business major,” you hum, furrowing your brows as you pretend to scrutinise him.

“So, you’re indirectly saying I either look like a rich kid or a jackass.” Jaehyun raises an eyebrow.

“They’re both the same thing.”

The laughter from the two of you makes an old woman behind you grunt in displeasure and the two of you apologize. It’s nice to talk like college kids again. The Seoul sunlight shines on Jaehyun’s face and you bite back a smile when his dimples appear. They aren’t all that bad. If you get along like this, there’s no reason to worry about fate and the universe and other superfluous things offered to you on a boring old ceramic plate. It’s a smooth ride.

Your eyes drift to Dongmin’s workspace instinctively and you shake your head. This is exactly why you were avoiding him and even started the entire fake relationship with Jaehyun. You’d choose fake dating a (good-looking) chump from management over embarrassment and possible heartbreak any day.

You groan internally before glancing again and find the desk empty. Surprised, you blink and turn only to scream at Dongmin’s figure behind you.

“Shh!” he says urgently. “Don’t move. And don’t panic when I say this but there’s a bug on your shoulder.”

“What the fuck? Get it off, please,” you say, voice choking up.

Dongmin rolls up a stack of papers and you let out a low screech. “Don’t kill it on my shoulder!”

“Sorry,” he says and your eyes soften as he gently pushes the paper against your shoulder and takes it away. You breathe a sigh of relief and he signs you a thumbs up as he wiggles the paper in the air outside the window. 

“You saved me,” you say, smiling.

He returns it, his most beloved eye smile making you wonder if you made the right choice. Wouldn’t it be fun to just crash everything and watch it burn? You know you want to. Benevolence and grace were never your style. However, it’s his smile again that stops you. Maybe you don’t really want to be the bad guy after all. You’re sparing him from confusion and dread.

You’re sparing yourself from rejection and inevitable loneliness (yay).

It’s been a week, discussing details with Jaehyun before the both of you collectively decided to just wing it and hope you’re not caught. After all, there’s no real way to prove you’re not soulmates if you’re careful enough (the same way you can’t prove someone’s cheating if they’re careful enough but that’s quite a depressing analogy). Perhaps if you renounce the soulmate benefits (and Dongmin didn’t smile as often at you), it would be less morally taxing. You, however, are greedy. When you want something, you’ll do anything to get it.

You stare at the computer screen and sigh, cross checking the employee records for incorrect data and your eyelids start to droop. Of all the days, you just had to be assigned the most boring task on a Friday. You also should’ve gotten sleep instead of getting mad at Jaehyun’s dry responses to your plan of action. It was perfectly viable; unnecessary, but perfect nonetheless.

Soojin rolls her chair backwards into yours. “We’re going drinking tonight. Wanna come? You can bring your boy-toy too.”

You roll your eyes. “As much as I’d love to call him that, he’s still the chump from marketing for me.”

“Or,” Soojin emphasizes. “Your actual soulmate. How lucky is it that you work in the same building, in the same company?”

“I’m not sure if you’re being ironic.” You scroll through the database with trained eyes.

“I’m not. A lot of soulmates don’t even get to see each other because of their line of work. It’s so tragic.”

You’d be glad if you didn’t get to see Dongmin ever too. But you’ll keep that to yourself. You hum in response and hear a sigh from behind you.

“Let’s have fun,” she whines. “Is Jaehyun that much of a downer? He’s one of the hottest dudes in the building. I thought you’d be cheery.”

You pause and think to yourself. She does have a point. You’re definitely supposed to look happier. Your soulmate has the looks of a model and fifteen year old you would fawn over him no doubt.

“It’s the work,” you answer. “I’m working overtime to compensate for my rent.”

You work overtime anyway because you hate heading home to an empty apartment. 

“Ah, you signed a new lease, right? Near Songpa?” Soojin looks at you with pity and pats your shoulder. “You know what? I’ll treat you to drinks tonight. You deserve a day off, missy.”

You smile. “Thanks, Soojin.”

“And,” she adds in a singsong voice. “The love of your life is here.”

You furrow your eyebrows before tilting your head and almost sighing in exasperation at the figure of Jung Yoonoh outside the glass door. He may not show it, but you know distress when you see it. You’ve seen enough squirming undergraduates at company interviews. 

You quickly get up from your seat, praying that he didn’t mess something up. However, you find it cute when he looks like this, the urge to fluster him even more presenting itself to be rather tempting.

“I think you have a sick obsession with me, Jaehyun.” You cross your arms after closing the door behind you.

He exhales, closing his eyes for a moment before taking your arm and pulling you away from the door. 

“Woah, this isn’t high school. You can’t just pull me into a corner to make out.”

Jaehyun’s ears flare hot red and he clears his throat. “You’re in high spirits today.”

You weren’t, actually. Somehow, teasing Jaehyun gives you the same rush as caffeine. You just love when the nonchalance on his face turns into discomposure.

“I came to give Doyoung these files. Or you, since you’re practically his assistant.”

You ignore his comment. “There’s clearly something else.”

“The team sports event is coming up,” Jaehyun starts, hesitating. “I’m not managing it this year. I have to participate.”

“So?”

“So Dongmin has a higher chance of finding us out. What if he sees my mark in the changing room and it all goes to shit?”

“Great! He’ll think you’re his soulmate and I’ll be spared from this nonsense.”

“I’m being serious. It’s already difficult living with Sicheng and having to change with my doors locked. It’s kind of suspicious.”

“Do you guys sleep naked with each other or what?”

“No, but I do sleep with my shirt off.”

“Ugh. Why would you give me that image?” you complain. The image isn’t bad per se but it’s not what you need right now.

“You clearly liked it,” he mutters. 

You furrow your eyebrows. “You’re not doing this just to give me a load of unnecessary anxiety, are you? Do you know how swamped with work I am?”

“No, of course not,” he answers, no indication of which question he answered. “Also, is there a reason Soojin’s glaring at me?”

You wave your hand in dismissal. “It’s just the haven’t-warmed-up-to-coworker’s-new-boyfriend glare. Don’t worry about it.”

He doesn’t seem too relieved but you have more anxious thoughts invading the privacy of your Friday evening. You have to keep up your composure. It could happen one way or another, perhaps in a situation better than a team sports activity, but you have to figure it out. You reject your soulmate anyway—the same way he would.

Glaring at Jaehyun one last time, you get back to your desk. Jaehyun looks at your receding figure and finds himself checking you out, the largest blow he’s taken to his dignity. He shakes his head, breathing in and out. This is so not like him. He’s supposed to be the suave, handsome guy who people can’t seem to get to and yet—yet, you do it so easily. It’s unfair. He swallows his heart and tells himself he’s too old to feel this way. He’ll just drown himself in work and pretend love is a commodity like everyone else with a corporate job is supposed to. 

“You know,” Soojin starts when you get back. “Jaehyun kind of looks high if you look at him long enough. Weed is illegal though but who knows? Maybe he’s a bad boy deep down after all.”

“Which rumour have you been paying attention to now?” You sigh deeply.

Soojin laughs. “It’s funny to hear everyone’s opinions. Even if most of them turn into scandalous tall tales.”

“Anyway,” she continues. “I’m clocking out. I’ll get Jaehyun to take you to the sake bar.”

You look at her, puzzled.

“You’re a matching set now,” she follows up and you groan.

“Don’t give me that cr—”

“Toodle-oo! Let’s have some fun before we’re grey and old, eh?”

You sigh and nod. Maybe you should look into a caffeine fix, even if it costs you a mental power outage at the end of the rush. It’s not like you to be so down on a Friday but alas, Fate is as miserable a woman as you are. The sake bar is starting to sound good.

Or, you could always watch a few ASMR cooking videos instead of staring blankly at the employee records. Either way, this Friday better improve by tonight.

“This is going great,” Soojin says, louder than she probably intended after her fourth shot.

“Of course it is,” you mutter. 

You haven’t yet had a chance to drink more because of two reasons: one) Soojin is hogging the alcohol and two) it would be embarrassing to get drunk in front of Jaehyun. Adding to your misery, Soojin has been gushing over her soulmate and the way she always makes breakfast for Soojin, listing off every single recipe she’s made. You would love to listen but you’re a tiny bit past your limit.

“Wooh, Jaehyun, you look hot,” Soojin whistles, in more of an older sister manner. “I can almost see your tattoo. Why don’t the two of you show us at the same time and we can take a commemorative picture?”

You cough loudly. “Mine’s on my waist, Soojin. I’m not ready to expose skin.”

“Right. Sorry.” She turns back at lightning speed to bother Dongmin with her stories, who smiles at her politely. It seems so genuine that you’re slightly enamored with it for a moment. There’s Jungwoo from marketing beside him, some more HR employees and thankfully, no interns. Doyoung is the only one partly miserable in the lot, talking into the phone for half an hour now. 

“Shit.” Jaehyun nudges you and whispers, “I forgot about the tattoo. This T-shirt makes it very visible.”

You look at him, alarmed. You fix his jacket, startling him, and pull the zipper all the way to his neck, making sure to backhand him on the chin.

“There.”

“It’s hot in here.”

“What do you want me to do about it? God, you’re like a child.”

“I’m like a—okay. Just cover my tattoo with foundation or something.”

“You think I carry around a whole bottle of foundation?”

Jaehyun blinks, deeming it safer to keep his mouth shut. 

“Okay. Fine. I have an idea. Come to the washroom with me.”

“Oh my, this isn’t your making out in the corner type of thing, right?”

You glare at him and he shuts up, following you quietly to the surprisingly clean restroom. The fact that it isn’t gendered makes you very glad. You make Jaehyun sit on the low enough basin counter and push your knee against it to balance yourself as you take out a permanent marker from your bag.

“I hope Doyoung doesn’t fire me for sneaking away,” you mutter angrily. “He didn’t even make me receive his calls all day.”

Jaehyun scoffs lightly. “Please, Doyoung adores you and your work ethic. He talks about it more than what I need to overhear. That and Taeyong’s detailed aquarium maintenance rules.”

“He does?”

Jaehyun clears his throat and you hold back bombing him with more questions till you’re done with painting an arrow into his tattoo.

“Isn’t it weird?” He looks at you with round, curious eyes. “Yours is a heart. Mine’s a pierced heart.”

“Hm. Funny coincidence.”

“Do you have to sit on my lap for this?”

“I’m not sitting on your lap,” you hiss. You are kind of close. You train your eyes on his collarbone as you pull his neckline down. 

It would be so embarrassing to be caught like this. You’d rather be caught making out with someone in the broom closet. You hold back a pained sigh. Jaehyun has some nerve speaking to you when you’re already annoyed with him. Couldn’t he just have worn his business attire? Why does he get to go home early? Taeyong is far too lenient a boss. You start swearing internally, getting nervous when you think about the consequences of your actions.

“Has anyone ever filed a complaint against you?” Jaehyun asks, and you nudge his chin upwards to draw the line on his tattoo.

“For what? Being perfect and successful?”

“For that attitude. The ‘take what I want’ attitude.”

You roll your eyes. “No. You’re saying it like I’m awful to the core for trying to take what I want. I haven’t got such a bad soul, you know, as souls go. You wouldn't write articles about how good a soul it is but… it’s well enough.”

Jaehyun raises an eyebrow and you avert your gaze from his eyes. This sort of proximity shouldn’t be bothering you, you shouldn’t be rambling.

The door opens right then and in a fit of panic, you do the unthinkable. You press your lips to Jaehyun’s and pray that whoever walked in has no idea who you are and more importantly, can’t see the permanent marker in your hand. 

“I’m so sorry!”

You know that voice. You half regret it when you hear it. Dongmin exits the bathroom as quickly as he entered and you pull away to look at the empty space. Beside you, Jaehyun stays so still that you forget he’s there for a moment. You breathe out in relief though part of you still feels a heavy ounce of regret.

You turn back to Jaehyun and find his doe eyes soft and lost in thought.

“I get it now,” Jaehyun whispers. “It must hurt. That he doesn’t care about the system.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That he’s so reckless about discarding you.”

You separate yourself from him further, standing up and brushing your clothes. “You’re overstepping.”

“Sorry,” he responds quietly. 

There’s a pause.

“Did you just kiss me right now?”

“Shut up. I didn’t want him to see us and especially this.” You wave the marker in front of his face.

“You just kissed me in a fit of panic. That’s the first time I’ve seen someone respond to panic this way.” Jaehyun looks a little too smug.

“What are you implying?” 

“You wanted to kiss me.”

You scoff. “Don’t get too ahead of yourself.” 

You want to knock the smile right off his face but you stick to flicking his forehead, his yell of surprise satisfying. This Friday night was supposed to get better. In fact, you are going to make it better if life won’t. The soju won’t drink itself and you deem that Soojin has had enough. 

Ignoring Dongmin’s confused look, you order far too many soju shots to be considered healthy. As you promised yourself, you are going to make this Friday better.

//

You just had to go and get drunk. Jaehyun stares at you, blinking slowly and wondering just how much you can embarrass yourself before it becomes a burden for him. He has to get you home; you’re practically a matching set now. But are the halves of a pair supposed to take care of the other when they get drunk?

“You know what, guys?” You announce, standing up abruptly and immediately getting pulled back to your seat by Jaehyun. It doesn’t stop your mouth however.

“I hate the stupid system,” you continue. “To tell the truth—”

He smacks his hand over your mouth. Jaehyun has had enough of the silent mini heart attacks you give him. The rest look at him with puzzled looks and he can’t even bring himself to give them a polite smile before dragging you out of the bar. The night breeze is cold enough—maybe it’ll sober you up.

"You're so annoying, Jaehyun," you mutter, massaging your forehead. "Did you know that?"

Or maybe it won’t.

"Never heard that before."

"How do you always keep to yourself and still be the center of attention?" You cling to his arm for balance. 

"Have you considered that maybe a polite man isn't as scheming as you think he is?"

You curl your lips. "Stop using big sentences. I hate that I barely know you, and I know everyone."

Jaehyun purses his lips. "You just enjoy the power that comes with figuring people out. Don't you?"

"Whatever you say. I want life to be a nice and smooth ride but then again, I can't even face my soulmate." You let out an airy laugh. "I didn't really need one though."

Jaehyun laughs in disbelief. "You look like you're dying of loneliness."

"Ooh, that's a big claim, Yoonoh."

"You say I keep to myself but what about you? You like hiding, don't you?"

You laugh. "Is this the part where I say we're nothing alike?"

He purses his lips, shaking his head in dismissal. He's just tired of chit-chat with someone who smells like she robbed a liquor store in Itaewon.

“You must think I’m some sort of selfish, vapid, work-obsessed overachiever,” you continue, tilting your head with a blank look in your eyes.

“Well, not exac—”

“But guess what? Your opinions are invalid, Jung Yoonoh. You’re just some chump from marketing. A very good-looking chump but still.”

Jaehyun swears under his breath as you fling your arms open in the same manner a speech-giving patriot fighting for freedom would. Unfortunately, the freedom struggle is private in this day and age, and you just smacked him in the nose instead.

You sigh deeply and he looks at you again, warily now as he holds his nose.

“You’re not exactly wrong either. I’m so empty. Like a bottle of soju with no soju. Could you bring me some?”

Jaehyun massages his temples and solidifies his resolve. He’s had enough stares from people on the sidewalk. With delicate concern, he holds you up with one arm around your waist, balancing your weight evenly so you can stand. Promptly, you bury your face into his neck and an embarrassing, high-pitched squeak evades the filter of his mouth. You’re just so adept at making his days (and nights) worse.

Jaehyun tries his best to carry you to the parking lot without any signs of struggle but good lord, are you uncooperative. Once he’s down lugging you to the passenger seat, he breathes out in relief at long last and makes sure you don’t fold in over yourself dozing off the seat. Getting you to sit up, he finds himself smiling the slightest bit at your smudged lipstick. Even like this, you’re quite pretty. 

Realizing what thought came over him, he shakes his head vigorously as if he’s committing a horrible crime. He just has to get you home—Soojin had texted him the address prior to the outing just in case—and then he can go back to pretending whatever he even is supposed to.

The sports event is really just HR and Management trying to one-up the other in a more quantitative way. You’re not really fond of the sweat and heavy breathing that comes with physical exertion if it’s for the sake of competition. Competition is such a childish, masculine way of handling things, especially emotions.

HR is leading in wins, however and that means you have something to rub in Jaehyun’s face. You hate participating but you’re not allowed to opt out without a medical certificate. At least one competition, and you had to choose the three-legged race. All these potential partners, and Dongmin had to choose you.

“I’ll win,” you tell Jaehyun, stopping by him once you exit the changing room. The indoor stadium is usually a recreational facility for senior employees but on sports day, it’s closer to a gladiator arena. The seats are green and occupied by grinning employees, most of them glad for a day off but also upset they don’t get to attend their personal affairs in it.

Jaehyun stops himself from rolling his eyes. “Shouldn’t it be a ‘we’? You need a partner. Oh, are you sad you can’t pick me?”

“Not at all.” You cross your arms, annoyed at his mock pity. 

Right then, Dongmin jogs up to you in a blue tracksuit. His hair sticks to his forehead because unlike you, he takes sports very seriously. Jaehyun, on the other hand, just seems to enjoy the competition. As a guilty pleasure, you’d like to see the two of them compete one day. That would be a competition worth betting on.

“I’ll have to borrow your soulmate.” Dongmin laughs. “The race is starting.”

Life strikes again with its poorly timed irony.

“Don’t mind me,” Jaehyun says politely.

The race is easier than you thought it would be considering most of the other employees struggle with teamwork. You’re the HR team for a reason. But then again, you feel a certain hollowness pervade you while you’re pressed to Dongmin’s side. Wouldn’t it be nice?

All you can think is that Dongmin and you are perfectly in sync. The realization comes off as sad despite your victory and the wide grins on both of your faces. 

Jaehyun purses his lips and gives the two of you a nonchalant look. He’s avoided getting caught in the changing room quite well. For some reason, he’s glad that you’re winning but also dissatisfied about it. He would certainly feel different if he were participating in that race, wouldn’t he? He would win. Losing a competition is a huge blow to his ego. Lately, he seems to be losing a lot of races. The two of you have been growing closer and he doesn’t mind late night discussions about flawed systems and childhood memories; but the fact that you’re growing on him is something for him to be on edge about. He’s never felt so close to someone, and still so far.

“Oh, they have good chemistry, don’t they?” Doyoung comments beside Jaehyun, before taking a sip from his bottle.

“What chemistry?” Jaehyun snaps and Doyoung almost chokes on the water.

“Chill out, man.” Doyoung eyes Jaehyun’s figure in concern. “She’s like officially yours.”

Jaehyun refuses in a series of sputtering responses. “That’s not what I meant. I’m not jealous. I’m not that kind of man.”

“I didn’t paint you as that kind of man either,” Doyoung mutters before speaking up. “But love, Jaehyun. Love’s a weird thing.”

Jaehyunn ignores his comment and walks down to the grounds, jogging up to you. He immediately forgets to say anything at all. Smooth move, Yoonoh.

You just stick out your tongue at him subtly.

“I told you we’d win,” you say.

Jaehyun crosses his arms. “Congratulations. I thought you, quote, hate this stupid competition for dunces.”

You clear your throat and Dongmin laughs beside you. Before he can offer his bottle, Jaehyun offers his own in a rush. You raise an eyebrow but don’t question it.

“You guys really are a perfect pair.” Dongmin laughs. “Sometimes I wish Mijoo was my soulmate.”

You give him a pitiful smile. There go your happy feelings of victory.

“But I’m happy this way.” Dongmin nudges your shoulder with his. “Don’t give me that look.”

That is not the look he thinks you were giving. You smile. 

“What about this? We can go on a double date! Those are fun, right?” Dongmin muses, crossing his arms.

“No,” you and Jaehyun refuse in a panic, and Dongmin blinks in confusion at the overwhelming response.

“I'm more of a homebody,” you explain.

“Yeah, me too,” Jaehyun agrees.

It makes Dongmin laugh aloud. “Oh, fate didn’t go wrong with the two of you.”

Your smile wavers. Did it go so wrong with you and Dongmin? Jaehyun’s hand brushes yours and you look at him. A perfect side profile and flushed hot cheeks with dimples to die for. You wouldn’t mind being in love with him. You don’t mind love much at all. 

Shaking off the thought, you watch as Dongmin leaves the two of you to run to the changing rooms. Eyeing Jaehyun’s red team sweatshirt with “Management” in big typography over the chest, you look back up to his face. 

“Why did you jog over here so desperately?” You wiggle your eyebrows. “Jealous?”

“Yes. I am irreparably in love with you.”

He leans in quickly and you flinch, making his dimples show up.

“Asshole,” you curse. “I’ll file you for harassment. Don’t do that again.”

“Isn’t it harassment when you feel me up while you draw—” Jaehyun leans in to whisper. “—the soulmark?” 

“I would never have my hands near your greasy existence if I could,” you huff, scandalized. 

But the thing is, Jaehyun is getting better at this game of flustering each other and you don’t like it one bit.

“Hey, you know Dongmin’s girlfriend?” he asks suddenly. 

You nod. “Kind of. I’ve seen her pictures on Instagram.”

Jaehyun pauses before humming in realization.

You cough. “Not that I was stalking them or something. Obviously.”

Jaehyun gives you a knowing smile but doesn’t question anything, much to your aggravation. It would’ve been better if you had a chance to prove you weren’t stalking them but then again, that is exactly what you were doing.

“Well, we went to the same college. Same major too.”

“Are you serious? Wait, how do you know? Does this mean you stalked their Instagram too?”

“Too?”

“Shut up.”

There’s a beat of silence. 

“She’s not exactly the evil homewrecker type,” he says.

“I know that,” you snap. If anything, you feel like the evil homewrecker even if Dongmin’s supposed to be your soulmate.

They’re so reckless. Jaehyun was right—you do blame them in a way. They don’t care who they trample under their nauseating parade of romance. But then again, that parade is better than a personal rejection.

“I’m just saying… don't hold it against them.”

“I don’t remember asking for advice, Jung Yoonoh.”

Jaehyun shrugs, dropping the issue. The preparations for the next race is starting and it has something to do with passing balls from basket to basket—you get bored already when you see Doyoung stretch before shaking hands with Taeyong.

“Wanna get ice-cream? We funded the food truck this year.” Jaehyun looks expectantly at you.

“Sure.” 

You contemplate holding his hand for a moment but let that thought bury itself. You don’t have to pretend right now. 

Much to your despair (or delight) however, Jaehyun takes your hand absentmindedly as he walks towards the exit. It’s not that you’ve never held hands before, it’s just that Jaehyun’s skin is soft against yours.

“I can’t believe you and Mijoo were in the same course.”

It seems she’s ahead of you in every direction you look to tread on. Of course, you will not be telling Jaehyun that. You don’t exactly feel jealousy—can’t feel jealousy when your life is perfect as it is. And for Jaehyun? You hate to admit it but you’d trade places with Mijoo any day.

“Well, she didn’t really like socializing back then so I didn’t know we were in the same program either.”

You chuckle, glancing down at your intertwined fingers despite your best efforts. It feels nice like this. It feels nice to be wanted by someone—even if it’s a lie.

“Do you think- Do you think they’re brave?” You ask. “They didn’t even hesitate to disregard the system.”

“I think people in love are always brave.”

You hum, looking down at your feet. All the more reason the system fucked up. You were never even supposed to be partnered up. You’re not brave—the face you put on is. The idea of love seems to get further and further away from you.

Just then, Jaehyun tugs at your hand, walking slightly faster and making you complain as you jog to catch up with his long strides. The food truck is fairly large, on the street outside to the stadium entrance. February is catching up with its heat and you curse at global warming for this hot winter day.

“You can take up to five scoops of different flavours,” he informs you, grinning sheepishly. “I guess the cups aren’t large enough for beyond that.”

“I didn’t know you were this passionate about ice-cream,” you say.

“Sicheng rubbed off on me.”

You laugh. IT must have given Sicheng enough stress to develop a sweet tooth. You love the HR Department when you look at the others in your company.

Jaehyun has a nice smile. You don’t know why you think that but you do and now you can’t focus on anything apart from the pink dust sprinkled over his cheeks and the handsome dimples that accompany. You don’t want to stare but clearly, Jaehyun must have been blessed by some divide being if not for fate. Maybe he’s a mess up like you. As far as you know, his soulmate doesn’t exist. That little red heart is so simple that none of the soulmate designs match it.

A rather repulsing part of you is happy about it. You like the feel of Jaehyun’s hands. You like the way he looks at you. You wouldn’t mind it if he were yours.  

Jaehyun’s house is as cosy as his mother makes you feel. It’s been a while since you’ve been home and if you were perhaps less emotionally constipated, you would have tears welling up in your eyes. There’s quite a few relatives too but then again, every Asian family jumps at the chance to celebrate something as mediocre as engagements and marriage and soulmate findings. Apparently, hormones are perfectly fine to them once you’re not teenagers anymore.

This isn’t so bad. What was so scary about meeting parents again? Jaehyun’s dad did challenge you with a questionnaire but lucky for you, you know exactly how interviews work. You’ve got enough information on Jaehyun from the man himself for this visit. The briefing he gave you was boring though; you already know what you need to know about Jaehyun.

You sit at the table, while most of the other guests work in the kitchen. Jaehyun’s mother asks you questions about your life, friendly and welcoming in every way possible. Mothers are truly god-sent. You wonder how she produced someone as far from divine as Jaehyun. (Except in looks, perhaps.)

You say that out loud and get a sharp quip from Jaehyun, his mother’s eyes lighting up at your childish interaction.

“Oh my, fate is never wrong!” She remarks with a wide smile. “I’ve never seen Jaehyun open up so much with anyone before. He was such a shy boy in school, you know? All the girls would send letters and confessions and he would just turn red in the face.”

“Mom.” He smiles all too sweet at her but you can see the panic in his eyes.

She rolls her eyes before turning to you. “Darling, you have no idea how proud I feel to see him this at ease. I was honestly getting tired of all the ‘your son is so polite and well-mannered’ comments. Some bickering ought to do him good.”

“Mom,” he repeats, straightening. “I think auntie needs some help setting up the table.”

“Don’t shoo me away yet. I have to tell (name) about the time you were elected class representative in middle school. And all those sports and acting awards.”

“You don’t have to advertise me, Mom,” he says, dropping his face into his hands to rub at his eyes, already growing tired. “I’m already- I’m already hers.”

His mother coos and apart from the expected deep red flush on Jaehyun’s skin, you find yourself feeling hot in the face too. Jaehyun’s aunt calls for his mother right then and you watch as she makes her way to the kitchen entrance, the two women glancing at you and giggling to each other over some shared words.

Jaehyun takes the opportunity to grab your hand and walk away to a more obscure part of the house upstairs. With significantly less relatives, it should be a good hiding spot unless discovered by his giggling cousins that he refuses to introduce you to. 

“Aw, what a shy baby,” you coo, smiling at the thought of a younger, easily-flustered Jaehyun.

His ears are bright red and you think that he’s still easily flustered. He just doesn’t show it much anymore—there’s only one dead giveaway.

“Forget everything my mom said,” he instructs. “It’s not important information.”

“Oh, no, darling. Your mother is a gold mine of vital information. You know what? I’m going to go chat her up right now. I’m sure you were quite the teenage dream I should know about.”

Jaehyun grips your wrist before you can escape, pulling your closer.

“Don’t.”

You don’t know if it’s the proximity or the fact that there are most definitely a few family members that could walk in right now—but you find yourself embarrassed as you look at his face. It’s very pleasant, handsome even, and the strands of his hair look irresistibly soft from this distance. You reach your hand out and brush the hair out of his eyes, almost instinctively. 

“You have nice eyes, Jaehyun,” you say out loud, not sure why. He doesn’t fluster this time but it makes you all the more aware of your nearness.

Your eyes glance at the bottom of the staircase to see a little girl, around nine, hiding from behind the wall that separates the dining room and the kitchen. You return your gaze to Jaehyun with a smirk.

"We should kiss right now. Your little cousin's watching."

Jaehyun looks mildly disgusted. "Why would I want to kiss you in front of my cousin?"

You roll your eyes. “You don't get it, do you? The fastest way to convince a family is through rumours.”

Jaehyun raises an eyebrow. "So?"

"Oh my god, you're an idiot. Nosy cousins are the most effective way to spread rumours."

"Ah." Jaehyun looks enlightened enough for you to continue.

"Okay, but first you need to have these mints." You take out the emergency mints from your purse.

"What? I don't need mints. I have nice smelling breath.”

"Everyone needs mints, Jaehyun. Especially men."

Jaehyun sighs heavily. You take the opportunity to grab his wrist and pull him into a corner. 

"Have this mint or else."

You hold his face between your thumb and forefingers, cheeks squishing under the pressure as you force a mint in. He lets you do it for some reason, looking lost as he gazes at you. 

You raise an eyebrow. "Oh my, you're enjoying this. Pervert."

"Wha—what? You have to stop thinking you're hot shit, oh my god. I just got distracted for a bit."

"By me, right?"

"No! I just zoned ou—you're enjoying this."

You bite down your smile but a giggle escapes you anyway. Jaehyun rolls his eyes though he smiles, looking far too close to irresistible when his dimples show.

"You can't keep teasing me," he says, voice low.

"I've been doing it for two years. I'm pretty sure I can do it for at least two more."

Jaehyun scoffs, laughing at your statement. "You know what? I'm going to get back at you from now on. I've been so lenient."

You snort before pressing the back of your fingers to your nose. "You? You're going to get back at me? You’re good at lip service, Jaehyun."

“Huh. You might be right about that.”

There's a beat of silence and you look at him expectantly. In the next beat of your heart (or lack thereof), he cups your cheeks and presses his lips to yours, surprising the life out of you as your back hits the wall. It's not just a touch either, his mouth moves over yours and when your knees feel weak, you reluctantly admit that the rumour about Jung Yoonoh being a good kisser is true. Maybe his body count isn't a lower-end single digit after all.

He pulls apart with a short smile tugging at his lips. "Satisfied?"

You sputter out a response before clearing your throat. “I- I don’t think anyone really saw us in this corner.”

Jaehyun makes a low humming sound. “Or you could just say you want me to kiss you again? I know I’m a good kisser.”

“Fuck off.” You punch his chest, eliciting a quiet grunt from him.

You move away from him, peeking from behind the wall. Oh, she saw it alright. The giggling gives it away and the fact that a few more younger cousins have gathered. This is ridiculous. The fact that you wouldn’t mind more is even worse.

You turn back to Jaehyun with steel-set eyes. “No more kissing. Ever. Never again. Kissing is officially banned.”

Jaehyun looks perplexed. “I thought that was a good kiss. Did you not enjoy it? What do you mean no kissing?”

“And I take it back.” The heat on your face is still burning steadily. 

“Oh, I see. You liked it so much that you’re embarrassed.”

“You’re such a pain in the ass.”

“So I’m right?”

You roll your eyes and quickly walk down the stairs, a few words of complaint left hanging in the air as Jaehyun follows behind, stumbling over the steps.

Jaehyun likes how comfortable this is. He doesn’t mind glaring daggers at each other but this is fun too. It’s like he doesn’t have to be careful about the lines he might be crossing—there aren’t any damn lines at all. He can’t call it love, at least not by definition, but something is there. Something that is solid enough and heavy enough. Something he would be ready to hold on to.

You laugh at a joke Jaehyun’s dad makes. A family is the only place to feel at home. It might not be yours but maybe at the end of the night, you can convince them to disown Jaehyun and adopt you as their child instead. His cousins seem to be interested in the same things you were as a high schooler and it surprised you. Your job lets you advise the older cousins in a fairly friendly fashion. The little ones seem to like your dress and you find them far too adorable with their pink cheeks and dimples, much like Jaehyun’s. Speaking of which, he definitely got them from his dad. You look around and wonder how Jaehyun has so many female cousins and not an inkling about how women work. 

It doesn’t hurt anymore that Dongmin discarded you so recklessly.

He’s wrong. Jaehyun’s wrong. It doesn’t hurt—didn’t hurt right now at the very least. When Jaehyun kissed you, you didn’t think of Dongmin or his girlfriend or anyone else. You thought that Jaehyun’s skin is somehow always the right temperature. 

You shake your head. Jaehyun drives your getaway car and you shouldn’t get too comfortable in its worn-out leather seats. This shouldn’t be any different to you; you aren’t supposed to find love in every corner. This was all a survival instinct. 

The more stories Jaehyun’s mother shares with you over dinner, the more you find it comfortable to be here. You don’t feel this welcome in your own apartment (although, there isn’t exactly anyone else living there but you and the goddamn pigeon that wakes you up at six in the morning). The more the night progresses, the more you want to believe in this lie. Jaehyun glances at you from time to time, his gaze neither uncomfortable nor harsh and you smile at him when he does. Right now, there is no loneliness and the air is warm and smells of freshly cooked food; the way familial love works is such a mystery. You feel content.

“Why are we doing this again?” you lean in and ask Jaehyun, eyes focused on the TV as he tries to fix it.

“Because I need to get out of work, and fulfilled soulmates get a day off on Valentine’s day.”

You nod. “Your apartment kind of stinks. I feel sorry for Sicheng.”

“This is clean,” he defends, pointing at the lack of any visible mess in his room. His work table, however, has too many items scattered over it to be called neat. There’s a fairly large TV attached to the wall and you’re a little jealous about it. You only ever watch shows on your (quite beloved albeit small) laptop. The blinds aren’t fully closed, the evening city lights trying their best to pry their pervasive fingers in and add something more to the peach hue of Jaehyun’s room.

The doorbell rings just in estimated time for food delivery, a sigh leaving your mouth along with a ‘finally’. His place is strangely comfortable and much less of the war zone that you expected. There’s no reason to feel awkward, really, or even the bubbling in your stomach. You’re not seventeen, in your crush’s house. Jaehyun isn’t even someone you like that way.

It’s just two friends hanging out and watching a movie and doing other friendly activities. Two friends hanging out on Valentine's day. Two friends who have kissed more than once.

What do lovers do anyway?

This thing with Jaehyun has turned into clandestine smiles at the office building, subtle texts of ‘did you eat?’ and ‘good morning, idiot’, racing hearts at brushing hands on the occasional off-work hangouts (you refuse to call them “dates”) and overall, a lot more pink hearts floating over his head when you see him. It’s positively appalling. 

You don’t mind it one bit.

“Happy Valentine’s Day!” The delivery man wishes as he leaves and you feel a sudden rage bubble up in you. 

“Ah, does he think every couple celebrates Valentine’s day? And just because we’re in the same apartment means we’re a couple? Wow.” You cross your arms, scoffing. “Who’s he to wish me?”

“Why… Why are you getting mad?” Jaehyun asks quietly, slightly confused.

You glare at him, your anger not quite dissipated and walk back into his room, placing the box of confectionaries on the bedside table with a loud thud. Jaehyun follows, placing the drinks rather clumsily beside it. He gives you one last look of concern before settling down on his bed.

You let out another huff of complaint.

"Does everything have to be heart-shaped?"

You stare at the nauseating display of baked goods delivered in a pretty heart-shaped box. The brownie is in a clear plastic box that has a tiny bouquet of hearts atop it, the coffee cups have heart stickers around the rim, and the pastry itself is heart-shaped or rather, two halves of a heart. One of them is strawberry pink and the other chocolate brown.

“You seem… suddenly fired up,” Jaehyun comments quietly.

You don’t really care if you look crazy to him right now; he’s already seen the worse parts of you. You’re just so annoyed at all this red and pink that was delivered. Aren’t cafes supposed to stick with that beige-cream palette? 

While you contemplate, Jaehyun tears the little sugar packet and attempts to open the lid of the cup at the same time, your blood pressure rising at the sight because you were half sure he’d spill the drink. After much difficulty, he shakes the packet trying to get just enough sugar but of course, like the clumsy oaf he is, he misses almost entirely, spilling sugar over his coffee table. It’s oddly endearing but that’s a thought you’ll keep to yourself.

He turns to you with a sheepish grin and you give him a look of distaste.

“You are a sorry excuse of a person, Jaehyun.”

“Look me in the eye and tell me you wouldn’t mess this up.”

You turn to look him in the eyes, the honey shade alluring under warm apartment lights. They really are pretty. 

“I, and every other sane human being, would not mess up adding sugar to a cup of coffee.”

“You faltered for a moment there.”

That was not the reason you faltered. You roll your eyes and look away, taking a sip of your drink and sighing at the taste.

“How do you even like Americanos? Don’t you like a bit of cream and sweetness?”

 “I don’t really care for bitterness,” he answers.

“Wow, you must be a masochist.”

“And it’s quite obvious you’re a sadist.”

You snicker. “That makes us quite the pair.”

“I would like that sentence in a non-BDSM context, thank you.”

Jaehyun turns on the TV and the Netflix logo animation pops up. You raise an eyebrow at his ‘Continue Watching’ list, eyeing Bridegerton and Sweet Home, and wondering if he could be any more of an enigma. You can’t possibly figure him out at this point. You groan when he picks a title.

“Ugh. Do we have to watch a romantic comedy?”

“What? They’re funny. And I thought you liked those 2000’s movies.”

You believed in unicorns and sock goblins and love back then too. These days, you hate to see other people in love, especially when it’s fake. The movies you loved are now the movies you hate. The couples you eyed with delight at parks and cafes are now the bane of your existence. In fact, you’d go as far as to say that you enjoy the digital fireworks from a couple having a massive online breakup. Things falling apart are entertaining when it’s not happening to you.

You purse your lips. Can't you see other people happy without wanting to tear it down for yourself?

“Fine. But I’ll pick the 2000’s romcom.”

Jaehyun shrugs and hands over the remote. You see Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds on the poster and click on it immediately. The Proposal has a good enough comedy to romance ratio, in your opinion.

“I’m kind of surprised you came,” he says quietly.

“Why?” You raise an eyebrow. “Is it because of the suggestive nature of visiting someone’s apartment on Valentine’s day? Did you think we’d be doing something… more fun?”

You lean in and bat your eyelashes suggestively, although you’re clearly joking.

“I think you should know better than to get mouthy with me,” he answers as he leans in further, making your heartbeat hike at the proximity. Maybe he’s figured you out. Wouldn’t it be so nice to figure each other out at the same time—like puzzle pieces fitting together?

You move away from him. “Well, it’s not like I can go anywhere else. And I didn’t want to stay in my own apartment.”

“Maybe you enjoy my company?”

“Look, I would be sipping my coffee at a perfectly aesthetic cafe if it weren’t Valentine’s day.”

He raises an eyebrow at your nonsensical declaration and you sigh, trying to explain yourself.

“Cafes just terrorize the single folk on Valentine’s day. You should always go with Netflix,” you say.

“And chill?”

“Do you even know what that means?”

“As I’ve told you so many times, I am not stupid.”

You inhale, an idea presenting itself.  

“Hey, since we’re technically a couple, shouldn’t you be sharing your Netflix password with me?” you ask, pressing your lips into your cutest smile.

“No.”

“You’re so stingy,” you mutter. It was worth a shot.

Jaehyun laughs, your hand reaching out to poke his dimples but you stop yourself. You weren’t supposed to get this comfortable. This wasn’t your place to be. Lost in thought, the moving screen leaves you unfazed and you can’t look at him anymore. However, Jaehyun reaches out right then and wipes at the space beside your lips, your focus lifting from the beginning scenes of The Proposal and latching onto Jaehyun’s lips.

There’s a pause, your head clearing itself of thoughts when you make eye contact with him. Soft hair, doe eyes, full lips and dimples—he’s so damn attractive, it hurts your existence. Does he have to be this close to you? You have mixed feelings about that look in his eyes.

“Can I kiss you?” he whispers suddenly.

“Yes,” you answer.

If you look from a rational point of view, you should not have said that. You should have said anything but that. But you don’t want to think right now. Jaehyun’s touch is warm over your skin as his hand rests under your jaw and the other on your waist.

You should not have said that. But you feel loved.

Somewhere along, you find yourself parting only to kiss again, the feeling of skin so delightful in a way you’ve never experienced. Your shirt hikes up and you see Jaehyun eye the little heart with the arrow—the sign you so despised with a gentle smile.

“It’s pretty,” he whispers.

It’s pretty but it isn’t his. He doesn’t have to look at you like that—he’s come a long way from nervous glances and now he’s the one making you nervous. Just say it isn’t love and it will be alright.

You part, sobering up for a moment and you disentangle your limbs to sit at the side of his bed.

“What’s- What’s wrong?” Jaehyun whispers.

You exhale.

“All my life, I wait and when it comes, it’s all wrong,” you say, staring at your lap. Self-pity is the most disgusting kind of pity to feel. You’re past crying at things like this. You’re past crying for an ounce of romance, every time you listen to a love song on the radio or look at an Instagram post of a couple or pass by lovers on the sidewalk content with each other. You don’t even have cats to return home to. Modern loneliness is wearing you down but you can’t believe in fairytales anymore.

He scoffs, smiling bitterly. “I don’t even know if this is worth losing my dignity over.”

“Jaehyun—”

“We can’t pretend anymore—I can’t pretend anymore,” Jaehyun exhales. “I want you enough to forget the system. Give me an answer. Please.”

You don’t mind forgetting the system right now. Jaehyun’s lips are always the right temperature; the warmth of his body seeps through his shirt as you press yourself to him in a hug. He’s perfect and right now, you want to believe he’s perfect for you—even if he isn’t, you want to believe it into existence.

You cup Jaehyun’s cheeks, unsaid emotion in his doe eyes, and kiss him. This time, you mean it with every ounce of your being. There’s no more flustering each other, just the hot flush of intimacy when you feel skin that doesn’t burn you. It’s just the right feeling. There’s no way this can be wrong. 

Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself? You wish the voice would pipe down. It’s a coward, fearing fate just as everyone else does. But you are better than that, and this feeling is too enjoyable to let go. You don’t want this to fade.

Just then, Dongmin’s face comes to mind and you think that maybe if you kiss someone else with all you have, you don’t have to think of your shortcomings ever again.

Jaehyun pulls apart and you miss the warmth.

“You’re not… You’re not thinking of me, are you?” he asks. 

You don’t answer, even if the silence is overwhelming.

“I’d rather not have you close your eyes and think of someone else when I’m in front of you.”

“I’m sorry” is all you can say.

“You can at least pretend to love me.” His voice is a hoarse whisper. “Could. It’s not like this was ever supposed to work out.”

You gulp, looking away. “Jaehyun, come on. That’s not like you. We were- we were just… having fun.”

He takes a deep breath. “It hurts to not be wanted by someone you want. You know that. So why are you doing this to me?”

Because misery likes company.

“I’m sorry.”

It seems the phrase you barely uttered when you were younger is tumbling out of your lips in a mixture of grief and pity. Perhaps it’s karma. Perhaps it’s fate. Perhaps it’s just the consequences of your mistakes.

Jaehyun parts his lips, a sigh departing. He leans in again, pushing away all of his thoughts. A little more hurt won't kill him tonight. How and when did you bring him down to his knees?

However, he's stopped by your hands against his shoulders, his lips hovering over yours.

"Let's stop," you say. "You're right."

"Isn't this what you wanted?"

“I don’t- I don’t know. I don’t know anymore.”

You wish you could be brave enough to burn the instruction pamphlet from destiny. But right now, you need to get away from Jaehyun, away from any more misery business.

“I’ll get going,” you say, gathering your stuff. 

Jaehyun hesitates but doesn’t stop you. He would never stop you, can’t stop so how could he even dream of stopping fate? This can never work out. It felt right in the moment but you don’t know anything more than that. You can’t close your eyes and pray everything disappears. No one else will solve your problems for you, you know that.

It’s time you start fixing the mess you made. You leave with a polite goodbye and hear a loud sigh behind you once the door is closed. Blinking away the urge to walk back in, you take long and quick strides to the elevator. You’re going to fix this.

Maybe if Lady Gaga’s ‘Poker Face’ wasn’t blasting at full volume at this stupid office party, you could be thinking a little straighter.

He was right. You can’t pretend anymore. There were thousands of ways this could have gone better. You didn’t have to pretend to be soulmates when you’re not. You could’ve discarded your belief in the whole system like Dongmin and Mijoo and dated someone out of spite. You didn’t have to drag Jaehyun into your sorry mess. You need to take out the nail you hammered into your own foot.

It’s the first time you’ve visited the rooftop restaurant from the company’s subsidiary chain of high-end restaurants but you imagined it would be bigger. It’s the news’ fault for making this place seem like a football field. However, you might be feeling that way because the distance between you and Jaehyun is suffocatingly small as is the distance with Dongmin. You don’t need to see Jaehyun tonight.

You don’t intend to make your confession a public affair and you certainly don’t believe in tack things like atonement. However, improvement begins with a step in the right direction. Maybe you’ll be a better person after this. Maybe you’ll still be as annoying and pushy as ever. You need to get it off your chest so you can proceed with the already tedious journey that comes with a soulmate rejection. You wonder why there’s so many man-made laws about soulmates when fate has made it complicated enough as it is. Love is the same as legalese when it comes to this system.

You flit about the crowds, smiling and greeting people and swerving away from Jaehyun every time he tries to approach you. You’re trying to make a good decision for once. He better not intrude. You’re wearing pink too, for the first time in a while: a satin shirt, pants and blazer set in dull pink.

“Dongmin,” you say, pulling him by the sleeve of his blue tux, and away from the rest of the HR team. “I have to show you something.”

“Hm? Show me?” He blinks at you. 

You get him to follow you to the inside the premises, stopping when you’re far into a 

“Uh?” Dongmin looks around before leaning in to whisper. “You’re not plotting to murder me, are you?”

You blink, and he laughs at you incredulously. “Why are you so serious?”

“I was lying,” you rush. “With Jaehyun. He’s not my soulmate. You are.”

Dongmin blinks in confusion. “Are… you joking? That was a weird joke but it could pass as funny—”

“Dongmin.”

You pull out your shirt from your pants, exposing the tattoo on your hip. It’s the little arrowed heart that has been plaguing you for years but now when you look at it, you feel no animosity. After all, it’s been through the same things you have. 

Dongmin’s face falls into stunned silence, eyes fixated on your waist.

“That’s- That’s my—what is this?”

Russian roulette is certainly not the same without a gun.

“I lied, Dongmin,” you answer, fixing your shirt back in. “I was so afraid of your rejection that I made an even larger fool of myself.”

His initial shock seems to have partly subsided.

“You… Why didn’t you tell me?” He looks momentarily hurt.

“You have Mijoo, Dongmin. I can’t ruin something like that.”

A love that doesn’t need fate to fix it.

Dongmin glances away in guilt and sighs, though the sound is croaky. This must be more than what he can take.

“I’m sorry,” he says, haltingly. “I hurt you, didn’t I? When I thought I was being brave, I hurt you instead.”

You smile bitterly. “We all hurt someone, Dongmin. I still have to fix that one for myself.”

He scans your face, lips trembling slightly as unspoken words die on them.

“We’ll tend to the legal stuff later, hm? No compensation. We can file a mutual rejection.”

“But—”

“Shh. I’m happy enough as coworkers and I get paid more than enough for this job. Might get a promotion soon too.”

You wink at him with an added finger gun, trying to play it cool. Despite everything, a weight feels lifted from your shoulders. Now that you are truly alone, you might as well embrace this growing loneliness crawling under your skin. Discomfort could be something you can get used to. 

When you get back to the warmly lit rooftop, the HR team looks at you curiously. You have the most self-destructive thought you’ve had in a while and tell yourself, you might as well if you've come this far. This is it. This is your social death. Honesty is the best policy, unfortunately.

“Dongmin and I have the same soulmate mark,” you announce. “We’re soulmates but we’ll sign a mutual rejection.”

Doyoung looks almost like he’ll faint and Soojin’s mouth is so wide open, you could practice throwing some mini basketballs in. This is your team—almost a second family, and it’s time you stop trying to hide yourself or disguise your feelings as something they’re not. They’ll get over it, as will you.

“J-Jaehyun?” Soojin looks to your side and you turn to find Jaehyun frowning.

“You could’ve discussed this with me,” he says, an odd sound of relief in his laugh. 

It hurts to look at him but you muster up your strength.

“I’m sorry,” you say, facing him. “I didn’t want to drag you into this hell with me.”

Into this loveless hell made for you.

“(name).”

It’s so painfully quiet in this corner; there are so many eyes on you and only the hurt taking shape in Jaehyun’s eyes knock some sense into you. 

“I’ll leave first,” you say, bowing as you take your leave.

You brisk up your pace and exit the venue as quickly as you can and into the building corridor.

Unfortunately for you, you recognize the pair of footsteps that follow you—both of them having their timings wrong. Boys don’t chase after the girl when she’s walking away. Boys should leave a girl alone when she feels like she’s about to cry.

You turn to face two men and groan internally. This is the worst possible situation—you’d rather crawl into a hole than look at either of them. The corporate light shines harshly on either of their faces but the look on them is so earnest, you want to close your eyes and scream. You don’t mind being alone. You were overstepping when you wished you weren’t.

“(name),” Dongmin starts. “I’m sorry it turned out this way. If you’d told me, we could have talked this out.”

A light scoff leaves Jaehyun and Dongmin purses his lips. It’s kind of funny watching both of their tall frames in hesitant postures and you cross your arms. You’re going to deal with this quickly like you always should have. If you’re dealing with fate, you need to have a clear head—and fortune doesn’t favour fools. Being with Jaehyun was nice but he is not yours. Dongmin may have been assigned to you but you’d rather not ruin someone’s relationship.

“What would we have talked about?” you ask. “Compensation charges? Apologies?”

You see a hint of positivity on Jaehyun’s face and turn to face him, frowning.

“And you. Don’t look so smug. You’re the reason I realized this crap. It hurts. Like hell.”

He opens his mouth but no words come when he’s far too taken aback. He can’t offer consolation now, not after everything. You knew this would happen. You would undoubtedly end up wishing you didn’t fall in love with him on the day you leave.

“(name). Listen to me,” Dongmin calls again, voice gentle.

Jaehyun sighs. “We’re both fucking this up, dude.”

Dongmin takes a sharp breath.

“You know, soulmates can be platonic,” he reasons, looking only at you. “People are made for each other differently and maybe you and I—”

“You’re just making her feel worse,” Jaehyun cuts him off.

“How do you know that?” Dongmin asks, finally turning to him. “Because you’ve spent a month or two with her? I’m her soulmate.”

“I think a month or two is much better than a stranger with the same damn birthmark.”

“Oh come on,” Dongmin scoffs. “The system exists for a reason.”

“I don’t give a shit about the system. The same as your girlfriend—oh, sorry, did you forget about her already?”

“It’s not like that.” Dongmin quietens. “We’ll figure something out.”

You pinch the bridge of your nose. They’re worse than you are—honestly, you don’t know what you expected from the timid emotional maturity of men. Both of their polite facades have melted and you’re starting to miss their sweet-tempered work demeanour.

“Come with me,” Dongmin tells you.

He wraps his hand around your wrist and tugs, Jaehyun visibly tensing up at the gesture. He presses his tongue against his cheek in annoyance but refrains from doing anything rash. You feel sorry when you look at him.

“Dongmin,” you whisper. “Can we- can we have a moment?”

Dongmin nods in understanding and exits the hallway to cool off with a few splashes of water in the washroom.

“Would you go with him?” Jaehyun asks, jaw clenched. “An acquaintance as most? Are you willing to run into the arms of fate that you hated so much?”

He looks bitter and you can’t think of a sugar-coated response. You’ll just have to tell him how you feel.

“I need to sort things out, Jaehyun. This—”

You point from him to yourself.

“Couldn’t work out thanks to fate. Dongmin and I will never work out because he’s braver than I am. You know he’s doing all of that just so I don’t get hurt, right? He’s not suddenly in love with me.”

Jaehyun purses his lips, looking down to his feet. Is it so bad that he let jealousy get the best of his mouth? Envy isn’t so awful. He looks from your eyes to lips and wishes he were young enough to believe in fairytales.

“You don’t have to be brave,” he whispers. “You don’t have to be so brave to fall in love. You don’t have to be brave to stay with me.”

“We tried, Jaehyun. And we can’t cheat fate. That, at the very least, requires bravery.” 

You press your lips into a thin line. It hurts. It hurts so bad to look at him and face the consequences of this flawed design. It’s unfair. It’s unfair that you have to follow the rules even after trying your best to break them. 

“You wish you never met me, don’t you?” you whisper. “I made a mess.”

Before he responds, you bow in a short goodbye and walk towards the elevator. There’s no footsteps behind you, no Prince Charming. It’s just you and your high heels clacking against the cold marble as you head back to an empty home. You always thought freedom would feel different, that distance would give you perspective. It just feels awful when no one is around you at all. When you have no one to pick up morning calls from, receive texts from asking if you ate, spend time in peace without uttering a single word—are you free or are you lonely?

The rules state that the two of you are different. It is true. You are as different as love in real life and love in the movies; and neither of them have happy endings now.

You wish you drank some more last night if you were going to embarrass yourself like that. Thankfully, it’s the weekend and you have two more days to figure out how to face your coworkers. You frown when you think of Jaehyun. Were you wrong to tell him that you simply couldn’t choose him? What if fate is right and it falls apart? You stir your morning coffee, the will to drink it fading slowly. It’s already fallen apart—and it wasn’t fate who did that, it was you. Should you have taken his stupidly warm hands and asked him to follow you? You don’t understand how it works at all.

Centuries of questioning what love is, poking and prodding at it like a lab sample, and there’s still no perfect answer. Love is blind. Love is cruel. Love is a fever. Love is temporary insanity. Love is acceptance. Love will set you free. There’s just too many variations. You can never tell if fate is meant to make it easier or worse. 

No one questions you at the office and you're not sure if you’re glad or aggravated. Only Doyoung shoots you a pitiful look which you brush off and immediately get into work. Embarrassment is only real if you acknowledge it. However, every time Dongmin tries to talk to you, you ask for space and even alone in your thoughts, you don’t get it. They just have to drift to Jaehyun.

You wonder if what he said was true, that he wanted you enough to forget the system. It’s clearly ruined now. The spiral of thinking has you zoning out during work more often than not and even Doyoung ends up reprimanding you for your lack of focus. Sometimes you want to snap but other times, you’re just hopelessly reciting the events over and over in your head. This was supposed to happen, wasn’t it? You don’t even have the strength left in you to blame it all on Jaehyun.

You pace in the corridors after work, contemplating popping by the Marketing Department. What could go wrong? Sure, it was a little dramatic of you to leave like that but everything can be fixed, right? You groan. What you were supposed to be fixing, you made worse. Are your hands cursed or something? You shake your head, returning to your desk to gather your belongings and head home.

Unfortunately, the sight of Doyoung sitting in your chair alarms you and you stop a foot away. 

“If you’re going to reprimand me for watching cat videos instead of checking the employee records, I can assure you my efficiency is still top-notch.” 

“You’re—what? Never mind.” Doyoung shakes his head. “Can you give this ginseng pack to Jaehyun? I owe him.” 

Oh no. You know where this is going.

“You know I’m going to keep that for myself, right?” You make a face. “I’d rather die than face Jaehyun right now.”

Doyoung shrugs. “Who knows? Maybe he’ll be the one running to you. This is in case of an emergency.”

You give him a fake smile and Doyoung shakes his head. “Good to see you’re still great at pretending to be fine.”

You sigh. “Thanks for looking out for me, bossman.”

Doyoung blinks, hand covering his mouth when an audible gasp leaves him. “Woah. I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you thank me. But don’t call me bossman ever again.”

“Noted,” you say, taking your bag and leaving with a short goodbye. You’re lucky he lets you off work early, even if you never took it. Employees usually can’t leave until their superiors does and if you were a senior employee, you’d be giving your juniors quite the hell.

You seem to be good at concocting hellscapes. Perhaps, you should look for job openings in the underworld. One last thought of Jaehyun exits your head and you take the bus home, admiring the city you live in and the warmth of people and their relationships. You don’t feel jealous; you just bask in them for the time—be it a mother and her son or two bickering sisters or a lovely old couple. That’s how it’s meant to be, then. That’s how love works.

Jaehyun smacks his head against the sofa armrest for the fifteenth time in a row.

“Dude. You’re going to permanently ruin the fabric.” Sicheng says, eyes trained on his laptop screen.

“I should’ve said something more.” Jaehyun’s voice is so zombie-like, he thinks he should cast himself in the Train to Busan sequel as an extra.

“I’m glad I’m not you,” Sicheng mutters.

“Can you give me some sort of consolation, at least?”

“That’s not what I’m your friend for.”

Jaehyun sighs and resumes smacking the back of his head against the armrest. He really needs to figure this out. After all, he can’t really Google the solution to this.

“One thing doesn’t make sense,” Sicheng says, finally looking up from his screen. “Why do you have the same mark as (name)’s if you’re not soulmates?”

“You’re so incredibly—but adorably—stupid, Sicheng. She drew it in with a permanent marker. She kissed me too! It was sudden and weird but I didn’t mind it.

“Yikes.” Sicheng makes a face. “So… you didn’t take a shower for how long now?”

Jaehyun furrows his eyebrows. “What?”

“The ink hasn’t washed off. I heard you singing in the shower yesterday, how could you not have washed that off? Ugh. Don’t tell me you miss her.”

Jaehyun’s eyes widen as he jumps up and rushes to the washroom. Looking into the mirror, the tattoo poking out from his T-shirt resembles yours a lot more than his. The arrow is still drawn in. Jaehyun’s shoulder slumps. He doesn’t know what he was expecting. Turning the tap and letting the water flow, he wets his hand and rubs at his collarbone to remove the arrow.

Except it doesn’t budge. His skin turns painfully red from the rubbing but the ink, which usually washes off in less than five minutes has no intention of leaving. Did you use a different brand of marker the last time? When was it anyway? 

Jaehyun breathes out, firming his resolve. He needs to be with you.

Sicheng blinks in surprise as Jaehyun grabs his car keys, not even bothering to change from an all-black getup of a T-shirt and jeans like some emo teenager, and shuts the front door behind him. Not even a ‘goodbye, I’m leaving!’

Sicheng sighs. Love makes people crazy. He’s not falling into that trap when his soulmate literally doesn’t exist, the same as his soulmark. It seems the contestants in this game are full of exceptions.

You hit your head against your pillow. To visit Jaehyun or not to. You haven’t left your bed since you woke up around seven in the morning, and now it’s ten. Your bedsheets are a mess because you’ve rolled around too much on them (in despair, not with someone unfortunately).

You need the quiet sometimes to let your mind rest, to let your heart rest. You needed time. But maybe it’s been long enough and now you’re just searching for excuses to hold on to your last shred of dignity.

You lift your head up and glare at the box of ginseng on your table. Should you? You reluctantly get up, feeling a sting of pain in your back for lying in that awkward position for so long. Right when you’ve put on your slippers, the doorbell rings and you groan. How did the package you stress-ordered last night arrive so early? These deliveries are getting faster and faster.

You walk to the front door and open it thoughtlessly, freezing up at the sight. Your first reaction is to cover yourself. You’re not exactly your best-looking version at the moment. Jaehyun’s dark circles almost match yours but he’s better dressed than you are—in a black T-shirt and jeans while you’re wearing a Gudetama pajama set.

“We’re not just friends,” he blurts. “We’re not soulmates but we’re not just friends.”

“Huh? Oh my god, this is the most embarrassing I’ve looked.”

Jaehyun furrows his eyebrows in a question look. 

“That’s not important! Look—”

He pushes you inside, closing the door behind him. His hair is so disheveled and messy, he barely even looks like the same well-maintained marketing employee you know. 

Jaehyun tugs at his T-shirt, pulling down to reveal his tattoo—albeit with your marker-drawn arrow through it. He does have a pretty well-built chest, you note before chiding yourself for getting distracted.

You raise an eyebrow. “Do you, uh, need help scrubbing it off or something?”

“No.” Jaehyun lets out a huff of exasperation. “It won’t wash off. If it’s what I think it is—”

“Miracles don’t happen to people like us, Jaehyun,” you say quietly.

He gulps. “I don’t know about miracles but… I just needed an excuse to see you, I guess.”

You look up, a rose blush over Jaehyun’s bare face, and run your finger over the tattoo, sighing at the warmth of his skin. Your hand travels up to his cheek, resting atop it while you muster enough courage to look Jaehyun in his chocolate brown eyes.

You pull away. This isn’t the time. You still have an internal crisis to sort out. Are you even deserving of love? It makes much more sense if the answer is no. 

However, Jaehyun pulls you in by the waist, his right palm warm against your cheek.

“I don’t care what anyone says.” He runs his thumb over your cheek in a painfully fond manner. “You’re worth more than the price I pay for this.”

He leans in and presses his lips to yours swiftly, your head clearing of thoughts almost immediately. It feels so right, you can feel the spark, the red thread around your skin, hear the bells. This kiss was far more perfect than it was supposed to be.

You part, gasping. Jaehyun blinks at you, breathing heavily.

“Kiss me again.”

Jaehyun does as told and you might just believe in miracles this way. With his hand around your waist and in your hair, his lips over yours and the low rumbling laughter that parts the two of you—you might just believe in miracles. You might just believe that love isn't something you deserve by earning.

“I like this,” Jaehyun comments. “I like the way this is.”

You press your finger to his lips. “I think you should shut up and kiss me some more.”

Jaehyun rolls his eyes. “I know you’re sexually repressed as of now, but that’s no reason to take advantage of me.”

You scowl, punching him on the shoulder and moving away from him.

“Come back,” he complains in a quiet voice.

“I am not going to do that.” You cross your arms.

“Come on,” he mutters, inching closer as you inch away, till your back hits the couch and you tumble backwards onto it, your legs on the headrest. Jaehyun laughs at your position, leaning in to keep his hands on either side of you, a doting look over him.

“Hey, did you know if I kicked my leg up, it would hit you in the balls?”

“Please don’t do that.”

You giggle, Jaehyun’s nose rubbing against yours in a bunny kiss. 

“Is your place usually this much of a mess?” Jaehyun raises an eyebrow. 

You sigh heavily. “I was having a bad day, okay? Or… a bad weekend.”

“Do you even have food?”

You look away, crossing your arms. Jaehyun sighs and shakes his head.

“We should go grocery shopping. How do you live like this?”

You scoff. “Oh, spare me the lecture. I’ve heard enough horror stories about your room from Sicheng. You can’t hide from me by sweeping your clothes and belongings into his room.”

“Snitch,” he mutters under his breath.

You can’t help the giggle that erupts from your mouth and you immediately cover it. Jaehyun smiles at you fondly and you look away, unable to bear that gaze of his.

“It really won’t wash off, by the way,” Jaehyun states, scratching at his collarbone.

You narrow your eyes, smacking his arms away to roll off the couch. Taking his wrist, you walk into your bathroom and turn the tap on. Something’s strange. But also strangely right.

“Look, I already tried—ow! Don’t rub that hard!”

You blink in confusion, trying again despite Jaehyun looking like his soul already left him. It doesn’t work. Your marker isn’t even that permanent. At least his regenerating skin cells should get rid of that arrow. Unless the ink was deep enough to pierce all the layers, as in a soulmark.

You gasp.

“You were right!”

“I told you s—”

"That's the point, isn't it?" you say, realization dawning as your eyes widen. "To see if people will question the system at all."

Jaehyun shrugs. “Maybe.”

"Oh, all those unhappy marriages that could have been saved," you say as you exhale. 

Jaehyun chuckles lightly. "I think that the point was, people can be happy without their soulmates. It's whoever you make one out of. Or I Googled too many articles on anti-soulmate propaganda."

You smile, leaning in to press a kiss against his cheek. Watching his ears turn bright red is the cherry on top.

“Okay, fake-boyfriend-turned-real-soulmate.” You give him a cheeky smile. “Did you rethink your decision about sharing that Netflix password with me? I get the girlfriend free pass, right? Right?”

“I didn’t even share it with my mother.”

You whack his arm, him possibly used to it by now, judging from his lack of response. 

“Idiot.” You cross your arms. “We can Netflix… and chill then. God, I can’t believe I said that.”

Jaehyun breaks into a chuckle. “You’re so pushy.”

 “And you like being pushed around, nerd.”

“Who said that?”

Jaehyun wraps his arms around you, spinning you so that your back hits the door. He leans in to kiss you again and you smack your palm over his pouted lips. You laugh at his face, his eyes brimming with confusion.

“You’re in my apartment. I make the rules here. Think twice before you start a game with me, Mister.”

His shoulders droop. “Fine. Can you at least let me kiss you four times a day?”

“Five times, if you ask.”

He laughs before leaning in again. “Can I kiss you now?”

“Wasn’t it obvious?”

“You are one hell of a woman. Emphasis on hell.”

You laugh and grab his collar, pulling him in for the kiss that seals this deal.

You realize a few things in the moment: a) You don’t have to play roulette to find love, b) You don’t have to pick your poison to find love, and most importantly c) Love is right where you make something of it. Fate is still not in your good books but if it bends to you this way, you don’t mind at all. If Jaehyun kisses you like this every day, you don’t mind one bit. 

[jedifarmerr]

When Javier Met... (Series)

Pairing: Javier x F!Reader/OFC (no y/n or physical description)

Rating: E (18+)

Word Count: 6k

Warnings: Language, feelings, smut

Series Masterlist

Chapter 11: For All Seasons

CD cases scraped together as Javier frantically searched for the loose sleeve of nicorette gum he saw weeks ago at the bottom of his console. A metallic glint caught his eye, and he fished out the packaging with a pinch of his fingers. 

The minty burst was… passable, but nothing really could compare to the sharp scratch of a cigarette or the therapeutic in and out that made his thoughts evaporate in a cloud of smoke. 

But, it’d have to do. No way was he showing up to Joe’s tainted in Marlboro Lights, especially when he was wearing your favorite shirt, that crimson short-sleeve you always complimented him on. 

Grabbing the present from the passenger seat, one last check of his teeth in the rearview mirror, and he was out. It was a beautiful day; the sky robin egg blue, cloudless and echoing with hardy boisterous laughs and squealing children. 

The cherry red gift bag jingled at his side as he walked up the driveway. He’d gone with something called Micro Machines, taking the suggestion from a young worker after an hour combing the aisles of Toys R Us. 

With a deep breath, Javier opened the storm door. The familiar hallway painfully reminded him of Joe’s birthday almost a year ago when you had led him down the hall. Now, he was desperately searching the pictures for a glimpse of you. 

Anytime he reflected on the past month, he thought about how torturously slow it went. Maybe it was because of the constant, silent ache that reminded him of what once was. Or maybe it was the build up to this moment - when he’d finally see you again. 

He felt his heart lurch into his throat, legs on the verge of collapse as he made his way onto the squeaky porch. 

The air was sucked from his lungs when he spotted you - standing in the far corner of the yard. It was immediate, like your presence unconsciously called out to him. You looked stunning, incandescent in the blinding afternoon sun. Your head dropped back, hand coming to rest on your belly, the signs of your genuine and infectious laugh. But - 

He couldn’t hear it. Not over the terrible children’s song blaring from the speakers, or with the toddler wailing to his mother by the bouncy house, the endless chattering around the yard. Yet, he recalled it perfectly in his mind - an engram. 

“Javi!” Joe called out with an obnoxious wave that drew too much attention. He mumbled something to the group of men in jean shorts and polo tees he was conversing with before striding over. 

Javier glanced back at you and you barely met his eyes, quickly turning away, but it was long enough for him to notice the firm press of your lips and the absence of laughter. 

It left him unsettled. 

He wanted nothing more than to run across the lawn, to apologize over and over again till you believed him. But it wasn’t the right time, too many eyes on him, too soon after his arrival. He needed to wait.

“Hey man,” Joe and his easy smile blocked you from view. “Glad you could make it. I wasn’t sure if you would, given the situation with my sis - you know.” 

Joe slapped his arm, and Javier almost tumbled over at his comment - dumbfounded. Luckily, Joe was too busy waving at arriving guests to notice. 

“Between you and me,” Joe leaned in, talking out the side of his pasted on suburban smile. “I don’t think this new guy’s gonna stick around too long. I’m not mad about it, seems too controlling for her. Also, he kinda reminds me of Ken, you know that guy never showed up to this shit either.”

Javier felt his brain rattle around his skull, like he was on a roller coaster that just kept going and going, loop after loop. 

“Have you met him? I don’t know why I asked that, of course not. But, anyway, I’m sure you guys will be back to normal soon. Ah. Here, let me take that.”

He had whiplash - vertigo - from the abrupt halt. The gift bag basically slipping into Joe’s hand as he trotted just inside with a goofy grin. 

Javier gnawed on the disintegrating nicorette, trying to breathe in and out, but the air was too smoky from your father cooking hot dogs a few steps away and his lungs burned making his craving for a cigarette almost unbearable. 

He knew he should’ve been focused on the fact that you didn’t tell Joe, which he somewhat assumed was the case when the invitation came in the mail and was never followed up by him at his door ready for a fight. 

But he wasn’t. He couldn’t. No matter how much he tried to push it down, ignore it, rationalize away. His jaw just kept tightening with jealousy - a feeling he had no right to. 

But seriously. Who was this mystery man? How’d you meet? 

You’d told him you were taking a break from dating, but maybe this guy had come at an opportune time. A perfect match you couldn’t pass up. 

Swiftly, Joe returned with a melting beer bottle that he pressed into the center of Javier’s chest, knocking him from his spiraling chain of thoughts with an imprint left on the airy cotton. 

“Now, come on. Ruby will wanna see ya.” 

Javier followed behind, but his mind stayed in the same place.

---

His cheeks were more than just sun-kissed, arms bronzed by the Texas sun, a type of tan he could only achieve from long hours outside. The back of his neck was almost blending into his shirt. 

That damn shirt. 

Of course he decided to wear that one. He always looked so good in it, the color was a perfect compliment to his chestnut hair, making his dark eyes nearly velvet. 

Did he know it was your favorite? 

“Honey,” your mom interrupted the silly thought, and you about dropped the stack of red race car plates on the perfectly manicured lawn - Joe’s pride and joy. “Are you alright?” 

“I’m fine,” you rushed out, dabbing your damp forehead with the back of your hand. “It’s just a million degrees out here.” 

“It is a hot one,” she chuckled, stirring up a fresh batch of lemonade. “I noticed you haven’t had a chance to talk to Javier since he got here. Why don’t you go say hi?” her attempt to sound casual failed. She’d spent the past hour observing the intricate dance of stolen glances each time the other turned away. 

Leaning over, she peeked past your shoulder to wave at him - standing next to Joe a few feet away. He waved back, hiding his hopeful smile behind the lip of his beer. 

You rolled your eyes. She had fallen victim to his charm long before you. She always boasted about Joe’s friend, and was highly disappointed to find out you wouldn’t be joining the fan club after your initial meeting. 

“I already told you,” you uselessly rearranged a few hotdog buns on a platter. “Todd doesn’t want me hanging out with him.” 

“I thought his name was…Tom.” She eyed you suspiciously.

“That’s what I said.” You continued to act busy in order to avoid her detecting the lie. 

“Well, I don’t see this Tim or Ted guy anywhere. And what’s the harm in saying hi?” You shook your head with a disbelieving scoff. “Besides, he’s been staring at you all day.” 

A part of you already knew that, or suspected it; you felt his eyes on you, following your every move as you bounced around the yard, trying to maintain an appearance of being too busy. But hearing it confirmed was different. 

You peered over, and for the first time since you spotted him on the porch, your eyes met. 

For the past hour, his expression had been locked in a pensive and distant state. Glazed - a poltergeist with laughter timed in between swigs of beer and momentary witty comments that maintained his presence. But it broke the moment you held his gaze. The lines on his forehead dipping into defined creases from the roundness of his wistful eyes. A new tension settled on his shoulders, a slight puff in his chest as if he was holding his breath in wait for your release. His mouth twitched with a timid smile that didn’t fit his face, and your own detached expression softened at it. 

You felt angry - stupid. That somehow in a matter of seconds he managed to squirm right back in, making you feel sympathetic when all you wanted to do was scream at him. To hate him for walking out the door that day. 

You wondered if it was even possible to hate him. How could you when he looked at you like that? Like you meant something to him. And you did. You knew that, but it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t the same. 

The sun felt brutally hot, like it was piercing into your skin and baking your insides. You needed to cool down, to sit in the air conditioning for a second, drink a glass of ice water before your brain went all gummy. 

You turned away, to your mother and she frowned, concerned by the look in your eyes. 

“I need some water,” you said, drying your clammy hands on your loose sundress. “I’ll be back in a second.” 

Your mom called out for you, but it hardly registered and went unacknowledged. All your focus was on keeping a normal pace, counting every step till you reached the sliding glass door. 

Once you felt the cool air rush against your face, you gasped into it. Out of sight, you rushed to the fridge to swipe a water bottle on the way to the guest bathroom across the hall. Locking yourself inside, you leaned back, head thudding against the wood before slowly sliding down until you felt the cold tile on your bare thighs. 

You stayed that way for a few minutes, eyes closed, but directed at the ceiling as you traced the gritty grout lines in between the patterned tiles.  You’d hoped to be in a better place, thought yourself to be, but seeing him again was resetting all your progress to the start, like you’d forgotten to save at the last checkpoint. 

You wondered if it would always be like this, feel like this. At that moment, you couldn’t see an end. 

You could picture yourself years from now, at another birthday party, with your husband’s arm wrapped around your waist in a safe and nice embrace as he mindlessly comments on the weather or sports with your family. Even with a fake perfect imaginary husband, you saw yourself sneaking glances at him, longing and wishing for him - for it to be his embrace, his smile you were returning. Because no one had ever made you feel like he did and no one had even come close. 

Fucking kids parties, you thought as you took a few more sips of water and wished for something stronger. Recapping the bottle, you pushed yourself away from the wallowing spot, did a couple quick adjustments in the mirror before opening the door. 

“Oh, exc-” the sentence died once you saw the dappled sweat stains on the crimson shirt clinging to his body. You caught a whiff of his cologne, but mostly he smelled tangy with the scent of the outdoors. 

“Hi,” he said - breathless. 

How long had he been standing there?

---

It wasn’t his best idea, clearly. But when he saw the opportunity, he took it, and excused himself with a pat on Joe’s back before leaving the dull conversation to use the restroom. Casually, he strolled into the living room, only to find that you weren’t there. The only person besides him was a woman changing a diaper on the floor. 

“Excuse me,” he slapped on a fake, overly friendly smile that wrinkled his face. The woman looked up as she snapped the buttons on the tiny overall set. “Have you seen Joe’s sister? He's looking for her.” 

“Oh, yes. She just flew on by, I think she’s in the restroom,” the woman pointed at the door. He thanked her before going over to wait. 

He tried to remain still, to look relaxed - patient, but he couldn’t just lean against the wall. Not when he felt this on edge, this antsy, so he paced along the carpet, two steps forward - turn - two steps back - turn. 

Every minute was moving at a snail's pace. For a second he wondered if the oven clock was broken, until he checked the microwave and his watch. Nope - he was just going mad. 

Then, he heard it. A light pad on the tile -  a squeak of the faucet - running water. He stopped right in the doorway - stuck in place as the door swung open. 

All he could see was the crown of your head while you straightened out a crease in your dress. 

“Oh, exc-” your head snapped up, lips clipped shut. 

Suddenly, all the lines he practiced in running scenarios dissolved into his spit - soluble. He knew he needed to say something, anything instead of standing here like a fish with his mouth open. But he couldn’t think when he was this close to you, you were tangible again, he could reach out and feel your skin on his. 

“Hi,” was all he managed to say, and even that sounded unsteady. 

“Hello,” your response was as tight as your posture. He’d taken you off guard, but you quickly veiled the smidge of vulnerability, coating any softness with a hard layer he couldn’t quite crack. 

“How’ve you been?” He promptly licked his lips, his throat turning into cotton. 

“Fine.” You looked like you would rather be anywhere but here, your eyes never holding his for more than a flash and he desperately wanted to grab your face, to make you look at him. “What about you?” 

“Fine,” he answered. You nodded with closed lips, something between a smile and a frown. “I - uh - heard you're dating someone.” 

“You can’t be serious?” Your whole body scoffed, and he realized his mistake. “I’m not doing this.” 

“Wait.” You tried to slide past him but he followed the movement, not boxing you in, but simply keeping you in his line of sight. “Please, I just wanna talk.” 

You laughed - a single harsh sound of contempt. 

“That’s funny, because if I remember correctly that was the exact thing you were trying to avoid. Remember?” You shouldered past him and into the kitchen, he followed on your heels. “Or did it happen so fast you can’t?” He swiveled in front, making you stop just before the countertop edge. 

His hand came up, signaling you to halt. He knew he shouldn’t push, that he should try and call again and again. Show up at your door. But he couldn’t stop himself, he needed to apologize. 

“Please, I’m-”

“No, Javier. I’m not doing this right now.” The intensity in your voice caused your eyes to water. You blinked back tears as you looked out into the living room, turning back to him with a scowl. “If you didn’t realize, my nephew’s birthday party isn’t really the time or the place for this conversation. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back.” You stepped past him, heading towards the door. 

He felt you slipping away, like water in cupped hands and he was pushing his palms together, squeezing his fingers tighter. 

“I’m sorry,” he blurted out, making you stop and turn back to him with a slight quiver of your bottom lip. “I’m so sorry. I - I fucked up, I know that. But - I - I miss you, please you gotta forgive me.” 

Your shoulders slumped with a sigh, and the few seconds you took to respond felt like hours to him. 

“I do, I forgive you, Javi,” you whispered in a way that he knew you meant it, but there was something else and he felt little comfort at the words. “But - it can’t go back to the way it was.” 

“Why not?” Javier didn’t even recognize his own voice, it was a desperate plea for you. It crossed his mind that it was useless, that it was over, but he needed you to know he was willing to fight for it, to fix it. 

Your brows pinched together from the deep set frown, and you stared down at your hands where your fingers were tangled in knots. 

“Because, it just can’t.” He took a step closer, then another, and another until you finally looked up at him. He closed his eyes for a second, just one last time and pretended as if it was like it used to be before it all crumbled around him. 

When he opened his eyes to find the pain in yours, he hated that he was the cause. But then, he saw a flicker of it, the way you used to look at him and he swore you almost said something before it all went away in a blink of an eye. 

“I’m sorry I can’t. I can’t do this.” You backed away, scrambling towards the front door. “I can’t be here right now.” He called out your name. “Please,” you begged him, “Tell them I left. That I feel sick.” 

“Hold on-” 

“Please, Javier.” A few tears slipped onto your cheeks. “Just - I gotta go.” 

He didn’t follow, he just stood at the end of the hall and watched the storm door clap shut. 

Javier’s chest burned with unshed tears until he was gasping for air, choking on them. He hadn’t cried in years, and he wouldn’t start now. But he felt it, in his bones, his being and it all became clear to him.

---

Wrapped in a fuzzy blanket, you curled up into a corner of the couch. It was nearing dark, a lilac tint holding onto the sky. When you got up to order take out, you’d switched on a few lamps so the delivery guy would know he was at the right address, and so the only light wouldn’t be the TV playing Pretty in Pink. 

Your thoughts had bleeped out the dialogue; you just couldn’t stop thinking about him. You’d spent the whole drive home bawling your eyes out to the Pieces of You album, the tears finally stopped after a soak in the tub right before sunset. 

You just kept remembering how vulnerable Javier looked, how thick the desperation seeped into his voice and for a split-second as his sad doe-eyes looked down at you, you almost let it all go. 

The thought made you groan into the empty apartment, accidentally honking your head on the back of the couch. “Oww,” you whimpered, rubbing the back of your head. 

Suddenly, a trio of knocks sounded at your door. Mh-mmm Chinese. Exactly what you need. 

“Just a minute,” you yelled out as you scoured your wallet, pulling out a twenty on the trot to the door. You opened it, and proceeded to shut it once you saw him. He stopped it before it could clasp. 

Damn his reflexes. 

“Wait,” you were getting tired of hearing him say that. You opened the door up, and he held up the back of to-go as a Honda Civic sped off in the alleyway. “Gave him a 50 to let me deliver it.” 

“What do you want?” You blinked up at him - exasperated. 

“Give me 2 minutes, that’s all I ask.” He seemed different, assured in a sense, but a shake of nerves still stained his voice. 

“Then can I get my food?” He handed it over with a chuckle, a peace offering - a sign he wouldn’t hold it hostage. You placed it on the console table, turning back to him with a nod. “Alright, go on.” You leaned against the door. 

He rested his arm on the frame, grounding himself as his other hand gripped tightly to his waist. He looked into your eyes, whispering your name - the sound of it made him smile with an airy breath that bordered on relief. 

“I know, I messed up. It was wrong and I’m sorry I hurt you.” He stalled, carefully mulling over his next words. 

“I love you.” 

The declaration made your breath catch in your throat. It was everything you wanted to hear, but a part of you doubted it, passing it off as mere loneliness that had driven him here. 

“No, you don’t have Javi,” you replied painfully, “you just don’t wanna lose me.” 

He fought the urge to step closer, fingers rasping against the skin of his palm with a scuffle of his feet. 

“You’re right - I don’t wanna lose you, but it’s not that.” You obsessively shook your head, squeezing your eyes shut. “Because being your friend isn’t enough - it’s never been enough.” 

He gently cupped your face, bringing one hand to your cheek to lift your gaze to him before his warm palm covered the other, his thumb swiping away the loose tears on your chapped cheeks. To him, his words always seemed inadequate, unable to find the right ones to convey his feelings. But he knew, with his touch and the look in his eyes, he could show you everything he needed to convey.

“You’re the best person I’ve ever met, and you deserve…so much. And I didn’t know if I could give that to you, but I wanna try. Because - fuck - I love you.” His forehead came to rest on yours, every deep breath to calm his racing heart fanned across your face as the sharp tip of his nose brushed against yours. “Everything about you. The sound of your voice, the laugh you do when somethings stupid funny in a movie. The smell of your fucking laundry detergent. Even your hour-long orders. I love it all. I have for so long, before this - before even Laredo. Please... Give me a chance.” 

“Javi,” you whispered - at a loss of words. He held on tighter like he was holding on to a lifeline. It didn’t hurt, just a light press to your cheekbones. You stared up at him; his eyes looked like sheet glass, thin and breakable. 

“I love you too.” His whole body melted, every muscle lax with relief and his mouth twitched into a wide smile. 

“Yeah?” He asked with a gasp that sounded like he’d been holding his breath for hours. 

As you nodded your hands came to rest on his chest, toying with the buttons of his shirt. “But you gotta promise me something.” 

“Anything,” he said before kissing your forehead with a firm press of lips as if couldn’t kiss you hard enough. 

“That you’ll be here when I wake up tomorrow.”

“Always,” he said before tentatively bringing his lips to yours. 

The tender brushing of lips morphed into a deep, sensual kiss as his hand slipped from your cheek to the back of your neck, pulling you into him. With one hand resting to feel the frantic beat of his heart, your other winded into his hair, combing through it, with an occasional scratch of your nails along his scalp that made him groan. 

Suddenly, a group of people walking by hooted and hollered at the scene. You pulled away with a giggle at the obviously hammered college-age kids that just got a show. 

“You maybe wanna come in?” 

Javier pretended to debate, he squinted with a twist of his head from side to side. With a dramatic huff and a playful smack at the center of his chest, you grabbed his hand and dragged him inside. 

Slamming the door behind him, he twisted you around making you squeal in surprise when he gathered you in his arms, slotting his lips to yours with an accidental clash of teeth. He ignored it. Kissing you harder as his arms wrapped around you until you faded into him. 

Trailing the familiar path to your room, you thought about that night. He was so frantic with hungry and rushed kisses that now made more sense. It was passion - a build up - yes but also while you thought it’d lead to more, he was drinking his fill as if it could satiate him. 

Your lips broke from his the moment you felt the carpet underneath your feet. Stopping at the foot of your bed, hands clasped behind your back with a soft sway you waited as he closed the door behind him. You could hear the ooooh ooooh of the Pretty in Pink prom scene mumbling through the now shut door. 

As soon as he turned around he stopped. His brow doesn’t eyes glistened with adoration and he dragged a hand across his mouth like he was mesmerized. 

“Beautiful,” he said more to himself, but still you heard the low rasp making your eyes dip to your feet, lip caught between your teeth to stifle a cheesy grin. 

With three long strides, he consumed your space. His hand slithered to the back of your neck again in a lightly possessive hold that brought your focus to him.

There was a flash of regret - remorse as he stared into your slightly bloodshot eyes. He knew it was him that caused it, but you just wiped the hurt away, forgave him without much of a thought. He winced as if he felt a pang of guilt pierce his chest. 

“I don’t deserve you,” he husked with raw honesty, making you shake your head. He carried so much guilt around already from trying to do the right thing. He was a good person who cared too much, too smart for his own good at times and put others above him. 

“Javi,” you cradled his cheek. “If only you could see you the way I do. You’d know that isn’t true.” 

Javier’s nostrils flared like they burned and he harshly swallowed, his thumb mindlessly caressing the tender skin behind your ear. 

Your fingers winded into his belt loops to tug him closer. His free hand skimmed down to rest at your lower back, pressing you into him as he kissed you again, long and deep. His tongue slid against the seam of your mouth, which you eagerly opened. Rucking his shirt from where it was tucked in his jeans to work at the buttons. 

“I gotta ask,” you pulled away as you undo the last button, feeling his warm skin when you slid it from his shoulders into a puddle behind him. “Did you know this was my favorite?” 

“I had a hunch,” he chuckled, then grabbed the hem of your pullover to tug it over your head, joined mere seconds later by a sports bra and loose cotton shorts.

He stepped back and any self-consciousness that might’ve existed with other partners didn’t with him.

“Lay back,” he ordered with a notch of his head at the bed before shoving off his jeans, cock bouncing against his stomach. Complying, you raced to prop yourself between the two pillows then crooked a finger at him to join. 

The playful action made him smirk with a light airy chuckle. His hands traveled with his greedy gaze along your body in his slow crawl above you. 

“Absolutely beautiful,” he said once he was fully hovering above. “Love you so much,” He nuzzled into your neck, inhaling the scent that he missed so much in your absence. “And now I’m gonna show ya.” 

Every inch of skin tingled in his vast exploration of your body, goosebumps raptured where his hands roamed; from the soft flesh of your thighs to your rib cage, thumbs sliding at the cusps of your breasts before descending into the same tantalizing path.

Slowly with wet lips and soft sucks to your neck, he moved to your collarbone to nip at the jut before reaching the tops of your breasts 

His dark eyes stared up as he started to experimentally flick your hardening bud; the soft moan escaping your lips made a proud smirk tease his before it was overtaken with the swirl of his tongue around your nipple. With a breathless pant of his name your hands curled into his hair. 

Switching to your untouched breast, he sucked the neglected leak into his mouth, his hand skimming the outside of your thigh, up past your belly till he pinched the spit-glistening bud. 

Cupping the soft flesh in his large palms, he shoved his face into your breasts, forehead sticking to your sweaty skin as he moaned against it with a dig of his hips into the bed. 

It felt like he stayed there for hours from the way your pussy was throbbing. Lacking the attention it so desperately wanted, you tried to seek friction but found none trapped under the weight of his body. 

“Please, Javi, please ” you mewled, and he sucked one last time at your nipple before releasing it with a pop. Wet, tender kisses followed his path down until he reached your spread open thighs. 

Resting his hands on your knees, he licked his lips as he spread you wider to reveal your glistening folds. Your hips canted under his assessment, but he pressed down to keep you in place. 

“Let me admire you,” he said with a menacing smirk, secretly enjoying the way you wiggle and tremble for more. 

“Stay like this,” he ordered as he released one hand from your knee. Fingertips brushed against your slit and you groaned from the effort of keeping your hips flush to the sheets.

“Good girl,” he praised and you felt yourself get wetter. “Oh, you liked that?” Your head bobbed, slightly embarrassed when his fingers swiped at your slick, admiring it on his fingers before he continued to tease by opening you up to get a better look at your swelling clit beg for attention. 

“Javi, baby, baby - come on, please touch me, please.” 

He hummed at your pleading, satisfied he settled between your thighs and placed your legs over his shoulder before licking a long stripe to your wet entrance. 

“You fucking taste so good,” he growled into your cunt, “gonna stay here forever.”

---

He couldn’t get enough. Even with a slightly sore jaw, he couldn’t stop. Lost in your pussy, he kept you on edge with slow explorative swipes of his tongue until you were swollen - glazed in a mixture of your own wetness and his spit. 

Your knees were pressed against his ears to rock against his face, babbling aimlessly before finally he heard a coherent ‘fingers’. He decided to reward your patience, slipping from your bruising hold with whines of protest. 

“Oh baby, don’t worry,” he cooed, shushing you while situating to a better angle. He’d never seen a prettier sight than you with blown lustful eyes, chest heaving and dripping for him. He stole a quick kiss. “I’m giving you what you want,” he reassured as he leaned back, prodding your hole with a single thick digit before sinking it in. 

Your walls clamped down, pulsing to let him know how close you already were. Pushing in a second finger, he curled them against the spongy spot, and you gasped his name.

As he worked his fingers, a slow pace that kept you dangling on the edge until you clawed at the sheets. Resting the palm of his free hand on your mound, his thumb swiped across your swollen clit.

His pace increased, the sound of your pussy squelching and squeezing filled the room. He growled at the sight of his fingers fucking into you, pulling high-pitched calls of his name mixed with more and please. 

He could feel it.

“So good, so fucking tight and so wet, your dripping baby. You gonna cum? Gonna fucking soak me? Come on.”

“Oh fuck yes, oh fuck! Javi!” Your body curled with a wail of his name as you soaked him in your orgasm. 

“Good girl. My messy little pussy did so good. So pretty when you come all over me,” he cooed and praised, working you down until your body plopped into a satiated heap on the bed. 

“Shit,” you said, trying to prop yourself up on your elbows but falling right back down. “I’ve never done that,” you giggled, gasping for breath while draping your arm over your head. 

He crawled upwards, his hard leaking cock smeared against your thigh when you pulled him in for a breathless kiss. Arms tired, he dropped down to rest beside you, watching you stare up at the ceiling while catching your breath. 

After a minute you turned on your side, elbow propped up on the pillow, head resting on your palm and he couldn’t help but smile. You were so blissed out, droopy eyed with a lopsided grin and it didn’t matter that his cock was throbbing, he didn’t care. He was content, just laying here with you, basking in your post-orgasm glow. 

However, you weren’t. Mustering up your strength to straddle him, your fingers danced across his chest. He gripped at your sticky thighs, curling his fingers into the soft flesh. 

A trail of slick from your molten cunt dragged from the tip of his cock to the base, he groaned - eyes shutting and head dropping back against the pillow. You took advantage of the position and nipped at his jaw, giving him a little payback as you kissed down his neck.

“Fuck, are you sure?” He asked when you grinded your soaked, sensitive lips against him. 

“Mh-mmm, need you inside me. Felt so good,” you mewled, and he reached for a condom, fumbling with the box in your nightstand. You were distracting him, he couldn’t look away when your lips parted with soft sounding moans at the tiny circles of your hips. Smacking the box against the side of the drawer, the thick roll of packets broke free. He ripped one off, and you raised your hips to let him put it on. 

Positioning him at your entrance, you started to sink down. His eyes squeezed shut, brows pinched and you moved a little slower, taking him at a glacial pace so he wouldn’t cum at how warm and tight you felt. 

How did he think he could live without this?

“Don’t move, baby,” he gritted out the second you were flush against him, “Give me a second. Shit - you feel good. Squeezing me so tight. You have the tightest fucking pussy.” 

The moment his eyes opened to your naked body atop of his, he wondered if he’d died and gone to heaven. Your smile was sweet, mischievously proud that you caused the veins of his forehead to pop out. His teeth crushed together, and he tried to regain control but he just couldn’t. 

“Shit, I’m not gonna last,” he admitted in defeat as his released refused to be put at bay. 

“That’s okay, Javi. Just feel it, feel how wet you made me,  oh baby I’ve never felt that good,” you said with a seductive bite of your lip, a slow rock of your hips that made his mouth drop open. 

Suddenly, he shifted - keeping you in his lap as he moved to sit upright, holding you closer to him. With one hand on the center of your back, the other on your hip he captured your lips in a sloppy and needy kiss as you grinded down on him. 

“That’s it baby, that’s it - so good,” he panted out, kissing that sensitive spot on your neck that made your head drop back. Your over sensitive clit brushed along the coarse hairs at the base of his cock making your fingers wind into his hair with a harsh pull. 

“Shit - I love you, no one can make me feel like you do.” 

He felt your walls fluttering around him, and he desperately wanted - no needed to feel you come undone around him. Nipping at the skin of your shoulder he hissed as his hips met your movement. 

“I love you - so much baby. Oh you feel so good - fucking squeezing me so tight like the good fucking girl you are. I’m gonna cum, I need you to. Fucking please, let me feel you. Fucking soak me again, baby. Come on”

Javier felt like his whole body was on fire. His mind had turned to mush at your pulsing walls, so wet you were dripping around the base of him with a squelch of your hips. He’d never heard a better sound than the chant of his name, your head thrown back in pleasure as you rode him. 

Finally, when your body seized up, gripping his cock somehow tighter than before he cried out your name as he released into the condom. 

He blacked out, coming to with whispers of praise and I love you’s as you peppered his face in kisses. Wrapping  his arms around you, he squeezed you to him, tasting the salt of your skin. 

He’d never let you go again. 

taglist: @seasonschange-butpeopledont @furious-rogue-stuff @catchallfangirl @honeyofthegods @athalien @peoniarose @phandoz @littlemisspascal @0celesteisthebest0 @hnt-escape @adriiibell @snowqueen09 @whatodair @oliviajdjarin @iblogtopassthetime @paintlavillered @hotchlover @bruxasolta @southotheborder @kirsteng42 @vanemando15 @blub-senpai

[twsthoodstar]

Twst x Pokémon Pt. 3

This is a part 3 of the last Pokémon post I did, this time with the vice dorm leaders. Sorry this is so late, I’ve been feeling under the weather recently 😓 But I’m starting to feel better now.

Request/idea received from this Anon

Babysitting their crush’s Pokémon while they’re away. However, that task has proven more difficult than expected.

Trey Clover ♣️

Trey was both delighted and nervous when you asked him to babysit Slurpuff. He had only hoped it wouldn’t be as troublesome as certain glutinous monster cat, although he had to admit he was curious. Slurpuff looked so soft and squishy! It couldn’t be that much of a handful could it?

Well needless to say, Slurpuff was actually very helpful in the kitchen. It’s unique sense of smell helped pick the best ingredients and it was more than happy to aid in assembling the treats for the Unbirthday Party, nudging Trey to taste the batter. It reminded Trey of his little siblings back home, how they’d always try and sneak a piece.

However, it all went downhill once the part started. One by one everyone’s cakes and cookies disappeared without a trace. Unaware of the pink Pokémon sneakily using Physic to float the wonderful pastries into its mouth. But it’s cover was blown when it tried to steal Riddle’s tart, and Trey had to step in before the poor little thing lost its head.

Ruggie Bucchi 🐾

Better hope Ruggie doesn’t eat your precious little bundle of wool, might be hard to hold himself back. Shi shi shi, he’s only kidding! He wouldn’t do that to you! Unfortunately, Wooloo seemed to take that very personally and rolled away! It hadn’t even been 5 minutes and Ruggie was already chasing it down!

Poor Wooloo; perhaps leaving it in a dorm full of hungry carnivores wasn’t the greatest idea. Because it zoomed all over the place, trying to flee from any large beastmen. Though I’m sure it looked hilarious seeing the vice dorm leader chasing after a living pillow. Ruggie eventually needed Jack’s help in catching the little guy, and it surprisingly took a liking to the first year!

Wooloo was all over Jack, hiding behind his legs and nuzzling into his bushy tail. Peering at Ruggie with big nervous eyes. He hadn’t planned for this, Ruggie wanted to show you just how responsible he was all on his own, that included caring for your pet. But it couldn’t be helped. Jack hadn’t planned to babysit, but it seemed he had no other choice.

Jade Leech 🐬

(I love Psyduck so much 🥰)

Now Psyduck here is a bit of a special case, so you were a bit hesitant to leave it with Jade. Now there was nothing to worry about, Jade makes sure your Psyduck is well taken care of, he’ll pamper it to perfection. He has claimed he enjoys serving others. Although it appears Psyduck is a rather sensitive creature. But that just makes things more interesting, plus it’s adorable to boot.

Constantly rubbing it’s head, it takes in its surroundings rather slowly. It barely realized you left the room and was just recently waddling around looking for you, poor dear. 😅 Well this shouldn’t be a problem; playtime with rubber duckies, drawing a bath, Jade makes sure Psyduck is in top shape until you get back! However, there was one mishap Jade wasn’t preparing for.

It takes special skill to escape Jade’s well trained eye, and Psyduck just happened to find that perfect moment. Before it knocked into Jade’s terrarium, spilling out all kinds of plants and muck onto the floor with a big bump on its head. It was an accident, but Psyduck couldn’t shake that sudden glare in the eel’s eye. Not even when Jade rubbed its bruised head affectionately.

Floyd Leech 🦈

Oh boy, Gible was not happy about you leaving. Especially leaving its care to a stranger like Floyd. It stomped around and grumbled like a fussy toddler, aggressive to anyone that came near it. While everyone was afraid of getting their hand chewed off, Floyd remained as careless and as brave as ever. So Shrimpy left this little sharkie to be his playmate? How fun!

Gible did not want to play with Floyd, it tried making that as clear as possible. Playing basketball? Deflated. Some squeaky toys? Shredded to pieces. Dancing? It chomped the radio to bits. A yummy platter? Scarfed it down, plate and all. Floyd was clearly losing his patience and started to shift into one of his outrageously random mood swings.

Talk about bad timing when you have an angry Gible pouting across the room. Floyd, now upset the Pokémon wasn’t accepting his friendship, made the mistake of trying to squeeze it. Gible bit him 😬. Chomped right down on his hand, but suprisingly Floyd was fine. It did take Azul and Jade awhile to pry it off, then to keep Floyd from biting back! Hopefully, you’ll return soon before the Lounge ends up in shambles.

Jamil Viper 🐍

Honestly Jamil thinks your Salandit is super cool. Sly and cunning with a streak of mystery, it reminds him of himself. (You smug snake 😑) It was almost the perfect pet for himself, a powerful on way that. Now I’m sure Jamil has some experience with animals, he is Kalim’s right hand man and a servant of the Asim family, the kid knows a thing or two about parades.

So it’s a cake walk babysitting Salandit, at least for the most part. Pokémon are unpredictable creatures and unknown to Twisted Wonderland, so Jamil’s in for a big surprise when Salandit starts dripping actual v e n o m. The red liquid oozes out of its mouth as it starts to burn small holes in the carpet. Of course panics because, that carpet is expensive! And why did you have such a creature in your possession!

He was not prepared for this. Apparently it was having a scuffle with Kalim’s magic carpet, the piece of matting simply wanted to play with Scarabia’s new guest, but the poisonous fire-type took it as a threat instead. Chasing each other around like wild dogs. Reacting quickly, Jamil put it outside using Snake Whisper before things escalated, but decided to give you a call.

Rook Hunt 🏹

You thought Jade was pampering, Rook is over the moon for this fairy type! What a wonderful creature, absolutely beautiful! Rook is completely captivated by the fairy-like creature, the pure pink essence of love in its true form!~ ✨ As he puts it anyways. 😅 Rook will smother Sylveon with attention!

He’ll groom it to perfection and flaunt it to the entire dorm, this of course draws some attention. No one has ever seen a creature quite like Sylveon, with its sweet voice and flowing ribbons. And you left Rook himself in charge to take care of it isn’t that wonderful! ~ ✨ This basically turned into one big photo shoot, with Rook at the center gushing over his new friend.

He even takes Sylveon out on a hunt stroll with him. Man cries when it wraps it’s ribbons around it’s wrist. Let’s just hope no rowdy students make fun of their little adventure, they’ll have a merciless arrow drawn back ready to face them. Rook won’t tolerate gossiping, no one is allowed to tarnish the beauty you and your partner share together.

Ortho Shroud 🤖

Ortho was more than happy to take care of Pikachu for you! He was the one that actually accepted in the first place. It was just so cute and round and soft and friendly, a perfect companion for our little Ortho! Plus, he was really excited to analyze it for his database. Although, in reality he took this opportunity to get Idia out of his shell and help him.

Humans and animals were already a well known subject Ortho knew plenty about, even a few beasts were a well known species. So a loveable Pokémon shouldn’t serve a problem. While Idia wasn’t all that excited about watching a living, breathing, messy pet (virtual pets were much easier) Ortho was not having it and saw this as a good experience.

Playtime was his favorite, Pikachu was just so fast and full of energy. Zipping back and forth with a Quick Attack to chase the bouncy ball, or using its tail to play catch. It was such a cheerful little sunshine, it even shocked Ortho a bit with its cheeks. Emitting little sparks of electricity, which felt really nice. They’re both just so cute together, Idia snuck a few pictures of them napping together.

Lilia Vanrouge 🍷

Another child for Lilia to adopt!! Oh how precious! Immediately Lilia’s fawning over your cute Noibat, however, you tell Lilia to be careful as this Pokémon is quite young. Of course Lilia heads your warning and bids you a graceful farewell, before rushing off with the cutie in his arms to flaunt to his whole dorm.

Almost immediately Lilia’s going to test his cooking skills; a growing boy like that needs to eat right? Well don’t worry, chef Lilia will whip up something nice, which of course has Noibat cheering for a hot meal. The trio of terrified fae and their drowsy human: they couldn’t have Lilia kill off something so precious, you’d be heartbroken!

However, perhaps they were a bit too slow in stopping Lilia, because thanks to his magic he had already whipped up a horrendous looking hole of soup. But what had everyone’s jaws dropping was that Noibat enjoyed it! It even cooed for seconds, nudging Lilia with the bowl. Of course Lilia was over the moon, he’ll have to ask to babysit more often.

[glitch-zero]

Brahms Heelshire Nsfw Alphabet

A: Aftercare (What they’re like after sex)

Oh, he’ll let you clean up, usually. But keep in mind that sex always will end in cuddles. No doubt about it. Even if you get up to shower, Brahms willl go and follow you in eventually, demanding as usual.

B: Bodypart (Their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

Brahms loves his chest. His broad shoulders too. Makes him look all mighty and strong, which isn’t a lie.

Brahms also really likes it when you lay on said chest and shoulders.

His partner?... he can’t decide. Whatever he can hold and/or fondle is fair game in his eyes.

…

Though he does like a nice rack. And love handles.

C: Cum (anything to do with cum)

Even if he’s caught up in the heat of the moment, Brahms still somewhat of a gentleman and will warn you when he’s about to bust one so you can avoid it; or direct it away from your face.

Though if given permission, this man will nut in you every chance he gets. He much prefers to fill you.

D: Dirty Secret (Pretty self-explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Oh. Oh, this man is into watching you do everything. He’ll jerk off into your underwear while watching you shower. He’s a stinky man that can get away with jerking off behind a wall.

E: Experience (How experienced are they? Do they know what they’re doing?)

Not experienced at all, but all that lack of sex in his earlier years makes it seem like he’s real good.

All that awkwardness dissolves once you get him going. If he’s on top, he can take the reigns.

F: Favorite Position (This goes without saying)

If you asked Brahms, (with the knowledge that he’ll freeze up and blush so hard his mask turns all hot), he would say he wouldn’t know. Whatever gets the job done.

But he does enjoy holding his partner’s hands. He’s adamant about that.

G: Goofy (Are they more serious in the moment, or are they humorous, etc)

Brahms takes it pretty seriously. And even if he’s making a silly face during, it’s not going to stop him from drilling into you till you scream bloody murder.

H: Hair (How well-groomed are they, does the carpet match the drapes, etc.)

Have you seen this man. Do you think this man, having an ungroomed head of hair, a thick ass beard, chest hair so thick it makes him sweat, has perfectly hairless junk.

He’s swamped down there.

I: Intimacy (How are they during the moment, romantic aspect…)

Very intimate. Brahms loves proving how much he adores you. How much he wants to make sweet love to you. Now, he isn’t as poetic as that, but he loves to make sure you’re appreciated every second you’re screwing.

This man cannot fuck. He makes love that just happens to also include fucking your brains out.

J: Jack/Jill Off (Masturbation headcanon)

This man has the whole inner walls of the house to himself. He can drop trou and crank one out whenever he wishes, moaning as loud as he wants.

Then again, if you’re in the same room (expanded on letter K), he’ll pipe down and won’t be as vigorous.

K: Kink (One or more of their kinks)

MAJOR VOYEUR. As I’ve said, this man can watch anyone and anything at all times behind the walls. He loves to watch you masturbate, hear you moan, hear you at your most private. Double points if you moan his name. (He actually might barrel out of the wall and spice things up, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.)

As much hype Brahms gives watching others, he doesn’t like to be watched. He likes to be in control, and he just doesn’t want to be spectated. Give this poor man some head.

Brahms’s other kinks include mild choking and clothing fetishism. He does like biting, but you’re going to have to fish that kink out of him. He’ll kill a man but there’s no way he’ll bite his beloved without consent.

L: Location (Favorite places to do the do)

You’re alone in this giant mansion. You’re getting that Brahms cock everywhere.

But his favorite place? His room. He loves it, makes him feel good. Surrounded by his territory. You both are safe here, no one’s getting caught, even if it were possible.

M: Motivation (What turns them on, gets them going)

He’s so easy to turn on. Brahms is so touched starved it’s not even funny at this point. Just tell him he looks ‘kinda hot’ and you’ve earned yourself a clingy, horny Brahms for the rest of the day.

N: NO (Something they wouldn’t do, turn-offs)

Please don’t degrade him, oh my god he’s going to cry. He needs to be praised, he needs to be reinforced, tell what he’s doing is good. It’s more rewarding anyway for both parties.

Don’t light candles/use candle wax either, that should be a given. You can probably get away with incense, but even still.

O: Oral (Preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc)

Brahms enjoys head as much as the next guy, but the moment you show him some new trick or maneuver he’ll enjoy it a whole lot more. He’s a very dramatic receiver and will not stop looking at you. Hope you like eyes being burned into the crown of your head.

Don’t underestimate his giving skills though. He’s not well versed in oral, but the moment he hits your sweet spot he’s going to absolutely pounce on it. He can feign skill pretty well.

P: Pace (Are they fast and rough? Slow and sensual? etc.)

It all depends on how he’s feeling; Brahms doesn’t choose one over the other. His sweet innocent voice makes it seem like the latter, but don’t be surprised when you get the pounding of your life. It’s just how he is, be ready for both (unless you explicitly ask)!

Q: Quickie (Their opinions on quickies rather than proper sex, how often, etc.)

He doesn’t mind a quickie! He’ll bend you over the dining table or pin you to the laundry room wall. Brahms is a big pushover though, and if you want to take it to the bedroom, he’ll carry you right over!

Brahms also enjoys quickies for the sake of how many positions can he get you in! All depends on the room.

R: Risk (Are they game to experiment, do they take risks, etc.)

Not much to risk, unfortunately. Living in a big empty house, far away from the big city. He could fuck you on that tiny balcony as much as he wants, but there’s no risk of you both getting caught (plus it’s England and cold, don’t do it outside hello).

If there was a chance, even, he’s game. He’s been jerking off in the walls for years now without so much as a peep, he knows he can shush.

S: Stamina (How many rounds can they go for, how long do they last…)

He’s always satisfied with a single round, but you better be in for the long haul if you want to wear him out for good. He loves your enthusiasm! But don’t be surprised if on round four you’re exhausted. Your determination is funny to Brahms, but he’s a horny man!

T: Toy (Do they own toys? Do they use them? On a partner or themselves?)

Brahms totally would have a fleshlight, wouldn’t he. He’d be a creep and fix your underwear on it. But I don’t think he’d own one; he prefers to not leave the house and his parents would never buy such a crude item.

I think vibrators would be too overwhelming. He’d be happy to try, though. He’ll always humor you!

U: Unfair (how much they like to tease)

Fuck yes, Brahms loves to tease. He’ll grab your waist, tickle your neck with his beard. He won’t take his mask off, but you can feel his hot breath emanating from inside.

He haaates being teased though. He gets all huffy, he immediately thinks that you want sex now, but when you step away to make lunch is the moment he gets cranky. How can you leave him like this!!! You know how easily worked up he gets!!!

V: Volume (How loud they are, what sounds they make)

Very. Sure, you’d think Brahms prefers to be quiet during his life in the walls, but he’s just a ball of loud moans, ranging in severity. His voice gets all loud and squeaky, begging and whining, you’d wonder if he’s crying at this point.

W: Wild Card (Get a random headcanon for the character of your choice)

Hugs are the only thing that doesn’t rile him up. He recognizes that hold as something sweet, something to treasure, something he’s never felt in so long. Brahms loves to be doted on.

Unless you buck on his hips. Oho, don’t get him started.

X: X-Ray (Let’s see what’s going on in those pants)

Bushy man. Decently thick. Perfectly rounded tip that has a slight curve. Cut. Seven inches when hard. Sports a noticeable thick vein trailing on the side.

Y: Yearning (How high is their sex drive?)

Everything gets him hard. It’s not difficult to turn him on, just looking at his junk can make a night different.

Z: ZZZ (… how quickly they fall asleep afterward)

Most of the time, he’ll park himself on the nearest nappable surface and pass out with you.

[sin-of-jess]

Could we please get nsfw/kink headcanons for Cana, Lisanna and Lucy with a male s/o?

+++Cana+++

-Top tier when it comes to kinky.  She’s down for almost anything, and it’s more likely she’ll bring up something new to try in bed than you.

-More than once have you two been at a bar out of town and ended up with a girl/guy in bed with you two.  She’ll always make sure you’re comfortable with a third party being involved, but she absolutely loves picking a third and you can always tell when it’s going down.  You’ll see her point your way with a sultry grin and know it’s going down soon.

-I hope you like eating out, cause she would live sitting on your face if she could.  She loves the control that comes from sitting on your face, and if you aren’t working as hard as she wants then she’ll squeeze her thighs over your face to tease you.

-You’ve definitely fucked her in a back alley when the bed you’ll be occupying is too far away.  Prop her back up on the wall and slam into her, and she pulls her top over her tits for a reason so make sure to play with them!

-She’s loud, and the entire neighborhood know when she’s being dicked down by you.  She’s super into dirty talk too, and will tell you exactly what she wants you to do to her.

+++Lisanna+++

-A bit shy in bed, but rub her the right way and she’s putty in your hands!  I mean that literally, rub on her nipples and clit and she’ll melt into you.  She’s really sensitive too, you could probably make her cum before removing her panties!

-She loves being held when you’re fucking, so positions where the two of you are sitting up is her favorite.  She loves the feeling of her nipples rubbing on your chest while you thrust up into her.  

-It took a long time for her to admit her creampie kink.  The first time she spoke it out loud you barely heard her, but you did make out creampie and knew exactly what she was trying to say.  If you grab onto the locks on the back of her head and keep eye contact just before you finish, you’ll have her twitching and moaning in orgasm the same time you fill her up.

-Her moans are soft and squeaky, and only when she cums do you get strong sounds from her.  She’s the type to scratch your back when you make her cum, and her tongue almost always peeks out from between her lips.

+++Lucy+++

-Lucy was a bit hard to get into bed at first.  She seemed shy and awkward about sex, but with time and patience she finally let you take her to your bedroom.

-When you two first did it, she was so nervous and nearly fell off the bed when stepping onto it.  Be gentle with her, soft rubs and sweet kisses will help her open up!  Once she does she’s got the sweetest pussy.  It’s the tightest thing you’ll ever stick your dick into, and you’ll soon find out she gets wet super easy and fast!

-When she finally gets comfortable OH BOY!  She’s a doll, beautiful to look at and soft to the touch.  She loves giving blowjobs, so if you finish a shower sit naked on the edge of the bed and stroke yourself and she almost always will drop to her knees in front of you.

-She’s not too wild in bed, but the biggest thing she okay’d was toys.  She has a secret box hidden away full of them!  All different size dildo’s and vibrators.  If you shove her biggest dildo in her and keep that vibrator locked onto her clit, she’ll  cum over and over until she nearly passes out.

-She’ll let you fuck her ass if one of her toys gets to go in her pussy.

[dc41896]

Still

Pairing: EZ ReyesxBlack Reader

⚠️: None, just fluffy fluffness☺️!

Sat on the edge of his full sized bed, your knee bounces unconsciously as you toy with the hem of your boyfriend’s white tee at your thighs, trying to let the sound of the running water from his shower calm your nerves. It was the first time you’d be sleeping over at EZ’s place, and you were a bit nervous.

Not because of the cramped camper, or that he stayed a mere feet from the clubhouse and its multiple adjoining engines that rumbled and revved all day and night as they came and went. For personal reasons, you just hoped you didn’t do anything to mess up the relationship before it even had the chance to really start.

“Y/N?” You slightly jump hearing his smooth yet deep voice making his golden brown eyes turn concerned. With your mind worrying about tonight, you hadn’t even realized EZ had finished his shower and was standing in front of you passing the towel through his dark hair.

“Hm? I’m sorry what did you say?”

“I was asking if you needed anything,” he answers squatting down to place a hand on your knee and stop its bouncing. “Hey if you’re not comfortable I can always drive you home, it’s no problem.”

“No, I’m fine. Really. I-I guess I’m just nervous about messing up something.” Lips curling into that soft, wide smile that always made your heart skip a beat, his free hand takes yours as his thumb gently rubs back and forth against your skin.

“You’ll be fine dulce.” Standing up, he leans in brushing his soft lips against yours before letting them passionately connect while the hand that once held yours moved to caress your cheek.

“Ready?”

“Mhm,” you nod crawling up from your spot at the foot of the bed as he turns out the lamp at his bedside. His tattooed arm securely wrapped around your waist pulls you closer until your head finds his bare chest and leg naturally crosses over his.

“Goodnight,” he lowly whispers kissing the top of your head.

“Goodnight.”

His fingers dragging up and down your back along with the drum of his heartbeat are a soothing enough pair to have your eyelids already drooping feeling relaxed. “Maybe this time will be different,” you thought soon feeling your eyes shut completely and his movements gradually slow.

Your hope would soon be crushed though, as your body seemingly jolted awake and head suddenly rose leaving you out of breath. Luckily, your actions didn’t wake EZ, who was still softly snoring under you. You tried to will yourself back to sleep, but like clockwork every time you felt yourself really begin to drift, your body would display the same reaction leaving you frustrated and on the edge of tears.

This last one being strong enough for EZ to notice making him stir and shift in the squeaky bed.

“Bad dream?,” EZ groggily asks with eyes barely open. “I could feel you jump a couple times.”

“N-No, I’m fine. Just um trying to get comfy.”

“Oh, you need me to move? Switch sides?”

“No, it’s okay.”

From your shaky voice and watching you wipe your eyes in the beam of light breaking through the window landing perfectly across the both of you, he sits up holding your face in his large hands to thumb away the remaining drops of salty water from your skin.

“What’s wrong? Dime.”

“I can’t sleep,” you whisper.

“Don’t cry, that’s okay. Tell me what I can do to help.” It wasn’t the desired result, but his caring nature only makes more tears fall as you become more upset with yourself and why your mind, body, or whatever inside you had to be like this.

“It’s not that simple. Ever since I was young, whenever I’m in a new place it’s like my body or brain won’t let me sleep and I just keep waking up.”

“Oh..like, a comfort thing?,” he asks. You could see the bit of hurt in his eyes that he felt this was all his fault. After your date, he was the one to suggest you stay with him for the night, not quite ready to see you go.

And although you excitedly agreed, now he felt that he might’ve rushed you.

“No, it’s even happened while I was with my parents, so please don’t think it’s anything you’ve done. I’m just the weirdo that can’t sleep.”

“Don’t say that,” he states kissing your temple before sitting up to rest his back against the chipped wall. Patting his chest, you move to situate yourself between his legs pressing your back to his muscular chest while his arms cross in front of yours, holding you close, and cheek rests on the side of your head.

“What’s your funniest memory?”

“EZ you don’t-,”

“Funniest memory dulce,” he repeats kissing your temple once more. A small smile forms on your lips as you think, your hands gently grasping his forearm.

“Me and my friends almost got attacked by a flock of seagulls at the beach once. Pretty sure they had some type of vendetta,” you explain making him chuckle.

“They are a bit aggressive.”

“Your turn Reyes.”

“Alright...when we were kids, Angel and I tried hopping this fence. I got over fine, but he got caught at the top and ended up flashing his underwear to everyone who walked by.”

“What did you do?,” you laugh, leaning back more so on his shoulder to look up at his face.

“There was nothing I could do really but laugh. This guy was nice enough to get him down though. He tried not to laugh but he couldn’t hold it in.”

You two stayed that way the remainder of the night, telling stories that had you both laughing until your cheeks hurt and talking about anything that either of you could think of. At those moments of comfortable silence, your eyes would sometimes shut and you’d begin falling asleep again only to awaken with a jump, making your heart race.

This time though, EZ would hold you a bit tighter as he gently rocked you back and forth whispering in your ear, “Relax, you’re okay. I got you.”

You’re not quite sure how much time had passed, but soon loud knocking and the bright, golden sun shining in your eyes become an unwanted alarm causing both you and your boyfriend to groan as you stretch the best you could in your positions.

“Oye! Wake up sleeping beauty we got places to be!,” Angel shouts banging his fist against the camper door.

“Give me a minute!,” he yells. “Sorry about that, I know you just got to sleep.”

“I did?,” you yawn rubbing your eye.

“For about an hour or so.” Sitting up, a small smile spreads across your lips, proud of yourself that you’d finally been able to sleep and feeling like you were falling even more for the softer Mayan who chose to forfeit sleep to make sure you were okay.

“You want me to drop you off now or when I get back?,” he asks fastening his belt buckle before going to brush his teeth.

“Um actually, if it’s okay, I was thinking I could stay here. Maybe get some more rest,” you shyly smile setting off EZ’s signature one as he finishes at the sink.

If only you knew how you wanting to stay and now being able to sleep comfortably at his place made his heart nearly burst.

“That’s alright with me,” he answers bending down to sweetly capture your lips with his. Calloused, yet soft, hand on the side of your neck and thumb grazing along your jawline.

“Aye you turn deaf overnight or- ohhh now I see what the hold up is,” the older Reyes smirks peeking through the small window to see the both of you shyly pull apart. “Heyyy dulce.”

“Hi Angel,” you laugh waving with one hand while the other shields your eyes from the light outside. Grabbing the nearest item he could find, EZ throws a balled up towel towards his window making Angel flip him off before disappearing to get on his bike.

“I’ll be back in a couple hours. Then we can go eat at that diner you like,” he smiles, thumb tracing just under your bottom lip.

“I’d like that. Now go before you get in trouble, and be careful.”

With a chuckle, he leans in for one last kiss. First on your forehead then your waiting lips he could never seem to get enough of. “Si mi dulce.”

Taglist: @crushed-pink-petals-writes @fumbling-fanfics @honeydulcewrites @honeychicana @lady-olive-oil @themyscxiras @melinda-january @lovelymari4 @maxcullen @literaturefeen @damnitaa @curlyhairclub @plokyu23 @fullofmelaninsarcasmandepression @nunubug99 @felicity-x0 @ellixthea @jojolu @jnk-812 @brwn-sgr @captainsamwlsn @wildfirecracker @nina-sj @iammyownlover @chaneajoyyy @scoop93535 @secretmysteriousperson

If anybody wants to be tagged, has asked to be tagged but don’t see your name, only want to be tagged for certain people I write for (can be found in masterlist), or no longer wish to be tagged just let me know🤓!

[avengerswriter4eva]

3. Closing Time

a/n: AntiVenom's voice in italics.

Five Years Later

"Collins, do you have those files I was asking for yet?" I rolled my chair back from my desk, stretching out, realizing that I couldn't remember the last time I took a break. I looked up from my desk expectantly when I didn't receive an answer. The floor was practically empty, and it was dark outside. When the hell did that happen? I sighed, looking at my watch, my eyes immediately shooting open when it registered that it was almost 9. I had places to go and people to...

HUNGRY.

I smirked. Right on time. I patted my stomach affectionately. "Don't worry, buddy. We'll get you something to eat."

SomeONE?

I laughed in the empty room to myself. Whatever you say, bud. Instead of venturing my way downstairs, I headed up instead. I opened the door to the roof, setting it back on its hinges with a protesting creaking sound as it slammed into the bricks on the other side. Oops. I rolled my neck around in a slow circle before shaking out my arms and legs. As soon as I nodded that I was ready, I felt the familiar tingling sensation that began in my feet and my finger tips. Then I felt it moving up and around my arm as it encircled my limbs completely. I flexed my muscles, feeling the veins rippling as the black lines danced under the white skin. It was like a sinister silly putty...

Don't say that!

I smirked as I felt the muscles rippling in my chest as my form filled out, glancing down as the fluid material slid easily over my clothes and skin, wrapping me up like a warm, winter jacket. Sorry, buddy. It was a monster metamorphosis and it felt not only liberating but thrilling and exhilarating, too. I could feel the fluid, almost liquid feeling texture of my 'friend'...

Partner!

Partner. I rolled my eyes just in time as I felt the sensation of slithering up my neck, finally wrapping around my face. It had been awhile.

TOO LONG.

I leapt from the roof, feeling truly free for the first time in weeks. It had been too long. I had missed this, and New York never lacked troublemakers to feed my...friend's appetite. Like my brother, my 'parasite' and I had made a deal that both of us could work with.

"Give me the money, bitch, and no one needs to get hurt." My ears perked up when I heard the conversation from a few blocks away. The creature smiled.

Bad guy, yes?

I nodded my head. "Let's go get him." In moments, we were leaping from building to building, leaving indentations in brick and concrete as we swung easily from one skyscraper to another. It was so liberating; I could understand why Spiderman enjoyed getting around this way so much. Except instead of webs, I was connected with parts of myself. So much stronger. So many more toys – ones that no amount of Stark technology could match. I hovered above the darkened alleyway, taking in the scene in front of me. A woman was clutching her purse to her chest, glancing around anxiously. A gang-banger stood in front of him, gun held sideways in his hand like a moron and I laughed before my attention turned back towards the woman. Something wasn't quite right with her, and there was something strangely familiar. But my stomach was growling, and now wasn't the time to be playing with my memory. Things after the accident and my 'infection' had been a little fuzzy anyway, and now wasn't the time to...

"Put the gun down." Symbiote me dropped into the alley way behind the gang member silently. He spun around, nearly dropping the gun at the surprise sound of another voice behind him – especially a voice like the one the was now emanating from my mouth. It certainly wasn't human.

"What the fuck are you?" The panic in the young man's voice was almost squeaky, and a very small part of me felt empathy for him. But we were hungry, and he was threatening an innocent woman with a gun, so...

"We are Anti-Venom." The banger's brown eyes went wide as I slowly licked my lips, flashing my white fangs that stood in stark contrast to my long, pink, tongue. I glanced over the guy's shoulder to see the woman he had been threatening moving slowly behind him. "Ma'am, please stay put." My voice interrupted the symbiote's planned speech. We didn't need to make an innocent bystander any more traumatized than she surely already was. As the gang member started to move back towards his original target in order to see what was going on, his finger trembled on the trigger and a loud bang echoed in the alleyway. I looked down to see the bullet ineffectually clinking on the ground with a small 'plink' sound. The guy's eyes went wider than dinner plates and the hand holding the gun started visibly shaking. I rolled my eyes. Enough. A white tentacle shot out, knocking the gun from his trembling grip as my mouth opened wide, swiftly biting off the banger's head and swallowing in a single motion as his body slumped to the ground. I expected to hear a scream coming from the direction of the woman that I had so valiantly saved, but the silence surprised me. I looked up and then immediately did a double take. You've got to be shitting me. The woman had pulled a gun from her purse, and it was pointed directly at me. Unlike the now-deceased and headless gang-banger, her hand wasn't trembling at all.

"You need to calm down and come with me." Her voice was steady. Slightly raspy. And those eyes. Those green eyes. I would know them anywhere. My symbiote eyes, already wide in surprise, five years of residual anger, and probably shock.

"I like her." Anti-Venom's sentiment surprised me.

"You don't know her." The woman in front of me frowned at the sound of another voice. Was she frowning because she was confused? Or was there a hint of recognition underneath those bright green eyes, red hair and all-business expression. I started backing up, looking up at the building's walls to either side, planning the best way out.

"Don't do it," her voice was full of danger, and it just set me off.

"You don't get to give me orders anymore, Natalie." Her mouth opened wide, and I wanted to punch it. Badly. The gun in her hand lowered only slightly, but the hesitation was enough. White tentacles reached upwards, embedded themselves in the crumbling brick wall and lifted me high into the air. Once I reached the roof, I glanced down at the alley below. She was gone, and I wasn't planning on sticking around long enough to see where she went. By the time we got back to my apartment, my cell phone was buzzing insistently. Eddie.

"Bro, what's up?" I answered as I unlocked my front door, tossing my keys on the table and shutting the door behind me with a loud bang.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing," my big brother's voice was like a warm blanket that made everything all better, regardless of my evening surprise. I flopped back down on the couch as I caught Eddie up on the events of the day, leaving out the little bit about my ex at the end. I didn't want to talk about her. Not anymore. That part of my life was over and done with. Wasn't it?

[yellowsuitcase]

The Unwanted Pet // Draco Malfoy

A/N: Hello! This was a request from one of my friends, I thought it was such a cute idea and I knew it wouldn’t take more than a couple hours so I wrote it! I find it adorable and I hope you do too!

Summary: Y/N wants a crup (a jack russell like creature) but Draco most certainly does not. What happens when Y/N gets one anyway?

Warning(s): None

Word Count: 2.7k

“But Draco, it’d be so cute!” Y/N pleaded with her husband. She was leaning on his back while he tied a letter to his owl to send to his coworker at St. Mungos.

A soft wind blew through their open window, bringing the sweet smell of daisies with it. One of Y/N’s favorite things about living in the countryside was the variety of flowers surrounding their home, which was by no means a modest one. Draco would’ve felt too out of place if they had purchased a small abode, so Y/N caved and allowed him to buy a big Irish style house surrounded by thick greenery and rolling oak tree forests. However, Y/N had grown to love the rather big dwelling. But she’d felt a bit lonely whenever Draco would go to work in the early morning, leaving her alone until he returned at nearly midnight.

She had her own job working on the Hogwarts Express, but that only required her to leave the house a few days out of the year. Even though there wasn’t a need for her to work since Draco had inherited all the Malfoy fortune when his father passed a year ago, Y/N found comfort in driving the train full of young and eager students to and from Hogwarts. It reminded her of her days at the school; it was where she had met Draco, the man she’s been married to for seven years.

“Love, they’re high maintenance and a big responsibility. I don’t know if it’s a good idea,” Draco replied as he sent off his owl, Biko, and turned around to embrace his pouting wife. He kissed her on the head and gently swayed her back and forth before removing himself from her embrace. He then sauntered to the kitchen to nibble on some jelly slugs; he had quite a sweet tooth.

“But Draco, they’re so cute,” Y/N whined. Draco shrugged. “So what? If you want a pet so badly, go find a toad in one of the ponds...On second thought, don’t. Slimy little creatures they are.” Y/N rolled her eyes as she pushed back a long green curtain to allow more sunlight to stream into the cozy living room. “I don’t want a toad, I want a crup, and I don’t see why we can’t have one.”

Draco shook his head and wiped the corner of his mouth with a napkin. “I’ve already told you, they’re messy, you’d have to get a license from the ministry, and they’re high maintenance.” He began gathering his coat and satchel. He had to be at St. Mungos in nearly half an hour. Y/N sighed as she watched him slip on his shoes. She sunk further into their brown leather couch, which once belonged to Y/N’s mother. Draco gave her a pitiful glance. “I’m sorry, my beautiful wife, but I do not wish to have a mangy mutt running around our home. Perhaps something a bit more manageable? How about an owl? I’m sure Biko would love a friend,” Draco said while gesturing to the window his owl had flown out of just minutes ago. Y/N sighed and nodded, “Yeah, perhaps I’ll take a trip to Diagon Alley and see what kinds of owls they’ve got. Would you fancy a barn owl? They’ve got quite a striking face.”

Draco walked over to her and pressed a sweet kiss to her lips. “Any owl you want, I’m fine with. I’ll see you tonight; maybe we can have dinner outside, it’ll be perfect picnic weather.”

Y/N smiled softly and watched him stumble into their brick fireplace and throw floo powder down, disappearing in the green flames it created. Once Y/N was sure he had gone, she sprang to her feet and ran for the closet where her shoes were located. She grabbed the first pair she saw and promptly shoved them onto her feet. Little did Draco know, Y/N had already obtained a license from the ministry and was fully certified to own a crup.

She stepped into the fireplace and dropped her floo powder while saying, “The Ministry of Magic Headquarters!” and in a flash, she appeared in the massive dome-shaped lobby of The Ministry building. The hustle and bustle of employees finding their way to elevators and offices intimidated her initially. Nevertheless, after a few moments, she gathered her composure and began walking towards the Department of Magical Creatures. She’d already sent an owl to the Beast Division and made arrangements to pick up her new pet, so all she had to do was get there. And she did; after many twists and turns and pauses to stare at the fancy plaques on the walls, Y/N found herself outside the door. She wasn’t sure whether or not she was supposed to knock, so she put her tentative hand on the knob and turned it slowly.

It opened to reveal a nice looking woman sitting at the chestnut-colored desk. A fairy was fluttering around her head and putting flowers into her hair. She looked up upon hearing Y/N enter. “Hello! Would you happen to be the person who requested a crup?” she asked. Y/N shifted from her left foot to her right foot, trying to expel the excitement jitters from her body. “Yes, that’s me.”

“Wonderful! Y/N Malfoy, yes?” the woman asked. Y/N nodded, and the woman wrote something down on a piece of parchment. “They brought him in an hour ago, so he should be fed and ready to go! And his tail has already been removed as he is seven weeks old. I’ll check in the back and see if he’s all set. You just wait here, alright?” the lady asked.

Y/N grinned and nodded eagerly. She was a bit sad that her crup’s tail had already been removed, it had to be so that muggles wouldn’t notice it was a magical creature, but it still saddened her. Soon enough, however, she heard scampering behind the door. Her heart leaped in her chest, and she fiddled with her fingers anticipatedly. She held her breath as the golden door swung open. Behind it was the woman and a little crup in her arms as well as a carrier by her feet. Y/N’s hands flew to her mouth as she gasped. “He’s so cute,” she whispered. The crup seemed to notice her and suddenly jumped from the lady’s arms and onto the floor where he raced towards Y/N. She looked down at the dog-looking creature. He was staring straight up at her, and when they made eye contact, he barked.

The lady laughed. “Look at that. He already likes you!” Y/N smiled and hesitantly knelt down to greet the fluffy beast in front of her. “Hello there, would you like to come home with me?” she asked. The crup barked happily, his little butt wiggling as he did so. Y/N giggled and opened her arms for the crup. He ran into them and nestled himself against her chest. Y/N stood back up and gently stroked her new pet. “Do you have a name for him yet?” the woman asked. Y/N nodded her head and glanced up to look at the lady. “I’ve decided on calling him Styx,” she said.

“How cute! Well, I don’t want to waste any of your precious time with Styx, so let’s have you pay so you can be on your way.” Y/N reached into her pocket, pulled out two hundred galleons, and placed them on the woman’s desk. After doing so, she put Styx in his new carrier and zipped him up so he’d be safe and secure. Waving goodbye to the nice lady, she reopened the door and took a deep breath. The easy part was over, now she had to face Draco.

---------

Y/N and Styx had spent the entire day playing with all the new toys she’d bought for him at Diagon Alley. He particularly liked the bright purple rubber ball, as well as his squeaky spider plush. It was nearly ten pm now, and Y/N and her pet were sitting on the couch. Styx was chewing on his bone as Y/N read the Daily Prophet. She was scanning an article about Hogwarts’ new Herbology professor, Neville Longbottom, when green flames erupted from the fireplace. Styx immediately jumped to his paws and began growling at the fire. And suddenly, there was Draco. He was smiling until he heard the low rumble coming from the crup. He glanced down at it and then up at Y/N.

“Tell me that this mutt doesn’t belong to you,” he said sternly. Y/N smiled; it looked more like a grimace. Draco ran his hand down his face in disappointment. “I thought we discussed this. I don’t want a Crup,” he whined, the exhaustion from his workday coming to the forefront. Y/N stood up and walked towards her distraught husband.

“I know you said you didn’t want one, but I’m just so lonely when you’re not here all day. I’ve got no one to talk to and nobody to snuggle with. I just thought having this little guy would give me something to do as well as provide company,” she said quietly, now feeling a bit foolish.

Draco examined her expression intently. She looked remorseful and ashamed; she couldn’t meet his eyes. He sighed and shifted his gaze to the little creature by his feet. Not even Draco could deny the mutt’s inherent cuteness. He looked back up at his wife. “Fine,” he caved, “We can keep him. But I swear if he causes any trouble, he’s going back. I will not tolerate any misbehaving.” Y/N gasped and wrapped her arms around Draco’s neck.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you! You won’t regret it, he’ll be the sweetest boy ever. I bet you’ll even grow to like him,” she argued, arms still around him. Draco huffed. “Yeah, right, I don’t think so,” he retorted. He was convinced he’d never learn to genuinely like the crup. Sure he’d probably be able to tolerate him but never enjoy having him around.

“Are you sure? You’re already acting like a dad with all your ‘I will not tolerate misbehaving’ nonsense,” Y/N remarked. Draco rolled his eyes. “I’m serious. If he chews my shoes, he’s out.” Y/N withdrew her arms and crossed them on her puffed up chest. “You’re on, Malfoy.”

--------

Over the next few months, Styx had become a constant within the Malfoy home. It took Draco a little over two weeks to allow him to sleep with him and his wife on their bed, but when he finally caved, he instantly regretted it. More often than not, Y/N slept with her arms around the Cruppy instead of around Draco. The blonde man would always get angry and shoot death glares at the creature while his lover slept. How dare the mutt take his place in her arms?

However, what Draco was unaware of was the fact that sometimes during the night, Styx would wiggle out of Y/N’s arms and settle himself in the crook of Draco’s neck where he’d give him a few soft licks before falling back asleep. And since Y/N would often rouse in the middle of the night, needing to use the restroom, she’d be greeted with the endearing sight of her husband cuddling with Styx. She’d never tell him, but she had quite a few photographs of the scene.

Styx was generally a well-behaved pet. He didn’t chew Draco’s shoes like the man had feared, but he did, however, eat their food when they weren’t looking. This infuriated Draco to no end. Y/N, on the other hand, found it rather funny. She knew that underneath all his fury, Draco found it amusing as well. She was sure of this because one afternoon, when Draco had the day off from work, she’d gone to fetch a book to read to her husband and pet. When she returned, she found Draco smiling down at the crup. She stopped in her tracks and hid behind a wall to listen in on the conversation.

“Look at you, you little scoundrel, stealing my roast beef. You think you’re clever, don’t you?” Draco asked the dog-like creature. Styx barked in reply, making him chuckle. “No, no. I’m afraid you’re nothing compared to me, Styx. You see, I was in Slytherin.” Styx barked again. “Mhm, I was, and you were not so truly who’s the more cunning of the two of us? I think it’s quite obvious.” Styx barked again and pawed Draco’s calf. “Exactly right, my boy, it’s me. Although you’re definitely the cuter one, I’ll give you that.” Y/N watched this exchange from her hiding place. She knew Draco was rather fond of talking to himself, but it seemed as though he enjoyed talking to Styx as well.

Now, Y/N was writing a letter to her sister in the study when she heard a knock at the door. She put down her quill and turned in her chair. “Come in,” she spoke softly. The door opened, and there stood Draco. “You got off of work this early?” she asked. Draco grinned sheepishly. “I may have asked to leave early,” he said while leaning on the doorframe. Y/N was immediately suspicious of her husband. She kicked her leg up and over her thigh and crossed her arms. “May I ask why?” she inquired. Draco shrugged and reached into his back pocket.

“Oh well, it’s only because there’s a quidditch match tonight, and I got us two front row tickets,” he said as he pulled out the two slips of silver-lined paper. Y/N gasped and clapped her hands excitedly. “Draco! That’s brilliant. It’s been so long since we’ve gone to see a game. What teams are playing?” she asked as she rose to her feet. “I have to go find an outfit that matches the colors!” she shouted happily.

Draco laughed at his wife’s eagerness. “Wimbourne Wasps and Chudley Cannons are the teams. And you can go plan your outfit in a moment; I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to take Styx for a walk before I take you Hogsmeade for lunch.”

His words stopped her in her tracks. She looked up at Draco skeptically. “You’re taking Styx for a walk?” He nodded. “Willingly?” she asked. Draco nodded again. Y/N’s mouth fell open in shock. Her husband’s face turned red. “You’ve taken a liking to him, haven’t you?” Y/N asked incredulously. Draco rubbed his hand on the back of his neck and looked at the window. He noticed the parchment on the desk. “Who are you writing to?” he questioned, trying to change the subject. Y/N moved into his line of vision, forcing him to look at her. “Nuh-uh Mr. Malfoy. You’re not getting out of this one. Answer my question, and perhaps I’ll answer yours.”

Draco muttered something under his breath. “Didn’t catch that; speak up.” Draco sighed and covered his face. “Yes,” he mumbled. “I like the mutt.” Y/N squealed and threw her arms around Draco’s torso and squeezed him tightly. He was surprised by this and looked down at his wife quizzically.

“I knew you’d come around! I told you getting a crup would be a wonderful idea, and now look at you. You’re taking him for a walk willingly,” she declared. Just then, Styx himself came strutting down the hallway, his butt wiggling. He sat by Draco’s foot and barked up at him, almost as if he was asking what was taking so long. Draco smiled down at him. “Yes, I know it’s just that your mother and I were having a discussion,” he said to the fluffy creature. Styx barked once more. “I know, right? How rude of her to delay your walk,” he replied in an exasperated tone. Y/N couldn’t fight the smile that crept onto her face.

“Oh, so now you’re talking poorly about me to my son?” she asked. Draco looked up and smirked at her. “I am,” he said firmly. “Come along now, Mr. Wiggles, let’s find your leash.” Y/N was in disbelief as she watched her lover walk down the hallway with Styx in tow. She shook her head and chuckled lightly. “Unbelievable, those two,” she mumbled to herself before retreating into the study.

[vagrantblvrd]

You guys know what?

Modern AU idea thingy where Din finally gets to meet Luke’s biker gang and yet somehow still thinks Luke killed a guy once and is on the run from the law after meeting those idiots???

Din meets them after he and Luke have been dating a while - officially dating, that is.

Not that confusing period of time where Din things like Din thinking Luke was inviting him out to watch a movie they both wanted to see because friends do that kind of thing, don’t they? And if they both realized they’d skipped lunch - Din had to deal with a stubborn kitchen sink leaking in one of the units, and Luke got suckered into talking about him teaching classes at her gym outside of the ones she let him and Obi-Wan hold there for their kids, for paying customers of hers.

Anyway, Luke knew a place nearby, if Din doesn’t have to get back to Grogu yet, and other such shenanigans.

Those times Luke thought Din was asking a buddy to keep him company at the some event or other with Grogu’s daycare/school, and you would not believe the amount of pictures Luke has saved on his phone of Grogu dressed as a sunflower, or the frog that one time, and Din is like, dying, because Luke is exactly his kind of idiot and anyway.

They cleared that one up and have been dating for a few months when Din goes to Luke’s to see him sitting on his couch with this look on his face. The kind of look you see on people in the movies when some important historical landmark is destroyed in front of them by invading aliens or they’ve somehow managed to survive Black Friday.

(Din was in the fucking trenches okay, worked retail for a while way back when, worked for a damned toy store, he has seen hell and lived to tell the tale.)

“Luke?”

Luke looks at Din, which is when Din sees Luke’s holding his phone. Thinks he got bad news? Maybe his family on the other coast, the one he struggles with sometimes, wants to share with Din because he loves them and he loves Din, but.

Complicated.

Din sits next to Luke, watches him carefully. Doesn’t want to push him, spook him, Telegraphs his intent when he takes Luke’s phone out of his hand and puts it on the coffee table, takes Luke’s hand in his and squeezes.

“Is something wrong?”

It takes a moment, but then Luke blinks, comes back from wherever he went -

“What?” he asks, and seems to realize that oh, hey, Din’s there. “Oh, uh. No. Nothing’s wrong.”

Kind of blurts out that last bit, and realizes it gives him and his current mental state away because he winces, gives Din this wobbly little smile.

“Nothing’s wrong,” he says again, Din closer to believing it, that vise around his heart loosening -

“Wedge and the others want to meet you.”

Luke’s just blurting things out again, but it’s fine because Din is like !!! and also !!!

"Oh?” he says, because it’s obvious from what Luke’s told him about them that Luke also loves his very stupid, very dumb friends who ride motorcycles and are in a gang that have matching tattoos and jackets and patches and who knows what else, but murder is a a very real possibility. “When?”

Luke gives Din a look, because it’s kind of a joke between them now, the thing where Din thinks Luke killed a man once and is on the run from the law, but it also kind of isn’t, because Din.

“I promise you won’t have help them hide any bodies,” Luke says, which is great because Luke’s the only one Din will help when it comes to hiding bodies

(Well, and Grogu, obviously. Possibly Cara, but really only because she would be carrying the body with her and the neighbors might see, and anyway, yes.)

Din finds out Biggs and Wedge and the others do this thing once, maybe twice if things are going well for them, a year. Take a couple of weeks off to hop on their bikes and go on a road trip. Usually there’s a biker convention/gathering on the other end of the road trip, but this year?

Luke’s told them so much about Din and Grogu and this happy little life he’s built for himself out here they just absolutely have to check things out for themselves, you know? Make sure Luke’s okay, that Din is treating him right - Luke rolls his eyes as he tells Din about that part because he can take care of himself, and they know it, but still.

Anyway, this year they’re coming to see Luke, will be by in a few weeks, and sorry to freak Din out, but they can be a bit much, sometimes?

Anyway, anyway.

Din is quietly !!! about Luke’s old biker gang coming by to vet him. Like, the thing about not having a squeaky clean past, but he’s kind of a do-gooder.

(Boba thinks it’s hilarious the way people who come to his shop are wary around Din like he’s not the biggest softy in the world - look at how he dotes on his kid, you know? Also, marshmallow, but yeah, fine, bad boy you wouldn’t want to take home to mom, whatever.)

He almost, almost forgets about the upcoming visit, but then there’s a day he’s down at Boba’s shop. Picked Grogu up from daycare/school and dropped by to talk about covering for some of Boba’s people the next week when they hear bikes coming down the street.

Nothing to worry about because Boba’s bike shop? Place where bikes are taken to fixed and whatnot???

Only, huh, sure does seem to be a lot of bikes, you know? A lot of bikes all at once, even. And just as Boba gets this annoyed look on his face about the racket, Din gets a text from Luke.

Ignores Boba going out to see what all the commotion is when it stops outside of the shop and checks the text to see a simple, chilling message: we’re outside

He gets an equally shilling message a few seconds later: :DDDDDDDDDDDD

Din is like !!! because, well, that explains the bikes outside? But Boba yelling to Din there’s a biker gang outside that wants to meet him is also a clue, so.

Din looks over to where Grogu was quietly playing with his toys and is like oh, no, because Grogu is gone and Boba left the door open and he runs out to find him.

Not worried about Luke’s biker gang because Luke loves those idiots and anyone he loves that much can’t be bad, but his kid, okay, his kid is a goddamned terror.

Looks cute as hell, but even Luke agrees about Grogu being a terror.

(That whole thing about taking one to know one, Din assumes.)

When Din gets outside it’s to Boba giving him a look before he goes back inside to wrangle paperwork.

Grogu is sitting in front of Luke on his bike, and Grogu is now sporting a tiny bike helmet with the starbirds on either side that looks like Luke’s tattoo.

Also?

A tiny jacket that matches the one Luke wears sometimes when he’s riding his bike, that the other bikers surrounding Luke are wearing and Din is like.

His heart because that shit’s adorable as hell? But also, oh, no, his kid’s going to be in a biker gang like Luke and Din’s going to have to help them hide so many bodies. :(((((((((

And then it’s Luke introducing Din to his friends (also people who helped Luke and his family unravel this major conspiracy that went on for over twenty years and was on the news for forever and also everyone but Din seems to be aware of, but yeah) who are all :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD when Luke’s around to run interference, but the moment Luke’s out of the room and whatnot?

Wedge is a high-ranking military officer, as are most of the gang, and they have their own connections who wouldn’t rat them out to Luke if Din does something to hurt Luke, you know.

Just putting that out there, friend. :DDDDDDDDDDDDDD

(Like, hey. Arguments and shit, they happen. But do something to break his heart, and he’ll have them to deal with, forget Leia and the others.)

But also, also.

They do like him, think it’s hilarious he thinks they’re a bunch of hardcore bikers or whatever, you know? They just happen to share a love of bikes, and friendship with Luke who they are super protective of, and also adore the hell of Grogu, as much as he adores them.

Also, though, also?

Din riding with Luke and Grogu goes with Wedge - “Din, relax. He’s as safe as he would be with me.” - on a ride on the roads outside of the city.

Gorgeous views and when they hit a wide open stretch of road they can see down for miles the others show off a little, switch positions and the whatnot so smoothly it’s obvious they’ve been riding together for years, know one another and how they think, react and so on.

Wedge and Grogu pull up alongside Luke and Din, and friendly insults are tossed back and forth and then Wedge guns it, and Luke glances back at Din, like are they really going to let him get away with that?

Which, no. No they are not, and then it’s this race between them, the rest of the Luke’s little biker gang (family) fanned out behind them.

Wedge and Grogu win of course, because Luke’s bike is carrying two full grown men while Wedge’s is carrying a tiny child and also Grogu.

Still, looking at the look on Grogu’s face, that huge, huge smile as Luke’s old biker gang high fives him and pats him on the back, the way Wedge puts him up on his shoulders and floats the idea of them teaming up from then on since he’s good luck -

Din could maybe understand if Luke would have let them win anyway.

But also, also, there being a lake or something out there where they decide to camp for a few days, Have tents set up and a barbecue pits and bonfire going, Grogu learning teaching Wedge and the others the correct way to roast marshmallows and build the perfect s’more while Din and Luke go for a last spin around the lake before it gets too late. Stop on a little rise over lookig the lake, smile at the boonfire on the other side, laughter drifting over the water to them and it’s like.

Din can’t be expected not to kiss Luke, you know? Pull Luke’s helmet off and smile at how happy he looks, lit up with it, and the worst case of helme hair Din has seen in his entire damn life -

“Rude, hurtful,” Luke accuses, but he’s laughing, and happy, and anyway.

Din kisses him, because he can’t not, and Luke seems to be on board with that whole line of thought because they do that for a while.

Don’t stop until their phones buzz at the same time - and Din has no idea how Wedge got his phone number, but the picture he sent him and Luke of Grogu about to shove a truly impressive multi-level s’more in his mouth while the others cheer him on is both adorable and horrifying.

“Oh my God,” Luke says, having the same realization as Din that a Grogu powered by that much sugar would surely be unstoppable.

They get to the others too late to stop things, of course they do, but it’s almost - almsot - worth it to see Wedge and the others being terrified by Grogu in the throes of major sugar rush.

The two of them certainly get excellent video of the whole disaster that will kep their black little hearts warm though the coldest, bitterest of winters.

While Grogu traumatizes Luke’s old biker gang Luke tells Din how they all met.

Luke who was this weird kid who’d made friends with Biggs right? Neither of them remember how that happened, assumed it came of growing up togehe i the same small town and such.

And then Biggs met Wedge and the others through school or something, college, and Luke came out to visit one summer. Had just finished fixing up his dad’s old bike and wanted to show Biggs, you know?

Wedge and the others impressed because Luke’s dad had good taste in bikes, and hey want to come up in a couple of weeks for this road trip they do?

Luke kind of figures it’s them being polite because he’s Bigg’s friend from back home, little brother kind of deal, but he really wants to go on the ride they tell him about.

Problem is, when he goes out to see them a few weeks later Biggs is in an accident, small one, not seriously hurt or anything, but his bike is going to be out of commission for a while and Biggs needs to take it easy until he heals up.

Luke was like, oh, man, that sucks, but at least Biggs is going to be okay, you know? Figures he and Biggs will hang out, maybe work on his bike while the others go on the road trip?

But Biggs and the others are like, no, dummy, they want you on the ride, go have fun!

Be young and stupid and do something that will convince the future love of your life that you killed a man and are on the run from the law!!1!

“...Something tells me that’s not what they said to you,” Din says.

Luke shrugs admits he’s paraphrasing things, but that’s the general drift.

Anyway, he gets to be friends with Wedge and the others, enough that they are like, 100% on board that one time they found out someone was to kill Luke and his family and the thing where his dad - and conequently Luke’s family - has been tangled up in a decades old conspiracy that involves world leaders and the safety of the entire world, and really.

“I met them a few months before all that happened,” Luke says, like he still doesn’t get why his friends would want to get involved, help him. “but we couldn’t have done it without them.”

Din still doesn’t know the whole story about that, whatever affected Luke so strongly he literally wandered the country for a while, a year, maybe more, it’s hard to tell, before he went to visit an old family friend in Obi-Wan and finally settled somewhere longer than a few weeks for the first time in years.

But he can wait until Luke tells him, if he ever does. Din doesn’t care about knowing the details, just enough to look after Luke when the idiot won’t do it for himself.

And it’s why Din lets Wedge and the others posture, let them threaten him and all that because they’re doing it to look out for Luke even now, know he’s the kind of idiot who won’t bother for himself.

He’s a little concerned at the way they’re obviously out to recruit his kid into their gang, which.

The bodies? But also Grogu would be safe with them, and that’s like. Strangely reassuring.

Still, his kid is years away from getting his license so he has some time to convince him he doesn’t want to be in a biker gang.

So of course, of course Wedge and the others have to make it harder for Din to do that when the next time Grogu’s ready to move up a bike size they send him a present.

Claim it’s to make up for all the birthdays and Christmases they missed before getting to meet Grogu in person.

It’s  bike, yes. One that will grow with Grogu through the next several growth spurts, but?

It’s painted in the gang’s colors, has starbirds on it. Little goggles to replace the ones Wedge gave him the first time they came to visit, the strap worn through from Grogu handling them so much. A new helmet with the starbirds, and a tally mark for the race he won with Wedge, Luke explains, grin in his voice and apologetic shrug for Din because his friends, okay. Kind of impossible.

So far there’s just the one, but there’s space for more and Din is like. *SIGH* at the thought of his kid with a biker gang, even if it’s Luke’s old biker gang and they’re all idiots, just.

*SIGH*

[trashyswitch]

Chris's Cuddly Mother

Chris has been fixing the animatronics for months and months now, and has been taking advantage of Chica's loving, cuddly nature throughout all of it. One day, Chris ends up working late and accidentally gets too comfy. This ends up changing up his night quite a bit.

Part 2 of The Repair Man's Reward.

This fanfic is dedicated to Chris: my great friend and long lost 'brother'! I hope you enjoy the sequel! You deserve it!

Chris walked into the pizzeria later in the night than usual. Truth be told, he was watching TV at his house when he realized how quickly the time went by. By the time he had driven up to work, it was 10:30 at night. He felt a little bad that he was late for work, because he would usually be cuddling Chica right about now. He wondered if Chica had enough of a concept of time to remind him that he was late. Probably not. And even if she did: late is better than never coming at all.

Chris headed up the stage with his toolbox. One of the downsides to being late, was that the stage stairs were put away already. He’d have to climb onto the stage instead of walk up the stairs like he usually did. Chris placed his toolbox onto the stage and hoisted himself onto the stage with only a little difficulty. Then, Chris stood up, grabbed his toolbox and walked up to the animatronics.

“Good evening everyone. Cool evening, but no complaints.” Chris greeted. The animatronics didn’t reply, like he predicted. So, he opened up his toolbox and started with Bonnie first like usual. Going through the usual cleaning and tuning routine, Bonnie proved to lose some of his tuning this time. He gave it a quick fix and smiled at the satisfying sound of a properly tuned guitar. Closing him back up, Chris moved onto Chica.

To Chris’s surprise, Chica didn’t have any pizza slices on her! So, Chris put on his dust mask and opened Chica up to check for infestations. Much to Chris’s surprise, there was still an infestation of cockroaches! And this time, he thought he saw some ants too. This place was slowly turning into the other pizzeria. Chris gave Chica a couple doses of the chemi-spray (the stuff that’ll burn your lungs from the inside out), and closed Chica up. “There. Feeling better now, Chicky choo?” Chris asked, placing his hand into hers. Chica looked down at him and widened her eyes a little more. Her pupils quickly displayed a pair of white hearts as she dropped her jaw and tilted her head to the side, to show she recognized him.

Chris’s smile grew bigger as he rubbed her arm. “I still have one more animatronic to do. Then we can cuddle.” Chris told her as he moved onto Freddy. Freddy was a quick one to do. Only 2 toys were found on Freddy this time, compared to yesterday. Yesterday there were around 7 separate toys hidden in Freddy’s body! How Freddy kept getting these toys, Chris will never understand. Chris removed the two toys and placed them into the lost and found bin. When the eye cleaner spit out Freddy’s eyes, Chris put Freddy’s eyes back and clicked the jaw buttons to close him up.

With Freddy all finished, Chris walked back to Chica again. “Hi Chica! I’m ready now.” Chris told her. Chica looked down at Chris with her heart eyes again, and put down the cupcake and the plate. With her hands completely free, Chica picked him up and gave him a big hug. Chris wrapped his arms around the yellow chicken as well and rested his head onto Chica’s shoulder. It felt nice. The coolness of Chica’s metal plates felt satisfying to him. Truth was, Chris is a naturally warm guy, so coolness felt quite comforting to the warm man.

Chica rubbed her pink cheek into the side of Chris’s face in a loving way, and let out a little happy whine sound. Chris widened his eyes and just about squealed from cuteness overload! Did Chica just coo?! Chris giggled and kissed her cheek. “You’re such an adorable creature.” Chris told her. “I wish I could take you home and make you my roommate.”

Chica removed one of her hands and patted his head. Chris smiled and closed his eyes, and let her play with his hair. Chris usually enjoyed the feeling of people playing with his hair, and especially loved it when people (and robots) he knew so well, played around with his hair. Chica could understand this to be enjoyable, thanks to his never ending smile and his leaning into the touch while his hair was weaved in between her big fat fingers.

Chica then moved her index finger towards his chin and started lightly scratching his chin and jawline. Chris’s reaction was immediate: He immediately started purring and showing off his toothy smile! Chica’s eyes dilated, making the hearts a size bigger and leaned in a little as he purred. Then, while she scratched and tickled his jawline: Chica placed the side of her head onto Chris’s chest to better feel and hear the purring sound. Chris stopped immediately, growing really confused. Chica continued to scratch his jawline despite stopping, and soon lifted her head up off his chest. She tilted her head in a way to ask him what’s wrong.

“I...Why are you laying your head on my chest?” Chris asked. “It’s just purring.” He added.

Chica moved her hand up to Chris’s ears and started scratching there. Chris immediately smiled and resumed purring all over again. Eager to feel it again, Chica laid the side of her head onto Chris’s chest and listened. It felt strange, and sounded a little like the running ventilator. Chica removed her head from his chest and looked at him. She tried to imitate the sound, but it sounded like autotuned gurgling water rather than purring.

Chris bursted out laughing at the attempt and clapped his hands. “Clohohose enough!”

Chica opened her jaw in an attempted smile and changed her pupil picture from hearts, to feathers. Chris gasped and shook his fists in front of his chest. Oh boy! He’s been waiting for this! Bring it on, Chica! Bring on the tickles!

Chica looked down and started tickling his covered up belly. Chris leaned over and instantly started giggling. “Hehehehehehehe! Yahahahahahay!” Chris cheered! Chica kept looking at Chris’s work uniform and continued gently squishing his belly. “Hahahahahaha! Ihihihit tihihihihicklehehes Chihihihicahaha!” Chris told her.

Chica didn’t really understand what Chris was saying due to the laughter obstructing his words. Chris knew this from the many times they’ve cuddled and had tickle fights. But if Chris seriously wanted her to stop, he would’ve worked extra hard to force it out of himself. But: he didn’t want her to stop. So: he didn’t need to worry about robot linguistics.

Chris allowed himself to laugh freely without any sort of resistance. Chica could easily tell he was enjoying this like he always did. So, Chica decided to move her fingers to his waist, lift him up and press her beak into his belly! Then, Chica started almost pecking and ‘nibbling’ her beak all over his belly.

Chris snorted and threw his head back at the same time! “OHOHOHO NOHOHOHOHO! *snort* GAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA- *snort* NOHOHOHOHOHO!” Chris laughed.

Chica looked up at Chris with the feathers in her eyes, and continued pecking her beak near his belly button. Chris was pressing his hands against Chica’s head, and shaking his head while laughing more and more hysterically than before. He was even swinging his feet between either side of Chica’s head and shoulders! He had never been pecked or nibbled like this before! and he’d especially never been nibbled by Chica the chicken! This was a completely new feeling! And the coldness of the beak didn’t exactly help either.

“CHIHIHIHIHICAHAHAHAHAHA! THIHIHIS IHIHIHIHIS EHEHEHEHEVIHIHIHIL!” Chris yelled out randomly.

To add on top of it, Chica started gently scratching Chris’s lower back. Chris squealed like a super squeaky door, and kicked his feet a little bit harder. “WAHAHAHAHAHAIT! NOHOHOHAHAHAHAHAHA! PLEHEHEHEHEASE STAHAHAHAHAHAWP!” Chris begged. Both his squishy belly and his vulnerable back were being tickled at the same time, and it was starting to drive him nuts. Which wasn’t a bad thing, but...it was doing something to him. Probably overwhelming him.

Chica soon had mercy on the guy and stopped tickling him for a bit. Chris leaned his head back and breathed heavily to make up for the oxygen lost in the tickle fight. Chica could tell he was tired, and decided to lay the front of his heating body onto her chest. Chris smiled nicely and snuggled his face into the bib. She was so cool compared to him, and it felt so relieving to be laying on something that’ll cool him down. Chica soon started petting Chris’s head again and playing with his hair like she usually did.

While Chica was distracted by something so simple, Chris began to wonder if Chica was capable of physically feeling his hair. And if not, then why was Chica so mesmerized by his hair? Was it the color? Was it the tiny pieces that fell out of the clumps? Was it the layers that flowed through his hair? Or was it something else entirely that was failing to come to his head? Chris had no idea.

Soon, Chris turned himself onto his back and laid his hot back onto Chica’s cool chest and belly. He leaned himself into the animatronic and started to get cozy in the comfort of her armor. Chris started to smile more as Chica wrapped her arms around him to somewhat ‘cocoon’ him while he started to sleep. Getting to the Pizzeria so late in the evening was starting to get to him. He could feel sleep growing harder to resist as it coated his brain and body. Chris was able to feel one last head pat on his head before he finally dozed off.

While Chris was softly sleeping, a door had opened several feet away. A person had walked themself in and was walking down the hallway near where Chris and Chica were laying. Not noticing Chris hidden within Chica’s arms, the person walked themself into the office room and closed the door. The person placed their stuff down, and started clicking through the different cameras. Soon, the sound of walking animatronics started to fill the building. Low, deep laughter could be heard once in a while in the distance, and the dented metal of the ventilators started to move and add noise.

Chica opened her black eyelids and looked around. It looked like an animatronic was getting closer and closer to her and Chris. Worst of all: It looked like it was an old animatronic. The old animatronics were known to be old fashioned and more creepy-looking. They also behaved more cruelly than the toy animatronics. This specific original animatronic was Freddy. If Freddy looked down and saw Chris in Chica’s arms, Freddy just might take him away from her and stuff him into something he can’t fit. Old Freddy, Old Bonnie and Old Chica always attempted this behaviour. Every night.

Chica simply looked at Freddy and the originals as old models with errors in them. Old machines that glitched and started to forget things long ago. So the best they could do is take over the doors to prevent them from finding the working humans. Thankfully, this seemed to help limit their entrance options to the hallway only. And thankfully, the security guards were required to have a flashlight. So they were all set. The unfortunate part about the door plan was that the new security guard was a fearful individual who was scared the toy animatronics would kill them too. If only she could tell them that’s not the case.

Chica looked near Old Freddy and covered up Chris’s face with her big hand. Their eyes were getting worse as well, which helped deter them from hurting a human if they covered up the suspicious evidence. Chica believed that simply covering the face was enough. But she would quickly learn that is not the case. Old Freddy looked down at the smaller extra legs that were in Chica’s lap, and immediately got suspicious. Freddy bent down, snatched up Chris’s legs and held Chris upside down!

If the sudden movement wasn’t enough to wake the repair man, Chica’s shriek out of fear and anger would certainly do it! Chris’s eyes flew right open and immediately, he did not like what was happening. Chica was upside down in his view, and was able to feel a pair of hands around his ankles! He yelped and turned himself around enough to notice the brown, fuzzy looking leg. Freddy!

“aaAAAH! FREDDY! WAIT- LET GO!” he begged.

Chica let out an angry screech and picked up Chris by his wrists to get him back. Chris yelped and looked up at Chica, who’s pupils had their hearts in them again. Chris let out a breath of relief as he quickly realized Chica still had his back. Chica picked up Chris by the ankles as well, and gave Freddy a quick shove with her leg. Freddy, in his tumbling, let go of Chris and let Chica have him. Chica grabbed up Chris’s legs, flipped him over and pulled him up onto her hip like she would a toddler. Chris gave Chica a thankful, loving hug and allowed Chica to rub her cheek against his head.

To try and keep Chris safe, Chica carried Chris over to the office and attempted to walk in to drop him off. But the door quickly slammed shut on them! Chris jumped at the sliding door, but chuckled as he shook his head. The security guard must believe all the animatronics are evil. Chris patted Chica’s shoulder, and felt himself get put down safely onto his feet again. Then, Chris knocked on the door. “Hello? Anyone in there?” Chris asked.

Whoever the security guard was, didn’t want to open the door right away. All Chris could hear was “This is just a trick, this is just a trick, this is just a trick…” Chris sighed and walked up to the window beside the door. He knocked on that as well. “Yoo hoo? Hello?” Chris called.

The light above the window turned on, partly blinding the guy. Ow… Then, the door finally opened. Chris ran into the office and ran into a guy with dirty blond hair and a goatee. “What the hell are you doing here?! It’s 2am!” The guy asked immediately.

Chris bit his lip and looked away awkwardly. “I...Fell asleep.” Chris admitted.

The guy let out a breath of relief and hugged him. “Thank heavens there’s another human being in this horror shit show.” the guy reacted thankfully.

Chris smiled a little and hugged him back. “I...Who are you?” He asked.

The guy quickly let go of him and looked at him awkwardly. “Sorry, sorry, sorry. I’m Jeremy.” He offered his hand out to shake. “The new security guard.”

Chris nodded and shook his head. “Chris. Animatronic repair guy.”

Jeremy gasped and let out another big breath of relief. “Oh my goodness the world is on my side now! Can you fix these animatronics so they’re not trying to HUNT ME DOWN AND KILL ME?!” Jeremy begged, grabbing his arms and slightly shaking him.

Suddenly, one of the animatronics’ footsteps could be heard. Jeremy let go of Chris, zoomed right past him and turned on the light. “FAAAACK!” Jeremy punched the door button and watched as the door slid closed, trapping the animatronic outside. “WHY DID I TAKE THIS JOB?!”

Chris just bursted out laughing at the scene in front of him. Chris walked over to the lights, and turned it on: Toy Chica was standing on the other side of the window, pressing her hands on the glass. “Dude! It’s just Chica.” Chris told him.

“Can I just take a moment to mention that you have the greatest laugh, I have heard from a human being ever? Also, CHICA GET AWAY FROM THE GLASS!”

Chris’s face immediately flushed a bright pink color, before looking over at Chica. “Thanks...But you don’t need to worry about Chica. He’s just checking up on me.”

“He’s also threatening my life. And I would rather he...ya know...didn’t.” Jeremy added.

Chris just laughed at him and opened the door. “Hey Chica!” Chris greeted, waving at her. Chica gave a mostly still wave right back, while tilting her head to the side and opening her jaw. Chica then took Chris’s hand and pointed down the hall.

“Yeah...you’ve got a point. I need to get going.” Chris admitted. “Bye Jeremy! Try to survive your shift! And remember: Chica’s nice!” Chris told him.

Jeremy gave him a small, confused and nervous smile as he waved back. As Chris left out of view of the window, Chica looked through the window glass and shot him a stare with deep red skulls in her pupils. Jeremy’s slight anxiety suddenly skyrocketed as he realized something:

Either Chris doesn’t realize she’s secretly a robot killer, or Chris is walking away to his own doom…

...Which one will it be?