#he was too old before they came to his life to influence it in any way shape or form

[ginkgo-phyta]

Hotch would definitely give you the princess treatment, and you know what? Jack would too, after seeing his father he knows how to treat a girl right. And the team would definitely tease Hotch, because his son is going to steal his partner from him :)

omg no LITERALLYYY tho like just like omfg alright i got carried away with this and its not even really what you're talking about but listen to me okay LISTENNNNN

tagged spencer reid x reader because i want more people to see this teehee pls dont hate me i have spencer fics yall should read if you havent already but also you should still read this too

YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH AARON HOTCHNER AND ITS INFLUENCE ON HIS SON JACK gn!reader, FLUFF, no warnings(?) another informal blurb typa format :P

you and hotch decide together you'd like to date for a while first, take things slower and fully solidify and strengthen your relationship, before you become a part of jack's life. you didn't want jack to get attached to you or write you off too quickly in case life took you in different directions. you didn't know it at the time, but hotch introduced you to jack when he was sure he was going to marry you some day- and soon. he had been so incredibly head over heels in love with you and once you and jack got close, the little guy really got to witness how highly his father regarded you- and just how he showed you it every day. even in the little things. from the way hotch pulled out your chair, held all doors open for you, always kept your favorite drinks and snacks stocked up in the fridge and pantry, never let you open your own car door, the way he made spaces for you in his bathroom and closet without even being asked, and how he always stuck to your weekly dinner date- whether in person or over the phone. to the way his father would look at you, listen intently to whatever you were talking or ranting about, how he'd cup your hands and press quick kisses to them or move any bothersome strands of hair from your face when you'd eat, and how enthusiastic he always was when you and jack would spend time together.

jack was a bit hesitant with you at first, he was a bit older at that point and the quickness with which beth had left his life had admittedly stung him, leaving an ever-present welt behind. but he warmed up to you, appreciative of the way you welcomed him with open arms, never pressured him to spend time with or even like you (letting him accept you at his own pace) and how you clearly were not trying to take the place of his late mother- even many, many years into your relationship with his father. what he loved the most was how you always encouraged hotch to recount stories of haley, put pictures of her in jack's room or wherever else he wanted them, and how you would remind him: "your mother would be so proud of you jack." you would watch old home videos of their old family and jack never failed to notice how you wouldn't ever feel negatively about it. that was really what won him over. he also loved how open you were with both him and his dad- every day you'd say "i love you!" both casually and purposefully. it instilled in the young boy the importance of expressing appreciation, love, and care for others.

before you, hotch was always a just bit emotionally closed off. even when it came to jack he liked to keep himself a bit more reserved. he tried to stay a strong and unwavering inspiration, only wanting to show his son his best face. but once you came into their lives you inspired hotch to open up more than he had the last few years after haley's passing, inspired him to embrace even the "uglier" emotions he felt in life: grief, anger, sadness, and tiredness. it ended up passing onto jack in small ways, allowing him to feel even closer to dad. you became a huge structural post in jack's life. your love for one other inspired him, as he grew up he dreamed of one day having a relationship like yours. he looked forward to being able to treat his significant other the way his father cares for you.

you loved jack as if he was your own, though you never wanted to say that to him for fear of overstepping your role. aaron would always assure you, especially as jack grew older, that his boy felt it. you watched him go from a playful child, to a moody teenager, to a budding adult eager to make his mark on the world. and you were there supporting him the whole way.

you'll spend a lifetime with the both of them and although there will be many funny, loving, or frustrating moments you'll hold in a special place in your mind, there's one memory from when he was still a youngin that you love the most. it was a surprise dinner party at your fancy restaurant, aaron had booked the whole place just for you and the guests to celebrate your engagement and he had enlisted jack's help to plan the whole thing. jack, the bau team, and your friends and family were all there to shower you in love. the most memorable part of the night was the moment everyone sat down for dinner, all around a giant table (possibly multiple tables pushed together). as everyone moved to take their place jack ran so eagerly in front of you to pull your chair out before his father got the chance. you were shocked for a second before bursting out in a melodious laugh- it was so unexpected but you were incredibly moved. "oh, jack, thank you!" your loving, excited, and genuinely appreciative tone made jack's already huge grin grow even wider and more endearing. everyone else had noticed this too and laughed in joy along with you. "oh my god!" "that was so freakin cute" "he did not just do that!" rang out around you. of course aaron noticed, standing in silence for a second, a similar smile mirrored on his face, before he shook his head with a chuckle. as you took you seat, jack made sure to push your chair in just before you sat down fully, diligently executing what he'd studied his father do hundreds of times before. you turned to thank him, but before you could even open your mouth jack moved to take your cloth napkin from the table, shake it open, and carefully place it in your lap. awwws flooded in from all sides of the table

"oh you are just so adorable jack, thank you so much." you said as you pinched his still slightly chubby cheek "you are just the kindest, sir." you playful tone cause jacks entire face to blush and he shyly walked over to take a seat next to you.

"what? you take my job, and now you don't even want to sit next to me?" hotch spoke up from you other side. jack knew his father was joking, but he still bashfully giggled, sinking a bit more into his seat

"you better be careful, hotch," derek spoke up from across the table, motioning to his former boss with a breadstick, "looks like you got some competition there."

everyone broke out into more laughter, especially aaron. in the midst of the hysterics, the once-stoic man's hand crept into your lap to hold your own, thumbing over the back of your hand and the beautiful engagement ring wrapped around your finger. you shared a glance while you both laughed before you looked over to jack. wordlessly, your hand suddenly hopped up to ruffle up the little boy's hair, causing him to scrunch up his nose and giggle even more.

but you didn't have to say anything, your eyes held the truth. love. jack continued to look up at you, feelings of warmth, joy, and safety draped over him like a fuzzy throw, covering him from the crown of his head to the tips of his fingers and toes. he knew that with you in his life now, besides him and his father, everything would be okay.

A/N: SCREAMING how was this anon? sorry i didn't delve into the team teasing hotch more bc these thoughts were swimming in my head and i NEEDED to get them down perhaps i could do another post of just teasing quotes if that's something you'd like! i got a few ideas swimmin already teehee i hope you enjoyed my love!!

[uyuuma]

“ I HOPE YOU KNOW I'M FADED ”

drunk!gojo x exgf!reader ღ MDNI.

❥ summary. you and your toxic ex, gojo, broke up months ago. yet you find his drunk ass outside your apartment door.

❥ warnings. nsfw, female anatomy, toxic ex, manipulative gojo, dub con, dacryphilia, use of the name 'daddy', alcohol mentioned, tw: toxic relationship dynamic, etc.

❥ a/n. okok this one i thought of while i was bored at work, hope y'all enjoyyyy. i had to resubmit this post bc it got taken down bruh lets hope it doesnt happen again (title was inspired from the song 'spotlight' by lil peep; it is encouraged to listen while reading :3)

❥ wc. 3.2k

Your life has been rather drama-free ever since you broke up with Satoru Gojo.

After the constant arguments and severe manipulation that he had put you through, you decided enough was enough and you told him to essentially fuck off.

But if you were being honest with yourself, you weren't fully over him yet. In fact, life may have been drama-free but it became so boring after that. In some kind of fucked up way, you kind of missed the rollercoaster of emotions he put you through.

That's just how things are you guess, prioritizing your peace over that man was the healthier decision in the long run. You blocked his number and all of his social media as well as ghosting all of your mutuals, like Suguru and Shoko. It was a tough decision but you were tired of them asking about you and Satoru. He's done enough damage to your life already.

It's been radio silence since then, wonderful peace and quiet for two whole months. You found yourself taking up old hobbies again, exercising regularly, and even talking to other men. Life was right back on track and you were on your way to properly healing.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough because he still knew where you lived. You didn't really bank on the fact he would come banging on your door. You believed he would just move on, since he is Satoru Gojo after all. Any woman would be head over heels for the handsome man, even if he was toxic as fuck.

But no, god dammit it all, he is still stuck on you.

Loud banging could be heard on your apartment door. It scared the living daylights out of you when you shot up from beneath your covers. You thought that there was someone trying to break in or perhaps your building manager was trying to alert you to a fire. You immediately rolled out of bed and ran to the door.

That's when you heard that cursed voice.

"Open uppppp!" the voice slurred on the other side.

You groan an exasperated "Noooooo fuckkkk!" under your breath after realizing it's your ex.

"Baby please... I know you're in thereeee" He said in a joking manner.

You open the door a crack, not unhooking the chain lock. "Go away, I told you I never wanted to see you again." You said coldly. Your voice was also a tad raspy, as you had just woken up from a deep slumber.

"Baby don't be like that, let daddy in will you?" He purred through the crack of the door. You could tell he was under the influence of something and it caused you to roll your eyes.

"Fuck no, now leave before I call the cops." You threatened as you went to shut the door.

The door came to a halt with a loud 'THUD'. Satoru grabbed the chain lock with his fist and he held it open before you could shut it. You gasp and jolt back from the audacity that this guy had.

"No no no no no, you're not listening t'me. I wanna talk to you." He said as he tried to pull the chain off the door.

You knew he had the strength to do it too and you didn't feel like replacing it so you annoyedly invited him in.

"Christ, fine but only for a bit! Do you understand me?" You said sharply, unlocking the chain.

"Anything you want, mama." He said grinning, he swiped the door open wide to let his towering frame through the doorway.

You click your tongue in irritation as you quietly close the door behind him. "What do you want, Satoru? It is 3 in the fucking morning!" You whisper yelled.

"Shhhhshhhshh" He spat out at you, putting his long finger against your lips, hushing you. "I just missed you so much, hehe." He found it amusing you were getting angry and it only triggered you more.

"Don't touch me, you're not my boyfriend anymore." You said smacking his hand away from you.

"Says who?" He asks confusedly. He tilts his head to the side.

"Says me!" You said trying not to scream too loud and wake the neighbors.

"Pshhh nah ah!" He says as he smirks. "I say we just forgive each other and move on, huh?" He proposes the idea, with full confidence.

You let out a laugh in disbelief. "Each other? You prick, you're the one that manipulated me and used me! If anything you should be begging me for forgiveness! And you can start by leaving!" Your voice was starting to get louder, but you were beyond infuriated right now.

"What are y'talking about? Don't start with this crazy shit." He said with a twinge of irritation in his voice. He slouched a lot worse than usual, his hands stuffed into the pocket of his sweats. He was wearing that stupid compression shirt that would always make your head spin when you saw it.

He also reeked of alcohol. It was safe to say that the dude was drunk. It took a lot just to get him tipsy, so for him to be this drunk it must've meant he's been at it all night.

"Look baby, I just came from Sukuna's house party and it made me realized how much I missed youuu." he said, his eyes all glossy.

Oh? So, he decided to crawl back after drinking himself silly at some house party? This guy couldn't get anymore pathetic, you thought to yourself. "You stink of booze, get out of my apartment you bum." You said pointing out the door. "I don't need you ruining my life again."

"C'mon don't be like that princess, you know the only thing I'd ever ruin is your slutty little holes." He said, smirking. He grabbed your chin with his hand and brought you close to his face. You could smell the whiskey still hot on his breath.

You were so beyond done with this. "You're repulsive, do not talk about me like that." All of the emotions you had that you've suppressed came back and all at once. You could feel that all too familiar burning in your eyes and throat.

You went silent and smoothed over your hair with your hand, trying to soothe yourself. Do not let him make you cry again. You took a few deep breaths before continuing.

"Look I know you're fucked up, but you need to call an Uber and leave immediately." You said looking up into his eyes to show how serious you were being.

He just continued to give you this cocky smirk while tuning you out. He just won't fucking listen to you.

"Ok! Well here this shit is again! You never take me seriously! It's like I'm this big fucking joke to you!" You yelled out, letting your emotions start to swell inside your chest.

Tears began to spill from your eyes as months and months of frustrations started to unravel. You looked down and brought your sleeve to wipe your tears. "Well, I won't take it anymore! I-" Suddenly you found that your breath was suddenly snatched from your lungs, after looking back up at him.

Satoru was palming his hard-on while you were sobbing. He was getting off to your tears. The fucking bastard.

"Are you─!" You were cut off by Satoru's moans.

"Fuck, you are so sexy when you get all emotional like that. God, I just want to shut you up with my cock." He said eyes fixated on your face.

"You cannot be serious right now!" You've had enough of his shit, you shoved him, trying to get him out the door.

"Oooh playin' rough with me princess?" He doesn't budge from you trying to push him. "Aww, if only you weren't so weak." He says as he wraps his hand around your wrist and pulls it up. He yanks your hand above your head and watches you squirm.

He looks thoroughly amused and cracks a smile when you fight back.

"Aw I miss this, us arguing and fighting. It always gets my blood pumping." he said, shoving you to your knees.

You tried to fight where this was inevitably going to end up, but it was no use. Satoru was just too damn strong and too damn convincing.

He hisses as he frees his dick from his sweats. It bobs up and down from the sudden release. Your eyes follow it, mesmerized with how big it was. It's been a few months since you last saw it. You had so many conflicting thoughts racing through your head as you silently knelt on the floor below him.

"Suck." He commanded, holding his tip to your lips. His precum lubricated your soft lips, making you feel sticky already.

You shook your head and used your hands to push away from it using his thighs as leverage. You didn't want to give into him, not after everything.

"No fuck- c'mon baby just open wide." He cooed out to you. Even now he was deciding everything for you. He decided you were going to suck his dick and that's what you were going to do.

It was a struggle between you pushing away and him grabbing your hair and pushing your head down onto his cock. Between his groans in anticipation and your whines in protest, he became increasingly impatient.

"No no no, shhhshhh... that's a good girl." He hiccupped. Satoru successfully got your mouth to take his tip. He grunted and tilted his head back slightly, feeling you slowly but surely take his length.

"Oh fuck, I missed your mouth so much baby." He purred as he parted your hair out of your face.

You closed your eyes in defeat as tears began sliding down your cheeks. He held your head still with one hand gripping on your pony tail and pumped himself in and out of your mouth.

"Fuuuuck, no matter where I looked I couldn't find another girl who satisfied me like you do." He started to invade your throat with his length, making your esophagus become sore and your lungs burn from the lack of air.

You choked on his cock, saliva dripping down your chin and neck, as well as down his balls. Your fingernails dug deep into his thighs, trying to either push yourself off or for leverage. One of the two, you didn't know anymore. All you knew was that little warm sensation that built between your legs. Your body was betraying you, you were supposed to hate this man, to not let him abuse you anymore. But fuck, his cock hit all the right places in your tight throat. Your eyes begin to cross as you struggle to breathe.

"Shit, you swallow me so good. Mmm, tell me you want daddy to cum down your throat." He said fucking into your mouth, your lewd slurping sounds were very pleasing to his ears.

You let out a muffled moan in response, obviously you couldn't say anything but that was enough of an answer for him.

"Oh fuck, take my load." he ordered, his abs flexing as he came. He groaned as he painted your throat white with his seed. You could feel the hot, sticky fluid make its way down your throat as you swallowed it all.

More tears fell onto your cheeks. "Hate you, 'toru." you whined out, throat still raw from his dick forcing its way in.

Satoru gave you that cocky smile again and tapped his cock against your cheek as you pouted. "Still harddd." he sang. "Wanna be a doll f'me and get on all fours?" He said wiping the spit off your chin.

You were so disappointed in yourself. This man was forcing himself back into your life and all you could do was watch as it happened. You looked up at him and see that faded look in his eyes. They say that drunk words were sober thoughts, has he been wanting to do this for two months?

Despite everything, you did exactly as he said. You turned around and lowered yourself onto all fours. Truth is, your pussy was aching for him and it had been since you guys broke up. Those men couldn't satisfy you and neither could your dildo, at least not like how Satoru can. Perhaps this whole situation was inevitable.

You pull down your panties and shamefully spread your pussy out for him, showing how you were already wet and ready for him to stretch you out.

"Aww, baby you're already soaked. I haven't even touched you down there yet." He said kneeling down to take a closer look. He took his hand to grip your ass and moved his thumb to swipe a line against your cunt.

You shuddered from the satisfaction of finally being touched where you were aching. You could hear shuffling from behind you and felt a sudden wet, warmth swipe up and down on your clit.

You gasped and clasped your hand over your mouth in response to Satoru suddenly eating you out. How polite of him to at least warm you up.

There was something so feral about the way he ate you out. Perhaps it was the alcohol, but he was sloppily sucking on your clit making your legs shake from the pleasure. He began humming and moaning as his tongue entered you, pumping in and out. His fingernails were digging into the fat of your ass as he spread your cheeks nice and wide for him.

Your arms wanted to give out from under you, but the bastard chose to fuck you on the cold hardwood flooring in the foyer. So you struggled to hold your head up, as if that would protect your dignity.

Satoru parted his mouth from your now slick folds, spit dripping all over your floors. "Mmm, baby I missed tasting you." He said, lust dripping from his voice almost as much as the saliva down his chin. He wiped the drool and slick from his mouth and gave your ass a swift 'SMACK'. You yelped out from the sudden sting.

"You ready baby? This is my favorite part." He cooed into your ear as he rutted his erection against your pussy.

"Yes 'Toru, fuck me please." You whined out. You were already gone, you just wanted the sweet release of the growing knot in your tummy. It was far too late to fight back at this point, all you could think about was him rearranging your guts.

He didn't need to hear any other words of confirmation as he aligned his throbbing cock with your dripping cunt. He pushed the tip in and let a shaky moan out along with a hiss.

"Fuck, always so tight." He groaned while thrusting just the tip in and out of your hole. His hands were still gripping your ass at this time, but he moved his left hand to grip onto your shoulder, lowering you onto his cock.

You let out such sweet moans and whimpers as he watched your pretty cunt swallow him up. He was mesmerized, trying not to cum at the very sight of it. He gave a drawn out sigh in relief from feeling your gummy walls clamp onto him.

He repositioned his large hands to have a strong grip on your waist as he started to thrust in and out of you. It was a slow rhythm at first, nice and sensual like he was trying to massage your insides.

It drove you insane, feeling him drag in and out. He had your back arched, so you folded your arms and laid on them. You scraped the floors with your nails as you felt him start to smack his hips against your ass.

"Mmm... fuck Satoru..." you mewled out, shoulder blades pushing together as your back curved in.

"M'gonna ruin your little pussy." He said making his thrusts rougher. "Gonna punish you for leaving me." He grunted out through clenched teeth. He let out a breathy moan as he leaned over you, slamming his hips flush against your ass.

You let out a sharp squeal as he jackhammered your cervix at this new angle. This squeal pleased him so much that he chuckled and said, "Keep making those cute little sounds."

He caged you beneath him by putting all of his weight on his left arm, holding his hand steadily on the floor by your head. He took his right arm and roughly took your arms from beneath your head. He pinned them both behind your back as he relentlessly pounded into you. This way he could have complete control over your body.

Your face was now met with the cold floor. Your cheek was squished and your mouth agape, drooling from the mind-melting ecstasy. You were starting to see stars, eyes not being able to focus on a single thing. Not that you could see through your tears anyways. You felt your climax approaching rapidly, pussy clenching him uncontrollably.

He started to curse under his breath as his thrusts became more shaky and messy from the pressure. You could tell he was nearing his orgasm too.

"Fuck baby, cum on my cock. Wanna feel you squeeze me." He said, his words coming out super slurred. You couldn't see his expression but you could tell from his voice that he was not only drunk but also pussy-drunk.

Your hands clenched from behind your back and your whole body seized up as you reached your limit. "F-fuck m'gonna cum daddy!" You screeched out, forgetting it was four in the morning. Your eyes rolled into the back of your head as you gasped. Your whole body spasmed as you felt that sweet release you had been craving for months.

"Oh shit baby-" He cut himself off as he bit down on his lip. He hunched his entire body over you and his hands flew to grip onto your hips. "M'gonna fucking fill you so deep" He whimpered as he slammed your ass tightly against his pelvis. You could feel him twitch against you as that familiar warmth invades your pussy.

His curses are much louder this time around, slurring out profanities as thick ropes of cum coat your walls.

You gave one last whine before completely collapsing under him. "Satoru..." you said softly, very much out of breath.

He was silent for a second, slowly pulling himself out of your sore, leaking hole. He took his thumb and plugged your cunt so that his precious fluids stayed inside.

You squeaked from the feeling and laid on the floor in defeat. Your whole body was spent and you felt as if you could pass out on the floor.

He stood up and lifted his sweats back up. "C'mon princess lets go back to bed." He said kneeling back down to pick you up.

"I hate you, Satoru." You said meekly. You meant it, yet you didn't at the same time.

"Love you too baby." He said picking you up, bridal style.

He carried you to your bed, slipping under the covers with you. He spooned you and rested his face in the crook of your neck.

His scent was intoxicating, cologne mixed with musk and alcohol. Fuck, you really did miss him after all.

Whatever, you'll deal with kicking him out in the morning. Or not. You weren't sure anymore as you drifted back to sleep.

[silverzoomies]

Summer Wind

tate langdon x reader smut

warnings: existential crisis, death, afterlife, implied/referenced character death, murder, angst, aged-up tate langdon, fingering, fingerfucking, kissing, canon divergence

word count: 4,690

a/n: another drabble. y'know that thing people do sometimes? where they "age-up" a character, but don't really age them up? i initially wrote this in response to that. but it somehow turned into a means of venting my existential terror instead. i was gonna include more smut. but tbh i didn't feel right about it. this one's gonna stay unfinished. sorry about the abrupt ending !!

inspired by the song summer wind by frank sinatra

You were dead for an indiscernible span of time.

You couldn't be sure how long. But you suspected a few years, at least. Through one of the top floor windows of your eternal purgatory; you watched the trees. Nature alternated between skeletal displays of branches, to vibrant arrays of color. Withered. Blooming. Withered. Blooming. Withered. Blooming again. Rinse and repeat.

Once you accepted your fate, things started clicking into place. Trapped in a vintage hotbox of murder, you put together the pieces of a long lost puzzle. And though some parts were still absent, you pushed yourself to move on. You might never figure out how you died, or who you were before. But to worry so much would be senseless at this point.

Through acceptance, you began to feel again. If only in small bursts. Abrupt, but worth cherishing.

One memory remained ever present. You had the sense you were a school guidance counselor in life. And in death, you took up the mantle again. Offering your services to the other souls lost in the house. One of the ghostly residents shared a similar occupation. Way back in his breathing years. He didn’t do it so much anymore. Instead, he spent time with his family, working towards redemption for his past actions.

You steered clear of most residents, fearful of their unpredictable episodes of bloodlust. They allowed the evil within the house to lure them further into madness. On the days they came to you for your services, you spoke to them in hopes they’d find absolution. Change in the afterlife was extremely difficult to achieve. Your 'clients' rarely ever scratched the surface of their tainted psyches. And any progress they made, they always resorted to their old habits in the end.

Only one of them ever found true change. Of course, he had to be the most wretched of them all.

You once felt sympathy for Tate, making excuses on his behalf. In the years when his heart still pumped blood through his veins; he was young. Misguided. Perhaps the pressures of his upbringing took too much of a toll on him. And in the afterlife, he suffered under the influence of the house itself. The evil buried deep within channeled through his broken soul.

But if such an evil did exist, it never took hold of you. Nor did it sink its venomous teeth into Violet, or her innocent mother, or that pure of heart baby, or even Ben Harmon himself - sinful a man as he was. They resisted, and so did you.

Tate was pure evil. Carnage incarnate. Maybe that made him susceptible to the influence of dark forces. But after talking with him for a few years, you accepted him for what he was. Foul from birth, deplorable in death. No matter how often you tried guiding him to goodness, he remained forever loathsome. The evil in him burned eternally, needing no kindling.

His own acceptance of that fact allowed him to change. In a more physical way, much like Moira. Tate embraced his fate, convinced the house was where he belonged. A punishment until the end of all things. Simultaneously, a safe haven from whatever lay in waiting after purgatory. Tate’s progress was very much real. Albeit, not the kind you aimed for.

You could see his growth in his features, rather than his morals. Sitting across from you during another weekly session, Tate fidgeted with a frayed hole in his jeans. With his blond brows creased, he stared down at the denim. As you watched him like this, you picked apart his finer details. Where his skin once beamed with the pale, ghostly image of youth; creases were now etched in. Faint, but noticeable lines curved under his eyes.

An aura of maturity emanated from him like a light much too dim. Tate carried the same mannerisms from his heyday - if one could even call it that. But he had long since graduated from his mentality of that era. Tate spoke of his past actions as if he regretted them, though you suspected he felt no real remorse. He used to cry all the time. He used to throw childish tantrums. But you couldn’t remember the last time you saw his soulless, black eyes water. Now…

He carried nothing but cold desolation. Common amongst those trapped in perpetual limbo.

“I saw her again today.” He admitted, his lidded eyes flitting up to meet yours, “She hasn’t changed any. Not like me. Not like…” Tate made a gesture at his face, his thumb grazing the angular shape of his jaw. Tiredly, he blinked, “Not like this. Fate’s a funny thing, isn’t it? I always thought we were fated to be together forever, but…”

On the sofa across from him, you kept your cheek perched in a hand. As you scribbled in your notebook, you took note of the way Tate’s features bled misery. All at the mention of her. It must have been painful for him, watching her stay the same. While he finally outgrew himself. Those changes only further separated the two of them. Obliterating any chance he had to make amends. If there ever was.

There especially wouldn’t be now. Even Tate was on the tailend of coming to terms with it.

“How’d it make you feel this time around?” You pressed in a soft tone, shifting on the couch. His dark hues zeroed in on your thighs, bare in a simple dress. The lining appeared cheap, glittering with sequins reminiscent of childhood nostalgia, “When you saw her?”

“Fuckin’...I dunno…” Tate put his face in his vascular hands, fingers curling into his hair, “She’s like a kid to me anymore. What am I supposed to think?”

“Maybe she’s content like that. In the same way you’re content the way you are now.” You shrugged, tenderly laughing, “Maybe teenage angst suits her that much.”

He shook his head, shifting from a criss cross position on the loveseat across from you. Bouncing a leg, Tate gave you a pointed look. His brows turned downward.

“We thought it fit me too, didn’t we? But look at me now."

You were. You were looking at him a lot. And he wasn't wrong. Teenage angst once paired well with Tate's immature nature. Back when he thought like a kid, and acted on impulse. These days, he'd become more lethargic. When he wasn’t consumed with blood lust. Rugged virility was his partner now. Coupled with the melancholy existentialism of a man pushing thirty.

“You wanted to move on.” You clarified, your teeth clicking the edge of a pen at your lips.

“Did I?” Tate bitterly laughed, the empty vacuums of his eyes caught your tongue in motion, “Doesn't seem like anyone else here wants to. ‘Cept Moira.”

“Well, they only think they can’t. They believe they’re tethered here, frozen in time at their moment of death. I used to think growth was impossible too. Until you…”

You took in his masculine features again. The scruff around his chin. So fair, and not too noticeable. Catching yourself in the midst of ogling him, you redirected your gaze to Tate’s eyes. Imposing. Starless. Easy to get lost in. He wasn’t ignorant to your attraction. A hint of grin pulled into his laugh lines and dimples.

“Does it scare you?” He asked, “What’s your excuse then?” Tate threw a condescending nod of his head, “If you’re so enlightened. If you know better than all of us - with your morals ‘n bullshit like that. Why haven’t you changed any since you died?"

Shrugging, you looked bashfully down at your notes.

“Why would I want to? If I can stay young for eternity. If I can keep these curves, and what’s left of my youth. What’s the point in growing older?” You admitted in truth.

“That’s a little superficial though, isn’t it?” Tate leaned back into the loveseat cushions, “Shit like that doesn’t matter here. Who are you tryna impress? And what’s anybody living gonna think? When they meet you, and find out you’re nothin’ but food for maggots now.” He teased, legs spread, one knee bouncing, “There’s gotta be another reason you haven’t moved on. You’re not like us. I dunno why you and the Harmons don’t just…y’know…go.” He trailed off, his gaze falling to his lap.

You saw his bitterness return in full force. Another miserable wave of longing washed over him. Yearning for something that didn’t exist anymore, and never would again.

“I…” You paused, doodling hasty flowers in your notebook. You avoided Tate’s eyes, “I wanna know how I died first. I wanna know who I was. Before I even consider moving on.”

Sinister acidity flashed through his vision, “Seriously? That’s what’s stopping you?” Tate huffed a harsh laugh, admitting without missing a beat, “You wanna know how you died? I’ll tell you. I stuck a knife in your back and stabbed you to death.” He confessed, monotone, “You know it too. You’ve known since we met. You’ve just been in denial this whole time.”

You sat up in an abrupt movement, scooting forward and tossing your notebook away.

“What?! What are you even talking ab-…I’ve been trying to figure this out for years, Tate! Years!” You threw out your hands, “You…you can’t be serious! Why would I be in denial about something like that??”

Tears of betrayal stung the corners of your eyes. Tate shrugged, seemingly unbothered. He crossed his arms, his eyes dark under the ridges of his brows.

“‘Cuz you feel bad for me. Or…uhm…you wanna feel bad for me.” He shrugged again, “Fuck if I know why. I’m the last guy you should have sympathy for.” Tate said, his black hues narrowing in thought.

“You didn’t…did you really stab me? Really? You’re not lying about that?” You almost shouted, clawing your fingers through your hair, “Please. Please tell me you’re lying!”

Tate appeared unfazed, ignoring you, “Do you love me or something? Is that why you’re so broken up about this?” He asked, desperate in his infinite search for validation.

“Why the fuck would you stab me?!” You shouted, full of wrathful turmoil.

You stood off the couch, surging toward him with your fists balled at your sides. Tate didn’t flinch. He pursed his lips, thoughtful again. With an insufferable aura of nonchalance, he shrugged once more.

“Wanted to.”

The blank emptiness in his expression told you everything you already knew. Tears streamed down your face, painting your cheeks and chin in damp threads.

“Where? Where did you stab me??”

Tate gestured with a nod of his head, towards the only window in the room. A summer breeze fluttered, catching the curtains in its dance. You wanted to find the radiant light of nature beautiful again. But it only served as a haunting reminder - the environment remained symbiotic with time. And you were forever left behind.

“Over there. By that window.” He said, watching you pad over to said window, the skirt of your dress fluttering.

The window. In the one room you always felt so drawn to, for reasons unknown. Now, you knew. Bracing your hands on the windowsill, you peered your head outside. Ghosting your skin, the air breathed an essence of life. Something you were no longer a part of. You used to be content with that fact. But now? Knowing your life was unfairly ripped from you, how could you ever move on? Your death wasn’t an accident. Nor had an irreversible illness seized your physical form. Just Tate.

His low voice droned from behind you and in your ear. A faint vibration followed, along with a presence at your back. You felt the soft texture of his sweater, but no body heat with it. One of his icy hands met your shoulder. He reached his other arm out. Tate pointed to a spot near the entrance gates.

“I didn’t wanna tell you. Because I didn’t wanna lose you too. But…” He paused for a beat, “It was on Halloween. Ten years or so years ago, I guess. I was gonna leave. Make my rounds. Y’know…like I used to. The house was-uh...up for grabs back then. You came up to the door. One of the kids here opened it for you. And you kinda...walked in. Tried lookin' for 'em. Wrong place, wrong time.” Tate lowered both his hands to yours, after sliding his fingers down the sides of your arms, “You were holdin’ hands with some kid the whole time. He had to be, like…seven? Eight? I don’t even remember what his costume was.” His lips curved in a grin, “But I still remember yours.”

Your fingers curled into the sill, scraping wood, indenting the paint.

Ten years.

“So, you stabbed me in front of a child?”

Another breeze blew by. The steady air picked up your dress with it, flitting delicate fabric. Glitter along the seams of it fell away, sparkling like microscopic crystallites in the wind. Tate’s long fingers drew patterns over the cold surface of your skin. Tracing infinity symbols onto your hands.

“Rapunzel.” He whispered, “That dress was kinda pretty on you. Sucks about all the blood.”

You remembered then. When death imbued you with unexpected consciousness, you wandered around the house in a blood-stained dress. And ever since, your afterlife wardrobe alternated only between dresses of similar styles. Always cheap fabrics. Decorated in craft materials. You assumed you must’ve loved playing dress up in life. The thought of perishing in a store bought Halloween costume never crossed your mind.

“Who was he?”

You sniffled, breath hitching without any need for oxygen. Tate brought a hand to your cheek, wiping away your tears. He loomed behind you. A cold-blooded apparition of your nightmares. His casual talk of violent depravity made your blood boil.

“Who, the kid?” He asked.

He lowered his hands to the sill. Looking out the window over your shoulder, Tate squinted in the sunlight.

“Yes! I don’t-” You burst into tears without warning, sobbing into your hands, “I-I don’t remember anything! Nothing! I had no idea…who was he??”

“Dunno…” he dropped his head, pressing his cheek to your hair, “I didn’t really stop to ask. He ran away. Right after I pushed you out of this window.”

“You pushed m-what?! You’re a fucking monster.” You whimpered. Wishing you could leap out and disappear with the oscillation of the wind, “You know you’re never getting out of here, don’t you? You’re never going to change, Tate. You’ll always be a monster.”

“Probably.” He droned, wrapping his arms around your middle. Pulling you closer, he added, “You’ll be stuck here too. If you don’t let go of that anger. If you let your rage consume you. All that bitterness and hatred. This house feeds off of it.” Another pause. He nuzzled the top of your head with his cheek, “Uhm…I know this won’t fix anything. But…I really am sorry I took your life from you.”

You huffed, staring teary eyed out the window. Taking in the vast, effervescent world you’d never be a part of - through the border that brought your demise.

“But I’m really stoked you’re here….’cuz it’s not as lonely with you around.” He admitted.

“I could always tell you to fuck off.” You choked, venomous in your revulsion.

“Yeah. You could. But you won’t.” He grabbed your arms with gentle hands, wheeling you around to face him. He took your tiny fingers in his palms. You refused to meet his eyes, “If you made me disappear, you wouldn’t have anybody.”

You decided to hit him where it hurt, strangling through tears, “I could always talk to Violet. She has such a good heart. Not like the rest of you. You’re all just…awful. So horrible and cruel!”

Tate clenched his jaw, dropping his forehead into yours.

“You’re right. She’s not.” He woefully mumbled, “How come I still miss her, huh? Been missin’ what we had for, like…forever. Now I’m pushin’ you away too. And you’re all I have left.”

“Maybe stop killing people, Tate?” You snuffed, tears catching your eyelashes. He wiped them away all the same, “Who knew death could be so miserable. I…I finally found out the one thing I’ve wanted to know after all these years. I thought a little closure might help me, but…” You cried, “I feel even more messed up.”

“Why? Do you love me?” He pressed with so little confidence, you felt he only said it to convince himself.

“I…” You hesitated, brows furrowed, “I cared about you. Even though you’re a lunatic. I wanted to give you a chance. But now…now I just want to shove you out this window like you did to me. I want to scream at you, Tate! I want to make you suffer! I want to-”

He shifted closer. Within this vicinity, his maturation became all the more clear. Your weeping hues glazed over the creases under his eyes. The blond bangs of his hair had thinned by a smidgen, losing its youthful shagginess. He was all fine lines and outward exhaustion. Had you met him like this in life, you’d think him a mere decade away from a mid-life crisis.

“Go ahead. If it helps. I don’t mind.” He reached down again, grabbing your hands and guiding them up to his chest, “Just let all that rage go…you can take it out on me.”

This was just another tactic of his. An attempt to appease you, in desperate hopes you’d forgive him. Still, you didn’t think twice. Whatever wrathful anguish you kept buried inside finally erupted. The soul crushing weight of loss tumbled down over you, sending you into a frenzy. You thrashed your arms, throwing your fists in shallow, but sharp strikes. Battering against Tate’s chest, you landed every blow - inspired by betrayal. He remained still, watching you with a hollow look.

Hits turned to scratches as your grief took hold of you. You clawed into Tate’s sweater, wailing, powerless to the pain of his disloyalty. Taken aback by your overwhelming emotions, you wondered how the afterlife could bring so much suffering. Tate wrapped his arms around you again, and you buried your nose in his sweater. Your sorrowful tears stained the stitching.

“I hate you. So much. So fucking much.” You whimpered.

“You said you cared about me.”

“I hate that I care about you.” You cried, sobbing into his sweater, “I-I want to hate you. I need to hate you. But you’re right. You’re fucking vile, and you’re right. If you were gone, I wouldn’t have anybody else.”

Shifting again, he tilted your head up with a cold hand under your chin. Tate stared down at you, weary with lonesome desolation. The endless monotony of purgatory brought forth nothing but turmoil. And that turmoil linked you both in all-consuming angst. When he dove in to kiss your lips, you allowed it. If only to feel something far less painful.

Tate hadn’t kissed anyone in over a decade. But he flowed naturally with you, wary of applying too much pressure. The last of your tears fell, and again, he wiped them away. Separation came slow, as he parted from your lips. He blinked, leering like he couldn’t believe you reciprocated. Another beat, and he dove in all over again.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered.

Kissing in your ghostly state felt bleak as the dull air of winter. In the throes of lonesome yearning, death nuzzled death so intimately. You opened yourself up for him, moving back until you hit the windowsill. In your negligence, you sat on it. A calm, easy breeze enveloped your back, tickling your neck. His desirous kisses swallowed you in, his hands claiming your cheeks.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” He mumbled, his words weaving through every kiss.

Fate had yet to deliver you closeness of this kind. You couldn’t fathom how intimate connectedness might work in death. As Tate’s cold lips fell to your neck, the atmosphere between the two of you shifted. Something akin to the radiance of life saturated the air. Like the summer’s glow shining from outside. A few seconds more, and coldness turned to heat. Sensual heat.

“What does it feel like?” You asked, breathless without the need for air. You tipped your head back. Tate took this as an invitation to ravish more of you, “To make love after dying?”

The glossy warmth of his tongue painted gradual lines across your neck. He caressed you with a thumb, gliding the digit over your cheek. Under the newfound heat of his palm, you felt burning intensity. No one else brought you physical touch like this. Not since a time before you perished, so long ago.

All because of him.

“Feels kinda the same?” Tate muttered in a hushed voice. Capturing your lips again, he kissed you with cautious tenderness, “It’s a lot like being alive…from what I remember. Some of us get addicted to it. Like a drug. They suffer without it. Drives ‘em crazy.”

His forehead fell to yours once more, and Tate’s eyes fluttered shut. He continued stroking your cheek, cradling your face. As if you’d disappear once he let go. You noticed the way his chest heaved. Slowly, like his lungs were still infused with the essence of life. But when he moved in for another kiss, you felt no breath on your lips.

“Does it drive you crazy?” You whispered between kisses, “Do you suffer without it?”

“Not really.” He said, dragging his thumb over your lip, “Missed this, though. I miss it all the time.”

“What? Kissing?”

Tate nodded, blond brows creasing as his smile faded. For a beat or two more, he fell silent. Staring down into your eyes with all the liveliness of a barren void. You gazed into a cave-like abyss, lost with no light to guide you. Beckoned by the promise of something unseen.

“This feels…different…with you.” He whispered.

“Different how?” You shivered as his soft touches moved elsewhere, "Are you feeling guilty? Does it hurt? I hope it fucking hurts."

Dragging the tips of his fingers up and down your arms, he drew invisible lines with his nails. So careful. Like you’d shatter if he treated you too roughly. His palms settled over your hips, and again, he kissed you. Tate just couldn’t seem to stop doing so, even as you spoke to him with poison on your tongue.

“No. It’s warmer.” He squeezed your hips a little tighter, “Why…why’s it so warm with you?”

The initial kisses between you both were so frigid and lifeless. But now, somehow, so heated and real. You locked your legs around his hips, crossing your ankles. Inviting him forward, you loomed in the sill of the window. Your body tilted. In the arms of the summer’s air, you almost fell backwards. You had every reason to believe Tate would let you plummet.

But he didn’t. Not this time.

With an arm wrapped around your waist, he kept you from slipping. Under your dress, his free hand sought the heat between your legs. His palm cradled warmth over thin cloth. Discreetly, he pressed the pads of his fingers to your sex over your panties. And the contact amplified a scorching fire within you. A vigor exceeding the bitterness of death.

You wondered if Tate had less experience than he claimed in therapy. It took him a few tries before he found your clit. His sizable fingers circled your little nub in easy motions. Drawing long, needy noises out of you. Silence lingered between you both in calm, but tense quiet. Until the rasp of his voice caught your attention.

“Do you feel this? Do you feel, like…anything?”

You whimpered in response - timid like a churchmouse - as wetness stained Tate’s fingers through fabric. Cotton once so pure and untouched became damp. He chuckled, the sinister rumble in his throat making your blood run cold. Until the warmth of desire lured you in before you could second guess yourself. Savoring the hot friction on your pussy, you allowed sin to taint your clarity.

"For you? No. Never. You're sick. You're twisted. You're-" You cut yourself off with another whimper, once Tate caressed you with more pressure.

“Oh, shit…” He hastily tugged your panties down your thighs. Cupping your bare cunt, he pressed firmly into your clit. Thick digits teased the blazing heat of your folds, “You do, don’t you?”

Tate’s fingers dipped into your slick valley, his digits predominantly larger than your own. You rolled your hips just a smidgen, careful not to lose your balance - lest you fall out the window. Again. Though, maybe a rough tumble onto the lawn would knock some sense back into your muddled head. His other arm stayed iron locked around your body, keeping you safe. He eased inside you with all the hesitance of a man out of practice.

"F-Fuck! Fuck this. Fuck you." You mumbled, hushed under airy moans.

Following the squeeze of pleasure in your core, came something you lost in the afterlife. You almost felt the pumping of your dead heart again. A ghostly sensation of life blossomed under your ribs. Warmth flowed through your veins in syrupy bliss. Cozy wind billowed from outside, tickling your skin. If you closed your eyes for long enough, basking in the ecstasy of true feeling - you might’ve believed you were somehow revived.

Flitting your lashes, your eyes gradually opened. The sunny glow of afternoon light painted Tate’s aged features, showering him in golden rays. An image far too heavenly for a cold-blooded monster birthed from sin. You looked lazily into his hues. A whirlpool of guilt intermingling with lifeless cruelty; all within his dusky eyes.

“Feels like…” He mumbled, clumsily nuzzling your clit with the pad of his thumb. Biting his lip, Tate stifled a groan. He buried his fingers to the knuckle in your cunt, “...like I can feel your blood pumping.” Adding a third digit, he stretched you open. Your walls made effortless room just for him. You whined, making him smirk, “Fuck, this is hot. You love it, huh?”

"No. No. No, I'd never! Not with you. I'm just-" You swallowed, feeling your cheeks burn, "It really does feel like-"

Post-mortem coldness became lost on you now. Left behind, alongside your broken hearted resentment. Instead, you were overcome with the lively spirit of beingness. The afterlife had been so unkind to you. For a decade now. It abandoned you to stew in the longevity of solitude. With no one but Tate to provide you true company. Bringing your hands up to his cheeks, you pulled him in for a kiss. Your fingers threaded through his blond locks. Winding your tongue sloppily with his, you whined.

"Make me cum." You asserted, your legs sealing tighter around him, "Make me cum, and I might forgive you."

A flash of vulnerable sweetness overtook Tate's face, his puppydog eyes lighting up. An almighty flood of euphoria built up to a radiant crescendo, as his digits fucked you into oblivion. You clamped around his fingers, squirming with such intensity - he almost lost his hold on you. Tranquility found you at the peak of your climax. A divine miracle. As you cried little pleas into Tate’s lips, you felt as though you grew angel’s wings. As if some ethereal being descended from the heavens themselves, stole you away, and led you to the golden gates.

As you shuddered, your paradisal tremors eventually subsided. Blissful nirvana faded, and the hollow nothingness of death’s touch came again. Outside, the world continued on in slow-moving seconds. And in the distant horizon, the sun began its steady fall into night. Tate’s nose brushed yours. Looming in so close, he withdrew his drenched digits from your pussy. Leaving even more forsaken emptiness behind.

“I could…do that kinda thing for you every day…if you wanted me to.” He whispered, peppering your forehead in kisses, “It feels really good, doesn’t it? Just…please don’t make me go away? Please…”

[onlyjaeyun]

𝐇𝐘𝐏𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐘

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄: 𝐬𝐞𝐲𝐮𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐦𝐚𝐧

࿏ 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐒𝐢𝐦 𝐉𝐚𝐞𝐲𝐮𝐧 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

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࿏ 𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐬: 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐉𝐚𝐞𝐲𝐮𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫...

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"Thanks for letting me know, Sun." You smile at the young college student in front of you as excitement fills your chest, pulling him into a tight hug, yet instantly rolling your eyes when you see the shiteating grin on his handsome face.

"What?"

Your voice is monotonous because you're not about to expose yourself even further since you're already sure Sunoo and the girls are going to have their fun in the groupchat once he gets back to his car.

"Which Yunie's got you this excited?" Sunoo giggles shamelessly and manages to quickly move out of your reach to escape your light punch, eliciting a sweet chuckle from you as well, though you do refuse to giving him an actual answer.

You're pretty sure your excitement is meant for Seyun, since it's been exactly three and a half days since they had left for their roadtrip but you simply can't deny how much you're looking forward to seeing Jaeyun, too.

There's just something about the young parent which makes you feel calm and nervous at the same time, a feeling you haven't had in so long, you can't help but actually indulge in it. Maybe it's just a silly little one-sided crush, but you've stopped making yourself feel bad about it a good week ago after finally admitting to yourself how whipped you actually are for the older brother.

You're not planning to do anything about it anytime soon anyway, which is why it's easier for you to just daydream and get excited about Jake's presence.

"I missed Seyun a lot", you begin and look at Sunoo with a sigh, reaching for your phone and showing him the picture of yourself and the little guy on your lockscreen, "we've only known each other for a month but he's really grown on me. I would have never thought I'd get this attached, if I'm being honest."

Sunoo just smiles at your words, his eyes attentively roaming your face before he starts his response.

"We actually wanted to stay another day but came back because Seyun kept talking about going to the movies with you. So, I'm pretty sure he feels the same about you."

For some reason your friend's words bring you comfort and the thought of actually having some sort of positive influence on the little guy's life makes you feel weirdly at ease.

When you first moved into this apartment building, you definitely didn't expect to get this close with any of your neighbors, let alone the cute four year old from next door and his older brother. Yet now that you've established an actual friendship you couldn't be happier you ended up running into Seyun that second time.

"Have they had anything to eat yet?" You ask as casual as possible, only for Sunoo to smile from one ear to the other and making you roll your eyes the third time within a few minutes.

"They have, we stopped at a barbecue place on our way home. Seyun even finished his plate when Hyung told him about the cupcakes you made."

You chuckle softly at the four year old's enthusiasm, proud of him for doing so well after seeing him so heartbreaking the day he came home from his grandmother.

Jake didn't really tell you the reason behind Seyun's sad mood and you could tell from the older one's attitude that asking about it wasn't your place, so you just hugged the younger brother tightly and wished them a good night.

Just when you're about to lose yourself in your thoughts, Sunoo comes up to hug you again, saying his goodbyes and wishing you a nice evening, but of course not leaving before winking at you with the cheekiest grin on his lips.

Once your friend's out the door you make your way back to the kitchen, preparing the cupcakes the little boy had apparently been anticipating already before anxiously making your way to their door.

You try to mentally prepare yourself to face your newly discovered crush, your heart hammering against your rib cage almost brutally and suddenly feeling the nervousness take over you.

For some reason you're a lot more tense than the days prior, which you blame on the few days of physical distance and excitement of sorts you've almost forgot about.

It doesn't take a third knock on their door for Seyun's voice to echo from the other side, a loud "who's this?" filling your ears and eliciting a chuckle from you.

"It's me – Noona", you say back and patiently wait for the older brother to unlock the door, something Jake had to do ever since his younger brother had developed his new habit of running away.

However, this time the young parent must have forgotten about it, which you conclude the second Seyun manages to casually open the door and look at you with big, brown eyes.

You don't say anything at first, still a little overwhelmed about the sudden presence of your little friend, before he wraps his arms around your leg and starts giggling.

"I missed you, Noona." Seyun says and looks up at you with excitement filled eyes and the brightest smile, revealing the same exact smile lines as his older brother.

"Hey, big boy", you reply and invite yourself into their living room, placing the plate with cupcakes on their kitchen counter and then kneeling down to be on eye level with Seyun.

"I missed you, too", you say and pull him into a tight hug, loving the way he buries his face in your neck and so openly indulges in it.

"Where's Jaeyunie? And next time we wait until he's here to open the door, yeah? Even if it's just me, you gotta make sure Hyung's here to know you're not talking to a stranger." You explain the four year old calmly and push his messy curls out of his face with his hands in yours, caressing the back of his with your thumb and sighing softly when he nods in response.

"Yes, Noona", Seyun quickly replies, "Hyung's in the shower, he told me to wait here, so I was waiting for you!"

You chuckle yet again when his little voice fills the empty living room, giving him a nod of approval.

"Do you wanna see what my Hyungs got me?" He giggles and wraps his fingers around your wrist, pulling you towards his room with the biggest smile on his face and for a moment you forget what he had told you about his older brother.

However, as soon as said brother's deep voice echoes through the hallway, you feel a wave of warm air hit your face and that's the exact moment you remember what Jake was doing.

And of course the sight you're met with is absolutely breathtaking.

Sim Jaeyun with his toned torso completely exposed to your hungry, yet shy eyes, his skin slightly flushed and glistening from the hot water and for a moment you forget what the actual fuck is going on.

"Y/N?" His voice easily pulls you back to reality and with wide eyes you avert your gaze, where you take quick notice of the towel around his hips and hate the way a jolt of arousal shoots through your body.

"I am – so sorry." You turn your whole body around and let out a shaky breath, your brain barely manages to process what's currently happening but you can still feel your body heating up.

"You forgot to lock the door, so Seyun let me in", you explain to him with your eyes firmly fixated on the wall in front of you, "I'm sorry, I should have waited for you."

"No, please don't be", Jake calmly replies and chuckles awkwardly, apparently trying his best to hide just how flustered he is by laughing things off, "I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable. How about I let you get to Seyun and get myself changed, hm?"

You quickly start nodding since you can feel his eyes on your back, however you don't dare use your voice because you're pretty sure it's going to give away how much this has effected you.

It's only when Seyun calls you that you realise how long you've been standing at the other end of the hallway, quickly making your way to the four your old before you hear the door of Jake's room fall shut.

A loud sigh falls past your lips and you feel yourself finally losing some of the tension in your body. Seyun's eyes attentively watch your every move before he reaches for a little bag on his bed and comes to sit in the middle of his room, emptying everything onto the floor and looking up at you with the brightest smile.

You don't really know how long the two of you are alone and you don't mind it either. Sim Seyun's company is incredibly calming despite the fact he's literally only four years old. And you're glad Jake trusts you enough to leave you alone with his brother to do what he's got to get done; just the thought of him being overwhelmed and exhausted saddens you.

"Noona", Yunie begins softly, absentmindedly playing with the dinosaurs his Hyungs had gotten him on their roadtrip and without properly interrupting his thought process, you reply with a soft noise of affirmation.

"Is having no parents a bad thing?"

The question shoots a hot jolt of physical pain through your body and leaves you absolutely stunned.

For a moment you feel tears form a veil and blurry your sight as your brain replays the question.

In the month you've known the Sim brothers, Seyun has bever once mentioned his parents, neither did his older brother and no matter how much you think about it, hearing him talk about them breaks your heart into thousands of pieces.

However, in the four year old's favor you quickly compose yourself and reach for a little figure, convinced that finding the words might be easier if your fingers are occupied.

"Of course it's not a bad thing, Yunie", you quickly reply once you realise how long you've stayed quiet, "and you might not have a mother or a father, but you do have a parent."

From the way he lifts his head with slightly confused eyes, you can tell your words have pushed him to think about them, a sight so adorable yet so heartbreaking considering the circumstances.

"What does that mean?" Seyun mumbles in confusion, finally letting go of his toys and looking up at you curiously.

"Being a parent isn't always about being a mom or a dad", you begin calmly and take his tiny hands into yours, "your brother is doing everything and even more than what parents are supposed to do. Your Hyung is your parent, you just call him by a different title."

When Seyun starts nodding at your words, you're reminded of just how smart he is for his age and you almost instantly feel your chest fill with absolute pride.

"May I ask why you'd ask me this, Yunie?"

You're careful with your choice of questions, since you don't want to overwhelm him. The fear of Seyun closing up on you again easily overshadowing your curiosity.

"Older kids at school teased me about it", he replies and again, breaks your heart, "that's why I got to sleep in Yunie Hyung's bed and they took me away."

Once your brain processes all of his words, all you can do is nod with a soft smile, quickly wiping away the single tear which had escaped.

"Those kids are just mean, Seyunie, I promise. Not having parents isn't anything to feel bad about, especially not if you've got a Hyung as cool as Jake. Right?"

To lift the mood again, you hold your hand up for a high-five, chuckling softly when Seyun agrees with a loud voice as he slaps his hand against yours and joins in on your laughter.

And in exactly that moment, you hear Jaeyun walk into his younger brother's room; cheeks slightly flushed, eyes glossy and redened as he sits down and looks at you with nothing but appreciation roaming his expressions.

"Thank you", he whispers when Seyun jumps up to get his other toys from the hallway, "your words really mean a lot to the both of us. We're glad to have you."

And when your gaze finally meets his, you feel yourself falling even deeper into your feelings for the young parent, the knot in your throat making it impossible for you to verbally respond to him so all you do is nod and bravely let your hand graze over his in a way to show him your gratitude.

Jake leaves the two of you to yourself after a good ten minutes of debating what to do, knowing Seyun has to go to sleep soon anyway. You catch yourself actually craving his presence, since the comforting aura he brings to the room has never failed to make you feel at ease, which is probably why you actually get up and make your way to the kitchen once your little friend is busy playing by himself.

You come to find the older Sim brother preparing snacks in the kitchen and despite expecting to be overwhelmed by the sight of him, you can't help but gasp silently when your eyes meet the picture of Jake wearing his baseball cap the other way around. In combination with his lose shirt and the sweats he actually looks a lot younger than he is, however you've quickly come to realise it's mostly because of how mentally mature he is, that you easily forget you two are the same age.

"The cupcakes are absolutely amazing", he suddenly begins and takes another bite from the dessert you had brought over, happily munching on the piece as he chops up some carrots for his brother.

"I'm glad you like them", you reply calmly and sit down on a chair right across from him, feeling proud of yourself for not making this more awkward than it is.

"May I ask you something, Jae?"

Your question in combination of the use of this particular nickname sends a different type of anxiety through the older brother's veins and with wide eyes he looks up at you, resembling a puppy and basically melting your heart right then and there.

"Sure, go ahead." Is the only thing he says and continues to place the vegetables on Seyun's personalised plate before he nervously moves on to the cheese.

"Sun told me about how you usually never let anyone call you by the name I use for you", for a moment you're afraid you might stumble over your words, yet as soon as Jake locks eyes with you, a wave of calmness overwhelms you and finally gets rid of the weird feeling in your chest, "so why is it okay for me to use it?"

Jake stops in his tracks for a good minute when his brain processes your words, a short moment of silence following as he tries to form a proper sentence in his head.

He actually has no idea why it never bothered him the way it does with other people; not even the first time you called him 'Jae' did he feel uneasy or -comfortable like usual, it rather sounded natural to his ears so he didn't feel the need to correct you.

"I don't know", he simply shrugs and throws the last piece of his cupcake into his mouth, licking the icing from his plump lips and probably happily unaware just how much this little movement has your insides turning and twisting.

"But I also don't mind you calling me that, Y/N." He quickly adds once he's finished chewing, his eyes attentively roaming your soft features before he lets out a deep sigh.

"My close family used to call me Jae", Jake then begins calmly, "especially my mother because she loved my name so much. I guess when they passed away it triggered the sadness in me to hear it coming from others so I've been going for Jake or Yunie ever since."

All you can do is nod and try your best not to let the pain about his story shine through your gaze, not wanting him to feel like you're pitying him.

"You're doing great, Jae", you suddenly say and apparently your words overwhelm him almost as much as they do you because you definitely didn't expect to just say what's on your mind.

However, now that you've started, you're determined to keep them coming.

"Nobody knows how difficult this is and I hope you know that you're doing an amazing job", you continue and look at him softly, enjoying the way his cheeks slowly turn into the sweetest shades of pink, "Seyun is a great kid, all thanks to you and your hard work."

Jake has absolutely zero clue how to deal with the warmth filling his chest in response to your sweet compliments, the blush creeping up his neck and all the way to his ears, so all he can do is chuckle softly.

"Thank you, Y/N", he mumbles and shoots you his infamous smile, sending a hot jolt of arousal down your spine and essily levaing you absolutely flustered.

"Let's get this movie night started, hm? I bet the little guy's getting impatient already."

Neither one of you actually manages to focus on the movie as the shy exchange of gazes is the only thing to fill both of your heads in hopes of never losing this comfort.

Taglist: @writingmochi @raikea10 @moonlighthoon @ajayke-reads @bldelaine @rikisly @enhaz1 @ineedsomezzz @ikeu4life @theskzvibe @kpoprhia @jayzdaze @a-l-i-y-a @catnoirsbitch05 @thekinkpopstandsforkrackheads @end0rchans (bold couldn't be tagged)

(No addition to the taglist without a vidible indication of age on your blog!)

[anonymouspuzzler]

you know what? fuck you (heartbreak gulch's my own guys)

(@heartbreakgulch courtesy of the inimitable @strangegutz & collaborators, also miscellaneous Thoughts under the cut bc it's my blog no one can stop me the doors have closed behind you)

HEARTBREAKER BULKHEAD:

Probably does not have superpowers anymore but still came from a family of considerable influence and was under pressure to inherit, pressure which he very much Broke Under.

Turned to a life of crime, definitely got in over his head with it, and essentially got rescued by Eddie, who he is Utterly Obsessed With And Heartsick For.

Has spent literal years as one of Eddie's attack dogs and generally jumping through hoops for him for Whatever Scraps Of Affection He Can Get, though he's still kind of squeamish around Literal Murder and thus tends to be assigned to supply runs and such most of the time.

Amateur mechanic and car enthusiast. Probably did a lot of McGyver-ass fixes around the Gulch-slash-generally assisted Ami til Davey was recruited.

Speaking of, was still the guy who recruited-slash-rescued Davey. They fell for each other hard and are in a committed relationship now, which has helped Buck take a little bit of a healthier step back with whatever the hell he and Eddie have going on (and helped him be a little less jealous and curmudgeonly about the Hot Young Things In Town, ie Zeki and Felix).

Absolutely not prepared to be a guardian to Minnie which has led his and Eddie's whole Relationship to enter a fun new stage of "hey man can I ask you for parenting advice nothing weird"

HEARTBREAKER DYNAMO:

Pretty similar backstory to the Villain-Coded version. Civilian turned criminal, lost his arm when he got in over his head on a job and Buck rescued him.

Has a bunch of different prosthetics he swaps out for different purposes, ie. one for combat, one to use for mechanic work, a kinda general use/everyday one, etc. That said, he goes without a lot to make sure he's prepared for a situation where he doesn't have access/one breaks or fails on a job/etc.

An alarmingly good recruit; I feel like originally Eddie kind of let him stick around as a kind of "gift" to Buck, but now that he's actually got him on jobs he's become a real rising star. Real good in a scrap and is a little more flexible with his moral lines in the sand compared to Buck. Outside of that he works with Ami a lot doing mechanics and repairs - probably interested in learning CompanDroid maintenance/repair but figures it'd be skeevy for him to push that point too much.

He and Eddie have a complicated relationship I think. They'd be kinda suspicious/distrusting of each other but also have a LOT of similarities and work really well together. To say nothing of their respective relationships with Buck.

I don't think he's Trying to Uncle the younger recruits in the Gulch but he definitely Does. He likes White a lot. He and Ami would also definitely get along really well. He is being The Bigger Man and Mature Adult and not giving Felix a wedgie no matter how badly he wants to

HEARTBREAKER(?) MINNIE:

From the same family of prominence as Buck and is currently very much on the run after a failed attempt to kill her own dad.

Extremely a city kid and is Not necessarily adapting well to Middle Of Nowhere Self Sustained Living.

Knew Of Buck but never met him before this so his whole Life and Little Criminal Commune featuring Multiple Guys He's Got SOMETHING Going On With is. it's a lot

Would like to do some crime actually but is A) still a little traumatized and adjusting to the whole Situation and B) 13 Whole Real Human Years Old.

Fascinated by Zeki's whole deal and his work but I think they would absolutely bring out the worst in each other they would fight so much. Autism to autism hostility

Having a very complicated response to White and Ami wherein she thinks they're SO cool but interacting with them at any length would make her realize Things About Herself that she's not consciously ready to confront so just like. Imagine being White and looking over your shoulder and that 13 year old is just Intensely Staring At You Unblinking from around a corner and as soon as she realizes you've seen her she turns around and runs off as fast as she can directly into a wall

Zarita absolutely hitting that Cool Just Slightly Older Kid niche for her.

[jjwantsme]

It’s Christmas, Charlie Brown!

j.m

pairing: jj maybank x girlfriend!reader

summary: after years of neglection, christmas was never an excitement in JJ’s life- that is, until he met y/n

warning: kind of grumpy boyfriend x sunshine girlfriend trope, fluff, mentions of abusive family, cussing, references to smut, let me know if there’s anything missing!

authors note: i couldn’t sleep at 6am and came up with this. Time for a holiday special!!! Sorry im over a week late 😭😭

masterlist

JJ groaned a bit as he felt his shoulder being shaken, still half asleep as he listened to his girlfriend’s bubbly voice.

“JJ, wake up, wake up, it’s christmas!” Y/n cheered, excitement radiating off her flushed face.

“baby, baby,” JJ rasped, “it’s 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 christmas. Don’t cream your pants over it.”

“‘Just Christmas’?!” She gasped dramatically, pretending to be overly offended- which, wasn’t too far from the truth. “now, come on, get up so we can make breakfast!”

JJ couldn’t really relate to her excitement.

Unlike his loving girlfriend, he grew up in a broken home.

Growing up with an abusive father, and an absentee mother, JJ never really got to have Christmas. His father never held them by the fire or watched movies with him; he received a present once, but it was taken shortly after on account of bad behavior.

So, because of him never getting to experience all of the christmas magic, it was never a big deal to him. In his book, it was just any old day.

And, normally, that would be a deal breaker for y/n. However, seeing as JJ is perfect for her in every other aspect, she let it slide this time.

She’d just have to make-up for all of the christmas he’s missed.

“Breakfast?” JJ sat up and groaned, “I thought your parents would be doing that!”

“Well, yeah…but, I asked if we could do it,” y/n grinned, clearly not understanding his exhaustion, “It’s part of the fun!”

She began putting bottoms over her bare legs, still half-naked from when JJ undressed her the night before.

JJ couldn’t help but let out a small smile at her excitement, looking over all the hickeys on her stomach.

Boy, was he in for a long holiday.

“Oh, JJ! This is for you,” Mrs. y/l/n chirped as she handed JJ a gift, “from me and y/n’s father!”

Y/n had definitely received her positive attitude from her mother.

“Oh, shit, y-you guys really didn’t have to get me anything,” JJ chuckled and shook his head, rubbing his neck as he grabbed the present.

“Of course we did!”

JJ smiled wide as he opened the gift, feeling like a little kid again as y/n sat right next to him.

He wasn’t used to any parents loving him the way y/n’s did, it was definitely still something to get used to.

Her parents absolutely adored him, always inviting him over for meals and letting him spend the night

When they first met, JJ thought for sure they’d despise him, the same way most parents do. He thought they’d say he’s a bad influence on their daughter, and that he’s no good just like his dad.

But, they never said that. They took him in with open arms.

JJ opened the gift slowly, his smile growing when he opened the box to reveal a ring.

A ring with the letter “J” imprinted onto it.

“Do you like it?” Y/n smiled up at him with her innocent voice.

“I love it!” He was so happy, he almost laughed, “Thank you guys, so much!”

He gave her parents quick hugs.

“Now open mine, open mine!” Y/n couldn’t contain her excitement, and anticipation, as she handed him the gift she picked out.

He opened hers much more quickly, and he swore his cheeks were going to break from smiling too hard when he saw it. A necklace with her first initial on it.

“Do you like it? Look, I got us matching ones!” She pulled hers out of her hoodie pocket, (the same hoodie she stole from JJ), and showed it to him.

It had a J on it, and he blushed so hard that he saw stars. He wouldn’t be surprised if there were hearts in his eyes.

“Oh my god, baby,” JJ kissed her head, and then her cheek, and then her lips. “I absolutely adore it.”

Y/n couldn’t help the giddy tears that welled up in her eyes as she watched him put it on with so much pride.

“I’ll never take it off!”

“Who’s idea was it to invite them over? Like, seriously, who let John B in?” Kiara jokingly asked as she watched him and pope nearly break y/n’s family vase.

“Ha-ha, very funny, kie.” Pope sarcastically replied, taking his seat at the dinning table.

After everyone’s parents approval, y/n had invited all of the pogues over for christmas dinner at her place. Her mother made a five-course-meal for them, and let them have sparkling water to drink.

Y/n was pretty close with the pogues, especially sarah, as she grew up a kook. Well, nobody really called her a kook. She had a foot in both worlds; her parents were filthy rich, but she never acted snobby or better than anyone. She didn’t fit in with the other kooks, which is why she was more of a lone-wolf- that is, until she met the pogues.

“Oh, it’s fine!” Y/n’s mom insisted as she took her seat, “We can afford a new one, no worries!”

“Thank you, Mrs. y/l/n, this all looks amazing,” Pope nervously changed the conversation topic as he examined the meal, already having his heart set on the glazed ham.

“Hey, princess,” JJ spoke quietly to y/n as everyone else engaged in their own conversation, “can i talk to you in the other room for a moment?”

Y/n bit her lip, which was an anxiety-motivated habit, before nodding.

“We’ll be right back!” JJ smiled at everyone, taking his girl’s hand and leading her to the living room.

“What is it?” Y/n asked once they were alone, watching as JJ took a present from under the tree.

“Just wanted to give you your present…” he trailed off, handing a wrapped, book-shaped item to her.

“Awh, baby,” she pouted as she took it from him, “you know you didn’t have to get me anything!”

“What, you really thought i wouldn’t get you a present? On your favorite holiday?” He raised his eyebrows, “Jeez, i’m not that poor.”

Y/n unwrapped the gift, letting out a small gasp when she saw what it was.

A scrapbook of their relationship thus far, with polaroids of them from the very beginning.

JJ grew nervous when he saw how silent she was, her usually being his little chatterbox.

Most people probably found it annoying how talkative she was, but he thought it was just the most precious thing.

“Do you not like it? I’m sorry if it’s not…i don’t know, fancy enough? I was on a budget, i thought it was cute, but i completely understand if you don’t like it, it is kind of cor-“

Y/n cut him off by kissing him, passionately, as she rested a hand on his shoulder.

She pulled away after almost a minute, looking him in the eyes.

“Is that your way of telling me you would’ve liked a more sexual gift? Cause, y’know i have no problem getting you a-“

“JJ!” She spoke sharply as she cut him off, trying not to laugh, “I love it, you dumbass!”

“Really?” JJ’s face went from a smirk to a soft smile as she spoke.

“Of course, I do! I’ve never gotten anything this thoughtful. Thank you so much. I’ll read every single page.” She grinned and hugged him tight, wrapping her arms around his neck.

He smiled wide and hugged her back, just as tight.

He was so nervous about the gift, only having a few dollars to spend.

But, her reaction made him proud of himself, and happier than words can explain.

“So…about that sex toy-“

“JJ!”

“I really can’t believe you’ve never seen this before,” Y/n and JJ cuddled on her bed, watching a charlie brown christmas special. “It’s a classic!”

“Well, there’s a first time for everything.” He shrugged in reply.

Y/n giggled at his remark, making him smile.

“Y/n, I actually, uh, I wanted to…talk to you about something.” JJ rubbed the back of his neck, making her pause the movie.

“What is it, baby?”

“I just…” he sighed, “I wanted to say thank you.”

She furrowed her eyebrows, “Thank you? For what?”

“I don’t know, I guess just…being with me. Y’know, letting me be yours. I know we’ve only been dating 10 months, but…you really are the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I really can’t thank you, or your family, enough for everything you’ve done.” JJ shook his head and sniffled, “I don’t deserve it.”

“Awh, my love,” y/n pouted and sat up to cup his cheeks, “of course you deserve it. You deserve more, actually. I love you so much, and I just know there’s many more christmas’ like this to come.”

He rested his forehead against hers and whispered, “I love you more, beautiful.”

Y/n finished their conversation with a kiss, a kiss that didn’t end until JJ moved his hands up her shirt and began kissing her neck.

“Gonna show you how much I love you,” He mumbled against her neck as he nibbled on it.

Let’s just say; what they did that night, definitely would’ve gotten them on the naughty list.

[imagines4thefandoms]

Family for Christmas

“Merry Christmas love,” Henry said kissing your shoulder as you slept. 

“No it’s too early for Christmas. It doesn’t start til 7 not 8,” you said turning your head to face your boyfriend and pulled the blanket over your head. 

“Well I hear little feet that says it’s now,” he commented hearing your son running from his room to the living room and now heading to your room.

You and Henry have been dating for 2 years now and your son loves him more than he loves you. And you know Henry adores your son. Sometime you notice Henry spends more time with Scott than he does with you which warms your heart. Scott needs a man in his life and Henry has been a great influence on your 6 year old. 

“Mommy, Henry wake up. Santa came it’s Christmas,” Scott yelled jumping on the bed landing on Henry’s stomach. 

“No Santa said we can’t open presents til 8,” you said pulling the blanket from over your head and pulling your overly energetic son into your arms. 

“No mommy, Santa didn’t say that. We open presents in the morning. It’s morning,” Scott said trying to wake you up. 

“How about we make mommy a cup of coffee and see if that will wake her up,” Henry offered pulling Scott over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes. 

You rolled onto your back and watched your loving boyfriend and your son head to the kitchen to make you coffee. Henry never hesitated or was put off because you are a single mother. After he met Scott he said it didn’t bother him, he just has two best friends. Everything about how Henry is with Scott made you love him so much more but you were taking things slow for Scott’s sake. You didn’t want him to get confused or too attached incase things didn’t work out but based on the laughter in the kitchen Scott would definitely take your boyfriends side in any fight over yours. 

A few seconds later your two boys came back into the room with a giant cup of coffee with whip cream and sprinkles on top. Scott had a giant smile on his face and a bit of whip cream on the corner of his lips. 

“Oh wow, this looks amazing,” you said sitting up and taking the cup from your 6 year old. 

“I did it all by myself, Henry didn’t help at all,” Scott explained excitingly. His eye were wide with pride as he waited for you to take a sip. 

“Oh it’s the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had,” you said putting the cup on the night stand and pulled him into a hug.

“Really, mommy,” he asked looking up at you. 

“Oh yes, if you can make me this every morning I would never go to Starbucks ever again.”

You took another sip of the overly sweet coffee and your son jumped off the bed and grabbed Henry’s sweater that was lying on the chair in the room and threw it at you. 

“Now presents. I’ve fed the mommy monster now I want my presents…… please,” he said with a cute smile and a tilt of his head. 

“I don’t think calling the mommy monster that to her face was a smart idea,” Henry said stepping away from your son. 

“Im not a mommy monster,” you said throwing your pillow at your boyfriend.

“Yeah your a lot nicer after your have your coffee. Less monstery,” your son said standing front of your boyfriends trying to protect him. 

You laughed and threw Henry’s pillow at your son but Henry caught it before it hit him in the face. Your boyfriend picked your son up and they ran out of the room yelling for you to get up. You put on Henry’s sweater and grabbed your coffee walking out of your room into the living room. 

There were maybe 20 presents under the tree. Mostly from Santa cause you were not going to spoil you kid. Henry on the other hand could never say no to your kid so he definitely has a few gift hidden from you for Scott. Your son was hitting by the tree with a present in his lap and talking to Henry about what toy he thinks Santa brought him.  Henry was waiting for you on the couch with a fluffy blanket. 

“The sun is barely awake. I’ll give you 20 bucks if we can sleep for another hour,” you tried to bribe your son. 

“No presents, this is for you Henry,” your son said grabbing the present in his lap and brought it over to you furnace of a boyfriend. 

“Thanks buddy,” he said opening it up. 

It was a superman Christmas sweater with the big “S” on the front and a cape on the back. Scott saw it in the store the other day and kept saying he had to get it for Henry that he would love it and wear it all the time. 

“DO you like it,” Scott asked jumping up and down. 

“I love it buddy,” he said getting up off the couch and putting it on. “How do I look?”

“Super,” Scott said running and jumping into his arms. 

Scott was explaining the sweater with the symbol and the cape while you got up and grabbed a couple presents so the three of you could stay under the warm blanket. You expected all three of the presents to be for Scott but was shocked to see your name on one of them. 

“What is this,” you asked holding up your present.

“Its a gift mommy,” Scott said running over to you and pulling you onto the couch so you could open it. 

“Hen, I thought we said no gifts,” you scorned your loving boyfriend. 

“Well I got this amazing gift so,” he said standing in the superman pose. 

You laughed and shook you head at the man who was a giant child. You opened the present and inside was a pandora bracelet box. You opened it and saw it was a silver charm bracelet with S and H dangling from it. 

“Oh my god this is beautiful,” you said wiping a tear from your eye. 

“I helped pick it out mommy. S for Scott and H for Henry. When you wear it you will know we love you. So never take it off,” Scott said taking the bracelet and trying to put it on your wrist but failing. 

Henry leaned over and helped him out and watched you admire your new piece of jewelry. You kissed your sons head then stood up and pulled Henry in for a kiss. 

“I love it,” you said kissing all over his face causing a small “eww” to come from behind you. 

“Merry Christmas darling,” Henry said returning the gesture of a millions kisses getting a fake gaging sound from Scott. 

“Gross. There is no kissing on Christmas just presents,” Scott said opening his gifts. 

He got actions figures, legos to build with Henry, a switch so he could play some video games with Henry, books and nerf guns. There were no other presents under the tree but Scott held u his little finger and ran in to his room and came back out with a poorly wrapped gift with way too much tape and glue. 

“Merry Christmas Henry,” Scott said handing the gift over and taking a big step back to watch his reaction. 

Hen looked over at you but you had no idea what this gift was. He slowly opened it and saw it was a framed drawing of the three of you. You then noticed that there was a dog flying in the background which was probably Kal. 

“I drew it for you,” Scott said slowly stepping forward and making his way between you and hen. 

Once he sat down he pointed out every little detail of the photo. After he just stared up at Henry who was still silently staring at the photo. 

“You don’t like it,” Scott sadly said filling the silence trying to take the photo back. 

Henry pulled Scott into a hug and you noticed that his cheeks were wet. Henry pulled your son into his lap and kissed his head.

“I love it buddy. It’s an amazing picture of all the people I love,” Henry reassured as he kissed Scott head again. 

“You really like it,” Scott said happily looking up at him. 

“Yes, it’s the most important thing I own now. I’m going to take it with me everywhere I go so I know I have the two most amazing people waiting for me.”

“I love you Henry,” Scott said wrapping his little arms around Hen’s neck.

“I love you too, buddy.”

You left those two to play with the new toys while you started getting ready for Christmas dinner at your parents. You were in the kitchen making a few things and just listening to Henry explain to Scott how to play some game. While the food was being set aside in the fridge to be cooked at your parents house you noticed it was almost 8 am and decided to start making breakfast. 

“Scotty what do you want for breakfast,” you asked looking in the fridge making a mental note of what you had and what you needed to get when you go to the store in a couple of days. 

“Get dressed,” you heard Henry said walking into the kitchen and closing the fridge. 

“Where are we going,” you asked before making sure Scott wasn’t looking then kissed Henry. 

“I’m taking you guys to breakfast. So you don’t tire yourself with cooking so much today.” 

“But I don’t wanna,” you whined thinking about wearing actually clothes this early on Christmas. 

“Grab a pair of my sweatpants and meet me and Scott in the car in 5 minutes,” he warned slapping you ass. 

Scott was waiting by the door with one of his non-superman action figures and his coat and rain boots. You gently slapped Henry’s chest and went to your room to do just at he said. When you finished getting dress Henry and Scott where already in the car jamming out to Christmas music. 

“Mommy do I have to sit in my car seat i’m a big boy. This is for babies,” he complained sitting next to the car seat. 

“How far away is the restaurant,” you asked looking at Henry. 

“8 minutes tops,” he replied. 

“Ok but you sit right and sit back. I’ll have to get you a booster seat later,” you said placing your hand on Henry’s thigh trying not to cry cause your baby is growing up. 

Henry waited til he was sure Scott was buckled and sitting right to start the car. You noticed out of the corner of your eye that every so often he would look in the rear view mirror to make sure Scott was siting right. Henry held your hand as Christmas music played and Scott was in the back playing. It wasn’t long til Henry pulled into the IHop parking lot. As soon as Scott saw we were at his favorite restaurant he started leaning forward and jumping in his seat.

“Scott buddy you need to sit still. I know you’re excited but its dangerous if you don’t sit right,” Henry said stopping the vehicle in the middle of the parking lot. 

“Im sorry,” you son said sitting right which prompted hen to park the car. 

The three of you got out of the vehicle and went to grab a table. Scott walked up to the hostess wished her a merry Christmas then asked for a table. 

“Of course sir, just follow me,” she said grabbing menus and headed further into the building. 

The waitress stopped at a booth and asked Scott if this table was acceptable and he responded with a Kurt nod. She placed the menus on the table and walked away. You sat on one side with Scott and Henry sat across from the two of you. 

“I want hot chocolate and a smiley face pancake and bacon,” Scott said looking at everything in the menu. 

“Ok scotty,” you said messing up his hair. 

The waitress came back and Scott ordered his food and Henry ordered 2 more hot chocolates, French toast for you and a breakfast sampler for him. While you waited for the food, Scott was explaining how excited he was to go to visit Henry’s family for a late Christmas next week. 

“I wanna see the guards with the silly hats. Can I get a silly hat,” Scott asked.

“If we can find one yeah,” Henry said. 

It didn’t take long for the food to come and when it did the three of you sit ate in silence. In the middle of eating a boy around the age of 12 came up to the table holding a notebook and a pen. 

“Im sorry to bother you but can I have your autograph,” he asked Henry. 

Henry held up his hand cause the kid came up to the table when he was mid bite. You grabbed the book from the kid and placed it in front of Henry. 

“Of course he will,” you reassured the kid. 

After Henry got his food down, he signed the notebook and smiled at his sweater. 

“I got that for him,” Scott said staring the kid down. 

“Its so cool that you know superman,” the kid told Scott. 

A second later an older man came up and apologized for the kid interrupting our meal. He tried to take the kid away but then he asked for a photo. 

“Sure,” Henry said wiping his hands and his mouth then getting up from the booth. 

He took one photo and once the kid was satisfied he ran off and told his mother all about meeting superman. Henry sat back down and Scott went to sit next to him. 

“What’s wrong buddy,” he asked gently nudging him with his elbow. 

“Why did he want a photo,” Scott asked. 

“Cause i’m famous buddy, a lot of people ask for photos and autographs.” 

Once Scott wrapped his head around Henry’s famousness he finished scarfing down his breakfast and talked about how he wanted to play his new video game with Henry before we left for Christmas dinner. 

“Sure but we have to help mom clean up and cook first.”

Scott reluctantly agreed and finished his food. The waitress came back to the table and left the check on the table. Henry left money on the table and a nice tip as you left the restaurant. The car ride home Scott sat without being told to sit back or anything. And once you got back home you cleaned up the wrapping paper that was all over the place and Scott grabbed your coffee mug while Henry went to help put Scott’s new things away in his room. Seeing that you still had 4 hours til you had to head out you went to lay down for a bit longer seeing how you were rudely woken up. 

Henry and Scott came into the room too which would have made you whine in protest but Henry sat you up so you can sleep on him and Scott sat next to you and you three just laid in the bed. You slept while Henry was playing some game on the switch with your son. 

You woke up to Henry kissing your head. The shower in your room was running and you could hear Scott laughing and water splashing. 

“Wake up love, it’s time to get ready. Scott is taking a bath and I have your shower running,” he whispered tearing the sheets off you. 

He left you to attend to Scott and you just heard Scott yell ‘ho ho ho’ which meant he had a bubble beard. You slowly got up out of bed and hopped in the warm shower. You were enjoying the hot water hitting your back when you heard Scott come into the bathroom.

“Mommy I don’t want to wear a suit,” he whined.

“Grandma loves when you wear a suit,” you told him. 

“But I get I don’t like it. I want to stay in my pjs,” he stomped his feet. 

“How about suit no jacket,” you suggested.

“Can I wear my cape.”

“Yes.”

“Deal,” he said closing his eyes and sticking his hand in the shower to shake. 

You shook his hand and pushed him out of the bathroom. While you were washing your hair, the door to the bathroom opened again. 

“Scott we already made a deal,” you shouted thinking it was your son. 

“Not Scott. He’s picking out his cape,” Henry said getting undressed and stepping into the shower with you. 

You felt his hands on your waist and let out a small shriek. 

“Henry, Scott could come in any second,” your said slapping his hands. 

You quickly finished your shower and got out so you wouldn’t have to pay for your son’s therapy in the future. After you got out of the shower you wrapped yourself in a towel and started drying your hair. 

“I want to apologize in advance for that you are about to experience Hen,” you told him as you stared at your reflection. 

“Ive been to your family dinners before what’s going to be different,” he asked sticking his head out. 

You looked at him and saw that his head was covered in his shampoo and just smiled at the domestic vibe of everything. 

“Well there’s going to be people you haven’t met there and whom I don’t like so there’s that.”

“Judgmental aunt,” he questioned.

“No you met my judgmental aunt and you know that my family doesn’t mean have the stupid stuff they say but these people do. They don’t jokingly judge they judge judge and think they have an opinion in your life and want to give you relationship advice on a guy who’s a dead beat and you are better off without but insist you should give him another go cause its how a family is suppose to be,” you ranted not realizing til Henry let out a joking whistle. 

“Sorry,” you said putting your hairdryer down and sitting on the toilet. 

“Don’t apologize,” he comforted still sticking his head out of the shower. “You’ve never mention Scott’s father before.”

“Cause he’s not worth mentioning. He was super excited about having a baby but after 9 months of Scott being born he said its not what he expected. Not as fun and exciting. It was too hard for him,” you confessed. 

“Well he’s stupid. Scott’s amazing,” he responded going back to his shower.

“He is, but it still hurts you know. I see his face when a father son event comes around and he says he can’t go. Scott doesn’t deserve a dead beat for a father. Philip hasn’t even sent a card or called for his birthday.”

The shower turned off and Henry stepped out and grabbed the towel hanging on the rack. After covering up he knelt in front of you and held your hands.

“You are an amazing mother raising that amazing kid all by yourself. Don’t let anyone try to convince you differently. I’ve seen children with both parents around be a complete arsehole. And your son isn’t an arsehole so that’s an achievement.”

“God I love you,” you said grabbing his face and firmly pressing your lips against his. 

“I love you too, now let’s get ready,” he said standing up and pulling you up with him. 

You went back to drying your hair while Henry went to get dressed. To make Scott feel better he decided to wear a suit like him. After you did your hair and make up, you put on your simple green dress. When you walked out Henry was helping Scot with his tie which matched your dress. Scott decided to wear his superman cape because it was red which is a Christmas color. 

“Lets go I wanna see grandma and becky and willy,” Scott said standing like superman then running around the room so his cape flowed in the wind. 

“Wait, we gonna do the bet,” you said taking your wallet and placed a 20 on the table.

“Um i'll eat all my vegetables and i'll go to bed an hour early,” Scott offered. 

“And you will pick up without having to be asked.”

“That’s asking for to much mommy. Don’t get your hopes up. Veggies and early bed take it or leave it,” he offers holding his hand out causing you to chuckle. 

“What’s the time,” Henry asked.

“2 hours,” you stated. 

“Ok i’ll double it if you can go the entire time, from start to end no stain no mess,” Henry said putting another 20 on the table. 

“5 hours can you do that Scott,” you asked putting the money in an envelope and handing it to Henry. 

“Yes I can, I hate veggies,” Scott replied. 

With the family bet made you piled into the car and started to head to your mothers house. Since your mother’s house was pretty far away, Scott had to sit in his car seat which he wasn’t happy about. 

“Mommy when I win I’m getting a new car seat. One for big kids,” he said crossing his arms in anger. 

“Okay baby, first thing tomorrow we will get you a new one,” you said reaching behind you and gripping his foot. 

Henry placed his hand on your thigh and gave you a reassuring squeeze as you looked out of the window. 

“Henry if things get heated please take Scott somewhere else,” you asked him.

“Things didn’t get heated last year,” he questioned.

“I was still trying to impress you,” you joked holding his hand. 

“If it gets too much we can leave for England tonight and never come back,” he joked.

“Don’t joke Hen cause I might take you up on that.”

Even though you stomach churned as you got closer to your mother’s having Hen touching you settled the butterflies. Sometime you still don’t believe he’s your boyfriend. You can’t believe how lucky you’ve been with him coming into yours and Scott’s life. When you pulled up to the house your niece becky was outside with your siblings. 

As soon as the car stopped Scott unbuckled and jumped out of the vehicle to hug his aunt and uncle. “Happy Christmas,” he shouted before hugging becky and running inside. 

Becky ran over to you and jumped into your arms but then went to Henry. She held her hand out and tugged his hair a bit. Her mother ran over and apologized before taking her from your boyfriend.

“She just started walking and she can’t be stopped,” you brother stated. 

“Scott is still that way,” you warned him. 

After helping him get becky’s diaper bag and play pen the four of you walked into the house. Your mother was in the kitchen. She turned and looked at you and engulfed you in a hug.

“My baby I’ve missed you,” she cried like she hadn’t seen you last week. “Were the food.”

Before you could even stress about leaving the food Henry put the diaper bag down and said they were in the car. He walked out and came back in with 3 dishes. He put them in the oven and came back to give you a kiss. 

“You really are super,” you joked laying your head on his chest. 

You walked around the house greeting everyone and were having an amazing time. Til the front door opened and you could just feel the judgment fill the room. Your uncle’s mother, Brenda walked in with her bags of gifts and her nasty perfume. 

She walked in greeting everyone with kisses to the cheek. After she greeted you she announced she has brought a guest. And as if this night couldn’t get worse, in walked in your ex Philip. 

“Hey, (y/n),” he said wrapping you in a hug. Which you was accepted just because you were too shocked to protest. 

“What are you doing here Philip,” you asked coming to your senses and pushing him off you. 

At the sound of your ex’s name Henry placed his arm around your waist and pulled you close to him. Philip glared at the motion then turned back to Brenda. 

“I ran into Philip the other day and just thought how long it’s been since he’s been to a family event and thought it would be nice to see him again,” she said putting her purse on the table and taking a seat.

“Nice for whom,” you asked louder than you expected.

“He’s family dear. It was time you moved past your childish behavior and did want was best for Scott. He needs his father,” she said ignoring the looks of disgust on your face.

“I don’t see him anywhere all I see is a dead beat who thought a baby was too boring and wanted excitement so he left,” you whisper yelled worried that Scott would hear from outside where he was playing. 

“You kicked me out,” Philip objected.

“You wouldn’t even look at Scott without this distain for him like he ruined your life.”

“Dear, stop being so dramatic you need to do the right thing and have a normal family. You don’t want to confuse Scott,” Brenda said stating her unwanted opinion. 

The back door opened and in walked Scott. Philip started walking over to him but Scott looked at him like a stranger which, he was, then ran over to Henry.

“Henry can you come play. Willy and Becky are the supervillains and I need your help to save the city,” he said pulling his hand not waiting for his answer. 

Knowing things were going south, he let Scott pull him outside. But Philip stoped him and knelt before your son. 

“Hey buddy it’s me dad,” he said as if he’s been gone are a year not his entire life.

“Not your buddy,” he said pushing past him causing you to let out a chuckle.

“Really, you turned our son against me,” Philip yelled after the door closet.

“Can’t turn him against someone who has never been in his life. I never told him about you cause I didn’t want him to know that you met him, spent 9 months with him and the thought ‘nah I don’t want him’.”

“That man your dating is not his father and I don’t see why your letting him treat him like one,” Brenda butted in. 

“Im doing no such thing. Henry is just being himself. He loves Scott and has been there for him for the past two year. Two year. You could stand to be in Scott’s presence for 9 months. So as far as i’m concern your not his father either,” you yelled. 

“I have a right to my son. And I don’t want that man around him,” Philip said sitting down as if he was having the last word. “And i’m going to take him til school starts again.”

“What,” you nearly screamed. “You are not taking MY son for even a second.” 

Guessing your were too loud Scott ran in worried about you. Philip pulled him into a hug and you could see the uncomfortable look on your sons face. He tried to wiggle out but Philip wouldn’t let him.

“Scotty you’re going to come home with daddy and we are going to spend time together,” he said ruffling his hair.

“What about the England trip and my funny hat,” he questioned. 

“We are still going baby, Philip is joking,” you reassured him mentally pleading for someone to remove your child from his arms. 

“What trip,” Philip asked gripping your son’s arms.

You could feel the anger seeping from every inch of his body. Philip was never violent but he doesn’t have the patience to take care of a child. 

“We are going to have second Christmas with Henry’s family in London next week. We are leaving on Wednesday,” he explain still trying to get out. 

Henry stepped closer to Scott hoping to grab him but Philip snapped at him to stay away from his son which cause Scott to go from uncomfortable to scared.

“Mommy what’s going on,” Scott asked.

“Nothing baby, Philip is going to let go of you and your going to go outside til us adult solve a little problem,” you said in a calming voice trying to sooth your son’s fear. 

“I’m his father, you’re not taking him out of the country without me and definitely not with him,” Philip said nodded his head towards Henry who was starting to get angry.

“Ow,” Scott said as Philip gripped his arm tighter.

“Let him go now,” Henry whisper yelled not wanting to scare Scott even more.

“You do not tell me how to deal with my child,” Philip said pushing Scott off his lap and standing up.

“Leave now,” you mother said checking on Scott before she ushered him outside. “You are not and will never be welcomed here.”

“Not without my son,” Philip said taking a step to the back door. 

Henry blocked him. Philip tried to step around him and Henry wasn’t going to let him anywhere near Scott.

“Jesus (y/n) that man has no right to stop Philip from seeing his son this is a family event. I’m not sure why he is here anyway,” Brenda yelled standing up for Philip.

“Henry is my family he is Scott’s family. Philip is not, you are not. Your my uncle’s mother you are not my family so why are you here. And I don’t see how any of this is your business. You have never and will never have a decision or opinion that is relevant to how I raise my son,” you yelled back at her. 

“How dare you speak to me that way. I’m worried for Scott cause you are not doing a great job raising him I mean look at how rude he has been and disrespectful,” she stated.

“Enough,” Henry stated raising his voice scaring you a little as how you haven’t heard him this angry. “I won’t stand here and listen to you question her parenting. (Y/n) has been a mother and a father to Scott for 6 years. While you decided being a father wasn’t worth it, she didn’t waver to it for a second. And I may not be his father but i’m never going to abandon him. And as much as I would love to take credit for a fraction of the kid he is, I haven’t and wouldn’t dare try to parent him that’s not my job but I do stand by her every decision.”

“You have no right to speak to me that way,” Brenda cried.

“I do when you keep trying to tear down the woman I love and plan to spend the rest of my life with,” he said looking over at you.

You could see in his eye that he want to come hold you not to give you strength but to get some from you but he didn’t want to give Philip a direct line to Scott. The room fell into an awkward silence when the kids came back inside cause it was too cold. Scott quickly came to sit next to you and Henry was not far behind. 

“Is the problem solved,” Scott asked.

“For now yes, but are you hungry,” you asked him. 

“Yes I want ham and Mac and cheese and 3 biscuits,” he said with a smile looking at Henry mentally asking him to make his plate. 

Before Henry could get up Philip made the plate and placed it in front of Scott. He looked at the plate then at Philip then Henry and laughed.

“These are scones not biscuits silly,” he said taking the biscuits off.

“Those are biscuits,” Philip said confused.

“He mean cookies,” you stated. “He’s been learning some of the English slang from Henry.”

This time Henry got up and got the cookies that Scott wanted. One by one people went to fix themselves a plate but the awkwardness didn’t fade. After dinner it was time for presents. With the presents it was like the giant fight that we had before never happened. That was until Philip opened his mouth. 

“So Scott did Santa bring you everything you asked for,” he asked sitting down next to him as he played with his new race cars.

“No,” Scott said nonchalantly.

“Baby, what did you want,” you asked him worried that you forgot something major.

“I don’t want to say. I might make you upset or mad,” he said not looking up.

“Oh baby nothing you can say right now will make me upset or mad. What did you want for Christmas,” you asked siting next to him and forcing him to look at you. 

His eye went from you to Philip to Henry to your mother then back to you. “I want Henry to be my dad,” he said putting the toys down. 

You sister stood up and announced that she planned a scavenger hunt for the kids and took them back outside. She was out there for a few minutes then came back in stating they are going to be preoccupied for half an hour at best. 

“What the fuck,” Philip yelled as soon as the back door closed. 

“Calm down,” you told Philip.

“Why when you are trying to get my son to replace me with your current booty call,” he yelled waving his hands around.

“Im doing no such thing and he is my son. You don’t get the right to call him your son when you’ve been out of his life more than you have been in it. And don’t go blaming Henry for any of this either. Don’t get mad cause he constantly makes Scott feel loved and safe and happy,” you yelled back.

“I don’t trust him around Scott he is not family,” Brenda said once again thinking she had a say in the matter.

“Oh but you would trust your husband to watch my son or your grandkids even though he’s in jail for touching little kids,” you announced. 

“Damn,” you heard you brother laugh under his breath. 

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. That was all a lie,” she stuttered out. 

“I’ve been nice Brenda. I’ve listen to you nag about what is best for a kid you see once a year or twice at most. I’ve been nice for the sake of my mother and my sister but i’m done. I don’t want to hear another word in relation to Scott or my relationship with Henry come out of your mouth ever again. So you’re going to sit there and just wait keep your mouth shut which we make everyone here happy,” you scorned her then turned to Philip, “I’d rather not take this to court cause I shouldn’t have too. If you would have walked in here and apologized and asked if you could see Scott I would have probably said yes but no you come in here all fragile masculinity type demanding to see him and then you have the nerve to scare him and hurt him. So consider this your informal serving. When we get back from London i’m getting a lawyer and fighting for legal fully custody.” 

You could see the anger filling his face as you pressed your index finger against his chest with every word of your threat. Philip grabbed your hand and twisted it. 

“Im not going to let you keep Scott away from me,” he growled twisting you wrist more causing you to cry out in pain. 

Henry grabbed Philips wrist where he was hurting you and squeezed til he let go of your hand. “Touch her or Scott again and I will hurt you,” he threatened as he turned to come check on you. 

In all of the commotion you didn’t notice Scott run back in the house and open the front door. Two police officers walked in and tried to calm everyone down. Henry gently took your arm to check you wrist when Philip tapped on his shoulder and went to punch him in the face but without thinking Henry dodged the fist and Philip ended up hitting you on the chin. 

You didn’t even register the punch all you hear was Scott crying out and you just wanted to see is Scott was ok. 

“Shit, darling are you okay,” Henry asked touching your chin causing you to wince. 

The officers slammed Philip against the wall and put him in cuffs then pushed him on the floor. The female officer walked over to you then radioed for EMS to come check you out. 

“Ma’am are you okay,” the female officer asked trying to get your attention. 

“Where’s Scott,” you asked wincing as you moved your mouth. 

Suddenly little arms wrapped around your neck and you could feel the little tears fall from his cheek to your neck. 

“I called them mommy cause you said to call when you need help and that guy wasn’t listening and he was scary,” Scott confessed as he sat back and looked at your face.

“You did the right thing kid,” the female officer told him. “You were really brave.”

“The bravest,” you said pulling him into another hung. 

Philip started to yell that he was Scott’s father but the male officer told him to shut up then brought him out to the police vehicle. 

“I don’t want a dad if he’s it. I just want a mommy and a Henry.”

After EMS came and checked you out and you gave the officers your statements, you and Scott sat on the couch and watched the grinch. Henry was in the kitchen grabbing you a bag of ice seeing how you refused to go to the hospital. Your aunt stood up and let out a small laugh saying how Henry ruined Christmas. 

“I hope you’re happy about breaking up a family,” she commented pouring herself some wine. 

“Goodbye mother,” you heard your uncle say as he held up his mothers purse. “I speak for everyone here when I say go home.”

She was in shock but left once she saw how no one was coming to her defense. She slowly walked out the door and your mother slammed it shut behind her and locked it. Everyone sat down on the couch and you rested your head on Henrys shoulder as he gently pressed the ice to your chin. 

“Well seeing how (y/n) is the family disappointment it doesn’t matter that I dropped out of college does it,” you cousin announced trying to lighten the mood. 

You let out a small laugh making your chin hurt. Even your uncle laughed til he realized his daughter wasn’t joking. 

“Im sorry you what,” he asked angrily. 

“Henry is the home wrecker,” she cried trying to get the attention off her. 

“Good cause you two are mine,” Henry whispered in you ear holding on to you tighter. 

You lifted your head and placed a small kiss on his shoulder. Scott looked around the room and then got off the couch and ran outside. Your mother gave you a confused look and went to go after him but you stopped her. 

“I’ve got it,” you said getting up and dropping the bag of ice in Henry’s lap. 

You found Scott outside in the rocking chair crying. You knelt in front of him and just rubbed his knee.

“What’s wrong baby,” you asked him. 

“I ruined Christmas,” he cried out hiding his face in his hands.

“You did no such thing.”

“I made everyone fight.”

“Sweety, it’s Christmas. It’s a time where family get together after not see each other for a while. There’s bound to be a fight but that’s ok cause families fight but we still love each other and we still show up for other family event,” you explained to him. “I’d be worried if we didn’t fight.”

“Do you and Henry fight,” he asked finally taking his hands out of his face.

“Yes we do,” you told him wiping the tears off his face. 

“We fight about me leaving my smelly socks around, and when she takes forever to get ready for an event for my work but it’s always my fault,” Henry said kneeling next to you. 

You didn’t hear him come outside but glad he did cause a smile appeared on Scott’s face when he told him what you fight about. 

“But your still here,” Scott stated processing that fighting doesn’t mean leaving.

“Of course I am. I love your mummy even when she puts her feet on me when she is cold or when she wakes me up when she can’t sleep but she doesn’t know I know that,” he told Scott whispering the last part. “And I love you even when you think batman is better and even when you steal the last bite of my food. I’m not going anywhere. And god forbid your mum is ever tired of me and we break up, you are still my best friend and I will always be there for you.”

Scott jumped into into Henry’s arms and let out a little cry. “I still want you to be my daddy Henry.” Henry pushed Scott back so he could look at him and wipe any remaining tears away. 

“I was going to wait til we got to England but your son is stubborn and persistent,” Henry said reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a little black box. “I know how you hate doing anything cheesy in front of family but I want both of you and your family and the entire world to know you guys are stuck with me and I’m stuck with you two. No matter the fights. My world is so much better with you guys in it.” Henry opened the box and there was a beautiful ring with with a rose gold band and an emerald stone. 

“Henry,” you cried as he slid the ring on your finger. 

“Will you marry me?”

You were too busy crying and looking at the ring so you didn’t answer which was stressing Scott out. “Say yes mommy. I promise to clean up for a whole month.”

Henry let out a laugh and you slowly started to nod your head. “Yes i’ll marry you,” you said throwing yourself in his arms cause the three of you to fall the ground. Henry gently grabbed your face and firmly pressed his lips against yours. He let you go when he heard you wince but you didn’t let him get far. You pulled him back to you and ignored the pain. 

“Can I call him it now,” Scott asked standing up.

You let out a laugh and nodded your head not caring about what your family will think or how it would make Philip feel. 

“I love you daddy,” Scott screamed as he jumped on Henry. 

“Love you too, buddy.”

[lets-try-some-writing]

I had an ANGSTY idea

I imagine a scene where it's just a normal day at the base where the children are just hanging out and talking with their guardians (optimus and ratchet are over seeing decepticon activity)

somehow the topic of how long humans lives are comes up. The kids are oblivious to what they just revealed to the bots and seconds after this fact is shared all the bots freeze with realization and horror dawns on them.

Now whenever the bots are with the kids they act more happier and more willing to do what the kids want (and alot more protective) but under the facade is nothing but depression and sadness (the kids still oblivious)

Oh and optimus has a breakdown since he sees them as his own sparklings

Angst my old friend. I love this concept.

━━━━━━ ⊙ ❖ ⊙ ━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⊙ ❖ ⊙

It was not exactly a secret when it came to the short lives of organics compared to Cybertronians. The team were well aware that most organics tended to only live as long as a few centuries at best and possibly a millennia or two with technological adaptations. For them the lives of organics were still but a passing wind, but at least with a few centuries there was time for Cybertronians to grow close to their organic comrades. The team had each met other organics before and during the war, they knew how the organics near Cybertron worked for the most part. Thus they were not particularly concerned with the humans, although they did wonder why they grew so quickly and seemed to deteriorate with such swiftness when they had centuries left ahead of them.

The team largely did not think too much on the biological functioning of the humans and instead focused on their work. Despite that, eventually one particular Prime found himself uncertain.

Optimus found it particularly confusing how humans seemed to die so young all the time. In his free time he took joy in reading documents from Earth and learning their history. It seemed all of Earth's influential people died young. Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Plato, Socrates, Sun Tzu, George Washington, and so many other influential figures, all dead before their second century of life. It concerned the Prime greatly, especially upon noting how involved the children, June, and Fowler were becoming in their activities. If there was some sort of genetic issue or other ailment that killed off those with influence, he needed to know immediately.

He brought his concerns to Ratchet who in turn gathered the attention of the team. This concern quickly spread and so as one unit the team researched human lives and reasons for offlinement. Before too long they came to the startling conclusion that almost every recorded human life ended when the human in question was around a century old. Some older religious and mythological records indicated that once upon a time humanity could indeed live for centuries, but that seemed to no longer be the case. Seeing this, fear for their charges wormed its way into the sparks of the team. Why were the humans dying so young? What happened to humanity to shorten their lives so drastically? Were their young charges doomed to die in the same manner?

Those questions haunted the team and in the end they decided to simply ask the children to see if there was some form of cultural misunderstanding causing them distress. The children were of course a little confused and it ended up being June who had to explain as the team huddled around, eager to understand and see if there was any way to stop the impending deaths of their wards.

Optimus: I have studied your history and it seems in the last few millennia humanity has failed to live longer than a century at most. Why is that?

June: We only live so long Optimus. We aren't big metal aliens from space like you.

Ratchet: That is true, but we have met organics before. Those that interacted with Cybertron before the war generally lived at least two centuries.

June: I-

Bulkhead: Is there some sort of illness killing you off?

Arcee: Maybe a conspiracy? I've heard of some organic civilizations killing off the older members of their population.

Bumblebee: *Is someone hurting you? We will stop them in that case!*

Optimus: Bumblebee is correct. If your race is under threat, we will gladly assist in stopping the needless death.

June: What? No. What you read are old myths, stories made up by humanity during various ages. They aren't real, we don't live much longer than a century and we never have.

Ratchet: What? But your historical records-!

June: Stories Ratchet. Just stories. Humans usually live around ninety years before we die. That is just the way of things.

Bulkhead: Then the kids-

June: Just like every human before them, they will grow old, and then when their time is up, they will die.

Not a word was uttered at the team slowly scattered, each considering what had been revealed to them. Suddenly a great deal had changed, and not a spark could change things.

Arcee had lost plenty of partners over her long life, but a human? And to old age of all things? She was terrified of that end. She would have to watch as he deteriorated and his frame failed him. How could she look at Jack and not imagine the way his skin would gain wrinkles and how his youthful energy would fade away into the bone deep weariness she observed in the elder humans she noted from a distance. A century was not long, it was hardly the Cybertronian equivalent of a year. Her boy was going to perish before she knew it, and there was not a thing she could do to stop it. Tears were useless, and yet in the quiet of her quarters she wept until she steeled herself. She would give her boy all the affection and care she could over his lifetime, and hopefully in doing so, she could ease the ache of loss that was to come.

Bulkhead was left not as grieved and more saddened above all else. It was easier for him to handle the concept of youthful deaths in organics due to his long service with the wreckers and their allies. He was not upset at Miko dying long before him. No, what saddened him was that she would never have the chance to be a wrecker on a restored Cybertron. By the time their world was restored and things put into motion, he small body would have deteriorated enough to make being a wrecker near impossible for her, at least if she wished to be active. That chance was going to be denied to her because of her fleshy frame, and that above all else had him offering as much opportunity to let her be a wrecker as possible. She would not see the height of Cybertronian military and rescue efforts, but she would have a taste of it, that was his promise.

Bumblebee for his part panicked. He knew organics didn't live long, but he had not expected Rafael's life to come to an end so soon. If Rafael lived according to human standards, he would be dead before Bumblebee's next forging day. He had grown to care deeply for the child, and so while he was no fool and well used to death and the concept of it, his spark still panged with loss. Not knowing what else to do, he threw himself into spending time with Rafael as much as he could outside of patrols and battles. If his friend was going to die so soon, Bumblebee was going to try and be there as a comfort for as long as possible. He tried not to think about the fact that his human companion would perish and silenced any discussion of it when he could. He knew Rafael and every other living being would die eventually, he saw death, he was well acquainted with it, and yet still he was not fond of inviting it by considering it too deeply.

Ratchet was neither particularly shocked or upset, but he was somewhat saddened as he looked over June and the children. He was old, very old. He had been around far longer than even Optimus. Death was not a stranger to him, and he merely found himself nodding along when June spoke the truth. There was nothing to be done and he doubted the children would care for augmentations to extend their lives when all their peers would perish long before they would in that situation. He merely sighed and came to be more gentle with the children. They were incredibly young, even by the standards of their own species. They would not live to see their star go out, and that was likely for the best. To him it was best to let them live a life not burdened by the concept of eternity.

Optimus was quiet after the revelation. He kept to himself for a time, thinking, contemplating, and considering. He knew that his organic charges were not to last, but he had not expected their lives to be so short. His spark cried within him, saddened at what was in his mind, the imminent deaths of several sparklings. He knew of cases where sparklings came from the Well too weak to last. In those situations they were tended to with love and care until at last their small frames failed them and they returned to Primus. It was not the same since the humans would be able to live up to their full potential by their species' standards long before death came for them. But to a Cybertronian? They would not last longer than a Cybertronian year, and that brought him grief. There had been no young for so long, and now those he had come to care for were going to perish so soon? He did not like to consider it and so locked the sorrow away and followed Ratchet's lead, tending to the humans with gentleness and grace.

In response to the team's conflicting emotions, the children found themselves treated with far more kindness than before. Jack was given rights to ride with Arcee far more often and no longer did she try to dismiss him as much. Bulkhead, and later Wheeljack once he understood the situation, took every care to train Miko as a true wrecker, giving her weapons and opportunity she would never have otherwise. Bumblebee went out of his way to speak with Rafael, to tell him stories, and to otherwise speak of all he had seen in order to give his human ward a vision of that which he would never experience due to his short life. Ratchet did not change his behavior much, but he was less hasty in his wrath and spoke to June, more willing to learn human medicine and customs. Optimus fell to offering gifts and wisdom to the humans under his care. He could not be there for them as he would with normal sparklings, but he could show them wonders and offer the wisdom of ages long gone by.

The children found it strange but did not object to the additional attention until it started to grow somewhat suffocating. Only then did they ask why.

Jack: Look, as much as I like being able to go for rides whenever I want, why are you being so nice?

Miko: Yeah, and why are you being so... sad about everything?

Rafael: Is something wrong?

Arcee: Its nothing like that we just-

Ratchet, glaring at the rest of the team: You humans do not live long, at least not compared to us. You lives hardly make up one of our years. They are trying to treat you gently because they are upset about it.

Bulkhead: Well that's a bit of an exaggeration-

Ratchet: No its not.

Jack: Wait, so you mean that since we are going to die eventually, you are being nice to us?

Rafael: We are only teenagers, we aren't going to die anytime soon. There's no need to be sad.

Bumblebee, close to tears: *But there is! You are going to be dead in just over a year for us! And we can't do anything to stop it!*

Miko: Oh, so you are upset because we won't live as long as you.

Optimus: That would be correct... We have not had young of our own since Cybertron fell, and that was many vorns ago. To have you children in our lives has given us hope, and to now know you will not linger with us... we are sorrowful.

Ratchet: Don't stress yourselves over it.

There was little else to say after that revelation, but the children did what they could to comfort their functionally immortal guardians. It wasn't much, but a smile and a thank you every now and then eased the sorrow the team were blanketed in. The humans would die within the blink of an eye for a race from beyond the stars. But that did not stop them from enjoying what time they had.

[trickphotography2]

'tis the damn season | Chapter 1

Pairing: Jake "Hangman" Seresin x Julie/Cece (OC, no physical description)

Word count: 3.8K

Synopsis: After six years away from home, Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin was finally going to make his parents happy and surprise his family by spending Christmas in Magnolia, Texas. Introducing his pregnant fiancee to his family is a culture clash, with rural Texas meeting California influencer. Though unhappy in his relationship, Jake knows he has to buckle down and do the right thing with a baby on the way.

The last person he expected to run into was his high school sweetheart and the one that got away, Julie.

The holidays are already going to be hard enough for Julie. Her home baking business, which had started as a fun side project, exploded after a few TikToks went viral. Just when she was getting the hang of juggling her job and business, tragedy struck. Facing her first Christmas as an orphan, the last thing Julie expected was to hear that once familiar nickname - Cece.

After almost a decade apart, Jake and Julie can't help but feel that old familiar spark. Even with the realities of their lives pressing in, they can't help but wonder what might have happened if just one of them had fought for their relationship all those years ago.

Master List | Ao3

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Chapter 1

“It’s so…flat,” Shayla frowned. 

“It’s Texas,” Jake shrugged, not taking his eyes off the road. A winter storm had blown through, delaying their flight and making the roads icy in the weak early morning sun. As usual, the streets further away from the city hadn’t been treated, and he’d already hit a couple of patches of ice. He only hoped that it would be better closer to home, but then again, rural Texas wasn’t exactly a priority for road treatment.

“I still don’t see why we couldn’t have gone to the Bahamas or somewhere warm,” she pouted. His grip tightened on the steering wheel, unwilling to engage in the argument that they’d had for the last few weeks. 

The engagement ring he’d bought sat on her left hand. It hadn’t been the one she wanted - he couldn’t justify spending $10K on a piece of jewelry, especially since they had a baby on the way - but still took a chunk out of his savings. Apparently, her followers had approved, even though Shayla had commented about it being the ‘starter ring.’

With a sigh, Shayla flipped down the visor and fixed her bangs before taking out her phone and checking the lighting. Apparently satisfied, she turned on the camera, starting to pose and make faces as she filmed before holding it higher and placing a hand on her stomach, ensuring her engagement ring was in the frame. “Say hi, babe,” she finally said, flipping the camera toward him. He glanced over, unable to muster a fake smile for her video. “Jake.”

“I’m concentrating,” he snapped. 

Her constant filming had been a novelty when they'd first started dating. She’d been trying to launch a career as an influencer, sharing dating experiences while doing her makeup or documenting her daily life. He didn’t exactly get the appeal, but whatever. As they got more serious, she roped him into more of the videos - at first, just glimpses of them working out together or in the car, then making dinner and going out. After he set the firm boundary that she couldn’t film nights out at the Hard Deck with the Daggers, which was an argument in itself, she refused to go. Instead, she tried to drag him to other spots. Eventually, Shayla caught the attention she was craving, and her follower list grew. With it came products that cluttered up her apartment and offers to appear at restaurants around California. 

The more her internet fame grew, the more Shayla pulled him into her videos. While drunk one night, she’d let it slip that her view rates skyrocketed when he made an appearance, and he tried not to read too much into it that she usually tried to have him half naked. Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin wasn’t shy by any stretch of the imagination and worked hard to keep his body in top physical shape. He knew he looked good, but the muscles were born from long hours working on the ranch and later maintained for his job. 

For ten months, Jake had put up with it. A two-month deployment had prolonged the inevitable, but the final nail in the coffin had been the fact that Shayla barely seemed to care that he was gone until he was back and shoved a camera in his face while sobbing about how much she missed him. Back on land, he quickly scrolled through the videos she’d posted while he was at sea only to see that she’d screen-recorded their few calls and talked about how hard it was to be a military dependent. It was satisfying to see the military spouses in the comments tearing her apart about the fact that she wasn’t a dependent until she had a marriage license. 

He’d already planned on breaking up with her as soon as he got home but felt bad about doing it when she’d already planned a couples’ costume and lined up sponsors for her video. Finding her making out with someone else in the bathroom at a Halloween party after they’d had a quickie in the truck helped bolster his case for ending the relationship.  

Jake had thought that was the end until she showed up at the Hard Deck looking for him. When he’d brushed her off, she ambushed him at his apartment the next day and demanded to speak to him, throwing a positive pregnancy test in his face when he tried to close the door.

And with that, Jake knew he had to do the right thing. He would never abandon his kid, even if it meant trying to figure out how to fall in love with his now-fiancee. 

Snow covered the fields as Jake drove under the arch, announcing they’d reached the Seresin ranch. Cows meandered, and he couldn’t help but smile at the sight of the calves with knitted ear muffs courtesy of his mother. As a kid, it had been his job to check that the calves hadn’t managed to knock them off overnight before going to school. 

Since joining the Navy, Jake hadn’t spent as much time home as he should, according to his mother. Instead of returning to Texas, he took advantage of being able to travel cheaply on the military’s dime. So far, he’d made it to England, Italy, Spain, Morocco, Japan, and Korea. He sent souvenirs home to his parents, who weren’t quite sure what to make of their youngest. 

Bill and Kerry, proud owners of the Seresin Dairy and Horse Ranch and prouder parents to Bill Junior - who constantly reminded the family that he went by Will now - and Jake, had done what they could to support their sons. Will took after his father and wanted nothing more than to take over the ranch when the time came. Jake had fallen in love with flying after going up in the neighbor’s crop duster when he was eight, and his head had never left the clouds. Whenever they went into town, Jake would beg to stop at Magnolia’s little library to get books on aviation. As he got older, he devoured the biographies of the Wright Brothers, Charles Lindberg, Amelia Earhart, and military aviators turned astronauts. 

When the time came to apply for college, he drove his beat-up truck down to Lubbock, dressed in his Sunday best to meet with his congressional representative to request a nomination to the Naval Academy. 

Two months after graduating high school, Jake’s family drove him to the airport and wished him good luck. Plebe summer took all of his attention, and he could barely think about life outside the Annapolis campus, let alone what was happening at home. Days were spent learning the proud Naval traditions, military terminology, and expectations between physical training. Nights were spent with the other plebes, trying to keep their eyes open long enough to study. His two-week break at home was spent catching up on sleep and answering questions the few times he ventured into town. 

After his Third Class summer, it was harder to come home. Summers were spent at sea or sent to different bases. His Mama pushed for him to come home for the holidays, but between the flights and drive, it wasn’t always worth it. He started to spend time with his classmates whose families lived closer. Spring Break was spent at Myrtle Beach, relaxing in the freedom away from early morning classes and strict behavioral regulations.  

Christmas was when his father put his foot down - that was for the family. Come hell or high water, he expected his sons to be home. Will had no problem with it. He’d met his wife, Allison, while studying animal science at Texas A&M. Once she finished training as a large animal veterinarian, he moved back to Magnolia. After graduating from the Academy, Jake found it harder. As a single guy, he felt terrible about taking time off from aviators with kids who wanted to spend the holiday with them. So he didn’t ask for leave and spent the holiday getting dinner at the mess and calling his family, trying to ignore the sadness and resignation in his mother’s voice. 

Which is why this trip needed to be perfect. After six years away from home, Jake Seresin would finally make his parents happy and spend Christmas in Magnolia with a pregnant fiancee by his side. He owed it to his mother after putting her through so much disappointment. 

A beat-up red truck was out in the field, moving slowly as the herd followed, and Will pitched hay off the bed. His hand curled on the steering wheel, the phantom feeling of a pitchfork and a hand on his shoulder sneaking over him. “Steady, son.” His Pop’s voice echoed the words he’d said the first time Jake had taken over the job, nearly falling backward into the hay bales when Will hit a divot. 

“So you actually, like, grew up on a farm?” Shayla asked, nose scrunching the the loud mooing. 

“I told you I grew up on a ranch.”

“I thought it was horses or something.”

“We have those too.” An SUV was parked next to his Mama’s ancient truck in front of the house. Parking behind the truck, Jake took a moment to glance at himself in the rearview mirror. For all the reasons he imagined coming back to Magnolia, this hadn’t been one of them. Scrubbing a hand through his hair, he glanced over at Shayla, who studied the house. 

From an outsider's perspective, it looked pretty impressive. His grandfather - whom Jake was named after - had built it for his grandmother after they inherited the ranch. He could remember sitting on the wrap-around porch with his grandmother, snapping green beans and shucking corn for supper, listening to stories about the cowboys that used to work on the ranch. Every other summer would find all the Seresin boys, regardless of their age, painting Granny’s house a new coat of white. The upper floor had a breezeway connecting two of the six bedrooms, which Jake had used pretty often when sneaking out of the house once they moved from the foreman quarters into the main house when Pops inherited. 

Mama had decorated for Christmas. Garland was draped over the porch banisters, and lights and red ribbon wrapped around the posts. A wreath hung on the door, and lights hung from the roof. In every window, he could see the electric candles she would go room by room lighting. Of everyone in the family, she was the biggest fan of the holiday, lovingly bullying the men in her family to embrace the cheer. 

“Damn,” Shayla said. “I’ll get some awesome Christmas footage here.” Pressing his lips into a thin line to keep any unkind words from escaping, Jake flung open his door and quickly circled the rental to help her out. 

“Watch for ice,” he cautioned. A glimpse at her phone screen showed that she was already recording. “Could you put that away?” 

“I want to catch the first time I meet your parents.”

“Shay.” Scoffing, she rolled her eyes and reluctantly stopped. “Thank you.”

“Whatever.” Gritting his teeth, he turned on his heel and walked towards the house, automatically jumping over the creaky second step. Jake hesitated a moment at the door before raising his fist and knocking twice, then twisting the knob. It turned easily in his hand, and he pushed it open. “You’re just walking in? What if they shoot you?” Choosing to ignore her, he stepped inside his childhood home.

The smell of coffee and cinnamon washed over him, and he knew the family would already be on the second pot at this time of the morning. Pops and Will would have taken most of the first with them into the barn and fields, with Mama finishing it and starting the next before her chores. After kicking off his shoes and glancing at Shay to ensure she did the same, he walked the familiar path to the kitchen. 

Family pictures decorated the walls, and he let himself really look at them for the first time in ages. His grandparents stood proudly in front of the house, his parents' wedding photo. The first time he and Will were on a horse. Will and Ally’s wedding and his graduation from the Academy. 

“Where is everyone?” Shay asked as they stepped into the large kitchen. Like much of the house, it was clearly older but lovingly maintained. The coffee pot gurgled on the counter, and Jake made a beeline for it, retrieving a mug from the cabinet above. 

“Working somewhere. You want some?”

“No. Coffee’s not good for the baby.” Nodding, he poured himself a cup and tried not to think too hard about the coffee she’d demanded before getting on the plane in California. Spotting a tray of cinnamon rolls on the stove, he quickly retrieved a plate and cut one for himself. At his raised eyebrow, Shayla scrunched her nose and shook her head. 

The roll was fluffy and soft as he bit into it, quickly followed by the rich caramel icing. He moaned, not remembering his Mama’s cinnamon rolls being this good. After polishing off his first, Jake was halfway through his second when he heard voices from the back patio. Quickly, he set the plate down and stood beside Shayla, who looked up from her phone and smirked as he ran a nervous hand through his hair.

“You’ve got some icing,” she said, brushing the corner of his mouth as the back door opened. After licking the sugar from her thumb, her hand rested on his chest before he could step back.  

“Holy Mary, Mother of God - look what the cat dragged in!” his mother exclaimed. Jake turned to greet her but froze when his gaze landed on the woman standing behind her, a basket of eggs hanging limply from her hand. Her red-rimmed eyes widened as they darted between him and Shayla.

“Mama. Cece.” 

Nine Years Ago 

When Jake pictured his life imploding, he hadn’t imagined it so… quiet. 

Cece sat beside him on the couch, gaze lowered as she fiddled with the engagement ring he’d slid onto her finger at his Academy graduation, dropping to one knee on the field and asking to be her husband before disappearing into flight school. The replacement for the class ring he’d put on her finger before he left her in Texas at 18 with a promise of forever. 

He’d naively hoped that they could push off this conversation, give it some more time to figure out how to be with one another again. To set up their home in Virginia as he navigated being a Naval Aviator and she tried to find her footing in a new town. That they could go back to how easy it was before spending the last five years apart. “Jake,” she sighed.

“Don’t.” Resignation was etched in her features when her eyes met his, and he hated it. 

“We - ”

“Please, Cece.” Her eyes closed, and she took a deep breath, lips pressing into a thin line as her chin wobbled. 

“Are you happy?” she asked after a long time. “Be honest.”

“Yeah. I’m happy you’re here. That we’re finally together. Are you?”

“I… I don’t know.” Those three little words felt like a blow to the chest, and Jake inhaled sharply. “I just… this doesn’t feel…”

“Like before.” She nodded, and he deflated. “I know.” Relief flooded her face, and her shoulders sagged as though a huge weight had been lifted. 

“I thought it was just me.” 

“No, Cupcake. Not just you.” Tears flooded her eyes, and she gave him a watery smile. “It’s only been two months. We just need some time to figure out our new normal.” 

“How much time are we supposed to give it?”

“I dunno. More than two months.” 

“Three years?” Unable to meet her gaze, his eyes dropped to watch her twist the ring. “I think we can both admit that things have been hard for a while. And that we got used to being apart from each other.” 

“We can get used to being together again.” At her silence, he reached out and caught her hand, gently tugging her across the couch. Reluctantly, Cece let herself be drawn closer and settled in his lap, knees digging into the cushions at his hips. His hands slid up her thighs to wrap around her waist. “I love you, Julie.” 

Her name on his lips sounded so foreign. To everyone else, she was Julie. She’d only been Cupcake or Cece after making Jake a birthday treat in eighth grade, carefully packaging it in her lunch box to present him at school. Always seated next to each other in class, it had been hard to avoid the Seresin boy. 

If she looked closely, Julie could still see traces of that farm boy she’d grown up with in the man she loved. There was still a mischievous glint in his green eyes and dimples that she took pride in making appear when he smiled. He was still awake at first light and a wicked tease.

But those glimpses were rare. Jake had told her that his first few years as a junior officer would be busy, but she hadn’t expected to see so little of him. She made an effort to get up with him before work and then settled in to job hunt or wedding plan while he was gone. After work, he either wanted to go to the bar with the other young pilots, or he was too tired to do more than shower, eat, and collapse into bed. Simply put, this hadn’t been the life Julie imagined while living alone in Austin for a year after graduating from the University of Texas, waiting for him to finish flight school. While her friends had moved on to careers, marriages, and grad school, she waited.

Just like she always had. 

When Jake got into the Naval Academy, he’d explained that cadets couldn’t be married. And at 18, she wasn’t ready for that commitment. So instead, he’d put his class ring on her finger and promised they would get married as soon as he graduated. For four years, she’d worn the ring on a chain around her neck and tried to push away her jealousy, watching her friends spend time with boys and having fun in the clubs. A small part of her had always felt guilty when a man had pressed against her while dancing, his hands holding her tightly and asking her to come home. Every night she went home alone, she reminded herself that four years was nothing in the face of forever. 

Their weeks together felt like stolen time - spring breaks in South Carolina, a few weeks during the summer, and Christmas in Magnolia. And just when the end was in sight, Jake came home for Christmas his last year of school and told her he’d been accepted into the pilot program. “It’s just another year and a half after graduation,” he’d explained. And when she asked where he’d be living, he couldn’t meet her eyes while explaining that he would be moving to different bases every few months, so it didn’t make sense for her to come with him. 

“Cupcake?” Jake said softly, pulling her from her thoughts. He gently ran a knuckle along her jaw, paying particular attention to the scar on her chin, earned when she slipped on a patch of black ice and fell face-first into his truck junior year of high school. They’d spent a few hours in the emergency room, his bloody shirt pressed to her face until she got stitched up. 

“If I said I wanted to get married today, what would you say?” Julie asked. Try as he might to hide it, she caught it - that brief flicker of panic in his eyes before it disappeared.

“What about the wedding?” It was his turn to catch the flash of irritation before her expression smoothed. The wedding had been a point of contention for a while - Jake knew that she wanted his input, but he’d never been interested in party planning before. 

“I said married, not the wedding. Would you marry me today?” There was a moment’s hesitation before he nodded. 

“Of course. I love you.” A sad look crossed her face before Julie cupped his cheek and gently kissed him. 

“I love you too. And I always will. But I-I don’t know if that’s enough.” Jake pulled back.

“What?” he demanded, fingers digging into her hips, hit with the irrational fear that she would run if he let her go. Her glistening eyes met his for a moment before darting away.

“I love you so much,” she said softly. “And I have since you kissed me under the mistletoe at the winter formal. But I am so, so lonely.” Tears slipped down her cheeks as her voice broke, and he felt his heart fracture. “I moved here for you, to a place where I don’t know anyone and barely see you. And I sit in this house all day and think about my life in Texas, where I missed you, but I was happy. I had a life and friends, and I could see my daddy whenever I wanted. And I missed you, but missing you has been my normal since high school. I love you, and I have put my life on hold for almost six years because I love you. And I was happy to do that so you could chase your dream. B-but…I didn’t realize that I was giving up my life and my dreams because of a promise we made when we were 18.” 

“Cece,” Jake breathed, tugging her closer as she started to sob, tears soaking his uniform's shoulder. “Tell me how to fix this.” At that, she cried harder, and he felt the numbing realization that there was nothing he could do. 

Cece lifted her head from his shoulder when her tears faded into hiccups. His green eyes were reddened when she cupped his damp cheeks. The taste of salt and sadness merged when their lips brushed. “I’m sorry,” she breathed. 

“Me too. I-I want you to be happy, baby.” 

Which was why he didn’t fight her. He helped her pack up the car a week later, forced the engagement ring she tried to return back into her hand, and kissed her one last time. And then watched as she drove out of his life. 

Then, Jake realized how hard it was to be the one left behind while the person you loved chased their dreams. 

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Author's note: Welcome to my angsty holiday fic! A major thank you to @mamachasesmayhem for letting me bounce ideas off of her for this story, and being such a lovely cheerleader ❤️

Read Chapter 2

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[jackdaw-sprite]

Hi, @ep-10 ! I was your truce gifter this year for @phandomholidaytruce and I decided to use your prompts for a Japanese ghost--kinda, but mostly for a biopunk fantasy au. You're getting some character designs for a biopunk fantasy AU set in a world suspiciously similar to Sengoku era Japan! And also backstory. Mostly backstory, really.

Warning for someone getting baked alive in a kiln.

I mean, we all know who.

Jack and Maddie Fenton are a married pair of researcher/alchemists who've been brought into the country with the influence of an old friend of theirs, Vlad. He wants them to figure out the secret to producing porcelain, an expensive and magically versatile ceramic with a production process that's a closely guarded secret in a nearby, much more economically powerful country.

To this end, Vlad has supplied the Fentons with enough wealth and resources to not ask things like "where did you get this?" and "what exactly is going to happen when it gets out that we're trying to make porcelain?"

As it turns out, this is a very important question, because together the pair piece together how to build a kiln that burns hotter than any they've ever seen before and for the very first time make the coveted porcelain.

The victory is short lived: their son Daniel goes missing that very day, and then their search for him is waylaid by another discovery: some of the porcelain is coming to life, animated by a horrific amalgam of flesh and vitriol. They must find Danny, but first they must make sure the monsters they've made are destroyed…

So! The three big players in our cast of characters here are Jack, Maddie, and poor, poor Danny. They are coincidentally the only ones I had time to do a character design for, so let's look at Jack first, who is holding an experimental porcelain vase:

That's quite an outfit. It's, uh. Not quite standard in the Sengoku: while he's wearing a hitatare, it's been modified, and he's chosen not to wear pants because it's technically not, like, a crime. I chose this for him because Jack:

a) Does not care about what everyone thinks of what he's wearing, or he wouldn't wear a jumpsuit all the time in canon b) Hates the feel of most clothes

Hitatare were growing in popularity during the Sengoku because of how comfortable they were, so it seemed a good fit for Jack. They didn't necessarily need to be worn with hakama if you were of a lower class, but it would be frowned upon to go without if you were off a higher class.

The modifications he and Maddie have made to it make it even less restrictive than a standard hitatare, and a bit more suited to their work of experimenting with kilns and clay.

The obi is stitched into place, so it doesn't actually act like a belt and put a line of pressure across Jack's stomach, and they've added a button to the side to hold the hitatare closed, instead. The stitching around the sleeve openings is pretty archaic by this point, but they've kept (or added) it so he can draw the openings closed when he wants, and a second draw string runs along his sleeve to let him draw the sleeves away from his hands when needed, while still letting him let them extend to their full length to act as a barrier between his skin and unpleasant textures.

He's got some leather gloves and a pair of very early goggles to protect his hands and eyes from the heat of the kilns.

The geta act as an additional layer of protection against bad textures, since they should keep him above mud.

Maddie, here holding a shattered fragment of porcelain, is dressed far less eccentrically, because this (left) is before the porcelain came to life. She's just wearing a kosode with hakama and a leather apron. (She has gloves too, they're just tucked away at her back) The smaller sleeves stay out of the way while she works, and the hakama are roomy. She's wearing waraji, because she prefers what I assume is more stable footing and a lower center of gravity.

This is especially true after they start fighting the porcelain. Pictured here, you can see she keeps her hair out of her face with a standard low ponytail, and the Fenton Anti-Creep stick manages to still exist in this world, despite all odds.

This Anti-Creep stick is a bokken with embedded teeth of broken porcelain for a better shattering potential--metal, especially enough metal of sufficient quality for a sword, is expensive, and they're dealing with something that's only a stronger ceramic…

Which brings us to the kiln. And, to his great misfortune, to Danny.

This is a multi-chambered climbing kiln. While I don't think it's the first kiln that allowed firing temperatures to reach that required for porcelain in Japan in our world, it's the most common and appeared around the same time as that first one. The design of it encourages airflow in a way that traps and directs heat to build it on itself and distribute it reasonably evenly.

The kiln chambers would get filled with the pots to be fired, then they would set a fire in the little step down in each chamber. Then they would seal the kiln chambers entrances with fire bricks, except for a small stoking hole to keep the fires fed.

Then they'd light the main fire at the mouth to the first, lowest chamber called the stoke hole and the fire box respectively.

And then they would keep the fires lit, and feed them, wood upon wood upon wood…

Until eventually, the kiln warmed, grew sweltering, grew hot, hot like fire, like iron in a forge and then hotter still, until the whole of the inside glows.

Like the center of the earth.

…

At the lowest, porcelain requires a firing temperature of 1000 degrees. Celsius.

Brass melts, at that temperature. Porcelain itself gets its strength from melting.

And Danny…

Danny tripped. Danny was loading one of the chambers, and he tripped and he hit his head and by the time he woke he was sweating.

He tried to crawl away from where he knew the fires were. The flue, where the spent air left the kiln, has charred finger marks where his burnt away after the carbon dioxide and heat drove him unconscious a second time.

It was a mercy.

By the time he woke again, his body was cooling.

You see, the Fentons enchanted the kiln to make it try to repair pieces that were falling apart during the firing process. And, if one piece was destroyed in the firing anyway, to use the fragments to reinforce the other pieces in the kiln.

Danny was in the kiln. Danny's body failed.

Bone ash is not a critical ingredient in porcelain, but its presence makes it much, much stronger.

Danny woke up made of porcelain.

His sandals left black on the soles of his feet and the fingers on one hand that had burned looked skeletal. But he woke up.

And he ran.

Later, he'll find help. Later, he'll find a way to fight the other things in the kiln that day, and the results of later firings. Later, he'll meet a boy who loves puzzles and information and who teaches him how to use a bow and arrow to keep his fragile body intact. He'll meet a girl who loves foraging (partly because it gets her away from her parents) but loves justice more.

(Whether he'll stop wearing his clothes like a corpse is another question.)

Danny here is wearing something hitatare adjacent and hakama, along with a yugake.

Happy truce!

[cheezbites]

Chris McLean As Your Ex

✎: My second Chrissy blog 🙈 it ain’t my fault he’s so bbg. (ex!Chris x f!reader) (Celebrity Reader)

♡Summary: Chris still has feelings for you after you broke up. Now he’s going to do everything in his power to win you back.

WARNINGS: Language, (toxic?) relationship, mild anxiety, arguing, angst, fluff, (catcalling?😭) smut next chapter and not really proofread. :(

════ ⋆★⋆ ════

The day you met your ex-boyfriend Chris McLean was the day your picture-perfect life turned to shambles, or maybe it was the minute you agreed to host with him on his sadistic show… You were too busy to remember.

After filming another successful episode of your talk show: ‘Icons Unveiled', infamously known for it’s ‘unique’ contestants, (which is why people loved it so much) - the drama, fights and scandals discussed on your popular talk show are the main factors why people religiously tuned in. From a fourteen-year-old fanboy that became known online for hardcore obsessing over you, to an iconic personality with everyday petty drama that’s publicised way too often: GlamZoe.

And today’s episode featured a well-known kid influencer, Big Mia, and her ‘best friend’ Isabella, who blasted her secrets online for clout. Their feud only escalated, despite their ironic intention of 'peacefully hashing it out'.

“You’re calling me stupid? Bitch you were dumb enough to tell me all about yo’ shit in the first place. How ‘bout that?” Isabella disdainfully yelled, swiftly flipping her hair behind her shoulder.

“You only have clout because of me, know your place.” Big Mia retorted.

The audience erupted in applause, laughter, and audible gasps as a result of their vulgar responses.

“And? everyone likes me more than you anyways, so…”

“Guys - let’s relax, you came on here to bless this beef, not open a butcher shop.” You quipped, taking a sip of coffee from your signature ‘Icons Unveiled’ mug. The steam emitting from the mug fogged your Versace sunglasses, making you place them on your head.

“I’m gonna fight this hoe outside, how about that?” Big Mia asserted, rising from her seat as she tied her hair in a few sharp motions. Instinctively, security had to restrain her and ensure she remained seated. You noticed most fights were embellished by the participants for two reasons: you, a known and highly admired celebrity were witnessing it all unfold, and the instigating noisy audience: bloodthirsty for any scandal. People would do anything to Y/N L/N’s attention, anything.

You couldn’t refrain from seeing yourself and Chris in their thoughtless arguing, there was this one specific argument that was the final blow to your unhealthy relationship:

“Chris, we can’t keep hiding from talking about it. The fans are concerned, we need to address this situation openly.”

“We can’t risk making things worse by giving it more attention, they don’t need to know every detail.”

“But that’s the problem! they’re not stupid, they’ll eventually find out and they’ll lose trust in-“

“Trust me, I’ve been handling this for a long time. It’s better to let things settle on their own.”

“So have I! You’re not the only one, Chris. I’ll politely remind you I’m famous as well.”

“I know that… I know. I just can’t when you-“

“When I what? Am I just a distraction?”

That back-and-forth conversation went on and on… until it transitioned into an argument before even realising it.

“Changing our approach could backfire, Y/N! It will affect the ratings!”

“Ratings ratings ratings, that’s all you seem to care about!”

“I have to! Why don’t you don’t get it.”

“Tell me something, Chris. Who would you pick, me… or the ratings? The amazing fantastic ratings you can’t stop thinking about.”

“Y/N, just… fucking listen to me. You’re choosing to ignore me,"

In hindsight, your power couple relationship was really toxic. Instead of talking it out or apologising to one another, you just had sex. Which is exactly what you did after that argument, (yes, the same argument that made you breakup). You shouldn’t have to fuck or kiss someone to prove that you ‘love’ them, that’s a commonly known fact. Yet it seemed like your relationship didn’t get the message.

But your viewers were going to be thoroughly entertained by tonight’s episode, that’s for sure. As the bathtub’s floral, sweet-scented warm water soothed you, you enjoyed every second of the chaotic scene unfolding on your iPhone, making you feel amused and mildly exhausted. People never mention how drama is better tenfold when you’re actually witnessing it, front-row seats and all. Their animated gestures and exaggerated words only further enhanced their bickering. Soon enough, the speculations on social media were flooding in - so were your pay cheques.

You couldn’t resist but chuckle at the absurdity of it all. Midway through the episode - just as they were about to reach the boiling point on your screen - your phone rang causing your heart to skip a beat. Nobody ever called you, the only exception was if it was undeniably crucial. Everyone understood how busy you were and the demands of your time. So when your phone chimed, that signalled something demanded immediate attention - the last thing you generously handed out.

The caller ID displayed ‘Liam Harrison’, your agent. You knew this wasn’t going to be just another casual conversation - he’d usually try to mask it as one before delivering bad news to you.

“Y/N?” he spoke, in that familiar gravelly voice you were unfortunately used to.

“Yes, this is she.” You laid back in your back tub and scarcely crossed your legs, mentally preparing for what was about to hit you.

“Tonight’s episode … crazy, right?” He said, a sense of relief lacing his words. Essentially because it was you who picked up the phone - not your voice note that he was unfortunately used to. You immediately picked up on the tone of his words and the slight relief present in them, It would be rare for anyone else to have picked up on this, but you were discreetly intuitive.

“Mmm,” you hummed in response.

“Right, erm, so I’m sure you’re aware of the high demand and the public being visibly upset about your absence on Total Drama.”

“Fuck me…” you muttered as you massaged your temples. Your anxiety gnawed at your thoughts, making you toy with your hair as you listened. As Liam presented his case, the high demand, phenomenal ratings, substantial income - the best part of it all: the increased fame.

You were focusing on the coffee mug that sat on the edge of your bathtub as you inattentively listened, it would always be comfortably cupped in your hands for every single episode as you watched scandals unfold, the viewers always called it ‘iconic’. Its pink interior contrasted the pristine white exterior, ‘Icons Unveiled’ etched onto the surface in a delicate font, this globally adored mug had soon gained a life of its own. It became so popular that it would be more rare to see someone who didn’t have your mug than to see someone who did.

Your business-savvy mindset embodied your influence, the minute you put them on sale it was even titled ‘The long-awaited merchandise masterpiece’, and it sold out in under half a minute. ‘Skyrocketing’ would be an understatement to describe how the sales performed - and it wasn’t just that, you sold coffee blends crafted to your taste, cute matching sets with your infamous catchphrase: ‘Getting up, close and personal with the icons!” and so on. Amidst your racing thoughts and tremors of anxiety, you realised something. Your smart business decisions pushed you so far ahead in the entertainment industry, something even Chris, (with all his charisma), hadn’t managed to accomplish yet.

“Y/N, what do you say?”

The abrupt noise enticed you to faintly jump, being so lost in your never-ending thoughts made you completely forget the disheartening situation you were in. You knew the moment you said ‘Yes.’ was the moment you sold your soul to the devil, to your demise to you have no other choice.

“I can’t wait,” you stated, not sounding as confident as you intended to.

“Great. We will be handling the contracts, drafting, legal approvals… all that stuff. As well as the promotional campaign to build anticipation for your appearance.”

“I appreciate it.”

“Goodnight, Ms. (L/N).”

“Night, Liam.” You hung up and your iPhone automatically resumed Icons Unveiled, you absentmindedly watched as your mind was in a completely different place.

The recruitment made sense so you couldn’t be too upset about it, when two wealthy and famous personalities collide, the mesmerising sparks are inevitable. You’ve built countless businesses just by having people on your show, you were consistent and dedicated to your craft, and some may say that you had it easy - that you were rich the moment you were born and got everything you wanted, luxuries and riches were an everyday thing. You played your cards right, became rich and famous, and were worshipped worldwide. Your alluring and humble personality made you hard to ignore giving your universal appeal, evoking envy and admiration from others in the entertainment industry.

Maybe this was what led to your breakup - your wits and marketing techniques may have triggered Chris to be slightly envious. But you weren’t innocent either; as his fame grew over time so did your jealousy. You weren’t exactly the jealous type, though. But the constant comparisons, busy schedules and fans feeding his already indestructible ego ignited something in you that you never knew was there.

On the other hand, he started feeling uneasy about your immense success. Chris was mainly looked down upon, but viewers kept tuning in as they were in a trance by the cruel ideas he came up with. You positively influenced your fans (or so they thought), but deep down you were just like him. You hated admitting it but you were both equally insane, you were made for each other. The spotlight that shone on you made him question whether he could measure up to your achievements, and he hated that.

════ ⋆★⋆ ════

After a long yacht journey, you arrived at Camp Wawanakwa; your new dreadful and thankfully temporary home. An isolated island with an untamed forest, towering trees and tepid cabins. The air’s musk had an earthy scent of moss and decaying leaves, the nostalgic smell that without warning brought you back to when you previously hosted.

As you stepped out of the lavish yacht, nervousness and excitement churred in your stomach. Chef, Chris’s loyal assistant, greeted you with a warm smile.

“You look just as young as I last saw you,” he chuckled in that familiar thick and passionate voice. Chef afforded you a reassuring pat on the back as he helped you with your luggage.

Although the campers were confined to their cabins until filming began, you could sense the excitement from the peeks you caught through the cabin windows. Whispers, screeches and a few wolf whistles followed you as Chef guided you to ‘The Chris Crib’.

You couldn’t resist but to wave at the girl's cabin, and blow a platonic kiss to the boys.

“Oh my God! Y/N L/N waved at me!”

“No, she waved at me! We all saw it!”

“Shut up - she waved at all of us.”

“Boys… she clearly digs us.”

“Yeah, did you see the way she blew that kiss?”

“She’s so fucking hot, I need her in my bed.”

When you entered the ‘Chris Crib’, (which looked way better than the worn-out cabins, very typical of Chris) the first thing you did was walk into your room to unpack your bags, not even bothering to greet …him. Your room was left untouched and Chris's faint scent lingered; a subtle sweet-smelling cologne. You caught sight of some lingering items you left behind.

You changed into your pyjamas, a silky white spaghetti top paired with satin shorts. After a brief moment, you picked up on the faint sound of his voice, your nosiness forcing you to overhear. He spoke in a hushed tone about how he couldn’t get you out of his head - how he still loved you and wanted to see you. Yeah, right. With the way he treated you? Sure he did. He can keep lying to himself if that’s what helps him sleep at night after tormenting innocent teenagers.

But the weight of your emotions and the relentless grip of anxiety had been tightening around you for weeks, pulling you into a tornado of racing thoughts. Today was no different, you found yourself lost in thought, sitting in your bathtub - the one inside the bathroom which was connected to your bedroom, you were still fully clothed in your PJs. You didn't even bother to lock any doors, so anyone could walk in at any given moment. A rumour on socials spread like wildfire about Icons Unveiled being staged, making your viewers worried and doubting you and your show.

Maybe you actually were just like Chris? You cared too much about what the fans thought. More than you think you should - but it was reasonable - they were your source of income. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s okay, your team would handle it, right? It’s all going to be okay. But this subtly affected your episode’s performances, some days you were better at hiding your inner emotions than others but the speculations made it ten times more difficult. This coupled with the continuous pressure to serve content was a lethal combo. You were grappling with the mounting burnout that had begun to take a toll on your physical and mental health.

The announcement of co-hosting TDI was a cruel twist of fate, a decision driven more by the demands than your own desires. As you wrestled with your thoughts, your racing heart gave way to a full-blown panic attack. Your audible heartbeat and heavy breathing and an overwhelming urge to just escape… You felt as if these were your last moments, as if these were your last breaths, last heartbeats.

This situation couldn’t get any worse until Chris walked in, you didn’t even want to look at him. Your wet hair draped over your shoulders and shielded your face, yet you could still sense a worried and concerned expression on his face. He’s seen this happen before - you had odd ways of coping, the one he was most used to was drowning yourself in your thoughts in any accessible bathtub. He saw your vulnerability and offered a steadying hand like he was reminding you that you weren’t alone.

“Hey, hey - take deep breaths,” His voice was gentle yet reassuring. He knelt beside you, and even though your pyjamas had turned completely see-through, he placed one hand comfortably around your back.

“I’ve got you, alright? You’re safe here.”

You reluctantly nodded, trying to focus on his words as your heart’s abnormally fast rate gradually decreased. But you couldn’t prevent the tears streaming down your face, tracing a scorching path along your cheek. The once bubbly and vibrant colour of your eyes was killed by the bloodshot hue, your breath hitched in your throat, catching on the sobs that wrecked your body. Each gasp for air was a painful reminder of the tightness gripping your chest.

“Panic attacks are tough, you’ve faced harder challenges. Remember that time you nailed that live episode? You’ve got this, listen to my voice.” he continued, his tone steady.

You always liked listening to his voice, so that would be simple enough task. It was husky and satisfying to the ears; it effortlessly put you to sleep on multiple occasions. You mentally recalled the day you had a panic attack before filming a segment for Icons Unveiled, three of your team members spent what felt felt like fifteen painstakingly slow minutes trying to calm you down. When it was Chris, him being there for only a minute or a few seconds would have you feeling much more serene.

You closed your eyes, trying to heed his words. You haven’t met his gaze once this whole time, avoiding revisiting the memories you shared just by simply looking at him. His presence was like an anchor, bringing you to reality amid the chaos in your mind. As your breathing slowed, his hand never left your side. “This will pass, you’ve got the power to overcome it.”

Finally, your words escaped your lips, and the grip you had on his other hand tightened as if your life depended on it, which heavily contradicted your next statement:

“I hate you.” The words were tremulous and engulfed with tension, yet your gaze told a different story. He knew you better than you realised - the emotional whirlwind that was happening inside you, and the conflicting feelings.

He hated (when I say hated I mean hated) seeing you in this state, struggling to fight an extremely challenging battle was so hard for him to see. He knew deep down it was because of him, which made him feel way worse. In that look you gave him, he sensed your frustration and appreciation. The Y/N way of acknowledging his presence when words weren’t enough.

No, he doesn't genuinely care... he's crazy. Crazy would be an understatement to factually describe him, you've seen the shit he pulls on his show. Chris is an emotionless man - in your scenario, it was all different. You give him emotions he's never felt before.

He gently tucked a few stray strands of hair behind your ear, his fingers lingering momentarily. His voice was a soft barely audible whisper,

“I know.”

════ ⋆★⋆ ════

Part Two

Also, holy shit. I would've never thought I’d make it this far- THANK YOU SO MUCH BBS!!!💕 Sending virtual hugs rn.

Masterlist

[abstractnaturaldisaster]

is over now? (was it over then?)

part one: baby, was it over / when she laid down on your couch?

Of course everything had to blow up on Eddie's first first anniversary. He hadn't quite started to allow himself to shed his usual pessimism about celebrity relationships but was he had with Steve was starting to become permanent in a way that was wholly new to Eddie.

Eddie was used to sneaking through back doors, meeting in coat closets, finding partners in well appointed hotel rooms after being slipped a key at an after party but he had been hoping those days were over once a certain Steeeeve Harrington had siddled up to Eddie at a 30 under 30 event. Eddie and his Corroded Coffin boys had made the list as an apparently "revolutionary" mash up of gay pop and heavy metal. Corroded Coffin had actually laughed out loud when the proof of the article came through their publicist and Jeff had the audacity to blame Eddie's Conan Gray heavy break up playlist becoming too high on the band's tour bus rotation and inadvertently influencing their newest album. Eddie might have thrown his slipper at Jeff for the insinuation. It wasn't Eddie's fault that the band all happened to be going through some shit on the last tour and he was actually good a curating a vibe. Steve had come over to ask Eddie about his music after his red-headed friend had practically pushed Steve into Eddie's path narrowly avoiding a plate of passed apps. The rest was, as they say, history. Steve and Eddie had very quickly become permanent fixtures in each others spaces as they both preferred the general anonymity of takeout and movie nights versus paparazzi filled nights out.

They weren't exactly "out" as Steve's agent liked to insinuate that Steve and his acting partner Robin were in some sort of a will they won't they friendship based on their frankly insane on and off screen chemistry. Eddie really hadn't minded as he was perfectly happy to avoid being tabloid fodder or propped up as some sort of satanic succubus depending on what audience was buying. He understood Steve's unique position as somewhat in between a hollywood heartthrob and indie darling. His career obviously benefitted from fangirls and costars alike thinking he was attainable in some way. In some ways Eddie had become a third wheel to his and Robin's outings being drug along to whatever event the pair had to go to or attending one of Robin's artsy friend's gallery openings. He really didn't mind playing best friend in public because he and Steve spent almost every spare minute curled up into each other in one of their apartments or a hotel in a random city if Eddie was touring or Steve was shooting.

Before Eddie, Steve had been a very open serial monogamist with a string of short term high profile relationships until he met Robin and begin starring with her in almost every new film he was in. Right before Robin came into his life, Steve had a pretty public and nasty breakup with New York Times Entertainment critic Nancy Wheeler who left him for her photographer. Eddie and Steve had a lot of discussions about publicity and Eddie could feel the old scars of public humiliation and never pushed Steve to be more public than Steve suggested. They'd struck a good balance of providing support and reassurances in private and working with their publicity teams to avoid any articles that struck too close to old insecurities. Steve in particular was often the subject of gossip and suggestion that he slept with any woman he interacted with for more than a few moments. Eddie learned that Steve hated the rumors and was glad that Robin came along to cut some of that out.

Steve loved to be romantic and bring flowers and send gifts to Eddie when they were apart. Eddie had never had a partner who liked doting on him in such a loud way but he'd quickly become used to Steve's grand gestures and decided on their first anniversary Eddie would be the one to be romantic and mushy. He'd convinced Steve to block off a whole weekend to stay with Eddie. Eddie had set up an elaborate film projector on the roof of his apartment and found the reels for some of their favorite movies from the beginnings of their relationship. He'd already arranged meals from all of Steve's top cravings and stocked his apartment with all the snacks and comfort items they could want. Eddie had been looking forward to the weekend for at least a month and was buzzing with excitement as he waited for Steve to come over.

But then he waited. and waited. and didn't hear from Steve.

It wasn't like Steve to be this late or not let Eddie know what was happening. Eddie was catastrophising a little but he figured it wouldn't be overstepping to head over to Steve's. Eddie had a key so after a fairly hectic uber ride across the city he let himself into Steve's building greeting the doorman and front desk staff who knew him almost as well as Robin at this point. Steve's apartment was almost eerily quiet. There was usually always music or the sound of Steve and Robin bickering over the phone or in person so it freaked Eddie out when he pushed the door open and was met with nothing. He crept in quietly in case Steve was down with a migraine and set his keys down on the kitchen counter.

Eddie walked into the living room and almost backed straight out of the apartment. Nancy fucking Wheeler was sleeping on Steve's couch in his fucking college sweatshirt Eddie had become particularly fond of looking like she'd never left. Eddie had started to turn heel and run when Steve tried to interrupt him.

"Eddie, please, wait! I'm so sorry, there was a bit of a personal emergency, I was just about to call you, baby, please," Steve called across the room.

"I really don't want to hear it. It's our fucking anniversary Steve," Eddie answered as he was pulling his shoes back on.

"Sweetheart, I'm so sorry, I just lost track of time getting a few things handled before I could come over. Please. It's nothing, Eddie," Steve pleaded.

"Steve, it's not nothing. If it was nothing you would have been at my house like we planned. I guess I know why you never wanted to come out now. Of course you'd have been waiting in the wings for Nancy and the white picket fence and 2.5 kids and perfect hetero family bullshit," Eddie was being mean but Steve could fucking deal.

"Eds, that's not fair. She's just a friend and was in a tight spot. I literally was about to head out and come over," Steve held up the bag he had in his hand to indicate he was telling the truth.

"And would you have told me she was over at your place or let me find out the next time TMZ started a rumor about the two of you?" Eddie asked.

"Come on. She just needed a place to stay. It's literally not a big deal," Steve said.

"Steve, that's not an answer. You were going to keep me in the dark about this and I didn't even know you were still in fucking contact. I can't do this anymore. I just. I'm leaving. Don't follow me," Eddie said as he felt tears well up in his eyes.

"Eddie, please. Let me make it up to you?" Steve was almost begging.

"Steve our whole fucking thing is based on me trusting you that exactly this shit isn't happening and believing you when you tell me tabloids are just making things up about you. How am I supposed to be okay with your ex being on your fucking couch and you just never telling me?" Eddie asked as he started opening the door.

Steve looked defeated as Eddie started down the hallway but didn't try to answer. Eddie flagged down a cab outside and tried to hold back his tears the whole ride.

part two

[heeseung-min]

[14:49]

You were running. Fastly without looking back. Your feet been waiting for you to stop because it has been hours you were on the road. But you couldn't. If you want to escape, you shouldn't take a rest.

Since it was night, the sight was so dark. This might be good for you and difficult for him to search you. Slowly, your energy decreasing little by little. You were thirsty and your feet hurting so bad. You were looking for any house to stay for awhile but there's none.

You turned around when you saw a bright light and your eyes squinted at the sight of small truck stopped in front of you.

"Are you lost?"

You didn't know why but you started to cry. The driver became panic and quickly got off the vehicle and went closer to you.

"I- I I just want to help you. I don't mean anything bad."

Probably because it's been a long time since you get to talk with other human beside your crazy boyfriend. He's been keeping you inside his house and never let you out.

"Please, please help me."

_____

"Can't find her?"

"No, she really got away this time."

Heeseung stared at his friend, Jake who was holding a necklace that he believed was yours. You ran away again and this time you succeed. Jake had called his friends to search for you but all of them said the same thing.

He waited for Jake to say something. He didn't see any tension showing on his expression.

"Let's stop." Jake calmly said made his friends turned confuse.

"You mean stop searching her?" This time Jay asked him carefully since all of them can't believe what they just heard.

"Yeah."

"Why though? Don't you think she will be at the police station at this point?"

"You think she can do that? She is smart. She won't make a report because she knew how strong my influence is."

"So, you are letting her go?"

"Pftt, obviously no. Let just say I give her some time to be free before she need to come back to me."

______

"Yeonjun, don't be mean to Y/n."

"I- mom! At this point, people gonna say Y/n is your real child and I'm not."

Y/n stuck out her tongue to tease Yeonjun more before laughing together with the old lady beside you. It's been two months now since you came into the family.

The day Yeonjun brought you together that night, you finally found the warm and comfort you have been looking for. His mother taking care of you until you finally be able to talk without being scared.

You suddenly felt dizzy and something built up in your throat begging for release. Quickly, you ran to the sink and threw up everything. Yeonjun and his mom followed behind with worried on their face. Yeonjun caressed your back while holding your hair so it will not get dirty. When you done, he helped you rinse your mouth and gave you a glass of water to drink.

"Are you alright, honey?"

"Yeah, mom. I'm just a lil bit dizzy."

"You should go rest. Yeonjun can help me prepare for dinner."

You wanted to refuse but knowing both of them are stubborn, you just agreed to it. You didn't think of anything else and just sleep on your bed.

"Are you sure you are okay, Y/n?"

Yeonjun asked as he waited beside you to finish throwing up. This has been continue for two weeks now. You will either throw up or feel dizzy or even have mood swing. Yeonjun noticed too that you have been eating a lot than before.

"I...I'm sure."

"How about this, we go to check up in case there is something serious happen."

"No, yeonjun. I'm okay. It's probably because I have indigestion."

"No. it has been two weeks right now. Let just go. Nothing bad can happen, y/n. I'm here for you."

"Congratulation! You are pregnant for three months right now. Some women tend to get the sign early some will be late. Is this your first child?"

You and Yeonjun were speechless. This is not what you expected from the doctor. This is not the result that you want from the doctor. You are having the best life right now so why this thing happen at this time?! You tried hard to forget your past, to forget your boyfriend but instead you are carrying his child now. You felt sick remembering his words.

"I will always be with you, Y/n. I will always stuck with you."

"Y/n?"

You looked at Yeonjun caressing your back. The doctor has gone already. You guys walked out from the room and went inside his car.

"I want to get rid of this child."

"Y/n, what the fuck ? No!"

"I don't want it Yeonjun!! I don't want to carry this."

"Y/n, this child is innocent. I know you might feel disgusting but please don't do this. Me and my mom can help you."

You calmed down hearing his words. No matter how much hate you have towards this news, it's still your child. Yeonjun started the engine and drove both of you to home. Too bad, none of you noticed someone has been watching you from far distance.

"I found her."

_____

Two months passed since the day you acknowledge your pregnancy. You can see your stomach bump now and you also started to accept the child that is growing in you.

Yeonjun and his mom really took good care of you. Sometimes, Yeonjun will bring clothes or toys when he back from his work. You even wonder how can he afford all of that when he is just a farmer. Regardless, you were grateful for both of them.

One night, you were walking back to the house after bought something from convenience store. Despite getting some sweet scold from Yeonjun's mom, she let you go with a condition to not buying too much stuff.

You walked giddily until you noticed few cars parked in front of the house. Yeonjun's mom didn't say anything about inviting someone tonight. Without thinking much, you went inside the house.

"I'm home."

"How are you, my love?"

You stopped on your track when saw Jake, your boyfriend sitting on the couch and watch you with smile on his face. Panic started to build up and you slowly backed away afraid of him being closer. There were also Jake's friends who always help him finding you when you try to run away. Sunghoon and Jay holding you tightly so you can't move anymore. You looked at Yeonjun and his mom sat on the couch and just looked down on their feet like they felt guilty.

.....Guilty??

"My god honey. Look at you. So beautiful with my child inside of you. Told you that you can't run away from me."

"Don't- don't hurt them, please."

Jake scoffed and laughed like you just told him a joke. He went closer to you and caressed your face. Your cheeks became chubbier and Jake thinks that is the cutest thing ever.

"I would not kill them, honey. After all, I paid them to take care of you."

Your eyes widen at what he said. You looked straight to his eyes looking for a lie but you knew his eyes showed the truth.

"You are just trying to manipulate me."

"My love, do you think people would let money go away from their hands? All I do was giving a check and done."

Your eyes turned to Yeonjun and his mom who still didn't look up. You felt like you just got stepped on real hard with those facts came out from your boyfriend. When you finally thought you got away from him but no. Never. You never got away. You just stuck and running in circle without you noticing.

"Let's go back, my love. You have been out for a long time. It's time for you to be back in our house."

Without saying anything, you let Jake hold you and brought you inside the car. You didn't look back to the house. You were too heartbroken by the betrayal. Jake went inside after few minutes and started the car then quickly drove away leaving the other member standing outside the house.

-----

"You guys ready?"

"Yeah."

"Get all of the equipments. We gonna make sure everything is clean."

They went back inside and started to do their work. Yeonjun and his mom pleading went ignored.

"We did like you told us! Please let us go."

"Well, Jake never say he will let you guys go once he took Y/n back."

The horror on both of their faces looked funny to the members. They laughed for the last time before ending their life.

------

😐😐dang that was long..well I really hope this will be entertaining for you guys🙌

Taglist: @stacey-stonem @duolingofanaccount @cyberpinkx

[waywardxwords]

Chapter 3 - We'll Always Have Atlanta (Taking Chances)

Summary: After a random encounter introduces you to Dean Winchester, you can't shake the magnetic pull you feel towards him. For years, you've felt like everything in your life is under control--a promising career, financial stability and no real responsibilities. Dean's a hunter; it's his life and job. But somehow when you meet, your worlds are flipped upside down and you have to decide if it's a chance worth taking.

Chapter Warnings: Slight language, teeny bit of fluff, some good, old dramatic tension

Pairing: Dean Winchester x female!reader

Word Count: ~3k

[1] [2]

The Blind Pig was a small hole-in-the-wall sports bar, but it sure did have a lot of patrons. Thankfully, your flight had gotten in when it was supposed to without any delays, but that had you settled in at your hotel by five o’clock and ready to meet Dean by six. You had pulled out your laptop to try and get some work done, but your eyes kept pulling to the numbers on the nightstand. 

6:02. And then again at 6:04. By 6:07, you couldn’t take it anymore. So you headed the short distance from your hotel to The Blind Pig and settled on a barstool at the bar. 

“What can I get you?” The bartender interrupted your thoughts as he dried his hands on a small dish rag. 

“A Jack and Coke, please,” you answered in an effort to calm your nerves. “And a glass of water,” so hopefully you wouldn’t get too ahead of yourself. 

The bartender nodded and grabbed a glass. Every time the front door opened, you couldn’t help but turn to see if it was Dean. But it was still only 6:45, and you knew he had a long drive. 

Just as your drink was set in front of you, you heard him clear his throat behind you. “Hey, Atlanta,” the nickname brought a smile to your lips and a shiver down your spine as you turned towards him.

“Dean,” you couldn't help your smile as you stepped down off of the stool and paused for a moment. Without thinking, you reached out and put your arms around his neck in a hug. He hesitated, but only for a moment. His arms snaked around your waist and you relished in the way his hands felt on the small of your back. 

“It’s good to see you,” he seemed honest as the words came from his mouth. You couldn’t place his scent, but you were drawn to it. It was woodsy, almost; as if he had just come from a cabin in the middle of a forest. But it was mixed with the smell of leather and peppermint, like the little round red and white candies. 

“It’s good to see you, too,” you pulled back, though you hadn’t wanted to. 

In pulling away, you were forced to meet his gaze and you found yourself lost in his eyes and the freckles that dotted his skin just under them, just like the first time you met. 

“What’re you drinking?” He slipped the leather jacket off of his shoulders and tugged the sleeves off at his hands as he pulled himself onto the barstool next to you. 

“Jack and Coke,” you answered as you, too, sat back on your barstool. “I don’t usually go the liquor route…” you trailed off a bit. 

“Back to breaking the rules, I see,” he quipped. The familiar smile you had gotten used to the last time you were together found his lips and you couldn’t help but match it. 

“Yeah, well. You’re a bad influence,” you teased back with a slight nudge. 

Even though he had seemed like the Dean you met a month ago, his demeanor shifted for a moment as he took a quick glance around the bar. He seemed to study almost every patron with an intensity that surprised you. What is he looking for? You wondered. Or who?

You cleared your throat as you swirled the amber colored liquid in your glass. When you glanced back up, his gaze was on you again. “Everything okay?” You asked him gently. 

“Oh, yeah,” he shook his head and smiled. “Sorry, just a little distracted.” You were both interrupted when the bartender appeared before you. “Hey, how’s it goin’?” Dean asked as he glanced behind the bar. The bartender nodded in response. “Could I get a Coors, bottle’s fine.” 

“Coming right up,” there was an awkwardness in the air as the bartender walked back to the cooler to retrieve the beer and silence set in.  

“So,” Dean started, his hands folded on top of the bar as he leaned forward a bit on his elbows. “How often do you come to Kansas?”

You took a sip from your drink, hoping for some liquid courage to get you through the normal uneasiness that comes along with getting to know someone. 

“Well, it varies. We just opened an office in Salina, but typically I work from home in Virginia,” you explained. 

The bartender set Dean’s bottle of beer in front of him and he nodded in thanks. “Virginia? I thought you were from Atlanta,” his response even further showed how little you knew about one another. 

“Oh, I was just connecting in Atlanta. Flying out of Richmond is painful, there aren’t really many direct flights,” you found a drop of condensation on the side of your glass and couldn’t help but smooth your finger over the bump of water. 

Dean nodded as he took a pull from his beer. “What do you do for work, again? Project management, right?” It was somewhat impressive to you that he remembered that; but then again, you remembered almost everything he had shared when you met.

“That’s right, for a health insurance company,” you answered. 

“Do you like it?” He asked, as he turned his head a bit to catch your gaze once more. It was impossible to suppress the way you choked on the sip you had just taken of your drink. 

“Like it? Work?” You asked incredulously. Dean seemed a little confused by your answer but smiled anyway. “Does anyone like what they do, Dean?”

He shrugged and took another drink of his beer. “I don’t know, how’s that saying go? ‘Love what you do and you’ll never work another day in your life?’ Something like that.”

“Ha,” you chuckled and took another sip of your drink. As the liquor’s level got lower in your cup, your nerves seemed to go with it. “Yeah, well, that’s not the life we’re living over here. What about you? You love what you do? …traveling, mechanic? Or exterminator, or something?” You smirked, still unsure what that meant exactly. 

Dean nodded with a smile but avoided eye contact. “Yeah, it’s a business that’s been in my family…for a while,” he explained somewhat carefully. Finally those green eyes found your gaze once again. 

“That sounds interesting,” you mused. And it really did. You had never heard of either of those being jobs where one would travel. 

“It’s more on the exterminator side,” he cleared his throat. The look on his face seemed more serious as he explained. “We do the jobs that people really don’t wanna do.” 

You nodded as you tried to follow, but you had zero clue. “I read an article about a massive boa constrictor living in a lady’s attic once. Those kinda jobs?”

“Sort of,” he answered, but didn’t seem willing to offer up more information as he shifted the topic. “Working on cars is just something I do for fun, mostly. But if I can make some money out of it, then great.” 

The sounds of the bar sunk in around you. It wasn’t that you weren’t excited by being near Dean again, because you were. But you couldn’t help how different everything felt. As the feelings swirled around in your head long enough to make a milkshake out of them, Dean caught on. 

“You okay?” When you found his eyes again, you noticed the small worry lines indented just outside them. It took just one look for you to realize he had caught you in the midst of your thoughts. 

“It’s fine,” you smiled, but a quick glance back to your liquid courage gave you what you needed to continue. “It’s just that this feels so different than it did in Atlanta. You seem different.” You emphasized. 

A slight chuckle fell from his lips. He, too, looked back to his beer (though you weren’t sure if it was for courage, or just to gather his thoughts) before he spoke again. “Atlanta was different. Less complicated,” he offered up. 

“But Kansas is complicated?” You asked as you tried to follow. 

“I’m complicated,” he filled in the blanks as his lips found the opening of the glass bottle once more. 

“Ah,” you nodded, as your finger smoothed over another drop of condensation on your glass. “Complicated as in…married? Kids? …ex-convict?” You snuck in the last one with a serious side-eye. 

This time, he couldn’t contain the chuckle and he laughed. “No, no. Nothing like that. Definitely not married, no kids. And no convictions, or charges even, for that matter.” His words eased your thoughts. 

You nodded in hopes that he might continue, but there was a hesitation there. Still, you let it linger. You had learned that sometimes if you let the silence hang open long enough, they might just take you up on it. 

He cleared his throat and emitted a sigh. “Atlanta was…” he paused to consider the word choice. “…amazing. Truly, it was incredible. Life is complicated for me, but in Atlanta, when we met that day,” he shook his head and a smile pulled at his lips once more as he reminisced. “It was like we could be ourselves, without having to look over our shoulders or put up a front.”

You hadn’t really thought about it that way, and now that you did–you wondered if that was why you had been so drawn to Dean in the first place. But it felt bigger than that; different.

“I honestly never thought I’d hear from you again…” his voice dropped a bit softer and his eyes moved back to the bar in front of him. “Why did you call?” He turned back to you once more.

This time, you were in the hot seat. He had every right to ask. “I’m not sure, to be honest,” you started slowly. For a moment, you wondered how much you should open up to him. Again, you didn’t know him. But in the same breath, you felt too tired and too old to be playing games or skirting around difficult conversations. “You know what, Dean?” It was your turn to sigh. “Screw it, full transparency?” You hesitated only long enough for him to nod. “Something about meeting you was so different. Remember how I told you I had all these rules for myself?” He smirked, but nodded once more. “Well, when I was with you–I broke just about all of them. And I know that probably sounds stupid, but that’s a big deal to me. I didn’t even feel bad breaking them. I just felt free.” The discomfort of being completely honest with him settled in the pit of your stomach as you took a breath. Your eyes watched him closely for any kind of reaction.

Dean smiled as he took another drink from his beer. This time, you noticed the smile met his eyes and it sparked the Dean you remembered meeting a month ago.

“That’s a damn good answer,” Dean nodded as he looked back to find your gaze once more. “And for the record,” he nudged you gently. “It’s not stupid.” The feelings of discomfort were replaced once more with bubbles of anxiousness and hope–like maybe you hadn’t made a mistake, after all. The ice clinked around your nearly empty glass. “You wanna take a walk? There’s not much, but there are some cool Christmas lights up in town.” Dean nodded for the door.

Old you would have warned you that this was still not the best idea; would’ve reminded you that you didn’t know Dean, and walking around a strange town at night with a near-stranger was dangerous and dumb. But at that moment, you didn’t care.

“Let’s do it.”

Both you and Dean had your hands shoved in the front of your jackets’ pockets–the chill of the late November air bit at any piece of exposed flesh. 

“Your favorite movie of all time is Speed?” Dean asked incredulously as his breath fogged in front of his face. Your steps were slow and carefree as your eyes wandered the multicolored lights strung around the center of the town.

“I don’t have a favorite movie ‘of all time’,” you air-quoted him, but quickly made the decision to return your hands to your coat pockets. “It’s just a good one! Don’t you remember the days they played that movie on FX over and over and over again on weekends? It was always on!”

Dean shook his head with a laugh. “I guess so, I don’t really remember. I didn’t watch a whole lotta TV growing up.” He answered. You noted that, for maybe a future question.

“Alright, alright,” you moved on with a roll of your eyes. “Favorite band?” 

“I don’t have just one,” he answered quickly. Another mental note that the man must love music and know his favorites. “Metallica, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin,” he said. “Those are some of the best.”

“Those are some good ones,” you hummed as you continued your walk. “I grew up on country and alternative rock, mostly. But I sure did love the boy band era.” The look on his face caused you to laugh. “Oh, come on. What girl in the 90s didn’t?! New Kids on the Block, Backstreet Boys, N’SYNC…”

“Okay, okay,” he waved you off. “Enough of that crap. I haven’t listened to any of that shit so far, not happening now.”

Your feet stopped moving. Dean slowed to a stop before he turned to look at you, that some look of concern across his face.

“You’ve never listened to any of the boy bands?!” Your voice practically squeaked. Dean rolled his eyes and turned back to walk ahead. You hurried your steps to catch up to him, and without thinking, you looped your arm through his. “Oh, we gotta change that.”

“Sweetheart, did you not hear the part where I said it’s never gonna happen?” A playful smile turned up one corner of his lips as he looked down at you. In your closeness, you realized how tall he really was–at least six feet–and your throat suddenly felt very dry.

“Never say never, De,” your voice was soft but you matched his smile. As you looked back to the path in front of you, you realized the two of you had circled back to the Blind Pig parking lot. You cleared your throat and pulled your arm from his. He blinked a few times and cleared his own throat before he glanced down to his boots and then back up at you.

“You, uh, you got a rental car? Or need a ride?” His eyes grazed over the parking lot filled with ten or so cars. 

“Yep, that’s mine there,” you pointed out the red Honda CR-V. Dean made a face again with a slight scrunch of his nose, which made you laugh. “I know, I know. It’s a soccer mom’s dream.” You rolled your eyes. “What do you drive, anyway?” You folded your arms across your chest and prepared to tease him for rocking a beat up truck or his work van.

Dean, proudly, leaned against a sleek black car that looked classic and well-kept. It was one of those moments you thought you might have to pick your jaw up off of the pavement as your eyes widened.

“This is your car?” You asked in amazement as you took a step closer.

“Hell yeah, that’s Baby,” he gleamed as his eyes traveled over the shiny black coat that almost glistened in the glow of the streetlights.

“You would name your car,” you laughed softly as your eyes followed his gaze. You did feel a tiny bit impressed, though.

“Did you just try to offend me?” He narrowed his eyes at you with a smile. “Ain’t gonna work, sweetheart. This car is my pride and joy.” He looked back at you as he leaned against the driver’s side door. 

“It’s a beautiful car, Dean,” your eyes danced over the Impala before the wind blew gently against the side of your face once more and caused you to shudder. A quick glance to Dean realized he had felt it, too. “Thanks,” you started softly. “I appreciate you driving all this way to see me.”

He took a careful step closer so he was just in front of you. Suddenly, you didn’t feel as cold anymore. “Thanks for calling,” his voice reverberated in your ears as he spoke. You enjoyed how his voice was seasoned–gruff and experienced–but still had a way of making you feel warm inside. “How long are you in town for?” His eyes darted to your hairline and, without processing, he reached up to brush back a strand that had blown free from your hair tie. You followed his eyes and shivered again.

“I have some meetings tomorrow, then I leave early Wednesday morning,” you answered.

Without hesitation, he spoke again. “Can I see you again?”

A smile stretched across your face–one that you were sure met your eyes. “Are you asking me out on a date?” You bit down and pulled your bottom lip between your teeth.

He couldn’t help but smile. “I just might be.”

“Hmm,” you hummed, somewhat teasingly. “I think I could agree to that. But one condition.” Dean nodded with a slight roll of his eyes, playfully. “No more awkward first-time-seeing each other shit. I really had fun with you. I felt like we were in Atlanta all over again.” 

Dean nodded with a quick glance down to his boots, then back at you again. “Yeah, okay, I can make that deal.”

You put your hand out in front of you for Dean to shake on it. Dean took one glance down at your hand, but then back at your face with a small smirk. Slowly, but strategically, he leaned down and captured your lips with his in a soft, sweet kiss.

“See you tomorrow, Atlanta,” he murmured as your lips parted.

A/N: Thank you so much for all the likes, comments and reblogs on the last chapter! It was very much appreciated. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy chapter 3! :)

Chapters will be posted on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Preview of the next chapter:

A quick glance at the clock on the wall made you inwardly groan–how could it only be 11:23 in the morning? Work days were known to drag on, but this was overkill. You figured it might have something to do with the fact that you were just hours away from seeing Dean again. It had taken you far too long to fall asleep the night before; you couldn’t stop thinking about that damn kiss.

The way his lips felt against yours…the way it made you feel inside…

The buzz from your cell phone distracted you and shook you from your thoughts.

Dean

Hey, Atlanta.

You didn’t think you’d ever get tired of the nickname. Another buzz caught you off guard.

Dean

Or should I say, Hotlanta?

The text made you laugh out loud, which would have been fine had you been alone somewhere. Instead, colleagues that you hardly knew because you worked remotely all turned to look at you.

“Sorry about that,” you said softly as you excused yourself from the cubicle you had borrowed for your time in the office. You stood in the hallway as you typed out a response.

Hi, Dean…you’re ridiculous, but that still made me laugh anyway.

You nibbled on a pesky hangnail that had formed on your thumb as you waited for his text back.

Dean

I do what I can. You still up for dinner tonight?

You hurriedly typed back before you hit ‘send’ and shoved the phone in your back pocket to head back to your desk.

100% yes! I can leave here at 4, but I’m driving to you this time. Just send me the address and I’ll meet you there!

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[collinrobinsonsglasses]

hi!! if it's ok I'd love to make a request!

please can you write a oneshot with Nandor x reader (fem/gender neutral) where reader is feeling insecure and Nandor comforts them? hoping for something really fluffy and if you're comfortable with writing smut then it'd be amazing (if not then no worries, SFW is fine with me :D)

thank you!!

Nandor x F!Reader

Masterlist

Word count: 1.9k

This was my first time writing something for WWDITS, and my first time writing something a little spicier. It was a lot of fun. Thank you for the request @just-a-little-cellist

Warnings: NSFW, This is a little more smutty than my usual stuff, so 18+ only please!!

Getting More Familiar

Having recently moved back to the city in search of a fresh start, you found yourself working at the local movie theater without a clear sense of direction. It was during this time that two mysterious figures, dressed in Victorian garb, approached you with an enticing job offer. The prospect of escaping your unfulfilling job and gaining a new place to live seemed too good to pass up. When Nadja and Laszo revealed they were vampires that night, it didn’t faze or shock you at all; it felt entirely ordinary. Reflecting on the encounter, you couldn’t help but wonder if you had fallen under their hypnotic influence. Strangely, this realization didn’t bother you; instead, it added an intriguing layer to your newfound life. 

As Nadja and Laszlo’s familiar, you found yourself responsible for managing the entire household, which included their two roommates. Nadja and Laszlo were low-maintenance, devoting the majority of their free time to activities that Laszlo referred to as “fucking and sucking.” You quickly learned to avoid Colin Robinson, as he never missed a chance to drain your energy–whether through incessant talking or attempting to piss you off. You found Nandor to be your favorite vampire companion, and he, too, seemed to enjoy spending time with you. He shared that his familiar, Guillermo, was currently on a break, and Nandor appeared somewhat lonely.

Nandor relished recounting his human past, regaling you with tales of the villages he relentlessly pillaged and reminiscing about his time as the nation’s Supreme Viceroy. You consistently listened to Nadnor’s stories with genuine interest, asking questions and sharing laughter at his jokes. Despite Nandor’s formidable warrior background, it appeared that the years as a vampire had softened him. What he seemed to need most was someone who would listen and genuinely care about what he had to say. Being that person came easily to you, and you couldn’t help but imagine that Guillermo had played a similar role before his departure. 

You couldn’t deny that Nandor was quite easy on the eyes, though it felt somewhere cliché to admit, considering he was a vampire. His undeniable strength became clear when he assisted you in carrying heavy bodies for disposal. Nandor had long, soft, black hair, and on some mornings, he’d ask you to brush it before he retreated into his casket. When the group ventured into the city at night, he displayed a protective streak, keeping a watchful eye on your whereabouts and warding off other vampires who showed too much interest in you. Though you harbored strong feelings for him, you refrained from admitting it, acknowledging that a 761-year-old vampire likely wouldn’t share your romantic feelings. Despite this, you cherished the moments spent in his company, savoring the connection whenever possible. 

Today unfolded like any other ordinary day, with you rising a few hours before sunset to tidy up the house before the vampires stirred. In the library, Colin sat absorbed in his newspaper, a familiar sight as you diligently dusted the room. It seemed that Colin was perpetually awake, his presence a constant in the early evening routine. Colin prattled on about something from the newspaper, but you didn’t mind, anticipating the upcoming time with Nandor. As you continued to dust, Colin’s chatter ceased, likely realizing his attempts to drain your energy in this way were futile. 

“You know, it’s interesting…” Colin Robinson began, peering out above his newspaper toward you. “Laszlo and Nadja usually have sex with their familiar by now, but they haven’t with you. Makes you wonder what’s wrong with you.” With that, he folded his newspaper with glee and left the room, his eyes glowing blue and a smirk on his face. 

He had gotten to you. The rush of energy left your body as you started to ponder if Colin’s words held truth. What was wrong with you? You never saw yourself as beautiful or sexy, considering yourself cute at best. Memories of past men you liked referring to you as “like a sister” flashed through your mind. Colin Robinson had hit on an insecurity that had lingered for most of your life–you didn’t feel desirable. You were kind and easy to be around, but the realization sank in that there was probably a reason those two vampires wouldn’t have any interest in you. Those thoughts circled in your mind for the next few hours as you continued cleaning the house, leaving you feeling intensely self-conscious by the time the sun set. You made a decision to try to avoid everyone tonight, unless they genuinely needed you. 

You kept yourself busy in the fancy room after greeting Nadja and Laszlo. Fortunately, they made their way to the room with the piano, engrossed in practicing some of their old songs. This allowed you to maintain a bit of distance and focus on your tasks for the night. After an hour, Nandor found you, greeting you with a sheepish smile while idly playing with his fingers. “Oh, there you are,” his voice rang out with his usual, endearing accent. 

You replied with a forced smile, that being the best you could muster while feeling embarrassed for letting Colin Robinson get to you. Despite your attempts to conceal your emotions, Nandor noticed immediately. 

“You’re glum,” Nandor remarked as he sat on the couch, gesturing for you to join him. When you opened your mouth to speak, nothing came out. “Don’t deny it. I can tell.” Feeling vulnerable, you decided to tell him the truth, but you looked to the ground while speaking. “Do Nadja and Laszlo sleep with all their familiars?” 

“Nadja and Laszlo would fuck anything with a pulse,” Nandor chuckled, seemingly misreading the situation completely. “Well, I guess technically they wouldn’t even need a pulse, because we’re vampires.” 

“So Colin Robinson was right. There must be something wrong with me.” You leaned your head back against the couch, tears forming in your eyes. All the past stings of rejection came rushing back in that moment. You glanced over towards Nandor, realizing he looked confused, and you felt silly for allowing yourself to get emotional in front of him. Trying to compose yourself, you sat up, wiped away the forming tears and mustered a weak smile. 

“Why do you think there is something wrong with you?” Nandor asked, genuine confusion painting his face. 

“Colin Robinson said there has to be a reason Nadja and Laszlo haven’t tried to make a move on me. I guess I’m just not desirable in that way… even though I have a pulse,” you said, trying to make a joke out of it now. You realized that Nandor probably wanted nothing to do with this conversation. 

“Fucking guy,” Nandor grumbled, his expression darkening as he glared straight ahead. When he looked back at you, his demeanor softened. “I believe you are incredibly beautiful… and you have a rocking body.”

You didn’t believe a word he was saying, knowing this was most likely just him trying to cheer you up and move on quickly. “Thanks, Nandor, but you don’t have to do that.” 

“I don’t understand. What am I doing?” Nandor questioned, a perplexed expression on his face. 

“Trying to cheer me up, but it’s silly. I”ll get over it.” 

Nandor moved towards you, placing his cold hand against your cheek and wiping the remnant of a tear from your face. “I, Nandor the Relentless, have had 37 wives and even more lovers. I believe you are one of the most beautiful, sensitive, and poetic creatures I have ever laid my eyes upon.” In this moment, Nandor spoke with authority, unlike the shy version of Nandor you usually encountered. 

Inhaling quickly in shock, you looked into Nandor’s dark brown eyes. You stayed silent, unsure if this was a trick or if it was real. 

“If you do not believe you are desirable, I’ll have to show you how desirable I think you are,” he whispered, gazing over you with his eyes. “If that is what you want.” 

You replied with a quick nod, your eyes widening, and your heart picking up speed. Your emotions flooded with longing, and you looked down towards Nandor’s lips. 

Nandor’s lips found yours, his hands firmly holding your face as he drew you in. Closing your eyes, you relished the feeling of his cold lips against yours. A gasp escaped you as his kisses trailed down your neck. Nandor guided you to lay on the couch, his body intimately pressed against yours. You sensed the touch of his cold fingers tracing across your thigh beneath your dress, eliciting a moan from you, muffled by the embrace of his kiss. He momentarily paused, his fingers delicately tracing the contours of your underwear, while looking into your eyes. 

Nandor whispered, uncertainty clouding his face, “Is this truly what you desire?” 

“Yes,” you replied with conviction, “Ever since I started working as Nadja and Laszlo’s familiar, I’ve been into you, Nandor.” 

“How should I put this… it is you who are the person who I am into… too.” His genuine smile grew, while looking down at you. 

With that, you sensed his fingers skillfully maneuvering around the fabric of your underwear, and gasped as his finger rubbed against you. You felt your hips instinctively lift at his touch and you observed him with a gaze filled with desire. As his finger slid inside of you, your eyes closed involuntarily, wanting to commit the sensation of his touch into memory. The soft sound of his chuckle reached your ears, acknowledging your reaction, while he removed your underwear tossing them onto the ground. You then experienced his icy kisses trailing up your thighs before he was between your legs. His tongue and lips provided a heavenly sensation causing you to moan and grind your hips against his mouth. 

“You taste delicious,” Nandor growled. 

Rising from the couch, he stood up, gently pulling you to your feet and enveloping you in a deep kiss. The intensity of the kiss heightened as he pressed you against one of the room’s walls. Effortlessly lifting you up, your legs encircling him, he pressed against you. Your hand descended, deftly unbuttoning his pants, causing him to moan as you led him inside of you. A momentary pause ensued as you locked eyes, desire vividly painting both of your faces. Nandor’s vampire strength proved formidable; he held you aloft, as you began a slow rotation of your hips. Closing his eyes, he emitted a low groan, surrendering to the intensity of the moment. Entwined with Nandor, a genuine feeling of beauty enveloped you, relishing in the pleasure you both felt. The feeling of being desired by Nandor dispelled any lingering doubts Colin Robinson had left in your head. Nandor thought you were sexy and he wanted you. 

🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇🦇

“Well, if I”m being honest,” Nandor candidly addressed the camera, “I asked Laszlo and Nadja to not fuck her… because I liked her… I guess I could have told her that, but I think it worked out.” A smirk played on Nandor’s lips as he glanced towards the camera, nervously playing with his fingers. Just then, Nadja’s voice echoed from the other room, causing his smirk to drop. 

“About fucking time you made a move, you big idiot.” 

[paper-crab]

Distance

1 use of y/n and some swearing

just some weird little soulmate au i wrote but it didn’t have any direction so i kind of gave up

wc: 1264

part 2 part 3

‘Well, shit’ you had thought, reading the carefully printed letter containing the delicate cursive “M” in the center. Your 18th birthday, revealing what you’d known all along but refused to admit. It's always been him.

“Well, what letter did you get?” Your mom asked, but you waved her off, shaking your head and blinking your tears away.

Congratulations

Your soulmates name starts with an M

You fold the letter back up accepting the other gifts around you but the mood has obviously dampened, M is out of reach.

“Thank you for coming” you tell the various relatives with a fake smile. They hug you, or give you a pat on the back, and some just walk away. When the house is finally empty, you retreat to your room without so much as waving to your parents, taking the letter with you for safekeeping.

You wish you had stashed it when you’d seen it, or not allowed your mom to convince you to open it at your party.

‘It will be good!’ She had said, ‘This is a joyous occasion, your first soulmate letter can’t ruin it!’

The first of 5, and you had a feeling it would only get worse from here. As far as you were aware, “M” hadn’t surpassed his 3rd yet, even at 20 years old.

The more letters that came, the less you could hide from your parents. The second they saw the “M”, they’d know too.

You couldn’t risk Marylou finding out.

You know she’d immediately tell Matt, and he’s happy in LA with his brothers and his pretty girlfriend whose name coincidentally starts with the same letter as yours, his fancy influencer friends, and his missing letters.

He’s happy in LA, without you.

Sure, you occasionally stalk his instagram, but he had unfollowed you long ago when you had questioned his soulmate status.

“Are you sure it’s really her, Matt?” You had said, and sure enough they were still together, even after you found her first soulmate letter containing an “E”.

“Look, I don’t know why you’d go as far as to make a fake letter, but it’s concerning. Just get out of my life already!”

“Matt just listen to me!”

“I’ve listened enough, leave me alone!” His voice had finally escalated from a loud talk to an exasperated yell.

It does you no good to dwell on the past, shoving the events out of your mind; but you’re still scrolling through his Instagram absentmindedly.

Similarly, Matt is sitting in bed, listening to whatever music Chris is playing far too loudly at 9:00 in the evening. He’s drafted out some form of a “happy birthday” message despite knowing your birthday has passed in Boston. “Fuck,” he whispers to himself, deleting the message again. He wonders if it’s too weird, or if Nick and Chris have told you happy birthday on his behalf, or even if you would want birthday wishes from him.

He turns in his bed, waiting for Nick to call for him to come film, a knock on his door interrupting him before he can spiral. “Come on,” Nick says as he walks away. Matt barely bothers to put on some Crocs before running down the stairs, grateful for a distraction.

Chris runs a hand through his hair while he hops in, patting Matt on the back to snap him out of a daze. “Ready?” He asks, Matt only nods.

In his almost 3 years of making YouTube videos, Matt likes to think he’s grown out of his shell a little. He offers more input in the videos, doesn’t hesitate to speak, and overall has left behind some of his anxieties and shyness. During this video he spoke, maybe, twice.

“Is everything alright?” Nick asks when the camera shuts off.

“Yeah, fine.”

Chris glares at Nick, cutting him off from questioning any more.

By the time he sends the happy birthday message, it’s 4 a.m. in Boston.

You awake with a jolt, but the house is dead silent. The clock reads 9 a.m., so you roll over to try and find some meaning in your day.

Matt: Happy Birthday

You stare at it. What is he playing at? No contact in 1 ½ years, and you get a “Happy Birthday”? He couldn’t even bother to send it on time, you tell yourself, trying to be mad.

You walk into the kitchen, phone still open to Matt’s message when you notice another letter lying on the counter. Your 2nd soulmate letter, shouldn’t it be a little more spaced out?

Congratulations

Your soulmates hair color is

Brown

This letter only continues to confirm what you already know. You stash it with the first, away from the eyes of your scheming parents.

You: Thanks.

You sigh, setting your phone down, only to pick it up again. He had stopped talking to you because of her, did they break up? You wondered, but weren’t bold enough to ask. Maybe this text would bring you back together, maybe you would get your happy soulmate story.

Life had other plans, you realized mere minutes later; her Instagram story containing a lovely picture of her and Matt and the caption ‘Happy 2 Years Matty’.

Well, fuck.

“I’m home!” Your mom says, walking through the door. You greet her half heartedly, barely moving your hand with a wave when another voice makes you jump. “Hi honey, how are you doing?”

Your eyes widen and your mouth dries, but you offer a semi-pleasant smile. “I’m doing well, Marylou. How are you?”

“I’m good,” She offers, turning back to conversation with your mom. You’re almost 100% sure she had mentioned your letters, but you’re grateful Marylou doesn’t bring them up when you return to your room.

Matt lays on the couch, his girlfriend cuddled up next to him, staring at your message. He doesn’t know what he expected, but maybe he was hoping for more. A jumping point to start a conversation, perhaps.

“What are you looking at Matt?”

“Nothing,” He replies, shutting his phone off and wrapping an arm around her.

“Can we go to McDonalds?” Chris asks, walking down the stairs.

“Yeah-” Matt says, beginning to stand.

“We have to finish our movie first.”

“How long is left on it?”

“An hour.”

Chris groans, turning to walk back upstairs. “Hold on,” Matt says, shrugging his girlfriends hold off so he can stand. “We can go now, I don’t mind.”

“But Matty-”

“I’ll be back in a minute, I’ll get you something.” He tells her, rushing out the door. Chris follows closely behind, unwilling to face her wrath.

Nick: I’ll stay, I need to finish this. You know what to get me.

Matt shrugs some tension out of his shoulders, turning the key. “Nick?”

“Not coming. He’s editing.”

Matt nods, pulling out of the driveway and beginning the trek. He’s normally talkative, but things are weighing on his mind; like how to break up with his girlfriend of two years on their anniversary. Chris takes it upon himself to fill the silence with ‘shitty trap music’, but even that doesn’t get Matt talking.

“Order when you’re ready.”

Unfortunately for Chris, the ride back is just as quiet and thick. He’s played all the music Matt hates and still hasn’t been smacked- something is wrong.

“Did I make you leave?”

“No, I wanted to.”

Chris shakes his head. “Something is up, I can tell.”

“I want to break up with her.”

Chris immediately inhales a fry, beginning to choke.

“You can’t do that, you’re soulmates!” Chris tells him, but Matt only shakes his head.

“(Y/n) was right, she lied.”

The truth is, he’s received his 4th and 5th letters, the ones that confirm his soulmate, and it’s not his girlfriend. He’s kept them a secret from everyone- his mother, his brothers, his girlfriend, and you.

“Are you sure you haven’t gotten your letters yet Matty?” His girlfriend had asked. He had always disliked that nickname; it made him feel small, but she claimed it was cute. “I haven’t. Maybe the system malfunctioned,” He offered, lying through his teeth.

“If you say so, Matty.”

You’re lying down, tapping through her posts for the 4th time today. It’s 10 p.m. when you tap on her story, ‘Happy 2 Years Matty’, but it’s not there. You shake your head, blinking. That’s not right- it shouldn’t be deleted yet.

You tap out, reloading the page. You half expect to be blocked; maybe you’d accidentally liked something and she realized. She’d never liked you much, even going as far as asking Nick And Chris to stop inviting you over because your presence made her uncomfortable. You reload the page, maybe you’ll be blocked now. Still a no, but her latest 2 posts containing Matt are deleted. Reload, and more are gone. You’re stuck in a loop until all of her posts containing Matt are gone, and you head to his page.

His posts are gone too.

Matt: Hey, I’m coming to Boston. Can we hang out?