#his eyes follow the cursor

[black-and-yellow]

There's something happening

[forlix]

𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁・l.f.

— in which you forget that your hot housemate follows you on twitter.

𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀・1.1k 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴・roommate!felix x gn!streamer!reader 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲𝘀・fluff, flirting, kind of an smau, implied friends to lovers, humor if u count jeongin being a piece of shit

𝗮/𝗻・saw this tweet the other day and it was so painfully lix coded that i knew i had to write something asap. contains a tiny bit of gaming jargon but is hopefully comprehensible. ENJOY ♡

y/n ꒰ᐢ. .ᐢ꒱₊˚⊹ @ y/nxx

if someone brings you fresh cut fruit to your table when you're gaming, they either like LIKE you or it's your mom

11:23 A.M.・Oct. 2023・220.2K Views

bokkie 🐣 liked your post.

“My tweet?”

You read aloud the newest text in your chatroom, and your face brightens when you remember the one in question.

“Oh, about the fruit—no, it’s so true though. And I love my mom, don't get me wrong, but I have an inkling she did it to guilt trip me." You change your posture and adopt your best motherly tone of voice. "‘This is your tenth consecutive hour wasting your young adulthood in front of that damn screen. I am now going to hand deliver apple slices straight to your mouth.’ That kind of vibe, y'know?"

A slew of messages follows your anecdote, but it is a comment from one of your moderators that catches your eye first:

je0ng1n: what about the other option tho 👀

You groan at the sight of his username. “Man, why are you always here? Don't you have a job?"

je0ng1n: i’m on break je0ng1n: taking a dump je0ng1n: ungrateful bitch

You brandish a middle finger to the camera. “Hope the dump sucks."

je0ng1n: HEY je0ng1n: don’t even joke about that :(

An involuntary cackle precedes your next words. “If you’re actually wondering, though, the only person who’s brought me fruit while I’m playing video games is indeed my mother. Heartbreaking, I know.”

At this, the steady flow of messages morphs into a gallery of depressed cat emoticons; your audience never fails to impress you with their way with words.

“But if someone other than your disappointed parent is bringing you fruit,” you go on, “they might as well get on one knee in the process, honestly. That's such an adorable, loving thing to do.”

Suddenly, the words MATCH FOUND splash across your monitor, and you move your cursor to accept the game invite—only to be met with a pop-up window and a familiar error sound that grates on your ears like screeching tires.

You know how this story ends: the lights in your mouse go dark, and you look on in dejected silence.

je0ng1n: LMFAOOOOO je0ng1n: bro’s mouse definitely just exploded again

“You guessed it," you sigh. “Hang tight for a sec, guys."

Half an hour ago, you could’ve sworn you heard sneakers being kicked off, a set of keys falling against plastic. Now, you pull one side of your headphones off and roll your chair a few feet backward, calling through your half-open door: “Lix, are you home?”

You pick up on a soft clunk that sounds like metal hitting wood—the cutting board, maybe?—and then your housemate's low, accented answer bounces off the walls of your shared hallway.

“Yeah, you alright?”

“The mouse,” you say helplessly.

“Ah.” It’s not the first time you’ve summoned him for this. “Be right there.”

A few seconds later, you remember to tack on a hurried disclaimer: “I’m live, by the way!”

“I know.”

This brings a bashful smile to your face, though the expression quickly turns to one of pure dismay when you return to your desk and witness the disastrous state of your chat.

Felix has become a regular guest on your stream by now, always popping in to show you a TikTok or ask for your opinion on a new pair of jeans or simply give your camera an awkward wave—but he may as well own your channel with how completely and unequivocally he has captured the hearts of your viewers. They’re convinced he’s the sexiest person to ever grace the earth, with his chiseled features and coffee-colored eyes; with a grin that could set entire estates on fire and a voice that could scrape the nadir of the Grand Canyon.

Do you agree? Absolutely.

Do you have any intention of voicing this sentiment, so long as you’re splitting rent with him? Absolutely the hell not.

Another of Jeongin’s messages—GET ME HIS NUMBER OR I GET VIOLENT—inspires you to minimize the stream window before Felix gets here. It’s for the best.

A few moments later, the door opens, and the air shifts inside your room. A hand comes to rest on the top of your head; a familiar silhouette appears in your periphery. There is a fond grin plastered across your face and a bright greeting sitting readily on the tip of your tongue.

But then, Felix places a plate of freshly cut fruit in the empty space to the left of your keyboard—here, he hums, the sound falling against the shell of your ear like a drop of melted chocolate. And the gears of your brain grind to a complete stop.

There is no further acknowledgment; no supplementary explanation for what he's just done. He simply picks up your mouse and gets to work.

The words of your tweet swim dizzyingly before your eyes, not unlike those halos of stars and birds that revolve around disoriented cartoon characters. And you’re suddenly, achingly aware of your roommate's arm nudging against yours as he tinkers away; of the aromas of vanilla and laundry detergent that always come with his proximity; of the heat that’s risen to your face, and the plethora of questions that have surfaced to your mind.

A soft huff of laughter follows a gentle utterance of your name, and you snap out of your trance. Felix’s eyes are glinting with amusement when you meet them.

“It’s been recalibrated,” he says, handing back your mouse. “Just give it a few minutes.”

Your fingertips brush over his palm when you accept the object, and even this blink of contact has your heart performing an elaborate hopscotch routine across the plane of your chest.

It’s either your mom, or…

“Thank you,” you mumble, finally retrieving your larynx from the bottom of the Atlantic.

“Anytime,” Felix returns, and you know he means it. “You need a duo, by the way?"

“Yes, please.”

He gives you a warm smile at this, and there’s a hint of something else—something new—in the curve of his lips. “Give me two.” And he’s gone as quickly as he'd come.

You will never know how Felix slips his phone out of his pocket the second he emerges from your room, his pulse hounding his ears as he turns a nervous gaze upon his screen.

There is now a supersonic blur of messages saturating your chatroom, a colorful cacophony of moving emotes and capital letters, but he is focused wholly on the person in front of the camera and how you slowly lift a hand to your mouth, deathly silent despite your every viewer demanding your comment on the matter, your sanguine cheeks visible even through the gaps of your fingers.

That is all he needs to know.

Felix sinks into the leather of his gaming chair and bends to power on his computer. Only after a deep breath blows past his lips does his smile start to stretch into a grin, every bit as embarrassed as it is relieved.

je0ng1n: no way je0ng1n: no fucking way je0ng1n: my heart fluttered je0ng1n: wtf je0ng1n: how’d you pull HIM??

y/nxx has removed je0ng1n as a moderator of this channel.

𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸? please consider reblogging, commenting, or sending me an ask to let me know; or, read my other works here. thanks so much for the support ♡

© 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗶𝘅 (est. 090323) · all works are pieces of original writing and all characters and relationships are purely fictional. please do not repost or reuse for any reason.

[spaceistheplaceart]

A Human's Touch - HL2VRAI AMV

constantly thinking about the relationship between the game, the NPCs/science team, and Gordon/The Player

ID AND CREDIT BELOW:

BEGIN ID

An animatic set to the song "A Human's Touch" by TWRP. The visuals are timed with lyrics, so I'll type the lyrics in quotes "like this", then explain the visuals, then move onto the next lyrics. I hope this format works well for all, and if it does not- feel free to reach out!

"Am I a toy to you, my love?"

Benrey stares up through Gordon's computer, standing on a black and white grid. He is in a beanie and jumpsuit, like many citizens from Half Life 2. He has a small mustache and a shadow over his eyes. He has a neutral expression. With each word of the lyrics, the camera zooms further out to reveal he is in a computer inside Gordon/The Player's room. The room has a PC tower, a chair, a desk, a microphone, a shelf with a VR headset and games on it, and a few posters. One poster is of "Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days" and another is of two chimps grooming eachother. With the following musical beats, the room changes slightly to show passage of time. The chair moves around, things appear and disappear on the desk, and the chimp poster is torn down for another poster that says "Gamer's don't die, they respawn." On the final beat, the player is sat at the desk.

"Just a thing to play and then throw away."

A computer screen with four applications shown on it: steam, discord, garry's mod, and Half Life. A mouse cursor floats over Half Life before retreating. The screen is shut off and turns black.

"I never asked for this."

Benrey and Coomer sitting against a black background. Benrey is turned away, hunched a little. The lyrics appear on his side of the screen.

"I always did my best."

Coomer is turned to the side, looking up with his hands grasped together and eyebrows worried. The lyrics appear on his side now.

"Without your love I am..."

The Chuck E Cheese shown at the end of the series, drawn in black and white. The screen glitches.

"A broken mess."

The Chuck E Cheese is now worn down and broken. There's a banner hanging out of it that says HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO before it's ripped off. Minions are laying in one of the corner buildings. On the righthand side you can see partially graffiti that says BUBBY IS BEST. In the background is the citadel from Half Life 2.

"Now I'm never enough."

Tommy and Bubby sit against a black background. Tommy is facing the side, with a worried expression, wearing a suit, his propeller hat, a bowtie, and holding a briefcase on his lap. The lyrics appear on his side.

"And it's almost too much."

Bubby is turned away. His fist is clenched and producing fire. He wears a tattered labcoat. The lyrics appear on his side now.

"For me to work..."

Gordon, against a white background, limp with lines attached to his hands like a puppet. His face is not visible.

"I need..."

A side by side of the player lifting their VR controllers and Gordon's hands lifting limply in game in sync.

"A humans touch."

Gordon's hands drop to his sides again as his head lolls to the side, rolls back, then he opens his eyes- a VR headset flashing over them at "touch".

END ID

I took the screen turning off effect from this video

[adoreddestiny]

ೃ⁀➷ ADMIRING YOU FROM AFAR — rafayel, xavier, zayne x gn!reader

rafayel tries his best to recenter his gaze when the two of you are out. but he can’t help when his eyes start to wander. the world grows a little more still as you preoccupy yourself with something mundane such as shopping.

he traces over your expression in his mind as if sketching out a mental image of your features. the way your eyes crinkle when you spot something you like or your hands grasping onto soft material make his heart flutter in a way he could never describe to anyone.

rafayel’s eyes linger on you as he follows you like a curious kitten through the aisles. a fleeting comment escapes him occasionally but then he’s back to staring. his eyes soften ever so slightly but when you meet his gaze the tips of his ears go red. suddenly, the jackets nearby have become so much more interesting.

xavier was never a fan of mornings. when the sunlight swims into the room and lights up the atmosphere, he wants nothing more than to tumble back into sleep’s embrace. but now he finds himself awaking just to soak in your features before the morning merges with noon.

lost in the murkiness of sleep, he gazes at you with half-lidded eyes. there’s so much peace in your expression and he can’t help but melt beside you as you continue steadfast in your dreams.

xavier pulls back a bit of your hair. his gaze fastens onto you, taking in your gentle expression and the sound of your soft inhales and exhales. he doesn’t know how to explain this rising adoration in his chest. he just knows it’s ever so comforting. wrapping his arms around your waist, he pulls you in closer.

zayne finds his gaze wandering back to you more than he’d like to admit. you promised not to bother him while he finished this report, but all he wants you to do is chat his ear off. your gaze is fixated on something outside your apartment. he pauses his typing, utterly entranced by the affectionate look in your eyes.

he hates himself for getting distracted. but he can’t stop himself when his fingers still and his cursor hovers over empty documents. the amber glow of his desk lamp shines against your skin and he tries to tear his gaze away again.

zayne’s mind wanders as he tries to look back at his laptop. but even over his screen, he can’t help but scan over your features once more. there’s a certain gleam in your eyes that he can’t stop admiring even while his heart is stuck in his throat.

[6okuto]

🧺 #1 “please? i can’t sleep without you.” with osamu for @etoiile from my fruits basket :D

warning: fem!reader is called "princess" once

“yer still down here?”

osamu’s groggy voice jolts you from a daze. it’s past midnight, you’re sure as you turn to look at him standing at the bottom of the stairs. despite the drowsiness kicking in, you try to shoot him a smile. “sorry, samu. i’m almost done, i promise.”

he hums and makes his way to your desk, grey slippers that match your own padding against the wooden tiles. you note the pitch black he walked through to get to the study. “do i haveta stop you from overworkin’ again?”

“i’m not overworking.”

“sweetheart,” he warns with a sickeningly sweet mumble to your temple—one you hate, one he always uses when you’re at your weakest and he knows his win is inevitable—followed close by arms wrapping around your middle. 

“i’m not, i’m just–” you huff defiantly anyway, but the black size 12 letters start to bleed and blur on your screen, and you have to rub your eyes before looking at him. “i’ll be in bed soon.”

“soon as in now?”

“samu.”

“hon.”

his fingers make a slow path beneath your shirt, a gentle hand landing on your stomach. he takes a deep breath, and warm air fans across your skin as he mumbles again, “please? i can’t sleep without ya.”

the text cursor blinks at you—faster than your own have been for the past 5 minutes—as he wets his lips and presses against you.

“...damn you, osamu miya.”

osamu’s act falls as fast as it came, his pout morphing into a smirk as he chuckles and nips at your neck. “is that how you wanna talk t’your sleepy, doting husband?”

“oh shut up, i’ll go brush my teeth.”

“yeah?” he tilts his head and smirks. “need me to carry ya, my tired princess?”

“no, i do not, thank you.” you roll your eyes as you turn off the monitor and stand up.

“m’kay, i’ll still come with you.”

you snort, trying and failing to suppress a smile, “wow, so needy tonight.”

“needy?” he pinches your cheek as you turn off the monitor and stand up (and breathes a laugh when you whine his name). “more like i need t’make sure y’don’t fall asleep at the counter.”

“oh come on, that happened once—”

“yeah, and i’m making sure it won’t happen a second time. because i love you,” he both teases and reminds you, the sparkle in his eyes half amusement, half worry and affection.

so you lean against him, let an arm wrap around your shoulder and lips kiss your forehead, with little to say but “i love you too.”

you’re sure the work can be done another day.

[muzansfangs]

Hiii! May I request some hc of the reader cockwarming Muzan during a video call with her parents?😎

Cock-warming Muzan during a video call with your parents.

Starring: Muzan x f!reader.

Warnings: nsfw, unprotected sex, slightly choking spanking, vaginal sex, oral sex (Muzan receiving).

Format: headcanons.

Plot: Craving your revenge on your husband for having forgotten about your dinner out yesterday, you came up with a perfect plan to make him pay for his sins. Once he came back from a tiring day at work, you allured him into your trap and forced him to endure a real ‘physical torture’ during a video call with your parents. Were you ready to face the consequences of your actions, though?

﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

• Unaware of what was yet to come, your husband groaned softly at the way your tongue swirled around the tip of his leaking cock. His fingers were tangled in your hair, his head lolled back on the headrest of his leather armchair. You truly knew how to help him steam off some stress after a long, tiring day at work.

• Well, of course you did. You were enjoying yourself too, after all. Yet, this was not going to last long. Despite your hunger for him and your devotion in satisfying your husband’s needs, giving Muzan a blow job was just a part of your devious plan. Muzan Kibutsuji was not going to get his release tonight, he was going to endure so much frustration and physical pain he would have thought twice the next time, before ‘forgetting’ about another important dinner with you.

• You glanced up at him as he yanked your hair back, his plum red eyes meeting yours in a lustful glare “Ride me” he demanded, watching the way you suavely stood up from between his knees and quickly unzipped your skirt, letting it pool down at your feet.

• Muzan loved watching you strip for him. The power he had over you, the way you always obediently left the items fall on the floor one by one was enticing. He loved seeing you bouncing up and down his cock, feeling your mouth hovering over his one sinfully, as you thought you were the one in control. He found it amusing the way you always tried to break him, but never really succeeded in it.

• If only he knew how the tables were about to turn…

• You bit your lower lip softly, your panties following the destiny of your skirt and landing on the floor as you leant down towards Muzan. You captured his lips in a tender, yet passionate kiss “Your wish is my command” you whispered then, before turning your back at him and lowering yourself onto his erected, throbbing member. Muzan moaned softly, his hands gripping your hips tightly as your walls clamped down on him.

• “Fuck— Feisty, aren’t we? – he breathed out, sitting up and pressing his still covered chest against your back – I did not expect a reverse cowgirl today, but I’m not complaining” he chortled, his mouth latching onto the left side of your neck as you stared at the pc awaiting for the incoming video call from your parents.

• “I feel experimental, babe… – you sneered, rolling your hips even so slightly to elicit one of his guttural, erotic groans from him – I promise you are going to enjoy it”.

• Muzan hummed, his hot breath fanning your earlobe as he snapped his hips up abruptly, making a high-pitched moan to erupt from your throat “Fucking start to ride me like the bitch in heat you are, darling” he hoarsely said, only to narrow his eyes at the pc as the Skype ringtone spread through the room.

• Now, Muzan was one hundred percent sure you were going to ignore the call. Your parents would have understood anyway, thus he chuckled and wrapped one hand around your throat “Ah, imagine your father’s face, if he saw the lewd faces you’re about to make…” he stated, a smug smile plastered over his face.

• Poor Muzan.

• “Mmm, you better not do that because I really have to answer. Face the camera, Mr. Kibutsuji” you whined, right before dragging your finger on the cursor and answering the call.

• Muzan.exe stopped working. His mouth agape, his expression blank as the cheerful faces of your parents appeared on the screen. How dare you? That was what betrayal felt like.

• “Hi mom! Hi daddy!” you greeted your parents, waving your hand at them as if you were not stuffed with the twitching, hard cock of your husband.

• Muzan gulped down nervously, his hand squeezing your hip harshly as if he wanted you to know that you had royally screwed up. However, you were going to give him a very hard time in speaking to them. After all, he deserved it, right? Therefore, you rolled your hips slowly, pretending you were just shifting your position. Muzan stiffened, a groan almost erupting from his throat “Good evening, Mrs and Mr. L/N” he rasped, faking cough to mask the pleasure engulfing his lower abdomen.

• Sweat ran down his back as he was forced to strike up a conversation with your parents. Why did you do that? Why were you punishing him?

• Then your mother spoke and he froze solid, reality dawning on him as a cold shower. His cock almost softened, but you promptly shifted again and he had to clasp his hand over his mouth to fake another stupid coughing fit “How was your dinner yesterday?”.

• “Aww, unfortunately, we had to call it down… — you pouted, planting a kiss on your husband cheekbone, shifting slighty on your seat – As you can see, Muzan is not at his best!”.

• “I wonder why” Muzan almost growled, as his hand slided down towards your clit. Well, if you were going to be a pain in the ass, he was too. As he started rubbing figures eight on your bundle of nerves, careful not to let your parents get a hint of what was going on, your cheeks heated up and you knew you were toasted by the dangerous glint in Muzan’s eyes.

• Long story short, you made up an excuse and ended the call. But, as soon as you did, Muzan lost his temper.

• You did not even had enough time to realize what was happening that you found yourself bent over the desk, Muzan’s hand spanking your ass a few times in a row, before he leant down towards your ear “What the fuck was that, huh? Acting all bitchy for a dinner? Ah, you must be starving! I’ll give you a wholesome meal you’re not going to regret, dear. Daddy is going to take care of you”. With that, he pulled out of you only to pick a feral pace.

• Spoiler Alert: you could not even walk to the bed on your legs, once he was done with you.

AUTHOR NOTE.

Hello there! My my, I got a little carried away I think… I’M NOT SORRY THOUGH. I’m a whore for Muzan, but y’all know it already. I hope you have enjoyed this one as much as I did!

Tag: @tired-writer04 because we got a kink for him. Send help, guys💀❤️

[redflagshipwriter]

Red Hot Ghouls Chapter 13 part 1/2

masterpost

The next patrol night, Jason’s shoulder was still a little sore from how hard Jack Fenton had pumped it to say goodbye after they’d gone ‘ghost chasing- not hunting!’ in the family van. The van and the family were both growing on him. He was going to really hate it if he had to arrest either of the Fenton kids. It might damage his relationship with Jack and Maddie.

“How was your trip?”

“Might have gotten adopted but I’m not sure why,” Jason said. He shot his grapple and aimed to get a good view of the neighborhood. He winced as it reeled him up. It was a quiet night and cool air buffeted him hard from the side. He didn’t expect trouble. He’d been seen, which was the main deterrent Crime Alley needed at this point. “Did a bit of journalism. Had an impromptu refresher on tactical driving.” He hit boots-first with relief and immediately rolled his shoulder.

“...You’re doing that shitty thing where you make it sound like you’re blowing me off with lies, but then later I find out it was all true and you make some jackass comment about being an honest guy,” Tim diagnosed. He sounded cranky about it, too.

Jason just shrugged. “Did Gotham miss me?” Horns honked in the distance. He looked in that direction on reflex; but no explosion or crash followed. He relaxed again.

“Not even a little bit. But something happened while you were in the air, actually, that might be relevant. Have time to watch?” A little red cursor appeared on the feed inside his helmet.

Jason retracted his grapple and settled in on the ledge like a gargoyle. “Go for it.” He rested his elbows on his knees and crouched. Then he redirected his focus from the real world around him to the little screen that Tim was hijacking.

“Yeah, you’ll like this,” Tim said under his breath. “Just a sec. No theory yet, but check this shit out.”

Jason grimaced preemptively.

The shared screen switched to an Arkham security camera, complete with logo in the bottom right hand corner. It showed a single occupancy low-security cell at night. A man was sleeping in the bed. The quality was crappy enough that Jason doubted he’d be able to identify the prisoner if they looked directly at the camera.

“That Waters?” he checked.

“Sure is.” A button clicked. “Here we go.”

It was hard to tell that the video was playing, aside from the seconds ticking by on the display. Jason resisted the urge to fidget. Tim had selected this part for a reason. Maybe that reason was to be a dick, but probably he was serious.

The screen went black. Then static. Then the feed started wavering across the screen in lines.

“Huh.” Jason lifted his eyebrows. “Not great quality.”

“Reminds me of the quality of Jasmine Fenton’s phone calls,” Tim muttered. “But hold on. It’s hard to see, but-”

Waters was sitting up in one frame. In the next, he was scrambling out of bed and to the floor to prostrate face down in front of absolutely nobody.

He had to make a dry comment. “Wonder why he’s in Arkham.”

Granted, Jason knew the guy was kinda right about the afterworld. But he really wasn’t conveying ‘I am a stable member of society who won’t try any more human sacrifices in a community center rental room.’

Jason squinted. “Does it look like he’s talking to you?”

“Sure does.” Tim sounded frustrated. “No sound, and there’s no chance of reading lips on this even if the angle was better.”

Jason checked the full view of the camera angle again with a sharp eye for any anomalies. Lots of people had special powers that let them go unseen. There was usually some kind of sign, though. A shadow? Something small on the floor that was disturbed? An indication that something moved because someone touched it?

If there was anyone in that room, they didn’t touch anything, and they didn’t stay long. Waters wrenched himself up and threw a fit, hitting the floor and pulling at his hair. Jason watched impassively, waiting to see how long it took for something to happen.

“Response time isn’t too bad,” he remarked. Two orderlies appeared outside of the cell and began trying to talk Waters down.

“Over two minutes,” Tim said judgmentally.

Jason rolled his eyes, because he lived in the real fucking world where that was a short amount of time to notice and reach a cell at night. On the screen, Waters started to respond to whatever was being said. He uncurled from his ball on the floor. He gradually got up. He nodded a few times. The rest of the clip seemed utterly unremarkable and Jason had to assume they were only watching it to be certain they were thorough.

When it was finally over Jason leaned back and contemplated the night sky. “You think that Jasmine Fenton is connected?” he had to ask.

“She did look up when his cell transfer would be and this happened half a day later, the last night before he got moved. I can’t think of how she’d be connected, unless you believe- well.” Tim cleared his throat. “I looked up the Fentons. They say they’re, uh.” He sounded embarrassed just to say it.

Jason could have cut in at any time with ‘ectobiologists?’ Instead, he sat back and enjoyed how uncomfortable his shitty little foster brother was about mad science. Bit rich, coming from the mental breakdown cloning guy. But hey, free schadenfreude source.

Tim sighed so hard it sent static across the feed. Jason turned on the recording function just in time to capture Tim say, “They’re ghost hunters. Ecobiologists. Hey, you sack of-”

Jason ended the recording. “Imma trim that,” he muttered to himself, and saved the file where Tim couldn’t access it. “Gonna be my ringtone for you,” he lied cheerfully. He could think of much better uses for ‘they’re ghost hunters.’

But in the interest of fairness-

“They’re not ghost hunters,” Jason clarified. “They’re ghost chasers, now. Like storm chasers.”

“Wow,” Tim muttered. “I’ll take that note down for my diary.

Jason stood up and ignored the sarcasm. “You’re theorizing that there might have been a ghost in that cell?”

[shoyudon]

O16 . . . MOVIE SLEEP CALL

“what’s up, buttercup?” gojo greets, leaning his back onto the headboard of his bed, prepping his laptop on top of the small foldable table, “how was your day, huh?”

you leaned back on the chair, fixing the webcam, “what is up, buttercup?” you retort back, pushing the webcam upwards a bit, “my day was just – okay. yours?” gojo could hear a few statics and grumbles from your device here and there, watching his camera in amusement at your attempt to find the right angle.

“mm, mine was okay too. kind of boring since i have no students to teach today,” the male explains, “how long are you gonna fondle with your webcam? you look good in this angle – or any other angle, actually,” he added.

narrowing your eyes at the webcam, gojo getting a zoomed in view of your face could only chuckle, “okay, i’m done. this is the angle,” you clicked your tongue, sitting back, “oh, hey, look at you wearing the new headphones. and the little sprout, how adorable. the color black looks good on you.”

gojo grins, leaning his head close to his laptop’s camera, showing the little crocheted sprout latched to his headphones, “my students liked the sprout and had me wear it the entire morning period. it’s cute. they’re fifteen by the way.”

you laugh, “your students are adorable then.”

“they could be infuriating.”

“seriously?”

gojo nodded, “seriously. i have a student, his name is megumi – sometimes i feel like i’m the kid instead of him, i can’t believe he’s sixteen sometimes. he acts like he’s on his sixties or something,” he rambled, “and there’s this kid, his name is yuuji. actually, you reminded me of him a lot; i think the both of you would get along together, i can already feel the connection. he actually follows my fan account. sheesh, talk about loyalty.”

frankly, it was refreshing to see gojo act like a teacher instead of a fan boy. in fact, he seemed like a big fan of his own students, “and then there’s kugisaki, she reminds me of a jack in a box – one second she’s angry, and one second she’s all giggly, and then all of a sudden she’s angry. she’s just unique.”

you leaned on your chair, listening to him intently, “mmm. sounds fun – i’d like to meet them someday.”

gojo gave you a thumbs up, “yuuji’s a fan of you; not as big as i am though. anyways, enough speaking of my kids, what’s the movie about?” he cuddled a bundle of fluffy blankets – prepping himself comfortably on his bed.

“how to lose a guy in ten days? you know, male lead bets that he can get any woman to fall in love with him and female lead’s a women magazine writer thinking of writing an article about how she practically leads a man to dump her, yada yada yada things happen, they meet, and their plans kind of backfired on them.”

gojo hums softly, “ooh, sounds interesting. spoil the drama,” he whispers.

shaking your head in refusal, the male grumbles softly, “wouldn’t be fun if i spoil everything now, would it?”

“you’re not wrong, but i’m curious about it.”

“let’s just watch it then,” you hover the cursor on top of the play button and press on it, going into full screen, “i’ve actually watched this – so . . . if i fall asleep mid movie, continue on watching. we can leave the call until i wake up, or you can leave first. just a heads up.”

gojo looks into the camera, smiling, “nah, i’ll accompany you. what kind of person would i be if i kept you sleeping on a chair, huh? just tell me if you feel like you’re going to doze off, we can always continue the movie next time, right?”

raising a brow in amusement, you bobbed your head once, “we’ll see.”

“-/n, hello? y/n?” 

fluttering your eyes open slowly, you raised your head up. the muscles on your neck groaning for you to stop moving for a bit to ease the soreness they were feeling – blinking the light to adjust your eyes, a voice of acknowledgment escaped your throat, “hmm? yeah, yeah, i’m awake. i’m awake.”

gojo lets out a string of breathy laughter, “you slept fifteen minutes into the movie, you sure you can go on? we can always watch this another time.”

seeing things clearly, you notice how gojo had managed to pause the movie at the 17:03 mark, “no, no. i was just – resting my eyes, for a bit. i could do this all day,” gojo barks out a laugh, “what’s so funny?”

“y/n, the bed’s right behind you. you can just go to sleep, you know?”

you wondered if this was the effect of constant overwork, the fatigue finally catching up to you, or were you just a tired person in general? or maybe both? 

“what if i lay down, move the chair, and the call stays on. we can sleep call. until tomorrow, deal or no deal?” you ask him timidly, holding back a yawn, “i’m sorry, gojo. i don’t know why i’m having a hard time keeping my eyes open, i can leave the call on, we can stay on the call since we’ve been planning this movie time–”

gojo chimes in, “you’re rambling.”

“i’m sorry – my head’s just–”

“y/n, it’s okay. really. i’m not angry or upset. honestly, i’m just happy we can spend time together despite your busy schedule, whatever you’re comfortable with, you can do it,” he tells you with an understanding smile on his face.

“i wanna leave the call on, with you, is that okay?”

he chuckles softly, “it’s okay. good night, y/n. i’m watching the movie without you,” he playfully says.

BEHIND THE SCENE !

gojo wasn't lying when he said you snored like a firetruck

your barney plushie is a childhood plushie that you still kept

gojo ended up finishing the movie alone (ft. your snoring)

TAGLIST !

@osakis-gf @catobsessedlady @jayathelostdragon @dazailover1900 @bebymylonely @starssfall @sassy-cat-in-town @fayeraa @sukunaspillow @executeher @lukabwrry @caileysdead @satxoru @misorastars @tenshiroko @myahfig4 @isometimeswritestuff @plutosgold @foxevxid @ofcqdesi @satoryaa @splzq @inupibaldspot @akio-ayashi @probablybethere @celestialzdiviner @ilykii @hotgirlshit5 @tbzzluvr @astraiahomura @nnasv @veraiism @asahiee @snwvie @n0tviv @luvvmae @alwaysinblck @luciledreamz @an-ever-angry-bi @kiwiikato @lemonnotade @kalulakunundrum @ichorstainedskin @r0ckst4rjk @lovelovelovey @jellinuy @svnkenlily @gojoful @quinnyundertow

SERIES MASTERLIST | NEXT

© shoyudon 2024 . no copying or reposting allowed !

[ofstoriesandstardust]

can't take the home out of oklahoma - i. (k.c.)

a/n: eeee! a fever dream later, i've finally cobbled together the first part of my top gun: maverick and twisters crossover fic! it's going to be lengthy so we are in for quite the ride! it's way heavier on twisters, so any non-top gun fans should have no problem reading this. future parts will deal with darker content that's only referenced right now, so that'll all be tagged and marked accordingly. for now, it's just my standard cup of angst. reblog and comments are always appreciated!!

summary: After a twisted stroke of luck, you leave behind your whole life in San Diego, California and find yourself in Oklahoma with Tyler Owens and his Tornado Wranglers.

warnings: swearing, weather inaccuracies, flashbacks, reference to past trauma, alcohol

word count: 5.7k

Your finger rubs gently over the crinkled piece of paper Jake had torn off for you, the phone number and the name Tyler Owens written in the neat penmanship the blonde prided himself on. 

If you ever find yourself down South and need something, Jake had said, a bit out of breath as he’d run out of the house after you. If you need anything, call that number. They’ll help you. 

The cursor blinks back up at you on the call pad, your cracked screen making a mockery of you. The chaos of the San Diego airport whirls around you, pressing in on you the longer you sit here. 

You take a deep breath and press call. 

-

His phone starts vibrating on the table and he frowns, eyebrows furrowing as the team, crowded around the table in the RV, goes quiet. 

He answers, despite it being an unknown number. “Tyler Owens.”

“Hi. Uh,” A shaky breath comes from the other end of the receiver before introducing themselves to him. “Uh, Jake Seresin gave me your number. Told me to call if I needed anything.” 

His gut drops at the name, a clench in his heart. “What can I do for ya?” 

“Look, I’ve- I’ve had a rough week and I’m, I’m sort of finding my life upside down. And uh, I guess I’m just grasping at straws here. Jake said, he said you could help me.”

“That so? Well, I’m afraid you’re gonna have to be more specific. How can I help you? What can I do for you?”

“A- a purpose, maybe? I need a purpose, something to do. Um, I’m in San Diego right now but I need to get out of here.”

Tyler frowns, eyes flicking around at his team. They’re all curious as to what’s unfolding, and he scrubs at his forehead, knowing they’ll be upset with him for pulling the trigger on this without talking it through with them first.

But damn it, this girl sounded scared and Jake had sent her to him. Had told her he’d help her, and he would see to it that he did. 

He wasn’t going to leave her behind. 

“Tell you what, get yourself on a plane to Oklahoma. I’ll come get you. You can come work with me and my team.”

“You- your team?” Though she sounds hesitant, she almost sounds relieved at having some sort of direction now. 

“Storm chasers. Ish. We’re doing some field research out here in Tornado Alley, but I’ve got a team, the Tornado Wranglers. And honestly, we need another set of hands out of here managing the backend of things.”

The word managing was the wrong choice as it immediately sends his team into protest. Boone stands up abruptly, Javi and Kate whispering protests to him, as Lilly starts making a face. He waves a hand, wanting them to be quiet. 

The last thing he needed was for this girl to hear, to hang up, to not follow through. 

“Okay.” You say, and he thinks he hears you stand up. “Okay, I’ll find the soonest flight out. Um, what kind of things do you need help with? My background- it’s not in science.”

“Don’t worry about it, I’m sure we could find something around here you can help with. Research grant editing or something.”

“I’ve actually got experience with that.” You say with a choked laugh, and Tyler can feel the relief bleed through the phone. He smiles a bit, pressure easing as he does. 

“Then we’ll make sure we put you to work.” There’s a beat as he hears the intercom in the airport go off in the background. “Listen, text me when your flights supposed to land. I’ll make sure I’m there to get you. We’re out in the field right now, so it may be a bit of trek out here, but I’ll make sure you get here.” 

You confirm and he hangs up and his team starts yelling before the phone is even back on the table. 

“We don’t need another team member man-“

“A manager? What kind of business do you take this for?” 

“Are you serious? Kate and I, we’ve got the grant stuff covered-“ 

“This really tells us how you feel about us, Owens.” 

He glances at Kate, who’s looking at him with a guarded expression he hasn’t seen since he first met her. She doesn’t excuse herself, simply pushing her way out, climbing around the back of Javi and Boone. 

-

It would be hard to miss Tyler, the way he’s signing an autograph, cowboy hat atop his head as he leans against the truck branded with the Tornado Wranglers logo.

You stop dead, a cold feeling washing over you at the eerie reminder of the person you’d just left behind. 

This Tyler Owens might be Jake Seresin’s doppelgänger, and based on what you’d seen during the flight you were beginning to suspect the only difference between them is the way they chased the adrenaline high. 

During the flight, you’d bought in-flight WiFi for the first time in your life, just to learn who these people were, who you’d be spending time with. Trying to understand what you’d gotten yourself into. 

Tyler perks up at the sight of you, a smile growing on his face. He holds out his hand and you take it, noting the genuine smile. You shake his hand, swallowing around the burning desire to ask the question. 

“Welcome to good ol’ Oklahoma.” He welcomes. “You ready to hit the road? The team is a bit of a ways out.” 

You nod as Tyler grabs your small duffel bag, throwing it in the back of the truck before you can even ask. 

You climb in the front, taking note of all the gadgets the truck is equipped with. “What’s all this?” You ask, as he turns the key, pulling away from the curb. “Storm chasing stuff?”

“You could say that. The trucks decked out with all kinds of stuff.”

The radio is soft in the background as Tyler talks to you about the team, about what you’ll be doing. 

As Tyler talks, as you talk, as you both think of things for you to do, you begin to lose interest in the conversation as the Oklahoma skyline begins to paint itself into a deep orange. 

“Can we stop?” You ask, voice full of wonder as you peer out windshield, watching the sky transform itself. 

You feel Tyler look over at you, before turning on his blinker despite the lack of cars around. The truck rolls to a stop as you dig around, pulling the disposable camera you’d bought from the bottom of your backpack. Tyler hasn’t even parked before you’re slipping out of the truck, walking around the front to take a picture of the sunset. 

“I haven’t seen a sunset like this since I was a kid.” You breathe, the camera clicking as you do. 

“I hear California has pretty good sunsets.” Tyler says, sticking his hands in his pockets as he stands next to you. 

You shrug.  “They do, but if you’re in the inner city, a lot of times the good ones are hard to catch. They’re easier to see at the beach but the marine layer blocks a lot of the good ones.” You say, turning to Tyler. “At least in my opinion. We can get back on the road now.” 

He nods, eyes steadily watching you as you turn on your heel, climbing back in the truck. Tyler’s a few beats behind you, still standing in the same spot as you buckle your seatbelt. 

The rest of the drive is quiet, the flow of quiet country music coming through the radio as the Oklahoma skies turns from dusk to night. 

By the time you roll up to camp, it’s clear that Tyler’s team has gone to bed, save for one. 

An older man perks up at the sight of you, climbing to his feet from his chair. “Ah, Tyler. Was just about to call and see where you were. This our new teammate?” 

Tyler nods, introducing you to this man. You step forward taking his outstretched hand. 

“Dexter.” He says, a smile on his face. “You must’ve had a long day. We’ve got some leftovers, can I get you anything? We’ve also got our extra tent set up, it’s where you’ll be sleeping.”

You glance at Tyler, although you’re not sure for what. Reassurance maybe. “I’d love some food. And a water maybe? I don’t have a water bottle with me anymore.”

It’s almost a natural instinct to wince at the thought of the loss of your emotional support water bottle that was probably laying in some crevice in the wreckage in Texas. 

Dexter sets to work as Tyler settles himself in front of the fire, a beer in hand. “We’re meant to head to town tomorrow anyways. We’ll stop, get you stuff to help out with the team. Maybe some new camping gear and whatever.” He takes a sip of his beer, cringing as he does. “Just realizing you’ll probably have to sleep on the dirt; I don’t think we’ve got any extra protectors after we visited the last wreckage. We should probably get more stuff tomorrow anyway.” 

“It’s no worries.” You say with a wave of your hand. “I was a Girl Scout for like, eight years, so it’s not a big deal. Won’t phase me.”

A head pops out from a tent nearby. Tyler perks up at the sight of him, as the man sticks his hands in the pockets of the zip-up he’s wearing. “You want a jacket?”

You glance down, realizing you’re shivering. “Uh, yeah, that’d be nice.” 

He gives you a cautious smile before looking to Tyler. “Hey Ty, man, I’ve got an extra pullover in the back of the van, can you grab it?” 

Tyler nods as the man reaches a hand out. “I’m Javi.” 

You shake it, introducing yourself.

“You from around here? You don’t sound it.” 

You shake your head. “San Diego, actually.”

Tyler comes back the same time Dexter comes back with your food and Dexter waits patiently as you scramble, pulling the soft material over your head. 

It smells strongly of rain in a way you can’t explain. In a way, the smell brings you a sliver of comfort. 

You take the food from Dexter as you do, thanking him. 

“Dexter, this is incredible.” You say around the bite. 

“It’s an old family recipe from down in the bayou. I’ve tweaked it so we can make it out here on the road, but it’s a crowd pleaser when I do.”

“You from New Orleans?” You ask and he nods. “My boyf- my ex boyfriend now I guess-“ You say, taking another bite in hopes to hide the awkward way you swallow around those words. “He’s from out there too.” 

Dexter sighs. “I miss that place, I do. But it wasn’t easy to stay after Katrina. I lost my whole family.” 

Your heart pangs, at his words, and it aches, at the thought of the person you’d left behind. 

“I’m very sorry to hear that.” You say softly. 

Javi clears his throat. “You need anything else?” You shake your head and he stands up again. “I really oughta get to sleep, but we’ll chat more tomorrow, yeah?” 

You nod and Javi gives you another cautious smile. In your heart, you want to believe there’s maybe a little hope hidden in it too. 

Dexter also bids you and Tyler goodnight, and the two of you sit there, the crackling fire filling the silence as you eat. 

“Thank you Tyler.” You say softly, staring at the burning embers after you’ve finished eating. 

You know you should explain to him how it all happened, how you got here, but Tyler doesn’t ask and you can’t forget the vision in your head of Steven’s cold eyes, unseeing. 

“You’re giving me a second chance here, and I really do appreciate it.” You settle on instead. 

He nods. “Whatever I can do to help.” 

You excuse yourself, bidding the man goodnight, only to find yourself tossing and turning on the hard ground. 

You thought sleep would come to you easier, with how emotional the last week has been, but everytime you close your eyes and a breeze rolls through, it all comes flooding back, the haze of freezing rain, of a rusty storm grate, a heavy body, and so much blood-

The sound of a door shutting (from the RV if you had to guess,) causes you to open your eyes, sitting up on the makeshift bed. 

“I don’t want her here Tyler.” A female voice says, and you frown. 

There’s a beat. 

“Too bad Sapulpa, she’s staying.” Tyler responds. 

“Stay here and do what?” The girl asks incredulously. “We don’t need her help. And I didn’t know you’re suddenly in the business of helping out random strangers who call you in the middle of the day-“

“This is our whole business, Kate.” He says firmly. “We help people. Strangers. That’s what we’re here to do, remember?”

“And how are you helping her?” 

Tyler’s quiet for a minute again. “We’re giving her a second chance.”

“A second chance? Are you serious?” The girl, Kate, huffs. 

“It wasn’t that long ago it was you who needed a second chance. We gave that to you, remember?”

Another zipper being yanked cuts off Kate’s response. 

“Yo!” It’s Javi. “Can y’all argue about this tomorrow?” 

You don’t hear the sound of Kate’s footsteps but you hear the slam of the RV door loud and clear. 

Tyler goes through the motions, getting the camp cleaned up, before putting the fire out. And then you hear him slip into the RV and for the first time in days, in the quiet of the Oklahoma night, it feels like you can breathe. 

-

You awake with a gasp, clawing at the blankets as if it was Jake’s flannel, holding on for dear life through the storm. 

You swallow back the bile threatening to spill over and blindly climb from the nest of blankets, pulling the zipper down, and stumbling into the sun. 

You swallow as someone’s head turns. It’s a girl, sat at the table the crew has set up outside. You pull yourself from the tent, unable to shake your nerves as you take in the soft baby pink hues above her in the sky. 

You introduce yourself softly and she gives you a tight smile in between bites of yogurt. “Kate.”

Your heart clenches, realizing this must be the girl you’d heard last night. 

It’s an awkward silence the two of you sit in, the baby pink fading from the sky as Tyler pulls himself from the RV. When she sees Tyler, she quietly excuses herself and brushes past him, floating back into the RV.

“You oughta get that screen fixed.” Tyler comments, sitting down next to you. 

“Haven’t had time.” You say with a shrug as you glance at the screen on your phone. It was more shattered than it was cracked, a hazard really, but what could you do? 

“I’ll take you to a place in town today that’ll replace it for cheap.” Tyler says around a bite. “Can I get you anything to eat?” 

Tyler’s team appears over the next hour, and he introduces them as they do. Dexter appears from the RV first and then Dani and Lilly from the back of the van. Boone gets dragged out from the van by Lilly twenty minutes later, and Boone pulls Javi from his tent because “if I have to be awake so do you Miami.” 

Kate doesn’t leave the RV for the rest of the morning. 

-

“They don’t like me.” You say quietly, drumming your fingers on the car door as Tyler drives to the motel that evening. 

“They barely know you-“

“Cut the shit Tyler, I heard Kate last night.” You say sharply, sending him a cold glare. “They don’t want me here.” You roll out your shoulders, looking back out the window. “If you want me to go back, it’s okay.” 

“And send you back to god knows what?” 

“I’d be fine.”

“Kid, you sounded so damn terrified on that phone — I’m not inclined to turn around and give you back to that fear.”

You swallow around a sigh, feeling Tyler watch you as he drives. 

“Give me a week. Give me a week to make it work. And if you still feel like you need to go back, hell, I’ll pay for your flight.” 

You look at Tyler, noting the serious look in his eyes. 

“Okay. One week.”

-

The next week feels simultaneously long and short in the worst ways. 

Short, in that it feels like your time is running out. 

Long, in that there are no storms to chase, dissipating before the team ever has a chance. 

Long, in that you sit around most days, doing your own research on grants and sponsors and the backgrounds of potential investors and articles on social media growth. 

Long, in that you don’t really talk to any of them, except for the one time you look over at Javi’s computer, just to tell him that his sentence didn’t make any sense. 

Long in that, Kate refuses to be anywhere near you and Boone ignores you and Lilly shuts you out of conversation and Javi sort of looks at you like you’re some sort of alien placed down next to them. 

It’s only on the sixth day, when you’re collecting everything you’ve worked on all week to give to Tyler in the morning before he takes you back, that something happens. 

The storm is too far away for them to chase it, to get any research done, but Tyler and Lilly agree that the team should head in, to be there to help out and hand out food in the aftermath. 

Because, apparently, that’s what this team is known for. 

You feel awkward here, watching the team spring into action. You feel out of place, not knowing what you were supposed to say or do as these people dug through the rubble of their lives. 

You were supposed to help people. Tyler had said you could help people here. 

The team is distracted just enough, that it’s you who catches it, not them. 

The sounds of a cry, somebody softly shushing them. You round a corner, heart breaking at the sight. 

There, a small little boy, maybe around the age of 8, is holding who seems to be his little sister as she cries. 

The poor girl can’t be any older than 3 or 4.

“I want Mom.” She blubbers out and the boy shushes her. 

“I know, sissy, we just gotta-“ The boy looks around helplessly. 

“Hey.” You call out, stepping around the rubble. “Hey, do you need help?” 

The boy nods. “Mom said not to move but-“

You hold your hands out. “Stay where you are, okay? I’ll come get you and your sister alright?” 

The boy nods, clinging to his sister’s hand.  You make your way through the rubble, kicking things out of the way to make a path back before finally reaching the two kids. You kneel down best as you can, leveling yourself to them as you introduce yourself. 

“I’m here to help. Can you tell me your name?” 

“I’m Jack.” The boy says. “This is Bella. She’s bleeding and I can’t find my Mom-“

“Hey, hey.” You soothe. “We’ll get you guys some help and get you out of here, okay? We’ll find your Mom.” You look at Bella. “Bella? Are you okay if I carry you? I’m going to help you find someone to patch that cut up, okay?” Bella nods and Jack lets her go as you scoop her up. You hold out your hand for Jack as the two of you navigate your way out.

As you weave your way through people, you ask Jack soft questions about himself, where he goes to school, if he likes dinosaurs or trucks, distracting him as he talks to you. Once you get the two kids to the EMTs, you duck around the side, in search of someone from your team. 

“Kate.” You call, as she’s sifting through rubble, calling for a dog. She glances over at you. “Hey, I’ve got two little kids here who can’t find their Mom. I’m gonna stay with them but can you let the team know? Just in case anyone sees her.” 

The face Kate makes is difficult to read as she nods. You sigh, making your way back around the truck. 

Bella’s all patched up and Jack is studying the logo on your shirt, lighting up when he recognizes it. 

“Mom lets me watch their YouTube channel sometimes!” 

You scoop Bella back up in your arms, holding a hand out for Jack to jump down as you do. 

“Oh well then I’m guessing you don’t want to come see the tornado-proof truck?” 

-

It’s late in the day when Bella and Jack’s Mom comes running down the street, hysterical. Tyler and Kate aren’t far behind her. 

Her arm is in a sling and there’s a few bumps and bruises on her, but otherwise she’s fine. Both of the kids light up at the sight of their Mom, and she’s tearful, thanking you over and over for helping them, for watching over her babies.

You wave her off, citing babysitting as just another thing you’re used to, a big family and all that. 

It’s as they’re walking away, Dexter asking if you want any food, Jack shouts out. 

They turn back, Bella running back to you with the stuffed animal she’d been holding in hand. You kneel down as she holds it out for you to take, heart aching as you look at the stuffed pig. 

Bella had seen it atop your stuff when you’d taken them in the RV and had been holding it ever since. 

It was one of the few things you had of your life left behind but you know when it’s time to let something go. 

“You keep it okay?” You say softly. “You take care of yourself little Bella?” She wraps her arms around your neck, the stuffie clutched between her little fingers. You return the hug, exhaling as you do. Bella lets you go, returning to her Mom and her brother and you stand back up, wiping at your eyes with the back of your hand. 

“Do you want some food? You’ve been with those kids all day.” Dani says softly, holding the box. 

“How’d you find Mom?” You ask quietly, crossing your arms. 

Tyler sighs. “Was sitting with her the whole afternoon when Kate came down the street, hearing her talk about her missing kids. Kate connected the dots.”

Your arms wrap around yourself tighter. “Kate, I told you I was with those kids. I told you to tell the team in case anybody found Mom.” 

Kate opens her mouth but no words come out as Lilly’s eyes slide between the two of you. 

“Here.” Lilly says gently as she holds the box out, taking it from Dani. “You should eat. Been a long day.”

“I’m not hungry.” You say. “I’m gonna get in the truck, let me know when we’re leaving.” 

-

You sling your backpack over your shoulder, the truck door shutting behind you as you walk up the motel steps. 

The backpack, downsized from your duffel bag as Tyler had gone through the Oklahoma necessities with you, which was hardly anything you owned, feels heavy as you do. 

“Hey.” Kate’s voice calls out. “That was a really nice thing you did for that little girl.” 

Tears sting at your eyes as you push the key into the lock, pressing against the door with your body weight to get the door to unstick. 

You think Tyler says something as you shut the door but under the hot water of the shower rushing down you, you can’t hear anything else.

-

You clear your throat, announcing your presence as you do. Tyler and Kate pause in their conversation as they look over to you. 

You set the folder down in front of Tyler, Javi’s pullover in front of Kate. 

“Just wanted to give these to you. Tyler, do you want me to just wait in the truck?” 

Tyler peeks at the folder as Kate asks “Wait for what?”

“What is all of this?” Tyler asks, flipping through the pages. 

“Research on potential investors and their backgrounds. Just so you guys don’t get into another StormPar situation. There’s some stuff about grants, donors in there. Other stuff I tracked down about how you could grow your social media, ideas I had. There might be a couple of pages about laws on people donating, not sure. It’s everything I’ve done this week. Y’all don’t have to use it but I just thought it might be helpful as lead points.” 

“This is- this is really great stuff.” Tyler remarks. “It’s gonna be a real loss to not have your brain on our team.” 

“Wait - are you leaving?” Kate asks, eyes flying between you and Tyler. 

“I’ll meet you at the truck.” You say, turning to leave. You think you hear Kate repeat the question to Tyler, but you shut the door to the RV before you can hear their conversation further. Across the parking lot, Javi calls out, but you wave him off as you climb into the passenger seat of Tyler’s truck. 

Your heart feels heavy as you look at your own Javy’s contact. 

It would be so easy to pick up the phone, to tell him you made a mistake, to beg him to let you come home. 

He would too, and he would pick you up from the airport, and he’d wash the Oklahoma from your skin, and he’d hold you through the loss. 

But then you remember Jake’s defeated look as the two of you had assessed the damage, the way he’d asked you to lie. 

You remember the blood-

A startled gasp leaves you as someone knocks on the window. 

It’s Kate. 

You roll down the window.

“You’re leaving?” 

You eye her, unsure why she appears to be almost nervous, fingernails digging into the soft flesh of her arms. 

“Yeah?” 

“Why?” 

You shrug, surveying the team in the parking lot. “It just didn’t work out. I didn’t fit here.” 

“But-“ She worries her bottom lip. “Where will you go?” 

“I’ll figure it out.” You say simply.

You’d have to because you knew the alternative would be devastating to everyone you’d ever known. 

She sighs, eyes flickering to Tyler, who’s moving closer. “Well, we’re headed to my Mom’s tonight. You should stay one more night. You’ve never even had real Oklahoma barbecue.”

A dry laugh escapes you without your permission. “Kate, what are you playing at here?”

She seems shocked, not expecting your question. “What do you mean?” 

You roll your eyes, huffing. “Kate, c’mon, you told Tyler you didn’t want me here.” 

Her face drops as her arms fall by her sides. “You heard that?” She says quietly. 

“Yeah.”

She licks her lips. “Look, I ain’t good with new people. I’m- It’s a me thing.” She looks down, scuffing her boot on the ground. “It’s my problem and I misjudged you. I’m sorry. Give me another night to show you how it could be.” 

“Why the hell would I stay to see how it could be when I know at this moment I’m not wanted here?” 

“I do.” She says softly. “Want you here. I was wrong and I’m sorry.” 

You let out breath through your nose, meeting Tyler’s eyes through the windshield. 

You think of Dexter’s food, Javi’s pullover, Dani and Lilly’s gentle insistence you feed yourself last night. 

You think of the Louisiana area code sitting open on your phone right now. 

“One night, Kate.”

-

“I sure am sorry you’ll have to sleep on the floor. I just wasn’t expecting an extra person from the crew but we can make sure you have somewhere to sleep tomorrow night-“ 

You cut her off, holding your hands out for the dishes from dinner. “That’s very kind of you Ms. Cooper, but I’m just fine sleeping on the floor.” 

“Please, I keep telling you to just call me Cathy and, well, you could stay in Kate’s bed?” Cathy offers as you take the plates from her. 

“Think you’d find my throat slit tomorrow.” You mutter and Tyler barks out a laugh. 

“You deserved that one Kate.” 

Cathy turns to her daughter, a look on her face. “What did you do?”

Kate pulls a face, holding her hands out. “What- Nothing, Mom!” 

Cathy hums, eyebrows furrowing but you cut them off. “The floor is just fine, Ms. Cooper. Um, do you mind pointing me in the direction of the bathroom so I could change?”

-

“Do Tyler and Kate have a thing?” You ask, taking a sip of the hot chocolate Lilly had made as Javi chuckles next to you. 

You’re watching the group fight over Uno, you and Javi sat in front of a puzzle. 

“They did at one point. When they first met, but they burned out pretty fast. Figured out they were better off as friends.” You hum and Javi’s grin grows. “Why, you thinking you want to start something up with Owens?” 

You blanch and shake your head. “No, I think I’ve more than had my fill on macho thrill seekers for this lifetime.”

Javi lets out a laugh, a real one, for the first time all week. You smile, thinking of how Tyler would fit in with those pilots like he’d always belonged there. 

You were all set on those types.

Kate though…

If Kate hadn’t been so cold to you, Kate would’ve been the type of girl you could see yourself falling for. 

Witty, bright, a soft smile always worn on her face. She’s at ease here and it makes your heart hurt to see. You want to someday be as at ease as she looks, wedged in between Boone and Dexter, the brightest smile you’ve seen from her on her face. 

“So how the hell does a city girl like you find herself in Oklahoma?”

You slide a puzzle piece into place. “I don’t, I don’t really want to talk about it, if that’s okay.” 

Javi sighs, quiet for a minute. “Look, I’m sorry we were so off-putting when you first got here. We’re a tight knit group and we’ve been through a lot together. And-“

“Javi.” You cut him off with a tight smile. “You don’t have to explain. I get it, okay? You guys aren't the first group to not want me around and you won’t be the last, alright?”

He heaves a breath, an unreadable look on his face. “Just- if anyone might understand the things you’re running from, it would be us.”

“Who says I’m running?”

Javi raises an eyebrow and you sigh, setting the pieces you’re sorting through down. 

“Look, I’m not running. I’m just- I’m just trying to leave something behind.” 

Javi studies you for a few minutes as you set back to work on the puzzle. 

“Shame you and Kate can’t get along. You two are more alike than you think.”

-

You awake with a start, fingers clenching in unfamiliar fabric. 

“Are you okay?” Someone asks softly and you blink, Kate coming into focus. 

Right, you had- you had slept next to her last night after she’d worn you down. You couldn’t deny how nice it had sounded to sleep in a real bed. 

“Fine.” You breathe, willing yourself to forget the shouts of a friend left behind.

She frowns as she pulls her pants on. “I’m, uh, sorry for waking you up. Gotta help Mom with the cows.” 

You wave a hand, pulling yourself to sit up in the bed. “Want a hand?” 

“Mom would kill me if I let a guest help. Why don’t you get some more sleep, okay?”

You lay back down as she quietly ducks out of the room, but you know sleep won’t come. 

You’re restless so you pull yourself from the bed, padding down the staircase and sitting in one of the chairs on the porch. Tyler appears a minute later, an extra coffee mug in hand. You take it from him with a quiet thank you before the two of you start to watch Kate. 

“So California, are we gonna talk about it?” Tyler asks. 

You sigh as Tyler kicks his feet out. “Well, you’re gonna ask me questions I don’t want to answer and I’m gonna ask you ones you don’t want to answer, so unless you want to start copping to some things…”

Tyler shakes his head. “Won’t talk about it then, California.”

You eye him. “I’d prefer it if you didn’t call me that. Sort of hard to leave that life behind when you keep calling me that.”

“You gonna stay?” Tyler asks, looking over at you. 

You shrug, finger running over the rim of the mug. “I don’t know that I should.”

“I know it’s been a rough start with them.” Tyler sighs, shoulders hiked up. “But they’re good people.” 

“I don’t doubt that.” 

“You’re good people too.”

“Doesn’t make me a good fit here.”

Tyler sighs. “It’s my fault, I should’ve approached it a different way. But if you leave, we’d really be missing out. You’ve got those fancy degrees and you’re smart and you’re one fucking selfless girl. We could use someone like you around.” 

Kate and her Mom appear, Kate’s bright smile appearing as she pulls herself onto the railing of the porch. 

“You guys hungry? I’m gonna go get started on breakfast.” 

“Starved.”

“Wanna come see the barn?” Kate asks you as her Mom opens the screen door. 

“Now hang on, California ain’t said if she’s staying. No reason to show her the barn if she’s gonna be leaving.” 

You sigh, look down at the mug you can feel going cold. You rub your thumb over the Oklahoma written into the side as you think of Kate’s smile, of Tyler’s kindness, of Dexter’s food, of Javi’s pullover that had somehow ended back up in your bag after giving it back to Tyler and Kate yesterday. 

You blink, looking back up at them. “Okay. Yeah, okay, I’ll stay."

ii.

[taesanluv3r]

lost in love songs.

han taesan x reader

a short, three part, friends to lovers story.

ੈ✩‧₊ hidden love unfolds when taesan's ipod nano accidentally ends up in the hands of his best-friend, yn. a certain playlist catches her eyes, revealing the true feelings kept within the depths of the boy's heart.

part three: can't help falling in love.

confessions, first kisses, so much cuteness my heart swells. lowercase intended, excuse any spelling mistakes / grammatical errors! enjoy <3

wc: 4,019

masterlist 𖦹 part one 𖦹 part two

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖

"i need to talk to you"

taesan couldn't sleep at all, her words just circling around and around in his head all night long. the five letter text message written in big bold letters playing in his mind every single time he so much as even tried to shut his eyes. he lies awake, sighing when his eight o' clock alarm rings through his ears. he was going to confess to her today. he had to. it was the only way he or his friend could get any sort of closure, whether he liked it or not. their meeting time was still in another two hours. the boy grabs his phone, instinctively going to check the messages, her messages.

last active 6.45am

seems she couldn't sleep either, though neither of the friends contacted each other while they were awake. no exchange of words, unlike the way they usually did. taesan's stomach hurts, he's restless and he just can't seem to lie still. he gets off of his bed, walking around his room once, then twice, and then a third time before resorting to sitting on the chair near his desk. with a light tap of his finger, the laptop in front of him turns on, a slight buzzing sound from the gears within the device that began to work. his reflection on the screen disappears when the tabs he had opened the night prior appeared before him. the boy's eyes glimmer slightly at the sight of his music folder, countless of demos and drafts scattered in a somewhat organized manner in the little blue folder. his finger slides against the silver track-pad, the air conditioning right by his desk making the surface cool to touch. taesan bites his lips as he clicks, a collection of his unfinished originals popping up above all the other opened tabs.

the boy sighs again, a hand roughly stroking through his bed-ridden hair as his eyes make contact with two songs in particular. those were the same songs he had downloaded onto his ipod the other day, the one that was now in the hands of his best-friend who he had in his mind throughout the whole writing process. taesan curses at himself, regretting ever even making such stupid songs. but it's all her fault, he thought, if she weren't so...her, maybe he wouldn't keep writing these love songs. he scrolls down in frustration, eyes following his cursor as they go through about a dozen more songs about her. a dozen more songs she didn't need to know about, the songs he once swore she'd never see.

the boy's finger moves up again, back to the very top two tracks in the folder. he let's out a deep breath before pressing down, allowing his own music to flow through the air. an unfinished song,

can't help falling in love.

taesan's eyes shut closed, his back leaning softly against his chair and he immerses himself in the tune. soft piano fills his ears, his eyebrows knitting together when he hears his own voice. just like the other song, this one shared that same honey-like feeling. it was very unlike the usually upbeat and, as his friend would call it, emo sound that he typically produced. for some reason though, it was somewhat more...authentic. like despite his edgy exterior the boy was just born to write these cheesy songs that he swore weren't 'his vibe'. he hums along quietly to the lyrics, not wanting to wake the rest of his family that were very much still asleep at such an hour like this on a saturday morning.

her eyes shine like diamonds, her lips stained pink like rose quartz. she speaks so loud with confidence, yeah i envy her voice like sweets of sorts. and i just can't shake this feeling, and i just don't know what's wrong. when she looks at me i'm melting, elvis was right cause i can't help falling in love.

the sound of the lyrics he wrote himself makes him sick for a second, his eyes opening and his body darting forward to hit pause. the tune abruptly stops, his heavy breathing all too loud when silence engulfs the atmosphere. taesan is tense, the sudden reality of the situation he was in had become too real, too much for his liking. the boy blinks in long intervals, his teeth clawing at his bottom lip and his hands that were pressed atop the table forming fists. the boy loses himself for a moment, his mind overflowing with every possible scenario, every kind of reaction this girl he had been so hung up on could've had to the feelings he poured out into his songs, this girl who was his only friend, this girl he might've of lost forever.

he stops himself from screaming at the top of his lungs, eyes glancing at the number on the top right corner of the screen. only one more hour to go. he decides its finally time to get ready. taesan takes a shower, washing his hair with the olive scented shampoo that his mom had bought for him on a sale the other day. he brushed his teeth, making eye contact with the mirror as he dried his hair. the boy spends the next thirty minutes trying on all of his clothes, almost throwing a tantrum and leaving the room in a mess when nothing seemed to feel right. by 9.35 he had decided on a black band tee, the faded smiley face logo of his favourite band contrasting perfectly with the dark wash of his denim jeans. he stares at himself in his floor-length mirror, his hands fidgeting in the air as he begins to rehearse every way the confession that awaits him with his best-friend could possibly go. the shy boy does this often, he finds it hard to speak with people and it makes him feel better to practice beforehand. however, he's never had to do this with her, she always made it easy for him to talk. so why now? why does he feel so nervous and...scared?

"and i just...i think you're cool and- no, i think you're pretty chill and- pretty chill? ugh! this is so stupid!" he groans, launching himself onto his bed and staring angrily at his ceiling. just then, the familiar notification sound of his phone grabs the boy's attention. taesan stretches an arm out towards it, his eyes lighting up and his body going back into sitting position as he reads the text from the girl who'd been running laps around his mind since last night.

yn meet you at the playground

the boy feels a cluster of butterflies in his lower abdomen, a small smile unconsciously making its way onto his lips at the mere thought of the pretty girl conversing with him.

i'll see you there

he shuts his phone off before she could respond, jumping off of the mattress and stumbling into his black leather shoes, all while simultaneously throwing on his coat and spritzing just enough of his signature perfume. he greets himself one last time in the mirror before he leaves, letting out a breath as he nodded to his reflection, so as to tell himself 'good luck'.

the boy was out the door now, not forgetting to bid his family goodbye leaving them to wonder what he was so jittery about. his feet trots over to the bus stop. the playground was closer to her place, almost an hour away from the boy if he were to get there on foot. his fingers tapped impatiently against the silver railing of the bench, no one else was there because no one else had plans so early on a weekend. five minutes go by and the blue vehicle finally comes to a stop in front of him, the automatic door sliding opened as he stepped into the bus. "where you off to this early on a saturday, kid?" asked the old man who had both hands on the steering wheel. "going to tell her the truth" the man chuckles at the boy's mysterious response, watching from the rear-view mirror as he slumped himself onto one of the seats. taesan watches as the trees go by, his eyes wandering over to the people on walks, the children on their tiny bikes, and the couples sharing a morning cup of coffee. the boy reaches into his pocket in search of his music player, lips pursing into a straight line when he remembers its whereabouts. he didn't even have his earphones with him, he couldn't listen to music on his phone even he wanted to! and no music meant no distractions, nothing to focus on apart from his own thoughts he began to get lost in once again.

at last, the bus arrives at his stop. taesan gets up from his seat, a hand gripping onto the yellow handle near the door as he begins to get off. "hey kid" the old man's voice stops him. "huh?" he asked, an eyebrow cocked up in curiosity. "good luck with that girl, rooting for you" the driver's encouraging words paired with a warm smile gave the otherwise nervous wreck of a boy somewhat of a confidence boost. he shoots the man a smile in return, thanking him before hopping out the door. a new sense of security as he strides towards the gated entrance of the park. he walks with his head down, eyes focusing on the way his thick shoes created indents against the grass. he only looks up when his feet reaches the familiar cobblestone that surrounded the playground.

he holds his breath for a moment and his heart rate went up by tenfold. there she was. in the rather empty area, the only other sound apart from the pumping in his chest was the breeze. a smooth blow of wind that cascaded through her hair, causing the swing in which she sat to sway slowly. his gaze lingered for a moment, staring longingly at his best-friend, myung yn. a harsh gush of wind swept the boy off of his feet, sending his body to move forward all of a sudden. the noise that escaped his mouth causing the girl on the swing to turn around and face him. the two stood like that for a while, not uttering a word and just staring at each other from a distance. yn was the first to look away, her head tilting towards the direction of the other swing beside hers, inviting the boy to come and take a seat. taesan takes painfully slow steps before finally making it to the empty swing, the old steel bar from which it hung on creaking a little at the pressure of his weight. still, neither of them spoke a word. her eyes fixed onto the two little birds a couple feet away from them, and his own ones focused right onto her.

"yn..." he begins, though his voice is a lot deeper than usual. taesan wants to tell her everything, just the way he had planned, he had so much to say and yet for some reason all of those things just wouldn't- no, they just couldn't come out. "here" his eyes widen when she speaks, the boy's gaze falling onto her hand that appeared in front of him. his ipod nano in it, and his worn-out earphones de-tangled and wrapped neatly around the device. "oh" is all he managed to muster out, his own hand reaching over to retrieve it. taesan's touch lingers against her skin, sending a wave of goosebumps to decorate her body. it's silent all over again. minus the chirping of song birds and the rustling of dying leaves as they shed onto the green grass. the boy zones out, trying to find the right sentences to say. he's distracted by the thoughts running through his brain, perplexed when they all began to fade away at the sound of soft humming coming from the girl to his left.

the tune is familiar, though he can't seem to pinpoint where he's heard it before. "that song has been stuck in my head all night, i couldn't sleep" yn began, her voice still raspy from the lack of rest. she still doesn't make eye contact though, continuing to hum as she rocked slightly on the swing. "you write so well"

that's when it all clicked in his head. the song she had been humming, the same song he had made himself. the one about a girl, the one about her. yn's compliment registers in his brain, his head falling down to hide the way a pink shade appeared onto his pale cheeks, silently praying she couldn't hear the way his heart thumped beneath his shirt. "if only i could speak as well as i write" taesan finally talks, his voice making her turn to fully face him now. her eyes are big and a small smile pulled against the corners of her lips. "well, why don't you try? try to tell me about this girl" the way she asked him, like she hadn't a clue about the meaning of his songs, it comforted him a little. how could she be so...normal at a time like this?

he stutters, looking away from her as he opens his mouth to speak again. "well...she's the complete opposite of me and she makes me feel all weird and fuzzy inside and" - "you're always weird, but go on" yn chuckles, interrupting him jokingly. the sound of her laugh making him smile too. "and well, she's my best-friend- my only friend, but sometimes...i guess i just kind of wish we were more than that...i just don't want to ruin our friendship..." he trails off, his eyes getting watery all of a sudden; if you asked him why, he'd blame it on the breeze, but he knows that the real reason was the same one for his smile, the same on for his laugh, and the very same reason for his stupid little love songs.

taesan's body tenses up when he feels a cool touch of a hand tapped against his chin, his head being forced to lift up and to face her. to face yn who seemed to have also begun tearing up. "taesan..." she says, but her voice comes out hushed. her vision begins to blur and the boy panics, unsure of what to do. "yn..." now it was his turn to press his fingers against her jaw, bringing her glossy eyes up to look into his.

"i think i might like you more than a friend"

a gasp escapes her lips. she recognizes the line from his song, she knew since last night how he felt, but for some reason she's still in shock. it was as though the night before had just been some sort of wild dream and it was now coming to life. taesan stares deeply into her eyes, analyzing the way her breathing slowed down and her eyebrows relaxed. "i..." she begins, her warm breath that smelled of coffee blowing against his nose. the boy waits patiently in anticipation, a look of hope and worry washing over his complexion.

"i think i like you too"

a single tear falls out of his eye, a sight she had never seen before. for the boy she had known all of these years never cried. yn blinks, tears of her own threatening to follow suit. his hand moves to caress her cheek, wiping away the wetness that stained it. she giggles softly, finding his touch ticklish. he copies her, breaking into a smile as he sniffles lightly, wiping away his own tear-stained face.

the confession was a lot quicker and a lot more anticlimactic than they had thought or anticipated. the pair simmering down into another moment of silence as they swung softly with the air, the cool breeze blowing against the tiny hairs on their bodies. "so...you listened to the songs, then? i mean...obviously you did" the boy breaks away from the peace, his gaze moving towards the ipod on his lap. she nods, blushing at the memory of his love song. "only the first one" yn says, her voice fading out softly. "good" now she turned to face him, head tilted to the side as she did so. "the other one isn't done yet...and it's way more embarrassing than the first one" his voice is back to normal now, the jittery-ness in his previous tone long gone. "will you show me when it's done then?" she asked, watching as he raided his brain in search for an answer. "or maybe..."

yn gets off of her swing, turning around on her heels to stand right across the boy who remained seated. taesan looks up at her confused, not a clue as to what she was going to tell him next. "maybe you could write me a new one!" she speaks brightly, "one about how the girl of your dreams, me, became the girl of your reality" she's prideful, her head facing the blue sky as she spoke. "how 'bout that?" now she looked right at him, a hopeful look in her eyes contradicting the playful smirk on her lips. the boy can only stare blankly at her, eyebrows furrowing like she was speaking a language he didn't understand. yn rolls her eyes, waving a hand in circles over his face. "hello? earth to taesan?" he shakes out of his short trance, "huh?" the exchange of words gives the pair a feeling of deja vu. she smiles softly, "i just asked you to be my boyfriend and you totally zoned out...loser" taesan tilts his head to the side.

"you...me...boyfriend..huh?!"

she laughs out loud, grabbing onto his hands and lifting him off of the creaky swing. "you, han taesan. me, myung yn. boyfriend and girlfriend" she repeats for the third time, in simpler words for his brain to digest. this time, instead of just staring at her like a confused cat, the boy grins. "wait, wait so we can be like...together now?" she groans at his question, "taesan, if you make me repeat myself again i'll toss that stupid ipod into the fish pond!" he laughs when she compains, his eyes scanning every inch of her features. the way her eyebrows twitched when she spoke, the way her eyelashes fluttered with the wind, the way her nose scrunched up and the way her pretty pink lips sat in a pout towards the bottom of her face. he must've been staring at them for a while, the girl's pout flipping into a little smirk. "what's up?" she asks, his attention returning to her eyes. "nothing...can...can i..." he never finishes the sentence, but the way his lips were parted and the way his breathing got heavier, she knew exactly what was going through his mind.

yn takes a step forward, diminishing any amount of space they had between them before. the familiar feeling of her cold fingers sent a shiver down his spine as both her hands moved up to cup his face. taesan is frozen still, letting the girl make all of the moves for him. she inhales softly before pulling him down towards her, finally coming in contact with one another. the atmosphere is stiff, the strawberry scent of her chapstick melting into his rather dry lips. the kiss lasts no longer than a second, the girl pulling away to stare in his loving eyes. regaining the consciousness that seemed to have left his body a minute ago, the boy's arms moved to wrap around her waist, pulling her into his grasp and their lips caught against each other's once more. this time, the kiss was natural and passionate. yn's arms sat around his neck, her fingers twirling against the ends of his freshly washed hair. their heads tilted in opposite directions, noses bumping as they got lost in each other's faces. slowly becoming messier and desperate as time went by. feeling a little lightheaded, the pair separate, gasping for air. his hands still placed on her hips, hers are now on his shoulders and they stopped to sink into the moment.

the air around them was warm, differing from the cool breeze that had surrounded them earlier. before long, yn's cheeks began to redden, the same shade becoming apparent on the tips of the boy's ears. avoiding eye contact, they looked away in unison, flustered giggles escaping their mouths the same way little children did when they were happy. taesan smiles brightly at her, and the girl reciprocates, the corners of her mouth dipping into little dimples against her skin.

"walk me home?" she asks suddenly, starting up conversation again. he nods, extending a hand out for her to grab before they began walking through the grass and out of the gated park. their walk was unusually quiet, but there was some sort of a comforting feeling that floated over them, hands remained intertwined the whole time, constantly stealing glances and blushing away awkwardly whenever their eyes met.

soon, they arrived at the entrance of her complex. taesan looks down at her for a moment, a hand scratching against the back of his neck that began to feel itchy. yn lets out a sigh, a frown appearing against her face. he looks at her with worried eyes, "what...what's wrong?" he stutters, though she only lets out another breath. "nothing. it's just that if i go home now, jaehyun is gonna bully me relentless about this whole thing!" the boy closes his eyes in relief, "oh, i thought something was seriously wrong-ow!" he exclaims, rubbing his forearm she just hit. "it is something seriously wrong! as my boyfriend you should be just as upset as me!!" taesan freezes at the term, a sense of shyness wrapping around his body the same way his weighted blanket did at night. yn is just as flustered, not expecting herself to say that, her attention moving to stare intently at the asphalt on the ground.

"well, as your boyfriend, what should i do then?"

his hands find home beneath her chin, lifting her pretty face up to look at him again. he looked handsome. i mean, she knew he was good looking this whole time but she swears he had never looked this...lovely before. his soft hair lazily falling against his shining eyes, his tall nose harmoniously balanced with his lips that wore a pretty smirk. "you know if you just keep staring and not giving me an answer i won't know what to do, yn" he rolls his eyes playfully, failing to hold back his laugh as he watched the ever so confident myung yn struggle with her words for what feels like the very first time ever. "i...i mean you...you should- um..." han taesan bends down slightly, pressing a spontaneous kiss against her cheek, their faces far too close and their noses almost touching.

"why don't you come over to mine? i'll show you all the other songs i wrote for you" her eyes widen at his words, "other songs? you mean you wrote MORE songs about me?!" taesan nods, his teeth showing when he smiles this time and the dimples below his eyes forming whisker-like shapes against his cheeks. "who knew emo loser taesan was such a love-sick derp" her sudden insult catches him off guard, a scoff escaping his mouth as he wraps an arm around his girlfriend, pulling her close as they cross the street.

"and who's fault is that?" he asks, the right side of his face pressed against her hair. "whats that supposed to mean? it's not my fault you fell in love with someone as great and amazing as me!" she rolls her eyes, leaning onto the side of his chest as they walked in the opposite direction of her neighbourhood and towards the bus stop. taesan laughs, "well that's just it! when you're so great and amazing like that, i guess i just..." yn looks up at him, interested in what her boyfriend was going to say next.

"i just...can't help falling in love"

the end.

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖

i want an emo love-sick derpy taesan ☹️ this is the end of my short series <3 i hope u guys liked it!!! and liked the lyrics i wrote for this and the last part too hehehehe 🙂‍↕️ reblogs n feedbacks are always appreciated!!!! tysm for reading, lmk what u thought 🧸 love, kona :3

[makethatelevenrings]

Reports and Renewal // S. Riley x f!reader

A/N: hiiiii consider this a 5k follower celebration!!! thank you!!! wtf!!! I am SLAMMED with life and work right now. I'm about to post this and go study some more but HI I APPRECIATE YOU ALL SO MUCH.

I will hopefully be able to do more of a celebration/interactive follower thing once I absolutely dominate this test. Bc I will. (Manifesting!!) warnings: mentions of injuries (fractures, ligament tears) and fatigue, subtle misogyny, swearing but tbh if you're reading COD fanfics and are surprised by swearing...I can't help you

Two sharp raps against the wood of your door drew you away from the cursor blinking repeatedly and the slow creep of it across the page. It wasn’t your fault that it was taking you longer than usual. Only one of your hands was in commission right now thanks to a nasty fall during the last mission. The thought of the injury made your lips thin into a grimace as the sling on your shoulder dug into the tender skin there. A fractured radius and a torn ligament in your shoulder meant you would be stuck at a desk for about two months.

You shuffled the papers back into the manila folder and cleared your throat before calling out a brusque, “come in.”

While you were expecting someone to come in and add more to the growing piles of reports that you needed to type out. Since you weren’t able to be in the field, everyone on your team assumed that you would gladly take on their grunt work.

The massive form of Lieutenant Riley filled the doorframe and you instinctively glanced at his hands for some files, relieved to see something other than those fucking folders. But your brow raised as he stepped into your office and brandished what he held in his gloved hands.

“They gave me an extra sandwich by accident,” he said in lieu of an explanation. “Cook thinks I need to eat the whole fuckin’ Mess. Figured you’d need t’eat something since you weren’t there.”

You spared a glance at the clock on your computer and let out a noncommittal hum. Huh. Guess you were so focused on getting through all this work that you missed dinner call. That sparked your body into making you aware of the stiffness of your joints. You sat back against your chair, a small groan escaping you as your spine stretched and popped.

“Yeah, thanks.” You gestured with your uninjured hand for him to sit across from you. The lieutenant eased himself down into the small wooden desk chair and grimaced at the creak it emitted as it strained under his mass. He leaned forward and placed the sandwich on top of the file you had been working on before sitting back, eyeing the pile that had amassed in the corner of your desk.

“These all yours?” he grunted. You huffed out a laugh that turned into a triumphant cry when you successfully got the sandwich unwrapped.

“Clearly not considering I’m the only asshole around here who finishes their shit on time. Apparently desk duty means being the paperwork lackey. I’m surprised you haven’t caught on and brought me something to type up.”

His dark eyes studied the pile of papers and then he picked them up, thumbing through the paperwork. You didn’t worry about him looking at it. He was of equal rank as you and, while you weren’t 141, you operated in similar circles and collaborated on missions enough to know that he was a cold bastard, but he wouldn’t jeopardize anything.

“Any of these my guys?”

“Nah, MacTavish and Garrick would never.” You took a bite of the dry sandwich and nearly moaned. It was boring and plain and tasted a bit like sawdust, but you were starving. Simon silently nudged your water bottle closer to you and you nodded in thanks. He snapped the files close and set them back on the edge of the desk, the corner teetering off the side and nearly tipping over under the weight.

“Arm’s alright?” Ever the conscientious leader. The constant ache of your torn ligament and broken bone was frustrating, but it was a nice reminder that you were alive. The fall had been from a warehouse walkway when an assailant tossed his empty gun and instead went for a tackle that sent you both over the edge. You twisted your body to make sure he took the brunt of the fall, but your arm hit the ground first after he did. The evac had been a nightmare and couldn’t get in for three hours. Three hours of brutal pain radiating with every move as you and your team held back an onslaught of fire until the 141 was sent to finish business.

“I live to see another day,” you said, with both a hint of humor and the tension of your tentative morality lining your words. You sat back in your chair and winced as your arm jostled against your side.

“You should be resting,” he chastised.

You scoffed. “You’re one to talk. Didn’t you come back to work three hours after your appendix burst?”

His mask hid his face, but you could see the slight crinkle of his eyes and that was enough to confirm that the bastard was smirking. You had seen him walk out of medical after they dug two bullets out of his shoulder. There was a reason why the Ghost was such a legend. He didn’t answer but instead pointed at your food and you dutifully took another bite.

“Your team is a bunch of dicks,” he finally said. You bristled at his words and immediately went to defend your men, but he simply raised a hand to stop any arguments. That just made your skin prickle even more with indignation.

“Don’t get me wrong, they’re good at what they do. But you’re better. Price has asked about bringing you onto our team.”

“Pretty sure I’d slow you down,” you muttered. Yeah, your team had no qualms in dropping piles of paperwork on your desk, leaving their shit in the gym for you to clean up, and made a point of never inviting you out after work hours. But you didn’t join the military to become best buddies with everyone. You were good at your job, but you weren’t task force material. The 141 were the guys that went in when no one else could. You were the person they sent in when it was a mid-level threat.

“Top of your recruitment class, high marks in everything except in things we can easily train you on. Besides, we got some demolition nuts already. Don’t need a third one of you or Price will go gray by next year. You’re one of the best analysts and have prepared more missions than most. Price thinks you should join us.”

You took a sip of your water to jostle the dryness out of your throat and then screwed the cap back on. Your eyes caught his and you met his stare head on. The Ghost should scare you. He should make you avert your gaze and apologize for daring to look.

He had never made you feel that way. From the moment you were assigned to this base, to this unit, to this office, the Ghost had been distant but decently nice. You had seen him ream out privates for forgetting to tuck their pants into their boots before. Hell, you could hear him yelling at privates and cadets as they attempted the obstacle courses in the pouring rain while you were inside. But he had never raised his voice with you. 

Sure, he had been firm and even snapped once or twice, but he hadn’t yelled the way he had at the kid who tracked mud through the halls last week. Simon made him get a bucket and a brush and to scrub the floors by hand so the janitors wouldn’t have to clean up his mess.

“You’re an established team already. I would just throw off the dynamics.”

“Garrick and Soap already agree they want you in,” he retorted.

Maybe you had a concussion too. Your mind was fuzzy with the details when the 141 came to evac your team. The pain had started to make your brain go foggy when they breached the building. How did you get onto the heli? Surely you walked, right? But you can also remember someone shaking you. That hurt like a bitch. Your team hadn’t given a shit about you at that point when they were busy saving their own hides. 

“What do you think about me joining?” The words left you before you could reel them back. You wanted to know. You were terrified of the answer. He had given you this hope, but was he cruel enough to take it away? Was this the Ghost toying with you? You wished you could see his face.

He merely stood and grabbed the stack of files from your desk, nodded curtly, and exited your office without another word. You waited until the door shut behind him before you let out a long, frustrated breath.

“That motherfucker,” you swore under your breath. Fucking hell, your shoulder ached. Your head ached too. You let it fall against the cool wood of your desk and shut your eyes in an attempt to ward off the exhaustion, pain, and embarrassment that now burned its way through your chest.

Might as well get this goddamn fucking report done.

You sat back up, pushed it all aside, compartmentalized, breathed. You opened the folder and began to peck at the keyboard once more.

Once it was done and sent to the appropriate COs and channels, you grabbed your bag and made your way down the hall towards the Mess. You were almost out of the office quadrant when a gruff voice called your name. Captain Price exited his office and extended his hand, luckily the opposite of your uninjured one so it wasn’t an awkward shake.

“Got your transfer paperwork drawn up and ready, if you want to sign it before you head out. Get you over to our team faster. I’ve heard great things from your CO and I’ve seen the work you’ve done in the field. It’ll be nice having someone more level headed than those muppets.” He paused and an almost pained look took over his face. “How likely are you to accidentally set off an explosive just for shits and giggles?”

You stifled a laugh and followed him into his office so you could sign those papers.

“Simon has told me what he’s seen during your training. You’ll be a great asset to have on the 141,” Price continued once you signed your name without hesitation. You paused once his words sunk in and looked up at your new boss.

“Ghost has talked about me?”

“Christ, I think he might be ready to make some fucking t-shirts with your face on it. Thought he damn near ripped the spines out of those boys who had you doing their reports. Don’t tell him I told you that. He’d take a right fucking piss out of me.”

“Your secret’s safe with me, sir,” you assured.

“Right, dismissed then. Be here at 0700 tomorrow. I don’t give a shit if you’re on IR, we’ll find something for you that isn’t pecking the keys until your eyes fall out from staring at that screen.” You nodded and didn’t even try to fight the smile that crept onto your face. It lingered on your face, right next to the phantom touch of the Ghost’s gloves when he grasped your face the moment they found you in that warehouse.

[vaguesxrrow]

charles x alive reader w a sprinkle of angst? established relationship pls? maybe the reader is going off to college (american reader) and like the reader is getting older but charles is not and maybe there’s a little sprinkle of fear with that? happy ending tho pls!! tysm i love ur writing!

tysm for the request !! hope i didnt keep you waiting too long and this is what you had in mind

charles / alive!reader - getting older and going to college

a/n: for the purposes of this fic reader is going to college early at around 17

wc: 1027

tags: gender neutral reader, alive reader, american reader

your fingers trembled as you moved the cursor to the email from the college you had applied to. standing above you, charles guided your hand, keeping it steady. "whatever happens, i love you, yeah?"

you huffed a laugh. "i know that, silly."

"just trying to reassure my awesome, genius [boy/girlfriend/partner]."

rolling your eyes, you clicked on the email. your gaze zeroed in on the word at the top, in big bold letters: CONGRATULATIONS.

"holy shit," you breathed. you stood up to look at charles incredulously.

"HOLY SHIT!" charles yelled, grabbing you by the shoulders and shaking you excitedly. "i TOLD you!" he tugged you into a hug, jumping up and down. you pulled apart, only for him to kiss you and draw your bodies together again. you grinned into his lips.

"you." charles punctured his worlds with kisses to your cheek. "are. amazing."

you laughed at his antics. this was your dream college, and you would be happy about it. you wouldn't think about how, when you inevitably left, charles might not be there to cheer you on like he was right now.

no - what mattered was that he was here, and you were together in this moment, at least.

you kissed him again.

⌦ ---

edwin and crystal were on your right, and charles was on your left, rubbing circles into your hand. jenny had closed down her butcher shop for the night, because 'it's your birthday. it's a special occasion.' you had smiled then, and hugged her tight to show your gratitude.

the lights were dimmed, and niko's decor expertise meant fairy lights draped across every available surface, including the moose taxidermy head. she had also tied pink ribbons to its antlers.

jenny and niko emerged from the back room - jenny held a cake, lit with 17 candles. niko animatedly followed her. "jenny was scared i'd drop the cake," she informed everyone. "but i placed the candles - that's why they're in a heart! and i wrote the message in frosting."

"aww, they do make a heart," you said. "that's so cute."

jenny carefully put down the cake in front of you. you leaned forward and grinned at what niko wrote on it - 'WE LOVE YOU!!' in impeccable cursive, and then a small 'happy birthday' underneath it. niko hurried to stand next to charles, and jenny went to stand across from you all.

jenny pulled out her phone and held it up to record a video (even if ghosts couldn't show up on recordings). "sing happy birthday, guys!" she said.

everyone sang - even edwin. you smiled sincerely at all your friends, and mouthed a 'thank you' to jenny behind the camera.

"presents time!" niko squealed.

"ooh, me first," crystal said. she held out to you a box that had materialised from seemingly from nowhere. it was a simple brown, with a dark purple bow. you opened the box to find a novel you had been searching for for ages now - you were touched she remembered - and a soft sweater. you 'aww'ed' at her and gave her a hug.

edwin handed you a leather-bound notebook and a fancy pen - both of which were engraved with your name on it. "i happened to know a person who did custom engravements," he said simply, when you tried to thank him.

jenny gave you a pair of headphones from a brand you knew was not cheap. you gaped at her. "seriously?" you squealed.

"what? isn't it what teenagers like nowadays?"

you tackled her into a hug.

niko gifted you a very detailed drawing of you, her, crystal, edwin, and charles. "i wanted you to have a picture of all of us for when you go to college, but we can't exactly photograph the boys."

you smiled at her sincerely, even as something anxious twisted in your chest. charles was last to give you your present, and your forced smile barely concealed the sadness welling up inside you. from the pockets of his jacket, he pulled out a metal... contraption about the size of a phone.

"it's a music box kind of thing," he explained. "i got it at tragic mick's, and it's got all your favourite songs in it, plus a few others that reminded me of you."

you kissed him in lieu of a ‘thanks’, cradling the gift gently in your hands.

even with all the celebration and presents, though, you couldn't shake the underlying fear in you at the thought of getting older, and having to move on - move away - to other things.

⌦ ---

after cake and good-natured banter around the table, everyone returned to their rooms - crystal went to bed, but you could hear the soft sound of scooby doo and edwin's inquiring voice from niko's room. charles had followed you to yours, not that you were complaining.

"i know we still have a lot of time till i leave," you said immediately after you shut the door. "but i'm gonna miss you a lot."

"hey, listen," charles said, taking your face in his hands. "i promise, [name], that i will mirror travel to you no matter what, at least once a week. although we both know it'll be more than that, yeah? cause i could never be away from you for that long."

you laughed. "yeah."

"and that's why i'm giving this to you." charles reached into his pocket again, this time withdrawing a cloth satchet. "open it," he said as he placed it into your hands.

you complied, gasping in surprise as you found a gorgeously crafted pocket mirror.

"i'll mirror travel through it. it works - i've already tried." he said. "i know you're scared about what might happen, and i am too. but let's just take things day by day, yeah?" his hands moved from your face to your shoulders, then down your arms - you shivered at his gentle touch - eventually coming to intertwine your fingers.

"cause right now," he continued. "you're my [boy/girlfiend/partner] and i'll put in all the needed effort to keep it this way. that sound good?"

you laughed in relief, a huge weight having been lifted off your shoulders and a bit teary-eyed. "yeah. that sounds brills."

[fairyhaos]

❍ the 2k event: minghao + password

alternative title: three words, eight letters

pairing: minghao x gn!reader

genre: college au, roommates au, friends to lovers, fluff

word count: 1068

warnings: none

event taglist (send ask to be added): @slytherinshua @rubywonu @weird-bookworm @amxlia-stars @pepperonijem @hannyoontify @my-moarmy-heart @suminsfav @minhui896 @haocovr @lockburn-castle @sweet-like-caramel @horanghae8

"Xu Minghao!"

There’s the sound of someone crashing through the apartment, and Minghao attempts to stifle his grin. Not even a second later, his bedroom door is thrown open and you stand at the threshold, laptop in hand, fuming.

“Xu Minghao,” you repeat, teeth gritted. “What have you done to my laptop?”

Minghao cocks an eyebrow. “I didn’t do anything.”

You scream, a frustrated yelp that would be much more terrifying if you weren’t pouting like a baby. It’s cute.

“Hao! Come on, I need this laptop for my assignments. Please, please tell me what the password is. What did you change it to?”

Minghao shakes his head, going back to his phone, sipping his cup of tea. “I told you, I didn’t do anything.”

There’s a long silence. He looks up.

You fold your arms, the laptop still dangling in one of your hands. You stare at your roommate for several seconds longer, before turning around on your heel with a sniff.

“Fine. I’m gonna call your mother and tell her that you’ve been bullying me.”

“Wait!” Immediately, he sets down his teacup and scrambles out of bed, following you as you run into the kitchen to dial Minghao’s mother and tattle on him. “Wait! Y/N, no, wait, I’ll give you a hint.”

“No. Give me the whole password,” you say, dangling your phone in the air, out of Minghao’s reach.

It works for all of five seconds, because Minghao is some crazy flexible person with ridiculously long arms. He snatches your phone away, exiting you out of the phone app and shutting your phone down. You whine, attempting to snatch your phone back but he holds a hand over your face, keeping you in place.

“A hint,” he repeats firmly, and there’s desperation in his eyes, along with something… warm? “I’ll give you a hint, and you won’t call my mother.”

You remove Minghao’s hand from your face, huffing. The laptop is on the counter beside you, and you glance at it before looking up at Minghao again.

“Fine,” you say at last, making grabby hands for your phone. “Gimme a hint.”

Minghao grins, bright and happy again. “The password is three words, eight letters. All lowercase.”

You huff as Minghao plops the phone back into your hand and then retreats back to his room. “That’s not a very safe password!” you yell back at him.

“Have fun!” is all he replies.

You roll your eyes, unable to stop yourself from smiling, just a little, at his antics.

———————————— ⌨️

“This absolute idiot,” you mutter to yourself, typing angrily on your laptop. “How can three words only have eight letters between them?”

The sun is now dipping below the horizon, slowly bleeding into the darkness of the night, and you’re still locked out from your own laptop. After receiving your hint from Minghao, you’d sat down at your desk, cracked your knuckles, and set to work.

It’s been hours since then. You’ve had your laptop bar you from inputting a password attempt at least ten times. You’re five more ‘incorrect password’ messages from tearing the thing to pieces.

“Minghao!” you yell. “Tell me my password!”

You receive no reply.

“Why did you change my password in the first place?”

Silence.

“Minghao, I hate you!”

Minghao laughs. “I love you, too!”

You grumble to yourself, staring at the log-in page in front of you. The log-in page stares mockingly back. The cursor continues blinking at you, and really, who knew that cursors knew how to look like they were laughing?

“I bet it’s something really simple,” you groan. “If I were Minghao, what would I change Y/N’s password to? What would annoy Y/N the most?”

This third-person thinking really just proved how the whole situation was driving you insane.

You frown down at your laptop, chin in hand, tapping your cheek thoughtfully.

“Minghao! Is it a sentence?”

There’s a brief pause. “Yes.”

Your eyes light up. “Of course! I-H-A-T-E-Y-O-U!”

The sound of dry laughter floats across the hall from Minghao’s bedroom. “Haha, Y/N, very funny.” He pauses. “You’re not far off, though.”

“What, you hate me?”

“No!” Minghao pokes his head out of his room, glaring at you. “Figure out your password yourself.”

“You’re the one who changed it!”

Minghao just shrugs, as if to say ‘that’s your problem’, and his head disappears with a slam of his bedroom door.

“Idiot,” you mutter. “What’s close to ‘I hate you’, anyway?”

But then you freeze, a shiver running down your spine, fingers halting on top of the keyboard. What if it’s not ‘I hate you’ but rather… 

Your brain is screaming at you, telling you to get out of your fantasies, but your heart is thrumming in your chest with hope, faint, foolish hope, and your fingers shakily input the letters anyway, holding your breath.

You press the ‘Enter’ key.

Your laptop’s homescreen wallpaper flashes up in front of you.

———————————— ⌨️

Minghao wakes up to a laptop in his lap, and a post-it note slapped on the lid.

He rubs his eyes, wondering idly if it’s a note telling him that you’ve taken his laptop hostage until he tells you the password to yours, before pausing. Because this is his laptop in his lap, right now, and your obnoxiously bright pink post-it note has a mere four words written on it.

Four words, eleven letters.

Minghao tilts his head, smiling, suddenly much more awake. The apartment is quiet, almost unusually so, and he can almost see you in his mind’s eye, already wide awake in your own room, waiting to see what his reaction will be.

Part of him is proud that you figured out the password to your own laptop. Part of him is annoyed that you messed with his in retaliation.

Well, he supposes, he kind of started this.

He thinks he already knows what you’ve changed his password to, considering the fact that you’ve decided to respond in this way rather than storm into his room and yell in his ear before promptly trying to pack a bag and leave him. 

Nevertheless, he won’t deny that his heartbeat is abnormally loud as he opens the laptop lid, typing in the password that comes to mind.

I love you too.

The log-in page pauses, loading, as if intentionally prolonging Minghao’s anticipation, before then it lets him in, presenting him with his laptop’s homescreen.

Minghao smiles.

[charmercharm3r]

Phases

Phase Four; The Bigger Bed

LMH, HJS

Masterlist, Story Masterlist

wc: 4.2k

Synopsis: Whoever said patience is a virtue never met Jisung and Minho.

warnings: smut, explicit sexual content, poly!minsung, mxfxm, mxm, barely switch!jisung, sub!minho, barely softdom!fem reader, oral (m), gender envy?, cumming untouched, cum swapping, minho is rich rich fr

☆ﾟcan be read as stand alone

Phase Three ☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ Phase Four ☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ Phase Five

☆ﾟ

“Will you sit down? We all have to agree or else I’ll be silently wallowing in self consciousness for all of eternity.” You pull out the seat next to you for Jisung to fill, Minho on your other side with his arm slung over the backrest.

“I’m fine with anything you pick out for the room, I just want a bigger bed.”

“Same,” Minho combed his long hair back, gently caressing the back of your neck. “Pick out any decorations you like.”

“No, because if I pick out, like, a throw pillow neither of you like then you’ll be forced to look at it all day every day, then hating the throw pillow will turn into bottled up emotions. Bottled up emotions turn into hatred, hatred towards me for picking ugly pillows. Hating me will turn into kicking me out and making me sleep on the cold, hard ground with nothing but the throw pillow that caused you years of hidden resentment that could’ve been avoided if you’d only helped me pick out room decorations.” Your boyfriends were silent, looking at each other behind your head with raised eyebrows and unconvinced grins.

The laptop in front of you has had pages of home shopping sites open for the past week and making your engines run slower because of how many items were in each of their carts. “So please,” you pulled up the first item in the first webpage, “tell me if you like it or not.”

Jisung leaned in and rested his chin on your shoulder, “...it’s a pretty ugly throw pillow, babe.”

You scoffed and pushed his forehead back with your finger. “This is why I need you both here! I don’t wanna lay outside with an ugly throw pillow to keep me company.”

Minho massaged the nape of your neck with nimble fingers, doing little to soothe you. But he leaned in closer to the computer as well, squinting his eyes and using his free hand to move your hand away to take control of the cursor and look around the page. He’d only scrolled down two or three times to find the recommended items and clicked the first one he saw. “I like blue.”

You turned to face him slowly with a raised brow. He seemed to be objective in the matter, then quirked the corners of his mouth for a light smile and quickly pecked your lips. Although you weren’t entirely convinced they were taking this seriously, it was a start. “Blue… I can work with that. But do you prefer navy blue? Cyan? Royal? Aqua? Baby blue? Maybe more of a cobalt–”

“Oooh, they have sapphire blue!” Jisung stole the laptop entirely and began clicking around, adding things to the cart without consultation.

The three of you were sat at the dining room table for about an hour and a half. You let Jisung pick out stuff he liked, then passed the computer to Minho so he could do the same. Of all the things they chose, you narrowed it down to a final list and figured that it could wait one more day as you all grew too hungry to enjoy online shopping anymore. Minho had suggested he cook something quick, though it wouldn’t be filling. That was when Jisung begged for a cheat night and to order takeout, the both of them looked at you for an opinion.

“I kinda want pizza,” made the younger of your boyfriends jump up and let out a hooray and move to the couch.

Naturally, you and Minho followed and crowded into the tight space. The seating arrangement was always the same, Minho on the left, Jisung in the middle, you on the right. As Jisung placed the order for dinner, you rested your back against the armrest and threw your legs onto his lap. He kept your knees against his abdomen as Minho let his head fall to Jisung’s shoulder. Minho absentmindedly played with your sock-covered toes, tugging and twiddling them while watching Jisung’s phone. The sight itself was cute, you just had to pull out your phone and take a quick photo of them.

Three slices each and thirty minutes later, you’d let out a long, content sigh and moved to the floor so you could lay out. The other two were still going at the pizza, Minho took the opportunity to slip his feet under your shirt and rub your belly. “Cold feet,” you shooed him off and he frowned.

Mouth full of crust, Jisung suggested, “let's go mattress shopping tomorrow.”

“Y’know what?” Your hands coming to rest behind your head made your shirt rise and Minho snuck his feet under it again with a mischievous giggle. “Neither of you asked me to move in.”

“What? Yes we did,” Jisung mumbled at you and joined in playing footsies with the brunette on your belly.

“No you didn’t. I still have my apartment.”

“You can’t afford that,” Minho interjected, frowning.

“I know. So ask me to move in. Or find a new foot warmer.”

“Do I need to?”

“Yeah, it’s not official. I’m a freeloader. Not a penny paid in rent.”

“You don’t pay rent either,” Minho turned to Jisung, staring at the blank television across the room. He didn’t respond, poked in the cheek by the brunette.

“Hm? What’re we talking about?”

“Rent.”

“The musical?”

You and Minho shared a knowing look as he twisted on the couch to lay his head in Minho’s lap. Silence fell over the three of you as conversation died down while comfort took over. Delicate fingers ran through his blonde hair, massaging lightly and making Jisung’s head fall towards you, seeing his eyes slowly close with contentment.

Both you and Minho watched with soft gazes as his snores filled the room, eyes eventually meeting with one another and lazily, happily smiling at one another. Unnoticed to either, but your breaths came to time with the sleeping blonde’s, chests rising and falling in a rhythm similar to that of a sleeping baby’s, not a care in the world.

Except maybe one care in the world.

Labels aren’t everything, having one doesn’t mean you are more or less to either Minho or Jisung and they love you regardless. It didn’t feel one sided— or in this case, three sided, however there was a lingering feeling that told you you just wanted reassurance. Being on the same page with Minho was the one thing that always needed to be obvious, it had to be one of the things you always knew you were on because he was already cautious and tip-toed every step he took.

His facial expressions don’t get easier to read, but body language always gives him away. Minho is a master masker, though that only ever applied to carefully chosen words and intonation. The way he busied his fingers twisting Jisung’s hair, lovingly caressed your belly and sides with his feet, but his shoulders were tense and kept his knees pressed together in such a way that couldn’t have been comfortable despite how hard he tried to present as such.

Breaking him from his thoughts in a manner that made him feel at ease or in control, you felt rather confident in doing. You silently point at a pillow at his side and he hands it to you wordlessly to place beneath your head. With hands free you could place one on top of his foot to stop his twiddling, his eyes softened and knew you were there if he needed.

You weren’t sure if he was thinking the same thing you were, but in a half whisper, spoke anyway. “There’s something else you haven’t asked me.”

Minho bit his lip and slowed his twiddling fingers, looking down briefly at the sleeping boy in his lap. “Did he ask?”

You nod, “you don’t have to, I don’t need it. But I wanna be at the same step as you, wherever you are, if you know what I mean.”

“I do,” the corner of his mouth twitched upward, “why don’t you ask me instead?”

“I’m an intruder, give me permission to enter.”

“Baby, you’re our girlfriend, not a vampire.”

“Keep tossing that word around lightly ‘nd I’ll be allergic to garlic and holy water.”

“So you do need it.” He got you there, caught you tongue tied with that sly smirk and triumphant stare of his.

With a deep sigh, you reasoned, “I don’t need it. Like I said… just wanna be wherever you are.”

Minho’s eyes crinkled with his slanted smile, “come here and ask me.” He raised his feet up so you could stand, patting the little bit of couch space on his other side. As you sat as carefully as possible to avoid waking Jisung, Minho intertwined his fingers in your hair at the back of your neck, where he always tended to end up being.

Your body faced his and Jisung’s sleeping form, tops of your thighs pressed to his side and joining in pushing the blonde’s bangs from his face to admire. Minho could see the light flush across your cheeks as you thought of what you wanted to say, gently stealing away from Jisung to tip your chin in his direction. He waited, not verbally rushing you but also too giddy within his skin to not plead with his big, round eyes to hurry you up.

“Min,” he nodded rapidly, “will you—“

“Yes,” Minho pulled you by the chin to crash his lips against yours for a few electrically charged kisses. You pull away to giggle against him, “I didn’t finish the ques—“

“Ask me again,” he didn’t stop placing supple pecks to your lips, all the while smiling and keeping you close.

“Will you,” peck, “be my,” smooch, “boyfriend?”

“Yes,” press, “yes,” kiss, “yes,” a deep inhale to breathe in the happiness that radiated off of you. Minho obviously enjoyed how flustered the question made you, in particular loving how you smiled against his lips, as well. 

The snoozing boy below stirred, flipping to look up at where you and Minho were sharing the kiss. “What about meee?”

You couldn’t help but giggle against the brunette’s plump puckers before leaning down to kiss sleepy Jisung, Minho following as well, then deciding to turn in for the night. 

Somehow, the three of you managed to wrangle together to do as Jisung wanted, which was to go mattress shopping. He wanted the full experience, sheets, duvets, variety of pillows with different hardness and shape. Jumping from mattress to mattress, you had to hold his hand just to keep him nearby so as to not get lost. Aside from the mattress itself, the sheet thread count, and silk pillowcases, Jisung also requested a bed frame with sturdy posts. What that meant for you and Minho, the two of you shared a half worried, half excited look.

“Ours is a Queen, so King sized should be good enough. Nicee leg room,” Minho suggested as the three of you came closer and closer to the back of the store. Your arm was getting tugged in another direction as you tried to follow Minho, Jisung wanting to run off towards the accent blankets.

“Stay,” you instruct as you tug him back to your side. Turning back to the brunette, “is a California King too much to ask for?”

“Ooh, I want a California King,” Jisung held onto your arm to join in the conversation.

Minho only rolled his eyes at the pair of you, looking back at the row of king sized beds and sitting on the edge of one. He pressed his hand into it and examined the feeling, then suddenly hopped up and threw his entire body back into the center of the bed. You expected that from Jisung, but not Minho, and definitely not in public. Then he did it again, harder to the point that the flimsy display it was on shook beneath it.

Jisung let go of your hand and jumped onto the mattress next to him with Minho’s arms wide open to catch. “I like this one. However,” Jisung giggled as they both looked at you and made the littlest bit of room for you to join them. Minho wiggled his eyebrows and presented his hand over the little space. “You know you wanna,” he enticed further, and you just couldn’t help it, running the few steps forward and literally lept into their arms. The three of you were a fit of giggles as you maneuvered into your respective sleeping arrangements to make sure you all managed well.

The commotion caught the attention of a salesman and he strolled over with confusion, “can I… help you lot?”

With laughter in his voice, Jisung sat up, “yeah! We’ll take this one.”

Same day delivery came in clutch purely because the three of you were out $1,000 for the king sized mattress, plus the bedframe and whatever little things Jisung added to the cart at the last minute. You were surprised Minho’s card didn’t decline at the check out, the look on his face screamed that he was just as shocked.

It was nearly midnight when the three of you had finally worked together to finish tossing out the old mattress and frame, building the new one, and adding the finishing touches to your new ambiance. 

Stood at the foot of the bed, you all looked at it proudly. “Good job everyone. Good team work,” you nod your head and cross your arms over your shoulders, hearing your boyfriends high five behind your back.

Jisung yawned, “fuck, I’m fucking tired,” and hopped into the middle of the bed.

“Get off, you’re still in your outside clothes!” Minho scolded him but made no effort to remove the blonde.

“Make me,” Jisung smirked and raised an eyebrow, tucking his arms beneath his head.

You and Minho look at each other, reading each other's mind scarily in sync before coming after Jisung together. The blonde laughed as the two of you helped one another strip him, not bothering being gentle, “hey! This isn’t what I meant! I thought– ouch, Y/N! Watch the balls! Why are you always crushing my nuts?!”

Soon enough, you had Jisung with his naked back pressed to your chest with your other boyfriend kissing his way down. Your only job was to hold him down– for now. He shivered in your grasp with goosebumps covering the expanse of his skin. Minho looked up at the two of you through his bangs, big dark eyes starry and eager to please. It was a miracle Jisung wasn’t fighting back and was taking every command you gave, a nice change of pace. You enjoyed how well he listened, and Minho didn’t seem to mind taking orders from you, either.

“Sit still, baby. You asked for this. Take it like a champ. Or pussy out, it doesn’t matter to me. But,” Jisung whined before you could finish, clearly not liking your passive attitude. “I think our Min would be so disappointed if you didn’t let him play. After all, he did just buy you such an expensive gift. Isn’t that right, pretty kitty?”

The older smiled into the honey skin of Jisung’s inner thigh, paying no attention to how hard and twitching his cock was just centimeters away. “Mhm, it’d make me so sad,” Minho said softly as he paid as much attention to the other limb. Jisung fought your hold to thread through the brunette’s hair, not very hard, but enough to have to wrap your hand around his throat from behind.

“What’d I say? He hasn’t even touched you yet, don’t be a brat.”

As your fingers gripped tighter, “nah, that’s your job, pup.”

You squeezed tightly and tugged him slightly side ways so you cold peer over his shoulder, “that’s fucking right. You couldn’t handle what I could put you through if things were the other way around.”

Both of them were shocked at what was coming out of your mouth, Jisung’s jaw dropping into a stutter and Minho teething his pelvis to keep from laughing obnoxiously for doing what he never could– speak back.

“T– that’s not true,” his tone was already willing to give up that fight.

“You can’t even do this one thing, baby. Trust me, take what’s in front of you while you’ve got it,” the whisper of your voice made him shiver again and fall pliant against your body.

Spreading your legs, Jisung sat back more comfortably, visibly succumbing to the new role he was playing. Minho continued to watch your eyes as he touched the blonde everywhere but his cock, pinching his calves, biting his lower belly, licking stripes up and down his thighs until you finally nodded and singled for him to continue further.

Minho only stuck the tip of his tongue out to nudge at Jisung’s leaking red tip and the blonde threw his head back against your shoulder. One hand around his neck, you slithered the other to his nipple, hardly brushing over the already pebbled nub. Minho kept going, licking fatter and wetter strides of the muscle against the underside of Jisung’s dick, not caring for how much the younger mewled for more.

Minho was only listening to you tonight, and you had to admit the power was kinda getting to  your head. You let him do nothing but lick at the other like a popsicle until he was drooling to have something heavier in his mouth. Only when he reached out to place a hand on your shin did you nod again, and Minho took the entire length in one go.

Jisung struggled to not buck his hips up, tummy contracting and muscles flexing so tight you thought he wasn’t breathing.

“Watch him, baby. Watch him make you feel good. You want to repay him, don’t you? I thought you said you weren’t a brat. It’d be the kind thing to do.” Jisung grabbed onto your forearm that held his throat and continued to moan.

You’d always heard of phantom limb and how it was a true medical diagnosis, however you have all your home-grown appendages. Watching the way Minho slurped and sucked Jisung’s cock made your own core painfully throb like you could feel him taking you in his mouth, as well. You just knew it must be so warm, so slick and plush, you couldn’t even blame Jisung for not being able to do as you asked as you were having a hard time not touching yourself, too.

God, Minho looked so sexy with a dick in his mouth, more specifically Jisung’s pretty, pretty dick. The younger’s wonderfully built body was a sight for sore eyes, well defined abs on display like a washboard you imagined to be like your own. In no way are you displeased with your body, but it never hurts to fantasize. After all, you’re the only part of this throuple without a third leg, and you know Jisung would find it flattering that you used him to get off like this. You weren’t even really getting off, more like storing away some spank bank for later.

Your finger circled Jisung’s nipple a little harder, pinching when he got too rowdy and threatened to toss Minho off. The brunette took every instruction with a sly smirk, doing some of his best work without an inkling of punishment lingering over his shoulder.

Don’t get him wrong, Minho does things on purpose to get punished, you figured that out pretty quickly. But with you holding the reigns, he had no worries whatsoever. He was slobbering like a dog on Jisung’s cock, so messy you could see the glistening of mixed saliva and precum all over the lower half of his face. He used both hands to hold the other down as he deepthroated him, gagging and holding for as long as he could. Fuck, you felt that one right in your clit, sending shocks all throughout your body.

“Doesn’t he look so hot? Be polite, baby, tell him how he’s making you feel,” you say loud enough for them to hear you, simultaneously switching hands to play with his other nipple.

“Good– so good, fuck– wanna cum. Can I? Can I cum?” He was so whiney and voice so small, like he was scared you’d say no.

You looked to Minho, “what do you think kitty? Is baby allowed to cum?”

The brunette released his cock with a pop and a deep breath, “hmm… No.”

Jisung let out a loud, pained sob. “Y– you’re gonna regret that when I–”

“When you what? When we let you go? What makes you so sure we’re ever gonna do that?” Another whimper from Jisung and an approving nod, a muffled chuckle from a mouth full of cock from Minho. “Where did your manners go, baby? You haven’t even thanked our kitty for treating you like the little whore you are. You’re gonna make him think you just want his money.” Jisung quickly shook his head no in protest.

“Right, kitty? Is he just your sugar baby? Taking your money like you owe it to him?” Your stare down at Minho made him groan as well, grinding his hips into your brand new and freshly washed comforter.

“I don’t know, he hasn’t even thanked me.”

You all knew what you were saying wasn’t true, but it got both Jisung and Minho worked even further up. You had to tighten your grip on Jisung’s neck to the point where he was digging his nails into your skin to make him sit still. “You’re being rude, baby. I didn’t teach you that. Thank kitty for treating you so well.”

He tried, he really did, but could emit nothing but louder, more unfiltered moans. Honestly it made you proud, Minho was doing such a good job. But Jisung’s lesson was prioritized over the other’s praise for the time being, you’ll make sure to tell him after.

Minho worked faster taking him in deeper, bobbing up and down at a pace that would’ve strained your neck. But fuck was it making you so close to cumming just being able to watch, you weren’t even sure how Jisung has lasted this long. If you had a cock, you would’ve blown the second he took you in his mouth.

“It’s just three words, you can do it. ‘Thank you, kitty.’ Say it and maybe you can cum.”

You and Minho made eye contact again and he nodded briefly in agreement. Jisung was getting antsier and less responsive,you tweaked his nipple to get him to open his mouth.

“Th– thank you, kitty.” He said it like he was learning to speak for the first time.

“Cum.”

Minho moaned onto Jisung’s cock as the younger turned his head towards you, “kiss! Kiss me– Fuck, ‘m gonna cum– kiss–”

Jisung reached back to lock his fingers in your hair and tug you into a breathless kiss, absorbing every one of his whimpers as he bucked into the brunette’s mouth. It felt like it was you who was cumming hearing and feeling Jisung writhe in your arms, like you could feel yourself shooting hot white cum down Minho’s throat and feeling him attempt to swallow it with you still stuffing his mouth full. You needed the kiss just as badly, the only thing that could possibly ground you after another intense case of phantom dick.

Jisung let you go once he calmed down, falling entirely limp against your chest. Minho sat up, a clear wet stain at the front of his pants making you smile as he shuffled over to you and took your chin between his thumb and forefinger. He opened his mouth and showed you the pool of white fluid, pulling you in for a more graceful, just as sloppy kiss. His tongue pushed the cum past your lips and you could feel it drip down the corners of your mouth, running down your chin and neck. Tangy, salty, but somehow hints of sweet in the aftertaste as you broke the kiss and swallowed.

When you looked back at the blonde, he was watching the two of you with another longing gaze, he wanted in on the action. Minho placed a chaste, cum smeared kiss to his lips, then you bent over for one as well. Despite the sliminess, it was a heartfelt kiss, one that made the three of you giggle as you realized that Jisung was the only one naked but not the only one that came.

“What a way to christen the new bed,” you joked softly, nodding your head at the stain on Minho’s pants.

Minho simply laughed and swiped the tiniest bit of cum still on the corner of his lip, licking it off his finger like lingering dessert. “I think I like the new bed,” he hummed delightedly.

“All this newfound leg room and you both still decide on pinning me down in one spot.”

“Don’t be mad. You said make you, and we made you.” You reach for the box of tissues on the bedside table, handing one to them and wiping your faces semi clean.

Jisung shifted, rubbing his back against your pants and sitting up. “Wait… You’re both in outside clothes on the new bed.”

It was silent for a moment as you and Minho made eye contact. He beat you to the punch with a valid excuse, “I paid for it.”

Jisung narrowed his gaze up at you and you blanked. “I… I got nothing.”

The blonde sat up, scooting next to Minho and leaning his head on his shoulder. “Pretty kitty, I think our puppy got ahead of herself, and I don’t think we’ve broken in the bed enough yet. What were you saying about manners?”

☆ﾟ

A/M: god this took me so fucking long to update i’m so sorry

tags: @sensitiveandhungry @babebatter @changbinluvr @epiphanynaffit @fawnpeaks @linovely @dumplinbokkieracha @finnydraws @naturules @djeniryuu @hamburgers101 @skzhomiehopper @yesv01 @hyunjinsamdl @dazzlingligth @lvrhyuk @alexis-reads-fics @linaliskz @0002linoskitten @chillichillicrabcrab23 @zerefdragn33l @straycrescent @binnies-donuts @soldierstangirl-blog @bakedlilgoonie @levanterlily @shelbyyy44 @yeetmehome @in2heartz @astroodledream @the-sweetest-rose @goblinracha @lilbugs-things @viviennenstan @staurdvst @alex--awesome--22 @imzenning @jeyelleohe @iadorethemskz @skyvastbunny @mamabymychem @katsukis1wife @woozarts @noellllslut

[snailsdraw]

[Start ID: 3 pages of HLVRAI narrative doodles exploring an idea in which Benrey is a sentient, digital, game-hopping anomaly who chances upon Half-Life.

A window pops up in the void of digital space, an invitation with a 'yes' and 'no' option to join a new game: Half Life. A sentient hand cursor hovering before it goes: "oh yeahh, new game. yeah, duh," before clicking on the 'yes' option. Said cursor is then gifted a body to explore the game in. It is a short, round body with a stark shadow across the eyes that never seems to go away - a body we recognise as Benrey. He blows a rasberry at the scientist uniform and lab coat the game assigns him first and complains: "aw boo, don't wanna be no nerd. lil nerd boy." His outfit swaps itself for a military uniform. Unimpressive. "this game got no good skins or somethin'?" he says. Finally, the game settles on a security guard outfit. Benrey adjusts his new helmet: "oh wait no, this one's cool."

The words "Role Generating…" pop up over his head, and he pokes at it with a finger and grins: "heyy, not an NPC anymore. nice." His attention is drawn to a new character materialising nearby to his left, namely Gordon Freeman, a white bespectacled man in an HEV suit. There are words floating above this character too, and Benrey reads it aloud: "pro-tag-on-ist." Protagonist. Benrey flashes a cheeky grin: "a pro, huh? we'll see about that, noob."

3 more characters in scientist uniforms materialise to his right, which prompts a soft "wuh?" from Benrey. The nearest character is a tall Chinese man, followed by an old, balding and portly white gentleman with a mustache, and then a thin elderly white man with glasses. Above the 3, namely Tommy, Dr Coomer, and Bubby respectively, is the title "AI". "yo, nerd boys alert. they look cool, though," Benrey says, and his gaze floats off dreamily as he continues, "man, we're gonna be great friends. no more baby script for Benny boy, he's all evolved now-" He's cut off abruptly by his own floating title finally settling on a role for him. "Antagonist", it reads. The game begins counting down to its initation, and he stares at his role title with a look of what might be concern on his face before it switches to disappointment. "man, i don't wanna be an ant," he says. The game starts.

End ID.]

When you wanna have sentient fun times outside of reading NPC dialogue scripts with your new AI buddies but the game makes you an ant.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Unmanageable 1

Warnings: non/dubcon, and other dark elements. My username actually says you never asked for any of this.

My warnings are not exhaustive but be aware this is a dark fic and may include potentially triggering topics. Please use your common sense when consuming content. I am not responsible for your decisions.

Character: Pete Brenner

Summary: your manager sets his eye on your (plus!reader)

Part of the Backwoods AU

As usual, I would appreciate any and all feedback. I’m happy to once more go on this adventure with all of you! Thank you in advance for your comments and for reblogging.

A thump jolts you from your work. You glance over lazily, chin cupped in your hand, as the murmur of voices follow. You cluck and reach for your earbuds, popping them in your ears before you can hear the subsequent disturbance.

Your job isn't glorious. Nothing really is in Hammer Ford. You're the line IT tech at the local bank working on ancient PCs which can't handle the national system's updates. Most of your time is spent trying to make a simple process work.

Work is work. You could do much worse than sitting forgotten behind a desk as the bank manager gets his jollies off with the clerk. This decrepit town can't offer much better, in terms of both male counterparts and career prospects.

The wired buds don't really block out the ruckus. You lean on an elbow and clack away at your keyboard. It never lasts very long.

You pluck away as the clock above your door ticks on. You yawn with your eyes open, dropping lower and lower as your eyes glaze over. A knock has your spine straight.

You clear your throat and call out, "yes?"

The door opens. Pete, the manager, fixes his tie as he enters, one tail of his shirt untucked, "hey, uh, I was having some issues with my laptop. I know it's not a work device but... I don't wanna drive all the way to the city."

"Hmm, I can have a look after work," you shrug. It's usually nothing. You typically have people calling on you for support outside your office walls.

"After work..." he repeats, "the wife kinda is expecting me to take her out for dinner, so..."

You repress a sigh. He is the manager. If you fall behind, it will only be his own fault.

"Sure, you need me right now?"

His eye brow tweaks and he drags his fingers around his half-grown goatee, "need you... oh, yeah, should I bring it to you or..."

"What's easier for you, sir?"

He chuckles, "you know, you're the only person who calls me that."

You just stare at him. He's your boss and you'd like to keep it that way. You get up, "here, I'll just come look."

"Thanks, sweetie," he grins as you cross the office, "life saver."

"Mhm," you hum as you near him.

He doesn't move. He just stands, his arm across the doorway and watches you. You look past him and clear your throat.

"Right, right," he steps back and swings his arms down, "the computer."

He retreats and turns away. As he does, you see Marska giving him a flustered look. Gross.

You follow him into his office and waits by the door as you pass. You try not to think of what just happened in there. Thankfully, you're not his type.

You wince as the door clicks shut.

"Oh, you don't have to--"

"Right," he overrides your protest, "I'll just get my laptop."

He goes around his desk and pulls out a sleek macbook. You don't see many of those. He puts it facing you and opens the lid.

"I'll let you poke around," he says as he presses his fingertip to the censor to unlock it, "it's just the damn mousepad."

"Right," you step up and squint at the screen. You lean in touch the pad. It's definitely lagging.

He strides away, pacing on the other side of the desk, hands in his pockets.

"Thing's too fancy for me," he scoffs, "but I like the look of it."

"It's a good machine," you confirm as you go into his drivers, searching for updates.

You feel him watching you but shrug it off. Everyone's a little touchy when you're on their personal device. He stops and bounces on his feet.

The cursor continues to jump around as you scroll and suddenly a window pops open. Safari resumes it's last tab and you quickly hit command W as you see a pending wheel atop a very explicit video. Yikes.

You try to not show the slip up as you go back to searching the drivers, "you got antivirus?"

"Uhhh, I think," he answers as if it isn't essential.

"Hm, doesn't look like it," you mutter, "I'm updating the mouse driver but you need security software."

"Right," he comes around as you click through the system window to update. He stands behind you and watches over your shoulder, "got any recs? I'll get it set up right away."

"Bitdefender's good," you suggest.

"Mm," he leans down, against you, putting his hands on the desk on either side of the laptop, "think you could show me where to find that."

"I can send you a link," you grit out, prickling at his proximity.

"Well," you move your arm back, prodding him with your elbow, soft enough for it to seem accidental, "that should be fine once it updates."

He huffs but backs away. Your neck is stiff with tension. You face him and check your watch.

"I'll get back to it," you say.

"Yeah, thanks, sweetie," he chimes, "sure you don't want a coffee? Take a load off."

"I'm good," you insist, "got a lot to do."

You open the door before he can catch up to you. As you leave, Marska watches over her shoulder from the front desk. You ignore her and quickly hide in your office. Knowing Pete isn't too aware of security procedures, you should do a review of the serves to make sure everything's safe.