#i hate dry swallowing medicine

[cressthebest]

most useful skill i possess: ability to dry swallow pills

least favorite skill of all time to possess: dry swallowing pills

[lovelyney]

─────────𝐀 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐔𝐒──────

DESC: “Maybe he shouldn’t have hidden his feelings behind harsh words and accusations,” he thought as he stared at your lifeless body.

PAIRINGS: Tighnari x (GN!) Reader

SCENT: angst

WARNINGS: hanahaki, throwing up, blood, tighnari’s a dick, dead dove do not eat.

GOOD ENDING.

FLORIST’S NOTE: here it is! finally. also, autosave feature? bless u, tumblr gods.

FLORIST’S NOTE﹙02﹚: uh Fawn here a few months after this was published </3 i'm super flattered you all like this so much; truthfully, i'm very insecure about my ability to write good angst, so it means so much!!

SONG: Secret Garden ― Empath-P

YOU OBSERVED WITH DEFEATED EYES as Tighnari, yet again, swaddled your hands in gauze. You tried to take out a Withering Zone by yourself, wanting to help clear his schedule. However, despite having a vision of your own, you weren’t very familiar with the process and ended up getting hurt, much to the forest ranger’s dismay. 

Your throat ran dry as you struggled to find the right words to say without upsetting him more. It was clear he was about to snap at any moment, so you chose to stay silent, despite your anxiety eating away at the stillness.

“(NAME) for the last time, stop biting off more than you can chew,” the fox-eared boy berated, his gaze as bitter as the medicine he brews. “What was the point in bothering with something you clearly had no idea how to deal with? were you begging for a death wish?” 

You swallowed thickly, your stomach churning as he awaited your response. “My only intention was to take some of the burdens off your shoulders. . .” You answered feebly.

With an exasperated sigh, he rubbed his temples in frustration. “So you wanted to help me and ended up doing the exact opposite? Yeah, that sounds about right. 

“(NAME) this is what? The fifth time you’ve gotten yourself hurt trying to ‘help?’ Don’t you realize you’re only making things harder for the both of us?” Tighnari crossed his arms against his chest, growing more impatient with you by the minute. “Achons, we’re going to run out of medical supplies if you keep getting into situations like these. Can’t you learn to take a hint?” 

The harsh tone of his voice engulfed you in shame, his words ripping your heart into shreds. “I—I just—” your attempt to defend yourself was met with the burning stare of his multicolored eyes. 

He chastised, “save it, (NAME). You give me the same exact excuse every. single. time. Taking care of you like this again is already a migraine as it is.” With that, he packed the medical supplies into his backpack, not sparing you another glance. 

Tighnari criticizing and reminding you how all you do is pull everyone down had become routine by this point. He never told you directly that burdened everyone, yet he clearly didn’t care about hurting your feelings, so you never understood why he didn’t just give it to you straight.

He never acted so rashly to the other trainees, so it led you to believe that it was personal. That said, you don’t know what you did to make him hate you so much. And to add salt to the wound, you admired Tighnari a lot. Hidden beneath his sarcastic nature, he was diligent and dedicated to his work. You could tell he cared for everyone within the confines of the forest, although you highly doubted that to be your case. 

As you carefully observed him, you not-so-surprisingly developed feelings for him. You find it hard to believe now, but he treated you gently when you first met him. That memory felt so foreign after all he did was suffocate you with his accusations. Since then, you shoveled your feelings into the very back of your mind. 

“Are you even listening, (NAME)?” badgered Tighnari, snapping you out of your depressive reverie. 

Nodding slowly, you chewed the inside of your cheek, feeling your emotions consume you from the inside out. “Y—Yes, of course, Master. . .” 

“Really? Because ever since I got here, you’ve done nothing but stare at the ground helplessly.” He shook his head and sighed in defeat, “whatever. It’s not like you ever heed my advice anyways.

“Collei and I are going to be gone for a few days on an expedition. You are not to leave Gandhara Ville until I return. Do I make myself clear?” he said, his large ears flicking in aggravation.

That immediately grabbed your attention as your eyes shot open. You deflected, “I—I’m sorry?! Tighnari, I get that you’re mad at me and all, but I am not a child! I don’t need supervision!” Your face burned hot with humiliation as tears formed in your eyes. 

Tighnari’s eyes softened briefly at your defeated expression before returning to their normal venomous state. “Then quit giving me a reason to treat you like one, (NAME). Now, I’ll be taking my leave.” Before you could answer, he left your room, leaving you alone in your misery. 

After a few minutes of silence, Collei wandered in, her gaze saddening as she regarded your trembling figure. “Oh, (NAME). . .” She lamented and sat next to you, gingerly wrapping her arms around you. “I’m—I’m sorry. . . I don’t know why he’s been treating you so horribly lately; he’s usually never like this. . .” Muttered the girl as she rubbed circles on your back. “I’ll talk to him, o-okay? Please don’t cry. . .” 

Withdrawing from your friend’s hold, you rubbed away your tears with a forced smile in hopes of comforting her. “Don’t worry about me, Collei. I’ll—I’ll be alright,” you soothed, your weakened voice revealing the truth behind your words. 

Tighnari peeked his head over the opening, swallowing thickly when he noticed your tear-stained cheeks. “Collei, come with me, would you? I need to have a word with you.” He dictated, averting his regard away from you.

The girl perked up, “y—yes, Master!” She stood up and turned to you, carefully bringing your head to her chest once more. “I’ll figure something out, okay? D—Don’t worry,” she assured before bidding you goodbye and following Tighnari out. 

After the two left your line of sight, your throat and chest tightened. Scrambling into the bathroom, you stumbled over, suddenly coughing violently. You wiped the sweat from your temple, sighing in relief when it ceased. “What caused that I wonder?” You questioned and fluttered open your eyes. While staring downward at what appeared to be lotus petals, you suddenly felt overwhelming dizzy. Had it gotten that bad?

Your hands clutched your chest as bile burned your esophagus. You weakly shoved yourself up and flushed the toilet. You knew that hanahaki was life-threatening if not treated immediately. However, confessing seemed impossible given the circumstances of your relationship and who you’re in love with. Your other option was to have it surgically removed, but that also meant removing your capability to feel emotions. Nevertheless, you wanted to be a forest ranger like Tighnari and help people, so you’d much rather die of the flower that bloomed in your chest than be an empty husk and not feel anything. 

Laying on your bed, you watched Tighnari and Collei converse—probably about your probation if you were to be completely honest. You let out a meek laugh and closed your eyes, allowing your body and mind some well-deserved rest.

“Maybe if this disease takes me, I won’t burden him anymore. . .”

The following morning was horrible. Following your wake-up, you had to race to the bathroom to throw up again; your lungs and chest burned from how fierce the fits were. Making matters worse, you got far from enough sleep because of the feeling of lotuses climbing your throat.

“(NAME)? It’s Collei! I just wanted to check on you before Master and I head out!”

Your eyes flew open at your friend’s voice. Shit. She wouldn’t take this well at all. Quickly flushing the toilet, you grabbed a towel and patted your face dry, hoping your tiredness wasn’t evident. 

“(NAME)? Are—are you alright?” She worried and walked into your bedroom. Her expression dimmed upon taking in your condition. “You look so tired! Did you not get enough sleep?” Fuck.

You compelled a weak smile, “I—I’m fine! Don’t worry about me, I’m just a little—” Your sentence stopped midway as you covered your mouth, hacking up more bloodied petals. Your hanahaki did not seem to appreciate you lying about your feelings for the sake of others. 

Collei paled immensely, her hand going to mimic your own. “(NAME). . . You—you’re. . .” Tears welled in her rose-colored eyes as she watched you recover. “We have to tell—”

“NO!” you interjected sharply. Sighing, you let out a quiet apology. “I—I’m sorry. . . I didn’t mean to yell like that. I just. . . please don’t tell Tighnari.” You muttered, voice enfeebled from your lack of sleep.

“B—But, (NAME). . . If y-you don’t get help. . .” 

“I know. But I don’t think I can take any more of his disdains. especially when he’s—” You, or rather the hanahaki, cut you off as more petals emerged from your throat and onto your shaking hands.  

Seeing the connection, her eyes softened. She lamented, “oh, (NAME). . . You like him, don’t you?” Her arms circled around you, “please, I—I don’t want to lose you. I promise I’ll talk him into apologizing! You don’t deserve this. . .”

Shaking your head, you gently patted the girl’s hair, her heartfelt words shattering your heart furthermore. “Collei, I—I’m not sure I can promise anything at this rate. . .” You imparted. “I’m not sure if Tighnari is someone you can reason with, as well. . .” 

“Collei? It’s time to go,” Tighnari announced from outside. Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. . .

The green-haired girl pulled away from you, looking at your (COLOR) eyes with her own pleading ones. “Everything will be alright, okay? I promise. . .” She sniffled.

You nodded despite your views contradicting hers. Watching her leave, your gaze, hopeless and cold, flickered to Tighnari. You couldn’t help but wonder what occupied his mind; has he even thought of you and how you felt once? Probably not. 

The fox-eared ranger caught a glimpse of your eyes and shivered; that’s right, shivered. The way they looked so dull put a pit in his stomach, and he couldn’t tell why at the time. He looked at his student curiously, “what were you two talking about?”

Collei sighed, “i-it was nothing, Master. . .” 

The realization that you didn’t have much time left dawned on you as you gazed in the mirror. Your once bright and lively eyes were now dulled and impassive, almost as if you’d already gotten the surgery. You heeded Tighnari’s words, staying locked inside your hut and not bothering anybody. After all, that’s what he wanted, right?

Your condition worsened faster than you initially hoped. Every day and night, you retched at least five blood-covered lotuses, leaving you more weakened than the last. You couldn’t even estimate how much blood you had lost by now. With each passing second, your life slipped from your fingers like grains of sand. It seemed to tease you with the thought of death, never actually finishing you off—until now. In most cases, people have at least a few weeks to make the choice; you, unfortunately, did not with how fast your feelings developed. 

Reaching up, you wiped the blood from your lips, leaving a metallic taste in your mouth. Normally you would be grossed out by it, but it was almost comforting by now because it signaled you didn’t have to endure this pain much longer.

You staggered to your desk and pulled out a few things: an envelope, a piece of paper, and a quill. Your fingers trembled as you dipped the feather in ink and scrawled the name ‘Tighnari’ on the envelope. He’d admonish you for the handwriting, but when you’re on death’s doorstep, you can’t really expect perfect writing, can you?

With an unstable breath, you began composing the letter with all the energy you could gather.

“Dear, Master Tighnari. . .”

Tighnari took a deep breath as the faint outline of Gandhara Ville came into his field of vision. Ever since had and Collei finished the expedition, this dreadful feeling like something horrible happened stuck to him like a leech. And no matter what he did, it continued to suck the energy out of him. In retrospect, he’s had this feeling since he left. Worse part about it? He couldn’t figure out why; it’s like he could sense an anomaly but couldn’t see it. 

Collei quickly picked on her teacher’s anxiety and flashed a smile, hoping to comfort him. “M—Master, I’m sure everything will be fine! You know how nice (NAME) is! I’m—I’m sure they’ll forgive you! they’re normally so sweet no matter the circumstances!” She encouraged, though, deep within her mind, she was scared herself. She knew how much his words impacted you.

Tighnari dragged out a sigh, his fingers going through his dark hair. “That’s. . . That’s the problem, Collei. I. . . I treated them so fucking awful, and all they did was sit there and take it they didn’t dare speak up,” he seethed, wincing as he recalled the look in your eyes before they departed. “Archons, who knows if they’ll find it in their heart to even forgive me? I treated them like a toddler when I really meant to protect them. God, my delivery was fucking horrid, wasn’t it? I really messed this up.” He looked at Collei with defeated eyes, “That’s what you were talking to them about, wasn’t it? How vile I treated them. That’s why they were crying the other day.”  

The trainee harshly bit her lip, knowing that’s exactly what happened. She knew that he treated you like a weed in a garden full of lotuses when in reality, you were the flowers themself. And now, with your hanahaki, Celestia knows how much pain you must be in—both physically and emotionally. 

Only then did she remember that you had gotten hanahaki the day they left, and her heart sank. She swallowed hard, feeling her heart weigh heavy in her chest as it pounded against her ribcage. “Um, M—Master Tighnari. . .” she quavered.

He glanced her way, the pit in his stomach swallowing him whole when he regarded how horrified she appeared to be.  “Hm? What’s the matter, Collei?” Inquired the boy, his ears flickering in nervous anticipation. Oh god, did something actually happen to you? 

“I—I normally wouldn’t ask of you something like this, but please, when we get back, g-go check on them? They’re. . . they’re not well. . . ” She uttered aside, her voice wobbling as if she was on the brink of tears.

Her words confirmed Tighnari’s initial thoughts; there was something wrong. “Collei. . . what happened?” he spoke curtly. Hearing no answer, his chest tightened, and he could hear his breathing pick up. “Collei. Tell me now. I need to know if they’re in danger.” His voice rattled as he communicated, his anxiety clawing at his every thought. 

Collei’s shoulders shook with small sobs, “(NAME). . . They—they have Hanahaki. They didn’t want me to tell you because t-they hic knew you’d yell at them in some sort of way. . . A-and they’ve had it for a few days now and—”

“—Collei, I need you to be honest with me. Does (NAME) have romantic feelings for me?”

Glancing up at her teacher with a pitiful expression, she wiped her eyes with her sleeves. “Yes, Master, t—they do. . . I believe they have for a while,” she sniveled.

“Fuck.” He muttered and sprinted towards the ville, leaving poor Collei behind. However, at that time, I don’t think she minded; she recognized that he needed to find you as soon as possible—to save you. 

Pushing past everyone in the village, he shoved himself inside your hut. “(N-NAME)?! Are—are you here? We—we need to talk!” He called out, his voice breaking from breathing so heavily. “(NAME). . .?”

……

“Shit, shit! (NAME), where—where did you go now. . .” fretted Tighnari, his mind racing with every outcome possible. His eyes caught onto a wax-sealed envelope that sat neatly on your dresser. He picked it up and felt an overwhelming sense of dread wash over him as he stared at it. “It’s addressed to me. . .”

“ Dear Master Tighnari, 

As much as it hurts to me say this, but by the time you’ve finished reading this, I’ll have passed away. I don’t quite know what to put in this letter. . . Even as I’m writing this, my mind is blanking. I feel like there’s so much I have to say, but unfortunately, I don’t have much time before this disease takes its final toll on me.

I’m sure Collei’s told you by now of my hanahaki. I don’t blame her; the poor girl looked like she would pass out when she found me puking flowers. I know what you’re thinking, “(NAME), you lummox. So you’d rather just sit and watch yourself die than confess?” Well, Tighnari, would YOU confess to someone who’s admitted you’re nothing but a thorn in their side? If you haven’t figured it out by now, it’s you who I’m in love with. Have been for a while now. 

I must apologize for plaguing both you and everyone in Gandhara Ville. That was never my intention; I only wanted to repay the kindness everyone gave me, no matter if it cost my life or not. But, unfortunately, as you said, I ended up doing the entire opposite. And for that, I sincerely apologize. I wish I could take it all back. 

I hope you know that despite everything, I don’t harbor any negative feelings toward you. And maybe, in a different reality, things wouldn’t have turned out like this. 

Did you know that I’ve admired you from day one? And I’ll continue to do so in the afterlife. You’re genuinely incredible in my eyes; you’re diligent and passionate, everything I wished I was. You’re incredibly dedicated to the forest, which is admirable. And I supposed that’s why I fell so incredibly hard for you. Maybe you knew I loved you; maybe you didn’t. It’s all meaningless now that I lay on my deathbed made out of my own flowers. It’s strangely comforting, even though I’ve lived far from a fulfilling life. 

I honestly didn’t think my feelings had gotten this bad; I thought I had successfully pushed them away for the greater good. But, with how fast the hanahaki materialized, it seems I unestimated myself. That proves just how much I truly adored you. Never doubt your capabilities, alright? You’re truly unique, Tighnari.

This is where we part, my dear fox friend. My strength is running out, and so is the ink. Once more, I’m truly sorry for all the pain I’ve caused; I hope you can find it in you to forgive me. Please take care of Collei for me? Tell her I’m sorry I couldn’t make it; Celestia knows I tried to push through for her.

I love you, Tighnari. My love will continue to bloom for you in the form of lotus flowers. So, whenever you see one, I hope you think of me and how much I admired you. (: 

Yours Truly, (NAME). ”

The words blurred together as tears muddied Tighnari’s vision. Every written word cut deeper and deeper, but he forced himself to read it all. At first, he thought it was staged or a joke of some sort, and a part of him wished it was, but he could recognize your handwriting from a mile away. “No, no. . . this cannot be happening. . . They can’t be—” he thought to himself as he pocketed the note. He seethed, “FUCK! Where could they have gone?!” He pulled his hair stressfully as he wracked his brain for answers.

“My love will continue to bloom for you in the form of lotus flowers.”

His eyes snapped open when it clicked—the river not too far from here was known for the lotuses that bloomed in it. You couldn’t have gone far either, not in your condition, at least. 

Tighnari hurriedly sped out of the ville, ignoring everyone’s worried stares. “Please don’t be too late please be alive.” He prayed silently. He halted and surveyed the familiar spot, spotting a figure lying near the river’s shallows. he uttered, “(N—NAME). . .?”

Stumbling over, his pretty eyes drowned in tears the second he laid eyes on you. You were sprawled out, bloodied flowers sticking to your lifeless body. Blood smeared on your lips and fingers, and thank the Archons, your eyes were closed, or else Tighnari would’ve gone into cardiac arrest from crying so hard.

He collapsed at your side, cradling your face in his hands; the warmth of his palms contrasted with the chill of your skin. Shaking his head in denial, he thumbed at your face hoping to find some kind of reaction that proved you were still alive. “No, no, NO! Come on, (NAME)! W—wake up! You c-can’t. . .” He hiccuped. 

Tighnari gathered you in his arms, concealing his face in the crook of your neck to hide how hard he sobbed. “I. . . I’m so sorry, flower. T—This is all my fault. . . I-If I would’ve just told you how I felt instead of being a moron, then none of this would’ve happened—you wouldn’t have. . .” A sob strangled his throat and cut off his words.

“I—I thought I was protecting you from yourself. . . B-but I somehow did the exact opposite. I was the cause of your pain, and because of how shitty I treated you, you feared telling me how you felt. I. . . I’m so sorry, (NAME). Y-you didn’t deserve to go through so much pain alone.”   

“Master, I heard—o-oh my god.” 

Collei’s eyes rounded in horror, her figure starting to tremble as the situation settled in her head. “(N-NAME). . .” she croaked and dropped next to Tighnari, her hands shakily finding yours. Like her mentor, she was quick to shake her head in denial. “N—no. . . They can’t be. . . How—how did it—” bewailed the girl as her hand squeezed your fragile one. She turned to Tighnari, who looked to be on the verge of passing out from crying so hard. “M—Master, they’re. . . they’re not, r-right? They can’t be. . .”

The ranger shakily pulled out the letter and handed it to her, watching as the girl sobbed harder at its contents. “T—They found comfort in their death because of how much pain they were in. . .” He murmured weakly. As he pressed a kiss to your hair, he noticed that your fingers grasped something.  

Tighnari gingerly grabbed your hand and unraveled your fingers from what you held. A singular clean lotus. He smiled, weak and faint, plucking the lotus from your grip and tucking it in his hair—a memento of your love for him and his love for you. 

“My love for you will continue to blossom in life and in death. . . N—no matter where you are, you will be the first and last my heart is occupied with. There’s no room left for anyone else, flower. . . There never was in the beginning.

“I will look at each and every flower and think of how selfless and caring you were. Your love and dedication will continue to burn bright in Gandhara Ville. I will make sure of it. . .” 

[sister-lucifer]

You Are Loved Here

Lucifer x Gender Neutral Reader

INSPIRED BY THESE HEADCANONS 

Genre: Fluff 

Summary: Reader is sick, and Lucifer has gone full caretaker mode to help them get better.

Content/Warnings: Lucifer hand feeds you if that sort of thing makes you uncomfortable, Reader takes some pills cuz sick, lots of praise and comfort from Luci, just tooth rotting fluff 

Like my writing? I take requests! NSFW or SFW for any fandoms in my bio! 

Also, please reblog! it’s free, takes two seconds, and really helps me out 

Feedback is encouraged and appreciated:)

Not fully proofread! Let me know if you see any errors!

“My love? Are you awake?” Lucifer calls from the other side of the door, prompting you to open your heavy eyes. He waits a few moments before slowly creaking the door open, sighing with a smile when he sees you looking back at him. 

He shuts the door behind him as quietly as he can before making his way over to you. He’s holding a tray with a bowl of steaming soup, a glass of water, and a couple of pills. He sets it down on your nightstand before turning his attention to you. 

“Luci…fer…” You weakly call, throat scratchy and dry. 

“Shhhh,” Lucifer replies, pulling off a glove and holding the back of his hand to your forehead. You instinctively lean into his comforting touch. 

“Your fever seems to have gone down a bit,” he remarks, “That’s good. You need to keep resting, though.” 

You nod as he retracts his hand, slipping it back into his glove. You shudder beneath your heavy blankets, pulling them up to your face. 

“Now, now…I know you’re comfortable in that little cocoon of yours, but you have to sit up to eat.” Lucifer grabs an extra pillow off of a chair, encouraging you to sit up before placing it behind your back. 

“Comfortable?”

“Mhm…” 

“Good. Here.” 

He hands you the glass of water and pushes it to your lips. You take a few sips, and he seems satisfied at this. He’s been nagging you about staying hydrated, after all.

“And these too,” He says as he takes your free hand and drops the pills into your palm. You can’t help but grimace at the sight. They’re not very big or hard to swallow, but no one likes taking medicine. 

“I know, it’s not your favorite, but you need them.” 

He’s right. You hate to admit it, but he’s right. You really should take them. 

You heave a heavy sigh before taking a drink of water, holding it in your mouth before quickly pushing in one of the pills and swallowing hard. 

“There we go,” Lucifer praises softly, “Halfway there. Now you only have to do that one more time.” 

The kind words were unexpected, but certainly delightful to hear. It wasn’t often anyone got to hear him talk like that, especially you. It was enough to ease you in taking the last pill, which went down much smoother than the first. 

“There we go…It gets easier every time, I promise.”

A soft hand came down on your side, tenderly rubbing up and down in a soothing motion. You lightly laid your hand atop his and gave a small squeeze. 

“I’m sorry you don’t feel well, my love…” Lucifer whispered, leaning in to press a kiss to your warm forehead. 

“ ‘s okay…” You replied, matching his quiet tone, “I feel a bit better today…” 

“That’s good. Some warm soup will help.” 

Lucifer takes the glass of water from

you and sets it down on the bedside table before placing the tray in your lap. You watch with tired eyes as he lifts the bowl, stirring the spoon around for a few moments before lifting it. He carefully blows on the spoonful of soup, and you can see the hot steam disperse quickly.

“Think you can keep this down?” 

You nod, reaching out to take the spoon and bowl from him but he pulls away. 

“Please, allow me.” 

You hesitate, but allow it. Your hands fall back down to a resting position and absentmindedly toy with the edge of your blanket. Lucifer brings the spoon to your lips, and you open your mouth just enough for it to slip past your teeth. 

You weren’t expecting it to taste as amazing as it did. Maybe you’ve just forgotten what good food tastes like—seeing as you haven’t had much of an appetite—so much so that your eyes widen a bit as you swallow. Lucifer chuckles under his breath. 

“Good, isn’t it? I can’t take all the credit, though. The recipe belongs to Barbatos, I just followed it.” 

“M..More, please…” 

Lucifer gladly obliges, insisting on blowing off the next spoonful before allowing you to have it. You’re a bit more eager this time, leaning forward to accept the offering. Lucifer can’t help but smile at this, his heart fluttering at the sight of your excitement, even it if it is rather mild over something as small as good soup. 

“I’m glad to see you like it. It’s the first real food you’ve had in a while.” 

He wasn’t wrong. The past couple of days you’ve been surviving on crackers and tap water. You couldn’t keep much else down. You didn’t realize until now how hungry you’d been. 

“More, please…” You ask again, but Lucifer is already bringing up the spoon once more. 

There’s part of you that wishes this moment could last forever. Maybe not the fever or the dull ache in your head or the scratch in the back of your throat, but this unusual closeness with Lucifer. He loves you, and he tells you so every chance he gets, but to experience that love is something else entirely. With each spoonful you feel a bit more full, a bit more content. There’s a soft warmth blooming in your stomach that’s sprouting tall vines that climb up your body, wrapping around your shivering limbs and calming your heartbeat. 

Warm, but not hot. Not sweaty or restrictive or heavy. Just warm. Comfortable. 

Loving. 

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and you’ve only made it halfway through your meal before your body begins to protest. The next time he brings the spoon to your mouth, you push it away and shake your head. Lucifer pauses, and for a moment you’re worried he may be disappointed. 

Of course, he’s not. 

“Is that all for now? Well, that’s quite alright. You ate more than I thought you could. Good job.” 

There’s no denying the way the praise makes your heart skip a beat. If it weren’t for the fever hiding it, your face would surely feel hot. 

Lucifer sets the tray back down on the bedside table as he stands, brushing himself off and cracking his back with a groan. 

“I’m going to keep this in the fridge for you in case you decide you want more, and I promise to keep Beelzebub away from it at all costs.” 

Your laugh quickly devolves into a weak cough, but you smile through it all the same. Lucifer gives you one last kiss on the cheek before departing, looking back one last time before closing the door. 

“Feel better soon, my dear, and please let me know if you need anything.” 

As the door gently clicks back into place and Lucifer’s footsteps fade away, there is one prevailing thought that grows in your mind. 

You can’t help but allow yourself to feel how overwhelmingly loved you are here. 

[steveharringtonat3am]

helloo! I was thinking about Steve being soft about reader. Reader is sick and can't take medicine, like reader has a fear of swallowing pills something like that and Steve is there to help the reader. Thank you very much!! I hope you're having a good day too! 💕

You’ve always hating being sick. You can’t really remember when it started, maybe when you were small and got a fever so high your mom had to run a cold cloth over your forehead so you wouldn’t overheat. Or maybe when you caught that cold and your throat was so scratchy you wanted to just pull it out.

But you weren’t a little kid anymore, so you had to tough it out.

The next day at work was horrible. Your whole body hurt, your throat was aching and dry no matter how much water you drank, and you couldn’t stop sneezing. You told Steve you were busy with work, to avoid the daily lunch break phone call. You knew he would hear your illness in your voice and you couldn’t bear to burden him like that.

Steve was the most caring boyfriend you’d ever had. He was always going out of his way to do things like picking up your favourite snacks, filling up your car with gas, even taking bugs from your apartment outside. He had never seen you sick before and you just know he’ll go overboard.

You barely manage the drive home but the need to curl on the couch and watch movies all night is enough to push you through.

‘Dinner is a problem for later.’ You think to yourself as you toss your coat onto a chair, stumbling to your bedroom to change into one of Steves’ sweaters and a pair of pyjama pants. A chill has suck it’s way into your bones and you quickly burrow onto your couch and wrap a blanket around yourself. You about to turn on a movie when your phone begins to buzz. A glance at the screen, glowing with Steves’ cheesy smile and you wince. He knows your home and he definitely knows something is up since you always call on your drive home since you like the company.

“Hi baby!” You pick up, trying to keep the sore throat out of your voice.

“Hey babe. Haven’t talked to you all day! You want me to come over? I can bring takeout.” You grip your blanket in uncertainty. Your apartment is definitely riddled with germs and getting Steve sick would be worse than him seeing you like this.

“N-no no it’s alright. I’m feeling a bit tired so I’m probably going to bed now.” A weak lie that you know he’ll see right through.

“…It’s six o’clock. Are you feeling alright baby?” He’s so concerned you could cry.

“Yep! Great. Timeforbedokaybyeiloveyou!” You hang up quickly, tossing your phone to the other side of the couch in embarrassment. Hopefully you’ll wake up better tomorrow and you can pretend this never happened.

The knock on the door startles you awake. You blink as your eyes come into focus, crawling out of the warm cocoon you had built to stumble to the door. The light of your oven reads 7:06. You swing the door open and your heart sinks immediately. Steve, still in his work uniform, holds bags of takeout, a soft grin on his face.

“Hi sweetheart.” He greets you with a soft kiss on the cheek before slipping into your apartment. You lock the door, guilt settling in your stomach.

When you join him in the kitchen, he’s unpacking the food. He sets a large container of soup in the microwave and your mouth waters just a bit.

“I could tell you were feeling a bit under the weather so I got you some wonton soup from that place you like. And I picked up some tylenol in case you were achy and some regular cold medicine if you want that. It’s cherry flavoured.” He smiles so sweet at you that you might cry.

“I-I can’t take tylenol.” You know you should thank him, but the bottle of pills is the first thing on your mind.

“Why not?”

“I just…I don’t like swallowing pills. They feel like they get stuck in my throat and they just don’t-don’t go down.” It sounds stupid saying it but you know you should. You had never been able to get down pills, unless they were so tiny you didn’t notice.

“That’s alright babe. How about I split it and you try that?” You inspect the pills as you decide. The groove in the middle means splitting it is safe, and you think you could manage each half.

“Okay…” You watch carefully as he severs the pill with a knife, grabbing you a glass of water to wash it down. He hands it to you and pretends to not watch.

It takes you a second to get over the mental hurdle, placing the piece in your mouth and immediately taking a gulp of water. The pill manages to get lost in the liquid and you swallow with ease. You take the other piece and swallow once more. When it goes down, you show Steve with a smile and he grins proudly.

“Good job babe!” He pours you some soup, grabbing a bowl of fried rice for himself as you both head to the couch to eat. You relax into him as the soup calms your throat.

“Thank you for taking care of me, Steve.” You smile up at him and he mirrors it.

“Of course, sweetheart. Anything for you.”

[wooahaeproductions]

You Drive Me Crazy (But It Feels Alright)

Lee Jihoon (Woozi) x Female Reader

Genre: angst, fluff, smut, fake dating au, 90s au, ex-best friends au, and heavily based off the movie You Drive Me Crazy

Word Count: 15.2k (IM SO SORRY🙃 )

Warnings: language, mentions of terminal illness and death, bullying, drinking, drunken bad ideas, mentions of medicine, cheating, breakups, general college debauchery, making fun of furs in the fashion industry (used only to go with the 90s vibes), lots of feelings and oppressing them, jokes and conversations about sex, making out and kissing, and mentions of vomiting.

Smut Warnings: a little dry humping, semi public sex in a backyard treehouse? and protected sex (honestly the smut in this is pretty vanilla)

Rating: 18+

A/N: After forever, I’m excited to present this fic to you. I have never written anything this long before so once again I am sorry. Thank you to @beomcoups and @mingsolo for hosting the Now That’s 90’s! collab, as a 90s kid myself it was my pleasure to participate. Please go check out all the other amazing writers who joined as well!

Special thanks to Indi @playmetheclassics and Sammie @slightlymore for beta reading this monster for me. You guys are the best and I love you 💕 ~Bee

Network tags: @kbookshelf

With one last glance at your appearance in the mirror, you grabbed your bookbag from the chair in the corner of your room. You headed down the long curved staircase before opening the front door of the sorority house. 

You were almost going to be late, and to make matters worse, you came face-to-face with your enemy at the end of the driveway. Which wasn’t that unusual since he walked this way too, despite living further away, but you tried your best to avoid him anyway.

“Ew, what are you doing here?” Jihoon asks, walking past you at the driveway and lifting his lip in disgust.

“I live at the sorority, remember, asshole?” you spat, hating the fact that you had to walk in the same direction to get to campus. You two had been this way for a long time now, and it had become a habit to be prickly toward him. 

It hadn’t always been like that, though. In fact, you guys used to be best friends, completely inseparable. At least until his mom got sick when you were in junior high, and he started hanging out with some different people and getting into trouble. You then got in with the popular kids, and you and Jihoon have become enemies ever since. 

You two walked stiffly beside each other as you reached the edge of campus, and Jihoon’s friends appeared. Seokmin put him in a small headlock, and Seungkwan gave you a small smile while Wonwoo just shook his head. You actually knew his three best friends as well. You all used to hang out way back when. You smiled meekly back before arms wrapped around your shoulders, and your boyfriend, Johnny, had found you as well. 

“Hey, babe,” Johnny said, smacking a kiss near your ear. You resisted the urge to cringe. He was in the popular crowd too, a football player. While he wasn’t that bad and was easy on the eyes, he was boring, only caring about football and whatever party was next to attend. You missed having someone with a level of intelligence, someone you could debate things with like you used to do with Jihoon. It didn’t matter, though. You were enemies now, and nothing would change that. 

You made it through your first few classes, and you were having lunch in the courtyard with Johnny along with what you considered the entire popular crew, including your best friend, Jennie. You sat at a long table, eating a sandwich while everyone talked about the next football game and a party at Mingyu’s that was happening later. 

Across the courtyard, you spotted Jihoon in your line of vision, his girlfriend pushing him against the concrete wall, practically sucking his face off. You swallowed a bite of your sandwich, trying not to gag. Just as you turned away from the sight, Seungkwan was walking past. Before you could stop him, Johnny pretended to accidentally put his foot out in front of him. Seungkwan tripped over it, dropping the food he was carrying all over the ground and falling forward. The entire table erupted in laughter as Johnny retracted his foot like it had never been there. “Having trouble walking, Kwannie?” Johnny’s best friend, Mark heckled.

Seungkwan looked at Mark and Johnny with loathing. You got up, giving Johnny and Mark a glare. “What? We were only having some fun,” Johnny said innocently. You threw what was left of your food in the trash and walked over to Seungkwan. You stuck your hand out, letting him grab it and helped him up from the ground. 

“Thanks, Y/N. You know you didn’t have to,” he said.

“I know, Seungkwan, but it’s not like I hate you too,” you said softly.

“See you around,” he said, a sad smile on his face before he walked out of the courtyard.

Later that evening, you were getting ready for Mingyu’s party with Jennie because both she and Johnny insisted you had to appear. “So, our sorority ball is coming up…do you think Johnny is going to ask you soon?” Jennie asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure he’s going to. I mean, who else would I go with?” you said, brushing off her question. You were helping plan the entire thing, and he knew it was important, so there wasn’t any reason why he wouldn’t be asking you. 

She nodded, but her face said she was skeptical. “What about you? Has anyone asked you yet?” You turned the question around on her.

“No, but I’m sure Mingyu or Taeyong will ask. It’s not like I don’t have options,” she bragged, and you struggled to hide your contempt. While you were part of the popular crowd, Jennie had always been the most popular. Others were more drawn to her than you.

You escaped the rest of the conversation with Jennie when it was interrupted by a honking sound, indicating Johnny was there to pick the two of you up to go to the party. You both walked outside and as you approached his truck, you heard music blasting out of the open windows. Mark was in the front passenger seat while you and Jennie slipped in the back with Mark’s girlfriend, Miyeon.

Miyeon waved at you and you barely got your seatbelt on before the truck lurched forward, making its way down the road towards Mingyu’s house. “Who’s ready to dominate at pong tonight?” Mark bragged.

“Yeahhhhh,” Johnny enthused, reaching over to bump Mark’s fist with his. You rolled your eyes and looked over at Jennie. She just shrugged at you like it wasn’t as big of an annoyance as you were making it out to be.

The truck swung into the driveway of Mingyu’s house, and as Johnny cut the engine, it was replaced by the louder sounds of the house party. More music blasted from the back of the house where the pool was, and you could hear the sounds of splashing along with the hum of many people conversing at once. 

You followed behind Johnny as you weaved through the house, making your way to the kitchen for a drink. The large island was littered with many types of alcohol and random snacks. The signature punch bowl filled with some sort of pink liquid had also made its usual appearance, but you had made that mistake enough times and knew better enough to stay far away from it. 

You grabbed a red solo cup from the stack on the counter, making a mixed drink out of some random soda and liquor that sounded decent. It looked like Johnny had done the same and was pulling you by the hand to go out in the backyard where Mingyu and the rest of their buddies were. Jennie was already cozying up and dancing with some guy you didn’t recognize, likely from another university.

Meanwhile, Jihoon was on a date with his girlfriend, Shayla at a weird little bar across ton. Well, it was supposed to be a date, but all Jihoon had done was down beers while Shayla listened to some guy on the stage in front drone on about how real furs were being used in the fashion industry.

Jihoon hated how Shayla was looking at this guy, like he was the one single-handedly stopping the usage of real furs. Never mind the fact that she was on a date with Jihoon, her boyfriend. Jihoon scowled as he chugged beer after beer. 

He didn’t even notice how drunk he was until he got up and the room started spinning slightly. Stumbling over his chair, he looked over to find that Shayla had gone to the edge of the stage and was actively flirting with the fur guy. Jihoon needed to go to the bathroom and then he needed to get out of there. 

As he was washing his hands in the bathroom, he stared at his reflection in the mirror and realized he had started to sober up rather quickly, but he had ridden here with Shayla. Jihoon found the pay phone near the door of the bar. The opening and closing of the door created cold rushes of air, sobering him even more. He called one of his best friends, who also happened to be a designated driver for when the popular kids had parties. 

After feeding the pay phone the correct amount of coins and dialing the number, Wonwoo’s voice picked up after a few rings. “Jihoooonnnn, what’s up?” Wonwoo asked.

“Can you come get me from that stupid bar Shayla likes? I drank, and Shayla drove here,” Jihoon explained. 

“And you aren’t coming back with her?” Wonwoo questioned. Jihoon looked back toward the table he had been at with Shayla, only to find her making out with the fur dude.

“No, we broke up,” he said, bitterly. 

Wonwoo sighed. “Alright, I’ll come get you before we head to pick someone up at Mingyu’s party,” he said before hanging up. 

Jihoon hung up the line on his end and made a beeline back to where Shayla was. He tapped on her shoulder, breaking her from the make-out session, and immediately her face turned into one of someone who had been caught.

“We’re done, Shayla,” Jihoon said, rather dryly. He turned on his heel, not waiting for a reaction from her and walked out of the bar to wait for Wonwoo outside in the parking lot. 

When Jihoon was busy drowning in beers at the bar, you were also having an unfortunate turn of events. The party started out fine, you were having a good time dancing with Johnny and it progressed into being his partner for beer pong against Mark and Miyeon. 

Unfortunately, you and Johnny were losing. It started out okay, Johnny was being a bit of a gentleman and was drinking for you, but that was leaving him pretty smashed. It was Mark’s turn and he had gotten the ball in another cup, making Johnny drink yet another cup of beer. 

Johnny stumbled backward, spilling most of the contents of his cup on a girl who was walking behind him. It was like a scene from a movie, you watched as Johnny apologized to her and their eyes met each other’s. Anyone around could have seen the immediate connection. 

You originally tried to brush it off but with Johnny being as drunk as he was, it was apparent that something was bound to happen. Later, when you had come inside to use the bathroom, you would find Johnny and that girl sucking face right next to the bathroom door.

A screamed breakup and way too many drinks later, Jennie had called a designated driver to take you home. You sat on Mingyu’s front porch, sulking and watching the world spin when Wonwoo’s car pulled up. 

“Hey there, Y/N,” Wonwoo said, getting out of the driver's seat and approaching you on the porch. You gave him a nonchalant peace sign before noticing he had another passenger in the car. 

“Oh, great. That’s just the thing to top off my night, being stuck in a car with Jihoon while I’m drunk,” you said sarcastically, letting Wonwoo lead you down the steps and toward the car.

“I know, Y/N, but he called me too, and he is my friend as well. Try to bear with it, and you’ll be home soon enough,” Wonwoo said, knowing full well the relationship, or rather hate-ship, between you and Jihoon.

You rolled your eyes but slid into the seat next to Jihoon as Wonwoo shut the door after you. “Seriously, Wonwoo? This is who you needed to pick up from Mingyu’s party?” Jihoon’s annoyance was evident. Already tired from your rant, Wonwoo just gave him a hard stare in the rearview mirror. 

Leaving the party, the car was silent until Wonwoo brought up the reason for picking you up. “Y/N, you aren’t one to get that drunk at these parties. Jennie may have mentioned something happened..” 

You pulled your sweater around you and grumbled. “Johnny got too drunk, and after some weird drama connection shit, I found him and a girl from another university making out. He claims they ‘fell in love’,” you explained, using air quotes at the end. 

“So you broke up?” Jihoon’s question surprised you, but you were too tired and drunk to actively be rude to him

“Yeah, we broke up,” you confirmed.

“Seems to be the theme tonight,” Wonwoo mused from the front seat.

Confused, you looked over at Jihoon who was picking at his hands and looking at something particularly enthralling on the floor of the automobile. So, he and Shayla must have broken up as well. You felt that was interesting since they seemed attached at the hip, attached at the mouth too. Jihoon looked out the window now, and you saw a hurt in his eyes that he so seldom showed, but it was a familiar vulnerability that you remember from when you were kids. 

“We’re here, Y/N,” Wonwoo announced, and you realized he had pulled up in front of your sorority house. You didn’t know if it was the alcohol or being in an enclosed space with Jihoon that messed with your perception of time, but you were home quicker than you expected.

“Oh. Um, thanks, Wonwoo,” you mumbled, pushing the passenger door of the car open.

“Are you good? Can you get to the door okay?” Wonwoo asked.

“Yeah,” you responded, swinging your heavy-feeling feet out of the car before shutting the door a little harder than you meant to.

Jihoon watched as you stumbled down the walkway and nearly smacked yourself in the knee when you opened the front door of the sorority, a chuckle escaping him. “Was that a laugh I heard?” Wonwoo asked, turning around in his seat to scrutinize Jihoon’s expression.

“No…” Jihoon mumbled and cleared his throat. Wonwoo just shook his head, turned back to the front and pulled away from the sorority house to drop off his friend. 

“So, are you really that broken up about Shayla?” Wonwoo inquired, filling the five-minute drive with conversation.

“Honestly? Not really. I���m more upset about the way we broke up rather than the actual break up,” Jihoon explained, his hand running at his bangs in annoyance.

“Seriously. Out of everyone she could have kissed, it was some dumb activist guy at the bar. Now that you guys are over, I can say this, but Seok, Seungkwan, and I didn’t really think she fit with you. You deserve so much better,” Wonwoo ranted on Jihoon’s behalf.

The car had pulled up in Jihoon’s driveway while they were talking, and Jihoon slapped a hand on Wonwoo’s shoulder as he got up from the backseat. “Thanks, Woo. I know you guys didn’t care for her much, so now it’s ancient history,” Jihoon said, leaving Wonwoo alone in the car and making his way up his front porch steps.

He had barely gotten into the house and gone up the stairs to his room to flop onto his bed when the phone rang. “No, Seokmin. For the final time, we are not adding dancing suns to the music video edit,” Jihoon said into the phone automatically, not even bothering to say a greeting first.

“Uh, what?” you asked, confused.

Hearing your voice on the other line caused Jihoon to sit upright immediately. “Y/N? How did you get this number?” he questioned, surprised. 

“I remembered it..” you said, softly. As much as you hated Jihoon, your memories of your childhood remained, and that included his phone number. 

“Oh. So..why are you calling?” he asked, falling back onto his bed.

“I had an idea. What if...we dated each other?” You stated your idea, twirling the phone cord around your finger.

“What if we what? Y/N, you’re drunk,” Jihoon exclaimed.

“I'm not anymore, just hear me out. Not really dating but just pretending so that we could get what we wanted. I’d get to go to the sorority dance that I worked hard to plan and maintain my status while making Johnny jealous, and you’d get to show Shayla that she made a big mistake,” you blurted out your crazy idea.

“I don't know where you got this insane idea, but you should drink some water and take an ibuprofen for the nasty headache you’ll have in the morning,” he said, sighing.

“I’m serious, just think about it okay? Goodnight, Ji,” you said, his old nickname rolling off your tongue easily. 

Jihoon sighed again, “Good night, Y/N,” and he hung up the phone before falling asleep.

Your sleep was invaded by the sunlight shining in through your window, and as you opened your eyes, the splitting headache that resulted from last night's events made itself known. You sat up in bed slowly, pressing the palm of your hand against your eyes as if that would help when you remembered your phone call last night with Jihoon. He told you to drink water and take an ibuprofen.

You got up sluggishly and made your way to the bathroom, grabbing the cup that you left on the counter for when you got thirsty in the middle of the night. You filled it with water from the sink and found the ibuprofen bottle that was kept in the cabinet, spilling two pills into your palm. You popped them in your mouth and knocked them back, taking a drink of the water to swallow them. 

As you took a second drink of water for good measure, the rest of your conversation with Jihoon passed through your memories, and you spit water all over the mirror in front of you. You knew that you had been thinking how pretending to date each other would be an option, but you didn’t think you would actually ask him to do it. Apparently, drunken Y/N thought otherwise and had straight up called him and asked him to do it.

You smacked yourself in the forehead, making your head feel worse. “Well, it’s been said. And he didn’t agree to it yet, so let’s see what happens,” you murmured to yourself, resigned to the fact that it had indeed been said and maybe he wouldn’t go for it. No sense in being embarrassed about something you barely remember saying.

Which is why you didn’t expect to have Jihoon standing in front of you in the campus cafe on Monday morning saying, “I’ll do it,” causing you to spit your drink out for the second time in three days.

“You’ll what?” you asked, incredulous, as you wiped the coffee you sprayed all over the table in front of you. 

Jihoon sighed, not wanting to repeat himself. “I said, I’ll do it. Let’s fake date,” he repeated anyway, slowly to make his words heard. You blinked and just stared at him, absorbing what he just said. He stared back, his eyes boring into yours, and you saw no sign of his usual pettiness or jokes.

“Okay,” you finally breathed out, “but we should have some rules.”

“Agreed,” he said, sitting down next to you now.

“Okay….” you said, mulling over what those rules would actually be. “Alright, you’ll need a makeover. No one would believe we are together looking like…this,” you continued, gesturing at his overall self.

“Like what, Y/N?” Jihoon asked, even though he knew full well what you meant.

“We need to make it seem like you are someone I’d go for,” you said, trying to make your case.

“Fine, but I will not like it,” he replied with a glare, and you let out a little triumphant smile. “So then the other rule is that we have an easy out clause,” he said, offering a rule of his own.

“An easy out clause?” you questioned. 

“Yeah. So we can end the fake relationship at any time for any reason, and there won’t be any hard feelings. Other than the ones we already have for each other, of course,” Jihoon continued.

“Alright, an easy out clause,” you agreed. You let the awkward silence stew between the two of you for a bit before you spoke once more. “We both have classes until 4 pm today and then I have some work for the ball to do…are you free tomorrow night?”

“I think so, but why?” he asked, skeptically.

“So we can take care of the first rule, your makeover,” you replied.

Jihoon grimaced. “Okay, meet me in front of my house at 6 pm tomorrow,” he said, getting up and stuffing his hands in his pockets before leaving for his class. You attempted to finish what was left of your coffee and head off to your next class as well.

The next day at 6 pm, like promised, you were standing in front of a very familiar house from your childhood-Jihoon’s house. While you joined a sorority and lived on campus, Jihoon still lived here with his dad. Not only was it close to the university, but you figured some part of him didn’t want to leave his dad alone. 

You took a deep breath and walked up the front steps, ringing the doorbell. The door swung open, revealing Jihoon’s dad. “Well hello, Y/N. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you,” he said, opening the door further to let you step inside. 

“Hi Mr. Lee,” you said, standing in the foyer rather awkwardly. Honestly, the last time you stepped foot in this house was the day of Mrs. Lee’s funeral. It was also the last time you and Jihoon acted like friends.

“Ji should be down in a minute,” Mr Lee said, leaving you and going back into the kitchen. You looked down at your feet, rocking back and forth on your heels until you heard the creaking of the stairs. Jihoon looked like his usual self, wearing jeans and a band tee. You couldn’t help but smile. However, if the two of you dating were to seem real then he needed to fit in with the popular crowd. And that started with a look that aligned with that.

Jihoon cleared his throat, suddenly standing in front of you, and you realized you must have spaced out. “Ready?” he asked.

“Yeah, we should get going,” you said. He grabbed his car keys from the small table near the door before ushering you back through the front door and closing it behind him. He also opened the passenger door of the car for you, making you quirk an eyebrow at his actions. His only response was a shrug of the shoulders. 

After you were both settled in the car he asked, “So where to?”

“The mall,” you responded with an excited smile.

Jihoon groaned, “Are you trying to kill my reputation as a geek?” You blinked, surprised at his joking tone before letting out a giggle.

“Precisely,” you answered, laughing once more. Jihoon started the car, driving toward the demise of his geekdom, or at least the image of it.

After about fifteen minutes had passed, he pulled into the parking lot of the city mall, also known as the place where all the popular kids shopped and hung out. 

You walked into the large, store-filled building with Jihoon trailing behind you. Pausing at the entrance, you thought about what you needed to do first. “New outfits,” you pondered out loud. You looked over at Jihoon who was mashing his lips together and you grabbed the edge of his shirt, pulling him with you to the first clothing store.

You deposited him in the middle of the store, near the dressing rooms. Jihoon stood there almost in awe as you swirled around the store, picking up different combinations of pants and shirts to create outfits for him to try on. He was already exhausted, and he hadn’t even tried anything on yet.

After what felt like forever, you returned, holding up multiple outfits for him. He sighed, something he was doing a lot when he was with you. “The sooner you try them on, the sooner we can be done,” you said, trying to sound motivating. Lucky for you, he knew you were right and took the hangers of clothes from you. He trudged into the dressing room and shut the door behind him.

You made him come out after every outfit, much to his annoyance. You rather enjoyed it, clapping and smiling for most of the outfits. You were proud of yourself for picking things out that made him look the perfect mix of sophisticated and casual. You gathered all the outfits that worked and brought them up to the checkout counter, once again with Jihoon trailing behind you. 

Coming to stand next to you, Jihoon went to take his wallet out of his pocket, but you grabbed his wrist to stop him. “Don’t worry about it. It was my idea for the makeover,” you said, handing money to the cashier as she placed his new clothes in a bag. She handed the bag to you.

“Are you sure?” Jihoon asked.

“I’m sure,” you confirmed, handing the bag of clothes over to him. As you pulled your hand away, your stomach let out a few grumbles. 

He let out an amused snort and said, “This place has a food court, right?” You nodded, and your stomach grumbled some more. “Let’s get some food then.” 

You led the way toward the center of the mall, where all the food smells were coming from and a few minutes later, the two of you sat across from each other at a table with pieces of pizza in front of you. Another memory with Jihoon crossed your mind as you chewed a piece of the cheesy slice. “You remember the time Seungkwan’s mom specially bought that only cheese pizza for him at your birthday party and when he fell asleep early, we ate it all?” you asked, a smirk gracing your face as you remembered your childhood antics.

“He was so mad. He didn’t talk to us for like a week and then hid his pizza the next time there was a party,” Jihoon laughed. It grew silent again after that, not exactly an awkward silence but not a comfortable one either. You were nearly done with your pizza when Jihoon asked another question. “This makeover doesn’t include other things, like cutting my hair or something?” 

You looked up at him. You looked at his slightly shaggy black hair and his bangs that lightly brushed over his forehead. You didn’t know what possessed you, but you reached forward and grazed you fingered through the ends of his hair. Your eyes locked and instead of the growling it had done earlier, your stomach did flip flops. You panicked slightly and abruptly pulled your hand away.  “No, I don’t think we need to change anything else..” you said, looking down at the table.

Before things could get weirder, you two finished eating and left the mall with your mission accomplished. 

The car was quiet as it sat in the driveway of your sorority and Jihoon wondered why you hadn’t taken your seatbelt off to get out of the car yet. You were struggling, debating whether you wanted to tell him something that you had thought about telling him for ages. What better time than to say it now, a day when you spent the most time with him than you had in years? 

“Listen, Jihoon…” you started in a bit of a solemn tone. He turned to look at you. “When your mom got sick, I just didn’t know what to do or how to feel. Then at her funeral, I wasn’t sure how to comfort you or even if I could. And then you started getting in trouble at school and hanging out with other people. I’m just…I’m sorry.” 

Jihoon gave a wry smile after listening to your whole blurted speech. “It’s okay, I get it,” he said. “I didn’t know what to do or how to feel either, and then eventually we became…enemies sorta?” 

You nodded. “How about we be, uh, frenemies now, I guess?”

He snorted at that. “Frenemies,” he agreed.

Eventually, you took off your seatbelt and opened the car door. Before you fully shut it, you peeked your head in to remind Jihoon of your next plans. “Remember, we should be seen together at the football game tomorrow and then at the diner with my friends after.” 

He cringed but said, “Okay, see you tomorrow then,” and you shut the car door before watching him pull out of the driveway.

A few hours before the football game you mentioned to Jihoon that you were in the journalism room with Jennie, Miyeon, and a few other girls who were part of the ball planning committee. You were trying to finalize the theme so that you could get started on getting the decorations. The ball was held at the same place every year, so you didn’t have to worry about that, at least. Everyone was set on their own idea for the theme, and no one could come to a decision, making you massage your temples in frustration. 

You were really regretting not grabbing that coffee before this meeting when the very thing you wanted appeared in front of you. A iced coffee was sat in front of you and you looked up to find Jihoon, looking nonchalant with his hands in his pockets like always. “Thanks. How did you know I was here?” you asked, surprised.

He shrugged. “I was here working in the editing room on something with Seungkwan and Wonwoo and saw you were still here. I thought you could probably use the caffeine.” You squinted at him before slowly taking a drink of the coffee, wondering if he had some sort of other motive. Then he leaned forward and whispered in your ear, “I’m just trying to make it look like we didn’t, you know, suddenly go from hating each other to dating. So, just go with it.”

Of course, there it was. He couldn’t have really just thought to bring it to you for no reason at all other than just because. You were supposed to be fake dating starting today, so he needed to make it look true. 

Arguing between Jennie and Miyeon brought you back to reality, and you sighed. “Guys!” you snapped, making them both stop midargument. “Look, it’s almost time for the game and we should be there. Let’s try and come to an agreement by next week. If that’s not possible, then I’ll be making the final decision, by myself,” you said. Miyeon looked surprised at your unusual forcefulness while Jennie just looked, well annoyed. 

You grabbed what was left of the coffee Jihoon brought you and him by the arm. “We should get over to the stadium,” you said and left the room with the others, wondering what was up with you, or more importantly you and him. 

“Okay, chill,” Jihoon said, pulling his arm back from you once you were in the hall.

“Sorry,” you said, letting him pull his arm back. You looked up at him, finally noticing that he was also wearing one of the outfits you had picked out the day before. You smiled at him.

“What?” he asked, wondering why the heck you were smiling at him like a weirdo in the middle of the hallway.

“I didn’t think you would be wearing the clothes yet,” you responded.

“I thought that was the deal? Now come on, let’s watch some stupid game and start this dating thing in front of your friends.” Jihoon grabbed your hand, leading you down the hall and out the door to head to the football stadium. Why was your heart feeling funny?

An hour later, Jihoon was sitting next to you in the bleachers complaining in your ear about how “all a football game is, is an excuse for dudes to touch other dudes' butts.” You rolled your eyes but couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Go, Fight, Win!” A chant had started in the stadium and was gaining more people with it. After about the third round of the chant, you joined, smirking at Jihoon. He looked at you chanting with your other friends that sat nearby and shook his head. You nudged him, smiling like a maniac. 

Rolling his eyes, he finally joined with a monotone, “Go, Fight, Win!” and a half-hazard fist pump in the air. Then something happened. Watching the game, feeling the excitement of the crowd, and seeing you sitting next to him, enjoying yourself; he thought maybe this wasn’t so bad, fun even. Next thing he knew, as the chant ended he was taking turns shouting insults at the refs with Mark and high-fiving him. 

You looked at him. It was peculiar. All that fuss and now he was fitting in like he had been a part of the group from the beginning. You couldn’t help but think that it could have been this way all along, as if you and Jihoon never had been enemies. 

After the game, you and Jihoon made an official new couple appearance at the diner your friends often frequented after games. You had barely sat down in the group booth with your food when Jennie pounced. “So after seeing you two together twice today, I need to ask. Are you two like a thing now?” she asked, pointing between the two of you. You nodded. Jennie gave a look of distaste. “How on earth did that happen?” 

“So, remember the night at Mingyu’s party when Johnny and I broke up and I got drunk, you called me a designated driver? Well, Jihoon had also called Wonwoo and was in the car too. It just sort of happened?” you explained. None of that was technically wrong at all, that was what happened. You just left out the part about the drunken phone call later and you know, the fact that it was fake. 

Jennie looked over at Jihoon, who had his mouth full of fries. “Yeah, pretty much,” Jihoon confirmed with his mouth full and Jennie gave a slightly disgusted look. Seeming satisfied with that answer, Jennie left it alone and conversation flowed around the table. Mark, Mingyu, and Jihoon were debating things about a video game and you found yourself smiling once again at the fact that they seemed to be getting along well.

Yet, your smile fell when you looked at the other side of the table to see Johnny and his new girlfriend making out. You didn’t know why, but tears were gathering at the corners of your eyes. “I’ll be right back, bathroom,” you mumbled. Jihoon heard the tone in your voice and the sheen in your eyes and was pulled from his video game conversation. He immediately saw what likely upset you, and decided he needed to do something about it when you came back.

In the bathroom, you splashed water on your face and hoped that would help regain your composure. You took a few deep breaths and made sure there was no trace of your sudden tear-up before heading back out to the table. As you sat back down next to Jihoon, he asked “Everything okay, babe?” He wrapped an arm over your shoulders pulling you close to him and placed a peck on your forehead. 

Babe? Your brain malfunctioned and you were frozen at Jihoon’s side. “Y/N….” he hissed in your ear and you broke from your stupor. “Oh, sorry. Yes, I’m good,” you answered. He must be doing this for show, to make it really look like you were dating and to make Johnny jealous, right? It had to be that, of course.

“So, you’re friends with DD Wonwoo, right?” Mark was asking Jihoon now.

“Yeah, we are friends. And it’s Wonwoo, not DD Wonwoo. Just Wonwoo,” he answered and you could hear irritation starting in his voice.

“Cool, you think he’d be down to be the designated driver for all our parties? We’ll pay.” Jihoon’s body tensed at the question.

“Okayyyyy,” you said the minute Mark finished his sentence, getting up and pulling Jihoon out of the booth with you. “It’s getting late and I’m tired. We’ll see you guys later,” you rushed out before dragging Jihoon out of the diner with you and leaving what was left of your food on the table.

“What the hell was that? Wonwoo has probably saved the lives of half those people in there and what? They just want to continue getting drunk off their rockers and think throwing money at him is compensation for that?” Jihoon was fuming. He was pacing back and forth in the parking lot, tugging his hand through his hair. 

“Jihoon…” you started. 

“Who do they think they are? Do they have no integrity? Did they trade their brains for being popular?” He continued to rant.

“Jihoon!” you said again, sharper this time.

“What?!” he shouted and you flinched slightly.

You didn’t know why, but you felt the urge to comfort him and calm him down. And to apologize even. You came up next to him, brushing his hand with yours, and said, “I’m sorry.” Jihoon’s breathing calmed down and his eyes met yours. “Endure it for me, please? I promise you and Wonwoo can do something mean to him the next time he’s drunk, okay?” you said. 

Jihoon cracked a smile at that. “Fine…” he responded and stalked over to the car so he could get the two of you back home.

You and Jihoon had made appearances at a few other things during the week, but as Friday approached there was actually one you were looking forward to the most. It was starting to get warmer, which meant some days were spent soaking up the sun at the river.

The ball’s committee had also taken your previous threat about choosing the theme on your own seriously and had finally come to a consensus. The theme was Moments in Time and you were looking forward to downtime with your friends before having to plan more for the ball. Maybe you were looking forward to downtime with Jihoon too. 

This time you were all riding with Mingyu in his jeep, floats and picnic supplies strapped to the utility bar on top of the vehicle. He had come to pick you up with everyone else in the car but Jihoon and he would be picked up last. Which meant that when Mingyu honked at Jihoon’s house, the only seat left in the car was in the backseat, squished in the middle next to you.

Squeezing in next to you, you became immediately aware of his bare legs pressing against your own. He was in the swim trunks you had picked out for him and a t-shirt, already prepared for the day's activities. “Ouch,” you said as he accidentally pinched your arm between him and the seat. 

“I’m sorry, is this better?” Jihoon asked, moving his arm over your shoulders so that you could settle next to him. 

You swallowed down the butterflies that were now becoming a common occurrence when you were with him. You were still doing everything you could to ignore them. It was just the proximity and situation making you feel that way. You didn’t actually like him. At least, that’s what you kept telling yourself. 

You didn’t dare speak words out loud, afraid it would come out garbled or as a squeak. You just nodded in response, the warming of your cheeks still threatening to give you away. Throughout the entire drive to the river, you were painfully aware of how much his body was touching yours.

When Mingyu pulled into the parking lot of the River Park, you nearly flung yourself out of the car causing both Jihoon and Jennie to look at you like you were insane. As the others got out of the car, you moved your attention to retrieving your things from the back. You grabbed your bag, which held a swim towel, sunscreen, and a few snacks.

More bags were grabbed, leaving the trunk area empty while Mark and Mingyu worked on getting the other things down from the rack on the roof. You waited until everything had been taken before walking down the path that led to the larger bank of the river. The area was a little rocky but many of the rocks were big enough to lay blankets and towels on. 

You spotted one big enough for multiple people to spread out on and it was also close enough to the river itself, which would make it easy to get in and out of the water. It was decided the girls would take the spot you found and the boys would hang out on the next one over. You spread your towel out, setting your bag near the front and slipping your sandals off on the other end to weigh it down before settling down on it in a cross-legged position.

Jennie and Miyeon put their things out next to you, while Jihoon was helping Mark and Mingyu set their chairs out on the other rock. You leaned backward on your hands, enjoying the sun on your face while chatting about things every once in a while with Jennie and Miyeon. You had tuned them out a little when Miyeon started talking about Mark’s sexual habits, comparing them with things Jennie’s many partners had done. Not only did you not want to know those things about Mark, but you didn’t really have anything to contribute since you and Jihoon obviously weren't on that level.

“Y/N? What about you and Jihoon?” Miyeon asked, bringing your attention back to the conversation. 

“Well….it’s a secret,” you answered, trying to be as elusive as possible so you didn’t have to try and come up with more lies than needed.

“Oh, come on, Y/N,” Jennie goaded. “You cleaned Jihoon up so nicely, I'm sure you’ve had a piece of that.”

You looked at your best friend in annoyance. “Jihoon is a private person, I’d rather not discuss our sex life,” you responded. Miyeon seemed to understand but the look on Jennie’s face was like she took your response as a challenge.

The boys were having a similar conversation over at their rock, with Mingyu bragging about his latest endeavors. Jihoon didn’t really understand the need to boast about the subject as if it were a competition. “But what about Y/N, though?” Mingyu asked, looking over at Jihoon.

“What about her?” Jihoon questioned.

“She’s hot. You’d be stupid not to get a little ‘something, something’ while dating her,” Mingyu continued.

Jihoon narrowed his eyes, “Even if I have, Y/N has feelings too and I’m not going to divulge her sex life without her permission.” 

“Okay, dude. I was just trying to make conversation,” Mingyu surrendered, putting his hands up as a white flag. 

Mark took that as a sign for him and Mingyu to grab some floaties and go hang out in the river. Jihoon had brought his walkman and slipped on the headphones, going into his own little music world. Miyeon and Jennie had grown quiet now and were tanning behind you.

After scooting forward on your towel, you stuck your feet in the cool river water and let yourself relax a bit. You looked over to find Mark and Mingyu having a war on the floaties, both trying to push the other off and into the water. You shook your head at their antics and moved your feet back and forth in the water, creating a calming effect for yourself.

You weren’t sure how long you were all hanging out there but eventually Mingyu mentioned that you should all get home and you started packing things up. You looked over to find Jihoon gone from his previous spot.

Your eyes wandered around the river bank area and you finally spotted him, playing with two younger kids. “Oh noooo, you got me,” you heard him exclaim in mock upset. The two kids were squirting him with water from the super soakers they each had, both giggling the more exaggerated Jihoon sounded. 

He moved, chasing them around and getting revenge with his own super soaker. You couldn’t help but smile at the pure joy you saw on his face as he played with them. He looked so at ease with them. You thought that maybe you really were starting to fall for him, but if you were then you couldn’t keep up this fake dating ruse. You promptly shook the thoughts from your head. 

“Come on Captain Kangaroo, our ride is leaving,” you shouted across the bank. He looked up at your voice and shot you a devastatingly adorable smile that showed off his dimples. He gave the water gun back to the kids and he ruffled their hair, telling them he had fun. 

He jogged to where you were, saying “Okay, let’s get going.” He picked up his things from the rock he and the boys were on earlier and the two of you headed back up the path to Mingyu’s jeep. All the items you had brought had been put back in the trunk and everyone was just waiting for you and Jihoon so you could head back home. You two were squished against each other again, in a similar position as on the way there. However, you weren’t paying attention to that part as much now that the scene of him playing with the kids earlier kept replaying in your head. Before you knew it, you all had been dropped off at your respective residences and it was time to settle down for the evening. 

Jihoon had just walked in the door when his dad appeared holding the house phone. “Ah, good timing. Jihoon just came in, Seungkwan. Here,” he said, holding the phone out for Jihoon to take. 

“Hey, Kwan. What’s up?” Jihoon said into the phone, bringing it up the stairs to his room with him. 

“The Pixies are playing at the bar tomorrow night. Come with Seokmin, Wonwoo, and I,” Seungkwan said.

“I don’t know. I think one of Y/N’s friends is having a party that we are supposed to go to.”

Seungkwan sighed heavily. “I wasn’t going to bring this up, but you’ve changed. You used to hang out with us, you know, your best friends, all the time and now you're always with Y/N and her group of populars. Are we not good enough for you anymore, Jihoon?” 

“Jesus, Seungkwan. No, I haven’t changed. I don’t like hanging out with them, I’m just there to make Y/N happy and somewhat get along with them.” Jihoon explained, annoyance tingeing his voice. 

“Whatever you say,” Seungkwan gave a flippant response.

“Tell you what, I’ll talk to Y/N and see if we can come with you guys to the concert instead. Okay?” Jihoon compromised.

“Fine, let me know later,” Seungkwan conceded.

“Okay, bye.” Jihoon hung up the phone and rubbed his hands over his face. He didn’t think he was changing at all. He wasn’t fitting in with that crowd, was he? He was only pretending so that you two could fake date, right? 

Jihoon picked the cordless phone back up from the bed where he flung it after saying goodbye to Seungwan and dialed your number.

“Hello?” your voice sounded from the other end.

“Hey,” Jihoon said.

“Jihoon? You usually don’t call me first,” you mentioned.

“I know, but I wanted to ask you something.”

“Okay…” you responded, a little confused.

“I know we are supposed to go to another party tomorrow but do you think we could do something with my friends instead? I feel like we only do things with your friends,” he complained.

You let out a rush of air. “Okay,” you agreed.

“Okay?” Jihoon asked, surprised you agreed that easily.

“Yeah, you’re right. And it seems weird for a couple to hang out with only one group of friends. Plus, they used to be my friends too…” you trailed off.

“Alright, then there’s a band we follow playing at a bar we go to. Seungkwan invited us and both Wonwoo and Seokmin will be there too. I can come get you at 5 pm tomorrow,” he told you.

“Sounds good. Hey, today was kind of nice wasn’t it?” you asked, a smile on your face as you remembered.

“Yeah, it was kind of nice,” Jihoon admitted and you both hung up the phone.

Even though it was a Saturday afternoon, Jihoon found himself on campus in the broadcasting room. Seungkwan and Wonwoo were there earlier too but Jihoon wanted to finish editing the music video they had been working on. They had gone to get lunch and would be back later. 

It wasn’t that he was in a real hurry to finish it exactly, but he tended to immerse himself in his projects when he felt unsettled about something. He wasn’t even sure what he was specifically feeling weird about. Was it the fact that he really seemed to be getting along with your friends? Or was it that his heart seemed to speed up every time he caught your eyes yesterday?

All that could be heard in the room was the clicking of the mouse as he edited, thoughts swirling in his head. He was so distracted that he didn’t even realize that Wonwoo and Seungkwan had come back and that it was three hours later. He was brought back to reality as Seungkwan snapped his fingers in front of his face, literally snapping him out of whatever trance he was in. “Hellooooo, Jihoon,” Seungwan said, trying to get his attention. 

“Oh, sorry, Kwan,” Jihoon responded and turned around in the computer chair he was sitting in. 

“We should probably leave so we can all get ready for the concert tonight with Seok,” Wonwoo mentioned.

“Did you ask your girlfriend? Are you coming?” Seungkwan asked with a hint of bitterness.

“Actually, yeah. Y/N was kind of excited about it, so we’ll be there,” Jihoon said, ignoring Seungkwan’s tone.

Rather than getting into another heated discussion about whether Jihoon was acting like himself or not, Seungkwan and Wonwoo left and so did Jihoon after finishing the last bit of video editing. He went back home to get ready in another outfit you had chosen that day at the mall before going to pick you up. A few hours later, he was waiting in the car outside your dorm like he had multiple times before.

Jihoon drummed his fingers on the steering wheel along with the beat of the song that was on the radio as he waited for you. He was pretty into it and didn’t see when you had come out of the house. You grinned as you slowly approached the car. Jihoon had been into music when you were younger and it was nice to know he truly hadn’t changed much despite everything that happened. “Okay drummer boy, I’m here. We should leave,” you said, making him jump slightly at your voice before he unlocked the passenger side for you to get in.

“So what band are we going to see?” you asked when Jihoon had pulled out onto the road that would take you to the bar.

“The Pixies. Wonwoo found them one time when he was DD’ing and went to pick Seokmin up at the bar one time. They showed Seungkwan and me the next time they played and we liked them too, so we try to catch them every time they play there.” Jihoon explained and you could tell how much he liked the band.

“Hmm, okay. Well I’m excited to hang out with you guys, to see Seungkwan, and to get to know Wonwoo and Seokmin even more,” you said and you really were. You wanted to catch a glimpse of what Jihoon had been like for the period of time you didn’t know him. He hummed in acknowledgment. It was quiet for a few minutes before you spoke again. “Hey, do I..look okay? I’ve actually never been to this kind of thing before..” you asked, feeling a little nervous.

Jihoon looked a little surprised, but then again seeing a girl punk rock band at a hole-in-the-wall bar was not exactly your scene. Eventually, he scanned your outfit, taking in the dark jeans and nice shirt you were wearing. “Yeah, you look nice,” he responded. He was probably just being polite but you noticed he was also wearing something similar, making you wonder why you spent so much time trying to find the right outfit in the first place. 

He pulled into the parking lot of the bar and parked next to a car that was familiar to you at this point, Wonwoo’s. You followed behind him as he walked into the bar and scanned the area for his friends. “Jihoon! Y/N!” you heard someone shout over the band that was already playing. You walked with Jihoon to where Seungkwan had shouted from, in the middle of a crowd standing somewhat near the stage. It got louder the closer you got to where Seungkwan, Seokmin, and Wonwoo were.

“Hey, boys!” you greeted them over the music. 

“Hey, Y/N,” Seungkwan said when you got closer. Wonwoo gave a small wave and Seokmin flashed a smile.

“I’m going to grab some drinks from the bar. Want anything?” Jihoon asked you all.

“Martini for me, please,” Seungkwan said.

“Suprise me,” came Seokmin’s response.

“I’m driving, of course, so just club soda?” Wonwoo asked.

Jihoon looked over at you, waiting for your order. “Rum and coke?” you asked. Jihoon did not expect that from you. He figured you’d want something more fancy like Seungkwan wanted.

“Okay, be back soon then,” Jihoon said and he disappeared into the crowd.

You turned your attention to the stage in front of you that had since grown quiet, guessing that the band that was playing when you walked in was the opener for who you were really here to see. You were making small talk with the three boys while waiting for the main event and for Jihoon to come back. As you had noticed before, Wonwoo was quiet but funny and had quite a knack for video editing. Seokmin was bright, adding a lightness to their group. You talked with Seungkwan about your junior high days when you, Jihoon, and he made up a trio. You remembered those days fondly and definitely noticed how wary Seungkwan was when talking about that part of your shared past.

Before you could address that, the crowd started cheering and colored lights were starting to shine on the stage as a group of girls came on stage with their instruments. They looked amazing. The girl in front had her hair teased in a high pony and wore silver pants that matched the glittering tank top of the girl drummer behind her. She picked up a guitar and started playing a riff that must have been from one of their well-known songs, judging by the howling in the crowd. As the song continued to play, you realized you liked it. The punk aspect was not something you would not have normally picked, but it made you feel something.

Jihoon was still waiting for your drinks over at the bar and was turned around to watch the stage. His eyes were automatically drawn to where you were, finding you with your eyes glued to the stage and complete joy written on your face. He watched as you got closer to the stage, starting to jump up and down with the music. He honestly couldn’t take his eyes off of you. “Here you go,” the bartender said from behind him, setting the drinks on the bar top. Jihoon grabbed them all, balancing them in his hands and set off back into the crowd with an amused smile on his lips.

He wove back through all the people, stopping to give his friends their drinks before moving forward in the crowd to where you were standing. The song was finishing as he reached you and you screamed and clapped for the band, making Jihoon laugh at how much you were actually enjoying this. He tapped you on the shoulder and you turned, the look on your face probably the happiest he had seen recently.

“Your drink,” Jihoon said, passing the glass to you.

“Thank you,” you said, taking it from him and giving it a light sip before turning your attention to the next song. You began bouncing up and down to the beat of the new song, as much as you could without spilling your drink. Jihoon thought you were cute like this. 

He stood there enjoying the music with you, his own drink in hand until you heard Wonwoo let out an “Ah, shit,” somewhere behind you. 

“What’s wrong?” Jihoon questioned. 

“She’s here,” Wonwoo responded.

“Who?” you asked, confused. 

You followed Jihoon’s line of sight before you spotted who and he spoke her name. “Shayla.” She had a guy hanging off her, which you could only assume was the one she cheated on Jihoon with. You watched as they acted all lovey-dovey, making Jihoon look positively miserable. Her eyes crossed paths with Jihoon and you could only think of one thing to do, you kissed him. 

You made out with him to be exact, tongue and all. You couldn’t bear how hurt he looked, couldn’t stand the fact that Shayla was looking at him like she still cared. Jihoon didn’t know how he should respond other than to let you continue kissing him. You kept sneaking peeks at Shayla out of the corner of your eye as you kept making out with him. Eventually, Shayla looked away with a bit of a sneer and pulled her boy toy to another area of the bar. 

You pulled away from Jihoon and said, “Sorry, I was just returning the favor.” He had rescued you in a similar way, albeit a tamer way, that night at the dinner when your ex was there. You took it a little further than intended but you were just making it even, weren’t you? 

“Uh, thanks?” Jihoon responded, a light blush warming his cheeks and he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. This was not a reaction you expected from him or even one you thought he could have. It was actually pretty adorable. You tried not to think about it. You didn’t see it because you were too focused on the boy you weren’t supposed to like, but Wonwoo and Seungwan shared a look. 

“They are about to play the next song,” you said, trying to redirect attention back to the band and the stage. Jihoon only nodded, not knowing what else to say after that. You let the music take away thoughts of whatever feelings you might be starting to have for your fake boyfriend and by the time the concert was over, you had buried them deep in your mind once again.

In the parking lot of the bar, you said goodbye to Seungkwan, Wonwoo, and Seokmin before you got in the car with Jihoon to go home. It was a little awkward again before Jihoon turned the radio on. (You Drive Me) Crazy by Britney Spears came on and he groaned before he reached over to change the station. “Aw come on, Ji. Leave it there,” you whined before starting to sing along to the song. He grimaced at you but pulled his hand away from the dash, leaving the song on. “You drive me craaaazzzyyy, I just can’t sleep!” you sang loudly and badly on purpose. You poked your elbow into Jihoon’s side, trying to get him to sing with you as you continued with the lyrics.

After a few harder nudges Jihoon belted out, “Baby, thinking of you keeps me up all night”. You gasped, putting your hand over your mouth. You didn’t think you’d actually get him to sing it with you. He continued driving with the two of you singing the rest of the song and giggling like maniacs, Jihoon showing a smile genuine enough that the dimples you only saw one other time appeared. You found yourself having fun more often with Jihoon and spending time with him was beginning to feel more and more natural, like you never parted ways to begin with.

Once again, you found yourself in the journalism room working on things for the ball. More specifically, the decorations. This time you were by yourself, there was yet another party happening tonight and the others left you so they could get Jennie’s house ready since she was hosting this time. Honestly, you didn’t mind and felt like you could get more things done without Jennie’s constant nitpicking. 

You were looking at a few different options for string lights when someone you didn’t expect to see walked in. Shayla. “Um, Mrs. Rathburn asked me to bring you the posters you had printed from the big office printer,” she said, showing the large posters she held in her arms.

“Oh, thanks for bringing them. You can set them over there,” you responded, gesturing toward the bigger table next to you. Shayla set them where you indicated and started toward the door but hesitated, turning back around. She looked like she wanted to say something to you. “Was there anything else?” you prompted.

She pondered for a moment before saying,” He seems happier with you.” You were sure what to say when she continued. “He never wanted to go places with me, never wanted to stop by the lab to see me, not the way he does with you.” 

The way she said it struck a chord with you. You knew she was a medical science major and worked in the chem lab a lot but it didn’t occur to you before and obviously, she didn’t know either. “He didn’t tell you about his mother, did he?” you asked. The confused look on Shayla’s face confirmed your suspicions. “His mother died when we were younger…of cancer. So you can imagine why he wouldn’t want to be around medicine and labs.”

Now she had a shocked look on her face, mixed with something like pity. “I didn’t know. Well, I hope he continues to be happy with you,” she said as she turned back around and walked out of the room. For once, you felt a little sorry for Shayla but fake or not, Jihoon was with you now. You sighed and got up from the chair you were sitting in, pulling the posters closer to you so you could examine them to make sure they had been printed properly. They looked good and you were glad that nothing was wrong with them. 

A few minutes later, Jihoon walked through the same classroom door that Shayla walked out of. “Hey, how's it going in here?” he asked casually. 

You shrugged, “It’s going. But, what are you doing here? You didn’t bring me coffee this time.” You grinned, enjoying being able to give him a hard time now without it turning into a big deal. 

“Wow, see if I ever bring you coffee again..” he teased back. “Anyway, I was working with Seungkwan on some AV stuff for the school news show and thought I’d stop by. It was strange though, I passed by Shayla in the hall and she was acting oddly nice to me.” 

“Huh, weird,” you said. There was no way you were going to tell him that you told her about his mother. He must have had a reason for not telling her, although some part of you was relieved he hadn’t.

“So, how do you feel about having dinner at my house before we go to Jennie’s party? My dad invited you. I think he’s noticed how close we’ve gotten again,” he asked, looking a little sheepish.

“I’d like that,” you responded, the corners of your lips turning up at the thought of Mr. Lee making Jihoon ask you over. You gathered all the things you were working on, organizing them so they made sense when you went to work on them again and left the room to go home with Jihoon.

You had really only been just inside of the door of Jihoon’s house since you reconnected. It felt weird going past the dining room threshold as you followed him into the kitchen, even though as a child you had been in every room in the house. It was a reminder of how things truly had changed after his mom died. 

Yet, the sight of Mr. Lee in the kitchen and the familiar smell of his famous Yangnyeom chicken transported you right back to those times when you and Jihoon would get called in for dinner when you had been playing outside or doing homework together. Mr. Lee turned around after plating the chicken. “Glad you could join us, Y/N! I had to practically beg Jihoon to ask you,” he beamed, walking into the dining room to set the large plate on the table.

“Thank you for inviting me Mr. Lee,” you said, politely as you took a seat in one of the chairs at the dining table. 

“At least I didn’t have to drag you two inside from the treehouse,” he said with a laugh and you found it ironic that he remembered that as well. 

Your eyes shifted to sliding doors on the other side of the dining room, looking out into the backyard to see if the treehouse still existed. “It’s still there..” you murmured as you made out the familiar wood walls poking out the only large tree still in the yard.

“Of course it is! Jihoon kept it up all these years and made sure no nail or board came out of place,” Mr. Lee exclaimed rather proudly. You looked over at Jihoon who was doing his best not to look at you. You thought it would have been destroyed by now. Jihoon’s actions lately were already confusing, but the fact that he had preserved the treehouse all this time confused you even more. 

The rest of dinner went well, it was comforting that it felt almost the same as it did when you were young. Well, minus a major person, but you tried your best not to think about that. You and Jihoon were helping Mr. Lee clean up when he glanced at the clock on the wall. “We should think about heading to the party now,” he said.

“I got the rest of this. You crazy kids go have fun at the party,” Mr. Lee said, basically telling the two of you to skedaddle already.

“Don’t wait up,” Jihoon joked, following you out of the kitchen and back into the front room.

Since you were busy enough today, you chose an outfit when you got ready this morning that would translate well from everyday to party. It’s not like you were the host or like it was that special of an event, plus you were willing to bet something would be spilled on it by the end of the night anyway. 

“Let me change into something more suitable and I’ll be right back,” Jihoon said to you. You nodded and sat on the bottom of the stairs to wait for him. Five minutes later, he came down the stairs looking effortless and amazing at the same time. Once again, making it hard for you to ignore the ever-annoying butterflies that filled your stomach. 

“Let’s get going, we don’t want to be late,” you mumbled, turning your attention back to the front door.

The party was already in full swing when you arrived and you narrowly avoided being mowed over by Mingyu and Mark playing some sort of drunk game involving a soccer ball the minute you and Jihoon walked into Jennie’s house. You took Jihoon’s hand in yours as you wove through people, telling yourself it was so that you didn’t lose him in the crowd but you couldn’t help but feel like they fit together.

You made your way into the center of the house where more things seemed to be going on when you caught the sound of the familiar voices of your friends in the backyard. Jennie was already drunk, laughing loudly as she swayed her hips to the music blasting from speakers on either side of the yard. “There you guys areeeeeeee,” Jennie exclaimed, her words sounding slightly slurred which gave a bit of an indication of how much alcohol she’d had so far. 

You stifled a laugh as Miyeon gave you a look that essentially said “help me” as she lightly sipped on the drink she had while keeping an eye on Jennie. Mark suddenly appeared, without Mingyu this time. “Yoooo, Jihoon. Come be my partner, Mingyu got too drunk and I need someone who actually has hand-eye coordination,” he said, trying to rope Jihoon into whatever hair-brained game they had been playing. 

Mark dragged him off before he could protest, leaving you with just the girls. “You know, I wasn’t sure about Jihoon in the beginning, but the makeover he had really suits him well. If you weren’t dating him, I would be all over that,” Jennie babbled, the multiple drinks in her system acting like an unwanted truth serum. You felt a hint of animosity toward her, and you had to keep telling yourself that you shouldn’t be. You weren’t dating for real, but in principle, it was since nobody else knew that. 

To make it easier to resist the urge to strangle Jennie, you excused yourself and went to get a drink from the bar on the other side of the patio that you assumed Jennie paid to be there. Walking up to the bartender, you ordered something that tasted good but wouldn’t get you blasted immediately. A few seconds wait and you thanked the bartender, taking your drink from him. You turned around, maybe to go find where Mark dragged Jihoon off to when you found yourself face to face with your ex.

“Oh, Y/N. I was actually looking for you,” Johnny said. He was just passing by but he was clearly looking for someone. You, apparently. 

“Um, okay…didn’t you come with your new girlfriend?” you asked, confused as to why he was looking for you when he seemed so infatuated with the girl the last time you had seen him.

“Well, that’s kind of why I was looking for you. Let’s find a quieter place to talk,” he motioned to some chairs that sat out off the side of the patio where fewer people were milling around. You sat down in one and he sat in the one across from you.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” you questioned, not exactly interested but he did specifically seek you out.

“I know you are with Jihoon now, but I was wondering if I could take you to the dance?” Johnny asked, with what he thought might be a convincing smile on his face. You choked on your drink. He couldn’t be serious. The very thing you had wanted before everything got messy and he was asking you now?

“But what about your girlfriend?” you inquired.

“She broke up with me, said she found someone new,” he shrugged. You snorted. Ironic wasn’t it? She broke up with him for nearly the same reason he broke up with you.

“Once upon a time, all I ever wanted was for you to take me to the ball I planned. But you know what? I’m not the same person as I was all those months ago and I’m with Jihoon now. Go find some other poor sucker to go with you because I won’t,” you responded and you knew it was true. You weren’t the same person anymore. You could care less about being popular. All you cared about was being yourself. And being with Jihoon.

Johnny looked stunned, “Damn, Jihoon is a lucky guy.” You felt that was your cue to leave and you had to go to the bathroom anyway. So you left Johnny there and went inside to search for the restroom. You walked back into the house through the sliding door and were headed down the hall when you saw it, saw them. 

Jennie was talking with Jihoon when suddenly you saw her lips meet his. You didn’t know what was happening and your face crumpled. Immediately, you knew that the feelings you were trying to suppress for Jihoon couldn’t be covered up anymore. Jennie broke free of the kiss with a smirk, turning Jihoon around by his shoulders so that his eyes would meet yours. “Bitch,” you murmured, a sob trying to break free from your chest.

Jihoon’s eyes widened as they met yours. “Y/N, wait!” he shouted, a pleading tone bleeding into it. You didn’t want to hear it. This whole thing was fake anyway. You ignored him and stormed out the front door, not caring where you were going. You just needed out of there. Jennie’s house wasn’t that close to the dorm, but it didn’t matter. You wanted to walk anyway.

You did eventually make it back to the dorm, you didn’t know how long it took you and you didn’t care. Everything was ruined and you felt the most pathetic that you had ever been. You retreated to your room and the warmth of your bed, wanting to never leave it. You should have never come up with this idea if you knew it would turn out this way. You weren’t supposed to fall for your ex-best friend, your enemy.

Jihoon was also miserable, perhaps on a different and newfound level. He thought he was in a bad way when he broke up with Shayla, but it was nothing like the way he felt after Jennie tricked him. Nothing like the way his heart cracked when he saw your face and the way your chin trembled when you saw the kiss and nothing like when he called out to you, only for you to ignore him and walk out the door. 

He thought he might have loved Shayla when they were together, but he was so wrong. He loved you and it took losing you to finally realize it, to admit it to himself. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do now, but the most immediate solution was to numb the pain. He knew Wonwoo would come get him anyway, and so he drank. He drank a lot. Likely more than he ever had.

He drank so much that he didn’t even know how time moved forward and transported him to where he was now, outside, throwing his guts up in Jennie’s front garden. He must have called Wonwoo at some point, he most certainly didn’t remember doing it but Wonwoo was suddenly standing there in the yard, waiting to see if Jihoon’s stomach was done forcing out whatever contents were left. 

Wonwoo didn’t have much sympathy for his friend at this point. “How does it feel Jihoon? Being part of the popular crowd?” he mocked. 

“Shut up, Wonwoo,” Jihoon croaked, slowly getting up from his kneeling position in the grass to slowly tread toward Wonwoo’s car. Jihoon all but melted into the backseat once the two of them were both in the car, his head already starting to pound. 

“You really screwed up, you know,” Wonwoo said, once the car was on the way to Jihoon’s house. 

“How do you know what happened?” Jihoon mumbled the question

“You know how fast news travels around here,” he responded.

“Considering everyone was at the party, I’m not surprised.” Wonwoo slammed on the brakes, making Jihoon fall forward and smack his nose on the seat in front of him. “Ow, what the hell Wonwoo?!” he yelped, hands moving to his face to touch his now tender nose.

“Everybody was NOT there, Jihoon! Seungkwan and I weren’t there, Seokmin wasn’t there, so no, everybody was not at the party,” Wonwoo nearly growled. 

“Okay, sheesh. Everybody was not there,” Jihoon conceded, given his growing headache and the fact that Wonwoo so rarely yelled. 

“Get out,” Wonwoo said and Jihoon was about to protest when he looked out of the window to see that they had actually stopped outside his house. “Call me when you’ve decided to return back to being the friend I know.” 

Jihoon couldn’t respond, he didn’t have a decent answer for that. He just got out of the car, went into the house, and flopped face-first onto his bed. He did know that Wonwoo was right though, he royally fucked up. The only thing he could think about was talking to you, to see if there was a way to convince you of what truly happened with Jennie. 

He rolled back to his side, reaching his arm out to grab the phone from the nightstand. He didn’t know how late it was but prayed you’d still answer the phone. He punched in your number and waited as it rang and rang. He was just about to give up when a tired “hello?” answered. 

“Please let me explain,” Jihoon said, immediately. 

You sighed. “It doesn’t matter. It was crazy to think we could fake it this long, this is our easy out,” you responded, trying to keep your voice from breaking and giving you away. 

“What about the dance? That was the main goal of this whole thing,” he said. Jihoon knew that wasn’t why he wanted to keep this ruse going but it was all he could think to try.

“I’ll figure something out. Or maybe I won’t go at all. Let’s just go back to how things were before.” Tears were starting to slip down your cheeks now and you hung up the phone before Jihoon could hear the sob that left your chest.

After the party, days and weeks continued on but you and Jihoon were not the same. Jihoon spaced out often, going about his days in a trance. He even ignored Shaya’s renewed and constant advances on him. He didn’t want anyone else but you. Wonwoo had seen how depressed Jihoon was and took pity on him, letting everything that happened between the two of them that night go. You threw yourself into ball planning which was ironic considering you likely wouldn’t even be attending anymore and Jihoon spent more time editing in the broadcasting room, only being pulled out by his friends. 

You had all but stopped hanging out with all your “friends”, only working with them for the ball because you had to. Everything felt like a blur. You had confronted Jennie shortly after the night of the party, her only excuse being “I was doing you a favor.” Maybe in some way she really was, just not in the way she intended. Your relationship with Jihoon may have started out as a fake one but now your feelings were real and you needed to stop before they destroyed you both.

When the night of the ball came around, you found yourself in your dorm room with no date and crying once again. The dress you had picked out long ago to match the tux you had helped Jihoon pick out was hung on the back of your door, mocking you. Maybe you should go by yourself, it would be weird if the planner herself didn’t attend. You brushed the tears from your cheeks and shook your head. That was enough of that, crying and feeling sorry for yourself wouldn’t change anything.

Then your phone rang. “Hello?” you answered.

“Y/N? Hi,” spoke a voice that was vaguely familiar but not one you’d heard over the phone.

“Seungkwan?” you questioned.

“Yeah, it’s Seungkwan. Listen, I know you probably don’t have a date to the ball anymore and I think it would be a shame if you couldn’t go. You deserve to see your event finished so, how about I take you?” Seungkwan said.

For the first time since the night of the party, a genuine smile crossed your face. Seungkwan had always been the sweetest person you’d known, even after you all had parted ways as kids. “I’d like that,” you responded.

“Okay, cool. I can come pick you up in an hour. Will that be enough time to get ready?” he asked 

“Sure, see you soon,” you said, hanging up the phone and scrambling to start getting ready. That gave you an answer to your earlier thoughts of just going to the ball by yourself. You were much happier going with Seungkwan, someone you knew you’d have some fun with. You pulled your dress from where you had been glaring at it earlier, glad that it was no longer going to waste. You grabbed shoes that went with it from your closet and got ready as efficiently as you could.

You were smoothing out the bottom of your dress and making sure the last strands of your hair were in place when one of your dorm mates called up the stairs to let you know Seungkwan was there. You picked up the light sweater and small purse you had set out on a chair and walked down the stairs to meet Seungkwan. 

He smiled as he spotted you and said, “You look great.”

“Thanks. You don’t look so bad yourself,” you said back. His simple black tuxedo made him look handsome. You reached the bottom of the stairs and he pulled something out from behind his back, showing it to you.

“It was short notice, but this is for you,” Seungkwan said, holding out a pretty wrist corsage. 

You let out a pleased laugh and held out your wrist so that he could slip it on, the white rose simple but pretty. “Thank you, that was sweet of you.” 

“Of course, I can't let my best girl feel left out,” he said with a chuckle. 

Immediately you were thankful for at least one good thing that came out of all of this. You had a good friend in Seungkwan once again. “Let’s go,” you said and you headed to the dance.

Walking in the doors of the venue you rented, you took in everything. Seungkwan was right, you shouldn’t miss how everything you planned had come together. From the centerpieces on the tables to the twinkle lights winding around the beams in the ceiling, everything you had imagined and planned out. It looked perfect. There was only one thing missing, but there was nothing you could do about that anymore.

You and Seungkwan sat down for a little while at one of the tables, talking about different things and people watching before he asked you to dance. He got up from his seat, holding out his hand for you to take. You took it and he led you to the dance floor. Stopping at an empty spot toward the edge, he placed his hands on your back and you wrapped your arms around his neck. You began swaying to the music the DJ was playing. It was nice and comfortable but of course, it was only platonic with Seungkwan.

“Jihoon really likes you, you know,” he said eventually. You sighed, knowing this topic would come up eventually. Seungkwan cared about both of you. “And I know you like him too.” He continued, recounting how bleak the two of you had been in the past weeks.

“I know Seungkwan, but everything is all messed up now,” you said. 

“Well, now is your chance to fix it,” he suddenly said, looking up at something or rather someone.

“What?” you asked, confused.

“May I cut in?” A voice asked from behind you. You let out a small gasp. Jihoon?

Seungkwan’s hands left your back and he pressed a light kiss to your cheek, leaving you and Jihoon on the dance floor. You looked at Jihoon. He was wearing the tuxedo you picked out to match your dress and looked as handsome as ever. He approached you, gently placing his hands around your waist and you let your hands rest at the nape of his neck. Your fingers lightly brushed at the ends of his shaggy hair that you liked so much.

You danced a bit to the slow song that was on before you broke the tension between the two of you. “Why are you here, Jihoon?” you asked.

“Because I missed you. God, I missed you so much,” he blurted, pulling you closer to him. Your heart panged at his words. You missed him too and you knew that you didn’t want to pretend your feelings for him didn’t exist. 

“I missed you too,” you murmured.

“I’m so sorry about what happened with Jennie. I swear she tricked me but that’s not what matters. I like you, Y/N. I think I’ve always liked you, before everything got so messed up.” He was on a roll now, telling you all that was on his mind and everything he should have told you from the beginning when you both agreed to that stupid fake dating plan.

Your face broke out into a grin. “I like you, too.” Jihoon must have been holding his breath, because he let out a rush of air in relief at your response. “I asked Jennie why she did what she did and she told me she was doing us a favor. I guess in some way, she really did.”

Then Jihoon reached out a hand to cup your cheek, his eyes looking into yours before he leaned forward to press his lips against yours. There were no fireworks, but something much better as you kissed him back. Warmth. A warmth that radiated through your entire body and you couldn’t have imagined anything better. 

You broke away after a few minutes, becoming aware that several eyes were on the two of you. Specifically the eyes of Jennie, Johnny, Mark, Miyeon, and a few of the others. “Who are we making jealous now, Jihoon?” you laughed.

“Everyone,” was his response and he kissed you again, making everything around you disappear. 

“Wanna get out of here?” you asked.

“I have just the place in mind,” he answered, cheekily and the two of you left hand in hand.

After the dance, you came bursting through the gate to Jihoon’s backyard, giggling like you were little kids again. The only difference was now Jihoon kept pausing to kiss you every few minutes as he led you to the treehouse. He pulled you with him up the ladder and into the familiar house. Except that instead of just the pillows and the small table that you remember being there before, there were blankets and lit candles set out in the corners.

“Did you plan this?” you asked, suspicious.

“I had hoped?” he responded, innocently. 

You shook your head, “You’re lucky I like you.”

“I am very lucky.”

“If I knew you were going to be this cheesy-” He cut you off with another kiss and led you over to the blankets that were laid out in the middle of the wooden floor. He sat down, pulling you to sit with him. He initiated a make-out session that began innocently but was now starting to get heated. He leaned backward, laying back against the blankets and making you lay on top of him.

His kisses moved to your jaw and to your collarbone making you let out a gasp and thread your hands through his dark locks. All the pent-up feelings and chemistry that had built up between you was finally reaching a breaking point, in your childhood hangout no less. Your hands made work with his clothes, taking off his jacket and working on the buttons of his shirt. He pulled the straps of your dress down your shoulders when you finally managed to rid him of the annoying button-down.

To make it easier for him, you straightened your back so he could pull the entire thing up and over your head. You were left in just your underwear and Jihoon paused to look at you before taking off his dress pants. “You are gorgeous,” he whispered, pressing light kisses to your shoulders. You closed your eyes, reveling in the feeling of being loved on by him.

Soon you both had been rid of all remaining garments, leaving you completely naked and hands roaming each other's bodies. Jihoon’s length pressed against your thighs, making you moan at the skin contact and buck against him. He hissed in pleasure and bit his lip, the action increasing the arousal at your core. He moved to grind his head against your sensitive nub and you let out a whine. 

After a few minutes of that, you couldn’t stand it anymore. You needed him inside you. “Jihoon…” you breathed out.

“Yes?” he asked.

“Please,” you whimpered.

He reached over to his discarded pants to get the little foil packet from the pocket. He opened it and slid the condom over his cock with a hiss. He steaded your hips and ran his length through your folds a few times before he slowly slid into you, letting you adjust to his size.

“Fuck,” he let out a groan as your heat engulfed him. He began moving slowly within you. Your sacred childhood treehouse was now filled with lewd slaps of skin against skin and moans filled with pleasure. You established a rhythm that had you both slowly chasing your highs together. Your moans had turned to mewls as the coil in the pit of your stomach was stretching to its limit. 

“I’m close, Ji,” you whimpered. The use of Jihoon’s nickname drove him to the edge as well and he pumped into you that much harder. The coil snapped and you orgasmed, hard enough that your thighs shook. Your walls contracting around him made Jihoon hit his high as well. His hips stilled and he let out a groan, emptying his seed into the condom.

He slowly pulled out of you and you both collapsed next to each other on the blankets with heaving breaths. After a few minutes and your breathing had returned to normal, Jihoon turned to look at you, his head resting on his shoulder. “So, frienemies?” he asked with a chuckle. 

You reached out and smacked him in the chest. “Jihoon!”

“Ouch, I’m kidding. I know we are more than that. So much more than that,” he said, tugging you closer to him and leaving a kiss on your forehead. 

“Yes, absolutely more than that,” you agreed. Jihoon drove you crazy, but you came to the conclusion that you didn’t want it any other way.

©️wooahaeproductions

All works on this blog are protected under copyright. Do not repost, continue, or translate my works.

[blood-grove]

Werewolf Bites

pervious <- discomfort -> next stage of infection

tws; sickness , injuries , vomiting , violence, no use of y/n

parings: gaz x male reader (established relationship)

-> c/n - call sign

-> n/n - nickname

Fuck

You feel like you've said that too many times now.

But it was right once again.

The fluorescent lights were killing you as you squinted around the room your eyes landing on a blurry figure entering the room they said something something as they talked too your side.

It was all muffled you just stared up at them.

You probably look stupid now eyes all unfocused and ears still faintly ringing as your hearing came back staring up at them like a bug.

"..God you're probably too drugged up to even remember the past few days..maybe even too out of it to understand this again."

Again.

Hm.

You blinked as he came into focus finally.

Oh right, Kyle.

"Again?"

"..Yeah Lovie..nice to see you awake again you've been in and out of it..How's the shoulder..?"

Right the bite.

You could barely feel it really but with a quick glance at it and more colors of bruises than the rainbow itself, you guessed the drugs were working great for you to feel barely anything.

"..Can't feel it much.."

"..Good..they upped your dosage enough the last time you woke you were sobbing near screaming in pain..I..It hurt to see you like that.."

"..Oh sorry.."

He just sighed chuckled as he shook his head and gently pressed a kiss to your forehead as he leaned down.

"Don't apologize..You've been through so much..Mission was a success though..The guys have been checking in on you too.."

"..Ghost too..?"

"Yes, love..I still don't understand why you think he hates you over a small prank.."

You just whined huffing it was a small prank honestly but it feels like you've done something horrible, You could blame your anxiety or whatever the hell else is wrong with you.

But you blamed yourself.

"..Try not to think about it much..Focus on healing up.."

And focus you did.

A day had passed and you fever had gone down.

They took you off your IV and finally gave you the all-clear for a mostly solid lunch a sandwich, some apples, medicine.

Water.

You had ate everything else swallowing your pills dry.

You couldn't stand the taste of the water though.

Maybe it was just your tastebuds being weird.

Next day you luckily got juice.

Gaz visited when he could ill you were eventually back up on your feet with a still sore and off-colored shoulder.

You'd still have to get some checkups for it it would have returned back to its normal color by now you weren't that worried though you were feeling great really.

You were told to take it easy minimal training meant you were still benched on Price's order and your begrudging acceptance.

But there were pros the main being that now you were cuddled up gently with Gaz who carded his hand gently through your hair peppering kisses along your face grinning.

"I missed you so much.."

"You saw me everyday.."

"I..I mean I missed holding you..Being close like this with you.."

"..I missed you too."

God, you didn't know how you got with such an incredible man.

Luck? Pity?

Maybe both.

The day you confessed you honestly thought your heart would give out when he just giggled.

That sly man of course had to tease you he already knew the rest of team knew your schoolgirl crush on Kyle.

You weren't subtle about it.

Following him around and 'coincidentally' ending up in the same room as him.

Just being close to him made you feel all fuzzy, You didnt want to be seen as a creep but you just loved everything about him.

You both never talked about marriage but you'd give everything you had to be with him to please him the lingering fear of showing such love to him still hung around.

You fear you'd break if he left you.

Us.

"Love?"

"Mm..?"

Oh he was looking at you all concerned.

Why.

Did you do something wrong? You didnt mean too.

Please dont be upset.

"You whined..Is it your shoulder..?"

"I did..?"

"Yeah..you did.."

"Its nothing.."

You shifted as you sat up in bed ignoring the tug at the back of your mind to sit and stay.

Why were you thinking like this now?.

"Love..c'mon speak for me please.. Whatever ever it is you can tell me."

"I-..I don't know..I just..feel off.."

"You must be..youve been cooped up in the medical ward for days.."

"Yeah..I guess its that.."

You sighed as you felt him gently kiss your sore shoulder.

"Hows the shoulder..?"

"Sore..achy..but fine."

"Mm..Well thats better.."

He smiled, God that smile.

You didnt resist when he gently brought you back to laying down his hands gently glided his hands over your arms and thighs before coming back up to cup your face.

"Heh.."

"What..? Is..Is there something on my face?"

"If you mean the adorable look your giving me then yeah.."

"Oh hush.."

You both laid like that for a bit enjoying the quiet.

"Love you n/n"

"Love you too.."

a/n: hopefully this is good kinda of rushed the end

[live-laugh-lenney]

Hi, could you please write a little something about george looking after his girlfriend while she's ill? Xx

i am such a sucker for soft boyfriend looking after ill girlfriend :')

whatever he had planned, it was dropped.

except he never told her that he cancelled his work schedule or any of his upcoming video shoots that he was due to film because he knows her like the back of his hand. he knew, deep down, how much she was going hate being the reason that he stopped working just to take care of her when, really, she could do it herself.

'i need to cancel our dinner date with max and andrew tonight, not well at all. don't come and see me as i'm just gonna sleep all day and look like a mess. love you. <33'

george cancels on her behalf. informing max that they could move the date to another night and that he wasn't sure what was wrong with her but that it must have been something terribly bad if she was cancelling plans and had added on that she didn't want to see her boyfriend in the state she was in.

except, george doesn't always listen.

and its time like when she was sick where he was thankful he had a key to her flat amongst the keys on his keyring. arriving at her door with an abundance of bags filled with tablets and medicines, dry crackers and packs of biscuits, and whatever trinkets he could grab from the tiny supermarket shop at the entrance of her flat complex so he was prepared for any kind of sickness.

"i know you asked not to see me but i wasn't doing anything today in regards to work and i couldn't leave you here by yourself," his voice fills the quiet space of her home and he waits for her to make herself known before he unpacks the bags for her, "babe?"

when she doesn't appear after a couple of minutes, he feels guilt low in his stomach - he forgot she may have been trying to sleep off whatever had struck her and he was suddenly more aware of how loud he had been upon his entrance. he toes off his trainers and sets them beside her front door, sets the keys down quietly on the side table and leaves the bags in her kitchen before he goes on a look for her around her home.

she wasn't on the sofa; her living room hadn't seemed to be touched and her tv remotes were left where she would normally leave them the previous night, the blanket was still draped over the back of the sofa and there was no dip in the cushions to signify that someone had been sat there recently.

she wasn't in her office; he wasn't expecting her to be working, at all, but it was a much cooler room in her home since it was facing away from the sunshine and she had a fairly comfortable sofa to lounge on.

she wasn't in her bedroom; except he could tell she had taken refuge there for the majority of the day because her sheets were still messy and ruffled and her pillows looked laid upon, a glass of water on her bedside table and a mop bucket down by her side of the bed which she must have kept there in case she couldn't make it from the bed.

his next guess was her en-suite and as he poked his head around the doorframe, he was met with her eyes closed and leaning against the side of the bathtub with a sheen of sweat clinging to her skin. his t-shirt, which he had given to her when she first stayed the night at his place, loose on her figure and it swallowed her up and he just wanted to scoop her up and put her to bed so she was more comfortable.

"i know you're looking at me," she grumbles lowly, cracking an eye open and staring at him through one eye, "i said not to come over. i don't know if this is a contagious thing or not."

"i'll be fine," he waves his hand in her direction as if he was brushing off the comment and he steps into the room, reaching over to flush the toilet from the contents inside, "how long have you been here for?"

she shrugs before taking a deep inhale, exhaling slowly, and she stretches out her legs to rid the pins and needles feeling tingling at her toes. she feels george sit down beside her and she can't help but lean towards the body heat radiating off his body, his arm sneaking around her shoulder and pulling her into his side.

"just feeling sick?"

"just feeling a bit icky. woke up feeling weird, breakfast didn't stay too long in my belly, can't really keep anything down."

"maybe it's a viral thing?" george wonders and he reaches for a wet flannel to dab across her forehead and to clear her face a little, "chris went down with something a couple of weeks ago, seen a lot of stuff saying people are going down with a sickness bug."

"just my luck to get it."

george laughs softly and sets the flannel down on the side of the tub, removing his arm from her shoulder and standing to his feet, holding his hands out for her to take and pulling her slowly to her feet. letting her get some stability before he lead her back to the bedroom so she could get comfortable in bed.

"i brought some crackers and biscuits if you're hungry and want to try and eat something," george suggested and she shook her head, settling herself down in bed and pulling the duvet over her body, "i'll leave them in the kitchen for you, okay? they're there if you want them."

"thank you," she smiles softly and he climbs onto the bed, careful not to jostle her too much, laying down beside her and cosying under the covers, "love you."

"i would kiss you but," he looks her and she rolls her eyes, "i love you too. get some sleep. i'll be here when you wake up." xx

[lavenderhhaze]

An I.N. oneshot with a lot of angst (I just want to cry pls)

got you babe

[05:03] RADIAL — Y. JEONGIN (0.5k words)

It's well past midnight when Jeongin feels concious again, the burn of his last three tequila shots still stinging at the back of his throat. The armrest of the couch presses into his spine uncomfortably, his legs compressed under something — someone heavy. The eerie red glow of his deskclock stares back at him from few feet away : 05:03.

He grumbles under his breath, a faint ‘fuck’ leaving his mouth as he attempts to straighten himself. He can't believe he actually enjoyed drinking at some point of his life.

Jeongin's living room is a mess — remnants of every college frat party he remembers going to. There's Changbin passed out at the foot of his couch, his head angled uncomfortably on one of the throw pillows. There's a couple he can't quite remember exiting his bathroom, her lipstick smudged beyond comprehension. The guy flashes him a knowing smirk, ‘Thanks for inviting us, Innie.’

God, he fucking hated New Years Parties.

And yet, he'd sent out invitations blindly. To his friends, to the friends of his friends and their girlfriends and his entire fucking college. In hopes of meeting you again.

He pushes his way to the bathroom, scowling at the condom wrappers littered by the sink. How the fuck was he going to clean this up. He's biting back a smile remembering what you'd said: ‘just call it the horizon, then you'll never reach it.’

The lazy thrum of the bass still pulsates in the back of his head, so he's rummaging through his medicine cabinet and dry swallowing two advil. The porcelain of the sink is cold against his palm and he sees his distorted reflection staring back at him as the water drains down the filter. He wonders who he's looking for because you don't go to parties anymore.

There's still a few people wandering around the porch, he hears them giggle and whisper and then there is that little bit of hope — an ugly thing with teeth and claws that scratches at his heart some more.

And hope makes him walk out again, picking up empty solo-cups and beer cans with his exasperated sighs, his hoodie smelling of the same cheap supermarket beer. Jeongin peers outside, the liminal space of his lawn mostly empty, save for the one couple sitting cross-legged, laughing at something the girl said.

There's Hyunjin, walking the driveway with his phone to his ear. He seems to be talking animatedly, his hands moving wildly as he describes a hydrangea bush he saw on the way to the party. No,no, it wasn't powder blue. It was, like, almost purple, y'know? To his girlfriend, Jeongin supposed.

“I like your lawn."

Jeongin shivers, he hasn't heard that voice in a while. There was you, same hair, only longer and the same stare in your eyes, lined by lashes that cast a shadow under his neon lights. They remind him of spider silk, he notes.

“Happy New Year," you say, smiling into your beer can. It's not strained, it's not malicious. And that makes him feel slightly more miserable.

"You're still drinking?"

"Can't be hungover if you're still drinking, huh."

He chuckles, despite himself. He wonders of he owes you an explanation or an apology. There is a mass of white noise lingering between you and him.

"Happy New Year."

He finally responds to your greeting, mostly apprehensive. What he really means is that he's missed you, despite seeing you everyday for the last six months. The last time you spoke is far ahead on the road, so much so that it's already behind him. He'd be lying if he says he hasn't hoped to stumble across you in a supermarket, reaching for the same box of pasta. Then he'd smile awkwardly, apologize and let you take that box home, along with a piece of him that never seems to subside.

"I missed the fireworks this time," you sigh, sitting on the ledge and folding your legs underneath. Your hoodie hangs off of your shoulders like a shadow. And he feels a funny feeling in his chest when he takes a seat next to you. It's a funny thing, how his heart feels at rest when you're shoulders touch — it's an innate need to be felt, he thinks.

He closes his fingers around yours, too tight to hold a strangers. And you hold back and squeeze tight. The sting from the tequila is long gone. Jeongin finds it in himself to grin, dimples popping in his cheeks and his eyes almost closed, when he looks at you. He'd almost mistake it for regret if you didn't grin right back.

If he relaxes his body, he'd fall apart, crumble into pieces he doubts he can hold together anymore. He'd scream your name into the city and wait for it to echo back too him; but it's too soon to force intimacy like that, not when you've not spoken for months. So he swallows the guilt the size of a cherry pit that doesn't quite budge from his throat. He didn't miss the fireworks. He missed you — radiant as ever.

"I didn't."

[rare-clone-fic-exchange]

𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕝𝕕𝕚𝕤𝕙 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣 ⋆*･ﾟ 𝕔𝕝𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕥𝕣𝕠𝕠𝕡𝕖𝕣 𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕕𝕔𝕒𝕤𝕖

➼ ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ ☆ ʜᴀʀᴅᴄᴀꜱᴇ x ɢɴ!ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

➼ ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ ☆ ʜᴀʀᴅᴄᴀꜱᴇ ᴡᴀᴋᴇꜱ ʏᴏᴜ ᴜᴘ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍɪᴅᴅʟᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ɴɪɢʜᴛ ᴛᴏ ᴀꜱᴋ ᴀ Qᴜᴇꜱᴛɪᴏɴ ᴏꜰ ᴜᴛᴍᴏꜱᴛ ɪᴍᴘᴏʀᴛᴀɴᴄᴇ. ɪᴛ'ꜱ ᴅᴇꜰɪɴɪᴛᴇʟʏ ɴᴏᴛ ᴀ ꜱɪʟʟʏ ᴘᴜɴ. ᴅᴇꜰɪɴɪᴛᴇʟʏ.

➼ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ ☆ ᴛᴏᴏᴛʜ-ʀᴏᴛᴛɪɴɢ ꜰʟᴜꜰꜰ ᴀɴᴅ ʜᴜᴍᴏʀ, ʟᴏᴛꜱ ᴏꜰ ꜱɪʟʟɪɴᴇꜱꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ᴅᴀᴅ ᴊᴏᴋᴇꜱ (ɪ'ᴍ ɴᴏᴛ ꜱᴏʀʀʏ), ᴛʜᴇʏ'ʀᴇ ʙᴏᴛʜ ꜱᴏ ꜱᴍɪᴛᴛᴇɴ ꜰᴏʀ ᴇᴀᴄʜ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ

➼ ᴡᴏʀᴅ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ ☆ 1.4ᴋ

➼ ᴘᴏᴠ ☆ ꜱᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ ᴘᴇʀꜱᴏɴ

➼ ʀᴀᴛɪɴɢ ☆ ɢᴇɴᴇʀᴀʟ ᴀᴜᴅɪᴇɴᴄᴇꜱ

ᴛʜɪꜱ ꜰɪᴄ ᴡᴀꜱ ᴡʀɪᴛᴛᴇɴ ꜰᴏʀ @ᴄʟᴏɴᴇᴛʜɪʀᴇ ! ɪ ʀᴇᴀʟʟʏ ʜᴏᴘᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ᴇɴᴊᴏʏ, ᴡʀɪᴛɪɴɢ ꜰᴏʀ ʜᴀʀᴅᴄᴀꜱᴇ ɪꜱ ᴀʟᴡᴀʏꜱ ꜱᴏ ꜰᴜɴ.

“Babe. Babe. Babe.”

That’s the first thing you hear when you awake. 

With tired eyes and a heaving chest, you try to stir and fully jolt yourself awake in Hardcase’s arms. There aren’t any lights on, only the soft lumination of passing speeders at this unholy hour. 

“Babe.”

You huff, turn over, and almost immediately collide with Hardcase’s watchful eye above you. Leaning on an elbow, he has an idea-struck face, as if anticipating anyone with willing ears to listen.

“What is it?” you rasp, yelping at how dry your throat feels as you speak. While swallowing down some gathered saliva and clearing your throat, Hardcase hums and leans further, riveting feelings of brilliance in his eyes. “It’s not even 0400 yet.”

He had better woken you up for something good.

Hardcase pouts at your foiling glare and continues without a moment to linger further.

“Do you think if the Jedi ever find out about General Skywalker and his wife, they’ll tell him ‘may divorce be with you’?”

Your jaw slacks, your elbow slowly sliding down, and you plop your head back down on your pillow, incredulously scoffing.

“Maker, `Case,” You groan, biting back a laugh. “You woke me up for this?”

“Yes!” He exclaims, shuffling to lean over you with a speculative eyebrow raise. “It’s genius. Do you think it isn’t?”

“I think it’s silly,” You retort. Hardcase whines and leans down as well, cradling his face with a forearm to keep his stare on you. How he manages to stay so wide-eyed at this hour, you’re unsure.

“Haters gonna hate,” is his only response. You sigh.

“I’m not a hater,” you bite your lip when you feel his breath on your creep closer, body heat radiating toward yours. He’s still got that pensive, mischievous look on his face. But you can feel yourself beginning to drift off. You yawn out, “Just a person who likes their sleep.”

“Hm,” Hardcase hums as though he doesn’t believe you yet.

Silence rushes over the two of you, and your eyelids weigh heavy, just as though you’re about to fall asleep. But then Hardcase talks again.

“How do you unlock doors on Kashyyyk?”

Oh lord.

You try to stay silent so he thinks you’re asleep.

“With a wook-key.”

You’re unsuccessful.

The snicker that lurches in your mouth gets Hardcase smiling all smug and satisfied into your shoulder. 

You slap the back of his head lightly with a whine.

“That wasn’t funny!” You say in a whisper-yell.

“Is that so?” Hardcase mutters against the bare skin of your shoulder, vibrations of his voice sending relaxing yet rousing shivers through your chest. “Then why’d you laugh?”

Your mouth falls ajar, gasping softly as he continues giggling.

“I’m not laughing because it’s funny!” You snap back in your greatest attempt to convince him of your innocence. “I’m only laughing because you’re just so unbelievable.”

“But you love me,” Hardcase says in a cheerful, sing-song voice. With a roll of your eyes, everything softens as you feel a featherlight kiss against your neck, his lips lazily pursed and pressed to your skin.

“Yeah, I do.”

Silence finally rushes between you, but as you suddenly become restless, you decide to give him a taste of his own medicine.

“How do Jedi eat?” 

Hardcase perks up, reverence coating his stare for indulging him so. Your lips curl upwards in a tight, lovely grin.

“They force-feed themself.”

His incessant giggles make you bite your lip and bring him down into the crook of your neck and shoulder again.

“That’s a good one,” he compliments, hand crawling up from his side. As he talks, a cold hand slithers up your stomach, slipping under the fabric of your tank top to trace aimless patterns into your skin. “Where’d you learn it.”

“‘Heard it ‘round the base.”

“Clever.”

You nod. “I know.”

“Makes sense that you didn’t make it yourself then.”

You gasp, flicking his forehead lightly when he erupts into childish giggles again. Despite it, you don’t shush him or urge him to stop. His laughter could fill you with more joy for twenty lifetimes.

He eventually comes up with a new reveling thought, tilting his head and leaning up again so you can look at each other.

“`You ever think about the fact that having sex on a lift is immoral on so many levels?”

Your nose scrunches with a soft chuckle, wincing at the cheesiness of his joke.

“Babe, that means we’re immoral on so many levels.”

Not even a second is spent processing your retort; Hardcase simply shrugs in response with a drifted-away gaze.

“I’m not saying otherwise.”

You purse your lips.

“Hm…”

“Just stating the facts,” he continues, lying down again. “You can come to the conclusions for us.”

“Ah, yes,” you agree, coyly grinning at your next words before they even come out of your mouth. “As always, I’m the brains of this operation.”

Hardcase doesn’t properly respond to you; he only nods softly into your neck as he waits for you to continue.

“Yeah, I think we’re immoral on so many levels.”

Hardcase laughs harder and plants a kiss on your bare shoulder. Then another. He brushes all things obscuring his path to trail more over your collarbone to reach your other shoulder, hands pressed on either side of your arms as he moves. You sigh and smile, the softest laugh leaving your lips. They purse when your mind wanders, trying to devise another joke to continue the conversation.

“...Two clones walk into 79’s,” you begin, voice strained and dwindling with the uncertainty of your joke and where it should lead. “...And one tells the other.” You pause again, eyes drifting away when you feel Hardcase’s perky, awaiting look. “‘You look familiar.’”

Hardcase’s disbelieving cackle is hushed when he presses his face into the pillow, shaking his head.

“Babe, that was so bad,” he says, lifting his chin to speak more clearly. You shrug, eyebrows knitted while you whine out a measly defense.

“I don’t know!” Your response only elicits more laughter. You turn on your side, awaiting for Hardcase to meet your eyes again while you fend for yourself. “It’s too late for this. Just… let me get back to you in the morning.” 

Turning on his side and resting his cheek on his forearm, he nods with a perceptive fix of his lips.

“Fair enough,” he leans in further, resting his forehead on yours and shifting closer to your body. “I mean…”

You raise an eyebrow.

“What?”

Hardcase shrugs, impishly grinning in entire admiration.

“There’s potential there for a good joke,” he says.

You nod with full agreement and a smug crook of your eyebrows.

“‘T’s why I said it instead of just shutting up.” Hardcase chuckles deep in his chest. You shove him lightly, just enough to get the message across but not hard enough so your foreheads disconnect. “We can workshop it in the morning.”

With a nod, he tilts his chin up and presses his pursed lips to the space between your eyebrows.

“Definitely,” he mutters against you. “Y’know what else we can workshop?”

You hum, slowly melting further into his touch. His hands have returned, rubbing circles over your collarbone and shoulders, and you keenly sigh as the caresses get deeper.

“I’ve got a great joke about construction I want to tell you, but I’m still working on it.”

In your state, you become susceptible to his silly jokes, and you snort unwisely. It goes to his head very quickly.

“See? I’m funny!” He argues with a victorious glint.

You sigh loudly and roll your eyes.

“I’m just more susceptible in this state.”

“That’s why I tell you at this time.”

You deadpan, frowning and rubbing your eyes with a yawn.

“Is that why you woke me up? To tell me your dumb jokes when I’m more likely to laugh?”

“Yep,” he answers, making a little pop sound at the end of the word. You scrunch your features.

“You’re a dork,” you tell him, adjusting on the bed and ruffling the sheets to go over your shoulders.

“And you’re still here.”

With the objective statement, you melt and nod, blinking with entirely smitten reverence.

“I am,” you assure.

With a soft smile, he leans in and pulls you by your shoulders, encouraging you to cuddle into him. You do enthusiastically, nuzzling your face into his chest. The sound of his heartbeat and steady breathing fills your eyes and becomes the only important thing you could possibly focus on for the rest of his night, your soothing bedtime lullaby.

But then he speaks again.

“What do Gungans put their food in? Jar jars.”

You tilt up, stare blank and deadly.

“That’s it, time for bed.”

And the sound of his laughter instead becomes the loudest noise to soothe you back to sleep.

[idontplaytrack]

Heart of a child

AJ Campos x fem! reader

Warnings: age regression, sickfic(reader throws up), fluff, bit of coarse language

A sick day triggers a regression episode for reader.

When your alarm clock went off, you jolted awake, wincing at the sheer volume of the noise it seemed to be at. Your head was pounding, your throat was dry and scratchy, and you somehow felt warm but also freezing at the same time. You whined, shoving your phone off the nightstand after shutting the alarm off. With your face buried in your pillow, you whined.

You were sick. It’s been awhile, but still it sucked. You felt miserable from the get-go— you hadn’t even been awake for five minutes. Your phone rang, vibrating on the floor. You grumbled incoherently, rolling over to the edge of your bed you stared at it. Since the screen was facing up, you saw that it was AJ calling. You somehow managed to grab your phone from where you were laying(you didn’t have a bedframe and your mattress was on the floor, but still).

“Hey.” You said, voice cracking mid-word.

“Yeah, you’re not going to school today.” She decided.

“Yeah, no shit.” You sigh, “Sorry, have a good day though.”

“Take meds, okay? I’ll be there after school.” She replied, concerned. You could hear it in her voice.

“I’ll try.” You muttered.

“Take them.” She insisted, you whined.

“It’ll help if you have a fever or any aches and pains.” She continued, “Figured you’d be coming down with something the last time I saw you.”

“Wow.”

“I’m just saying, after awhile, I can tell if you’re coming down with something soon, you know?” She chuckles, “Stay hydrated. If you need me to get anything, please let me know whenever, alright?”

“Alright.” You sulked.

“Before I go, do you need urgent medical attention?”

“No.” You giggled at how serious she seemed to be, “I’m pretty sure that it’s just a cold or the flu.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes, AJ. I’m sure.” You exhaled, “You’re talking to me now, do you think I sound like I’m gonna pass out or something?”

“Okay, alright.” She smiles, “Rest up, stay hydrated, eat something if you can. I’ll see you in a few hours. Okay, honey?”

“Okay.” You licked your lips, swallowing painfully. It felt like you were swallowing glass.

“Bye, I love you.” She replies, making a kissy noise.

“Love you too.” You said quietly before she hung up.

Obviously AJ had to go to classes and all so she couldn’t just stay online and talk to you. As a result, your day kinda dragged on. It felt like time was passing by extra slowly. But you were also groggy so that made you pass right back out for a couple more hours before you got out of bed to try and eat something before you took the medicine.

You’d gotten a text from AJ thirty minutes ago, and another from Gabi twenty minutes ago both asking how you were doing. You curtly responded to Gaby’s text saying you were fine. Then you were in AJ’s chat— you apologised for the late response, letting her know that you’d just woken up again. You also shot her a second text to tell her that you were having some oatmeal before she got on your case about why you weren’t having anything to eat.

You ate quite slowly, feeling an uneasy feeling in the pit of your stomach. You hated throwing up— in fact, you were terrified of it. And you had no one here with you. You didn’t have AJ here with you. Oh God, you didn’t have AJ here with you.

You swallowed thickly, staring at the spoonful of maple syrup oatmeal. You took a deep breath and dropped the spoon, deciding not to take another bite. As you got up from the barstool, you phone buzzed, but you ignored it and made your way to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom down the hall. You took out the ibuprofen and Zofran, along with the thermometer. But first things first, you popped a Zofran into your mouth and let it sit under your tongue for it to dissolve and absorb. You were hoping that it would tide you over. Still unsure, you leaned against the sink countertop as you took the other pill then put them away. You hung around in the bathroom for a good twenty minutes before you decided it was okay to step away.

————

You sat on the couch in front of the TV, anxious and trying to pass the time. You were watching whatever was on right now and also nodding off every now and then since nothing was particularly interesting. You still had a couple hours until school let out and you were honestly so very restless. So, you just sat there and was eventually staring into space. Your mind wanders, and before you knew it you're fully spaced out.

The sickening feeling bubbles back up after awhile and fails to die down no matter what you tried. You knew you were anxious. So that definitely contributed to whatever you were feeling, you think. So you attempted to help yourself by taking some deep breaths, but it barely did anything for you. When your phone went off, you got a shock, snapping out of your thoughts.

AJ was calling you again. So you picked up, of course.

“Hello?” You gulped.

“Hi, honey.” She said back, “I’m on my way to yours right now, okay? I’ll be right there.”

You sniffled, “Okay.” You nodded even though she couldn’t see you. That feeling…the nausea you hated it. You didn’t want to be experiencing that, you didn’t want to throw up. You didn’t even want to think about it. You didn’t even want to think about it. Those thoughts kept swimming around in your head, over and over and over. Your chest heaved, sweat beading at the side of your head as you clutched onto the armrest of the couch. Out of sheer frustration, you started to cry. A painful lump too quickly forming in your throat. You inhaled shakily, throwing your head back on the headrest blinking the tears away— actually, more of it fell instead. You screwed your eyes shut, feeling absolutely exhausted from your racing mind. Your body ached, everywhere. You needed AJ.

You were curled up in the corner of the couch in the meantime, staring at the TV. Really, you were just staring at the screen, not a clue what was even going on in the show. When the front door open, you whipped your head around to see that AJ was here. “Oh, there you are.” AJ shut the door behind herself and locked it back up.

“Hi, honey.” She crouched down, stroking your cheek.

You hesitantly focused your eyes on hers, then she continued, “I’m right here, I’m gonna take good care of you, hm?”

You swallowed your spit harshly, “My tummy hurts. I don’t like it.” You hiccuped, “I don’t like it.”

AJ trusted her gut for this, she helped you sit up. “I know, I know, baby. It doesn’t feel good.” She helped you stand up, hoping to take you to the bathroom, but your stomach did a much unwanted somersault and you whimpered.

AJ panics for a moment but spots the trash can by the coffee table. She grabs that and held it under your chin, following you as you plopped back onto the couch. You were basically throwing a tantrum and freaking out over having to throw up. “Shhh.” She rubs your back, “I have you, just let it out. Baby, don’t worry, don’t hold it.”

“No…” You cried.

“Sweetie, please. You’ll feel better after, I promise.” AJ continues, hand still rubbing your back as she watches you fight the urge to vomit. “Baby, please let it out.”

As much as you were dreading actually having to throw up, with AJ right next to you, keeping an eye on you, you had to let it happen. You felt like absolute shit trying to fight that feeling.

You spilled your stomach’s contents into the trash can, throat stinging from the stomach acid. “Baby, baby, no. Don’t look at it.” She coaxed, “That’s it, let it all out, I got you.”

She held the trash can there until you completely stopped even dry-heaving. Thankfully, like she said, you did feel better.

“That’s it, good girl. Good job, baby.” She smiles, getting up from her seat to take care of the trash can promptly. After that, she was right next to you once again. You got up and went to the bathroom to rinse out your mouth and wash your face with AJ following right behind you.

“You want some water?” She asked quietly.

You shook your head no as you dragged your feet back outside. “I still feel funny.”

“You might for a couple days, but you’ll be just fine.” She snaked an arm around your waist. “How about a popsicle?”

“Okay.” You followed her to the kitchen, then back to the couch. She opened that up for you and you slowly ate it while she cuddled with you. After awhile, you only snuggled closer and closer— this clinginess was a telltale sign that you were regressed. Which she figured out the second you opened up your mouth to talk to her when she arrived. She knew your triggers, she knew how to handle you, she knew how to take care of you to make sure you were safe and happy— as much as possible, though you clearly weren’t happy now being under the weather and all.

“Baby.” She hums, “When you feel better later, let’s try and eat something, alright? I’ll make you some soup. And you can have it with—”

“Goldfish?”

“Goldfish. Sure, baby. Whatever you like.” AJ nods, pressing a kiss to the side of your head, “As long as you’re happy. I’m just glad you’re in a better mood now, my love.”

“That was yucky.” You sniffed.

“Mm, I know, baby.” She scratches your scalp, “But do you feel better now?”

“Yeah.” You nodded.

“Yeah? That’s so good.” AJ said back, “Did you get any sleep?”

“Lil bit.” You told her, “I need tissue. I need—”

She interjects before you got flustered, “I got it, I got. That’s okay. It’s just a little bit of the melted popsicle.”

You chewed on your lip, taking a deep breath before you got more agitated.

————

While your temperature was still down, AJ helps you with a quick shower. Following that, was to get some food into your system so you could take another dose of the medications.

“Will you just sit right here for me, baby? Give me a few minutes to heat you up some soup, yeah?”

“Okay.” You sat down at the dining table just like she’d told you to, resting your chin on folded arms as you watched her work in the kitchen.

And well, honestly? You didn’t have an appetite at all. So when the soup was done, she asked you to eat and you threw another tantrum. Who could blame you? Right now, in your head, you thought you were four. That’s what kids do when they weren’t having it. Not to mention that you cried so so easily when you were sick. AJ knew that, she knew what to expect. And it always made her heartache seeing you cry. Especially on days where you were not feeling well. You had issues expressing yourself as it was during regression, being sick was an added challenge. But AJ was not one to just give up and leave you to fend for yourself. No.

“Sit here, baby.” She gestured for you to sit on her lap.

You sulked, shaking your head, your hand clutching onto your little blanket. “y/n, sit here please, baby. You need to eat something, I know you’re so hungry. Please? I promise when you feel better we’ll go to the playground, or the trampoline park.”

You complied at last, she bites back a sigh of relief, wrapping an arm around you as you lowered yourself onto her lap. “Good girl.” Her palm stays on your abdomen, the warmth providing you some much needed comfort. “I’ll feed you, okay?”

Sniffling, you mumbled, “Okay.”

AJ patiently fed you the chicken noodle soup — with Goldfish crackers for the next thirty minutes until you said you didn’t want any more. “You’re sure, honey?”

“Yeah, I’m full.” You replied.

“That’s great.” She smooches your cheek, “Do you wanna take a nap?”

You didn’t say anything but shifted a little so you could hook your arms around her neck. Again, clingy. But she adored these moments.

“I’d say so.” She chuckles, “Just stay awake for me a few minutes longer, hm?” AJ felt your forehead, then decided the next dose would be the right choice— the temperature seemed to be creeping back, considering how much less chatty you were compared to when you were eating.

“I’m ‘eepy.” You whined, rubbing your eyes.

“Honey, you need the medicine so you won’t wake up sick.” She said softly, “Stay right there, baby. Okay? I’ll be just a minute.”

You were getting cranky but she needed you to take the meds, no matter what. Otherwise the fever would come right back. She also thought to give you an antihistamine for your runny nose. But since you were in the headspace of a four-year old, you could not swallow pills. So, she had to dig through the medicine cabinet for the liquid versions of both of those medications. Thank goodness she managed to find them— thank goodness you didn’t run out of them.

AJ measured out the dosages in those tiny little cups then got out a juice box for you. While you fought the very strong urge to nod off.

“Here we go. A juice box, for after you drink these up.” She held up one of the tiny cups for you, and you took it, scrunching up your nose in disgust.

“Go on.” She urged.

You shook your head.

“You’re sleepy.” She sighs, “Please take it. Here, I’ll open up the juice box for you, okay? Please?”

You studied the two liquids briefly before you gave in and quickly downed them both. You shuddered at the bitter aftertaste while AJ instantly stuck the straw of the juice box in your mouth. “Good job.” She praised, “See? Wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“Up.” You pouted, arms held out. AJ loved carrying you way too much, and you usually didn’t let her, so it mainly only happened during these times.

“Aw, come on. Let’s go get some rest.” She picked you up easily, your legs hooked around her on either of her side while your chin rested on her shoulder, and arms around her neck.

She set you down and tucked you in snuggly under the covers before getting in next to you.

“Close your eyes.” She hums, caressing your abdomen for a bit then patting the area to coax you to sleep.

“I want a song.” You requested quietly.

“Of course.” She smiled at you, you smiled back and once your eyes closed, AJ started to sing. “Sleep tight, sweet girl. I’m right here if you need me.”

“Well, I feel like the time's just slipping away

And it seems that the road gets rougher each day

Sometimes I get caught up

With little things that just don't matter

I remember how I used to swing from a rope

One that sat on the hills just above Jackson's Cove

Sometimes I close my eyes

And just go back to that little girl

I wanna run

I wanna fall

I wanna take every chance that's given to me

Live this life like I've got nothing to hide

Free and wild

With the heart of a child

With the heart of a child

Try to be everything to everybody but you

But the truth is you ain't got nothing to prove

You only get one chance

Only one trip around this world and

I wanna run

I wanna fall

I wanna take every chance that's given to me

Live this life like I've got nothing to hide

Free and wild

With the heart of a child

I wanna chase down a dream

With nothing to break my fall

Just risk it all

And have no regrets

And never forget

To run

And fall

I wanna take every chance that's given to me

And live this life like I've got nothing to hide

Free and wild

With a smile

And the heart of a child

And the heart of a child”

🏷️Tag list:

@ashecampos @auliisflower @cheesysoup-arlo @frogs00 @ludoesartandstuff @pda128

💭A/N:

I thought this was a little draggy lol.🫠

[wooahaes]

yours and his

pairing: non-idol!s coups x gn!reader [reader has a uterus]

genre: comfort fic. ouchie.

word count: 0.7k~

warnings: menstruation tw!!! reader has v painful cramps that result in some sobbing. mentions of pain killers being used + food mentions. there's absolutely no proofreading on this.

daisy's notes: tumblr forcing me to use the stupid editor for this one :)) tumblr i hate u :)))

Seungcheol worked later than you did. The good part of this was the fact he was guaranteed to give you a goodbye kiss in the mornings. The bad part...

Well. It came in not being able to come home to you fast enough.

Seungcheol knew you well. He knew that, despite the birth control, your periods still could be hell on earth to deal with. He also knew that you, despite tucking the pain-killers into your bag before leaving that morning, always held off on taking them until you needed to. When the pain was getting closer to being at its worst, that's when you'd take them. It had sparked a few disagreements between the two of you (Seungcheol firmly hated seeing you in pain and while he trusted you knew your body, it made him uncomfortable when it looked like you were purposefully enduring pain you didn't need to), but overall Seungcheol let the issue lie because he couldn't understand your pain. All he could do was be there for you and get the things you asked for.

Which was why he already knew what had happened when he came home from work around seven to find the apartment eerily quiet... save for the sound of you painful sobs coming from the bathroom. He found your bag, pulled out the bottle of painkillers (he kicked himself for never getting a new bottle to keep in the bathroom--the two of you had run out over a month ago, so the only bottle you had in the apartment was the one you took with you), and found you there.

"It's okay," he said quietly, kneeling down beside you. "Do you want me to get water--"

You didn't hesitate to pull the bottle from his grasp, hands shaking as you poured a few into your hands. Seungcheol carefully steadied them, pushing the excess back into the bottle before he watched you dry-swallow them. He reached for the cup on the side of the sink, filling it with water quickly before pushing it to you. He watched as you slowly drank the entire thing, and all he could do then was settle in beside you and let you seek comfort as the two of you waited for the medicine to eventually kick in.

He wrapped an arm around you, pressing his lips against your temple. "It's okay," he said in a low voice. "I'm here. I'll wait with you."

And so he did: his warm embrace enveloping you until your sobs quieted down and you finally found the strength to move again. Despite your protest that you could walk fine now, that it didn't hurt as bad anymore, Seungcheol would walk with you every step of the way until you were back to bed. Once he filled your hot water bottle, he got to work doing what a boyfriend should. Ordering your favorite takeout, and leaving you with a kiss and a promise to be back once he picked it up and stopped by the store.

Period supplies. Pain medicine so there'd be a spare bottle at home. And your favorite snacks and drinks, just to comfort you further.

"Cheollie..." You'd reached toward him once he came back in through the door, stil pouting at the fact he'd left you. "C'mere."

He did, already reaching out to cup your face. Seungcheol could be tough, a little hard around the edges when he needed to be, but the man always seemed to melt when he saw you. Someone had told you once they were intimidated by him, and you'd nearly laughed. The look of a man so deeply in love was all you knew, and his fingers were careful as they grazed your cheek. He gazed at you for a moment longer, a soft smile tugging at his lips. "Do you feel better?"

"I do," you curled your fingers around his hand, "now that you're here."

He giggled softly, leaning in to steal another kiss from you (you always suspected his way to distract you from hell week was through plenty of kisses and cuddling). "You're saying that because I always get your favorite snacks."

"And because I love you," you laughed softly, "my Cheollie."

Your Cheollie... He smiled, already opening up the grocery store bag and running through everything he got you. But that smile never left him, so lovingly content with being yours.

And the loving look you gave him, lighting up with joy when he managed to get the often sold-out snack you loved most? Well... just as much as his lovesick looks belonged to you and only you, Seungcheol would consider that his.

taglist: @twancingyunhao @synthetickitsune @wonuziex

[lovelyney]

─────────𝐈𝐍 𝐅𝐔𝐋𝐋 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐌─────────

DESC: Too blinded by his worry, Tighnari fails to see the damage he’s done until directly confronted by it.

PAIRINGS: Tighnari x (GN!) Reader

SCENT: angst -> fluff

WARNINGS: hanahaki disease, throwing up, blood, tighnari’s a dick at first.

BAD ENDING.

FLORIST’S NOTE: a couple of things! 1: the first day remains mostly the same as the bad ending, the ending of it is different! i wanted to keep it in just in case someone’s not good with angst and just wanted to read the good ending. and 2: there’s a bigger time skip between the first day and the time they leave the forest for plot purposes.

SONG: Tek It ― Cafunè

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯2022 !! #©LOVELYNEY

YOU OBSERVED WITH DEFEATED EYES as Tighnari, yet again, swaddled your hands in gauze. You tried to take out a Withering Zone by yourself, wanting to help clear his schedule. However, despite having a vision of your own, you weren’t very familiar with the process and ended up getting hurt, much to the forest ranger’s dismay.

Your throat ran dry as you struggled to find the right words to say without upsetting him more. It was clear he was about to snap at any moment, so you chose to stay silent, despite your anxiety eating away at the stillness.

“(NAME) for the last time, stop biting off more than you can chew,” the fox-eared boy berated, his gaze as bitter as the medicine he brews. “What was the point in bothering with something you clearly had no idea how to deal with? Were you begging for a death wish?” 

You swallowed thickly, your stomach churning as he awaited your response. “My only intention was to take some of the burdens off your shoulders. . .” You answered feebly.

With an exasperated sigh, he rubbed his temples in frustration. “So you wanted to help me and ended up doing the exact opposite? Yeah, that sounds about right.

“(NAME) this is what? The fifth time you’ve gotten yourself hurt trying to ‘help?’ Don’t you realize you’re only making things harder for the both of us?” Tighnari crossed his arms against his chest, growing more impatient with you by the minute. “Archons, we’re going to run out of medical supplies if you keep getting into situations like these. Can’t you learn to take a hint?”   

The harsh tone of his voice engulfed you in shame, his words ripping your heart into shreds. “I-I just—” your attempt to defend yourself was met with the burning stare of his multicolored eyes. 

He chastised, “save it, (NAME). You give me the same exact excuse every. single. time. Taking care of you like this again is already a migraine as it is.” With that, he packed the medical supplies into his backpack, not sparing you another glance.

Tighnari criticizing and reminding you how all you do is pull everyone down had become routine by this point. He never told you directly told you burdened everyone, yet he clearly didn’t care about hurting your feelings, so you never understood why he didn’t just give it to you straight.

He never acted so rashly to the other trainees, so it led you to believe that it was personal. That said, you don’t know what you did to make him hate you so much. And to add salt to the wound, you admired Tighnari a lot. Hidden beneath his sarcastic nature, he was diligent and dedicated to his work. You could tell he cared for everyone within the confines of the forest, although you highly doubted that to be your case. 

As you carefully observed him, you not-so-surprisingly developed feelings for him. You find it hard to believe now, but he treated you gently when you first met him—by the river not too far from the ville. That memory felt so foreign after all he did was suffocate you with his accusations. Since then, you shoveled your feelings into the very back of your mind. 

“Are you even listening, (NAME)?” badgered Tighnari, snapping you out of your depressive reverie.

Nodding slowly, you chewed the inside of your cheek, feeling your emotions consume you from the inside out. “Y—Yes, of course, Master. . .”

“Really? Because ever since I got here, you’ve done nothing but stare at the ground helplessly.” He shook his head and sighed in defeat, “whatever. It’s not like you ever heed my advice anyways.

“Collei and I are going to be gone for a few days on an expedition. You are not to leave Gandhara Ville until i return. Do I make myself clear?” He said, his large ears flicking in aggravation.

That immediately grabbed your attention as your eyes shot open. You deflected, “I—I’m sorry?! Tighnari, I get that you’re mad at me and all, but I am not a child! I don’t need supervision!” Your face burned hot with humiliation as tears formed in your eyes. 

Tighnari’s eyes softened briefly at your defeated expression before returning to their normal venomous state. “Then quit giving me a reason to treat you like one, (NAME). Now, I’ll be taking my leave.” Before you could answer, he left your room, leaving you alone in your misery. 

After a few minutes of silence, Collei wandered in, her gaze saddening as she regarded your trembling figure. “Oh, (NAME). . .” she lamented and sat next to you, gingerly wrapping her arms around you. “I’m—I’m sorry. . . I don’t know why he’s been treating you so horribly lately; he’s usually never like this. . .” Muttered the girl as she rubbed circles on your back. “I’ll talk to him, o—okay? Please don’t cry. . .” 

She perked up, an idea crossing her mind. “S—say, I have an idea! Why don’t I convince him t-to let you take my place?” She recommended, holding carefully onto your hands—a hopeful shimmer in her rose-colored eyes.

Withdrawing from your friend’s hold, you rubbed away your tears with a seemingly confused expression. “Convince him to let me take your place? Do—do you mean on the expedition in a few days?” You queried. 

Collei nodded enthusiastically; her blue facade crumbled, now replaced with one of a child’s excitement. “Yeah! I’ll say that something important came up, and I can’t go!” Exclaimed the girl. 

You were about to protest, but it was the equivalent of kicking a kitten, given how optimistic she looked. “How do you know he’ll even let me go? He clearly made it evident that all i do is cause trouble. . .” You muttered, your mind replaying his exact words.

Your friend laid her hand on your shoulder, her eyes full of determination. “You leave that part to me, ok? Don’t worry about the small details.”

Tighnari peeked his head over the opening, swallowing thickly when he noticed your tear-stained cheeks. “Collei, come with me, would you? I need to have a word with you.” He dictated.

The girl stood up, “y—yes, Master!” She stood up and turned to you, carefully bringing your head to her chest once more. “Get some rest, ok? I’ll have everything figured out.” She assured before bidding you goodbye and following Tighnari out. 

After the two left your line of sight, your throat and chest tightened. Scrambling into the bathroom, you stumbled over, suddenly coughing violently. You wiped the sweat from your temple, sighing in relief when it ceased. “What brought that up?” You questioned and fluttered open your eyes. While staring downward at what appeared to be lotus petals, you suddenly felt overwhelming dizzy. Had it gotten that bad?

Your hands clutched your chest as acid burned your esophagus. You weakly shoved yourself up and flushed the toilet. You knew that hanahaki was life-threatening if not treated immediately. However, confessing seemed impossible given the circumstances of your relationship and who you’re in love with. Your other option was to have it surgically removed, but that also meant removing your capability to feel emotions. Nevertheless, you wanted to be a forest ranger like Tighnari and help people, so you’d much rather die of the flower that bloomed in your chest than be an empty husk and not feel anything. 

Laying on your bed, you watched Tighnari and Collei converse—probably about your probation if you were to be completely honest. You let out a meek laugh and closed your eyes, allowing your body and mind some well-deserved rest.

Meanwhile, Collei anxiously turned to her teacher as they surveyed Gandhara Ville. “U—Um, Master Tighnari. . . You know that trip you mentioned in a few days?” She buzzed. 

Tighnari’s ears twitched slightly at the question. “Yes? What about it?” He asked, drawing out the s in suspicion. 

Rubbing the back of her neck, she nibbled on her lip and thought about how to say it. “Well, something important came up, and I don’t think I can go. . . I-I’m sorry for the trouble! I usually brush something like this off and come back to it, but unfortunately, it’s something that can’t be pushed to the side.” She disclosed.

Tighnari arched an eyebrow, staring at the girl with curious eyes—ears flickering alongside his curiosity. “Is that what’s making you so nervous? Ever since we left (NAME)’s house, you’ve been awfully silent. I thought they maybe said something—”

“N—no! Not at all!” she butted in, causing the boy’s eyes to blink in shock. Her face flushed in humiliation at her own outburst. “S—sorry! I didn’t mean to raise my voice ike that. . .” Uttered Collei, her head lowered in embarrassment. “I don’t think (NAME) has it in them to be rude. . . Speaking of which, M—Master, I think you’re being too hard on them.”

His ears lowered, a sudden pang of guilt hitting him harder than expected. Collei typically never commented on how he acted toward others. So, to hear her comment on how he treated you, alongside his additional guilt that he also thought he was being too cutthroat with you. . .

He huffed, “. . .is that what this is about? (NAME)? Well, maybe they should learn to stop burying themself in other peoples’ work. . . They’re only making things worse.”  

The trainee winced at his sharp tongue—hearing a sliver of it herself had her wandering just how bad it had gotten to dissolve you into tears. Whatever it might’ve been, it only encouraged her more to fix the root of the problem, that being, of course, Tighnari.

“M—Master, I typically don’t intervene when it comes to your work. But (NAME)’s a really close and great friend of mine. I don’t know if you’ve personally witnessed it, but they jump at the idea of helping anyone out.

“All they want to do is help. Whether or not it works doesn’t matter to them. Even within the confines of Gandhara Ville, they’re known for helping everyone. T—They. . . I found them crying after you walked out. They looked so. . . exhausted like they were on the verge of completely breaking. I’m scared that if you continue treating them like this, they’re just gonna. . . give up completely.” 

Tighnari felt his throat tighten. “She can’t be suggesting. . .”The fox ranger quickly shook his head free of the thought, feeling his stomach flip upside down at the image. Hearing that his remarks caused you so much mental torment was enough to impale a stake through his heart, so much so that he physically felt it in his chest. 

He harshly bit down on his lip, his sharp fangs causing it to draw blood. “What’re you suggesting I do?” he questioned—desperately (yet, not so evidently) seeking advice. Given his true feelings for you, he did not want you to think he hated you. However having said that, he figured it was too late for that part.

In a feeling of relief, Collei let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. “Well, have them take my place when you guys leave, for starters? See for yourself just how willing they are to put themselves on the line for others. A—and if you’re up for it, talk to them.” She proffered.

Tighnari nodded hesitantly and repeated everything inside his mind to ensure he hadn’t missed anything. After all, not repeating his past mistakes would be vital for this to work. “Alright, I’ll see what I can do. . .”

A couple of days in, you, Tighnari, and a couple of other forest rangers were deep inside Avidya Forest, training to rid the Withering Zone nearby. Well, besides you, that is. Even though Tighnari OFFERED, that’s right, he offered you to come and help. Normally, you’d jump at the idea of helping others, but your hanahaki drained all of your energy and strength. Every time it acted up, you’d lose a lot of blood, making you light-headed. So, you opted to let them do it so as to not drag them down.

Somehow and in some way, you managed to hide the disease from everyone so far. It definitely wasn’t the easiest thing to hide, given you’re literally coughing up flower petals, but you’d hide somewhere if you sensed it coming on.

“[in between breaths] (NAME)! (NAME)! Oh, thank the Archons, you’re still here! We—we need your help!” Ishan spluttered, breaking into coughs from panting so hard. 

You jolted at the eagerness in his voice. “Woah—woah, what happened?” You worried and rushed over to him, one of your hands already on your weapon.

“There’s a-a—” the male choked on his breath as concern washed over your features.

You gently put your hand on his shoulder, trying to help steady his breathing. “Hey, hey. . . Breathe for me, ok bud? In and out. Start from the beginning.” You spoke softly, despite the deep fear pulsating in your chest. 

Ishan quickly collected himself before standing upright, panic clouded in his dark eyes. “W—We were collecting mushrooms as per Tighnari’s request, but then we came across a hilachurl camp. . . W—we thought it was empty, but then a ruin guard c-came out of the blue and—”

You indistinctively pulled out your bow at those words; you didn’t need to hear anything else. “Alright, let’s go. There’s no time to waste,” you instructed, your voice as curt as tighnari’s. he nodded, quickly leading the way to the ambush. 

Upon arrival, your eyes flew open as the ruin guard aimed right at one of the rangers. Using your anemo vision, you boosted yourself in the air and shot in before it could land a hit. 

“(N—NAME)!” the other rangers yelled as you landed on the ground with a thud. They quickly hurried behind you, not the most equipped to take on a ruin guard. 

You grit your teeth and lock your stare onto the enemy—something that Tighnari taught you. “Everyone get out of here! It’s not safe!” You urged, fingers tightening around your bow. 

“We—we can’t just leave you here!” Nasrin reasoned.

Sternly glaring at them, you shot another arrow to hold the ruin guard at bay—something that’s uncommon for you, someone who’s naturally so kind and gentle.

“I’ll be fine! now, go! hurry and find Tighnari!” you asserted, your vision glowing with your determination. 

They all looked at each other before nodding and scurrying off to find the fox ranger. Fortunately, he was already at their base camp, looking for everyone.

“Ah, there you guys are! I started to think that you all abandoned the mission.” He sighed, ears flattened against his hair. “Where have you all been any—”

“T—Tighnari! It’s-it’s (NAME)! They’re. . . they’re—” Nasrin wheezed, her panic overcoming her ability to speak correctly.

Tighnari’s heart sunk to his stomach at the mention of your name. “Woah, woah. Calm down, Nasrin. What about (NAME)? Where are they?” He questioned.

“They’re fighting a ruin guard alone! I—Ishan ran to find them after it attacked us, and when they got there, t-they told us to leave and f-find you. . .” The girl hiccuped. 

“Tighnari, you have to help them! In no way is (NAME) weak, but it’s dangerous fighting one of those alone!” Kamran, who was next to Nasrin, contended.

Without another word, Tighnari pulled out his bow, wincing when he recollected Collei’s words. “Goddamnit.” He grumbled under his breath as his fingers pushed his bangs back. “Alright, point me in the direction of where they are. Everyone stay here until I get back,” he ordered before hurrying off. “God, (NAME). Please be ok.”

Tighnari’s boots slid across the grass as he halted to a stop. His eyes widened and landed on you, who was hanging on by a thread. As soon as he reached you, he grabbed and shoved you behind him. Pulling out his bow, he aimed the arrow right at the ruin guard’s core—shooting and finishing it off.

He sighed in relief, the adrenaline starting to wear off now that you were out of harm’s way. “Thank the seven. . .” he uttered and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

[cough, cough.]

Tighnari’s ears twitched at the abrupt sound. “(NAME)? Are you alrigh—” His sentence drifted off as he noticed the blood-covered petals you held and the deep laceration on your leg. Swaying onwards, you fell forward, Tighnari catching you before you hit the ground. 

“Hey, hey! Hang in there, flower! I’m gonna carry you back to camp!” He reassured and carefully lifted you in his arms, careful not to irritate your injury furthermore. Tighnari hurried back, forcing himself to look away whenever you hacked more flowers. “Everyone! You need to head back to Gandhara Ville and get Collei and Shirin! HURRY!” He demanded urgently. 

Everyone immediately got up and ran—recognizing that Tighnari, who usually never panics, was panicking.

Tighnari sat down, cradling you in his lap. “You still with me, flower?” He whispered as he pulled out the medical supplies they brought—certainly not enough to properly treat your wound, but it was going to have to do. 

You wiped the corners of your lips and nodded weakly. The gentleness that he showed might have made you jump with joy if you weren’t on the verge of death. 

He sighed in relief, “good, good. . . Try to keep your eyes on me, mk? This is gonna hurt for a moment, but I need to get this treated before it has any chance of infection.” He gingerly wrapped your leg in gauze, his heart cracking when he noticed your pained expression.

“Alright, it’s done. There’s that dealt with,” Tighnari stressed as he tousled his hair. His gaze lingered on the bloodied petals that lay on your chest. He picked one up and gently rubbed his thumb over it, careful not to break it. “(NAME)—”

“Please don’t. . .”

His eyes widened at your weakened voice. His ears lowered shamefully, knowing you fully believed he was about to reprimand you even when you’re laboriously wounded. Clearing his throat, he adjusted his words as not to upset you further; “ah, don’t—don’t hold your breath, (NAME). I’m not going to scold you. . .” He laid his hand on your head. “I just. . . wish you would’ve told me. How. . . how long have you had it?”

You tensed at the simple yet gentle touch; you weren’t used to him treating you so warmly, and it almost made you wary of him. “Um, a few days now, I think? W—why would I bother telling you when all you do is make it seem like I’m nothing but a nuisance. . . Every single interaction we’ve had, you tell me that all I ever do is screw up. Which now that I look at it, m-maybe you were right. I do tend to make things worse when—HMPFH!”

Tighnari hushed you, gently slotting his lips onto yours. it physically hurts him to hear you talk bad about yourself—to hear back what he said to you. He’s always viewed you as a delicate flower, needing the most careful and precise supervision to ensure you don’t wither. Putting that aside, he wasn’t entirely sure why he thought kissing you was the best course of action—not when he didn’t have the slightest idea of what you thought of him. Maybe, because if he did it, it would make his feelings for you evident. And just maybe he’d been wanting to do that for a while and hoped he was the one you harbored your feelings for and you’d be cured.

As he felt you kiss back, one of his hands traveled to the back of your neck to bring you closer. Your lips, soft as the petals you coughed up, molded perfectly with his. And with each passing second, he kissed you harder, hoping to make it abundantly clear he didn’t mean a single word he said to you back then. 

After about 30 seconds, Tighnari finally pulled away, allowing you time to catch your breath. He sucked in a breath and held your face in his hands. “I’m so sorry, (NAME). I don’t think any combination of words can express that enough. In all honestly, I hid my feelings behind accusations because I was so scared you’d get yourself hurt so bad to the point that I couldn’t save you. I meant to protect you by restricting you, but I only hurt you in the process.” Dragging out a sigh, he gingerly smoothed his thumb over your cheek, brushing away any tears that might’ve fallen from your eyes. “This’ll be hard to believe after all the pain I’ve caused you, but I. . . [sighs] I love you, (NAME). So much more than you probably think. and seeing how relieved you look, I assume you feel the same. . .

“Knowing I could’ve saved you from so much pain from that awful disease if I would’ve just. . . apologized and confessed. Archons, it’s gut-wrenching to think about. . . I’m so sorry, (NAME).”

You blinked your eyes in astonishment; you couldn’t tell if what he said was the truth. He wouldn’t be that cruel, right? Despite your doubts, your chest felt lighter, which you interpreted as a sign that your hanahaki was gone. Swallowing down your fear, you squeezed Tighnari’s hand. “Can—can you kiss me again. . .?” You asked bashfully, your cheeks flaring at the absurd request

“Pardon?”

“I—I mean! Of course, y-you don’t have—hmmf!”

All your anxieties are quickly washed away as Tighnari’s lips meet yours once more. Relaxing into his arms, you looped your arms around his neck and pulled him flush against your body—the smell and warmth of him distracting you from the throbbing pain in your leg.

He pulled away after a few seconds, noticing you kept shifting uncomfortably from the pain you were in. “Ah—I’m sorry, flower. There isn’t much I can do given our lack of supplies. . .” He sympathized and pressed his lips to your forehead. Grabbing his bag, he pulled out a singular kalpalata lotus. “I was going to weave you a flower crown out of these, but I didn’t have the time to grab the necessary amount. So, this will have to do for now.” He crooned and tucked the flower in your hair. 

You let a yawn as you reached up and carefully pet its petals between your forefingers. “You don’t strike me as the type to make flower crowns,” you commented.

Tighnari chuckled, his fingers delicately running through your hair. “Hm? Well, you don’t strike me as the type to nearly take down an ruin guard alone, my lovely. But I guess I do have a knack for underestimating you.” He looked at you, smiling softly when he noticed how exhausted you looked. “Get some rest, (NAME). i can see how tired you are.” He consoled.

“You promise you won’t leave?”

His eyes softened as he leaned down to press one more kiss to your lips—an unspoken promise, an ever sea of love. 

“I never intended on doing so in a thousand years, my lotus. . .”

“Master, (NAME)!” Collei shouted frantically, trudging through the thick shrubs of the Avidya Forest.

“We came as fast as we could!” Shirin huffed, hunching over to catch her breath. “We—we hope we aren’t too lates. . .”

Tighnari shook his head reassuringly and gestured to your sleeping figure. “No, you’re not. Thank you both for coming on such short notice,” he said. “(NAME)’s asleep. . . It seems dealing with their hanahaki and fighting the ruin guard took all their energy.”

Collei’s eyes broadened as she crouched next to you, watching as your chest fell steadily up and down. She sighed in relief, “t—they didn’t tell me they hanahaki! I wouldn’t have ever suggested this to them if I knew that.”

He tilted his head curiously, his ears swaying to the side with him. “Oh? So (NAME) coming here was a plan set up by the two of you?”

The girl’s face profusely reddened, realizing she had given herself away. Letting out a quiet huff, she started helping Shirin treat your injury. “Y—yes, Master. . . I’m sorry for doing it behind your back, but they looked so defeated whenever you yelled at them. . .” She confessed. “But, unfortunately, I don’t think I can help much with their hanahaki. . . I—I mean, who do you think they have feelings for?”

Tighnari assured, “ah, you don’t need to worry about that. . .”

Shirin giggled as she finished treating your leg. “Awwe, are you and (NAME) together now, Tighnari?”

Collei’s cheeks flushed an even darker shade of red when he nodded. “H—huh?! They liked you, Master Tighnari?” She stumbled. 

His ears flattened against his head, an amused look displayed on his features. “Mhm. And I like them back. Why’s that so shocking?” He wondered.

She crossed her arms and gave him a look that said really? She conceded, “Master. . . You—you treated them like a pawn.”

Tighnari flinched, not quite expecting the sharp words to come from gentle and sweet Collei. “I know, I know. It’s a miracle they reciprocated my feelings with how poorly I treated them,” he sighed. He shook his head and looked down at you resting peacefully. “That just encourages me to take better and more efficient care of them. I’m going to make sure they blossom and in no way wilt by anyone’s words or actions. . .”

[bloomingdarkgarden]

What Bloomed in the Darkgarden

Chapter 33: Periwinkle

A very tender hurt /comfort memory of Azriel and Elain finding each other after Hybern’s war. Snippet below.

“How would you write your story?” Elain asked faintly. “What life would you choose, were you not born to be such a fearsome warrior of Night?”

Despite it all, the soft praise of her words coiled into a particularly male corner of his heart.

“An exceptionally boring one. I’d imagine I’d need to earn a living somewhere… normal,” he considered quietly. “Work as a smith. Maybe in a kitchen.”

Elain stared at him for a long, long moment.

And then she laughed.

Well and truly laughed, deep in her belly. The sound ringing liquid gold throughout the chamber. She laughed so hard it had his own mouth curling upwards, his shadows peeking towards her curiously.

She laughed until it leaked away from her, and then asked with total sincerity-

“Would you work in my kitchen?”

“Absolutely.”

No hesitation.

She laughed again, and Azriel’s shadows skitted back with delight at the melody of the sound.

Elain needed this, he realized. So did he, in truth. The distraction from ruined lives and the horrors of war. It was a different sort of medicine.

“Maybe we ought to run away,” she sighed, staring up at the ceiling, tiredness lacing her gaunt features. “Open a bakery somewhere.”

“I can be ready within the hour.”

A weak grin grew across her lovely face and it was a song of desperate, lost impossibilities.

“With great wide windows and wooden tables for tea.”

Azriel smiled, too, at the thought.

“Blue walls,” she whispered, “Will you paint the walls blue? I’m not sure I can reach.”

He’d steal every star from the night sky if she asked him to.

Azriel nodded. “Which blue would the lady prefer?”

Elain sighed again. “Pale, I should think.” Her eyes sparkled, adrift. “Paler than the moon. Like a goodbye. Like a memory.”

He had never, in all these long weeks, heard her speak this way.

He was going to fall in love with her if she kept speaking this way.

“Periwinkle,” he murmured.

“Periwinkle,” she repeated, with that same smile, blooming of lost hope. “We’ll serve everything on old plates from the market, none of them matching.”

“None of them?”

“Not a single one,” she chuckled. “There's something I’ve always loved about a cupboard full of dishes that don’t match. It’s rather a comfort, don’t you think?

Azriel watched her speak like she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

“Fresh flowers for the tables,” she murmured distantly.

“You could grow them out back,” his voice was quiet.

“What sort do you think?”

Azriel considered for a long moment.

“Periwinkle,” he paused, “to match.”

She smiled then. “You know flowers, Azriel,”

He would die a thousand deaths to hear his name on her lips again.

“A few.”

She quirked an eyebrow upwards. “Vincas are difficult plants. They’re monstrously hard to keep from drying out.”

“My faith in you is unwavering.”

“Too-right,” her smile grew wide again.

“I’ll put you to work, you know. In the garden too. But we mustn't work one day a week. We must have a day to ourselves. To laze about and eat sweets.”

“Laze… about,” he murmured cautiously.

“You mustn't work every day, Azriel.”

A foreign notion to him.

She nudged his shoulder with her own over the bath’s edge.

“I’ll make sure you don’t anyway. Lure you to laze with me in the garden with those cherry scones you love so much.”

He glanced sidelong at her. She shrugged nonchalantly.

“I notice,” she murmured. “All the things you finish first. Spiced quail eggs in the morning. Rosemary lamb at supper. Nuala’s winter stew. Seedcake. Cherry scones.”

Azriel swallowed, color staining his cheeks. “I was never permitted such things as a boy.”

“I know,” she murmured softly, “I know.”

The light was leaving her eyes again and he hated himself for being responsible for it. He wanted- needed to hear her keep speaking of beautiful, impossible things.

Which is why the shadowsinger parted his lips and said something he never in a thousand years would have said otherwise.

“Honeyed carrots.”

Elain glanced up to him. “Honeyed carrots?”

“Honeyed carrots. I have a weakness for them, just as you have a weakness for those sweet cheeses late into the night.”

“I do love cheese, really.”

“I know.”

She studied him with a tired smile. “How do you know?”

Because it was the first thing I watched you eat after months of wasting away, and I felt like I could breathe again.

He looked at her softly.

“How do you know I prefer cherry?”

The sorrow in her features was dissipating like fog into the night.

“We’ll eat it all.” Elain closed her eyes. “We’ll eat whatever we like whenever we please and grow old and fat and wiser than we’ve ever been.”

Azriel quirked an eyebrow at the prospect.

“I’ll need a day to train each week if I’m to be of any use on a battlefield ever again.”

“Nonsense,” she muttered. “I killed the king of Hybern and I’ve never trained a day in my life.”

Azriel laughed then. Warm and rich and honest. Because it was so impossible. Because it was so true.

Elain laughed with him, a golden melody, until the sound ebbed away from them both.

“Anyway the pies will be good,” she wheezed. “So good we’ll become famous for them.”

“The family will come looking for us.”

“Busybodies,” she waved a hand dismissively. “We’ll draw the shades. Bolt the doors. I can’t have Cassian stealing away my kitchen boy.”

Azriel would murder Cassian with his bare hands before allowing himself to be robbed of becoming Elain's kitchen boy.

“I expect the work will be demanding?”

“I’ll have you carving fruit and pastry from dawn to dusk.” She nodded to Truth-Teller, bloodied and bound to his waist. “I hear you are good with one of those.”

Azriel huffed a dry laugh because he was actually falling in love with her now.

“I hear the same of you.”

Elain grinned, scooping up a handful of bath foam. “It will be marvelous advertising for the shop, anyway.” She huffed a breath and softly blew the foam towards a nearby shadow, which writhed with delight.

“Knife wielders of the Night Court making pastries and all.”

This female, speaking of runaway dreams and bakeries like she hadn’t just slayed Prythian’s most ancient and formidable enemy.

Blowing fucking bath bubbles at his shadows.

He was undone.

“As my lady commands.”

She grinned wide then and sank slightly deeper into the water.

“I might frighten away all of your customers,” he muttered a moment later. Not untrue.

Elain scoffed. “You won’t frighten away the customers. If you just lessen your brooding and offer up one of those divine smiles every few weeks, people will line up around the block.”

A scowl formed on her face. “The females anyway.”

Azriel said nothing, a golden blush crawling up his cheek.

Elain’s chestnut eyes lingered on TruthTeller at his side before drifting to him again, her voice was barely a whisper.

“If you’re frightening, I’m frightening.”

The truth laid bare between them.

He wanted to wrap her in his arms.

“Yes you are.”

He spoke the words as if she were holy.

Because she was.

“You’ve killed dozens of people,” Elain whispered.

“Hundreds,” he corrected.

“I’ve only killed one,” she murmured, “but I made sure it counted.”

He would damn every star in the great night sky to kiss her now.

“Yes you did.”

“People will think I’m strange now, I suppose.”

His throat bobbed.

“Strange and beautiful. So much so, it might be difficult to look away.”

He did not look away. He meant every word, body and soul.

Something in Elain’s gaze glimmered as she beheld him. Something hidden deep beneath the devastation and loss.

And then Azriel heard it.

The quietest whisper of the song she usually emanated, lost in the dark, now reaching- reaching for the light.

“Promise you’ll paint the walls blue?” she whispered softly.

Tired and drunk on the ashes of war. He told himself they’d forget it all by the morning.

But just for tonight, stars above, let her be mine.

“I’ll paint the walls blue,” Azriel whispered back.

Read the rest on AO3

[bellysoupset]

Can we please get some sick Leo with caretaker Wendy? I'm dying to know how each of them would react in a situation like that and how it would affect them in the long run considering Leo's dislike of her.

They could be out, encountering each other accidentally and Leo having no choice but accept her help or something. I'm just really curious to see how it would play out.

- 💜

Hi 💜!! I'm sorry this took so long! Have a long fic as payback. Another anon also asked for "Jonah has to leave and Wendy comes to take care of Leo", so here you go!

-----

Leo's stomach was a mess.

He had woken up nauseous and spent good twenty minutes sitting in the bathroom, expecting something to come up, but nothing did. Now he was sitting by the kitchen counter, head in hands as he watched JD happily munch on her food bowl.

"Morning, love," Jon's voice was deep and scratchy from sleep as he stumbled out of the bedroom and pressed a kiss to Leo's temple, zombie walking straight to the coffee machine.

Leo let out a groan, leaning forward and resting his cheek on his arms, watching his boyfriend move around. Jonah was still half asleep, so he wasn't paying any mind to the fact Leo was two shades paler than normal and clammy too.

He moved on autopilot around the kitchen, filling up his favorite large mug with coffee and crouching down to pet JD as he drunk it. After the third or fourth gulp, though, he finally seemed awake enough to look at Leo.

Jon frowned, "what's wrong?"

Leo shrugged, "upset stomach, that's all," he said, although he really wanted to be babied. He felt terrible, "I think I'm going back to bed."

"Do you feel nauseous or is it just aching?" Jon frowned, getting up from his position and walking to the medicine cabinet, "Leo?"

"Nauseous," he said, holding his belly. It was bloated and the smallest amount of pressure caused it to gurgle loudly, "crampy too."

"Did you try eating anything?" Jon asked, grabbing three different medications. He stepped closer, cupping Leo's face and then let out a relieved sigh, "you're not feverish."

"I really don't wanna eat anything, Jon," Leo grimaced, "my belly is really sour."

"You barely ate at dinner yesterday," Jonah frowned, his hand still cupping Leo's cheek, "were you already feeling sick?" there was an edge in his voice. He hated not being in full control of the situation.

Leo shook his head, "no, I just wasn't hungry."

"Well the nausea is probably hunger, baby," Jonah sighed, "at leat eat one of my vertigo cookies, please?"

Leo groaned, but accepted the cookie and nibbled on it, while JD moved closer and climbed up his pajama pants so she could curl up on his lap.

They sat there for the longest time, Leo struggling to swallow down the dry cracker and Jonah rubbing his back, caught up in his own thoughts. A gurgle from Leo's stomach interrupted the peaceful silence and Jon frowned.

"Leo...?"

"I'm going back to bed," the blonde decided, swallowing as his mouth watered, the nausea making him slow as he patted JD's head and plopped her back down on the ground.

Jonah took a second to follow and when he did, he brought with him a bucket from their laundry, the pepto bottle and Leo's gym water bottle, "take one gulp of this," he instructed, throwing Leo the plastic pink bottle, setting down the bucket on the floor, next to his head and climbing on the bed too.

Leo obeyed, gulping down the sweet medicine before washing the taste off with a grimace, swishing the water around to make sure he had gotten everything. He turned on the bed, curling up and pressing his face to Jonah's chest.

Jon wrapped an arm around him, turning on the TV and lowering the volume, "try to nap."

Leo nodded, although he doubted he could nap with the way his stomach was churning. His skin was covered in goosebumps and he shuddered as another wave of nausea caused the stomach acid to splash on his throat.

Jon continued to rub his back, distracted by the documentary. After a few minutes of trying to nap, Leo rolled off of him, staring at the ceiling.

"It's not happening," he declared, when Jonah raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Are you gonna be sick?"

"I don't think so," Leo groaned, digging his fingers on his stomach, rubbing firm circles on, managing to make it gurgle and slosh, but nothing else, "it just feels really gross..."

"I have the antiemetics I take for vertigo," Jonah offered, "it might help with the nausea."

"Those are heavy drugs, babe," Leo shook his head, "I don't know if I should take them, I already take my regular meds."

Jonah frowned, he didn't think there would be any issues, but Leo was right. His medication was regulated and Jon wasn't a psychiatrist, he had no idea how it would interfere with Leo's antidepressants.

"I hate seeing you like this, baby," Jonah sighed, turning on the bed to get a better look at his boyfriend. He wasn't sure he believed Leo saying he wouldn't be sick, considering he was so pale he was transparent.

He sat there, quietly petting Leo's hair and waiting to see if he'd bolt from the bed. Leo gulped down nervously, eyes slipping closed with a grimace, but slowly the frown went slack as he started to drift off. Jonah didn't even consider stop petting his hair, in case this made Leo wake up.

Jon was caught up noticing the light freckles Leo had acquired in Italy, when his phone went off and startled them both. He scrambled to grab it, while Leo sat up in a rush, only to immediately regret it as nausea hit him like a truck.

"Fuck, I'm so sorry," Jonah exclaimed, struggling to mute the call, while Leo let out a moan and folded in half, arms wrapped around his stomach.

"Who is it...?"

Hospital was written across the screen and Jon cringed, "I'm sorry, I really gotta pick up..."

"It's fine," Leo mumbled, moving on the bed so he was sitting on the edge of it, shaky hands going for the water bottle, while his head hung.

Jonah's chest squeezed as he stepped out of the room to pick up his phone. He had been on call for a possible surgery he should assist and clearly nothing could ever have a good timing.

True to his prediction, the patient's condition had worsened and the responsible doctor had scheduled the surgery for that evening, giving Jonah one hour before he had to leave.

He sighed heavily, hating this turn of events and walked back inside the bedroom, "Leo, I have b- Leo?" Jonah frowned when he met an empty bed.

He crossed the room towards their suite and hesitated as he was about to knock on the door, before thinking Fuck it, and turning the knob already, "Leo..." Jonah swallowed down the stubborn sympathy nausea as he found, predictably, his boyfriend sitting before the toilet, hunched over it.

"What did the hospital want?" Leo groaned, rubbing his stomach with one hand, the other one supporting his head, elbow resting on the porcelain.

"I... I have to leave," Jonah bit his lip, worried, "I'm scheduled for a surgery in one hour."

"How glamorous," Leo snorted, without humor, and turned his head to look at him. He was covered in a thin layer of sweat and clearly feeling like death, "babe, you can go. I'm fine, it's just a stomachache."

"Nothing is ever just anything with you," Jon scowled, crossing his arms and glaring at Leo. He hated not being able to stay and take care of him, but mostly he hated the prospect of Leo being alone, "I'm calling someone to stay with you."

"A nanny," Leo deadpanned, raising an eyebrow, "I don't need a nanny, I'm twenty five."

Jonah ignored him, scrolling through his contacts. Lucas was an option yes, but even Jon felt bad calling the guy when he was in the middle of his honeymoon period. Vince was working, as he did all Saturday mornings, so that only left one option...

"Don't hate me, but I'm gonna call Wendy," He said and Leo's head snapped.

"Absolutely n-" he never finished the phrase, because just then his stomach decided it was done with him and vomit exploded out of his mouth, taking them both by surprise. It covered the arm Leo had planted on the toilet and a little bit splashed on the ground, but most of it made it to the bowl. Leo's shoulders jerked as he leaned in and continued to heave.

Jonah's stomach churned and he tasted his coffee, but he was getting very good at handling his sympathy nausea when it came to Leo. Worry overruled anything.

He grabbed a towel, throwing it on top of the sick covering Leo's arm and crouched down to rub his back, turning his face so he was looking the other way, "okay, get it up, at least you'll feel better..."

Maybe even better enough that Jon wouldn't have to call Wendy...?

However it was almost twenty minutes later when Leo managed to pull back enough from the bowl to breathe. He was drenched in sweat now and let out a little pitiful whine, leaning back against the bathroom wall.

"I'm so sorry, Leo, but there's no way I can leave you alone like this," Jonah said, flushing the toilet and starting to feel antsy. He couldn't leave, but he was already starting to run late.

"I survived stomach bugs on my own before," Leo groaned, his voice scratchy, "besides I'm just gonna go back to bed."

"Leo-"

"Please," Leo sighed, seeming very close to tears, "I feel horrible, I just wanna go back to sleep."

Jonah looked like he wanted to argue, but instead he nodded stiffily, "alright, baby, let's get you back in bed."

Leo's shoulders dropped with relief and he allowed Jonah to pull him up, gagging all over again when he attempted to brush his teeth and was forced to settle for mouthwash. He promptly curled up under the blankets, turning on his side so he'd have easy access to the bucket in case needed and closed his eyes.

"Good luck today," Leo mumbled and Jon let out a scoff, planting a kiss on the top of his head.

"I should be back in three hours, please, promise me you'll call someone if you get any worse or if the puking doesn't stop soon."

"Uh-hum," Leo hummed, not paying him any mind and Jonah hesitated leaving, before his phone alarm went off and he knew he had to run if he intended to disinfect before getting to the hospital.

----------

Wendy was crouched down on the floor of an antiques store that was nearby Vince's museum when her phone started ringing.

It wasn't even midday yet, so it definitely wasn't Vince, who only got out at 3 PM. She frowned, glancing at the screen and then pressing the phone to her ear with a smile.

"Hey, I was just thinking about you," Wendy babbled, "I found the cutest pair of cufflinks-"

"Wendy," Jonah interrupted her, "I'm on my way to the hospital, for a surgery, but Leo is home and he's in a bad shape. If I don't ring you back in three hours, could you swing by to check on him? Matthew already knows to let you up and you have my spare key."

He said it all in one breath and Wendy raised her eyebrows, "uh... Yeah, of course, honey. Whatever do you mean by bad shape?"

"Stomach bug," Jonah answered and Wendy let out a relieved breath she wasn't aware she was holding, "he didn't have a fever when I left, but Leo can go from zero to hundred really quick..."

"it's alright," she nodded, knowing she'd be calling just the same if their situations were reversed. Vince's fevers too were always high and dangerous, "I'll give it a couple hours and stop by to check on hi-"

"Don't tell him I sent you."

She let out a snort, rolling her eyes, "okay. What's the surgery you're going in for?"

"Coronary artery bypass."

"With Dr. Stewart?"

"Yeah."

"Oh honey, you're not coming home tonight. That man takes hours," Wendy said in an annoyed manner, "either way, have fun and don't worry about blondie, I got him."

"Thanks, Dee."

"Don't mention it," Wendy hung up, rising from her crouched down position with a groan and grabbing the cufflinks, to pay for.

True to her prediction, three hours passed and she didn't hear a thing from Jonah. She even called the front desk to make sure he was still in surgery and not back home and had forgotten to tell her.

Resigning to her fate, Wendy grabbed whatever she figured could be useful and drove to Jonah and Leo's place.

Matthew only smiled at her, not bothering calling up to announce her and Wendy let herself in the apartment.

JD immediately ran to her and Wendy let out a smile, crouching down, "hi sweetie," she whispered, petting the kitten and planting a kiss on her head, "where's daddy, uh? Wanna show me?"

As if understanding her, JD meowed, rubbing herself against Wendy's legs before turning around and wandering further in the apartment.

Wendy followed, bracing for the worse, only to be met with quite the mundane scene. Leo was half sitting up on the bed, watching TV, an empty bucket lying where was Jon's spot of the mattress.

"Jonah is such a mother hen," Leo scoffed upon seeing her, "hi Wendy."

"Hi," she leaned on the doorway, "you're not dying?"

He rolled his eyes, opening a small smile when JD climbed the bed and snuggled up on his side, "it's just a bug, I'm fine."

"Fever?"

"None last I checked," Leo shrugged and Wendy squinted at him.

"And when was that?"

He had the decency of blushing. She let out a huff, entering the room and circling the bed, going through her purse to grab her own thermometer and sticking it in his mouth when he opened it to complain.

"I'mfie" he mumbled and Wendy rolled her eyes, cupping his cheeks. In truth, he was not overly warm, just sticky with sweat.

They waited for the thermometer to beep and then Leo glared at her, holding up the device that read a perfectly normal temperature, "told you," he scoffed.

Wendy shrugged, "have you been keeping down water?"

"Yes, doctor."

"Any diarrhea?"

Leo's cheeks turned beet red, his glare more intense, "no, not that it's any of your busine-"

"Guess I'm going home then," Wendy got up from the bed, only to catch a glimpse of something on his face. She paused, putting the thermometer back in her purse, "no?"

Leo shrugged, "you already came over, might as well stay..."

She did her best not to smile in a smug manner or sound amused as she said, "alright, let me just ditch the shoes... Do you want something to eat?"

"I'd rather not get food poisoning on top of a stomach bug, thanks," Leo wrinkled his nose in a disdainful manner and Wendy rolled her eyes.

"Starve then," she said, not meaning it and walking out of the room in order to rid herself of her shoes and coat. Ignoring his previous answer, she searched the kitchen for the ingredients to make soup and then spent good ten minutes scrolling through google to find a recipe.

"You know," Leo mumbled, walking slowly into the kitchen, probably curious if she had left or not. He had brougth the blanket with him, wrapped around his shoulders like a cape and looked like death warmed over. JD was jumping at his foot, playfully trying to grab the tip of the blanket, "you don't need a recipe for soup, just boil some vegetables. It's really not that hard."

"Do you wanna make it yourself?" Wendy scoffed and Leo grumbled something uninteligible under his breath, before sitting down on the couch, observing her every move.

"Why'd you come here?" he asked after a minute and Wendy let out a frustrated huff.

"Because Jonah-"

"No, not here," Leo rolled his eyes, rubbing his chest in an uneasy manner, "I meant to town. To Maine. Why didn't you stay in NY?"

Wen frowned. Leo had never shown any interest on her life, this was out of the blue.

"Uhm..." She started peeling some carrots before throwing them in the pan full of water, "I needed a fresh start... Penn was great, but there were too many... Memories, I guess. Too close to home too."

"It's two hours away," Leo pointed out and Wendy shrugged.

"And Maine is seven and I'm happier this way," she finished throwing all the vegetables in the pot and put a lid on it, crossing her arms, "why are you asking?"

"I feel disgusting, just humor me, would ya?" Leo said, moving on the couch so he could better cuddle JD when she climbed it and curled up on his stomach, "talk with me."

Wendy sighed and walked to the living room area, sitting on the armchair across from him, "okay... What do you wanna know?"

"What are your parents names?" Leo smiled as JD headbutted his chin, purring like crazy, "are they assholes?"

"Lydia and Sheldon," Wendy rolled her eyes, picking at her nails, "they're jerks, they're not assholes."

He let out a little snort at the sentence, before grimacing and softly pressing on his stomach, pushing up a little sick burp, "and? We're having a conversation here."

"You're not collaborating enough for us to call it a conversation, it's more of an interrogatory. Why did you move here? I can hear the accent."

"They offered me a full ride," Leo shrugged, "they even paid my damn bus tickets."

Wendy raised her eyebrows, studying him, "so you didn't choose here?"

"I applied to a lot of places. As far away from home as I could and then I got the best deal," he closed his eyes, clearly looking uncomfortable but not by whatever he was sharing.

Wendy had a million questions she wanted to ask, but she settled for, "do you need the bucket?"

"No," Leo shook his head, throwing an arm around his stomach, "nothing left...UuUrogh-" a louder belch interrupted him, causing JD to meow in an indignant manner since her head was pressed to his collarbone, and he let out a relieved sigh, whole face ablaze, "to bring up."

Wendy squinted, not sure if she believed him or not and feeling amused by how embarrassed he clearly was. Leo muffled another tiny burp on his fist, then looked at her, "did you have a crush on Jon?"

She spluttered for air, before throwing her head back and laughing "oh is this why you hate me!?" Wendy cackled, earning a glare.

"No-"

"It totally is," Wendy's shoulders shook with giggles, "you think I'm pulling a Jolene on your man."

"I don't think that," Leo scoffed, his face even redder than before and moved his position again, clearly uncomfortable and embarrassed enough he couldn't stay put. It finally pissed off JD enough she moved away from him, curling up on the opposite end of the couch, "Wendy, shut up-"

"I never crushed on him, you're so ridiculous," Wendy giggled and Leo groaned, sitting up straight, facing the ground with his arms wrapped around his stomach.

"You're so fucking annoying."

"At least I wasn't convinced my gay boyfriend was going to run off with some girl-"

"It's not that," Leo sighed, swallowing convulsively, "it's not like that. You got here before we were together and I had never-"

Wendy frowned, her giggle fit fizzing out as she noticed two things: Leo looked dangerously close to throwing up again and he looked genuinely upset. He was being serious.

"C'mere," she got up, reaching for his arm and Leo easily allowed her to pull him to his feet, swaying dangerously so Wen wrapped an arm around his waist.

He slapped a hand over his mouth, voice coming out all muffled, "I have never seen Jon act like that with anyone."

"Like that?" Wendy pushed the guest bathroom door open with her hip, flipping on the lights and Leo curled up on the ground. He sat down, leaning over it to spit the thick saliva pooling on his mouth and then planted an elbow on the porcelain, a hand combing his hair back and staying there, supporting his head.

"So sweet- I didn't even know - When you got here, I thought he was dating you and I hated it," Leo said quietly, staring at the water and spitting again when the bitterness filled his mouth. He vaguely could feel Wendy fussing, her hand coming to rub between his shoulder blades.

She let out a huff, "you're so ridiculous being jealous of Jon, as if you're not everything he talks about all day, every day," Wendy said, thumb rolling on his nape in little soothing circles.

Leo let out a groan, not in response to her words, but when his stomach churned harder and he leaned even more forward, now bringing up a little bit of colored spit, "fuck..." he moved the hand that was bracing him against the wall and planted it on his stomach, "how can I still have anything to bring up?"

Wendy let out a sympathetic noise and rubbed his back, "you're almost through the bug," she said, which he figured wasn't wrong since he had stopped puking for the evening, but at the current moment felt like the biggest lie ever. He rocked on his heels, coughing up a thin stream of puke when his belly let out a loud gurgle.

Nothing felt settled and he pressed against his sick tummy, fingers digging in on the hurt organ as he gagged again.

"Leo, you're empty, honey," Wendy said quietly, touching his shoulder. Leo shook his head.

"I don't feel empty..."

"You are. You need to eat something," she straightened him up, "take a deep breath."

Leo sat back down, spine straight and hugged his stomach with both arms as she got him a glass of water and flushed the toilet. His mouth tasted terrible and his tummy was rolling around, despite the hollow sensation.

He wanted Jon, but saying that out loud sounded like asking to be teased, so he kept quiet. He glanced up when Wendy crouched back down again, holding the glass before his lips, "small sips," she instructed.

The water soothed his throat and he braced for it to land like a brick on his belly, but it actually felt slightly better. Leo let out a sigh, taking another sip, "thanks."

Wendy smiled, looking terribly soft for a second and Leo felt an urge to snap at her, if only to get rid of that fond little smile in the corner of her lip, "you're welcome."

He leaned back against the wall, "I'm glad you came."

"I- I'm glad I came t-" Wendy started to say, looking surprised and touched, so Leo interrupted.

"But you definitely can't cook, I can smell the soup burning from here."

[angelmichelangelo]

A little prompt for u!! Can’t stop thinking about 12 baby mikey being sick and hiding in his shell on instinct and splinter keeps having to coax him out to give him medicine and food and take his temperature and he turns away for one second to grab something and when he turns back Mikey is in his shell again 😭 (also I ordered a pizza yesterday and it was sooo good so here’s to hoping ur pizza is just as satisfying 🫶)

the pizza was okay! not the best but only because they put dry parmesan on top and it’s just too strong for my toddler level tastebuds but pizza is pizza lol — thanks for the prompt, enjoy some baby mikey!!

read on ao3!

x

“Michelangelo.”

Splinter is mindful to keep his voice level, ironing out the rising weariness that threatens to touch upon his words as he once again tries to coax his youngest out of his shell.

All he gains in return is a muffled little whine, the most he’s been given in the past twenty minutes or so as he tries desperately to give his son his medicine.

He shakes the plastic juice cup, nudging the squishy nipple of the lid against the rim of his shell in hopes of drawing him out but it proves to be a futile attempt.

“Please, my son,” he says, on the very percipise of pleading now. “You must have some. It shall make you better.”

Little Michelangelo does not come out of his shell, speaking from the deep confines in which he hides himself, his voice muffled still but the tiny lisp of his words still audible to him,

“No! S’yucky! I don’wan it, daddy!”

The rat’s ears press flat across his head, his willpower on the matter dwindling in quick succession.

He’d failed to scour for any medicine that was appropriate for children in the liquid form; brightly coloured and flavorful — anything a child Michelangelo’s age would have no issue swallowing down.

But Splinter didn’t have the luxury most parents had. He couldn’t waltz into a pharmacy and buy his children the medicine they needed to make them better when runny noses turned into chesty, wet coughs and upset tummies.

The pill he’d dissolved in his son’s juice is stark to him — bitter and strong, and he’d barely managed a single mouthful in him before he’d made a fuss and retreated steadfastly into his shell, still yet to emerge.

He sighs. Perhaps another approach on the matter.

“Daddy has his medicine like this,” he speaks, voice gentle and smooth. “And daddy is a big boy, you wish to be a big boy too, hm?”

A pause. Excitement grips at him, sure that the line had caught onto him.

But nothing. Michelangelo refuses to come out and take his juice.

Splinter sighs once more. “Michelangelo.” He tries for the umpteenth time now. “Michelangelo, if you do not take your medicine, you shall become very sickly. Remember when your brother became unwell?”

A whole winter ago, Leonardo had almost subcummed entirely to a very nasty bout of bronchitis.

It had been a tense few weeks, endless sleepless nights where he kept his eldest son tucked away in his own bed, frightened that the illness would catch on and he’d have four very unwell children to tend to with such limited supplies, it’d been very much touch and go for his boy.

Mikey whines — he’d been particularly fretful during that time, and resorted to spending his days doodling endless get well cards and most his nights sobbing where he was sandwiched in between Raphael and Donatello before he’d inevitably fall asleep.

“S’Leo sick too?” He asks from his shell.

A certain sadness grows tight in the rat’s chest. He sets the cup down and lays his paws across his shell affectionately.

“No, my son,” he’s quick to assure him steadily. “But we don’t want to pass this illness along, do we? That is why we must take our medicine.”

He hates to have to essentially corner his small son like this, backing him into a corner in such a way but he could not afford to have Michelangelo’s cold manifest itself into something more dangerous and deadly; as the smallest of his children, it was a fear that gripped right at him every time he’d so much as sneeze.

“It’s so yucky, daddy,” he says, his snot finally— finally protruding from his shell. “It tastes like wall.”

Splinter decides to shelf his initial question as to why his son knows what the wall tastes like to instead encourage him out even further.

“I know. But you’re being very brave,” he tells him with a confident nod of his head. “Can you taste some for me so I know I can have some too?”

Michelangelo looks skeptical at the idea as he pokes his head out further. His limbs remain safely tucked away as he stretches his neck outwards.

Splinter lifts the cup to his lips, pressing the nipple to his lips when the turtle takes one taste of it lingering there, hisses and quickly shuns himself away with a little click of his tongue.

“Michelangelo…” Splinter sighs. “You cannot stay in your shell forever, my son. There will come a time when you will need the bathroom, or when you get hungry, or—”

An idea strikes him so hard, he almost jumps to his feet.

He smiles to himself and sets the cup down and away from his son. “Alright. No medicine. But you must be hungry, I know I am. Shall we get some lunch, Michelangelo?”

The L word has his youngest son poking his head back out again, with a gleam of excitement in his eyes. “Lunch?”

Splinter nods. “Hm. I was thinking maybe, as you are feeling under the weather, we can have some of the special lunch in the fridge. Instead of algae.”

Michelangelo, of all his children, was less inclined to be fussy over the usual meal of moss and worms that they were fed, often times eating the leftovers from a more picky Donnie and Raph, yet when Splinter was able to find more salvageable human food, his eating frenzy son was front, right and center for it.

“Special lunch?” He’s echoing, eyes practically sparkling. “Really?!”

Splinter has to suppress the urge to laugh, smiling at his son as his arms and legs pop out of his shell to haul himself to standing.

He leads his son to the kitchen where he fixes his children up with a sandwich. They don’t have any butter and the lunch meat he’d found yesterday is only enough for one thin slice each, but when he fixes up Mikey’s meal, he rolls up a pill into the wafer slice and tucks it away safely out of sight.

He gives Michelangelo his first before calling on his other sons, watching with a keen eye as he practically inhales the sandwich in only a few bites.

Confident that the pill has been devoured, he smiles sweetly at his son. “I think that shall make you better, my son,” he says. He plates up the other sandwiches and calls from the others from the other room. “Now,” he says. “How about a bath to cool you off? You still have a slight fever and—”

But when he turns around, Mikey is perched on the table, fully retreating back into his shell, unbudging.

He sighs once more, his whiskers dropping tiredly. “Perfect,” he says flatly.

[fiveapocalypse]

FAUST AND THE DEVIL

A little thing inspired by @nirby-wirby

“So it is only you whose come to meet my acquaintance.”

His head hurts. His stomach churns. There is a burning at the back of his eyes and Five swallows a lump in his throat as he sits across from the man who has held his fist over him even alone in isolation. “I can’t say I am too surprised, not with what I’ve seen so far of you and your, as you put it, family.”

A part of him wants to shout, scream, maybe even punch something just to feel anything, but instead, Five shrugs, lips pursed. “I didn’t come here to idly chit chat,” he spits, ire dripping from his words. If he was angry, he couldn’t be controlled. He couldn’t fall like Icarus wanting to touch the sun. “I came because we don’t belong here, because I know that you can do something about it.” There is a look in his eyes, calculating, and it makes Five clasp his hands together and dig his nail into his palm.

“Don’t belong here how?” Neither a laugh nor a smile, but an inquiry with raised brows.

Five takes a deep breath, grinding his teeth together. “Crapshoot,” he mutters, glaring at the pineapple in the center of the table, “thought I could do whatever wanted, landed myself in the apocalyptic future, and then—here, in this body—”

“You’ve refused to listen then,” Reginald interrupts, “if I am your father, and my word had been law, then it was no fault but your own for your circumstances.”

“That’s—"

“Perhaps, if you had not gone on a tantrum, you would not be here, struggling to even achieve the bare minimum with your lack of prowess.”

“You—"

“But, as it is now, your own foolishness has created your own mistake.” Reginald doesn’t let him get a word in, interrupting him with every second that passed. “You have failed because of your lack of patience, your inability to accept, and now you are looking to atone simply by admitting defeat.” Five hates the way his shoulders hunch up, words dying in his throat. “This, however, is not feasible. You have destroyed your own family by your own hands, with your foolishness and arrogance to prove. Tell me, how is it that the future I reside in has your family in such a state and yet, did it not all start after you had gone off on your own?”

His breath hitches, mouth feeling dry. He hadn’t ever really thought about it like that, not really, but now—it was starting to come together, the pieces falling into place. He’s been gone for so long, to the point where his siblings are 30, seventeen years passing by without him. What has he missed? What did he fail to protect because of his own selfishness? The disbanding of the academy, the drugs his brothers were on, the way that a book threatened to destroy everyone, Ben’s death.

He hadn’t been there for any of it. He hadn’t protected Klaus or saved Ben or made Luther question Reginald’s choices. He never picked up Viktor’s medicine, convincing him to not use it, never tried to remind Allison how much her rumors hurt, never helped Ben control the horror.

Instead, he had left, vanished off the earth, for seventeen whole years, and since then—

Everything had fallen apart.

All of the trouble his siblings had went through. The exclusion of their seventh. The brokenness that exuded from their very souls. It all came from something, from someone, and all his life—Five had assumed it was Reginald. He had fucked them up, had hurt them beyond compare, but looking at it now, and putting the puzzle pieces together, makes Five’s eyes burn something fierce. “I didn’t do anything,” he whispers, voice cracking, “I d-didn’t m-make them f-fall apart. I didn’t.”

Reginald stares at him with that calm face of his, not an angry wrinkle to be seen. “You disappeared,” he says, “you left them for your own desires.”

His throat closes up as he tries to swallow down the lump suddenly stuck inside. “I….” Maybe, if his siblings were here, he’d be more angry, more in control, but as it stands now, he sits there, hating how easily his eyes burn and the taste of salt falls on his lips.

and, like always, Reginald does nothing but watch him cry.