#i have a bad day and get to whine to my father and am promptly told to come over for a baggie

[pumpk-n]

not to complain about getting free weed but i don’t have time to clean my bong rn this man knows i am flower adverse

[perseabethj]

i don't really have an explanation (i.)

When Percy started his senior year in yet another school, he promised himself he would try his best to make sure nothing strange happened; sure, it wasn’t really up to him monster-wise, but he could at least try not to say anything strange to his new classmates or curse in ancient Greek. Besides, the last two years had been a mess and, with his kidnapping, it was not like he had much to say when he was told to introduce himself the first day of class -‘’hey, my name is Percy Jackson, my dad is a Greek god, and I was kidnapped last year and my memories were erased; oh, and I like blue food!’’. Yeah, that probably wouldn’t work.

Thus, Percy was known as the quiet and reserved kid in his school. This was a first for him; sure, he’d never had many friends, but he was always causing trouble. This time, however, he knew that Annabeth would kill him if, for any reason, he messed this school year up and he couldn’t go to New Rome University. He made friends -a first, excluding Grover and Tyson, who didn’t really count if you kept in mind that, well, they were his protector and his brother, and a satyr and a cyclops. He didn’t tell his friends much about him -his step-dad was an English teacher, he had been expelled from way too many schools, he had ADHD and dyslexia, he was very athletic, and he was going to try and join the swim team. He made sure to exclude everything that could be linked to his other life -he didn’t talk about his summer camp, his other friends, his huge dog, his father, or his girlfriend; Percy liked how both things didn’t go together, and he felt like it made everything easier. Whenever he talked, he sounded like a normal seventeen-year-old, and he was glad about that. He had had enough of monsters for a lifetime and, even if a hydra or a hellhound bothered him every other day, he could truly say that he could see a future for him and Annabeth that didn’t include them dying in the next five months. All in all, things were good.

When his school organized a homecoming football game, however, he did invite Annabeth; she was in a boarding school in the city, but it wasn’t that hard for her to sneak out with her New York Yankees cap, and he did want her there; it was a milestone for them. After all, Percy wasn’t supposed to reach senior year. They had agreed on meeting at the school; Percy had told Annabeth he’d meet her at the entrance once she texted him that she was close, since he was already at the bleachers with his friends. He wasn’t used to having a phone yet, however, which, in his opinion, gave him an excuse as to why he wasn’t checking his texts. Moreover, his ADHD tended to slow time down for him, so he was pretty sure that he still had thirty minutes before Annabeth was supposed to arrive.

‘’I swear, man, she was the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen,’’ his friend Matthew said, leaning over Kayla so he could see him.

‘’You say that about every girl you meet.’’

‘’I don’t say that about you,’’ Matthew told Kayla, who elbowed him in the ribs and, promptly, shut him up.

Percy couldn’t help but laugh at Louis’s mocking expressions behind Matthew. He’d only known these people for less than a month, but they had accepted him into their little club as soon as they’d met him and he was infinitely grateful. As Louis opened his mouth to, probably, laugh at Matthew over his ability to fall in love at first sight everyday, Matthew and Kayla stopped laughing when they looked at Percy. Percy tensed up, his hand moving to his pocket to make sure that Riptide was with him in case he needed to kill a monster, but, when a pair of arms linked themselves around his shoulders from behind, he tensed up for a whole different reason.

‘’I didn’t think I’d see you here, Jackson,’’ a female voice said playfully close to his ear.

Percy disentangled himself from her arms and turned around to stare Mary in the eye.

‘’An athlete at a football game. Who would have though, right?’’ he ironically said.

Mary rolled her eyes and rested her hand on his shoulder. Percy had to resist the urge to slap it away, but he didn’t want to cause a scene -he knew a lot about causing scenes and, with his luck, slapping her hand away would lead to a monster trying to kill him, and he didn’t want to be expelled before he could even take his first test. He didn’t know what he’d done to gain her attention -she was popular and decidedly pretty, and he was an outcast. He knew he wasn’t bad-looking -if Piper described him as a Greek god once more, he might die; Annabeth telling him that he looked exactly like his father also didn’t help, since the two times Poseidon had shown up in the past year while he was with Annabeth had always led to Percy wondering whether his girlfriend found his father attractive-, and he spent so much time swimming that one would have to be blind not to notice that he had a nice body. However, the whole school knew about his experience with being kicked out of school, since some teachers had made sure to remind him to behave during the first week of classes, and the swim team wasn’t regarded as highly as the football or the hockey team. All in all, he wasn’t a mess -unlike thirteen-year-old Percy-, but he was guarded and serious enough not to attract the attention of preppy girls. Mary, however, seemed to be obsessed with him from the day he got her phone out of the swimming pool after she dropped it while flirting with another guy in his team -‘’keep it wet, keep it wet’’, he’d had to remind himself-, and he regretted being a nice guy ever since then. Honestly, if his mom hadn’t raised him to be such a good kid, most of the problems in his life wouldn’t have happened.

‘’You could sit with us if you wanted,’’ Mary told him, signaling to her girl friends.

Percy knew the invitation only extended to him and not to his friends, who were quiet during the conversation. They had been at that school for three years, so they knew Mary and her gang, and Percy knew they sometimes wondered why he didn’t drop them for the popular kids. He also knew that he would rather face the Minotaur again than sit with the popular kids.

‘’I’m quite happy where I am, thanks,’’ he politely answered, trying to end the chat before he said anything rude.

‘’But you would have more fun with us, I’m sure,’’ Mary insisted, running her finger down his arm.

In moments like this, he almost missed being the young kid he was when he first arrived to camp, skinny and short and with a voice way too high for anyone to consider him a man.

‘’No, thanks,’’ he said again, using his other arm to take his phone out of his pocket, hoping Annabeth wouldn’t take much longer. ‘’Besides, I’m waiting-‘’

‘’Perseus Jackson!’’

‘’Man, I am going to need a massage after this’’, he though as he tensed again. He noticed his friends drive their attention away from Mary, who had also looked towards the origin of the voice with furrowed brows, her finger still on Percy’s arm. Before turning around, Percy quickly looked at the time on his phone, silently cursing in Greek as he saw the multiple texts and missed calls that he clearly hadn’t heard.

‘’Why is there a beautiful blonde goddess walking towards Percy, yelling his full name and looking like she wants to kill him?’’ Matthew quietly asked, forcing Percy to stifle a laugh.

He turned around slowly, half-expecting her to have a dagger at his neck. She was still far enough for him to be able to think of a few excuses, but he knew that wouldn’t work. Man, he had been offended the first time she’d called him Seaweed Brain, but she’d really hit the nail on the head.

‘’I can explain,’’ he said while she was still a few metres away.

‘’Explain, then,’’ she told him, now standing in full height before him. He was quite taller than her, but a standing Annabeth with folded arms and a stormy look in her eyes before a sitting Percy who knew he’d messed up was definitely scary.

‘’I…’’ he started. ‘’I didn’t think I’d get this far, honestly. I think this might be the first time you let me explain and I’m not ready for this responsibility.’’

He knew that was the right answer -her eyes were now shining with mirth and he could tell he was holding back a smile. She still had her arms crossed, but he figured she wasn’t going to kill him in front of so many people, so he tugged at them and forced her to sit next to him before he could regret it.

‘’I really thought it was earlier. You know how I am with the time, and I’m still not used to the phone.’’

She finally unfolded her arms and shook her head as she smiled softly, and Percy knew she wasn’t mad any longer.

‘’The fact that I have experience navigating labyrinths doesn’t mean that I want to navigate your high school, Seaweed Brain,’’ she told him.

‘’Completely understandable, Wise Girl.’’

He threw his arm around her shoulder, all his previous conversations forgotten, and he was about to ask her about her day when another voice interrupted him.

‘’Excuse me, Percy, but who is this?’’ Mary asked from behind him.

Annabeth turned around, a fake smile on her lips as she took in the brunette girl sitting behind her.

‘’His girlfriend,’’ Annabeth said. ‘’Nice to meet you.’’

She offered Mary her hand, though still wrapped around Percy’s arm, and Mary took it automatically, a shocked expression on her face. Her friends looked back between her and Annabeth, equally confused.

‘’His girlfriend?’’ Matthew whisper-yelled.

Both Louis and Kayla nudged him with their elbows, earning a laugh from Percy, which made Annabeth look at them with a raised eyebrow.

‘’Guys, this is Annabeth, my girlfriend,’’ Percy introduced. ‘’Beth, these are Kayla, Matthew and Louis.’’

‘’You’ve mentioned them,’’ Annabeth said, extending her hand and offering a real smile. ‘’It’s nice to meet you. Anybody who manages to put up with Percy deserves to be admired.’’

‘’Hey!’’ Percy whined.

His friends sat there, flabbergasted, but he didn’t really mind. Sure, he could have told them in advance, but he also didn’t think it was that important that he had a girlfriend; he was not the first guy in school to have one, and he definitely wouldn’t be the last.

He didn’t have time to talk any more before the game started, but he did manage to hear Matthew whispering to Kayla and Louis as the players made it to the field.

‘’So not only is Percy the hottest guy at school, but he’s also dating the hottest girl in New York? How is that fair?’’

Percy smiled softly and pressed Annabeth closer to him, enjoying her warmth and having her next to him. This was how things were supposed to be.

[sunsoothed]

lightness

jang hanseo character study kinda fic i promised. i'm not sure if this is a character study anymore. i have no idea what this became. anyway! i wanted to explore hanseo and give him a bit of a backstory, so here it is!

*deep breath* content warnings: graphic descriptions of violence, physical abuse, blood, injury, canonical character death (not hanseo), recreational drug use, underage drug use, implied drug abuse

word count: 1866

read on ao3

hope you like it!

-

When Jang Hanseo is seven, he is acquainted with elder brother. Regal; nine-years-old and already hunting.

He still hides behind their father with him when he pretends to be terrified of the sound of gunfire.

Hanseo says nothing. He never brings up how his brother had thrown the bloodied rabbit and his rifle to the servant attending him, never brings up how thoroughly he washed his hands to hide the evidence of his independence from his father.

Never brings up how his brother assessed him with just a look and nothing more.

The first words Jang Hanseo’s brother says to him are as follows:

“Don’t call me hyung.”

Jang Hanseo blinks, traces his eyes over the leather of his brother’s jacket, over the blood that drips from his gloves, over the rifle he holds in his hands. He smiles.

“Okay, hyung-nim!”

A scoff, but some appraisal. Jang Hanseo doesn’t understand the half-smile he receives that autumn afternoon, but he remembers it until he beats his brother with a hockey stick, striking his head trice ‘til he’s out and his back once just for good measure, just to see the blood coming up to his mouth for him to choke on.

-

The first time his brother hits him, Jang Hanseo is eight. The ice rink is dark, and his brother is more geared up than he is.

Jang Hanseo misses thrice, scores once. He is rewarded with a swipe of the hockey stick on the back of his calf, and he thinks it is a game.

For that, he is rewarded with his first broken bone and a seared memory of a hand heavy on his throat. A laugh without mercy.

-

When Jang Hanseo is thirteen, he is offered alcohol at a party his father is hosting.

He declined, having seen first-hand what alcohol does to you, what a rage it puts his father in as he breaks porcelain, the scar he left on his mother’s cheek that lasted till the day she died.

-

When Jang Hanseo is fourteen, his brother kills four people. Classmates, he tells him, when he comes home with red speckled on his face. They weren’t worthy of being my classmates.

-

Jang Hanseo celebrates his fifteenth birthday with the diagnosis of his brother being a psychopath and accidentally tearing open the letter of a one-way ticket to the United States.

Instead of cake, he consumes his own blood, and instead of a pat on the back, he has a dislocated shoulder.

When he wakes a day later hooked to an IV, his brother is gone. The phantom of his laugh lives on, searing long into Hanseo’s conscience.

-

At fifteen-and-a-half, his father sends Hanseo to his grandmother’s for the summer. His father is undergoing a trial, on the charges of bribery, abetting murder, and perjury. With one son shipped off to the States and another to Jeju Island, he has no pawns he will feel ill about sacrificing. It’s not that he loves them. It’s that letting your son die because the ransom money you can very well afford would require you to take some shares out, and that’s too tedious of a process to go through.

So Jang Hanseo boards the short flight, stares out of the window for the longest one hour and fifteen minutes of his life so far. He’s never met his grandmother.

He wonders if she’s like his father, knowing she’s raised him, or if she’s worse.

She’s leagues different from anyone in his family.

Halmeoni scans him up and down when the driver drops him off at her estate. At the front door itself, she says, “We have a lot of fixing-up to do.”

It leaves an impression, that’s for sure.

-

The best summer of his life, Hanseo learns how to uproot weeds and catch a chicken without screaming like his life was being threatened. His halmeoni owns a farm, some 150 acres of greenery and animal and mansion.

Halmeoni teaches him first how to eat well, how to fill his plate and not feel bad about it, how to overeat and regret it. Halmeoni teaches him second that he is the most important person to himself; never his father, and not his hyung-nim.

Halmeoni teaches him third that he has no one else in the world but himself.

This, Jang Hanseo remembers the most.

(But his brother’s —)

-

With his brother’s absence, an anxiety sets into Hanseo’s veins so intensely that upon looking up his symptoms, he sees words like psychosis and personality disorder and promptly closes his laptop shut.

Unbidden, but not unwelcome, he remembers the rages his father fell into. He remembers the embers of gold in those small wide glasses that abeoji owned, remembers the crates of bottles that they used to have moved into the house. He also recalls the putrid smoke that used to emerge from the study. The smell of something burnt and something that made him cough so hard it alerted his father of his presence.

It’s in the boys washroom that he smells the scent again. By the open window, out curls smoke.

Jang Hanseo catches the eye of the assailant. Oh Yeonwoo will get him into this mess and then out. He will be Hanseo’s first true friend.

-

Jang Hanseo tries it for the first time on the terrace of the school. One joint between the two of them and nothing but heaving coughs from him until he learns how to take air after smoke and allow its natural passage back up. The joint is over by then, and Hanseo feels nothing.

Yeonwoo bumps their shoulders together, carelessly tossing the filter over the railing of the terrace. “You’ll get the hang of it,” He assures. “I didn’t even make it after a couple of joints, so you’re doing better than me already.”

Hanseo lends him a half-smile. Better than him, he thinks. When have I ever been better than anyone?

“Hanseo-yah, what’re you thinking with that scowl, hm?” Yeonwoo bumps their shoulders together again. “You’re so scary when you space out.”

“I am?”

Yeonwoo nods again. Hanseo notes something hazy in his eyes, something completely unguarded in his demeanour. He blinks cautiously.

“Hanseo-yah,” Yeonwoo whines, “Stop staring at me.”

“I’m not,” He replies. “Are —” Are you okay? Hanseo was going to ask. Stupid. Yeonwoo has settled against his shoulder now, humming some tune. He stretches his legs out in front of him and sways his feet to the rhythm. He seems better than okay.

So this is what it does, Hanseo thinks. Lightness. He wants to be light.

-

And so, Jang Hanseo, age sixteen, falls into something whose magnitude he cannot guess. Addiction is only the half of it. The other half had started the day Yeonwoo showed him something called shotgunning, which had taken his first kiss and his first experience with intoxication whose harm had lasted longer than its euphoria.

When he lies beside Yeonwoo, all too hot and all too cold, unable to distinguish which fingers are his when they hold hands, he finds it. The lightness. When Yeonwoo turns and exhales into his neck, prickling sweat and prickling hair to stand on edge, Hanseo smiles.

And when Hanseo wakes up, the dread in his gut is deeper than it’s ever been.

(— his brother’s —)

-

So it seems that boys with no family and boys with brothers who know nothing but violence and boys with a terrible, terrible blankness to them can also, by some grace of humanity, fall in love. And so it seems, as Hanseo feels the telltale thumping of his heart and lightness in his abdomen, that Yeonwoo will keep having this effect on him.

Subtlety, Yeonwoo tells him, the afternoon they sit on the roof and stare at the sky and at the smoke. Subtlety will let you get away with everything.

Subtle touches, then. Hanseo’s fingers lingering a moment too long on Yeonwoo’s arm, Hanseo’s hand firm between his shoulder blades. Subtle words, and subtle smiles, and subtle smoke between their mouths as they chase lightness.

Subtle kisses, too, when Hanseo feels he can see his own eyes in Yeonwoo’s, when Hanseo still finds the thrill of sealing his lips with Yeonwoo’s to be a minefield of his own feelings. Subtle kisses that Yeonwoo always blackens — drags them down into teeth and tongue and desire. Hanseo doesn’t know, then, that this is what differentiates them. What puts him on a curved, unshapely parabola and Yeonwoo on a straight line.

Feral, Hanseo once thinks, his gaze only slightly unclouded, as Yeonwoo bites at his lips, his neck. Feral, in the way he never kisses to coax Hanseo’s mouth open; never to cherish feeling. Only to chase after something so much deeper.

-

At seventeen, Jang Hanseo implodes from heartbreak.

Transfer student. Short, ebony hair, in that oh-so-timeless straight bob. He has a nice smile, even Hanseo can tell, and he has a charming walk. He’s also assigned a seat beside him. This, of all things, was the catalyst.

Yeonwoo didn’t want to kiss him anymore. Yeonwoo wanted to smoke with him, but Yeonwoo also bought a new companion along with him. Yeonwoo, it seemed, never wanted what Hanseo did. Yeonwoo, it seemed, never felt the way Hanseo did.

Hanseo knows that he knew, somewhere, beneath what his world had become, that this would not stand for long. Its foundations were, in the end, smoke.

-

But it does not surprise him, Hanseo thinks, seventeen and a quarter, something vile in his veins. It does not surprise him that he’s here.

His head hits, dully, the floor under him. He laughs. And he laughs some more, as the world turns from dust to sky to ocean. And he waits for the servants to find him in his father’s study.

-

They tell him that he’s lucky, later, in the hospital. Jang Hanseo thinks this is what death feels like, on the verge of eighteen. He states blinking at the ceiling. Hospital rooms are white on all six sides, and heaven is supposed to be white on all six sides as well. He wants to laugh, so he does.

And it hurts.

Hanseo stops laughing.

(— his brother’s laugh —)

-

Hanseo laughs. Ten years past, ten years perished, Hanseo laughs until his heart hurts. His brother’s heart is still beating. His blood is still warm, the three hits to his head and one to his back hadn’t kept him down. Hanseo laughs as the blood splatters on his face, sprinkled red on his chin and lips, a sprinkled red dancing in his eyes as he brings the hockey stick down, down, down.

For everything Hanseok has made him — less, more, just enough. For all these little things that had changed Hanseo more than broken bones could. For lost love. For things that weren’t, in the end, Hanseok’s fault.

Hanseo beats him till his heart stops fighting back and the blood pooled in his mouth flows quietly. Till Hanseo feels no fight left in him, and then some, till the exhaustion in him takes over.

Hanseo slumps over his brother’s dead body, and Hanseo laughs.

(But his brother’s laugh will always be louder.)

[dont-cry2020]

Can you maybe write something about h cuddling with his sick toddler?

omg i’m such a hoe for dad harry like he needs to have kids rnnnnnnnn

anyways writing this on my phone again at 12:30 in the dark lmao

also keep the harry requests going i LOVE these yall are too smart

this is superrrrr fluffy prepare to cry love u guys

Small cries echoing off the baby monitor beside your sleeping body woke you slowly, having you sit up in bed and rub your eyes. The green numbers of your alarm clock illuminated the dark room, reading an alarming 3:45 AM.

“I got her, Love,” your husband calls quietly next to you, his voice deep and o-so-sexy, and his curls tangled on his head.

“Mmm,” you mumble, a mutually understood ‘thank you i love you so fucking much’ leaving your lips. Harry gives you a soft kiss on the forehead as you fall back asleep, your gratitude for your husband just that much greater when he takes care of baby.

Your sweet little girl, Lilly, was 16 months old, and she was honestly such an angel. Other moms your age had told you horror stories about their babies crying and screaming 24/7, and it gave you so much anxiety, constantly praying that your little girl wouldn’t be so much of a handful. Especially since you and Harry were both quite busy these days.

Although, Harry had taken up quite the role of ‘daddy’ and not in the way the two of you had experimented with (sorry 😳). He was always on it when Lilly cried or needed a change, and would only wake you up if she needed food. He was quite the angel as well.

If you asked him, he would tell you it was no issue and he loved to take care of his baby, and that was the truth. Harry and baby Styles had the most beautiful bond you could ever hope the father of your child would ever have. Not to mention Harry felt absolutely awful when he left for tour; being away from his two loves was absolute torture for him.

“Shh, shh,” Harry bounces Lilly in his arms, trying to get her to quiet down her piercing cries. “Sweet Lilly, wha’s the matter, hmm?”

The small girl in his arms stops crying for a brief moment to let out what Harry found to be the cutest little sneeze he’s ever heard.

“Oh, poor baby,” he whispers, resting his hand to her small head. “Ya’ not feelin’ well, darlin’?”

Baby just whines more, clawing at Harry’s bare chest with her chubby fingers. Harry presses his pink lips to her hands, and she wraps her small arms as far around his neck as they can go.

Meanwhile, Harry has forgotten to turn off the baby monitor, so you’re sat in bed lying on your side and listening to your husband talk to your little love. Your heart melts as he talks to her in a soft voice, imagining him standing there in nothing but boxers, a small scrunchie in his hair as he loves on his daughter.

“D’ya need a cuddle?” Harry coos as Lilly buries her tiny face into his chest, seemingly quieting down quite a bit. She lets out the tiniest of coughs before closing her big green eyes (inherited from h of course) and settling down. “D’ya wan’ go cuddle with mommy? Momma’s cuddles always help m’ when ‘m sick.”

You push your lip out into a pout, eyes tearing up a tiny bit at his words, heart swelling out of your chest. Harry’s soft footsteps alert you to the doorway, the soft glow of the hallway illuminating his frame.

“Sorry to wake you,” he whispers, baby clutched to his chest. “Think bub’s comin’ down with somethin’”

You frown, pressing your hand to her forehead that was buried in Harry’s chest as he climbs into bed next to you.

“She does feel a little warm,” you say petting the back of her head before doing the same to Harry’s cheek. “You’re such a good dad.”

You feel Harry’s lips twitch into a smile under your palm at your kind words. He puts his hand on top of yours, bringing it to his lips.

“And you’re the best momma.”

You snuggle closer to him, baby in between the two of you, as you start to drift off again. Harry holds his baby close, shutting his eyes after he knows that both of his girls are comfortably sleeping.

...

Soft snores make you open your eyes slowly, letting out a small yawn before turning to your side. Your jaw drops as you feel your heart physically swell (IDK HOW ELSE TO DESCRIBE THE FEELING BUT LITERALLY JUST IMAGINE HARRY NEXT TO YOU SLEEPING WITH HIS BABY SNUGGLED INTO HIM I WOULD CRY) at the sight in front of you.

Harry’s tanned skin glowed under the golden morning sun, contrasting against Lilly’s pale pink arms. His eyes were closed and lips parted, one large hand clutching the small child to his chest. You quickly take a few pictures (who wouldn’t) before snuggling impossibly closer to your two loves.

You ghost your hand up and down Harry’s arm, and eventually his eyes flutter open, greeting you with a warm smile.

“Mornin’” he mumbles, stretching slightly and being careful not to disturb the sleeping bundle of joy in his arms.

“Morning,” you tell him, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips after he puckers them at you. “How is she?”

Harry shuts his eyes, placing his cheek on her head (being careful not to rub since he has a slight stubble) before opening his eyes and frowning.

“S’ill feels a little warm; not ‘s bad as earlier though.”

“Good,” you say, brushing a stray curl off his face and pressing a kiss to your baby’s head. She promptly opens her eyes, babbling something quiet.

“Is my bubs awake?” you ask, tickling her back and pressing kisses to her skin.

Lilly giggles, wriggling out of her father’s grasp to look at you, giving you the biggest gummy smile. Harry pouts at her before peppering kisses to her.

“G’morning bubba,” he says, rubbing her nose in her neck. She giggles at him, grabbing at his nose. Harry gasps, falling dramatically onto his back. “My nose!”

You laugh as baby crawls over to him and climbs onto his chest, poking and prodding at his body with her little hands.

“Guess somebody is feeling better,” you say, giggling at Harry and Lilly.

[missskzbiased]

Getting a Roommate (2)

Okay, So I’m back! I got a suggestion about the roommate so I wrote it. I’m really glad people read it kkk I honestly thought this wasn’t going to go anywhere.

Anyway, I think I should put a “Language” warn(?) since I write a lot of “fuc-”... And This one has a lot of dialogue. I guess all of them will have it, but this one is basically talking. Felix and IN are here this time~

Word Count: ~3,9K Female lead I hope you guys like it. I’m all ears for suggestions! Also, I hope you guys suggest a Love Triangle pair you prefer :3

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Final) ---------------------------------------/////------------------------------------------

    You were heading out Jisung’s and Changbin’s place, making a decision You thought would be the best-case scenario: Seungmin would be a perfect choice. He was sweet, quiet, clean and kinda funny too with the old hag stuff. You should have just stayed there. When you finally got to his place, walking a lot, since you didn’t want to spend money on a bus if you could just walk for 20 minutes, you knocked all happy.

   “Y/N!” He said smiling as he opened the door.

   “Hey, old hag, I’m back” You smiled back, but your smile soon dropped from your face.

   In the middle of his living room were some boxes and a really cute guy wiping his sweat with the back of his hand from his forehead. He looked like a fox and you felt He was one at that moment.

   “Oh boy…” You whined “Am I too late?”

   Seungmin looked at you sympathetically and tapped your shoulder twice.

   “I’m sorry, but He’s an old hag too” He said, grimacing at you.

   Great… Now your best option was going back to Jisung’s and Changbin’s place and get the bloody room… Why had you had to walk all the way here for nothing?! Seungmin seemed to notice your moody self and gesticulated to his new roommate. That could have been you, You thought devastated.

   “Hey, Jeongin, come meet my not-hag friend! She came right before you” He said and the boy came smiling to you.

   You wished you could call him a sly fox, but He was so cute! He could be a baby fox, tough… His smile made him look like a child and He extended his hand to you really excitedly, shaking it like He was really hyped to meet you.

   “So my little Seungmo have a friend beside me?! I am: CHOCKED” He laughed, getting a slap on the back from Seungmin.

   “I’m older than you, you little shit” Seungmin retorted, smiling, and both of them laughed.

   You wanted to laugh too, but you were feeling too dumb to do it at the moment.

   “He’s a sly fox and didn’t even say it was him, so I thought it would be just like anyone to see the place, but then He just dropped his stuff on my floor!” He said excitedly.

   Good News: Seungmin was hyped, so He could warm up with time, just like you thought.

   Bad News: You were homeless.

   You were about to say goodbye to them and bring your sorry ass back to your last place, but Jeongin looked at you with a bright smile and gestured for you to come inside.

   “Do you have any manners, Seungmo?” He rolled his eyes “How can you let a friend hanging by the door?” and He grabbed your wrist and pulled you inside gently, closing the door.

  “He’s bringing people home!” You accused jokingly “Did you really betrayed me for him?” You faked a hurt expression and made both of them laugh.

   “And you called me a sly fox?” Jeongin arched his brows, chuckling.

   “Can I sit down a little bit?” You asked, tired, and Seungmin promptly gestured to the couch.

   “Of course!” He rushed, going to the couch and fluffing it “Where are my manners?” He apologized and you chuckled.

   “Thank god!” You said as soon as your butt reached the cushion “I’m so tired!” You whined, looking at them sitting down across you, Seungmin on the couch and Jeongin on the armchair.

   “Is it that hard to find a roommate better than me?” He said smugly joking and you rolled your eyes.

   “I came on foot, under this bloody summer sun at midday, Seungmin… But yeah, it’s also hard to find a good roommate” You complained “And now I have to walk back to where I just came because my best shot is to live with two loud, but really nice, musicians” You sighed “What a day”

   “Why the hell didn’t you message me?” Seungmin asked surprised “It would have saved you from walking under the bloody sun” He mocked you.

  “That’s because I thought we had a connection, you snake!” You accused and he cackled.

   “Yeah, We have! It’s called Wi-fi and it would save you from walking” Jeongin snorted at that and you giggled.

   “I’m dumb, for god sakes, forgive me this once, you supreme intelligent life form on Earth” You pleaded mockingly and They chuckled.

   “That’s a whole new way of calling Seungmin a knows-all! I like her, Hyung” Jeongin said happily.

   “But then again you took him from me” You sniffled, wiping fake tears from your eyes and then laughed.

   It was all going too well, you happily talking to the guys that wouldn’t be your roommates, but could be your new friends, before your stomach made a loud grumbling sound. You widened your eyes in chock and the boys cackled at you.

   “Should we have lunch?” Seungmin offered.

   “No! I can’t bother you that much, I’m heading out to Jisung’s place and I can eat something around there” You refused.

   “Did you message him?”Seungmin asked narrowing his eyes.

   “That couldn’t even be possible” You laughed like He was crazy “What are the chances that both of my best choices would find another roommate?” You giggled at the thought.

   You got up and thanked them for being nice enough to let you crash on their couch for a little, and happily got all the way back to Jisung’s and Changbin’s place. 20 minutes walk wasn’t really much and the sun was almost bearable now, so you were feeling better. You should know you are an unlucky bitch, tough.

   When Jisung opened the door, confused, You saw a big backpack on the floor and a skinny boy right next to it.

   “What are the chances that both of my best choices would find another roommate?” Your voice echoed on your head. Yeah, right! The chances of you being screwed were 100% because you were the subject, of course. You could only be angry with yourself for not taking Seungmin’s advice.

   “Oh, Y/N!” Jisung said, smiling at you “Did you forget something?”

   Well, yeah! You forgot you have the most rotten luck in the world!

   “Y/N?” You heard a familiar voice and you looked up to the new boy in the place.

   You couldn’t believe it.

   “Felix, you little piece of shit!” You beamed.

   “What are you doing here?!” He asked surprised, coming to the door and hugging you “Are you stalking me, you creep?” He asked alarmed, laughing right after.

  “As if” You snorted “Why didn’t you say you were looking for a place?! We could be living together and I wouldn’t be so screwed up right now!” You whined and he laughed.

  “How would I know you needed a new place too?! My roommate got caught in the hallways, apparently having sex with someone while they were really high” He explained “So we got expelled and here I am”

  “I can’t believe it! Was the boy your roommate?! The girl was mine!” You groaned “We totally should have lived together! But your mom was all like ‘You can’t live with a girl, Do you want to be a father?’” You mimicked her tone and Felix laughed.

   “As if all the sleepovers wouldn’t be enough to get you pregnant” He chuckled and You laughed, remembering all the sleepovers you had with him, playing Uno until morning, and watching Horror movies just to be scared and asking him to go to the bathroom with you.

   Jisung looked abashed, eyeing you both.

   “So… I’m going to head back… Make yourself home, Y/N” Jisung said, turning around, embarrassed.

   You couldn’t understand why he looked so ashamed, but you decided to ignore it, sitting on the couch with Felix.

   “Are you hungry?” He asked you, his eyes shining while He smiled at you.

   “I’m starving” You groaned “Have been hungry since before coming back here… Felix, why couldn’t We be smart for once and talk to each other about moving out?” You whined, looking at him with puppy eyes “I just have two more places to go now… I can live with a guy that would like me to hear him having sex” Felix shot up a brow at that “Or I can live with two fuckboys”

   “What the hell?” He uttered “Don’t you have anywhere better to go?”

   “I had a great chance to move in with a really sweet guy, but I thought maybe I could find a better place, so I ran into a Dom guy and then I came here” You explained “So I went back to the sweet guy and He found a roommate, a friend of his, and then I came here again… And here you are” You sighed “And now I’m hungry and homeless all over again”

   “What will you choose? Dom guy or Fuckboys?” He asked curiously.

   “I don’t know… Dom guy seemed nice enough, but do I want to hear him being called Daddy?” You wondered “Not really…”

   “Fuckboys are creep guys? Or just… Free souls?” He asked unsurely and you chuckled.

   “One of them is really nice, He was almost a gentleman, Maybe a little bit… Crude on his words. The other one tough…” You groaned “He’s an asshole!”

   “Okay, but the asshole one is that unbearable? Did He try to make a move on you or something?” Felix asked worriedly.

   “No! He said I wasn’t fuckable enough! Can you believe it? He said I would have to beg him to fuck me” You rolled your eyes “Where in the world would I beg to be fucked by a dumbass?” You complained, getting angry.

   “Well that’s good, actually” Felix shrugged “If dumbass don’t want to fuck you, You will have a peaceful home, won’t you? They can fuck whoever they want and you can sleep in peace without listening to anything… It sounds like a win-win situation to me” He advised.

   “I can’t believe I am considering living with that douche” You sighed again “Well, I better call Minho before another random roommate gets my place”

   “I’m not a random roommate! I was thinking of giving you these, you ungrateful brat” He uttered, searching for something on his backpack and showing you a box full of brownies.

   “Did I say a random roommate? I meant a perfect friend that I could never badmouth!” You said, picking a brownie and feeling all your soul screaming in happy language “Oh god! This is so good!” You said while picking another one before he could close de box.

  He laughed at you.

   “You’re a snake, did you know that?” He looked at you playfully.

   “And you are the biologist guy that feeds me and makes me happy” You answered, feeling a lot better after eating something.

   You searched Minho’s number on your phone and called him.

   “Hey” You said after he answered “Yeah, It’s Y/N… Make a room for me, I’m staying there” You sighed “Yeah, totally great… Yeah, I’ll be there later, I just need to get my stuff. What? Oh… Well, yeah… It would help me a lot, actually. Okay! Goodbye!”

   Felix looked at you curiously.

   “What?” He asked “You sound happy to live with a fuckboy”

   “He will help me bring my stuff!” You beamed “He has a car… Finally, something went right!” You couldn’t believe your luck. You messaged him your old address.

   “Want a helping hand?” He asked, but you denied, thanking him for the offer and the food.

   “I’m out, Felix!” You waved him goodbye and decided to finally take a cab to your place. No more walking for you, little lady!

   When you got there, Minho was already waiting, his arms crossed and his face emotionless while He looked at the passersby. You waved a ‘Hi’ and His eyes lighted up when He finally found you.

   “Thank god! I was beginning to wonder if you were pranking me because of Hyunjin” He confessed and you chuckled.

   “I’m not that bad and you were nice enough” You tapped his shoulder “So let’s go, dude, We have a lot of things to pick up”

   “I’m really sorry for you having to put up with him” He said suddenly and you looked at him. He really seemed sorry and you let a smile crack on your face.

   “It’s his fault, not yours” You shrugged “And I will have to put up with him anyway now that I don’t have anywhere else do go, so this is it. Moving on”

   He smiled and then followed you around, helping you pick up all your things and get the boxes to the car. When you finally sat down on the passenger’s seat and buckled up, He whistled.

   “That was a lot of stuff” He states.

   “Imagine doing this all by myself” You agreed “I own you one”

   “Own me enough to buy me some food?” He asked grinning

   “It hasn’t even been a day and you already extorting me” You accused and He laughed “Unfortunately I’m starving so I will have to accept that offer”

   “That makes two of us. Where should we go?” He asked.

   “Anywhere you want, but remember I’m poor” You shrugged and He snorted.

   “Fast Food is good enough for you, my poor lady?” He said jokingly.

   “Is that how you flirt?” You cackled “It’s good enough, I can afford it” You agreed and He drived you guys to eat some unhealthy food.

                                                                               ------

   “Get your lazy ass off the couch and help us with the boxes” Minho yelled at Hyunjin, Who just stood there looking at him.

   “What took you so long? I was waiting for you” He whined and Minho arched a brow at him, putting the box down.

  “What is it?” He asked.

  “Let’s order some food” He pleaded and Minho snorted.

   “Do I look like your father?” Minho rolled his eyes “Pay for your own food for once, man”

   You finally got there with your box and put it on the floor.

   “Oh, look at him!” You said, giggling “I could say that to you, sir” and Minho smiled sheepishly at you.

   “What?!” Hyunjin groaned “You ate with her?” He rolled his eyes “Not even a day and you’re already disturbing me” He looked at you, pouting.

   “Didn’t know you had a child” You said looking at Minho “When baby boy stops crying help me out with the boxes, please?” You asked, heading back to the car and ignoring Hyunjin’s tantrum.

   Hyunjin looked pissed at the door and Minho cackled up.

   “Hey, baby boy” Minho called, mocking him.

   “Fuck off” He uttered, getting up from the couch.

   “Are you going to cry on bed now?” Minho asked, still laughing.

   “You’re so annoying!” Hyunjin groaned “Did you left any food for me?” He asked.

   “Yeah, but Y/N was the one who paid for it, so I do think it’s better for you to help with the boxes, so you can eat because I won’t cook for you” He warned, heading back to the car.

   You were surprised to see Hyunjin coming with Minho, his hands on his pockets, like He didn’t give a fuck, but coming to help anyway.

   “What did you tell him?” You whispered on Minho’s ears and He chuckled.

   “I said you were only giving him food if he helped” He answered, whispering to you.

   “We don’t have any food left” You said amused, eyeing Hyunjin getting the box to the elevator.

   “Well, I figured He deserved a little prank” He grinned and you laughed out loud.

   “Oh my god! I love you” You said amused and He smiled.

   “Now I think We’re even” He said, ruffling your hair and picking up two boxes. “Let this one there, so He come back to pick it up” He advised.

  You giggled. Making Hyunjin unhappy was really making your day.

   “Give me this” You pointed to one of the boxes, and He shrugged it off, heading towards the elevator and you followed him.

   Hyunjin went back for the last box when both of you came inside the house, this time you were holding the box that Minho rushedly put on your hands. When He put the last box on the floor, he looked at you.

  “I would like the food now” He said politely.

   “What food?” You asked slyly.

   He eyed you and scoffed.

   “The food you bought to me” He said “Please? I helped with two boxes” He made puppy eyes and you wheezed.

   “Sorry, but I didn’t buy you any food” You admitted “What made you think that I did?” You asked innocently and Minho scoffed at that.

   “You son of a bitch” Hyunjin pointed at Minho “I can’t believe I helped her for nothing” He whined “I thought you were my buddy” He faked hurt and Minho arched a brow and chuckled.

   “You are, but She’s my buddy now too” He shrugged “And you were an asshole this morning, You could have screwed us up, dude, I won’t have it”

   “And here was I thinking it was all for me” You joked.

   “Don’t get ahead of yourself, darling” Minho grimaced at you, and you both laughed.

   “Ok… I guess I deserved it” Hyunjin rolled his eyes “We can’t do anything now, She’s already here anyway” He sighed “We should make some rules” He suggested.

   “Oh, please!” You agreed eagerly and both boys looked at you confused.

   “Please! Please don’t be too loud” You pleaded “I want to sleep at night without hearing you guys having sex”

  “Well, you should say it to the girls we’re gonna bring” Hyunjin snorted “But our walls are thick, We choose it so we didn’t need to hear each other having sex” He admitted “So I guess this one is fine”

  “Thank god” You said, smiling, sitting down, waiting for them to do the same.

  “ We have to schedule things” Minho brought up “Who will be cooking, cleaning and doing laundry, buy groceries” He remembered “Hyunjin is fine by cleaning everything up, He likes to have a tidy place and brag about it”

   “Well, you did brag about it tough” You reminded him and He smiled sheepishly.

   “I would say anything for you to stay” He admitted and you laughed.

   “Ew, It sounds like you guys are dating, stop it” Hyunjin made a gagging sound and Minho laughed “Which bring us to the third rule: No dating or fucking?”

   “What are you? Six?” Minho scoffed “Why should it be a rule? If someone gets jealous, It would be way better to have a rule saying that if anything comes up the person will have to help us find a new roommate” He made his point.

   “I don’t mind at all” You shrugged “It’s not like I intend to hook up with one of you anyway, but Minho’s idea is way more mature like expected” You stated.

   “Fine, so if you guys hook up you will help us to find a roommate” Hyunjin agreed and you scoffed.

   “Why me?” You complained “Maybe it’s you who will be getting jealous because I will steal your buddy” You reasoned.

   “Great, She already thinks she can steal you from me, Minho, put her in her place, please” He joked and you grinned.

   “Anything else?’ Minho wondered “Well, obviously you can bring anyone you want here too” Minho said looking at you “We just warn one another when we coming with someone, so it won’t be uncomfortable for anyone… Imagine if I break into the room taking off someone’s clothes and you are watching TV with a friend… Not the best way to set up the mood. We try to stay in our rooms too, so We don’t run into naked people on the corridor” You laughed at that.

   “That seems ok for me” You agreed “What about the bathroom?”

   “What about the bathroom?” Minho asked

   “Do you guys have it scheduled? Do you lock the door? I don’t want to run into you showering” You explained.

   “I wouldn’t be so sure about that” He joked and you rolled your eyes “But no, we don’t… We just enter the bathroom when the other is there, but I guess we can’t do that anymore”

   “Well, obviously” You agreed.

   “You can just lock it” Hyunjin suggested “And you will only need to check if He or I am not inside it before you come”

   “Good enough for me” You stated “Maybe a little bit of schedule would be good, though, like know who has classes first and this kind of thing”

   “ We can see this later, I don’t think it will be necessary… We’re both really quick to bath and get ready, so you should have a lot of time to do it anyway”

   “I guess that is it?” You shrugged “We’re roomies now”

   “Great” Hyunjin mocked, raising his hands like he was celebrating and you rolled your eyes.

   “Do you wanna do the laundry so we don’t see your stuff?” Minho asked suddenly.

   “I got the impression you guys already saw a lot of underwear in your like, I don’t really mind it” You scoffed and Minho laughed.

   “Fair enough, so we can schedule it. You can help me buy the groceries since Hyunjin will be cleaning  and wash the dishes, so we split the house chores”

   “Perfect” You smiled “Now I’m going to get my room ready” You said excitedly.

   “Oh! Actually…” Minho looked at you nervously and scratched the back of his neck “Your room isn’t ready yet” He admitted “We have bought a new bed, but it probably will come just by the end of the week” He explained.

   “I can’t believe it” You sighed “I knew I should choose the Dom guy” You complained “Well, I will just hang my clothes then…”

   “Yeah…” He started and you eyed him suspiciously “You don’t have a closet yet” He stated.

   “Oh, lord” You groaned “Why did you announce this shit if you hadn’t a room ready?!” You whined.

   “I thought we would have more time!” He apologized “Sorry, you can take my bed”

   “No way in hell!” You fake gagged “I’m sleeping on the couch” You assured.

   “What? Why?” He asked surprised.

   “That’s no way I will just sleep where you have sex every day!” You answered outraged.

   “Hey, I change the sheets!” He defended himself.

   “No way, I’m sleeping on the couch” You shushed him.

   “Well, I don’t know…” Hyunjin started talking, But Minho cut him off.

   “No, let her sleep here” He grinned “When she gets her back hurting She will come to me crying”

   “Yeah, right, Hyunjin’s father” You rolled your eyes.

   “I wasn’t even doing anything now!” Hyunjin protested, but you only laughed at him.

   “Well, I’m just gonna put my clothes on random piles on the floor then”

   You picked up the boxes one by one, heading to your new room. It was big enough for you, it already had a writing-desk waiting there and a lot of empty space. You could start decorating and leaving your style here, hanging some posters, photos and putting your books on the desk… It would be good enough for you. Your classes were going to start in three days, so you had enough time to do all that and go sleep on the damn couch.

   You should really have chosen Seungmin when you had the chance…

[starlightbuck]

20 for the meet cute prompts 👀👀👀

20. You walk out of a dressing room asking if the outfit suits you, but it’s not your friend waiting outside the room like you thought. 

the way you look tonight || read on AO3

“Why are you walking so fast?”

Chim darts an unimpressed glance over his shoulder. “Because I’m a man on a mission. Now hurry up, Buckley.”

Buck picks up speed, trying to understand how it is that he’s struggling to keep up. His legs are longer than Chim’s, so shouldn’t he be the one setting the pace for the two of them? Not vice versa?

“If I walk quicker, will you finally tell me where we’re going?”

Chim had showed up at Buck’s apartment less than an hour ago and all but dragged Buck out the door without any explanation. Buck had gone willingly, mostly because he was bored and didn’t have any other plans for the day. That hadn’t stopped him from wondering what destination Chim had in mind for them.

He had asked where they were going once they got into the car. His question was met with silence so Buck decided to ask a second time. That time, Chim just raised the volume all the way up on the radio. Buck caught the hint and didn’t ask again.

“If you walk quicker, you’ll find out on your own.” Buck, having not yet caught up to Chim, sticks his tongue out at the back of his head. “Very mature, Buck.”

That stops Buck in his tracks. “How did you see that?”

“I didn’t. I just know how immature you are.”

They continue walking at an almost grueling pace until finally, Chim slows down. It’s such a relief to Buck that he doesn’t even acknowledge their surroundings until Chim is pulling a glass door open and gesturing for Buck to walk in. He does so immediately, drawn in by the cool air conditioning that directly contrasts the overbearing Los Angeles heat.

It’s once Buck steps foot inside the store that he realizes where he is and promptly does an about face.

“Uh uh.” Chim blocks Buck’s escape route, standing in front of the door with his hands on his hips. “You’re not going anywhere until you find yourself a new suit.”

It’s the same thing Maddie has been telling Buck for months now, apparently unhappy with the perfectly good suit he has hanging up in his closet. He doesn’t understand why she’s so adamant about him not wearing it. It cost him a fair amount of money and he knows he looks good in it. Why would he waste his time and money buying a new one?

He’s about to say as much to Chim, but is cut off by a wave of Chim’s hand.

“And don’t tell me you already have a suit. Maddie has deemed it unsuitable and what she says goes.”

“Doing my sister’s dirty work now, huh?”

Chim’s expression doesn’t waver, lips set in a straight line as he takes a couple of steps towards Buck. “Yes I am because she’s carrying our unborn child and I love her.”

Buck can’t say he was expecting that response and it works to disarm him long enough for Chim to grab his forearm and march the two of them to the front of the store.

“Didn’t take you for a romantic, Chim.”

Chim doesn’t rise to the bait like Buck’s hoping he will. Instead, his future brother-in-law sets his sights on one of the store’s employees and lets her know that they’re on a quest for a new suit for Buck. She is very efficient, taking Buck’s measurements and then leading him over to the first rack of suits to get a feel for what styles he prefers. Once that has been accomplished, she guides Buck to a fitting room and lets him know that she’ll be back with a few options for him to try.

“I can’t believe you betrayed me like this,” Buck whines through the curtain as he buttons up a burgundy long-sleeve top and slides on the black suit jacket.

“This isn’t so bad.”

Buck pushes the curtain aside so he can show Chim the fourth suit combination he’s changed into. “That’s easy for you to say,” he grumbles. While Buck’s been forced to change in and out of suits like some kind of Ken doll, Chim has been lounging in a comfortable armchair with a cold water bottle one of the employees brought out for him.

“I don’t think that’s the one either.”

“Why not?”

Chim shrugs, not even bothering to hide his smirk. “Just doesn’t seem right. Let’s see the next one.”

Buck clenches his fist and stomps right back into the fitting room before he can say something that might be used against him in the future. This is exactly why Buck refused to go suit shopping when Maddie brought it up, but at least she would’ve been a better shopping companion. She would’ve actually offered constructive criticism whereas Chim is just turning down everything Buck has tried on. Buck can’t tell if Chim is doing it out of spite or if he genuinely hasn’t liked anything Buck has tried on so far.

The final suit left to try on is olive green and definitely not something Buck would’ve chosen for himself. It’s why he left the option for last, hoping that any of the other suits he tried on would’ve been a winner. He changes slowly, knowing that once this suit is rejected, he’ll have to wait all over again for the same employee as before to pick another round of things for him to try on.

“Alright, here’s the last one,” Buck announces, not bothering to look in the mirror before stepping back out to face Chim. He fiddles with the cuff link, waiting for Chim’s opinion. “What do you think?”

“I think you look very handsome.”

Buck startles at the sound of a voice that definitely doesn’t belong to Chim. His suspicions are confirmed when he looks up and finds a young boy with sandy hair and glasses in the chair that Chim was sitting on only moments earlier. “You’re not Chim.”

“No, I’m Chris,” he answers with a toothy grin. The kid, Chris, is far cuter than he has any right to be. Buck finds himself smiling for the first time since stepping foot inside of the store. “That’s a nice color.”

“You think so?”

Chris nods emphatically, glasses tipping precariously on the tip of his nose when he does. He pushes them back into place and gives Buck a once-over. “It’s different, but I like it. Can you spin?”

“Spin?”

“Yeah, you know. Spin.” Chris twirls his finger around in the air to show Buck what he means. “Abuela says you have to look at an outfit from every angle to make sure it looks good.”

Well if that’s what Abuela says, who is Buck to argue?

“Make sure to do it slowly so I can see you,” Chris instructs and Buck does just that, taking his time as he walks in a small circle. He does it twice, moving his arms around during his second spin to see how the suit feels when movements are involved.

He’s just about to face Chris again to receive the child’s final verdict on the suit when Buck sees his reflection in the mirror.

I don’t hate it is the first thought that comes to mind. This might be the one is his second thought.

“Does it look good from every angle, Chris?”

Buck turns back around and almost chokes on his saliva.

Chris is still sitting in the armchair but he’s not alone anymore. There’s a man, an extremely attractive one, standing beside Chris with a collection of suits slung over his arm and amusement shining in his brown eyes.

They’re really nice eyes.

Attached to an even nicer face.

“It looks very good,” Chris answers solemnly, completely unaware of the tailspin Buck’s mind has just been launched into. What does it say about Buck that this kid is able to concentrate on the task at hand while Buck has been sidetracked by someone’s presence? “Daddy, what do you think?”

And oh. If Buck thought having this man stare at him was a distraction before, it’s nothing in comparison to how he feels when the man brings his free hand up to stroke the scruff that covers his chin. It’s a contemplative look that has Buck’s heart doing a backflip or cannonball or something else ridiculous and unbecoming of someone of his age.

So not only has Buck’s brain short-circuited, but his heart has as well.

Traitors.

“It’s a good look,” the brunette finally decides. The words shouldn’t hold anywhere near as much weight as they do. “Definitely a top contender in my opinion.”

Buck is not blushing, he’s not.

Maybe if he tells himself that enough times, it’ll eradicate the tinge of pink that he knows has stained his cheeks.

“Does that mean you’re gonna buy it?” Chris’s question breaks Buck out of his stupor. “Because I think you should.”

Chris’s dad raises his hand. “I second that statement.”

“And I third that statement,” Chim says, appearing out of nowhere wearing a smile that always spells trouble for Buck. Of course he’d choose now to show up again. “Who are your friends, Buck?”

“I’m Chris!” He holds his hand out for Chim to shake. “And this is my dad.”

“Eddie,” his father supplies, also taking a second to shake Chim’s hand.

“Buck was looking for you before.” Chris explains and Buck is glad that the kid is explaining the situation because Buck doesn’t think he would’ve been able to. “But don’t worry. I helped him and told him how handsome he looks.”

Buck doesn’t have to look at Chim to know that he’s withholding his laughter. “Oh you did, did you?”

Is it wrong of Buck to wish that a black hole will appear and swallow him whole? It’s probably dramatic, but he can live with that. At least then he would be able to retain some of his reputation. He already knows that Chim, and by extension Hen, will never let him live this down.

Buck decides it’s best to cut his losses and heads into the dressing room to get changed. The curtain muffles the voices outside, but he can still hear Chim’s laughter. Buck can’t tell if this is a blessing or a curse.

By the time he exits the dressing room again, the laughter outside has subsided and Eddie is nowhere to be found. Buck swallows back his disappointment, a fact made easier by the bright smile Chris directs at him. “Buck! Are you ready to help daddy find a suit too?”

“I-uh what?”

“Help Eddie find a suit,” Chim repeats, as if the problem Buck had with that statement was that he didn’t hear it. “I told Chris that he could keep you for the afternoon so you could pay him back for helping you.”

Buck’s jaw falls open as he stares at Chim in disbelief. Buck was only gone for a few minutes, how did Chim manage to set this whole thing up that quickly?

“I’ll take these off of your hands,” Chim says, taking the suits from Buck. “You can pay me back for the suit later.”

Chim’s final sentence is accompanied by a wink that lets Buck know he’s going to be expected to pay Chim back for more than just the suit. He’s gone before Buck can so much as put up a fight and then Buck is left alone with Chris.

“I’m ready, Chris!” The low voice comes from the dressing room right beside Buck’s and he does not think about the fact that Eddie was getting changed at the same time he was. “You ready for me?”

“I am! Buck?”

Buck glances around the room, curious as to where that employee who helped him earlier is. She’s the one who supplied Chim with a water bottle earlier and something tells Buck he’s about to be very thirsty. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

[justthehiddleswrites]

Bah Hiddleston | Tom Hiddleston x OFC (Tamra Harmon) | Chapter 12 | Merry Christmas Darling

Pairing: Tom Hiddleston x OFC (Tamra Harmon)

Summary:  Tamra Harmon has no mind to mess with Christmas. All that talk about Christmas magic and the joy of the holidays is just a bunch of mumbo jumbo. But will a chance encounter with perennial Christmas lover Tom Hiddleston change all that?

This chapter: The time has come for Tamra to go home, where do they go from here?

Warnings for story: smut, oral sex, implied smut, vaginal sex, light angst

-

The final days of Tamra’s stay flew by and before Tom realized what was happening, he was standing in front of the Departures at Heathrow.

“Stay.”

“I can’t.”

“You can.”

“Easy for the famous movie actor to say. I have a job to get back to you. Obligations.”

Tom wrapped her into his arms. “Quit. Come and live with me.” He kissed her forehead.

“You would hate me.”

“Never. I would never hate you.” He kissed her temple. “I love you.” He kissed her cheek. “I will miss you and I can’t sleep without you here.” He now kissed her nose. “Do you want to be the reason I look tired and old in photos?” He pecked her lips. “What will Luke say?” He kissed her deeply.

“Luke would say you’re full of shit and I would agree with him.”

“Traitor.” Tom said with a pout.

“I have to go. See you in three weeks?”

“Three weeks. I will be the guy running into your shoulder at the arrivals gate.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“But dear, I am a man of action.” He kissed a final time before Tamra left through the doors for her flight. Tom only let a single tear fall before returning home.

Next Christmas

The better part of the next year, Tom and Tamra spent on planes and Facetime calls. Tom insisted Luke book trips to the State as often as he could, leaving plenty of time for trips to Florida. Tamra surprised Tom in June with the news Victoria and Albert’s Museum offered her a position as an adjunct curator. It was a step down from her current position, but the chance to be together in the same city made it worth it.

Tom insisted she move in with him, over her protests that it would create contempt in the relationship. He whined about needing her near and after weeks of protesting, she capitulated. Now it was December and Tom stood in the living room pulling the lights out of a box while Tamra sat by watching with a bemused smile on her face at the mess.

“Darling, can you help me with the lights?” Tom asked as he held up the tangle of lights.

Tamra looked up from her book and rose with a huff. “Honestly, Thomas. Can you follow instructions? I told you what to do before I left last year.”

“Which I promptly forgot when I was struck with grief at my girlfriend up and leaving me.”

“To return to my job. Sit.” Tamra sat on the floor. She weaved the lights in and out, creating a single length.

“Abandoned me, really. It wrecked me for weeks.”

“Until you came to visit me in Florida.”

“Details.”

Tamra stood and began wrapping the tree. “Important details, twat. Now help.” Tamra handed him the end of the lights.

“Has Luke been teaching you new curse words? I don’t like the idea of the two of you spending so much time together. It’s bad for my health.”

“Perhaps. Who’s going to stop me? You and what army?” They wrapped the tree in record time.

Tom pulled her to his side of the tree, pressing her against his hips. “Oh, I have an army.”

Tamra giggled as he nipped at her neck. “Ornaments, Tom.” She pushed the box towards him with her foot.

“Boo. You steal all my fun.”

“You can have your fun after we decorate the tree.”

“Yes ma’am.” He saluted.

“I hate when you do that.”

“Which is why…” Tom flipped the lid off with a flair. “… I do it. Here.” he handed her the first ornament.

Tom and Tamra hung each ornament, Tamra directing where to hang each one.

“I know. I know. Balance.” Tom quipped as he moved another ornament what he thought to be millimeters.

“Oh so you can listen to me.” Tamra snarked as she dug through the box.

“When it suits me.” Tom snapped back. “What are you looking for?”

“My blue glass ornament.”

“It’s not in there?” Tom asked in mock shock. “Dig deeper, I am certain I put it in there last year.”

Tamra leaned over to dig deep into the box. Tom took off down towards the bedroom without her noticing, his socked feet padding against the floor as he ran. He returned with the ornament in his hand, his breath only slightly labored.

“It’s not in here, Tom—” he held the ornament out to her with a smile. Tamra snatched it away. “Why did you have it?”

“Must have rolled away.” He commented. He rocked back and forth on his feet, twisting his fingers in his grip. She noticed his nervous gestures but said nothing.

Tamra examined the ornament and noticed a gold band running around the middle. “This isn’t my ornament, Tom. Mine was plain.” She offered the ornament back.

Tom smiled as he took the ornament. “It is your ornament, I contacted the original artist this year and had her make a small modification.”

He twisted the ornament in his hands, taking care not to drop it.

“Why on earth would you have them make a modification?”

“So I could do this.”

Tom lowered down to the floor on one knee. He popped the clasp on the gold band to reveal a secret compartment. Inside sat a simple silver band with a single brilliant cut diamond.

Tamra’s hands trembled as she covered her mouth. Her eyes crinkled as tears pricked the corners of her eyes.

“I want to share the rest of my days with you and only you. I love you and I am never making the mistake of letting you go ever again. Marry me?”

“Ye… yes!” Tamra choked out as she pulled Tom to his feet and kissed him through happy tears. He continued to peck at her lips, tears filling his own eyes. With trembling fingers on both their parts, Tom slipped the ring onto Tamra’s finger.

“I have a surprise for you too.” Tamra took off to the bedroom and came back with a small gift bag.

“It’s not even Christmas, darling.” Tom look at her with a confused face, brows worried as he inspected the small bag.

“Well, this present shouldn’t wait until Christmas.” Tamra’s eyes twinkled. “Unless… you want to wait.” She reached for the bag but Tom raised it out of reach.

“That’s unnecessary.” Tom pulled out the first item in the bag.

“A Christmas ornament. My, your Grinch sized heart has grown in a year.” He kissed her cheek.

“It’s not just any Christmas ornament.” Tamra took Tom’s hand and turned the bauble to reveal writing on the other side.

Baby’s First Christmas

Tom’s brows raised and his lips pulled into a thin line. “Um… thank you. I’m sure we get use of this one day.” he feigned excitement.

“Well… there is one other thing in the bag. Here let me hold this.” She took the ornament from his hand and Tom dug back into the bag.

He pulled out a small object. Tom turned it over in his hands several times, his hands trembling more and more with each turn.

“When did you find out?” his voice filled with tears.

“I took the test a few days ago. I have an appointment scheduled at the first of the year.”

“I’m going to be a father?!”

“Yes, you are.”

Both their eyes glistened with tears. They hugged and kissed before hanging the ornaments on the tree. They settled onto the couch, with Bobby at their feet. Tom gave his ears a scratch.

“Ready to have a little one around here, Bobby?” Tom asked. Bobby barked. “The man of the house approves.”

“Both of the men of the house approve.” Tamra quipped back.

They talked of names and furniture and plans for the rest of the night, before snuggling onto blankets under the couch, Tom spooning behind Tamra, hands firmly placed on her belly. Tom turned on Love Actually.

“Tom…” Tamra asked as she drifted off to sleep.

“Yes, my love.” Tom cooed back.

“Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas, darling.”

[thelightofthebane]

Be a Shadowhunter, Kill All the Demins!

Summary: “You know I’ll have to tell your parents, right?”

“I don’t care. They were wrong,” Max looked defiantly at Ragnor, puffing his cheeks again. “Daddy protects everyone who needs. I protect too. I want to be like daddy.”

OR, 5 times Max wanted to be like Alec + 1 time he was happy to be like Magnus

~

This work is for two events that have the same goal - spread all the love for Alec Lightwood-Bane on this very special day ❤ For Alec’s Birthday Weekend Celebration organized by the lovelies @chibi-tsukiko and @my-archerboy, and for the Alec Lightwood Birthday Surprise event on Malec Discord.

Happy birthday to our dear Consul/Inquisitor who loved a man so much, he changed the world for him 🥰❤

~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Read on AO3)

1. Debriefing

Several nests of eidolon demons popped up in the Queens area, and Alec had to call an urgent meeting to explain the situation to his subordinates and distribute their tasks and split them into teams.

Everyone paid unwavering attention to their leader until someone else caught their attention.

A very small and blue someone.

Without Alec noticing, Max had sneakily gone next to him, and started nodding his head and imitating his daddy’s scowl as if he was the one giving orders to the Shadowhunters. He even moved his hands like Alec and sometimes would put them on his hips with a proud look.

It took some time for him to realize Alec had stopped speaking for a moment and was looking at him with arched eyebrows.

Max giggled and turned to the Shadowhunters again.

“Kill all the demins!”

Alec pressed his lips on a thin line, trying to not laugh, and also turned to everyone in the Ops Center.

“You heard him. Dismissed.”

2. Archery

“What are you doing?”

At the sound of his brother’s voice, Max jumped slightly and accidentally shoot upwards, hitting one of the balcony’s lamps.

“Rafe!” Max whined and pouted. He hasn’t heard Rafe approaching, and it was the same for his daddy. Shadowhunters were good to walk without making a sound, and he hated the fact that he couldn’t do the same. To be a Shadowhunter he had to walk silently!

It was then that Rafael noticed all the toy arrows scattered around the floor – none at the big bullseye target.

“Were you practicing again?”

“Yes! Must be a Shadowhunter like daddy. He loves his bow, so I love too.”

“Your aim is terrible.”

Max pouted again, his lips trembling.

“I be better. Be a Shadowhunter!”

Rafe sighed long and deeply, then nodded.

“I will train with you.”

Max bounced and promptly ran to collect all the arrows on the floor. He was going to be the best archer in the world!

3. Shaving

Alec hated undercover missions. Not only they took days – sometimes even weeks – to get done, but they were also always far away from home. And sweet Raziel, he missed home. He missed his sons, his cats, his bed. More than anything, he missed Magnus.

So, after almost twelve days in a dangerous mission in Cairo, he was finally back in New York. And after a good night's sleep, the first thing he did in the morning while Magnus was still asleep was shaving. His stubble was almost growing into a full beard, and as much as his husband liked his – in Magnus’ own words – caveman look, Alec preferred his face clean shaved.

When he was halfway through it, he noticed Max standing on the bathroom’s threshold, looking at him with big, curious eyes. Alec smiled at his baby, then went back to his task. A minute later, not only Max stood next to him, but also had almost his entire face covered in white cream.

“Daddy, me too!” Max whined, making grabby hands at his razor.

Alec chuckled, fondly shaking his head. Then, he reached for a new razor and took out the blade, proceeding to give only the plastic part to Max.

“Pay attention to how I do and copy, okay?”

The beaming smile Max gave him was answer enough.

4. Cooking

For once, it was afternoon and Alec wasn’t working. However, Magnus was at a warlock meeting in Nevada, and Rafael was at the Institute with Jace and Simon. So, Alec and Max decided to try and make a surprise for Magnus and Rafe.

Baking cupcakes proved to be harder than Alec anticipated.

“Daddy, daddy! Taste this,” Max offered a big spoon with a brownish substance, and being at the receiving end of Izzy’s food for a long time, Alec thought nothing more could surprise him.

Looked like his son went beyond his expectations, and he had to put his better neutral face to not grimace.

“Max, what have you put in this batter?”

“Choco. Coco. Chalk. Nannamon,” Max enumerated with his fingers while Alec had to blink a couple of times, frowning.

“It’s cinna–” He stopped himself, having to make a double-check. “Did you just say chalk?”

“Yeah!” Max pointed to a bowl full of them near a blackboard Magnus liked to use to write ingredients or to give points to Max and Rafe when they completed a task with success. Ten points and they were awarded whatever food they wanted.

“By the Angel…” Alec mumbled “I’ll have to talk to Magnus about that, and you,” he poked Max’s belly, gaining delightful giggles from him. “You can’t have the Lightwood’s bad skills for cooking, or bapa will prohibit us both to be in the kitchen.”

“I’ll be good, I promise!”

“I know, my baby, I know.”

5. Protector

“So…?” Ragnor crossed his arms on his chest and arched an eyebrow, waiting for one of the kids to talk.

This is why he didn’t want to accept the position at this new Downworld-Shadowhunter Academy. Kids were insufferable. One of them being Magnus’ son didn’t help either. It was a double headache.

He had to stop a fight from escalating to bigger proportions – one involving Max Lightwood-Bane, another warlock and one werewolf, both being five years older than Max. And both showing more bruises than Max.

“They were being mean to another boy!” Max puffed his cheeks, also crossing his arms. “I stop bad guys.”

“He was a Shadowhunter,” the werewolf snickered. “You only defended him because your brother and your father are one.”

“You should be ashamed to have a Shadowhunter father. They are disgusting,” the warlock added.

Angry wisps of magic started to circle around Max’s fingers.

“Don’t talk like that about daddy! He is the best. You are the dis… dis…”

“He doesn’t even know how to speak,” the werewolf spatted, clearly wanting to continue the previous fight.

“Enough!” Ragnor’s voice thundered in the small room and the door opened abruptly. “You two go to the Infirmary to treat those wounds. I will talk to you later. Max, you stay.”

The two older kids acquiesced, leaving Ragnor alone with little Max.

“You know I’ll have to tell your parents, right?”

“I don’t care. They were wrong,” Max looked defiantly at Ragnor, puffing his cheeks again. “Daddy protects everyone who needs. I protect too. I want to be like daddy.”

Ragnor let out a heavy sigh.

“Lilith, you are going to be a pain when you get older. You have the same stubbornness and bad attitude of those two idiots.”

“Yes!” Max agreed, even if he didn’t understand why Uncle Ragnor was talking bad things about his parents. But bapa said once that when Uncle Ragnor insulted someone, he was truly praising them, so Max shouldn’t be worried.

It was enough.

+1. Magic

Max heard the opening and closing of the entrance’s door, meaning his daddy finally arrived from his patrol. Excited, he left his room and ran to greet his daddy, when he saw something he wasn’t really expecting.

Alec had face planted on the couch, his clothes stained with ichor and blood.

Max’s heart beat a bit stronger, his face frowning in concern.

“Daddy?”

Alec hummed, but didn’t move. Was he sleeping? Max approached and saw his daddy with closed eyes. Why he wasn’t healing himself? Glancing at the cuts thought Alec’s ripped clothes, Max felt like crying.

His daddy was in pain. He… He had to do something. He had to help. What bapa did when daddy was hurt? He would wave his hands, right?

Frowning even more in concentration while scrunching his nose, Max tried to bring out his magic, only thinking about taking away his daddy’s pain. Some sparks flew to Alec’s skin, but he didn’t know if it was working.

For as much as Max wanted to be a Shadowhunter too, he would be happy to continue being a warlock if he could heal his daddy. And bapa. And Rafe.

“Max?” Alec slurred, blinking his eyes open and looking unfocused at his son.

“Daddy!” Max hugged him, still trying to send magic into his body. “I will heal you, daddy. I promise.”

“I know,” Alec smiled, closing his eyes again. “I’m already much better, my baby.”

“You are?”

Of course Alec knew Max didn’t know any healing spells, and the pain was still there – he drew some Iratzes, but there was a small dose of non-lethal toxin from the demons he fought that was preventing the healing rune to take effect. Magnus would have to help him with that.

“I am. You are amazing, Max. Just like your bapa.”

And although there wasn’t healing in Max’s magic, there was a warmth that only his son could give him. It was different from Magnus, but oh, so good.

It was like knowing that your home grew bigger.

Home was Magnus. Home was Max and Rafe.

Home was where the Lightwood-Banes existed.

[goatbi]

Can we get some fluffy family Coolatta headcanons? Maybe some cute ones with them bonding with Sunkist. I just love that one piece of art that has them chilling on a bench at the park and enjoing the day. Maybe one HC with G-man meeting Darold. Tommy is super excited to introduce his boyfriend to his dad.

Darnold wouldn’t say she was nervous about meeting G-Man, really, she wasn’t. After all, Darnold knew that G-Man’s main priority in life was taking care of Tommy, making sure that Tommy was alright and happy, and Tommy had told her before that she makes him happy, so obviously there was nothing to worry about.

Keep saying that, and maybe, eventually, she’ll believe it.

Of course she was nervous! G-Man was Tommy’s father! And, okay, sure, maybe Darnold had met G-Man before, of course, but not like this! They were dating now! That was an entirely different ballpark than meeting your friend’s father. That was her boyfriend’s father now, and Darnold really felt like she may or may not be devolving into a deeper panic, but it was fine, it would be fine-

“Darnold!”

Oh shit.

Tommy caught her hands, carefully untangling her fingers from her hair-which, shit, now she was gonna have to redo that, and it took time, which meant they were gonna be later and-

“Darnold.”

Right, right, focus on Tommy. Darnold pressed her face into Tommy’s chest, making a soft keening whine, and Tommy wrapped his arms around her carefully.

“It’s alright, you’re alright. Try and match my breathing, alright?”

Simple enough task, sure. She could do that. Eyes closed, pressed against Tommy’s chest, feeling the way it moved, forcing her own to move in tandem with it until her breathing calmed, her hand stopped shaking, and Darnold huffed, eyes still closed. 

“I’m gonna cancel.” Tommy murmured, and Darnold pulled back, eyes wide. 

“What?” 

“It’s not your fault! I’m just worried that it’s... this is causing you this much anxiety. Dad’ll understand, I promise.” 

Darnold wanted to fight the notion, but realized that she was going to need help to stand, and thus conceded to his point. “Fine... but apologize to G-Man for me anyways?” 

“You don’t need to apologize, love, but alright.” Darnold nodded slightly, leaning back against the bed, pausing for a moment. 

“Can I wear one of your hoodies?” 

“Of course.”

She grinned. 

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

They curled up on the couch together instead, Darnold settled on Tommy’s chest, watching old movies that Tommy had to reconnect the VCR for. Darnold didn’t mind too much, despite the grainy film. It was nice, actually, curled up in one of Tommy’s large hoodies and a pair of sweatpants also stolen from Tommy, though rolled up quite an amount to fit her legs instead of walking all over the legs of the pants. 

Darnold was drifting when someone knocked on the door. She groaned softly, but Tommy prodded her to get up so he could open it. Instead, she slid off his chest, stumbling a bit on her feet, and shuffled to the door. 

When she opened it, she found herself thinking that perhaps she should have left it to Tommy. 

As the house they were in was built to fit Tommy’s height, G-Man didn’t need to duck down to be seen past the door, and Darnold just stared at G-Man for a moment, feeling as if she were about to collapse in on herself in shame. 

Instead she blinked, staring up at G-Man, and, before G-Man could utter a word, turned, leaving the door open, to peek into the living room. “Tommy, your dad is here.” 

Wow, her voice was shaking. Tommy sat up, eyebrows furrowing, but Darnold just walked past, into the bathroom, to which she promptly locked the door and sat against it. Faintly, she could hear Tommy talking to G-Man and focused on that. 

"Sorry, she’s uh... a bit nervous about this.” 

“I’ve... met her before.” 

“I know, I think it’s the different context now? Now that, we’re, we’re dating? She’s probably just worried about that.” 

Oh, fuck, of course he already told his dad. Of course. She let her head fall back against the door with a dull thud, then pulled her head away from the door, down so her chin hit her chest, since she didn’t want to start that bad habit up again. 

“I... apologize for worrying... Darnold. I did not realize I would... cause such panic.” 

“No, I don’t think it’s your fault! She’s... she is just really- generally nervous about a lot of things!” Tommy’s voice was getting closer. Fuck. “Darnold?” 

“Mmmmmrph.” She replied. 

Perfect. 

She knew how words worked. 

“Darnold, can you open the door for me?” 

Ever patient with her, ever worried, and Darnold just huffed, standing carefully, and unlocking the door, opening it to face plant directly into Tommy’s chest. 

Tommy hummed, wrapping an arm around her, carefully moving away from the bathroom. She shuffled along with him, keeping her face directly in his chest. If she did not see G-Man, she could not fee the shame that was threatening to drown her. It was fine. 

“I just...” Ah fuck G-Man was talking now, fuck, she was gonna just die, die right here with her face in Tommy’s chest, the only place to die. “wanted to be sure you were... alright.” 

Wait pause. 

Darnold shifted slightly, pulling away from Tommy, realizing they had gotten farther than she thought, and were right near the couch. She looked to G-Man, who was standing near the now shut door, hands clasped in front of G-Man’s chest, wringing together nervously. 

“I’m... alright.” She confirmed, sinking onto the couch. “Just... I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m so-” 

“Darnold.” Tommy interrupted, and Darnold narrowed her eyes at him, but did not continue the thought. 

“It is... quite alright. I am familiar with... anxiety attacks.” G-Man said simply. “I apologize for... being the cause of it.” 

Darnold shrugged. “Tommy’s been unknowingly the cause of quite a few, I’m just... nervous about everything.” She forced a laugh, but didn’t get one back. “I’m fine, really. I feel a lot better from earlier, and I still am sorry for making Tommy cancel.” 

“If it was up to you I wouldn’t- we would have still gone, and you would’ve been worried the entire time.” Tommy countered, and Darnold huffed slightly, laying her head on his shoulder. 

“You got me there.” 

“If there is... anything I may do to.... make up for this-” 

“G-Man, promise you, it’s alright.” Darnold smiled towards G-Man, who nodded slightly. “We can just... do dinner again at a later point, when I’m not worried you’re gonna threaten to skin me alive if I do anything to hurt Tommy.” 

Silence followed. Darnold blinked. 

“Well, maybe not exactly that but...” 

“You make... Tommy happy. In the chance you... stop doing so, my progeny can care for... himself.” G-Man said simply. “I have... no need to threaten you.” 

Darnold nodded slightly, bringing her legs up to hold onto quietly. Tommy wrapped an arm around her, glancing towards G-Man, who smiled back. Tommy hummed. “Wanna watch old movies with us? Might be more comfortable than dinner somewhere new.” 

G-Man hummed, but did not answer audibly, instead moving over to settle on the far side of the couch. Tommy shifted, dragging Darnold against his chest again as he lay down. Darnold huffed at him softly, but settled there instead. 

Commentary from the both of them flew over her head, as it became obvious they had seen most of these movies together before. Darnold focused on the sound of it, rather than the words, letting herself drift a bit in the comfortable noise. 

[princessjungeun]

Chuuves Royalty AU~ Part 3

Sooyoung managed to sneak back onto the palace grounds successfully, however she didn’t make it into the palace unnoticed. The thing about her palace was that her sleeping chamber is on the front of the castle. That being said anyone who is by a window on the right side of the place will see the princess sneaking in and out of her chamber. Usually her favorite groundskeeper, Mark, is able to keep a watch for her.

Unfortunately Mark had fallen ill and would be out for another week. That being said, Sooyoung could only hope nobody was not only able to see her, but also waiting for her in her room.

The princess quickly climbed a nearby tree, she then rolled up her sleeves and looked around to see if anyone was watching. When she assumed the coast was clear she started to scale the palace wall—about two years ago Mark noticed Sooyoung climbing out of her window. He knew she had a way out but not in without going unnoticed. So he installed a few extra bricks along the palace wall to use as a climbing wall so she could sneak in and out with ease— Hyunjin left the window open for her as usual.

Sooyoung lost her footing at the last second as she was halfway through the window. Resulting in her face planting onto the floor. It was only now that she realized she had fallen at the feet of someone.

Her eyes traveled up and she saw her father standing over her, clearly peeved. Sooyoung stood up, and brushed her dress off. Smiling innocently she rocked back and forth on her toes, weakly saying “heyyy daddy...”

The king sternly told her “Ha Sooyoung! You have run off one too many times. Not only are you embarrassing yourself, but this entire empire. Why do you keep doing this to us?”

Sooyoung kicked off her shoes and flopped onto her bed, “you know I have no interest in letting a man control me and this empire when the time comes. Hell I don’t even WANT to be queen, just have another kid so I don’t

Her father sighed before saying “you have one more suitor coming tomorrow. Prince Jiseok of the south Kim Empire will be coming tomorrow. His younger sister is slightly younger than you, she will also be attending. You will be with her for hours before as well. This way you will not have a way to pull one of your games.”

Sooyoung deeply sighed, running a hand through her hair, “are you serious? I have to babysit this girl?” The king responded “Sooyoung, she is 21. Just slightly younger than you. To be quite honest she takes her position more than you. I hope you will learn from her.”

Sooyoung rolled her eyes, already tired of this conversation, “yeah yeah fine whatever. No games.”

The king nodded and said “thank you.” He snapped his fingers at Hyunjin and asked politely “if you could please help her clean up before bed please?” Hyunjin nodded and quickly pushed the princess towards the bathroom.

For the rest of the night Hyunjin was stuck listening to Sooyoung complain about how she didn’t want to meet another suitor.

•

•

•

The next morning Hyunjin woke Sooyoung up as she did every morning, dragging her out of bed while listening to her bitch and moan about whatever was planned for the day.

“Sooyoungie I think this won’t be as bad as you think. Heejin is close friends with Princess Jiwoo, apparently she’s very sweet.” Hyunjin tried her best to tell Sooyoung to calm down.

Sooyoung had eventually gave in after finding guards at every entrance and window of the castle. Her father had clearly ordered them to stand guard keeping Sooyoung home all day.

The princess complained the entire afternoon, Hyunjin honestly finding it quite funny. It wasn’t until another worker knocked on Sooyoung’s door th at she quit complaining.

“Excuse me, I would like to let the princess know that her guests have arrived. The king would like her to report downstairs to greet them promptly.” The young worker told Hyunjin to relay the message.

Sooyoung sat up on her bed and asked “aren’t they two hours early?”

Hyunjin checked her watch, nodding and saying “yes but the king wants you downstairs so that’s where we are going.”

Sooyoung rolled her eyes and slapped her tiara on her head. Hyunjin stopped her quickly, brushing her hair nicely and placing the tiara back on her head. Hyunjin once d her over quickly, “Just because you’re moody doesn’t mean you can’t look pretty.”

The princess smiled weakly before straightening her posture and heading downstairs.

Sooyoung looked around to see nobody in the main room of the castle. She turned to a guard and asked “where’s my dad?”

The guard replied “the king has called a meeting with Prince Jiseok privately in his study. The princess is in the garden, you may find her there along with her handmaiden.”

Sooyoung sighed and thanked the guard, wandering into the garden.

Upon walking past the windows that lined the garden she saw the princess. Her black hair fell effortlessly behind her back, small bangs lightly covering her forehead. She could see the princess giggling as a butterfly landed on her nose, happily kicking her feet on the ground gently. Her smile was the brightest Sooyoung had ever seen, one that had seemed like it never faded, as if it never knew sadness.

“Sooyoungie lets not keep her waiting now.” Hyunjin held the door open, leading Sooyoung out to the garden.

The princess immediately stood up, smiling as she turned to face Sooyoung. The girl let out a high pitched squeal before hugging Sooyoung so tight she felt that her lungs would pop.

“Oh my goodness you are so pretty I can’t believe I’m meeting Ha Sooyoung of the Ha Empire. It’s such an honor! Oh goodness I can’t wait to be best friends! Oh this is my best friend and my handmaiden. Her name is Lalisa Manoban. She is such a good handmaiden oh my goodness this morning she killed this spider in my room. It was so big and scary I thought I was going to die! But she saved me isnt that so nice of her! Oh I see you have a handmaiden too whats her name?!” Jiwoo spoke at least 10 words per second and somehow Sooyoung managed to catch all of them.

Sooyoung stated “it’s nice to meet you too. This is Kim Hyunjin, she’s also my handmaiden and best friend.”

Sooyoung led Jiwoo to her bedroom, not wishing to stay in the outdoors any longer than she had to. Although Jiwoo was in fact very nice, Sooyoung just didnt click with her. She was loud and very excited about every little thing. Her energy was far higher than what Sooyoung was willing to tolerate.

Two hours into Jiwoo rambling on about how she wanted a pet penguin, Hyunjin and Lalisa were notified that the dinner was ready.

The two princesses headed to the main dining room alone with their handmaidens. Sooyoung noticed that second Jiwoo entered the room, her entire demeanor changed. The girl that was just whining about how she wanted a pet penguin was now standing tall, her chin held high with a subtle smile in her face.

“Good evening King Ha, it is a pleasure to meet you this evening.” Jiwoo spoke in an octave that Sooyoung didn’t think the other could actually use. For once her ears weren’t bleeding from the high pitched squeals and shrieks she was used to hearing.

“Good evening Princess Jiwoo, I see you spent time with my Sooyoung.” The king motioned to his daughter, a slight side eye to her as well.

Jiwoo smiled brightly “yes I did. Princess Sooyoung is very sweet, we had a good talk with each other.”

Sooyoung thought about how she did absolutely no talking in the two hours they spent together. She was snapped out of her trance when her father mentioned that she needed to introduce herself.

•

•

•

The dinner itself wasn’t terrible, Sooyoung’s favorite food was served after all. The princess didn’t fail to notice the way Jiwoo’s behavior was one she’d only even seen in her own mother, the queen. The way she was able to give clear and concise answers to every question the king asked. She knew everything about her empire down to each village. Jiwoo knew everything, even things she didn’t need to know, she knew. She was like little miss princess perfect and Sooyoung hated that.

“Jiwoo have you started looking for suitors yet? Perhaps thinking of getting married in the coming years?” The king asked, Sooyoung already knowing if Jiwoo answered yes that it’d be thrown in her face.

Jiwoo’s eyes flickered down then to her brother who nodded gently with a smile. She weakly responded “yes sir I have met a few princes. There hasn’t been one to catch my eye quite yet though. It is always a pleasure meeting new princes though. All of them have been quite polite to me, very good young men.”

The king replied “I wish my Sooyoung could say the same. She has run off upon meeting every suitor, like a little child. I wish she could learn. She is so immature, nothing like you-”

Jiwoo cut him off “I don’t wish to be disrespectful sir, but I think every prince and princess can choose how involved they wish to be with their people. It is not a competition, no need to compare us really.”

The king replied “I must disagree with you on that Princess Jiwoo. I think every child of a royal must be involved. I am saying I think it is very immature of Sooyoung to run off. She doesn’t know anything that happens in the villages either, hell I don’t think she even knows the villages. She does nothing but sit around all day then run off to another kingdom. She doesn’t even respect her own. It’s truly a pity I didn’t get a wonderful daughter like your parents did. You seem much more useful to the throne.”

Sooyoung’s mother gasped and said “Honey now I think that’s enough.” The queen saw the death grip her daughter had on the fork in her hand, the way her eyes were starting to burn with tears.

He continued on, “she doesn’t do anything. No matter what I try to say she doesn’t care. She is a lost cause. This empire deserves better than what she will ever offer it and that is a fact.”

Sooyoung stood up, pushing her seat back in with a loud slam. She flung the door open, walking out quickly, but not fast enough to hear her father say “and there she is running off again. Pathetic.”

[tsuki-chibi]

Blueberry Peach (Adrien AUGreste) Part 2: Ice cream

Or read it on AO3: Blueberry Peach

Also find the other parts of the series AO3: Fruitful verse

--------

The instant she landed on her balcony, Ladybug sank down onto her lawn chair with a sigh and started rubbing at her shoulder. Though the miraculous cure took care of the damage they sustained in any akuma battles, sometimes the memory of pain was even worse. It was like her body couldn’t process that it had been healed. Phantom aches were a bitch.

“Well, that sucked,” Chat announced to no one in particular as he landed. “Plagg, claws in.”

“I’m starving! I need food!” Plagg whined as he appeared.

“Tikki and Pollen will need food too,” Ladybug said with a sigh. Before she detransformed, she’d have to go back down to the road and enter the bakery normally. Her parents had probably heard about the akuma attacking the school and they’d want to know that she was okay.

Queen Bee was the last to land, stumbling slightly as she did. Adrien automatically reached out to steady her.

“You okay?” he asked her.

“I’m fine,” Queen Bee said, gently pulling away. “Pollen, buzz off.”

A yellow flash of light up the balcony.

“Hey, Pollen!” Plagg said.

“Hi Plagg,” Pollen said, buzzing as she landed on Chloé’s palm. “You did excellently, My Queen!”

Ladybug raised an eyebrow. ‘So I guess I wasn’t wrong about Pollen wanting a queen bee, huh?’

‘Nope,’ Adrien thought, shooting her a small smile. He was deeply amused by the whole situation.

“Pollen, what do you eat?” Ladybug asked out loud.

“Much like Tikki, I enjoy sweets,” said Pollen. “I favor ice cream, if you have any.” She looked up with an adorably hopeful expression that melted Ladybug’s heart.

“I’ll see what I can do,” she said, getting up and hopping over the railing of the balcony. As soon as she hit the ground, she ducked into the alley, detransformed, and waved Tikki into her purse. Then she causally walked into the bakery – and was promptly jerked into a hug by her panicked papa.

‘Something’s wrong with Chloé,’ Adrien thought.

‘What do you mean?’ Marinette thought, trying to remember how to breathe. At least with a hug this tight, she didn’t have to focus on trying to speak telepathically to Adrien and out loud to her parents.

‘She’s just acting a bit weird, that’s all,’ he thought back.

‘She did just go through her first miraculous fight, and against a tough akuma,’ Marinette thought, before letting out a relieved squeak as her papa let go.

“I’m so glad you’re okay!” Tom exclaimed, looking her over. “I was ready to go over to the school to find you.”

“I’m sorry, Papa. Madame Bustier didn’t think it was safe for us to go, so she made us hide until it was over,” Marinette lied. “I wanted to send you and Maman a text, but we weren’t supposed to take our phones out just in case they made sounds and attracted the akuma.” She crossed her fingers behind her back as she spoke, hoping her parents never got the opportunity to ask Madame Bustier about this.

Truth be told, Marinette had no idea what happened with her classmates when an akuma showed up. Zombizou had been a special case since it was Madame Bustier herself who’d been akumatized. For the most part, by the time the teachers put any plans into place, Ladybug and Chat Noir were already out there saving the day.

“Of course,” Tom said, sighing but smiling. “Your maman is upstairs laying down. She had a headache.”

“Do you need me to help down here?” Marinette asked, hoping the answer was no.

Luckily, Tom shook his head. “We have it covered. Pop upstairs and let your maman know you’re okay.”

“Will do.” Marinette headed upstairs, though she detoured into the kitchen to grab cookies, swiss cheese, and a small dish of vanilla ice cream out of the freezer. Just as she tucked the cheese under her arm, a wave of potent concern came through the bond.

‘Uh oh,’ Adrien thought.

‘What? What’s wrong?’ Marinette thought. He’d been quiet while she was talking to Tom, mostly idly scrolling through his phone. She peeked through his eyes, half-expecting to see a message from his father or Nathalie, and realized that he was looking at his schedule for the week.

Specifically, a photography shoot for Style Queen magazine.

And then it clicked.

‘Yeah, this is why Chloé is out of sorts. Her mother must be coming home,’ Adrien thought. It was a thought accompanied by a whirl of emotions and memories that Marinette tried to sort through as she made her way back upstairs. Her chest tightened as a few scenes of Audrey dismissing her daughter out of hand, or worse intentionally insulting Chloé, flashed through her head.

‘I don’t really know much about Audrey Bourgeois,’ she thought. She certainly hadn’t known that Chloé and her mother had such a contemptuous relationship, though in retrospect it explained a lot of things about Chloé. Marinette paused, looking at the door to her parent’s bedroom. Her maman and papa were so great. It wasn’t fair that Adrien and Chloé had gotten stuck with such assholes.

‘Asshole is putting it mildly when it comes to Madame Bourgeois,’ Adrien thought tiredly, leaning forward and putting his head in his hands. ‘Chloé tries super hard to impress her mom and always ends up feeling terrible, so she lashes out at everyone.’

‘Yay,’ Marinette thought wryly, nudging the bedroom door open. A quick peek inside told her that Sabine was sleeping. Not wanting to wake her, she shut the door and just headed up to her room.

Adrien and Chloé were still out on the balcony. Marinette handed the food up to Adrien and then clambered through the window, watching as Plagg pounced on the cheese and started scarfing it down. Tikki and Pollen were considerably more polite, at least.

“So am I going to get to do this again?” Chloé asked, and Marinette glanced over at her.

“I don’t know. Maybe. Chat and I can handle most akumas ourselves,” Marinette said.

Chloé’s mouth turned down, though her expression smoothed out quickly.

‘Mari…’ Adrien thought.

Marinette sighed. Gosh, life had been a lot easier when Chloé was just an annoying brat that Marinette didn’t really care about.

“But Hawkmoth is really stepping up his game. Zombizou and Antielle were pretty bad. So yeah, we might need to call upon you in the future if you’d be willing to help,” she said.

“I guess,” Chloé said, trying hard to sound cool, but even to Marinette’s inexperienced eye it was obvious that Chloé was totally psyched by the offer.

Adrien shot her that warm smile that never failed to make Marinette’s stomach flutter. She made a face at him, knowing that he could feel how he was making her feel, and his smile widened.

“Eww. If you two are gonna make faces at each other, then someone take me home,” Chloé said.

“I will as soon as Plagg has recharged,” Adrien said, turning to look at her and then at Plagg. The cheese was mostly gone and Plagg showed zero sign of slowing down, so it wouldn’t take long.

“I could just take Pollen and save you the trip,” Chloé said slyly.

Marinette snorted. “Nice try, but no. I’m taking this back to where it belongs,” she said, palming the Bee miraculous. Now that they knew there were other miraculous, she intended to have a nice chat with Master Fu. She and Adrien needed to know what those miraculous did just in case they needed other help in the future.

“Oh fine,” Chloé said. “But if you mess up my hair by doing tricks, I’ll stab you next, Adrikins.”

Adrien just snickered. “I make zero promises.”

[heartbeatan]

Damned Royalty (Chapter 15)

Return to Chapter 14.

Return to Table of Contents.

Return to Desperado Series.

Return to Jimin Fanfictions.

Return to Masterlist.

Chapter 15

And there you found yourself again – back in Jimin’s penthouse. A glass of wine in your hand as you stared out the massive floor to ceiling windows, drinking in the beautiful view of the city lit up at night. Or at least that’s how the rest of the night started.

Ten minutes ago, was a different story. Ten minutes ago, you held your wine like a cross. You were nervous. But a nervous excitement. This time, things felt different. There were no more games. No more guesses. He knew where you stood, and you knew where he stood. And even if that meant the future was more daunting than before, you felt now that you could handle whatever life threw at you.

Ten minutes ago, you heard Jimin’s steps cross the floor towards you. He strode up beside you, leaning his shoulder against the glass, a slight smile on his face as he watched you take in the skyline. You felt yourself warm with his proximity, and you flushed at the way he looked at you.

“I can’t get over this,” you waved your hand over the windows before you. “I love this view.”

“I really like the view too,” he said – but he was clearly not talking about the horizon. You pressed your lips together to stop yourself from grinning like an idiot. His line was so corny, yet it still made you blush.

“Geez, Mr. Park. You’re not some sort of romantic, are you?” you teased him to cover up your shyness.

“If that’s what it’s called… perhaps I am.”

Ten minutes ago, he stepped forward, placing his hand to your waist, he turned you gently until your back was against the glass and his hips were pressed softly against yours. You tilted your chin, expecting him to kiss you, but instead he just scanned your eyes – like he was looking for something. Your heart began to race, and you felt the tingle of anticipation quiver between your thighs.

Ten minutes ago, he asked you “Are we really doing this?” and you felt his breath fan across your face. He squeezed a little tighter around your waist and from the goosebumps it caused, it was clear that your body remembered the pleasure those hands had brought you when they touched you.

Ten minutes ago, you breathed “Yes.”

“Good,” he had said as he took the wine glass from your hand and in one swift movement, tossed it across the room. Ten minutes ago, you heard the shattering of glass as it hit the floor, but you didn’t care – because your back was cool against the window; Jimin’s tongue was hot in your mouth; your arms were wrapped around his neck; your legs were wrapped around his waist; and, his hands were tight under your ass.

Ten minutes ago, he wanted to move to the bedroom, and you told him you couldn’t wait.

Now, your hands were pressed firm against the glass. Your breasts were spilling out over your disheveled bra, bouncing with every hit of Jimin’s hips against your ass – the wet, clapping sounds echoing off the walls of the vast room. Your waist confined by your dress which was pulled down at the top and pulled up from the bottom – the result of the rush to get you naked enough for Jimin to suck on your tits and fuck you from behind.

“Oh… fuck… Jimin…” you wheezed as another micrograsm wreaked havoc over your body. Your muscles stiffened and your walls clenched tight over his cock. He hissed when they did.

“Shit, princess,” he buried himself deep inside you, holding your hips against his as he reveled in the feeling of you spasming around him. “I fucking love it.”

“I love how you fuck me. I love how your dick feels inside me,” you noticed now how easily the dirty words slipped from your lips. A far cry from your refined life – Jimin had turned you into someone too uninhibited to worry about elegant language. “Turn me around.”

With a snap of his wrist, you were face to face with him – your tongue down his throat once again as you tore at the buttons of his shirt to get him naked. He stepped out of his pants and kicked them to the side, then pulled his shirt off his shoulders – discarding it as well to some unknown corner of the room.

“Get this off,” he growled as he pulled at your dress. While he worked away at it, you reached behind your back and unclasped your bra, finally releasing your tits from their lace prison. Jimin dropped to the floor as he pulled the rest of your dress off your hips. When it was nothing more than a puddle on the floor, he kissed his way manically up your body, stopping to cup your breasts and attach himself to one of your nipples.

“Please, baby,” you keened as you ran your fingers through his hair. “I still need you.”

He detached himself from your breast and brought his face to yours. His sweaty forehead pressed against your forehead; his nose tickling your nose; his lips grazing yours as he spoke…

“You still need me, yeah?” he patronized as he lifted both your arms above your head, crossing your wrists and anchoring them between his hand and the glass. Your chest heaved, tickling his chest with each heavy breath you took.

“Yes,” you whined.

“Don’t worry, princess. I’m gonna give you everything you want.” With his free hand, he ushered your leg to hitch around his hip. He then reached down between your panting, sweaty bodies and grabbed a hold of his cock, giving it a little squeeze before he brought the tip to your entrance.

You felt him pass your folds then slip smoothly down your drenched chamber. He filled you up slow – so fucking slow. You learned quickly that he liked it that way – liked the way your face contorted when he filled you up and stretched you out. So, you gave him what he wanted. Your mouth dropping open, your eyes squeezing shut, the strangulated whimper that escaped your chest.

“That’s it, baby,” he graveled. “You take my cock so well.”

His flexible hips rolled, slipping his dick in and out of you with grace and ease. “Oh! Oh!” you mewled whenever he’d surprise you with a violent snap or two that promptly stole your breath. “Oooo,” you cried each time his pelvis pressed firm against yours and sent a shockwave of intensified pleasure through you.

Jimin released his grip on your wrists and dropped his hand to really hold your hips in place. He then deepened his pace, fucking into you harder that he nearly pulled your feet off the floor with each thrust. Your dampened skin squeaked as it rubbed over the glass at your back, you wrapped both hands around his neck to secure yourself to him for the home stretch.

You could only imagine what the image would look like to someone who could see you – if this wasn’t the window of a penthouse atop a skyscraper. If someone could walk by – they’d see your ass, your back being smashed against the fogged glass, your muscles contracting with every onslaught, Jimin’s hands grabbing at every inch of flesh over your backside. You’d bet they’d stop to watch you – because there was no way sex could get any better than what was happening right now.

“Nugghh!” you whimpered as he found that sweet spot inside you. “Right there!”

“Right here, princess?” he thrusted into you again, finding your pleasure spot right away.

“Yeah…” you whined, and he went to town. “Oh, God!” your lids squeezed shut as the coil inside you began to tighten.

“Eyes on me,” he demanded – he wanted to watch you fall apart. You did as he wanted, taking his face in your hands, you anchored yourself to the sight of him. The way his jaw clenched and slackened, the way his dampened hair stuck to his forehead, the way his cheeks flushed a rosy pink, and the way his eyes devoured you.

“You gonna come, princess?” he mocked you when he saw you begin to pull apart. You couldn’t reply to him – no, not anymore. It was too good, too hot, too wet and the tickle between your thighs was only intensifying. But he knew anyway – he knew he had you on the ledge and it would take nothing for him to push you over. But before he did, he had one last thing to say. His expression darkened as he stared into your soul.

“You’re mine now.” He punctuated with a thrust that had you feeling him in your throat. He swiveled his hips against yours as he held you in place. “Say it,” he demanded. “Say that you’re mine.”

“I am,” it took everything you had to say it back. “I’m yours.”

The way he looked at you then will forever be seared in your memory. It was… possessive… sexy… desperate…

He adjusted your leg and angled himself where he knew he could hit you just right. He then rocked himself into you. He didn’t need to pound you senseless – your body reacted immediately and in four… five… six thrusts… you came.

“Ooooooh!” you screamed out into the apartment. Your hands clapped and clawed over Jimin’s back. “Oh, fuck!”

“Oh my God!” Jimin panted as he continued to thrust into you. “It’s so fucking good!”

You mewled again as another wave shocked your body. Your hips tensed and your back arched off the glass, thrusting your pelvis forward as if it still wanted more. Your walls spasmed around Jimin’s cock and he buried his head into your chest as he took it.

“Ah! Ah! Ah!” he panted until he spilled his seed deep inside you.

Moments later - both of you spent – he finally pulled his face from you and pressed his forehead into yours as he caught his breath. You pulled him close and kissed him firm – not wanting the moment or the euphoria to end.

“I can’t believe we get to do that all the time now,” he said.

“Yeah, this dating thing isn’t so bad now, is it?” you laughed.

“Spend the night. You have to stay now.”

“I have to work in the morning.”

“Fuck it. Call in sick. Stay with me.”

“I can’t call in sick. I work for my father and I still live under his roof. He’ll notice if I’m not in bed with the flu,” you drew your finger down the centre of his chest. “Plus, I have this insufferable client. I don’t know if he’d be okay with me taking the day off.”

He smiled roguishly back at your taunt.

“Stay with me tonight – and you can bill me for tomorrow.”

 

Against your responsible judgement, you did spend the night. You decided that future you would worry about tomorrows problems – that tonight you needed to be here, wrapped up in his arms.

You woke the next morning to the sun shining brightly into his room. You hadn’t ever seen his place in the daylight before. It was warmer, more welcoming than before – or perhaps it just seemed that way since now you knew you were welcome here. You looked beside you, and there was Jimin. The blanket pulled just to cover his waist, he was still fast asleep and looked peaceful and beautiful against the contrast of his burgundy bed sheets. You rolled over and reached into your purse which was perched on the bedside table and dug out your cellphone to check the time.

It was just passed seven o’clock. It wasn’t much, but you still had time to get yourself decent and to the office by nine. You slid the screen lock and noticed a missed call from your assistant. You clicked her name and the phone dialed her number.

“Good morning!” Trudy answered bubbly on the first ring.

“Good morning,” you tried to keep your voice low as to not wake Jimin. But it didn’t work. You felt and heard him stir beside you. “What’s up?”

“I’m just calling about a schedule change this morning – I wanted to warn you before you came all the way down here.”

Jimin sat up in bed, his hair still disheveled and his eyes barely opened – but he leaned over and kissed your bare shoulder softly.

“What’s the change in the schedule?” you shivered as Jimin brushed your hair off your neck and placed a kiss between your shoulder blades.

“Mr. Park called this morning. He wants to meet you at the strip club today at ten o’clock.”

You flung your head around to look at Jimin as he made his way down your spine.

“Oh, did he say that?” you punctuated your words, so he knew you were talking about him. His smile widened, but he kept locked on his task of peppering your bare flesh with his kisses.

“Do I have any meetings this afternoon?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Alright, well, I’ll go straight to the club then. I’ll probably be there all day, so I’ll see you in the office tomorrow.”

You clicked off your phone just as Jimin wrapped his arms around you and pulled you against his chest.

“That was sneaky,” you said to him.

“Let’s call it a compromise.”

 

Just like last night, you found yourself naked and pressed up against glass while Jimin fucked you into it. Only this time, it was the glass of the shower wall instead of the glass of his windows. This time, warm water dripped down both your skin and this time he didn’t wait to play with your g-spot.

You panted heavy with each of his thrusts into you. You clung to his back, clung to the back of his neck, pulling him into you with each of his rocking motions. You were about to come once again. God – not so long ago you couldn’t have bought yourself an orgasm from Jinhyun – and here you were ready to spill again within a matter of minutes.

 

“I don’t have anything to wear,” you complained when you were fresh off and orgasm and fresh out of the shower. Jimin was busy cuffing his shirt. “I need to run back to my place first.”

“Just wear what you wore last night.”

“That’s an evening dress. This is work.”

“You’re just working for me today,” he sauntered over to you and dipped his head to be face to face with you. “I promise you I won’t complain,” he landed a chaste kiss to your lips.

“I don’t have any clean underwear.”

“Then don’t wear any,” he winked.

“I’m serious,” you laughed.

“Well… I might be able to solve one problem.”

“What’s that?”

He disappeared for a moment and then returned with a box. You recognized the box – it was the Bordelle lingerie he had sent you during his “please call me” gift giveaway.

“You kept them?”

“I did.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “I was hoping you’d come around and then I could give them to you. I haven’t had someone to buy nice things for.”

You bit your lip to hide your blush – and pulled the lid off the box. You didn’t get the chance to really admire the piece last time – since he sent it to you at your office and you had nearly thrown yourself out a window trying to hide it from prying eyes. But now – you didn’t need to hide it – you could pull it out and admire the delicate powder blue lace and the creamy silk ribbon.

“You like it?” Jimin asked tentatively.

“It’s beautiful.”

“It’d look beautiful on you too.

You slipped off the robe you had been wearing, exposing your fresh, clean skin and naked body to Jimin. You then went to work, pulling the intricate details of the lingerie over your curves. Jimin watched you closely as you did – a look of desire and power in his expression. He helped you even – pulling the silk ties and closing the claps over your thighs, being sure to brush his fingers delicately over your flesh. When you were done, you stood before him, letting him drink in your figure now decorated in fine fabric.

“Let’s just stay home,” he licked his teeth.

“I don’t know,” you ran your fingers across the hem of your bra. “I think this is going to be a lot more fun."

You slipped yourself back into your confining dress from the night before, covering yours and Jimin’s dirty little secret from the world. He disappeared again and returned with one of his black suit jackets offering it to you to wear. He also returned with the Louboutin’s he had sent you just so many days ago. You touched up your makeup with the essentials you kept in your purse and finally were ready to go.

Well… there was still one thing you figured would really top off this “walk of shame” look you were rocking.

“Jimin,” you called to him.

“Mm?”

“Where’s the Birkin?”

 

You rolled into the club later than you were supposed to. Jimin had ordered his driver to stop somewhere for breakfast along the way. You were going to insist otherwise but, despite the extensive meal you had the night before, you were famished from your all night all morning sexcapades.

The club was torn to shreds by the effects of remodeling and reconstruction. There were framed and unframed walls going up everywhere. The place was dusty with plaster and sawdust. But overall, you were pleased with the progress that was being made.

“It looks fantastic,” you awed as you imagined how the restaurant was coming together. “And these are your contractors?”

“Well, what’s the point in owning a construction business if you can’t use them for yourself.”

“Fair. I always thought construction businesses was how your type buried the bodies,” you quipped. But with one look from Jimin, you think you sorted out that it probably wasn’t a joke at all. “Where is everyone today?”

Jimin’s aura darkened, as if the question you had asked him was loaded. “There was some other business to be taken care of.”

“Oh,” you replied meekly. Taking the hint that this wasn’t something you wanted to ask about. “So, what are we doing here, then? What did you want to meet here for?”

Jimin scoffed in amusement. “Don’t be daft, Y/N,” he said as he took a hold of your hand. “That was an excuse to get you to not go into the office.”

You scrunched your nose. “For the record… you will be getting my bill,” you pinched his arm and he laughed at you. “I see they still haven’t taken down the pole,” you pointed to the stage still standing in the middle of the room.

“I think they were supposed to tear it down today before they got called out.”

“Well… lucky for us – they didn’t,” you winked at him.

“What do you mean?”

You pulled him across the room to sit on a crate in front of the stage. You leaned in to kiss him, and he tilted his head to catch your lips – but at the last moment, you pulled back to leave him chomping at air. A little tease you had picked up from him. His eyes flared in rogue delight. You pulled the jacket off your shoulders, placing it on his lap – then, skipping onto the stage, you left him there.

“What are you doing?” he asked as he saw you eye the golden pole before you.

“Taking it for a test run. What do you… whoa!” you let out a yelp as your hand clamped over the pole and it began to spin, taking your balance unexpectedly with it.

“Careful,” Jimin laughed. “It’s not as easy as you think.”

“You mean the pole spins?!” you awed. “I thought the ladies spun around the pole!”

He laughed again – amused by your bewilderment.

“I feel like I was just told Santa Claus doesn’t exist,” you pouted.

“Come down here.”

“I want to try.”

“Alright – show me what you’ve got,” he sunk backwards and smirked.

You gripped the cool metal in your hand once again, and you felt it begin to turn beneath your fingers. You took a step forward, locking your ankles in place, and let the momentum take you.

It wasn’t elegant. It was far from elegant whatever it was you did. You didn’t swivel gracefully around it the way you remembered Jimin’s dancers all did. You did for maybe a moment, but your feet caught again and with another comical yelp you grabbed for the pole with both hands and collapsed into it.

Jimin chuckled softly at the display.

“What’s so funny?” you prodded him. “You don’t think I could be a dancer in my next life?”

“Maybe in the next life, princess. But not this one.”

“Well… I have another thing I’d like to try?” you lowered your voice. This activity you knew you could do well.

“And what’s that?” his tone as lowered, catching on to the shift in mood.

You turned around for him – slowly – letting him see you. You gave him your best seduction stare and in an instant, he seemed to catch what was going on.

“Baby,” he whispered.

“What?” you played coy as you reached behind your back and grabbed the zipper of your dress.

“Someone might see you,” he said to stop you, but he didn’t sound convinced that he was ready for you to stop. “I don’t want anyone seeing my girl.”

“I guess I’ll just have to be careful then,” you said as you pulled the zipper and slipped your straps off your shoulders. Jimin’s gaze became intense. Intense like the night he saw you onstage. Predatory. Primal. Only this time you didn’t fear it – you reveled in it. You pulled the dress far enough so that he could catch a glimpse of the sexy lingerie he had gifted you this morning. He licked his lips and with a cocked of his eyebrow, he told you to keep going.

You did, shimmying the fabric over your waist, your hips, your knees, you let your dress slip to the floor – then you stood before him in nothing but your undergarments and heels. You sat down on the edge of the stage – right in front of him – spreading your legs wide so he could get a good look at what was waiting for him. He tried not to show it, but his breathing had shallowed and a tent in his pants was beginning to form.

“Right here, baby,” you whispered to him. “I want you right here.”

He stood up from his seat, walking over to you, he placed his hands on the stage at either side of your hips. He leaned in close, so you could feel his breath against your skin.

“Since when did you become so naughty?” he graveled.

“I’ve always been a little naughty, Mr. Park,” you tilted your head, letting him see the full length of your neck. He placed his hand over it, tilting your jaw so he could glare down at you from above.

Bam!

You heard the side door to the building slam open. Someone was here.

“Shit!” you and Jimin both exclaimed as you grab for your discarded clothes. He picked you up by the waist, helping you off stage – then took your hand and ran through the main room to a hall located near the back. You both laughed the whole way as you tried to escape without being seen by whoever it was that came to visit.

“In here,” he ushered you into a room and closed the door. “I told you. You didn’t wanna listen,” he laughed as he handed you your dress.

“You said no one was here today!” you quipped back as you struggled to pull yourself back together. “Who is it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Jimin,” you jumped as you suddenly heard a mans voice come from the other side of the door. Whoever it was, they found you. Your face dropped, as did Jimin’s. Your heart began to pound, and your head began to race with possibilities. Were you in danger?

“It’s okay,” Jimin mouthed to you, noticing the panic on your face. “Just a minute,” he called to the man on the other side of the door. He helped you zip up your dress, replaced your jacket, then with one more soothing squeeze to your arm, he turned and opened the door.

Your insides dropped when you saw who was on the other side.

It was Stanford Park… and your father.

[theshatteredrose]

Relic Keepers: Awakening of the Red Lily (Chapter 30) - Original Fiction

AN: Ok, back to the main plotline for this story. Hope you enjoy~

Ao3 | Wattpad | Inkitt | FictionPress

~*~*~*~*~*~

Chapter 30:

It was early morning as Eishirou and Zayne discussed how they should spend Eishirou’s second day off. And whether they should have breakfast at the academy or perhaps find another place to try out as they had wandered past a few cafes during their walk yesterday.

But all discussions stopped when Eishirou’s communicator rang.

He wasn’t surprised to find Jacob’s name flickering across the screen. He was, however, rather concerned when he noted that his expression was that of a serious nature.

“Eishirou, I know it’s your day off, but I would like you and Zayne to join us for a conference.”

“Conference?”

“About the Red Lily.”

Jacob’s blunt response caused Eishirou to share a brief look of concern with Zayne before he turned his attention back to his communicator. He immediately wanted to know if something had happened while he was away, but he knew that Jacob wouldn’t answer him. He would learn everything during the conference.

“When is it?”

“In the next half hour, Conference Room 4,” Jacob replied. “I know its sudden, but the sooner the better, we believe.”

“Ah, sure,” Eishirou responded. “We’ll see you soon.”

With the conference so soon, they couldn’t slip out to get some breakfast. They would need to wait until after. That was fine to Eishirou. His mind was busy reeling as he tried to conjure up theories as to why Jacob felt it necessary to conduct a conference so soon.

He couldn’t help but feel that something had happened. Either with the Red Lily, or to the relic. A member of Star Rebellion must have attempted to steal it again.

Well, there was little good in staying put and pondering. He and Zayne needed to get themselves ready for the conference.

It was just ten minutes later that Eishirou and Zayne found their way to the conference rooms. They had arrived early, but they weren’t the first. Members of Zayne’s team, Elite Team 3, were already gathered outside the room.

Eishirou was momentarily surprised to see them, though soon reasoned with himself that Jacob had requested their presence due to their involvement with him. And likely their knowledge of what occurred previously in Flutterlight Forest.

Ernesta was the first to notice their arrival and quickly turned in their direction, that placid smile of hers on her lips. “There you are. Good morning.”

Before Eishirou could return a greeting of his own, Rinka unexpectedly hurried over to him and looked up at him with wide eyes. “A-are you ok?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Eishirou replied reassuringly, even as his shoulder twinged in pain. “Just a few bruises now.”

Rinka tilted her head questioningly to the side. “You can’t heal yourself?”

That question floored Eishirou and he rubbed the back of his neck. “W-well, no. Medics can’t necessarily heal themselves.”

“What? Really?” Zayne both questioned and demanded, his voice a mix of surprise and protectiveness.

Eishirou immediately turned and raised his hands in a pacifying gesture. “W-we do have a higher healing rate. So, these bruises will fade in a couple of days. Nothing to worry about.”

Zayne wasn’t convinced however. He was likely wondering why a medic would be out on the field or on the front line when they could heal everyone but themselves. And, honestly, that was a good question. The truth was, Elites were meant to ensure that medics did not receive any injuries.

That was why medics were on the top rung of the Academy Hierarchy.

Though, what would happen if a medic was injured while out in the field, he didn’t know. Panic and run?

…Like Team 3 had to do with him?

Zayne appeared as if he wanted to ask him more questions regarding the matter when his gaze flickered over the top of Eishirou’s head to something behind him. He seemed to disregard whatever it was he was looking at before he did a double take.

“Why is he here?” he muttered, his brow furrowing.

Eishirou immediately turned to look behind him as he asked; “Something wrong?”

His gaze soon landed on two men as they walked together toward them. One man he recognised to be Professor Sigmund. The other man, about middle age with short, messy dark grey hair, narrow blue eyes, and an eagle tattoo on his throat was unknown to him. His features were as hard and chiselled as Sigmund’s, indicating that he was likely that of a Veteran Elite.

For some reason, the man reminded him a little of Zayne. The jawline, the nose…

“That man with Sigmund,” Zayne said. “He’s my father, Cadmus.”

“Oh,” was all Eishirou could manage as the two men reached them and stopped.

He couldn’t help but feel anxious when Zayne’s father, Cadmus, turned his gaze toward Zayne. The man was intimidating (all Veteran Elites were to be honest) and Eishirou subconsciously took a step back. He wasn’t sure how the two family members would react, so he had to admit he was a little bit curious.

As far as he knew, Zayne hadn’t had contact with his parents since arriving at the academy. Eishirou would speak with Jacob at least once a day. And he would always greet him warmly should they have been unable to see each other for a few days. A hug, a pat on the head; that sort of thing.

Instead of any of that, however, Cadmus gave Zayne a curt smile as he made his way to stand before him. “Zayne.”

Zayne shoved a hand into his pocket as he raised the other in a quick wave. “Hey.”

“How have you been? Settling into the role of a student?”

“Yeah, not bad. Training gets boring after a while.”

“Hm. I’ve heard much about your exploits within the academy.”

Zayne gave a truly careless shrug. “I could do a lot worse.”

The conversation wasn’t terse or awkward, yet it wasn’t exactly warm. Cadmus appeared to be a very stoic, professional man. Much like Sigmund was.

“The role of a bodyguard is not something I had anticipated for you, though,” Cadmus stated suddenly. His gaze then shifted to look directly at Eishirou, prompting him to tense. His gaze was steely, his expression stoic as he spent a moment simply studying him. “You must be the Passive called Eishirou?”

“Y-yes, that’s right,” Eishirou stuttered as he bowed his head forward slightly in politeness. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Cadmus continued to study him. “I’ve heard much about you, too.”

Eishirou wasn’t entirely sure how to respond to that. “O-oh…?”

“Ah, Eishirou.”

Thankfully, the sound of Jairus’s voice calling out to him gave Eishirou the excuse to silently step away from the intimidating stare of Cadmus. And he turned to look down the hall to watch as Jairus rolled toward them in his wheelchair.

“How are you feeling?” Jairus asked him with a small smile. “Your injuries healing well?”

“Oh, they’re healing just fine, thank you,” Eishirou answered, though a little sheepishly because of the attention. “Bruises are lingering, though. Did Jacob ask you to join the conference, too?”

Jairus nodded his head. “Yes, Professor Chryses personally requested that I join this conference. And it seems I’m not the only one. Nevertheless, I am relieved to know that your injuries hadn’t been far worse.”

Eishirou could only agree. “Yeah.”

Before anything more could be said between the two, a very loud and very cheerful greeting was heard from the end of the hall.

“Hey~! Good morning!”

Eishirou didn’t need to look over to know who was loudly introducing themselves. But he looked anyway and gave the blond-haired professor a smile. “Morning, Irwin.”

Irwin all but ignored everyone else as he wandered straight over to Eishirou and leaned forward to get in his face. “Hey now. How was your day off?” he asked with a truly mischievous smile.

Eishirou promptly remembered the teasing he and Jacob gave him through the communicator and blushed a deep red. He also couldn’t help but bristle. “None of your business!”

“Aww, don’t be like that,” Irwin half whined.

He suddenly turned to look to Eishirou right. Where Zayne stood silently, his father not far from him. Once again ignoring everyone else, Irwin made his way to stand before Zayne. And gave him that same up-close and personal greeting.

“Oh, and you must be the famous Zayne! I don’t believe we’ve properly met, have we?” His eyes abruptly narrowed and he held his chin in a deep, contemplative manner. “Hmm…”

Zayne blinked, unsure of what to do. “Something on my face?” he asked instead.

Eishirou promptly struck Irwin’s arm with the back of his hand. “Say anything and I will stab you with a fork,” he warned.

Irwin promptly released a very hearty laugh. “Hey now, I’ll be good,” he playfully promised as he held his hands in surrender and stepped back.

Of course, from the smile on his lips, it was only a matter of time before he stopped being “good”.

Thankfully, Jacob appeared before Irwin had the chance to say or do anything else. He quickly turned professional, though still wore a lopsided grin on his lips as Jacob approached the small gathering.

“Ah, good, everyone is here,” he said, a bundle of files and a tablet under one arm, while his other hand held a key card for the room. “Let’s get this started, shall we?”

Jacob stepped into the room first and everyone filed behind him. A large oval table sat in the middle of the room, a projection screen on one wall. Jacob moved toward the head of the table and dropped his belongs, prompting his guests to take their seats.

Zayne was forced to sit with his teammates along one side of the table, while Eishirou sat on the other with the professors. However, they both chose to sit directly across from each other at the head of the table.

“Thank you all for coming,” Jacob began. “Most of you know why you're here, so I'll make this introduction brief. We're here because of this; the Red Lily.”

A tap on his tablet brought up a photo of the relic on the screen behind him.

“A relic discovered in a forested island we’re calling Flutterlight Forest. A relic that the extremist group, the Star Rebellion, seems intent on getting their hands on. For what purpose, we do not know. But it’s safe to say that if they get their hands on it and find a way to activate it, a lot of people could be in danger. So, needless to say, we need to find out what kind of power this relic possesses and how to use it, before the Star Rebellion does.”

Eishirou shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Did…something happen yesterday?” he could help but ask.

Surprisingly, it was Sigmund who answered from the back of the room. “A few members of Star Rebellion were seen around the premises of the museum.”

“And the Red Lily?”

“Is safe,” Jacob answered with a small smile. “Teams of Elites have been patrolling the grounds. No incidents have occurred inside.”

Eishirou breathed a small sigh of relief. Though, he winced a moment later when a twinge of pain erupted from his shoulder. He was still relieved to know that no one else of the museum of from the research crew were confronted or harmed.

“What do we know of this relic?” Cadmus asked, promptly returning to the task at hand.

Jacob tapped at his tablet once more. “From the pieces of information we have discovered, we can safely assume that an ancient tribe once resided on that island. And they worshipped the Red Lily as a holy relic. How it came to be, we don't know. But we can speculate on how old it could be. By carbon dating the runestone that spoke of the Red Lily, we estimate it to be approximately between f to ten-thousand years old.”

Eishirou’s eyes widen in surprise and he sat up straight in his chair. “That old?”

“It honestly surprised me, too,” Jacob stated. “To think that something that old survived the elements, let alone the Bombardment.”

“It must be really powerful…” Eishirou murmured.

Zayne suddenly raised a hand to gain Jacob’s attention. “Hey, I got a question.”

“Hm?”

“What’s up with that watch tower?” he asked bluntly as he dropped his arm to instead drape over the back of his chair. “You say that the Red Lily is somewhere between five to ten thousand years old. That tower certainly doesn’t look it.”

“Hm,” Jacob murmured as he brought up a photo that Eishirou had taken of the tower. “Good question.”

“I had wondered that, too,” Eishirou admitted as he gazed up at the photo. “The Red Lily was definitely discovered there. And it’s linked to it through the mosaics. And it had a strange lock on the door that required a key and the solving of a puzzle, so it was created to guard something. But there is little doubt that the Red Lily belong to an ancient tribe. Recordings I had viewed from mosaics clearly point to this.”

Jacob nodded. “I'm going to suggest that since the Red Lily is adorned with jewels, it was herald as a treasure. Treasure hunters and tomb raiders were likely to have gone after it. It would have been classed as an artefact to past archaeologists. Could even have been a family heirloom at one point. Passed around from person to person. Through generation to generation. It either made its way to someone who’s part of a religious sect, who in turned built the tower for a place of worship.”

“Or even an eccentric historian who made such a place for a tourist attraction,” Irwin added casually from his seat next to Eishirou. “Even though the last civilisation saw themselves as rational and fact-driven, they were still human. And humans like to make money.”

“Indeed. It's safe to say that the Red Lily has passed through many hands. And witnessed centuries of events. That tower is likely the last reincarnation for the Red Lily,” Jacob concluded.

“So, if the Red Lily is around or even over ten-thousand years old, then that’s a lot of memories,” Zayne mused aloud.

Eishirou’s eyes widen in realisation from Zayne’s words. He placed his hands atop of the table and abruptly pushed himself to his feet. “Ah, that’s right!” he said as he quickly turned to look toward Jairus who sat on the other side of Irwin. “Professor Jairus, do you think that’s the reason why I haven’t been able to access recordings?”

Jairus rested his elbows on the armrests of his chair and folded his hands in front of him. “Hm.” He didn’t answer immediately, taking a few moments to himself to mull over the question.

After a bout of silence, Jairus nodded his head. “Yes, that sounds reasonable. This relic is vastly different to those we have worked with in the past. Most relics have a singular use, like that of the Sound Orb. But even then, not everyone who placed their hands upon the relic could safely use it.”

“I hear that Eishirou is able to use both,” Tatsu commented, seemingly idly.

It was likely due to Eishirou’s discomfort around the elite, but he could have sworn there was a hint of suspicion in his voice.

Jacob nodded his head once more, prompting Eishirou to sit back down. “Yes, that is why our best course of action is to help Eishirou discover a way to connect with or contact the sentinel being within the Red Lily.”

Eishirou was slightly surprised to hear that. So…this entire conference was because of him and for his benefit?

From where she sat in the middle of her team, Ernesta tilted her head to the side. “Sentinel being?”

Jairus was the one who chose to answer that question. “The mana stored within this relic is so refined that it had taken on a form of consciousness. It is entirely possible that the white-haired being Eishirou interacted with during a mediation was the one who created the relic. And thus, infused their consciousness or soul within.”

“So, this thing is kinda alive?” Leon asked, sounding both confused and incredulous.

“Yes, in a way,” Jairus replied. “And for that reason, we must find information on what conditions are needing to be met before Eishirou himself can access the power stored within.”

“Must a Passive be the one to do so?”

Jacob immediately turned his gaze in Sigmund’s direction. “Yes,” he said, quite sternly. “Eishirou has already connected with it, as we have just discussed. It has been largely thanks to him that we know the information that we do.”

Eishirou felt himself blush at the small compliment.

“I understand that,” Sigmund replied. “But will he be able to withstand the mana stored inside. It won't come to a cost to him?”

That question caused Eishirou to wince. Did…did he know about what happened at the tower?

He probably did. Ernesta, as team leader, was responsible for reporting back to Sigmund after every mission. She would have had to have told him everything that occurred. Everything that she knew off and understood, at least.

Jacob sighed, conceding to Sigmund’s reasonable observations. “I'm afraid I can't safely answer that. That is why I've asked Professor Jairus to join us. Is there anything else you would like to add?”

Jairus nodded his head once more. “I do, actually. I have done my own research with the Red Lily. And I have not been able to contact the sentinel being within. And I believe I’m not meant to. My vibrational frequency does not match with the relics.”

Eishirou furrowed his brow. “Mine does?”

“Far more closely than mine,” Jairus returned. “However, your vibrational energy does not match it completely. In order to experience the true potential of the Relic, I believe that you will need to raise you own vibrational energy. The more you strengthen your energy, the more energy you will be able to access from the Red Lily. And, potentially strengthen your own innate skills.”

That…sounded completely reasonable. Raising the level of his own innate abilities was something he was more than willing to attempt. But it certainly didn’t sound easy.

“How do I do that?”

Jairus kept his elbows on his armrests as he leaned back into his wheelchair. “Normally, I would recommend mediation and energy field work. But I don't think that will be enough. Which leads us straight back to what the sentinel being within the Red Lily had stated. We need to learn the role of a Keeper.”

“We've beaten around the bush long enough,” Irwin suddenly, and loudly, stated. “The fact of the matter is; Eishirou is the one who needs to either return to Flutterlight Forest or visit Keeper’s Isle to gather more information for us to work with.”

Really? He was able to return that soon? What about the missing Elites? Were they still searching for them?

Before Eishirou to ask the numerous questions bouncing around in his head, Sigmund spoke up.

“So, everything hinges on this one Passive?”

Sigmund’s voice was stoic, impassive, but there was some kind of…negativity hidden in those words. It wasn’t disgust or anything of that nature. But there was something there. He was insinuating something.

…Perhaps worried that a weak little Passive like him was key and critical part of the mission.

“So, what if it does?” Zayne suddenly asked, his voice holding an accusatory tone. “If there are ShadowDwellers, I'll destroy them. If there are extremists, I'll beat the shit out of them. I'll be the one on the battlefield. He'll do his job as a researcher while I do mine as an Elite. There is no problem here.”

The room fell silent as Sigmund stared directly at Zayne. And Zayne held the stare with one of his own. A stare off between the two was soon initiated, causing a light tension to fall over the other occupants.

Surprisingly, it was Sigmund who looked away first, choosing to turn his gaze back toward Jacob. “Well then, let’s move on to what this mission will entail.”

From his seat next to Sigmund, Cadmus nodded his head. “Hm. First and foremost, I'll be leading this mission.”

Every member of Team 3 turned in surprise toward Cadmus, Zayne the one to be the most outwardly shocked. “You?”

“I have first-hand experience of that island,” Cadmus returned simply. “That is the reason why I am here. ShadowDwellers take a different form, but are just as aggressive.”

First-hand experience? Was he…part of Irwin’s crew or had he been a part of the search and rescue team searching for those missing Elites?

Jacob took a moment to tap at his tablet to bring up an image of a half-drawn map. A map that Eishirou himself didn’t automatically recognise. “This mission will focus on finding information. Eishirou will be the one to search for any runestones or monuments that could offer information on the Red Lily. Or this Keeper. Find information, document it, and then get out. Two or three days at most.”

“What’s our location?” Ernesta asked. “And when do we leave?”

“Keepers Island. And tomorrow.”

Tomorrow?!

Jacob carried on, heedless of the surprise from not only Eishirou, but the members of Team 3 as well. “I would join, but I would only get in the way. This mission is important.”

His expression turned unnaturally serious and he gave each member of the mission a pointed looking, starting with Cadmus. “And needless to say, Eishirou's safety is critical. Don't let anything happen to him.” His gaze fell upon Zayne and a curious expression of sternness and pleading appeared on his face.

“We're counting on you, Zayne.”

Zayne nodded his head without hesitation, his eyes narrow with determination. “I will do whatever it takes to protect him.”

Eishirou felt his cheeks heat up in a blush and his heart skipped a beat at the sheer seriousness of Zayne’s voice. Yet, he found it reassuring and comforting.

And he couldn’t help but smile.

[louiserandom]

How about some cute soulmate thing for HashiTobi - for the prompts? :3

AO3 :3 

don’t hide from me

Rating: T

Summary: When you’re born, the first sentence you’re going to say to your soulmate is written somewhere on your body. Hashirama’s soulwriting says: I love you. Tobirama’s has always been simply: Anija.

A/N: sorry i kinda forgot how to write but still hope you enjoy it x)

“I can’t wait to meet my soulmate again,” Hashiramasighs, lying on his back on the soft grass of his and Tobirama’s favoritemeadow, clothes sweat-drenched from their intense bouts of sparring. “I wonder whatthey’re like. Tobi?” He turns to face his brother. “Who do you think would suitme best?”

Tobirama is lounging on the ground next to him, in much thesame position, though his eyes are closed and his muscles are far too tense—fromthe sensing, no doubt, his enormous range far too much for his eight-year-oldbody to handle. Hashirama reaches out absent-mindedly and kneads his chakrathrough Tobirama’s palm to envelop his body, smiling when the effect is immediate,and his little brother completely relaxes under his touch.

“Someone fun,” Tobirama says, cracking an eye open, “brave,kind, just like you. Someone with…” He gives Hashirama an appraising look. “Asimilar level of intelligence.”

“Was that a jab at myintelligence or an acknowdgelement of my genius?”

Tobirama shrugs. “You’ll never know.” Though his tone flat,Hashirama has long trained himself to spot the hints of derision in his eyes. “Andit’s acknowledgement, Anija.”

“Tobi,” Hashiramawhines, “stop being so mean to me!”

“How is correcting your atrocious grammar mean?” Tobiramaasks, in that squeaky cute voice that really doesn’t fit his personality.“And I’ll stop being mean when you stop acting like an idiot when wespar.”

“But Tobi—”

“Even if you’re going easy on me, you’re magnitudesstronger than me, and I shouldn’t ever be able to catch you by surprise,”Tobirama chastises him, ignoring Hashirama’s trembling pout, “because we’re atwar, and as far as everyone’s concerned, we’re adults. You need to takeyour training seriously, Anija.”

Just to be contrary, it seems, Hashirama sticks his tongueout in the most childlike manner possible and shifts his gaze back to the skyagain, a full-fledged frowny pout now distorting his features.

Tobirama sighs.

His brother is ridiculous.

And annoying.

And adorable.

He sits up with another overly loud sigh and gently pushesHashirama to follow his example, scrambling to sit behind Hashirama’s back andstart braiding his hair. The usual peace offering. His brother melts under theattention in a way that makes Tobirama feel warm, happy, proud of himself, anda few minutes pass in increasingly comfortable silence before Tobirama startsspeaking again,

“As I said, I think your soulmate will be kind. Andunderstanding. And empathetic, just like you are. They’ll love nature andanimals and you’ll spend a lot of time outdoors, going on adventures…” Justlike you and I do right now. Tobirama frowns and quickly shoos the treacherousthoughts away. “They’ll be just as funny, optimistic, brave, and strong as youare. And they will always have your back.” He finishes the two neat braids,smoothing it against Hashirama’s shoulder blades. “All done.”

Hashirama turns to face him and Tobirama has to rollhis eyes at the painfully familiar teary smile he sees. He returns it, ofcourse, tentatively, and is immediately crushed by one of Hashirama’s overtighthugs.

“Oh, Tobi,” he says, voice trembling, “I love you.”

“I love you too, Anija,” Tobirama whispers against the crookof his his neck. Hashirama only ever revealed his soulwriting to Tobirama,apart from their parents who’d seen it suddenly appear at some point, soTobirama knew those exact words, I love you, marked the skin of Hashirama’sforearm. The words he had presumably spoken to Tobirama after he was born,because Tobirama’s own soulwriting is a terrible, damning curse consisting of asingle word:

Anija.

It resides on his shoulder and is small enough that it was hiddenby his clothes when it appeared in answer to the first word he’d ever spoken. Alate bloomer when it came to learning to speak, Tobirama could already read bythe time he was three and had picked up enough about soulmates and soulmarksfrom the adults’ conversations to know that he shouldn’t have beenbonded with his brother.

That according to Senju tradition, such relationswere frowned upon, so close to something bad the grownups called taboo,and it made Tobirama scared, made him suffer, terrified of the possibility oflosing his most precious person. Because one thing became clearer over theyears—his Anija is, indeed, his perfect match. His best friend, his onlytrusted battle partner, the only person in his life Tobirama truly needs andwanted to be around constantly. And it hurts Hashirama too. He knows hehad spoken to his soulmate at some point but missed that moment, he craved—andstill craves—the day he meets his Chosen once more, oblivious to the fact thathe’s spending most of his days next to him.

Next to Tobirama. So different from the image of the idealsoulmate he painted for Hashirama all those years ago, when they were carelesskids lounging in their secret meadow, hunting for flowers and animals in the swirlsof the clouds. So unlike the person Hashirama imagines and whispers to Tobiramaabout, when they have secret sleepovers in their respective rooms during theirteen years.

Funny.

Passionate.

Kind.

Sincere.

Compassionate.

The truth about Tobirama’s personality slips out of the mouthsof his clanmates, usually the elder ones.

Too serious.

Cold.

Merciless.

Reclusive.

Demon.

The last one peeves him the most—a moniker bestowed on himfor his ferocity in combat, only increasing as he grows from lanky teen to allbut a full-fledged adult. It doesn’t matter that he only ever fights to protecthis family, his very few friends, to protect his clan that he still holdsdear to his heart, despite everything, so that what happened to Kawarama andItama doesn’t happen to anyone he cares about ever again. It doesn’tmatter that, for Hashirama’s far-reaching dream of peace, he takes great careto never wound Izuna seriously when they clash, so as not to upset Hashirama’s oncebest friend (The one who would be perfect for Hashirama, had Fateallowed it, Tobirama’s mind continues to betray him.)

It doesn’t matter that he still cries quietly into Hashirama’sshoulder every time a battle is too much, too red with blood, too bitter withthe smell of death and rotting flesh. Hashirama calms him with soft words andsimple breathing exercises, holding him close and healing his wounds with well-practicedwaves of his hands.

“Am I a monster?” Tobirama asks him, heart heavy with the weightof the war and death permeating everything around them.

“Of course not,” Hashirama’s answer is always the same, “Tobirama,you’re my brother. My amazing, wonderful, precious, dearest brother. You’renot a monster. And you never will be. I love you.”

It’s in the aftermath of such a violent battle that Tobirama’sworld is shattered because of one careless, foolish mistake.

In an effort to protect a reckless clanmate (fourteen, theyoungest one on the field after Hashirama and Tobirama had strong-armed their weakening,disease-ridden father to disallow child soldiers to be sent to combat),Tobirama fails to evade the blade that pierces his upper arm. His senses onlybarely register poison before he throws a kunai in a precise, deadlystrike and promptly collapses to his knees.

It’s far too hot.

The fever burns through him almost like a real fire lickingat his skin, eating away at it.

Tobirama knows he’s screaming—and a lot—but can’t stophimself, even as he hears the soothing tone of Hashirama’s voice, feels thereassurance radiating with all the force of his brother’s life-giving chakra, relishesthe faint ‘I love you’ he can hear through the burning haze. The knowledge thatAnija is nearby is enough to make Tobirama pull through—and far too soon for apoison this strong.

He regains consciousness two days later, finding himself inhis room, not a hospital ward, completely healed and coherent.

“Anija?” Tobirama calls for him.

He’s is nowhere to be seen.

It’s at that moment that the implications of the incidentcatch up to him. He’s shirtless, patched up where he was wounded, while thekanji of his soulwriting gleams golden on his opposite arm.

“Shit.” Tobirama scrambles out of bed, heart pounding. There’sdried blood on him that he quickly washes away, untying the bandages andhastily throwing on the first things he can reach.

He can feel Hashirama’s chakra, somber and tense, out by thekoi pond on the outskirts of the compound. Without much restraint, Tobirama usesthe Hiraishin to get to his brother, coming face to face with what he dreads isgoing to be disappointment, disgust, hatred—

Hashirama only sighs in relief.

He stands from where he was sitting cross-legged near thepond and draws Tobirama into the painfully familiar bone-crushing hug that hasTobirama choking up, even as no words are passed between them.

Just silence.

Synchronized breathing.

Chakra kneaded together, just like it always is when theyneed reassurance of the other’s survival and well-being. It’s too much,suddenly, it’s—

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Hashirama asks softly, drawingaway but keeping his hands firmly on Tobirama’s shoulders. “Tobirama, your soulwriting—whydid you keep it from me?”

Tobirama swallows through the tightness in his throat. “Because…I-I’m your brother. I’m not…” He waves his hands in a gesture that’s supposedto convey all the things he isn’t, every failure of his personality and actions.

Hashirama doesn’t get it.

“Not—what?” he asks. Tobirama can see the heartbreak in hiseyes, doesn’t understand why his Anija would want to torment him this way.

“Not enough,” Tobirama breaths, and to his horror, everyfear, every secret, every restrained admission of feelings comes spilling outnow that his darkest secret has been revealed. “Not good enough. I’m not whatyou need, Anija, and everyone knows that, knows that I’m not you,not like you, and I never will be—”

Hashirama hugs him close again and lets him speak, rubbingsoothing circles against Tobirama’s back and burying his face in the crook ofhis neck without a word. Soon enough, though, Tobirama feels a smile bloomagainst his skin, confusion spiking in him as he continues his sudden tirade ofwithheld confessions.

“You know,” Hashirama interrupts him at some point, “for agenius, you sure can be very stupid sometimes.”

Tobirama blinks. “What?”

Hashirama draws back again and frames Tobirama’s face withhis hands, grinning widely, no hint of tears or disappointment in his eyes,only pure inexplicable elation.

“I love you,” Hashirama says, voice barely above a whisperas he recited the words embedded on his skin—uncovered now because he never feltthe need to, if it’s Tobirama he was with. “Those are the first words I spoke toyou. I forgot, because I’m an idiot, but you,” he thumbs Tobirama’s nose,making his face scrunch up, “are a bigger idiot for not allowing us to form aproper bond for seventeen years, Tobirama.” He stops abruptly as a thoughtseems to occur to him. “You want that, right?”

“More than anything,” Tobirama admits, dazed.

“Well so do I, dummy.” Hashirama laughs, and the waves of joy—relief—lovecrash from his chakra in overwhelming waves, flooding Tobirama’s senses anddrawing a smile from him, too. “May I kiss you?” he asks, in all seriousness.

Tobirama roughly draws him into a kiss in place of an answer.

He slows down almost immediately, though, because it occursto him, through the buzzing excitement, that he’s never actually done thisbefore. It doesn’t seem to be a problem, though, as Hashirama gently coaxes himto follow his lead. He moves his lips languidly against Tobirama’s, proddinghis mouth open and deepening the kiss, drawing low moans from the both of themas they relish the closeness they’ve both been wanting so much.

“Seventeen years,” Hashirama whispers when they break apartfor air, “we’ve got so much missed time to make up for.”

Tobirama shivers, and not just from the adrenaline coursingthrough his body.

“The clan—”

“Can go fuck themselves, for all I care,” Hashirama declares,stealing a quick kiss that, despite being softer and more innocent than theirrecent one, makes Tobirama blush. “You’re my most precious person, Tobirama,and I won’t let anyone take away what we have. What we will have.”

Tobirama has another sudden urge to kiss his brother again.He does just that. They drink in each other’s breaths and moans, let wanderinghands explore, though Hashirama restrains him when Tobirama’s hands get alittle too curious.

“Seriously?” Tobirama asks, unimpressed.

“Seriously,” Hashirama says firmly. “I want to do thisright. And that means slow.”

“Right means right, and slow means slow, Anija, those termsaren’t interconnected.”

“You know what I mean!”

“I really don’t.”

“Tobirama.”

Huffing, Tobirama lifts his hand to instead stroke theelegant line of Hashirama’s neck. The skin warm and full of energy beneath hisfingers, grounding Tobirama and making him feel, for the first time, completelysafe and barely bothered by the thoughts of an uncertain future.

“We’ll be okay,” he says, half stating, half questioning.

“Of course, we will,” Hashirama promises. “Don’t worry, Otouto,we’ll get through anything together.” He presses their foreheads together. “Ilove you.”

And just like that, the flimsy remnants of Tobirama’s doubtdissipate.

“I love you too,” he says, tugging Hashirama in for anotherkiss of hopefully countless more to come, “Anija.”

[steebharringt0n]

snapshots of our lives | b.h x you

Sent away for a work conference, Billy finds himself snowed in at JFK Airport. Itching to be back home for Ava’s first Christmas he meets a mysterious stranger at the bar who might be just be able to solve his Christmas dilemma.

a/n: IT’S OFFICIALLY THE HOLIDAY SEASON AND I CANNOT CONTAIN MYSELF. this story gave me cavities, I’m not even joking, this is by far the fluffiest thing I’ve EVER written. (part 2 of shadows of the night will be posted later today ayy two stories in one day!)

---

You pressed your head against the kitchen wall, twisting the phone cord around your finger. In the background you could hear Christmas music playing, Adam trying his best to help Ava decorate her Christmas cookies but she was more enthralled by all the colorful icing and sprinkles around her.

“No Ava, the sprinkles are for his hat!” you heard him pout. You could only imagine the only helping she was doing was shoving the sprinkles in her mouth.

You twisted your head around, frowning at your oldest child. “Adam, she’s only 8 months old, I don’t think you’re going to get too far with her”

You turned your head back around, trying to keep the conversation quiet.

“No luck huh?”

The other voice on the line sighed heavily, you could only imagine him rubbing his temples in frustration, “I’m sorry baby, I really am, I’m trying everything. This goddamn snowstorm came out of nowhere”

You glanced back at your children, both of them blissfully unaware that their father may not make it home in time for Christmas. You shakily exhaled, trying hard not to cry - you knew it would make it harder on him if you did.

Billy had been sent away to New York for a week for a work conference. He was due to be back on the 24th but New York got pounded by freak snow storm that stopped all flights back to California. So there he was, waiting around at JFK Airport, trying to kill time. His flight was already cancelled and he refused to pay for a hotel. He had some semblance of hope that maybe it would stop snowing and that he’d be able to see his kids and wife, but all of that went out the door when they predicted another foot of snow.

Worst of all, it was Ava’s first Christmas and he hated that he was going to miss her little [Y/E/C] eyes light up at all the toys Santa had bought her. He had already missed Adam’s Christmas recital, which fortunately for him you were able to catch it all on tape. But it still didn’t change the fact that he was thousands miles away from his family.

“I know Billy, it’s okay. I’ll tape everything - “

“It’s not the same Y/N ... I just want to be home, god, fuck this” he angrily muttered. He kicked the bottom pole of the payphone, his hands tightly gripping the phone in his hand.

“I know, I know. We just have to stay positive for the kids, for us. You’ll get home when you’ll get home okay?”

He let out another deep sigh. He felt so useless. “Yeah, I know, you’re right.” he paused, closing his eyes, trying his best to not let his anger get the best of him.

“I love you” 

His body instantly relaxed at the sound of those three words. If there was anyone that could get him to calm down, it was you.

“I love you too”

A loud commotion and Ava’s ear-shattering wail suddenly broke your thoughts away from Billy. You looked behind you and saw sprinkles scattered everywhere,

“Ava noo!” Adam whined, hoping off the chair and picking up the now half empty sprinkles container.

“Is that our children causing havoc?” Billy questioned, a slight smile on his face.

“Ah yes, your daughter has a knack for knocking things over - Adam, no, Adam, leave it there, I’ll clean it up - leave your sister in her high chair - no, don’t touch it! Ah, okay, Billy hold on just a sec - “

You placed the phone on the kitchen counter, quickly walking over to the dining room table where Ava had her little hands thrown in the air, her mouth open as she let out piercing screams. Adam took the opportunity to run over to the kitchen, grabbing the phone and pressing it to his ear.

“Dad! When’re coming home?” he excitedly questioned, “I made a drawing at school for Santa. You, momma and Ava are in it, Mrs. Lori said it was the best picture she’d ever seen!” he happily babbled onto the phone.

His mouth spread into a grin as he heard his son’s voice, nothing in the world made him happier than his children. 

“I sent the drawing to Santa in the North Pole, I told him that you went away for work and that you’d be coming back soon, right daddy? You’re coming home soon right?”

Billy’s smile dropped, he shuffled his feet nervously, uncertain on how he was going to tell his son that he probably wasn’t going to make it in time for Christmas. “Hey bud, I bet Santa’s going to love your picture, and I uh, I’m working on make it home okay? I’m going to try my very, very, very best to be home soon okay? You be good for momma, don’t forget to brush your teeth tonight”

“I promise I’ll be good for momma. Ava spilled all the Christmas sprinkles, we’re making cookies for Santa. We’re also making your favorite, the ones with the peanut butter” Adam said.

Billy swallowed thickly, trying hard not to let tears build up, “I can’t wait to try them buddy. Is your momma still busy?”

Adam looked behind him - in the last minute you had managed to clean up the mess and soothe Ava who was now happily resting on your lap, a teething ring in her mouth.

“No I don’t think so - “ Adam paused, “Momma! Are you busy?”

You let out a laugh as you walked back into the kitchen, “Say goodnight to your father, you’ll see him soon okay?”

Adam pressed the phone back onto his ear, “I love you daddy, I’ll see you soon”

Billy’s heart lurched, he had never hated snow more than this moment. “I love you too Adam. I’ll see you soon”

Adam then promptly handed the phone back to you, walking back to the dining room table to finish up his Christmas cookies. You carefully balanced the phone on your ear as one of Ava’s hand tugged on your hair.

“Hey, I’m sorry to cut this short, I gotta get them to bed soon” you wistfully told him.

Billy nodded over the other line, he twisted his other wrist to check the time. There was a three hour difference, it was almost 12 AM in New York, but almost 9 PM in California. You had let Adam stay up an hour earlier than usual since tomorrow was Christmas day, but you warned him that if he stayed up past 9 that Santa wouldn’t come because Santa only visits kids who are asleep.

“No, no I understand, I’ll uh, keep you updated if anything changes”

“Okay, I love you Billy”

“Love you too Y/N”

Billy slammed the phone back into the receiver, hanging his head low. He brushed a hand through his hair, walking back towards the gate where his plane was originally supposed to leave. He stared out at the large windows where a blanket of snow covered the runway. He then glanced up the TV monitor right above him, the word CANCELLED flashed brightly in red - as if it were mocking him.

He shook his head, making his way towards the bar that was still luckily open this late. He took a seat on one of the stools, raising his hand to get the attention of the bartender who was cleaning shot glasses. He then asked for some whisky, on the rocks. Alcohol always had a way to help soothe his emotional wounds, and right now he was hurting - bad.

“Alone on Christmas Eve? That doesn’t seem right” said a voice right next to him.

Billy glanced over, a large man with white hair and a white beard sat a couple of stools down. He too had a beer in his hand.

Billy shrugged, swirling around the drink, “My flight got cancelled. My family is in California, it’s my daughter’s first Christmas and I’m going to miss it” his voice was undeniably sad as he took a sip.

The large man nodded at him, “I understand. It’s hard to be away from your family during the holiday season”

Billy let out a dry laugh, “I hate being away from them at all. I uh, never really had the best Christmas’s growing up, but my wife, she’s absolutely amazing, she makes all these Christmas decorations, and my kids, oh man ... “ Billy paused, trying to keep his emotions at bay, his thumb twists his wedding band, “It just sucks you know?”

The man raises his hands, “No, no I totally get it” he then decides to scoot down towards Billy, taking the stool right next to him.

“Name’s Kris by the way” he extends his hand.

Billy glances up at him, he looks oddly familiar, but he takes his hand anyway and gives it a shake, “Billy, or Bill, whatever floats your boat”

“So uh, Billy, tell me more about your family. I’m sure it helps talking about them” Kris said.

Billy takes a large gulp of the whisky before he continues to talk, “I met my wife in high school, she was a quiet little thing. I was a little punk, don’t know how she put up with me, but I’ll forever love her for doing so” he smiles as memories of the two of you back in Hawkins flood his head.

“We had my son about 5 years ago, Adam’s his name, he’s a little clone of me, he’s so incredibly smart and so kind, and Ava is my little one, just 8 months old. She looks everything like my wife, she has the cutest toothless smile that just brightens up anyone’s day” Billy is grinning at this point, his hand continues to swirl the alcohol in the glass. 

“I had a really bad childhood growing up ... I had given up on people, I wasn’t a very nice person. But my wife gave me this amazing family, something I never thought I was able to have. She changed my life, my family changed my life” there’s a pregnant pause, “I’d give anything to be with them right now”

He downs the rest of the whisky, trying hard to not let his emotions overtake him. He then turns to Kris, who was just smiling and nodding at him the whole time. Billy gives him a thin smile, “What about you? Do you have a family?”

Kris takes a sip of his beer, shaking his head, “Ah, my family is far away as well, but I’ll see them by the end of tonight. I’m just taking a pit stop”

Billy frowns, “A pit stop? Where you heading to?”

“Ah, so many places”

Billy lets out a snort, “Good luck, you’ll need a Christmas miracle to get out of here”

Kris gives Billy a sly smile, he then signals over to the large window that looked towards the airport runway. “Huh, looks like it stopped snowing ... “

Billy glances behind him and his eyes widen, he places his empty glass down and runs over to the window. There were already workers outside cleaning up the runway. A sudden loud voice comes through the speaker, 

“Flight 342 to San Diego International Airport is now on a 3 hour delay. Looks like the snow has stopped for the rest of the night. Please allow our workers to clean the runway. Thank you for your patience”

A wide grin takes over Billy, his heart leaps with joy. He heads back to the bar to pay for his drink and to continue talking to Kris - but he’s nowhere to be found. 

Instead he sees a picture sitting on his stool. With shaking fingers he picks it up. It’s a stick drawing of a family, a man with blonde hair, a woman with [Y/H/C] hair, a little boy and a little baby. His name, your name and Adam and Ava are written right above the stick figures. He flips the picture over, the name Adam Hargrove is written at the top. His eyes prick with tears as he reads the messily written letter, 

Dear Santa, 

Please bring my daddy home for Christmas. I miss him very much. I have been a good boy, I eat all my vegetables and brush my teeth every night.

Love Adam Hargrove

A sob escapes Billy’s lips as tears hit the picture. He looks around for Kris, but he’s nowhere to be found. His mind can’t wrap around the fact at what just happened, hell, it doesn’t make a lick of sense to him. He wipes his tears, taking a deep breath to recompose himself. He calls over the bartender,

“Hey! Did you happen to see a large man with white beard and white hair sitting here?”

The bartender shrugs, “No sir, it’s just been you this whole time”

Billy shakes his head, “There’s no way ... it can’t be ... “ he mutters to himself. He glances back down at Adam’s drawing, folding it up neatly and placing it in his coat pocket. He pulls out his wallet and puts down a 10 dollar bill. He tells the bartender to keep the change.

He walks over back to his gate, taking a seat. His mind still can’t believe what has just happened, and he still can’t believe that he’s actually heading home. He decides not to call you and tell you the good news, he wants to surprise the 3 of you.

As soon as he lands back down in San Diego, he hails down the first cab he sees. 

It’s almost 8 AM when he finally arrives home. He promptly grabs his luggage from the trunk of the cab and walks up to his porch. He’s so excited he almost can’t contain himself. Grabbing the keys from his pocket, he unlocks his front door, opening it ever so carefully so that he can creep inside.

Instantly he’s hit with the smell of the peanut butter cookies Adam promised him. Christmas music is quietly playing in the background, he walks towards the living room where the tree is. He can hear chattering voices as he gets closer. He pokes his head in, a hundred watt smile on his face.

You and Adam have your back towards him, rummaging around through the presents under the tree. But Ava, all dressed up in her Christmas onesie, immediately notices her father. She babbles happily, clapping her hands as she reaches towards him,

“Da ... da!” she exclaims, her eyes wide and bright.

You turn your attention towards her, still not noticing Billy’s presence, “Ava, did you just say Dada?”

She reaches up for him again, and this time you finally look behind you and you let out a loud gasp.

“Oh my god! Billy!”

You jump up from the floor, throwing yourself into his arms. He welcomes your embrace, holding you tightly. You plant kisses all over his face as Adam leaps for joy, running towards his father and hugging his leg.

“Dad! Dad! You’re home!”

Billy has one arm tightly holding you, while the other is placed behind Adam’s head. You pull away from him, staring at him incredulously. Your mind still can’t process the fact that he actually made it in time for Christmas.

“I - I heard it was supposed to snow like crazy! What happened?!”

Billy shrugs, “I don’t know! It just stopped snowing! The craziest thing happened, you’ll never believe it” 

You and Adam watch as Billy pulls out a piece of paper from his coat, he unravels it and holds it out towards the both of you. Your eyes widen, then your jaw proceeds to drop.

“Hey! That’s my drawing!” Adam exclaims.

Billy crouches down to Adam’s height, “I know bud, I think Santa gave it to me”

Adam’s blue eyes become wide, a small gasp escapes his mouth, “You met Santa?” he whispers like it’s a secret.

“I did, he helped me get home” 

You pick up Ava who had been fussing the whole time to be picked up by her father. You hand her over to Billy, who then proceeds to give him sloppy kisses all over his face. She babbles excitedly at him, her little hands resting on his cheek.

Tears prick at your eyes, your heart swells at the sight of your husband and children. The rest of the day is spent opening presents, eating Christmas cookies and watching Christmas movies. Billy later explained to you about the mysterious man he met at the airport bar, still to this day you can’t believe how he was able to make it back home.

The both of you chalked it up as a Christmas miracle, and Christmas season at the Hargrove household became that more special to the four of you.

[princess-sethie-boo]

War of Hearts

Chapter One

Rating: Mature

Main Pairing: Seth Rollins/Becky Lynch

Co-written with @riottbliss

Summary: Seth Rollins was once known as the Bad Boy Prince of MMA, now years after a career ending knee injury he's stepping into.the Octagon again not as a competitor but as his little sister's coach. Unfortunately for him the redhead across the cage from he and Paige is not only woman he'd just had a one night stand with but the younger sister and protege of the Finn Balor...the man that ended Seth's career.

Warnings: MMA style violence, Alcoholism, Implied Self-Harm (DM for details), Depression, Angst with a Happy Ending

Hunter Hearst Helmsley, or professionally known by Triple-H sighed with embarrassment, reading tweet after tweet from his youngest son Seth Rollins.

"What happened to him?" His best friend and practically brother Shawn Michaels asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Cody took him out of the press conference, Seth's hungover, blaming everyone but himself"

Shawn shook his head, "Kid is letting the hype go to his brain. He's all over TMZ, The Bad Boy Prince of MMA is what they call him"

"Seth is the best fighter in the world in his division. He's earned the cockiness but his lifestyle…." Hunter shook his head

Shawn made a disgusted sound. "Kid reminds me of me before I got my act together"

"Fatherhood is what made you get your act together. That won't work for Seth" Hunter clicked on a video of his drunken son yelling into a camera about Finn Balor that had gone viral last week.

"He talks so much shit about Balor being a low rent MacGregor, hell Seth acts more like Conor then Finn does."

Hunter sighed "He's turned this into a complete mess, I wouldn't be surprised if his team drops him."

"Hey, Dusty loved that kid, Dustin and Cody wouldn't release him until he stopped making them money"

Hunter nodded but looked nonetheless unthrilled.

"He keeps making excuses about everything. I'm this close to calling Steph"

Shawn nodded with agreement as the two entered Seth's penthouse, greeting a tired looking Cody Rhodes. "I can't do this anymore Hunter" he said in place of a normal greeting.

"You are not dropping him" Hunter said matter of factly.

"AEF is supposed to be for fighters that respect the sport, he fucks around and doesn't even show up to the gym" Cody said.

Hunter ignored him and went upstairs to where he could hear his youngest groaning in misery.

Hunter sighed as Seth looked up from the toilet he was practically hugging. "I'm twenty five, perfectly legal" he muttered, Hunter's gaze looking at the black and gold championship that laid discarded.

"While ago you would have treated that with respect" He said, Seth rolling his eyes. "Would you rather me puke on it? It's just a fucking belt' "

"Don't let anyone hear you say that" Hunter said lowly. "You're going to the weigh in today even if I have to drag you by your hair there myself"

"No the fuck I'm not, don't you see me dyin' here?" Seth whined "I'm going to fucking sleep"

"What the fuck happened to you?!" Hunter yells "Every since your Uncle Shane became your manager this is what you've turned into."

Seth looked unfazed. "Don't get angry because I'm better than you ever were" and shoved his father out of his way, flipping off Cody, and ignoring Shawn.

"What am I going to do with him?" Hunter sighed, exhausted.

"Knock his ass out?" Shawn suggested. "I'll take care of him" Cody rolled his eyes. "Britt and I will make sure he gets to the weigh in. I just need painkillers and food"

"I'm gonna go talk to Shane, I want to know what kind of garbage he's been filling my kid's head with" Hunter mutters

"I told you listening to Vince was a mistake." Shawn replies shaking his head "All of you let Vince snow you into thinking it was embarrassing that his mother managed him"

Hunter sighed. "I don't know what to do. I don't want to drag Steph back, Shane has a tight grip on him"

"Worry about that fuckface later" Shawn said. "Seth needs you, not him" Hunter nodded firmly, making his way downstairs to see Seth passed out on his couch, his dog Kevin and cat Daryl laying on him.

"This was our compromise" Cody explained. "I let him take a nap, he goes to the weigh in later"

"He isn't going to beat Balor in this condition. He doesn't spar anymore and his knee has been inflamed for weeks" Britt says quietly

"He shouldn't even be fighting. We told Shane but he says there's too much money at stake for Seth to pull out"

"Money money money"' Shawn mocked. "All he cares about is fucking printed paper"

Hunter ignored them and instead chose to brush back some of Seth's hair, his son unconsiously responding to it. "What did I do wrong raising him?" he asked. Hunter rolls his eyes at the look his older brother gave him "The truth" he says quietly

"No offense bro, but this family is a whole fucking lot to live up to and you weren't exactly shy about your expectations once Seth showed an aptitude for the sport. None of us were. I have to even ask myself, when was the last time any of us actually had a conversation with the kid that wasn't about fighting?"

"He's cracking underneath the pressure" Cody chimes in

"Yeah, he is and now Shane is filling his head with all these ideas about the image he should project" Shawn continues "Quiet guys who, play with their dogs and write poetry when their not in the Octagon don't sell tickets, but Bad Boys sure the fuck do."

*Later*

Seth scowled at his phone as Britt ushered him into the arena the weigh was taking place in. "I'm assuming you told the press he was gonna bail?" Cody growled at Shane who held his hands up. "They were gonna find out sooner or later" "Yeah yeah, no press is bad press" Seth said.

"Except the press says you're an asshole" Cody deadpanned. "Don't do anything stupid up there, or Mark is going to have a stroke" Seth didn't respond, instead heading up the stairs to the stage, where Balor had clearly made weight, despite being skinny. Seth took off his shirt per usual, standing on the scale.

"197 pounds" The announcer said, Seth smirking at Balor. The Irish man looked unfazed and rolled his eyes. Seth, in a act of annoyance, promptly flipped him off, hearing everyone in the crowd either laugh or groan

-Backstage -

"Gonna be fun beating your ass Balor, I promise not to hurt you too badly," Seth says cockily, slouching in a chair and putting his sunglasses back on.

"Oh, Rolly its almost time to give up your precious" Finn responds, "Clock is ticking boyo and your time is almost up"

"Mon roi, nous devons-oh shit" a pake woman walked up, speaking rapid French and stopping in her place when she saw Seth.

"Hey Seth" she said coldly.

"Vi" Seth responded, his attitude gone.

"He your king now?" "Surprised you even remember any French, from what I read, you've drank yourself through everything"

"It's what happens when you give your heart to someone and get it ripped in half, I wasn't enough for you, that's what you said right? I wasn't straight enough for you?! So you threw my ring in my face and left" Seth yelled "Cause Bisexual people, we're all cheaters didn't you know?"

At least according to Violet Gillath, wait I'm sorry Violet Balor now isn't it?."

"Stop it" Finn growled. "Before I knock your ass out now"

"Try it bitch" Seth snarled back.

Violet got between them and shoved Seth back. "Chaton, stop" she hissed.

Seth stumbled upon hearing his old nickname. "Why?" he choked out. "What did I do?"

Seth shook his head as if to shake his thoughts into place "Why Violet? Why did you leave me? You...you fucking broke me" he said in a small voice "I have the right to know why, just tell me. Why would you do that after everything. I was going to quit fighting for you because you didn't like seeing what it was turning me into. You get up on stage and you still sing my songs, but you said you hated me. I just wanna know."

Violet crossed her arms and closed her eyes. "I didn't want to be with you. You never signed anything so legally those songs are mine. I said what I meant, you weren't enough"

Seth looked like she had rebroken his heart.

Thankfully Britt walked in. "Hey, we gotta go"

Seth grabbed his title and held it to Finn. "This is mine. You can keep that bitch but you will never get this"

-Backstage-

"I've never known you to be biphobic, wanna explain to me why Rollins is convinced you are?" Finn said sitting down in his locker room with his wife a few minutes later.

"His uncle...manager, that bastard Shane got me my record deal in exchange for breaking Seth's heart" Violet told her husband "Seth hates fighting, he was going to quit and go on the road with me. He can't sing a note but he writes and plays guitar. We were going to be a duo. Shane was watching his cash cow walk out the door. So he threatened me and made an offer. Seth was the sweetest thing and he loved me and I broke his heart and let Shane turn him into that"

"If I could go back in time and slap him across the face I would but I can't" Violet said brokenly. "Shane has made it perfectly clear that if I ever tell him that he would ruin both our careers"

Finn hugged her to him. "I'm still gonna kick his ass" Violet slapped his arm. "Please try not to" Finn shrugged. "I'm undefeated"

"You know Seth is too. And the thing with being undefeated is that there's only one way down, being kicked off the mountain"

-Next Day-

Seth was throwing up again having had drank himself to sleep following his encounter with his ex.

Cody looked extremely tired and Britt concerned. "You have to fight in an hour!" Cody yelled out

"I don't fucking care." Seth yelled back "I don't even want to fucking fight." He muttered to himself, as he rubbed at his knee. "Come on fucking give already." He whispered to the inflamed appendage.

He knew what he was doing was dangerous but it was his only way out. If his knee would just give up the fucking ghost, he could quit this bullshit once and for all.

"Your sisters are out there tonight" Britt said, walking in, holding a brace.

"I really don't care" Seth growled, letting Britt put his knee in it.

"And your mom' Britt added. Seth took a breath when Britt touched his knee.

"Holy shit, it feels like its burning"

We're letting you go after tonight" Cody said angrily. "I don't care if you win or not, you've ruined All Elite Fighting's reputation"

"I don't care, I never wanted to be in your shitty gym anyway" Seth shrugged. "I'm going to get changed"