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ah-ga-seven · 4 years

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Till’ The End Of Summer - Chapter 11

>> series masterlist <<

Pairing: Choi Yeonjun x Reader

In a Nutshell: College!AU, Rich Kids, Friends to Lovers, Fuckboy athlete Yeonjun, Overprotective Best friend Soobin, contains all of TXT and other Idol cameos, Omnipresent perspective.

Synopsis: You and Yeonjun are caught up in a cat and mouse game because of unspoken feelings and endless pining for each others’ attention. With the summer break approaching and lots of college parties, will you finally get a chance to explore your feelings for each other; even though the world and Yeonjun’s reputation makes things complicated?

Word count: 12K

Genre: Angst, SMUT, Fluff

Warnings: very descriptive mature content, read at your own risk, I put a bolded warning at the start and closing. I also didn’t proofread cause well...12k words. I’ll get to it asap!

“What are you waiting for? Come in. You’re all acting like strangers to each other.” Your mom snickered as she wiped her hands on a paper towel so she could greet them properly.

“Oh, y-yeah.” Mia says as she steps inside, walking past Soobin without a word to greet your parents.

Your frozen state vanishes as you make eye contact with Mia, and you automatically start to walk towards Yeonjun with big, confused eyes.

You looked at Yeonjun, and he looked at you. The corners of his mouth lifting up a little as he opened his arms for you. You didn’t think twice about launching yourself into his arms, though your confusion got the best of you, you were still incredibly happy to see him. Your whole body relaxed as he enveloped you into his strong arms, patting your head as he buried his nose in your hair. “Hi baby,” he whispers into your hair. Closing his eyes to savor the peaceful moment.

You look up with glassy eyes as he cupped your face, caressing your cheek with his thumb before he planted a kiss on your lips, followed by a sweet kiss on your forehead.

“Did you miss me?”

You nod bashfully, burying your face in his chest once again and he just chuckles, tightening his hold on you a little. “Me too,” he hums as the feeling of being whole and loved washes over him.

It’s like you forgot your parents, Soobin or Mia were in the room. It felt like time stopped. As if it was just you and him in your apartment.

Your father cleared his throat, cringing at the scene. “You didn’t hug me like that when I came in.”

The comment made Yeonjun chuckle and you felt your cheeks heat up in embarrassment as you let go of him.

Soobin’s eyes were focused on Mia, but he snapped out of it as he heard your father speak. Putting on a smile at his comment. “Well, he was gone for almost two months,” Soobin says as he grabbed Yeonjun by his shoulders, smiling at him with love emitting from his pupils.

Yeonjun chuckled, pulling Soobin towards him for a hug. “You could have given us a heads up.”

“He wanted to surprise you.” Mia chimed in quickly, giving Yeonjun a look that Soobin couldn’t read, and he didn’t like it. But maybe they did visit here to surprise you? All in all, he was confused at them showing up here together, but it seemed like you didn’t find it odd at all.

“Let’s talk later,” Yeonjun says as his pupils dart from Soobin to your parents, nodding at them.

Soobin immediately understood, since they didn’t need words to communicate.

It was still awkward for Soobin to see you interact with Yeonjun like this, he wasn’t used to seeing Yeonjun being more whipped than heavy whipped cream for a girl, and since you were that girl it made it all even more awkward to watch for him.

“Give me a second,” Yeonjun says as he let go of your hand, making his way through your apartment to greet your parents.

You gulped at the sight, suddenly the nerves in your body were taking a toll on you and you unknowingly grab a hold of Soobin's hand who was standing next to you.

Soobin raised his eyebrows, looking at your intertwined fingers and he scoffed with a side-smile. Whispering an ‘it’s ok’ to you in the process.

Yeonjun was a charmer, he could make anyone like him by adapting his energy to theirs. For some reason, he thought your dad would appreciate it more if he went to greet your mother first, and so he did. Receiving an approving smile from your father.

“Hi Mrs. y/l/n, I’m Yeonjun.” He smiled at her brightly, taking her hand with both hands as he bowed to her politely.

You saw your mother's breath literally hitch in her throat at the sight of his smile and you roll your eyes at her.

Mia chuckled as well, and so did Soobin. Really? All it took was a smile and a simple ‘Hello’ and she was already in awe?

“Y/n, where the hell did you find him?” Your mother chimes giving you a shocked look and you curse at her through your teeth for embarrassing him and yourself

“Mom!” you whine, rushing to his side to grab his arm for comfort.

Heat rose to Yeonjun’s cheeks as he giggled softly at the not-so-subtle compliment. “We actually kind of found each other.”

“Okay, stop before I throw up my lunch.” Soobin says as he plops down next to Mia on the couch, putting an arm around her.

Everyone chuckled lightly, and your father made his way to the kitchen as well to talk to Yeonjun.

As everyone was getting acquainted with each other, Soobin leaned into Mia.

“You ghost on me for days and now you show up here with him? What’s going on.”

Mia’s mouth went dry, not wanting to ruin the moment given how happy you were to see Yeonjun and your parents together. She eyed your facial expression and melted. She hasn’t seen you this happy in weeks. She sighed, averting her attention back to Soobin. “I’m sorry…I had deadlines and stayed up all night, Yeonjun called me up to surprise you guys that’s it…”

Soobin’s hard demeanor softened and he wrapped Mia into his arms tightly as he pouted. “Oh no, my baby. Did you work so hard?” he cooed, babying Mia to his best ability; similar to how he baby’s Hueningkai from time to time.

Mia giggled, relaxing in his touch. “I missed you, I’m sorry. It was a really important deadline.”

“It’s ok…I understand,” Soobin says as he pecked her lips softly, staring into her eyes lovingly before pulling her closer to him on the couch. “I know I should’ve just trusted you, I’m sorry.”

Mia avoided Soobin’s eyes, feeling guilty about lying yet another lie but this just wasn’t the time.

“You’re on the team with Soobin?” your dad asked suddenly intrigued by the revelation.

You lean against your kitchen counter and watch your dad like a hawk, but he seemed to like Yeonjun already, especially if he’s this interested.

“Oh, yeah. I like to believe I’m their star player.” Yeonjun states cockily, huffing out his chest while nodding to Soobin who just rolled his eyes at him.

“He’s good. Sure.” Soobin admits bitterly, making your parents laugh in response.

You smile at Yeonjun adoringly for being able to win over your parents so easily, something you didn’t think was possible given your track record of dating incompetent men. The two other boyfriends you brought home weren’t necessarily approved of. They were tolerated but not liked, and you could already sense that this was not the case with Yeonjun.

With every ‘I told you so’ you heard from your mom whenever you broke up with an ex, she made you realize that mama indeed ‘knows best’ but given the way she was looking at Yeonjun with stars in her eyes as he conversed about this and that, you already knew she’d see him as a keeper. Which made your shoulders drop in relaxation.

“I’d love to talk some more but this dinner isn’t going to prepare itself.” Your mother chuckled pointing to your kitchen area. There was literally no space left on your counter because of all of the ingredients and Yeonjun’s eyes widened.

“Do you need help miss?” Yeonjun offers politely, putting a hand on her shoulder as he smiled at your mother softly.

He couldn’t help but notice how similar you looked to her, how you have the same mannerisms and the same twinkle in your eyes. She smiled at him and shook her head. “No, that’s really nice of you to offer but I think y/n, Mia, and I will have it handled. Right?”

Mia got on her feet immediately and that’s the exact moment you notice her presence for the first time. Your eyes widen and you burst out laughing, giving her a clumsy hug as you cling to her. “Oh my god dude, I had no idea you came.”

“It’s ok,” she scoffs. “I know where I stand.” You playfully hit her arm as she rolls her eyes, and Yeonjun smiled at both of you, giving Mia a look you couldn’t quite read after he kissed your temple.

“I’ll be with Soobin and your dad.” You look back at him and give him an awkward smile while your brows furrow with concern. “Tell me when my dad’s being annoying ok.”

He chuckled, crossing his arms in fake defense. “If I can handle you, I can handle anyone.”

The comment made your mother snort to herself as she cut up some veggies, and you just give him a kittenish angry face as he makes his way to the couch, plopping himself down between Soobin and your dad.

He watched you for a while, the corners of his mouth curling up into a slight smile without knowing. He noticed how content and happy you were to be with a room full of people that you love, and his heart did a thing at the view.

As he was getting lost in thought, his smile faltered while he thought of the reason he came here in the first place. Seeing you like this made it so much harder. He didn’t have the heart to wipe that pretty smile off your face and neither was Mia from the looks of it.

“Right Yeonjun?” Soobin cooed, snapping him out of his daydream.

Yeonjun’s head snapped back to reality, looking at Soobin and your father with big confused eyes. “Ah…sorry I wasn’t paying attention.”

“I know. You were looking at my daughter.” Your father chuckled, patting Yeonjun’s thigh, which made Yeonjun freeze in place at being caught. He nervously smiled, rubbing his neck awkwardly.

“Well, at least it’s super obvious he cares about her.” Soobin chuckled, putting his arm around Yeonjun to pull him back and trapping him into a hug.

“You two seem pretty close too,” your dad remarks with a smile.

“Oh yeah, we live together,” Soobin says as he snuggles his head into Yeonjun’s shoulder.

“Stop that. I’ll get jealous.” Mia pouts waving her knife around as a warning and Soobin immediately let go, making everyone laugh in response.

Yeonjun looked back at Soobin with an amused smile. He furrowed his brows at Soobin as he something odd about his attire. “Are these my clothes?” he asks pulling on the black bedazzled Vetements shirt Soobin was wearing.

“Oh…yeah about that…”

“That’s more than he was wearing when we came in here, so be glad.” Your dad jokes, not noticing the damage he did.

Soobin coughed, basically choking on air, shooting your dad a look of desperation.

“What?” Yeonjun asks raising his eyebrows at Soobin. He was trying not to sound too annoyed given the presence of your father, but it failed miserably. If Yeonjun can’t hide something it’s his jealousy, he fucking hated it about himself but there was nothing he could do at this point.

“Ahh, hyung. It’s nothing. Seriously. She told me to change into your clothes since I crashed here but I couldn’t find your shirts, so I walked out and at that exact moment her parents were in the living room…I had no idea.”

Yeonjun squinted his eyes at Soobin but didn’t want to say anything else since your father was right in front of him. He didn’t want to seem possessive or jealous, even though he was. So, he decided to let it go for now. “We’ll talk later,” Yeonjun says through his teeth, which made your father laugh out loud, enjoying taunting Yeonjun a little too much.

When Yeonjun looked back at your father he saw a smug grin on his face, and Yeonjun knew enough. He was doing it on purpose to test him; and luckily, he passed the test.

“Honey! We forgot the honey.” Your mom says in panic as she rummages through the grocery bags.

“Are you calling me honey or…” your dad asks looking back at your her.

“Yes and no, go be a good husband and get me some honey.”

“Ok, honey.” He sighs exasperatingly, getting up from the couch with reluctance.

Yeonjun chuckled, enjoying the dad jokes a little too much and you roll your eyes at him. “Oh my god.” Mia sighed. “I guess they found each other.”

You smile at them both lovingly but your smile falters quickly. You catch yourself being way too giddy and positive about life right now. You were so used to everything going completely wrong all the time that you wouldn’t let yourself have this moment of peace, serenity, and happiness without overthinking.

Mia noticed, nudging your shoulder. “You ok? What was that?”

“Nothing, I just…I’m really happy right now,” you say with a million kilo-watt smile, which made Mia’s eyes twinkle.

You deserved this more than anyone after all the shit you’ve put yourself through to make your relationship with Yeonjun work. Guilt consumed Mia again as she averted her attention back on the task at hand, peeling these damn potatoes.

“At least someone in this house appreciates my humor. I guess I’ll go get it then.” Your dad says as he retrieved his jacket from the coat rack.

“Let me come with you.” Yeonjun volunteers as he got up with determination. “I can drive,” he offered, and your dad just nodded at him in response.

You blinked a couple of times to check if this was really happening. Your dad let Yeonjun come with him?

You were taken aback by the fact that your dad allowed Yeonjun to come with him, and even more taken aback by the fact that Yeonjun volunteered to get grilled in the car. Knowing your dad, he’d probably lynch him alive with questions, and you felt bad for him already.

You give Yeonjun a look, mouthing a ‘Are you sure about that’ but he shrugged it off, giving you a reassuring nod.

“Ok, well…have fun you two, and don’t take too long.” Your mom nags as she continues to stir into the large pan on the stove.

“Yeah…hurry back.” You pout at Yeonjun and he chuckled, pecking your lips.

“Don’t worry.” He whispered into your ear, patting your head before he followed your dad out of the house.

“This is your car? A Range Rover?”

“I-uh…it was a birthday present,” Yeonjun said opening the door to the passengers’ seat for your father.

Your dad got in, looking at his surroundings with big eyes. “That’s some birthday present. What do your parents do again, son?”

‘Son’ wow, that’s a first.

“Uhm, they operate in software and applications, well my mom does. My dad is well….dead.”

“Oh, Jesus. I’m so sorry. I completely forgot.” Your dad quickly apologizes as he fastened his seatbelt.

Yeonjun bit his lip, starting the engine. He wasn’t off to a great start. He wanted to keep things light and airy, but he should’ve known that a 22-year-old, driving around in a 50.000+ dollar car would raise questions with heavy answers.

“It’s ok. Well, I mean it’s not Ok. We had a complicated relationship. My parents were never really around so they compensated that with…gifts such as these.”

“You seem well mannered though.”

“Yeah, my housekeeper raised me.”

“Housekeeper?”

“Ok, I’m sorry.” Yeonjun chuckled nervously. “Can we please start over sir? I’m starting to sound like a brat.”

“Only if you stop calling me sir” your dad says with a smile, patting Yeonjun on his shoulder which made him relax in his seat as he turned the corner on his way to the nearest supermarket.

“What do you think they’re talking about.” You nervously say as you munch on a rice cake.

“You.” Soobin shrugs, stealing a rice cake from the pan which made your mother slap his hand away.

“Use a spoon!” she nags, making Mia laugh in response.

“I knew you guys were close, but I had no idea Soobin had a second mother,” Mia says comforting a pouty Soobin by rubbing his back.

Your mom smiled at Mia and looked back at Soobin adoringly. “Well, he basically grew up in our house, the same goes for y/n in his home. His mom and I went to college together, and never parted ways since.” She explains as she fishes a rice cake out of the pot with a spoon, handing it to Soobin so he could try it.

“Ahh, that’s gonna be us!” you giggle excitedly, smacking Mia’s arm.

Mia gave you a half-hearted smile. “Yeah…” she says lost in thought, trying not to make things too obvious. “I hope so…”

“A guy as well off as you should have his options open. So why y/n?” your dad questions as Yeonjun and him walk down the aisles of the supermarket in search of the secret ingredient to your mothers famous stew.

Yeonjun chuckled. “She saw me for me before she knew who my parents were. We just really clicked. We share the same interests. We just get each other. Also, I did most of the chasing, she was not convinced at first.”

“How come?”

“Let's just say I didn’t make the greatest decisions. We really had to work on the way we communicate and though I’m still working on it…I do feel like we’re finally getting somewhere.” Yeonjun carefully explains as he skims the aisles for pots of honey.

“Can I tell you a secret about my daughter, Yeonjun.” Your dad starts lost in thought as he stopped in front of a shelve filled with different types of condiments.

“Y-yeah…of course,” Yeonjun states standing behind him, putting his hand in his pockets as he waited for your dad to speak up.

“y/n tends to see the guys she dates as projects. She wants to fix them and when it doesn’t work out, she’s the one left broken hearted, because she puts all of her soul and energy in trying to make things work…even if they don’t want to work.”

Yeonjun was taken aback by your father's statement. Projects? Men? What now?

“I...I don’t think I fully understand.”

Your dad turned round after having retrieved the biggest pot of honey he could find on the shelve, looking at Yeonjun seriously.

“You seem to care about her a lot. I can tell. By the way you look at her, talk about her. It’s evident that your heart is in the right place and that your intentions are good, but the last two guys she dated were similar to you, and I actually like you, so I would hate for you to end up as some failed experiment.”

Yeonjun blinked a couple of times as he followed your dad to the long line behind the cash register. “I never even asked her about her exes, are you saying she sees me as a project?”

“Oh no! God. No. She’s going to kill me.” Your dad quickly jumped to his own defense, looking at Yeonjun seriously.

“She’s never looked at a guy the way she looks at you, trust me. I’d know. She doesn’t even look at me like that.” He jokes to lighten the tension but Yeonjun furrows his brows in concern, which made your dad sigh at the sight.

“Y/n wants to fix people; it’s basically embedded in her DNA. I used to serve in the army, I wasn’t around as much, and her mother had a hard time with it. So, y/n took care of her from a young age. When I got back, she was hesitant around me, not knowing what it’s like to have a father around and all. Although we’re good now; it somehow scarred her in ways I don’t think she even knows about herself.”

“She…never told me,” Yeonjun says as they moved forward in line, he was too lost in thought to even comprehend what was happening around him, and just followed your dad like a lost puppy.

“I think it’s because she doesn’t think it’s an issue. My daughter only knows how to take care of others, she neglects her own needs. You could call her somewhat of a wounded healer. She’ll do anything to make your relationship work Yeonjun, what I’m asking of you is to take care of her when she’s taking care of you.”

“Of course,…I’d do anything for her.”

Yeonjun sighed dramatically. Of course, it takes two to tango. If he’s going to tell you that he wasn’t planning on going back to college, you’d probably blame yourself. He had to think long and hard about how he was going to break the news. For once he has the advantage, and he was going to do it right.

“All in all, it’s kind of my fault she’s like that. The fear of abandonment, not knowing how to put herself first, it’s because of my absence in her childhood.”

“So, to summarize this, she has….daddy issues.” Yeonjun blurts out without thinking.

Your father snorted, holding in his laughter as they made it to the cash register, Yeonjun was too lost in thought to even pull out his card, though your dad would never let him pay, he wanted to make the gesture.

It was already too late as the lady at the register handed the receipt to your father. And he turned to Yeonjun, looking at his fallen facial expression.

“See it as something you have in common with her.”

Yeonjun’s eyes turned from serious to playful at the out of line comment your dad just made and he couldn’t help but laugh. “I guess so yeah, I guess we’ve been too focused on me and my past. This was really helpful thank you.” Yeonjun says as he took the bag from your father, carrying it to the car.

“Fix your flaws together, not separately. If it works it works, and if not and you break her heart…I still have my gun from the army.”

Yeonjun’s eyes widen, and your dad laughs as he opens the car door. Enjoying his empty threat, a little too much. Yeonjun nervously chuckled as he got in the car again, biting the inside of his cheek.

“Got it.”

Your dad and Yeonjun walk in, and your heart finally started beating again. They looked fine, and your dad was even laughing with Yeonjun as they stepped foot into your apartment.

Your eyes grow in size and Yeonjun immediately makes his way over to you, standing between your legs since you were seated on top of your dinner table to watch your mother cook.

“I’m back,” he says with a soft smile, pulling you in for a hug.

“What did you two talk about?” you whisper, your eyes follow your father as he hands your mom the bag with a quick kiss on her cheek.

Yeonjun looked at your parents, and then back to you with a smirk.

“Oh, nothing. He told me all about your ex-boyfriends that’s all,” He says nonchalantly letting go of you, but you hook your legs around his thighs to keep him from leaving.

“He what!?” you whisper-scream, but Yeonjun just shot you an amused wink, untangling himself from your hold to compliment your mother on her cooking.

Dinner was served pretty quickly afterward. Soobin and Yeonjun had to move your desk from your bedroom to extend your dinner table since your place wasn’t made to have 5 guests over.

Your parents sat across from each other as Mia and Soobin sat next to each other on one side, while Yeonjun and yourself sat next to each other on the opposite side.

The setting was intimate, candles were lit, and soft music was playing in the background as all of you made light conversation about your studies and how you all met.

When your dad and Yeonjun were gone, you instructed your mother to keep from asking deep questions to Yeonjun about his family for the time of being. You didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable or burdened to answer, especially since you didn’t have time alone with him since he returned, meaning you couldn’t really check on him given his unexpected return.

You could tell that Yeonjun was trying his best, but he kept zoning out and suddenly you feel yourself worrying about what your father might have said to him, so you decide to distract him.

Your hand found his under the table, and you intertwine your fingers, squeezing his hand while placing your intertwined fingers on your thigh just above your knee.

He didn’t think much of it, continuing to listen to Soobin ramble about their first encounter in the locker room during freshman year.

He was laughing, listening intently. He looked relaxed and you couldn’t help but stare. You start looking at his features one by one. At his honey skin and eye smile. At his cushiony lips as he chewed on the food your mother prepared.

Yeonjun looked down at you, feeling your eyes on him and when he caught you staring, he giggled shyly. “What is it?” he asked with a smile, but you just shake your head, guiding his hand up your thigh a little more, passing the fabric of your skirt which made Yeonjun’s eyes widen.

“Nothing,” you say innocently, raising your spoon up to your mouth with your free hand to take a bite as you guide his hand even higher up your thigh.

He basically choked on his food and started coughing, trying to untangle his fingers from yours. He grabbed a napkin, covering his mouth with it to muffle his coughing sounds.

“Yeonjun? Are you okay?” your mother asks in concern which made Yeonjun’s eyes travel to hers as if he got caught.

“Ah..y-yes, I need to chew more.” He chuckles apologetically.

“It’s delicious, the best kimchi stew I’ve ever had.” He compliments, which made your mother smile proudly.

“Yes! Completely agree.” Mia says.

“You should all come over for Christmas, bring the other boys too. I can cook you a real dinner then.” Your mother proposes which made Soobin gasp. “That would be amazing!”

Yeonjun smiled at your mother and Soobin, but you weren’t done taunting him.

You ‘dropped’ your chopstick, the noise alerting everyone in the room.

“Oh, sorry. Let me just-“

“I’ll get it,” Yeonjun offers quickly, but you stop him.

“No, It’s ok, I can see it from here.”

The attention of your dad, Mia and Soobin was quickly averted back to your mother so you took your chance. Grabbing Yeonjuns thigh, digging your nails into his jeans for leverage as you bend down to grab the lost chopstick between his feet.

He froze but knew exactly what you were doing and when your head dipped down, his eyes widened. This could NOT look right from the outside looking in.

He couldn’t believe you, first the whole shirtless Soobin ordeal, then the revelation of your ex-boyfriends you never told him about and now you are provoking him at the dinner table? What the fuck has gotten into you.

You come back up, letting go of his thigh and you innocently set the chopstick aside, raking your hand through your hair as you give Yeonjun a questioning look.

His eyes were burning into you, but you just shrug with a sly smile. “Keep this up. I dare you.” He whispers through his teeth, counteracting his threat by sweetly tugging a strand of your hair behind your ear.

He dares you? Ha. Ha. Ha. He should know by now that you’re crazy.

It didn’t take long before everyone was finished, so when you cleaned the table you made sure to reach for Yeonjun’s plate over his shoulder, brushing your arm over his chest and touching him subtly whenever you could.

You could tell he was losing his patience with you but frankly, you didn’t care. It’s the least he deserves for basically ignoring you for the past few weeks and showing up here like nothing ever happened. Of course, you were happy to see him, but you were bitter, and you were going to make him suffer the best way you could.

After dinner, dessert and tea you were completely stuffed and low on energy. You wanted everyone out of your apartment and your father was quick to notice the way you dragged your footsteps around your apartment. He proposed to leave not long after, and to your relief your mother agreed.

Soobin and Mia left first with a lousy excuse of finishing schoolwork but judging off the looks they were giving each other all night you knew better than that.

“It was so nice to meet you, Yeonjun!” your mother exclaims pulling him in for a hug. He stiffens in surprise at first but relaxes in her touch instantly. As he let go of her, your father patted Yeonjun on his back and shook his hand firmly. “I guess we’ll see you at Christmas.”

“Yes. For sure.” Yeonjun smiles, and it in unknowingly made you giddy inside that he made plans to be with you and your parents so far in the future.

He really wasn’t going anywhere this time, and you couldn’t be happier.

After exchanging hugs with your parents and promising to contact them more often they leave, and you sigh in relief.

_ WARNING: Heavy Smut ahead. Soft Dom!Jun, oral/finger play, size kink, choking, rough sex, playful banter, sweet/dirty talk and aftercare. _

When the front door closed the air got thick. It’s like your breath hitched in your throat and you knew the endless diner table teasing was about to get you in trouble.

You were almost afraid to turn around and meet his eyes. You halted your movements for a few seconds before you found the guts to do so and immediately regret it.

He stared at you through hooded lids, the dimmed lighting in your apartment was accentuating his features perfectly and romantically. He walked closer to you with slow strides, backing you into your front door as he trapped you between his arms on each side of your body.

“In front of your fucking parents' y/n?” he starts, letting his fingers ghost over your bottom lip before he tugs at your chin, making you look at him.

You gulp with wide eyes, lust filling your senses as you basically see him undress you with his eyes.

“You’ve given me multiple reasons to completely wreck you today.”

Without a warning he parts your legs by propping his knee in between. Bending down to curl his strong arms around your thighs so he could lift you against the door frame. Your legs instinctively wrap around his waist as your back hits the door frame with a loud thud.

You moan at his sudden actions and he was quick to shut you up by kissing you roughly. Trapping your lip between his teeth, tugging lightly before he started to pepper your neck with wet kisses and love bites.

He moaned against your skin, nails digging deeper into your thighs as he tightened his grip, making sure not to let you fall.

“Did you miss me that much baby?”

You nod furiously, your fingers tangling into his hair as he kept kissing your neck.

You feel his teeth graze over the sensitive spot below your jaw that he just ferociously sucked on. A breathy moan escapes your lips as you tug on his soft locks a little harder to let him know you wanted his lips back on yours, but he didn’t budge, grinding his hips into yours as he kept sucking hickey after hickey into your delicate skin.

“Tell me you want it.” He growls, grinding his hips against your clothed core once more. He grins smugly against your skin as your legs shudder at the barely-there sensation against your heat.

Your body was reacting to him in ways he had only fantasized about and he was going to take his sweet time with you. The number of times you almost had sex was infuriating, and he was sure to go through with it this time, swearing to himself that the only thing that could stop him right now would be a fucking fire in your apartment building.

“P-please,” you pant, throwing your head back as you feel his tongue glide down your neck, going straight for your breasts.

The anticipation was too much. You hold onto him as he pulled his arms from underneath you, hiking up your shirt enough to where he could expose your tits.

He licked his lips, approving the sight; skillfully unclasping your bra with one hand.

A string of curses and praises left his lips as he started to litter your chest with kisses, sucking on your nipple while he made sure not to neglect the other by rubbing circles onto the sensitive nub.

“Fuck, you’re so beautiful” he cooed, placing you back on the floor. He hooked his arm around your waist to stabilize you as the other found the hem of your skirt all while his mouth was still busy alternating between kisses and bites on your neck, lips and tits.

Lewd moans left your lips as his long fingers make contact with your clothed clit. “Right here baby?” he asks sweetly as his middle finger starts to rub slow circles against the fabric of your panties.

“Yes, baby please.”

“Please what?”

“Please, more.”

His fingers pushed the fabric of your underwear aside, making contact with your bare skin for the first time. Your slick surprised him; it didn’t take much to get you this wet so he could only imagine how juicy you would sound with him buried deep inside of you.

He licked his lips at the thought, your moans only becoming less controlled as he spread your wetness between your folds with his long, cold fingers.

You whine at his teasing movements, hooking your leg around his waist to give him better access.

At that his eyes found yours again before he pushed his ring finger inside of you completely while still rubbing circles on your clit with his thumb.

The sudden filling sensation made you gasp. The hunger in his pupils only amplified as he listened to your wetness being fucked by his finger. You were tightening around him already making him smirk to himself. “Not sure if I should let you cum after all that.”

You whine in response and grab on to his wrist down there while your head fell back, enjoying him pump a second digit into you at a faster yet steady and comfortable pace.

It felt good, too good, and you knew that he knew exactly what he was doing to you.

“You’re so fucking tight, and wet. Fuck” he compliments before he pecks your lips again.

“ahh, Yeonjun, I’m close.”

He curled his fingers inside of you, fastening his rhythmic tempo as he kept thrusting his fingers deep in and out of you deliciously.

God he was good. He didn’t lose his rhythm, giving you something to concentrate on which only brought you closer and closer to your orgasm.

“I-I’m gonna cum” you whine, biting down on the skin of his neck to control yourself.

He wanted to deny you your orgasm, he really did. But he was too whipped for you to care all of a sudden. Having you cum for him is something he fantasized about for months now, and he wasn’t going to pass up on the opportunity. At least not now.

“Let go baby, go to heaven.” He encourages you, lacing the fingers of his free hand through your hair tightly as he rested his forehead on yours while the speed of his fingers thrusting into you started building a little more.

Your legs start to shake as you feel euphoria approaching and with a few more hard yet controlled thrusts, you come undone.

You fall quiet as your orgasm washes over you. A squeal escaping your throat as he slowly pulls his fingers out of you, maintaining eye contact before you see him do the hottest thing you’ve ever seen him do in your life.

He brought his fingers up to his lips, sticking out his tongue and curling it around his fingers, licking your wetness off of it while maintaining eye contact with you.

Your chest was still heaving up and down as you were trying to compose yourself from the first orgasm Yeonjun has ever given you and your mouth goes completely dry at his beauty. You’re dumbfounded by his dirty actions as he smirks again, grabbing your face with both hands as he kisses you once more, a lot slower and more passionately this time.

“You taste like fucking candy baby.” he smiles against your lips and you giggle at his lewd compliment. Shying away from him as the embarrassment of your loud moans from before suddenly washes over you.

“Don’t hide that pretty face,” he says as he makes you look at him again, placing both hands on your shoulders before blinking at you intently.

He smirked again, slowly pushing you down until you were on your knees for him. You placed your hands on your thighs, submissively staring up at him with big eyes, waiting for him to tell you what to do.

The sight made him groan loudly in approval, tugging on your chin with his hand while his fingers pinched your cheeks together.

“Are you going to let me fuck that pretty mouth of yours?” he asks licking his lips, rocking his hips forward a little.

Your eyes land on the tent that had formed in his pants and you gulp given his size.

You look up at him again, nodding sweetly as you start to undo his belt while keeping eye contact with him as he tightened the hold he had on your face.

He helped you fasten the process by aggressively ripping his jeans open, helping you pull his jeans and boxers down simultaneously all while staring at your naked body.

His eyes averted back to yours, and he looked at your bewildered facial expression when his cock sprung free. He was huge, fully hard and he had pre cum leaking from his angry tip. He grabbed the base of his cock, laying himself across your cheek to compare his largeness against your small face.

It got him off more than he liked to admit, and he caressed your cheek gently, love emitting from his pupils as you lick your lips, waiting for him to push himself into your mouth.

You take over from him, spitting into your hand to slick him up. You start to slowly pump him, making sure to twist your wrist to cover his whole base while applying the right amount of pressure.

“Fuck. Yes. Baby,” He groans in approval, throwing his head back as he enjoys your skilled hands pump his shaft steadily.

You keep eying his facial expressions and you feel yourself getting wet again at the sight of his enjoyment.

You open your mouth, sticking out your tongue to lick the precum off of his tip. The action made Yeonjun’s had snack back in response, but he was quick to avert his gaze back to you.

He looked at you part your lips even more so you could take more of him, and you nod; blinking a couple of times as a silent okay for him to start pushing his cock down your throat.

He loved how you knew what he wanted, and how well you were taking him despite his size. To be really honest your experience kind of baffled him. He secretly wanted to teach you everything he knew, to corrupt you and make you his personal slut – in the most loving way possible – but given the way his dick was almost balls deep down your throat without a single gag or whine, he knew that you knew what you were doing.

“Holy fucking shit baby.” He hissed through his teeth, slowly thrusting his long and veiny length in and out of your mouth.

You were taking him like a champ, keeping your eyes on him as you stabilized yourself on his thighs. You hum in approval and the vibrations almost drive him insane. He bucked his hips, and you lean back, letting him pull out of your mouth completely before he came too fast from your mouth alone.

Watching him was the best part. He’s never been so riled up for sex and that was purely because of the fact that it was you pleasuring him.

He crouched down, giving you a sloppy kiss on your lips and you grin back at him, enjoying the amused glisten in his eyes. “Condoms?”

“Bedside table.”

“Then let’s fucking go,” he huffs, picking you up and throwing you over his shoulder. You squeal and start laughing loudly, wiggling your feet around in protest.

“YEONJUN!” you scream, smacking his back but he wasn’t having it, giving your bare ass cheek a loud smack before he swiftly opens the door of your bedroom, dropping you on the bed roughly.

As both of you were still laughing, he hovered over you, giving your neck a quick kiss before taking off his shirt and throwing it on the floor.

He was completely naked now and you just stare at him, in awe of his physique. In awe of the fact that this toned, milky skinned man is all yours.

He noticed your gaze and the way your eyes were doing a full up and down analysis of his body. He stood before you confidently, snickering as he pulled you towards him by your legs, situating himself between your thighs.

He reached down to open the drawer of your bedside table as he leaned back, pumping himself with his free hand. The show he was giving you was one of heavenly proportions, and you weren’t sure if he realized just how hot he looked in the moment.

He scoffed, ripping the condom package with his teeth and discarding the rest of the foil on the floor.

“Why the fuck is the last one in the packet.” He scowls at you, rolling the condom onto his shaft without breaking eye contact and you can’t help but roll your eyes at him.

“I had a social life before we were a thing Yeonjun, now shut up and fuck me.”

“You’re gonna roll your fucking eyes at me while you’re lying in front of me like this? Bold move baby, I don’t think you know what I’m about to do to you,” he threatens as he leans into you. His hand now wrapping around your throat as he used his other hand to spread your wetness between your folds with his tip.

He silently aligned himself with your entrance, but you were too busy to notice, your mind completely occupied with his burning stare and the tightening hold he had on your throat.

Fuck you loved this, you loved him, and you were more than ready to feel him stretch you out.

“Don’t hold back.” You challenge him and he inhales sharply at the way you look under him, absolutely beautiful and bare. He pulls you even closer, making you rest your legs on each side of his shoulders.

“I won’t.” he smirks at you smugly, pumping himself a few more times as he kept staring at your body.

He didn’t ask confirmation for what he was about to do next, since he couldn’t wait any longer and honestly, the answer is pretty obvious. He pushed his tip inside of your tightness and eyed your reaction to him.

The stretch was intense yet heavenly, you licked your lips and watched his tip disappear in and out of you with ease.

If his tip alone was making you feel this good than what the fuck was yet to come?

As you arched your back in pleasure, he knew he could continue with pushing his length into you a little further and so he did. You gasped simultaneously at the immaculate feeling of your walls tightening around his grit and he groans, being on the other receiving end of the sensation.

He slowly pulled out of you to do it again, and again, and again until you were comfortable enough to take all of him. He took his sweet time, enjoying your moans and mewls. He was nice enough to let you adjust to him, taking note when your body started to relax more with every thrust.

“S-so…fucking…big.” You were grabbing on to his wrists with full force, trying to take him without being a little bitch to your best ability but he was a lot to handle.

You could easily take him in your mouth but since it’s been entirely too long since you’ve had sex with anyone it started to feel brand new, and his size wasn’t helping.

“U ok?” he asks as he kisses your temple sweetly, brushing your hair back with his fingers as he watches your face contort in both pain and pleasure.

He was sure to wreck you for your smart mouth, but the most important thing to him was your comfort, so he couldn’t bring it upon himself to live up to his threat.

You nod, burying your face in his neck as he starts to thrust into you a little deeper, agonizingly slow so you could adapt to him completely before he’d start to build up some speed.

“I…ah…I’m,” you start, but you’re unable to complete your sentence, too concentrated on being fucked by the love of your life.

Again, his rhythm was steady, almost robotic which gave you something to concentrate on other than being ravaged by his monstrous size. You were moaning, trying to form words but your mind was hazy. You were unable to tell him how well he was fucking you and how good he felt as your eyes roll back while he kept thrusting in and out of you with slow and deep strokes.

“Use your words baby. Tell me what you want.” he says in a whisper as he caressed your cheek with his thumb, finally releasing the hold he had on your throat this whole time.

“More,” you moan, tugging at his grown-out hair on the nape of his neck and he growls in approval. Wanting nothing more than to be buried balls deep inside of you.

He silently caressed your thigh, taking one of your legs off of his shoulder, bending your knee up to your chest so he could plunge into you fully.

He watched his cock disappear inside of you completely and a low, yet throaty moan escapes your lips as you grip the sheets tightly, your knuckles turning white at how hard you were gripping at the sheets to deal with the stretch.

He growled as he felt your walls contract around him, your tightness only edging him on to thrust into you faster and harder.

“Yes, baby. Yes!” you moan loudly, throwing your head back on your mattress, and he fastened his pace. Pounding in and out of you as he sucked on a newly found sweet spot on your neck.

“Ahh, so fucking tight,” he mused. “You’re sound so beautiful baby, fuck.”

He was praising you with every thrust. His pace steadily increasing, and you were just about to lose it.

You hated yourself for comparing him to your previous lovers in a moment like this, but you already knew that he took first place without a doubt. No one you’ve ever fucked came even close to how Yeonjun was making you feel right now.

Your mind focusses on the steady pace of his thrusts again, your wetness combined with the dirty skin slapping noises edging him on to continue to fuck into you mercilessly.

Your second orgasm of the night was approaching fast as you felt the knot in your stomach starting to form, and by the way you tightened around his cock even more. He sensed how close you were as your moans started to sound like pleading mewls.

He gave you a kittenish grin, biting down on your earlobe as he panted, moaning into your ear while his thumb found your clit, rolling delicious circles onto the sensitive nub. Applying more pressure with each of his thrusts.

“Y-yeonjun.” You gulp for air as you moan his name. “I can’t.”

“Yes, you can baby, yes you can. Come on. Do it for me.” He encourages you with a low voice, wanting nothing more than to see you cum on his cock.

His thrusts were getting erratic, the mix of your moans, his grunts and skin slapping sounds filled your room and he bent your other leg to your chest, exposing you to him completely as he fucked into you harder and even deeper than before.

You watched him bulge in your stomach, the feeling being just as intense as it looked and Yeonjun could swear that he had never seen a more arousing sight. He bit his lip, watching you completely lose it under him as you throw your head back, letting him have you the way he pleased as you grabbed on to your sheets again for some type of leverage.

Somewhere inside of you, you found the strength to lift your head to look up at him and the view alone of watching him fuck into you animalistically was enough to make you come undone completely.

Your orgasm washes over you so intensely that your whole body starts to shock around him, your legs shake uncontrollably, and he leans into you, muffling your noises with his hand so your neighbors wouldn’t start complaining to you the next day.

With a few more thrusts, you tightening around him even more and the visual stimulation of your extreme orgasm, he came. His liquids filling the condom to the brim after he pulled out of you completely.

You whimpered at the sudden loss of contact and squeal.

He was panting heavily, watching you like a hawk as you bring your hand to your forehead, panting as you press your thighs together tightly, hoping it would subside the tension.

_ end of smut _

You were trying to calm down, but your chest was heaving up and down so quickly that it almost felt like hyperventilation. You closed your eyes in order to concentrate on your breathing, trying to get your heart beating at a normal pace.

He was quick to notice just how fucked out you were and speedily discarded of the condom, wrapping you into his arms as he held you tightly, patting your head in an attempt to calm you down.

“Shhh, it’s ok, it’s ok.” He kissed your temple, and then your forehead, and then your nose, followed by a quick peck on your lips.

“Baby talk to me. Are you okay?” Concern was evident in his voice as you stayed quiet, still trying to catch your breath at the overstimulation you just experienced.

“I need a minute,” you manage to say, your voice hoarse and barely audible but he understood.

He caressed your back in comfort, letting his fingernails graze your bare skin in up and down motions to calm you down and you did, your lashes fluttering as you open your eyes slowly.

He just held you, pulling the sheets over the both of you so you’d feel less exposed and warm.

“That was incredible.” You finally speak up, completely calmed down from your adventure.

You were tired though, unable to do and say what you wanted since your brain didn’t allow you to.

All the muscles in your body were finally able to relax after being in a complete state of flux for over half an hour.

“Damn right it was.” He kissed your bare shoulder, massaging your scalp with his fingers, applying just the right pressure, making sure to help you relax even more.

“Stop, I’m going to fall asleep like this,” you mumble into his bicep, your eyes closing involuntarily at the divine feeling of his warm embrace in combination with the massaging motions of his fingers on your scalp.

“Then sleep baby.”

“But I wanna talk. I missed you so much.” You pout against his skin, blinking slowly to fight the heaviness of your eyelids.

“Me too, but we can talk tomorrow, and the day after that…and the day after that.” He lowkey reassured you of the fact that he wasn’t going anywhere, and his words made you smile to yourself since the confirmation was something you didn’t know you needed.

You nod, a small yet cute yawn escapes your lips with a squeal and the sound has Yeonjun’s heart doing martial arts in his chest. “You’re adorable,” he remarks and chuckles as he covered your shoulder with the duvet, making sure you were completely covered and warm.

“Goodnight baby, I love you.” He hums into your hair, tightening the hold he had on your waist while brushing your hair back as you rest your head on his chest comfortably.

You close your eyes overwhelmed with his sweetness and the love you felt for him.

This is where you belong, in his arms. Safe and sound.

At the moment you felt as though nothing could ever change the way you feel about him. That there was nothing in the world that could tear you away from him. You were his and he was yours, and you were sure your neighbors knew that by now too.

“I love you too, Yeonjun.”

You’re awake and happy, despite the soreness in your body.

You already showered, got dressed, had a coffee but Yeonjun was still asleep. You figured he’d be spent given the trip from home and the sudden family reunion at your place followed by the sexy stuff that happened afterward; so, you let him sleep in. Not having the heart to wake him.

You collected all of your scattered clothes throughout the house and made sure to fold them up for Yeonjun as he slept.

When you got out of bed you replaced your own warmth with a pillow that he was clutching on to as his lips were parted slightly. Breathing slowly with your sheets covering his manhood while his chest was covered by the pillow he was holding.

You adore him some more before you find something hard in the pocket of his pants as you fold the piece of clothing, retrieving the item from his pocket.

Ah, his phone.

The screen lit up automatically, and you didn’t mean to snoop; but her name on his display was enough to make you frown, using his asleep face for facial recognition to open up his phone.

[Mia, 9.21 AM]: Last night was a blow.

[Mia, 9.21 AM]: We need to tell them today.

[Mia, 9.22 AM]: Or else I’m going to lose it istg.

[Mia, 9.23 AM]: How tf did you manage to pretend like everything was okay last night?

You’re….so….confused.

You look over to Yeonjun and bite your lip.

Stop overthinking.

Just ask him when he wakes up….it’s probably nothing.

Your eyes dart from him to his phone again and you sigh, hating yourself for what you’re about to do.

You check his recent call list, and your eyes widen. All you see is Mia’s name.

Missed calls, calls that went through, calls from him to Mia and calls he had with her in the week he was ‘too busy’ while ignoring you.

‘Don’t. Freak. Out. Play it smart, play it safe.’ you tell yourself. You quickly put his phone back on the nightstand and put the pile of clothes next to it.

Walking out of your bedroom and closing the door behind you.

Yeonjun woke up about half an hour later. He looked around your room, but you were nowhere to be found. He frowned, discarding of the pillow in his arms that he was hugging tightly and as he did, so he found his phone on your bedside table, on top of a pile of his folded clothes from last night.

He didn’t think much of it, thinking you were in the living room or something but when he opened his phone and saw Mia’s already opened texts, he sits up immediately in shock.

“Fuck,” he curses, kicking the sheets off of him. He put on his boxers with the speed of light while making his way to your living room. Empty.

Kitchen, empty.

Bathroom, empty.

“Shit baby, where are you…”

“Hey, hey, hey. What’s wrong?” Soobin rushed over to you. You were seated on a bench in the park in front of your apartment complex, reading the screenshot you took from their texts over and over again to make sense of it all.

You told him it was an emergency, so he hurried to your side as quickly as possible.

He hugged you tightly and your lip starts to tremble as you bite down on it harshly, trying not to cry.

“Soobin, I hope I’m wrong, I really fucking hope I’m wrong,” your voice was shaky and laced with sadness as you looked up at him with big and confused eyes.

“Y/n…you’re scaring me,” Soobin says as he rubs your back, sitting down next to on the bench.

You hand him the phone in silence, and he smacks his lips in confusion as he read it, his pupils darting back and forth in disbelief.

“What is this?” He manages to ask, not understanding what was going on.

“You said she was acting weird since school started, they have been calling each other all throughout summer even when the semester started. When he was too busy to reply to my texts, he was on the phone with her…” you stop yourself from rambling and look at Soobin.

He looked completely hurt. “This…has to make sense somehow. Don’t think the worst of it. Mia would never do this to me,” he tells himself in reassurance. She wouldn’t. He had to believe it to stay sane.

Soobin’s last relationship ended with the girl cheating on him and if it was to happen again, he wouldn’t be able to take it. Especially with Mia. He has never had a relationship that he was so sure about before, but this…and with Yeonjun? Nothing made sense to him.

“I’ll call her over.” Soobin says through his teeth... “They’ve got some explaining to do.”

Your phone was blowing up with calls from Yeonjun but you didn’t pick up, waiting for Mia to get to your apartment. You lured her in the same way you told Soobin to come, hoping that she would race to be by your side just as quickly, cause if not; you’d know enough.

To your surprise, she arrived in no time, her face full of worry as she approached, but when she saw Soobin beside you with an equally fallen facial expression to yours, she stopped in her tracks.

“W-what’s going on?” She asks as she made her way to you, putting a hand on your shoulder but you shrugged it off, making her step back in shock at your coldness.

“Soobin…” Mia started but he sighed. “Let’s go inside first.”

Yeonjun sat defeated on your couch after a quick shower and a change of clothes, waiting for you to return home. He sighed, rubbing his forehead but when he heard your door open, he got on his feet in a split second.

He made his way to the front door watching you walk in with sad eyes followed by Soobin and Mia.

Oh…no.

“Baby…let me explain.” He starts, taking a step closer to you but you took a step back as he did. Hiding behind Soobin who stood between you two protectively.

Mia’s eyes dart from you to Soobin to Yeonjun and suddenly everything clicked to her.

“You saw the texts…” Mia speaks, her eyes looking down at the floor.

“Someone better start talking, or I swear to god.” Soobin says clenching his fists.

“It’s not what you think. I swear. We came here last night to talk to you both, but your parents were here and y/n you were so happy…I couldn’t do that to you..” Mia says she gets teary-eyed.

“Do what to me!? What are you talking about? Stop being so fucking vague.” You yell at them, your gaze lingering on Yeonjun.

Mia sighed, throwing her head back, emotion getting the best of her.

“Yeonjun…please…after last night…I can’t…,” you didn’t finish your sentence because he already knew what you meant.

“It’s nothing like that. I swear. Y/n believe me.”

“Then what,” Soobin speaks averting his gaze to Mia.

“I was keeping tabs on y/n through her.” Yeonjun says with sad eyes, and Mia slowly walked over to Yeonjun’s side so she could look at both you and Soobin clearly.

“What?” you say confused as ever, why would he do that? Why would he need to consult your best friend instead of talking to you personally when he had the chance to.

“That night of the funeral, I noticed something weird about him.” Mia chimes in. “He was looking at all of you as if he was trying to remember your faces and something didn’t sit right. I walked into the kitchen to talk to him and…”

“I wasn’t sure if I was going to come back.” Yeonjun says, finishing Mia’s sentence.

Your heart dropped, looking at Yeonjun with disbelief.

“Y-you weren’t coming back?” you question in horror.

“And you knew?” Soobin says averting his attention to Mia.

She avoided his gaze, playing with her sleeves.

“Y/n…you don’t get it. There are so many secrets, so much baggage. So much pain. I didn’t want to come back to you unable to give you what you deserve. I needed to make sure my past didn’t haunt me back to school.”

“So instead of talking to me about it…you were going to ghost on me?” You were past being just hurt. The fact that it was so easy for him to turn his back on you was beyond your comprehension; and the fact that Mia basically aided him in doing so only amplified how damaged you were by the revelation.

You couldn’t even be angry. You were just sad, disappointed, and broken.

“Y/n…being in the know could get you hurt. If malicious people were after the company, or if my dad had enemies I didn’t know about… I could never forgive myself if something happened to you because of me. If I told you, you would never leave my side. You know that.”

“Of course, I wouldn’t have left you!” you sniff. “You told me you loved me for crying out loud!” you yell at him as tears spill from your eyes and Yeonjun broke at the sight.

“Please…please don’t cry.” He stood in front of you, grabbing your face to make you look at him but you push him off of you. “You could have told me before you decided to fuck me last night.”

Yeonjun gulped. “N-no, y/n. Please. It’s not like that.”

Soobin glared at Yeonjun, anger filling his senses until his eyes landed on Mia, his anger turning to sadness as they made eye contact.

“What he does is his business. I get why he’d want to handle his business before he returned. I do. He could have handled it better, but we already know that Yeonjun hyung is fucked up. But you…lied to me…for two months…you lied to me so easily…Mia…that’s…” Soobin’s disappointment was evident.

“I was just…trying to help.” Mia sighed wiping the tears from her eyes.

You couldn’t even look at her. All the heartache you went through, venting to her about how much you missed Yeonjun all while she knew that he had no intention of coming back made you sick to your stomach.

“When will you stop choosing other people over our relationship?” Soobin says, his sadness turning back to anger as he raised his voice a little.

“That night when Yeonjun hyung and y/n fought…you rushed to be with her instead of staying with me to go together. You left me that night and I needed you.”

“Soobin…don’t…please.” Mia was sobbing by now. The empathy in yourself felt bad for her, but she did this to herself, and frankly, you were still too mad at her to jump in her defense.

“Why did you do it? Why did you keep it from me?” You sniff as you look at Mia, her heart breaking into a million pieces seeing your distressed state.

“Because I didn’t want you to be hurt…” she replies through her tears.

You can’t help but scoff, aggressively wiping your tears from your eyes with your sleeves. “This hurts way worse,” you say as new tears spill from your eyes. You were trying to breathe normally through your tears, but you couldn’t manage to calm down until Soobin grabbed your hand.

Yeonjun was looking at you, defeated as ever. He lost. Again. “Y/n…”

“No…” you stop him from speaking. “Please, shut up. I hope you had your fun with me last night. If I’m such a joke to you then please grab your shit and leave.”

“Y/n, stop. You know how much I love you.” Yeonjun pleads. He needs you to understand that he felt like he didn’t have a choice. That it was an either-or situation to him, but you were hurt and angry. You weren’t going to listen to him now and he knew that.

“No, no I don’t,” you say looking down, and Yeonjun’s heart shattered.

“I don’t think I can be with someone who can’t seem to get her priorities straight. I was always afraid I loved you more than you loved me” Soobin states looking at Mia with hollow eyes.

Yeonjun, yours and Mia’s eyes widen simultaneously at Soobin’s cold words.

You swallow harshly, looking up at him. “Soobin…”

He didn’t look at you as he bit his lip, tears filling the brims of his eyes as he kept staring into Mia’s tearful eyes “I need time,” he says raking his hand through his hair. “Alone.”

“N-no, Soobin. I-” Mia starts, but Soobin was already on to the next.

“And you,” he says diverting his attention to Yeonjun as he pulls you behind him protectively as if he was hiding you from him.

“You hang up this sad story about wanting to work on yourself, making sure y/n gets what she deserves from you. Wanting to keep her safe from god knows what. But you return just as fucked up as you left? Maybe even worse.” Soobin snaps, taking a step in Yeonjun's direction but Yeonjun didn’t budge though.

You pull him back by his arm, giving him a pleading look to contain himself.

Yeonjun was looking at his best friend with sad eyes for a second until he avoided his glare, looking at Mia on your couch with her face buried in her hands.

“You can’t be mad at her. I asked her to keep quiet.”

“I don’t give a fuck what you asked of her. She’s her own person, making her own decisions. As are you.” Soobin strikes back.

“Was it worth it? Did you at least find something useful about your family?”

Yeonjun shook his head in disappointment and looked at you. You were still looking down, clinging onto Soobin’s arm for leverage. You were sure your legs were going to give out on you if you didn’t hold onto him, so you held on for dear life.

“I couldn’t find anything. I came back because Lita helped me realize that my happiness is here. With you, the guys…with y/n.

You glanced up at the mentioning of your name.

“Nothing back home outweighed what I have here... My mind was clouded by loss and sadness. I couldn’t think straight and completely lost myself in the company and dealt with grief the wrong way, but I promise, I’m getting help. I’m going into therapy, I’m going to be better.”

Soobin scoffed. “Seeing is believing,” he states as he tugs on your arm.

“Let yourselves out. I’m not staying here to look at your faces.” he says as he pulls you with him

You stop in your tracks, your eyes darting from a lost looking Yeonjun to a broken looking Mia.

Leaving them in your apartment while you left felt odd, but you didn’t know what else to do at this point.

You lock eyes with Yeonjun and quickly avoid his stare, sadness washing over you as you see a tear spill from the corners of his eyes.

“Let’s go y/n.”

The halls of the massive Vila were completely empty.

Yeonjun’s mother had left for a long day at Choi Enterprises a few hours ago. Leaving Lita on her own in the house.

Lita’s heels were ticking on the marble tiled floor as she made her way through the endless halls.

Her stride slowed as she approached Daniel’s old home office, looking over her shoulder before she retrieved a key from her pocket to unlock the door.

She walked through, closing the door behind her, making her way to the bookcase in silence.

Her fingers grazed over the shelves, looking for the 13th book from the 9th shelf, Yeonjun’s birthday.

Lita pulled on the book and stepped back as the bookcase folded inwards automatically, revealing a staircase to a hidden bunker in the house.

She looked over her shoulder once again, calmly making her way down the hidden lair.

It was dusty and dark. The only things left in the room being an old desk, a computer, a phone, and some vaults.

She waited patiently before the clock strikes 5.53 PM.

The old phone on the desk rang, just like they agreed on and she sighed contently, clearing her throat before she accepted the call.

“I did what you said. The boy isn’t a problem anymore. He went back to that college.”

She took deep breath. Relaxing at the thought of Yeonjun no longer butting in to her business.

“We can proceed with our plans, I still have people shadowing him just in case.” she says as she smiled to herself.

“It will all be ours soon honey. We’re closer than ever now.”

Chapter 12

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darkficsyouneveraskedfor · 4 years

Text

One Night🌙4

Warnings: noncon sexual acts (to be warned later in series)

This is dark!Andy Barber and explicit. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Summary: One night changes your entire life.

for @kittykatlow‘s 200 Follower Celebration

Note: Well, at long last you get another chapter of Andy Barber and I’m just as impatient all y’all!

Hope you enjoy it. Thank you. Love you guys!

Please leave some feedback, like and reblog <3

Masterlist

Andy's perfect suburban neighbourhood was enough to make you feel out of place. His house only added to that boiling insecurity as he pulled into the wide driveway. He kept his calm but taunting silence up as classic rock continued to blare from the radio, interrupted by jarring jingles and ridiculous radio jockey banter.

As he killed the engine, the sudden silence hit you like a wall. You opened the car door but found it hard to go much further. The door shut and you planted your hand against it.

Andy startled you as he came up beside you, your suitcase rolling behind him as your large tote was slung over his shoulder. You made to grab the bag and he waved you away.

"Come on," He nodded to the house, "You said you were tired. I'll get you settled and you can rest."

You frowned but said nothing. You walked ahead of him around the front of his car and up the mosaic path that led to his front door. He fished around in his pocket and brushed against you as he reached to unlock the front door. He pushed it open and waited for you to enter.

The place looked straight out of a catalogue. White furniture!? Who in their right mind lived like this. It would be like living in a museum. You inched inside and stopped short in front of Andy as a photo of his wife and kid met you on the small side table just beside the couch. He barely kept from colliding with you.

He dropped your bag against the wall and let your suitcase go. He reached around you and took the picture. He cleared his throat and stepped away. You watched him through the wide archway that opened up on the other side of the staircase. You could barely see him as he went to the kitchen and shoved the frame in a drawer.

He returned, his eyes avoiding you and gathered up your bags. He edged past you, stopping at the bottom of the stairs to look back at you.

"Well, you coming?" He asked and started up the staircase.

You followed a few feet back as his footfalls echoed around you. He led you down the hallway and pulled closed a door as he passed. You glanced the posters on the wall and a seemingly interrupted scene still set up within. The snap of the clasp kept you going.

He turned back at the next doorway and sighed. He shrugged and nodded to it.

"I'm just across the hall," He said. "And you'll have... space."

His tone was sour and you didn't miss the tic in his jaw. He waited until you stepped ahead of him and opened the door yourself. He pushed your suitcase just inside and set your bag on the bed. A floral quilt was pulled across the top as similar flowers hung in oval frame along the wall.

"Never really had many guests," He said as he pushed back his jacket and gripped his hips. "Don't even know if anyone but me ever slept in here. You know, had a beer too many and... well, you take a nap and we'll talk when you get up."

"I can find somewhere else," You said.

"You won't," He insisted. "Not now. Talk later." He went to the door and grabbed the handle, pausing before he could pull it shut behind him. "I've got some work to finish up. I'll be in my office. Downstairs, just off the front room. Just by the Sox banner."

"Sure," You turned away in resignation. "I guess I'll find you."

A long exale came from him just before he slowly pulled the door closed. You listened for the click then hung your head. How did this man expect to start a new family when his old one still lived here? It didn't matter how many pictures he hid, he couldn't just push them out.

🌙

Once you laid down, it wasn't hard to fall asleep. The days had piled atop your eyelids and dragged you down into a heavy doze. You awoke on your side, your arm trapped beneath you and tingling. You groaned and sat up, your head ached with each move.

You yawned and looked out the window. It was dark. You rubbed your eyes and did your best to rouse yourself. The house was silent. You inched the door open and listened. You crept out and headed down the hall to the stairs. Again, you listened and heard nothing.

You descended and went to the kitchen. You found a tall glass from the cupboard and filled it from the tap. As you turned around, the rim just before your lips, you jumped at the shadow that appeared in the archway.

Andy flicked the light on. He leaned on the wooden frame and crossed his arms. His button up was rolled up past his elbows and his hair was mussed as if he'd been running his fingers through it over and over. You choked on the water and steadied yourself.

"Hey," You coughed. "What's, uh, I was just... thirsty."

"It's fine. By all means," He uncrossed his arms and stood straight.

He neared the end of the island that stood parallel to the sink. You set your glass down on it nervously.

"I... just woke up. I thought maybe you were already... sleeping." You said. You were hoping, actually.

"No, not yet. You hungry?" He asked.

"Not really," You replied. "Thanks."

"You should eat. What did you have today?"

"I... um," You tried to think. You'd had half a club sandwich at the diner. "I had a sandwich and um, a cookie on the way home."

"That's hardly enough for two," He neared the corner of the island. "I'm not a bad cook. I could make you something. Or order something?"

"Really, it's fine--"

"It's not--" He raised his hand to calm himself. "It's not fine. You're carrying my child. You starve myself, you starve them. So... eat." He turned and opened the fridge. "I've got some hummus and veggies you can munch on and uh, thin crust pizza I can toss in."

He turned and set down a tupperware of celery, carrots, and cauliflower along with a container of hummus. He closed the fridge and opened the freezer with a puff of cool air. He took out a thin crust cheese and spinach pizza.

He went to the stove and held down the temperature button. He turned back and opened the box as he waited for the over to preheat. He took out the pizza and peeled away the plastic. He left it on the counter and came closer again. He pulled the lid off the tupperware and the smaller container.

"Eat," He said. "Is everything gonna be this difficult?"

You scowled and grabbed a carrot stick. You scooped up a glob of hummus and bit into with zeal, all the while staring him down. You smiled at him with mouth full and chewed.

"So, can we talk or are you going to continue to act like a child?" He asked.

"I don't know, are you going to keep acting like my dad," You huffed.

He blinked and shook his head.

"I'm open to compromise but if you're gonna be like this, I won't be so understanding," He hissed. "So sit," He pushed a tall stool towards you. "And eat."

"Yes, father," You climbed up on the stool and grabbed some celery.

"I always thought it was 'daddy'," He raised his brow. You scoffed at his bad joke.

The oven dinged and he shoved the pizza inside. He set the time and stood across the island from you. He put one hand on his hip as his other gripped the edge of the marble.

"Tomorrow, you make an appointment." He said.

"Sure," You picked out a piece of cauliflower.

"And you can't keep working two jobs. You gotta drop one." He stated. "It's not good for you or the baby."

"You can't just make me give up my livelihood." You argued.

"Livelihood? How much do you think you make in a year? Probably no where close to twenty grand. I make at least five times. We can afford for you not to kill yourself--"

"'We'?!" You exclaimed. "Andy, there is no we."

He slapped the countertop suddenly and swore.

"Fuck's sake. You know for someone so damn helpless you sure do hate help!" He snarled. "It's like you want... you want this to go wrong. Everything has to go wrong so you can keep being the innocent little victim of your own life."

You recoiled and swallowed your mouthful. You threw the carrot stick in your hand at him. He batted it away easily.

"You don't fucking know me," You spat. "So don't you judge me."

"I know you fucked me in the toilet after about twenty minutes," He snickered.

You took the hummus and wipped it at him too. It splattered across his front and the container bounced across the counter.

"After three drinks, on top of several before," You snapped. "I don't have to explain myself to you." You got off the stool. "I don't want your fucking pity or whatever you're doing. I'm not going to be your little project."

You swept around the island but he caught your arm and pulled you back. The garlic from the hummus filled your nostrils and woke your hormonal hunger.

"Where are you going to go? You think I want you sleeping with my baby on the street?" He squeezed, hard. "And whatever you want to call it, my pity is better than the alternative."

"Let go," You wriggled in his grasp.

"You really wanna be a little bitch over a cafe gig?" He lowered his voice. "You walk out, I'll find you. I will not stop," He sneered. "You got it?"

"You're hurting me," You gritted through your teeth.

"Tomorrow you tender your resignation," He growled as his other hand came up to frame your chin. "Right?"

"Stop--"

"To-mor-row," He said decisively.

"Tomorrow," You uttered softly. "Okay?"

He smiled and nodded, slowly releasing you. He pulled loose his tie and slipped it over his head and unbuttoned his short. He slid it back down his shoulders and bared his chest. He approached the broad archway as he shed the shirt entirely. He stopped and turned to glance over his shoulder.

"I gotta clean myself up," He said. "I expect you to clean up the rest."

He left you and you squinted at the doorway. What an asshole. You took several deep breaths then took several sheets of papertowel from above the sink. You wiped the hummus from the counter and the floor and tossed the towel. You picked up the errant carrot stick as well and the oven beeped.

Everything about this kitchen was idyllic. It was the perfect suburban haven. The oven mitts, printed with an image of cheese and grapes, hung from the cupboard just beside the stacked ovens. You took them and pulled out the rack. You eased the pizza onto a plate and set it on the counter. You snapped the oven shut and turned it off after a brief struggle with the buttons.

Andy reappeared as you turned back, he wore a grey tee a some plaid pajama pants. Even in the bar, having done what you'd done, you'd never seen him without his suit. He was always the staunch lawyer man, even with a belly full of whiskey. Now he just looked like some guy.

"Two bulletpoints down," He said as he went to the drawer and searched for the pizza cutter. "I'd like to sort this out tonight. I have a long day tomorrow."

"Fine," You took the cutter from him and sliced the pizza into triangles. "What else can I do to appease you, your majesty?"

"For one, you will not be working beyond six months," He stated. "Can't risk it. Especially with those heavy trays."

"Six months? You know, they would accomodate me--"

"I'm a lawyer. You know how many workplaces are dragged into court for not accomodating employees?" He interjected.

"I'm a lawyer," You mimicked. "I get it. Six months."

"House rules," He raised his index, "Home before nine when you're not closing, but I'd prefer it if you stuck to day shifts," He instructed, "I'm pretty good about housework." He went tot he fridge and took down a notepad that had been pre-printed with a roster of chores. "We can switch off with dishes. I do laundry on Sundays but I take my dry-cleaning in on Friday. Sweeping and mopping, about once a week. I can take care of that if you can do a bit of dusting and tidying in the living room."

You stared at him. Was everything about his life so ordained? Well, surely not fucking a stranger ins a bar.

"I think I can clean up after myself," You sniffed. "Curfew, cleaning, good, got it."

"Right," He said gruffly, "And in regards to your care, you will inform me of all your appointments and medical concerns."

"Okay."

"And, I don't mind if you have friends over but let me know ahead of time," He continued. "No guys."

"What?" You chuckled dryly. "What are they gonna do? Knock me up again?"

"No guys," He snarled. "I mean it." You stared at him. You shook your head and he shoved the plate at you. "Eat."

You took a piece, the cheese stringy as it clung to the next. You bit into it and swallowed before you found your voice.

"Andy, this isn't-- we fucked in a bathroom," You muttered. "You can't think--"

"My house, my rules," He warned. "Now, you have your own room and freedom to anything inside this house. That's it. Fair trade. This isn't a negotiation."

"Fucking lawyer," You rolled your eyes. "You know, we get you in the diner all the time. You complain about the fucking food yet you're barely paying pocket change for a damn omelet then you don't even leave a tip. Write something on the receipt like 'resilience is more valuable than any bill'."

He laughed and ran his tongue along his bottom lip.

"Well, with an attitude like that, I can't imagine you ever getting stiffed..." He said. "...on a tip."

"Alright, I play by your stupid rules until this damn thing is out of me," You sneered. "That's it."

"Good girl," He smiled. "Now have a few more slices and you're free for the night."

#andy barber #dark andy barber #dark!andy barber #dark andy barber x reader #dark!andy barber x reader #andy barber x reader #defending jacob #fic #one night #series #dark fic #dark!fic

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wsminho · 2 years

Photo

solo 6 / april 2022 / 938 w

tldr: Minho is going to the countryside! What ridiculous thing did he bring that Han no doubt later repacks for him?

The camera begins recording while Minho nearly has his face pressed against the lens, nose a mere centimeter away from poking the camera off its little portable tripod. He blinks right into the bright red light signaling recording has started. Success! He told Han he could do this on his own! He walked back, so his whole body could be captured on camera. The idol’s bright clothes stand out against the mostly green background and clear blue sky. It was clear he was in the middle of some kind of garden, stretching on the length of half a playground. Beside his brightly colored overalls, Minho wore a large floppy sun hat and carried with him a large wicker basket and a single garden trowel, handle painted a cute baby blue.

“Hi My Little Country!” He waves the hand carrying the trowel, nearly vibrating with enthusiasm. He had already been excited for the show before he knew about the cabbage garden. Now that he knew there would be cabbages?

It was only fair he show off his own! He even got special permission to come back home to show off the garden.

“Everyone,” he says loudly, without a care in the world how much his voice might carry or who else might hear him, “welcome to my garden!”

The young idol placed the trowel into his wicker basket, clumsily pulling out a chubby head of cabbage instead. He holds it above his head, singing the Lion King theme song. With a big smile, he comes closer to the camera to allow for closer inspection of the cabbage he proudly showcased. “Did you know cabbages are in season all year long? You can have them any time of the year! So you have no reason not to eat your veggies, okay? You can put cabbage in anything. Your eggs, your ramen, even your cake! Probably!”

For a few minutes, Minho attempts to balance the cabbage on his head, finally getting the balance right after a long attempt. He grins toothily into the camera, careful not to dislodge his hat’s new hat.

“Our pretty Blossoms already know this, but I’ve grown cabbages forever! My mom and dad got me this garden when I was in elementary school! I went on a field trip to a farm and really liked it, so they decided to let me have my own farm at home. Isn’t it nice? The gardeners are so helpful and we always sing to the veggies together! The cabbages like Etoile the best, of course. But the berries really like Dandelion noonas’ songs! I like Red Flavor the best. Chorong noona is so refreshing in that song right? Our cherry noona? We don’t have cherries in season right now, but those are super yummy too.”

Minho continues to blab on about his garden, picking up the camera to walk through the rows and rows of evenly planted and carefully cultivated fruits and vegetables. Somehow, the cabbage stays planted on his head until he makes a turn into a new row, tumbling down onto the ground. The boy picks it up carefully, dusting off any dirt and sweetly apologizing to the cabbage for dropping him. He returns the cabbage to the wicker basket, allowing it a steadier ride through the garden.

“That’s my special talent! I have a green thumb! Not really, my thumb is skin colored.” He pulls off both his gardening gloves, as if to prove his fingers weren’t a magical different color than the rest. “I’m really excited to grow vegetables with my new family! I learned a lot of new songs so we can all enjoy it together! I even practiced with Hannie hyungie!”

Minho starts swaying side to side, cheerfully singing an English song for the camera.

The video cuts to another scene. Minho is sitting in the middle of a large room, prettily decorated, not unlike a child’s. There are pastel colored toys and a cream colored bookshelf filled with books and toys. On the walls are photos of a young Minho with his parents and multiple Etoile posters.

“Hi everyone! Welcome back! I’m still at home, so I decided to show you the three things I’m bringing to the countryside!”

The first item in his hands is an assortment of cat treats. “There are lots of cats in the countryside,” he begins confidently, “so I want to feed all of them. I don’t know what type of food they like though, so I just brought all the ones I saw on the shelf! I’m going to miss the cats near our dorm, so I’ve left Hannie hyungie and Subin hyungie with super careful instructions on which cats like which treats.”

He puts the cat treats down to lift up a frankly enormous fox plush. “My second item is Luna. He’s one of my newest stuffed animals, so I thought he would miss me the most if I went away for a long trip to the countryside. He’s going to keep me company and be able to see the world! Maybe he’ll even meet his cousins!”

Finally, the idol brandishes his final item. An Etoile lightstick. He waves it around, giggling happily. “Of course I have to bring my lightstick too! You never know when you might need it!”

Minho claps his hands once, turning the lights in the room off. He then clicks on the lightstick, illuminating his face. “Isn’t it pretty? It’s the prettiest lightstick ever, don’t you think?”

He claps his hands again, turning the lights back on. “That’s it from me! I can’t wait to see everyone again in the countryside!”

#solo.#ws:casting #ws:mylittlecountry

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lu-undy · 4 years

Text

Chapter 89 - SBT

Here it is!

"Here, Micky, a bigger bowl."

"Oh, thanks, Mum! Come along, babies, Dad is gonna show you stuff."

Caroline opened the French window for Mundy and the cats to step in the garden.

"Careful with the chickens, they aren't toys or food, eh?" Mundy told the cats who froze when they saw the few ginger hens. "Eggs first?" He asked his mother who nodded.

"Yes, please, you'll find them on your left, you'll see your father built them a little coop."

"Oh, alright." Mundy cast a glance over the cats. Soot had stepped between Perle and the curious hen pecking at the grass.

"Meow…" He slowly lowered his body closer to the ground and his pupils went wide.

"No, no huntin' of the hens, Sooty boy…"

Soot looked up at Mundy.

"Meow!"

"No, they're nice, look." Mundy put the bowl down and crouched to take a hen and sit on the ground. He petted her gently while Caroline watched the whole scene unravel before her eyes. "C'mere and touch, she's soft."

Soot hesitated but Perle trusted Mundy and came closer, albeit prudently. She raised a paw and Mundy held it between his fingers.

"Good girl, don't be scared… Here, see? The hen is a friend."

"Meow?"

"Yeah, a friend. She's not scared of ya, see? She's just curious. C'mon, Sooty boy, man up and c'mere."

Soot approached but positioned himself such that Perle was always between him and the chicken.

"Don't be shy… Gimme yer paw."

Soot averted his green eyes and looked down.

"C'mon…"

Perle turned to him and after a few affectionate licks and some purrs, her charms worked and Soot raised his paw.

"Good boy… Here…"

"Meow?" He raised apprehensive eyes to Mundy.

"It's safe, don't worry. You trust your Dad, right?"

There was a second of hesitation and Soot meowed again. Mundy gently pulled his paw and his black pads came into contact with the hen's feathers.

"Here we go… Gently… No, we don't slap her… Pearl, show him, baby… See? The wifey's not scared, eh?"

"You still are as good with animals as you've always been." Caroline said with a sweet grin. Mundy smiled back at her as she came to ruffle his hair. He was sitting on the grass, his legs open, with the hen in his hands and Perle and Soot between his long legs.

"Especially these two, they're adorable."

"Aw… And you really behave like their Dad, eh?"

Mundy blushed.

"Y-yeah, well, I raised them… L-let's get the eggs eh?" He stood up and released the hen. "Oh that's a gorgeous little house they have..." He discovered a quite large wooden coop. "How many chickens d'you have?"

"A dozen maybe? And a couple of roosters, too."

Both approached the coop and the chickens cackled happily.

"Ladies and gents, hey there…" Mundy ran his hands on their feathers. "I'm surprised they're not scared."

"I hold them in my arms all the time."

"Why not get a cat or a dog? Better pet than chickens, eh?"

"Yeah but after what happened in the farm, it's hard to even just have those few hens." Caroline sighed.

"Hey…" Mundy went closer to her and, bending down, he hugged her. "What happened at the farm won't happen again, Mum."

"I know but… I'm always scared… Who knows what could happen here?"

"There's no oil or anythin' here, and even if there was, Duchemin's dead."

"Yeah…" Caroline hugged her son back. "Micky?"

"Yeah?"

"I missed you so much."

"So did I, Mum. Went mad without you. I even missed my fights with Dad."

She tapped him on the back.

"Such a good boy you are… C'mon, let's get the eggs."

"Sure."

They both helped each other and collected all the eggs in the coop.

"Leave just one or two, in case there's a chick inside."

"Okay. What next?"

"Next, you can fill the basket with whatever veggies you like, come follow me."

"Really? Mum, no, c'mon, you need the money…"

"Nonsense!" Caroline turned and walked away, heading for the little vegetable farm. "I'm gonna make sure you can eat before I can sell anything, you're my son and baby, no way I'm feedin' people before I feed you."

Mundy smiled.

"But Mum, you need to keep stuff to sell it - oh, my God! That's amazing!"

Mundy's sentence and his breath altogether cut short when his eyes fell on his parent's garden.

"You have such a big garden, Mum, it's great!" Mundy's eyes eagerly scanned every plant, every stem and every leaf of the green lines of fresh vegetables that all beckoned his eyes.

"Aw, it's smaller than what we had back in the days but it gets us enough money."

"Mum, this is great…!" He crouched next to the melons. "Babies? C'mere, let me explain, now, no, no claws, only touch with your little paws… There, good babies… Look at these flowers, see them?"

"Meow…!"

"Soot, don't put your face in the flower… Scared but curious you are, eh? Yeah, it's a melon flower, you can't see it, but it's orange. And you know what? They open when the sun rises and then close for the night."

Perle came closer and sniffed the flower.

"Meow."

"You like it?"

"Meow…." She purred and Mundy scratched her head.

"And look here. What are these, d'you remember them? Papa loves them." Mundy pointed at some vegetables.

"Meow!"

"Yeah, it's peppers! Good girl…!" Mundy kissed Perle's head.

"Papa?" Caroline repeated as she picked a melon and put it in the basket.

"Yeah, that's Lu's name for Pearl."

"He's Papa and you're Dad?" Caroline picked a few bell peppers.

"Y-yeah…" Mundy blushed. "B-but yeah, uh, Lu', he likes those bell peppers. Makes ratatouilles with them." He tried to justify himself and lead the conversation away.

"You like it?"

"What?"

"His ratatouille?" She asked.

"Yeah…? It's… It's nice. It's a French thing. Smells really good too when he cooks it. The entire house smells of it."

Caroline smiled and Mundy's eyes went back to the vegetables. He walked through among the rows, stopping at each new kind of plant and had the cats touch it, sometimes even let them have a taste.

"Sooty boy, cherry tomatoes aren't toys, stop slappin' them, there, good boy. Wanna taste one? C'mere. Baby Pearl, c'mere too. Here… Y'like it? Yeah, you do! It's nice, isn't it?"

Caroline followed her son and filled his basket with whatever was ripe.

"Oh by the way, Micky, I have a few other things I want to give you."

"Mum, you've already filled this big basket with stuff, you shouldn't have…!"

"Yeah, I should have! Now, be a dear and carry it back home and follow me."

"Right. Babies, wanna follow? Oh, yeah, they do. Alright, c'mon, chop, chop!"

They made it back inside of the house and Mundy put the basket on the kitchen table.

"I made these things a few weeks ago now," Caroline started as she went to the tip of her toes and opened some cupboards. She took some glass jars out and adjusted her glasses to read the stickers on them more easily. "Ah, that's the one." She took one of the jars and added it to the basket.

"What's that?" Mundy took a look. "Oh! Apricot jam? Really?" His face brightened with a smile.

"Still your favorite, yeah?" She asked.

"Oh yeah, still my favourite, always! Thank you so much, Mum…!" He hugged her dearly.

"Aw, sweetie, it's nothing…"

"Nah, don't say that, it's the best jam ever." He closed his eyes and tried to remember the last time apricot jam had a strong effect on him. His eyes snapped open when he realised that it was at Victoria's diner, when he was sharing the crêpes with Lucien…

"I'll wash a couple of apples and we can sit and have them, yeah?" She suggested.

"Sure." They broke the embrace.

"Wanna have it inside or out under the sun?" She asked as she rinsed two red apples.

"Outside?"

"Alright, here, let's go." She gave him one and he opened the French window for her. They both stepped outside again, followed by the cats. Caroline took a seat on a chair while Mundy preferred to sit cross-legged on the grass in front of her. Perle and Soot jumped between his thighs and laid there, in a pile of fluff. The sun and Mundy's scratches gently soothed them to sleep.

"Aw, look at your cats, they're sleepin' together…" Caroline tilted her head on the side and smiled.

"Yeah, they're adorable. I love them."

"They love you too, listen to them purr…"

Mundy grinned. He looked around him and took a deep breath. The Aussie loved being in a grassy lawn with his mother. They both took a crunchy bite of their apples.

"Mh…! Super juicy. Is this from the garden too?"

"Yeah, we got a few trees, apples, pears, apricots… The basics."

"Meow." Perle opened her eyes and yawned. Mundy scratched her head and she blinked slowly.

"Hey, baby, short nappy, eh?"

"Meow…" She hopped off of Mundy's lap and stretched in the grass while Soot was still sleeping. She played with the straws of green and fresh grass before going to Caroline's legs and brushing herself on her.

"Aw, Pearl, y'like me?" Caroline asked.

"Meow." She answered.

"That's your Grandma right there, baby." Mundy answered.

"Grandma?" Caroline repeated. "I thought only Soot was yours and Pearl was Lucien's?"

"Y-well…" Mundy blushed again. "I-It's a shared custody… I mean she obeys me as much as him, eh."

Perle sniffed Caroline's trousers on her legs before looking up and jumping on her lap.

"Aw, hello, Pearl… Can I pet you?"

"Yeah, she's very easy, go ahead."

"You're so soft…! Does she shed a lot of hair everywhere in the house?" Caroline asked.

"We're used to it now, we find long white hair everywhere. If it's medium length, it's her, if it's proper long, it's Lu's few white streaks."

Perle lay down and blinked slower and slower under Caroline's strokes.

"Look at her, she likes you, Mum."

"I guess she does. She's beautiful…!"

"Meow."

"You're welcome." Caroline answered with a chuckle. Both Mundy and her soon finished their apples. They were under the sun, for the cats' greatest delight, and were silently appreciating each other's company.

"Micky?"

"Yeah?"

"Your friend, Lucien, you trust him, right?"

"Yeah, I do, why?"

"Well, I don't know… I'd say be careful, eh? You never know."

Mundy frowned.

"What d'you mean? Why d'you say that?"

"Something's… off with him." She answered.

"What?"

"Don't you think it's a little bit odd?"

"Mum, you gotta be clearer."

"Right, right… His suit last time, remember it?"

"Yeah, the beige one? What about it?"

"It's a Lemercier, it's the most expensive tailor in town, and yet he said to be struggling with money…?"

Mundy's pupils retracted to a dot and his breath stopped. Bugger, his mother had to be that observant…

"And when you came before that, I saw him with another suit through the window. Looked as neat as a Lemercier."

Mundy bit his lip and lowered his head.

"All I'm saying is that he might be hiding things from you, and those things might be heaps of money he doesn't want anyone to know of… Look, Micky, were the circumstances different, I wouldn't care a bit. After all, this is none of my or your business."

"But…?" Mundy anticipated, raising his eyes to his mother.

"But you both… dealt with a guy. You're both supposed to… not be free." She looked right and left and whispered, just in case. "What do you know about that man? He could report you to the police, or even be the police for that matter!"

"Mum, I'm sure he won't, don't worry. He just likes to dress fancy."

"Alright, fair, but where does the money come from for him to pay custom-made suits where he is a teacher for poor kids? Surely that isn't his only source of money? And why pretend he can't afford to live alone if he clearly can?"

Mundy started sweating. Of all the lies and well constructed nonsense that he and Lucien had told his parents, it was the one thing they hadn't talked about that had planted the seed of doubt in Caroline, namely, Lucien's clothing style.

"Well the answer's clear, Micky!"

"What?"

"If he pretends to not be able to pay for the rent on his own but has to live with you, it's because he needs you close!"

Mundy blushed.

"W-what d'you mean, he needs me close?"

"He can't afford to have you walkin' around on your own far from him!"

"W-Why?" Mundy's heartbeat accelerated and Soot woke up.

"Because you both did what you did to that guy!"

Mundy sighed in relief. For a second, he thought his mother might have guessed that they were more than partners in crime.

"Yeah, well…?"

"Yeah! And he wants to make sure you won't turn him in! So he keeps you close!"

Mundy couldn't hold back a smile.

"Mum, no, don't worry…"

"How can you be so calm about it?! First, you live with… well… a criminal."

"I'm one too, eh. He didn't do it alone."

"Yeah, but contrary to you, he's a liar." She answered and it sawed Mundy's heart in half. He wanted to protest and defend Lucien, but he couldn't do much without telling Caroline the truth. "And if he's lying about one thing, God knows how many other things he lied about."

"Mum…"

"No, Micky, look at me… I'm worried for you, sweetie. You live with a dangerous man is all I want you to understand and…"

"Did you tell Dad about it?"

"No, I didn't. If I had, he'd have gone mad worrying. And we both know that your Dad isn't the best when it comes to reactin' to situations like that, eh?"

"Yeah, thanks for not tellin' him."

"I'm not telling him but…" Caroline raised an index finger and Mundy, a curious eyebrow. "I'll ask you to come here and live with us instead. We have a house, an extra room, you'll be back home and I won't worry so much about you."

"But Mum, I finally did it! I got a job and a place, you want me to break all that cause Lu' wears fancy suits?!"

"Micky, you know it's not about the suits. It's about you bein' safe. The man is elegant, has good manners, and everythin'. But he is hiding things from you, important things, stuff that could be scary to you and us, and maybe it's dangerous, who knows? I'd rather have you here with us than there with him."

Mundy sighed and covered his face with his hands.

"Micky… Look at it that way. If he's lyin' about one thing, he might be lying about a billion more, who knows? That story about his fiancée and son, maybe it's all made up? Maybe he wasn't in the army at all? Why did he then travel all the way to Australia and help you? Nothin' makes sense!"

"No." Mundy answered and removed his hands off his face. "It's… It's… I mean… It's all true, the fiancée and son, I saw pictures of them with him. And what he did to Duchemin… He…" Mundy looked left and right and whispered. "He carved their names with his knife on the bloke's chest, on top of the burns I made."

Caroline's eyes snapped wide and her eyebrows jumped.

"If none of that's true, surely he wouldn't have done that, would it? And he wouldn't have wanted to get that guy, right? Nothin' makes sense because you don't get it, Mum."

"What?" She asked.

"I… I appreciate… that you're worried for me. But I know what I'm doin', ok? I know Lu', I know him very well and he knows me very well too. Just… Just trust me."

Caroline took a deep breath.

"Micky… I'd love to trust you, but I can't. That man is hiding stuff from you and it could be dangerous." Caroline gently nudged Perle who jumped out of her lap and joined her son on the grass. She sat next to him and cupped his face. "I lost you once, Micky, I don't want to run that risk, or any risk, ever again." She added.

Mundy sighed.

"Mum… I can't do that." He said, lowering his head.

"Why? It's ok, I'll deal with your Dad, I'll tell him what I think and he won't think any less of you, don't worry."

"I'm not worryin' about that." Mundy admitted.

"What's the problem then? Tell me, sweetie."

Mundy raised distraught eyes to his mother.

"I can't tell you. But you have to trust me, please."

"Micky, you're startin' to worry me now, what is it?" Her hazel eyes darted left and right behind her glasses to Mundy's.

The Aussie lowered his head and laid it against his mother's chest. She hugged him dearly.

"What is it, Micky? Please, tell me, I promise I won't be mad and I won't tell your Dad."

"I can't…"

"Why? Is he forcin' you to keep your mouth shut?"

"No, not him."

"Who then? Who's preventing you from speaking?" She asked, determined to change that for her son.

"You." He answered.

"What?!" Her eyebrows jumped behind her glasses.

"You and Dad."

"What?!" She repeated. "Micky, we never want you to keep important stuff away from us."

Mundy nodded his head against his mother's chest.

"No!" She answered. "Never, ever, did we ever ask you such a thing! What are you talking about?!" She hugged him tighter.

"I can't tell you, because you don't want to hear it." He said and his breath hitched.

"Micky…? What is it? Bloody hell, if you're crying, it's really scary then…!"

Mundy raised his head off of his mother's chest and wiped his face with his sleeve.

"I can't tell you here." He sniffled. "We have to go out."

"We're already out in the garden!"

"No, out of here, far from Dad. He's in the house."

"Where d'you want us to go?"

"I'll take you home and show you. But Mum, you gotta promise to never ever tell Dad about it, ok?"

"Well, depends what it is!" She almost exclaimed. "If it's dangerous, I have to tell him."

"Mum, it's really not dangerous, but you gotta promise. If you think you might tell Dad, then I'm not showing you."

"Micky…"

"No, no, you gotta swear."

She sighed.

"That's blackmail, Micky."

"It was blackmail too when you asked me to come live here otherwise you'd tell Dad that I'm in danger." He answered and her eyebrows jumped up. "But I don't mean to blackmail you, like you didn't mean to do to me, I just want to tell you." He was begging with his eyes. "Please, Mum, please, let me tell you… Swear you won't tell him and I'll tell you the truth."

Caroline looked at her son's distraught and pleading eyes. She took a deep breath and didn't hesitate long.

"Alright, I swear I won't tell him."

"Swear on somethin' that matters."

"Micky…!"

"Mum-!" Mundy stopped himself and lowered his voice. "Mum, please… I want to tell you, I want to tell you so, so, much, but I'm scared… I'm so bloody scared I feel like I can't do anythin' and I'm just in a prison of lies." He sniffled and his breath went hitched again.

"Ssh… Wipe your tears, baby." She hugged him dearly. "Sweetie, I swear on your father's head that I won't tell him a thing. I love you, Micky, you're my only baby and I don't want you to be so scared of your Dad that you keep things away from me too. Oh, Gosh… Alright, let it go, sweetie, it's ok, it's ok…"

Mundy cried against his mother's chest. He was about to hit a point of no return. Telling her the truth about his relationship with Lucien might liberate him, or it might lock him up in his closet forever.

#tf2 spy #tf2 sniper #sniperspy #SBT

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callboxkat · 4 years

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Second Chances part 8: The Visit (1 of 2)

Author’s note: Very excited to finally bring you guys this next installment of Second Chances! The second half should be out in a few days. Until then, enjoy this one :)

Summary: Between some difficulty getting along with his coworkers and his quickly approaching visit with his parents, Roman has a lot on his mind. He can only hope that things will turn out well.

Warnings (for part 1) : fear of being rejected, food mention, arguing, panic attack

Word count: 6134

Second Chances Masterpost!

Writing Masterpost!

...

Roman received his first paycheck on the Friday of his first week at the Sanders Café. He didn’t have an account set up yet for it to be directly deposited into—he and Logan were planning to take care of that over the weekend—so this first one was a literal paper check.

Roman was very excited, practically jogging back to the house. When he arrived, he immediately tried to give the check to Patton, in return for letting him stay at the house.

Patton turned him down, cheerfully saying that Roman didn’t owe them anything, and he wasn’t going to take his money. Roman probably should have expected that. He knew that Patton had benefited a lot from the kindness of strangers in his past—of course someone like him would try to pay that forward.

So, when Logan got home, Roman went to him instead and tried again to hand over his check, figuring that Logan was more likely to agree to the exchange. However, Logan just shook his head and pushed it back to him. “That’s yours, Roman. Maybe you can contribute something with future checks, but you should build up some savings for yourself, first.”

Roman had tried to insist, but Logan wasn’t budging, so he’d finally given up. He did have one more idea.

Maybe Patton and Logan had flatly turned him down, but surely there was one person who wouldn’t refuse some compensation for him being there. She hadn’t wanted him there to begin with, after all, and even though she had accepted him now, he still felt that she was the most likely to accept his offering.

This was how he found himself outside Val’s bedroom that evening, his paycheck clutched in one hand. He knocked with the other.

“It’s open,” she called.

Roman opened the door, staying in the hall. Val was sitting at her desk, painting her nails.

“Oh, hey, Roman,” she said, putting the brush back in the bottle and inspecting her handiwork. “What’s up?”

“Hey, Val,” he responded. He looked down at the check in his hand. “I wanted to ask… Pat and Logan wouldn’t take it, but….” He held out the check. “For uh, rent, I guess.”

“Is that your first paycheck?”

Roman nodded.

Val shook her head. “No, I’m not taking your money. Even if I wanted to, Patton would kill me. Or make my brother kill me.”

Roman sighed. He’d gotten this job in the first place so that he could help out and stop being a freeloader, and now not one of them was letting him do that!

“You know what you should spend some of that on?”

Roman looked up. “What?”

“You’re going to see your parents, right? You should use that for your ticket.”

“Mamá already paid for it,” Roman said. “She won’t let me pay her back, either.” She’d probably throw a fit if he tried.

“Okay, Plan B.�� Val got up, stepped out into the hall, and closed the door behind her. “Let’s go get your parents a present. What do they like?”

“Weren’t you painting your nails?”

“Just finished. They’ll dry on the way. Now what do your parents like?”

Roman hesitated. “My mamá likes to garden.”

“Okay. Let’s go get her a plant. I bet she’d love something with flowers. What about your dad?”

“He… I don’t know. He’s really into birdwatching, I guess? But I don’t know what you’d get someone for that.”

“What else does he like?”

Roman dithered uncertainly. “Well, he used to collect a bunch of really old coins… but I don’t know where we’d find something like that.”

Val looked thoughtful. “I came across a site a while back where you can buy old Roman coins for like ten bucks each. Does that sound like something he’d like? If we ordered it today I’m sure it’d be here by the time you leave next week.”

“I—yeah, I think so,” Roman said, having the sudden urge to hug Val. “Thank you.”

She smiled. “No problem. Let’s go downstairs; we can pick one out, and you’ll pay me back once you deposit that check of yours.”

…

They ended up choosing a coin that was about $15, with positive reviews, guaranteed to arrive well before he left. Val placed the order, and then she took Roman to a garden store.

“Sure, you could wait and go with Patton and my brother, but my brother has no taste in plants, and Patton’ll probably buy whatever plant looks the saddest because he feels bad for it. Or end up accidentally getting a plastic one. You think I’m joking, but he literally did that once.”

So, Val and Roman went to the garden store alone. They picked out a little plant with small blue flowers, in a cute ceramic pot that had been glazed a darker blue.

Patton and Logan were sitting at the kitchen table when they walked in.

“What’s that?” Patton asked when he saw the plant in Roman’s arms.

“Present for my mamá,” Roman explained. “Val took me to get it.”

“Oh, she’s going to love that, kiddo!”

Roman smiled. “You think so?”

“Of course! It’s so pretty. What kind is it?”

“It’s…” Roman checked the label. “It’s a… myositis. Forget-me-nots.”

“Oh, cool!” Patton said.

“That can’t be right,” Logan said, frowning. “Myositis is a term for muscle inflammation.”

Roman blinked, then checked the tag again. “Sorry, it’s myosotis.”

“That does make more sense,” Logan said. “Interesting. Were you aware that that name translates to “mouse’s ear” in Ancient Greek?”

“Why do you know that?” Roman asked, staring at him. “Who just knows things like that off the top of their head?”

Val started snickering. Logan shrugged, looking embarrassed.

…

Roman was starting to think that being homeless and unemployed hadn’t been so bad. At least then he hadn’t had to deal with this hell spawn.

“I can’t do it!” Roman wailed as he flung open the door (while still making sure it didn’t smack the wall). “I can’t do it! He is the worst!”

Patton, who had been standing at the kitchen counter, cutting up vegetables, set down his knife, looking concerned.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

Roman sighed, walking over to him. He put his elbows on the counter and hid his face in his hands. “It’s this guy I work with.”

“Your manager? Thomas?” Patton guessed.

“No, not him—he’s great. The other one.”

“What’s wrong with him?”

“He hates me, and I don’t know why!”

“Come on, kiddo, I’m sure that’s not true.” Patton picked up the knife and started slicing carrots again, still watching him between cuts to show he was paying attention.

“It is! He acts like every time I mess up, I’m doing it just to spite him, and then he gets on my back about it, which only makes me mess up more, and then he gets even more annoyed at me….”

“Could it just be growing pains? It’s only your second week. Maybe he just needs some time to get used to you.”

“I thought so too, but…” Roman sighed heavily. “It is not working.”

Patton paused. “If it’s really so bad, maybe you could look into possibly working somewhere else? Tons of places would be lucky to have you.”

Roman looked up sharply. “No… no, I’m not doing that.” He shook his head. “I do that, he wins.”

Patton bit his lip uncertainly.

“At least tomorrow is his day off,” Roman sighed. “So I get a break.”

“Well, that’s good,” Patton said. He pushed the carrots into a bowl with the potatoes he’d already cubed, and he picked up an onion. As he started to peel the skin off of that, he said, “Maybe it’ll be nice for both of you to get a break from each other. It could be you’ve just spent too much time together lately.”

“Yeah. Could be. I just don’t know what his problem is.”

Patton glanced up, humming thoughtfully. “Do you think any of this has anything to do with your visit coming up?”

Roman hesitated. “Maybe,” he admitted.

A major source of stress for him at the moment—maybe the main source of stress—was the fact that he was set to visit his parents at the end of the week, for the first time in a long time. If you considered five years to be a long time.

It certainly didn’t help that at the start of those five years, Roman had lied to them about heading to college and basically vanished off the face of the earth, leaving them with no idea where he had gone or if he was even still alive. That is, until Patton and Logan had convinced him to call his mamá the week before.

Ever since then, he had been calling her every evening before dinner, to talk. Mostly, they talked about unimportant things. How their days had been (Roman always sugar-coated things if they hadn’t gone well), what they were up to (you know, besides the homelessness), and how much they were looking forward to seeing each other when Roman was able to get enough time off for a visit.

Getting the time off he needed had turned out to be easier than expected. Roman’s schedule already gave him weekends free, so he had only requested one additional day—a Monday.

He hadn’t been sure whether to be relieved or sad that he had had to wait an additional week to go, since they’d been understandably reluctant to give him a day off in his second week on the job.

Of course, both Thomas and V, all that Roman knew his other coworker by, knew that Roman was taking the day off. Thomas hadn’t seemed to mind coming in on that Monday—since he usually took that day off—but V hadn’t seemed all that enthused. The fact that Roman was taking a long weekend after only working at the Sanders Café for two weeks hadn’t helped the barista’s opinion of him.

As one might imagine, Roman’s stress about the upcoming visit did not go well with the attitude V took with him, and it had already lead to several clashes.

As exemplified by today.

“Want to help me cut up some veggies?” Patton asked. “We’re going to roast them for dinner later tonight. Maybe it’ll help to take out some of that stress on an onion.” He picked up the newly peeled onion and offered it to Roman.

Roman sighed. “Sure.” He went to the sink, washed his hands, and took the onion and knife from Patton. “How do you want this cut?”

“However you like, within reason!” Patton said. “How about I heat up some leftovers for you, for lunch, while you do that? We’ve still got some spaghetti.”

“Sounds good. Thank you, Patton.”

…

Patton sat curled up on the sofa with Logan, only half-watching the news that his boyfriend had put on. After a while, he stretched and sat up.

“I’m going to go check on Roman. He seemed pretty upset when he came home from work today.”

Logan frowned, turning to look at him. “Did he say what was going on?”

“Some kind of disagreement with someone he works with. But I think he’s really just stressed about this weekend.”

Logan nodded. “That seems reasonable.”

“Anyway, I’ll be right back.”

“Okay.” Logan reached out, held his hand for a fraction of a second, and then let Patton go. Patton got up, walked past Val, who was reading, and went upstairs.

He stopped outside Roman’s room, whose door was slightly ajar, and knocked softly. “Roman?” he asked.

He waited, but he didn’t get an answer, so he tried again. When that still went without a reply, Patton gently pushed open the door, wondering if maybe Roman had fallen asleep.

The room was empty.

“Hm.” Patton leaned forwards to look around inside the room, but unsurprisingly, Roman wasn’t hiding in any corners.

He backed up, returned the door to how it had been before, and looked around.

Finally, he realized that he could hear something, faint, but not so faint that he thought it was coming from downstairs. Patton followed the sound.

Was that singing?

He stopped outside the bathroom, which was dark other than the light let in through the tiny, curtained window, but whose door wasn’t quite closed.

Roman stood in front of the sink, singing a song that Patton didn’t recognize. He was singing very quietly, but it was like he was serenading himself, complete with acting.

He also looked like he’d been crying.

Patton, who had been about to knock before he caught a glimpse of Roman in the mirror, stepped back before Roman could spot him. He did want to stay and try to help, but he really felt like he was intruding. Whatever Roman was doing, it seemed to be some kind of self-soothing method. Maybe it was a little unusual to serenade oneself in the mirror, but if it helped cheer Roman up, then Patton wasn’t going to judge him.

Patton quietly padded back down the hall and went back downstairs.

He settled himself back against Logan, who took his hand again. Patton read a headline on the TV screen about that week’s tragedy and sighed, turning his head so his face was against Logan.

“How’s Roman?” Logan asked, subtly changing the channel to one showing reruns of an old sitcom. “Did you talk to him?”

“He didn’t seem like he wanted to be bothered,” Patton replied, looking up again.

Logan nodded in understanding, although he was frowning.

“Is he okay?” Val asked as she turned a page in her book.

“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “He’s really nervous about this weekend.”

Logan fiddled with the remote without actually changing any settings. “I’d assume he’s afraid that his parents will reject him,” he said.

Val gave him a look. “Please don’t say that when he’s down here.”

“I don’t think it’s likely,” Logan quickly clarified. “They’ve seemed eager to talk to him thus far.”

“They’d better not turn him away,” Patton said. “I’ll fight them.”

“I thought we agreed you wouldn’t be fighting anyone. Besides, if they were going to turn him away, I’m sure it would have happened by now.”

Val closed her book, resting her head on one hand. “Whether it’s realistic or not, he’s obviously upset. And it’s probably not helping him, locking himself away upstairs with his thoughts. We should ask him to come downstairs in a few minutes. He likes to help with dinner, right?”

Patton glanced at the time. “That’s true. We should probably start cooking soon.”

“You cut up the vegetables like I asked?” Logan checked.

“Yep! Roman and I did.”

“Thanks. It shouldn’t take too long, then.”

Val set her book to the side. “Should I go grab him then, or…?”

“I’ll give him a few more minutes and then I’ll do it,” Patton said.

“Okay.”

A few minutes later, Patton walked back up the stairs. He was relieved to see that the light was on in Roman’s room now.

He knocked on the door, and waited for an answer.

A moment later, the door opened, to reveal Roman. He smiled, and if Patton hadn’t seen him before, he might not have known Roman had been so upset. “Hey, Patton. What’s going on?”

Patton smiled back, deciding not to bring it up. “We were planning to start dinner soon. Want to help?”

…

Roman had been making a point of getting to work early ever since his mistake the week before. So, it was no surprise that he was the first employee to arrive at the café that morning. It was a surprise, though, when neither V nor Thomas showed up. Instead, two younger employees, probably 18 years old or so, took their places: Talyn and Joan. Roman had worked with each of them before when they occasionally joined his shift, but never at the same time.

“Is Thomas not coming?” Roman asked, watching as the pair approached. He’d known it was V’s day off, and that Thomas didn’t come in every day, but usually their manager worked whenever V didn’t.

“He’s sick,” Talyn said, pulling on their apron. Joan went into the back to put their things away.

“Oh. Is he okay?”

Talyn shrugged. “He calls in sometimes. He asked me to take his place today.”

“Okay.”

“Joan and I can finish getting everything set up back here. Want to take the chairs down?”

“Sure.” Roman walked out from behind the counter to do just that.

“So how are you liking this place so far?” they asked as Joan returned from the back.

“It’s alright,” Roman shrugged. When V wasn’t getting on his last nerve, at least.

“Just alright?” Joan asked.

Roman flushed slightly. He didn’t want to complain about his job, not at his job, to his coworkers. That didn’t seem like a good plan at all.

Joan laughed. “Relax, I’m just teasing. It can be tough, at the start. Customers are something else. Plus I know Virgil can be prickly.”

Roman blinked. “What?”

“Virgil?” Joan looked confused. “The barista you work with?”

“Oh, right, sorry. I didn’t quite hear you,” Roman lied. He had a feeling he’d get teased if he admitted he’d gone nearly two weeks only knowing Virgil as V, or as the numerous aliases of the other worker’s name tag collection. “Glad to hear it’s not just me.”

“Has Virgil been treating you okay?” Talyn asked.

“Yeah. He can be kinda pushy, but he’s okay… most of the time. I do like his name tag collection.” Roman had tried to compliment Virgil on one of the name tags, pointing out that it was funny that the barista chose to wear one that said “Mary Lee”, and had only gotten even more hostility in response. Maybe Virgil didn’t want Roman to acknowledge that the name tags didn’t have the barista’s actual name on them? Maybe Virgil misunderstood, and thought Roman was making fun of whoever the actual Mary Lee was?

Whatever the case, trying to be that creepy cookie’s friend was proving rather difficult. Thomas’s “Storm Cloud” nickname made a lot of sense.

Talyn bit their lip, glancing at Joan, then looked back at Roman. Roman blinked, unsure what that was about. “Virgil can take a while to warm up to people, sometimes,” they said. “It’s probably nothing to worry about.”

Not long after, it was time to open up the café, and the attention of the three baristas was diverted to the grumpy swarm of early morning coffee-seekers.

It was a busy morning, with a lot of disgruntled people who thought they were entitled to their caffeine before anyone else and didn’t even tip well (if at all), but at least Talyn and Joan didn’t get mad at Roman for spilling a few coffee grounds, or for nearly forgetting the whipped cream on one of the orders. That was a welcome change.

Still, that afternoon, Roman spent most of his time holed up in the former guest room, trying not to stress too much about the next day, which was, of course, his last day of work before he got to go see his parents for the first time in years and hope they wouldn’t turn him away.

…

The following day, Virgil was back at work. And as tired of Roman was of his coworker hounding him like every little mistake he made would bring on the apocalypse, he did have some new information at his disposal, and he was going to take advantage of it.

Roman looked up as the barista came in, reluctantly lowering the headphones that had doubtlessly been blasting some sort of emo music moments before.

“Hey, Virgil,” he said pointedly, grinning.

Virgil hardly bothered to glance up, grabbing one of the aprons that still hung on the wall. “Hey, Princey.”

Roman was almost offended by that lackluster response. “How’s it going, Virgil?” he tried again, louder and with more emphasis.

“Fine?” Virgil said, giving him a strange look. “How’s it going, Roman?”

Roman sighed. “Disappointing.”

“What?”

Whoops. Virgil wasn’t supposed to actually hear that. He scrambled for an excuse. “…I said disappearing. The sun is gonna be disappearing sooner. The days are getting shorter again. You know.”

Virgil glanced outside, at where the sun was just beginning to rise, bemused. “I guess?”

“Aaaanyway. How was your day off?” Roman asked, tying his own apron in place.

“It was great. I actually got to miss the sunrise, for once.” Virgil started taking down chairs from the tables, putting them in place on the floor. “It was over pretty fast, though. Sure would be nice to take three days off in a row.”

Roman frowned.

“What are you doing this weekend, anyway? Video games? Binging Lord of the Rings or something?”

Roman let out a long sigh. “I’m visiting my parents,” he reluctantly admitted. “I haven’t seen them in a while.” Ever since Virgil had found out about Roman’s days off so soon after starting the job, Roman had skirted around answering the question of why he was taking that break. And while it still wasn’t really any of Virgil’s business, Roman was getting tired of this, and really didn’t want to deal with passive aggression when he was already worried enough. Today was Friday, and Roman was getting on the bus to go see his family that very afternoon.

Virgil’s mouth thinned. “Oh.”

The other barista turned away without another word, and didn’t bring up Roman’s days off again that shift. Roman felt that this was worth the admission. It would have probably been nearly unbearable otherwise, since Thomas was apparently still not feeling well, so it was just the two of them for the entire shift. As it was, other than Thomas being gone, Roman might have said that things were going… at least sort of well. Virgil wasn’t getting on his back too much, he wasn’t messing up as much as he’d expected, given how much he was thinking about that weekend (although he still messed up quite a bit more than usual). But of course, his luck couldn’t last.

He took a break during a lull in customers, and he came back, opening his mouth to tell Virgil to go ahead and take a break in the back, now.

But no words came out of his mouth. Instead, he froze.

Standing in the middle of the café, reading the menu, was a familiar figure. His dark hair was swept to partially cover his face, and he wore a black faux leather jacket over a band t-shirt.

Jay.

Roman felt dizzy.

“Roman?”

Roman shook his head, took a step back, and then sat down hard on the tile floor.

“Roman! F*ck, okay, hold on—Sorry, sir, get out, please! The store’s closed! Bye!”

“What the hell are you talking ab—”

“Store’s closed!”

Virgil herded the guy out, and as he disappeared out the door, Roman got a better look at his face. It wasn’t Jay at all. Just some guy who looked ridiculously like Jay.

“Dammit,” he whispered, wishing this realization would stop his heart from pounding, would erase the way he’d just embarrassed himself, was continuing to embarrass himself.

Virgil knelt down in front of him, hovering uncertainly. “Hey. Hey, Princey, what’s going on? Are you okay?”

Roman shook his head, his attempts to breathe only strangled gasps. It was all just too much. The stress of this new job, and the visit this weekend, and thinking he’d seen Jay, who’d been a catalyst in all of this— It was too much.

“I think you might be having a panic attack.” Virgil shifted uncertainly, hovering around him. “Does that sound right?”

Roman shakily nodded.

“Okay. Okay, good. No ambulance, then. That’s great. I mean, not great that you’re panicking, that—never mind. Can I help?”

“Yeah,” he gasped. Please make this stop.

“Cool. Cool, cool. Try breathing with me. It’s an exercise I use when I get anxiety attacks.” Virgil started with a long inhale, counting off a pattern.

“In, 2, 3, 4… hold, 2 3, 4, 5, 6, 7… out, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.”

Roman did his best to follow the pattern, with difficulty at first; but soon enough, rather than freaking out, he was a more reasonable amount of mortified, and this time more about the fact that he’d freaked out in the middle of the café, in front of Virgil, than about anything else.

Virgil seemed relieved when it was clear that Roman was no longer panicking. The barista looked him over for a moment, then offered him a hand up.

“I think maybe you should go in the back for a little longer,” Virgil suggested as Roman was pulled to his feet. “I can take my break later.”

“…Yeah, maybe,” Roman admitted, not meeting Virgil’s eyes. “Might be a good idea.”

Virgil led him to the back room, shoved a plastic cup of tea in his hands, and promised to return in a bit.

Roman sat there, sipping his tea, wishing he could sink into the floor.

Several minutes later, Virgil returned.

“Sorry,” Roman said as soon as he saw that distinctive purple hair, gripping his cooling cup of tea tightly. “I didn’t….”

Virgil sat down on the arm of the sofa. “What was that about?”

Roman shook his head.

Virgil sighed, glancing back towards the main area of the store. “Fine, don’t tell me. But are you, like… good? You’re not going to freak out on me again?”

“No, I’m… I’m fine.”

Virgil looked at him doubtfully. Roman set his jaw, and then Virgil nodded. “Alright. Maybe clean yourself up a bit, though.”

Roman felt his cheeks burn. He nodded.

As Virgil turned to leave, Roman cleared his throat.

“…Thanks, Virgo.”

Virgil paused, turned, and said, “I’m a Sagittarius,” before leaving the room.

Under different circumstances, Roman might have laughed. As it was, he simply took a deep breath, set the remains of his tea to the side, got to his feet, and went to the employee bathroom. Looking in the mirror, he had to admit he looked rather… disheveled. He’d definitely seen worse days, that was for sure; but his hair was a mess, and his eyes were red and watery like he’d been crying.

(Had he been crying? He suddenly wasn’t sure.)

Roman reached over for a paper towel, folded it over, and ran the water over it for a second. He stood there at the sink for a while, the cool, damp paper towel held against his eyes. Once the redness had died down, he combed his hair with his fingers until it was back to its normal groomed appearance. Finally, he took a deep, steadying breath, washed his hands, and returned to the front of the store. Virgil looked up when he appeared, in the middle of making a cappuccino, and nodded.

Roman resumed his post without a word, and they both pretended like nothing had happened.

When Roman went back to the house that afternoon, he didn’t complain about Virgil, for once. Of course, he did have other things to think about. Like the little detail that he was leaving in only a couple of hours.

…

“Are you sure you have everything?” Logan asked as the trio walked to the bus station. They’d parked a couple of blocks away, since the parking spots at the station itself were metered, and rather expensive. Logan had offered to park there anyway, but Roman had insisted that he was fine with parking farther away. It was a nice day, anyhow; and he would be spending quite a while on a bus. “There’s still a little time, if we have to stop somewhere.”

“I think so,” Roman said, adjusting his grip on the handle of the small, baby blue suitcase Patton had lent him. It rolled behind them, occasionally bumping over an uneven patch of sidewalk. “I don’t have a lot of stuff.”

“And you’re sure you’ll be okay by yourself?” Patton checked. He held the small potted plant that Roman and Val had picked up as a present for Roman’s mamá. He almost seemed more nervous than Roman. Almost.

Roman swallowed, then nodded. “Yeah. I’m sure. It’s just a bus ride. My parents are going to pick me up at the station.”

Patton reached over to squeeze his hand. “They know what time you’re getting in?”

Roman nodded. “And I can always call, if I need to…. Thanks again for the phone, by the way.” They’d picked him up a cheap, prepaid one for emergencies, since Roman hadn’t had a phone of his own in a very long time.

“It’s no problem,” Patton said. “Just be safe, okay?”

Roman gave him a shaky smile.

“There’s the station,” Logan said, gesturing across the street. “Which bus are we looking for?”

“17,” Roman provided. He didn’t even need to check his ticket. He’d spent long enough staring at it the night before.

Logan glanced to make sure no cars were coming, then started across the street. He and Patton were already scanning the busses collected at the station, looking for the correct one.

“I don’t think it’s here yet,” Logan said. “That’s not surprising. We are early, after all.”

“Let’s find a bench to sit on,” Patton suggested.

Logan didn’t exactly look enthused, but he went along with Patton’s suggestion. They found an empty bench, and Roman and Patton sat down. There was still room on the bench, but Logan stayed standing.

“Perhaps I could pick us up some coffee from inside,” he suggested.

Patton giggled. “Only if Roman’s not sick of coffee yet.”

Roman cracked a smile. “Maybe just water for me. Lemonade if they have it. But water’s okay.”

Patton requested whatever coffee drink was the sweetest, iced.

Logan nodded and walked off towards the station’s building.

“He just doesn’t want to sit down,” Patton said, leaning over conspiratorially. “Logan hates public benches.”

“Logan hates public everything.”

“You’re not wrong!” he laughed. He set the plant at his side. “So, do you and your parents know what you’re going to do this weekend?”

Roman thought for a moment, then shrugged. “I hadn’t really thought about it.” He’d been too busy worrying.

“You don’t always need a plan. Maybe it’ll be nice to just get to hang out with them, catch up.”

“Or awkward as hell.”

“Ehh.” Patton shrugged. “Maybe at first, I won’t lie to you.”

“Yeah.”

“But they’re going to be really happy to see you. I’m sure they’ve missed you a lot.”

“…Yeah.” Roman knew they had. But he couldn’t help the terror bubbling up inside him, just under the surface, at what they would think when they saw him. At how angry they would be.

Apparently Roman’s silent dread had not been as hidden as he’d hoped.

“Don’t make me hug you,” Patton threatened, pointing at him.

Roman let out a startled laugh.

“I’ll do it! You know I will!”

“I do,” Roman agreed. He watched as another bus pulled up. Number 33. Still not his.

“They did have lemonade,” a voice said. Roman glanced up to see Logan, holding out a bottled lemonade. He took it. It was cool and already slightly damp with condensation.

“Thanks.”

Logan offered Patton another drink from the carrier in his arms. His was a very pale brown, mixed with ice and with whipped cream and drizzles of caramel and chocolate on top.

“Ooh, thank you!” Patton said. He hopped up, kissed Logan on the cheek, and then sat down, sipping loudly from his straw.

Logan coughed, his face slightly red. “You’re welcome. Has his bus arrived?”

“Not ye—oh! There it is!” Patton pointed. A new bus had just pulled in, the number 17 in its window.

“Excellent.”

Roman leaned over to look at a clock on the station wall. He still had ten minutes before he had to be on the bus. Reassured, he sat back and opened his lemonade, taking a sip. Then he recapped it and put the lemonade in his lap, tapping on its sides with his fingers. “You guys don’t have to stay if you don’t want to. I’ll be fine.”

“No, no,” Patton insisted. “We’re going to make sure you get on your bus alright.”

“It would be rather unfortunate if we left early, and something happened,” Logan agreed.

Roman exhaled through his nose. “Okay. If you’re sure.”

“Yep! Besides, I can’t finish this in the car.” Patton took another loud sip of his drink. “So we’ve gotta stay!”

“True.” Logan was generally pretty insistent about there being no open drinks in his car. Or at least, that was the idea Roman had gotten so far.

Logan took a drink of his own iced black coffee and shrugged. “Coffee would be difficult to get out of the upholstery,” he justified. “Like any darkly colored beverage. One time, one of Val’s friends spilled fruit punch in her car. It was a figurative nightmare to get that out. I refuse to go through that again with my own vehicle.”

Roman glanced at Patton, who looked amused. “That’s fair.”

A few more minutes passed, with the three of the just enjoying their drinks, before Patton glanced at the time on his phone. “We should probably get you on that bus, don’t you think, Ro? You don’t want to get a bad seat.”

Roman shifted. “…I guess.”

Patton looked at him sympathetically. “Don’t worry. You’ll be okay.” He stood up, grabbing the plant; and Roman reluctantly followed, pulling the suitcase along behind himself.

In no time at all, they stood in front of the bus door, and Patton was handing the plant off to Logan and pulling Roman into a tight hug.

“Don’t be afraid to call us if you need anything at all, okay? I’m serious.”

“Okay.”

“Okay. Now go see your parents.”

“Have a pleasant trip,” Logan said as Patton released him. He offered a hand, and Roman accepted. Logan shook it.

“Thanks. I’ll… see you guys.”

“Good luck.”

Roman took a deep breath, picked up the suitcase and took the plant back from Logan, and stepped up onto the bus before he could change his mind.

“Hello, sweetheart,” the driver said, smiling kindly at him. She was probably in her fifties, and had clearly noticed how apprehensive he was. She held out a hand. “Have you got your ticket?”

“Yeah—um,” Roman pulled it out of his pocket, quickly did his best to smooth it out, and handed it over. “Here.”

The woman looked at it for a second, smiled, and handed it back. “Welcome aboard. Usually, we have everyone put their luggage in the storage area under the bus, but I think yours is small enough that you can keep it up here, if you’d like. We don’t have a full bus today. Do you have a preference?”

“Could I keep it?” Roman asked. It was Patton’s suitcase, and he was afraid that it might get damaged—or worse, disappear—if he let it out of his sight.

“Of course. You can go ahead and pick whatever seat you’d like.”

“Thank you,” Roman said. He turned to the rest of the bus, which was about a quarter of the way full with other passengers. He picked a seat about a third of the way from the front, beside the window, and put Patton’s suitcase and his mamá’s gift at his side.

He looked out the window, and saw Patton and Logan there, on the sidewalk. Patton noticed him and perked up, waving and batting at his boyfriend to get his attention. Logan waved as well, with significantly less energy, looking amused.

Roman hesitantly waved back.

He spent the remaining time until the bus departed just trying to keep calm, reminding himself that he did in fact want to do this, that it was a little late to back out even if he wanted to, and that even if his visit went about as horribly as it could go, Logan and Patton had promised that they wanted him to come back.

Finally, the bus driver stood up. She reminded everyone of which bus this was and the route they were taking, just in case someone was on the wrong bus, and how long the trip would take. Then, she sat back down, and they left the station.

Patton and Logan waved until they turned a corner, and then Roman was alone.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then turned to the suitcase. He unzipped it and pulled out a book, which Logan had lent him for the trip. He settled in, doing his best to focus on the story rather than on his fear over what was to come.

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doyouevenshipbr0 · 4 years

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HAPPY GRUVIA WEEEEEEEK!!!:))

so i cant promise that ill post something for EVERYDAY but i will do what i can:)

i hope u all have an amazing, gruvia filled week:) enjoy babies!!!

also ok u know what so maybe i did write a story literally exactly like this for gruvia week last yr...... mind ur business lmao

gruvia week day 1: home

Juvia was practically running from the train station.

This was the longest mission she had gone on in years, and while she did love to get out and go on jobs, especially with Gajeel, she was itching to get home at this point.

Two weeks without her family was driving her borderline insane, and she was ready to hug and kiss everyone to her heart’s content. She looked up at the sky and noticed it was just about dusk. At the sight of the day almost ending, she picked up her pace a little bit. If she could just speed up a bit, she could probably make it home in time to still make dinner.

In a few more short moments, she stood at the door of her house. She stepped in the doorway and breathed in ready to shout a booming “I’m home!”, but she was interrupted by a commotion that seemed to be coming from the kitchen.

From where she stood, all she could hear was the muffled radio playing music, kids screaming with giggles, and some food sizzling. She was met with the smell of delicious, but maybe slightly burnt, food.

She placed her bag down beside her, and slowly but curiously made her way to the noise. Before she inserted herself just yet, she was wondering just what was going on.

“Storm! Why did you take your brother out of his bouncer!?”!She heard Gray shout, and it was quickly followed by two very familiar giggles.

“Kai’s one year old now, dad! He wants to run around not bounce!” Storm’s voice was mildly breaking with laughter.

Juvia finally got to the point where she could peak around the corner into the kitchen, and luckily she still had yet to be noticed.

Storm was holding the wiggly baby, but was clearly struggling, seeing as Kai certainly did not want to be held. Neva was right by her big brother’s side, giggling along with him. Gray, however, did not look as amused. He was looking back and forth from over his shoulder at the kids, to the many pans full of food he had cooking in front of him on the stove.

“Ok, well, I don’t really want him running around right now. I’m trying to focus on dinner.” Gray tried to calmly explained, but Juvia could tell he was breaking a sweat.

“But if we put him back in, he’ll cry!” Neva explained back. Her curly black pigtails bounced as she excitedly explained herself.

And as if it was on cue, Kai began screaming as tears ran down his red face. Gray instantly threw down the spatula in his hand and bent down to scoop up Kai out of Storm’s arms. He turned right back around, and continued stirring with the food while he bounced a screaming baby on his side.

“Daddy, you’re making my mac and cheese right?” Neva tugged at the apron her father wore.

“Yes, Nev, I’m making your mac n cheese.” He sighed, not appreciating the nagging child.

“Yay!” She cheered.

“But you do have to eat some veggies.” He reluctantly followed up with.

The gasp of betrayal that escaped Neva’s mouth almost made Juvia blow her cover with laughter.

“Veggies?! I hate veggies!” Neva stomped.

“Storm, can you please explain to your sister why we need to eat our veggies.” Gray replied. He didn’t feel like taking the time to explain the pros of vegetables.

“Uhhh, ok.” Storm replied, unsure. He paused and scratched his dark blue waves in the back of his head “Well I don’t like vegetables all that much either. I kinda’ think Mom and Dad just do it to be bossy.” Storm shurugged.

Neva’s deep blue eyes widened with horror.

“Storm!” Gray exclaimed. He should have known a nine year old reasoning with a four year old just simply wouldn’t work. The boom of his voice upset little Kai all over again, and he continued his screaming.

“Oh shit-! I mean- shoot!” Gray spat, and put down the spatula again, this time paying more attention to Kai, and shushing him as he swayed back and forth.

“Ok, Mommy thinks it’s time to step in.” Juvia calmly walked in the kitchen and was met with four surprised faces.

“Mommy!” Storm and Neva ran at her with full speed. She just had enough time to squat down and welcome their impact.

“Oof!” Juvia grunted as her kids slammed themsleves into her, wrapping their little arms around her. “Hello my babies!” Juvia regained her footing and wrapped her arms around them, kissing their heads.

“How was it?! Did you and uncle Gajeel kick butt?! Did you use your water stuff!?” Storm spat questions at her, just as he did every time she or Gray got back from a mission.

“Yes, baby.” Juvia used her hand to push the bangs from Storm’s eyes. “Mommy and Uncle Gajeel did great.”

“Mommy, Mommy, Daddy’s gonna’ make me eat veggies!” Neva cried out for help, planning on Juvia to rescue her from the vegetables.

“He is?!” Juvia pretended to gasp, and she looked up at Gray, who gave a defeated smirk.

She stood back up. “Speaking of food, it smells delicious.” She walked towards Gray, and gave him a big hug as he still held the baby in his hands. Juvia took her hands and squished Gray’s face, planting a big kiss on his cheek, earning a grunt from Gray.

“Oi! Do you really gotta’ squeeze my face like that?” Gray twisted his face free from her hands.

“But Juvia hasn’t been able to squish Gray-sama’s sweet face for so long!” She whined.

She averted her attention down Kai. “And speaking of squishing sweet faces,” She took him from Gray’s arms.

“Hello, my love!” Juvia doted, and Kai smiled at the sight of Juvia’s happy face. She brought his chubby cheeks to her lips and kissed him a bunch, making the baby giggle.

Gray went back to fiddle with the food one more time before he turned off the stover. “Ya know, it’s a lot easier to cook around here when I have you to distract these demons.” Gray sighed, and leaned up against the counter.

“Demons?!” Juvia laughed. “Juvia’s babies are angels.” She continued to sway Kai in her arms.

“Are we talking about the same babies?” Gray playfully raised a brow.

Neva and Storm both laughed, feeling accomplished at annoying their father.

“Yeah, laugh it up.” Gray chuckled back at them.

Juvia sniffed. “Is Gray-sama cooking salmon?”

“At this point, I think I’m burning salmon.” At Juvia’s reminder, he took an oven mit and opened up the oven, taking out steaming salmon.

“It looks great!” Juvia smiled. She missed Gray’s cooking. “Salmon’s Juvia’s favorite.”

“I know. I made asparagus and rice, too.” Juvia looked at the stovetop and sure enough, they were all there.

“And mac n cheese for me!” Neva cheered, raising up her hand.

“You’re gonna try the asparagus, too.” Gray daunted.

“A-spar-gus?” Neva sounded out the word, not being quite sure exactly what it was.

“It’s the nasty vegetable Dad’s gonna’ make us eat.” Storm explained.

“Alright. That’s it you two. Now that my hands are free I can finally kick your butts!” A playful smirk appeared on Gray’s face before he ran at the kids, scooping them up in his arms and slinging them over his shoulders. The two shrieked with giggles as they kicked, trying to free themselves from Gray’s grasp. “One more word and I drop you two square on your heads!” He teased.

Storm and Neva continued to laugh as Gray shook them around a bit. Juvia admired the smiling faces from afar. When they all smiled so hard like that, they all looked the same. It seemed to be contagious, because Juvia felt herself grinning right back at them. Even little Kai was bubbling with laughter, and Juvia couldn’t help the tears that welled up in her eyes at this beautiful feeling.

“Alright, everyone!” Juvia caught everyone’s attention. “Why don’t we eat the yummy dinner Daddy made before it gets cold?” Gray, Storm, and Neva nodded in agreement.

Juvia wasn’t sure if she could put a finger on exactly what this feeling was, but if she had to, she would use one word.

This was home.

#gruvia week #doyouevenshipbr0 #gruvia #fairy tail #gray x juvia #juvia x gray #gruvia fanfic #juvia lockser #gruvia fanfiction #gruvia drabble #juvia #ft

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hangryandlazy · 3 years

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africa jul 19

wow lol it’s taken me 2 years to actually put this post together. a LOT has changed since then and it makes me immensely happy to recognize how lucky we were that we’d had 2 insane years of travelling right before the pandemic hit. but this post is not to dwell on that, so let’s get on with it!!

this was our amazing 2019 africa trip~

jun 30, 19 ••• we make our way from hong kong to the netherlands on klm airlines. i distinctly remember how impressed i was with the quality of service and the comfort of the 12ish hour flight. after around 16 hours of commute, we just want to stay in and chill, so we order room service and call it a night early. i recall wearing a fun t-shirt that read, “not to be rude, but shut the fuck up” which i personally find hilarious and endearing, but which made the guy at the front desk quite uncomfortable. lollll oops!

vimeo

jul 1, 19 ••• yay! we had a full day alone in amsterdam. we (i) decided to walk from the hotel to the town center, because it’s fun experience new cities by exploring them on foot!! why not? you come across many things that you just couldn’t have planned to find.

look how beautiful the canals in amsterdam are! anywhere you turn, it’s picturesque.

we had lunch at wagamama because i saw that the avant garde vegan, gaz oakley, had done a collaboration with them at some point, so there are some guaranteed vegan options. we then walk around the bloemenmarkt and find our way to the cannabis college, which had 2 verdampers for rent! yesssss! i was so happy.

we explored and walked around more, then stopped by a coffee shop to smoke a bit more. there was a lovely vegan cafe right next door, which i’d been eyeing when we went in to smoke, so we had a top up on coffee and matcha there. we saw a cute frenchie across the road and missed the dogs so...

vimeo

we had dinner at this place called cafe frijdag (which means Friday!) which was delicious! so happy that amsterdam had vegan options for me

jul 2, 19 ••• we got up bright and early to meet my parents for breakfast and we go to the airport to catch our flight to kigali. about 10 hours later, we were buying sim cards at the kigali airport. we then checked in to the radisson for the night, and it was feeling very surreal to be in africa. i remember feeling anxious.

jul 3, 19 ••• today started on a somber note. we went to the kigali genocide memorial. i cried a lot, especially at the exhibit with the photographs of only a fraction of the victims during that time.

then we drove at turtle speed to our next hotel, which was a loooong long way away. we arrived at the lake kivu serena hotel in time for a very late lunch. the cuisine here consists of rice, tortilla-like wraps and papadum-esque crispy rolls.

this fruit tastes disgusting... it looks like a tomato but isn’t sweet at all. i only remember spitting it out, trying another piece from another plate, and still hating it.

vimeo

thankfully everyone wanted to relax and take it easy, so we ordered in for dinner and spent the rest of the night chilling.

jul 4, 19 ••• we drove out to see the border between rwanda and the democratic republic of congo. we were told to be very careful about taking photos of the police officers there, so we were. it felt strange to take photos of the border, i’m clearly very ignorant of the relations and history. it was a very busy juncture, with a sea of people crossing this way and that, lots of cars bumbling about and a lot of fruit, as i recall. hahah.

we then drove out to see a makeshift hot spring. we were asked if we wanted to take a dip, but none of us wanted to..... felt bad saying no, but really not worth it, sorry.

vimeo

https://vimeo.com/568059672 (okay, i’m unable to embed more videos so links will have to do until i figure out something better...)

we took a boat ride along the lake, but there wasn’t that much to see around there, it was pretty dirty and murky... reminded me of the hong kong harbor, with trash floating around. it was also freezing, so i wasn’t having any fun at all.

we went to the gym and worked out a little bit because there was a lot of time to kill in between returning to hotel and our private pre-planned bbq dinner on the beach. we were lucky enough to enjoy traditional rwandan dancing which was absolutely gorgeous.

jul 5, 19 ••• we spent most of our morning in the car, having crossed the border to the republic of uganda. we stopped by a cute cafe along the way for lunch, but it was a grueling 4-5 hour car ride to mahogany springs, which was our hotel for the gorilla trekking. we managed to arrive around 715pm, by which time it was pretty dark and scary outside. the other car had broken down twice, once in the dark as well, so spirits were low and there was a lot of muttering and grumbling done under people’s breath. everyone was ravenous by the time dinner was served, but despite how late it was, it was absolutely delicious and i was happy! (also grateful for our car not having broken down)

jul 6, 19 ••• we woke up VERY early in anticipation of gorilla trekking. we waited around the hotel lobby after some coffee and biscuits for breakfast. it was an awful lot of waiting, but i didn’t sense anything wrong until i saw how pissed off our tour guide looked. it turns out our permits had gotten stolen! probably bribes.

here we were mucking around, still anticipating gorilla trekking.

we didn’t let it slow us down though. i actually am grateful for how things turned out because we wouldn’t have gotten to experience uganda like that without this turn of events. we joined a community tour that showed us how tea is harvested, how coffee is grown, harvested and round, as well as how bananas may be used to make juice, beer and gin! very cool

african tea leaves

jackfruit??

these are flowers from the coffee tree

the different stages of the coffee plant

this is henry, he owns this coffee plantation. here, henry shows us how to the use this contraption, the purpose of which is to grind coffee beans into powder

here henry is, sifting the coffee powder

here are my parents, having the time of their life (lol at my dad)

fresh bananas

these are the different stages of a banana’s life: from raw to ripe to fermenting. it can be made into juice and liquor.

we then visited a local school, where we were entertained by kids from kindergarten to 6th grade. we learned about their mission and goals to educate the younger generations by providing classrooms and a dining hall and even dorms for boarding. the singing and dancing was BRILLIANT. loved every single second of it. wish i’d joined in and not cared about what anyone thought.

we stopped by a women’s community center and saw a lot of cool crafts and art. that was on the way to the batwa pgymy tribe. we learned how they integrated with the batwa community. they showed us some dances they have dedicated to the gorillas, for which they are very grateful because it brings tourists in and therefore gives them an income. they showed us how to use a bow and arrow to hunt, and how they weave baskets and make handicrafts.

alan with the leader of the pgymy tribe

one of our guides spotted 2 chameleons, which was super impressive. he even brought the chameleon down close to us so that we could see it. i won’t ever understand how he was able to spot it in the wild, and from so far away as well.

we returned to the lodge and had lunch. the veggie stir fry was pretty dang good. it was served with posho, which is a maize bread, beans, and also matate (???) which reminded me a lot of plantain. back at the hotel, we chilled (without tv or wifi) until dinner. alan fell asleep, and i kept myself busy sorting out photos. dinner was early, and our night was early because we were promised gorilla trekking in the morning!

delicious!

jul 7, 19 ••• we were up and ready to leave by 7am. we were in the clear! we drove a little bit to the bwindi impenetrable national park for some entertainment (dancing and singing) from local students and a hilarious briefing on what to expect and do’s and don’ts of the trek.

we then had separate meetings within our trekking groups. ours was quite big, with 10 tourists, because michael and our guides had spent HOURS the day before handling our stolen permits. an exception was made to accommodate us all, so our group consisted of the starke’s, alan, kerstin, a couple from oregon, and an english family. we had to get in another car and drive a bit to the mountain, where we met our porters and then began our trek!

the hike up was difficult, and at times i legit feared for my life because the mud/rocks were loose and one wrong step would have had us tumbling down the edge of the mountain... and that was me at age 28!! cannot imagine how my parents were feeling...

alan with meddie

as we made our way to the gorilla family, we encountered a solo young male who was soooo friendly, he cut across our group, like right down the middle, and he even reached out and touched my mom on her jacket! it was wild that a gorilla was that close to us, and then he left as quickly as he had joined.

this is the photo my mom managed to take when the young gorilla male was right next to her

we kept on hiking and found a large. our guide, meddie, told us that we were lucky to have found such a large family doing a whole bunch of different activities: we saw mothers nursing their babies, babies swinging from the trees and playing with one another, sub adult males beating their chests and other members of the family eating and feeding. we even got to watch as a silverback gorilla pulled a very healthy poop out of its butt, and we ran into him snacking again later on.

on the way down, it started raining a little bit. we all slipped at one point or another, but it was especially dangerous for my dad so we all had to slow down our pace a little bit to match his speed. thank god he had a porter there to help him out and save him.

we returned to the same place as where we had started our morning for a debriefing, and we each received a certificate to show that we had been on this trek. we waited around a little bit for the other group to arrive, and were once again very grateful that our experience was much more pleasant. one lady in the other group had to leave the trek on a stretcher, and the others were caught in the rain on their way to the gorillas, so it must have been a cold and awful experience on their end.

us after the successful completion of our gorilla trek!!

we headed to a local inn nearby where we had a late lunch and could change into dry clothes. we then drove a bumpy 4 hours to mweya safari lodge, located inside queen elizabeth national park. we made a couple of stops along the way (one of which was in the middle of nowhere so that people could go pee out in the open where animals are potentially roaming around?!?!?) and when we finally arrived, it was already 830/9ish pm.... we insisted to order room service because we were pooped, and we got showered and hit the hay.

this cute sign was outside the lodge!

this super old school cash register was at the lodge too

jul 8, 19 ••• today started off with a game drive, early in the morning!

we drove around the gorgeous park and saw elephants, warthogs, antelope, eagles, all sorts of bird and butterflies, buffalo and weird-looking lemur or ferret creatures. we thought it was great, but some other members of the group were underwhelmed.

this is the view from the car we sat in for the safari

this gorgeous tree houses sooo many bird’s nests! do you see them?

cute antelope we saw on the tour

after lunch at the hotel, we went on a boat tour around the kazinga channel. i think it was called lake edward? we saw many animals again, including crocodile, elephants, buffalo, all sorts of birds, and hippos.

favorite photo of my parents ¨̮

we followed a few elephant cuties along the bank. it drizzled for a little bit in between.

dinner was delicious. it was a great buffet, although i was severely grossed out by the ants that joined us on the dining table.

there were so many animals on the grounds of the lodge. don’t be fooled by how cute these guys look, we saw them fight over raw meat at some point! we also saw a warthog stroll around.

jul 9, 19 ••• we were up bright and early today for a quick breakfast before heading right on out. on the way to entebbe, we stopped by a local motel for lunch. the service was SUPER slow (maybe because we had such a huge group together!) but it was delicious and worth the wait! i ordered a coleslaw and avocado vinaigrette (this was THE HUGEST AVOCADO i’ve ever seen in my life?!?!?), a veggie biryani and some of paul’s aloo matar. we then filed back into our cars for several more hours of “african massage” to the next destination. had an early night, i think we ordered room service to the hotel room and tried to get our butts to bed as early as possible because it was another EARLY day the morning after.

we stopped at the equator in uganda to take some photos, of course!

i was sooo happy to be able to order room service! we felt like we were finally back to civilization... 🥺 we had wifi and tv and hot water... ugh it was amazing

jul 10, 19 ••• my alarm was set for 4am this morning.... 🥲😅 we left the hotel at 5am for the airport and obviously i was tired and grumpy and just in a crappy mood overall hahahah. our first flight was barely 45 minutes.... to mbarara i’m guessing?? i was assigned a middle seat on my own originally but no one was in the aisle seat so i moved over woohoo! our first layover was 2-3 hours, not too bad. we hung around at the lounge area.

our second flight was to harare. alan and i managed to snag 2 joined seats towards the back end of the plane so that we could watch conan’s traevel shows on his ipad. there was a pretty scary drop when we were descending imto harare. i think we just stayed on the plane for about half an hour so some people could get on the plane and join.

we flew about 3 hours more to cape town, and we were EXCITED to arrive. it was a hell of a time checking in, and it was a nicer hotel in a nice area so we decided to just stay in and order room service again. we had a slow night and it was SOOOO needed. cape town felt a lot closer to the first world and we were enjoying and appreciating it to the max. we even started playing pokemon go and its harry potter-themed equivalent (oops forgot the name), but to be fair, we didn’t get cell phone service everywhere we went, so it would cut on and off.

jul 11, 19 ••• eek, cape town was COOOOLD! luckily i brought a jacket along, we really really needed to cover up and stay warm! got to sleep in a bit, we left by 830am to drive to the pebble beach by the water to take some gorgeous photos. we stopped by chapman’s peak for another photo op, then drove to boulders beach in simon’s town to see the penguins!! it was such a dream, loved every second of it.

i believe this was chapman’s peak??

what a model

this was at the pebble beach at the cape of good hope.

saw a cute ostrich on the way somewhere

next we went to cape point. we took the funicular to the top, then hiked up to the lighthouse. we took pots of great pics but omg it was EVEN MORE freezing there. we had lunch at the two oceans restaurant. fancy and delicious! the calamari was bomb, the arancini was alright, but the main of chickpea and mushrooms was delish. after lunch we headed right on back to the hotel.

when i said it was cold, i wasn’t joking... it was FREEZING at the top. i had a horrible time because i don’t do that well in the cold

alan and i walked over to woolworths to get water and makeup remover and snacks. on the way back we stopped by PLANT for dinner. i was sooo excited to try out their vegan fast food, so i ordered a lot of the menu. we got the quinoa salad, mac and cheez, seitan lasagna, schawarma, pot stickers, siu mai, spag bolognese, tiramisu, milk tart and a bunch of other random vegan snacks. i was in HEAVEN. even though some of the stuff was cold by the time we got back to the hotel and ate, it still tasted DELICIOUS. i was soooo impressed.

this was the lasagna. omfg i need an encore of this restaurant one day!!! wish i knew how to cook like this

jul 12, 19 ••• today we went to a wine blending workshop at grande provence winery. the first step was to blend 3 different mixtures. after tasting them all, we decided the last blend was the winner, with 40% zinfandel, 10% shiraz and 50% cabernet. so then we blended up a big bottle of it, corked it, thew on a hand-signed label, and then walked around the beautiful indoor and outdoor art galleries.

this was our group!

wine blending is literally mixing different wines together in different proportions and figuring out which you like the taste of the best

there was a lot of cute art at the winery! i loved all the dogs and greyhounds around the property. these 3 dancing pigs came a close second

we drove a little way for lunch at another beautiful vineyard. i had a charcoal ciabatta, tomato quinoa salad, root veggie risotto and steamed veggies on the side. we skipped the wine tasting because our lunch overran a bit and our bus driver buford said that the traffic would be pretty heavy on a friday afternoon and it wouldn’t be worth it to be stuck on the bus. so we just walked around the cute little town we were at, franschhoek (??)

there was a lot of cute art and small local shops around this town! we strolled around and got some souvenirs ¨̮

love this

we had a dinner booked way ahead at fyn restaurant. it was stunningly delicious. i loved every single course and was thoroughly impressed.

UGHHHHH just soooo good.

jul 13, 19 ••• FINALLY we had a day to sleep in!!!! we let our group know the night before that we didn’t want to join the walking tour around the city. we woke up and made our way to the company’s garden, which was directly next to our hotel. we played harry potter wizards unite and ran into the tour group. my mom told me later on it was a good decision of ours not to join haha.

we walked to addis in cape for an authentic ethiopian meal experience. we washed our hands at the table, ate the whole meal with our hands, and finally i was able to taste injera. it was 100% teff injera and it did not disappoint. i ordered a vegan platter while alan got a combo. the amount of food was PERFECT for us, we finished every single thing.

we ordered dessert but the hot berries never showed up and the ice cream was interestingly very gummy and very very sweet. the coffee was strong and served with a beautiful platter.

after that, we needed to walk our full tummies off. we headed to the waterfront, where there were many shops and stalls in indoor and outdoor malls. it was just a really good time walking around there and we saw soooo many things. there was bubble tea in south africa, a yogurt bar that made me sooo happy, dogs were up for adoption, and a bootleg jabbawockeez performance at the city square. we walked back to the hotel after that and got ready for bed.

jul 14, 19 ••• we woke up at 430am to head to the airport by 530am. we caught our first flight from cape town to johannesburg, then transferred to a direct flight back to hong kong. it was a TIRING trip but wow, the memories!! really want to go to back soon

#tanjastravels #tansworld #travel #wanderlust #tanja travels #tanjalan #cape town #uganda #gorilla #gorilla trekking #africa #south africa #safari #memories #travel memories #do you even travel

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creampuffqueen · 4 years

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Deep in the Heart of Texas - Two

a/n: I really need to stop writing instead of doing online school. Whatever. This is kind of a filler chapter; things should be getting more interesting soon. I hope y’all enjoy!

Summary: Aelin Galathynius is ready for the best summer of her life. She’s home from college for the summer, and so are all of her friends. Even her cousin is on a break from the military. Everything is set up to be perfect. Until... her mother decides to let the son of an old family friend stay with them while he grieves the loss of a loved one. And Aelin is not going to let a party pooper ruin her summer.

Rowan Whitethorn has just suffered the biggest loss of his life: the death of his long-time girlfriend, Lyria. His family is sick of him moping around his tiny New York apartment, so they ship him down south for the summer. The last thing Rowan wants is to spend his vacation in Nowhereville, Texas, but he has little choice. Not to mention, the only people his age seem to hate him. How on earth is he going to survive 3 months of this?

“Aelin, we’re home!” Evalin trills as she steps inside. Rhoe is behind her, along with Eleanor and Gavriel.

“Uncle Gav! Aunt Ellie!” And Aelin feels like a little kid again, running to her aunt and uncle. Gavriel pulls her into a tight hug while Eleanor kisses her head.

“It’s so good to see you. How’s A&M?” Eleanor asks. Aelin walks her family to the living room, telling them everything. All about the professor she hates (“Maeve is still teaching?” Gavriel snorts), and the friends she’s made, and that crazy end-of-year party she went to.

“Aedion’s out right now.” Aelin tells her aunt before she can ask. Eleanor chuckles, sinking further into the couch.

“Aelin!” Turning to her mother, Aelin gives her a questioning look.

“What?”

“It’s five! We need to go pick up Rowan from the airport.” Evalin stands up, ready to grab her purse and run out again, but Aelin stops her.

“He’s already here, Mom. His flight got moved up and he got here around two o’clock.” Evalin’s eyes widen.

“Why didn’t you text me? And where is he?”

“Sorry, I forgot.” Aelin sighs lamely. “And he’s asleep in his bedroom. He must have been really tired, I haven’t heard a peep from him all afternoon.”

Aelin’s mother sits down again, pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head. Nobody says anything for a long while, until Eleanor stands up suddenly.

“We should get started on dinner, don’t you think? Especially if we have a guest. We don’t want him going hungry, now do we?”

Evalin still doesn’t speak, but she gets up anyway and follows her sister into the kitchen. Leaving Aelin alone with her father and uncle.

“How long are you two in town for, uncle Gav?” She asks.

“I was able to get two weeks off.” Gavriel says with a smile. Eleanor is a teacher, so she’s already off for the whole summer. “We wanted to see y’all before you both went back to school.”

“You remember the Whitethorns, right?” Rhoe interjects. “They’ve been down here a few time when y’all were.”

“How can I forget?” Gavriel chuckles. “I had to scold Aedion for days after he punched one of their kids.”

The two men laugh at old memories, bringing Aelin back, as well. She’d been five years old the first time she met the Whitethorns.

Enda was six and Sellene was seven, and the three of them got on like wildfire. Aelin showed them all over the house, even the cool secret areas in places she wasn’t supposed to go. Rowan and Aedion had trailed behind, seeming to get along just fine.

But then, as Aelin showed them the cool secret alcove in the library, Rowan had threatened to tell on them for being where they weren’t supposed to. He’d barely turned around to get out of the room before Aedion tackled him.

The rest of the afternoon was a blur, and all Aelin remembered after that was turning to Aedion as the Whitethorns’ car pulled out of the driveway and saying, “I’m so glad they’re gone.”

“Aelin! Come help me chop veggies!” Evalin’s voice from the kitchen pulls her from her memories, and she hurries away from the living room, leaving the two men to chat in peace.

“I’m making chicken spaghetti casserole.” Eleanor says from the stove. The water is at a rolling boil, and her aunt quickly drops in the pieces of chicken to cook while Aelin and Evalin cut up the onions and peppers.

It doesn’t take long before it seems like Aelin has been forgiven; or at least, Evalin doesn’t seem too mad anymore. Aelin tells her that Rowan arrived just fine, settled in fine. Like she’s checked on him since then.

She also makes sure to keep some other things to herself. Like how she knows her mother set up a large suite for him, but she gave him the smallest room on purpose. Or that even though she’s determined to hate his guts, Rowan Whitethorn is unfairly hot.

Hot as hell, and also off-limits as hell. After all, he’s here to recover from his girlfriend dying in a car accident. Hitting on him is… probably the opposite of what he needs.

Even if he’s far too attractive for his own good.

Eleanor pulls the chicken from the boiling water and adds the pasta, breaking the noodles in half before she drops them in. Aelin is busy grating cheese now, while her mother sautees the veggies.

Someone comes inside, opening up the creaky screen door and stepping into the entryway. Aelin peeks out of the kitchen to see her uncles, Orlon and Weylan.

“Something smells good.” Orlon laughs, already heading for the kitchen. Aelin meets him halfway, grinning, throwing herself into her great-uncle’s arms.

“You’re home!”

Orlon laughs at that, planting a kiss on Aelin’s golden head. Weylan comes up beside them, giving her a pat on the shoulder. “We’ve barely been gone a week.”

“Well, you missed my coming home party. Everyone was there.” Aelin pouts playfully.

Orlon just keeps smiling, shuffling into the kitchen to snatch a piece of boiled chicken, much to Eleanor’s dismay. She’s busy straining the pasta, getting ready to assemble the casserole and put it in the oven. She slaps Weylan’s hand away before he can take a piece, too.

“Uncle, did Mom tell you that she’s letting a strange man stay in our house?” Aelin asks, grinning fiendishly.

“Aelin,” Evalin sighs, “He’s not a strange man, he’s a family friend.”

“She did tell me.” Orlon chuckles. “Poor sucker.” He uses Eleanor’s distraction to take another piece of chicken, making Aelin’s aunt nearly squawk.

They all fall into conversation easily, the whole family crowding the large kitchen. When Aedion gets back from town, he’s just as excited to see his uncles.

Aelin hadn’t realized how much she missed this; the easy-going personality of Orlon mixed with Weylan’s snark, the laughter of her aunt and uncle, the feeling of togetherness. This, right here, is her family. Her people.

Rhoe pulls a few beers from the fridge, tossing one to Aedion and Gavriel. At Aelin’s protests, he gives her one too.

“I’m twenty-one, Dad. I can drink now.”

“Legally, at least.” Aedion grins. Aelin elbows him sharply, and her cousin doubles over, coughing.

All of the commotion draws Fleetfoot into the kitchen, and nobody can resist her cute begging face. Before Eleanor can get the casserole fixed up properly, the dog has already eaten what seems half the chicken, snuck to her by nearly every person in the room.

Aelin finishes her beer with a contented sigh and tosses the can, heading to set the table at her mother’s insistance. Despite the fact that she’s twenty-one and Aedion is twenty-six, they’re still the youngest members in the house, meaning all the mundane chores get thrown on them.

When the plates and cups and silverware are set, Evalin hands her daughter the cloth napkins. Aelin looks up at her, confused.

“Why are we being all fancy? It’s just us.” She asks.

“Have you already forgotten the guest sleeping upstairs?” Evalin sighs, clearly exasperated. “I want to give him a good impression.”

Aelin rolls her eyes, but sets out the fancy napkins anyway. By her standards, Rowan Whitethorn deserves absolutely none of this fuss. Really, she should have just gone out and gotten them all Whataburger for dinner.

But since she doesn’t have a death wish, Aelin doesn’t talk back to her mother. The napkins get set, the casserole comes out of the oven, piping hot and ready to eat.

“Aedion, go wash up.” Eleanor tells her son. “Aelin, how about you go and get our guest? I’m sure he’s starving by now.”

Aelin trudges up the large staircase, muttering obscenities under her breath.

“What was that?” Her aunt calls back.

“Nothing!” She answers. Screw the stupid mother sense that allows her to hear back-talk from nearly a room away.

Upstairs, Aelin hurries to Rowan’s room, on the furthest side of the house from her own bedroom. She wasn’t exactly lying about all the rooms being taken, but maybe she wasn’t completely truthful, either.

All of her friends stayed for a few days after the party, not ready to head home just yet. They’d spent the days in one room or the other, often accompanied by multiple bottles of wine, and just talked. She felt as though she hadn’t seen her friends in ages, with school just being so busy.

Now, seeing as everyone is finally gone, only a few rooms on the upper floor are taken, truly. Hers, Aedion’s, one for her great-uncles, and one for her aunt and uncle. Her parents’ bedroom is downstairs, leaving several rooms vacant that Rowan could have taken.

However, Aelin didn’t want him anywhere near her, which meant the furthest, smallest bedroom possible. She walks to it quickly, knocking impatiently on the door.

“I’m coming.” A muffled voice on the other side of the door says. Aelin tuts loudly and taps her foot, crossing her arms.

“It’s time for dinner.” Aelin calls.

The door opens, and Aelin hates how she has to look up at the bastard. His silvery hair is mussed, likely from sleeping on it. However, the bags under his eyes suggest otherwise.

“Are you coming?” She snaps. Rowan doesn’t say anything, just steps outside, running a hand through his hair in a failed attempt to tame it. Aelin turns away, feeling warm. He has absolutely no right to be so attractive, and it feels strangely intimate, walking in on him just waking up.

“It’s chicken spaghetti casserole. And the rest of my family is home, so try not to say anything too stupid. In fact, maybe just speak as little as possible.” Aelin leads him downstairs, heading for the dining room.

The less she looks at him, the better.

~~~~

As exhausted as he was, Rowan hadn’t slept a wink. A fact that pains him more and more with each step downstairs. His head feels fuzzy. And hot. Why is it still so fucking hot? How do these people handle it?

“Rowan!” He looks up to see Evalin Galathynius, arms wide open, pulling him into a sudden hug. Rowan tenses up, eyes widening. Over her shoulder, Rowan has a clear view of Aelin snickering at his misfortune.

“Please, come sit.” Another woman, one who looks almost exactly like Evalin, gestures to the large wooden table. Rowan takes a seat awkwardly, trying to force a smile to his face. He fails miserably.

“This is my sister, Eleanor.” Evalin smiles. “And her husband, Gavriel.” She introduces the rest of the people, and all Rowan wants is to go back upstairs and sleep.

The Galathynius family is a sight, that’s for sure. He always thought that Aelin and Aedion looked similar, but looking at Evalin and her sister… they’re practically twins.

At least the food is good. Probably incredibly unhealthy, being mostly pasta and cheese and breadcrumbs, but good. And the other people make up all the conversation, so at least he doesn’t have to speak too much.

If only he didn’t have to speak at all. The dog- what was its name- nudges his legs, and he can hear it panting beneath the table, begging for scraps. He tries his best to push it away discreetly.

“So, Rowan.” Gavriel tries to make friendly conversation, pulling Rowan away from staring at his nearly empty plate. “What’s New York like at this time of the year?”

“Fine.” Rowan doesn’t offer any more information, hoping to keep himself closed off. “And it doesn’t feel like the fires of hell.” He mutters under his breath.

Rhoe Galathynius bursts out laughing. “Ain’t that the truth! Hell, it’s barely June! Only gonna get hotter from here, son.”

Yay.

“I’ll take your plate, Rowan.” Looking up, he sees Aelin giving him a simpering smile, somehow paired with a death glare. He still hasn’t figured out why she hates him so much.

He passes her the dirty plate and silverware, and Aelin moves to offer the same to her uncles. She takes them through to the kitchen, the dog crawling out from under the table to follow her.

“Thank you for making dinner, Mrs. Galathynius.” Rowan says to the woman sitting across from him. She beams.

“Of course, sweetheart. And you can call me Evalin.”

“Anybody want ice cream?” Aelin yells into the dining room. “We got some Blue Bell left!”

Everyone calls back for ice cream, though Rowan is silent. Sure, something cold sounds nice, but he’s already full from dinner. Not that he’s had much appetite lately.

When Aelin returns, the dog yet again on her heels, she’s balancing several bowls of ice cream in both hands, and she places them expertly before her family, a real, genuine smile on her face.

“I hope y’all like it. There’s none left now.” She laughs. Getting a scoop of vanilla on her spoon, she lets the dog lick it off with a smile.

“You don’t want any, Rowan?” Evalin asks sweetly.

“No thanks.” He responds. “I’m already full. And… I’ve had a long day, I think I’m going to bed, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course not. Get some sleep.” She smiles.

“You haven’t lived until you’ve tried Blue Bell ice cream, man.” Aedion laughs from his seat. “This is the good shit. Sure you don’t wantney?”

Struggling to understand the thick accent, Rowan shakes his head quickly, offering another apology. He practically sprints upstairs, Aelin’s hysterical laugh ringing in his ears.

Despite it being nearly seven o’clock, the sun is still bright and hot, gleaming through the windows onto his bed.

Rowan flops down onto the comforter, wincing as he lands onto the patch of burning sunlight. Rolling over, he reaches for his phone of the nightstand.

Several missed texts and calls from friends and family meet him. Enda and Sellene’s are most prominent, wanting to make sure he’s arrived safely. There’s one or two alerts from his parents, just confirming his thoughts that they’ve shipped him down here to get him out of their hair, not because they’re worried for him, and then several from his friends, Fenrys and Lorcan.

In fact, right as he unlocks his phone, he gets another call from Fenrys. With a sigh, he answers it.

“Oh shit! He’s alive!” Fenrys chuckles, and Rowan can practically hear the troublemaking grin.

“Yeah, whatever. What do you want?”

“I’m checking in, man.” Fenrys says. “How’s the lone star state?”

“I’m literally sleeping on the set of Gone with the Wind, so…”

His friend laughs at that. “Well, at least you get to to sit around and drink beer and see hot women all day.”

Something in Rowan’s heart tugs violently, and he brushes it off with a laugh that sounds forced, even to his own ears.

“No, it’s too fucking hot to go outside. It was seriously almost 100 degrees this afternoon, and it’s only going to get hotter as summer goes on. I’m not going to survive the heat.”

“Well, man, you’re in luck.” Fenrys says. “Because if you’re stuck inside all day, at least you’ll have friends.”

“The only people my age in this awful town hate me.” Rowan snaps. “What are you planning, Fen?”

“How about Lorcan tells you.” His friend nearly cackles. Rowan hears the sound of the phone being passed over.

“Hey, Ro.” Lorcan sighs. “I can’t believe I let Fen talk me into this. Even Connall managed to resist him.”

“What’s going on.” Rowan asks, suspicious.

“I am currently holding two plane tickets to Houston, Texas!” Fenrys cheers. “We’re coming down to cheer you up!”

“What the hell.” Rowan groans. “Did either of you think this through at all? Where are you even staying?”

“We’ll figure that out tomorrow.” Fenrys calls, Lorcan having put the phone on speaker.

Of course. Fenrys’s family is filthy rich, so he clearly has the idea to just find a hotel nearby and crash, not caring about expenses. Although Rowan is touched his friends care enough to come all the way down to see him, he can already tell this is going to go badly. Very badly.

“All the nearby hotels are shitty.” Rowan tells him. “So just warning you. Everything in this stupid state is dusty and hot and ugly.”

Lorcan says something, but is interrupted by a loud knock on Rowan’s door.

“Hang on; I’ll call you back.” Fenrys protests, but Rowan doesn’t listen, just hanging up the call.

He walks over to the door, trying to reign in his groan. Why can’t he just be left alone?

It’s Aelin at the door, of course. It seems she’s taken it upon herself to personally torment him.

“I’m just letting you know, we have church in the morning. We leave at nine o’clock. If you need some nicer clothes, just take some of Aedion’s. You know, since this whole state is dusty and hot and ugly.”

Rowan groans at her words. Of course she heard him. Before he can say anything more, Aelin shuts the door, hard.

He’s been here for less than twenty-four hours, and yet he’s already messed something up.

Typical.

~~~~

a/n: so, in Rowan’s POV, I made sure to add a bunch of words and vocab not included in Aelin’s. Why? Because a Southern accent is something else, man. Of course Rowan’s going to notice it more, not being from the south, while Aelin has been listening and speaking like that her whole life. Also, the ‘wantney’ wasn’t a typo. Saying ‘want any’ out loud with my own southern voice smushed the words together, so I decided to do that here.

Comment to be added/removed from the tag list!

@http-itsrebecca

@rowaelinforeverworld

#throne of glass #tog #tog au #rowaelin #sarah j maas #sjm #aelin galathynius #rowan whitethorn #fenrys moonbeam #lorcan salvaterre #aedion ashryver #southern au #tog southern au

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doyouever-daydream · 4 years

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Earth Day Surprises

A/N So here I am bringing another Luna oneshot inspired by Earth Day and Kirsten’s Pie Chart and well, I usually get ideas for fics on dates like this and never write them but today I had the time so yeah.

This could work as part two of Birthday wishes BUT could also be read as one installment. Uhm, btw, I might also have an idea for how Luna’s birth went down so that’s why there’s a nod to that story at the end, would you like to read it?

Pairing: Penelope Garcia x Luke Alvez

Warnings: None, I think.

Word count: 2647 (Oof I usually write like 900w)

Masterlist

It was a Wednesday morning and the smell of pancakes invaded the Alvez home, it was a rare occasion where they could be together during the morning on a weekday but then again these were rare times, Penelope shook her head trying not to think about what was going on and calling her daughter who was getting dressed in her bedroom.

“Baby, breakfast is ready” Penelope called for her while pouring herself a cup of coffee and sitting on the stool waiting for her.

It took five year old Luna a good ten minutes till she appeared in the kitchen wearing denim overalls, a hat and gardening boots, she had asked her mom to braid her hair first thing in the morning before she even brushed her teeth and Penelope happily agreed to do so, she looked adorable in the outfit and carrying Sergio in her arms.

“It’s Earth Day, mommy! I put a sticker on my calendar so I wouldn’t forget!” She announced with a big smile on her face and the cat jumped to go and eat from his bowl.

“It is indeed, I’m happy you’re excited” Penelope mirrored the smile on her daughter’s face, ever since she knew she was going to be a mom she wished to raise her to be earth-friendly, Luke had jumped on board with the idea and they had done a good job so far.

“I want to see if my seeds are finally good to pot them” She exclaimed happy while she climbed on the stool beside her mom “And I want to water all my plants and I want to play in the garden, I also want to pick flowers and see if any more lemons have grown and see if the butterfly has left the cocoon, OH, I WANT TO PLAY FOSSILS” Luna was overly excited about the day ahead.

“Ok, my little explorer, but to do all those things you need energy, now eat your pancakes” She pushed the plate that was Luna’s towards her and she immediately dug in, it took a moment for Roxy to stood on the counter hoping they’d share their food, which made Luna realize someone was missing.

As she looked around she confirmed Luke was nowhere in sight and with a furrowed brow she asked “Where’s daddy?”

“He had to go to work but only for a few hours” Luna eyes shot up “He’s not going anywhere, I promise”

“He’s not supposed to leave the house” She informed her mom while she took a sip of her orange juice.

“Your aunt Emily really needed him to go besides he’s going to pick up food, we cannot starve and you need lots of veggies and fruits so you grow super strong”

“We should grow them in our yard!” Penelope had a knowing smile but remained silent “I need all the vitamins to be super strong so I can rescue animals, mommy” Recently Luna was determined to be a veterinarian and it made both of her parent’s happy to see her discovering what she wanted to be, maybe she would change her mind or maybe not but either way seeing her being so passionate about animals was endearing.

“Ah, yes, you will need vitamins but also you’ll need to go to college and for that you need to do today’s schoolwork” As the words left Penelope’s mouth, Luna’s face showed no interest.

“I did it yesterday! Today’s Earth Day” She now had a pout and stopped eating.

“Sorry to inform you, sweetheart but even today we do schoolwork, you’re learning to do sums, isn’t that exciting?” Penelope finished her pancakes and went to put her plate on the sink.

“It is not, I already know how to do that, two plus two equals four” Penelope smiled at her “Seven plus two equals nine” She tried to impress her mom.

“Good! You are doing great, baby, but you have to keep on practicing so you can do bigger sums”

“I know how to do that, I even know how to multiply, 13 times 379 equals 4927” Luna said with determination and a huge grin on her face seeing her mom was finally impressed, Penelope feigning surprise, she came closer to her daughter while she put on a surprised face.

“You, my little precious girl” She tapped Luna’s nose with her finger “Memorized that from Matilda, you and your daddy watch it all the time” Luna’s face fell as she made complaint noises “You have an amazing memory, I’ll give you that”

“Thirteen plus eight equals…” She quickly counted with her fingers “Twentyone”

“That’s right, I tell you, you keep practicing and you’ll get even better” The little girl sighed “Today your teacher wants to do a video call with you and your friends, that’s exciting” Luna’s face lit up and she finished her pancakes ready to start her day.

A few hours later, Luna had done her schoolwork with her mom working beside from her laptop, so whenever she needed help she could easily ask.

The five year old had a Zoom meeting with the rest of her classmates and teacher, it was a sweet sight for Penelope, she knew Luna missed going to school and seeing her friends, after all she took after her when it came to being social, she wasn’t that shy and reserved as her dad, Luna was always trying to be friends with other kids and told anyone who would listen stories about her life, whether it was about that time they visited her daddy’s family in New York or the new bird’s nest that was in her backyard, she had a way getting into conversations with anyone about anything.

A little before lunch, they all heard Luke’s truck pulling up on the driveway, Roxy immediately started barking and Luna ran to the window followed by Sergio who watched curiously outside.

“Daddy’s here” Luna wanted to open the door but her parents always told her she shouldn’t do that so she waited anxiously for her dad to come through the door but after a few minutes there was no sight of him.

“Come on, Lu, let’s go out back” She extended her hand and Luna happily took it as she jumped up and down wondering what was happening.

On the sideway of their house, his dad truck was parked with two small trees on the back, Luke stood there waiting to see his girl’s reaction.

“Are we going to plant trees?” She asked with wide eyes to both of her parents.

“We are, we needed more additions to our tree family, what do you think?” Luke informed her and Luna started to jump up and down “Alright, I’m gonna go wash my hands and change my clothes and then I’ll come to take this to the garden, now go and choose with your mom a good place for them”

“YES!” Her parents laughed as she ran to the back of the garden, Roxy and Sergio following her to see what the fuss was all about

“Who would’ve thought our daughter loved Earth Day as much as she loves Christmas?” Penelope joked and Luke looked incredulously at her.

“With you as her mom, are you even surprised?” She raised her eyebrows “It’s not a bad thing, I actually love her being like this” Penelope watched as Luna grabbed her gloves and tried to put them up.

“Let me go and help her before she starts to dig in with her bare hands” She turned to Luke “Go and change, we have a long day ahead”

When Luke returned to the backyard his entire family was there, Luna and Penelope were already holding shovels and digging while Roxy was in a totally different spot digging a hole and Sergio watched all of them, unbothered as always.

“Daddy, we want them here” She looked up and beneath her hat, he could see her eyes shine with joy and some dirt on her cheeks.

“Wherever you want them, princess, now let me go and bring them” Luke proceeded to carry the small trees and the soil bags he had also bought.

They dug the holes and Luna was over the moon, seeing the new members of their garden, they had a picnic on their garden and then returned to work, once they planted the trees, she insisted on hugging them carefully so they would feel welcome in their new home.

“Ok, sweetheart, so this will be your tree” Penelope signaled the tree on the right “And many, many years from now we’ll come out here and we’ll see how much your tree has grown” She nodded excitedly unable to take the eyes off of it.

“And whose tree is this?” Luke wondered as he walked behind her wrapping his arms around her waist, she leaned back on his chest and sighed.

“Ours” He kissed her head and they continued the celebration.

“We have one more surprise for you, princess” At this statement Luna finally turned to pay attention to her parents.

“Daddy picked up some seeds so we can plant them and take care of them” Luna smiled big for a moment and then she looked sad “What’s wrong, Lu?” Penelope worried.

“Roxy chew my gardening tools the other week” As if Roxy knew exactly what she meant her ears bent down and whimpered.

“Ah, you see, we remembered that, and that’s why we got you a new set of gardening tools” Luna looked as if she was about to cry of happiness, something she had done before, just like her mom.

“And they’re yellow, my favorite color” She exclaimed as she took them from mom.

Luke bent down and whispered in Penelope’s ear “Wasn’t her favorite color, purple?”

“Oh, newbie, that was last week” She teased him and he laughed at the nickname he could never live down, not even as husband and wife, she would forget it “Now, let’s get to it”

They explained to her that the seeds were for different vegetables, and that if they took good care of them, they would be eat the vegetables from their produce. Luna had a journal, she made drawings but had her mommy writing in it which vegetables they were trying to grow and what date it was so they wouldn’t forget.

“How come you never ask me to write in it, Lu?” Luke asked as he crossed his arms and Luna told her mom exactly what to write.

“Your handwriting isn’t that good, daddy, but it’s ok, we can practice together so we have nice handwriting like mommy’s” Penelope laughed soundly and kept writing careful not to mess it up so Luna would still trust her with the task “Thank you for making this a great day, I love Earth Day, I want all Earth Days to be like this”

“Oh, you just ask, baby, I will fill this with trees if that’s what you want” Luke confessed to which his little girl just laughed and reached her arms up to him.

Luke picked her up, he wished Luna would always want him to hold her “I love you, daddy” She kissed her cheek and yawned.

“También te amo, corazón” He kissed her hair and put her down so she could go with Penelope.

“I love you, mommy” She hugged Penelope and Penelope, felt tears coming to her eyes, not once she took for granted how lucky she was to be Luna’s mom.

“I love you too, baby, with all my heart and soul, now, it’s time for a bath”

After they had dinner, bathed Luna and put her to bed, they also took a shower and had some leftover cake they all had baked the other day, a little after Luke found himself leaning on the doorframe, looking at the backyard, he remembered how when they got the house it was empty, it was just a bunch of dirt but Penelope had been so excited to turn it into somewhere nice so they could have people over, a few years later and they envisioned their own family being there and now actually enjoying it with their daughter was incredible.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Penelope stood beside him with a cup of tea.

“Just admiring the garden” He placed an arm on her shoulders and brought her closer to him.

“It looks good, isn’t it? I always knew watching Yard Crashers would pay off” She joked and remembered how she would force Luke to watch it with her until he admitted he liked it too.

“The trees will look great once they grow a little bit more” He could picture both of them providing more shade.

“When I was little, my parents planted a tree and told me it was mine to take care of and to watch it grow and so I did” She swallowed “At one point all I had left of them was that tree, I tried to take it with me when I had to move out of the house but I obviously couldn’t but the new owners asked me about it and I told them the story so they kept it, and they told me that I could always go and visit it and it may sound silly but I did, I visited there, it was easier than going to the cemetery and I felt…” She trailed off as the tears came down “I don’t know, a connection to them, to my childhood, so that’s why I needed them to have their own tree”

Luke remained silent assimilating the story, she had never told him that before and he just took her in her arms and allowed her to cry, after a few minutes something clicked in his brain.

“Them?” He asked as he looked for her eyes, she was calmer.

“I’ve been having suspicions for a week and the other day I went to buy Tylenol for Lu, I bought a bunch of tests, they were all positive” The tears of sadness were now replaced by tears of happiness and relief, they’ve been trying ever since Luna had asked them for a baby brother, it had been almost ten months since, they went to doctors, they did tests and treatments.

“How far long do you think you are?” Luke was in shock and overwhelmed.

“I’m not sure, a month? Two? Maybe Santa Claus will make Luna’s wish come true instead of the birthday fairy” She cried and laughed at the same time, Luke locked his lips with hers, they’ve been looking forward to extending their family and the road hadn’t been an easy one but finally it was becoming a reality.

She melted in the kiss, feeling extremely happy to finally share the news with him, she wanted to tell him ever since she took the test a little before he arrived from Quantico, they were beginning another adventure and both were sure it was going to be absolutely amazing.

As they pulled apart their foreheads remained together “That’s why I asked for two trees, one for Lu and one for this little peanut” Penelope confessed and Luke grinned.

“Think about how excited Luna was for today, wait till we tell her she’s going to be a big sister” Luke couldn’t wait but he knew he had to wait for at least a few weeks.

“I know! She’ll have us counting down the days till the baby is here” She thought about her reaction and laughed.

Luke couldn’t keep his eyes off of her, after seeing her struggle so much with the treatments it was finally happening and he wanted to be there for her every second of it. His mind went back to the story of Luna’s birth and although now it was somehow funny, when it happened he was scared he might miss it but he wouldn’t let that happen again.

#garvez #penelope garcia #luke alvez #luna alvez series #garvez imagine #garvez fanfiction #criminal minds #criminal minds imagine #criminal minds fanfiction #luke x penelope #garcia x alvez

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gettingoverthemoon · 3 years

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First Quarter Review: A Goal Check in With Myself

At the start of the year I made 10 “Big Picture” Goals. After the first three months of the year, here is an update on my progress.

I am doing this to keep track of goals, update the goals, provide myself with some recognition, check in with myself, celebrate my accomplishments, reevaluate goals, and hold myself accountable.

1. Keep track of Monthly spending

Initially (early January) I made an excel document to keep a running tab of bills that I would be splitting with Chris. Now, I have been spending like crazy. This is a goal I need to work on. Having my fixed costs in one organized place is a good start, but I am not holding myself to a budget. Moving forward, I would like to prioritize my spending on needs and wants and also savings.

Just checked in on my 401k and I have saved over 10G’s. Looks like retiring by 60 could be in the cards for me 8D, so that’s a great accomplishment.

2. Get a promotion/raise

I got a 3% raise in March. Which is a good start. I had an in depth conversation with my boss about getting a promotion and think I am on the right track to getting there. I will continue to work hard at my job, step outside of my comfort zone, and learn new things to advance my career.

I have also started an Etsy shop and have officially started profiting from my sales, so I’d like to note that!

3. Run a 5K non-stop

I have not ran a single time this quarter. I did however start walking 10+ miles per week. I think that is a good start, but I need to start pushing myself harder.

4. Do something charitable each month

In January I didn’t do anything. In February I mailed in my hair for children with hair loss and donated several bags of clothing and household items. In March I signed up and had conversations with the Children’s home to volunteer with the orphans.

5. Emphasize Self Care/Love one “Me day” per month

I have had at least one me day per month. In January I went to a pottery studio, celebrated my birthday, took a bubble bath, and journaled. In February I started an Etsy shop, became fully vaccinated for COVID-19, and journaled. In March, I got my nails done, spent time with friends and family after Chris broke up with me, went to Florida, started doing more physical activity, and started this blog.

My Journey for self love is going stronger than ever and for that I am very proud of myself. I will continue to choose myself, do things that I enjoy, say yes to me, take myself out on dates, and treat myself with kindness and love.

6. Build a garden, develop landscaping, make outside of the house pretty

I have a different garden flag for each month to make my house look cute, I have been collecting sticks/leaves/yard debris and burning them. My dad and I built 2 raised garden beds so that I can start my veggie patch when it gets warmer. The daffodils I planted are flowering and look really nice. My dad and I pruned the trees in my yard. I made a plan for getting top soil and grass seed to grow a better lawn. I’ve been building pinterest boards for landscaping projects and doing research on the best plants for MI.

Because first quarter is so cold, I was really only able to plan for this goal. I think I exceeded that by the yard work I did with my dad and by building raised garden beds.

7. Less consumption/waste

I bought a compost bin in January. I compost what I can and have been doing a lot of research on how to live more sustainably. I use reusable grocery bags, recycle, use food wraps instead of single use plastics, and try to limit food waste. This is an area that I can always improve on. I will continue to research more sustainable ways of life and do my best to bring them into action for myself.

8. Stay up to date with current affairs

I get a daily newsletter sent to my email that lists different topics that are going on in the world. But that’s about all I do. I should start to read the news more often and learn about what is going on around me. I feel a little conflicted about this goal because my doctor told me I shouldn’t watch the news because most of it is negative and will not help my mood.

9. Meditate 150 sessions.

For the 1st quarter, I logged 36 sessions with the calm app. I am on a good pace for reaching this goal for the year, but need to take it more seriously and make this a more permanent part of my daily routine. I have been doing really great with daily affirmations. I wake up, stretch, and compliment myself. I also started ending each day with a reflection on the things that I liked about myself for that day. I’ve also been trying to focus on my spiritual journey and coming to peace with that everything happens for a reason, that I need to learn to trust in the universe and be present in the moment. I am getting a better grasp on this practice and though it isn’t meditation by definition, it’s still a process that has the same results.

10. Get accepted into a graduate program

I submitted my *complete application to Central in January. I am waiting to hear back from them. I mentioned it to all of my loved ones and have their support. I will look up other programs and maybe apply to them as well.

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fruitsbasketcase · 5 years

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So a few days ago Natsuki Takaya tweeted out That Hajime is a daddy’s boy, but is also a grandpa’s boy.

So I got inspired and wrote a small fanfic of Hajime spending time with his dad and grandpa. It’s been years since I wrote a Fruits Basket fan fic so hopefully it’s good.

A Day with Daddy and Grandpa

Hajime Pov- Eight Years Old

“Daddy come on! We’re going to be late,” I yelled, standing at the front door and practically bouncing on the balls of my feet. He promised me that we would get to go to the dojo today and see grandpa. I wanted to watch another match between them.

Daddy made his way into the hallway, mommy following close behind with the same sweet smile she always has on her face. The sight of her smile always made one appear on my own face. It was just so soothing, it made you feel like you were soaking in a lukewarm bath.

“Calm down Hajime. It’s not like grandpa is going anywhere,” Daddy sighed.

Mom’s smile grew as she handed daddy a bento box big enough to hold lunch for the three of us. “He’s just excited Kyo-kun. It’s been awhile since he’s seen Master after all. I wish I could go with you, but I promised Machi-chan I would help her shop for a birthday present for Yuki-kun.”

“Just get the damn rat a potted plant or something,” daddy grumbled, making mommy playfully push his arm.

“Kyo-kun! What did I say about cursing in front of Hajime?”

“Cursing is a part of my vocabulary Tohru. It can’t be censored.”

I never knew why mommy bothered scorning daddy about his cursing. It’s not like I went around repeating the words he says. I did it once and mommy freaked out and turned into a fumbling mess of words. I also never understood why daddy calls Uncle Yuki a rat. They both had weird nicknames for each other. Uncle Yuki was a rat, and daddy was a ‘stupid cat’. Mutsuki and I always found it weird.

“Come on daddy!”

Daddy sighed shaking his head at me before smiling back at my mommy. “I guess we’re heading out now. I’ll tell Master you said hi.”

Mommy nodded before leaning in and kissing daddy on the lips. Groaning, I covered my eyes with my hands.

“Gross!”

Daddy put the bento he was holding in his sports bag before throwing it over his shoulder. “You only think it’s gross because you’re a kid.”

“Kissing will always be gross,” I argued, crossing my arms over my chest.

Mommy smiled at me, walking over and kneeling down to be at my level. “If you think it’s gross, does that mean you don’t want me to kiss you goodbye?”

My shoulders stiffened at that. There’s no way I can leave without a kiss from mommy… but I just made a big deal about how gross it is. Daddy says a real man never goes back on his word. Will letting mommy kiss me goodbye mean I’m not a real man?

I clenched my hands at my sides, my facial expression serious as I tried to hold my ground.

“Sorry mommy, but I can’t kiss you goodbye.”

Mommys’ smile turned sad, making my heart clench painfully. “I see… that makes me a little sad. My little boy is already becoming a man. Kids really do grow up so fast.”

My hands clenched tighter, my knuckles turning white from it. I can do this. I can be a man and leave the house without a kiss from my mommy. It’s what a true man would do!

Mommy reached out, running her fingers through my orange hair gently. I always loved when she did that. It was something soothing that she usually did when I had trouble sleeping at night. She and daddy would let me lay in bed with them and she would just rub my head till I fell asleep.

Guilt filled my chest, making my fists slowly unclench until my hands were just limp at my sides. As mommy started to stand up, I quickly threw my arms around her neck and hugged her before kissing her cheek. She seemed surprised but the expression quickly turned to one of pure happiness as she wrapped her arms around me and kissed my cheek in return.

“I love you, Hajime. I hope you have a wonderful day with daddy and grandpa.”

I smiled letting her go. “I always have fun with grandpa.”

“Hey, what about me,” daddy asked crossing his arms.

I smiled up at him. “It’s fun being with you too daddy. Grandpa is cooler though. He always wins when you guys fight.”

Since they both own dojos, they always spar and let me watch them. I’ve never seen daddy win. He claims it happened once, but grandpa won’t tell me whether it’s true or not. With how strong grandpa is, I don’t believe it.

Daddy scowled at that for a moment before just laughing. “Yeah, grandpa is pretty cool.”

He kissed mommy one more time before grabbing my hand and leading me out of the house. I went with him, glancing at how much bigger his hands were compared to mine. Seeing the size of his hands always makes me wonder if mine will look like that someday. I can’t imagine myself as a grown up, but if I think about it, I feel like I would look just like daddy.

The older people at the main estate say I already look like him. It’s rare for us to go there, but when we do, I hear a bunch of whispers and even a few scorns directed at daddy. They make it sound like looking like him is a bad thing. The way daddy reacts to it isn’t any better. He smiles at them, but it’s not the one he always gives mommy and I. It seemed… nervous.

I don’t know why the older people talk about daddy, or why it makes him so uneasy. Once I asked mommy about it, and she just smiled like always and told me it’s something I don’t need to concern myself with. That didn’t feel true though.

Whatever they are hiding… it feels important.

“Are you excited to train with Grandpa today,” Daddy asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I smiled, looking up at him. “Always.”

Daddy was the one who was teaching me martial arts, and I loved learning from him. It was also fun learning from grandpa. He teaches me things that he taught daddy at my age, and he tells me stories about what daddy was like while he was being trained.

I want to say that Daddy was grandpa’s most skilled student, but I can’t after seeing Uncle Yuki kick him far enough to end up on the other side of the yard. It was shocking for sure. Uncle Yuki didn’t seem like someone who knows how to fight.

He doesn’t know how to cook or clean, so I guess there had to be something he’s good at. He makes really pretty flowers and yummy veggies in his gardens. That’s a skill I guess. It’s just not as cool as daddy’s.

“I’m sure he’s excited to train with you. It’s been awhile since we’ve been able to come over. Knowing him, he’s going to dote all over you the moment we get there.”

That made me smile wide. Grandpa always gave me tight hugs and read me the best books. He also gave me presents every once in awhile.

We were down the street from the dojo and I could already see Grandpa waiting by the door. He smiled and waved as he saw us approaching. Letting go of daddy’s hand, I ran the rest of the way, holding my arms out to him laughing. Once I got to him, he grabbed me by the sides and lifted me high into the air, over his head. I laughed more, loving every time he did that. It always felt like flying and the air I breathed always felt a little bit clearer.

“Master, be careful. You aren’t as young as you used to be. Someday you’re going to throw out your back,” Daddy said, when he finally caught up to me.

Grandpa lowered me but kept me in his arms. I wrapped mine tight around his neck, laying my head on his shoulder happily.

“He’s not heavy at all. You’re looking well Kyo. How is Tohru?”

Daddy shook his head before taking me out of grandpa’s arms, making me whine. “She’s doing great. The beginning signs of pregnancy hit her a couple of days ago. She was getting sick a lot, but it seemed to have passed. She said she was sorry she couldn’t make it today.”

Grandpa shook his head, leading us inside. “It’s no problem. Sounds like your second child will be born strong and healthy.”

Daddy nodded, setting me down on the floor once we were in the family room. “It’s still pretty early. She isn’t even showing yet. We are both hopeful that they will be born safe though.”

I tried not to think about the new baby coming. The thought of having to share mommy and daddy’s attention was not something I was happy with. Not only that, I will have to share grandpa too.

Grandpa beamed at the thought of another grandchild. He would always bug my parents about having more kids and they finally got around to it. I’m not sure how they did it. Maybe it was some kind of magic. Aunt Hana has those freaky wave powers. Maybe there is magic that puts babies in people.

We all sat at the table on the floor, and grandpa grabbed a dumpling from a bowl and held it out to me smiling. “Here Hajime, have a treat.”

I smiled excitedly, taking it from him and biting into it. It was so sweet and didn’t taste like ash, meaning he got them from the market and didn’t cook them himself.

Speaking of that, daddy was glancing around, stretching his neck out to peer into the kitchen for signs that grandpa had tried cooking again. He was horrible in the kitchen. As daddy says, ‘he can kick ass like nobody's business, but he can’t boil water.’

“Whatever are you looking for Kyo,” he asked, watching him.

Daddy gave him a blank stare. “You know damn well what i’m looking for. Signs of a fire.”

“I promised you I would stop trying to cook and I meant it.”

“I have a hard time believing that,” he sighed, unzipping his bag and pulling out the bento mommy made. He set it on the table before standing up and going to the kitchen to get some plates.

Grandpa watched him go before smiling at me. “How have you been Hajime? Do you like school?”

I shrugged, glancing away. “I guess… all the kids make fun of my hair color. Mutsuki isn’t in the same grade, so I'm all by myself.”

He smiled sadly at that. “Kids can be cruel sometimes. Your dad used to get picked on all the time because of his hair.”

“Why does daddy have orange hair grandpa? Did daddy’s other parents have orange hair?”

He shook his head no. “It was a special genetic trait.”

A lot of us seemed to inherit ‘special genetic traits’. Mutsuki has his daddy's gray hair, while Riku has a mix of white and black like Uncle Haru. A lot of our aunts and uncles have weird hair. Mutsuki’s uncle Ayame had plain white hair.

“What about the baby? Are you excited about having a brother or sister?”

I quickly shook my head no. “I don’t want to share mommy, Daddy, or you.”

He chuckled at that. “It can be hard to adjust to a thought like that. You’re used to getting all of our attention. Don’t think that me or your parents will love you any less with another kid around. You will still have the same amount of love that you always get.”

I shrugged, looking down at the table. “What if mommy and daddy can’t love the both of us?”

“The love of a parent is the strongest power in the world Hajime. It doesn’t shrink or weaken. It only grows bigger and bigger. There will always be a place for you in your parents' hearts. In mine as well.”

His words made my chest feel warm, just like mommy’s words always seem to do. Grandpa reminded me a lot of mommy. He was nice, and always said things that make you feel safe and comforted. I strive to be half as amazing as he and mommy are.

Daddy came back with the plates and set the table before distributing out the food mommy made. Once it was all plated, I thanked him for the food before grabbing my chopsticks and breaking them apart. I held them as steadily as possible and struggled to pick up a slice of omelette, dropping it every time.

Daddy reached over and steadied my hand better, teaching me how to properly hold the sticks. I tried again but still kept dropping my food. He smiled slightly at my effort before reaching into the bento box and pulling out a fork. It seems mommy was prepared for my not being able to hold the sticks.

He held the fork out to me and I pouted, reaching out and grabbing it. I didn’t want to have to use it. I wanted to show grandpa just how much I’ve grown. That wasn’t working out too well.

“You held those chopsticks great Hajime. I’m sure soon you will be using them like a pro,” Grandpa acknowledged, trying to spare my feelings.

I just silently ate, listening to him and daddy talk about mommy and how one of the guest rooms is being turned into a nursery for the baby.

After lunch was done, we walked down to Grandpa’s dojo. Well, I practically ran there. I couldn’t help it, I was just so excited to see them spar with each other. It was always so cool to see the way grandpa barely has to move around to avoid getting hit by daddy. Daddy says his movements have become slower with old age, but he still can’t get a punch in.

We got there and Grandpa got low to the ground smiling at me. “Show me how much stronger your punches have gotten, Hajime,” he said holding up his hand.

“I don’t know grandpa. Mommy says my punches are very strong, I wouldn’t want to hurt you.”

Grandpa looked up at daddy with an amused face, making him laugh. “Tohru likes to encourage him.”

I pouted angrily. “Are you saying mommy lied? Mommy never lies, I am super strong.”

Grandpa looked at me again, still holding up his hand. “Well then show me.”

I nodded getting in my stance and taking a soothing breath. All my power had to be put into this one punch, to prove to them both that I’m not a weak little kid. I’m a man and I can fight just as hard as they can.

My fist flew toward grandpa’s hand before making contact, slamming into it so hard grandpa’s hand got pushed back a little. That made me smile and I looked up at him smugly.

“See that, I moved your hand because I’m so strong.”

He shook his head before pulling me toward him, just to painfully flick me on the forehead and send me falling on my butt. I groaned, putting my hand over the spot he flicked. It was warm and hurt.

“You are getting stronger, but you shouldn’t be cocky about it. There will always be someone stronger than you. Never underestimate your opponent or get too comfortable in your level of strength.”

Daddy rubbed his own forehead as if feeling sympathy pains. I’m sure grandpa flicked him all the time as a child.

“Why don’t you go sit on one of the benches so you can watch us?”

I nodded, getting up and doing as he said.

They both got into a fighting stance before daddy ran at grandpa, jumping in the air and trying to kick him. Grandpa moved out of the way, not even lifting his arms as he dodged each one of daddy’s attacks.

I laughed shaking my head at daddy. No matter how much he tries, he never gets one over on grandpa.

They went on like that for an hour until Grandpa finally put daddy out of his misery and punched him in the face, sending him to the ground. I covered my eyes before peeking through them, seeing daddy was laying on the ground laughing. Only grandpa can make someone like daddy laugh at being punched.

“Okay, you won this round master. I swear I’ll win the next one,” he said standing up and dusting himself off.

Grandpa chuckled at that and scruffed up daddys hair. “I can be eighty years old and you still couldn’t get one over on me.”

Daddy smirked at him. “Just you wait, I’ll prove you wrong.”

Grandpa smiled sweetly at him before looking over at me. “Perhaps Hajime will be the one to finally beat me.”

I nodded enthusiastically before jumping off the bench and running over to them. I threw a punch toward grandpa but daddy caught my fist before it could connect and flipped me, making me land on my back with a grunt. Daddy laughed at me, shaking his head.

“You have to be able to defeat me before you can even get close to beating him.”

I pouted at that, knowing he was right. I can’t even beat daddy in a fight yet. My training only began last year. He’s still teaching me the basics.

“Fine, then I will beat you. I will beat you and then I will beat grandpa!”

Grandpa smirked at that before looking at daddy. “He sounds like you when you tried to beat Yuki.”

“His goal of beating you is unlikely as me beating Yuki,” daddy responded, making me huff.

Daddy pulled out his phone, looking at the time. “Oh, Tohru should be getting done shopping with Machi by now. We should head home. She wanted us to go to the store with her to get the ingredients for dinner.”

I gasped excitedly, getting up off the ground. “Are we going to help mommy make dinner?”

Daddy smiled, picking me up and holding me over his head, just like grandpa did. I laughed and held my arms up, loving when he did this too. He set me back on the ground looking back at grandpa.

“You’re free to come over for dinner if you want. I’m sure Tohru would love to see you.”

“Thank you for the offer, but I’ll be having dinner with my wife. She was hoping you all would come over next weekend though. She wants Tohru help her with a new recipe.”

“I’m sure she would love that. I’ll bring it up to her.”

He nodded and stroked my head smiling. “Thank you for spending the day with me Hajime. I always love getting to see you.”

I jumped into Grandpa's arms, wrapping my arms tight around his neck in a hug. “I love you too, Grandpa! Will we get to do this again sometime soon?”

He nodded hugged me tight. “Very soon I hope.”

Daddy took me from him before setting me on the ground and taking my hand. “Let’s get going little man. Mommy will be waiting for us. We don’t want to keep her too long.”

I nodded squeezing his hand and waved to grandpa one more time before walking away with Daddy.

“Did you have fun spending time with grandpa,” he asked looking down at me.

I nodded smiling excitedly. “I can’t wait till the next time we see him. Next weekend can’t get here soon enough.”

Daddy shook his head smiling, squeezing my hand as we made our way back home.

“No, no it can’t.”

#fruits basket spoilers #fruits basket fan fiction #hajime sohma #kyo sohma #kazuma sohma #Tohru Honda

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michealharrypotter · 5 years

Text

Clingy and Cows chapter four

A/N So it’s finally here. Chapter four. It is sort of dry I’m not going to lie.... But I really just want to get to the good part lol. So here ya go.

Laurie

The gang and I talk loudly for the next little while. I tried to include Harry into our conversations but he just wasn’t up for it; I knew what the problem was though, Harry had never interacted with people from the county and so he honestly didn’t know what to say.

“Harry, did you know that this side of Laurie existed?” asked Mike.

“‘To be honest, no. I had no clue that she could milk a cow or shoot a gun. I didn’t even know that she could grow plants,” remarked Harry”

“Harry, buddy, I have a whole ass garden that I take care of back in Utah”

“Really?”

“Yes, where do you think all the fresh produce and flowers come from? The grocery store that is like an hour away”

Harry looked at me sheepishly, “Yes”’.

“Wow you got yourself a good one,” said Sammy sarcastically.

“Hey, Sammy we do not make fun of people” I said sternly “ just because he didn’t know one small thing doesn’t mean he isn’t a good boyfriend. Now apologize”.

“Sorry Harry”

“Any way, Harry and I should be heading back but if you guys would like to join us for lunch that would be amazing”

“Yeah”

“Yes”

“Sounds good”

Harry’s p.o.v

“Love, you didn’t tell them what time” I stated.

“Oh it’s fine. They know when to come over”

I looked at her skeptically but then decided I didn’t care enough to ask anymore questions. We drove in comfortable silence all the way back to the house. Once we got out, Laurie pulled my hand to the little pen that held a cow.

“Come on! Let’s pet him” Laurie said with excitement in her eyes.

“Do I have to touch it?”

“No, but they actually are pretty soft. And their tongue feel funny”

“I don’t know”

“ Harry, just touch the fucking cow. It’s not going to bite I promise”

““But babeeeee” I whined

She walked into the pen and petted the cow whose name was Simon. Laurie was petting him and cooing when I finally decided to join her..

“Oh he is actually kind of soft”

“Yeah I know. When I used to spend summers here, it would be my job to feed the calves and they were always so freaking soft”

“I actually would have never thought”

“Weird right? Anyway, we should probably get inside and start lunch”

We linked hands and made our way up the rock filled driveway.

We stood in the mud room and took off our boots.

“Alright, so I was thinking we could do burgers. Obviously veggie for you and me. Then some coleslaw and watermelon. Sound good?”

“Yeah sounds great”

I got to work on making the coleslaw and cutting the watermelon, while Laurie cooked the burgers.

“Babe do you want some music” I shouted through the open window.

“Yes please. Can you put on the Lumineers?”

“Sure thing honey”

Laurie’s favorite band was the Lumineers. She loved One Direction but always, always will favor the Lumineers music over ours.

Laurie’s p.o.v

Ah, ah, when I was young

I, I should've known better

And I can't feel no remorse

And you don't feel nothing back

The sound resonated through my ears. I loved this song with all of my heart.

I, I got a new girlfriend here

Feels like he's on top

And I don't feel no remorse

And you can't see past my blindness

My dad and I would belt this at the top of our lungs when we could come to the Ranch.

Oh, Ophelia

You've been on my mind, girl, since the flood

Oh, Ophelia

Heaven help the fool who falls in love

My train of thought was interrupted by Mike’s truck pulling up.

Oh good they’re on time.

“Hey guys! Lunch is almost done. Go find yourself a drink” I called out.

Jake walked up next to me, “Your efforts to tell us that are in vain, Taylor is already in the fridge”

“I figured”

I set the patties on a plate and brought them inside for everyone to eat.

“Now, do you guys have the rest of the day to help me show Harry around? I would personally like to take him up the canyon and to the fish hatchery” I asked the gang.

“I’m free,” said Taylor.

I heard agreements from everyone.

“This is amazing. It’ll be so fun!”

Once everyone had finished eating, we cleaned up. The group knew their assignments; Sammy on washing dishes, Taylor on drying and putting away, Jake on wiping down the counters and table, Evan on sweeping, then Harry and me on putting away food.

“Harry, can you go get my boots please? I need to assign four wheelers to everybody.”

“Yes ma’am”

“Sammy and Jake to the blue one, Evan and Taylor to the green one, then Harry and me to the red one. Sound okay to you guys?” I asked.

“Sounds great,” everyone said.

Just then Harry came back with my boots that I had left in the bedroom this morning.

Harry’s Pov

“Okay so where exactly are we going?” I asked

“Ant Canyon. It’s a classic for our group,” said Taylor.

“But first we need to get some supplies,” added Sammy.

“Ummmmmm supplies. What do you mean?”

“Like food, water, toilet paper, just some first aid stuff, and last but not least, gas tanks for all of us” said Evan.

Sammy moved to get food for us while Evan got the toilet paper and first aid. Taylor and Jake went to get the gas tanks filled for all of us. And I was instructed to get the sun screen.

“Okay kiddo, does everyone have their cellphones for the backpack?” said Laurie.

“Yes”

“Does everyone know where we are going?”

“Yes”

“Does everyone know what to do if one of us gets lost?”

“Yes”

“Great let’s get going”.

We marched outside to our assigned ATV’s which had gas tanks bungee strapped to the back.

“Laurie,” I whispered.

“Yes Harry?”

“How long do we plan on being gone?”

“Well the full ride takes just under 5 hours. Did you grab gloves?”

“Yes”

“Good. Your hands get cold and achy after a while,” she said.

We got on our four wheeler and off we went.

#Harry Styles #louis tomlinson #Niall Horan #liam payne #Zayn Malik #one direction #one direction fanfic #fan fiction

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bittysvalentines · 6 years

Text

Love in Aisle 12

From: @wrathofthestag

To: @pieandpucks

Summary: Jack meets a cute stranger with a baby at the grocery store. He's instantly smitten, but will a connection be made?

Message: Happy Valentine’s Day to @pieandpucks who requested a Single Dad!Bitty Zimbits meet cute based on this post. I hope you like it. - WrathoftheStag

Bone broth, a dozen eggs, protein powder, the cassava flour tortilla chips Tater got him hooked on, some glucosamine, and maybe he’d hit the mochi freezer, too. Chocolate or green tea mochi?

Jack was trying to stick to his list and get in and out of Whole Foods as quickly as possible. He pushed his cart as his eyes wandered up and down the vitamin aisle when he felt his cart roll over a small lump. Jack looked down and on the floor was one teeny, tiny shoe.

He picked it up.

“Toms?” he read out loud as he looked at the label. Jack examined the glittery pastel green shoe. It fit in the palm of his hand and was now a little beaten up thanks to him.

He looked around and wondered if maybe the shoe’s owner was nearby but his cart was the only one in the aisle. Part of him thought he should just plop the shoe on the shelf and keep going, but it really was a cute shoe. He put it in the shopping cart cup holder and proceeded to shop and keep an eye out, just in case.

Jack turned to the next aisle and saw a cute, chubby-cheeked baby in the cart chewing on the ear of a stuffed rabbit. He glanced at her feet and bingo! Cinderella had been found.

“Well, Miss Clara, should I get mint sage or lavender honeysuckle?” A soft voice with a southern accent asked as he turned to face the baby. The man held two candles in his hand.

Jack stopped and stared at him and was instantly smitten. He had a sweet face, enormous dark eyes that Jack could just dive into, and a tight little body that showed signs of athleticism.

“Oh,” the man said as he looked back at Jack. The two smiled softly at one another.

Jack cleared his throat and said, “I found this?”

He awkwardly held up the shoe, and the man frowned then turned back to the look at the baby.

“Again?”

He sighed as the baby kicked her feet. He put the candles down, walked up to Jack and took the shoe.

“Thank you.”

The man examined it and scrunched up his nose.

“Looks like someone ran it over. Good lord,” he said as he dusted it off.

“I, uh, found it by the supplements,” Jack replied.

“I swear, if these weren’t so cute, I’d just chuck them. She’s misplaced one twice already.”

He bent down and gently placed the shoe back on as he cooed, “Daddy is gonna use double-sided tape, isn’t he?”

The baby laughed and Jack couldn’t help but laugh as well. The man smiled at Jack, then frowned.

“Well, thanks,” he said dryly.

The baby laughed again and then raised her arms toward Jack. He waved at her and she laughed harder.

“Anything else?”

“What?”

“Lord, I’m just trying to shop with my daughter in peace.”

Jack then realized he didn’t need to still be standing there; his work there had ended. He delivered the shoe and could now move on, but there he still stood.

The man pinched the bridge of his nose and said, “Well, you’re just there gawking. I don’t have reward money on me or a book or anything if that’s what you want.”

“What? I don’t-- No. I just…” Jack held up his hands. “Sorry. Well, you’re welcome. And personally, I’d go with the lavender. Bye.”

Jack took his cart, did a 180 and felt his face burn as he kept going.

The entire ride home Jack felt stupid. He didn’t mean to come off as creepy or anything. Had he been creepy? He hated not being sure of himself and what he might have done or not done.

It would gnaw on him for the rest of the night. He’d just been so unprepared for how cute he found the guy, he might have stared a little too much—but he didn’t think he did. Still, the guy didn’t have to be so rude. The little girl was super cute though and at least she liked Jack.

+++

Oats, asparagus, chicken breasts, toothpaste. Jack read his list and knew he was forgetting something. He had almost considered going to a different Whole Foods so he wouldn’t run into that guy again, but his therapist said maybe he was reading into the situation too much. Jack couldn’t control other people’s rude behavior—only his reaction to it. So he kept that in mind and kept his usual store and routine. He reread his list when bam! The cart-on-cart smash pulled Jack out of his headspace.

“I am so sorry!” A voice called out.

Jack was ready to throw in a very Canadian, “No, I’m sorry,” when he realized who it was.

“My god,” the man said, clearly mortified. “It’s you.”

Clara was with him again.

“It was an accident, really,” Jack said as he quickly began to reverse.

The man sighed and followed Jack.

“I was hoping I’d run into you again—and it turns out, I did, literally.”

“Oh?”

“I just wanted to apologize for my behavior the other day. I was having a really bad day, trying not to take it out on anyone, and instead, I took it out on you. I have no excuse. My mama would tan my hide--”

The man was interrupted by Clara who babbled loudly and waved her arms in Jack’s direction, wanting to be carried.

“See? Clara here has better manners than me as she’s being way friendlier.”

The two laughed and Jack finally spoke.

“It’s fine. I know what it’s like to want to be left alone, believe me.”

“I’m Eric,” the man said as he extended his hand.

“Jack.”

“And this,” Eric smiled, “is Clara. And she thanks you for returning her shoe last week, by the way.”

“It was me,” Jack blurted out.

“What was you?”

“It was me who ran over her shoe with my cart.”

Eric laughed. “That’s okay. I mean, at least you returned it to its rightful owner.”

“I’m sure your wife was glad you came back with both shoes, huh?”

The man look puzzled and then laughed.

“My wife? Bless your heart! No, no wife.”

Jack realized how heteronormative he was being. Shitty would have had a field day with him.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to--”

Eric quickly added, “No husband either for that matter. Just me and Clara. Right, sugar?”

Jack and Eric grinned at each other, then Eric peered into Jack’s shopping cart.

“Lots of fruits and veggies, I see. Impressive.”

“I am a growing boy,” Jack said and playfully flexed his arms, surprised at his own chutzpah.

“Are you always this flirty?” Eric asked as he placed his hands on his hips. “And in front of my child, too?”

Jack blushed and began to stammer.

“I’m just teasing you, Jack. Clearly,” Eric said as he slowly raked his eyes down Jack’s body, “you eat very healthy.”

Jack let out a loud laugh. “Pot meet kettle?”

It was then Eric’s turn to blush as he covered his face and laughed.

“I’m sorry. It’s just been a long time since I’ve even had… banter?”

Jack smiled and then he just went for it. Why not? He still found Eric incredibly attractive and it seemed like the feelings were mutual.

“Would you like to have some coffee with me? We can go to a kid-friendly cafe. We can banter some more. I’m a great banterer.”

Eric’s smile disappeared.

“Oh… um, I would but I really don’t date right now. Or at all. I--”

“That’s okay,” Jack said. “No need to give me any explanations. Really.”

Jack tried to mask his disappointment, as Eric studied his face and smiled softly.

“You really are very sweet, aren’t you?” Eric said. “Thank you.”

He then got up on his toes and planted a soft kiss on Jack’s cheek.

“Goodbye, Jack.”

Jack watched as Eric rolled his cart down and over to the next aisle, and it appeared that was the end of that.

Jack thought maybe he’d change his Whole Foods after all.

+++

“I’m surprised you’ve never heard of him,” Alicia said.

“I’m surprised you’d come all the way here just to see him,” Jack chirped.

“Clearly, I came to see you first and Bitty Bittle, second.”

“Really? His name is Bitty Bittle?” Jack asked as he poured Alicia a glass of wine.

“Nickname he’s had since college. He’s my food and lifestyle guru—without any of that GOOP nonsense—and when I heard he was actually going to be signing his new book here I just had to come. And now I get to visit my beautiful son.”

Jack laughed. “Do you mean me or him?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” she said with a wink as Jack laughed.

Alicia had flown in that morning from Montreal to spend the weekend with Jack. Jack enjoyed the quiet summer weeks of the off-season. It gave him time to savor moments like these. He grilled some fish on the balcony as he caught up with maman.

“And papa didn’t want to come out with you?”

“He’s off doing god-knows-what in Toronto with Wayne and Mario. Some sort of goofy reunion.”

“Haha. I bet he misses you.”

“Probably,” Alicia said with a smirk. “So Bitty films his show here, he’s lived here since college, and you have no idea who he is?”

Jack shrugged again.

“Busy,” he offered.

“Well, guess you’ll meet him at the book signing tomorrow. He’s so fascinating. He’s been baking since he was a little boy, had a popular vlog in college, started his own bakery, it took off like crazy, he wrote a cookbook, was offered a show. And he’s so sweet!”

“You’re such a cook bunny,” Jack chuckled.

“Hush! And then, he was dating that actor from that Law & Order spin-off and they were going to get married and have a baby but the guy broke it off.” Alicia shook a fist. “Said he didn’t want to be a father or some nonsense. Can you believe it? I wanted to beat that guy senseless. I bet he was secretly dating some twink he met on Grindr.”

“Twink? Really, maman?” Jack laughed. “And how do you know about Grindr?”

“Poor Bitty got his heart broken and hasn’t dated since,” Alicia said sadly.

“More wine?”

Alicia grinned. “Mmm, yes! You have me so spoiled.”

Jack smiled at his mother who continued to sing Bitty Bittle’s praises.

The next morning, Jack and Alicia drove to Barnes and Noble, and Alicia bounced happily as they waited in line. A few people approached her for an autograph and a couple selfies, some said hello to Jack, but like Alicia, the crowd was there for Bitty.

“I’m surprised you didn’t bring other stuff for him to sign,” Jack said.

“I want him to sign the new book. I heard there’s a whole section on piecaken.”

“Piecaken? What’s piecaken? Do I want to know?”

The line moved forward and Jack and Alicia chatted idly until Jack heard the voice. His voice.

“And who do I make this out to, honey?”

“Elizabeth, please.”

“Sure thing, Elizabeth.”

Jack peered over everyone’s head in front of him and just about died when he saw it was Eric—his Eric—sitting at a table at the end of the line signing his book. He was Bitty Bittle.

“Câlisse,” Jack muttered.

“What is it?”

“I--I know him.” He pulled down his snapback and felt his shoulders begin to rise with tension.

“You know him? How?” Alicia asked.

Jack’s face flushed and then Alicia squeaked.

“Jacky!” she staged whispered with glee. “No!”

“His name is Eric. I ran into him at Whole Foods,” Jack whispered back. “Twice.”

Alicia gripped Jack’s arm.

“Did you two sleep together‽”

“Maman!”

“Well?”

“Yes, we totally threw down right there in aisle 12 by the olive bar.”

“I wish!” Alicia shot back.

“Merde!” Jack said. “He’s going to think I’m following him or something. I asked him out and he said no. He said he doesn’t date or whatever.”

“I told you that! It’s that moronic Chad’s fault! I should have him kicked out of SAG.”

The line kept moving forward and the look on Alicia’s face was priceless.

“Well, we’re almost up there, so you better think of what you’re going to say.”

“Hi, welcome. And who do I make this out--” Eric said then stopped when he realized it was Jack, and then completely froze when he saw Alicia.

“Bitty, I’m Alicia--”

“Oh my god, you’re Alicia Zimmermann,” Eric said as he held his hand to his mouth. “It’s really you.”

“And this is my son, Jack, who had no idea who you were so he’s not stalking you. He just came to keep me company.”

Jack covered his face and groaned as Eric laughed. He looked at Jack and smiled.

“Euh, hi.”

“Hi.”

Alicia beamed and then cleared her throat.

“Oh, uh, sorry. Who do I make this out to?” Eric asked Alicia.

“‘To my new best friend, Alicia,’” she replied.

“Nice,” Eric said as he smiled. He then looked at Jack, “Are you buying a book, too?”

“Sure,” Jack said, and then, hell, why not? “And maybe some coffee... for you?”

Eric stared at Jack with an eyebrow raised. He took a book from the stack, wrote something in it and gave the book to Jack.

“Thank you so much for stopping by. Alicia, I love you and I hope you enjoy the book.”

Alicia smiled and waved as Jack took the book and pulled her away.

Once they were hidden from view, he opened it.

401-555-1595 xo

“Get out!” Alicia yelled.

They both walked up the registers with smiles on their faces.

+++

Jack pulled up to Eric’s house right at 5:00 p.m. He closed his eyes took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as he counted from one to ten. The two had been texting each other for the last few weeks. With Jack’s preseason schedule and Bitty finishing up a small book tour, they finally found time to get together.

He rang the doorbell and saw movement inside Eric’s windows. Eric poked his head out from behind the curtain, and the two caught each other’s glance as Jack waved.

“Well, aren’t you Mister Punctual?” Eric said with a grin when he opened the door.

“Canadian,” Jack said as an explanation. “Hi, Eric. It’s good to see you again.”

“Come in, please. My sitter should be here in a little bit, and then we can get going.”

Jack entered the house and loved how homey and lived-in it felt.

“Excuse the mess,” Eric said as he moved some wooden blocks into a basket.

Clara, who sat on the floor, crawled toward Jack.

“Hello, hi,” Jack said softly as sat down cross-legged near her. Clara climbed right into his lap and he brushed her hair out of her face.

“Just make yourself right at home, I guess!” Bitty laughed as he watched Clara lean back and begin to suck her thumb.

“She likes me,” Jack beamed.

“She’s a good judge of character,” Bitty replied. He smiled at Jack and said, “I’m glad you finally texted when you did.”

“I never thought I’d get the chance to,” Jack said simply. “I’m glad you gave me the opportunity.”

“Jack,” Eric began, then paused. He gripped a wooden block then continued, “Before we go, I feel like I should be honest with you…”

“Eric--”

“You can call me Bitty.”

“Bitty, there’s no pressure here, okay? I just want to get to know you. That’s all. It’s just an early dinner.”

Bitty looked relieved.

“Okay?”

“Okay.”

+++

The two went to one of Jack’s favorite places right near the water. It was small, very low key and at that time of day, fairly empty.

They learned about one another, and much to Jack’s delight Bitty confessed that he had no idea who Jack was or what he did.

“I’m sure your mom probably told you about me,” Bitty said as he looked out the window. A family of ducks swam in the river.

“Some.”

“It’s hard for me to go out… on dates, I mean. What happened was so humiliating. My love life, splattered in the tabloids like it’s oh so entertaining. And I’m not trying to talk about my ex here, I promise, I just wanted you to know why I said no the first time you asked me out.”

“Why did you say yes the second time?”

“I didn’t want to embarrass you in front of your mom,” he said cheekily.

Jack grinned.

Bitty sighed. “And when it all happened, when I found out Chad didn’t want to be a father, our surrogate was already in her second trimester.”

“I’m so sorry, Bitty.”

“It all worked out for the best. I wanted Clara. I wanted her and loved her before I even met her. She was my daughter with or without Chad in the picture. I got the better end of the bargain, frankly.”

Jack smiled and placed his hand on Bitty’s.

“Do you want some dessert?” he asked.

“Not from here. God, no!”

Jack laughed. “Tell me how you really feel.”

“Let’s go back to my place for coffee and pie. Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

They returned to Bitty’s just as Clara was about ready to be put to bed. Bitty paid the sitter and got Clara into her pajamas.

“Do you mind if I read to her for a bit?” Bitty asked as he returned from her bedroom. “It’s our night time tradition.”

Clara clung to Bitty and yawned.

“Not at all. I can get the coffee going, if you show me where the stuff is.”

“Thanks, Jack.”

Bitty sat in a comfy looking armchair in the living room and settled in with Clara and a copy of Goodnight, Moon.

Jack watched them from the kitchen and filled the coffee filter.

“In the great green room,” Bitty began, “there was a telephone and a red balloon…”

Jack smiled as he heard Bitty continue. Twenty minutes later, Jack and Bitty sat at the kitchen table drinking their coffee and sharing a slice of pecan praline pie.

“You like?” Bitty asked.

“God, so good,” Jack said as he took another forkful.

“I can get you your own slice, you know,” Bitty chuckled.

“No, because then I’d eat it all.”

“That’s kinda the point of pie, Jack,” Bitty giggled.

There was one last chunk and they began to fork-wrestle for it. Jack’s tines got stuck with Bitty’s as their forks tried to stab at the last piece.

They laughed and Bitty huffed out, “No fair! You’re so much bigger than me.”

“You’re still strong,” Jack cried out.

Jack forked the last piece and fed it to Bitty. Bitty smiled as he chewed, and they locked eyes. Jack leaned in closer, and Bitty gave the tiniest nod of consent.

Jack kissed Bitty—tender and sweet—and Bitty, in turn, melted into it. They kissed for a few moments until Bitty pulled away and jumped out of his seat.

“Jack, I can’t okay?” Bitty said as he walked to the counter and turned away from Jack.

When it came to romance, Jack was generally clueless. He was clueless when it came to his feelings, clueless when it came to the feelings of others—but this, this thing with Bitty felt real. It felt good and right. Jack could tell Bitty liked him, and he sure as hell liked Bitty. Immensely. Kissing him was like coming home to a place he’d never known but it felt so natural and true.

“Look,” Bitty said as he gripped the counter, “my life… it’s, it’s complicated.”

“Is that right?” Jack said as he took a step closer.

Bitty turned toward Jack.

“Yeah, like you would not believe. And I have Clara to think of. She’s only ten-months-old Jack. She comes first! And then there’s the show, my cookbook…”

“I know,” Jack said as he smiled and inched closer.

“It--it wouldn’t be fair to you, you know? You travel. I travel. We’d hardly see each other. I’m just so, so busy,” Bitty whispered.

“Yep, so terrible, I’m sure,” Jack chirped softly as he stood in front of Bitty and brushed his hair off his forehead.

“Yes. Exactly,” Bitty squeaked out.

“So then I should just go,” Jack said and leaned down to cup Bitty’s face.

“Uh-huh,” Bitty said as his eyes fluttered shut.

Jack pressed a soft kiss onto Bitty’s lips and added a quick swipe of his tongue.

“W-what was I sayin’?” Bitty asked as his lips parted from Jack’s.

“Some horseshit about being too busy,” Jack murmured.

“Oh, right,” Bitty said as he wrapped his arms around Jack’s neck and leaned in for another kiss.

The next morning, Clara played peek-a-boo with Jack (who happily wore last night’s clothing) at the kitchen table while Bitty whistled and flipped another pancake. Bitty smiled and gave Jack a happy wink.

If this was the start of love, they’d both gladly take it.

+++

Cheerios, a flat of strawberries, dark chocolate, gouda, butter. Jack checked the list and knew he was forgetting something. He stuffed it back into his pocket and turned around.

“Candles?” He called out.

“Yes, lord! I almost forgot. Thank you, sweetpea. You can’t have a birthday cake without candles,” Bitty replied from the end of the aisle and tossed them as he blew a kiss.

Clara laughed and clutched Jack’s arm as he carried her on his hip.

“What do you think, Clara? A number two candle, or two candles?” Jack asked and held out a candle with a bear on it.

She looked at the candles thoughtfully and looked up at Jack said, “Pie, Papa.”

“Right. That’s what I thought you’d say,” Jack said and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Let’s go tell daddy we’re ready.”

“Okay, we got everything. You and papa ready to go home and celebrate turning two?” Bitty asked and pushed the shopping cart toward Jack and Clara.

“Yep!” Jack said as he bounced Clara up and down.

“What time are your parents getting in?” Bitty asked.

“One.”

“Then we better get going,” Bitty said and pulled Jack in for a quick kiss.

The three made their way to the registers with smiles on their faces.

#bittyjack #fanfic #bittysvalentines #bv2019 #omgcp

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