#i hope this looks better printed i just did it in a hurry in like an hour and a half rip

[aleskyyy]

Saved — Kyle Garrick x F!Reader

Three years of marriage with your husband who you thought would change for the better and he didn't. And finally being saved by someone who has been around you all along but both of you didn't know it.

Warnings — fem!reader, light angst, unhealthy relationship, cheating (not reader), attempt of sexual assault, a bit of violence/blood, fluff, fingering, oral [fem!receiving], cum eating, 18+ MDNI, etc.

3,2k words (maybe I'll make a second part, but I don't know when).

Main Masterlist COD Masterlist

You know this is not a healthy relationship to be in. But you still hope your husband can change for the better, giving you the attention you deserve like when you were still dating. Even though you know all this is tiring, you still try to serve your husband well. Cooking food for him, cleaning the house and running errands for you and your husband.

Like right now, you are cooking dinner for you and your husband who will soon be home from work. You cook his favorite food and you hope he comes home from work in a good mood. Especially since today is the third year anniversary of your marriage. You really hope that tonight will go very well.

After your cooking is done, you look at the clock on the wall and it's already seven in the evening. Your husband should have been home half an hour ago. Without thinking about it anymore you immediately arrange the food onto the dining table. After finishing you hurry to clean yourself, you want to look very good in front of your husband.

After cleaning up, you return to sit at the dining table while waiting for your husband to come home. But until the clock strikes ten at night your husband hasn't come home. You tried calling your husband many times but there was no answer. You are very worried about him. You sigh and prepare to clear the dining table.

While clearing the table you hear the door being rudely opened making you rush over. You see your husband come home drunk and with his clothes all messed up. You rush towards him wanting to help him walk but he pushes you roughly.

"Dante, why are you home so late? I've been waiting for you and called you but you didn't answer," you tell him in a worried tone.

You again try to help your husband walk ignoring the smell of the woman's perfume and the color of the lipstick printed on your husband's shirt. You try to get rid of the bad thoughts that cross your head. This must be a one time mistake, your husband won't do it again. You're sure of this.

It's been two weeks since the incident with your husband you are currently shopping for supplies that have been emptied. You're so serious about looking at every shelf in the super market that you accidentally bump into someone in front of you with the trolley you're using. Your eyes widened and you tried to apologize to the man in front of you.

"Oh my God, I'm really sorry. Does anything hurt?" you asked in a panicked tone. The man in front of you just laughs softly while shaking his head.

"No, ma'am. I'm fine," he says casually.

But you're not sure he's really okay, you're sure you hit him a little hard earlier. You try to look at him to see if he's really okay. But your gaze is distracted as you look at his handsome face, which is very sweet in your opinion. A gentle look on his face as he turned to look at you.

"I really apologize. I should have paid more attention to my surroundings," you say feeling embarrassed.

"It's okay. I'm Kyle by the way," he introduced himself with a smile on his face.

"Kyle..." you spell his name softly. Then introduced yourself to him with a smile.

"So, did you shop alone or with someone with this much groceries?" Kyle said as he pointed at the items in your trolley.

You look at your almost full trolley, you didn't think it would be this much. Especially since you came here by taxi. You really regret it now.

"Ah no, I'm alone," you reply as you push your trolley again.

You thought Kyle would leave after hearing your answer but you were wrong he walked after you. You walk side by side while talking casually, Kyle even helps you pick up the items on the high shelves. When you have finished shopping you smile happily because you were faster than usual, thanks to Kyle. You looked at him with a smile full of gratitude.

"Thank you Kyle, you shouldn't have helped me. But I'm really grateful and once again sorry for bumping into you earlier," you say to Kyle who smiles at you.

"I said I was fine, and I was happy to help you too," Kyle replies.

"But I made you stay longer, even though you didn't shop as much as I did," you say pointing at the groceries in his hand.

Kyle just laughs. He walks with you to the cashier. After you guys finished paying, Kyle took more of your shopping bags and helped you carry them out. You try to take your shopping bags from his hands but he still wants to carry your stuff.

"So where's your car?" Kyle asks.

You feel embarrassed again, you should have brought a car but your husband's car suddenly didn't start so he brought your car to work instead.

"I took a taxi here, just leave it and I'll find a taxi," you reply as you put down the groceries you're carrying.

"Let me take you home," he invites.

You can only shake your head. You've just met, you don't want to take any chances. Besides, it's not good to go home with another man when your husband isn't home. Kyle seemed to know what you were thinking, trying to calm you down.

"Believe me I'm not a criminal who would kidnap people," he said with a laugh.

You laughed stiffly at his words, Kyle who saw your expression at his unhelpful words scratched the back of his neck with an embarrassed smile.

"I'm sorry, I just want to help you that's all," he said.

You tried to consider his request. If you went with Kyle you wouldn't spend any more money than you had to. Finally, you nodded your head in acceptance of Kyle's invitation. Hopefully you made the right choice. Kyle carries your groceries back to the jeep that you believe belongs to him.

You try to help Kyle put your groceries in but he takes them all and puts them in by himself. Then he opens the passenger door and lets you in. Even your husband when you were still dating until now has never opened the car door for you. You thank Kyle and he follows you into the car. After starting the car Kyle asks where you live.

"What?" Kyle says after hearing where you live. You think he didn't hear you so you repeat yourself.

"I heard what you said, I just didn't expect you to live there," he says with a chuckle.

You looked at Kyle with a puzzled expression. "Why?"

"Because I also live there, if you know the house at the end of the street is my house," he said.

"That's your house?"

"Yes."

"But as far as I know it's often empty," you confirmed.

Kyle just nodded in confirmation of your words. "Because I rarely go home, if I come home from duty I always sleep in the barracks."

"You're a soldier?" You asked in a surprised. Kyle just nods answer your question while smiling at you briefly then refocuses on the road.

When you got to the road, you showed Kyle which one was your house. Until now you still don't believe that you and Kyle are neighbors because you've never seen him. Or maybe it's because you have a hard time socializing, is what you think.

When you get to the front of your house you panic seeing your car in the garage. It's a sign that your husband is home, but it's still noon and not even lunchtime. You and Kyle get out of the car to get your groceries. Before you can thank Kyle you hear your husband's voice yelling your name. You're so grateful that it's quiet in your neighborhood so you don't become the talk of the neighbors.

"I'm sorry, it looks like my husband came home early," you say while holding your groceries.

"Husband?" You hear the hesitant tone of Kyle's question.

"Oh God, I forgot to tell you that I'm married. I'm really so–"

Once again your husband's voice rang out loudly calling your name. You see your husband standing at the door looking at you and Kyle. Your heart was beating fast, you were afraid that your husband would get angry and do something bad.

"I apologize in advance and thank you for your help, Kyle," you say as you run a little with your groceries.

Kyle who saw you struggling to carry the groceries wants to help but he doesn't want to interfere in someone's household. But Kyle felt angry when he saw you struggling to carry the groceries but your husband didn't help. Still standing by his car, he saw your husband violently close the door to the house. Kyle sighed harshly, he was just attracted to someone but it turned out that the person he liked was married.

It's been three days since he met you, but Kyle is still thinking about you. He feels something odd that makes him not stop thinking about you. He knows he's wrong, you're married and he shouldn't be thinking about someone else's wife. But Kyle felt something was wrong. Since that day, every morning he did his morning running past your house but didn't see you come out of the house. He didn't even see your husband go to work.

It was the fifth day he saw you come out and it looked like your husband wasn't home. You were watering the plants in the yard. Kyle walked up to you and called out to you, making you startle and accidentally splash Kyle with water.

"Kyle!" you yell in surprise at him.

You frantically disconnect the water hose and walk towards Kyle. You tried to dry his face with your hands, Kyle could only laugh and said it was fine. Hearing the sound of his laughter makes you laugh too. Your hands return to your sides. You look at the surrounding area which is quiet because people have gone to work.

"Is your husband home?"

Hearing Kyle's question about your husband makes the smile on your face disappear. Ever since your husband saw you coming home with Kyle he had become more grumpy, especially with your husband having been fired from the company making him dare to hit you when he was angry with you.

"He went out," you reply. The truth is that you don't even know where your husband is at the moment.

Seeing the change on your face made Kyle try to change the subject. But before he could ask about anything else Kyle's eyes caught the bruise under your eye. Even though he knew you were trying to cover it up with makeup, he was sure it was a bruise. Kyle walks slowly towards you and holds your face gently which makes you surprised by his actions.

"What's wrong with your face?" he asked. His voice sounds different in your ears. You instinctively held the bruise under your eye. The bruise caused by your husband last night. You try to smile and answer that you fell in the bathroom last night and hit your face. But Kyle can see through your lie. He moves away from you a little, afraid that if anyone sees your closeness, it will become a problem for you.

"You know I'm here if you need anything, right? I can help you anytime, if I'm not home you can call me."

Kyle looked for something in his pants pocket and found a pen and a small book that he always carried around. He wrote down the number and tore off the paper to give it to you. You can only be silent while accepting it. You are so grateful to have someone like Kyle in your life even though you have only known him for a few days.

"Thank you Kyle, you have no idea how helpful you are right now," you say with a grateful smile.

Tonight you're cooking for your husband who hasn't come home yet, the rain is pouring down with thunder and lightning. As you finish cooking you hear your husband's voice with someone else's voice that you never heard. You walk up to your husband and see a man who looks older than him.

"Dante, who is that?" you ask. But your husband is only silent while looking at the man who is with him. He whispers something to the man then walks out and drives back in his car.

"You know I paid a lot of money for this with your husband. I hope you taste as good as he says," the stranger says.

You try to process the situation in front of you. You try to run towards the door but are quickly stopped by the man. The man pulls you towards the sofa in the living room, he tries to rip off the clothes you are wearing. With all your might you try to escape his grasp. You grabbed the man's face and pressed your thumb on his right eye until he screamed and blood came out of it. He immediately releases you and holds his eye.

"Bitch!" he yelled at you.

Before he could touch you again, you picked up the vase on the table and smashed it on the man's head. After that you ran outside barefoot. The area near your house looks empty because of the heavy rain. You run towards Kyle's house at the end of the street. You hoped he was still home and not on duty.

When you get to Kyle's house, you knock on his door with all your might. Tears are already mixing with the rainwater on your face. Your body shakes with fear and cold. You feel like you're going to faint if Kyle doesn't open the door. He looks at you with a worried face and brings you in. Kyle hugs you from the side to take you inside his house. He finds clothes and towels for you to wear. He takes you to the bathroom and asks you to change without demanding any explanation from you. When you come out of the bathroom Kyle takes you to the kitchen and makes you some hot tea.

"If you're calmer and want to talk I'll listen," Kyle says as he places the hot tea in front of you.

"He wanted to sell me, my husband wanted to sell me to someone and that person was still in my house when I ran away. I wounded his eyes and hit his head with a vase. And I don't know if he's still there or not," you explain in a trembling voice. Your tears fall again remembering what just happened to you.

You see Kyle taking his cell phone out of his pocket and calling someone, you can only hear a little of what he's saying. All you know is that he's on the phone with someone he calls captain and there are strange words like 'ghost' and 'soap'. You try to calm yourself down and drink the tea Kyle made. Kyle sits back down next to you and holds your hand gently.

"Everything will be fine, maybe tomorrow I need you to answer some questions. So you can sleep here, I'll prepare a guest room for you," he said while stroking your hand.

And sure enough, the next day Kyle somehow got all the information about your husband. Even your husband was linked to the drug dealer. Kyle also got information about the man last night that you confirmed with his picture in the file. And a few hours later you hear the news that your husband and the man last night were arrested by the police but unfortunately the car carrying them crashed leaving your husband and the man dead on the spot. You know this all seems strange, but you ignore it all. In fact, you feel relieved when you hear the news. You didn't even come to your husband's funeral and let his family take care of it.

You're washing dishes when you feel hands around your waist. You feel little kisses being placed on your neck. You can only laugh amusedly when your neck is bitten lightly.

"Kyle! I'm washing dishes here. Don't distract me," you said with a laugh. Kyle just laughed while kissing your cheek lightly.

It's been two years since that night, and one year since you and Kyle got together. He's been patiently waiting for you to open your heart to someone else ever since that night. He even moved out of the neighborhood and took you with him so that you wouldn't remember what happened that night. He took you to a house near the house of a man named John Price. And you know John Price is his captain and also the person who helped you that night.

"I want to take you out to dinner tonight. I hope you'll wear the red dress we bought earlier," Kyle said. His hand moved to graze your inner thigh which was only covered by his t-shirt.

"Tonight?"

Kyle just cleared his throat and went back to kissing your neck while giving a small bite there. His hand slowly touched your pussy from outside the underwear you were wearing. Kyle carried you straight to your room when he saw you finished washing the dishes. He immediately laid you on the bed and pinned you there.

"What are you doing, handsome?" You ask in a flirting tone that makes him laugh.

"You know what I'm going to do," Kyle said as he took off his your t-shirt. Leaving you with only your underwear.

Kyle kisses you passionately again, he plays with your breasts making you moan his name. Kyle is always gentle with you and focuses on your needs first. His kisses move down your neck and bite there, leaving a lot of hickeys. Then he brings his mouth to your breasts, taking turns sucking on them. He sucks one of your breasts and lightly nibbles on the other.

Kyle goes back down to your pussy and kisses it from outside the underwear you're wearing. His tongue plays with your pussy and makes you moan loudly and your back arches. Kyle quickly takes off your underwear and throws it in a random direction. His lips went back to kissing your pussy and suckling your clit.

Kyle puts one of his fingers inside your pussy and moves it slowly. Soon he fastens his movements after inserting another finger there and curls his finger on your tight walls which makes you cry out his name loudly. He also goes back to kissing your pussy and gives your clit a gentle bite. Your breathing has become ragged and your lower abdomen is tightening. Soon you will come and Kyle knows it so he quickens his hand movements and kisses your pussy even more.

"Kyle I'm coming, please, please, Kyle..."

"Come baby, come in my mouth."

Your hand gripped his hair as you came. Your body trembles and your toes curl. As you came Kyle kept licking your pussy which was leaking cum.

"Tonight baby, tonight I will fuck you so hard. I love you so much," Kyle said. He glanced at the bedside table drawer for a moment. Let's hope tonight goes well.

[krmljam]

more bugs more drinking

[gloomyluvr]

LOOK LIKE WE IN LOVE

in which y/n drags miles to a photo booth!

fem!reader x e-42! miles morales

fluff ( i hope )

warnings!: suggestive jokes? i depict miles kinda nonchalant, yikes.

based off this ask

a/n: okie soooo i tried my best to fulfill the request. i hope this is up to expectations. this one was so cute to write. also, i watched so many photo booth couple videos on tt and it was lowks depressing 😞 but i had so much fun writing this! as always, spanish speaking reader in mind! i provide translations for this one cuz searching up the translation is VERY inaccurate. 

masterlist

summer break had finally started and what better way to spend it than going to the mall with your boyfriend? you walked around intently, hand intertwined with miles’. his serious demeanor deeply contrasted the big smile on your face. you had begged him to accompany you to this very specific mall.

“baby, where are you taking me?” he murmured as you dragged him to god knows where. 

“just waittt. ya mero llegamos.” you exclaimed. miles simply sighed and went along with your antics. you walked a little more until you finally stopped in front of a box? with a curtain?

“ta daaaa!” you announced, letting go of miles’ hand. miles only looked at the box and back at you, with a clearly very confused look on his face. you groaned, “the photobooth like the ones from the tik toks i’ve sent you!”

“ohh. pues, you coulda just said that.” he chuckled, as he opened the curtain and motioned for you to get inside the booth. you rolled your eyes, “¡vámonos vámonos! taking your sweet ass time.” miles joked as you got in, yelping in surprise as he slapped your ass. 

“miles!”

“chill!” he laughed.

“that shit hurt!” you glared at miles with a pout on your face. 

he only smirked, “pues, te lo puedo sobar.” 

( well, i could massage it for you )

“¡cohcino!” you slapped your boyfriends shoulder as he got inside the booth. 

( nasty! )

“im just playing, mami. okay come on let’s get this over with.” he closed the curtain as you read the instructions. 

“wanna pay for this and i’ll pay for lunch?” you offer knowing damn well he’d pay for both regardless.

“mhm.” miles took out 4 dollars from his wallet and inserted the bills in to the machine. the machine started rambling on about instructions and miles looked at you. “can’t believe you got me doing this shit.” your boyfriend laughed in disbelief. 

miles wrapped a hand around your waist and scooted you closer to him. you giggled, it truly was amusing on how you got this stoic of a man to be doing the most lovey-dovey shit just so he could see a smile on your face. 

“now for the fun part! you have 3 chances to pose, so have fun, make sure you look at the camera” the automated voice instructed.

“put your finger as a heart!” 

“seriously?” miles argued.

“get ready! 3-”

“yes! hurry!” you insisted.

miles smiles and did as you asked.

“2, 1” shutter.

there was a pause before the countdown started again. you held miles’ jaw and pressed your lips against his cheek. and miles smiled contently. 

shutter. 

“that one’s gonna come out so cute i just know it!” you looked at miles excitedly. on his cheek your lipgloss left a stain with the perfect imprint of your lips. miles turned to you as the countdown once again started. he placed his hands on both sides of your face, and kissed you right as the camera went off. when he finally pulled away, he simply smiled before opening the curtain to get out of the booth. you followed him out and stood silently holding his hand as you waited for the pictures to print. 

once the copies came out, you quickly snatched them. “ah!!! they look so cute! thank you baby.” you engulfed him in a tight hug to which he reciprocated. 

miles took one of the copies and focused only on you in the photos. 

“you look gorgeous, ma.” he looked down at you and gave you that lovely smile of his. you blushed, looking down avoiding his gaze because of how nervous and giggly it made you.

bonus !

aaron sat down in front of miles who was on his phone doing god knows what. 

“they messed up the order so we’re gonna have to wait a bit more.” aaron sighed. 

“hm ok.” miles responded dryly. 

aaron was about to make a comment about his nephews disinterest when he noticed miles had decorated his once empy clear phone case. it was pictures of miles clearly infatuated with his lover.

“your girl made you do that?” miles looked up from his phone in confusion.

“what?” uncle aaron nodded towards the phone in miles’ hands, “oh. yeah she’s been wanting do that for a while.”

aaron laughed, “she got you real wrapped around her finger huh?” 

miles turned the back of his phone towards him, “yeah guess so.” he laughed along with his uncle. he admired the photos, thumb running over his phone case. his heart swelled at how beautiful you looked and how lucky he was to have you in his life. 

[gadriezmannsgirl]

I took long doing this one, I know💀🥴 also not proofread

Also known as Gender Reveal (9)!

Birthdays -P.G6

Summary: It's Mateo's first birthday meaning craziness in the Páez Y/L/N household

"Do we have the balloons?"

"Yes"

"The cake?"

"Yes"

"The food?" Pablo hums nodding

"Do we-"

"We've got everything, amor" Pablo interrupted you as you sighed

"Do you think he'll enjoy this little party?"

"I'm not sure if little is the right word" Pablo admired the work you, mostly, did.

"It's not half of what we did to Lena, so I'm considering it little" Pablo laughs softly "I just want him to enjoy his first birthday ever"

"And he will, even though, he mostly won't even know what's going on but loves being cuddled and kissed" You smiled softly pushing your head into his chest

"Just like his dada" You whispered

"His dada loves being cuddled and kissed by his momma" You smile giggling and lifted your head at the same time Pablo leaned down and your lips met

"They'll be here any moment" You said after the kiss "We better hurry up with the final touches and get dressed"

"You look gorgeous like this" You blush grabbing the teddy figure with your son's name printed on it.

"Gracias, mi vida" You got into the small ladder but forgot about the tape "Pablo, amor. Pass me the tape, please"

"Aquí tienes. Cuidado te caes" (Here you go. Be careful)

"Lo tengo" (I got it)

"I'll help you" His hands went to your ass as you laughed freely

"Pablo!"

"I'm just helping my wife over here!"

"Quit your hands!"

"No. They're comfy and this way I make sure you won't fall" You laughed.

You couldn't lie, you enjoyed his hands on you.

"Alright, this is done" You said getting down with Pablo's help. "We're such a good team"

"We are" Pablo agrees "You mostly did all the job, though" You shook your head smiling

"You inflated most of the balloons" Pablo laughs "Team, amor. Equipo" You said before turning around "I'll take a quick shower, get dressed and ready. In twenty they'll be here"

"I can shower with you?"

"Only shower. No funny business"

"Those are for later in the night. Come on, let's go"

...

"¡Papi! ¡Mami!" Helena came in running, Pablo crunching down and lifting her in his arms

"This is gorgeous" Belén said smiling as she came with Mateo

"Thank you" You said smiling "I truly hope they weren't that bad"

"Never" Pablo, your dad-in-law, said; shaking his head "El pequeño se parece a su padre hasta en lo más mínimo" (Babyboy is alike his father even in the smallest things ever)

You looked at your babyboy in your arms as he was inspecting everything around him.

"¿Qué les puedo decir que no sepan?" (What can I say that you don't know already?)

"Hey" Pablo said as you all laugh

"Mat, hijo" You called him "Wanna go for a swim?" He laughs and kicks his feet, making you smile "Let's go then" You said seeing how the pool was starting to be used by your closest friends.

You pass Mateo to your husband as you go to the bathroom to change out of your floral dress. You helped Lena who followed you to change her out of her shorts and t-shirt.

"Look how pretty that girl is!" Your mom smiles already inside the pool with a drink on her hand as Helena smiled and laughed letting go of your hand to run towards her grandma

"¡Cuidado!" (Careful!) You said jogging behind her as your mom met her at the edge of the pool

"I got her, mi vida" She said getting out of the pool with Helena on her waist "You enjoy and get ready to serve everyone in here"

"None of that miss. The only ones I'm serving are you, Pablo, my in-laws and my kids, other than you they can do self-service"

"I love you so much, dear"

"I love you too, mom" You smiled and kissed her cheek watching how she pulled Helena underneath the water to prepare her for the pool.

"¡Mamá, mamá!" Mateo called you as you turned around to see him with his dad and a ball before he let it fall and splashed both boys. You laughed before you felt yourself being pushed

"Hijodetu-" You said inmediately as you went out to find Fermín and Pedri laughing "¡Mira tú-!" (Look, you-!) You cut yourself off spitting some water that had entered your mouth making them laugh harder "You'll see"

"Hey! Leave my wife alone!" Pablo said serious and Mateo throw them the ball

"Mamá" He yelled out with his dad's best feature, the frown

"Yeah, he's also asking you guys to leave his mom be"

The guys were laughing when Pedri and Fermín were suddenly pulled into the pool as well. Behind the prank, your mom and your mom in law were laughing

"Nobody messes with my daughter!" Your mom said as you got out of the pool drenched and high fived her.

When the guys started jumping over the pool and soon enough everyone was inside it, laughing and joking. You were with your mom, Belén, Aurora, a few WAG's and Mateo who had fallen asleep on your chest, sat chatting about everything whilst the guys were playing some football or handball.

The party was going nice, the gift box was over the top and everyone was enjoying the pastries you and your mom had made for your baby's birthday.

Soon, it was time for the cake, Mateo had to be woken up and in his face you could see he was very sleepy, you lifted him on your hip while Helena was on Gavi's and everyone started chatting the birthday song.

Mateo, even while sleepy, loved the attention he got from his grannys, who had their phones up to record everything with big smiles on their faces.

While blowing the candles, you and Pablo helped Mateo without him noticing and when he thought he had done it by himself, he had the biggest smile on his face.

You had grabbed two balloons for Lena and Mat, for them to keep and play around in the house with. Mateo, who had been up and electric now, was running with Aurora's babyboy, Javier and Ferran's little boy, Jeremías in the little park, you had settled up for the kids.

After a while, you went to see your babies, Helena was jumping up and down the inflatable as Mateo was playing with his cars in the floor "¡Mami, mami! ¡Ven, brinca conmigo!" You smiled taking off your shoes and bringing your babyboy into the mix.

When Pablo went to find you to tell you everyone had left, he smiled watching the three loves of his life be happy around each other

"Can I join in?" The three of you turn your heads to him

"¿Dejamos que papá se una?" (Should we let papá join in?)

"Yes!" Helena screamed and so did Mateo and by the time they said yes, Pablo was already inside the inflatable

"¿Qué tal están?" (How are you guys?)

"We're perfect and together, dad" Lena answered with a smile as Mateo nodded

"Just like what we'll always be" Pablo said kissing both Lena and Mateo's cheeks and then he leaned forward to kiss your lips winning an "ew" from the kids "What do you mean by "ew", eh?" He said launching forward to Mateo but wrapping his arms around Lena bringing her to him as he kissed them all over their faces, your kids laughter filling your heart with warm and love "AND LET'S NOT FORGET ABOUT MOM!" The three of them attacked you as you laughed receiving their kisses

"I love the three of you, so much" You said when Mateo yawned "But I think it's time to go home, don't you think babyboy?" He nods softly burying his head in your neck "You liked your birthday?" He nodded as you got out of the inflatable and picked the things up to get them in the car

In middle of pulling the things in the car, Mateo and Lena both fell asleep as you and Pablo smiled at your kids.

"Wish they stop growing up this fast" You said leaning on his chest seeing them in the back of the car

"I do too, we gotta enjoy every single little time we can before they get older" You nod "However, I meant it when I said we'll always be perfect and together" He kissed your temple, you smiled and wrapped your arms against him

"I know you did. I know it as well"

°°° °°° °°° °°°

Taglist: @gaviypedrisbride @stuckinaf4nfiction @elijahslover @azzpenswrld @http-isabela

[xpc-web-dev]

No, you are not alone. I also start things, give up, procrastinate, live the future and not the present and complain about my life not moving forward while I spend time looking at other people's lives.

Hello everyone, how are you?

I hope well.

I was thinking of giving up this tumblr and just as I started everything from scratch to study programming (github, linkedin, notion and I even created another google account) start a new tumblr.

I even commented briefly a few weeks ago with @lostlibrariangirl who supported me to just continue on this one and see my evolution. And today I was thinking that this could be cool not only for me, but for other dropouts, who are frustrated that they think they'll never get to where they want to go and et cetera.

If you've been following me since the beginning of this year, you've already seen that I never completed any course and I assume that I gave up on the most difficult parts, besides the constant anxiety of getting a job in technology and thinking that I would never get it and that made me procrastinate, suffer and not live the present studying.

I gave up on one of the scholarships I got and now I'm catching up on the delay (it's until the 7/30th)

Nowadays my mental health has improved a lot, thanks to my elders.

And also thanks to them I understood that I was going around in circles, being lazy, not trying 100%, being stubborn in a stupid way (for me stubbornness is a quality, if you know how to use it) and spending too much time on other people's lives and not mine.

Also, today it's easier for me not to feel so much anxiety because I no longer have the goal of getting a job registered as a dev this year, so I'm starting to learn from scratch EVERYTHING AGAIN only this time better and really trying hard.

In my case I wasn't doing my best, trying hard and that's why I fell so many times. I don't like the word failure/failure, as I learned from an older, mistake it's study/learning and not failure.

Now in May, for example, I started studying Linux from scratch (my system that I'm confused to understand), git and github. I was all this time without really understanding these 3 tools, just doing it without understanding / in a lazy way and that didn't give me confidence.

And I don't think we need to memorize it, but it's nice to understand and practice.

This print from above is me studying after writing and repeating to myself that I WILL ONLY START a new cycle after ending the old one.

And I hope to share this journey here.

I have a lot to study, whether in back-end or front-end, but I'm not in a hurry and that's why I'm progressing.

So if you're reading this far and you're going through the same thing I was, I wanted to give you some unsolicited advice.

Spend your energy, do physical exercises. Because anxiety can only be resolved with a psychiatrist, but exercises help.

Understand why you procastine, what is making you feel frustrated or afraid? Did you find out? How can you solve this?

If you don't finish something to start another and it HURTS you (if it doesn't hurt, that's fine), try to understand why you give up? Where is making you insecure / afraid? And after you understand this, strive to finish everything you start (I know it's hard, but we need this)

Get off social media for a bit. For me tumblr is what I spend the least time on, but it's very easy to lose hours on instagram and tiktok.

And guess what, that time we spend doesn't come back and unless you work with these networks that ALSO won't give you any money / jobs.

So, if possible, start to regulate your period in these environments. At first it's difficult because your brain is addicted, but after a while it works out and your version of the future (if you invest that time studying and working) will thank you.

I wish you all to be well and not sabotage yourself to achieve your goals.

[bothoutsiders]

Bruce: You seem happy with Jason.

Tim: My husband is a better man then most would have him out to be.

Bruce: He's a dangerous man.

Tim: Bruce, you are a dangerous man. Superman, your best friend, is a dangerous man. As the late Ra's al Ghul will tell you, I am dangerous. Life is dangerous. Only death is free of risk. And I'm in no hurry to be safe.

hey, anon! thanks for the request and i apologize for taking so long. i was unsure of how to take this so i did something different and made it in third-person but bruce's pov. hope it's alright :)

--

It was true, all of them were indeed dangerous but that was not the point. Tim had done something he didn’t approve of. He dared to break the rules, to take control of his own life and make his own awful mistakes. He did something terrible, something that Bruce never planned out for him.

Perhaps it was all Bruce’s fault. He had failed as a mentor, as a role model but he had thought it was just a phase.

He had pretended he didn’t know what had been happening behind his back. That he didn’t notice when Tim didn’t come back home to sleep or that there was peace in the streets. No violent killings from Red Hood.

‘They might be getting along.’ A silly thought that crossed his mind a long time ago. ‘Tim might be good for Jason. Might convince him to stop killing.’ Or perhaps a way to have a leash on Jason.

One thing was to fix him, another one was to marry him. What was Tim even thinking?!

And the sole thought of it made his blood boil. The anger and frustration building up inside of him. His intention was to play nice, to not be so direct and harsh, but Tim wasn’t making things easy for him.

“He is still a criminal, Tim. He uses violence and he’s unstable. There is no bright future by his side.” His patience had run thin by now but it was very hard for Bruce to keep quiet. To not show how this bothered him.

“We all are criminals. We use violence and you in particular are very unstable. There’s no bright future for me here. I’m always under your rules, your opinions, your tricks. You’re always making decisions for me, even when I’m not looking. You placed people in my way for a purpose and you push away others if you don’t like them.” He shoved the last item inside his bag. “Once you couldn’t fix your relationship with Jason, once he stopped accepting your orders, you threw him away as if he meant nothing.”

No, no, no. Why couldn't he just accept things?! Why couldn't Tim just see things his way and stop trying to be something he was not?!

“That’s not true. You know I tried.”

“You never really tried. If you did, you would’ve done things differently. But you never did, Bruce.” He slung his backpack over one shoulder. “I’m done with you.”

Before Tim could walk out of his old bedroom at the mansion, Bruce hit the doorway with his fist, blocking the way. He was going mad and desperate. He might have wanted Tim to react, to get him angry and throw insults back at each other, to give Bruce a reason to hurt him, to make him feel bad. But nothing was going the way he wanted.

Tim wasn’t playing his game anymore. He was in control of his own feelings while Bruce wasn’t.

“You’re in my way.” His face was serious and even seemed to be already bored of this. Gritting his teeth, Bruce finally pulled away, letting Tim walk away.

He remembered the day that things got worse. Officially worse.

It was on the news, on the radio, printed on paper. It was everywhere and while Bruce wanted to ignore it, to pretend he knew nothing about it, it was simply impossible to run away from what the whole city was talking about.

It was not in his hands.

Bruce immediately left to the Watchtower, not wanting to hear or see more of it. He would rather focus on some international work than being reminded of what they have done.

When he arrived the first thing he saw was the huge screen on. Barry and Hal were already there, watching the news of Gotham city because of course they would use it for anything other than work.

“Care to turn that off?”

“I didn’t know little Tim got married, congrats!”

“Uhm… Hal– no–” Barry tried to interrupt while he turned the screen off immediately.

“I didn’t know he was marrying Jason though. Not judging, I’m just glad they are being a pain in the ass for you. I’ve heard about how Jason isn’t welcome at your place.” He sat down and rolled his chair toward Barry. “Not sure why he bans people who hate him though. Not like we are interested in going there.”

The thought of talking to Tim crossed his mind many times. He thought he still had time to nullify his marriage but his relationship with him wasn't that good anymore. Things happened and honestly Bruce never did much to fix what broke between them. He always thought Tim would see, eventually, that he meant good and he did care about him in his own way. He didn't know how to open up, how to be a proper mentor but he had good intentions and that should be more than enough.

Talking to Jason wasn’t in his options. He knew it wouldn't help at all. Jason was already broken and angry. While Bruce might see a glimpse in him of that small and good kid he used to be, Bruce knew it was impossible to make him understand. To convince him to make this right.

Jason was a lost case.

He could pay someone to invalidate the marriage, to make it disappear. He could do something and bring back Tim, to go back to the way things used to be. His mind was quick to make many different plans, to think about the outcome of every single one of them… But nothing seemed to have the ending he wanted.

Completely furious at this chain of events, Bruce took the clock on Tim’s bedside table and smashed it against the wall. While it had broken and there was no way of fixing it, it didn’t help. He didn’t feel any better. In a desperate need to take out his anger, he did the same with a book within reach. He threw it against the window and shattered the glass with it.

Nothing was going to change because of it, and he knew it, but he wanted to release his anger, show how upset it made him. How he wasn’t okay with what Tim and Jason had done. They had definitely done this to bother him.

He paused for a moment, mind going back to the options he had, because he wasn’t going to let this go that easy. Just then he heard the sound of some laughter and a bike.

Making sure no one from the outside would be able to see him, Bruce moved to the window, curious about what was going on downstairs. Just then, he saw them.

Both of them were there, smiling and laughing. Tim wrapped his arms around Jason, and once ready, they drove away.

The sight of them only left a bitter taste in his mouth.

[tothemeadow]

im CRAVING some rengoku x reader please 🛐🛐 ive read every single rengoku x reader, i need MORE.

if you can, can you make it nsfw?

this is based around the "housewife fucks the milkman trope," plus it contains 1950s suburban life but only the aesthetic

'milk and cookies' / Rengoku K. x Reader

warning: NSFW, infidelity, kitchen sex

words: 1,305

notes: AU, fem reader, PWP

-

“Here’s your milk for today, ma’am!” Kyojuro chirps.

You take the glass bottles from his outstretched hands, a smile curling the corners of your mouth. While you’re pleased with your delivery, you’re happier to see the neighborhood’s beloved milkman. Like the other housewives (and some husbands) lining the street, your affection towards the man is more than obvious. He’s wonderful at his job, yes, and it’s even better that he’s drop dead gorgeous.

Tall, broad, and muscular, Kyojuro is the very embodiment of the sun. With fiery hair and dazzling eyes, it’s hard to miss him rolling down the street in cow print truck. Plus, his uniform consists of a white outfit that molds to his form….

Leaning against the doorframe, you turn your smile into something irresistibly sweet. “Mr. Rengoku, why don’t you come in for tea? You deserve a break, too, you know. I even did a bit of baking yesterday, too. Something that would go perfectly with this milk, no?”

You don’t miss the way Kyojuro’s eyes linger on your cherry painted lips. His gaze flickers back upwards as a hand rubs the back of his neck. “Isn’t your husband home, ma’am?”

“Giyuu is at work,” you tell him, tone light. “Besides, I don’t bite.”

Not unless you want me to.

Glancing around, Kyojuro clears his throat. He then returns your smile, his teeth a pearly white compared to his tanned skin. “I guess a quick break wouldn’t be terrible.”

Hook, line, sinker.

Leading Kyojuro into your home, you shut the front door; the lock slides home with an audible click, leaving the two of you free from prying eyes. There’s no doubt that the other ladies would cause a fuss over Kyojuro entering your house, yet you know that they’d do the exact same thing if given the opportunity.

You direct him to the kitchen with a sway in your hips. Your heels click against the hardwood floor, and you hope it’s loud enough to conceal the excited beat of your heart. And, just as you’ve told him, a plate of cookies sits neatly on the kitchen table, looking almost like they were set up for this precise moment.

Kyojuro eases onto a chair while you put the milk into the icebox and place a kettle on the stove. “Your home is quite lovely,” he says, a start to pleasant conversation.

“Thank you, Mr. Rengoku,” you reply. Turning to him, you gesture to the cookies on the table. “Please, help yourself.”

And, if you want, you can have my other cookie, too.

It takes little convincing. Kyojuro’s face brightens as he bites into the delicacy, a pleased hum rumbling in the back of his throat. “UMAI!” he shouts.

You chuckle as his face turns a bright red. He stutters a sorry, didn’t mean to be so loud, but you quickly comfort him, telling him that it’s perfectly fine if he’s loud. His hand twitches at your comment.

“Tell me, sir, do you like milk?” you ask, voice sweet, innocent. At your words, you subtly push out your chest. “For your tea, I mean.” You cock your head. “And what about sugar?”

Bingo.

The chair scrapes against the linoleum as Kyojuro hurries to a stand. He’s on you within moments, hands on your hips while his mouth captures yours. You’d never think it’d be this easy to seduce Kyojuro, but here you are, knocking the hat off his head and running your fingers through his hair.

He gasps against your lips. “We… we shouldn’t be doing this. I apologize.”

“Don’t be sorry,” you purr. “I want this. Do you, sir?”

The name clearly has an effect on him. He kisses you once more, hands settling on your ass. You take this opportunity to run your hands over his body; he feels hard and warm under your hands, and a slight moan slips from his mouth when they land on the swell of his pectorals. He moans louder when you squeeze them. They feel so full, so plush. You almost believe that the milk he delivers come from him.

It’s easy work to strip him from his uniform’s shirt, leaving his torso completely exposed. He’s tastier than you originally thought, all rippling muscle and smooth skin. Pulling away, you direct your attention to his chest, smearing lipstick over his pecs, his nipples. His harsh breathing fills your ears, as does the slight moans rumbling in his throat.

“May I?” he croaks.

You tell him yes.

A yelp escapes your mouth as he grips onto the back of your thighs and lifts you onto the counter. Pushing your skirt up to your hips, he eases his way in between your legs, a hungry sheen covering his eyes. Warm fingers skim your inner thighs, yet they don’t dare travel to where you need them most.

“Please don’t tease me,” you tell him, rolling your head back. “I’d say I’ve been a good girl, hmm? Please, sir, give me what I want.”

It’s nothing but pure bliss when Kyojuro pushes your panties to the side and shoves two fingers into your quivering pussy. He curses when he feels that you’re already wet, your walls giving in easily to his touch. Your back arches into him, nails digging into his shoulders.

“So good,” you purr. “Give me more.”

High pitched noises escape your mouth as he fucks you with his fingers. The kettle is already whistling, but at least it provides a nice cover if any nosy neighbors decide to creep. However, with how fast his fingers plunge in and out of your pussy, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if they could hear the wet noises.

You nearly cry when he releases his cock; it’s hot and hard, just like the rest of him. Your mouth waters the sight, and you wonder how the weight would feel against your tongue. He slips inside with a low groan, his forehead dropping to your shoulder as he bottoms out. Your velvety walls flutter around him, urging him to move.

His cock pumps in once, twice. Your eyes threaten to roll to the back of your head as he gradually sets a rhythm. A mix of slick and precum slip from your puffy lips as Kyojuro thrusts into you, a hand on your hip while the other rests flat against the counter. With your legs hooked around his waist, you cling onto him desperately, the loveliest noises spilling from your painted lips.

Then oh, there goes his thumb, landing on your clit and rubbing it along with his harsh thrusts. Your walls squeeze tantalizingly around his cock; you want to milk him for his worth, have his knees go completely weak from your pussy.

Grabbing onto his hair, you force his head up. Worming your tongue into his mouth, you rock your hips steadily against him. Kyojuro moans, beautiful and deep, and he quickens his pace. A mantra of ah, ah, ah! fills the kitchen as he brings you closer to your climax.

Before long, you’re creaming around his cock. He sucks in a sharp breath as your walls clamp down around him. “Yes, fuck, baby, just like that,” he grunts. His hips move erratically, his panting filling your ear. He then pulls out abruptly, his hand closing around his cock as he brings himself to orgasm, his spend splashing on your panties and flushed pussy.

After a few moments, the two of you finally catch your breath and smile at each other. Kyojuro rubs the back of his neck again. “Do you… do you think we could do this again?”

You press a chaste kiss to his lips. “Absolutely, Mr. Rengoku. I’m always willing to take your milk.”

Before Kyojuro has the chance to respond, the sound of a car door slamming shut rings from outside.

Shit.

-

I'm sorry Giyuu but I love torturing you too much-

[lookismaddict]

Lookism: Rendezvous 🔞 (Ch. IX) || Gun Park x Fem! Reader ♡

Author’s Note: I apologize that there wasn’t much happening in the last chapter. That one was kinda a doozy to write ngl. 😭 I decided to mention the YouTube version of PTJ’s universe since that’s what Lookism mentioned before. (Even in Viral Hit too, but that’s irrelevant rn lol) And also, I’m sorry to all the smut lovers! I was trying to build up to this moment because I wanted to balance out the story. I didn’t want it to always be smut all the time or else it’s just going to be repetitive. This chapter though, will definitely lead to the spice that will soon come. I hope you like this one. 🤭💓 (Also, I’m sorry if the format for this chapter is weird. I had to squeeze some stuff in because of space.)

NSFW Warning: Violence, Strong language/Cursing, Sexual Language, and Sexual Content (teasing and sensual touching).

Story Summary: You traveled abroad to help support your mother who is sick, back home in Japan. However, once you reached Korea, everything went downhill until you met a stranger who offered you a deal that could benefit you. But who knew that this special encounter would turn your whole life around…

Driving in silence should be illegal. You thought of how this annoying car couldn’t even compare to how better the Rolls Royce Phantom was, which made you think of a good name for it.

“Kuro Maboroshi.” [黒幻]

Gun gave a slight smirk, now knowing what you’ve been thinking inside that pretty little head of yours.

“Ah, so that’s what you’ve come up with.”

“Well, it isn’t as bad as calling your other car an ‘Obnoxious Goblin’.”

“Hm…”

“So… yes?”

“Fine.”

Turning to the side of the car, you gave yourself a small fist pump for your silent victory, before turning back around to fix your posture.

“Also, I saw that you were busy back there while you made me wait for you.”

Wait, he was there this whole time? Well, here it comes. The interrogation…

“Oh. You saw that?”

“Yeah, I did. I caught you with Eli Jang and the rest of the main members of Hostel.”

Frozen, you sat there in your seat trying to play out the memories that just happened in your head. Now, the name “Eli Jang” is familiar to you. You remembered Gun had mentioned Eli’s name before while he was talking about his successor. Overall, the thought of encountering members of one of the four major crews made you deny the possibilities of ever encountering them in the first place.

“That was them? Nah, there’s no way…”

“Why are you denying it? Have you seen their Hostel tattoos?”

For a minute, you thought about the visible tattoos of the letter “H” that you saw printed on the obvious parts of their bodies. Eventually, Gun took the silence for a “yes” as he continued, “If you obviously saw their Hostel tattoos, then there’s no point in trying to rationalize what just happened. Whatever happened, happened.”

Suspiciously, your squinted eyes turned to look at him. “You’re awfully passive about this. Didn’t you tell me back at that restaurant that there would be a really low chance of encountering them in Seoul?”

“Yes, I did. But I never said anything about how you’ll NEVER encounter them at all. You just so happened to be lucky today.”

Shocked at Gun’s bullshitery, you scoffed while rolling your eyes. “‘Lucky’? You call THAT lucky? They now know who I am! Well, I don’t think I told them my name because I was in a hurry, but they still know my face!”

“And?”

“‘And’? Why are you so calm?! They already met one of the people who will take them down!!!”

Gun let out a low yet entertained chuckle saying, “Just relax. To be honest, I didn’t think you’d meet them so soon. However, there’s no need to worry. They don’t even know that you’re associated with me in the first place so you can stop stressing about it.”

“Yeah, well… what if I encounter the other crews…?”

“Then you’ll just have to become a better liar and prevent yourself from looking like an open book. Your face can be so readable at times, so work on that.”

Due to that low blow from Gun, you instantly reacted by turning your head to face him. The look that you were giving him from his peripheral vision was nothing more but hatred towards him, that he couldn’t help but smirk at your displeased face.

“Come on, don’t look at me like that. I was only just stating the facts.”

“What do you mean? Is my face THAT readable to you?”

“I think you already know the answer to that.”

His annoying comments never fail to piss you off as you turned your head to the side, sick of actually looking at his smug face that was clearly enjoying your downfall. To change the subject, you asked him, “How long were you there in front of the market waiting for me?”

“Not too long.”

As Gun continued to drive onwards, he quickly reminisced the sight he saw back at that marketplace.

Gun finally came back from the phone shop with your new phone inside the small shopping bag placed near his ash tray in front of the center console of the car. The white Rolls Royce Ghost, or as you like to call it “Shiro Oni”, arrived at the spot where you were supposed to meet Gun. When his right foot stepped on the brake, he turned the rotary shift knob to “P”. Now waiting for your arrival, he searched around the car for you by looking at his side windows then his rearview mirror. Once he took a glimpse at his rearview mirror, he immediately caught a sight of you, sitting on the bench. His hand was about to press the horn on his steering wheel to signal that he was finally there, but what stopped him was the sight of a small human sitting beside you. With caution, he stared at the figure of that small child as he noticed that the young one looked very familiar to him. That bun, bundled up on top of her head, the little yellow dress that she was wearing, and that pretty round face of hers was enough to remember that the child was indeed, Eli Jang’s, the leader of Hostel.

Gun wondered what you were doing with Eli Jang’s child, as he continued to watch over you from afar. He saw you take out a packet of portable on-the-go applesauce from the small plastic bag you had with you, then gave it to the kid for her to eat it herself. While watching you nurse the fragile child in front of you by helping her digest the food with light pats on her back, Gun pondered about how well you take care of children. First Kouji, and now, Yenna Jang? It was astonishing to see that you had a soft and content side when it comes to children. However, whenever you and Gun would interact, it was quite the opposite. The two of you would somehow always end up verbally dissing each other to no end. Just name any topic, and both of you would break out in a war full of petty curses and insults. His eyes then followed you down the sidewalk, as you were now carrying Eli’s daughter in your arms. You were walking over to two other people who Gun did not expect to see, which was Warren Chae the Gate Keeper and Sally Park the Big Mama of Hostel. This whole scene that Gun was viewing for himself was like watching a TV show. An interesting show, that hits him with plot twist after unexpected plot twist. And oh, does it get better! Finally, the main lead that Gun was anticipating for shows up at the scene.

Intrigued by the sight of Eli Jang joining in with the four of you, Gun’s mouth curved to a mischievous smirk while still viewing the rearview mirror from above. He witnessed you finally speaking to Eli in person as he mumbled to himself, “And now, here comes the real fun. I bet she doesn’t even realize who she’s talking to right now, knowing how slow she can be. Talk about a twist of fate…”

It took about thirty minutes for you to finish your conversation with the Hostel crew, making Gun lie back on his leather seat, grieving a tired groan from waiting for you.

“Damn. Can they just wrap it up already, and hurry the fuck up? I’ve got better things to do.” Knowing that he can’t sound the car horn to avoid drawing any attention to himself, he had no choice but to wait there the whole entire time for you to be done. Eventually, his eyes lit up as he saw that you were already saying your goodbyes. While watching you now dispersing from each other and walking down the direction towards his car, his back shot up to fix his own posture on the seat. When you finally made it to your side of the car door, he heard you knock on it a few times then stood there without opening the door, making him shake his head in amusement. “This idiot…”

He had to roll down the window for you to say, “It’s already open.” before you could even enter the car. Once you were inside the car, Gun didn’t waste any time as he started the car to drive down the path of returning back home.

While Gun was replaying the events that just happened in his head, his mind was forced to return back to the present as it was interrupted by the sound of the crumpling of a bag of chips. His head turned to see what you were up to, catching you now munching on the honey butter chips that you bought recently.

“Oi, what the hell are you doing in my car?”

From the corner of your eye, you caught Gun staring at your direction, as you stopped yourself from consuming that one chip that you are still holding in your hand.

“What?”

“What do you mean ‘what’? You’re eating chips in MY car.”

“So… what? Do you want one? I can give you one if you’d like.”

You reached the hand that was holding the chip over to where his mouth was as you said while babying him saying, “Here Gun, say ‘Ah!’” Gun’s eyebrows furrowed in an irritated fashion, which resulted in him to smack your hand away from his face with the back of his own hand. With that, you ignored him cursing under his breath while you nibbled away on your sweet potato chips. “And what did I tell you about eating when you’re not hungry.” You shrugged nonchalantly saying, “It’s fine! Just let me do this once. I’ve always wanted to try it because of that one commercial I saw on TV. So, please, just this once.”

Gun’s foul mood faded when he suddenly remembered the phone that he got for you. “If you haven’t seen the bag down there yet, I suggest that you go through it now.”

With a curious look on your face, you looked down to see a small bag sitting next to his ash tray. Your hand picked it up, reaching into it like it was a mystery bag. When you felt the bulkiness of a small elongated box, you grabbed onto it to pull it right out of the bag. My oh my, you couldn’t believe what kind of phone he just got you! Inside the bag was the newest model of the iPhone, in which you felt your hands starting to tremble from how surprised and overwhelmed you felt about holding it in your hands.

This bastard really went overboard with the “gift-giving”. I don’t deserve something like this at all! I mean, come on. An iPhone?! Are you serious?! And it’s even the newest version too! I’m afraid that I might break this thing, knowing how brand new it is and how fragile this is. Ah, geez…

While staring at the box on your lap, you said in a reluctant tone, “Are you secretly a Sugar Daddy? Because, what the actual fuck…”

“Do you want me to be your ‘Sugar Daddy’? I don’t mind, if that’s what you truly want-”

“No. I’m good.”

Right off the bat, you denied his offer, afraid that it would give you a big headache from how complicated your relationship already was with him. Also, you didn’t find the extra baggage to be necessary, since you plan on paying him back for all of this someday, regardless of what he has to say. The contract that you two signed together will eventually become void and at that point, you don’t have to follow his orders anymore. Whether he likes it or not, you will pay him back and you will make him take it no matter what.

Sorry Gun, but that’s just how my ideology works.

For now, you decided to just accept it. Either way, he wouldn’t give you a choice to refuse it in the first place. “As much as I’d like to refuse this ‘gift’ and give this back to you even though I can’t… thank you.”

“It’s the least I can do for my student, who’s always so careless.”

Gun’s words made you shoot a sharp glare at his direction, as his eyes were still concentrating on the road.

“Tch. You’re lucky that the contract is what binds me to your words. If it weren’t for that, I would’ve chucked this thing right out the window.”

“I don’t think that would be a smart idea. You still need it.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever…”

“I suggest that you look through it and play around with its features, so you can get used to it. I don’t want you to bother me every few seconds, asking ‘What does this do?’ And you don’t have to worry about not being able to use your phone without Wifi. I had someone install a data plan for it so you can use it anywhere you go. There’s even unlimited talk and text for it.”

While rolling your eyes, you retorted back at him saying, “Ha, are you a moron? You’re speaking to a ‘tech nerd’. You even said that yourself, so don’t you ever forget that. Oh, wait… Really? Well, th-thanks, I guess…” From hearing the phone’s cool features, you enthusiastically took out the phone from its box and as you held it in your hands, you turned it on and began to set everything up on your new phone. It took about ten minutes of your time, going through your new phone with ease. Once you opened your “Contacts” there was already a contact saved in the list, which read “Yuzuru” on there.

Confused, you asked yourself, “Who’s Yuzuru?” [結弦]

“Me.”

Right away, your eyes shifted to Gun as your focus was now on him. You raised an eyebrow asking, “You’re Yuzuru? I thought your name is Jong Gun?”

“It’s my Japanese name. I used it because no one else knows about it except for you. Not even the Geniuses know about it. If anyone were to pick up your phone and see whoever is texting you, they won’t suspect that it’s me.”

Wait, he has a Japanese name? So he’s ACTUALLY Japanese? Well, that makes a lot of sense. His Japanese is very fluent, so he must be a native speaker. I wonder what’s his family name. Gosh, and I thought I knew a lot about him by now! I wonder what else he’s hiding. He’s such a mysterious man…

“Oh, okay. That makes sense. But why would you entrust your Japanese name to me?”

“It’s because I know you well by now, to know that you can be stupid sometimes. However, if you’re ‘smart’ enough, then I know for sure that you won’t be spilling my actual name to anyone. Unless, you want to suffer the consequences…”

That last part sent actual chills down your spine. Quickly, you shook your head and responded with, “No sir! I do not want to suffer the consequences.”

“Good.”

Both of you fell silent for the rest of the car ride home, as you managed to send Nurse Aya a text message since you kept her phone number on a piece of paper in your bag. Your text message stated:

“Hi Nurse Aya, this is (Y/N) Sasaki. I’m sorry if you tried to contact me on my old phone. Recently, I got a new phone since my old one broke. I finally managed to send the money to my mother. She’ll receive it in her bank account sometime soon. Once she gets it, then that money will immediately be used for her hospital bills. I already contacted the Doctor about it before I left for Korea, so he’s already familiar with my method of payment. I’ll hope to speak to my mother soon as well, so please let me know when is the perfect time to contact you back. As always, thank you for taking care of her and I hope you have a good day! 😊🙏🏽”

Now time to play the waiting game.

. . .

Eventually, the two of you arrived at the house. You took your leave first from the car as you had to wait for him outside of the front door of the house, since Gun needed to park the car into the garage. When you and Gun finally entered the house, Gun had some business-related work to do in his room regarding HNH Group so he told you not to disturb him, unless there was an emergency. While understanding the circumstances, you nodded as both of you retreated to your rooms. Before entering your room though, Gun made sure to tell you that you can just heat up something in the microwave as usual whenever it’s time for dinner, since he’ll probably eat later. You nodded, as you watched him continue onwards towards his room. When you see him shut his door behind him, you did the same as well.

Once you got inside your room, you crashed down onto your bed, letting out a huge tired exhale. While staring up at the ceiling, your mind started to run wild with a bunch of thoughts in your head.

Ugh, what a day. I’m glad that I got to send mom the money. At least now, I get to pay on time without having to worry about working constantly. That was grueling to even go through that. Now that I think about it, this place isn’t so bad. I haven’t really gotten the chance to appreciate this place until now. I’ve been staying in a nice house. Getting good meals at the right times. I’ve been going to different places where I’ve never even imagined of stepping foot in. All of this feels like a dream. However, I don’t want to think like that or else I might forget the real reason why I’m here. This is mainly because I needed the money. I needed the money to pay for my mom’s bills. I can’t afford to be greedy while I’m here. That isn’t right. Hm… I wonder if Nurse Aya saw my text yet. I better go check.

As you grabbed your new phone from your bag, you quickly checked to see if you were correct, and there it was:

“Hello Ms. (Y/N) Sasaki, it is very nice to hear from you again! And I’m sorry about what happened to your old phone, that must’ve been terrible. Yes, Doctor informed me about your method of payment and it is alright with me. When we receive your payment, we will double check to make sure that it’s all there. In the meantime, we’ll just have to wait for the money to be added into your mother’s bank account. And also, your mom has been sleeping a lot recently trying to recover herself every time she goes through therapy. So, I’ll let you know ASAP when she’s ready to be contacted. Until then, I’ll continue to look after your mother and I’ll continue to wish you good luck in your job over there in Korea! ☺️”

Whew, at least she got the message. I wonder what else I can do with this phone… Oh, right! I can finally contact Kouji and DG! You took out the little slip of paper with their phone numbers as well, as you started off by contacting Kouji. A single text message that was sent to him read:

“Hi Kouji, this is (Y/N)! I finally got a new phone. If you still need anything regarding the game or anything else, let me know! Or if you just wanted to chat, you can send a text message my way and I’ll be happy to reply anytime! 😄”

While waiting for Kouji’s response, you sent DG a message as well:

“Hello DG! This is (Y/N). I got a new phone recently, which is how I’m able to send you this text message. I’ll get to finally listen to your songs, so I look forward to listening to them while using this phone. And as I agreed, I’ll be sending you my thoughts on them too. I hope I’m not bothering you right now, I don’t want to disturb you while you might be working so I’ll talk to you later. Goodbye, and good luck at work! 😁”

Right when you successfully sent your message to DG, you got a notification from Kouji with a message that said:

“Finally!!! What took you so long? And you don’t have to text so formally on here. Tbh you sound like an old lady. 👵 An old lady creep who watches young boys’ computer screens from far away. 😬”

Ugh, this kid. Always saying such rude and annoying things right off the bat. Gun should honestly adopt him. They’d both be like father and son.

“Do you want my help or not? Just one push of the BLOCK button and I won’t be able to help you out. 😌”

A few seconds later, Kouji sent a GIF that shows this:

The GIF caused a laugh out of you as you continued to have this long and entertaining conversation with Kouji all night.

A week has gone by so quickly, as it was already Saturday. Although it was the end of the week, you were still responsible enough to continue to take those birth control pills that Dr. Ahn had prescribed you each day. From the box, the directions read that you just have to take a pill each day but it doesn’t have to be at the same time. However, it is highly recommended that you take it at the same time so that you wouldn’t forget and so you followed the recommendation. You put the pills on top of your bedside table, to remind yourself to take it right before you go to sleep. It was for your safety, in case “anything” happens. You never know. During the week, you were having frequent text messages with Kouji as he sent you articles of new game releases and gameplays of NewTubers who were already reviewing the trending games that were already out. Sometimes, he’d even send weird memes and shitposts to you on the side just to laugh about them. One day in that same week after you and Gun did the usual training session together, you were having lunch with him until suddenly you heard the notification ping from your phone. When you checked to see who the message was from, it was of course, from Kouji. He just sent you a meme of one of the games that you two were talking about from yesterday. He managed to make you laugh at how hilarious you thought it was, as you texted him back about how you felt from the meme he just sent. With the distracting dings from your phone, Gun who was quietly eating, was starting to get annoyed at your frequent text messages as he asked furiously, “(Y/N), can you put the damn phone away for once?! You’ve been at it for a few days now. Who the hell has been texting you so much that you have to immediately respond to them every time they send you a text?”

Feeling guilty from Gun’s outrage, you finally set it down as you looked down at your plate then said, “Sorry… it was just Kouji. He and I have been talking about this new PC game that just released and we became fans of it.”

Gun sighed saying, “Good grief. Over a fucking game? Well, you did mention that you were interested in games before. For some reason, I thought you meant outdoor games or board games. But either way, you guys are so childish.”

“You wouldn’t get it.”

“As if I even want to get it. I don’t see the appeal of having to play games on the computer all the time. I would rather just work.”

“Well good for you. At least you have a hobby that you like, so go ahead and stick to that.” Annoyed, you decided to get up and clean your own side of the table before taking your phone with you and storming off to your room without even saying a word to him, leaving Gun to sit at the table alone. Vexed by your attitude, he muttered to himself, “What the hell is her problem nowadays? Ever since I got her that phone, it’s like she’s been addicted to it. Nonstop texting and shit, as if I’m not even here at all. I shouldn’t have gotten her that damn phone. Tch, what a fucking joke.”

After that day, Gun gave you rigorous amount of training throughout that week. The treatment became much harsher as he gave you nonstop, fight after fight after fight. You were forced to get up every time you finished a fight, as he made you duel with him an extra time. Whenever he does this, you would protest because it was already lunch time and your body was already tired, but he would just ignore your refusals. He didn’t care if you were starving at that point. He just wanted to see you suffer, for those days that you had put him through of not being able to look at him properly. Not being able to exchange words with him as often as you used to. It pissed him off every time your attention was somewhere else, and he hated that ridiculous feeling. As his movements during the fights became even more intense, you were surprised that you’ve managed to even LIVE through those exhausting fights. Whenever the training sessions would finally end, you’d always collapse on the ground panting while sweating buckets as Gun would just leave you there without letting you know that he’d be taking his leave. His actions altogether made you question yourself why he’s been acting like that recently.

When Saturday finally came around, Gun decided to teach Aikido on that day since he mentioned to you before, during that week, that he needed someone to help him demonstrate how to properly pull the move. While lecturing this time, he told you to stand up as he guided where your hands needed to be placed and how to properly position your form, with his own hands. As he was doing so, your cheeks couldn’t help but feel flushed from just the small physical contact that he was giving you. “Aikido was created as a form of self defense and it’s all about learning how to disarm someone by using their own attack momentum to your advantage. It’s a Japanese martial art that does not involve much harm, since it mainly focuses on getting the right grip while doing it softly. Although, it does comprise of grappling and joint locking. You need to know how to properly throw someone off balance and how to lock their joints to the point that they’re restricted from using their own hands to attack back. Positioning of one’s hand onto someone’s arm and how fast you can accurately act upon it can disrupt their stance as well. However, you don’t have to defend by just using their arm. It can be in other places where they are vulnerable, like the back of their neck but that’s just another option. Remember that if you do it correctly by controlling your breathing and by physically handling your opponent the right way, then you won’t have any problems by flipping them over with ease.”

During his lesson, all you thought about was how close you were to him and how much he was touching you directly, even if it was mostly your hands and arms. You did manage to listen to him though, which was a shock since you were a blushing mess.

Ughhh when is the demonstration going to happen? I don’t know how much more I can take from this…

Saved by the bell! From the front door of the house, you heard the door bell rang once. Then a few times. Which then turned to an extreme amount of times, as the rings were beginning to sound like sirens going off. In response, Gun’s face turned to a mean scowl, as he let go of your hands and angrily strolled towards the door to get it. When he opened the door, Gun was greeted by the sight of his co-worker, Joon Goo Kim.

“Gun, what took you so long and why aren’t you dressed yet?! Our ride is already waiting for us outside!”

“Yeah, I know.”

“What the hell do you ‘know’, huh? I was expecting you to be all dressed, you bastard! You know how Charles would get mad if we don’t show up on time! That old man can be such a fucking pain to deal with. I mean, come on. Who does he really think he is sometimes, the president of South Korea?! […]”

As he walked inside Gun’s house, Gun’s sanity was starting to decline from Goo’s unstoppable rants. In a way, Gun knew that Goo would be coming to pick him up as he thought of this as a perfect time to demonstrate to you on how Aikido is actually done. Gun started to walk towards the backyard, as Goo followed behind him while blabbering away about Charles Choi and the annoying things that Charles would assign them to do most of the time. From outside the backyard, you could hear someone’s voice coming from inside but you knew right away that it wasn’t Gun’s voice, but Goo’s. When both of them reached the backyard, you caught sight of Goo who was dressed formally in a matching fancy dark grey Tom Ford suit and pants combo, while wearing a black tie. He even got fancy dark brown leather dress shoes on, that were polished nicely. You assumed that Goo was here to pick up Gun for the HNH Group party for today, as you watched them. Gun led the way towards you while he let Goo go off on whatever he was ranting about from behind him. When Gun stopped right in front of you, he announced to you as he said, “Watch closely (Y/N). THIS is how you do it properly.” Gun turned around on his side to give you a better view of his stance and how he positions himself, grabbing onto Goo’s arm all of a sudden before grappling him with such speedy gracefulness.

“[…] I don’t know what’s gotten into his head lately? Does he even know how often we tried to do his bidding for him? It’s fucking annoying. I don’t understand why he couldn’t just do it himself since he’s that stro- WOOAAAHHH!!!”

While observing Gun’s demonstration, your eyes widened at how swiftly Gun flipped Goo over with just a flick of his wrist. It happened so quickly that you didn’t even see him exert any effort into that Aikido technique that he just pulled. When Gun took Goo’s wrist into his hand, he pulled it enough for Goo’s center of balance to break. Then, Gun tossed Goo in a swift roll, leaving Goo to fall on his back. At the same time, it was like watching a scene in slow motion, as Goo slowly fell onto the ground with his back impacting the grass first. With a thud, Goo lightly groaned on the ground, still trying to process what just happened. Gun gave a satisfied sneer at the sight of Goo finally shutting up from his annoying tirade. As Gun’s eyes met with yours, he said, “I’ll go and get dressed. We’ll continue this tomorrow, so just remember my words and remember what I showed you today.” With an understanding nod, he let you go, making his way back inside the house to get ready for the party. Now, your focus was on Goo who was still laying on his back on the floor, lifeless.

Is he okay? Should I lend him a hand?

“Um, Goo? Are you alright…? Do you need help?”

Goo didn’t answer as his body continued to stay there, motionlessly. Worried, you began to think if Gun had probably knocked him out or something. The poor guy must’ve accidentally hit his head on the ground, hard enough for him to pass out on the spot.

Oh no… I think Gun went a bit overboard with that flip. What should I do? Should I call him over here? But what if he ACTUALLY killed Goo on accident??? Does that mean Gun will end up in jail?! But if that happens, is he going to make me help him dispose of the body?! What if he makes me drag Goo’s body over to the Han River at night and then dump it?! Is he going to force me to be quiet?!

As you started to hyperventilate, you tried to take deep breaths. Big inhales and exhales was the way to go to prevent yourself from getting consumed by your own panic.

Okay, okay, (Y/N). Just stay calm! I need to make sure that he’s still alive. I need to check his pulse first…

Stealthily, you tip-toed around Goo’s body as you saw that his eyes were closed. Once you stopped right in front of him, you crouched on your knees then reached two fingers over his neck to check his pulse. Right when your hand barely reached his neck, a hand suddenly grabbed your wrist, making you jump and shriek loudly from the unanticipated grab.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

The unexpected touch caused you to lose your balance and fall backwards, landing on your butt with a hard thud. You winced from the pain that you felt on your bum, in which you heard a laugh in front of you. Your eyes followed the voice of whoever was laughing hysterically. When they have stopped at that person’s caricature, you deducted that the person who was responsible for your fall was none other than Goo. He was hugging his stomach while rolling on the floor laughing at your reaction to his prank.

“God, that was so fucking funny! I didn’t think you’d react like that, (Y/N)! But, hey, my bad…” You were too stunned to even reply to him, as you watched him get up on his own, brushing off the grass from his fancy outfit in the process. Out of nowhere, you heard the backyard’s sliding door slam open, as Gun came rushing into the yard already dressed in his brand new midnight black Dior suit. It came as a matching set with the smoothed out pants. Over his suit, was a long black wool Dior coat which went well with his suit. There weren’t any wrinkles on the clothing that he was wearing either, which was appropriate for his formal party attire. The suit that he had on had a breast pocket, in which a small gold chain was hanging on his left side, from within his pocket. With his suit was a wine colored tie, that displays his refined tastes. Underneath his suit, was his usual white collared long sleeved shirt. In each end of his suit sleeve, were gold “LV” cuff links, which exudes a classy aura from him. Around his right wrist was a gold Rolex watch, with real diamonds encrusted around the rim that glistened underneath the sunlight. The fancy shoes that he was wearing were new black leather dress shoes, which were more polished and had pointier tips than his original pair. His hair was styled nicely, complimenting his handsome features that were already attractive as they were. He managed to comb his hair back, creating a slicked back hairstyle by also lathering it with gel to make his hair stay like that throughout the day. Gun looked like a suave movie star, especially with those black shades on. As he rushed into the scene, you caught a strong whiff of the scent of his expensive Dior Sauvage cologne. Everything about him was perfect to the last detail and everything about his appearance made his aura stand out even more, captivating you unintentionally with his powerful physique. However, this wasn’t the time to marvel at him.

“(Y/N)!!! WHAT HAPPENED?!”

Goo waved at Gun as he said in a cheerful way, “Gun! You’re looking pretty snazzy in your suit. I guess we’re ready to go now! Let’s get going befo-” Goo was surprisingly interrupted by Gun’s fist that was drilled into his stomach. Goo staggered a few steps back from Gun’s impact, as he snickered at the sight of Gun glowering at him with a face of clear indignation. “Gun, you didn’t have to be so violent…” Gun kept his fist clenched, as he said in a low wrathful tone, “The hell did you do, Goo? I heard (Y/N) scream, and now she’s on the ground? You better give me a good fucking explanation for the shit you just did, or else I’m going to have to murder you…” Goo coughed up a bit of blood into his hand due to the heavy blow to his stomach, which did not cease that smirk on his face. “My, my, you can be quite the monster. Already throwing hands right before the party? I was hoping to do it afterwards, but you’re giving me no choice here…”

While watching the both of them in front of you, you could feel the palm of your hands sweat. Your heart was already beating rapidly due to the worrisome ordeal that’s about to go down if you don’t stop them somehow.

Crap… what should I do? This is starting to get out of hand! Why did Gun have to punch Goo in the stomach? Alright, that’s it. I need to get up. Come on (Y/N), let’s… go!

Gun was starting to crack his knuckles, preparing himself to beat Goo with every ounce of bloodlust that he had. Goo was just standing there with his hands in his pockets with a smug look shown on his face, like he was inviting him to attack first. While struggling to get up as quickly as possible, you kept your eyes on both of them to make sure that they haven’t begun fighting each other. Finally, you were on your feet. Your legs were a little off-centered, but that’s fine. At least you were ready to stop them from continuing on with their little showdown. Gun stretched his dominant arm outwards from behind him, as he taunted Goo. “Are you ready to get fucked?” Goo gave a snarky chuckle as he replied back to Gun saying, “That sounds very dirty, Gun. Have you no shame at all? Saying such things right in front of (Y/N) like that.” Gun gave a scornful laugh, almost amused by Goo’s endless jokes till the end. “Even when you’re about to get beaten shitless, you’re still joking. You better not regret your actions now…” As Gun pulled out his fist ready to strike Goo, you abruptly appeared right next to him as you grabbed onto Gun’s muscular arm from behind while yelling out, “NOOO!!!” The both of them were taken by surprise, watching you hold onto Gun’s arm as tightly as you could. Gun’s threatening gaze met with your desperate eyes as you tried to tug his arm away from Goo. “(Y/N), let go of me. I need to beat this guy’s ass for a change…” You shook your head in a disobediant way while saying, “Don’t, please! He didn’t do anything wrong! It was just a prank! I just reacted naturally by screaming! It’s not even that serious…” Gun’s face softened as he slowly brought his arm down. He turned around to face you, asking directly, “Is that true?” Without hesitation, you nodded your head right away. Gun looked at you with a stern expression, checking to see if you were telling the truth. You seemed to be alright with it, so he decided to let the situation go. On the other hand, Goo was a bit surprised to see Gun pacified just by your words. This only fueled his mischievous side even more, seeing that you had Gun somewhat under your spell. It’s just that you didn’t even realize it.

Without hesitation, Gun started walking back inside the house saying, “We don’t want to be late to the party, so let’s go.” Goo’s face transitioned to an agitated expression before chasing after Gun while shouting, “Hey, wait for me! I was the one who said to go in the first place!!!” When the two of them made it inside, you exerted a great big sigh of relief from managing to stop them from fighting.

Whew, what a relief. I don’t know what would have happened if I didn’t jump in there to stop them. They could have seriously injured each other or WORSE… they could have beaten each other to death.

Picturing them inflicting pain and immense violence onto each other made you tremble at the spot. You weren’t going to let that thought concern you any further, as you realized that you needed to see them off. Speedily, you entered the house before closing the sliding door behind you. Eventually, you caught up to them at the front of the door about to head out. Goo was still butt-hurt that he hasn’t received an apology from Gun for overreacting to what happened at the backyard. “Gun, I deserve a proper apology. You just punched me without even talking it out! Like come on man, that’s not what bros do!” Gun was at the verge of strangling Goo by the neck but he was keeping his cool together, just because he’s aware that you’re still there with them. While ignoring Goo, he made his way towards you then stopped right in front of you. His eyes looked down into yours saying in his usual informative tone, “I’ll be leaving now. I won’t be there for too long. Only a few hours. While I’m out, remember my rules. The food for today’s lunch is in the fridge so just get it and and heat it up. And if there’s an emergency, call or text me if you need anything.” You gave an affirmative nod, letting him know that you got every last bit of his instruction. “Oh, and one more thing…” He leaned in closer to you then whispered, “There’s something in your room that’s worth checking.” After whispering those words to you, he turned around instantly leaving you in such a confused state.

What did he mean by that?

From behind, you followed Gun and Goo out the door like a mother seeing her own children out. While watching them walk out the door, you waved at them with a bright smile, giving your upbeat goodbyes. “Bye! I hope you guys, um… have fun!” Gun turned his head around to give you one last glance as he jeered, muttering to himself, “Who does she think we are, five?” Goo gave you a wave back as he yelled out loud, “Bye (Y/N), I hope your butt is okay!” From hearing Goo’s goodbye, Gun shot Goo a nasty glare as he asked in a threatening way, “What the hell did you mean by that?” Goo snickered at Gun’s dangerous tone, as he told him, “Now you’re just thinking wrong. I didn’t do anything to her butt, so you don’t have to worry about it. And if you keep scowling like that, you’ll get wrinkles at such a young age, Gun. You’re already blessed with an attractive face, so don’t ruin it along with your body.” That’s it. Gun decided to ignore Goo for the whole entire time that they’re together since he cannot stand him without having a huge urge to hit him. As the two of them got in the car, you still stood there, waving them goodbye. When the car finally left the driveway and was out of sight, you then closed the door behind you.

Now that they’re gone, I might as well see what he was talking about.

Your feet headed straight for the stairs since you decided to go to your room to see what Gun was referring to. Right when you made it to your room, your eyes couldn’t believe what you were seeing on your bed.

Wha- … What the hell is all this for?!

On your bed were loads of shopping bags that belonged to expensive clothing brands. On the biggest bag, was a sticky note that caught your attention. You removed it from the front of the bag as you read it to yourself:

“Get ready, and dress up in these. It’s not definite that I might be back sooner than I expect, so anticipate my return to be in the next five hours. I even got you makeup and other beauty products, so be grateful and use it wisely. Don’t make yourself look like a clown. I’ll pick you up right when I come back.”

While reading his note, your heart started to beat heavily through your chest, conflicted on what to even think or say about all of this.

What the hell? Why did he give all of these to me? There’s way too much stuff! Like, how can I even accept all of these?! I don’t even know how to use makeup, and he expects me NOT to look like a clown?! Ha, please! I’m starting to think that this man is trying to get all of my money. But wait a minute. So all of those bags he was carrying last week… were they mostly for me? How the hell will I even pay him back now, if he keeps gifting me stuff?! UGH, HE’S SUCH A PAIN!!!

You crumpled the note in your hand, squeezing it out of frustration. A tactical grin formed on your lips, laughing at the challenge that he had just dumped on you. “Fine. If you want to be like that, then you better expect that I’ll be paying you back fully, Jong Gun Park.” Eventually, you’ve rummaged through every bag that you had. Among the bags, you found a long silk black bustier evening dress with a backless hole that goes all the way down to your waist from behind while the back of your dress was only held together by one small strap centered on the back, like a bralette. The dress was held up and connected from the back of your neck by a long black fabric that was meant to be draped down, along both sides of your shoulders from the front. The front of the dress displays how strapless it was, with its top half designed to have horizontal silk folds sewn together. On your left breast was a small gold Chanel symbol pinned on there, which shows off its luxuriousness. However, the bottom half displayed to be tight, as the purpose for its style was to show off your curves until it smoothed out to a finishing drapery, flowing loosely at the bottom near your feet. Altogether, it was a beautiful vintage dress, which was a rare dress of its kind. The dress was bought from Chanel, coming from the tag that you saw on it. Behind the tag, you took a peek at what the price of the dress was and… Oh Lord. That’s a lot of zeros. Frozen from shock, you shook your head to snap yourself out of the discouraging thoughts that could lower your self esteem of ever paying him back. Overall, you thought the dress was WAY too revealing, and it made you uncomfortable to even wear such a thing in public. In a way, this made you question what Gun was really thinking, buying you a dress like this. However, knowing him, he’ll still make you wear it since he was the one who paid for it in the first place. You moved onto different accessories from the bags as you took out a box from a second bag.

Oh my god. Don’t tell me…

And indeed, it was. When you saw a shoe box that displayed in bold letters, “SAINT LAURENT”, you opened it to see a pair of leather black and gold colored stilettos. Each shoe had a gold heel that was about four inches tall. The heels were intricately designed with it’s signature “YSL” symbol at the bottom, marking its brand. And above each shoe, were two thin leather straps. One that wrapped around a leg right above your ankle, and the other strap located at the base of your feet, right behind the start of your toes. While observing one shoe in your hand, you looked at it dumbstruck due to the first impression of what these heels gave you. You still couldn’t believe that you were holding such expensive shoes, that could possibly be worth your whole apartment rent back home in Japan. Once you decided to put them to the side, you went through the rest of the things that Gun had given. While checking the rest of the bags, you found a black leather Chanel handbag with a gold chain as its strap and its gold symbol displayed on its front. With the bag inside of it, was a pair of gold Chanel earrings that had the Chanel symbol dangling from small gold chains and a gold necklace that had a pendant of the actual word of “Chanel” hanging from a thin stringed chain. Another shopping bag had loads of makeup products that came from popular brands, including brushes, makeup palettes, liquid eye makeup, and spray bottles of liquids for whatever purpose.

God, he got me the WHOLE SET. What even is this? “Primer”? “Foundation”? The only thing I know from here is lipstick. What the hell do each of these even do for my face? And- oh god…

You reached deeper into the bag full of makeup until you felt a long thin box. Once your hand grabbed onto it, you pulled it out of the bag to reveal a flat iron, for styling hair.

Wow… just, wow. You REALLY outdid yourself this time, Gun Park. Geez, I still can’t believe this. What is his motive for buying me these things? And what did I do to deserve all of this? He’s being awfully nice all of a sudden. I can’t figure this man out.

You had no choice, but to get yourself ready for whatever plans he had for you later. Over the span of those five hours, you decided to bring everything that Gun had bought for you, as you locked yourself in your bathroom to fix yourself up. After taking a shower, you decided to do your makeup. You didn’t know where to even start, so you decided to go on NewTube to search for a makeup tutorial fit for the event of the evening. With all the makeup products that you had and your flat iron, you tried your best to follow whatever the makeup artist was doing on your phone screen. With a dab of foundation, blending of colors and sparkling palettes on your face, and the application of fake eyelashes with other eye makeup, you managed to somehow pull it off. The only thing that was delaying your makeup application was the eyelash curler, which scared you a bit. That contraption hurt at first since you accidentally shut it on your eyelid, making you flinch. It hurt a bit, but that wasn’t going to stop you from finishing what you just started. Once your look was almost finished, you took a short break by exhaling deeply from how tiring that was. It wasn’t as perfect as the makeup artist who did it in that makeup tutorial, but it was decent enough to pass. The way you did your makeup was a natural look, with shades of light coral and pink. With the finishing touches of those fake natural lashes, mascara, wine colored lipstick, blush, and highlighter, you finally sprayed your face with a liquid bottle that said “Setting Spray”. And with that, your face was transformed into a You that you could barely even recognize.

Wow, so this is what Jugyeong Lim felt when she did her makeup in True Beauty. It really does change your appearance into a different person, despite how heavy my face feels right now from how caked it is. Aw man, what time is it? I forgot to check the time!

When you checked the time on your phone, it was barely a minute till three in the afternoon. Luckily, your hair was already dry and you still had time to fix it up.

Alright! Makeup, done. Now hair…

You had to search for another tutorial on how to use the flat iron. You didn’t want to curl your hair, so you decided to just stick to the basics and use it for straightening your hair. From the tutorial that you watched, you had to plug it into the electric wall socket and leave your flat iron there for about ten minutes for it to heat. During that time, you decided to walk out of the bathroom real quick to get a few hair ties, your brush, and your comb. When you’ve returned, it was time to begin with the straightening. You followed the tutorial by spraying your hair with a heat protectant, which will help prevent heat damage to your hair. Next, by taking a piece of your hair from the rest, you tied a bunch of parts of your hair into small sections to easily separate each part for styling. This technique really did work, as it helps you know which part had already been ironed. Starting from the bottom sections, you clamped the heating iron down a piece of your hair close to your scalp, as you slowly glided it down to the tip of your hair which resulted in a silky yet smooth part of hair. You continued to do this for about forty-five minutes, until you’ve gotten every piece done. Once you’ve finished ironing your hair, you got a serum bottle of Argan Hair Oil, taking a bit of it into your hand and applying it from the tips of your hair while working your way up towards your scalp. The purpose for this, as stated by the NewTuber in the tutorial, was another serum that protects your hair while also making it look shiny and smooth. After putting on the oil, you combed your hair by parting your hair through the middle, then smoothed it out to finalize your entire look. With your makeup and hair done, you’re finally ready to dress into the clothing that Gun got for you. You managed to put on the jewelry, the shoes, and the bag on, but it was just the dress that you had trouble with. You couldn’t really pull on it yourself since you had shorter arms than you thought you would, which made you groan in frustration from the struggles of putting on this dress.

Dammit! I can’t reach it! Ah geez, I need to hurry up! Quickly, before he-

A notification dinged from your phone, as it said that you got a text message from “Yuzuru”. When you checked to see what it said, it read:

“I’m on my way home and will be there in 5 min. Be ready when I get there.”

No, no, no, no, no, no!!! I’m not ready yet! Urgh- curse this stupid dress! Why do I have to wear this thing in the first place?! This dress should have a zipper on the side instead, or something easier to pull on!

You sent him a thumbs up emoji, while you start to panic in the bathroom. Many thoughts were going off in your head, as you asked yourself if you should just go out with the strap detached or just say that you couldn’t go by pretending to be sick. You couldn’t even put anything over your dress since you didn’t have any sweaters or coats that would go with your outfit. This was an important decision to make and you’re running out of time.

All of a sudden, while still struggling to put on your dress properly, you heard the loud beep from the front door opening outside as Gun called you from downstairs. “(Y/N), I’m back! Let’s go!” When you heard his voice, you left the bathroom and opened the bedroom door as you shouted, “Just one moment!” before continuing to attempt to connect the strap once more. Gun waited for you downstairs for five additional minutes, until he decided to head upstairs to see what’s been taking you so long. When he made it in front of your door, he gave it a few knocks as he yelled from behind it. “(Y/N)! What the hell is taking you so long to get ready?! You better open the door, or else I’m coming in the-” He didn’t expect you to open the door so suddenly, as you only gave it a slight crack open. He could only see a part of your face from behind the door when you whispered to him, “P-please, give me a few more minutes. I’ll be done by then.” When you were about to close the door on his face, Gun grabbed onto the door knob to stop you from closing the door on him as he said in a sinister tone, “Move.” Scared from his demanding tone, you backed away from the door, allowing him to enter the room.

The gaze of Jong Gun Park made you feel weak as he stared down at you with such a serious expression. His eyes scanned your entire body. Starting from your head, down to your dress, and eventually to your shoes. Every inch and every detail that he took of you was interpreted as absolutely perfect. He still couldn’t believe how gorgeous you were in his eyes. Such elegance, with a hint of sexiness. You’re a woman so breath-taking, that he had to control himself from pinning you onto the bed behind you for him to do such irresistible things to you. Gun still finds it rare to see you dressed in rich clothing such as this, and to see your face and hair done just because of him. However, regardless if you did your makeup or dressed up more properly today, you were still beautiful to him even if you didn’t try to improve your appearance. He thought that now wasn’t the appropriate time to think about such thoughts, which made him focus back on what the issue was at hand. “You look fine to me, so what’s the problem?” You averted your eyes from him, looking off to the side with a light flush of scarlet beginning to display itself onto your cheeks, making them even more rosier than usual. “I-it’s… the strap.” Gun was puzzled at first, asking, “What strap?” You started to fiddle with your fingertips nervously, saying in a soft whisper, “The strap… on my back… c-can you… help… me?” It took a second for Gun to figure out what you were talking about until he snickered before commanding you to “Turn around.” for him. Obediently, you did as you were told, as you slowly yet bashfully, turned around for him to face yourself towards the direction of your bed. Gun swept your hair gently off to the side of your left shoulder. His eyes started to trail down your exposed back, as he stared at your clear skin. The last time he laid eyes on your back was that one time when he did you on the couch. It was tempting to reminisce those memories, while he fumbled with your back strap from behind. While he was trying to attach one side of the strap to the other, you couldn’t help but blush madly at what was currently going on.

Is this real? Am I dreaming? Geez, this is so embarrassing! I can’t believe that I had to ask him for help just for him to do this. Ugh, when did it suddenly get hot all of a sudden? And what is even happening right now???

At that moment, it was like your vision was seeing swirls. You could feel your body starting to heat up from how close Gun was to you. Was it his body heat affecting you? You couldn’t tell. You could even feel your heartbeat booming deep inside your chest. That deep “lub dub” tune was all you heard through your ears, from how tense you felt. Once you felt his hands finally release the strap on your back, you assumed that he was done attaching the strap onto your dress. You turned your head around to thank him with gratitude saying, “Thanks Gun, I don’t know what I’d do without-” However, when you turned your head around, you stopped midway as his face was already in front of you, due to him leaning in close to you from behind. With a concerned demeanor on your face, you asked, “Gun? Is there something wrong?” All of a sudden, you felt Gun’s hand graze down your exposed back softly, earning a soft gasp from you. The touch from his hand was like a feather running lightly onto your skin, making you tingle. His hand continued to slide down your spine, as it made its way down to your hip, and then onto your ass. You felt his other hand hold onto your other hip, as he started to rub your ass with his busy hand in such a sensual way. The friction of the cloth rubbing against your ass from the movement of his hand was enough to cause you to emit a few moans from your mouth, in which you immediately had to cover your mouth to hide them. While he was doing this to you, you glanced at his eyes, and you could have sworn that his eyes were now filled with pure lust. With a breathy whisper, he said into your ear, “You’re a real temptress, (Y/N). Tempting me like this, knowing that you’re too irresistible to do this to. You’re really wearing this dress that I picked out for you, just for me, right? I know that you could’ve refused this in the first place, yet you decided to wear this in front of me. How bold of you…”

From Gun’s sultry talk, you already know that the evening that’s ahead of you, will just have to wait. There’s no chance that the grasp that he had on you would soon release, now making you regret ever asking him for help.

Oh god, what have I done?

[End of Ch. IX]

[alostlovergirl]

Come Back to Me: Tony Stark x Reader

Summary: You will come back to him.

Warnings: Abusive husband, violence, stalking, trauma, PTSD, Implied Non-con, Greed, Insults, degradation, Asshole Tony

There will be a part 2 to this.. Enjoy the story, loves.

‘Buzz Buzz’, my phone illuminates the room, my eyes shooting open. Tony’s snoring calms my shaking hands as I reach for my phone. I tilt it to the side, unlocking it with my thumb print. Tonight was the night. I was going to escape from this horrid relationship. I thought that being in love with, dating the billionaire, Tony Stark, would be lovely. He was so nice, charming, handsome and rich. I thought that I would never have to worry about money, or having someone that would spoil me with gifts after the hard life I have had. 

I’ve been in foster care all my life after a car crash took my mother’s life. Separated from my sister, placed in an abusive foster home with parents who put on a fake smile and alone, I was forced to work and clean at a young age. I have been working hard all my life to make enough money to get the things I wanted in life, but it wasn’t enough. I was poor, living in a horrible situation and was struggling to find a home to live when I met Tony. He helped, giving me money to get a down payment on a small apartment and even helped me get a better job opportunity. 

We started out as friends, then he wiggled his way into my life, making me fall hard for him. I was so in love that I married him quick, in a 2 years and became Mrs. Stark. The relationship was amazing at first, but then he started to get controlling. He started to want to know where my money was going, made me get fired from my job because he kept calling me, he stopped pleasuring me and started using my body for his own pleasure. I thought that maybe we needed counseling, so that’s what happened. 

We went to counseling to try to make our marriage work out. Everything got better and stayed like that for a few months, but when it got bad again, it came in full force. He started to beat me. Everything I did was wrong at that point. I couldn’t even greet him at the door anymore because he was always angry or just frustrated. Our relationship started to get worse and worse, therapy stopped working. So, I am done. I am done with this relationship. I tried to leave multiple times, but he won’t sign the divorce papers. He makes it seem like he is a perfect husband, hurting me, but never leaving bruises on places where people can see them, so I couldn’t get a protection order from him. So, I have decided to sneak away from him. 

I look at the message on my phone from my friend, Ethan. “I’m here. Hurry up”, I nod to myself, deleting the text message. I squirm out of Tony’s arms, carefully maneuvering myself out. I roll on the ground, letting out a quiet groan. I quietly make my escape from the big, echoey room. Once I was out of there, I ran towards the living room. I let out a sigh, sniffling as tears ran down my face. I take off my wedding ring, putting it on the kitchen counter.

“Mrs. Stark? What are you doing?” F.R.I.D.A.Y spoke in quiet mode. Tony put the A.I on the mode, so it didn’t wake anyone up in the house. Quiet mode was literally the A.I whispering. Even with the A.I. whispering, it still scared the hell out of me. “You should be in bed..” 

I ignore it and go in the elevator, hoping that the computer won’t alarm the billionaire. I sit against the wall, sliding down it, whimpering softly. ‘Why couldn’t it work? I thought it was gonna go so well.. Why did he have to ruin the love?’My mind was racing as the elevator got closer and closer to the garage. Tears continue to floor down my face as I desperately try to wipe them away. The elevator comes to the halting stop and I get out of the elevator, shaking. I walk to my old car, picking up my car keys off Tony’s work desk. I get in my car and leave, never looking back. 

3 years later

It’s been a long 3 years. I have struggled and still am struggling, but I rather struggle than have to rely on Tony’s money every again. I got divorced from him by showing pictures in court that he didn’t show up for and was allowed to divorce him with his signature. Ethan helped me as much as he could with getting a home and he keeps supporting me by getting me groceries, supplies and money whenever he can. 

Once again, I rather be doing this than ever going back to Tony. Last time I heard about him, he has won an award for one of his inventions and the abusive marriage has been swept under the rug. He didn’t even say that we were divorced, just that we have taken a break. I am in therapy for all the trauma he has caused me and I can’t even watch any of his interviews cause I go into an immediate panic attack, so I have cut everything out of my life. Inventions, paintings that he has given me, anything he has given me has been broken or thrown in the trash, including my phone.

But, even though I am away from him, I cannot stop thinking about him. It feels like I see him everywhere even if I cut him out completely. His billboards are everywhere. His inventions are everywhere, taunting me. ‘Come back to me.. You know you miss me’, his voice is constantly playing in the back of my mind. I talked about it with my therapist, but my therapist doesn’t know how to handle it. She put me on anti-psychotics, but it isn’t helping. The voice got louder and louder everyday, so much so that Ethan has started worrying about me. 

“Y/N…Y/N?” He snaps his fingers in front of my spaced out face, snapping me out of my trance. All I saw was a cup that looked like his and I spaced out, going deep into the back of my mind. “You okay, darling?” I nod my head, shaking myself out of it. I grab his hands and smile, breathing deeply.

“I am alright.. Just a little worried..” 

“You have been away from him for 2 years, dear. You don’t need to worry anymore. He isn’t going to get you anymore. He seems to be more focused on his own life, instead of getting you back.” Ethan lets out a soft sigh, rubbing his thumb over my knuckles in comfort. He gives my hand a comforting squeeze. “And if he does, I am going to protect you no matter what” 

That warms my heart. Ethan has always been a sweet friend, helping me in any way he could and giving me anything I need. He put himself in danger by picking me up that night when I ran away from Tony. “Okay.. let’s enjoy our lunch.” I say as the sun beamed down on our untouched food in the sunlight cafe. Ethan nods, letting go of my hands.

When I get back to my small apartment, I collapsed on my bed.  My mind was racing, thinking about the events over the last 2 years. My head was hurting as I curled up in my cotton comforter. I need to stop thinking about him. I am over him and he is over me. I crawl under my blankets, kicking off my jeans, laying down and going to sleep. My eyes closed easily as the exhaustion was taking over my entire body. Soon enough, my room was filled with snores and sounds of movement.

Tony’s POV

I don’t understand why she thought she could get away from me. I am always going to find her no matter where she went. As soon as she went to sleep, I crept out of my hiding place in the closet and walked towards her small bed.  

“Oh my poor baby.. Don’t you miss the luxury life.. You sleeping in this small bed, in this run down apartment…” I run my fingers along the curves of her perfect body. The pads of my fingers touching all the little bits that I have missed so dearly. Oh how every curve fits my touch. I gently squeeze her plush thighs, humming in delight at the slight weight gain. It just gives me more things to grab on her body. 

Now, how should I punish her? Punish her sweet little ass for running away from me. Forcing a divorce and getting an order of protection from me. Maybe I should steal her away and isolate her? Or maybe I should ruin her whole fucking life. 

Either way, she will come back to me. I’ll make my decision sooner or later. 

[continuous-spec]

ME Fic: Bait - Released (4/5)

Summary: Garrus escorts Vlyrica to her apartment and is met with old friends.

Link: Ao3

Length: 1661

Afterlife's dancing purple and red lights grew dimmer with the industrial dust. Garrus nodded back to the bouncer, who let him in with ease. 

He asked around until he located the dancer, who ushered him back to the break room. Vlyrica sat curled up in a blanket, glasses of water surrounding her. An omni-tool illuminated her as she scribbled and jabbed at it. 

Garrus waved his omni tool at the dancer, the rest of his weekly credits, but worth it. Vlyrica’s bright white smile flashed as she spotted him. 

“Caeus!” She sang out in surprise at his return. She tilted her screen away and closed out her omni-tool. 

“Is she okay? The human, I mean.” 

“She will be. Let’s get you home,” Garrus offered his hand and quickly helped her up. She stumbled as she walked but appeared more sober. Still, she clung to his side, eyes darting around the club, waiting for another attack. 

Her apartment was only a few blocks from the club but not worth the risk of a walk. He had enough of strolling Omega tonight— enough for a lifetime. 

Garrus parked the skycar and turned to Vlyrica, whose eyes still darted, watching every movement around them. 

“Do you need help walking to your room?” 

“Actually, I was hoping you would come up with me and stay for a bit.” 

Garrus' face sunk in surprise. It had only been a few hours since she had slurred out her desire to go somewhere private with him. 

“Listen, Vlyrica, you are nice-”

Vlyrica chuckled and stuck her arms up in mock defense. “Not like that. I saw how you looked at her. I know you’re taken.” 

Garrus shifted uncomfortably and opened his omni-tool as a distraction. He was still waiting for Shepard when she was ready. Her last message hung on the screen, bolded print, and sent in a panic. 

Hurry.  

Vlyrica touched his forearm gently, bringing him back towards her.  

“I know what you did wasn’t cheap, and I really do appreciate it.” 

“Money isn’t an issue for me. I can shake my ass at Afterlife if I need it.”

“I’ve seen you dance. That’s an overstatement. Besides, this isn’t money. It’s a gift, please?” Her eyes pleaded at him. 

“Since you asked so nicely,” Garrus sighed and closed his omni-tool. He could wait.

“See convincing.” 

***

Garrus entered her cramped studio and met walls covered in canvas. An organized mess of paintings, from half-finished pieces to works of art meant for a galley. Hundreds of people lined her walls. Each person shone with bright colors with the dulled background of Omega. Frozen in mundane activities of daily life but very much alive. 

Her hands clamped together. “Okay, so payment, I wanted to paint you.”

“Were you not going to do that already?”

“Yeah, but I’ll finish this one with the threat of being in your debt.” She gestured to the wall of unfinished works.  “Besides, it’s different when the subject sits for you versus memory.” 

“Subject?”

“Model if you prefer.”

“Model does have a nice ring to it.” Garrus jokingly posed his scars towards her. “How long is this going to take?”

Vlyrica stifled a giggle. “Just give me an hour to get the base down. Look, I already had a few ideas.”

She brought up her datapad. Sketches of Garrus’ portraits littered the page, bringing out his scars' orange and red hues, clashing with the blue of his tattoo. He looked regal. 

“You did this in an hour? Drunk?”

“I sober up quickly. Besides just a rough sketch, the omni-tool function is convenient for getting ideas down. But the oil...” Vlyrica turned to her pieces, beaming with pride. “That’s where I come alive.”

Vlyrica set up pink hues to mock the lights of Afterlife. A mangled old easel balanced her paints and canvas.  She silently scribbled away, her head poking out of the canvas every so often. It's not exactly where Garrus envisioned his night going, but it's better than being under gunfire.

Garrus sat impatiently, facing the wall of her completed section, waiting for a message, notification, or anything from Shepard. Still, his omni-tool remained blank. Her location was still active, showing that she was on the Normandy, which gave him some relief. 

Garrus scanned the wall to distract his mind. The chaos of canvas ranged from only a few centimeters to a meter. Each portrait encapsulated its own story.

A young batarian mother in bright pink collaring her children. A female turian with light blue tattoos draped over an asari, laughing. A male quarian wrapped in green tinkering in his shop. Garrus continued to scan, trying to take in all the different lives that inhabited Omega. 

Garrus stopped on a smaller canvas. In the middle of the chaos, a brightly colored orange salarian shined. There sat Sensat in hodge podge blue armor, eating in Omega’s seedy food market— Alive. 

Sensat’s arm remained attached to his body, not sprawled and mangled from the attack. His face contently smiling. No empty stare or mouth hung agape, exactly how Garrus wanted to remember him. 

Garrus sprung from the chair and took the small painting from the wall, studying the image closer. He scanned her walls in depth,  searching for the rest of his men. 

“Hey, I’m not—” Vlyrica paused in confusion as Garrus almost cradled the portrait.

“Are you okay?” Vlyrica stepped from the easel, placing a hand on his shoulder in comfort.

“When did you paint this?” Garrus asked in more of a demanding tone than a question. 

“About two or three orbits back,” Vlyrica studied the portrait closer.  “Oh, I remember him! I used to see him all the time at the markets, always eating. He seemed sweet.”

“Can I take this one as payment? I don’t need one of me, I..just, he was a friend.” His voice hitched, hands protective and holding tightly to the painting. 

“Was?”

Garrus turned away quietly with his scars facing Vlyrica. Her face dropped at the realization. 

“Oh, I see, what was his name? Tell me about him.”

“He was…” Garrus paused, trying to sum up a whole being in just a few words. 

“Sensat was always quiet but thoughtful in his actions, always thinking of others despite himself. Hard worker.” 

Garrus examined the painting more. Sensat’s uptick smile formed from one brush stroke. His black eyes reflected the blue neon lights of the vendor's sign. 

“Like clockwork, he always hit up this shop for lunch. I’m sure he’s kept them in business. He’d bring back food every day to make sure we were all fed.”

We. 

Archangel was a very well-known name on Omega. Garrus slightly panicked as he told her we. He did his best to hide the exact nature of their work to protect himself, but the words kept spilling out. Soon, he talked about Weaver, then Ripper, until he went on about his whole crew. 

Vlyrica just sat patiently and listened, eyes wide in astonishment. 

“Well, I’m glad to see you are more talkative.” 

Garrus chuckled. He felt lighter with each description of his men, talking about them as if they were in the room with him. 

Mid-sentence, while retelling a story about a poker fight between Montague and Vortash, Garrus stopped himself with an idea. He began frantically searching his omni-tool of long-ago memories.  

“You know about what you said?  Wanting to capture the hard working people of Omega? I’m not one of them. This isn’t my home.” 

Garrus pulled up old photos, each with his men smiling, bright. Alive. 

“But it was to them. They deserved to be remembered like this,” Garrus gestured to her artwork. “If…if you could do that for me, I would be in your debt.” 

Without a second thought, Vlyrica agreed and asked for the photos. 

Garrus sent the files through an encrypted email. There was trust, but she didn’t need to link his name to Archangel if she were to figure it out.  She didn’t need to know his real name. Caeus worked just fine. 

“Give me some time. I think my move is gonna happen sooner than I thought. I’ve heard Cipritine is beautiful this time of year.”

“The best,” Garrus’ smile grew wide, flashing his fangs. 

“Okay, so before you go, I still have more questions, if you don’t mind?”

Garrus moved with nervous energy, already overexposed himself too much. 

“Sure,” was all he could muster at her insistence. 

“So, are you gonna tell me about your heart's desire like I asked before? I can guess.” She wiggled her brows, pink markings jumping at him. 

“Spirits, Vlyrica…”

“What? I’m still quite curious about what you and that human were up to.”

“Sting operation and that’s all I’m going to say.” His words were curt as he tried not to let her pry too much more.

“Oh, so she’s your partner then? Some type of guards for Aria?” 

“Something like that.”

“Are you in love with her?” Her words tumbled out innocently enough. But they shot through him. He clamped his mandibles to his side, turning his head away from her.

“It’s…it’s not like that. She’s, well, she’s my last friend in the whole galaxy.”

“Well, I like to think we’re friends now,” Vlyrica gestured between them. “But I’m pretty sure it’s more than that between you two. I saw how she watched you, too.” 

Garrus laughed, surprised she had noticed even in her drunk state. “Yeah, it’s—“

“Complicated?” She said with a grin. 

“I’m hoping it won’t be soon.” 

“Well, I hope for you too. She would be very lucky.” Her same bright smile flashed again, assuring Garrus things might just work out for once. 

Vlyrica hugged Garrus and placed a reassuring pat on his back as she ushered him out the door. 

The dust still fogged most of Omega. Eternal night hung in the air. But he felt hopeful. 

Garrus pulled up his omni-tool, messages still empty. He would just have to give Shepard more time.

[rainpudding]

CATCHING AYATO AND LUMINE CHEATING pt.3

masterlist  

AYATO

You weren't naive, you knew this would happen eventually. You guess that you just hoped he would be at least able to hide it well, so it wouldn't cause you as much pain.Every time Ayato left "for work" it left a scar on your heart. Every time he came back with messy hair and clothes saying "he was hurrying back home" it felt like needles stabbed through your heart.

Having forced marriage is never easy for both sides, when your father pushed you towards Ayato who wore a bored expression and a ring on his hand, you knew he didn't feel a bit of love for you. You knew he would find a secret lover eventually.

"Love, today is another work meeting, I'm afraid I will have to leave you here," he spoke, he didn't even waste a second to look at you or at least give you a small smile. "Again? Seems like you have been very busy lately," you say innocently with a smirk, you don't even turn to him to see him, you're just standing in the garden carrying the beautiful flowers with your soft hands.    

     You could feel how your statement made him swell in anger but he took a deep breath," I truly I'm, well seems like it's time to go," he put a coat over himself closing the door behind him with a loud bang. You waited a few seconds before figuring it was time to go. At first, you wanted to confront Ayato, and tell him how much his constant cheating on you hurt. Then you thought about running away. But when you saw Yae, as she was introducing her newly printed novels you got a new idea.

"Thoma, do you have the camera ready?" You asked as two maidens helped you get into a warm coat. "Of course sir/my lady," he bowed a little handing you a camera.    You thanked him as you walked out of your home, following in Ayato's tracks you stopped by a much smaller house. Walking around you found a window to the bedroom that wasn't covered by curtains. You snapped a few pictures, later with much elegance leaving.    

   "Oh good evening Y/n, what can I do for you," Yae laughed, her hand covering her mouth. "Would it be possible to print these with the new newspaper edition?" you laid some of the photos on a wooden table. Yae smiled devilishly taking it and watching it with great interest," I see," she muttered.    "Akido, print these photos in the newest Monday newspapers," she handed him the photos, Akido quickly covered his eyes "with censor or not?" At first, you wanted to say with, but you realized that the more Ayato's reputation is ruined the better. "Without will do just fine," you spoke thanking Yae.

The next day you Ayato and Ayaka sat at the table, enjoying the breakfast when Thoma suddenly entered. "Lady/sir Y/n, lady Ayaka, Sir Ayato," he bowed," the daily newspaper is here." When you saw Thoma's red face and Ayato's naive smile you nearly couldn't hold your laugh. Ayato took the newspaper listing through it before stopping on one particular page, his face went red as he gripped the paper strongly. 

"Something wrong darling?" You spoke with the most innocent voice you could put on. "Oh nothing just the vision Hunt decree," he smiled at you as he put the newspaper down, his hands shaking. The humiliation on his face will be now forever imprinted in your brain, and you don't even mind.

LUMINE

When Aether got corrupted and became the abyss prince, there was only one thing that kept you alive. That was a small hope that one day you will see Lumine again.       

 When Aether degraded you, and when he gave you punishments for tasks that you were unable to finish, you still smiled even how much you hated him. Even if tears stained your pretty cheeks. You still smiled, because you knew one day you will see your dear Lumine again and you will be free from this hell.

You didn't understand what did you do so wrong that now you saw a different face cling to Lumine. Were you not enough? Did Lumine never love you? Were you so delusional to think that Lumine would not find another s/o after years of you missing? 

          That day all your hope died in you, and when Aether stabbed Lumine and her new s/o you didn't even feel sad or guilty. You just gladly took Aether's hand and disappeared in the purplish fog.

[detective-giggles]

Just a little Tarlos fic I’ve had in my drafts for a while. And look, I project my feelings onto my faves okay, and I am feeling very much like Carlos at the moment, so I thought this would be a good time to post. WC: 500 even 

___

“You’re late!”

 TK shuts the door and freezes, his hand still on the lock. “I told you I would be.” He turns slowly and spies Carlos sitting on the couch, his knees up to his chest and TK’s throw blanket draped over his lap.

 “I know, but…” Carlos holds up an envelope, unopened, and gives TK a look. “It came.”

 “It? Wait, they don’t email those things to you?” TK toes off his shoes and hurries over, choosing to do a little hop over the arm of the couch instead of walking around.

 “Nah. APD likes their paper trail.” 

 “You didn’t open it yet?” 

 Carlos shrugs. “I couldn’t…  If I passed-”

 “You did!” TK insists.

 “If I passed,” Carlos starts again, “it would have been because of you. I want to share that with you.”

 TK’s face softens, “you did all the work, babe.”

 Carlos gives a bashful smile. He turns the envelope over in his hands but doesn’t attempt to tear into it.

 “And you’re gonna open it now?” TK prompts.

 “I… can’t. I’m too nervous.” 

 “Carlos…”

 Carlos looks at the envelope in his hands and sighs.  “I didn’t tell my dad. In case I blew it. I didn’t want him to be disappointed in me.”

 “Carlos, you’re an amazing police officer. You have nothing to prove to your father. Or anyone else.”

 “No, I know. It’s just…  I’ve spent my entire life feeling like I wasn’t enough. What if this letter is telling me I’m not?”

 TK shrugs. “What if it’s telling you the opposite?” TK gives Carlos’ knee a comforting squeeze. “Now, open it before I do.”

 Carlos holds the envelope in offering and TK snatches it out of his hands. Carlos winces as he not-so-carefully rips it open.  He watches expectantly as TK skims the document, simultaneously wishing TK would read it out loud and also hoping he wouldn’t.

 “97 on the written…” TK murmurs, “91 on the oral board.” He looks up, the pride evident in his eyes. “You passed.”

 “I- what rank am I? On the list?”

 “Doesn’t matter. You passed!”

 “It matters.” 

 TK rolls his eyes fondly and finishes skimming the print. “Fifth. Out of 62.” He adds quickly. “You’re in the top 10%! That’s amazing, Carlos. I’m proud of you.”

Carlos nods slowly. “I was really nervous in the oral boards, I should have done better.” 

 “It doesn’t matter. The field is where you’re tested. And as someone you’ve personally rescued, I can vouch for your field work. And I’m sure Miss Katie-Cat would too.”  TK stands and pulls the blanket off Carlos, discarding it onto the floor. “Come on, we’re gonna celebrate.”

 “Thank you for believing in me.” Carlos reaches for TK and pulls him onto his lap. “Even when I don’t believe in myself.”

 “Of course. Carlos, I want you to see yourself they way I see you. And you know how I’m picturing you right now?”

 “Without clothes?”

 “Without clothes,” TK confirms as he leans in for a kiss.

___

 Taglist: @chaotictarlos @itsjustmyfantasyroom anyone else: just ask :)

[unovasrage]

hugh can't help but think it'd be even better if cinge were here to greet rosa when she knocks -- his raspy, purr-laden mew whilst he wound himself 'round her ankles was something he enjoyed watching much as he's sure his cat enjoyed doing -- but alas, no pets allowed on university property. so when he opens the door / flashes her a grin silently with his phone to his ear, he figures it'll have to do. "hey," the word's mouthed, accompanied by a quick roll of his eyes -- he doesn't fault someone for doing their job, but damn if he didn't wish he wasn't finishing up a call when she arrived.

"yea, that's correct -- 'kay -- thanks man, have a good one."

quiet commentary is hurried while he's turned away, at last able to hang up & toss the device to the chair sitting in the living area of his apartment so he can look to his girlfriend properly.

"hey, for real." he's able to say it properly this time, steps forward to wrap an arm 'round her shoulders & press lips against her forehead. he doesn't release immediately, but instead allows himself a momentary lean into her / hope she's able to support more of his weight 'cause he just doesn't want to let go yet. between the mystifying scent of her shampoo & that which was only hers, he wishes he'd never have to let go.

... so when he does, he inhales deeply before he steps backward & looks down at her. "happy birthday, m'lady." he can't contain the sheepish grin that'd begun to creep over his face as soon as his grip around her shoulders began to slip. head jerks, lift of his eyebrows well-timed enough to be argued it's his way of pointing to something wrapped & sitting upon the table.

alright, if she were to call him just as excited for her to open her gift as she was, it wouldn't be wrong...

when she tears it open, inside she'll find a hardcover version of the return of the king; it's nothing new, something already in her collection...

there's adventure in her heart ( always has been ), and that's the very reason she enjoys those books / enjoys games like pokémon which allow one's imagination to join the main character/s as the journey progresses.

... but what makes this one special is found as soon as she turns it on its side, and finds the parchment-feathered pages dyed with color, unlike the plain, solid off-white which accompanies the print. along the length is a valley of rohan depicted, peaks of mordor beyond sight's edge of the landscape / the top edge is a sword, glowing, copied with elven script he's seen in google images of the one ring... she can't fault him for getting a bit creative, can she? he's imagining it in the hands of aragorn / the bottom is a rough, muddled image of an army which seems to march -- it is one which prepares to fight orcs, as he understands such happens in this book.

all images are watercolor & displayed to his imagination -- he's not read them, and the best he can claim to have done is skim wikipedia pages. small as they are, it had taken hours... and it was only completed over a span of months, as he'd needed to procure the proper equipment -- brushes and paints, not terribly difficult... a vise to hold the pages just so, however, had been a bit more challenging.

"... hope i did okay," there's smile in his voice despite the clear apprehension / anticipation of her expertise delivering its assessment. hugh creeps forward, butts of both crutches planted next to one another by her heels, which allows him to lean forward just enough to catch her expression...

[jellyfishbeansontoast]

sender guides receiver to sit down on a chair / bed / wall / etc

so that with peter parker like i can just see him upset about something but too overwhelmed to actually spit it out so you lead him to sit down, get him to talk, and calm him down until all is well again :)

this was really fun to write and i cant wait to write the rest of the fics, i hope i did it justice <3 word count: 1402

One less thing to worry about

Peter had told you about being Spider-Man only a couple of months ago. He hadn’t planned to but it was either that or lose you to a whole mess of miscommunication.

You sighed as the text pinged up on your phone. This was the fourth time Peter had cancelled on you this week, you were beginning to think rescheduling date night was a waste of time. What could possibly happen four nights in a row that would stop Peter from hanging out with you? You were sure if it was anything serious he would’ve told you, you hoped he would have anyway.

“Is everything okay?” your mum called from the kitchen. Sitting in the connected room your sigh was obviously louder than you thought.

“Peter’s cancelled.”

“Again, are you okay honey?” her voice was filled with sympathy.

“Fine.” You left the room, finding recluse in your bedroom. You stared at the text, insecurities filling your head. Maybe he’d met someone better, or just didn’t want to hang out with you. You couldn’t decide what was worse, at least if he’d found someone else it would be because he preferred them not just because your company was so awful.

You almost regretted phoning him once the beeping sound started, obviously he wouldn’t want to talk to you if he’d cancelled again. You were just about to hang up when the call connected.

“Y/N?” his voice was muffled out of breath. It made you want to scream and throw your phone across the room.

“Are you with someone else?” your voice cracked halfway through. Tears pricked at your eyes and your thumb hovered over the hang up button.

“What! No, why would you think that? Hold on. I’m on my way over.” After a hurried goodbye Peter ended the call. You sat on your bed anxiously waiting. Thousands of scenarios of what Peter could have been doing flooded your mind. Three taps on your window signalled his arrival. It was a code you’d come up with as kids, whenever you’d sneak out to go somewhere Peter would climb up the tree by your room and tap on your window three times to let you know it was safe to leave. You pulled open the window, just enough for him to climb through. You sat back on the bed watching him.

“Why’d you cancel?”

He drops his bag on the floor and crosses the room to be in front of you in a few short steps. “Y/N, I have to show you something, but I’d never be with anyone else I promise.” His eyes are full of worry, and you know he means what he says.

He steps back and begins taking off his top with a ridiculous chemistry pun printed on the front. If the situation hadn’t been the same you would’ve laughed at how dorky and cute he looked with a ‘the names bond, hydrogen bond’ joke in an obnoxiously large font. Underneath he was wearing the Spider-Man outfit you’d seen so many times although only in newspapers or on TV. You’d never had any suspicions on who it could be, and you definitely wouldn’t have suspected your sweet boyfriend, Peter Parker, to be the one saving the world.

“I wanted to tell you the second I found out but Mr. Stark said I couldn’t tell anyone, not even you, and I really don’t wanna let him down. But I love you and I promise I wasn’t seeing anyone else” his eyes scan your face searching for you to give him a sign that you’re okay and you forgive him, “I was just out being the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.” He’s sat down next to you by the time his mini speech ends. Now it’s your turn to be worried, your hands cup his face, stroking his cheeks comfortingly. “Please forgive me.”

“I couldn’t be mad at you if I tried.”

Ever since he’d told you you’d begun to notice small things that were nothing to anyone else but to you were hints to how stressful the second life he lived was.

There had been one morning where he hadn’t turned up for school, when you rang him it turned out he’d had a hell of a time trying to get to school. First he’d overslept after patrol the night before, then he’d got on the wrong bus which he only realised at the last stop because he’d been so tired he’d fallen asleep on it.

He’d also started slipping behind in school. It wasn’t that big of a deal when subjects like English started coming back with fails, he’d never liked them anyway, but when he failed a chem test you knew you had to do something.

“Peter.” You slid your lunch tray onto the table, sitting in your usual chair next to him, you were out of breath, having speed walked the fastest you could from your last lesson since Peter SOS texted you that he needed help. Ned and Mj hadn’t arrived yet, probably being held back in another class for talking. Your eyes found the chemistry paper on the table, a big bold F coloured on the front.

“Aunt May’s gonna be so disappointed.”

“Peter, won’t she understand if you tell her?”

“I can’t tell her Y/N, Tony already went beserk when I told you” you felt a twinge of guilt “but I told him you’re one of the most important people in my life and he can suck it” he added, seeing your face.

You raised your eyebrows skeptically.

“Well, something along the lines of that anyway.”

“Ok, so telling her’s off limits, why don’t I tutor you.”

He nodded slowly. You weren’t as good at chemistry as Peter but you were good enough to help him get his grade up to at least a pass.

“We can study at my house tonight.”

“Oh my god Peter have you seen the new Star Wars lego” Ned excitedly gushes over as he joins the table. The conversation quickly turns to Star Wars before the bell rings.

The rest of school dragged on slowly, even though it was to tutor him you were always happy just to be able to spend time with Peter. It wasn’t like you never saw him but he was also busy a lot with Spider-Man duties.

You’d set out your laptop and textbooks ready before he arrived, also making some food that would be ready by the time he arrived. Your window was already open as it was a warm day but he still alerted you with three knocks on the window frame.

“You know the door works just as well” you joked but you secretly loved him coming through the window, it was kinda cute how disheveled he looked after climbing up the tree and into your room.

“Yeah but then where would your entertainment be” he winked, ok maybe it wasn’t so secret after all.

Hitting him with the textbook you pulled him into your chair. “There’s some questions there, I just need to get the food out of the oven but I’ll be back in a minute.”

It didn’t even take you long to get the food but by the time you’d come back Peter was pacing the room, hands pulling at his hair. There are tears in his eyes and you’ve never seen him look so distraught.

“Peter?”

“I can’t do it Y/N”

“Peter” the sight almost makes you want to cry as well.

“I can’t do it, I’m going to fail and then I’m going to have to retake the year, making the record for the stupidest avenger ever.”

You join him in the middle of the room, your hands gripping onto his shoulders. His breathing’s laboured as he panics. “Peter, just look at me, okay?” You guide his face towards yours, holding on gently to his face. Grabbing his hand you lead him over to your bed, pulling him down with you to lie down. You run your hands through his hair, scratching his scalp soothingly.

“But Y/N we have to study-”

“Shh Peter you can’t study like this, we can work later, besides you’re literally a genius it’s just because you’re so tired.” His eyes begin to shut as you rub your thumb in circles on his cheek. “Also ant-man’s probably the stupidest avenger” you mumble when you’re sure he can’t hear you.

[hiccanna-tidbits]

HICCANNA MONTH WEEK 1, DAY 1 - “LET’S BE PATHETIC TOGETHER” HIGH SCHOOL AU

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF HICCANNA MONTH Y’ALL!!! I’m starting this funky little event off with a bang, so here, have a funky little modern/high school AU one-shot to get you inspired :3

I tried writing Hiccup’s POV this time! Usually Anna comes more naturally to me, but for whatever reason I wanted to try writing Hiccup’s voice, since I identify a lot with him too. I think I did an okay job but idk XD I’m still getting used to his POV so don’t drag me too hard if I fucked it up lol

Also not me continuing to dump all my ADHD-related issues and insecurities onto Anna XD I mean, I have to deal with them SOMEHOW, and sometimes therapy doesn’t quite do the trick XD *proceeds to write about my self-insert/avatar being loved and appreciated despite being a fidgety mess*

OH, and credit to @ohlooksheswriting for Anna’s last name! I saw her use it in one of her fics (a Hiccanna one she wrote for me, actually!!!) and I liked it a lot better than what I used to use XD

Fic under the cut!

***

Hiccup slides the AP chemistry textbook from his locker’s top shelf, grunting slightly under the weight. Together with three other textbooks and a wizened copy of Moby Dick (thank the gods his lit class is reading this, as he is now an expert on the several-decades-extinct trade of whaling), he one-handedly unzips his backback and begins the process of cramming everything in.

He can already feel how heavy that thing is going to feel on the way home. Great, another aching body part to add to the list.

He reaches up to touch his shoulder and makes a face. It still stings when he presses it. He pokes just under his eye and winces.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III looks truly pitiful right now. Like an utter failure. Maybe if he keeps his head hunched and speed-walks to the bus stop, no one will notice.

He starts planning the rest of his day in his head. His dad doesn’t get home until six, so that’s plenty of time to put some antiseptic and unassuming band-aids on. Also plenty of time to figure out and rehearse a non-embarrassing explanation for his condition. He’ll have to wear long sleeves tomorrow, but eh. It’s autumn, it won’t be that uncomfortable.

There are a number of Anna Runeardsen’s hoodies in his dresser. She’s terrible about remembering to grab them when she leaves, and she’s been coming over so long that he’s stockpiled quite the collection. Hiccup wonders idly if any would fit him.

Probably. He and Anna have nearly identical body types. If anything, her clothes might look a bit big on him, but no matter. He can manage.

He also wonders if she’d notice if he wore one tomorrow. One of the baggier ones would do an effective job of covering the worst of his banged-up body. With the hood pulled up, it’d even hide the icky-looking, discolored spots on his neck. He doubts she would mind, but it might be a bit awkward if she—

“Hey!”

Hiccup slumps against the row of lockers, suppressing a hiss of pain as his bruised shoulder bangs into the metal. Gods, no. Anything but this.

Hiccup has hoped for many years that the most mortifying moment of his life will always be the end-of-5th-grade barbecue, when he requested condiments on his hot dog and zoned out in the middle of the question (it wasn’t his fault—he saw an interesting lizard nearby and had to mentally determine the species). Being the guy who wanted “a sausage with condim” isn’t something middle schoolers forget in a hurry.

As it turns out, this might take the cake instead.

“Heeeey, Anna!” He swings his backpack onto him and shuts his locker, turning to grin at her. He knows hiding behind his locker door would only arouse suspicion—or worse yet, get him a tight hug from behind that makes the battered state of his tiny twig form all the more apparent.

She’s leaning on the wall a few lockers down, understatedly charming as usual. Floral print t-shirt, jean shorts, magenta jacket, back braids wrapped into a bun, radiant grin. It’s a comforting image—and for a moment, the myriad of injuries hurt a little less.

A lot had changed about Anna over the years, but her smile always stayed the same. Hiccup doesn’t have a lot of constants in his life, but the charismatic sunshine ginger who no one ever expects a loser like him to be best friends with is one of them.

“My god.” Her latest rant begins as soon as the greetings are finished, as is customary. “Did you know Picasso tried to steal a statue? Like, a whole freaking statue?” She slaps a locker for emphasis. “Everyone thinks he tried to steal the Mona Lisa, but that was some other dude who tried to frame him. But when the cops got him, he was flipping out because he knew he had all these statues he wasn’t supposed to. I have no idea how my art teacher knows any of this, but she said—hey, what happened to you?”

She frowns, striding toward him. Oh no.

It’s not that he doesn’t want Anna’s sympathy. He doesn’t mind her fussing over him—at least someone does. It’s just that it has to be humiliating for her, continuing to associate with a guy who can’t take a punch very well.

She reaches for him, trying to brush her fingers against the bruise circling his eye. He shrinks away.

It���s an instinctual withdrawal. Rationally speaking, he would love to lean into her hand and feel any variety of gentle touches. It’s a fucking stupid thing to let happen, though—like shooting a line of coke right before the entire coke house immediately packs up and moves themselves and their drugs to the next city over, never to be seen again.

Because the truth is that guys like him don’t get to be touched by girls like her. Bubbly, vibrant, half a foot taller. Anna probably sees him like an annoying twin brother—an unflattering mirror. All of her worst traits, reflected right back at her.

“I…fell!” He says brightly, putting on his most convincing grin. “They were…mopping the stairs right when I needed to go down, and uh, oh boy did I pay dearly for it. This, um, this school really needs better safety precautions, eh? Like how hard is it to find a ‘Slippery When Wet’ sign—”

“Hiccup, people don’t get black eyes from falling.” She cuts him off with a glare.

“Yes they do!” he retorts, although admittedly with little conviction. “I hit my head on the railing. It was very painful.” He rubs his temple to emphasize.

“Is, uh…is that why you have bruises all over your arms? And your nose is bleeding? And your face is all scabby? And your hair’s messed up?”

“It was a bad fall.”

He does his best to sound casual, but he doubts it’s successful. He laughs nervously, and Anna crosses her arms.

“So I’m supposed to buy that whatever actually happened is somehow more embarrassing than looking like you got run over by a train after…falling?”

His cheeks heat up. On second thought, this is much worse than the 5th grade barbecue. “Oh, gods. Is it really that bad?”

Anna bites her lip. “I mean, it’s not awful. Sure, you look like you were in one of those mob movies, and a bunch of gangster guys cornered you in the alley and went to town on you because you owed some guy in a suit 4000 dollars, and your eye looks like someone really messed up the eyeshadow and called it a day, and your hair looks like you’ve been living in the Jumanji game for 5 years—”

“Anna.”

“Right!” She smacks the locker again, as if to physically cut herself off. “Not helping. Anyways, you want to tell me what actually happened, or do I have to spend the next, like, week worrying about your…” She gestures abstractly. “Hand-eye coordination?”

He lets out a deep, defeated sigh. The last thing he needs is to worry Anna even more than he already does.

“I didn’t get Josh Fuller’s homework done in time. He told me he’d pay me 20 bucks for it—and I mean I agreed, because why throw away good money? But I had so much other crap to do, and he cornered me in the courtyard with his football buddies, and…” He rubbed his cheek, still stinging from where it ground into the pavement. “His right hook isn’t half bad.”

“Asshole.” Anna’s lips tighten, hand drawing into a fist. “Where the hell is he?! I swear I’ll—”

“At practice. What, you’re going to walk out in the football field and punch the linebacker?”

“Don’t tempt me!”

“Pretty sure he’d just snap me in half with one hand and snap you in half with the other.”

“Don’t give him so much credit! Punzie tells me the cheer team sees him benched half the time. I could totally take him.”

Hiccup sighs. This girl really is going to end up in the hospital one of these days. He only hopes he’ll be around to hold her back if she gets an especially ill-advised idea.

“Oh, speaking of Punzie, though!” She saunters over and grabs his arm—between the bruises, thank the gods. “We should go find her! She’s always carrying around those wet wipes and hand sanitizers and stuff. She can probably get you cleaned up, at least.”

She starts to drag him away, but Hiccup grinds his feet into the tile floor. “Anna, you don’t—you don’t disinfect cuts with hand sanitizer. You know that, right?”

Anna stops, blinking. “Oh. Right. Yeah, that’d be stupid.” She slaps a hand to her head. “Ugh. I’m sorry. It’s been a long day, my brain’s at like 50% charge.”

“Completely understandable. That’s high school for you.”

To his dismay, Anna attempts to resume the dragging. “Well, I’m sure she’ll have something. She’s always got ibuprofen and nausea meds and whatnot—she’s gotta have other first aid stuff.”

“Anna. Seriously.” He gives her a pleading look. “Don’t bother Rapunzel. She’s probably in the middle of…I don’t know. Giving some important speech to the Student Council.” Anna opens her mouth to protest, but Hiccup shakes his head. “I’ll be fine. I promise. It doesn’t even hurt that bad, it’s just…” He heaves a deep sigh. “More embarrassing that anything. Like a big flashing red light that says ‘Look at me! I’m a wimp!’”

Although he gets a snicker out of her, her smile quickly fades. She lets out a defeated huff, slumping onto a row of lockers and taking him with her.

Her hand is still on his arm. He really should not be enjoying that as much as he is.

He studies the ceiling—made of those holey, Styrofoam-looking tiles and shining bleakly in harsh, florescent white light—and for a moment, he and Anna aren’t surrounded by teenagers anymore. They’re back in an elementary school hallway, hiding in some alcove and hoping they can stay out of everyone’s way.

Their grade school peers had not thought particularly highly of them. They had their fair share of recess hair-pulling, tripping, tag-team taunting. Anna was the fidgety, loud one—the one who couldn’t keep her mouth shut at the best of times, and often as not got the whole class in trouble for it. It didn’t help that the things that came out of her mouth were so bizarre and off-the-cuff that it only took half a day of kindergarten (maybe less) for her to get written off as the “weird kid.”

Hiccup hadn’t fared any better. He was the nerd, the dweeb, the geeky loser, et cetera et cetera et cetera. Teachers sometimes made an example out of his assignments, gushing about what a good, hard worker he was, but all that ever did was get him sneered at for being a brown-nosing teacher’s pet. When he wasn’t all that, he was “the kid with the weird leg.”

Anna always liked the prosthetic. She said it looked like a cool robot leg, and speculated about gritty cyberpunk futures where he could yank part of it off and have it double as a machine gun.

Despite everything, they’ve always had each other. Hiccup can’t even begin to explain how grateful he is for that.

Things got better in high school. They met Rapunzel and Jack and Fishlegs and Merida and the twins and all the others. Their friend group got bigger, and they found that not everyone their age was put off by their strangeness. Outright dicks like Josh Fuller were few and far between—at least compared to middle school.

For a while, they watch kids walk by, shouting and laughing and yanking on their friends’ backpacks. A couple of freshmen jump up and try to touch the ceiling, only to trip and nearly fall flat on their faces.

That cheers Hiccup up. Only a little, he swears.

“You know…” Anna speaks up after a while. “Erin Morris called me a bimbo in class today.”

Hiccup turns to frown at her. “She did?”

“Yeah.” She smiles weakly. “The teacher called on me and asked me to do the next part of the trig problem, and my mind had kinda been wandering a bit, so like…I said I didn’t know. And Erin told me I was such a bimbo. I think she was joking, but I also…don’t think she was?”

Hiccup opens his mouth and shuts it again, unsure what to say.

She continues before he has the chance. “I got my test back in AP history. C-. Travis Palmer still sits behind me, and I guess he saw, because I heard him whispering to someone about how he has no idea how I’m still in that class.”

“I—”

“I was really restless in lit class.” Anna goes on, ruthless. “I kept squirming around because I couldn’t get comfortable, not matter what I tried—oh, and I think I was doing the leg-shakey thing, too. Anyways, Mrs. Acosta got all pissed and yelled at me in front of the entire class because I was being a ‘huge distraction’ or whatever.”

“Anna, that’s—”

“Punzel was raving to me at lunch about some genius girl in her chemistry class.” Hiccup should know by now that he’s not going to get a word in edgewise. “Zoey Juarez or something? She’s kept an A all year. Punz says she’s on her way to becoming a biochemical engineer and ‘totally fixing the environment’ or something. And sometimes I wonder why she keeps me around when she could hang out with people like that.”

Hiccup narrows his eyes, baffled what her endgame is. “Is—is any of this supposed to make me feel better? Because all I’m gathering is that we’re both pathetic.”

“So…” She leans in, gripping his arm harder as a devilish smirk dances across her face. “Let’s be pathetic together.”

He raises his eyebrows. “Will that help?”

“Uh, yeah.” Anna snorts. “Misery loves company? Duh.”

“You don’t have to drag yourself through the dirt to make me feel better about myself, you know.”

“Oh, I don’t have to!” She smiles brightly. “The rest of the school is already doing it for me!”

As he frowns, she lets out a sigh.

“Look, you…you don’t have to be this tragic action hero who bears your pain alone and goes to like…brood on a mountainside and stare at the horizon. It’s not this like, I don’t know, terrible burden you have to deal with on your own. You’ve still got me.”

He looks over her—bright, lively, stubborn as shit. The one who always was happy to do the talking when he didn’t want to. He probably doesn’t deserve a friend like her. Who does?

“Frankly, I’m a little surprised you still want to be associated with all…” He waves his hands up and down abstractly. “…this.”

“You…just gestured to all of you.”

“I’m aware.”

“Well, anyways, I could say the same for you wanting to associate with me.” She shrugs. “Point is, you’re not getting rid of me that easily. I’m the garbage to your dumpster. The sewage to your rusty drainpipe. The moldy bread to your stale Cheetos.”

“Anna—”

“The great pacific garbage patch to your hole in the ozone layer. The nuclear waste to your abandoned and collapsing military outpost.”

“Anna, I don’t think this is helping—”

A few students send strange looks their way. Anna raises her voice, unable to be deterred. “The soggy cardboard box to your dingy alleyway! The plastic solo cup to your dysfunctional frat house!”

Hiccup is spluttering, at a loss for how to form coherent sentences. Let it never be said that Anna Runeardsen does not commit to the bit.

“Look, all that to say…” She gives his arm a couple squeezes, and he hopes she can’t see the heat rising to his cheeks. “We’re a team. Maybe one that people don’t usually like very much, but we still have each other’s backs. If you go down, I go down. Simple as that.”

He looks over her, clutching onto him like she never wants to let go, and feels a rush of gratitude. For all her moments of chaos and weirdness and rash decisions, she’s his rock. She always has been.

“You’re the rock and I’m the lichen.”

As soon as he says it he realizes how stupid it sounds. Anna snorts, rolling her eyes.

“Oh, come on! I mean sure, I’m the secretly super tough one who everyone overlooks because I seem all ordinary and boring, but you’re too pretty to be lichen.”

“I’m many things, Anna, but I assure you I’m not pretty.”

“You’re more like moss,” she declares, ignoring the assessment.

Hiccup gives her a baffled look. “Moss?”

“Y’know. Adaptable, resilient, also super tough. But also really pretty. You see it and you’re like…calmed. It’s like ‘oh, okay, there’s moss here, everything’s going to be fine.’ Like if you go somewhere and there’s a bunch of moss it feels like it can’t be so bad. I guess in some weird, primordial, ancient way, you kind of feel like you’re…home?”

It’s an odd thing to say, but Hiccup gets the distinct impression it’s supposed to be a compliment. Anna isn’t the most delicate with her words, even when she’s trying to be kind.

It’s not as though she’s entirely wrong. Sometimes when Anna’s at her most anxious, his even-tempered rationality is her lifeline.

(At least, what he likes to think is his even-tempered rationality. His view of himself tends to be unfairly aggrandizing or absolutely abysmal, depending on the day.)

He chuckles. “Well, in that case, I’d love to be your moss.”

She grins triumphantly, jerking him a little as she bounces on her feet. At the moment, Anna Runeardsen is shining at least four thousand times brighter than anything else in that lifeless, gray-and-white hallway.

He really wishes he could grow the balls to properly ask her out. Maybe by the time senior prom rolls around.

“Hey, so…” She rubs the back of her head with the hand not currently gripping his arm. “I heard some new episodes came out from that one show you’re really into. You know, the one with the dinosaurs that can shoot beams out of their eyes and the time-traveling wizard? Forget the name.”

“Oh! Velocilasers!” He nods eagerly. “Yeah, half of Season 5 just dropped this morning.”

“You want to come to my place and binge them?” She hooks her arm in his and leads him toward the front lobby. “I don’t know when my parents will be home, but I can fry up those frozen crab cakes you like.”

She looks worried, as she often is when it comes to cooking. Nonetheless, her blue eyes are as genuine as he’s ever seen them. However the food turns out, it’s clear she’s planning on throwing her entire heart and soul into it—and that’s more than enough for him.

The tension, stress, and crippling mortification drains out of him with each step, her hand on his skin seeming to brush it all away. He smiles, realizing that the scrapes and bruises aren’t bothering him anymore.

“I’d love that.”

[the-jade-cross]

Only You chapter 4

Chapter 4

“Woah, watch your step,” a voice of one of the boys said as they trampled through the sand in the dark.

“hurry! The helicopters could be here any second.” the voice of Thomas cried.

The gang slid down the embankment into the mysterious abandoned building that they had come upon.

They needed a place to hide from the pursuing helicopters and also a place to take a breather since they had been running nonstop since Thomas came crawling out of the ventilation shaft.

The kids halted once they were all inside and one by one Thomas handed out flashlights he had swiped.

One he gave to Newt any other to Minho while he kept the third.

“what is this place?” Frypan whispered even though there was no enemy within hearing distance.

“it looks like an old shopping plaza,” Fawn muttered and when the group looked at her in puzzlement, she shrugged, “I had to visit one before I was taken by WICKED. It was a meeting place. Anyway this is either a large one or a mall.”

“well if it's a shopping building that maybe we will find some supplies.” Thomas reasoned and moved to explore when Teresa hissed.

“tell us what's going on Thomas!” she roared.

Everyone else rolled their eyes since it was kind of obvious that murderous psychos from WICKED were after them but perhaps that had not been made clear to Teresa after the five mile run through sand they had just completed.

Thomas sighed, “it's WICKED. The haven isn't safe at all. They take the kids and string them up and like Fawn saw in her vision, they were being drained.”

“dead?” Frypan shivered.

Thomas shook his head, “no but they were not alive either. They had cords attached their brains...There is something inside us, something WICKED needs.”

Fawn did not fail notice that Teresa shifted uncomfortably at those words.

“it’s a cure.” the girl explained. “WICKED took us in the 1st place because for some reason kids showed resistance to the flare. They think it is something in our... in our blood but it's not.”

Immediately all eyes were on her and Teresa looked a little too interested.

“what do you mean?” Newt whispered.

“I have been getting bits and pieces of my blocked memories and I think I had figured out a cure that did not involve anyone getting hurt. I also stole WICKED archives that contained all the information and hid it.”

“why didn't you just tell WICKED the cure so they would stop experimenting on us?” Teresa railed, trying to place blame on the girl.

Fawn shook her head, “because WICKED is disguising themselves as people who are solely looking for cure when they have been using it as a way to herd children in. WICKED is trying to take control of the world and what better way than to be the only hope of the cure.”

“and if you had revealed the cure they probably would have killed you and destroyed evidence of the cure,” Newt muttered, “that's why you and the White Rose had been fighting WICKED from the start and why they had been so determined to stop you!”

“I know a place where we can hide for now.” Aris spoke up, “I heard of people called the Right Arm who live in the mountains and have been fighting WICKED for years.”

Newt sighed, “people in the mountains? That is your plan? We don't even know if these people really exist or if they will help us.”

“we don't have much choice otherwise,” Fawn whispered gently in the hopes of lifting the tension, “if anything they will be better than WICKED.”

“hey guys,” Winston called from a distance to where he had wandered off, “you should see this. We were not the only ones down here.”

The group hurried over and saw that in the sand there were trails of footprints. Without hesitation the group followed the prints until they came upon what looked like a storage room.

The group fanned out searching for supplies while Minho and Thomas went in search of possible other rooms.

As Fawn searched through some boxes, she came upon one that contained clothes her size and she changed. She pulled on a black beanie, black pants, a purple checkered shirt and a fresh pair of socks.

She was thankful to be out of the clothes that had become tight on her, thanks to her slowly growing belly and expanding boobs.

“Fawn,” Newt called just as the girl put on a fresh pair of shoes, “here. Wear this. It's cold out here.”

The girl walked over and saw that Newt was holding out a black leather jacket so she slipped it on before smiling at him. She turned to leave when Newt grabbed her hand and dragged her to a corner away from the others before turning to look her earnestly in the eyes.

“what has been going on with you? You have been acting so weird lately and of all people you confide in Minho rather than in me.”

Fawn hung her head in guilt, “I'm sorry Newt but... a part of me is afraid of what you will say and the other is not sure how to actually tell you.”

Newt sighed, reaching out to pull the girl to his chest as he pressed a kiss to her hair, “you know that I could never be angry with you even if you told me in the most blunt way. I love you Fawn and I want to be there with you through whatever it is you are going through.”

Fawn smiled sadly up at Newt and rested her nose in his neck, breathing in the scent of him… woods, sweat and something akin to cinnamon.

She opened her mouth, prepared to say it in the most simplest of ways when the darkness vanished and the building was lit up into semi light.

The group of kids looked around in surprise. Thomas and Minho must have found a power source.

Fawn looked over at Drake who had been sniffing around suspiciously but now the dog froze, the hair on the back of his neck standing up on end and a deep growl vibrated from his throat.

Fawn’s hand instinctively went to her bow as she scanned their surroundings for the threat that Drake had detected.

Suddenly Thomas and Minho came sprinting around the corner, face white with fear as they screamed.

Behind them were what looked like people but were thin, gangly and looked horrifyingly like goblins from the old tales.

“Run!” Thomas yelled before Minho repeated the cue, “RUN!” The group jumped to their feet and grabbing the things they had gathered, they turned tail and ran.

“Not again,” Fawn sighed as she sprinted after Newt.

******

“run!” Thomas yelled for the fifth time in a row.

Fawn would have rolled her eyes if she was not busy trying to run for her life from cranks! If it did not look like to Thomas that they were running their legs off, she wondered what running looked like in his eyes.

She was glad that she was barely a month pregnant otherwise she would have been dead meat.

“through here!” Minho called from the front as he opened the door and the gang began to pile through.

Using the slow traffic to her advantage, Fawn pulled out her bow and struck one of the cranks who was closest.

Electricity shot through the creature’s body and when the beast touched other cranks nearby, they too got zapped.

“Yo Fawn!” Frypan yelled as he helped get everyone through the door, “keep doing... just that!”

Fawn chuckled as she reloaded her bow but got distracted when she heard Drake barking at her to get her attention.

The girl fired one more arrow before she bolted towards the door. She skidded to a stop when a cry cut through to her gut.

She would know that voice anywhere... Newt.

Spinning around Fawn saw Newt on the ground, a crank pinning him down... the boy only managed to keep an inch between himself and the creature as the crank snarled in his face.

Fawn related her bow and aimed. She let out a deep breath before she let the arrow fly and the crank flew off Newt, the arrow striking true.

“Newt come on!” Fawn yelled as she pushed through the door.

The boy was right behind her and just as Winston came barreling through the doors, a crank grabbed his leg.

“no!” several of the kids yelled.

While Thomas and Minho worked to close the door, Fawn and Newt grabbed Winston's hands and tried to pull him away as the crank continued to claw at him.

“Fawn!” Winston screamed.

Fawn kept one hand on his wrist while she grabbed an arrow and threw it. It missed the crank until the gang heard a slight ticking sound and the arrow buzzed, electrocuting the cranks and Minho slammed the door shut as Thomas pushed a bookcase in front of it while Newt pulled Winston away from the door.

The gang stumbled away until Winston began to cry out in pain from the scratches that the crank gave him so they slowed down and finding a hallway that was quiet, safe and seemingly free of cranks, they pulled to a halt to catch their breath.

Winston slumped against the wall and groaned. “in case we don't make it out of here alive in one piece... I just want you guys to know that I hate giant spiders and infected gargoyles.” he granted.

The kids chuckled softly, glad that the injured boy was trying to lift their spirits.

“while we are sharing secrets, I am afraid of heights and I love the smell of raw bacon.” Minho admitted.

“I don't get sunburn, I just tan.” Frypan added which earned him perplexed looks from the others.

“if I did not have a limp, I would have wanted to be a runner.” Newt added his own secret, the hallway soon becoming filled with the group sharing fun facts with each other... that is until one particular voice cut in, that made everyone freeze and forget what it meant to breathe.

“I'm pregnant.”

All eyes snapped to Fawn except Minho who was trying to look as surprised is the others but failing as he came to stand beside the girl as moral support.

Frypan and Thomas looked like they had just witnessed the sun dying before their eyes, their eyes wide and jaws touching their chests.

Winston looked confused, probably having never gotten “that talk” from his parents before WICKED took him and none of the Glade members saw the need to explain where babies came from.

Teresa looked smug and like she had just revealed someone's deep dark truth and was waiting for the wolves to tear their friend to shreds.

Newt was just standing there, eyes round and lips slightly parted as he stared at the redhead, frozen in time.

Fawn shifted nervously on her feet, looking at her shoes then at Minho who gave her a supportive encouraging smile and then back at Newt.

Finally, Newt spoke in a voice that was so soft it was a miracle that anyone heard him.

“So that is what Minho meant when he said that my knowing would only make me worry about you more than I already do.”

Fawn ducked her head, ashamed of keeping such a big secret from Newt. After all he was the expecting father!

The girl opened her mouth to apologize when she realized that Newt had approached her and now reached up to cup her face gently in his hands.

“but even if I did worry more, why would you keep this from me?” he whispered.

The rest of the gang looked at her quizzically, probably wondering the same thing while Teresa was grinning, waiting for somebody to start yelling at the girl.

“because if... if through all of this hardship, loss and pain... if I lost the baby I knew that it would break your heart and I didn't want to be the one responsible for bringing you more pain than you already bear daily.”

Newt smiled softly as tears pricked his eyes and he pressed his forehead to Fawn’s. “And I do not want you to bear the pain alone. If we lose this child, yes, I will be heartbroken but that does not mean that we cannot try again and I would rather bear all the pain the world has to offer, together with you than to let you suffer alone. Besides there is a high chance that this baby will survive. After all, they are half of you.”

Fawn sniffled, seeing Newt crying made her want to cry too but she tried to contain it but failed miserably when Newt pressed his lips to hers ever so gently in a kiss that tasted of salty tears.

“I love you Fawn... and I will love you no matter how many secrets you keep from me... but promise me that you will try and give me a chance to be a part of your secrets... especially if it involves our baby!” Newt whispered, not caring that the gang were watching the exchange.

Fawn smiled through her tears and nodded as Newt wiped away the tears with the pads of his fingers.

“OK... I will... and I love you to by the way.”

Frypan broke this special moment by cooing and he got glares from everyone, most of the group having been listening with bated breath to see what would happen next.

It was not every day that they learned one of their friends was pregnant and then got to witness some love exchange! Let's just say living in the glade did not give them a whole lot of experience with PDA.

The silence was broken by the screams of cranks in the distance, gradually getting louder, so once again, the group kicked back and began to run down the old, abandoned hallway.

When they reached the end, the cranks’ screaming was getting louder and almost breaking their ears and when they looked back, they saw that the creatures were on their tail.

Minho blew through the door at the end of the hallway and held a single door open as the group filed through.

Just as Newt and Fawn were about to run through, Fawn looked back and realized that they were one short...

“where is Drake?” she asked.

All eyes looked around... but there was no dog... no barking... and the cranks were almost upon them.

“DRAKE!” Fawn screamed.

the only answer she got was the screech of the cranks and Newt grabbing her hand to pull her through the door to safety.

The group found themselves in a dark trench of sand and they huddled together, shushing each other as the cranks roamed around above, searching for the group of kids that had intruded their abandoned mall.

Newt wrapped both of his arms around Fawn who was shaking... partly from the sobs and partly as she tried to pull away, a part of her yearning to dive into the cranks to find her dog... she could not lose anyone else... so why did it have to be Drake?

As she faded into a tearful sleep, she could have sworn she saw Drake's deep eyes looking back at her, tongue hanging out the side of his mouth... Black and white fur blowing in the wind.

What had she done? How could she have lost Drake?