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thatbanditqueen · 1 year

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Basic Training Ch 3

A response to the prompt: "You're staring." Thanks to my harem cohort @vintageshanny @missmaywemeetagain @ellie-24 @from-memphis-with-love @be-my-ally @powerofelvis and @whositmcwhatsit

Summary: Bess heads to the dance the Morale, Welfare and Recreation Committee for the 37th armored tank division is throwing, and manages to avoid dancing with the most notorious soldier on post, who cannot seem to take his eyes off her.

Warnings: None! Wait, kissing. Swear words. This may be the slowest burn yet. Probably typos, I wrote about 1K words over the last three days and then the rest in a fever dream. So.... may not make sense. Also I am pretty sure the first phase of basic training would not have them in tanks yet, but....I am playing fast and loose with Army life in this one.

Word Count: 5. 3 K

This is my newest WIP, please like, comment, reblog and tag and let me know what you think. Thank you for reading.

You can catch up on the previous chapters here

Basic Training Chapter 3: Just Kiss Me

Saturday, April 5, 1958

7:30 p.m.

The Schwartz Residence, Killeen

Just as her shoe hit the bottom stair, Bess realized she had left her lipstick in her room and was turning back around to grab it when she saw Kay sitting in the living room, dressed in a pink cocktail dress. Her puffy crinoline skirt was gathered in a heap around her as she shifted in place, adjusting her pearl necklace.

“Um, where do you think you are going?”

Kay looked up, tucking her brown hair behind her ear as she eyed the tight, fitted sheath dress Bess was wearing. She smiled at how the white sequins and embroidered red flowers glowed iridescent in the dim light and whistled low.

“Who are you dressing up for? The guy who you snuck in last weekend?”

“What makes you think there’s a guy, Katherine, honestly. I don’t sneak men into our house.”

“Uh huh, so you’re all gussied up in your favorite dress just for a bunch of enlisted soldiers?”

Kay grabbed her purse and followed her sister to the door.

“Why are you being weird Bess, I always come with you? You’ve been going to army dances since you were sixteen. I’m about to graduate, plus, I told Dickey I’d meet him there.”

Bess sighed, thinking of Kay’s latest boyfriend. She supposed that she should be happy because he seemed like a harmless nerd, and, according to the files she had pulled on him, was not married, inbred or bankrupt.

“I just - we - I didn’t invite you to this dance because it’s an enlisted platoon. I didn’t think you were coming.”

“Wow, you must really like who ever it is, if you don’t want me to see you with him. Too bad. Dori called earlier and told me to come. She’s been trying to reach you all day, by the way.”

Bess locked the door, and they got into her car.

“Can you believe her date?”

“Mmmhmmm.”

“Of course, then it all made sense why you guys would be messing around with an enlisted tank unit. How did Dori even get involved with their MWR Committee.”

Bess rolled up her skirt so she could comfortably drive, and shifted into reverse, arching her eye bow at her younger sister as she did.

“How do you think? She asked to be reassigned to it two weeks ago.”

“Man oh man, she really is lucky. I wonder if we’ll all get to dance with Elvis?”

“Look, Kay, they sent out a memo to everyone, do NOT make a spectacle over Private Presley. Just act like he’s any other solider”

“Of course Bessie bushka. I’m on my best behavior.”

Bess looked Kay in the eyes as they pulled through the base gate.

“I am just going because I told Dori I would, I don’t wanna stay too late. So maybe Dickey Rooney can drive you home if you wanna swing all night?”

“Yeah, sure, ja volt. You don’t have to be ein klafte, Elisabet.”

**************************************************************

The tight cloth of her dress didn’t have much give, and Bess regretted her choice as she tried to keep up and hold on as she danced

“Look, this is tactical move that requires delicate maneuvers—”

“I’m not spiking the punch, Jim.”

Bess huffed and got into her rhythm as they kept up with the band’s rendition of “Tutti Fruity.” If she let her self relax and swing into each step, it was almost like old times when she, Jim and Ben used to go out dancing in Austin or Killeen and she’d take turns dancing with her fiancee and his best friend all night. They had been the three musketeers. But that was last year, when she had a fiancee. And a different future peering back at her from her crystal ball.

The music brought her out of her silent reverie, and Bess looked to her where the band was performing on stage. The lead singer’s voice reverberated through the building, echoing up into the tin ceiling and back down again, making the room buzz with energy. There were six people in the all-Black Flapjacks: drums, guitar, bass, trumpet and then a male and female vocalist. The men wore matching silver dinner jackets and black bow ties, and the beautiful, Black woman had on a gorgeous silver dress with tulle flowers at the bust.

Bess took a deep breath, her attention shifted back to Jim, whose hands were always steady, but never needy. She was grateful he had agreed to come when she called last night and asked. A year ago they had spent almost all their free time together. Stalwart, an honorable prankster, Jim wasn’t shipping out to the Army Intelligence station in Heidelberg for another two months and Bess wondered if their friendship would end. If Ben’s new German wife would win him over and, like his friend before him, Jim would forget all about the last three years of shared adventures and promises of a lifelong friendship. Men mean it in the moment, Bess thought, I suppose women do to. Forever. What a meaningless word. How can we plan forever when we cannot know the future? The song ended and Jim escorted her off to the side. She looked for her sister, and found her swaying with her beau towards the back, hands clasped together between the lock-eyed look of first love.

“I forgot how good a dancer you are, Schwartz. And in that dress, whoowee! You’re a knock out tonight.”

“You can cut the flattery, Jameson, still not spiking the punch.”

“S’not flattery, how dare you insinuate that I would be disingenuous? You look good all dolled up, s'nice to see you this way. It’s almost like fun Bess is back, though a year ago she wudda helped me spike the punch.”

He took out his large, dark leather flask and handed it to her after taking a nip. Bess’ face scrunched up in distaste as the vodka burned down her throat, but she greedily held on and took another long drink.

“A year ago I didn’t work here, I was just hanging out with some of the reprobates from the German language division. Now it would be bad form for a Front Office secretary to spike the punch.”

“Look around, Bessie, this crowd needs to relax. They’re alllllll keyed up waiting for that Hound Dog.”

Jim was right, a heightened sense of anticipation pervaded the warehouse, even the strings of colorful paper lanterns seemed to sway with anxious excitement above them. Bess looked over at the big bowl of punch, next to the trays of deviled eggs, brisket sliders, the lime jello mold filled with seafood salad, pineapple upside down cake and more. She was sizing up the punch and checking her breath as they waited for the next song when she heard a wave of hushed murmurs ripple through the large room and turned to see Elvis, Dori and a few other soldiers in dress uniform enter the dance together. Bess’ eyes narrowed as Elvis’ looked at her.

Jim followed her gaze, then met Bess’ eyes.

“There he is, as handsome as he looks in the movies.”

Bess’ grimace could have cut through glass as she turned to her friend and elbowed him.

“Not you too?”

“What, art thou so high above us mere mortals that you don’t find Elvis Presley attractive, Schwartz? To gouache for a scholar like you?”

“It’s Private Presley now. And I’m not made of marble, Captain. Of course I recognize his attractive features. He just isn’t my type.”

She sniffed, and grabbed the flask from inside Jim’s uniform, the breath coming out of her nose forcefully as she drank a long draught.

“I’ve met him, actually, already. I was there.” Bess took another drink, tipping the flask back again and noticing that the liquid didn’t burn so much this time. “When he asked Dori out. I’m happy for her.”

Elvis and Dori began walking toward them, and Jim noticed how Bess’ stance changed as she crossed her arms and pursed her lips, suggesting that she what felt was the opposite of 'happy for Dori.'

“Well, I was at the press conference his first day here, at least four reporters asked if he has a girlfriend. Said he was playing the field so many times, sounded like a broken record.”

Bess straightened as she watched Elvis’ hand tighten around Dori’s waist and push under her bust while the blonde leaned into it and introduced Elvis to some of the eager MWR committee members who had stopped them.

“Yeah, that would be the alternate version of Hound Dog, it’s on the B side.”

Jim chuckled at Bess’ joke, but she didn’t notice, she was busy watching the Hound Dog himself, and caught Elvis glance over at her and give a little nod before his lips bent into a smirk. She realized she was frowning and plastered a big smile on her face. Jim watched this exchange with interest as Bess turned back when he spoke.

“Yeah, I see what you mean. Definitely not your type.”

Bess scowled and whispered for him to stop as Elvis, Dori and another soldier approached them.

“Why Captain Daniels, how nice to see ya over at this little ol’ dance for the 37th, are you Bess’ date ta night? Or sneaking in to try and meet you-know-who?”

Dori giggled and playfully tapped Elvis’ chest. In case, you know, they didn’t get whom she was referencing.

Jim nodded and shook his hand to stop Elvis and the other soldier from saluting him.

“Oh, neither, actually, I’m just here to make sure Schwartz doesn’t spike the punch.”

“Don’t believe a word the Captain here says. This is a great introduction, by the way. Captain Daniels, meet Private Presley, you know Doreen of course, and then, well, I cannot say we’re acquainted.”

The liquor had loosened Bess up and she giddily put out her hand to the other soldier, as Elvis fiddled with the blue dress uniform cap under his right arm and took charge of the conversation.

“This is Rexadus, I mean, uh, Private Mansfield, he’s in the 37th wit me, another Mephisss boy, we were inducted ta gather, actually." Now Elvis was turning his hat over and examining it, speaking with confidence, almost as if from a script he had rehearsed in his head. "He’s a solid, solid, guy. He really is. Guess I’m lucky, since he’s spending all his time stuck in a metal box with my ass - I mean stuck with my behind.”

Rex her shook their hands with tight, swift grip and a warm smile. Jim raised his eyebrows at Bess.

“And how do you find the Army, so far, Privates?”

“Well, it was easy ta find, just follow all the tanks.” Elvis smiled and looked down. “Nah, well, speaking’ jus for me, I mean, I was real honored when President Eisenhower sent me an invitation to this here costume party, and all the boys are real nice."

There was that scripted voice again, Bess mused. She had seen under the hood and Elvis' attitude toward being drafted had not struck her as honored and grateful.

"It’s not easy, golly, I tell you, it’s really whooping my - uh - caboose. But I never felt I earned my supper so well, that’s the God’s honest truth.”

Dori giggled like Elvis was the wittiest man in the world, but he barely noticed, his eyes were focused on Bess and she coughed, uncomfortably. It was hard not stare back. She almost forgot to breathe, and exhaled deeply as she forced herself to look over at the band.

Her eyes trailed over to the food, and she looked back at Elvis with concern, knowing he rarely actually went to the mess hall. He had been meeting her at her back stairwell every evening at 5:15, opening her car door and getting in without even asking. As if it were his own car and sliding across her seat was the most normal thing in the world. It actually did seem normal now, and had become part of her daily routine these last three days. They sat there in their own private enclave, and every time, as he laid his head between her thighs and rubbed her waist, she told him that they were just friends hanging out. Yesterday they’d talked past dinner hours and she’d ask him if he didn’t want to go to get food, prompting Elvis to share how someone had yelled out in line at him Monday, asking if he missed his teddy bears, and he hadn’t gone back since. Sergeant Norwood’s wife, apparently, was providing him with a loaf’s worth of peanut butter sandwiches every night. But that wouldn’t have happened this evening and Bess thoughtfully looked over at the food table.

“You must be hungry. All of you, I mean.” Bess stuttered, trying not to stare at Elvis, which, for some reason, backfired, because consciously trying not to made her think about him even more and she failed horribly at being able to stray from his blue eyes for very long. “Because you just got here. Of course.”

Dori smiled and took this as her cue to play hostess and lead Elvis away to the refreshments.

“Yes, of course, of course, y’all must be hungry, doing those tank exercises all day. I made the seafood dip over there in the jello mold, it’s a recipe from Ladies’ Home Journal, you simply must try it and tell me what you think.”

“Aw, darlin’, I don’t, don’t eat seafood.”

“The brisket is pretty good.” Bess chimed in.

Dori smiled even deeper.

“Hmm, well, I suppose it’s probably ok for a Yankee like ya self, Bess honey.”

She pulled her arm tighter around Elvis, leading him to to the brisket as Bess heard her say, “Personally, I find Millie’s brisket a little bland and dried out, but come on, you’re a growin’ boy, need to refresh ya energy.”

Dori’s giggle trilled back as she walked him away and Bess frowned again when Elvis turned back over his shoulder, clearly grinning deeper as he took in Bess’ eyes following him.

She made small talk with Rex, mentioning how the last time she had heard this band, The Flapjack’s, they had played all of Elvis’ big hits and there had been none tonight.

“He bribed them.”

Rex whispered, looking over at where Elvis and Dori stood, as she fed him a deviled egg and then a brisket slider, sticking her finger in his mouth to lick the barbecue sauce off. Her high laugh echoed all throughout he warehouse, prompting Bess to roll her eyes.

“Bribed them?”

“Yeah,” Rex continued. “Not to play ‘Hound Dog,’ not to play any of ‘em. And he bought cases of cigarettes for all the guys in our unit. He wants to make sure tonight is nice, smooth, and normal. As it can be for him, I suppose.”

Before she had the opportunity to inquire further Bess was distracted by the band as they started up a new song, a rendition of Johnny Mathis’ “Chances Are,” and she watched Dori squeal that she loved this song.

Bess smiled at Rex.

“Well Private, want to cut a rug?”

He hesitated. “Uh, I think -" he looked over at Elvis, who was making his way to the corner of the dance floor. “Probably better if I don’t, gonna go check out the chow.”

“C’mon, you little Yankee, I’ll dance with you, even if you have no taste in brisket.” Jim took her hand and raised his eyebrow. “By the way, Elvis Presley is in love with you Bess.”

“Stop it, Jameson.”

“Did you see how his buddy hardly touched you?”

“How would he know? These boys don’t talk about their crushes in their bunks at night. ‘Sides,he is here with a date.”

“Oh fooey! Elvis doesn’t have to tell him anything, all Rexadus, or anyone need do, is clock how that boy looks at you and, man, that’s all she wrote. You don’t dance with another soldier’s girl, it’s the code. Dori doesn’t stand a chance, honey, he’s just too polite to turn her down. I bet his mama is just like her. Which is probably why he likes you.”

Bess gave him a stare.

“Ok, maybe not exactly like Dori. I cannot see the good Mrs. Presley making you go all the way to Dallas so she can dress shop at the boutiques. They were share croppers, right?”

Bess nodded at Jim as she swayed with him, attempting very hard not to look over at where Elvis and Dori slowly danced.

“Something like that. Very very poor. But Jim, you dance with me, and I was your friend’s girl for two years.”

“That’s different Bess, I hate most women.” Jim looked back over at Rex and his voice trailed off. "Most people, actually. You are saving me from all the eager beavers here looking to snag an officer as a husband.”

“Well, looking around, some of them would probably settle for snagging just a night with an officer.”

They laughed and Jim led her around the dance floor in perhaps the most chaste slow grip of any of any officer or gentleman that danced a slow dance that evening.

The song ended, and the band kept going with their version of Sam Cooke’s hit “You Send Me.”

Bess could not help herself, and found her eyes move to watch Dori press her cheek to Elvis’ and it made Bess’ stomach clench inadvertently. Elvis’ eyes locked on hers while he pulled Dori tighter to him, tilting his head with a smirk. Something in his eyes told Bess he could tell how much she envied her girlfriend, a fact she refused to even concede to herself as she looked away, scanning the room for her sister. To her dismay, Kay was now kissing her dweeby young lieutenant toward the back of the warehouse, not so much dancing as staggering back and forth in place.

Hitting someone’s shoulder, Bess turned to apologize until she saw Elvis had moved Dori right behind them. She stepped hard on Elvis’ foot, then apologized loudly and profusely. That didn’t get him to scout off and they remained dancing next to each other as Jim ignored Bess’s pinches at his wrists clearly signaling for him to lead her away.

“Why hello there, Moo Moo, fancy bumping into you here?”

Dori smiled big and pushed her hands further up around Elvis neck as she swayed to the rhythm.

“Moo Moo? Y’all are gonna havta tell me bout that” Dori giggled. “And look at you Bessie, honey, I just LOVE your dress.” Her eyes moved to Jim. “Y’all having fun?”

Bess stepped closer to Jim, nodding and avoiding the coy irreverence in Elvis’ dark blue eyes as she slyly tried to navigate her partner away from them. She kicked Jim’s shin to let him know that if he did not politely guide her away this very instant she would begin to kick harder.

*******************************************************

Leaning against the wall during a ballad, Bess found herself making a mental note that Elvis’ seemed to avoid dancing to the faster songs. During this one, he had gone off to get some punch and then started walking in her direction only to be assaulted by a troop of MWR committee members, offering him samples of the desserts they had baked as a pretext to come and talk to him. Bess smiled as one asked him to dance, then turned at Mabel’s voice, observing the rosy glow of the other secretary’s cheeks.

“Mhmmm, the punch is good tonight.”

Bess smiled, then leaned in to smell Mabel’s glass.

“How many of these have you had, Mabel?”

The older woman replied without missing a beat. “Five.”

“I’m cutting you off, I think it’s been spiked.”

“Of course it has. By me.” Mabel took her glass back, gulping the rest down with a wink. “Someone needed to liven up this funeral. Hold this for me, won’t you?” She asked, and Bess’ jaw dropped a bit as she watched Mabel cut in on Dori.

Bess wondered if Mabel still preferred Burt Lancaster to the movie star she currently leaned her head against, happily watching her colleague cozily nuzzle into Elvis tall frame. He was a good sport, joking and swaying with Mabel for a second dance, then stepping to the side and chatting with another swarm of woman who tried to contain their eagerness as they brought him another tribute of dessert platters.

Bess danced to The Flapjacks performance of “Jambalaya,” but quit as the music turned toward more and more ballads while the night went on. It was late, the people on the dance floor seemed to have coupled up and the decorum had slowly fallen to the wayside as the senior personnel disappeared. The air fell thick with a heady, hazy lust provoked by the swell of sweet, slow rhythm and blues and the release dancing provided from the stress of barracks life. Jim had ducked out, and Bess wished she had given Kay her keys and gone with him. She managed to stay as far away from Elvis as she could through he evening, which wasn’t hard. If Dori was not monopolizing him, he only made it a few feet before another woman tapped on his shoulder. During this time, Dori had cornered her and begun drilling Bess for information, asking why she didn’t pick up her phone anymore, and what the deal was with Elvis.

“Moo Moo? Is that a nick name? Are you sure y’all are just friends? Honey, say the word, and I will be on my way. I do not throw myself at men.”

Thinking of their double date last week, Bess restrained herself from explaining that this seemed to be Dori’s primary hobby.

“I promise, it’s a silly nick name, Moo Moo is what he called his childhood cow named, get this, Bess. I’m telling you, Doreen, we’ve just accidentally stumbled into a very casual friendship.” She rubbed her friend’s shoulder, and looked out at Elvis laughing with his dance partner.

“He's lonely, and just jives more with women. You saw him with Mabel in the office. I’m not saying I see wedding bells in your future either. But then again, Dori, you don’t want to get romantically involved with Elvis Presley, do you? I can only imagine the havoc he is going to wreak on the girls in this town once he gets his bearing and into phase two. That boy is a fast operator, so fast you don’t even know what happened and boom, you’re asking him out.”

Dori narrowed her eyes. “Mmmhmm. Well, honestly I don’t want to marry him, Bessie Boo. I just want to experience him. He is so soft, Bess. That jaw! And those eyes. Ufffff. And when he kisses you, oh, it’s like having lightening strike your cheek. I’m fixin’ to get more before the night is over, hopefully with my mouth.”

She winked as the song ended, and strode off to get him back. Bess had to giggle at the glare Dori shot a younger girl from the switchboard office who looked like she was about to ask Elvis to dance.

Lonely, awkward, and ready to be done, Bess rolled off the wall and told Kay she was ready to leave. Her sister politely told her to get bent, promising Dickey would drive her home. So Bess subtlety slipped out of the side door next to the stage and made her way towards her car, ambling slowly in the cool evening air. Bess found it a sweet respite from the crowded, stuffy ware house stuffy. Out here, it was peaceful, and she savored the darkness as she looked up into the black sky. The stars and moon were hidden by some clouds, and Bess tried to get lost in the murky shadows as she wandered away from the sounds of the dance. She begged the wind to tamp down the anxious buzzing in her head. It was then, when she paused in the passage way between two tall buildings, that she heard the sound of footsteps following her, and turned to see a tall, dark figure striding toward her with purposeful, swift steps. His shoulders were back and his hands were out and he slowed when he heard Bess speak.

“All dressed up and marching in a hurry, huh? Loose your parade, Tupelo?”

Elvis’ gait turned into a wide swagger and Bess stumbled into the building backing away from the force of Elvis’ magnetism. It was not a smart escape strategy because he followed in step, his hands on his waist as he looked her over.

“Al - al - always, the smart ass, huh?”

“I’ve been a smart ass my whole life, Tupelo. Try to keep up.”

Elvis shook his head, chuckling low.

“You’re staring. Stop it.”

“Honey, if you didn’t want me to stare at you, shoulda worn a different dress.”

She gasped, and Elvis stepped closer, his right arm up against the wall while his left moved over her waist and he whispered into her forehead, his voice was low, teasing, almost babyish.

“Be honest, Moo Moo, did you come out here cuz you wanted me to chase you?”

Bess looked at the eaves of the building above her, she could hear the faint sound of the band back at the dance playing “The Girl Can’t Help It” and Elvis hips swayed very slowly at half time with the beat.

“Nope, I, I was leaving, actually.”

“How could you leave without dancing with me, baby. Not even once. An ya hardly even talked to me all night. Every other girl in there is ready and rearin' ta pounce on me, but you make me come chase after you?”

“I’m - I’m not like very other girl, Elvis. I’m not trying - trying to ….”

The way his thumb trailed up her arm made Bess shudder and she lost her train of thought.

“Hmmm. Not tryin’ to what, Moo, huh?”

He leaned into her ear as he spoke, and the skin on her bare shoulder prickled as his thumb rubbed over it while he whispered softly.

His voice was warm on her neck, and it reminded her of the first summer Mama drove her and Kay down to Galveston spontaneously for a week. They had stayed in a cheap motel across from the beach and enjoyed the warm Gulf water while eating fried shrimp and hush puppies and getting sunburnt. There, in the golden sun of the Texas Gulf, Bess had forgotten how uncomfortable it was to move through the world. No, standing where the sun met the surf had set her free, and she had become a wild animal dancing in the water and screaming into the waves while the sand crabs tickled her feet.

Elvis’ breath on her neck had the same effect. She felt wild, relaxed, totally at the whim of her body as she bit her bottom lip and looked up at his half-lidded eyes. She wanted to pull him close and scream into his mouth, howl at the untamed force of nature that rippled beneath his cheeks. He tightened his hand at her waist and kissed her neck, but then stepped back at her shudder.

“Ya scared not scared of me, Moo Moo, are you?”

She shook her head, but trembled as Elvis fingers feathered lightly down her arm.

“You don’t never have to be scared of me, baby, I won’t ever hurt you.”

“Elvis, I -”

He kissed her neck again, murmuring into her skin. The top of his cap rubbed into her hair. “Wanna get out of here? Go somewhere we can jus… Talk?””

Just as Bess began to answer, she felt a light sprinkle of water on her nose and looked up as it started to drizzle down on them. The rain brought her wits back to her and she gently pushed Elvis away, feeling the water increase and her hair slip down over her face. She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.

“You are here on a date with someone else, and I have to go home.” Squeezing him in a tight hug, she kissed his cheek one last time as he nodded, before removing her heels and sprinting off through the puddles to find her car.

**************************************************

Bess had managed to wash her face and get her dress off before she succumbed to the extreme need for a pot of hot tea. Now she stood in her kitchen, towel drying her hair and shivering as she waited for the kettle to boil. Hearing a knock at the door, she yelled out hurrying to the front of the house.

“Kay, the door is open! Or is numbnuts a catching disorder - shit.”

There was Elvis, hat in hand, on her front doorstep.

“Numbnuts?”

She swayed to the side, watching the back of a white Studebaker whirl around the corner. A white Studebaker very much like the one Mabel owned.

“My sister’s boyfriend is not the sharpest shooter in his platoon.” She held her robe closed as she looked down at her thin, white silk night gown. The thin matching robe didn’t do much, but she felt more decorous pulling it over herself.

“Did Mabel sneak you off post?”

Elvis grinned mischievously and strode past her into the house

“Hello to you too, Bessie, whatcha cookin, good lookin'?”

Closing the door, she shoved him as he walked backwards down the hallway.

“Don’t you hello me, what are you doing here?”

Elvis unbuttoned his jacket, and draped it around her shivering body.

“Still cold honey?” He drew her in, rubbing her shoulders. “Let me see if I can warm ya up.”

His jacket was still cozy with the heat of his body as he drew Bess into him. Breathless, she let him enclose her in his embrace, folding her arms into his chest as she lifted her chin up to gaze into his eyes.

“There she is, there’s a good lil Moo Moo.”

Elvis leaned down to bundle her further into him, his hands moving inside her open robe to caress the sides of her body, his nose stroking hers as she closed her eyes and whispered into his jaw.

“Elvis, you shouldn’t be here.”

“I know honey.” He pulled her closer, kissing her cheek at the fold of her earlobe as Bess crushed into his.

Her mind was racing, racing the with knowledge that at any moment her 17 year old sister would come home and probably know how to work the door knob. Racing with the knowledge that her father and mother were flying back to Waco tomorrow and she needed to be rested and alert when she drove to pick them up. Racing with the knowledge that Elvis Presley was the absolutely worst choice for a romantic entanglement or fling, not just because he was famous, handsome, rich and probably already dating any number of women in Los Angeles, Memphis and God knows where else. And therefore, an unimaginable person to be seen with publicly or explain to her family.

But it was worse than that, she could already tell, from the way her mind bent towards him all through the day when he wasn’t around, and directed itself to him with an intense, buzzing focus when he was. For these reasons, she knew he would be the worst kind of all-consuming distraction that she could possible let herself get involved with right now.

Her mouth had other plans. Namely, how could it find his mouth?

“Elvis.” She mumbled as her lips brushed the nape of his neck and her hands wrapped around his body.

“Yes Bess?”

He looked down at her as she tried to find the words she wanted to say.

“I - I - I”

“I know honey, you don’t date soldiers.”

She smiled a lazy, goofy half smile.

“Mmmhmmm.”

He gripped her tighter, pinching the flesh at her sides.

“Honey, dating is not the word on my mind right now. I am not interested in asking you on a date.”

He kissed her forehead.

“I do not have no intention of driving up to your house in my pink Cadillac.”

He kissed her nose.

“I don’ wanna have to come meet ya mama and shake your daddy’s hand.”

He kissed her cupid’s bow.

“And I definitely ain’t about to take you out to fancy restaurant and buy you dinner.”

He kissed her lightly on the top of her mouth, his teeth grating over her lip.

“I do not want to date you, Bess.”

“Good, because I don’t want to date you either.”

“So don’t date me, baby. Jus kiss me.”

**********************************************************

Click here to read Chapter Four: Dance

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medusapelagia · 5 months

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Running From The Daylight - Part 9

Part 1 , Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, (coming soon Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15)

Written for @whumpuary

Rating: Mature Relationship: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson Prompt: Make him stop WT: mention of violence, sick character Words: 982

Steve shivers in his sleep and Eddie looks around, searching for more blankets, but everyone they have is already there, so he takes a wet towel from the bathroom and puts it on Steve’s forehead, trying to lower his fever. It’s the first time that Eddie has to take care of someone, Wayne never got sick and neither did Steve, they were always the ones who had to nurse Eddie back to health, but he keeps an eye on his boyfriend, watching his relaxed features and hoping that the rest will help him get better, but their pace is short-lived, as soon as Steve starts to have some fever dreams that seems far from pleasurable.

“Don’t hurt me! Please! Don’t hurt me!” he yells, trashing around, while Eddie desperately tries to stop him “Mom! Make him stop! Make him stop! Please! I didn’t do anything wrong!” He begs while Eddie tries to wake him up.

“Wake up, Steve, wake up. It’s just a dream. You are ok. Wake up! Please!” Eddie calls shaking his boyfriend until he finally opens his eyes and looks at him confused.

“Eddie? You ok?” Steve asks, trying to understand what happened.

“Yes, I’m ok. It was just a nightmare.” The older boy whispers, brushing away some hair from Steve’s sweating forehead.

Steve turns his head, looking around, and then asks “Where is he?” His eyes still shining with fever.

“Who, baby?”

“My father… Where is he?” He asks again, trying to move, his eyes wide with worry and panic, but Eddie stops him before he hurts himself.

“He is not here. It’s just the two of us, do you remember? We booked a fancy place to spend the holiday.”

“The chalet…” Steve murmurs with dry lips.

“Yeah… we are in the chalet.” Eddie reminds him gently.

“He is not going to get here, right?” The boy asks, searching for an answer on Eddie’s face, his face red with fever.

“No, baby. It’s just the two of us, I swear.”

“I will not let him hurt you.” Steve whispers, his voice small and broken.

“I know you will protect me, love. And I’ll do the same for you.”

“Don’t! Please don’t! He will beat you!” Steve begs and Eddie tries to calm him down.

“I will not, I will not, I promise! Now can you try to sleep a little bit? I’ll be here and I’ll wake you if you have any bad dreams. I promise.”

Steve sighs “It wasn��t a dream. It was a memory.” He says, lowering his eyes “I was young and stupid. I kissed Tommy at a Christmas party, we must have been twelve, or maybe even younger, and I was so happy that I told my mum that we kissed and that I was in love with him. She said to me not to tell that out loud but I was so happy, I thought my father would have been proud of me, he was always teasing me about not having a special friend… little did I know that he meant a girlfriend, not a boyfriend.” Steve murmurs.

Eddie kisses his forehead “I’m so sorry, babe.”

“I haven’t thought about him in years. I don’t know why he came to my mind right now.”

Eddie knows that Steve has no contact with his parents and he is not surprised to know that Mr. Harrington has been an homophobic prick since Steve was a kid, but it still hurts seeing Steve being so upset even after years.

“No invitation for them to our wedding.” Eddie tries to lighten the air with a silly joke.

“Are you proposing, Munson? Because I see no ring.” Steve scoffs and Eddie smirks.

“I didn’t know you were so venal, Harrington! I thought that my feelings for you were more than enough and now you are asking me a ring?”

Steve smiles sadly “I would have married you even without a ring, you know that, right?”

Eddie's smile falters “And you will, baby. I want to spend all my life with you, wake up and see you drooling on your pillow is the best part of my day.” He tells him seriously, trying to make the other boy laugh, but Steve is far too serious.

“Ed, if I don’t make it I want you to find someone else.” He says to him looking deep into Eddie’s eyes and the other boy shakes his head in refusal.

“Stop it! There is no need to be so dramatic! I told you: I called Wayne, help is on the way, we just have to be patient.” Eddie insists.

“But if…”

“No, but. And no, I’m not going to find someone else because you are the love of my life, ok? And I don’t want anyone else. So keep your strength and stop saying stupid things.” Eddie scolds him, then he gets some water and helps Steve drink it. Humans can survive without food for a few days but they can’t survive without water, and Steve’s body is sweating far too much due to the fever.

The younger boy sips some water before falling asleep again, his body too worn out to stay awake. Eddie puts Steve’s head into his lap, singing something soft, hoping to help him have pleasant dreams. He can almost picture a young Steve telling his mum that he finally gave his first kiss only to be beaten and humiliated by his father. Eddie has never met Mr. Harrington, always on some business trip since he knows Steve, and he hopes he never will because he has a few words for him and they are not kind.

Steve’s phone in Eddie’s pocket burns like fire, but Eddie resists the temptation to turn it on, trying to save more battery, even if all he would like to do right now is hear Wayne's comforting voice telling him that everything will be alright, because if Wayne says it he can almost believe it.

#whumpuary2024 #whumpuaryno9 #make him stop #stranger things fanfiction #steddie #whump #eddie munson #steve harrington #medusapelagia fanfic #my fanfic #mention of violence #sick character #medusapelagia

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estherwieliczkablanc · 2 years

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YOUTH’S PACT - Chapter I

Synopsis: Cyprian Wiley, aka Whoreson Jr, is a villain, a scoundrel and cruel man. But was it always like this?

OC x Whoreson Jr (Cyprian Wiley)

Warnings: Bad language, Childhood Trauma and Mild Violence

It was 3 in the afternoon, the middle of the summer in Novigrad was hotter then last year’s but still…the children would come out to play all day. The warm salty air of summer hit the young girl’s skin as softly as a child’s lullaby, Esther would close her eyes as her hair was brushed by the breeze, she sat on top of a white brick wall, just a few meters away from her home, picturing herself on board of a ship, contemplating the endless horizon, feel the come and go of waves, dreaming was never enough.

But the same fantasy escaped her due to the sound of a rock hitting the wall beneath her - “Oy, mouse! Daydreamin’ again? Non’ ever told ya that the bigger they are, the harder they fall?!” Junior shouted, throwing another rock that almost hit Esther’s head, a small group of other kids accompanied the dirty boy, laughing at his remark. Esther’s brow furrowed as she jumped down to meet them, making sure to adjust her orange dress as she went, young Cyprian quickly seized his mocking when the girl intensified her fury at the stare she gave him - “Daydreaming Junior, yes, creativity only serves avid minds…- Esther replied, giving the boy’s forehead a quick flick with her delicate fingers, his eyes went wide by her spunk.

“I don’t expect a morron like you to understand.” The narrow alleyway was taken by a silence so dead one could swear it was a funeral, all the boys from the neighborhood knew that when Esther and Cyprian were together nothing good could come out of it, especially if they got involved in some heated argument.

“Uh, Edval got a new set of dices yesterday…maybe we could play some hazard?” Said Malvus as he tries to lighten the mood - “Yeah, right.” Cyprian said, turning his head to the boys behind him, Esther shrugged her shoulders and decided to follow the pack of delinquents. The boys sat down on opposite sides in a semicircle, first Malvus, the shortest of the group, dark hair and pale complexion he was the calm one, the most caring but afflicted with occasional cowardice episodes and as a consequence the most bullied, his mother works at the docks as a fish and seafood merchant , Edval was chubby and tall for his age, his knees and arms were usually scraped or bruised due to his weak sense of balance, his father was a butcher in Silverton while his mother stayed at home, sometime serving as a midwife, and lastly Otto, mute but not completely deaf, apparently he contract a rare type of fever so strong when he was baby that it left him mute and deaft for a while, yet his hearing was recovered slowly through the years, has a good aim, excellent at hide and seek and pickpocketing tourists, no one knows who his parents are and lastly we have Cyprian Wiley Junior, the leader, the boy kneeled in one leg as he looked at the other kids with a devilish grin, he was by far the best in dice and card games, his dark blond hair was pinned in a short ponytail, he didn’t have a mother but everyone knew who his father was - “Well then, I’m gonna be the caster, Edval gonna be the banker!” Cyprian announced.

Esther didn’t sit down immediately, she did position among them but preferred to watch and understand the game. It seemed simple, with a few details of chance and number balance that made it very interesting yet this was not about strategy or technique, hazard was based purely on luck and a few statistics. She couldn’t understand how Cyprian, or anyone, could be good at such games so often, maybe he cheated or was more familiar with secret techniques?

Cyprian took the dices in his left hand, kissed his fist and threw them to the floor - “7!” The cubes jumped twice until a nice pair of 5 and 3, no one reacted, he tried again, Cyprian shouted “Main 8!”, but the dices formed another unlucky number, everyone except Esther laughed and let out “oohs” of defeat, Cyprian would pick the dices rapidly - “This means nothin” And finally, having Junior almost breaking the dices, luck favors him.

“Alright! Otto’s next.” Otto adjusted himself in his seat, he took the dices in hands and studied them, no one knew what Otto was thinking most of the time but he was good at expressing his wishes thought his signature facial expressions, he looked around at his friends who waited impatiently, he made the number 6 with his fingers so all could see and oddly enough slowly aimed his hand towards Esther which left everyone puzzled, - “You want me to play? But I don’t know that rules too well.” Noticing her confusion the boy gestured towards his fist as if blowing it, it was then that Edval understood what he meant - “Oh, blow the dices! It gives luck.” Esther laughed, crouching down to blow his hand, Otto let the dices fall, all eyes fixed on the dice as they rolled until making up a winning “6” - “Wooooow! On the first roll!” Edval let out punching Otto’s shoulder in a strength that almost made him fall to the side. Cyprian was clearly disturbed and snatched the dice before Edval could take them.

“Hey! But it’s my turn!” Edval yelled, but Cyprian corrected him with - “Hold up! I wanna try something and you’ll have your turn damn it! Go on Mouse! My main is 7!” Junior aggressively put his fist in front of the girl, almost shoving it, Esther was quite displeased at his gesture and pulled the boy’s arm away in protest - “No way!”

“Oh, why not? Why would you do it for Otto but not for me? You’re a witch, right?I knew you were a witch all along with your honeyed words and how you can always know the future! And how stuff goes sideways when you’re angry…Besides, you always seem to know everything about everything.”

“A witch?” Esther chuckled “Preposterous! You’re just jealous because Otto won sooner than you, as a matter of fact, you always do this! You’re always jealous of everyone around you!”

The trio gasped, for everyone knew Cyprian wasn’t a fan of harsh truths, especially when it’s about him - “Blow the fuckin’ dices and prove it!” Cyprian demanded - “And then what? If you lose you’ll blame it on me or the boys again and the game will be over. And it’s just a game Cyp, why do you have to turn everything into a competition? Because you wanna win at least something in your life?”

The aura among them became tense, so tense one could cut it with a dull knife. Everyone stood up to prepare for what was to come.

To Be Continued…

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Writer’s Note:

Hey, thank you for reading my fanfiction! Yes I will post the second part very soon and will proceed in a loooong trivia between Cyprian and Esther in the future, so all Whoreson’s or Esther fan stay tunned for the next chapters and do follow my account for more to come!

Playlist I used for Youth’s Pact - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBclclGDXbk

#the witcher #fanfiction #whoreson

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offbrandkyoya · 2 years

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Rightfully Yours - shinsou hitoshi x reader smau

summary

you finally got a date with the man of your dreams but your best friend isn’t too happy about that and doesn’t like the lack of attention you’re giving him

pairing: shinsou hitoshi x gn!reader

genre: smau, crack, best friends to lovers, fluff, angst

warning: toxic relationship, miscommunication, swearing

status: finished!

taglist: open!

Date 1: Anti U.A.

Date 2: After School He Said

Date 3: Friday

Date 4: Levitating

Date 5: Being Single is better than going out with you/j

Date 6: Fever Dream

Date 7: Horror Night with a Pinch of Soba

Date 8: Bestest Friends

Date 9: Shinsou’s Type

Date 10: When they’re dumb

Date 11: Gross

Date 12: We Trust You

Date 13: Tell

Date 14: After School

Date 15: You before Him

Date 16: Sabotage

Date 17: Manifest Harder

Date 18: Looking Out for You

Date 19: Who to forgive

Date 20: Trust

Date 21: Without your love I can’t live on

Date 22: May the Best Man Win

Date 23: Mine

Date 24: Nervous

Date 25: Todoroki’s Gay

Date 26: Overwhelmed

Date 27: Not your Boyfriend

Date 28: The Origins of Toshi

Date 29: Love is Full of Surprises

Date 30: Overreacting

Date 31: Forever Mine

Date 32: I’ll Be Waiting

Date 33: Always

Date 34: You

Date 35: Holy Shit

Date 36: Sorry

Date 37: Scooby Doo

Date 38: Note

Date 39: Love is an interesting emotion

Date 40: Anything For You

Date 41: Maniac

Date 42: Only Them

Date 43: Can you wait?

Date 44: Awkward

Date 45: Do You…?

Date 46: Kiss is a Kiss

Date 47: Listening to my Heart

Date 48: Date

Date 49: WHAT THE FUCK

Date 50: Deserved

Date 51: It’s over

Last Date: First Date

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atlas-of-a-human-soul · 3 years

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Draw your swords, pt. 7

Summary: In order to win, she might have to lose.

Warnings: angst, swearing, bit of fluff, sexual content

Part one // Part two // Part three // Part four // Part five // Part six

=================================

Waking up to skies lit by the wintry sun is what Y/N expected. In the back of her mind, she remembers opening her eyes. Perhaps it’s her mind playing tricks on her, but she could swear she heard Aleksander’s voice softly speaking to her.

Telling dreams from reality felt like an impossible task, but if it were a dream, would she really dream of him?

Death never crossed her mind. She was a soldier in an expendable army for most of her life, yet she never feared death. There was never a lingering sense of what if when they asked her if she believed in life after death, but she wondered now. Looking death in the eye had forced a realization upon her – she would die and achieve nothing. She married arguably the most powerful man in all of Ravka and she failed to utilize it. In the end, her name would be forgotten in history for her plans would all die with her.

Inhaling sharply, she wanted to open her eyes. A heaviness settles on her eyelids, making her groan. Her entire body felt dismantled, every nerve bare, inflicting pain.

“It’s alright”, a hand pressed to her forehead and Y/N frowns. Breathing heavily, she felt vulnerable, exposed.

Swallowing thickly, her eyes flutter open. With blurry vision, she looked up at the dark presence looming above her. Blinking fast, her lips part and before she can ask, cool liquid runs down her parched throat.

Taking a deep breath, her eyes closed again. She needed a moment to collect herself, to stop the world from spinning.

“It hurts”, she mumbles meekly.

“Shhh”, his voice reaches her. “I’m here”, she feels a gentle squeeze of his hand, “You’re safe.”

Resisting sleep, she opened her eyes once more. The sight of his tormented gaze leaves her nearly breathless. He’s still handsome, but it looks as if he’s aged ten years in just a few days.

“What happened?” Her voice is hoarse, still raspy from thirst and sleep.

“You’ve been in and out of consciousness for a week”, his forehead wrinkles, “We’ve just made it back.”

Despite the little voice in his head, the Darkling held onto his wife throughout the night. He kept her close to his chest, running his fingers through her hair. She was exhausted, injured so badly he could hear the strain her body was under with every breath she took.

Her eyes remained closed, her lips slightly parted and his pressed in a thin line. Absurd. It was absurd to think that someone like that – so delicate, so fragile, could have any power over him. It baffles him just how quickly he found himself attached to this woman who was unremarkable in every possible way – or so he told himself.

Truth be told, he couldn’t take his eyes off her since he first saw her. She radiates genuine beauty few possess, a confidence he’s never found in anyone in hundreds of years, and an air of mystery he couldn’t quite understand.

By the time morning light reached their tent, the Darkling just stared at her with care, studying every inch of her face as if it could be the last time he’ll ever be given a chance. He memorized the way she fit in his embrace, the rhythm of her beating heart in the dead of night and every labored breath as it threatened his sanity.

Anger was his best friend for so long, his shield against humanity, but his anger wasn’t all-consuming as it once was – it was directed to those who caused the swelling around her eyes and cuts across her cheekbones.

��General”, Ivan’s head peaked inside the tent only to swiftly disappear once he caught sight of a moment he was sure wasn’t meant for his eyes.

Rolling his eyes, the Darkling gently laid her head down. Caressing her cheek, he let a heavy sigh pass his lips. It’s been too long since he last felt so defenseless and helpless as he did now. He promised himself he’d never feel that way again and yet he found himself in the same cursed whirlwind of emotions as he was in when the fold came to be.

Biting his lower lip, he pushed it all down. If he’s distraught, his people would know. He cannot be emotional and still lead an army. He has to be strong – for Grisha and for Y/N.

“Ivan, we’ll have to find a healer soon”, Kirigan spoke in a hushed tone. Glancing at the tent, he felt a lump growing at the back of his throat. “I believe she’s developed a fever too.”

“Fedyor can try to cool her temperature”, Ivan offers, “He’ll slow her heart and keep her breathing. I’ll trade with him if necessary.”

Nodding, the general was satisfied with Ivan’s solution. For once, Ivan didn’t question why he wanted to protect her. This time, he was offered aid rather than words of discouragement.

“I’ll have to leave some of our own here”, Kirigan looks at the direction they came from. “The Fjerdans came too close and I need to know why. Why would they take my wife?”

Ivan lowers his voice, making sure he doesn’t wake up Y/N, “Perhaps it was a coincidence.”

“I don’t believe in coincidences. Not when her safety is at stake.”

Nodding, Ivan glances at Fedyor. He’d be the same if anyone touched his beloved. Suppressing a smile, Ivan finally realized it – no matter how vehemently the general denies it, his heart is no longer his.

“What are the orders? I’ll make the necessary arrangements.”

“Take back what they took, place their heads on a stake and wait. More should come soon and when they do, I want to know why they came so close to Little Palace and who ordered them to take my wife.”

Squinting, not in anger but to see him better, Y/N frowns, “A week?”

“Winter made it hard for us to move faster and you were in no shape to ride back.”

Letting out a shaky breath of air, she raised an eyebrow, “So you carried me?”

“Ivan and Fedyor kept you alive too.”

Wetting her chapped lips, she hesitated. Her fingers burned, itching to touch him, to intertwine with his.

“A healer should be here any minute now”, Aleksander informed, pulling his hand out of hers as if he could sense her inner battles and decided to help her by removing himself from it entirely.

“No”, she decided.

Standing abruptly, his jaw clenched. Despite his stern expression, his eyes hold all the sadness in the world, pleading eyes that both threaten and adore.

“No?” He repeats with disdain, “What do you mean by no?”

Holding her breath, she endures a sharp pain in her ribcage as she propped herself up on her elbows. Breathing heavily, she directed her determined gaze on him. “I’m human, am I not?”

Squinting at her, his lips part, “And?”

Struggling to prevent herself from laughing at the way he looked at her now, Y/N raised an eyebrow. “Humans aren’t allowed aid of a healer. We go to the medics.”

“You’re my wife”, he remarks almost instantaneously, slightly wishing she remained unconscious for a while longer. If she slept, the healer would have done their job and there would be no argument. There was no doubt about it, their truce was over.

“But I’m still a human. The rest of my kind don’t have the privilege of being married to you.” Her voice is stern, low and frustratingly righteous.

“You need a healer or you might not survive”, Aleksander insisted.

“Then let me die.” She stared at him, no signs of crumbling and it made him feel like he’s drowning.

Rubbing his forehead, the Darkling shut his eyes in frustration. After all the sleepless nights, his head felt like it would implode. All he had on his mind was her safety and now when he brought her home, she refused help.

“What do you want?”

Knitting her eyebrows, she glanced at his jaw as it clenched. “What?”

Her voice is higher, almost confused but he knew better than that. “I’ve known you for almost two months.” Two months too long, he thought. “I know when you’re trying to extort me.”

Covering her mouth, Y/N suppressed a laugh. Truth be told, it’s exactly what she’s doing, she just didn’t expect him to cave so quickly.

“Healers for the First army”, her lips twitch. Pursing her lips, she bites the soft flesh on the inside of her mouth to stop herself from smiling at all costs.

“No”, he spoke through gritted teeth.

Shrugging, she laid back down. “Alright then. I only regret I won’t be here to hear you explain my death to the Tsar and my father.”

Growling under his breath, he swipes his hand down his face. “One healer.”

“Two”, she argued, sitting up with a pained expression on her face.

“We can’t spare two”, the Darkling crosses his arms, his eyes darker than ever before.

Lifting her chin in defiance, she narrowed her eyes at her husband. “Two healers or no deal.”

Releasing a long, heavy breath in frustration, the Darkling felt his insides turn. “Two healers but only for those who can’t get better with a week long rest on their own.”

“Two healers for those who can’t get better in a few days of rest AND the same amount of food and water for the First army.”

Running a hand through his hair, the general’s nostrils flare. Cracking his neck to the left, to the right, he turned his death glare back on his wife. “Food and water are limited for Grisha as well.”

“I saw them eat grapes”, Y/N deadpans. “You have enough, so share. If the First army dies out, who will protect your precious Grisha?”

Folding her hands in her lap, she maintained eye contact with the general who refused to blink. He stared back at her, aghast. The woman was impossible! She made every word that passed her lips a contest of wills.

His jaw set, he moved closer to stand before her. He looked formidable with the relentless, firm pools of black ink for eyes devouring her with intensity, too hard in comparison to what she had seen in the tent. He looked like he could kill her without even putting a hand on her…something she still expected him to do.

What was stopping him? She was far behind enemy lines, no reinforcements and she saw what he can do – he could kill everyone who stood in his way.

“Fine”, he huffs. “Under one condition.”

Rolling her eyes, she nods, “What is it?”

“I want a kiss.”

Her eyes flashed to his. Ringed with golden bruises, she was still alluring – like a wildfire or a storm. No…she is wildfire, a storm. She is deadly and uncontrollable and slightly out of her wits and he’s asking her to be his ruination. It isn’t love, he tells himself, it’s obsession.

Raising her eyebrows, Y/N didn’t bother hiding her surprise. A kiss? Of all the things he could have asked, the big bad general who can summon shadows is asking for a kiss?

A part of her trusted Aleksander and that trust demanded intimacy. She wanted his hands on her – in her hair, his lips on her neck. She longed to be vulnerable and that’s what worried her. Trusting him, needing him, it’s bound to breed love and self-inflicted madness. If it were anything else, she would outright refuse him, but she has so many lives dependent on her answer.

“Tonight”, she decided. If her own sanity is the price to pay, she will do what she has to do.

Nodding, the Darkling retreated. Leaving the room, he opened the door for the healer to enter. Sparing her a quick look, he swallowed thickly as the thought of her willingly kissing him made his heart slam into the rib cage. Even his heart wanted to escape him as it too longed for her hands’ touch.

He didn’t make more than two steps outside the room when a Grisha joined him - one of his many spies.

“What do you have for me?”

The spy beckons him to the side, looking around wildly. “This could change everything.”

“What is it?” The Darkling speaks through gritted teeth, demanding an answer.

“There is talk”, the spy pauses, “Of a Sun Summoner.”

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

Healed, bathed and properly fed, Y/N had paced their room in anticipation of his arrival. She had seen the look in his eyes earlier that day – something between them has changed.

As the door opens, her breath halts inside her throat.

“I thought you were lost”, Genya admitted. “When they found your mare, I lost hope.”

Smiling, Y/N cupped her cheek. “I did too”, she sniffled.

The Darkling felt, more than saw, her presence as he entered the room. He turned slowly, his breath held. Her hair looked darker in the candlelight, its rich color gleaming against the green velvet of fresh sheets on the bed she leaned against. He could hardly speak. The nearness of her, the quiet room, the candlelight made him question the reality of what he was looking at.

“You look better”, Aleksander managed a curt smile, looking at Y/N and her attire. The sheer nightdress she wore was back, perfectly outlining her figure.

“Why did they take you?” Genya asked, unshead tears weighing heavily on her eyes. “Did they know?”

“No”, Y/N shakes her head, “But they found out.”

“How?”

“It doesn’t matter. Kirigan killed them all.” Y/N glanced at the door where she expected her husband to appear later on.

Chewing on her bottom lip, Y/N felt her heart flip. “It helped me realize something.”

Frowning, Genya waited for Y/N to explain.

“Your General does have a heart”, she states. His request for a kiss lingered in every thought her mind could concoct.

She stared at him then slowly untied the belt of her robe and it glided languidly over her smooth skin, falling to her feet.

His gaze roamed over her as if he is unable to fully comprehend her beauty. Only when he looked back at her eyes did he see she was troubled.

“Of course he does”, Genya chuckles, “He was most worried when you were taken. He promised he’d kill them all and bathe in their blood.”

“I think I can use that.”

Knitting her eyebrows, Genya’s frown deepened. “How?”

Pressing her lips, Y/N sighed. “In order for me to win”, she paused, “He needs to believe he did.”

“Husband”, she spoke clearly. She feigned confidence, but inside she quivered.

She had barely finished the syllable when she was in his arms, being carried to their bed, his lips already fastened to hers. She felt his lips hit hers like a tornado, his admission of burning the world in her name spinning in her head. It could have been a fever dream, but she would bet her life it wasn’t.

Holding her chin in place, he rested his forehead on hers, heaving from the kiss. She couldn’t open her eyes, clinging to him for dear life, but even with eyes closed, Y/N could hear the emotions thick in his voice.

“I don’t want to do anything you’re not willing.” He whispered against his lips, all too prepared for his hands to roam her body now.

Y/N was afraid of herself as well as of him. He could sense it as he kissed her. He’d waited a long time for her to come to him and now it seems she was more than ready to give herself to him without his talk of her marital duty.

He expected anything but to find her with her arms wide open. But even now, as he held her, he felt no great sense of triumph.

Pulling the sheet over her, he stood. “I can wait.”

The sheet accented her shoulders and the full swelling of her breasts. The candlelight deepened the shadow above the sheet. Her bare throat pulsed with life. Her face was set in a firm, serious expression that caused her eyes to darken. Her lips were hard, as if carved of marble and he ached to part them into a smile.

Turning away, he began undressing himself for bed, wondering how he could survive a night beside her if she remains as she is now.

She averts her gaze, whispering under her breath in confusion, “Wait?”

He laid beside her, barely dressed at all. She found herself achingly aware of his presence. The only light in the room was from the flames of candles she placed across the room. The light danced on her hair, played with the shadows of her delicate collarbones. At this moment, he remembered nothing of the arrangement their marriage was meant to be. He knew only that he was in bed with a desirable woman, one he never expected to claim. She seemed too headstrong to ever give into his charm, yet she bared herself before him and he couldn’t take advantage of her.

“Why don’t you want me?” She sat up, glaring at him. She let the sheet fall as his eyes met hers, bravely fixing him with her fiery gaze.

Rolling his eyes, he looks away. How can she torment him like this with no shame?

If anything, he felt like she’s attacking him. “I don’t want to hear about how a demon took you by force for the rest of my life.”

“It’s not force if I’m giving myself willingly, is it?” She raised an eyebrow, deciding on a tactic finally. Aleksander is a general, a conqueror at heart and she saw the desire in his eyes. If there was any hope of her plan to work, she had to harness his desire to convince him he won.

Licking his lips as he cracked a smile, Aleksander nodded in surprise, unable to keep his eyes from wandering lower to her breasts. “You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?” He wanted to possess her, to claim this difficult, headstrong woman for himself. His mouth came down brutally hard on hers, claiming them, nearly bruising them.

Y/N fumbled with the sheet that wrapped around her, making Aleksander chuckle into the kiss.

“Let me help you,” Aleksander purred and tore the sheet away, pulling it from under the mattress.

Wrapping his hand around Y/N’s neck, his grip was oddly weak, gentle even. She laid nude before him, his gaze fixed on her. He stared at her in wonder; her full breasts, curvy waist, round hips. Then he looked back at her face, her eyes blazing. Her lips were reddened from his kiss, and suddenly there was no power on earth that could stop him from taking her.

“You make me feel”, he pauses in anguish, “You make me feel”, he said quietly, fiercely, “And I don’t like it. I want it to stop. Now.”

He pushed her into the mattress and Y/N saw the ruthless general in his eyes and for a moment she feared it. A general isn’t gentle at all, not like Aleksander could be. She feared the pain he’d cause and the tears that would follow. She feared what he’d do to her, but then the fear she felt dissipated as he spoke against her lips.

“I’ll go slowly.” Aleksander stopped himself, remembering she’s never had a man in her bed before and once he saw the fear in her eyes extinguish the flame he already adored, he reeled himself in.

“Your hands are bloody from murder”, she paused, “But I trust them completely.” Her voice had never been smaller, her hands never as desperate as she clung to him. She wanted to trust the sudden, overwhelming warmth in his unrelentingly tender gaze, but she still awaited the pain that was yet to come. He moved on top of her, his lips attaching to her neck gently as he pressed a kiss above her pulsating carotid, knowing she’s nervous as he felt the pace of her pulse.

With one thigh, Aleksander parted hers. He kissed her again, passionate and slow, distracting her as his hand moves lower, down to the intimate parts she never allowed another only man to see, to feel. Slipping his finger between her folds, he found if applied enough pressure a desperate moan escapes her without a fail. He feels her breathing change as he begins to rub circles, her thighs trying to push against his in a need of more friction. And that’s when control escapes her and she closes her eyes completely, letting the pleasure take over.

Unable to wait any longer, Aleksander pushed the head of his hardened length between the folds, feeling her wetness pooling over as nature’s lubricant. Feeling the membrane, he stops for a moment. Looking at her carefully for any signs of distress, he wonders if she even realizes what is about to happen.

“Do you want this?” He asks again, fearing she may change her mind.

Gripping his arm, she nods. “Yes”, she replies, breathless.

Pressing himself inside, he bows his head in the crook of her neck, growling lowly in pleasure. It’s not the first virgin he had, but it’s the first one that made him want to come on the first thrust.

“Go on.” She encourages him, surprising them both. Swallowing thickly, she sinks her nails into his back, anticipating the next thrust. It would be a lie if she said she wasn’t in pain, but she knew it would get easier as he moves again and she would feel the pleasure again – and she wanted the pleasure more than the pain.

Nodding, Aleksander starts moving in and out slowly, refusing to risk her pain for a little more pleasure he’d find in speed and his untimely release. Instead, he’s using deep, slow strokes with a relentless care for the nerve bundle between her folds. Every passing second draws louder moans from her until he feels her clench around him, his own mind blackening as he feels himself nearing the edge. She’s holding him so tightly to her body, so desperately as she unravels beneath him. Picking up pace, he finally loses control, jerking his hips to meet hers in a deep thrust only to finish deep inside her, allowing them both to breathe.

Rolling off her, Aleksander decided to stay quiet, allowing her to have control of the moment. If she wants his embrace, he’d do it for her and if she wants to talk, he’d talk to her, otherwise, he’d just sleep. It’s been so long since he truly slept – since the day they went for that ride.

He placed an arm around her for comfort alone, not pressing himself closer than necessary, closing his eyes once he realizes she’s not interested in him at all after she came down from her high.

Waiting for a few minutes, Y/N pretended to sleep. After the hurricane of emotions he’d given her, Y/N didn’t know how to feel. She wanted to relax, to sleep in bliss, but a part of her ached. She ached for who she used to be. Would her father hate her for what she just did? Would her people denounce her for sleeping with the enemy?

Her eyes opened wide, finding his are still closed. Lips quivering, she felt herself crumble as tears fled her eyes. She watched his sleeping figure and sighed deeply, telling herself to stop crying. She was supposed to be in control of him, to make him want her and crave her, yet she found it was the opposite. She didn’t love him, but she did feel a connection…perhaps it’s the kindness he showed her when he rescued her or the pleasure he had given her, but something inside her changed and the heart she hardened on purpose found a soft spot for the general.

=============================

Tags: @bruxa0007 @rangotangomango @kaitlyn2907 @thestoryofmylife9 @shelivesindaydreamswme @hxrgreeves @safetyhtom @kaqua @savannah-elliott @all-art-is-quite-useless @azure23x @girlmadeofavocados @ashdab2611 @acciorudolphx @ladyblablabla @wckedheart @xceafh @sanna2020 @tarkanelima-blog @takethee @mellifluous-cosmos @marvel-ousnesss @tea-effect @starlightofsolaria @p3nny4urth0ught5 @blackbirddaredevil23 @sarcastic-and-cool @slytherinsbiggestproblem @within-thehollowcrown @notthatchhavi @musicconversedance @freakytillthemoon @lgkoval @honeyofthegods @queenmalhinewahine @misselsbells06 @whatthefluffrichard @aami98 @britriestbr @itsfangirlmendes @padme-parker @readingsssssssss @runawayolives @thehighladyofasgard @emlynblack @keithseabrook27 @dailydoseofchoices @deceivedeer

Part 8

#the darkling x reader #the darkling #aleksander morozova #general kirigan x reader #general kirigan #aleksander morozova x reader #aleksander x reader #shadown and bone

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20moonchild21 · 3 years

Text

๛Struggling

Gif by @minyoongihoseok

Pairing: Poly!BTS x girlfriend!reader

Warnings: hardcore fluff, slight swearing

Words: 3400+

ッ

๛匕he one where she struggles with money∙ꨄ

"What do you mean, you can't pay me this month?" You asked angrily, as you drove your hands through your hair.

"I am sorry, but what should I do? Rents are high these days. If I don't pay..." Your boss tried to defended himself with the same excuses he had given you before.

"Rents are hight? Are you serious right now?" You interrupted him quickly, getting angrier with every word he said. "What do you think I pay my rent with? Paperclips and stones? I need this money or else I have to quit my apartment. We have a contract. You have to pay me, please!"

Times were hard these days. The pandemic had hit the country hard, but aftermath was even worse. Most people were still too afraid to go out onto the streets, rather staying home and shopping online for everything, which causes you a big problem.

For years you had worked in a small bakery, that was known for their extravagant pastries and specialities. The pay wasn't much, but you loved your creative job.

Seeing people smiling when they see their wedding cake for the first time, was one of the best thing coming along with you job, but with no weddings allowed, there was no one to buy those expensive cakes. And the few people buying small cupcakes wasn't enough for keeping the business alive.

Of course you knew that your boss's hands were tight, as well as yours. He had to pay his rent, but so did you.

"I am so sorry." He said again, sounding almost sad. "But I can't give you this money. We made almost zero sales this month. My pockets are empty. I already need to take my own, private money to save the shop, or else I can close next month."

You closed your eyes, as your hands were gripping the armrest of the chair you were sitting on. You weren't the type to yell or scream at people when things didn't go the way you like it, but this time, you just wished to yell out all your frustration at him.

Everything came together at this point, which made it hard for you to keep calm.

You hadn't seen your boyfriends in over 3 weeks, because they were stuck in quarantine at home after coming back from a project filming abroad.

Then, your period had started unannounced this morning, causing you a ruined trouser and cramps, along with a heavy headache.

And now it seemed like you even would be homeless next month, because you weren't able to afford your rent.

You pressed you eyes closer together, trying to hold back the swelling tears.

"Maybe you have someone who could borrow...." You boss began again, but you didn't want to head what he was about to say.

Making depts was the last thing you wanted to make. You mother had always raised you to earn your own money, and pay for the thing you want to have yourself.

Asking someone for money would lead you to asking for more and more and more, until you can't pay that someone back. The same situation you were stuck in now.

"It's okay." You said quietly. "I will find a solution. Have a nice weekend."

You bent down, grabbing for you bag and leaving the small office, heading straight back home.

The next morning was hard for you. The letter lying in your mailbox in evening wasn't helping to cheer up your mood. You landlord was getting more and more impatient, waiting for his rent to be paid. You were already 3 weeks late with you rent, and slowly he was running out of sympathy.

The words he wrote held you up from sleep the whole night, causing you to desperately think about a solution for this problem:

"...termination without notice if the rent is not be paid within the next two weeks..."

You had cried a lot this last night. Never in you life you had thought that you would end up like this, broke and desperate. You even had considered to jump over your pride and ask your boyfriends, who clearly had enough money, to help you out. But you quickly threw away this option, not wanting to use them because of their money.

With no other option left, you found yourself sitting on your laptop, checking you bank account. Of course you never spend all your money all at once. You had laid back a certain amount of money, your life savings, that you had sworn to never touch.

This money was so important for you, because it was meant to be spend into your future. A future that included your boyfriends, a own house, a car.....children.

Of course, you knew that each of your boyfriends were millionaires, multiplied with 7.

If you wanted, you would never have to go to work ever again. With their money, they could probably buy you 10 houses, 9 cars, 5 horses, a plane and everything you could ever wish for.

But that had never been your goal in life. You didn't want them to pay everything for you. They had own dreams, and each of them had worked hard to earn this much money. You couldn't and you wouldn't take advantages of that.

"Fuck." You whispered, as your head sunk onto the table you were sitting on.

By now, you couldn't hold back your tears anymore.

You computer screen showed your online bank account, listing the accounts you had created years agon. Among them the one that was your last chance to not be homeless soon:

Life Savings.

As you clicked on the link, a new window opened on your screen, showing you all the amount of money you had saved.

4,516 $

You stared at this number. Of course, this didn't sound too much in the first moment, but you were still young, and with 4000$ you would easily come through another 4 months, even more if you would be economical.

The tears were still running down your plump cheeks, rolling over your chin and staining your blue shirt. You didn't want to do that at all, but you had no other choice.

The only person you would have been brave enough to ask for help, was your mom. Sadly, she died 5 years ago, with all her bereaved money spent for the hospital bills and the funeral.

You sighed heavily. There was no going back now. You would transfer the money to your landlord today, before he could kick you out.

You were about to click the small 'Transfers' button, when suddenly your doorbell rang. You flinched heavily when the loud noise rang through you ear, obviously not expecting someone today.

You stood up and walked out of your bedroom, over to the front door.

Immediately when you opened the door, a bouquet of red roses blocked your view. You let out a small shriek, when the red flowers sunk down, revealing a familiar face behind it.

"Hello." Jimin flashed you his beautiful smile, before he pushed the flowers into Namjoon's arms, stepping forward and lifting you into his arms.

"Oh my god." You breathed out as you broke away from you paralysis. You wrapped your arms highly around the silver haired boy, who was still hugging you. "You are here."

"Jimin, don't break her." You heard Yoongi's deep voice from behind. "We still need her."

He tugged Jimin's shirt, until he let you down onto the floor, pouting as he had to pull away from you. He pressed a gentle kiss to your nose one last time, before the next boy stepped forward.

Their very presence was enough for you to calm down from the past stressing days. Having them squeezing you in their arms, kissing you all over your face made you feel so loved and invulnerable in the moment.

"May we step in?" Jin asked as he pulled away from you.

Still overwhelmed from their sudden visit, you looked at him confused. He gestured his hand into your apartment. You quickly stepped away from the doorway, letting them step inside.

"Are you okay, Jagiya (Honey)? You look a little bit pale." Jungkook asked as he stepped in front of you.

He lifted his hand up towards your forehead, feeling if you had a fever. But your skin felt cold under his touch.

"I am just – I am just surprise that you...." You began to stutter as they all stared at you.

They could tell that something was up with you. Being together for almost 3 years now, they knew that you would began to slightly stutter when you try to hide something. So you had to think about an excuse, before one of them would ask more questions.

"What are you even doing here?" Was the first thing that came into your mind. "Shouldn't you be in quarantine or something?"

"Silly Jagiya." Jungkook laughed as he cupped your face into his big, manly (and now tattooed) hands, pressing a wet kiss onto your nose. "Three weeks are over. We can leave the dorm again, so we decided to surprise you!"

The boys quickly let go of your strange behaviour. You all went into your living room where Hoseok and Tae were already pulling out your sofa, that way you would all fit on it. As soon as they placed the cushions back onto the sofa, you were lifted from the ground a thrown onto it.

"Hey!" You laughed and giggled as Jimin crawled over you.

He laid his much heavier body onto your smaller one, trapping you under him. He grabbed for you wrists, pulling them up over your head, where he pinned them down onto the soft fabric. With his mouth, he placed a line of kisses from your collarbone up to your ear.

"I missed you so much." He whispered as he nibbled the sensitive skin of your ear. "I thought about you a lot during quarantine, Sweetie."

You knew what he wanted from you. As Namjoon once said, Jimin needed indeed a lot of love and attention, but you loved to give it to him. Sadly, you had to disappoint him this time.

He was already pulling and tugging on your shirt, when you brought your mouth up to his ear.

"I am on my period." You whispered in that sexy voice you knew he normally loved.

He pulled away from you, looking into your eyes deeply.

"Are you serious?" He whined as he let go of your arms.

You were already laughing hard when the other finally came from the kitchen with snacks and drinks in their hands.

"What are you laughing at, Jagyia?" Tae asked as he plopped down next to you. "And why is he already pouting?"

He gestured for Jimin, who had crawled off of you, and was now lying beside you, hiding his face in your chest as you drove your fingers through his soft hair.

"She is being mean." He mumbled against your chest. "Stacking me three weeks in quarantine, with no one to care for me, and now that I have the chance to finally love my girlfriend again, she is one her period. You did this on purpose, didn't you?"

"We had phone sex almost ever day." You laughed at him as you pressed a kiss into his hair.

"But this isn't the same." He still whined. "And we hadn't had sex yesterday. So you can't say every day. And beside, sex over the phone isn't the same..."

You sighed at his words. You forgot to call them the previous evening, because of all the stress going on with your work and apartment.

"I am sorry." You said, as you threw your head back into the soft cushions. "I was just so stressed with work and stuff."

"Is everything okay with work?" Yoongi asked as he took your hand. "It must be hard for you when no weddings are allowed."

For a moment, your thought about telling them about the trouble your boss had with keeping the business going, but you decided to not bother them with your problems. They had enough stress with their band.

"Yes, yes, Everything is fine." You quickly tried brushed his concerns off. "We have a lot of pre orderings and stuff."

The topic quickly changed. The boys told you everything they did while stuck up in quarantine. They had used the time to work on their new album, which they wanted to do on their own. They told you how recording and producing was going.

"Hey, Aein (Sweetheart)?" Namjoon suddenly spoke up. You lifted your head from Hoseok's chest to look up at him. "Have you seen my green shirt by any chance? I couldn't find it anywhere at the dorm."

"Oh yes." You quickly said. "You forgot it the evening before you left. I washed and folded it on my desk. You can get it."

He nodded and got up from the sofa to walk up towards you bedroom. The other boys meanwhile where swarming about the evening before they left for America three weeks ago, complaining how bad they need you.

ꕀ

Namjoon had reached your bedroom door quickly.

He pushed it open and stepped inside. Immediately, he smiled when he saw your tidy bedroom. You have always been an organized person, which he admired, because he absolutely wasn't able to hold his room at home tidy.

He looked around, and spotted his green shirt, carefully folded on the table next to your laptop. He passed your bed and was about to reach his hand out for the piece of fabric, when his eyes fell onto the sheet of paper lying onto your desk.

He didn't want to invade your privacy, but the headline of the sheet caught his attention.

"Admonition: Pay your rent." Was written at the top of the paper.

His eyebrows cocked up. You didn't mention to them that you were laid with paying your rent this month. Normally, you didn't keep any secrets from each other.

He quickly read over the text. It seemed like you not only forgot to pay your rent, but you had delayed the day of paying several times. His eyes shifted over to your laptop, that was still opened up from when you were earlier working on it.

He entered the password, and the window of your bank account popped open. He saw which account you had opened, and it shocked him. He knew about your life savings, and he was slowly combining the figures.

You sometimes had mentioned that you didn't eared much money with your job, but you had never before complained about being not able to pay for your rent. Why would you take your life saving, instead of asking one of the boys or him for help? They would always help you out.

He stood up from the desk and walked towards the door. He quickly had to ask you about the rent topic, before you would do something you will regret later.

"Aein!" He called from the doorway. "Can you come here for a second, please?"

He waited for you to finally reach the room. Confused, you looked at your tall boyfriend sitting on your bed, looking kind of nervous and worried.

"Are you okay?" You asked, suddenly being pretty nervous yourself.

He didn't answer, instead, he gestured for you to take a place next to him on the bed. You made your way up,, and let your body sink down next to his. From this position, your gaze fell onto your desk. A flash of shock hit your body. Had he read the letter? What if he saw your bank account? What....

"I – ehm – I just want to say that I didn't want to invade your privacy. It was an accident." He said, as he took your hand, looking deep into your eyes. "But I saw the letter lying on your table. Are you having trouble with paying your rent? You know we would ever...."

"No, I am fine." You quickly said, not wanting to hear what he was about to say. "My boss is just a little bit late with my payment. But it will eventually arrive within the next days."

He looked at you intensely, knowing that you were lying because he saw your bank account. He sighed, and pulled you over from your spot onto his lap. Immediately, your arms wrap around his neck, nuzzling your nose into his neck. His apple scent was overwhelming your nose.

"Aein." He said quietly while stroking your back in small circles. "Why are you lying to me? You know that I, that we, would always help you out. I saw on your computer that you were about to take the money from your life savings. Why would you do that instead of asking one of us?"

By now, you couldn't hold back the tears anymore. Not only had you lied to your boyfriends, you also had to admit yourself that you had problems that you couldn't solve on your own. You hugged him tighter, sobbing quietly into his neck.

Namjoon didn't say anything, he just rocked you gently back and forth, rubbing small circles on your back. He wanted to give you the time to tell him by your own. After a few minutes, you finally pulled away from the soft skin of his neck, eyes puffy and red.

"I – I don't – I am sorry." You sobbed even more, not being able to say the words. This was a really big deal for you. "I just don't you to think that I need your money to survive and - and I didn't want to have any depts. So I thought I – I could use some money from my life saving to bridge over this month."

You looked at your hands in your lap, fiddling with the sleeve of Namjoon's shirt.

"Look at me." He said, as he lifted you face by your chin. "Did one of us make you ever feel like you were dependent from us?"

You shook your head slightly, without hesitation.

"Did one of us make you ever feel judged when you had problems?"

You shook your head again.

"Did one of us denied you any help once, when you needed it?"

"No." You whispered.

He pressed a kiss onto your forehead. He then placed his left arm under your kneecap and his right arm under your back to lift you up in his arms. As he began to walk out of your room, you wrapped your arms once again around his neck.

When the two of you reached the living room, all the other heads shot up from the TV.

"Where have you been so long?" Jin asked as he shoved a hand full of crisps into his mouth.

When they saw your puffy eyes, they all immediately knew that your had been crying. Namjoon sat down onto the sofa, letting go of you, as another pair of strong arms were already wrapped around your body from behind.

"What happened?" You heard Jungkook whispering in your ear from behind, as he placed small kisses all around your ear.

You hesitated for a moment. Then looking up at Namjoon, who gestured for you to tell them, by lying his hand on your knee.

Carefully, you told your boyfriends about the financial problems your had. You told them about your work and your boss not being able to pay your payment in time, so you could pay your rent in time. You told them about you not being brave enough to ask someone for help, because you were embarrassed.

The boys listened carefully, as you spoke.

"But Jagyia." Jimin had crawled up beside you. "We are together. You have to tell us everything that is on your mind. We would never reject you, you know?"

"I know." You laughed slightly as you kissed his plump lips, that were just inches away from yours. "I am sorry. I thought I can just bridge this month."

"You are so silly sometimes." Jin suddenly said, as he bent forward to grab your arms pulling you along with him as he threw himself backwards onto the sofa. "I want you to trust us with everything that bothers you. We want you to be happy."

The eighth of you kept talking a little while longer, until you heard the words:

"Maybe paying rent is not necessary anymore, because there actually is something we wanted to ask you for quite a long time now."

________________________________________

I think this one is pretty cute.

What do you think is the question at the end? I thin it is pretty obvious. Lol.

Mꨄ

264 notes · View notes

lady-writes · 3 years

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Absolutely no one tagged me in anything but my brain is “spinning beachball cursor.gif” so Imma do the thing and hopefully organize some thoughts.

WIP Sentence Thing (in alphabetical order from my words-n-shit gdrive folder)

1. These Impossible Years, Nile Centric Gen -> BoN

Andy and Quỳnh remember some hot springs that are miraculously still there and one of the rules that Nile instituted for a Proper Girls Night is 20th century minimum standards of pampering, right?

2. Apparently March is For Strippers Not!Fic Anthology

Booker understands what a fan dance is and how it works etc. But when he walks round on Nile backstage just before she goes on while she’s throwing back a fast shot to wish her a good set he’s Dumbstruck by the sight of Nile back-lit, sparkling, and looking like all of his dreams come true.

3. BoN 5 Things+ 1 Trilogy

-A second chance at a family, one with no secrets and open arms, one where you fit in so seamlessly it felt like maybe Nicolo was right about destiny.

-One of Nile's first moves is to look into what happened and make sure that her FET will be safe and the perps that she KNOWS exist will be brought to justice. And what she finds makes her fucking blood boil.

4. Regency Marriage of Conveniences/Pride and Predjudice AU

Unfortunately there was the simple matter of the circumstance of [Nile’s] birth that caused her distress, the firstborn daughter of a merchant enterprise, several generations since freed, but not yet considered unremarkable for her coloring or class.

5. BoN Alternate History AU where Booker and Nile are a Nicky and Joe type Pair

The last time Nile sees her husband alive he was bundling their children into a carriage bound for his sister's home swearing that nothing would go wrong and he would return before nightfall and that she should finish packing for their holiday. She gave a last kiss to JP and tucked him into his fathers arms

6. Urban Fantasy Fury/Harpy Nile Fic

The kids insist when interviewed that the nice lady had been very strong, throw a man across the room strong and somehow bigger. But she’d asked them all to cover their eyes and hide behind a big desk together Neither variable size, not enhanced strength are listed in Nile's Public Personnel profile.

7. Hum For the Bolt pt. 2

The words floated on the air between them for a moment before Booker mused, almost to himself, “This could be a Naked room.”

There was a beat and then the both of them were punch drunk and giggly again. Nile was no stranger to the particular high of a scene or a job well done but the combination of both of them, the combination of those plus the beaming beautiful man in her lap was intoxicating in ways that she’d never truly considered before

8. Regency Marriage of Convenience Kink Meme fill That grew legs

This was the environment into which le Duc de Bouches-du Rhône entered. Sebastien had of course also been informed of the new arrivals, though the urgency he felt to introduce himself was understandably far less. Upon hearing his announcement, the atmosphere almost audibly rose to a tight fevered pitch. Indus extricated himself from Jay and Nile and stood. Jay and Nile and Indus disappeared and left only La Baronnesse de Guadalupe, Le Comtesse de San Domingue, and le Marquis de Antilles et Leyogàn.

9. That story about Andy getting pregnant shortly after losing her immortality

Booker and Nile never expected for a second that the team would trade them for Andy’s Kid and as such had been assuming that when reinforcements came it would be Joe and Nicky. So just the sight of Andy terrifies them in a way that they haven't felt in the past month and a half.

10. High Fantasy Questing Fic where I finally write some of the Lykon Content I want to see in the world

When Nile leaves she bribes Booker and Lykon into joining her, she’s determined to keep her brother safe and she knows he might do something drastic otherwise. She’s given protection to as many of her kin as she can from the whims of the fey. Since Shifters can only access the magic innate to them while shifted, Booker and Lykon are uniquely placed to be able to help Nile learn how to use magic in bird shape without her hands or her voice. And the whole reason that Booker and Lykon ran off to the woods at the edge of the world was search of a witch like Nile who can help them settle the feud between their countries: a spell binder

11. 1960′s Suburbia AU, where BoN have a mildy dysfuntional marriage and J/N+A/Q move in to the duplex across the street as a pair of bearded couples and Nile has to Confront Things About Herself

Her folks had been worried about them, when Sebastien asked their permission to see her. Nile was going to leave her family and her people and who would be able to look out for them if one of the neighbors decided that a Jewish man and his Black wife were dragging down the neighborhood. People still talked about Trumbull Park and Ma Lewis’s old place on the North side, shot to pieces and how when they finished fixing up the house, the entire damn neighborhood was abandoned around them. Miss Lettie had been lucky, her Momma said. So Nile s glad to see new faces (especially ones that aren't white) but after 2 months, the more she saw of the the new neighbors, the more sure she was that something was off about them.

12. TOG+The Addams Family crossover ft Swamp Witch Nile and Wednesday Addams as college roommates

“WEDNESDAY WHERE WAS THIS ONE WHEN I WAS CRYING OVER DIZZY AND YOU AND JAY WERE PLOTTING TO MURDER 6 PPL"

Wednesday, deadpan: "France"

Wednesday is VERY unimpressed that Nile has a thing for Cousin Booker.

13. Gen retrospective about the places the various members of the team call home and how Nile gets to know them by visiting these places

“Why here then? Why would you come back?” “Because it's all that’s left of what made me. Me and this mountain are the only two living things who saw it first hand that are still alive, so I figure we gotta stick together.”

14. Factorial Fic (as in n!)

And for a decade, Quynh gladly breathed water because glimpses of Andromache’s joy after so long made drowning worthwhile. When she finally broke free the first debt she wished to repay was his.

#words words hateful words #writing meme #Book of Nile #wip sneak peek #WIPs #the old guard

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t-o-m-hollands · 4 years

Photo

Warning: Ever so slightly smutty at two parts, but only slightly. However if that’s not you thing at all or if you are too young then do not read.

Summary: You and Timmy were once an item. After a painful breakup you meet each other again at an award show.

Here’s how it goes. For being an actress you’re awfully shy. While in front of the cameras when you’re immersed in a role you can turn it all off, all of your doubts and insecurities dissipates, and you can turn all your focus on the performance at hand and forget about all the people in the studio or the camera catching your every expression.

Award ceremonies however are a special form of hell. The probing questions from the journalists, the flashing lights of the cameras, the noise of reporters all screaming at you to look their way. The constant watching and judging eyes, ready to tear you apart piece by piece on the internet.

It is not for you. Despite wearing a couture dress from a fashionable designer, you do not feel like you belong in this room, with these people, who all seem to know exactly what do to and say, who seem like they were born to be here. You feel like a fraud.

The afterparty is in full swing when you arrive at the venue. Loud music echoing across the room from the DJ booth, people clinking their glasses while wearing the finest clothes money can buy, and a never-ending stream of cold champagne being served by waiters in black. A few guests are dancing, some on the floor, some on tables.

You’re hiding. Out on the balcony, out of sight. If only just for a moment. Giving in to a temptation you’ve struggled to resist all night you try to lit a cigarette, but the damn lighter just flickers.

“Need a light?” he asks and the effect that voice has on you seem ridiculously disproportionate. You can however not deny that it’s happening to you. Your knees feels unsteady and your hands are shaking and surely the world is spinning too fast around you and surely you have a fever, and you want to blame it on the champagne, you want to blame it on the cold, you want to blame it on the hunger. But it’s him. It has always been him. Whatever it is about him, whatever magic quality that he possesses, that only he possesses, is entirely his own. And no champagne in the world has ever made you feel as light headed as he has. As he still does.

As he walks up to you the world seems to be spinning and you try not to breath. The scent of him is surrounding you and you don’t want to breath him in. Because he’s not here to stay and he’s not yours to keep and soon he will leave, and you can already feel the wound in your heart pulling at its seams.

He leans closer, over you, and he holds up a lighter and so you lean closer still with your cigarette. He then lights one for himself and for a while all you do is stand there, your back pressed against the wall and his body still leaning slightly over yours. You can hear the voices and the music from inside, the chaotic roars of celebration and delight. The pounding music. Down on the street the soft noise of never-ending traffic as cars drive by. And yet, you swear you can hear both of your hearts beat, even thought that must be impossible.

It’s cold up on the rooftop but you can feel the heat of his body, so close to yours. Then he bows his head, almost as if in defeat, and he rests his forehead against yours and he takes a shaky breath.

“Sorry” he mumbles against your forehead, but what he wants to say is – I’m sorry for the times I left without saying goodbye. I’m sorry I never stayed long enough to talk things out. I’m sorry I never told you how I felt, the way I still feel when you’re around. I’m sorry I was a coward when we met, I’m sorry I stayed when I thought it wouldn’t last. I’m sorry I left. God I’m so sorry I left. I’m sorry for the tear in your heart, but if you want to compare war wounds mine is yet to stop bleeding.

He wants to say – I kept having this reoccurring dream where I was lost at sea, unable to set ashore and unable to sail away and all I could see was the light of the lighthouse and it blinded me. I couldn’t turn away from it. The rest of the world didn’t exist anymore and everything else paled against the blinding light. There was no sun, no moon, no stars. I couldn’t feel the rain or the cold or hear the screams of the sea. But the point of a lighthouse is to warn sailors of dangerous and traitorous paths ahead. In the end, there was nothing but the blinding light and I had to get closer still, I just had to, no matter the cost. And so, I crash against the rocks and every night I drown, mon ange, every night I drown.

He wants to say – you are a force of nature and the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen. the first time I saw you I didn’t know what to do with myself. It seemed impossible, you seemed impossible, like taken out of dreams I hadn’t realized I was having. And when you walked up to me I wanted to sound clever, make you laugh, impress you but I didn’t know, I still don’t know, what to do with myself when you’re around. So, I offered my hand for you to shake. And you took it in yours and you smiled up at me and I swear you’ve had my heart ever since. Like I’d handed it over to you in that handshake.

He wants to say – and when you told me you loved me back I got scared, because you were beautiful and clever and funny and bright as the sun and I was half a world away for weeks and months on end and I didn’t understand how that could be enough for you. How you could settle for that. How could I let you? And I thought that surely you would meet someone else, someone better and they’d sweep you off your feet and that there would be nothing for me to do but to watch it happen and wish you the best. So, I thought of it as ripping of a band-aid and I left. Before you could leave me and I’m sorry. I was young and dumb and in love and didn’t know what to do with myself and I’m sorry.

“Sorry for all of it” he adds, even though is seems heartbreakingly inadequate even to his own ears.

You look up at him, really taking in the sight of him for the first time that evening. Hair’s a mess, like he’s dragged his hand through it a million times tonight. Dark circles under his eyes so prominent you feel worried for him and his lips pressed tightly shut together, as if he’s trying to keep a stream of words back from entering the world.

“Let’s leave” your voice a soft whisper.

He blinks, “wha- really?”, and you almost want to laugh at his puzzled expression.

“I haven’t eaten all day in order to fit into this dress, I’m starving. Let’s go someplace where I can eat my body weight in fries, and then we’ll talk. Alright?”

“Alright” he repeats, eyes full of stars as he looks down at you. And then, as if he’s unable to stop himself, he plants the gentles of kisses on your forehead. You smile up at him before reaching out your hand for him to take, and he does. It feels right.

In silence you walk out of the hotel. In silence you stroll the streets before walking into a 24/7 open diner. It is nearly empty, but the few guests and the waitress inside all notice you when you walk in. The difference between the posh party you’ve just left and this rather dirty old diner makes you smile. You don’t know if they recognise either you or Timmy but you guess that your fine clothes give you away. Timmy leads you to the booth at the far back, away from the windows and from the staring eyes of the other diners. He then waits for you to sit down before sliding in beside you. It feels familiar. In the back of your mind there’s a nagging thought that this isn’t how it should be. Seeing each other again after nearly a year apart should surely be painful, be awkward, be difficult. This is anything but. This is the familiarity of coming home and sleeping in your own bed after having been gone for too long. This is re-watching your favourite movie from childhood. This is the smell of birthday parties as a child, cupcakes with vanilla frosting and strawberries and coffee in the air. This is a shower after a long day. Your favourite meal. A photo album from when you were young. Your most beloved song. It is bliss.

On the stereo you can hear “I want hold your hand” by The Beatles over the faint sound of chatter. The whole place smells of fried food, yet his scent is so clear to you and you want to just cuddle up beside him, breath in the familiarity of him. So, you move closer and he wraps an arm around you, a big smile on his face. He kisses your forehead again and you smile.

“And what are you ordering?” A waitress asks you both, tapping a notepad with her pen.

“Do you have champagne?” you ask, only half joking. You might not have felt like celebrating all evening, but you do now.

“No” is her answered, not amused.

“Oh, well, fries? And a milkshake, strawberry, please” You smile at her, but she doesn’t melt, just writes down your order.

“And you?” She turns to Timmy.

“Oh, I’ll have fries too, and a coke, thank you”. He smiles too but the waitress still refuses to be charmed. She does however jot down his order too before dutifully rushing off to the kitchen.

Timmy looks down at you, and the smile he gives you, you swear it is radiant. You swear you see stars in his eyes. You swear he looks at you so fondly you’re more than half in love with him again. But then you think, did you ever stop. Because sure, without him you were still breathing, you still functioned as you should. You still walked your dog, went to work, cooked dinner, showered. You still went out with friends. Still laughed. You went on the business of living. All the while you missing him. It was with you like a constant ache between your ribs. Sure, the first week after he left had been almost insufferable, like something vital had, without grace or ceremony, been ripped out of your body. But you had picked up the pieces of your life and you had dusted yourself off and you had gotten on with it. And here he was, smiling down at you with stars in his eyes. You don’t feel angry, but you wonder if maybe you should. For although he felt as familiar as a cuddly toy from childhood you needed answers.

“Why did you leave?”

His smile fades, he takes a shaky breath and leans his forehead against yours, as if to collect himself. Then, with an apparent effort he pulls himself together and sits up straight again, one arm still draped around you.

“I just” a long paus. “I just thought you deserved better, I suppose”. You sit quietly and think this over. “Was that not up for me to decide?” you ask, gently. He lets out a shaky laugh. “Yeah” he agrees sounding bitter, and then, sounding almost embarrassed, “I got scared”. The way he says it sounds like a confession, and a fleeting though strikes you. He wants you to repent him for his sins. “What scared you?” Your voice is gentle and soft as a whisper. While you wait for his answer you find yourself absentmindedly painting little patterns over his hand. It seems to settle him.

“The intensity of it all, I guess” and again, he sounds embarrassed, almost shy, as he confesses this to you. He nuzzles up closer to you, seeking comfort. Leaning his head against yours as you both observe your intertwined hands. “It never happened to me, not like that” and then adding, sensing your confusion “love, I mean. It never happened to me in that way, like I’d been struck by lightning or something. When it happened before, if that even was love, it grew slowly and then slowly faded. But this felt like, like” he seems at a loss for words for a second “like being thrown out of my orbit and it scared me. Being with you scared me, like I’d do fucking anything for you, be anyone for you. It just got really intense, really quick.”

You don’t know what to say to that. Before the silence can drag out too long the waitress returns with your food which she places it in front of you before scurrying off. You untangle your hand from his grasp to grab a hold of your milkshake.

“Timmy” you start but he interrupts you, “no mon ange, please, let me explain properly first”. You can tell that the endearment slipped out without him having meant to use it, for it startles you both, and you can feel the wound in your heart pulling at its seams again. You then know that without realizing it a big part of you had just assumed that he was back in your life again, and back to stay. And hearing him call you his angel again in that familiar way, as if he had never gone made you question if he really was yours to keep. He realizes that he has made you tense up and he hurriedly tries to fix it, “shit, I’m sorry babe” and there’s the other one.

And a river of memories flows over you.

A white room, with white curtains flowing in the wind as sunshine streams through them. Laying on white sheets on the hotel bed as he moves above you. You are laughing and moaning and touching. Then, a shaky whisper that might as well have been a praying in your ear as he comes, dragged out in all its glory, “babe”.

In a cinema at a movie premiere and on the screen your boyfriend having sex with another woman. You know it’s all pretend but it doesn’t stop the sinking feeling in your gut as you watch them. Then, his warm hand grasping yours, leaning in to whisper in your ear, “it’s all pretend, mon ange, I love you”.

Fighting over a game of scrabble in your apartment “Babe, I really can’t help it if ‘squeeze’ is spelled with a Z and not an S!” “Alright, then you shouldn’t be allowed to spell ‘quickly’ with a CK!” Silence. Then “but that’s the correct spelling, that’s what it should be spelled like!”

“Fuck babe, you look amazing” his admiring eyes from across the room, and then his hands in your hair as he kisses you and you laughing into that kiss. “No, where going to be late!” “Fuck them”. Laughter again and then “No, fuck me”.

A telephone call in the middle of the night. Unexpected. You’re out on the balcony, hoping the cold air will make you feel less numb. “I’m sorry, mon ange, I just can’t do it anymore”.

And then you’re back to reality again. “Babe, are you all right?” Timmy’s worried voice in your ear as he leans over you, trying to pull you back from the memories. “Look at me, please look at me, babe”. You do. He has tears in his eyes, you can tell he’s not far from shedding them. “Let me explain, I didn’t mean for it to sound like that, all I meant was that, that” and he looks so frustrated at not being able to put words on his own feelings. “All I mean is that, is that it felt like, that I felt like I loved you so much that I” he stops again and you wish you could help him formulate whatever it is he’s struggling with. “It felt so intense and it scared me. I wasn’t ready for it to happen to me like that, love I mean. I wasn’t ready for you. It scared me. I was a coward and I’m sorry”.

You kiss him. Not passionately or fervently but gently and deliberately.

“Alright” you say before finally taking a sip of your now somewhat melted strawberry milkshake. It tastes heavenly, although kissing Timmy might just taste better. You look up at him, and he seems almost frozen in place, staring back at you with stars in his eyes again. “Wanna taste?” you ask, referring to the milkshake in your hand. He nods but doesn’t place his lips around the straw, instead he places them on your lips again. It’s still slow and gentle, but this time there’s a fever behind it. Like he wants to make up for all the time spent apart.

Eventually you move away, smiling. He’s smiling too. You both tuck into your food and suddenly you feel starving. He’s still got one arm draped around you and he’s playing with your hair. And your chatting with one another. About all the small but important things that has happened in the others absence. You talk movies and music and travel too.

Before you know its early morning.

And here is how it goes. You leave the diner, still arm in arm, and make your way out into the morning. The glitter on your couture dress sheen in the sun and your limbs feel heavy with sleep deprivation. He manages to get you both a taxi and you make your way across New York City. His hand is warm in yours. You nearly fall asleep against his shoulder. The sky is a clear blue outside and the sun is beaming, and the taxi driver is humming along to the radio. It is Sunday and outside people are eating breakfast alfresco, enjoying time with their loved ones. The whole world seems to be smiling with you today.

And then you are at his apartment. He helps you out of your dress and you help him with the many buttons in his dress shirt. Body’s exhausted you both lay down in his bed, naked naked as the day you were born.

And this is how it goes. He holds you. He says softly, voice hardly more than a whisper “I won’t be a coward this time, promise. Promise I won’t leave again. Not unless you ask me to”. You turn around and you kiss him. And you trust him. And you fall asleep holding each other.

***

This is a repost from my previous blog.

#timothee chalamet #timothee x reader #timothee x you #timothee x y/n #timothee chalamet x reader #timothee chalamet x you #timothée x reader #timothée x you #timothée chalamet

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hitsuackerman · 4 years

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Unpredictable (Overhaul x Reader) pt.28

a/n: aye have mixture of fluff and angst~ sorry for uploading late :c MY SCHEDULE IS SUCH A KILLER I CANNOT STRESS IT ENOUGH huhuhu

warnings: this cannot be read solo

Links: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 11, part 12, part 13, part 14, part 15, part 16, part 17, part 18, part 19, part 20, part 21, part 22, part 22, part 23, part 23.5, part 24, part 25, part 26, part 27, part 29

Masterlist to my other fics: here :) (that has not been updated for how many months now... proceed with caution~)

“Is that really you, Inspector (l/n)?” The hero asked. With each step she took, you made sure Chisaki’s face wouldn’t be seen. “It’s late.”

“Hey, Enigma~” Lowering his head to rest on your shoulder, you smiled at the small quiet hero. “It is late~ We’re not causing a disturbance are we?”

“Of course not! But I don’t think this is the place to be…” She scratched her cheek and avoided your eye contact. “You know…”

“I know~ I apologize. He’s typically busy and we don’t get to hang out much.” You patted his back and continued. “He’s also very shy and doesn’t like to be seen in public.”

“Oh! I’m very sorry! But, if you don’t mind, would it be alright if the both of you continued elsewhere?”

“It’s fine! We were just going separate ways.” You consoled her and knew that her reaction was safe enough. At least you were fast enough to cover his face. “I told you, Shinoda-san. Heroes patrol these times of the night.”

“Forgive my rash decision.” He rested his head on your shoulder. Embarrassed that he had been this close to kissing you. Disappointed that it was barely a few centimeters and yet even such trivial things like these, the heroes would always disturb him. For now, all he could do was to wrap his arms around your body.

“Don’t wear your mask.” You whispered to him. He merely hummed. Gliding your hands on to his chest, he looked at you with cautiously eager eyes. Feeling how you pushed him he let you lead the way till the hood of his car hit thighs. “Enigma’s gone. You can turn around now.”

“I apologize for my actions.” Overhaul said as he took out his mask and wore it. “I was not expecting those bastards to roam this area at night.”

“You come here often?”

“Many years back. That apartment building, the third one.” He pointed it out. “Before the Shie Hassaikai was established, Kurono and I used to live there.”

“Wait, wait, wait… You and Chrono were roomies?” You stared at your companion, to the building, and back at him. A small pang of pain hit your forehead just as he had overhauled his glove back. “Well, no need to flick me, Chisaki.”

“Whatever it is your mind was thinking, no. We weren’t roomies.” He pinched your cheek and leaned on to the hood. “Neighbors. Pops owns that building. It’s one of the properties not involved with my business.”

“You know, I’d ask but perhaps we can schedule another meeting for that.” You took the vacant area beside him. With a bit of space in between, you placed your hand beside his. Just a reminder that the invitation still remains open.

“Of course.” Looking at your figure beside him, he furrowed his brows and shook his thoughts away. “Then again, we really should go separate ways. I hate having to take my mask off.”

“You know, you don’t have to take it off when you’re with me.” Elbowing him gently, you chuckled. “Don’t get me wrong, though. I like looking at your face. I just don’t want people to see you. Especially not with how things are going.”

“Nah.” Not expecting that word to come out of his mouth, the both of you met eyes at the same time. Adjusting the cloth, he tried to hide the slowly creeping heat on his cheeks. “You’re rubbing off on me, (y/n). That aside, it isn’t really bothersome if I take it off when you’re around. Your expressions are worth breathing the horrid air.”

“Ugh. Smooth talker.” You pouted. Taking a peak at your watch, the time was now quarter to one. As much as you wanted to stay and get to know more of the man behind the name, he was right. Flinching at the sudden weight on your hand, you looked down and found his on top of yours.

The kiss may not have happened but if it were compensated with this small act of intimacy then perhaps it wasn’t that bad. Carefully interlacing your fingers, you were more than relieved when he moved along and held on to your hand tightly. Maybe it was fine if you were to lean on to his arm and rest your head on his shoulder?

Just as you were about to attempt, Chisaki pulled you closer to him.

“You’re too obvious…” He said as he rested his head on yours. “We already have to leave in a few minutes. If you won’t do it then I will.”

“I swear this feels like a fever dream…” You commented earning a ruffle to the hair with his free hand. “Alright, alright. It’s real. You better not bug me Chisaki or I swear I will block you.”

“Well, now that this has happened, shall we take our leave now?”

“Is it bad to say that I’d rather stay here?”

“Are you suggesting we sleep in the car?” He poked your cheek.

“And have you drowned in your car’s germs? I’d rather not.” Standing up straight, you took a few steps and only then realized he still had not let go of your hand. “If you don’t let go, I’ll have to rethink sleeping in the car. And frankly speaking, sleeping in cars is not the most comfortable experience.”

“Right again.” Letting go of your hand, he too stood up. “In that case, I shall send a message when I get back to the base.”

“And I’ll message you when I arrive home.”

“Fair trade.”

To which you did not. Right after both your cars went separate ways, your phone vibrated with a message from Tsukuachi. Parking at the nearest allowable area, you grabbed your device and read the message. Rereading the text, you clicked dial.

“Are you for real?”

“I wasn’t expecting you to read it now.” He stifled a yawn and continued. “Unfortunately yes. If you can drop by the precinct, I can hand them over to you so you can get a head start.”

“Nao, it’s 1am.”

“And yet here we are, talking on the phone like the rats we are.”

Letting out a sigh, you ended the call. Rubbing your face, you leaned your head on the steering wheel and stared at your hand. Chewing on your lip, you began to recall the moment that had happened a mere minutes ago. Being able to hold his hand out in public had a different tingle.

Not long after, you were now seated beside Tsukauchi. Accepting the small cup of coffee, you waited as he filed through some documents. Taking small peaks at some of the letters, you saw how some names of villains you knew of were written down and crossed out. When Tsukauchi stopped at a particular piece of paper, he handed it over.

“Damn. It really is happening.” You set the paper aside and took a sip of your now cold beverage. “Do you need any help for the preparations? I can pull an all nighter if needed.”

“Would it be alright? It’s bad enough the schedule keeps changing.” Glancing at the paper and to the calendar, Tsukauchi stared at your tired eyes. “With this, the Fukuo Kai case will commence a week from now. Are you ready to focus on Nighteye’s?”

“From the middle, I have been focusing on their case. I just didn’t expect it to happen too soon.” Playing with the hems of your sweater, you rested your elbows on your knees and covered your face. “Wanna go to the rooftop?”

“Not thinking of bailing now, are you?” Tsukauchi said as he began to clear his desk and stand up. “What’s on your mind, hmm?”

“I just met with 2 people I shouldn’t have any business with.” You weakly chuckle as you lead the way to the rooftop. Opening the doors, you felt your breathing grow heavy. The sudden claminess of the narrow pathway was not good for your running mind. Holding onto Tsukauchi’s sleeve, you were more than thankful he was willing to listen.

Taking the final step, Tsukauchi unlocked the hatch and granted access to the rooftop. The night sky was still dark and barely held any stars. Light pollution framed the horizon while the street lamps casted a yellow-orange glow to the roads below.

“What happened?”

“Levi specifically told the heroes not to mess with my work.” You began. “It went well but not for long. I had to bug the Shie Hassaikai after a few days Levi left. Only an idiot would refuse knowing my stance with the two parties.”

“Was it successful?”

“It was. The anon tip we had from before was Chronostasis. He gave me Overhaul’s sim card and I kinda just took the opportunity to let him plant the chip for me. It was going smoothly till a few hours ago. Nighteye told me that they were still getting feedback even though Chrono destroyed the device.”

“Where did things go wrong? It just seems like a loyalty test to me.”

“I don’t even know if I passed at this point.” Taking your phone out, you opened the gallery and showed him the picture of the hidden camera. “They bugged me. I’m not certain if they saw what went on inside my unit but the fact that they saw him entering and exiting as he pleases makes my blood boil.”

“Then it means they saw his face?” His eyes widened.

“As far as I know, he only took his mask off around the living room area, his room, or mine.” Trying to recall, each time he entered the kitchen he used the other door connecting to the living room. Thank the quirk gods your apartment was designed that way. “I don’t even know if it transmits audio.”

Squatting on the floor you rubbed your face once more and raked your fingers through your hair. Pulling on the clumps a bit, you released a small shaky sigh.

“I’m guessing the second person you met was the reason for all this?” Tsukauchi took the initiative and sat on the empty space beside you. “What happened with him?”

“He knew about Chrono helping me and about the other bug running around. Told me that heroes needed to have fun too. Bastard.” No matter how much you twisted your views, Chisaki Kai was always Overhaul first. “I… I just don’t know what to do anymore, Nao.”

Closing your eyes, a small whimper left your mouth as tears began to fall.

“Things are just so fucking complicated that I… I don’t even know what step I should do next. I want justice to prevail but no matter what I do…”

“You’ve really fallen down the rabbithole, huh?” Tsukauchi commented as he gave soft pats on your back. “Then again, who wouldn’t? You’re literally stuck in the middle and have to be on edge more than usual. Other than that, you held up pretty well.”

“I can’t even clear my name at this point. If things ever go wrong in the Shie Hassaikai raid, my name will definitely make it into the possible accomplice list.” You bit your lip and clenched your fists. “Gods I hate this so fucking much. I told him I had it under control when in reality I’m as stuck as a rat on a glue board.”

“Don’t go using that analogy.” Tsukauchi still continued to pat your back. “Think of us as hamsters. We’re pretty cute and intelligent. Just give it a bit of time and I’m sure you’ll think of something. I bet you wouldn’t want your dad to partake in any of your problems so best not to pop up in your estate.”

“I know it’s a law for heroes not to kill but what if…”

“I doubt he’ll die in battle. Overhaul is a B-Rank villain. The most that’ll happen would be for him to be knocked out unconscious or bloody at the end of the day.” Yet even as he said those words, Tsukauchi wasn’t too confident. It would be a lie on his part if he said things would be fine. “Who knows? He might have some sort of magical epiphany and surrender to lessen his charges.”

“Now that you mention it,” You wiped your tears away and sat down properly. “I’ve never really read what happens to higher rank villains after they get captured. The highest I’ve handled was just D-ranked ones.”

“Hmmm…” Now that the topic was open, he too hadn’t really thought too much about it knowing his and your department weren’t incharge of what happens after the dirty work. “Standard procedures. They’ll search the area once more and take proper inventory. Say that Overhaul is merely strained, they would pat him down and once he’s clear and in the precinct or designated area, he’ll have to sign a document signifying that the given list is all that he owns. He’ll be then taken to a private area to have his fingerprints, mug shot, and other necessary information.”

“He probably won’t get a hearing.”

“Right you are. He’ll most likely be sent to Tartarus if that’s what you’re asking.”

“If he does, who do you think would handle it? The HPSC?”

“Most likely. Still, they have a lot on their hands so his case would surely collect dust.” He paused and let out a yawn. “If it were you, would you grant him a second chance in life?”

“Heh, If it were up to me...” Looking at the now starless skies, you felt a chill run down your spine. “Personal emotions aside, of course not.”

“But?”

“You really think I’d break into Tartarus just to save one villain and give him a better life?” You smirked and stood up.

“Of course not.” He chuckled and stood up as well. “Even the dumbest person knows that’s suicide. Go home and get some rest, (y/n). We’ll handle this later in the day.”

Giving you some privacy, Tsukauchi excused himself first. Hearing the door latch click, you took your phone out and dialed a number. It only took 3 rings before the other line picked up.

“Well now,” The cheeky voice said. “What can I help you with dove?”

- - - - -

Overhaul’s waiting list: @jjk-biased @infinite-universe-love @dirtypride @blackymomo03 @azzie @purple-rabanito @meximorrita @awesomeee19 @celestial-kanzakii @laure-lo @team-wang-puppy @aydience-world @choros-main-hoe @colorseeingchick @franko-pop @o-dragon05 @but-kairis-not-that-smart (i cant seem to tag again :( hope this lands in your timelines!)

I hope yall liked this chapter annnd if you want to be tagged feel free to comment :’) your comments make my day and make me happy huhu <3

#overhaul x reader #chisaki kai x reader #overhaul #bnha overhaul #mha overhaul #bnha chisaki kai #mha chisaki kai #shie hassaikai #bnha x reader #long fic #i hate my schedule so much

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avatraang · 3 years

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20 Stories, 20 First Lines

Thanks for the tag @foxy-knowledgeseeker and @thinkingisadangerouspastime <3

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line. Then tag 10 authors!

20 fics and first lines is absolutely massive, so i’m gonna post them under the cut for the convenience of everyone. if you dare to read, thank you!

1. define divinity.

Suki’s time in Caldera City has been pretty eventful so far. Training new agents, fending off assassination attempts. Trying new foods, adjusting to the new climate, the culture. She’s been here almost a year and still feels like there’s so much she hasn’t learned, so much to become accustomed to. Zuko says she’s doing great, but he’s also… Zuko, so Suki doesn’t really know what to think of that.

2. infinite and always.

Aang comes and goes, and that is the hardest part.

3. lazy sunday.

Sokka is half-asleep when she kisses him. It’s a Sunday morning, the type of Sunday morning that makes you realize why the day is called “lazy.” They’re laying on her bed, in and out of easy slumber. It’s not an abnormal occurrence – they have sleepovers all the time, in the same bed, on the same couch. They cuddle, hold each other, keep each other company, keep the loneliness at bay. It’s familiar, like home. They are each other’s closest confidants, after all. It helps that they are in love with each other and are avoiding it, but still. Of course this isn’t strange.

4. when the sun goes down.

It’s a rainy day when Aang feels her presence. To say they are tied together is an understatement – Aang is connected to all worlds, but to her more than most. The way his scar almost stands on end, a phantom of electricity ghosting across it. He often feels such thunder in his veins when she’s nearby, the universe’s way of reminding him that he is tied to her in more ways than the norm.

5. we’ll keep on growing like ivy.

The first time Mai meets him, she thinks perhaps she’s dreaming. It’s late, around one in the morning, and she’s walking back from the library on campus with one hand on her umbrella and the other on the knife tucked into her sleeve. Ba Sing Se University isn’t particular dangerous, but Mai is a foreigner in these parts, and it’s better safe than sorry. She sees him on the roof of the cafeteria, feet dangling, one hand raised above him as he bends the rain away. She watches the way it bounces off his hand, the other one busy holding an ice cream cone. It's a strange sight -almost like something out of a fever dream. There’s a yellow beanie on his head, which, if he was trying to conceal himself, is a pretty awful attempt at it.

6. she loves him still.

This is how it goes:

The world is thrown into turmoil the morning he dies. The elements tremble. People as far away as Harbor Town claim to have felt the earth quake, and those at sea as distant as the coast of Akahime swear to the Spirits that a tsunami threatened to devastate their lands. Any flames within a twenty-mile radius reportedly shot up, burning holes into ceilings and ruining breakfasts. Lamps are said to have burst and shattered. Air acolytes claim a breeze swept through the compounds, so strong it cut down a tree that had stood on the island for over a hundred years.

7. the sweetest rewards.

Toph is sitting opposite of Aang, silent as stone. She’s inspecting him; Aang can tell by the way her feet shift almost imperceptibly, scanning his body. Finally, Toph breaks the silence. “When do you think they’ll be done?” She nods towards the kitchens.

8. lunam et familia.

17.

Sokka is sitting at the edge of the temple side when Toph finds him. They are resting at the Western Air Temple, taking a break from diplomacy trips that Aang had roped them into. His feet are swinging over the edge, palms planted flat on the ground, head tilted up towards what she supposes “seeing” folk perceive to be moonlight. Everyone else is fast asleep, deep within the temple walls, except for him. Toph moves to step towards him, to ask Sokka why he’s still awake, but then she hears him speak.

9. seen.

“What is that?” Zuko asks Sokka one day, leaning over his desk to peek at the swell of color Sokka is adding detail to.

10. purple lilacs and pilfered letters.

“NO!”

"Sokka, I swear on Oma and Shu-”

"NOOOOO!”

"Sokka!”

11. as simple as breathing.

con·sti·tu·tion

/ˌkänstəˈt(y)o͞oSH(ə)n/

noun

noun: constitution; plural noun: constitutions

a body of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is acknowledged to be governed.

Toph is 23 when Sokka tells her he’s addicted to smoking.

12. jealous of the love.

It’s raining outside when he notices it for the first time. Well, not it. Her. He’s new in Republic City, so she took a day off to show him around. Katara had expressed her mild surprise that Toph, the Chief of Police, had taken a day off to show Sokka, of all people, around… Toph didn’t even take days off when Zuko came into town, and that was rarer than Sokka’s appearances. Plus, it’s not like he’s leaving any time soon. If all goes well, he’ll win his position on the council and move to Republic City, permanently.

13. fortune telling, reincarnation, love, and other (somewhat dubious) forms of science.

Toph doesn’t really bat an eye when she gets a letter from a small Earth village in the middle of bumbafuck. Her secretary reads it to her and she shrugs it off; it gets thrown on her dining room table most unceremoniously. She spends the rest of the week doing what she usually does: focusing on her school and being a little too bored. To be grounded is in her nature, but Toph also has a strange tendency to get restless. Her body starts to twitch and her spirit grows bored. Nothing good has ever come from a bored Toph.

14. why do we put each other through hell? (why can’t we just get over ourselves?)

“How have you never seen a Superman movie?” Penelope’s voice is loud -per the usual- and unbelieving -per not the usual. She’s staring at him like he’s got eight eyes instead of six, like he’s spoken Russian instead of English.

15. firelady.

Suki is born a commoner.

16. between me and you.

"Ms Bei Fong," the voice cuts through the air with practiced precision, a note of affection ringing in it even through the poised professionalism. "I didn't expect to see you here."

17. a ring made of silver.

#01 – Ring.

It starts out simply enough, a breath of a laugh here, a memory of a whisper there; trinkets left behind to find, conversations forgotten, a ring made of light silver that he takes off when they're muttering and forgets to take back: she goes to give it back the next morning, before even the owls have fallen asleep, but he engages her in a debate on how long it took Dumbledore to grow out his beard, instead, and next thing she knows she's in Arithmancy and the ring is on her thumb, forgotten.

18. a girl who will never be a nun (and a man who will make sure of it).

To: Mother (10/9/2016, 01:02) i didn't *mean* to do it

19. to tell you properly.

She's at his doorstep, and they stare at each other for a moment too long, her backpack slung over her shoulder and Fraxure standing next to her. "Well," he finally says, and there's pain in his eyes, written clear across the stars that are reflected inside them. Not for the first time, she feels a pang in her heart. "I guess this is goodbye. For a bit, at least."

20. (just say) you won’t let go.

Hermione finds her way to Fred's flat easily enough, apparating in just as he'd instructed her. She shakes the snow from her jacket and slips her boots off, feet sore and heavy from the day. His flat is dark, darker than usual, but it's only when Hermione takes in the worrisome silence that she pulls her wand out and holds it before her, gathering her wits and taking a step forward. Silently, she scans the apartment with a spell, relaxing only slightly when she registers only one other person in the apartment; out on the balcony. She walks briskly over to it and finds red hair framed by night, drooped shoulders defeated by exhaustion.

i definitely love to open up a story by describing either a setting or an action. very few times do i open up with dialogue... interesting! wonder what that says about me O.O

i think my favorite opening line would have to be the one from “infinite & always.” it’s such a short but impactful line! aang DOES come and go, and that IS the hardest part!

thanks again the tag, e-money and a-dawg B) i’m tagging @cats-and-metersticks, @praetorqueenreyna, and @justoceanmyth :)

#my writing #my fanfiction #tag meme #tokka #aanglove #fremione #alvareider #wishfulshipping #maiaang #azulaang #zukaang #yueki #almost missed my queue #rey rambles

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soobiniebaby · 4 years

Text

Angels & Devils Part XII : See Them Burn in Fire

Tomorrow x Together Fanfiction

~ p a r t s : main post || prologue || part 1 || part 2 || part 3 || part 4 || part 5 || part 6 || part 7 || part 8 || part 9 || part 10 || part 11 || part 12 || part 13 || part 14 || part 15 || part 16 || part 17 ~ p a i r i n g : love triangle involving choi soobin and choi yeonjun ~ g e n r e : high school au | some social media au | some fluff & angst | childhood friends | love triangle ~ l a n g u a g e : English ~ w a r n i n g : contains swearing, alcohol, kissing (?) and may contain mature themes (angst, etc.) ~ a / n : This will be my first fanfic (go easy on me pls) and i’m just writing this as I go along, so bear with me juseyo The setting (place/country) of the story is up to the reader’s interpretation ~ s u m m a r y : What should she choose? Han Baby: the new girl with a troubled past MO Academy: her new high school Choi Soobin: student council president, member of the Ecosave club, volunteer at the Humane Treatment of Animals, member of the Honor Society, a vocalist in the Jazzed club, the school’s all around golden boy Choi Yeonjun: leader of the Dance club, star of the Jazzed club, the school’s it boy with a bad rep 5 best friends, 1 new girl, 1 childhood friendship, 1 epic love triangle? What will this school year bring?

“Ningning, please help me, I’m freaking out.”

It was currently September 9, Wednesday, her third day of being back at MOA, and she was indeed freaking out.

Her first few days being back at MOA felt like a fever dream wherein she was the main character in some cheesy teen romcom who had somehow gained the affections of the school’s it boy, complete with montages of everyone’s eyes following the 2 of them whenever they walked around campus together and scenes of them spotted around campus holding hands (complete with Taehyun constantly reminding them “Physical contact within campus grounds is prohibited!”), staring at each other like the lovesick teenagers that they were, even pulling their face masks down to steal kisses when no one was looking.

She never realized how big of a reaction their dating news would gain until she actually saw it; the stares, the whispers, even the attention that Yeonjun’s tweet got, which garnered over a thousand likes, which was a bit concerning since Yeonjun’s twitter account was fairly new yet not really surprising considering how popular he was.

She didn’t really mind the stares and whispers. It’s not like she hasn’t been the main topic at school before, but now the attention was for something that she was actually happy about, so in a way it felt nice. What she was freaking out about, however, was Beomgyu’s reply to Yeonjun’s tweet.

It was only when she asked Kai about it did she find out that Yeonjun’s birthday was on the 13th of September, which was only 4 days away, and she had no clue what she would give to him as a gift.

“How do you think I can help?” Kai asks, confused. “I’m just his friend, you’re his girlfriend. You’ve always been great at giving gifts anyway, I’m sure that whatever you get him, he’ll love it.” he says matter-of-factly.

B groans. “You’ve known him for longer than I have! And I don’t know what I can put together on such short notice.” she whines, which was true. The fact that their relationship was new made it even more difficult since she didn’t know a lot about what sort of things Yeonjun really liked yet. “Do you guys have any plans for his birthday?”

Kai nods. “We’re all getting individual gifts, but duh we’re throwing him a kick ass party.” he says. “We always have big parties when someone’s birthday comes up. The best part is, by Saturday night I’ll be medically cleared and ready to get wasted.” he says excitedly.

“I could help you guys with the party, but what gift can I get him? What can you give someone who already has everything?” B wonders out loud. It was no secret that Yeonjun was loaded and could have anything he wanted at the snap of his fingers, which only made it harder for B to come up with a meaningful gift.

“Easy, give him something that only you can give him.” Ryujin pipes up. She walked home with B after school to hang out since the guys were busy with their weekly student council meeting, but the truth was, Kai had pleaded with B to invite Ryujin so he could ask for a little bit of help about how he should ask Yuna out, which was the first thing they talked about when Ryujin arrived. She had given Kai good advice and was looking forward seeing how he’d ask their friend out, though Kai said he would wait for the right time to do it, which made Ryujin roll her eyes at him and call him a chicken, which he accepted.

“Something only I can give him? Like what?” B asks desperately.

Ryujin stands up from her spot on the couch, grabs a ribbon from one of the blue rose bouquets that Yeonjun had given to B and stands over her. “Simple. Here, take this.” she says, handing the ribbon to B, which she takes gingerly.

“Then tie it around yourself.” Ryujin instructs her, which she follows cluelessly.

“Now what?” B asks, the bow tied around her torso.

“Strike a pose and tell him ‘Happy birthday Yeonjun, unwrap me.’” she says, smirking.

“Eugh, please don’t.” Kai says, visibly cringing.

Meanwhile, B was visibly blushing, untying the ribbon and tossing it aside. “I—um, as s—special as that sounds, I, uh, don’t think that’s something I can give just yet.” she says, flustered at what Ryujin was suggesting.

Ryujin laughs. “Don’t worry, I was just kidding. You are too precious, B.” she says, ruffling the top of B’s head. “Don’t ever do that unless you’re 100% ready by the way.”

“Okay, that’s already more than I need to hear.” Kai says, covering his ears with his hands. “Anyway, Baba I’m sure you’ll figure something out.” Kai says, trying to change the topic. “If you want my advice, I suggest you get him something heartfelt, maybe something with special meaning to him.”

B sighs. “I guess. Maybe I’ll ask the other guys for help.” she says, whipping her phone out and creating a new group chat.

Soobin sighs as he drops his phone, leaving it atop the conference table, leaning back in his seat at the head of the table as he watches his 3 present members continue with the meeting.

Surprisingly, being the student council president wasn’t as difficult as he thought it would be. His members did their assigned jobs well and took their respective roles seriously, so his job was mostly to oversee things and make final approvals. Taehyun usually led their meetings, and one of Soobin’s main tasks was to make sure that the younger boy could effectively take his place as president once Soobin graduated, which Soobin had no worries about since he saw Taehyun as his right hand man, both in and out of the student council, considering how the younger boy had been especially close to him the past few days.

The past few days haven’t been very easy on Soobin, considering that the girl he found himself falling in love with and the blue haired boy he was best friends with had officially come out as a couple. It was bad enough that he had to see them constantly hold hands and stare at each other with googly eyes whenever they hung out, but news of them dating became one of the hottest topics at school, so even when he wasn’t with them he would still hear the people around him talking about them nonstop. He had no escape.

The only person he could share his true feelings with was Taehyun, his righthand man, who had figured out Soobin’s whole situation and had reached out to him as soon as the news broke out.

Since then, he always felt Taehyun watching him closely, especially when they were all eating lunch at the gazebo or hanging out the Kang’s café after school. For Soobin, it felt nice to know that there was someone by his side who understood what he was going through, so hiding his true feelings didn’t feel as tiring.

Soobin is snapped back into the present as Taehyun says “That concludes this week’s meeting. Next week, we’ll be tackling the annual Fall Ball that will be taking place on October, so you better prepare suggestions for the theme by then.” he says, referring to one of the school’s biggest social events and one of the 3 annual school dances that took place at MOA every year.

As Taehyun puts his things away, the other boys stretch out in their chairs and grab their phones, relieved that the meeting was finally over.

“Hey Tyun, I’ll be stopping by Baby’s place for a little while. My driver’s waiting for me outside, you wanna catch a ride with me?” Yeonjun says suddenly as he stands up, typing away at his phone the whole time.

Taehyun shakes his head even though Yeonjun’s eyes were focused on his phone. “You can go, there are a few additional ideas that I want to run through with our president first so I’ll be staying behind for a bit. Thanks, though.”

Yeonjun looks at him then and nods. “Alright then, see you guys tomorrow.”

The boys greet him goodbye, with Beomgyu going “I’ll walk out with you, my ride’s waiting too.” before the 2 boys disappear out of the room.

Soobin turns to Taehyun, confused. “You have additional ideas you want to run by me? What additional ideas?” he asks.

“Oh, I don’t know, the idea that you want to help the girl you love come up with a birthday gift for her boyfriend, maybe?” Taehyun says pointedly. “You should not be helping B with things like that, given the fact that you’re in love with her.”

“I—no, B is just—” Soobin sputters, caught off guard. “I’m not in love with her!”

“Holy shit! You’re in love with B?” a voice suddenly exclaims, making Taehyun jump in his seat and causing Soobin to yell out in surprise.

“Gyu! What are you doing here?” Soobin asks, shocked to see Beomgyu standing in the doorway. “I—Oh god you scared me! I thought you left with Yeonjun. What—?”

“I left my phone, so I told him to go ahead and I came back here to get it.” Beomgyu explains, and sure enough, the boys catch sight of Beomgyu’s cellphone which he had left on top of the conference table. Taehyun slaps his forehead, frustrated at himself for not noticing it earlier.

“I knew Taehyun said he had extra ideas to talk to you about, but I never could have imagined something like this.” Beomgyu says, his eyes wide. “Is it true? Soobin, are you in love with her?”

“I—no! N—no I’m not, I—I just—” Soobin sputters, his brain malfunctioning as he realizes that his secret was slowly starting to spread.

Taehyun puts a hand on Soobin’s shoulder to calm him down. “Gyu, I don’t know what you heard, but I think Soobin’s going through a lot right now, so it’s best if you pretend that this never happened, alright?” he says.

Beomgyu nods, grabbing his phone from the table before taking a seat beside the 2 boys. “Of course! Just act like I’m not even here. My lips are sealed.” he says, making a zipping motion over his mouth.

“Thanks, Gyu.” Soobin finally manages to say, taking deep breaths to calm himself down. “And to be clear, I am not in love with her. I might have a slight crush on her, but that doesn’t mean anything. She’s my friend, what’s wrong with wanting to help her find a good gift for one of my best friends?”

“Whatever you say.” Taehyun says. “And there’s nothing wrong with it per se, but I don’t think you should put up with their relationship any more than necessary. They are your friends, but I think it would be better if you don’t get involved.” he says, trying to give good advice. “Don’t take it the wrong way, cause it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be supportive of their relationship or anything. I mean, yes you’re their friend, but don’t get yourself involved in anything that has to do with their relationship.”

Soobin nods reluctantly, trying to understand where Taehyun was coming from. “Alright, I’ll keep that in mind, thanks Tyun.” he says. “It wouldn’t hurt to help B come up with a gift for Yeonjun though, right?”

Beomgyu nods. “True, that just means you’re a good friend who wants to be there and help a friend out.”

Taehyun sighs. “You’re an idiot, Gyu. And you’re hopeless, Soobin. I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

Soobin chuckles. “Don’t worry, Tyun. I don’t see how it can hurt any more than it already does anyway.”

Taehyun shakes his head. “I didn’t know you were such a masochist.”

“I never said I like the pain! I’m just saying, it can’t get any worse than this.” Soobin says defensively.

Oh, how horribly wrong he was.

•°•

The rest of the weekdays flew by quickly enough. Soobin had taken Taehyun’s advice and had been trying his best to avoid being around Yeonjun and B longer than necessary, making sure that he had a clear boundary between being their friend who was happy for them and being their friend who would go out of his way to involve himself in their relationship.

Meanwhile, now that Beomgyu knew about his secret, Soobin could feel an extra pair of eyes practically burning into his skull every time they hung out. Taehyun was an expert at hiding his feelings and understood that Soobin just wanted things to be as normal as possible, but Beomgyu had started to treat him like he was delicate, often giving him pitiful looks and being extra nice to him, which Soobin could only hope wouldn’t come off as suspicious to the rest of the group.

It turns out that the boys didn’t have to put together a party for Yeonjun since his father had organized one on his own, renting out one of the only night clubs in their town for Saturday night, inviting a few people whom he thought would be beneficial for Yeonjun to mingle with and telling Yeonjun that he was free to invite whomever else he wanted to, which was basically the entire high school population of MO Academy.

“Did your dad really rent out a whole club just so he could throw you a business networking event disguised as a birthday party?” Beomgyu comments as he and the 3 boys stood in front of said club, waiting for the last 2 members of their group to arrive.

Yeonjun shrugs. “It’s still a party, just gonna have to deal with a few ‘unwanted’ guests I guess.” he says. “I’m not sure which pretentious rich kids from the business world my dad invited though, so I’ll have to go back and forth between partying with you guys and entertaining whoever snotty douches he’s invited.”

“And we will try to stay as far away from them as possible. I don’t think I can put up with any more pretentious rich kids.” Taehyun says, crossing his arms over his chest. “I think dealing with you guys everyday is about as much as I can handle.”

“We are not pretentious rich kids!” Beomgyu says defensively, but when he sees Taehyun raise a brow, he backs down. “Right, sorry. Anyway, any word on where B and Hyuka are now? Why didn’t you guys go together again?” he asks Taehyun, knowing that he and B usually came together since they lived in the same building.

“She just said that she and Hyuka were dealing with a crisis and would be running a bit late and that I could go ahead, so I did, but I didn’t know that we’d end up waiting for them to arrive before going into the club.” Taehyun explains.

“It’s a Saturday night, they had the whole day to get ready so there’s no reason why they should be running late.” Beomgyu whines.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll be here soon.” Soobin says.

And right on cue, a car stops in front of the club. The boys wait and watch as the car idles for a few moments before the door flies open and Kai steps out, and the boys realize why the pair had been running late.

Even though he was medically cleared and recovered from chicken pox, Kai’s face was sprinkled with distinct spots all over his cheeks, and although they had been meticulously covered up with makeup, the bumps were still very visible.

Just as Soobin was about to comment on how Kai’s face looked like the back of a Hersheys cookies and cream chocolate bar, Kai extends an arm towards the inside of the vehicle, and a delicate hand appears, taking Kai’s hand in hers as the hand’s owner steps out of the car. Soobin could feel the words die in his throat as B comes into view, wrapping her hand around Kai’s arm before Kai closes the car door behind her.

She was breathtaking. Her long dark hair poured over her shoulders in gentle waves, her skin glowing in contrast to her dark hair and her midnight black dress, which hugged her small frame perfectly, the neckline dipping dangerously low and the slit cutting lethally high up her thigh, the dress reaching just a few inches above her knee. She looked especially tantalizing as she finished the look off with a pair of strappy heels and striking red lipstick, making her look like a movie star from the 1900s.

Soobin couldn’t bring himself to look away, even as he saw her look up and smile, giving a small wave towards their group. He couldn’t even smile back, he was so taken by how beautiful she looked, until Beomgyu spoke up, snapping him out of his trance.

“Stop undressing her with your eyes, Choi! She might catch a cold.” Beomgyu remarks teasingly.

Soobin nearly chokes on his own spit, his eyes automatically looking down at the ground feeling ashamed at the thought of someone catching him staring at B, until Yeonjun laughs and Soobin realizes that the comment was meant for Yeonjun all along.

Why did they have to have the same name?

“Sorry, I can’t help that my girlfriend looks insanely gorgeous, especially in that dress.” Yeonjun laughs, keeping his eyes on B the whole time as he wraps an arm around her shoulders and kisses her cheek. “You clean up really nicely, Baby.”

B smiles at him, a blush creeping up her cheeks. “Speak for yourself, birthday boy. You look particularly handsome tonight.” she comments.

“My birthday’s not until tomorrow though, I hope you have your gift ready.” Yeonjun responds.

“Don’t worry, I have the perfect gift for you.” B says, trailing fingers up his chest before gently tapping his nose. “Hope I won’t disappoint.”

“Baby, you alone are more than enough for me.” Yeonjun says, nuzzling his face in her neck, making her giggle.

“Eugh, that’s enough, you guys make me want to vomit. Let’s just go in already.” Kai groans, making the pair laugh.

“It’s my birthday and I’ll ogle my girlfriend if I want to.” Yeonjun laughs. “But you’re right, let’s go.” he says, leading the group forward as they walk up to the front doors of the club, the bouncer greeting them warmly as he recognizes Yeonjun’s face.

“Happy birthday, Sir Choi. Enjoy your evening.” the bouncer says, ticking their names off the guest list before leading them into the club.

•°•

“Truth or dare!” someone suggests. A small circle had gathered around one of the VIP tables, practically the same people as the ones who were playing Truth or Dare at Kai’s birthday party just a few weeks ago.

“But we already played that last time!” another person objects.

“Fine, um, how about Kiss or Tell? Have any of you heard of it before?”

When no one offers any response, Ryujin explains. “One person spins a bottle and when it lands on someone on their turn, they have to either kiss them or tell everyone a secret about that person.”

Everyone in the circle nods, ready to start the game.

“Alright let’s do this! First up, the birthday boy!” Beomgyu says, clapping his hands and reaching over to pass an empty bottle of Tequila to Yeonjun.

Yeonjun smiles as the circle cheers for him and spins the bottle, the cheering getting louder as the bottle stops.

Kai shrieks in horror as the tip of the bottle points to him, and before he can say a word, Yeonjun stands up and quickly plants a kiss on the younger boy’s forehead, the whole circle ringing with laughter.

Kai looks helplessly at Yuna sitting next to him, a bit horrified as he says “I can’t believe Yeonjun stole my first forehead kiss.”

Yuna laughs and simply says “It’s your turn.” before handing him the bottle, which he hesitantly spins.

The whole circle collectively go “Awww” as the bottle stop in front of Yuna.

Kai turns to her and asks “Have you ever had your forehead kissed before?”

“No, well, just by my parents I think.” she says, causing Kai to smile before planting a light kiss on her forehead, which instantly makes her go red.

“There you go, now your forehead’s been blessed!” Kai says teasingly. Feeling flustered, Yuna clears her throat before spinning the bottle and she watches as it lands on Ryujin.

As soon as Yuna opens her mouth to speak, Ryujin grabs her by the shirt and pulls her towards her, Yuna’s mouth smashing against the side of Ryujin’s face.

“I—uh, can she do that?” Yuna sputters. “I was gonna tell a secret but she kissed me! Is that cheating?”

Ryujin shrugs. “It’s kiss or tell, and you kissed, so now it’s my turn.” she says, wiping traces of Luna’s lip gloss off her cheek before spinning the bottle.

All around the circle, people “Ooh” as the bottle stops in front of Taehyun.

“Oh really? Of all the people here, this guy’s probably the only person I don’t know any secrets about! And he’s the last person in the circle, heck in the whole world, that I would ever consider kissing.” Ryujin whines.

“If you had chosen to say something, anything, any outrageously completely made up rumor I would have gladly gone along with it instead of having you kiss me, but that’s no longer an option thanks to your big mouth, so now neither of us has a choice.” Taehyun says dryly.

B laughs at their interaction. It was odd that 2 of her closest friends seemed to hate each other, but it was always entertaining to watch how snarky they could get when put together.

Ryujin gulps, not even bothering to hide how horrified she looked as she reluctantly made her way towards Taehyun. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you’re right.” she says, Taehyun visibly cringing as Ryujin slowly puts a finger under Taehyun’s chin and lifts it up until his forehead comes in contact with her lips.

The crowd cheers wildly as Ryujin pretends to gag, wiping her mouth as she made her way back to her seat. Meanwhile, Taehyun remained unfazed, mentally putting the whole thing behind him before grabbing the bottle and letting it spin, and he smiles in satisfaction when it lands on Beomgyu.

He rubs his chin with his hand as he contemplates what to say. “Hm, so many secrets, which one should I share about you Gyu?” he wonders, before his eyes light up as a particularly embarrassing memory comes into mind.

Beomgyu looks at Taehyun suspiciously as the boy starts to speak with a mischievous glint in his eye. “Oh, I know! One time, Gyu and I tried out this new Ramen place near the subway, and he—”

Before Taehyun could finish the story, Beomgyu’s eyes widen as he realizes which embarrassing secret his friend was about to reveal. In a state of panic, Beomgyu grabs his friend’s face in both his hands and pulls it towards his, their lips crashing together as people around the circle gasp and squeal in surprise.

Taehyun could feel his eyes, which were wide with surprise, start to close as he absorbs the fact that Beomgyu was kissing him, before Beomgyu pulls away, looking at him confused.

“Tyun, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to plant one on you I—I kinda panicked.” Beomgyu says in a hurry, trying to explain himself.

Taehyun shakes his head, still seemingly unfazed by the whole game. “There’s no need to apologize, Gyu.” he simply says, brushing off the feeling that Beomgyu was staring at him intently and drowning out the catcalls from the circle. “It’s your turn.” he says.

Beomgyu looks at him for a moment longer before he nods, shaking his head before spinning the bottle, watching as it lands on Soobin.

“Oh, Soobinie baby?” Beomgyu says teasingly, smirking when Soobin visibly freezes in place, staring at Beomgyu in horror as he realizes what Beomgyu was implying.

Beomgyu laughs at Soobin’s reaction. “Relax, Binie!” he says, knowing what Soobin was thinking. “I wouldn’t do you dirty like that. Okay, I’m sure some of you here already know this, but our dear President Soobinie…”

Everyone goes quiet, all eyes on Beomgyu as he reveals a secret. “Our dear President Soobinie, whom is known to hate exercising despite being on the basketball team and is notorious for his love for bread and ice cream, is actually very lean and muscular.”

A few girls around the circle sigh as they stare at Soobin with curious eyes, trying to visualize the muscles beneath his jacket, which causes Soobin to blush.

“Gyu, stop it.” he says bashfully. Beomgyu’s confession was true, Soobin really did have a rather fit physique, but the attention he was getting from Beomgyu’s revelation was making him squirm in his seat.

“It’s true! He even has abs!” Beomgyu exclaims, which makes Soobin blush even harder.

Beomgyu laughs, seeing how red his friend had turned. “You’re welcome.” he says, clapping him on the back. “Now it’s your turn.”

Soobin rubs his face in his hands, trying to wipe away the warmth from his cheeks, before grabbing the bottle and letting it spin.

He feels all eyes on him as the bottle stops, pointing at B.

B laughs with ease, unaware of the intense stares that Beomgyu and Taehyun were giving their friend. “Alright, Binnie, let’s get this over with! Kiss or tell?” she says, raising a brow at him.

Soobin found himself stuck. No particular secret about B came to mind, no matter how hard he tried to look back at all their past conversations, and no embarrassing moments had transpired between them either meaning that he had nothing to tell, so he had nothing to share, which meant that he had no choice but to go for the kiss option instead, which he definitely did not think was a good idea. It didn’t help that he could feel Taehyun and Beomgyu’s gazes burning into him either.

He decides to go for the safest option and spits out anything random instead. “I, um, I don’t know if anyone knew this already, but B…really wants a cat.” he finishes lamely.

Everyone stares at him blankly, underwhelmed by what he revealed.

“Well, that is true. I do really want to own a cat as a pet.” B offers, trying to keep the pace of the game going.

“But that’s hardly a secret!” Yuna comments. “Anyone who knows you can tell that you love cats enough to want one anyway.”

“Sorry, I guess I don’t really know any of B’s secrets.” Soobin says sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

Ryujin smirks. “You know what that means, then.” she says.

“What?” Soobin asks stupidly, not really understanding what she was implying.

“It’s Kiss or Tell, and since you have nothing to tell, that means that you have to kiss.” Yeonjun says, retracting his arm from B’s shoulders as he leans forward in his seat.

“Ah, um, I already said something though, so—?” Soobin begins, fumbling with his words, not really sure how to handle the situation.

Yeonjun raises his hands in the air. “Soobin, it’s fine, it’s just a game.” he says, lightly laughing. “Just go with it.” he assures.

Soobin nods, taking a deep breath before he stands up and makes his way over to B, being very mindful about the fact that her boyfriend was sitting right next to her.

B laughs upon seeing how nervous Soobin looked. “Soobin, what’s up with you?” she laughs. “Don’t be nervous! Here.” she says, tucking her hair behind her ear as she turns her face to the side, offering him her cheek. “Just a quick peck, don’t worry, it will be over before you know it.” she says teasingly.

Soobin laughs along. “Right. I’m sorry about this by the way.” he says, before leaning down and letting his lips brush softly against her cheek. He stands straight up as he says “There! Done!” before walking back to his seat with his head hanging down to hide his burning red cheeks, Taehyun clapping him on the back as he sits back down.

“And now it’s my turn.” B says, holding her breath as the bottle slows down and letting out a cheerful whoop as she sees who it finally stops on.

“Ha! Ningning, you are so done!” she squeals, laughing maniacally as she rubs her hands together deviously. “Oh my god, I have so many secrets, so much good shit about you, where do I even start?”

Kai jumps up then, catching everyone by surprise as he grabs B’s head and tries to get her lips to touch his face, and she tries her best to keep her lips tight together.

“Don’t you dare say a damn thing Han Baby!” he says desperately, making her laugh.

“Get away from me, ew, what are you doing!” she squeals, trying to shove him away. “Stop trying to make me kiss you! I have so much to tell!”

The sudden spectacle makes everyone in the circle burst out laughing, except Yuna, who was notably staring at the 2 best friends.

Unaware of Yuna’s unease, Kai continues pulling B’s head towards his face, before her lips accidentally make contact with his ear, and he finally lets go, pumping his fists in the air. “Ha! Now you can’t tell them anything!” he says triumphantly before making his way back to his seat and casually wrapping an arm around Yuna’s shoulders.

“Alright, I think that’s where the game ends for tonight!” Yuna exclaims, brushing off Kai’s arm around her shoulders as she stands up. “Now come on, let’s dance!” she says, grabbing Ryujin by the arm and pulling her away.

Everyone in the circle cheers, standing up and rushing to the dance floor.

“What do you say, birthday boy? Wanna dance?” B asks Yeonjun as the circle starts to clear out and go their separate ways.

“There’s actually a few people I have to say hi to, people from the business side of life.” Yeonjun says, checking his phone. “They’re mostly just people I’m obligated to socialize with, like the kids of some of our company’s business partners and stuff. You wanna come with me to meet them? I can introduce you.” he offers.

B thought about it for a moment, though she already knew that she didn’t feel like meeting a bunch of boring business kids and listen to them talk about business that she knew nothing about. Before she could respond, Ryujin swoops in and grabs her arm.

“Sir Choi Yeonjun, if you’re not going to get this hot piece of ass on the dance floor, then let me do the honor.” she says before dragging B to the dance floor.

“I’ll see you later then!” Yeonjun shouts after them, he sees B shrug and nod at him, offering him a smile before Ryujin grabs her and starts dancing around her.

Yeonjun shakes his head with a fond smile on his face, watching his beautiful girlfriend enjoy herself on the dance floor before sighing as he stands up, preparing to turn on his ‘Choi Yeonjun, future CEO of YJ Choi Corporation’ before wandering into the crowd.

•°•

Yeonjun put on a pleased smile as he greeted another batch of party guests that his father had invited. This time it was famously wealthy Kim brothers, Kim Seokjin, Kim Namjoon and Kim Taehyung, notorious for having not only good looks but killer personalities and unmatched talent as well. The Kim brothers came from a long family line of musicians and record producers, and Yeonjun had to admit that they were 3 of the select few people that he genuinely considered as his friends in the business side of his life.

As the 3 boys greeted him and started up small talk that made him genuinely laugh for the first time since he left his friends to start mingling with his father’s choice of party guests, a new batch of people walked into the club which Yeonjun knew he had to welcome. He excused himself from the 2 brothers and made his way towards the newcomers.

This time, he put on his deal-closing smile as he spots the familiar face of Kim Jisoo, successor to the famous Kim Jonghyun, the owner of the biggest Technology Firm in the country. As he approaches Kim Jisoo, he slips back into Choi Yeonjun, future CEO of YJ Choi Corporation, flashing her a charming smile and shaking her hand as he greets her.

“Choi Yeonjun. Happy birthday, dear! It’s always so lovely to see you.” Jisoo says, softly touching his arm as he does so.

“Thank you, Jisoo. The pleasure is all mine, because as always, you look stunning.” he says dashingly. Kim Jisoo was one of the richest eligible bachelorettes in the country, so his father had specifically asked that he maintain in her good graces.

“Hush now, you look quite handsome yourself.” she says, ever so elegantly. “Oh, pardon me, I’ve almost forgotten to introduce you to my companions! I’ve invited a few friends here with me, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course, not at all.” Yeonjun says politely, she could have invited her entire posse for all he cared. He hadn’t even noticed that she wasn’t alone until she stepped aside to reveal the 3 girls whom she had brought along.

“These are my best friends.” Jisoo says, pulling the 3 girls forward. He eyes the girls one by one, plastering on his best polite smile, but he feels his breath catch in his throat as his eyes land on the 3rd girl. “Yeonjun, darling, I’d like you to meet Jennie, Lisa, and—”

“Rose.” He says, the name barely escaping from his lips. Suddenly he didn’t know which Choi Yeonjun he had to present himself as. Standing there in front of her after so long, he didn’t feel like Choi Yeonjun the future CEO of YJ Choi Corporation or Choi Yeonjun the one and only MO Academy It Boy. He felt like the Choi Yeonjun he was 2 years ago, helpless and tongue tied in her presence.

“Yeonjun.” she says, smiling at him then. And there was something about her smile and how her smiling at him made him feel the same way as he did 2 years ago, as if nothing had changed. Before he even knew it, he felt his own smile appear on his face.

“Oh dear, are you 2 acquainted with each other? I had no clue!” Jisoo giggles, looking back and forth between them with curious eyes.

“Well, I didn’t know that it was Yeonjun’s birthday we were attending.” Rose says, her eyes still on him. “He and I go way back.”

“That sounds intriguing.” Jennie comments, and Yeonjun snaps out of it, realizing that he was being rude.

“Sorry, hi, I’m Yeonjun. Nice to meet you.” he says, his charming smile back on as he shakes hands with Jennie. Jennie smiles back at him politely before he moves to shake Lisa’s hand, which she gladly reciprocates.

As he stretches a hand out to Rose for her to shake, she instead shakes her head and holds her arms out to him. He debates whether or not to accept her invitation since it would feel strange to hug his ex again after 2 years, but since Jisoo was there and he didn’t want to seem rude, he decided to allow Rose to hug him.

Hugging her felt nostalgic, and once again he felt as if he had been brought back in time, her rose scented perfume consuming his thoughts and flooding his mind with memories he thought he’d already forgotten. He decides to step back at that moment, not wanting his subconscious to take him back any further.

“Now that that’s settled, why don’t you join us for a few drinks?” Jisoo pipes up again, her eyes gleaming with curiosity. “And Yeonjun darling, I’d love it if you filled me in on your history with my dear friend Rose here.”

Once again, as Choi Yeonjun the future CEO of YJ Choi Corporation, he felt powerless against Kim Jisoo, successor to the famous Kim Jonghyun, and he feels his jaw start to hurt from smiling as he says “I would gladly join you, Jisoo. It would be my pleasure.”

Jisoo squeals and claps her hands with glee as she hooks her arms through Jennie and Lisa, leaving him and Rose to follow.

Yeonjun looks at Rose once again, her long fiery red hair styled in a braid and her slender figure wrapped in a sequined mini dress, as if she hadn’t changed at all over the years.

She smiles at him, looking at him like she always used to. “Come on, we better catch up before we lose sight of them.” she says, referring to her friends.

Yeonjun nods, the strange wave of nostalgia hitting him like a truck, blurring his grasp on the present. “Let’s go.” he says, as she puts a hand on his arm and he lets a hand rest on the small of her back to guide her through the crowd.

Unbeknownst to him, there was a pair of eyes who saw the whole exchange.

Han Baby, who was standing by the bar watching Yeonjun make his way through the room as Ryujin poured shots, suddenly felt a stabbing pain in her chest as she recognized the girl with the fiery red hair and the way Yeonjun had looked at her.

“Alright, here’s one for me and one for you, you better drink up you little shi—B? What’s wrong?” Ryujin says, as she drops the shots on the counter and notices her friend’s sudden dazed state. Ryujin follows B’s gaze and sees Yeonjun with Rose as well.

“Ah shit. Hey B, why don’t we—” she starts to say, but before she knows it, B squeezes her eyes shut and takes off running, bolting so fast that Ryujin barely had time to see which way she went.

“Well fuck.” Ryujin whispers to herself, downing the shots on her own before squeezing her way through the crowd to search for her friend.

•°•

Soobin’s night was not going very well.

After his nerves almost ate him alive during their game of Kiss or Tell, he had been trying his best to distract himself by getting drunk to shake them off, along with his feelings for B.

So what if he had kissed her cheek? It was barely even a kiss, it was just his lips lightly brushing against her skin, so light that he could barely even feel it, and holy shit did his lips really touch her skin?

The whole night, he had been trying his best to avoid both Yeonjun and B, which had been easy enough since he knew Yeonjun had to attend to his father’s chosen attendees and he knew that B would be kept preoccupied by Ryujin. But after having one too many drinks, he found himself in need of some quiet time to stop his head from spinning.

He sees a small closet door near the back of the club and decides to go for it, knowing that at best, it would only have a few cleaning supplies, maybe a mop and broom or 2 inside.

But as he opens the door, he’s surprised not only to see that the closet was much bigger than he thought it would be, but also to see a small figure hunched over on the floor.

“B? Is that you?” Soobin says, squinting his eyes so he could see better. The figure was sitting on the floor with their knees hugged to their chest and their face buried in their arms so he wasn’t sure, but as she looks up, her tear-filled eyes meeting his, he knew without a shadow of doubt that it was her.

“Who is it? Are you Soobin?” she slurs.

“Yes, it’s me, Soobin. B, are you crying? What’s wrong?” he asks, suddenly alarmed. What was she doing hiding in the closet of a nightclub on her the night of her boyfriend’s birthday party, crying her eyes out?

“No, it’s nothing. Soobin, I just want to be alone right now. Can you just forget you ever saw me, Soobin? Please?” she barely manages to say, her words blending together.

Soobin found himself frozen in place, his hand squeezing the doorknob as he contemplates what his next move should be.

Taehyun’s words rang through his head.

“Don’t get involved. Yes, you’re their friend, but don’t get yourself involved in anything that has to do with their relationship.”

But as Soobin looked at B, crouching on the cold floor, her arms wrapped around her legs, her chin resting on her knees, her mascara running down her cheeks, her tear-filled eyes looking at him with heavy sadness, he couldn’t help himself.

Seeing her like that, he couldn’t bear to leave her. He told himself it was just because she was his friend and she needed a friend right at the moment, but he knew he was only fooling himself. He took a deep breath before letting go of the doorknob and carefully making his way to her.

He crouches down on the floor next to her, being mindful to keep enough space between them. The first thing he does is take off his black denim jacket and draping it over her knees, aware that she was wearing a rather short dress and wanting to make sure that she wouldn’t feel violated by him. Next, he asks her “What happened?”

She looks at him then, and his heart aches for her. She looked so lost, as if her mind couldn’t process whatever thoughts she was having. “Yeonjun’s ex girlfriend is here.”

Soobin’s face automatically turns into one of disgust. “Rose?” Everyone hated Rose. “Why is she here? Are you sure?”

B nods, looking like a lost child. “I saw her walk in with some girls earlier, probably some of those business people Yeonjun mentioned. I knew it was her cause I stalked her on Twitter so I know what she looks like. Of course she looks like a fucking model, with her long fiery red hair and her long figure.” she says bitterly, her words slurring slightly. Soobin had a feeling that if she weren’t this drunk, she probably would never say any of this out loud. “See here, I even took screenshots.” she says, pulling out her phone and fumbling with it for a bit before shoving it in Soobin’s face.

Soobin was aware of how Rose looked, having been there back when Yeonjun was still dating her, and he was just as unimpressed now as he was back then. “Oh god, who even invited her? And for the record, she does not look like a model, she looks like a witch.” Soobin says sourly, which causes B to snort.

“Oh, just admit that she’s gorgeous, Binnie. I know she is.” she slurs. “Anyway, I was at the bar with Ryujin when she walked in and then I saw the moment Yeonjun saw her, and oh god the look on his face.” she says, her face contorting, clearly showing her disdain. “He came up to her and greeted her, he hugged her, he smiled at her and started talking to her as if she were special or something.”

“Yeonjun did all that? B, that sounds ridiculous.” Soobin says, trying to ease her worries.

“Are you saying I’m crazy?” B almost shrieks, staring at him as if he were crazy. Whoops, wrong move.

“No, it’s just that I know Yeonjun and I know what he was like when things ended with Rose. He was a huge mess, and I just don’t think he’d be dumb enough to treat her like a friend or to even acknowledge her existence after everything that happened.” Soobin says.

B lets out a wail. “But I’m not crazy, Binnie! I saw it with my own 2 eyes, and Ryujin saw it too, and she tried to distract me but it was too late. At that moment my brain couldn’t process what my eyes were seeing and I just sort of ran away to get some clarity.”

“That’s why you’re hiding here? For some clarity?”

B nods, but then her eyes swell up with tears again. “Yes but I still don’t really understand it. The more I think about it, the more it hurts. I don’t know what to do, Binnie. I just wanted to get away.” she says, moving closer and leaning her head on his shoulder.

Soobin takes a breath, well aware of how close she was and the weight of her against his body and how her usual Lavender scent was just drowned out by the stench of alcohol. He didn’t know how just how drunk she was, but Soobin never thought B could be so vulnerably jealous and insecure. He gingerly raises a hand and holds hers, gently running circles on her skin with his thumb as he thinks over his next words very carefully. “Okay, so what if Rose is here? So what if Yeonjun smiled at her or hugged her or whatever else you saw? None of that stuff matters because B, he has you.”

B laughs bitterly. “He has me? What does that matter?”

“It matters because you are one of the best people to exist in this world at this very moment and he knows that. It matters because you are one of the kindest, smartest, cutest, silliest, and most beautiful people I know. It matters because you are special, and he is so damn lucky that he gets to call you his. It matters because a girl like you is impossible to find, and he would be a complete idiot if he let something as insignificant as his cheater of an ex fuck it up.”

It’s quiet for a moment, the only audible sound coming from B as she tries to stop her tears from falling and slow down her breathing. Until she very quietly, almost inaudibly says “Maybe it should’ve been you, Soobin.”

The thumb tracing circles on her hand freezes and he feels his heart stop beating as her words wash over him. “What did you say?”

“Maybe it should’ve been you.” she sighs. “I’ve been told on more than one occasion that you and I would make a great pair so maybe they were right. Look, you’ve even given me your jacket just now even though I still have one of your hoodies from when we were in your room at Kai’s party! I mean it’s not like I had an option cause you never liked me anyway and Yeonjun did, but maybe if you did, maybe I would’ve chosen you just like everyone said I should’ve or would’ve. Or could’ve? I don’t know.” she slurs, her words heavily blending together yet her message was very clear.

When Soobin remains frozen and silent, B laughs out loud, a few hiccups escaping her as her crying subsides. “Oh god I’m sorry, I’m just so drunk please don’t listen to me. You should go back out there and have fun, don’t waste your time on me. I’m pretty sure I won’t remember this in the morning anyway. And don’t worry, I’ll give you back your hoodie.” she rambles, her words slurring together. And he knew she was right. She was so drunk, he didn’t think he’d ever see her like the wasted mess that she was now.

Soobin looks at her sadly, his heart aching. He couldn’t leave her alone, but he knew that if he stayed with her any longer, especially since she was drunk and spewing out candid thoughts like that, he’d only end up hurting himself. He pulls out his phone and sends a few quick texts before leaning his head back against the wall, waiting.

“You know you always have a choice, right?” Soobin says. “And for the record, it’s not like I never liked you.”

B looks up at him, confused. “What?”

“It’s not like I never liked you, because I did.” Soobin says, praying with all his might that she wouldn’t remember a word of their conversation when she woke up the next morning. “And I still do.”

Before B gets the chance to react, the door flies open, and Taehyun walks in along with Beomgyu, both of them had a slight crazed look in their eyes as if they had run a marathon.

“B! Dear sweet darling, are you okay?” Beomgyu says dramatically as he sweeps into the room and drops himself on the floor in front of her, pulling her into his arms.

“I saw Yeonjun with Rose!” she wails before the tears start to fall from her eyes once again, she crumbles in Beomgyu’s arms, her drunk mind still unable to properly process anything.

“Shhh, there there, you poor miserable thing. It’s alright.” Beomgyu coos, rubbing a hand soothingly along her back. Behind her back, he violently mouths to Soobin and Taehyun “Rose?! What the fuck?!”

Soobin stands and approaches Taehyun, who was standing by the door observing the scene in front of him.

“Thanks for coming, Tyun.” Soobin says. “I can’t–I don’t think I can trust myself around her, not while she’s like this. It’s just–“ he says, struggling with his words as his conversation with B replays in his mind “It hurts too much, I can’t be here for her but I can’t just leave her alone, so thank you.”

Taehyun shakes his head at the older boy. “No problem, Soobin. I told you I’m always here if you need me.” he says, clapping him on the back. “How bad is it?”

“She’s really drunk and she was crying and all upset cause she saw Rose and Yeonjun together.” Soobin explains.

Taehyun nods. “That’s understandable, Rose is a hideous wench just the thought of seeing her makes me want to vomit, much more the thought of her and Yeonjun together. I’m assuming she came with some of Yeonjun’s business friends.” he says. “Anything else?”

“Well…I sort of told her that I like her.” Soobin whispers so that Beomgyu and B wouldn’t hear.

Taehyun’s eyes widen as he hits Soobin’s arm. “What! Soobin! Why would you do that?”

“She was drunk and upset and rambling and saying things and I’m also pretty intoxicated too so it sort of just came out!” Soobin groans. “She’s pretty wasted though so I don’t think she’ll remember anything.”

“You better pray to science and faith that she doesn’t.” Taehyun warns him. “Tell me everything later on, okay? Just go and leave her to us, you look like you could use another drink.”

Soobin nods. “Thanks, Tyun. Fill me in too, how has your night been?” he asks politely.

Taehyun smiles. “I kissed my crush, and my crush kissed me back.”

Soobin’s eyes widen and his mouth drops open in shock. Before he can say anything else, Taehyun laughs and pushes him out of the room before slamming the door in his face.

•°•

Soobin’s night was starting to turn hazy as he kept his alcohol ingestion going, and the more he stumbled through the place the longer the night seemed to drag on.

After his quiet yet disastrous moment with B, he immediately rushed to the bar and started downing shots with a few seniors from their class. Once he felt the alcohol back in his system, he spent some time on the dance floor joining the throng of random sweaty bodies jumping and grinding and bumping against his. At one point, a wasted girl he recognized from his science class pulled him aside and attempted to lock their lips together, which he managed to politely refuse and escape from.

After stumbling his way through the place, he had finally caught sight of a familiar face. Once he spotted the back of Yeonjun’s familiar head of blue hair, he started to make his way towards him, until he saw the head of long fiery red hair that Yeonjun currently had as company.

He stopped in his place, observing his friend as Yeonjun continued to converse with his ex. Soobin could see that they were standing right in front of each other and that they occasionally leaned in close, but he deduced that it was probably just because the music was so loud.

He watches as Rose laughs at something Yeonjun says, laying a hand on his shoulder as she tilts her head back before she leans into him and says something back, which causes Yeonjun’s shoulders to shake with laughter as well.

He watches as Rose pulls him to the dance floor, with Yeonjun initially refusing and trying to keep his feet planted on the floor until the girl pouts at him and manages to pull him along with her, into the middle of the crowd, as they start to jump and shake their bodies along to the beat.

He watches as Rose whips her long red hair over her shoulder as she starts wiggling her body around the blue haired boy, her hands on his shoulders, almost around his neck, as she pulls their bodies flush together and she starts dancing against him.

He watches as she traps Yeonjun’s face in her hands and pulls down until their lips meet, and Soobin’s breath catches in his throat as she does so.

He watches as Yeonjun breaks away and all but shoves her aside, while she looks at him innocently and shrugs. He watches as she attempts to pull him close again, only for Yeonjun to grab her hands and push them away. He watches as Yeonjun finally turns around, their eyes meeting, and he watches Yeonjun freeze as he realizes that Soobin was watching him the whole time.

•°•

Author’s note:

Did someone say... drama? Here’s a lengthy and drama-packed chapter to make up for a delay in the update! I just moved into a new apartment and I’ve been busy with packing and unloading all my stuff so I’m sorry for the delay :c Thank you for all your kind words and your reactions, they really mean so much to me! Let me know what you think!

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