#i thought of this a couple weeks ago on the bus a couple seats away from someone loudly coughing into the open air

[puppyeared]

fuck it. plaguesona

[claraswritings]

Stay For Now, I Love You Forever

Pairing: Steven Grant x Reader (a tiny bit of Marc Spector x Reader- pining)

Summary: Steven meets a girl. Steven falls for her. Marc falls too.

Warning: Some angst. Set mostly pre-series. (Also for the sake of the fic, Marc is already divorced). First time writing Steven/Marc/Moon Knight system. This is not spell checked as I’m posting at nearly 2AM lol.

A/N: Meant to finish this sooner but I got Covid :( Tagged @marvelenthusiast10 )

***

“Okay Steven…what’s your symptoms.”

The man before you shifted in the chair, drumming his fingers on his jeans, eyes flickering over the walls. It looked like he was battling the urge to run away. It was obvious that he felt awkward, and you couldn’t blame him. It was pretty bizarre having to explain your sleep symptoms to a total stranger.

“Right…” Steve started then trailed off “Sorry Uhh…” he hesitated once more as he looked away from you and rested his gaze on the view from the window. where he could see I t had started to snow heavily.

“Huh…it’s snowing.” He commented “Didnt know it was going to snow? Did you?…Do you think the buses will be running?”

Sensing his rambling was a outburst of nerves, something to distract himself, you attempted to placate him “I didn’t…but I like the snow… I’m sure the buses will be fine but I’ll check the TfL website for you before you go. Do you need a drink?”

Steven brought his dark eyed gaze back to you. “Right sorry, sorry…” he muttered, scratching his jaw… “I’ll get to the point and stop rambling…”

“It’s okay…take your time…” you reassured him. “I have lots of time”

He hesitated, once more before he took a breath for composure

“Okay, so sometimes, yeah, I wake up… and…I‘ve lost… hours or even sometimes days at a time…like couple of weeks ago… I went to bed on Friday…” he gestured, with one hand, the sleeve of his over sized jacket sliding up as he did “but I woke up on Sunday…but I’m still tired…Fell asleep on the bus…” he trailed off for only long enough to rake a hand through his wavy dark hair “Feel like I’ve been hit by one too.”

He gave you a muted smile, as he pulled the long sleeves of his blue jacket back down.

Your lips lifted at corner as a response to his joke, and you nodded slowly, writing down what he was saying.

“That’s not normal is it? Losing days…” He frowned a little, his gaze on you, as you could feel him almost crying out for help “I feel like I’m losing my bloody mind.” He mumbled, his voice quiet.

“No Steven, you’re not, a lack of sleep can do all sorts of things to our bodies, that’s why I’m here. Sleep is a very difficult thing to get right… but we can help you…once we work out what might be causing whatever is happening…do you have any other symptoms? Do you ever sleep walk?”

“See… I thought maybe I did, cause I’d wake up and be like coming back through the door…” Steven leant forward, uncrossing his arms to draw a circle in the air “But like the sand circle would still be yknow in a circle, right? So I can’t be?” He spoke as if he was offering a suggesting, shoulders moving up and down in a shrug that did not look as nonchalant as he had clearly hoped

Now he’d lost you.

“Sand circle?”

“Oh god I’m gonna sound like a right weirdo…” he flopped back in the seat. “I put the sand circle around my bed…, yeah, cause if I was sleep walking I’d shuffle and ruin it.” Steven explained with a wave of his hand. “Wouldn’t I?”

You had to admit it, it was clever, if a little unconventional. “Yeah, that’s actually quite a good idea… never heard that one but I like it.” You nodded encouragingly. As the years you’d spent helping set up various sleep studies, you’d heard all the classics-no caffeine, no cheese, lavender oil, hot baths, white noise, black out curtains… but you’d never heard of using a sand circle to test if you were sleeping walking.

“That and the restraint on the bed.” Steven tacked on then instantly realised what he clicked your eyebrows shooting upwards “Not like that...I’m not like…” He muttered, a red creeping up over his face, as his hand crept up to itch the back of his neck. “Don’t really get the chance for anything like that with the…funny sleeping stuff and that…” he trailed off.

stoptalking stoptalking stoptalking stoptalking. He told himself internally and shook his head, trying not to visibly shudder at his own awkward comment. How he’d just told you, the prettiest woman he’d seen in…god knows how long, that he had a restraint on his bed. God Steven, way to show off your glaring red flag.

“You…you have a restraint?” you paused, trying not to smile at the flustered man before you, as he now was staring directly at the spot where your desk met carpet. “To prevent the sleepwalking of course.”

The comment about not having the chance stuck out to you. Must mean he’s single.

“Yeah, uh..I have tape too for the… for the door. So I can’t get out and bother anyone…Tried to keep myself up aswell, listened to a podcast and did the stuff it said… puzzles, reading books, all that…didn’t work though…”

His eyes shot back to you as hand ran through his thick wavy hair again Everything about him was a bundle of nerves from the fidgeting to the eyes looking from you to the window and back to the tangents, now on top of that, he was worried his sleep issue would bother anyone. You couldn’t help but feel for him.

“And how long have you been using these… techniques for?”

“Oh god…” he blew out a long exhale “I don’t actually know…to be quite honest…ages now…Doctor”

“It’s okay Steven, anything that can help you is worth trying…and I’m not a doctor… I’m a sleep…tech…” you held your hands up. “I just check you in and help with results.”

“Oh..sorry…” he faltered, a little embarrassed , trying to find the words “…Ms. Sleep… Tech…Technician?… Technologist?”

He cringed inwardly at his own sentence only seconds after the words had left his mouth and for the… he’d lost count… time since he’d entered the room.

“Just….[Name]”

Once again, you weren’t pulling back, recoiling or phased by his awkwardness. You were, much to his surprise, smiling at him. Not the weird passive smile Donna gave him when asking, or rather telling him, to stay late. Not the fake nicety smile exhausted tourists usually gave him, you were actually smiling at him like you thought he was funny. The smile you were giving him was so genuine and warm, he felt himself relax under your eyes.

“You must always be well rested. Must be nice.” Steven attempted to extend the conversation, hoping his attempt wasn’t too ungraceful.

“Ah. You’d be surprised,” There was a smile toying at the corner of your mouth “I’m better at giving advice than I am at following it.”

“Suppose It’s like chefs innit…they come home and probably just Deliveroo themselves a Nando’s or KFC or something?”

You laughed “Yeah, exactly what I mean…Now look…I know this is going to sound cliche but…problems with sleep, it’s more common than you think.” Pausing, you put your notebook down, and leant in, elbows planted on the desk. “But basically in your deepest stage of sleep… your brain switches off the muscles… so you won’t be acting out your dreams or anything crazy. If you are in that stage, you won’t go anywhere, Steven.”

You turned one of your folders over and pushed a case plan towards him, and pointing out the diagrams with the end of your pen.

“We’ll chart your brainwaves whilst you’re asleep… then we can use them to work out what’s going on.”

“And that’ll help me?” He sounded hopeful as his gaze ran over the notes, following your make shift pointer.

“Yeah I hope so, i mean it might not stop the processes but it’ll help us understand what’s going on.”

“You must think I’m a right weirdo…but it’s nice…to talk to someone that isn’t my fish…or the living statue bloke,” Steven turned back to you, giving you a thankful look. “Or my boss.” He pulled a face.

“I don’t think you’re weird, Steven… I want to help you. I’ll listen for as long as you need me to”

You hadn’t automatically assumed he was some weirdo which was a relief. He felt comfortable with you like you actually wanted to help him rather than judging him.

There was a moments silence, then your eyes flicked down to the notebook that lay between you and back to Steven.

“Do you drink tea…or coffee?”

“Oh… um, just tea with soy milk and one sugar. Sometimes a hot chocolate? Although that’s not caffeine is it? I wouldn’t mind one of those flavoured ones, Think they do them that cafe around the corner if you’d like?” He grinned somewhat awkwardly “they do refills…which you know in London, gotta get your moneys worth… it’s expensive.”

You felt a heat creep up your face “Erm…it’s for the questionnaire? I need to know how much caffeine you’re drinking?”

“Oh..oh god I’m sorry, I’ve just put my foot in it havent I?… I thought you were…and now I’m rambling, I do that…”

“But…yes Steven. I’d love to have any hot drink with you…”

“Wait. Really?” Steven faltered, surprised.

“Of course. I finish at half five. I’ll meet you there.”

And when you’d walked into the cafe, saw him already waiting there, drink gently steaming on the table and book in hand, reading glasses on, you’d slid in beside him and had never looked back.

*

When Steven offered to meet you at your flat to go for dinner two days later, you agreed. It was suggestion, that had it come from any of the fuck boys in your Tinder matches would have had you hitting the un match button…but with Steven…you knew he was being sweet.

You knew he wasn’t just asking to try get into your place and into your underwear, although you wouldn’t have minded. He was asking because he didn’t want you to walk to the Tube station alone in the dark.

Steven had wrapped up in a winter coat, and worn a dark blue scarf and matching gloves. He brought chocolate and a dozen pink roses, which as he’d handed over, he’d told you that he noticed your notebook had been pink and thought it was a safe bet for the colour. Before you could say thank you he’d already apologised for the chocolates incase you hated them or incase he’d got the colour wrong.

You’d kissed him on the cheek, told them they were perfect and that you’d share the chocolates with him, before linking your gloved hands together and starting your walk to your favourite Asian restaurant in Camden, where he’d had a tofu version of a curry and you’d had chicken teriyaki skewers. It was closing time before you’d left arm in arm, giggling as you walked together.

As you made your way back to the Tube station, Steven had excitedly wanted to try a bubble waffle, so you’d opted for a shared vegan friendly version and ate it with two forks. You’d hugged him outside the station then met him outside his work two days later…and before long you’d fallen into an easy pattern of dating.

The first time he hadn’t called when he said he would, was one month into dating and he was eight hours late. Steven had saw the voicemails left from you and panicked, fully expecting the “you’re an arsehole, never talk to me again” but no, you’d called him to check he was okay, came by his place and even posted a card through his letterbox telling him you were thinking of him and you hoped he was okay.

You were worried.

Steven kept that card in the top drawer of his beside table alongside a napkin from your first date, one of the gratuity sweets from your second, the first note you’d ever wrote to him, a puzzle you’d bought to do together and a model pyramid you’d saw online and thought of him. You’d said you just saw it on Amazon, but it wasn’t one you could just buy. Steven knew from the model that you’d have had to buy it from a specific retailer. You’d never tell him you googled it specifically but he loved that you did.

He knew he loved you then and there

*

“Hey babe.” You stuck your head around the entrance to the gift shop and grinned at him.

Steven, at the sight of you, dropped the plush back into a box and ran to you, squeezing you tight.

“Hiya love, I’m just finishing up here. Won’t be five minutes and I’ll be over to you” he kept his hands on your waist as you wrapped yours around his neck and kissed him before reaching up and straightening the collar of his patterned shirt

“Okay, babe. I’ll just wander around. We can go to that new bakery if you like. I’ve checked the menu, they do have vegan options.”

His lips curled into a smile and he squeezed your hand by way of thanking you before you headed off to wait for him.

“That sounds brilliant. Really good!”

“Stevie!” A call rang out from across the room and Steven rolled his eyes

“Oh fuck Donna.”

“Stevie! I told you the answers no. So just stop talking to guests…alright? Leave it to the real tour guides…”She turned to you, not giving him the chance to reply “Is he bothering you?”

“Actually…” you wrapped your arm around Steven. “He’s not. I’m…”

“Oh…Stevie’s girlfriend.” Donna pointed at you “Gunna be honest, thought he’d made you up. Kept saying you were dead pretty and let him talk. Didn’t actually think you were real.” She laughed mirthlessly. “Thought he was bothering the guests again!”

“Well Steven is a wealth of information, and I want my info from the best source” you gave her as friendly of a smile as you could muster.

“Best source is a tour guide” she smiled “but I’m glad he has someone to listen to his weird rambling.”

“I’d rather hear about it from someone with a passion for it”

“I’m sure our guides are plenty passionate.” She turned on her heel to face Steven. “Clock off please. I’m not paying you to chat to your girlfriend.”

“Sure, Donna. Pleasure as always.” He gave a curt wave, however she had already stalked off before she could return the acknowledgment. “Back in a sec, love.” He leant in and pecked your lips before disappearing off to clock out.

When he returned a few minutes later you linked you arm through his, and noticing he looked slightly dejected, attempted to offer him some comfort.

“She doesn’t know what she’s missing out on. I’ve done a few of these tours and I’ve learnt more from listening to you at home than I have from any of them”

“Really?” He perked up “Cause we have this new exhibit, it’s basically like the super group of Egyptian gods and it’s really interesting…the posters only show seven but there’s nine and…” Steven was suddenly conscious he was babbling but when he looked at you, he was still holding your attention.

“Tell me about it?” You asked him.

“About the super group?” Steven was quick to check, excited at the chance to discuss his passion before stopping. “I don’t want to bore you, love”

“You won’t.” You gave his arm a reassuring squeeze through

Steven could never bore you, everything about him was captivating. He was so excited and so passionate about Egyptian mythology that you couldn’t help but be drawn in by his wide eyed enthusiasm. You liked it when he went off on a tangent. It was cute.

“I love you, you know. And not just because you let me go on about Egyptology or that, I just really do love you, and I never thought I’d get that.”

“I love you too Steven.” You kissed him. “Now tell me about these super gods, I wanna know about the missing ones…”

***a few weeks later***

Marc froze. You were half asleep-half awake, the lights from the window, casting bright lights through the window of Stevens flat. You looked angelic, the slopes of your face, the curves of your body as you pulled the duvet tighter.

He’d watched from the background as you and Steven had fallen for each other over the past few months and Marc had, having seen how you were to Steven, had fallen for you too.

He’d realised it when he saw how gentle you were with Steven, after he’d woken one night when you’d been staying the night. He’d stumbled back to bed, a struggle to keep control of the body and barely collapsed into a half slumber before Steven had woke with a jolt around fifteen minutes later, pulling hard at the restraint and checking around him.

**flashback**

“Hey hey, it’s me babe, you’re okay…” you, on instinct, sat up next to Steven. He was checking the restraint, pulling at it hard to make sure it was in place. “…Steven, babe. You’re here, I’m with you, it’s okay.”

You reached for him slowly not making contact until Steven turned to meet your eyes. He was breathing heavy, chest heaving and shoulders tight, brow furrowed as you wrapped one arm around him and held his hand with the other.

“Steven. You haven’t had anything like this in a while.”

It was the first time you’d been there when it had happened. Usually, if Steven had a rough night, he’d call you and you’d talk and you’d stay with him listening.

“Im here babe.” You whispered

“Youre here.” His voice sounded so small and lost and such a far cry from how you’d ever heard him. A part of your heart broke seeing your usual bubbly, chatty Steven such a wreck. “I thought you’d left.”

“No. No.” You pulled him into you, lying back with his head on your shoulder as you carefully carded your hand through his curls. “I’m not leaving.…” You reached for his hand and pressed a kiss to the back of his knuckles. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Please stay for now”

“Of course, for as long as you need me.”

**

Marc had felt so guilty that night that he’d resolved that he wouldn’t go far when you were staying the night. Steven deserved some happiness, a sense of peace, some chance to be normal so tonight he’d kept it short, a quick hour before returning back to you.

Marc wondered if he’d met you first…rather than Steven, would you have fallen in love with him? Would you be stroking circles on his back and whispering sweet nothings to him when he woke in the dead of the night, freaked out and panicking.

He doubted it. Everything you loved was so rooted in Steven. Sweet, endearingly quirky, good-natured, warm hearted, clever Steven, who was nothing like Marc.

You were always staring at Steven, looking in his big wide eyes, playing with the fluffy curls that Marc usually slicked back, sliding your hands under Steven’s oversized clothes that Marc hated, asking him questions about the book Steven was reading that Marc didn’t know anything about, offering suggestions for whatever puzzle Steven was looking at that Marc didn’t care for, you cooked Steven vegan versions of your own lunches where Marc would have preferred the meat, you left cute notes for Steven to find. You called him Babe all the time.

Steven deserved the world but, god how Marc was jealous. He wanted you to look at him the way you looked at Steven. He could feel it heavy on his shoulders as he breathed and like an open wound in his chest.

“Steven?” He froze in the spot where he was, you turned over in the bed, voice half asleep. “Come back to bed. It’s cold.” You muttered

“Shhh, back to sleep.” He had hoped you wouldn’t notice the change from London to American as he whispered approaching the bed.

“Babe you’re talking different.” you muttered.

The second of silence that passed felt like an age to Marc, the only sound was his hammering heart rate, before you filled the room with a sleepy laugh “You’re so funny…I love you Steven.”

And like that you were back to sleep, leaving Marc alone with his own racing heart.

**a few weeks later**

Steven had been gone for five days. You’d spent most of your mornings leaving early for work to drop in on him and see if he’d shown up, your lunch breaks scouring the local news to see if an anonymous man had shown up in any hospitals, you’d called almost every hospital and police station within a ten mile radius. The police had told you they’d “note his name and description” and let you know. By Wednesday you’d even went to his work twice only for Donna to tell you Steven doesn’t work here.

You’d began to wonder you should be going back to the police to tell them the missing person you’d reported still had not shown up when you heard a knocking at your door

“Gimme a minute,” You called out as pulled yourself off the sofa and headed to the door. Hauling it open you half expected to see your neighbour or the postman. What you were not expecting to see was your boyfriend, in a baggy navy jumper, hair sticking up at all angles and looking like he’d come off a 72 hour all nighter.

He wouldn’t have of course, Steven barely drank so you couldn’t process exactly how or what the fuck had happened until he spoke.

“Hi.” He managed to get out “I’m sorry I didn’t call you.”

“Steven…You‘ve been gone for days…where the fuck where you?” Your mouth formed the words, quieter, more concerned than angry.

Instead of saying a word, you felt him slump into your arms, exhausted.

“Fucking hell Steven, what happened?” You repeated yourself with a mutter as you looped an arm around his waist and the other you used to support him and helped him to the couch, where he flopped down. Your heart ached just looking at him.

“Don’t go.” He murmured, “Stay here.”

“I’m just getting you a blanket and a cuppa, babe… okay?” You brushed some of his curls back as he nodded. “I’ll be back in two minutes… I promise.”

You kissed his head and exactly two minutes later, you returned a steaming mug of tea and your favourite sage green blanket. You’d bought it in the Dunlem sale and it never left your bed until it made its way to Stevens. You’d wrapped him in it once when he’d fallen asleep at his desk and he’d looked so adorable you’d insisted he kept it.

“Are you okay? Should I be calling an ambulance or the police or something?”

His hands knotted around the edges as you draped it over him and sat the mug in front of him. You sat in silence beside him until he’d had a few large gulps. Steven shook his head

“I’m okay…no ambulance. no police needed. It’s alright..”

“Steven. You have to tell me where you were.” You tried “Please. I thought you were missing or dead, I kept expecting to see your picture on the news as a fucking body found.”

“You wouldn’t believe me…” he let out a tiny impression of a laugh “I mean not just you… no one would and I don’t blame them.”

“I will…I promise.”

“It sounds made up”

“Babe, not that long ago Spider-Man had a fight on Tower Bridge, and before that half the world disappeared and came back and before that Thor had a fight with that…alien thing in Greenwich and before that if you’d asked me, I’d say that shit only happens in New York but I’m three out of three of mad things that have happened to me so nothing you say is going to freak me out… but saying nothing is…” You pressed your head to his. “Please…please tell me where you were.”

Steven sighed, you looked so desperate to help, so worried and he could hear Marc, telling him to be honest with you, not being honest with Layla had cost him his relationship, and although they were still friends, he didn’t want the same to happen to you.

“Yeah okay…” he started “but you got to let me tell you the whole thing, alright? No matter how mental it sounds.”

You smiled. “Of course.”

And for the whole time, you kept your attention on him, nodding, asking questions and squeezing his hand”

“Suppose that’s it all.” He said with a finish “I’ll understand if you don’t want to go out with me anymore…”

“Steven.” You pulled him into a hug, hands reaching up to rub his back. “I believe you and I love you and of course I still want to go out with you.”

“But all I do is cause problems for everyone…I don’t want to mess up your-.”

“You could never be a problem. Not for me.”

“I will eventually.”

“Steven, there is no problem you could cause that would be too big. You were never a problem to me.” Your head shook vehemently “and you never will be. Not now, not ever. You and me always.”

“I love you…” he muttered leaning in and pressing his head to yours so softly “forever”

“…I love you so much.”

“You’re the best thing that ever happened to me…us.” He paused, as you tilted your head with a smile “Marc won’t come forward now but he cares for you. A lot.”

“Steven, you will always be enough for me…but one day I’d like to meet him…Marc…if that’s okay with both of you…when he’s ready.”

Steven nodded. “I think he’d like that too.”

The relief lifted a weigh off his shoulders and he felt himself settle back into the sofa. You joined him, and slipped your arms around him, pulling the blanket around you both.

“I’ve missed you.” You muttered quietly.

“I missed you too.”

Steven kissed you softly and started to apologise before you planted another kiss on his lips, softly and gently.

“Shhh, you have nothing to apologise for. I’m just glad I have my boyfriend back.” You gave him an easy smile and he leant in.

.“I’m glad I’m back too…love. To the rest of our lives Eh?” He leant in to you as you repeated his sentiment.

“To the rest of our lives”

[justdontaskme]

Just Kiss Already (Aitana Bonmati x Reader)

Little Christmas fic for anyone who needs a quick and short escape from holiday festivities. Wanted to try someone new. Thanks to @chaisreading​​ for the idea for this one. Happy Holidays to everyone!

After such a long flight to Portugal, you were praying that the first stop would be the hotel where you hoped to slip in a small power nap. You would kill for the comfort of a bed right now. 

The team was scattered around the plane, some still sitting and others aimlessly wandering the small space before it was time to deplane. For the time being, you were more than content, staying in your seat, head on Aitana's shoulder as she scrolled through her phone. 

It wasn't unusual for you two to be so close. The midfielder was actually one of the first people you had clicked with when you first joined the team a couple of years ago. Your teammates would joke constantly about you two being an old married couple, and you played into it every time. 

After stepping off the plane, you stayed close to the Spanish midfielder, feeding off the calmness she was always giving off when away from the pitch. You made sure you were seated next to her on the bus, and even led her to the nearest couch as soon as you walked into the hotel. 

The team waited patiently in the lobby of the hotel while room assignments were being passed out. You had been banking on getting to room with Aitana this trip, but you couldn't be too disappointed when you were paired with Keira. 

Your best friend came up behind you with a set of keys, happy to have been roomed with you. 

"Are you a little peeved that you didn't get to room with Aitana?" she nudged your shoulder lightly, her eyes alight with mischief as she watched your eyes following Lucy and Aitana to the elevator. 

"It would have been nice, but now I get to hang out with you so I guess it all worked out." And it had. You'd been meaning to spend more time with your friend since she'd joined Barca, but there had been little time to do so. 

"Have you thought about telling her?"

You turned to Keira confused, "What are you talking about?"

"Have you thought about telling Aitana you like her?"

You merely shrugged your shoulders, snatching the hotel keys from Keira and leading the two of you to the elevator. 

Keira was the only one, well if Keira knew then Lucy probably knew too, but they were the only ones you had openly admitted your crush on Aitana to. Your best friend had actually picked up on it not too long after joining the team. So after a night out a few weeks into her transfer, you had rehashed your whole life story surrounding your harboring of a crush on the Spanish midfielder ever since you had first joined the club. 

The redhead waited until the two of you were riding up the elevator to broach the subject once more. 

"I'm just saying, she's really cute and I think you two would be really good together."

"You sure do bring Aitana up a lot. Are you sure you're not the one with a crush on her?" You smirked, seeing the blush on Keira's face. 

"I'm happily taken," Keira said, but the damage had been done. 

"No worries, I'll happily take Lucy off your hands," you laughed, watching your friend's eyes bug out at the suggestion. 

"You wish you had a chance with Luce," Keira said, her eyes narrowed as if challenging you. 

"I mean I think I could have a chance. She did follow me all the way to Barcelona," you teased. Since Lucy's signing was announced, you always joked that she only said yes to Barcelona because you were there. You always enjoyed pressing Keira's buttons by reminding her how well you and her girlfriend got along. 

Redirecting the conversation away from your bromance with Lucy back to you and Aitana, Keira started in again. "Think about it. It would be so much fun. If you and Aitana were together then we could go on double dates together."

"Just say you're tired of third wheeling with me and Luce. I totally understand," you laughed.

Keira shoved you into the room with a roll of your eyes. Even though you'd been living in different countries for many years, she loved that the two of you were still so close enough to talk like this with one another. 

****

While the day had gone by as normal, the constant stares your friends were sharing with one another let you know they were up to something. You just didn't know what, so instead you focused on the conversation Aitana was having with Mariona on the walk around the city. 

Chaos began at breakfast the next morning. As a person who loved their sleep, you were always one of the last ones to breakfast and most of the time someone always had to wake you and make sure you didn't fall back asleep. And they had planned to use that to their advantage. 

With Keira and Lucy at the helm of the mission, your teammates had plotted to get the two of you to finally admit you like one another. And seeing as the Christmas season was upon them, they thought mistletoe would be the best plan of action. 

Seeing as Aitana was one of the few who could wake you without having to face your grouchy morning wrath, the younger woman had been tasked with making sure you made it to breakfast on time. 

Their plan was for your joint entrance to be the perfect time to share your first kiss. Unbeknownst to them, the two of you had come down just a little earlier than they had planned for, which gave it all away.

Approaching the dining room, you noticed a group of players hovering around the entrance, inconspicuously tying something over the frame. It didn't take a genius to figure out what they were doing, so you decided to have a little fun with it. 

"Ooo look, Frido and Ingrid are under a mistletoe," you called out as you approached them, nudging Aitana ahead of you. "That means they have to kiss!"

Everyone had been so distracted by the collective gasps of surprise from Mapi and her girlfriend that they didn't even notice the sly wink you sent over to Aitana. 

Pina and Patri were next, and they had tried to catch the two of you at the team bonding session in Irene's room. They had sent the two of you downstairs to grab a few things while they got the mistletoe ready. Unfortunately for Pina and Patri, it backfired and the two girls ended up kissing one another. 

It didn't stop there, but most of the other attempts were spoiled before they could even start. 

On the last night before heading back to Barcelona, Keira had asked you to switch with Lucy and you were more than okay with that. 

So here you were, high off a crushing win, sitting on the edge of the bathroom counter as Aitana got ready for bed.

"Are we going to keep pretending we don't know what they're trying to do," Aitana asked, putting her stuff down and stepping into the space between your legs. 

"It's more fun this way, don't you think?" You asked, wrapping your legs around her waist so you could pull her closer.

Your girlfriend rolled her eyes, but she did have to agree. The lengths to which your teammates had gone to try to catch the two of you under a mistletoe was quite hilarious. 

"Well, I'm just glad we don't have to pretend in here and I can kiss you whenever I want."

"I like the sound of that. Kiss away," you said, eagerly accepting the kiss she planted on your lips. 

****

The next day, just before the game, your friends had concocted another plan to catch the two of you under the mistletoe. But with all of the previous failed attempts, they had planned a much more elaborate scheme. 

After warmups, the team slowly began to make their way back to the locker room. They waited patiently for you to enter the room, one person in particular standing just under the entryway. 

Before you could even get inside, you were stopped by Ana who had a few questions for you before the game. 

"Hey, Y/N, look up," Mapi called from the other side of the room, her face giving away exactly what you were to find over your head. 

You started stammering, looking for a way out, even sparing a glance to your girlfriend, who was already a little red in the face. 

Just as Ana was leaning in, you felt a slight gust of wind as you felt the blonde being pushed to the side and Aitana grabbing your training top and pulling you forward until your lips landed on hers. 

Never one to deny a kiss from your girlfriend, you let yourself relax into it, inching your body closer until it was pressed up against hers. 

"Finally!" Keira cheered from the side. "We've been trying to get you two to kiss this whole time."

"Oh, we know," Aitana replied, her eyes still fully fixed on you. The jealous stare you had seen just before your lips met was now gone, but you loved the determined look on her face now even more. 

"Is this when we tell them we've been dating for months now?" You smirked, leaning in for another quick peck before walking your girlfriend over to her locker. 

"You've been what?!"

[bluekuu]

My good omen

John Doe x reader

Warnings: Stalking, mild paranoia and swearing. I'll still keep story light hearted

English isn't my spoken langue so there my be some grammatical errors, but I have tried my best to check them. I will do part two when I have time. Reader is gender neutral in story and there will be not any physical describing what read do look like.

I hope you like my story✌💗

Stalking

👁 When you did move in to Uncanny Valley and started to work at the gas station, you though you would live a normal peaceful life, get up early, go to work, come back home and repeat. Maybe start a new hobby? Until you began to notice small things chance in your home, things were moved while you were gone and personal stuff went missing, but they always retuned weirdly odd places, like you did find your dirty socks at fringe..."Really? have I been sleepwalking or something?"

Later at night you woke up at the loud noise coming outside of your building. Sound like a animal rummage at the trashcans. You switch the light on in the kitchen, hoping that would scare animal away, until you opened the door. You didn't even have time to open the door fully when you see it. Black figure with big yellow eyes stare back at you. Two seconds and it vanished at the darkness. You slammed the door quickly close, heart beating hard on your chest to sight what you just saw. No more sleep that night.

👁Feeling of being watch never leaves you. Watching over your shoulders once in while, checking doors and windows are locked properly. Still that feeling follows every where you go. Should you call a police, but you don't have evidence at your maybe imaginary stalker. Did paranoia run in your family? Just act normal and go about your day, maybe that incident with that "creature" just spooked you little too much, this will end. You hoped and it did for a while.

👁One misty morning you waited at the bus stop your ride to work. There wasn't people around any where, you wondered were you only human in this small city. A minute past by in complete silence, when you heard someone approach you. A person stopped beside you not too close of your personal circle, but still close. They have dark clothes on and hoodie over their head, hands in the pockets. Long black curly hair poke out of their hood, they had a slouching posture.

You were sure they eyed you every ten seconds. You kept your sight on front of you like you didn't even notice the person beside. They didn't spoke, so didn't you.

"This feeling is familiar...I can't see theirs face, but I'm sure I haven't seen this person anywhere in this town. Maybe they are not a local or they have moved in just recently. There are still young people in here, usually they walk in groups so if this person are friend with them I would have seen them somewhere." Your trail if thought cut short when a bus arrived at the stop. You hoped in and take a seat further away of back of bus, away of the stranger. There was luckily two people before you in the bus. Curiosity still took over you and you take a peek of the stranger.

They looked kind of feminine and the masculine at the same time. Their pale creamy skin looked quit flawless, if the dark circles doesn't count under theirs eyes...the eyes. Your breath stop for the moment when you had a memory rushing back of your mind, encounter with that creature couple days ago, their eyes are exact same yellow color.

"Is this just a coincidence.." Stanger scanned the seats to where to sit and when they did find a spot they take a final look at you. Yellow eyes drilled at your owns and small giggle leave their lips like they were humored at someting.

"Can person read others mind?"

👁It's been a week now when this new creepy incident happened with that stranger who you weirdly haven't seen anywhere anymore, like they didn't never existed. "Yeah maybe I have just imagine all in my head after all. I have had stress lately on moving here...so it's may explained everything. Still it's strange." you ruminate while filled last shelf of trade supplies and then moved to storage to get a mop and started to clean the floors. It was quiet day, quieter than yesterday, it was nice to have some days like these, but even when you felt peace in you waited to something to happened, not sure was it bad or good omen.

"Home finally!" you kicked your shoes of your feet and throwed your bag at the sofa. You take your home trip through the shop, you bayed some favorite goods to spoil yourself after you have taken a long shower. You walked in the kitchen having a good feeling you had, when bad smell hit our nose. "What the hell is rotting here, that smell wasn't here at morning..!" You stepped on something wet, slimy and red. "...Oi that's disgusting!! Where the hell did this came from?!" you did your best not to throw up while cleaning the kitchen floor from the unknown red goo. Lost appetite.

"So it was a bad omen"

👁Beep beep beep...

Alarm clock waked you up, you did switch the clock off and it was 7:00 am. You get up of the bed and walked to kitchen to make breakfast for yourself. "At least it's Friday, I don't have much of plans on weekend, still could go to explore the city, what I haven't had time to do yet after my move to Uncanny Valley." It was lonely sometimes when you don't know anyone in here. You take a look of clock and realised you have had lose track of time while you were deep in your thoughts "Oh shit! I should have be going times ago. I'll be late."

You ran at the bus stop, but the bus start to drive away before you manage to reach the stop, but the bus stops. "Oh thank you, I won't be late!" You climbed at bus, this time there were more people than usually. So much crowd made you little uncomfortable, but you did made your way bravely to empty seats. You put headphones on and started to listen to music.

👁Half of day had went normally. You had your lunch break, salad out of cold shelf, soda and potato chips. Phone on your hand scrolling on your social medias, you were again so couch up in your own world you didn't hear the door bell ring. "Hi......" "...........Hi?.......ummmm..exuse m-" "Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't hear your were there, sorry. How can I help you..?" Front of you were standing familiar face.

Stranger you met week ago at the bus stop, they wore the same black hoodie like last time you saw them. Hair was maybe even more tangled than before. Now when they were closer you could see theirs hairs has red ends. But their yellow gaze was still so intimidating, its made your face heat up red. "What is your name?.." "Uuh...y/n, its read on my nametag" they let small gasp out of their mouth of your respond "Right, well that's nicest name I have ever heard....What your doing after work?" Your heart star to beat little waster of fear every sentences they said. "Plan to see a friend-s, I see my friends after work" your terrible liar, they probably can tell your lying. "Oh...that's sad, I tough maybe we could have hangout...You seem really nice person." they notably looking hurt. A guilt of lying peaked its head inside of you, they must be lonely like you are sometimes. Town ain't big, but if you even don't have smaller circle of people around you, you'll get super lonely, super fast. "Well...I'm busy today, but maybe some other time might be fine" you give stranger a weak smile. Their spirit rise up immediately of your invitation. "That would be really lovely!!" creepy, but oddly cute wide smile spread across theirs face. "I don't know your name yet?" you asked same time avoiding theirs now extended pupils.

"It's ̸͖̫̠̬̩̟͔̱̣̭̀̐̔͛͑̌̕͜ ̷̨̡̢̡̩̥̫̐́̒ͅ ̵̹̼͓͉͕̱̻̠̘̙̝̼̳̋̇̇̈́̉͐͌́̐̈́͘͘̚͜ ̴̡̛̥̗̯͇̝̲̎̿͂̓͌̈̊̂͒̎̌̈́̾͝ ̸̧̡͓̙͎̞̜̯̳̘̥̘̘͙̰̫̃͗̓ ̷̨̢̛̯̫͎̗͉̞̫̝̰̞̺͚̝̾̒̃͆͛͛̓͊̅̽͐̐͘͘ ̶̨̛͖̖͉̞̹͖̽͋͆̑̎̓̆͋͑͌ͅ ̴̛̦̗̹͎͇͔͍̣̮̪̝̝̆̋̉̈̉̏͋̏͂͠͝͠ ̶̛͚̜̼̝̲̒̈͗͌̏̄̒̑̐̆̂̒͊͝

but you can call me

John Doe"

👁 After your conversation with Doe he left the store soon after that. Rest of the day went normally like usual, you did finish your final task and then headed to home. Whole bus ride your were alone, no sight of John Doe, no one.

You got off the bus and walked your front door. Hand went in your jacket pocket to search keys..."Wait where's my keys? Fuck! I left it inside my apartment in this morning" While you were cursing to how to get inside, the door opens itself. You stared at John Doe wide eyes and he stared at you. "You are home!!" Doe sing out happily. "What you are doing my house? How you get in...I-" "Your window was open, you're so forgetful silly." "Was it, no way he's lying". "Don't just stand there come in!" Doe waived to you come in side. "Hey don't tell me to come in my own house!"

Everything was in place or maybe Doe haven't had time to rummage the whole apartment floor to ceiling. You try to think hardest how to kick Doe out of your home without much fighting. "See that was the window what was open." Doe pointed tying to convince you.

"I haven't opened it, also you're in my home without permission, I could just call the police on you..." "NO, DON'T!" You back of by sudden scream, what Doe notice and lowered his voice down. "I didn't mean to upset you. You said we could hangout later, so I wanted to surprise you."

You tried to read his facial expressions any sing of lying. You don't know Doe yet so you can't be sure if he is dangerous, but part of you really wanted to get know him better. "Doe looks odd for sure and his behavior is odder, but he seem really care about this. If things escalate to bad I can always to call police."

"Okay...uh I kind of liked the surprise, I left my keys at home in morning and thanks to you I'm not locked up outside anymore." "So can I stay?" Doe started to look exited again, you could see it from his eyes. "No it's really late and-" "But there's sooo dark and scary outside"

"Doe, don't manipulate. You broke into my apartment, that should have been scarier. But we can see tomorrow if that help, I promise." Doe was quiet for moment thinking what you said, then he give that wide smile again. "Fine! See you later then, love" And blink of your eye Doe was gone, like he had never stood front of you. That startled you and made you almost fall on the floor. "So that's how he can move around, he just teleport. And he came through the window, haha what a liar….did he call me a love?" you felt small sensation of warmth rise in your chest. "Don't let it go to your head y/n."

👁Uncanny Valley really have it's wonders, but what gives you even more wonders is John Doe, you know already that he's not human, what makes you little scared, but interested at the same time. You have heard people talk in gas station something about "regular guys" they look human, but ain't that, maybe Doe is one of them.

I think seeing Doe tomorrow isn't that bad idea, it's about the time make new friends, even they aren't human...

Maybe that's my good omen after all.

[ronika-writes-stuff]

This Starving Heart

#5. Hazy Nights - I

There's smut(?) in this chapter.

╮(╯▽╰)╭

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

He's trying to fold and pack his last jacket when Ishan enters the room.

His hair is messy and ridiculously fluffy, as if he didn't even bother to fix them with his hands.

Pretty understandable, Considering it's four in the morning.

"Rohit Bhai said the bus will move in ten minutes."

Shubhman doesn't look up, just nods, shoves the jacket inside his bag and goes inside the bathroom to make sure he didn't leave out anything.

He also double checks to make sure nothing belonging to ishan is left behind.

He comes out, hands ishan his conditioner and grabs his bags.

Ishan stuffs the bottle in his backpack and they start walking downstairs and out of the hotel.

It's painfully awkward.

Shubhman wishes he could go back to the way their relationship was a couple weeks ago;

Straightforward and unproblematic.

They were constantly pushing each other around, throwing insults in each others faces all the time but....alteast it wasn't so quiet.

Shubhman kind of wants to laugh at the irony of it all;

Few days ago, he couldn't stop complaining about how loud and irritating his roommate was.... And now he's desperate for things to go back to the way they were.

At that time, he had no idea how loud silences could be.

He's still not free from the weird web of thoughts that tightens it's hold on him everytime he looks at Ishan.

But he can't afford to get distracted.

Not when they have a match to play tomorrow.

They get inside their bus, keep their bags aside and take their seats.

Others slowly trod in, the seats are filled, then they're off for the airport.

Sleep looms over them like unrelenting fog and within the first ten minutes, almost everyone is dozing off on each other's shoulders or in their seat.

Shubhman pauses his scrolling and looks around.

Almost everyone is napping against someone or something...except Ishan.

He's sitting three seats ahead, has his earphones plugged in and there's a lollipop in his mouth.

He takes it out slowly, sucks the candy on top and pops it back in his mouth again.

Shubhman can't look away.

Ishan's fingers tap against the dimmed tablet screen while he pulls out the lollipop with his other hand.

The candy is wet, glistening and Ishan is rolling his tongue over it, placing it between his lips and then popping it back in his mouth.

Shubhman keeps staring until he notices Ishan's jaw move to crunch on the candy.

When he finally manages to tear his gaze away, their bus has reached the airport, they are about to get off, his heartbeat is out of control and his jeans have never been so uncomfortable.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Shubhman bolts for the washroom the moment they get settled in their flight.

He lashes the door and unzips his jeans.

'Wrong. This is wrong.'

His mind screams to him but he tucks that voice away into a corner. He's way too frustrated to measure his actions on a morality scale right now.

His hand goes under the briefs and he lets his imagination run wild.

Ishan.

Until now, he has tried his best to hold back his wandering mind.

Ishan's presence is a constant in his life and so is it's effect.

He tried to avoid looking at him during practice, turned around when he took off his shirt in their room and tried to distract himself with practice whenever the imagery from his dreams made an appearance.

Now, he removes that stopper and his mind is filled with thoughts of ishan as If a dam has broken loose and unleashed a flood.

He lets himself drown in it.

Rough hands with gleaming rings, nimble fingers with a tight grip;

he tries to imagine how it would feel if those hands were the one stroking him right now.

He could push him around, pin him down easily too; he's seen him work out, seen his muscles bulge, seen how the muscles of his thighs contract and relax.

And his mouth.

His lips, his tongue and the way it flicked and sucked that lollipop....

His hand moves faster and he feels the spike of hot pleasure spark between his legs and spread throughout his body.

He holds back a whimper and cums.

He grabs the rod of the towel hanger and feels his body slump.

Once his mind is clear from the post-orgasmic haze and his breathing is back to normal, reality hits him like a train.

Shame crawls out like an ugly demon and wraps itself all over him.

'Why did I do that?'

He can't answer himself.

He never did this when he had a crush on a girl.

He doesn't remember dreaming or fantasising about a girl like that either.

His team has a match to win and he's holed up in a washroom masturbating and fantasising about a guy who would probably throw up at the idea of them doing something like this together.

'Disgusting. Why am I so disgusting?'

He fixes his clothes, splashes some water on his face and tries to pretend he's normal.

He's not.

No normal person would harbor such perverted thoughts about their own roommate and then fantasize about them in a washroom.

The wave of self loathing is overwhelmingly strong, but he tries to fix his expression.

After throwing a couple of fake smiles at the mirror, he finally gets out and goes towards his seat.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Please comment and tell me what you think coz I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter lol.

ฅ'ω'ฅ

Tell me if you want to add or remove your name from the taglist 💖

Tagging :

@hum-suffer @bimesskaira @ishuess @fortunatelycrazyyouth @ispeakmorelanguagesthanyou @athena-swords @happypopcornprincess @deeee60 @melancholicmonody @roseromeroredranger @miyuki7 @fangirlingintellectual @books-butterbeer @nothingmuch08 @cherryryryryryry @iwishyouback28

[hyunchanstan]

I'LL BE YOUR FIRST LOVE : chapter 1

[GENERAL]: single!dad!chan x fem!reader, strangers to lovers, smut (warning in each chapter) . fluff, Chan is readers first love

[ WARNINGS IN THIS CHAPTER]: mentions of death, mentions of car accident, hospital, reader has depression, nightmare (let me know if I forgot something)

[ AUTHOR'S NOTE]: Hiiiii, it took me a bit longer to write this new chapter cuz i was super busy. Im rlly excited to post this. Thank u guys for the activity on my last post, luv u all!!

!english is not my first language so I apologize if there are any mistakes!

You were currently sitting at some cheap airport café, staring on a plain white wall. You took a sip of your americano as you were examining the cracks on the wall in front of you – it reminded you of your heart now. Back then, when the airport was built, the walls were all new and without any cracks -just like your heart when you were young-. But after so many years the walls started to crack because of how much they went trough -just like your heart now-.

---‐----------------------‐---------------------------------------♡----------‐-----‐-------------------------------------------------

You took another sip of your ice americano and the cold liquid going down your throat woke you up from your 10 minutes-long zoning out session. You were overthinking again. You didn't know if this was a good idea because you wanted to forget about past three weeks and start a new life, but at the same time you were scared that all the good memories with your parents will stay in France, left behind.

You took your purse and went to the plane. You didn't even have a backpack because you didn't take any makeup or skin care with you on the plane - you were sick of everything, you didn't even have the energy to take care of yourself. But it wasn't like you cared anyways, you were glad that you were still alive.

You sat down into your seat and slept through the whole flight.

Flashback

"Mom?...Dad?...", you shouted from the front door as it seemed like nobody was home. You took off your shoes and went further in the apartment but nobody was there. You still lived with your parents because they were like best friends to you. You didn't have any other friends besides your mom and dad, you felt safe and comfortable with them.

"Mom? I'm home...", you shouted once again but still no response. It was weird because it was already 9PM - you just came back from your dance practice - and they still weren't home when they usually come back home from work around 6PM.

You went to the living room, with an uneasy feeling, you grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. You liked to do that when you were home alone because you didn't like silence so that there was always same noise in the background. You went to the kitchen to make yourself something to eat while listening to the TV.

"Welcome back after a short break. You can therefore see the collision of a car with a bus from the live broadcast. A few minutes ago, an ambulance came to the place where the accident happened too, but the older couple didnt survive the brutal crash by the bus. Based on the shopping bags in the trunk of the car, we think that the couple was going back from the store only few blocks away from here when the bus hit them from the side and the cap flipped on its roof. The driver brake his ligaments and his wife didn't survive serious head injuries...".

It caught your attention and you went back to the living room. You looked at the TV and that was the moment your heart broke into million ting pieces no one will ever be able to stick together again - or at least you thought.

' No... It can't be... It's not...‘, you thought in your head. The car that was flipped on its roof was your dads car. You quickly ran out without any shoes or hoodie on to go check your dads garage. There was no car, that means your parents went somewhere. You couldn’t believe it was them so you ran to the place where the accident happened only a couple of minutes ago.

You saw your dads car flipped on its roof in the middle of the road. There were plenty of people around watching and recording the whole situation, but you were still searching for the two specific people until... You saw them lying on the side of the road as two policemen were just covering then with white sheets.

You still couldn’t believe. They were gone... for good. You didn't have anyone now. The people you loved the most are really not here anymore?.....

You ran to the two motionless bodies on the side of the road and ineeded down beside them as you broke down into tears. You took your moms hand while praying that this is all just a stupid nightmare and you will wake up soon. But that never happened. As one of the policemen was trying to tale you away from there you took your moms ring off of her finger and put it into your pocket - it was her engagement ring your dad gave her.

You sat down in the grass and watched the whole situation from afar still tasting the salty tears on your lips. You didn't actually feel that you were crying, you didn't feel anything at all - you felt numb, you felt like everything died inside of you. THAT is the only thing you felt.

"Ma'am... Wake up...", you suddenly heard from afar. You looked around trying to find the lady who called you.

End of flashback

You woke up breathing heavily, tears streaming down your face like waterfalls. You had another nightmare. You wiped your tears trying to calm down. You see them everytime you try to sleep - that's the reason why you didn't sleep at all for the past three weeks, you're tired. Really tired - of your life.

You got off of the plane and waited for your suitcase to arrive. Few minutes later you were already sitting in a taxi on your way to your new apartment. You paid the driver for the ride and got out of the car. You took your suitcase and looked at the huge modern-looking building in front of you - your new life.

[thebisexualdogdad]

Shang Chi x male reader fluffy smut? Idk exactly but this prompt:

[ GAZE ] : sender watches receiver from across a crowded room.

So Shang Chi watching us across a crowded bar. Maybe we’re an old friend and Katy is like “you’ve been staring at him for almost an hour go talk to him you disaster bisexual!”

Then maybe leads to smut?

Shang-Chi x Male!reader

When Shang-Chi and Katy returned to San Francisco the first thing they did was hit up their favorite bar.

The two of them are ordering drinks when Shang-Chi sees a familiar face enter the establishment.

"Oh shit Katy you are never going to believe who just walked in," Shang-Chi mutters.

Katy eagerly looks over his shoulder to find out who he's talking about.

"Wait, is that Y/N Y/L/N? The guy you had a huge crush on in high school?" Katy snickers.

"Okay well it wasn't a huge crush," Shang-Chi says trying to defend himself.

"Dude you joined the soccer team just to hang out with him," Katy retorts, "despite being a master of kung fu you suck at sports, one time you kicked the ball into your own team's goal."

"Do I need to remind you I literally saved the world a week ago?" He scoffs.

"Which you couldn't have done without my help," Katy teases, "and if I remember correctly Y/N was the only person who wasn't pissed off at you for the semi finals incident which means he totally liked you too so you should go talk to him."

"No I can't," he says shaking his head.

"Why not? You're like a total badass now."

"Because other people can't know that I'm a total badass now," Shang-Chi replies.

"Doesn't mean you can't go finally hook up with your high school crush."

Shang-Chi sighs and watches you join a group of your friends at the pool tables, one of them handing you a beer.

Unfortunately Shang-Chi was not as confident as Katy, how embarrassing would it be if he went up to you and you didn't even remember him?

An hour passes by and Katy has happily found someone to flirt with while Shang-Chi's attention is purely on you across the crowded bar.

But eventually Katy is done watching Shang-Chi giving you heart eyes and needed him to make a move.

"Seriously dude you've been staring at him for an hour just go talk to him already you disaster bisexual," Katy says pushing her best friend in your direction.

A couple people stare at Shang-Chi and the commotion and that's when he finally catches your eye.

"Too late now bud," Katy whispers to Shang-Chi, "he saw you so now you have no choice but to talk to him."

Shang-Chi gulps and recollects himself, approaching you nervously.

"Shaun?" You ask cheerfully.

"Y/N, hey," he smiles awkwardly.

"What's it been? 10 years?" You ask, "and is that Katy with you? Nice to see you guys are still friends. What have you been up to?"

"Well Katy and I actually just got back from a trip to China," he says.

"Wow that's so cool, why don't we play a game of pool and you can tell me all about it," you say handing him a pool stick.

Shang-Chi makes up a story about him and Katy going abroad to backpack around the country for a few weeks since obviously he couldn't tell you the truth about the city of Ta Lo and the soul eaters or the giant dragon he fought.

You spend another hour talking and catching up over a couple games of pool which Shang-Chi loses every time because he's too distracted by the same smile that gave him butterflies as a teenager.

"Did you somehow get hotter since high school?" You grin, taking the final shot of the fourth game hitting the 8 ball into a corner pocket.

"You thought I was hot in high school?" Shang-Chi asks suddenly with a lump in his throat.

"Why do you think I always sat next to you on the bus to away games despite half the seats being empty?" You chuckle.

"I uh… gotta confess I sort of had a crush on you," he admits, "you were the first guy I ever had a crush on actually."

"Yeah I know," you smile.

"If you knew why didn't you ever say anything?"

"Because you weren't out yet and if we were going to happen I wanted it to be on your terms," you tell him.

"I really wish I had asked you out back then," Shang-Chi states.

"Well I live just a couple blocks from here… we can go back to my place and… keep catching up?" You suggest.

Shang's mouth goes dry and all he can do is nod dumbfoundedly.

You say goodbye to your friends while he returns to Katy.

"Katy, holy crap I think Y/N and I are going to hook up tonight," Shang-Chi stammers.

"Hell yeah dude!" Katy says high fiving him.

"Are you okay to get home by yourself?"

"Oh no I'm not going home either I'm definitely getting some myself with that hottie over there," Katy says pointing to the person she had been flirting with all night, "now go make your teenage dreams come true."

"Okay okay I'm going, how do I look?"

Katy laughs and unbuttons the top two buttons of his shirt, "there now you're good."

Even though it's only a couple blocks it takes much longer than needed due to you and Shang-Chi stopping multiple times to makeout.

By the time you finally make it back to your apartment your lips are on his neck, unbuttoning his shirt the rest of the way.

"Shit Shaun you really did get hotter," you say running your hands over his defined abs, you remembered him being a lot skinnier a decade ago.

He laughs and gets rid of your own shirt as you guide him to your bedroom, articles of clothing being thrown around the hallway.

He couldn't believe this was actually happening, he had dreamt of this moment countless times when he was younger.

By the time you reach your bed all of your clothes are gone and you push a now totally naked Shang-chi onto the mattress.

You're both staring at each other, taking in the sight of one another.

"Are you just going to stand there or what?" He taunts as he comfortably positions himself against the pillows.

You grin and climb on top of him, kissing him and gripping his hardening cock in your hand.

He moans as you stroke him and juts his hips up into your touch.

"Do you want me to fuck you Shaun?" You say nipping along his jaw and up under his ear.

"Please," he groans desperately.

He already misses your touch when you remove your hand but he lets out a guttural moan when he feels you guiding your cock inside him.

"Fuck yes," Shang-Chi grunts as you push in inch by inch to let him adjust.

His eyes screw shut and his legs hook around your waist to give you a better angle as you find a steady pace.

You have one hand holding his hips in the air and the other roaming across his chest while you pick up the speed of your thrusts.

"Do you know how many times I used to jerk off thinking about this?" You grin watching Shang-Chi's abs flexing, sweat beading down his torso.

"You weren't the only one," he chuckles, grabbing his own cock and stroking himself, "I'm so close to cumming."

Hearing that you firmly hold onto his hips with both hands, pounding into him as roughly as you could, Shang-Chi's hand quickly moving until he's cumming all over his stomach.

He screams your name when he cums and hearing your name said like that takes you over the edge as well.

He cries out as you fill him to the brim, your thrusts now frantic and shaky as you two ride out your highs together.

Your orgasms subside and you ease out of him, cum dripping out of his hole.

"That was amazing," he says, a huge smile on his face.

"Was it worth the ten year wait?" You chuckle.

"So worth it," he says still trying to catch his breath.

[popcrone818]

How Could You Know- Luke Morrow Part 7

Part seven Series Masterlist Main Masterlist

Callie P.O.V

As Frankie dragged me with Riley towards the busses and his family, I caught sight of Luke and Cassie, they held hands as they walked through the throng of Marines and their partners who were there to say goodbye. I stood to the side as Riley said goodbye to Frankie and let them have their moment, I tried my hardest not to look at Luke and Cassie but I found my eyes drifting over to them, Luke was bent over his bag pulling out a slip of paper before handing it to Cassie and speaking in a low tone so no one else would hear. I looked away when Luke leaned into Cassie, my heart couldn’t take this and I felt a tear slip down my cheek. Frankie pulled me into his body and clung to me as I felt myself cry.

“It’s all going to be alright, we’ll both come home and you can tell him then.” I squeezed him once again and I nodded into his shoulder, I knew things would work out eventually, and more than likely I would get over Luke while he was away. I was hoping this time it would work. He was married now I couldn’t keep harbouring feeling for a married man.

“One more time for the newly weds!” I heard Brandon yell out the window of the bus. He and Armando walked out of the bus and picked up Cassie. Frankie bent down to pick up her bag that she had dropped.

Everyone was chanting ‘kiss’ and I had to look away. Riley grasped my arm tightly as we both shed tears. Both for different reasons. Frankie blew both of us a kiss before he stepped onto the bus. My eyes found Luke again this time he was already looking at me, I held his gaze for a moment longer before looking away watching Frankie sit down in front of Luke. I followed Riley over to Cassie as she wrapped her arm around Cassie’s bicep. I stood back and let them have a moment, there was no reason I should have even been there, but Frankie had insisted.

“This doesn’t even feel real.” Riley said. I nodded along with her as I wrapped my arms around myself.

All my days started blurring into one. Cassie called me once a day but I never answered, Camille kept trying to get me out of the house but I wouldn’t budge. Nothing was helping me not even staring out into the waves that crashed against the sand.

I typed in the number continuously since Luke left, just wanting to feel some sense of normalcy but each time I’ve pushed past that feeling of needing something else and going on a run instead.

When Camille came home to tell me that Cassie had released a song I actually called her up to congratulate her. She and I ended up going out that night to celebrate and it felt like nothing could go wrong. Her song played through the speakers and I felt my tears roll down my cheeks as I thought of Luke, the reason she wrote this song. Listening to ‘come back home’ and a few more drinks later I had lost Cassie and Nora and found myself outside with my phone held against my ear, the cracked out voice on the other end letting me know who I had called. My fingers twitched and I watched as a blue truck stopped in front of me, without another thought I jumped in the passenger seat and didn’t look back.

The next couple of days had been a blur to me, I couldn’t move my body and I stayed firmly in bed while I felt the whole world spinning. I could feel my phone vibrating against my bed and reached out blindly for it, without checking the caller ID I answered.

“Where the fuck have you been?! I’ve been so worried about you!” I heard Cassie yelling into the phone at me.

“Uh I’m in bed i must have gotten drugged last night at the club.”

“Cal, that was a month ago. Where have you been. I got a phone call that night and when I came back to look for you I saw you getting into a blue truck. Are you alright? You’re not hurt are you? Oh please don’t be hurt I can’t do this with you too.” I sat up when she said it had been a week since I saw her and when she me ruined the blue truck I nearly felt myself throw up. There is no way. I looked around at my surroundings, everything familiar but not where I was supposed to be, not where I needed to be. I started to hyperventilate when Johno came out of nowhere. I dropped my phone but I could hear Cassie on the other side still.

“Callie, Luke’s been injured. Calliope. Are you still there? Please Cal I really need you right now.” Johno came towards me holding a needle in one hand and his other outstretched towards me.

“Everything’s okay Callie, you came to me.” I shrunk away from him but he lunged and was able to push the needle into my arm. I could faintly hear Cassie coming from my phone as my body relaxed. I watched as Johno picked up my phone and held it to his ear.

“She’s fine! Don’t call again!” He hung up and switched it off.

Luke’s P.O.V

I was sitting on the couch in Cassie’s house when she finally got through to Callie, my ears perked up when I heard her having a conversation, before her frantic calls to Callie started coming from her mouth.

“…I saw you getting into a blue truck. Are you alright? You’re not hurt are you? Oh please don’t be hurt I can’t do this with you too.” My blood ran cold. There is no way in hell she would have willingly gotten into his truck. I balled my fists up at my sides, I hated feeling helpless and there was nothing I could do.

There was nothing Cassie and I could do I didn’t know where Johno would have been keeping her or even if he was still where I last saw him, I had tried calling him even trying to stagger my way over to the apartment I saw him in last. But I didn’t want Cassie to get suspicious. At least not anymore suspicious than she already was. She didn’t need to know about him and I would find my own way to get her back. I didn’t even know if she knew about Frankie. That’s not something she would be able to deal with if he’s been drugging her.

For the next couple of months I pushed myself harder in physical therapy. I needed to be strong, I needed to get there and I needed to save her. I watch as Cassie became more and more concerned, both with me and with her friend, she tried to call her everyday but got nowhere, her phone was shut off and there was no way of tracing her. Cassie had released a few more songs and I knew that being on stage helped her deal with the fact that her friend was nowhere to be found. I felt guilty that I knew who she was with but I couldn’t tell Cassie, she couldn’t get caught up in all of this.

Late one night Cassie got a phone call from Camille, Callie’s sister. Her house had been broken into and Cassie and I rushed over there to make sure it was safe for her to go inside. Once there I was sure I heard footsteps in the room I knew was Callie’s, but once I got in there and waved my gun around I didn’t see anyone.

Cassie stood just outside with an arm wrapped around Camille’s shoulders holding her tight, she had no idea where her sister was and then her house was broken into, this couldn’t go on. I knew who broke in and I knew I couldn’t say anything to either female there.

“I’m going to stay with Cami tonight, make sure she’s okay, if Callie calls you please call me.” I nodded at her and got back into the cab to go back to Cassie’s apartment.

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[the12thnightproject]

Chapter 20: Limbo: Katsu’s accident temporarily pauses the investigation, but Mitsuhide proves to be a great nurse.

Mitsuhide x OC; Hideyoshi x MC (Mai)

All Chapters Archived on Ao3 

Logline - With Mai, Hideyoshi, and Aki missing, Mitsuhide and Katsuko reluctantly team up. Disguised as a merchant and his concubine, can they outsmart the man known as the God of Deceit?

CW: Flashback to parent death/suicide

“She's not dead. Oh Gods… I thought she was dead.”

“Katsuko – you could have been killed.”

“I wasn’t, though.” I broke into my energy bar stash and offered him one.

He pushed it away. “I’m done.”

I didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “Wait. Don’t. I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re not.” But he hugged me in spite of his harsh tone. “I can’t keep watching you chase death.”

Toshiie? Where are we?

Is this how she felt? Is this what my mother had lived with every day? The unrelenting greyness that muffled all sound, blinded sight, reached inside and amplified everything dark, muffled everything bright? Had it been like this before? Too long had passed since my last journey through the wormhole. It was familiar, and yet not. No. This was not what I remembered. I could see nothing but grey. The fog invaded my eyes, my lungs, my throat. It was… My fingers were getting numb… I couldn’t feel my toes. I couldn’t feel. I could sense nothing. How could I escape from a place that appeared to be part of me? I was as one with the fog. There wasn’t a step I could take, a direction I could move that would separate me from the grey. Someone looking at me would only see a fading shadow, perhaps darker in some places, and translucent in others. The darkness would fade last.

"Kaya. Open your eyes." The voice was insistent enough that I tried and-

Ow. No. Hurt.

…Me against the mountain. The bright snow and crisp wind, sailing on the board, trusting my balance, my mastery, my freedom.  At the top of the pipe, I twisted and… crap! Over rotated, misjudged the run... and I tumbled into the hard packed snow in the bowl of the half pipe.

The few other early season boarders let out an ‘ooh’ of sympathy. Yeah, that's going to leave a mark. A headache began at the base of my skull and slush slid down my back.

Time to pack it in for the day.

Happy Birthday to me. It wasn't literally my birth date. That had been, six weeks ago. Toshiie and I had had a small dinner at home, with only our mother as a guest, though I knew that Toshiie had celebrated the night before with his boyfriend. Mom lasted through three bites of the cheesecake I'd made for the three of us, then retreated to her room, leaving Toshiie and me to pretend that was had been planned after all. After a few moments of awkwardly staring at her closed bedroom door, we gave up and instead found a movie to stream.

But that was six weeks ago. I was over it. Today I had been determined to have a belated celebration just for myself, the way I liked to spend my time, testing myself against the sky ...  although my plan hadn’t included wiping out on the half pipe.

Oh well. First snow of the season. Always takes a couple of runs to get the kinks out.

While waiting for the bus to take me back to town, I remembered to turn my phone back on, only to see a stack of increasingly frantic texts from my brother. Shit. Guess they'd found out I wasn't at the library studying.

I considered ignoring the messages (new phone who dis), but it would only be postponing the inevitable. I braced myself and called him back.

"Where are you?" Weird. Toshiie never skipped the greeting. That was my gig.

"Mount Kosha. Waiting for the bus.” With about one hundred other people. Hopefully, I would get a seat. My headache had become impossible to ignore.

His sigh of disgust sent the pain ricocheting around my skull. "I'm sending a taxi to you. Take it."

"What? Why?'' My words went in to the void; he'd already hung up.He’d sounded on the edge of crying, though and my stomach began to twist in anxiety, especially when my attempts to call him back went unanswered. Still. Toshiie sometimes went from zero to full catastrophe in seconds. It could be something simple. Maybe… maybe he broke up with his boyfriend?  

I peeled away from the bus stop and migrated to the taxi lot, put on my airpods and tried to push away my worry with a bit of music. My normal k-pop playlist increased my headache, so I poked around the satellite radio networks and found a “Music for Yoga” station. Maybe a dose of New Age flute would clear away the pain.

The lilting tune did little to ease my headache, but as the cab took me back to Nagano, I found the music hypnotic. Relaxing. It was as if it was pulling me somewhere else, calling me to come…

… home?

But home was little more than a slightly shabby nondescript apartment building, parallel to an equally non-descript building. In between the two structures was a small playground with rusty slide and swing set. We’d never played on those though … when we moved here we were already too old for playgrounds. So I was surprised to see Toshiie sitting on one of the swings when I arrived. His head was down, and he kicked his feet in the dirt.

As soon as I got out of the cab, he rushed over, yanked me into a fierce hug, and buried his face on my shoulder. Behind him, the swing he’d hastily abandoned was still moving, back and forth, and side to side, as if propelled by an invisible cyclone. "She's dead."

I didn’t process what he said at first. Instead, I watched that abandoned swing rotating wildly, as his words whirled inside my head, pinging back and forth against my aching skull. What? Who?

Then, I knew. Mom. Of course mom. "Did... Um... were you the one who found her?" Had she been dead even before I'd crept out of the house at an early hour? I should have checked on her – usually I do before I leave. But usually, I’m not sneaking out to snowboard.

I should have been the one to find her. It wouldn’t have come as a surprise to me, but Tosh... Tosh always thought she was going to snap out of it when her dark days came. Me. I knew she wouldn’t.

"Yes – I tried CPR, but it was already too late." His voice was muffled in my shoulder. "I should have checked on her earlier.”

It wouldn’t have mattered. It would never have mattered. She was always going to do this. But I couldn’t say any of that, so I hung on to the hug, patting his back, trying to ignore the feeling of release. At least now, the wondering was over.

"Kaya, wake up." Two Mitsuhides were floating over my head. The pain was… no I couldn’t focus without it hurting. I closed my eyes to the pain. “Who?"

New phone who dis?

Later, I don't know how much later, I felt something cool touch my cheek. Ok yes, that’s good. I blinked open for a sec, and it was Sho, washing my face. "Kaya! Thank you for saving Hiko!" There was a smothering hug, and a stab of pain, and... Why does she keep calling me Kaya? I hate that name.

I’m just going to sleep again.

It was dark for a while. The soft strains of a flute reached out, around, a cloud bank of music. Nice. I must have found that Music for Yoga station again.

"Katsuko." The room was still dark, but I knew Mitsuhide's voice.

"Nooo. Let me sleep." I batted his hand away.

"I will. Be patient, Brat. The strange doctor Shojumaru found said I should wake you up periodically." He mumbled something else under his breath, but I was in too much pain to concentrate on that.

Ugh. My entire life savings for aspirin.

"If you are able to drink it, I have some willow bark tea for the pain." I felt a hand under my back, lifting me slightly, cradling my weight, while a slight bitterness dripped onto my lips.

My turn to have willow bark. I used to be the one forcing it on people.

“There’s no way to make this into a tea, so you’re going to have to chew on this for a little while.”

“What… does it taste like?” Even half out of breath, there was deep suspicion in his voice.

"Katsuko. Wake up." Who was that talking? I only saw a blur with white hair.

"Go away ghost." I tried to turn over to avoid the light, and a wave of pain swept through me, instantly receding on a rush of nausea. No. I couldn’t throw up in my own bed.  "Let me sleep," I begged the ghost.

There was a soft touch untangling my hair, and a cool gel of some kind on my cheek.

Wth a gentle touch, he lightly massaged the ointment onto my cheekbone. The warmth of his finger combined with the cool of the salve – the sensation was not unpleasant at all. It felt little like a butterfly was dancing on my skin, and I involuntarily shivered as his touch reverberated through me.

“Did I hurt you?” Mitsunari’s voice was in my ear; he sounded concerned.

“No.” I hurried to reassure him. “It tickled, actually.” Tickled wasn’t quite what I meant, but there didn’t seem to be an adequate word in my vocabulary for the feeling his tenderness had evoked.

He continued the treatment, smoothing another layer across, and I squashed a rogue desire to lean into his hand as if I were Kitty. “There. Done.”

I opened my eyes to see Mitsunari’s serious gaze right in front of me. His palm was still pressed to my cheek. Then he jerked his hand away, as if he’d been shocked. Quickly, he lurched backward and jumped to his feet.

"Katsuko. Time to wake up again, Brat." Mitsuhide had returned. This time there was only one of him. An improvement, I guess.

"Where did your friend go?"

"The healer?" He frowned. "Do you think you can sit up long enough to drink this?" He held a cup out to me. "It's gone cold, but Sho would happily brew up an entire vat if I asked."

"Cold is fine." Willow bark. Fume used to make me strip acres of it for her own medicinal stock. Mitsuhide helped me sit up enough to sip the cup. The room tilted, then spun when I moved and I closed my eyes. The nausea arrived with the pain, but the tea would help. Hopefully. "Where did you find willow bark?"

"Shojumaru brought it." Mitsuhide sounded slightly surprised by that. Huh. For that matter, so was I. "Do you recall what happened?"

For a moment we were all quiet. I lined up another shot, my attention fully on the sound of the air and the rustle of the leaves, and it was quiet enough to hear something else – the twang of another bow string in the distance.

I didn’t need to look to know there would be an arrow heading for us, and I was yelling a warning even before I turned to see Yoshimoto move faster than I had ever seen him move, grab Mai’s arm and dive left, covering her with his body, while I somersaulted to the right, landing hard on a rock, as –

The arrow thudded into the ground right past Mai had been standing. If Yoshimoto hadn’t pulled her out of its path, it would have buried itself in her heart.

"Arrow." No. Wait. Where were all these strange visions coming from? "Runaway cart. Is Hiko all right?" The scene blurred in my mind. I could see the ox, but the moment before that was blank.

"He is fine. Apparently Shojumaru is sufficiently attached to the boy to be grateful." I couldn’t tell whether or not Mitsuhide found that information helpful due to the procurement of medical supplies or if he planned to make use of that gratitude. In another situation, I might have asked, but at the moment, I simply wanted to go to sleep again.

So I did.

The next time I surfaced, it was daylight again. This time I had awakened without anyone prompting me. My head still ached when I tried to focus my vision on anything in particular, but I had the sense that-

!

Yes, that was Mitsuhide next to me on the bed. He was lying on his side, with his head propped up on his arm. He stared down at me wordlessly, and brushed my hair out of my face, his touch as gentle as-

“Feathers.” Since it still hurt too much to do anything else, I curled into him and went back to sleep.

How much time had passed since morning? It was impossible to tell. Sho had brought me some soup and insisted I take it, saying that I needed to eat. I likely would have refused, but her statement was backed up by Mitsuhide’s implacable stare.

Bad decision. After I sat up and swallowed a small amount, the liquid boiled in my stomach. "Oh hell. I'm going to-"

With a shriek, she rushed for a bucket, and thrust it in front of me while Mitsuhide kept my hair out of the way and gently rubbed my back. The soup left me faster than it entered. I felt helpless, prisoner to the constant ache in my skull and the convulsions in my stomach. This was worse than any flu or food poisoning I’d ever had. At least with the flu, there was the knowledge that eventually, it would run its course.

When the wave finally subsided, I felt spent and exhausted. Mitsuhide held me against him while he helped me take a couple sips of cold tea, and then I lay back down, completely out of energy, and yet not able this time to go back to sleep. If I kept myself very very still, maybe everything would stop hurting.

"Thank you." I heard Sho's soft footsteps padding away, leaving me alone with Mitsuhide. "How long has it been?" Time had been blurred, I felt like I'd been both thrown into the past and at the same time futures that didn’t exist.

"Since you picked a fight with a runaway cart? Three days. Some of your bruises all already fading." His fingers lightly skimmed across my cheek. "I imagine your head will feel better soon as well."

I hoped so. Concussion… that’s probably what I had, but of course there was no word for that in this time.

"Do you think a strong scent will make you feel sick?" Mitsuhide's voice came from further away and I heard a bit of a clanking. It sounded like a ceramic jar, maybe, but I wasn’t willing to test opening my eyes again.

"Maybe." There had been a bit of a fishy smell to the soup. But the scent of the herbal tea hadn’t been triggering.

I heard a rustle, then the side of the futon dipped slightly. Very briefly, the scent of something minty wafted past. "What about this scent?"

"So far it seems tolerable," The scent came closer, stronger.

"And now?" I felt his breath across my ear.

"Still fine. As long as I don't move or open my eyes. Why?" The question was automatic, although I suspected what he had planned.

"This oil may help with the pain, but if I put it on you, I don't want it to make you ill again." The scent was closer still, right under my nose, fresh and sharp, and I realized something was missing. He no longer had that scent of incense clinging to him. He must have bathed and laundered his clothing. "May I?"

"Yes." If it would stop the men with spears from hurling them back and forth in my skull, it would be lovely.

Very gently, almost imperceptibly, one finger traced small circles at my temple, drawing a line from there to a spot behind my ear. The mint oil left a trail of coolness, soothing the angry nerve endings. The pain didn’t go away, but it subsided enough to help me relax. "That's nice."

He lightly applied more oil to the side of my neck, the top of my shoulders, and I couldn't help but sigh in relief.

"Interesting. That response makes me curious to see what would happen if we employed this oil in other situations." That teasing note was finally back in his voice. He wouldn’t tease me if he thought I was in any serious danger, which was a relief. I mean it wasn't like I thought I was going to die either. If this head injury was going to kill me it would have done so already, right?

It was only belatedly that I realized what exactly he was teasing me about, "Great. Let me know how it turns out." Not my usual, but hey give me credit for any snark at all when I have a concussion.

"You would know long before that," At least that’s possibly what he said. I was already halfway into sleep again.

I wish I could say that recovery from that concussion was as easy as recovery from a cold. Though the constant headache and nausea receded within a week, it came back whenever I tried to do anything strenuous. Reading. Reading was strenuous. Though I had never been much of a reader, being stuck in bed was boring, and reading material would have helped distract me from my thoughts.

Even worse than the boredom was the feeling that I was always on the verge of crying or losing my temper. The third time I tried to read and the text blurred in front of me had brought me to tears. Luckily neither Sho nor Mitsuhide had been in the room at the time. Maybe it was illogical, but I couldn’t get past the conviction that all the things I used to be able to do were gone and would never return.

That fear, and a fear that I was holding up Mitsuhide’s investigation, propelled me out of bed.

As it had been practice and repetition that had given me all those skills to start with, well, then, I only needed to practice and work hard to make sure they were retained. With that in mind, I made my way back to the room that had been mine when I first moved in, before Mitsuhide banned me from window access.

I'd been able to eat the past few days, so the effort of walking down that hideous red and black corridor didn’t even have me out of breath. (Not much anyway). I only wanted to look out the window, to visualize what it would be like to climb out and make my way through the city across the rooftops. To remember what it had felt like to be powerful and free. To test myself against the sky.

But even the act of looking down inspired such a feeling of vertigo, that the room spun around me and-

"What do you think you're doing over there?" Mitsuhide's voice was sharp with disapproval.

Before the words were out of his mouth, he had crossed the room and scooped me up in his arms. "It's been barely a week since your head injury. Even someone as reckless as you would not think of climbing out the window."

"I wasn't." I slumped against his shoulder as he hauled me back to my room, all previous energy having vanished in the dizziness. "I only wanted to know if… to see if..." I couldn’t figure out how to explain it, and then to my complete horror, I burst into tears as he put me back down on the bed. "Just leave me alone."

Crying was bad enough. Crying in front of Mitsuhide? Kill. Me. Now.

@lorei-writes @selenacosmic @bestbryn @lyds323 @tele86 @akitsuneswife

[lnights]

@10yearsofblindchannel

Crew, friends, and family day! Word count 925, Joel&Samy.

TW mentions of past mental health crisis, briefly alluded to suicidal thoughts.

Joel looked at the time, they were all meeting at the studio to load up for tour, but he had a little while before he really had to be there. They always got the big stuff on first and that took a while...

So he just needed to wait for his ride.

It didn't take long until the familiar black sedan pulled up to the curb, metal music blasting through the window as it slid down.

"Taxi service for one dramatic blonde?" A laughing voice called.

Joel rolled his eyes and flipped him off, throwing his bags in the trunk before getting into the passenger seat, turning to look at the blue haired singer.

"Good morning sunshine!" Samy said as he pulled away from the curb.

"You're way too excited for this early in the morning." Joel grumbled.

"I'm ready for the tour man!" Samy told him, "aren't you excited?"

"Of course I am!" Joel rolled his eyes, "but I still need coffee first."

Samy chuckled but promised to stop at a cafe, drumming his tattooed fingers on the steering wheel in beat to the song playing on the radio.

"I really can't wait to tour all over with you guys," Samy told him, "it's going to be a blast."

"It is," Joel agreed, "i can't believe we're finally doing a big headline tour like this out of Finland."

"I can, I've been watching your stuff just go up the charts." Samy told him.

"Your stuff is going to too." Joel told him eagerly, he had been hanging out with Johnny and Samy a couple weeks ago and they had let him listen to Lost Society's upcoming album and it was awesome, even if he could hear all the pain Samy had been suffering through.

He knew a little of it, he had just started working with Johnny when he first met Samy and he had seen how he had been drinking too much, going down a bad way…

But a couple years ago he had gone sober and stayed sober; he always seemed happy. But there had been a few times even Joel had seen the cracks in his happy mask, getting more and more frequent, little things he had said here and there to indicate just how much he was hiding.

But he didn't realize how bad it was until he heard from Johnny that Samy had checked himself into the hospital. He had visited his friend as soon as Samy was ready to see people and he had gotten the whole story that night.

So Joel could admit Suffocating made him cry, knowing Samy had written that to be his last song ever; he had a couple extra sessions with his own therapist afterwards, processing everything as he had always thought he and Samy were a lot alike and he felt so guilty for missing the signs he needed help.

"Are you going to be good?" Joel asked quietly, "singing a couple of your new songs?"

Samy hummed, "I'm can guess which one you're worried about. A lot of singers excorsie their demons through song you know."

"And some it makes them think about it again and again and they can't escape it." Joel replied.

"I know, I'm ok man." Samy sighed, "you don't have to keep an eye on me or anything, I'm good. If I need it'll call my therapist, I'm still not going to be drinking… I'm excited for this."

Joel nodded, "alright, I'm excited too."

Samy grinned a little, "and besides, Taz, Mirko and Arttu will be there, they know how to pull me out of a bad mood, and you haven't lived until you've seen Taz in mother hen mode."

Joel laughed, trying to picture the drummer fussing over his bandmates. "I need to see that."

They talked the whole way to the cafe, getting coffee and pulla and sitting outside to enjoy the morning sunshine until Joel's phone started ringing; he looked at the name that flashed up on the screen-

Oh no.

Angry Tour Manager

Joel frantically gestured Samy to the car as he answered. "Good morning-"

"You have 20 minutes to get here and load your crap onto the bus." Santeri told him bluntly, "or we leave without you. And tell Samy that the Lost Society boys are saying the same."

"We're almost there," Joel promised, "it won't take us long to load up."

"Good." Santeri hung up.

Samy cackled as Joel told him the threat and made the last 10 minutes of their drive in 5, parking between an unfamiliar car and one Joel recognized as Aleksi's.

"Cutting it close Samy boy." Mirko called from one of the two parked buses.

"Hey, I've never been late to leave for tour!" Samy called back.

"Joel can't say the same!" Niko shouted.

"That was because of Porko!" Joel yelled back, running to thrown his bag on his bunk before stowing his equipment.

Within a few minutes they had gotten packed and the two bands and crews met outside the buses to talk before they departed for the first gig of the tour.

"We're really glad you guys are coming along." Joonas told them.

Arttu smiled, "we're glad too."

With the details for the day's drive discussed between their drivers and everything ready to, they all started to get settled on the buses; Samy hugging Joel tight before he got on their bus.

"I'm good," he reminded him, "you don't need to worry about me. And if that changes… I'll let you know."

Joel nodded and hugged him back before going to get on his own bus. He trusted Samy to ask for help if he needed it.

It was going to be a great tour.

[cosmicgrapevine]

“It used to be a health resort,” Jordy said. “Back in the old days, people thought hot springs would cure anything, y’know, so rich people’d come out here and stay for a couple weeks. Then it went outta business in the ‘30s and the Colonel—that’s Travis’ great-grandpa—bought it for cheap.”

Melanie let him ramble. She’d been fishing for information about the Barretts and their ‘citadel’ all the way up, and Jordy had been the most eager to provide it. It also gave him a chance to share her seat, inching closer with each curve of I-75 until his arm was around her shoulder. Melanie didn’t mind. She kind of liked how corny it was. She’d seen it on TV a hundred times, now a boy was trying it on her in real life. She’d seen fake girlfriends turn into real ones on TV too. Maybe she’d try that one on him.

Everyone onboard knew they weren’t actually dating, so he didn’t need to maintain the illusion. But he wanted to. And she wanted him to. He’d turned on the charm, and it worked, and she’d resent it if he wasn’t so…well, charming. Did she really like him? The way he liked her? She couldn’t say. She didn’t want to ask herself yet.

Her spirits dampened slightly when she got a full view of the next week’s lodgings. “People live here?” She blurted out.

“Yeah, it’s…it ain’t the prettiest,” Jordy admitted. “When the Colonel bought it he bulldozed the whole thing, rebuilt it like this. Wards are stronger when there ain’t any fancy shit gettin’ in the way, he said.”

The Wards here must have been very strong, as the Citadel was a solid block of gray cement, broken up only by plain glass windows. The foggy valleys and narrow, rocky gorges they’d driven through to get here put Melanie in mind of some fairytale castle, but it looked like a Siberian prison at best, a nuclear waste dump at worst. There were several cars and buses parked haphazardly in the front lawn, and the hot springs bubbled away in the back, with their sharp chalky smell.

“Only Travis’ great-aunt lives here, and two of her kids,” Fawn said. “The top floors are for guests, and during Equinox, all the high school delegations have to stay on-site. It’s in the contract. ‘Cause killing Halfmires is fine, but god forbid we stay in Knoxville and party with college kids.”

“Fawn, you ain’t partyin’ either way, come on,” Jordy said. “Hey, looks like the AEGIS bus is here. You gonna room with that Dutch girl again?”

“Trudi? Hope so. You’ll like her, Mel, she’s awesome.”

“Wait, Dutch? Some kids flew here from the Netherlands?”

“Switzerland, actually.” Fawn said. “About 30 years ago a lot of the old European Warden schools put their funds together and built a new boarding school in Geneva. AEGIS stands for something in French, I forget what. The other two schools sending student reps are St. George’s in Memphis, and Wallenbrook in Pennsylvania.”

“Well, they all sound…fancy.” She suddenly wished she wore something other than old jeans and a Kahoti Knights sweatshirt.

“The AEGIS kids are pretty cool. All Americans are the same to them, I guess.” Fawn said. “The others, though, yeah, we’re trashy new money to them. Especially the Georgies. Your grandpa’s been gnawing off bits of their Gulf Coast territory for years and they hate him for it. Well, too bad, guys, it’s not the 1800s anymore.”

[dianasourflower]

what about the bus?

ps i know it doesn't snow in la but rn. imagine i does. also y/n speaks Spanish therefore the nicknames(i ain't spanish sorry if I get some wrong, pls comment if i did...)

I've never ever ever done this before pls be nice...

pairing: vinnie x influencer!fem!y/n

genre: fluff

img creds: @writer-in-theory and tiktok

word count: 583

summary: it's winter and Vinnie brought y/n to the ice-skating rink. when they were done, Vinnie found out his car just got towed. y/n then suggested they go home by bus. but none of them realised they'd fall in love that night

"Babe, come on. I wanna go home!" Y/n said staring at the freezing, falling snow as Vinnie sat and stared at the tow truck that just drove away with his treasured car sitting on its back.

"but- What- I-""baby, we'll get it back tomorrow, i took a picture of the logo. we'll find it, i promise." Vinnie finally took his eyes of the car that was out of eyeshot almost 5 minutes ago.

"How else are we meant to go home? i mean we can take a cab or something." Vinnie whispered, sounding heartbroken. "aw baby... i love you, we'll get her back i promise. and, i saw a bus station about 2 minutes ahead soooo....."

"okay, i guess. thank you baby." his hazel eyes peaked with hope as he heard her voice before she kissed his cheek saying "no problem, angel boy"

the influencer couple walked 2 minutes down the street and just like y/n said, there was a bus stop there with 4 other people there. a woman working on her laptop, a man with his daughter who was a asleep on his shoulder and a boy who was probably just sitting there for shelter from the blistering cold.

Vinnie and y/n eyes either shifted from the eachother to the boy then the sleeping babygirl who clutched her father dearly. Both loved her little face.

Soon enough, the bus arrived and all 5 people hurried into the bus, buying their tickets before settling in their seats. vinnie and y/n decided on sitting near the back.

she took the window seat while Vinnie sat in the Isle seat. "that baby is adorable" Vinnie. simply stated taking his girlfriend's eyes off the steamed window and on to the baby that was previously sitting next to her boyfriend on the bus stop.

"agreed." y/n spoke with much love in her voice before glancing into her boyfriends eyes who was already staring into hers. "hi." y/n smiled into the lips of her lover. this is heaven she thought.

once they pulled apart, she giggled as they banged foreheads. you know the giggle that could make the saddest man in the world fall of his chairs because he was smiling like an idiot. or so Vinnie thought.

they both turned their heads to the window. y/n started drawing things on the steam of the window then turning around to pout at her querido(darling in spanish) because it disappeared. Vinnie easily made her frown into a smile by kissing her claiming it was impossible not to kiss her little button nose.

she giggle once more before feeling warmth creep on her back. she happily smiled and leaned into it letting herself sink into her boyfriend but watch as he drew on the window like she did before.

but, this time, the window was temporarily vandalised by words she hadn't heard him say to her before. Vinnie looked down at his girlfriend wondering if she was okay with the three letter everyone waits for in a relationship, 'i love you.'

she looked at him with wide eyes before she rushed to kiss seeing the creeping hurt in his eyes thinking she didn't feel the same. "i love you too, mi querido." she said into the kiss as he smiled and kissed her back. the two remained inseparable for the next week leaving their housesmates questioning them.

until one night, y/n sent the girls chat texts about the night.

thanks for reading besties <33333

hope you enjoyed

pls give me kind feedback <3

thank you xx

help ukraineeee<3 (if minor ask parents to help if you want) completely your choice. go to hell if you support Putin tho

[axoxtxhxh]

Secret Admirer

Kuroo x GN Reader WC: 2k Summary: Valentine’s Day is coming up and all you want is a little bit of snow.

A/N: Yeah, I wrote this a while ago and finally edited haha so it’s completely out of season. Oh well.

“Did you hear about the weather on Friday?” You nudged your elbow into Kuroo’s ribs and he pushed your arm away from him.

You met Kuroo a couple months ago at work when you started a new position. He was always the most helpful and friendliest of all your co-workers and he didn’t even really work in your division which struck you as odd. Either way, quickly a friendship blossomed and you would never admit it to him, but you considered him one of your best friends.

“Do you actually think it’s going to snow?” He questioned with his eyebrow raised.

“You’re always so negative.” An annoyed pout played on your face as you crossed your arms and looked at the rest of the bus riders in front of you.

“I think you mean to say realist,” he corrected.

“No, you’re definitely a pessimist.” You shook your head defiantly at him and his hand went to his chest dramatically.

“The disrespect I withstand for this friendship.” He brushed his hair back theatrically and you had to hold back your laughter. “I’ve never…”

“Fine,” you admitted. “You’re a bit of a realist. Or whatever. But this behavior is exactly why I don’t tell people we’re friends.”

You pointed at him and narrowed your eyes, but he only smiled, holding your gaze shortly before turning to face the front of the bus.

“I need this win, Kuroo,” you said quietly.

“I know.” He nodded, even though you couldn’t see. “You haven’t gotten any more letters?”

“I would have shown you if I did.” You shrugged.

It was about a month before, you started getting small notes in your work locker. Never anything too telling, but it was someone at work that seemed to be interested in you but wasn’t sure how to say it. At first, you felt great about it! Who wouldn’t want to be admired? You would get a note every single day, sometimes twice a day. They would be encouraging and sweet, always putting you in a good mood, but for whatever reason, you hadn’t received any in the last week.

“This is us.” He nudged you and you stood up from the bus seat and made your way to the doors.

Kuroo stood behind you, leaning forward to ring the bell, but even after pushing the button, he stayed there. With his hand on your waist, you could almost feel him leaning forward, pressing himself against you. It was one of these weird moments you always seemed to have with Kuroo that made you question his feelings towards you and if he really only thought of you as his friend. These moments always brought up your own feelings that you then couldn’t shake from your head. Before you even realized it, he had already pulled away as the bus came to a stop and the doors opened for you to get off.

“I’m serious. Don’t get your hopes up about Friday,” he warned, about to separate from you to head to his side of the building.

“What does it matter to you anyway, I know you hate snow.” You laughed and he turned to face you, walking backwards.

“You know I hate seeing you disappointed.” He flashed you a smile and it remained slightly before he turned and left.

Sometimes, but only briefly, Kuroo would let something slip or his hand would linger a bit longer than needed or his gaze would hold and soften as he stared at you. It made you wonder if he was the secret admirer. You were friends before you started getting those notes though, and it didn’t really make sense that he wouldn’t just tell you so it didn’t take long for you to assume the little moments were just part of his personality. It never bothered you either way. Friend or not, you liked having Kuroo in your life.

But without the notes coming though, you were starting to feel bad. What if you had done something to make the admirer mad and stop admiring you? Or what if they moved on? Not the healthiest thoughts considering you really didn’t know who they were, but those notes always made your day a bit better and to be honest, they distracted you and reminded you that there were people out there that thought of you the way you wished Kuroo had.

Regardless of the notes, you really just wanted one day of snow and it was so hard not to get your hopes up when you thought there was a chance. As much as you loved snow, Kuroo was right. There hadn’t been snow on the ground for years. There was no reason for it to be any different than it had been.

Since you’re you though, you did get your hopes up and as Friday came, you waited and waited with nothing, not even rain.

“Don’t,” you warned Kuroo as you got on the bus next to him, finally time to go home. “Don’t say anything.”

“I wasn’t going to.” He laughed quietly. You rode in silence for most of the way until it was your stop and you stood up, but Kuroo didn’t.

“What are you doing? Aren’t we going?” You asked, ready to sit back down.

“You go home. I have something I need to take care of.” He pushed you so you’d walk towards the doors, but you only swatted his hand away.

“I thought we were going to watch a movie at my place tonight.”

“It’s only 4:30. I’ll be there later.”

You narrowed your eyes at him, knowing there was something he wasn’t telling you. He wasn’t very good at lying and you had a feeling if you pried a little, you’d be able to get it out of him.

“What is it that you have to do?” You sat back down, about ready to miss your stop for this information.

“Seriously? I have a life outside of you,” he sighed. He was joking and you knew it, but it still bothered you.

“If you have a date or whatever… I mean, I—I—I don’t, like… I don’t mind.” You stumbled over the words, never realizing how difficult that would have been to say to Kuroo.

“It’s not a date,” he explained and you looked up to see him smiling at you. “You’re going to miss your stop.”

He turned and quickly hit the button and the bus driver halted to a stop, nearly launching you to the doors. Kuroo waved and you stepped of the bus, walking home in a slight daze as you let your mind work through what you were feeling.

Kuroo didn’t like admitting he was wrong. He hated it and most of the time would do everything he could to avoid having to admit it. But this time, he had to admit just how wrong he was when it came to you.

Everything he had guessed about you was wrong. Your personality, your age, your interests, in every way, he was wrong. He was even wrong when it came to your division at work and he spent months pretending he was trying to help you when he honestly had no idea what your job even was. He never complained though because each time he was wrong, he was able to spend more time with you and it was worth it for that.

Except soon after, things changed and whether it happened overtime without him even realizing it or it happened the instant he laid eyes on you, he wasn’t sure. What he did know was that he was completely head over heels for you.

Little moments here and there would remind him of what an idiot he was and how perfect you were and he hated that he waited so long because he had no idea how to tell you or even if he should. Morning and evening bus rides with you were his favorite. Listening to you complain or gush about what had happened in the hours between seeing each other was his favorite way to spend his time before and after work.

As the holidays were approaching, he thought it was the perfect time to tell you how he felt, but things kept going wrong. That’s when he invented the secret admirer.

He would write little notes to you, always putting a small heart on the envelope the same way. Seeing you smile and excited to show him always made him happy. Even then, he got jealous of your excitement over the secret admirer, even though he knew it was him. That’s when he understood he had to tell you. And soon.

You waited in your room, not really sure what to do since you weren’t sure when Kuroo would be on his way over. He was acting weird, you were sure of that. It wasn’t like you expected him to not have other friends or other plans, but you both had been hanging out every Friday night since you met. It was strange that he would make plans on a Friday night knowing that.

You heard a knock at your door and looked at the clock. It was six-thirty. Kuroo definitely took his time finishing up whatever it was that he was doing and you shook your head as you walked to the door, ready to complain to him.

“I am docking your pay for being lat—” You pulled open your front door, but no one was there. Thinking maybe they got the wrong door, you were going to close it, but a note taped to the outside caught your eye.

A note from your secret admirer.

The thought of ‘how do they know where I live?’ should have crossed your mind, but it didn’t. You were too excited to see something to perk up your Friday night that you grabbed it from the wall and ran back to open it up.

Where you expected it to explain where they had been, it only had four words:

“Look outside your window.”

That’s when the thought of ‘how they know where I live’ did cross your mind and you looked to your window nervously, half-expecting someone to be there. You couldn’t really see the ground because you lived on the fourth floor, but you could see something. Something white and fluffy puffing from below.

You made your way to the window quickly and looked outside. A quiet gasp escaped your lips as your heart raced seeing Kuroo smiling next to a snow machine that was working hard to fill the small courtyard area of your apartment complex.

“Do you have a permit for that?” You asked after opening your window.

“Are you going to tell on me if I don’t?” He laughed.

“I’ll consider letting you off with a warning.”

“I appreciate that.” He smiled, biting his bottom lip. “Can you maybe come down here?”

For whatever reason, though you had an idea of what that reason was, you weren’t able to speak and you only nodded, backing away from the window and grabbing your coat. You knew what you were doing, but it was like your mind was in a fog. You were definitely excited and the realization that the secret admirer was Kuroo all along was so far from disappointing. You were grateful. More than grateful, you were relieved. It sounded bad, but in knowing that Kuroo had feelings for you, the fact that you also had feelings for him quickly rushed through your mind and you were happy. So happy that when you opened the doors to the courtyard and saw Kuroo waiting for you with a blanket of snow covering the ground, you were forced to take a deep breath before you could get yourself to walk to him.

Each step you took towards him, Kuroo could feel his heart beating faster and faster, the smile on your face making him worry that it might actually beat straight through his chest and he couldn’t help but laugh at your excitement of feeling the snow under your feet. You took one last step and stood in front of him and anything that Kuroo had rehearsed in saying to you had completely left his mind and all he could see was you.

“You have no idea how much I hoped it was you,” you whispered and Kuroo closed his eyes as you leaned forward and kissed him.

[the-fiction-witch]

The Purple Dress

Media IRL

Character Thomas Brodie Sangster

Couple Thomas X Reader

Rating Sweet Af

Concept The Engagement Dress

Warning Brusies/ hints of abuse

I sat on the bus watching the world go by, the grey clouds hung low slightly raining on the city. I just listened to my music through my headphones trying my best not to worry. I couldn't help glancing at the string around my neck holding the silver ring. I forced my thoughts away and got off the bus at my stop. I headed down the street and soon enough arrived at the little shop I had agreed to meet him at and saw him outside cigarette in hand.

"Hey" I smiled 

"Hey" he smiled pulling me into a one arm hug "you alright?" He asks putting out his cigarette

"Yeah. Fine" I nodded 

"Okay. You ready then?"

"As I'll ever be" I nodded so we headed inside we wondered around for a while discussing this and that until I had a few things to try on so we got a changing room with a door to close a seat he could as it in and a curtian to separate us 

"What exactly did you need me again?" He asks 

"Because everyone else is busy." I answered "it's my engagement party I'd like a second opinion" I said as I began to change 

"Fair enough. All rather.. quick isn't it?"

"Dan doesn't want to wait rings on my finger so he mostly just wants it all over with at the Lowest cost"

"The ring Isn't in your finger" 

"He didn't know it wouldn't fit" I said pulling back the curtain so he complained see the first dress "opinions?" 

"It's a bit… grandma's for Sunday dinner"

"The bo ho style is in right now" 

"Is it?" 

"For plus size women it is. You know what was four years ago for everyone else is cutting edge for fat people"

"Your not fat"

"Tell that to Primark" I sighed pulling back the curtain to change again

"I'm just saying engaged on Monday. Engagement party on Friday and courthouse wedding in a week. It's a bit rushed."

"Well he doesn't want to wait. He's… excited"

"You'd think if he was excited he give a shit about any of your opinions" 

"He just wants this done with"

"Romantic"

"And what's the most romantic thing you did lately?" I asked and there was no response "my point exactly"

"I was thinking."

"And?"

"No comment"

"Exactly." I said revealing the next dress "so?"

"It's reading me renaissance fair then engagement party. Unless that's your vibe?"

"I don't know. The only thing Dan told me was keep it under fifty pounds" 

"He's a dick"

"He can be"

"And your still marrying him"

"Well… yeah"

"Both dresses you've tried on today are pretty baggy there something your not telling me?"

"What are you implying?"

"I think you know exactly what I'm implying"

"I'm not pregnant Thomas."

"How sure of that are you?"

"Pretty damn sure. I had my period yesterday not that's it's any of your business" i said shutting the curtain again 

"May I be frank?"

"Why stop you now"

"Why are you marrying him?'

I stopped short for a moment looking in the mirror as I stood between dresses my body bruised but the ring hung on the cord around my neck 

"It's complicated Thomas." I answered slipping the next dress on 

"Y/n. You know you don't have to do anything you don't want to. Right?"

"I know"

"... I'm not sure you know." 

I shook it away and revealed my last dress option

"Why did a flower fairy throw up on you?" He asks 

"I don't know" I sighed "but that's my options in budget in my size. Flower puke. Boho hoe. Or tavern wench."

"Give me a sec" he says ducking out of the changing room 

I got out of the dress waiting for a little while until I heard the door again

"Try that" he says handing in a hanger but not peaking inside 

Immediately I saw it was my size but I saw the price double the budget Dan gave me 

"I can't Dan said it can't be more-"

"Will you just try the damn dress" he says 

I took it and slipped it off the hanger. It was a very beautiful dress I couldn't lie, a sweet Russian violet colour, off the shoulder sleaves down to my elbows, with a small lilac collar on both the top and end of the sleaves, two pleats in the front pulling the dress in tight a lilac belt to match the collar the dress hugged my hips and curves sweetly stopping just above my knee. It was a beautiful dress that somehow on its magic hid my insecurities and Hugged my curves sweetly. I did love the dress even if I knew I couldn't have it. I pulled back the curtain letting him see the dress and immediately I felt strange. I liked the dress I really do and I liked how I looked in it but I felt kinda strange about how he looked at me in it. 

He looked me up and down as he had in the other dresses but this time slower more gradual. His eyes seemed to follow the form of my body and not the form of the dress, I suddenly felt self conscious wanting to hide my hips and my breasts especially as it was clear his eyes had lingered there my breath hitched a little before I finally got enough courage to speak

"So? What do you think?'

For a moment his eyes left me completely looking at the floor he ran his hand over his face a moment hiding slightly where his cheeks turned red, he swallowed and locked his lip before he spoke 

"Yeah. Looks good." He nods 

"I can't have it though so-"

"Y/n. You look beautiful" he says getting up and holding my arm gently "do you like it?"

"I Do. But Dan said I couldn't spend that much"

"I'll pay for it then" 

"What?"

"I'll pay. As an engagement present." He says 

"Your sure?"

"I'm sure. Your not walking out of this place without that dress that much I guarantee" he says 

"I just don't want to be any trouble"

"It's no trouble. Get it off and we'll go pay" he says giving my forehead a kiss 

"Thank you thomas"

"Your welcome" he smiled 

I shut my curtain and began to slip off the dress but I couldn't find the hanger for it 

"Ohh do you have the hanger?" I asked

"Ohh yeah it's here" he says pulling back the curtain a little to hand it to me immediately I panicked covering myself with the dress "okay. You have exactly five seconds to tell me the reason why you forgot to tell me you had a fucking motorbike crash or a ski accident in the last two days" 

"It's not like that" I said taking the hanger and starting to get my clothes back on but he grabbed my arm 

"If he did this to you I wanna know."

"...it's complicated"

"Complicated? His rings around your neck. I wanna know if he's the reason you're covered in bruises." 

All I could bring myself to do was nod 

"That's why you said yes. Because you're too scared to tell him no?"

I nodded, he immediately pulled me into his chest holding me tightly but gently kissing my head with long loving kisses. 

"Tell me the truth. Between me and you. Do you want to marry him?"

"It's complicated -"

"Yes or no."

"No."

"Is he hurting you?"

"Yes."

"Is he giving you a choice?"

"No."

"Okay" he nods "listen to me. And listen good. I have my car, I can take you home with me right now. You can stay in my spare bedroom for as long as you need. You don't need to worry about rent. About bills. About food. First chance we get we'll go and get your stuff and I promise I'll build a fifty feet wall around the house to keep him out of I have to." He says "I want to help. But if you go back to him now I can be sure you'll get another chance to go" 

"He won't let me go you know that"

"He doesn't need to know. He's at work till ten right?" He asks and I nodded "we can pack you up before he even knows anything. Please y/n. Before you go through with something you know you'll regret"

"...okay" I nodded 

"Okay." He smiled "come on we'll get some ice cream on the way to cheer you up" 

"Okay" I smiled "guess we can put the dress back"

"No. I'll still buy it for you." He says "you can wear it when we go out for dinner tonight" he smiled offering his hand I nodded and took it happily.

He did buy me the dress and a new necklace to go with it, we went to his car and got ice cream on the way to me and Dan's studio apartment. I didn't make much as Dan never really approved of me spending money of anything so all my clothes and sentimental things for into three suitcases with my large plushie the last thing that we sat on the back seats "that everything?" He asks as we did one last sweep making sure I didn't leave anything behind

"Everything. I don't really want anything else anyway."

"You want to leave him a note? Or you think this is enough of a message?"

"I don't want to leave a note. It'll just make him angry"

"Okay. If yous sure" he says 

I pulled off the string from around my neck where the cheap ring he bought for five pounds of eBay sat I just set the whole thing on the coffee table and left with Thomas we shut the door locked it and put the keys in the post box, heading down to his car 

"I'm proud of you y/n. I really am"

"Thank you."

"Hey, how about we go shopping get you some nice soap, perfume, blankets for you to have at mine?"

"That sounds nice" I smiled laying my head on his shoulder he smiled giving my head a kiss as he stared the car up 

"You can have my spare room for as long as you need it. Don't worry about it. Maybe in a few months when you feel a bit better your more then welcome to come cuddle in my bed" he suggested

"Not your just spoiling me"

"Of course I'm spoiling you. After all this time of disrespect my little y/n deserves to be treated like a queen" he smiled giving my nose a kiss.

I shifted slightly as I woke up yawning as I pushed the covers away climbing out of bed going to my side of the wardrobe grabbing a bra, a pair of panties, a pair of socks and I began looking for a dress for the day I noticed the sweet purple dress catch my eye so I pulled it out the wardrobe for a moment

"Don't even think about it" Thomas muttered from the bed 

"What?"

"Your not wearing that today" he says sitting up against the headboard 

"Why not I thought you loved my purple dress"

"I do." He smirked "but you know what happens to me when you wear it" he smirked 

"Oh? Remind me? I forget" I smiled going over to the bed he quickly pulled me down into his lap with a sly smirk 

"You always look so beautiful on it. I can't help but get a hard on."

"Should I pick a different one?"

"That depsnds?"

"On?"

"What my little lady wants to get up to today" he smirked 

"Ummm I love you' I smiled nuzzling into his shoulder

"Awww I love you too" 

[thatgeekyemo]

What He Won’t Know Won’t Hurt - Part 5

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 6, part 7

peter parker x reader | 3.4k

You were the happiest you had been in weeks as you sat outside with your friends, arms linked with Ned and Cindy as you all belted out Disney songs one after the other. Each performance always ended with a bout of laughter before the process started from the beginning all over again.

The movie ended a little while ago, but the five of you shuffled through New York like a herd of sheep until you found a couple of benches around a fountain in a small park, making it into a temporary pitstop.

"Okay, okay, what next?"

"Can we expand the categories from Disney to musicals? I wanna sing something from Heathers!" Ned asked, earning cheers from Cindy and Abe.

"Wait, how creepy do you think we sound right now? Just a bunch of kids singing echoing through the park. What if someone on the other side thinks we're ghosts or something?" Ned then followed up, and you found yourself actually contemplating the odds behind your grin.

Just as Ned himself shrugged off his questions, starting to sing, easily getting you and everyone else to join in, you found Peter staring at you. Your grin grew and you gestured for him to take the seat next to you that Cindy had just left to better sing dramatically on the edge of the fountain.

You tried not to let it show just how happy you were when he quickly slid into place, linking his arm with yours the way Ned's was on your other side and closing his eyes as he threw his head back to sing.

It didn't take long for Cindy to notice, and thankfully the only acknowledgement she made was a tilt of her head.

For an amazing moment, it had felt like absolutely nothing was wrong. Everything was just like how it should be. Like how it had been. Like how you hoped it would still be.

So when the hair on your arms stood on end, a sharp buzzing thrummed deep in your brain, and you had the sudden urge to flip around toward the buildings across the street, it had hit you like a bag of bricks.

You froze while this perfect memory continued to form around you.

Peter was the first to react as you pulled yourself away from him and Ned, your thoughts growing louder and louder as they screamed at you that something bad was about to happen.

"Are you—are you okay, Y/N?"

You stumbled over the bench, quickly catching yourself. Cindy was next to stop singing. Then Abe.

"I—I gotta go." You stammered out, and Peter stood up like a rocket, reaching out to grab your wrist.

"What? Why? We don't have to get to the bus stop for another twenty minutes."

"I..." you hated yourself even more as you spoke these words, tugging your hand away from him. "I can't tell you. I just gotta— I gotta do something real quick. I'll be right back."

Everyone was silent. And Peter's tone was grim. "You're never right back. You always disappear. Right when— right when I— when we—"

It didn't take a genius to figure out that his last words were solely about his feelings about you and him.

You wanted to ignore it. You wanted to apologize again and sit back down. Bring back the cheerful singing and get rid of the creeping disappointment and hurt that was filling the air. Not only from Peter, but from everyone.

You wanted to take Peter's hand and sit back down. To tell him that he was right and that you could deal with your 'thing' tomorrow.

But your sense hadn't gone off this bad since last September. Since you thought people were going to die. Since you thought you were going to die.

You couldn't ignore this.

Cindy stepped forward as if to hold Peter back as you just turned around without a word, the others too stunned to move.

Just one minute ago, things were fine. Sixty seconds ago, things were perfect. Peter was by your side and you were happy and you were singing.

Now that time was up. And through the silence pierced the sound of six gunshots—followed closely by five screams.

Instinctively, you ducked down before spinning with wide eyes to make sure none of your friends had gotten hurt. It only took you a second to conclude that none of them were victim to a bullet and a quick scan of your surroundings showed that the shooter wasn't near them. But they were close.

Too close.

"Stay here!" You commanded, taking off in the opposite direction. "I'm gonna try and find somewhere that'll let us in!" You lied.

You could hear Peter yelling for you behind you to stay with them, but you ignored him, running to the end of the block instead.

You turned the corner with your heart nearly beating out of your chest. The people on the street were just as scared as your friends and were panicking. You used the chaos to slip into the nearest alley. Shrouding yourself in the darkness, you tugged off your backpack and grabbed the rest of your suit, pulling off your jacket, shirt, and pants and quickly shoving them in. You didn't bother webbing your bag. There was someone with a gun nearby. They weren't afraid to use it, and you needed to take them down as fast as you could.

You catapulted yourself into the air, swinging low to the halted jumbled mess of traffic to try and get speed as fast as you could. You had Karen mapping out the best path to search the mile radius of where you were when the next round of gunshots came.

You saw the bullets this time. Aimed right up into the air like they were pretending to be some kind of beacon. You hadn't even gotten too far from where your friends were; only a couple of blocks. A five minute runs away.

The location of the shooter was highlighted on a map in the top left of your eyesight and you used the roofs of the nearby buildings to get a better vantage point.

You didn't understand why they were shooting straight into the air. They were outside. Was it a scare tactic? Were there hostages? Your mind ran through the scenarios as fast as you could think of them, preparing yourself for any situation.

When you saw the shooter, he was alone.

You pressed yourself against the roof overlooking the alley he was standing in as you peered over the edge. Things continued to not make any sense. Why would someone stand alone with a loaded gun pointed toward the sky and shoot at random?

It didn't seem right to you.

Your sense buzzed louder.

"Scan for other heat signatures," you told Karen in a whisper.

"I can't."

"What?"

"There's something interfering with my sensors."

You bit back a curse. You had to go into this level headed and prepared for anything.

"Do you detect anything else? Heartbeats? Footsteps?"

It was rare that Karen heard something that you couldn't, but it was better to be safe than sorry. But she came up with zero response. Something was jamming the detection technology in your suit. Looked like you were going into this blind.

The first thing you did was web yank the gun away from the man's hand. His head snapped up to the roof you were on and he watched as you discarded the weapon up there before you webbed his arms and feet in place and flipped down, tilting him back. The only thing stopping him from falling backward was the grip you had on the fistful of clothes you had in your hand.

"You made it!" You were careful to not express the confusion you felt when he spoke, a grin breaking out on his face. "I was afraid you wouldn't show."

You looked him up and down, Karen already getting started on searching his face through every police databank to see if you could ID him.

"What do you want me for?"

"Just to talk," he shrugged the best he could with the way you had him bound.

"You wouldn't do that alone. How many of you are surrounding us?"

"Only you and me. Well, for now,"

"You and me both know that can't be your final answer as much as you might want it to be." You raised your fist, prepared to end the conversation once you had gotten your answers. "What do you want with me?"

"What does every criminal in New York want with you?"

"It might just be me, but I'm not in the mood for riddles. Personally, I think they should stay in Gotham."

The man just snorted, rolling his eyes before they steeled into a glare. "To see you suffer."

You ignored the chill that ran down your spine and pulled him an inch closer to you. "Sorry pal, but the only one suffering tonight is you."

He started to laugh, but you made sure to cut it short with a sharp punch, knocking him out before letting him crumble to the ground.

But even with him taken care of, your sense was still going off like crazy. You couldn't shake the feeling that there was still a piece of the puzzle you couldn't put together. Even someone crazy enough to be bait for something would have had some kind of plan. That was too easy.

A gasp made you spin around, prepared to attack again.

But all your defenses fell when you saw Peter standing at the mouth of the alley. His chest rising and falling with heavy breaths. His glasses on the verge of slipping off his face. Your backpack grasped tightly in his hand.

"Y/N?"

All you could do was stare at him with wide eyes, the lenses of your suit no doubt reflecting the emotion. It wasn't until he took a step backwards that you snapped out of your trance, taking one forward.

"What are you—" you glanced backwards just to double check that the man was unconscious. "Peter— what are you doing here?!" You hissed, stopping a few feet away from him. He held his arm out to stop you, and the action felt like you were getting stabbed in the gut.

"You— you're Spider-Woman?" And for the first time since the hero had appeared, you saw him speak your alter-ego's name in disgust.

Everything around you was quickly becoming overwhelming. Your sense still hadn't shut off. Karen's sensors hadn't come back online. Peter was standing in front of you. He knew who you were.

"I swear— Pete, I swear I was gonna tell you. Later tonight. After—after I brought Cindy back home, I was gonna swing to your place. Peter, you weren't meant to find out like this—"

"Like what?" He glanced down at your backpack, his hand trembling. "Figuring it out only when all of the clues were displayed out in front of me like I was four years old? After I had run after you because there was gunfire and you left all by yourself? After watching my best friend put on the mask of a superhero that flings herself into life or death situations regularly?"

Peter was shaking with visible anger. It wasn't just spewing out of him with every word, it was etched into him like a carving. His eyes were lit with a fire that threatened to burn you. His fists were clenched. One of the worst parts was how despite the rest of him was moving, his face held a calm rage. Like the emotion was so strong, he didn't know how to process it—how to display it correctly in one expression.

"I ran after you because I was scared you were gonna get hurt! I might not know how to fight, but I can defend myself. And if it came to it, I would have defended you instead! I ran after you, scared I was gonna find you at the other end of a gun, but instead I found out the real reason you ran. You're Spider-Woman. You have been all this time! You have been all this time, and you never told me."

"Peter..." all your words but his name died on your tongue. You couldn't speak. You didn't know what you could say to fix all the damage you did. You knew it wasn't going to be pretty, but it wasn't supposed to happen like this.

You had seen Peter cry in the past, but it was never like this. Never because of you. Tears streaming down his face as he kept you the fixed target of a glare that shredded you down to your very basics.

You attempted to move forward, but Peter had made it very clear he didn't want you near him. You could almost see him making his decision. To turn and walk away or to stay. You could see which way he was leaning.

And you made the mistake of thinking things couldn't get any worse.

His eyes had only flickered away from you for a fraction of a second, but he had seen something that made fear flash in them clear as day.

Your head buzzed loudly, screaming at you to turn around.

You knew it had been too easy.

Just as Peter shouted, you turned around to see what he had. The side doors to the buildings you were in between were slammed open, and out filed twenty people dressed in black, all armed with guns pointed at you.

You had walked right into a trap.

You could hear Peter's heartbeat pick up behind you, and you wanted to turn back to him. To try and tell him it was okay. That you would save him. But there were so many guns and you didn't want to take your attention off them for one second. Peter was only human.

"Did you two finish your moment?" Someone in front of you taunted and a sick chuckle rippled through the crowd.

"Get out of here," you told Peter in a low voice. The last thing you were going to do was get him hurt in a physical way. You had already done past your limit to him mentally and emotionally. "Now."

"No one is going anywhere," that same person announced and you saw one of the people cut away the webs on the original shooter and with another, helping lift him up. "Let's have a chat!"

You stayed silent. You tried to gage where Peter was behind you, and you shifted to shield his body with yours the best you could before you heard a chorus of guns cock and you held up your hands.

"We won't kill the pretty boy here as long as you do what I say." Another man stepped forward, and your eyes darted to his face so you could try and get a match somewhere. But he was smarter than his bait counterpart, and wore a scarf. "Like our friend here so kindly explained before you sent him to a fitful sleep, all we want to do is see you suffer."

"If you were going to be as theatrical as this, you could have at least said something different." You gritted through your teeth.

"We haven't even gotten to the theatrics yet, Spider. I promise you'll see them later." You hated the certainty of his words. In his voice.

Your eyes darted around to try and find something. Anything you could use to try and get yourself out of this mess. You were afraid if you told Karen to contact Tony that they would shoot. You were afraid if you even did anything, they would shoot. You might have been able to dodge bullets, but Peter couldn't.

All you could find were small devices on the hips of some of the people in front of you, tiny lights blinking green in the dark. The only thing you could think of was that they were some kind of frequency jammer. That's why you couldn't detect them. And all of them definitely weren't there the whole time, you would have heard all of them. There must have been a microphone somewhere.

"Honestly, I wasn't expecting to move forward with the plan so quickly. The goal tonight was only to get a tracker on you. But hey, it looks like our actual target brought himself to us!"

Peter? You refrained from saying his name out loud, biting down on your tongue to stop it— and a bunch of stuff that no one would want to hear— from slipping.

"I'm sure you've worked it out already. If you haven't, it's sure to become clear soon. If you don't mind, I'm gonna spare the fine details so you can't work out a plan just yet. I'm not the monologuing type." The man winked before he motioned for people to move forward. Six, by your count. They moved right past you, and this time you could stop yourself from turning around.

Peter's eyes caught yours one last time, wide and bright and screaming a silent plea for help as he was surrounded and forced to move.

You were lunging forward on instinct, but the sound of another gunshot made you freeze.

You tore your eyes away from the divot now in the ground by your foot.

"Hey now, I told you to listen to me!" You could feel the sobs begin to well up in your throat as you watched Peter being dragged away. You needed to see where he went, even if every step further away he got was like another stab; the blade twisting in your heart. "I told you: if you don't want him dead by morning, you need to follow instructions. Now. Turn around."

You hated that you were being manipulated into compulsion. That you were playing this lunatics game. But what other choice did you have? With one command, Peter could die. You hated that you were so helpless.

"It's simple, really. You're just gonna stay here until you're allowed to leave. I'm sure you'll know when. Of course, it won't be until me and lover boy get somewhere safe, but I think that speaks for itself. If I hear you try anything funny, including calling any of your other superhero friends, that's a bullet in a limb of my choice, understood?"

He took your silence for an answer. "Great! I'll see you tomorrow then, Spider."

The man tipped an imaginary hat and you forced yourself to not watch him as he disappeared from your view.

Ten minutes.

Ten minutes you stood still, held at gunpoint, before you saw a woman tilt her head toward a walkie talkie perched on her shoulder.

That was the go ahead. You just knew it. As if every gun being repositioned into an attack stance didn't give it away.

You immediately sent yourself airborne, knowing that it would be your only advantage. From there, it was a deadly game of picking and choosing the right moments to strike. Dodging gunfire and picking lackeys off one by one until they were all no longer a threat.

You heard the sirens of the NYPD approaching —reacting to the 911 call you were sure someone who had heard the gunfire had made— way too late. The damage had already been done. At least you had left them yet another scene for them to clean up.

You tried tracking Peter's phone, leaving the alley in a frenzied search. You had found it smashed, about a half mile away.

The only the only thing keeping you from completing breaking down was how numb you felt inside. You had never experienced fear, anger, these emotions in such a large scale. You didn't know how to process it. So the default was to not feel them at all. To not feel anything.

Nothing but the fact that kept ramming itself into every crevice of your being, scratching and clawing itself into your brain with no remorse.

This was all your fault.

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 6, part 7

[wooziswonderfulworld]

I love what I can’t have

Jesse x Robaire

PART TWO: Jesse

Summery

After finding out his long time partner decided to leave him in the middle of their world tour, A heartbroken Jesse turns to Robaire for comfort and realizes just how lucky he is to have him in his life

————-

Jesse smiled slightly as Aaron T was telling them a funny story, laughing whenever he exaggerated certain details

He glanced at the others. Tae Young was laughing the most, tears had begun to form in his eyes from how much he was laughing

Aaron Z wasn’t really laughing, although he did seem to enjoy his boyfriends story telling by the small smile on his face. Jesse still couldn’t believe the Aaron’s where dating, although he knew the two had been pining over each other for years, they made a cute couple too

Jesse almost missed the text notification from his phone. He checked it expecting a spam text only to see it was from his wife Raquel

His beautiful wife whom he’d known for the last twenty two years, who he’d crushed on since he was eight, and been in love with since he was twelve when he finally understood the concept of love. They’d been together for the last twelve years and married for the last five

His entire love life revolved around her, he didn’t know anything else

Jesse began read the text

“Jesse.

Interesting way to start

These past few months that you’ve been away have been hard, raising two kids isn’t easy knowing your husband is off partying

What? This was how he was able to provide for his family, Raquel knew that, she was the one who’d encouraged him to audition in the first place

Throughout these months I’ve been…exploring myself

That was interesting, did she mean that in the way he thought she did or?

And no, not like that you freak.

Okay so there was his answer.

I’ve meet people and realized that I’ve been trapped with you for way to long, how I never really got a chance to explore other options

Trapped? All these years she’d never once felt any negativity towards their relationship, and Jesse had always made sure that communication was the biggest key in their relationship, no communication is what damaged his own parents relationship

For years, you brainwashed me into thinking you were the only one for me. But now that you’ve been gone I’ve met someone. He has a stable nine to five job, makes a very good salary, and isn’t away for months at a time like you are

Jesse’s face fell, no…this wasn’t happening to him

Not only that, but he also doesn’t have other girls fawning over him, do you know how annoying it is to see your husband have girls yell out that they want him to have their babies?

He’d literally never once interacted with those comments, he knew that they were just obsessed teenagers or young adults with no life, was that mean?

I’ve been seeing and talking to this man for two months now and I’ve realized he’s what I truly wanted in a partner, he asked me to be his girlfriend two weeks ago and I said yes

No, no no no no no no. This wasn’t happening, this couldn’t be happening, not now, not like this.

I’ll be moving in with him, along with the kids. You’re a good dad so I’ll allow a split custody but other than that I want nothing to do with you. I’m sorry, goodbye.”

Jesse stared at the text, he was feeling a lot of emotions at once, hurt, betrayed…anger

He was angry, all those years, wasted

He stood up slamming his phone down onto the ground in anger “FUCKING BULLSHIT”

He felt bad for scaring the others, but he couldn’t think of anything else but the text

He saw from the corner of his eye, Aaron Z quietly ushering the other members off the bus

“Jess…” okay so Robaire was still there “I gave her EVERYTHING”, Jesse could feel his eyes well up

“Everything that she ever wanted! I treated her with only respect!, I-I-“ Jesse fell into his seat staring at his hands

“Five fucking years of marriage, twelve goddamn years together, we have two kids together, we were meant to grow old together. And it’s all gone, down the drain” He laughed bitterly

He felt the couch dip and looked at Robaire, a small from adorning his features. He stared at him momentarily as his arms where offered into a hug. The anger soon became sadness and Jesse threw himself into Robaire’s arms before breaking down and sobbing in his shoulder

He felt pathetic for crying like that, but it hurt, his heart hurt

Jesse sobbed, he couldn’t think of anything else, his mind only replayed the text

Why was this happening to him? What did he do to deserve this?

He felt Robaire’s fingers run through his hair and his hand rub his back soothingly

“What did I do wrong!?”

“Shh shh, nothing, you did nothing wrong”

Jesse cried in Robaire’s arms, he cried until his throat was dry and could only cry silent tears

He had his head resting on the leaders shoulder as he held onto him. Jesse’s eye’s grew heavy from all the crying and he quickly fell asleep

He felt Robaire press a gentle kiss to the top of his head and he couldn’t help the small smile that formed in his face

Jesse was lucky to have someone like Robaire in his life, he’d always been there for him no matter what, he could always count on him to make things better. If anyone could help him through this he knew it would be him.