#i will eat food and drag my friends to karaoke and that will be my celebration | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thepaintedlady00 · 2 years

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Nightshade

Chapter 2: Jack & Ozzy's

Chapter 1 | Chapter 3

This chapter has been the bane of my existence all day. Last night I finished all my editing and add-ons and this morning I woke up and it was all gone. I spent two hours trying to troubleshoot and save what I'd written and nothing worked. So I spent all day today re-editing and rewriting scenes. So if a few sections have mistakes or feel a bit off I apologize! But, as always, enjoy and please if you enjoy this chapter show it me lots of love! 😅😂

TW: language, some flirty tension, some drinking & smoking, minor mentions of drugs, I don't know shit about fancy wine or food 💁‍♀️, lots of new characters and little peeks into Lena's past (which we will be diving into the next few chapters), cliffhanger (yes, they're back bitches 😈)

"Bullshit!" Santos hollered beside me.

I held a wet hand up with a fit of laughter. "Swear to God!"

He shook his head, moving the bin of freshly washed dishes onto the drying rack as the other cooks joined in on the laughter. "Ain't no way a prim and proper girl like you did something like that!"

As I dried my hands I turned to the now-clean kitchen and smiled widely. "A prim and proper? Absolutely not!"

Isaac stuffed the last bite of his leftovers into his mouth and nodded. "It's true, Lena is a menace to society."

"You were there?"

"Oh yeah," he laughed, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "When she climbed onto the table I thought I'd seen it all, then-" he replicated the sound of tearing and laughed, "Off went the shirt and she started belting the worst rendition of Santa Baby I've ever heard! Best Christmas ever!"

I whacked his arm off and playfully shoved him. "Oh, like you weren't climbing on top of tables and singing Bon Jovi like a dumbass ten minutes after me!"

Isaac huffed, stumbling back into the counter with an exaggerated groan. "How could you Lena?! You know insults about my karaoke are my one weakness!"

Scott rolled his eyes, quietly laughing. "Keep it up, maybe he'll finally die and we can all have some peace."

"Ah-ha!" Isaac cheered, bouncing back up. "Hope, the source of my power!"

I clicked my tongue and shook my head at Scott. "Rookie move, Chef."

“How long have you two known each other?” Santos asked after his laughter had died down.

My friend took his bandana off his head, waving the sweaty fabric in my face. “Years.”

“Too long,” I groaned, shoving his hand away.

“Come on, there has to be an interesting story there,” one of the other cooks demanded.

I smirked at Isaac and wiggled my eyebrows. “You wanna tell em or should I?”

“I’ll tell them. No one needs to hear your exaggerated tall tales.” He shrugged his shoulders and continued, “Her older brother and I are well acquainted.”

Scott scoffed and pointed to me. “Your version.”

Isaac protested, but everyone else shushed him and settled around me to listen. “So, there I was minding my own business watching tv on MY couch eating some shitty cereal or something when all of a sudden the front door gets slammed open and my brother practically drags this disheveled man into my apartment. I was shocked and slightly mortified, seeing my brother getting hot and heavy with some guy wasn’t exactly what I was expecting to see.”

“It was not that bad!” Isaac insisted.

“How long before they noticed you?” Santos asked with a wide grin.

“Oh once the shirts came off I was pretty quick to announce myself.” I laughed, bumping Isaacs's shoulder. “We bonded the following morning over a very awkward breakfast.”

He smirked at the memory. "You are very good at holding awkward conversations."

Howard entered the kitchen and looked around, his expression always masked with a polite curve of his lips but judgmental eyes. He looked at each of us, raising one brow and smiling just a little bit more. "Good service everyone."

It was an unspoken ritual of the night's end, Howard coming in and scanning the kitchen, one that never ceased making Scott's eye twitch. Having spent a month, among two among the kitchen crew It was abundantly clear that Scott felt stifled here and I couldn't exactly blame him. Howard ran a tight ship, ever the loyal and good quartermaster keeping things afloat for the absent captain and she ran an even tighter ship.

Scott was good for the place. He was modern and creative, a butterfly freshly freed of its cocoon only to be caught in a web. The web is old, beautiful, and luxurious but one storm away from being destroyed, and the two spiders that share it never seem to fully be on the same page. The first spider, older and wise, only weaves from old threads insisting that it is the best way to create something of worth. The second spider listens for a while but notices the storm clouds and how the web gets easily caught in the wind so he mixes new silks in with the old trying to keep the web tethered. All the other insects caught in the web remain unaware of the spiders and the storm, but the butterfly sees it all and dreams of what it would be like to fly.

Part of me sympathized with him, after all, I'd been the butterfly once. That was different though. I'd been born into the web, had known the web all my life, and had to destroy the wings to tear myself free. As I looked at Scott I only hoped he wouldn't have to make such a sacrifice. A butterfly without wings was just another insect.

"Let's drink!" Scott said with a deep sigh as he and the majority of the cooks headed out the doors to the lobby.

I looked at Santos as he finished up the remaining dishes. "Need a hand?"

"No," he shook his head with a beaming smile. "There's only a few left. You go ahead, I’ll be right there."

"What's your drink? I'll make it for you when you finish."

He hummed for a minute, thinking intently about his answer. "Surprise me."

I smirked. “You like sweets or savories better?”

“Savories.”

“I’ve got the perfect drink for you to try then.”

The bar was crowded with bodies, everyone telling Nicky and Jake what they wanted to drink, some, Sasha, even reaching over to grab an entire bottle for himself. Howard walked around the lobby, quietly inspecting the tables and listening to his rowdy “changelings” as he liked to call us. Simone sat at one of the closer tables, swirling a glass of wine and looking around with the judgmental stare I’d grown used to in my time here. When her eyes settled on me, she offered up a smile, one that never reached her cold eyes. I returned the polite gesture, but never stopped to give her an opening. I’d be civil, and polite, but I knew her type… knew exactly what her goal was when it came to fresh faces and unpredictable people. In her mind, there could only be one of us.

I slid past Nicky, tapping his shoulder as I passed to grab a glass beside him. “Nick, we got shit for a Michelada?”

The older man slid his newly made drink over the bar to Will and pushed up his glasses, looking around for a minute before he nodded to the far end of the bar. “All the spices you need should be back there, bottom drawer. I’ll grab the beer and tomato juice for ya.”

“Thanks,” I replied turning to follow his directions.

Jake stood in the middle of the space, shaking a drink with hints of an amused smirk on his lips as he looked over at me and said, “Sorry, I need room when I’m shaking.”

What an idiot. I smiled, gently grabbing his shoulder and brushing my body along his back to slide past him. “That’s alright, I don’t mind getting up close and personal.”

“Obviously not,” he hummed as his eyes followed my movements.

Both of us were used to the playful back and forths by now. After the night I schooled him behind the bar he’d been persistent in flirting with me, not that I minded. It was fun and innocent enough given the fact I knew Jake had no notions of grandeur or misconceptions about what was happening between us. I truly hadn’t spent a lot of time with him, but from the small moments, we did share I knew my beginning assessment of him had been pretty close. He was extremely guarded and hid his emotions behind a charming cloud of disinterest and humor, but it was obvious he paid attention to those around him. He was a classic case of a man shit load of unresolved trauma and behavioral issues, your classic bad boy type.

Bad boys didn’t really surprise me anymore. After spending literal years around them at the bar and the slightly different variations of them in culinary school it was all basically the same now. So, I let Jake stare at my boobs and ogle my ass. I flirted back at him, something I hadn’t initially planned on doing, but turned out to be kind of fun. My sex life wasn’t nonexistent, I had a few flings here and there with people I knew and trusted enough not to make the night awkward after, but all that had slowed down after Peter’s diagnosis. At first, it was because I was so busy trying to help take care of him, but now it was… I wanted something real. I wanted to be loved. Jake most likely couldn’t offer me that, but the fun back and forths filled the gaps enough to make me at least feel better for a bit.

When I turned, supplies in hand Jake turned around to face me as I once again slid past him. Ever cocky and smug as he raised his brow at my ability to initiate the intimate closeness that the others he’d pursued likely blushed at or hesitated with in confidence. I set the supplies down and thanked Nicky for getting the rest of it set up for me before jumping into making Santos’ cocktail. He finished up just as I’d begun adding the final touches and stood in front of me with a smile. “Looks delicious.” He complimented in Spanish.

“A delicious drink for a delicious dish boy,” I teased setting it in front of him. “Enjoy Santos.”

“Thank you, Lena.”

I stayed behind the bar that night, helping out with drinks and cleaning up after every one as the night dragged on and they all began to prepare for a long night of partying at Home Bar. Howard and Simone left together, something I’d learned was a regular occurrence, and shortly after they left I too began subtly gathering my things. When someone inevitably made some kind of commotion I quietly slipped through the kitchen and out the back door, as I did often, only this time I didn't get away with it. An arm wrapped around my shoulder and Sasha huffed. "It's so very rude of you to sneak out every night like a little thief, Tiger Bitch."

"Sasha," I whined. "I'm just trying to go home."

"So am I," he said, tugging me slightly. "Home Bar!"

I planted my feet. "Absolutely not! I don't need a hangover."

He frowned. "Oh please! I want to see the Tiger loosen up for once!"

"Sorry to disappoint, but I've got places to be."

His eyebrows wiggled. "A secret boyfriend? No! A child!"

I shook my head and kept walking. "No to both."

Sasha practically collapsed as he threw his head back and groaned. "Tiger Bitch enough with your mysteries!"

Looking back at the puppy-eyed Russian I sighed. "Fine. You can come with me, but this stays between you and me. Got it?"

He locked his lips and threw away the invisible key. "I will tell no one!"

"Come on then, we can't keep him waiting."

"I knew it was a man!"

"Just shut up and walk!"

Jake watched the door for a few minutes after Lena quietly slipped out. She rarely stayed later than Simone and Howard, something his coworkers were absolutely annoyed with. He too was a bit annoyed. After a month of flirting and trying to get this new girl locked in and he had absolutely nothing to show for it. Lena Harrow was still just as much of an enigma as the first day she walked in. The cooks raved every night about how funny and talented she was. The dishwashers gushed over her sticking around to help lighten the dish load with no expectations of payment or thanks. Sasha, Will, Ari, and Heather enjoyed the new girl's bite. Hell, even Scott liked her.

No one, not even Tess, had been this popular at 22West. Jake shook his head, an instinctual attempt to try and refocus himself as the thoughts of Tess still stung. She wasn’t someone too important to him, not like Simone was, but her betrayal still hurt. He moved past it quickly, refusing to cling to that ugly ball of unresolved shit that had slowly been building mass inside his chest, and returned his thoughts to Lena.

They all gossiped as they always did but no one had anything real to add. Even Simone was at a loss, something that unsettled her far more than she let him see. Howard seemed to be the only one that could enlighten him on this frustrating woman, but he would never stoop so low. Jake huffed, turning his head to pour himself another drink just as the last cook exited the kitchen. He stared at Isaac for a moment. He knew her and maybe he'd be willing to share a few details in exchange for a bit of Jake's charm.

"Hey, Isaac," Jake called offering up a drink.

The man smiled, accepting it with a nod. "Thanks."

"So, you and the redhead?" Jake said with a suggestive smirk. "How long has that been a thing?"

Isaac made a face. "Lena and I aren't a couple. She's like a sister."

He nodded. "Sorry I just see you two together a lot, figured it was cause you were an item."

"It's alright," Isaac assured him. "An honest mistake."

"So, she's single then?"

This time Isaac laughed and shook his head. "Lena isn't gonna fuck you, Jake."

He scoffed. "Taken then?"

"Look, I won't pretend like you're not her type." He gestured to Jake, "Dark-haired, damaged bad boy is definitely her thing. But Lena doesn't have the time or interest in adding a very complicated fling or potentially rocky short relationship to her life. She's got enough on her plate as is."

Jake shrugged. "Maybe a fling is exactly what she needs."

Isaac shook his head. "Well, you’re not getting anything outta me. These lips are sealed, my friend.”

It was odd to him, the unwavering loyalty to whatever secrets Lena had entrusted Isaac with. Jake knew little about the cook personally, but from what he’d observed and gained in passing or from Simone the man was hardly a good person. He had his own shortcomings and demons, but no matter what anyone offered him he refused to give up anything that the girl hadn’t shared herself. There was more to her than met the eyes, this much he knew, but at this point, Jake was truly damn curious to learn just how deep this well went.

"Not that I don't trust you, little red-headed girl, but what the hell are we doing in a hospital?" Sasha hissed in a hushed whisper. "This isn't some sort of fucked up organ theft thing is it?"

I looked at him with scrunched eyes. "Ew, no!"

"Thank god," he sighed. "I would not have been ready for that!"

Rolling my eyes I waved to Lisa and the other nurses. “How’s today been?”

“Another good day,” she said with a wide smile. “If he keeps this up he might just get to go home.”

A sigh of relief slid past my lips as I smiled even wider. “Thank fuck. I love you guys but it’s really inconvenient having to schmooze the nurses for all-night passes.”

They all laughed and waved me off. “Shut up and get in there.”

Sasha watched me closely as we entered Peter's room, probably still a bit convinced I’d brought him here to steal his organs or something fucked up like that. I knocked on the wall and leaned around the corner a bit. “You up?”

Peter looked over at me looking surprisingly well. “I gotta wait for you, so obviously.”

“I brought someone with me. Is that okay?”

His eyes lit up as he sat up straighter in the bed. “A boy?!”

“Not like that, pervert!” Pulling Sasha into the room I gestured to Peter. “Sasha, this is Peter. My brother.” The man’s eyes went slightly wider with understanding as he took in the surrounding medical room. I gestured to Sasha and smiled at Peter. “Pete, this is Sasha. My work friend.”

Peter held his hand out and Sasha shook it with a slightly nervous look on his face. “It’s nice to meet you, Sasha. Thanks for putting up with her.”

Sasha snorted. “She’s quite a handful.”

There was a minute of silence between us, one that made Sasha's slight discomfort obvious. Peter relaxed back into his bed and gave my friend a reassuring look. “Don’t worry, I’m not contagious.”

“That’s good,” he replied, matching Peter's sarcasm. “I’d hate to have to wear that hideous hat.”

“I made him that hat!” I protested with an offended groan.

“It’s shit, so obviously you made it,” Sasha teased.

I laughed at him, slapping his arm. “So abusive! You should be nicer to me!”

Peter laughed from his bed, leaning over and pulling the slightly faded box out from the bag off to the side. “So, Sasha, do you like scrabble?”

“No.” He pulled up a chair and sat down beside the bed. “Let’s play it.”

“You in?” Peter asked me. He looked happy, glad that I’d followed his advice and opened up to at least one person from work. “Or you gonna chicken out again?”

I scoffed and hopped up on the bed, settling in across from him. “You’re going down, baldy.”

“Baldy?!” He hollered. “That’s insensitive.”

“I’m insensitive,” I answered.

“She is a real cunt,” Sasha agreed from the side, setting up his things.

Peter laughed, the sight of him so happy made me smile a bit wider. “As her older brother, I have to agree.”

I shook my head. “I expected better of you, Peter. Now I’m gonna have to kick your ass at Scrabble.”

Peter, Sasha, and I played a few rounds before chaos consumed the room. I was laughing on the bed, clutching my stomach as the muscles grew tense. Peter sat, smugly victorious yet again, with his arms behind his head while Sasha stood from his chair and pulled at the covers around my brother shouting in Russian a bit before insistently stating, “You cheat little sick boy!”

Peter only smiled wider. “I hardly think that’s necessary against two of the weakest opponents I've ever played Scrabble against.”

“I know a cheater when I see one! Where are you hiding them?”

“God I can’t breathe!” I giggled, nearly falling off the bed in a fit of laughter.

Peter shrugged his shoulders and looked at me. “You’ve got terrible taste in friends.”

I nodded, giving Sasha a loving look. “I know, at least he’s cute though.”

“Exotic too.”

“You two are monsters,” Sasha said flopping back into his chair and pointing at each of us. “Monsters and cheaters!”

“Oh don’t pretend you weren’t stuffing your jacket full of letters too, Russian boy!” Peter said, reaching over to tug on his sleeves. Letter tiles spilled, clacking to the floor. “We’re all cheaters here.”

I huffed and tossed my hair over my shoulder. “Speak for yourselves. I’d never stoop so low.”

“Shut the fuck up!” They both hollered.

After politely getting kicked out for disturbing the peace Sasha and I walked side by side down the dimly lit streets. He lit a cigarette and happily smoked as we moved. The night had gone better than I expected, though I should have known Sasha would be relaxed about things. He was dramatic, of course, but when it mattered he had your back. “So, did that answer your question?”

“One of them,” he answered with a smile. “Don’t worry, you’re still very mysterious.”

“Oh good, I’d hate to lose my fun appeal.”

“Why keep it a secret?” He asked blowing out a puff of smoke.

“I don’t want their pity.” I sighed. “Everyone that knows about Pete is close… like family. Every time I’ve told anyone outside of that they give me this look. Like I’m some poor child that they feel the need to protect. I don’t need that, especially not at work.”

Sasha nodded. “I understand. Like I said, your secrets are safe with me Tiger Bitch.”

I smiled and shoved him lightly. “Thanks, Russian Boy.”

He groaned. “You’re not calling me that.”

Sasha didn’t tell anyone of our night, not even when they pried and pleaded for the details of my mysterious life. He gave everyone a different answer each time they asked, steadily getting more ridiculous with it until people just stopped asking. It was this that ultimately led me to settle within the group. I interacted with everyone freely, staying around most nights to at least share after-shift drinks with them. They weren’t my closest friends, but maybe one day they would be.

When I arrived at work two weeks later Howard was waiting for me. “Good morning Howard.”

“Good morning Lena,” he answered stiffly. “Forgive me for springing this on you last minute, but I need you to work the front tonight.”

“You need another server?” I asked. “Planning on having a bad night?”

He sighed. “I’m not sure yet. We’re somehow overbooked, which never bodes well.”

“It’s a good thing you’ve got an extra pair of hands then. Don’t worry, Howard I’ll do my best to keep things from going to shit.”

Back in the locker room I put my cook's jacket back in my locker and straightened up the striped shirt underneath. I wasn’t a stranger to playing the field, as Howard called it during my interview, but I didn’t look forward to the night of service ahead of me. I knew exactly how to speak, stand and serve, knew the ins and outs of the position, but that wasn’t the issue… what was went a lot deeper than a few plates and fancy words. I took a deep breath and looked at myself in the mirror, tightening my ponytail slightly as I desperately tried to keep from dwelling on the past. You’re here for the future, none of that shit matters now. I told myself as I turned away from the mirror and headed downstairs.

Scott looked about as displeased about the sudden change as I did. He regarded my outfit with a shake of his head. “Bullshit that Howard’s just gonna pull you from the line last minute.”

“Yeah, sorry Chef,” I offered up standing and waiting for him to finish plating. “But that was kind of the position I got hired on for.”

“Still,” he huffed, not bothering to finish his train of thought. “These go to table 5.”

“Have a good service Chef,” I said as I easily loaded my arms up with the plates and moved out the kitchen door and toward the table.

It wasn’t complicated, but damn did the fake smiles and overly polite tones of voice really just fucking suck. When I approached my twentieth table of the night, my cheeks were sore and I was getting fed up with pretending to care about these rich idiots' food preferences. Table 14 was full of three people, all Asian and all looked unimpressed. I set the menus in front of them and smiled. “Sorry about the wait, we’re a bit overbooked tonight.”

The man furthest from me bowed his head a bit before he opened up his menu. “It is fine.”

“Is there a particular bottle of wine that you’re interested in drinking tonight? Warre’s 2000 Port Vintage has been especially popular tonight.”

He made a face but nodded. “That will suffice.”

I made a mental note of it and turned to go get the wine when he stopped me. “I believed we are ready to order as well.”

“Oh, okay what can I get started for you?”

The two closest to me ordered the same dish, but the older man hummed in thought. “What would you recommend?”

“The chicken wellington with a side of braised vegetables and garlic roasted potatoes is, in my opinion, truly exceptional.”

“That will suffice, thank you.” As he bowed his head and lifted the menu up toward me his pin caught the light, and my eyes nearly widened at the sight of the rainbow koi fish pinned to his tie. The memory burned bright in my mind as I accepted the menu with a smile and politely excused myself.

I sat at the bar, swinging my legs back and forth as I colored in the crude Koi drawing. The man sitting beside me leaned over and chuckled. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a rainbow Koi fish before.”

With a slight frown, I leaned closer to him and held my hand in front of my mouth to keep the bartender from hearing. “They’re not real.”

The old man gasped softly. “What? This is truly upsetting news.”

“I know,” I replied, admiring the bright colors of my drawing. “I cried for a whole day when my mommy told me.”

“Well,” he tapped the drawing. “At least you’ll always have this one.”

Smiling up at the old man my eyes glued to the brightly colored Koi pin he wore. “You have one too!”

With a chuckle, he touched the small trinket. “I suppose I do. Though it’s hardly as colorful as yours.”

I hummed softly. “Yeah, but it’s still pretty.”

“You seem familiar,” the man admitted.

“I wait here a lot,” I explained as I finished the final touches. “My mommy is very busy.”

He nodded with an understanding smile. “Yes, that may very well be why. Or perhaps you and I knew one another in another life.”

My brows furrowed as I looked up at him. “There’s more than one?”

“Some people think so,” he explained. “It’s believed that we live and die to begin anew based on our deeds in past lives.”

“Maybe we were fish in our past life,” I giggled.

“I think I would make quite a good fish.”

The bartender bowed his head to us and looked at me with a smile. “Your mother’s ready for you, Ms. Harrow.”

Hopping off my seat I held the drawing out to the older man. “You keep it.”

“Are you sure?” He asked. “It’s a lovely piece.”

I nodded. “I can make more.”

That had been my first run-in with the businessman and restaurant connoisseur Mr. Hiragana. He and I spoke often after that when I’d wait at the same bar for my mother. In the short years, I spoke with him, he told me everything he loved about food and wine, told me about how he planned to build a beautiful restaurant and share his family's recipes with the whole of Japan. I drew him pictures of koi fish while we sat and he took every last one of them.

“Howard,” I said softly, discarding my menus on the counter and joining him where he stood off to the side with Simone. She watched me closely, but I ignored her cold glare and continue speaking. “The man at table 14 is Katashi Hiragana. He’s a very prestigious Japanese entrepreneur. Dozens of restaurants and other businesses, food blogs, the works.”

Howard and Simone both looked over at the table before he waved over to the hostess. She brought him the scheduling book and he leafed through the pages for a moment. “I don’t see his name here.”

“You won’t. He uses a false name when he goes to new restaurants in the states. He’s known for being a picky eater, so he goes to the highly-rated restaurants in the area he’s in and tries them anonymously. If he doesn’t like the food or the service he never comes back, sometimes he leaves a bad review, but if he does like the food he makes the restaurant one of his routine visits when he visits.”

Howard looked at the table again, thoughtful and cunning. “What do you suggest then?”

I straightened up. “I want to give him wine from our Japanese selection, with compliments. The bottle I have in mind isn’t too expensive, but it’s one I think he’d enjoy. I also have a few ideas for Scott on how to make the meal more suited to his tastes.”

“How do you know what his tastes are?” Simone questioned, bitter doubt dripping in her voice. “How do you know any of this?”

All I offered her was a glance her way before looking back at Howard, who nodded to me with a smile. “Go ahead and make the changes. Providing the best experience for our guests is the priority.”

“Thank you.”

I hurried past them and into the kitchen. “Scott, I need something a bit off menu.”

The chef's eyes lit up as everything stopped. “Off menu? You serious?”

“Not off off menu, but definitely different from what we usually do.”

He tossed a rag over his shoulder and moved toward me. “I can fuck with that.”

“Good.” I grabbed a pen and notepad, jotting down the subtle changes that I knew would make this meal stand out, and looked up at him. “Think you can do it?”

His eyes scanned the paper and he smiled. “Hell yeah.”

As Scott shouted at the kitchen staff to fire the order up I went downstairs and leafed through the wine shelves until I found the dark bottle of 2000 Sainte Neige Muscat Bailey A. I squeezed it happily and returned upstairs, moving through the crowded and bustling lobby until I reached the table with a smile. I bowed and said, in Japanese, “Forgive me for the wait, Mr. Hiragana.”

The man seemed to be surprised by my swift change in language, as well as the knowledge that I knew who he was. Calmly, he responded. “You know me?”

“I know of you,” I corrected. “It is an honor to have you dine with us tonight.” Holding the bottle out for him to see I smiled. “A bottle of 2000 Sainte Neige Muscat Bailey A. Compliments of the staff.”

He smiled fondly at it, nodding to the glasses. "A fine vintage."

Pouring the rich liquid I offered him a kind smile. "The region is beautiful, truly one of the staples of your homeland."

"Have you been before?"

"Yes."

"Is that where you learned Japanese?" He asked in English as he swirled his glass, sniffing with a gleeful delight plain on his face. "You sound as though you were born speaking it."

I laughed, shaking my head and thanking him for his generous compliment. "I learned the language young. My family traveled a lot. Japan was one of our more frequent locations, one I loved. The hotels were always beautiful and the landscape even more so, but it was the people I met that made it worthwhile."

Mr. Hiragana took a sip of the wine and nodded happily, urging the others at his table to drink theirs as well. He looked up at me and narrowed his eyes. "You look familiar."

"Perhaps we've met in another lifetime," I offered up with a fond smile.

"Perhaps one not too long ago." He answered, recognition shining in his eyes.

I bowed again. "I'll go check on your food."

He returned the gesture. "Thank you."

Nicky waved me down quickly before I passed the bar. “Hey, I never do this, but my daughter's recital is tonight. Would you mind sticking around to help close everything up after drinks?”

“Absolutely,” I replied.

“You’re a lifesaver kid.”

“Don’t sweat it, Nicky,” I assured him as I moved back into the kitchen quickly. “Table 14 ready yet?”

Scott concentrated on a plate of food, adding the final garnishes to the dish. “Got it right here.”

I smiled down at the gorgeous plates of food and gathered them up into my arms. “Absolute art, Chef.”

“Fuck yeah it is.”

The plates tapped against the table lightly as I set each dish down in front of the people at the table. I stepped back and bowed deeply. “It has been an honor to host you this evening. Please, enjoy your meals.”

That night service flew by quickly, and despite the disadvantage, we all had from being overbooked every server came out well-tipped and happy. All of us clamored into the locker room and stripped ourselves of the confines of our uniforms. Sasha groaned as he tore his shoes off. “I never want to see that many people ever again in my life!”

“Agreed,” Heather huffed fluffing her hair and shaking her head. “That was absolutely ridiculous!”

“At least we came out with a shitload of tips,” Ari sighed, rolling her neck.

They all dressed quickly and hurried downstairs. “Let’s get fucking wasted!” Sasha yelled in the stairwell.

I rolled my eyes and continued to slowly reapply my regular attire. My arm got caught in my sleeve and a fair-skinned hand settled against my shoulder stopping me from the rough movements I had been making trying to fix it. Simone smiled at me. “May I?”

“Sure,” I said, cautiously.

Her eyes latched onto the long scar that marred the skin of my shoulder and part of me wanted to flinch… to hide from her scrutinizing and cold stare. She straightened out the fabric, loosening the twist or knot that had kept me from pushing my arm through. “There you go.”

“Thanks.” I slid my arm through and turned away from her, loose hair falling out of my loose ponytail as I leaned over to grab my jacket.

Her fingers gathered the loose hair, startling me with the soft and unexpected touch. “Let me.” She pulled the band from my hair and silently rebound it, securing the loose hairs back into place. “You did well today,” Simone said softly, her fingers tugging my ponytail tighter, an action that sent a quick jolt of pain and panic through my scalp and chest.

I moved away from her, breathing out a quiet, “Thank you.”

Still, she didn’t look pleased as her stiff-lipped smile made her eyes only look colder. “I still don’t know how you did it, but I hear Table 14 raved about their experience.”

“That’s good.”

“Yes,” she said. “The guests come first, after all.”

That same chill of anticipation that I felt on my second day rushed up my spine as she watched me. “Was there something you needed, Simone?”

"I found this in your hire file," Simone said, holding the photo. It was a simple thing, taken ages ago of Howard and I standing side by side smiling. I had a stupid apron on that said "future chef" and was covered in flour.

"That's a good picture of me," I said sarcastically. "We should frame it."

Simone simply smiled. "I just found it interesting to learn you knew Howard so closely."

Humming, I looked back up at her. "Oh, I see. You're trying to imply I slept with Howard to be here."

"You aren't exactly denying it."

"I don't have to." I shrugged. "If you want to believe that I did it, that's your right. I'm not going to break my back trying to convince you otherwise."

She blinked and that bright smile curved downward slightly. "I’m just concerned for you. People around here like to talk."

"And?"

“I wouldn’t want them to think less of you if they somehow found this."

"That’s very kind of you, but I don't care what anyone else thinks." I met her cold gaze with a smile. "Is there anything else you need to discuss with me?"

"No."

I passed her. "Thank you for the conversation."

Howard stood in the now-empty kitchen, thanking Santos for his work before he turned and offered me a kind smile. "You did exceptional as a server tonight. Mr. Hiragana has already confirmed his next visit and requested you see to his table personally."

"A high honor."

"One you deserve." He pointed to the photo. "What's this?"

Laughing I held it out to him. "Just the best picture ever."

He joined me in laughing. "Yes, not one of either of our finest fashion moments."

"That suit?" I joked. "Howard, what were you thinking?!"

With a quirked brow, he pointed to me. "The apron?"

"Touche,” I admitted as I moved past him toward the lobby.

"Not sneaking out tonight?"

Of course, Howard knew my habits. I simply shrugged. "I offered to give Nicky a break tonight."

"I'm sure he's grateful. Goodnight, Lena."

"Have a safe walk home, Howard."

22West had begun to feel more comfortable, something I hadn't expected when I asked for the job. Though I guess I had the people to thank for it. From behind the bar I watched them joke and laugh and let the struggles of the night wash away. It was a beautiful thing, watching life return to their eyes a little bit each minute. I laughed alongside everyone as I made them drinks and joined them in conversations. I was part of the group and it felt nice, even if there were some people I wouldn’t get along very well with.

Jake had been especially flirty, passing me ingredients and glasses with long lingering touches and whispered compliments. Though it felt nice, that feeling of desire and want when the crowd eventually thinned out and he and I remained to clean up the last of the glassware I felt the need to clearly state my intentions or lack thereof. “The flirting has been fun and all, but I feel the need to make sure you know that this isn’t going to happen.”

He looked at me with an amused smile. “What?”

“This,” I waved a hand between the two of us. “You can flirt with me all you want, but that’s as far as you’re gonna get.”

“You think so?”

“I know so.” I set the newly polished glass aside and confidently held his gaze.

Jake shrugged, doing the same. “Could be fun.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt it. You clearly know what you’re doing and I clearly know what I am, but I’ve done this song and dance before. A lot.”

His laugh was warm and light as he took a step towards me, cocky and clearly interested in pushing to see how set I was on the position. “A lot?”

I smirked. “Of course, the only way to know what you’re doing regarding sex is to practice.”

“We could swap stories,” he offered up. “Maybe practice some new moves.”

“Cute,” I said brushing past him to get another glass to polish. “Look, it’s nothing personal Jake. I’ve just been you before. So focused on anything to distract me from the shit I was dealing with that I forgot how it felt to… actually care.” I looked back at him. The humor had faded from his face and his eyes watched me, narrowed and set in hurt and frustration. “I don’t need to be distracted anymore.”

After a vulnerable moment of silence, he scoffed and pushed himself off the bar, walking until he stood right in front of me, crowding my space in an attempt to make me feel small. “You don’t know shit about me.”

I shrugged. “Maybe I don’t, but maybe I do and that scares you.”

“Didn’t expect you to be so full of yourself.”

“No?” I smiled. “I figured it was obvious. Guess I’ll have to dial it up.”

Though he didn’t show it outwardly, I could tell my calm phased him. He’d likely done this move before and gotten the big doe eyes and the timid step back, but he wouldn’t get that from me. Jake was the one to withdraw first, nodding me dismissively toward the door. “Go home.”

I set the glass I’d just finished on the shelf. “Don’t want help finishing up?”

“Nope.”

“Suit yourself.” I turned on my heel, grabbed my things, and tapped the bar. “Have a safe walk home.”

The sunlight warmed my cheeks as I stood looking up through the trees with a smile on my face. God, it felt good to have a day off, especially on a day like today. Sunny and warm and completely free to do whatever I wanted with. Anyone that knew me would already know exactly what my plans were for a day like this, my unpredictable days of adventure and poor decisions likely long behind me, but I didn’t care. I practically skipped down the steps and through the green door of the bar. “Good morning boys!”

The three large security men turned toward me with wide smiles as I deposited the bag of fresh pastries into their hands and watched them all fight over who got to pick first. “Hey, Lena!”

“The big man in yet?”

“In the office!” One of them groaned as they wrestled the others for the bag.

“Thank you!” I drew in a deep breath of the smoke-scented space. Jack and Ozzy’s was an old establishment, rich with history and all kinds of funky smells and sights. It was the place I’d learned to bartend, the place I first performed in front of a crowd, and the place threw my first drink in someone's face. I’d thrown up in every booth and bathroom stall, made friends at the bar, and cried the narrow hallways. It was a part of home for me, every scuff and torn seat.

The house lights were always dim, casting the large space of empty chairs and tables and booths in a haze of pale light. The bar was on the right, with the office tucked behind it and the stage, where the band that always played here was prepping their equipment, was on the opposite side. I tapped dads initials on the corner of the bar as I slid past and into the office where Ozzy sat with a phone in one hand and a cigar in the other. His shoulder-length silver hair contrasted against the black leather he wore. Leathery skin was now marred with dots and scuffs that matched the bar he lived and breathed so naturally.

His pale blue eyes lit up as he saw me enter and he held up a finger to let me know he was almost finished with his call. I set his bag of donuts on the desk next to him and started leafing through the week's shipment inventory list. When he finally hung up the phone I spoke, “You ordered more Whiskey? I thought we were drowning in that shit.”

“Eh, one of the new kids knocked a whole case over the other day.” His voice was light, definitely not what you’d expect him to sound like by looking at him. “It wasn’t too bad. We had enough to finish the week out, but I made sure to get more.”

“The good stuff too,” I observed as I reached over and stole a donut. “How’d the alternate band auditions go?”

“Horrible,” he groaned and moved the bag out of my reach. “Maybe it’s just me, but every one of these new gigs sounded like garbage.”

I laughed and sat down in the empty office chair beside him. “I doubt it’s you. The great Ozzy never misses real talent.”

He nodded. “Well, either way, we didn’t find anyone to fill in on Saturday nights.”

“Relax,” I soothed. “You always find the perfect fit right when you need them.”

“Here’s hoping.” Ozzy looked at me for a second and tilted his head. “Wait, isn’t today you’re day off?”

“Yep.”

“What the hell are you doing here then?” He questioned, snatching up the papers from my hands. “Shouldn’t you be out there living it up in the big city?”

I rolled my eyes. “I’ve lived it up quite a lot Oz. Besides, I like helping out around here. It’s fun.”

He shook his head. “Fun? Kids these days are hopeless.”

“Shut up old geezer and let me help.”

“Well, if you’re gonna insist,” he said with a chuckle. “You can help train the new guy.”

“Ugh!”

“How's that for fun.”

I swiveled my chair, an idea suddenly filling my mind. “How about instead I find you a musician?”

Ozzy looked up at me over his papers. “Think you know someone?”

“I might.”

“Bring em in tonight, we can have a trial run in between sets.”

Standing I offered him a salute and a bright smile, “On it old man.”

I rushed up the road toward the restaurant. Ari was going to love me after tonight. Slipping in through the back door I said quick hellos to all the cooks and hurried out toward the long dining table where everyone had gathered for Family Meal. Sasha had his arm curled around Heather and the two of them laughed and joked beside Ari and Will as they ate their food. Will saw me first, giving me a confused look. “Isn’t it your day off?”

“Yeah,” I said sitting down beside him and leaning over to get Ari’s attention. “Hey, how would your band feel about playing tonight?”

“Are you joking?” She asked practically jumping up out of her seat. “When? Where?”

“A place down the road like four blocks. Jack and Ozzy’s. They had their backup band fall out and need a new one. Audition’s tonight if you want it.”

Ari smiled widely and reached over to grab my hands. “Absolutely! You’re the fucking best!”

I pulled her off to the side and gave her the details. “Here’s the address, and time. Ozzy’s great, you’ll love him.”

“Is this a secret audition or can I invite people?” She asked looking at the piece of paper in her hand.

“You can invite anyone you want,” I replied. “Just don’t be late. Ozzy hates it.”

“You got it, boss!” She joked before squeezing my hand. “Thanks, Lena.”

“I’ll see you there!”

Jake didn’t usually let people get under his skin, well, at least not so openly, but from the start of the day to the bitter end of it he was in a foul mood and it seemed the whole crew knew why. Nicky slid him a drink and spared him a sympathetic, if not slightly amused, look. “Told you she’d rip you up.”

“She didn’t do shit,” he insisted.

“Sure.” His partner said quietly.

Ari rushed out of the kitchen with her usual group in toe. Jake leaned over and sighed, “What can I get ya?”

“Nothing tonight sweet Jakey,” Sasha said pulling his jacket on. “We’re going to Ari’s show!”

“Ari has a show?” He asked looking over at the clearly nervous girl. “Since when?”

“Since our lovely Tiger Bitch got one set up for her!” Heather said happily. “You’re welcome to come.”

Ari scoffed and glared at him. “Not like you will, you ditch every one of my shows.”

Jake smiled and made his way around the bar. “I’ll come.”

She tilted her head to the side. “What?”

Sasha squeezed her shoulder. “Oh, he’s only coming to try and get back into the Tiger's pants.”

They, of course, made fun of him, it was something they often did with everyone. Jake didn’t care much, they were easy enough to ignore as they piled into cabs and rode down to the older part of the city. As soon as they pulled up to the brightly lit bar they met up with each other and Ari’s band members at the entrance and approached the bouncer. “We should be on the list.”

“Name?”

“Ari.”

He nodded and counted heads. “They all with you?”

“Yeah.”

Stepping aside he let them pass through the green door and into the packed bar. The band was just finishing up their last set when they split away from Ari and found a booth near the bar. Jake liked the place, the lights, and the atmosphere, there were even a few attractive women. But, he really didn’t notice them much, not when his eyes shifted to the dancing crowd or more specifically the arm with a tiger tattoo illuminated by the lights. He shifted in his seat to get a better view of her familiar red hair and newfound exposed skin.

Lena was dancing with two other women, wearing a simple black top adorned with lace at the top and a short leather skirt that made her legs impossible to miss. She moved along with the beat, free and fun just like he’d imagined she would be outside of work. Her head snapped to the side where a larger man waved her over and pointed toward the bar. Without argument, she pulled her hair up and hopped behind the bar leaning over to take someone's order and flashing more of her cleavage. Jake was mesmerized by her. The way she moved as she made drinks behind the bar, the way her hair lit up in the lights, the way her green eyes shinned. Fucking hell she was something else.

It felt good to let loose after a long few weeks of nothing but work and hospital stays, but as I served the last drink and rejoined Prue and Quinn on the dancefloor I felt fucking amazing. Quinn, a gorgeous blonde-haired woman with blue eyes and a resting bitch face that could kill a man smiled at me. “Back from your second job already?”

Prue, a curly-haired tanned skinned knockout of a woman turned and smiled too. She brought her hands up so I could see them and signed an equally sarcastic reply, “Holy shit, and I thought we’d have to drag you out from behind the bar!”

“You’re both so funny,” I said and signed.

A heavy hand settled on my shoulder and Sasha's familiar Russian accent graced my ears. “Tiger Bitch!” He looked down the length of me and gasped. “Is this how hot you always are when you aren’t being a sneaky cunt?!

I rolled my eyes. “I’m especially hot when I’m being a sneaky cunt.”

“Work was so boring without your snarky ass there.”

“Aww, poor Sasha, having to survive one day bored.” I teased pulling him into my side and turning back to my friends. “This is Sasha. He’s a work friend.”

Quinn waved, “He seems like a real diva.”

“I am.” Sasha admitted with a devilish smile.

“This is Quinn, she’s also a diva. And this is Prue,” I signed a quick explanation to her. “She’s deaf, but she can read lips so behave.”

“It’s nice to finally meet Lee’s famous work friends!” Prue exclaimed, her arms wrapping around Sasha in an instant.

I laughed at Sasha's face of absolute horror. “She’s a hugger.”

He peeled her off of him and fixed his clothes. “Alright, well tell her to hug someone else.”

“Were you and Heather the only ones that came?”

“Jakey’s here as well. Will said he’d try to stop by and the kitchen was all nos aside from Scott.” Sasha pointed to the back booth. “They’re all over there, securing our seats until our dear Ari takes the stage.”

I followed his finger and locked eyes with Jake, who smirked and raised his glass to me. On any other occasion, I’d not feel anything about his presence here, but as Quinn and Prue looked over my shoulder I mentally cursed him for coming. “Is that him?”

Sasha turned with wide eyes and an open mouth “Has our little Lena been talking about Jakey outside of work?”

“No -”

“Don’t fucking lie!” Quinn scolded with an evil laugh. She looked back over at the booth and nodded. “He is absolutely your type by the way. Like my god, the hair, the beanie, the jacket.”

“And of course the broody attitude and shit personality.” Prue wiggled her eyebrows. “When are you planning on climbing into his lap? You know just so we can give you enough privacy and whatnot.”

“Yes! Climb into his lap! I would love to see the two of you make sweet, filthy love!” Sasha giggled.

I groaned. “I’m not climbing into anyone's lap!”

Quinn grabbed Prue’s hand and started off toward their table. “Let’s go say hi at least. We don’t wanna be rude to your work friends.”

I flipped her off. “Bitch.”

The only reason I followed them to the booth was to make sure they didn’t embarrass me with the loads of information they had gained from our years of friendship. Prue talked a lot of shit, but ultimately she’d keep the more embarrassing stories to herself. Quinn was the wildcard. She’d talk until you forced her to stop, and even then she’d find a way to keep going. I introduced them to the group and let them get settled. “What do you guys want to drink?”

“You working here?” Heather questioned.

I shrugged. “I help out sometimes when they get busy.”

“And they just let you behind the bar?” Jake pressed with a knowing look.

“My dad owned part of this place. It’s where I learned to bartend so yeah, they let me behind the bar.”

He nodded, very clearly pleased with the tidbit of information. “I’ll just take a beer.”

“Just get us all beers, and two more for Scott and Will, they should be here soon,” Heather said keeping her eyes on the door.

Jake stood and smirked at me. “I’ll help out.”

“You don’t have to.”

He just waved me off. Behind him Prue made a crude sign, essentially telling me to bone him. Rolling my eyes at her I turned my back to lead Jake toward the bar and flipped her off. I tapped my dads carving again and slid behind the bar digging for the drinks and instructing the new guy on where to find a knife. Jake looked around. “This is a nice place.”

“Yeah, been around for fucking ever.” I agreed setting things in front of him.

“Lena,” Ozzy called from the office doorway as he moved out with a paper. “Did you add that gin to our shipment?”

I turned and looked over the list, pointing to the gin. “Yeah, you wanted the Nords right?”

He nodded. “Perfect!” Ozzy looked up at Jake and then down at me with raised brow. “Sorry, did I interrupt something?”

“God not you too.”

“I’m just helping her with the drinks.”

Ozzy stepped closer toward Jake, extending a hand. “I’m Ozzy. You must be that Jake.”

Fuck. I slapped a hand over my face as Jake’s smugness became palpable in the air around him. “I am indeed that Jake.”

“The girls have been talking bout you nonstop,” Ozzy added.

Jake looked over at me, hardly able to contain his laughter. “Have they?”

I patted Ozzy’s arms. “Move big fella, I gotta get out from behind here so I can go shove my head through a wall.”

Ozzy slid back to let me pass. “What? Was I not supposed to say anything?”

“Goodnight Oz,” I grumbled grabbing as many of the bottles as I could manage before turning and leaving the rest for Jake. I set them down on the table and glared at Prue and Quinn. “You two are so fucking dead.”

They both laughed when Jake came into view. “Oz is the worst with discretion.”

“You’re no better!”

“There’s an easy fix to this,” Quinn signed. “Fuck. Him.”

Prue giggled. “Fuck him! You know you want to.”

I looked away from them as Scott and Will arrived. Prue waved her hand in my face trying to get my attention. Without turning I signed, “I’m ignoring you.”

Her hand returned with a middle finger in my face as Jake just leaned back and smirked. “So, you mentioned me to your friends?”

“I talked about you twice,” I admitted. “And before you ask, no it wasn’t to gush about how badly I wanted you. I just told them you flirted with me and I flirted back. And that you'd make a decent friend if you weren't so grumpy. That’s it.”

Quinn made a noise. “I mean that wasn’t it…”

I reached over and put a hand over her mouth. “Ignore her.”

He nodded. “Whatever you say.”

God he’s going to be unbearable now. Heather came back to the table. “Ari’s on, come on!”

All of us headed to the dance floor, where Ari took the stage and began preforming. She was good, just the right amouth of loud and talented, Ozzy would definitely be telling her to come back as a regular. We danced together, everyone but Jake who’d taken up a spot at the bar, clearly too good to dance with his coworkers. After a few songs, I looked up, expecting to see his flirty eyes watching me, as they had been almost all night, but instead, I saw an empty stool.

“Where’d Jake go?” I asked scanning the bar again.

Sasha gestured toward the back door. “He went for a smoke.”

“Out that door?” I pressed.

“I think so.”

“Fuck,” I cursed as I wove through the crowd toward the door.

Hurrying up the steep steps I opened the door to the chilled night air just in time to catch Dom, my old drug dealer and the resident dealer for the block, shoving Jake. God damn it. “Come on pretty boy, take a swing.”

“Leave him be, Dom.” I walked up the stairs shaking my head and stepped beside Jake.

Dom smiled at me and tilted his head. “Why should I?”

“Because I asked so nicely,” I said, batting my eyes.

Jake scoffed. “If he wants a fight I’ll -”

Dom took a step forward just as I stepped between the two men and met Dom’s gaze. “He’s an idiot, but not one that needs an ass-kicking from you.”

“He seems to want one.”

“He’s weird like that,” I said leaning back into Jake’s chest to keep him from moving. “Come on D. Just walk away. I’d hate to have to bust up that pretty face.”

He laughed, and his boys followed. “Never change Leanin Lena.”

“You too,” I replied watching as they made their way out of the alley, and back toward the bikes that were parked along the exit.

Jake let out an angry breath. “I had that handled.”

I nodded, turning to look at him. “If a beating was the goal then yeah you did.”

“I could’ve taken that guy.”

“Dom? Absolutely. The forty bikers he’s got attached to his hip, I don’t think so.” Jake looked away from me, still angry. I shook my head. “Come on tough guy. If you’re looking for a place to smoke you gotta go over an alley.”

I hopped up the stairs opposite the bar that led to the old boxing place next door and looked over at him. For a minute I didn’t think he’d follow, but he did. I bumped the sticky door open with my hip and stepped inside the small back room as Jake followed behind me. The air in here always smelt like copper and leather, most likely from the beatings that some of the people took while they were in the ring. The sound of chains creaking and bags taking heavy hits echoed as I led us toward the main space where three well-built men covered in sweat grunted and groaned as they practiced their hits and swings.

The Ring was older than me by a lot, a place that held a lot of my family's history. The walls were plain with spots of old paint and peeling wallpaper, but they were one of my favorite parts of the place because they were filled with old posters and pictures, and mementos of those trained and boxed here. It felt like being in one giant time capsule. Off to the left of the door Jake and I walked out of was the giant padded ring, and there in the center were two of the training boxers facing off. The coach stood on the sidelines, directing each of their movements and walking them through the basics, not unlike what my dad had done for me.

“Lena?” the Irish voice questioned from the front of the building.

“Hey Patrick,” I called out, moving around the small tables and lockers toward him.

“Come to give these boys a real challenge?” He laughed loudly, enveloping me in a hug the second I was close enough for him to grab. Patrick was the new owner of this place and a friend. He and I grew up together and he’d been there for me through a lot of my darker years.

His copper hair tickled my nose as he set me down. “Not tonight. I’m just showing him,” I pointed a thumb back at Jake. “To the smoking alley.”

“He run into Dom?”

“Oh yeah.”

“Mans been in a shit mood this week,” Patrick observed returning to cleaning the floor. “Watch your back out there, Lena.”

“Thanks for the tip!” I continued walking toward the locker room, giving one of the boys practicing on a punching bag a pat on the way. “Keep your wraps tight, Jer.”

He cursed and moved back to rewrap the loosening fabric. “Thanks, Lena!”

Hanging above the locker room door was the brightly painted name Jack “The Hammer” Harrow with his old gloves hanging below. I lifted my hand and ran it over the smooth leather of them as I passed through the doorway and looked back to make sure Jake was still behind me. He looked up at the gloves and paused for a moment before I tugged on his sleeve. “This way, tough guy.”

We were met immediately with steam and the bare asses of one of the groups that always came late to practice. I moved through the misty room unphased, joking around with a few of the guys I knew as I passed them until we finally reached the back door. Swinging it open with an exaggerated flare I grinned, waving a hand toward the dingy couch and chairs that adorned the closed-off back alley. “Ta-da. I believe this will suit your smoking needs.”

He looked around for a bit, picking up a few magazines left over by whoever used it last, and nodded. “Wow.”

“It’s pretty fancy, I know.” He sat in one of the chairs, pulled the pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, and lit one. The smoke billowed out of his mouth as he looked at me with a curious gaze. “Well, you seem comfortable so I’m gonna head out now.”

“You grew up around here?” He asked before I could even turn to leave.

I shook my head. “My dad and my brother did. I moved in with them when I was sixteen.”

“Why?” He asked.

All he got in return was silence and a short stare as I turned to leave. “Try not to piss off any more drug dealers.”

I heard his heavy footsteps following after me before his lean figure settled in next to me. Jake quickly regained his breath and continued smoking as he looked over at me. “Least I could do is walk you home.”

“Oh, how generous of you.”

“What can I say, I’m a real stand-up guy.”

“I’m not gonna play twenty questions with you.”

He shrugged. “Alright, how bout ten?”

“No.”

“Five?”

“No.”

“Three?”

“Jake,” I laughed. “We aren’t friends.”

He nodded. “Maybe not, but you did say I would make a good one.”

I cocked my head to the side and gave him a look. “You want to be friends with me?”

“Yeah,” he answered. “That so unbelievable?”

“Considering you’ve been trying to get me out of my clothes since we met, kinda.”

Jake smirked. “I never said I’d stop trying to get you out of your clothes, I just said we could be friends.”

“Ahh,” I looked forward at the bright lights and crowds of people. “Okay. You get two questions.”

“This mean we’re friends?”

“This means I’ll consider it.”

“Fair enough.” He took a long drag of his cigarette breathing it out before he spoke again, “Alright, first question. What the fuck is Leanin Lena?”

I laughed. “It’s a boxing title. I got mine after my first official match, for leaning, obviously.”

He nodded along. “You box?”

“Is that your second question?”

“Oh, so you’re gonna be a bitch about it?”

“Of course I am,” I said with a smug smirk.

Jake shook his head and laughed. “Fine, second question. You don’t smoke, do drugs or drink nearly enough, or fuck around so what do you do for fun?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You don’t really need any of that to have fun, you know that right?”

He shrugged. “That’s how I’ve always had fun.”

“Even when you were younger?”

For a minute he looked a little sad, but it was over too quickly to tell as he recovered with a smile. “Yeah, pretty much.”

“That’s sad.” I knew the type of pain that came with being robbed a childhood, and it seemed Jake did too. Lucky for me I had my dad and Ozzy and Peter and all my friends to help give me somewhat of that normalcy. I reached out and tapped his arm before jumping away from him with a laugh. “You’re it.”

“I’m it?”

“Yeah, you know tag the game?”

He quirked his brows. “You’re trying to play tag with me? That’s a bit childish isn’t it?”

“Some of the best ways to have fun are,” I replied with a nod. “You gonna play or do I win already?”

Jake took a while to consider his options for a minute before he took a long step toward me, clearly expecting me to let him reach out and tag me. I moved out of the way and smiled even wider. He took an even greater step toward me, but I moved again. “Seriously?”

I scoffed. “Did you think I was just gonna stand around and let you tag me?”

“Come on, I’m not gonna chase you around like some schoolboy.”

“Then I guess you’ll be it forever.”

When Jake burst into a full sprint forward I turned on my heel and started running down the mostly empty sidewalk. The two of us laughed as we wove through people and around cars until Jake finally caught up with me. His arms wrapped around my middle and he lifted me up off my feet as he slowed to a stop, huffing from the exercise. “You’re it.”

Once he set me down I turned and grinned at him. “That answer your question?”

“You’re insane.”

“It was fun though, wasn’t it?”

For the first time since I’d met him, Jake’s smile seemed happy, the gleam in his eyes even more so. “Maybe a little.”

Nodding toward the building we were a few steps away from I said, “This is me.”

“Alright. So, do I pass your weird little consideration test?”

I nodded. “I guess.”

“So friends?”

“Ah-ah, you gotta ask me properly.”

He groaned, shaking his head and looking around. “Lena, will you be my friend?”

“Hmm…” I pretended to think about it as I walked up my stairs. I turned at the top and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be your friend Jake.” He turned and started walking back down the sidewalk, grumbling about how weird I was. “Hey!” I hollered, making him turn around to look up at me. "Night, Jerk."

He shook his head but smiled anyway. "Night Lana."

The next morning was absolute chaos. I walked through the back door, dodging as people ran around to get the trash taken out and the shelves organized. “Holy fuck.” I mumbled moving toward Scott. “What the hell is going on?”

He looked just as stressed as the others as he looked over the produce. “The owner decided to make a surprise visit.”

“Fuck.” My heart beat quicker in my chest as I looked out the kitchen windows to find Maddie and Howard moving toward the kitchen. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I practically sprinted over to the table and set my hands on top of it loudly, gathering the attention of the back room, where everyone even the servers and bartenders seemed to be hiding out. “You’re all about to find out something about me. If you save your questions and comments til the shift ends I’ll buy all of you drinks.”

Everyone mumbled some form of agreement before the doors swung open and a chill ran up my spine. “So, the prodigal student has returned after all.”

I turned and offered her a smile, taking in the slight changes to her face and the new length of her hair as she beamed at me. “Looks that way, doesn’t it.”

She opened her arms up. "Get in here and give your aunt a hug."

#Nightshade #sweetbitter jake x oc #jake x lena #jake smut #jake sweetbitter #sweetbitter jake #sweetbitter simone #sweetbitter smut #sweetbitter #sweetbitter sasha #sweet bitter #sweetbitter howard #sweetbitter ari #sweetbitter heather #sweetbitter Scott #sweetbitter original characters

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invisibleraven · 1 year

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You're my best friend, Flynn x reggie

When Flynn and Reggie started dating, she never knew what to expect. One weekend they'd do the traditional dinner and a movie, but with a twist. Dinner was at a diner run by a troupe of grandmothers who all adored Reggie, and the movie was an old fashioned drive in that they watched from the hood of Reggie's car, cuddled up in blankets and swapping snacks all night.

Their next date was bowling-bumper bowling, as Reggie confessed to be terrible at it. Flynn snorted soda out of her nose when she saw just how true his assessment was, but it was a glorious fun time, and he took her to the arcade after, even winning her a small flamingo plushy from the claw machine.

But her favourite date had been the night he took her to Little Tokyo, where they bought a bunch of snacks from the various groceries stores and gorged themselves on them as they watched various street performances. Then found the best karaoke bar in town, belting out Queen for the whole of LA to hear.

"You're my best friend!" they duetted, collapsing into a giggle pile in the booth as the song ended, smiling vibrantly at each other in the glow of the neon lights.

But then Reggie leaned in to kiss her, and Flynn's whole being burst with song. She was tingling down to her toes by the time he pulled back, and leapt right into a Faith Hill jam that made Flynn cackle with glee.

However tonight, after a hellish week, Flynn just wanted a quiet night in. Reggie had been thrilled by the prospect. "I can cook for you, and then we can kick up our feet to whatever rom-com your heart desires," he vowed.

"That sounds perfect."

Only when Flynn arrived at Reggie's place that evening, he looked rather harried as he opened the door. "Hey babe. It's been-a day, and I haven't had a chance to get any groceries. Rain check on home made food and we can get sushi?"

"Nonsense, we can go down to the store and get what you need, I don't mind waiting," Flynn insisted. "Plus then we can cook together, way more fun that way."

"If you're sure..."

"I'm sure!" Flynn replied, grabbing his reusable bags (and who doesn't live an eco friendly guy?) and dragging him towards his truck.

The store was relatively empty for a Friday night, and Flynn was glad she hadn't dressed up too much for date night given she was sure her usual weekend fare wasn't appropriate for Trader Joe's.

Plus it was nice to get to observe Reggie doing something so domestic, like pick out the best head of broccoli, the best bunch of grapes, and-sniffing the peaches?

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"The riper the peach, the more peachy it smells," he replied. "My MeeMaw had a whole grove of them back in Georgia, so I know what I'm talking about."

He lifted a peach up to her nose insistently, and she sniffed it, smelling next to nothing, but the next one he lifted to her was almost bursting with the scent of the fruit. "That one," she said nodding to it. "What are we doing with the peaches exactly?"

"Oh, I was going to make you a cobbler," Reggie replied. "You're not allergic to peaches I hope?"

"Only to penicillin and pollen."

"Well then I will keep both out of the cobbler," Reggie said with a grin.

Flynn couldn't help but return his smile, lacing their fingers together as they traipsed down the aisles, getting whatever they needed for their supper that night, plus a few staples Reggie had neglected to pick up lately.

"Sorry it was kind of a lame date night," Reggie said as they drove back to his place.

"I actually had a lot of fun," Flynn replied. "Besides, date's not over yet. You promised me cobbler."

Reggie barked out a laugh. "That I did."

The cobbler turned out delicious-even if they ended up eating it the next morning in bed instead of that night given how worked up they got making it.

But Flynn had to admit, the peachy smelling peaches made a damn good cobbler-especially when it was being fed to her by the peachiest guy there was.

#filled prompts #ficlet #fleggie #julie and the phantoms

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tinted-skies · 2 years

Text

nct dream as your best friends

Non-stop entertainment. You better prepare your lungs because they'll make you laugh until you pass out. They're rising comedians and hanging out with them would always be the highlight of your week (no matter when, where or how).

You'd be that chaotic friend group walking around the city's streets on the middle of the night. Making way too much noise imo blame it on Chenle, but always with a responsible Jaemin at the back, making sure neither you nor Jisung accidentally tripped out of the sidewalk.

On a more serious note, I believe being friends with the dreamies would be very fulfilling because you'd have completely different dynamics with each one of them.

Get ready because one second you'd be beating the living shit out of Haechan and the next you'd see Mark and run up to him to give him cuddles 😌✋

hanging out at their dorm

- dedicated to my indoor fellas <3

Most of the group lived together so you'd naturally spend a lot of your time on their dorm, specially on rainy days or when it was cold outside. You treated it as if it were your own home and tbh you should just move in at this point (an idea they have proposed before).

However, no matter how many times you set foot inside, you'd always complain about how dirty it was.

"Well, you could always just leave." They would often retort upon hearing your complaints.

Although you normally went to their dorm to escape all of your responsibilities, you'd never want to distract the boys from their work, only hanging out with those who weren't busy at the time. But every once in a while they would actually use you as an excuse not to do any school work mainly Jisung tbh.

To sum it up, being at their dorm would be pretty chill, however, on Fridays the whole mood shifted. Bring on the food and your best spotify playlist cause we're having game night!

Game night would be healing after a tiring week. You'd all gather and do whatever you felt like doing, you'd forget the outside world for a while and just goof around, catch up on each other's lives and play computer games!!

If you are a noob and were hesitant to join them, scared they would judge your lack of gaming skills, then they would incentivate you to play. However, if your team ended up losing, you can bet your ass they would blame you for it.

If you aren't really into that kind of games, then you'd just hang out with the non-nerds lmao it's a joke susan. Fr tho, you'd just stay low and draw alongside Renjun as Mark played some tunes on the guitar. But soon enough, you and Renjun would finish your masterpieces and decide to take over the party. Yup, that's right. It's karaoke time, bitches.

Upon seeing the mics you and Renjun held, the rest of the dreamies would get extremely excited and after spending about 20 minutes just choosing a damn song, you can expect their vocals to shake the whole building.

And duuuude don't even get me started on the just dance competitions cause trust me- Jisung would eat you all alive. I can just picture his cocky smirk as he hears someone mention the game.

"Come on, let's go." He would say while rubbing his hands and cracking his knuckles.

uni shenanigans

You'd all catch the same subway to campus, annoying all the grannies by laughing a bit too loudly for their liking.

One time, although the subway was clearly packed, you all decided to try and get in. You were sure this would most likely be the most uncomfortable ride ever, but you were late for class so you followed the six boys who had already managed to get in.

That was until you felt yourself being dragged away from the subway doors. Confused, you looked back only to see a completely unbothered Jeno, who sternly assured you that "it would be smarter to simply wait for the next subway" and that "you were already late anyways".

but well moving on from thoughts of Jeno manhandling you 🥰🥰

The dreamies would be the kind of friends who, in case you didn't share the same classes, would wait for you right outside the door, unashamedly peaking inside the auditorium to try and spot you in the middle of the crowd.

One time, they got caught by the professor, who sarcasticaly asked them if they'd like to join the lesson. With this, they quickly ran away, leaving a confused Jisung behind, all alone, staring back blankly at the teacher (poor boy wouldn't even notice the rest of his friends were gone).

sharing classes with the dreamies

They would truly save you from boredom :)

Like imagine yourself at a lecture, yawning every 5 minutes. Well... in these moments Lee Haechan came to your rescue. Oh, you don't feel like listening to your boring professor? Haechan (aka official chatting buddy) is right at your service, no questions asked!

And, if we're realistic, he was probably already bugging you even before you started bugging him. What can he say? Deep down he was just as bored as you...

The only issue here is that sometimes you really were paying attention to the lecture and he just wouldn't stop blabbing about random shit, which made you slightly annoyed because he didn't seem to understand that not everyone can be like him, who could not pay attention and still nail all of his exams.

Earning threatening glares from the professor would also often happen, but hey, y'all just get too excited and raise your voices a tiny bit! Don't worry though, it isn't that big of a deal, you'd just resort to communicating through a small piece of paper.

On the other hand, if you were stuck at a lecture with Renjun, then friendly advice: just don't dare to talk to him, he wouldn't hesitate to tell you to shut your fucking mouth. But right after class he would ask you what you meant to say earlier, not being able to hold his curiosity back any longer because deep down he's a softie.

Now. Onto the important stuff. I'm very much convinced that Jaemin would be one of those students who come in late to class with 2 coffees in hand (one for him and the other for you, obviously).

He would constantly make sure you eat well and never forget to drink water. Sometimes he'd even randomly grab some snacks cookies!! out of his bag in the middle of the class and hand them to you. And if he didn't cross you in the hallways in that day of the week, then he would make sure Mark would fill in his shoes and nag you around for him.

Aside from that, I really have to mention your dynamics with Chenji!! No matter whether you're older or younger than them, you'd form a very interesting little trio.

It could truly go 2 ways, either you'd have to take on a parental role and try to make sure that they didn't get each other into too much trouble.

Oooor

You'd just join the chaos! As one would!!

Fr tho, y'all would be insufferable when you were together lmao, you'd often throw hands at each other and only ever unite with the sole purpose of teasing another member (usually Mark, which lead to him straight up refusing to babysit you three again).

BONUS!!

I’D LIKE TO FINISH UP BY SAYING THAT THE DREAMIES WOULD BE EXCELENT GOSSIPERS!

And no :) no one can fight me on this.

At first they would complain about the way you'd always be so into drama and how your tea spilling sessions would on average steal about 2 hours of their day. They'd be confused over who's who and struggle to follow along. Long story short, you were 99.9% certain that they weren't paying any attention to what you were saying.

But soon enough, although they'd never admit that to you or to each other, it would become their little guilty pleasure. Until a day came where your tea spilling session was surprisingly interrupted by Jaemin:

"Wait, they made up already? Weren't they the ones who fought on that one party?"

And after Jaemin finally showcased how truly invested he was, the rest of the dreamies started doing so as well, not bothering to hide their interest anymore.

They treated it like their own little reality show, getting way too attached to it and remembering every name and tiny detail. They'd even start forming their own opinions of each person just through the stories you told them.

Random examples lmao:

Dreamie #1: "Oh *insert eye roll here* of course Sarah said that."

Dreamie #2: "I'm not even surprised anymore, she's such a bitch."

And

Dreamie #3: "I'm on Bea's side on this one."

Y/N: "You guys are always on Bea's side..."

Dreamie #4: "Well, of course we are! We are rooting for her!!"

Dreamie #5: "Yeah! I hope she finally finds someone who will love her the way she deserves!"

And that's all for now. Thanks for coming to my ted talk. Feel free to share your thoughts on the dreamies as your besties, my inbox is always open <3

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dashofmonsters · 3 years

Text

Snowfall- Pt. 1

Male Orc x Female Reader

You and Sloan have been dating for three months now and everything has been great, well aside from the lack of alone time. You've been inducted into his friend group via Rynan's approval and everyone keeps inviting you and Sloan to hang out. You of course don't mind it but you wish to spend more time with just him. Apparently feeling the same he surprises you with a trip to his family's cabin up north. Just you and him and a cozy cabin with no possible problems or intrusions in sight, hopefully.

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

You and Sloan had just got back to his place after the third barbeque with his friends this week. At first being invited to hang out with his friends was great. You met Rae, his old friend from high school who gave him the butterfly butt tattoo along with some mutual friends of Rynan and Sloan. It's nice meeting new people and everything but you miss spending some quality alone time with your boyfriend.

"I never thought I'd say this but if I have to eat another rack of ribs anytime soon, I'm going to vomit," Sloan grumbles as he collapses onto the couch.

"It's your own fault for taking that fourth helping... Should I go get an antacid?" you ask, setting your purse down on the coffee table.

Sloan peers up at you from the couch cushions with the most pathetically adorable puppy dog eyes he can muster. You roll your eyes and laugh before bending down to kiss him on the cheek.

"Sit up and I'll go get you some water too," you walk off to grab the needed items from the kitchen. You hear Sloan groan as he struggles to sit up and not get sick.

After getting him to take the medicine and drink a couple glasses of water you turn him ever so slightly and start rubbing his shoulders.

"Oh that's nice," he purrs. "Your hands are magic."

"I expect you to return the favor, tomorrow though. You need to sleep this off, and maybe not eat so many heavy foods for a couple days," you lean forward and kiss his neck.

"Probably a good idea...," he agrees and grumbles.

"You ok love?" you ask.

"Yeah it's just that...do you like going to these uh...'get togethers'...gods I sound like my nana...," he groans.

"I do, especially when Rae is around or when Rynan breaks out the karaoke machine...but it is starting to get well... and I'm not trying to sound mean or anything but it's just-"

"Getting tiring?" he tilts his head back with a tired smile.

You nod your head.

"I was thinking the same thing. I hardly get you to myself anymore and I don't want to come off as a jealous sort but I at least want to be able to spend more time with you, alone," he confesses, leaning back further till his head was against your chest.

"Well if memory serves me correct I believe we've been invited to two more cookouts and Rae's cousin's annual bar crawl," you poke at him.

He sits back up and re-situates himself on the couch, dragging you into his lap in the process. You snuggle up in his arms and lay your head against his chest.

"You know how we have winter vacation in a couple weeks, where we'll be off till after the new year? Well what would you say to going to a cabin up north for a week? Just you and me and a bunch of snow?" he asks, sounding a tad nervous.

The thought of cuddling and getting cozy with Sloan in a cabin surrounded by snow sounds enticing. Your brain theater starts playing a bunch of scenarios until you're passed the point of convincing yourself.

"Hmm a week alone with you...And I'll have you all to myself?" you ask, teasing him.

"I'm already all yours angel, but yes, no one else will get to come between us," he replies.

"I take it that you already made plans and everything?" you raise a brow. He knows you don't like doing anything big or pricy when it comes to your dates and that you like planning them with him but he'd occasionally slip and surprise you with a nice dinner or going and doing something. Luckily it wasn't anything too over the top.

"It'll be a two day road trip using my family's camper and the cabin belongs to one of my cousin's up north that she only uses maybe once or twice a year. Everyone in the family kind of uses it so we have to schedule around each other and I always book it for the same week so there's never a fight for it," he shrugs.

You thought you were used to how grandeur Sloan and his family lives but just when you find yourself getting used to it, he throws another curve ball at you. From what you've heard they've fully earned it, everyone having worked hard most of their lives.

Noticing that you're contemplating he adds, "There's also a jacuzzi."

Narrowing your eyes and pursing your lips you pinch his cheek.

"You're at least going to let me help pay for the gas and food ok. I don't want you to feel like you have to pay for everything on this trip, it just doesn't seem right. If we're going to be a couple lets do it properly and share responsibilities," you lecture him.

He gives you a huge soft smile before leaning down and pressing his forehead against yours, "More than anything I want to get this right with you, so if you want to take over some of the expenses then by all means. We'll go over our budget in the morning, how does that sound?"

You nod and kiss him, "Sounds like a plan."

Sloan tells you about the cabin and how his family has used it since he was a little kid. It's currently in his cousin's name but it used to belong to his grandfather and everyone just kind of pitches in for the upkeep now. He goes up there to for a week of relaxing and snowboarding to your surprise. As if picking up on your curiosity he breaks out a couple albums his nana put together for him and a DVD.

"My nana and aunts insist on recording anything and everything, including comical failures. Oh and if the quality seems like shit this was originally on VHS," he laughs, popping the disc in and pressing play.

On the screen was a group of young orcs on snowboards and skis. Sloan points himself out but you already knew it was him since he was a little shorter than the rest. It was his first time attempting to snowboard and he looked excited. As the video played on you try your best not to laugh at how bad his falls and fails were.

"Please tell me you got better," you snicker, watching a young Sloan slide right into a tree, unfazed and then collapse backwards into the snow with a groaning sigh.

"I got a ton better thanks to my cousins. I was going to give up but they were determined to have me on a snowboard and not skis. There was apparently a bet placed on me if I'd go for skis or a snowboard," Sloan shrugs.

You continue the video and eventually get into the albums that are filled with photos of Sloan throughout the years. You notice that it's not till much much later on that he starts bulking up. The cabin shown in the pictures is absolutely fantastic! It makes you think of those winter cabins you see on postcards and calendars. You were excited before, but now you can't wait for winter vacation to begin.

______________

It's been almost two weeks now and you can hardly contain yourself. You and Sloan have been making plans, preparations, and talking about the expenses almost everyday. Yesterday he got the camper out of storage and the both of you spent a few hours dusting and cleaning it up. It's almost surreal to you that any of this is happening at all, a winter get away with your boyfriend to a cozy cabin sounds too good to be true.

"We'll be leaving right after work tomorrow and parking for the night at a RV park right outside the state," he shows you the map on his phone during break.

"Is this the one that's got the little river nearby or is this the one near the winery that I'll need to keep you away from?" you smile with a raised brow.

"I love you my angel but I'm going to get at least one bottle, for when we get to the cabin. But no, this is the one that's near the really really awesome diner," he says, smiling dreamily at the thought of good food.

You roll your eyes before stepping away to put on another pot of coffee. Today hasn't been nearly as busy as it has been but both you and Sloan have been busting your asses getting ready for the trip. This is your first time going on a road trip as an adult so you wanted to do it right even though you know mistakes are unavoidable.

Sloan had confessed that this is his first time inviting someone to the cabin and he wants to make it special but he also knows you don't like things over the top and prefer things a bit more simple so you both decided to compromise with certain things, like the wine.

The day went on pretty uneventfully with two walk-ins that you and Sloan took. Half the staff clocked out early since most of them were by reservation only and everyone else just sort of lingered around the halls and breakroom. Sloan said it's pretty standard on the last couple of days.

Another thing that had become standard was you and Sloan having clean up duty at the end of the day, when everyone was gone. If this was any other job with anyone else, you'd have quit by now. Now though, it was one of the few times you and Sloan got any alone time.

"Thank the gods tomorrow is a half day," you sigh as you toss the towels in the washer.

"Agreed, do you have everything packed and ready on your end?" he asks.

"For the most part, I still have to pick up some stuff I ordered from the store on the way home," you admit. You didn't have a lot of cold weather clothes since it's usually warm. That and you wanted to surprise him with a little something extra.

Sloan nods his head while putting the clean towels up, "Do you want me to come over to your place tonight or in the morning?"

"If you don't mind my house being an absolute mess then you can come over tonight. I tend to panic pack and tear through everything and double and triple check," you give him a flat smile and shrug.

"My angel I have seen your house after your brother's birthday party, I don't think it can get any worse," he replies, grabbing more clean towels to fold.

You laugh and help him finish up folding. The cleaning gets done fairly quick and although you both flirt and tease each other, you decide to lay off the after work fling. Sloan walks you to your car, giving you a very long and promising kiss that sends shivers down your spine. "I'll see you in a few hours my angel," he grins.

Parting with excitement you hit both the clothes and lingerie stores to pick up your winter wear and that little something extra. You're already tempted to wear it but you told yourself it would have to wait till you were at least at the cabin. Once you're home you finish packing and go into hardcore cleaning mode to at least have your room and livingroom tidied.

It's nearly ten when Sloan arrives, looking a tad bit annoyed. Apparently one of the back tires on the camper started going flat as he turned into the neighborhood. He called Rae who's dad has works on the camper and got an appointment for him to come swap out the tire in the morning.

"I knew things were running too smoothly, this was bound to happen," he rubs his face and lets out a soft laugh. "Last time it was the waterline." His eyes widen at the horrible memory.

You give him a big hug and lead him to the couch so he can finally relax and kick off his shoes.

"Have you eaten anything yet?" you ask.

"No and I'm starved!" he groans.

You grab some snacks out of the pantry and start perusing on food delivery apps. Sloan tears into them while you order the agreed upon Chinese take-out. As per usual you throw on some terrible UFO encounter show while eating, the both of you debating on how realistic the stories were.

As the night goes on you start cuddling up to him, touch starved from going days without doing it. The both of you have been too exhausted after every outing that sex hasn't been on the table for a while. Tonight felt no different until Sloan started kissing at your neck.

Already in his lap he starts to peel off your clothes little by little, kissing your bare skin ever so softly. His hands start petting you all over, teasing you as he touches ever so close to where you're most sensitive.

"If you're too tired tell me to stop and I will," he pauses his hands when he hears you yawn.

"Don't stop," you sigh, guiding his hand back down.

Sloan picks you up then and hauls you off to the bedroom, laying you down and dragging your panties off. His tusks touch your inner thighs as his thick tongue laps at your folds with vigor. It feels like it's been ages since he's gone down on you with this much excitement, but you're not complaining. Instead you're arching your back right up off the bed as he plunges two fingers in you with no warning.

It's rough and hot and everything you've come to love. Sex with Sloan has truly been one heck of a learning experience but he's a quick study and always remembers what you like. His tongue teases that little bundle of nerves as he pumps his fingers faster and faster, adding another when you start bucking your hips.

He's winding you up so tightly you feel like you're about to snap but you knew better than to expect this to be done anytime soon. He removes his fingers as you expect but instead of teasing you with kisses, he strips in a mad haste and he's crawling on top of you.

His lips are on yours within seconds, devouring you as if he's been starved. You gasp when his cock suddenly thrusts into you and you grasp his shoulders, nails digging into his skin. He kisses your forehead and starts to move slowly. This is different from what you've grown used to but sometimes different is very good.

Sloan's thrusting drives in deeper and harder with every passing second and all you can do is hang on. He's kissing you breathless, only your collective gasps and moans a break for air. He pulls out only to change position, placing your legs up against his chest as he sits up. You're shaking and grabbing at the sheets as he thrusts even harder and faster into you, making you tighten around him even more.

Your orgasm hits you hard and he knows it by the way you dig your nails into him and how you curse and scream his name. He lets go of your legs and leans back down and kisses you so softly that it felt betraying of how fast and frenzied his pace had become. Within seconds he's pulling out and spilling all over you, his breath ragged and hoarse.

"That...that was something," you laugh, still catching your breath.

"I've been pent up," he sighs, basking in the A/C that just kicked on.

"I can tell, so have I," you admit.

The both of you take in the cool air a moment longer before deciding to take a quick shower and head for bed. Sloan helps you wash your hair in the shower, something that he loves to do when you wash together. He massages your scalp and shoulders as he works in the shampoo.

"Now this is the kind of spoiling I can get used to," you laugh, rinsing your hair off.

"It's a shame I can't spoil you even more tonight," he slides a finger up your leg and tickles at your slit.

You yelp and swat at him, but he catches your wrist, "Want to make another bet?"

"Oh so I can beat you again?" you raise a brow with confidence.

"We can touch each other all we want but no sex, no release, and no masturbating," he gives you a smug look then kisses your hand before releasing it.

You turn the shower off since the water is starting to get cold and shake some of the water off as you exit and grab the towels. Another bet would be interesting and if the first one was any indication of his taste in prizes you definitely wouldn't mind betting again.

"And I take it that you already have the winnings in mind," you hand him his towel.

He only gives you a smile and a smack on your ass as he leaves the bathroom. You chase after him and pinch his as you pass him up, a sort of unofficial official game you play with each other.

You both dry off and get ready for bed, both of you agreeing on the bet starting once you hit the road since another round is apparently an option when someone remembers where he put the condoms.

The next morning you both get ready and text Miles that the both of you will be running a little late due to issues with the camper. Rae's dad, Charles, luckily shows up early and with the needed replacement. Sloan offers to help but Charles dismisses him since he's already in his nice clean work clothes.

"I've been working on this old piece of work for the last twenty years, if ever I need your help kid please call my wife and tell her I'm either sick or dying," Charles laughs.

"You're sure you're fine? You'll be alright if we leave?" Sloan asks.

"I might be getting up there in age but I'm still able to kick your ass. Now get out of here, you're distracting me!" he points a wrench at Sloan.

Sloan looks like he's about to argue so you grab him by his arm and start escorting him to the car, "You heard the man, leave now or suffer the wrath of an ass kicking.

Charles snorts at hearing that and waves the both of you off. Luckily you get to work only ten minutes late instead of the thirty you were expecting. The half day before vacation is usually a last minute clean up, order supplies, and go over reports, complaints, and so on. Miles is running around making sure to take everyone's lists and pass out paperwork while everyone is just hanging back.

"I'm guessing this is normal?" you ask Sloan who was putting together his supplies order.

He pauses, counts on his fingers and the turns to you, "Sorry, head math blank out. What were you asking?"

"Is Miles running around like this normal? I've never seen him this frantic," you glance out in the hall and see him on the phone pacing in a circle looking over some papers.

"No this is a first, Miles usually hands out reports and complaints and Rachel takes the supplies request. I wonder...Now that I think about it, I haven't seen Rachel for the last two days," Sloan mutters and you're about to add to that thought until Miles comes bulldozing in.

"Supplies Lists on the managers desk in five. Your report files and bonuses are there. Sloan can you give me a hand here, you've helped Rachel put in orders before right?" Miles looks to him with tired eyes.

Sloan agrees to help and hands you his list to take with you. When you get to the office to drop them off, you're surprised to see that all of Rachel's personal belongings and décor are nowhere in sight.

Well this is something.

Ignoring the matter for now, you grab the reports and bonuses with Sloan's and your name on it and take them to the respective rooms. You pass the front and see Sloan walking Miles through some websites and a few of the staff waving goodbye and telling everyone to have a fun vacation.

Hours pass and the half day is nearly up, everyone gone except you, Sloan, and Miles. Two and two eventually got put together and you find out that Rachel quit due to some family problems. Everything was now riding on Mile's shoulders apparently as the owners named him the new manager.

"You two can head out soon, I'll be fine..." he sighs, sliding down against his chair.

You really want to, especially since you still have to pack up the camper but both you and Sloan decided to stay as long as you can to help Miles.

"We've got five more suppliers to go over, then we'll all call it a day," Sloan taps the desk.

Miles groans and looks to you for support, "The sooner you get it done the sooner we all get to go."

"You heard her boss man, let's get to it," Sloan smiles.

It's two hours after the half day that you finally get that sweet taste of vacation freedom! Two weeks of paid winter vacay! It's organized chaos once you both start packing up the camper and double checking your bags and fridge to make sure you have everything.

"That should do it, did you make sure to lock up?" Sloan asks, stuffing a duffel bag under the bed.

"Yes, I think...I'll be right back," you dash out of the camper and quickly give the knob a jiggle. Locked.

You rush back inside and see Sloan doing a quick once over of everything and giving a firm nod, "Yeah no I think we're good to go. Is the door locked?"

"Yes it is," you smile.

The beginning of the drive is spent in a bit of an awkward silence until Sloan turned on the radio. That luckily started conversation going.

"I usually just play music from my phone or listen to a podcast or something when I drive up to the cabin so I really don't know how to...entertain someone on a long ride," he admits as he turns the volume down on a commercial.

"When I was little my family and I would take a one day road trip to this sort of off brand run down amusement park and we'd usually just listen to whatever was on the radio or whatever CDs my mom brought with her...lots of Celine Dion and Cher," you laugh.

"Any games? My cousins said they'd play a few when they road tripped with their families but never told me what they were," he asks with a soft smile.

You remember that he was raised by his grandparents and from what you've heard about them, they probably wouldn't have indulged in a long game of punch buggy and I spy, "We played the usual road trip games that you've probably seen or heard of, but we also put twists on them. Like if you saw a pink Volkswagen and claimed it with a punch you got to call shotgun on the way home or my personal favorite was would you rather, we always got creative with that one."

Sloan hums something then gives you a quick and sly side glance, "Would you rather eat soggy potato chips or soggy corn chips?"

You roll your eyes but you can't help but to smile at seeing how happy Sloan looks, "Neither if I had a say in it but I guess corn chips... Would you rather live the rest of your life as an Elvis impersonator or a Dolly Parton impersonator?"

"Easy, Dolly Parton. Would you rather eat mayo out of a jar or drink an entire bottle of vinegar?" he laughs.

You dip your head back and laugh a little yourself before looking him dead in the eye, "Is the mayo warm or cold?"

He looks a bit taken back but answers warm.

"Then I'll eat the mayo," you grin.

"Do I even want to know the reasoning behind that? I feel like the question on its temperature was deliberate," he asks.

"Sibling dares, the warm mayo is honestly the least disgusting of it all. Even the microwaved cereal with mustard wasn't as bad as the other combos..." you pause, cringing at the memory.

"I think that just explain why I saw your brother putting ketchup on his ice cream at his birthday party..." Sloan sighs.

You snicker, "Yeah but he also likes grossing people out for the fun of it."

The both of you go back and forth for a while like this, playing would you rather in between fun or interesting childhood stories. Sloan starts straining his eyes and he eventually makes the call to pull over for a couple hours before making it to the first stop. You both get out to stretch your legs and breathe in that gas station smell.

"I think I need some caffeine if I'm going to get us to the stop tonight," he yawns.

"Want me to run in and grab some energy drinks or coffee?" you ask, about to run in and grab your purse.

"Coffee please," he smiles and before you can run in to grab your purse he pulls you up to him by your hip and he kisses you on the cheek. "Thank you angel."

You run into the gas station and grab the drinks, a couple snacks and a pair of tacky sunglasses for the hell of it. When you return Sloan is back in the camper and resting his head on the table.

"Love, I've got the coffee," you wave the cup in front of him before setting it on the table.

He stretches as he sits up and you hear something pop.

"You're going to let me give you a massage tonight ok," you tell as you start to tear into your snack.

Sloan smiles at hearing that and takes a sip of the bitter coffee and winces, "No objections here."

After refueling you're back on the road and within hours you finally hit the rest stop. It's a small RV park with only two campers there. You help Sloan hook everything up and lock it down before heading to the diner he mentioned a couple days ago.

It's a small old fashion diner with the neon lights and chrome frame. The food is amazing and you're surprised how diverse the menu is, especially the desserts. Sloan and you agree on a pie and take it back to the camper and enjoy with some hot cocoa and a movie.

The night was a lot colder than either of you anticipated but that only gave you an excuse to cuddle even closer. Eventually you made good on your promise to Sloan and started massaging his shoulders. It's not long until he's taking you to the bed where you both lay down and get into some hot and heavy touching and kissing.

Sloan's hand moves down to pull your pants off but you quickly straddle him, "Oh no sir, did you think I forgot about the bet?"

He gives you a sly grin, "I obviously got my hopes up."

"Just be glad that I'm not a fan of distracted driving or else I'd have given you road head hours ago," you laugh and grind yourself against him.

He groans and bucks his hips against you, "Fuck me for making this bet."

"Oh I'll fuck you once we get to the cabin," you laugh and roll off of him and back onto the bed.

He snuggles up to you and kisses your cheek, "I'm glad you agreed to come with me. I've really missed it being just us, no parties or hang outs or whatever we were being invited to do."

"I'm happy to be wherever you are, regardless of the place. But yeah I'm really happy that it's going to be just us," you sigh as you push yourself up. Sloan gives you a quizzical look. "I'm not going to sleep with pie in my teeth."

You both begrudgingly get out of the bed and ready yourself for sleep. Sloan looks at the weather and suggests to dress warmly for the night since a cold front is rolling in.

The next day is very much the same as the prior, you get up and going and make a few stops to stretch and refuel at gas stations. Sloan continues the would you rather game with more explicit add-ons though.

"Would you rather do it on the beach or in a field of flowers?" he asks.

"Oh that's a tough one... run the risk of sand getting in places I don't want or getting bug bites in the middle of sex... I think I'll go with beach. Ok, would you rather do it in high heels or thong on the entire time?" you snicker.

He gives you a suspicious glance, "And who's wearing them?"

"You obviously," you laugh.

He takes a few deep breaths and makes a face, "I'll go with heels."

You double over laughing, not because of his answer but the pained length of time it took him to make it.

"May I ask why?" you wheeze.

"Rae..." he sighs.

"Why is she usually at the center of more than half the bs you get into?" you ask, trying to compose yourself.

"She has this way of getting to people and not just me. If summer camp is my blackmail to behave then Rynan's is Rae's twenty first birthday. I won't go into too much detail but lets just say we all were a little scarred that night," he cringers.

You had learned a while ago that Rae was like the older chaotic sister of the group and you were pretty sure you should keep her away from your older chaotic brother.

"Now then, would you rather...," Sloan pauses as he brings the camper to a stop at the light. He looks over at you with a soft adoring smile and reaches across for your hand, "take a little detour or keep going on to the winery?"

You look around outside and see that it's crisp and clear. It's been a while since the last break and this trip had taught you that you were not meant to be seated for so long.

"I think a little detour would be nice," you squeeze his hand and then point out that the light had turned green..

Sloan drives a little bit longer before pulling over into a small parking lot that looks like it was meant to be a rest stop but never was completed. You pull on your jacket and follow Sloan out who is breaming with excitement. He takes your hand and leads you along a small gravel path that's been hidden away by the brush and trees.

"I found this place about six years ago when I started taking the camper up north. At the time I was just bored and needed to stretch my legs, I had no idea where the trail would take me but..."

He pushes some of the overgrowth aside and helps you down and out into a beautiful clearing filled with wildflowers and deer running across it. It feels like something out of the old romance movies and you can't help but to place your hand over your heart.

You feel his gaze on you and look up to see him smiling with the rings on his tusk glinting softly in the sun. He pulls you closer to him as he lowers himself to kiss you. You feel your heart flutter and almost laugh at how this is making you feel.

"Kissing me in a field of flowers? You really are a hopeless romantic," you sigh against his lips before kissing him again.

"I'd do more than just kiss you but you chose the beach over this," he grins.

You try and smack his arms but he's lifting you up in his arms and hauling you further into the field where the warmth of the sun can be felt. He lays himself down while still holding you, your head coming to rest by his heart. "This is a very pleasant detour," you mumble, face smooshed against his chest.

"If I hadn't been an idiot I would make it a very pleasant detour," he says, lifting your face so you can look at the stupid smug look he's making.

You grin in retaliation as you sit up and grind against him, "It's a shame that you had to make another bet that I'll be winning."

Sloan bucks his hips and you gasp at the friction. You've been wanting to get on with this bet and settle it once and for all since you were hoping to fool around a little more.

"Mmm I love me a confident woman," he moans as you unzip his pants and free his half hard cock. You shimmy out of your pants and panties, feeling the bite of the cold air against your skin as you lower yourself on him. Sloan grabs a fist full of the grass when you start rubbing his cock against your already wet slit.

Once his cock is hard you guide it inside and start rocking your hips. Sloan rolls his to match your pace and you feel yourself already getting hot and tight. You tell yourself not to come, at least not until he does. But Sloan obviously has other plans. He starts to rub a finger against that little bundle of nerves and you quickly have to stop yourself with how close you already are.

"Fuck..." you hiss, grabbing fist fulls of his jacket.

"Was that too much my angel?" he grins up at you.

You roll your eyes and circle your hips, pulling a delicious growl from his lips. "What's wrong? Was that too much?" you mock him with a sly smile.

It's been a while since you've had it rough so when Sloan rolls you off of him and onto the ground you almost blank out when he shoves his cock back in. His hands are holding you up by your hips as he thrusts in and out, desperate for a release that he hopes to make yours.

Teasing is easy, foreplay is fun, but denial is probably the hottest thing you've experienced in a while. Sloan's pace quickens but suddenly stops, his breathing ragged. You know he's getting close, maybe closer than you already are. You start to circle your hips again and even though he tries to stop you, the movement feels too good.

He's shaking, breathing hard and sweating as you keep moving against him. Sloan tries to match your pace but can barely keep himself up.

"Dammit...fuck angel...I..." he quickly pulls out and spills his seed onto the grass. You were already seeing stars as he pulled his cock out so you can't tell if it's a tie or if he won.

Sloan collapses next to you, shoving his now soft cock back into his pants.

"That...that was not as bad as I had thought it would be...I need my pants," you gasp as the cold wind nips at you.

"Any bug bites?" Sloan asks while enjoying the breeze.

You check your legs and dust yourself off real good. You don't feel the stinging itch of any bites which is a good sign. "I think I'm in the clear. You?"

"I think an ant got me but other than that I'm fine," he shrugs.

You both get decent and straighten your clothes up after cooling off. By technicality Sloan had won and you made sure he knew. You might be competitive but a poor sport you were not.

"Oh...oh this is going to be fun," Sloan laughs, moving the overgrowth aside as he starts to lead you back up.

You try and ask what his winning is but of course he's saving it for the cabin, a surprise. That's fine you think, you have a bit of a surprise waiting for him.

The detour ended up putting you two hours behind but with still enough time to hit the winery and buy a bottle and set up the camper for the night. The next day Sloan gets up early and starts on the road a few hours ahead of schedule. You wake up a couple hours later and quickly throw on something warm as you see patches of snow out the window.

"I really wanted us to stop at the river today but the weather isn't in our favor. Looks like the snow hit this area a little early this year," he sighs. "But on the up side with that stop not an option I should be able to get us to the cabin by tonight."

Sloan told you that the cabin was four hours away from the riverside stop. He's usually too tired to drive anymore once he hits that stop for that going the extra miles wouldn't have been an option.

You go into the kitchenette and make a pot of coffee, being extra careful with some of the bumps in the road. The stops are few and pretty quick today and you only play 'would you rather' when it seems like he might need a little help staying up. The last fifty miles are the hardest on him, it's dark and he's been driving all day that not even a drop of coffee will lift him up anymore.

The road up to the cabin is slick with ice and he has to go extra slow as he drives up the spiral drive. When you finally land it's already past midnight. You almost don't want to bother with the bags and groceries but you knew they had to come in.

You agree to only bring in the necessities and worry about the rest for tomorrow, both too tired to do anything extra. You try and take in the beauty of this rustic cabin but it's currently lost of your sleep eyes. You'll marvel at it in the morning you tell yourself. After putting up the food, Sloan shows you to the bedroom which is the only thing your brain can marvel at.

The bed is huge and loaded with blankets and pillows. You flop onto it and kick off your clothes, Sloan following right behind you.

"We made it," he wheezes as he flops onto the bed.

You crawl up into his arms and curl up against his side, "You did good love, get some rest."

Sloan kisses your cheek and pulls you closer, his tusks tickling the back of your neck.

"I love you my angel," he whispers to you.

"I love you too."

Pt.2>

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buckysimp101 · 2 years

Text

And They Were Roommates- Epilogue

Bucky Barnes x Original Female Character

Series Masterlist

Five Years Later

Olivia's POV

"Congratulations, Mrs. Wilson," I whispered with a cheeky wink as I leaned in to give Natasha a hug.

"Thank you, Mrs. Barnes," she responded in kind, returning the wink. Natasha and Sam had finally gotten married, the last of our friend group couples to do so. Tony had been joking that all we needed was to find Steve someone and we'd be all set, this was after he joked about having to buy wedding gifts for Wanda's wedding, that took place just a few weeks before mine and Bucky's. The emerald green of my bridesmaid dressed flowed as I turned to give Sam a hug, congratulating him and making sure he understood what I'd do to him if he ever hurt Natasha, winning me an eye roll.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah you're real intimidating Mill- Barnes. Damn it. Two years later and it's still real weird calling you that," Sam joked, "speaking of, where is the bigshot Best Man Number 1? He's gonna miss his speech, and I know he'll be crying to you if Steve upstages him."

"Relax, Sam. He's just talking to Tony. I'll go break them up, those two never know how to leave work at work," I spoke softly, giving Sam's forearm a pat before heading towards the Stark family. Pepper was holding their six month old daughter Morgan as she tried to avoid listening to Bucky and Tony talking about work. I sidled up to Bucky, looping my arm through his, and interrupted, "Sorry to interrupt boys, well not exactly, but Mr. Barnes here has a Best Man speech to make in approximately five minutes before either Mr. Wilson drags him to the dance floor by his ear, or Mr. Rogers roasts him to infinity and beyond for his slacking Best Manliness."

"Oh well thank you, Mrs. Barnes for reminding me," Bucky responded lightly, a grin playing on his lips as he leant down to press a kiss on mine.

"Yuck, you kids and your sappiness. Just get you one of these, you'll be so sleep deprived you'll forget what sappy looks like," Tony joked as he pointed to Morgan, Pepper cutting eyes at him playfully. Ever since Pepper had announced her pregnancy Tony had been over the moon. As a dad? He knew he'd catch a star for Morgan if she so much as asked. Tony Stark was wrapped around that little finger.

"Hey my love, what was that?" Bucky asked looking to his left, trying to attract my attention so he could give Tony the finger, I rolled my eyes at their playfulness.

"That doesn't work on me, babe. Now shoo," I said, giving Bucky's butt a swat as he chuckled, walking towards the dance floor just in time for the DJ to call his name for his speech. I settled in next to Pepper as she said something to Morgan, something about Tony being an idiot, and leaned in to coo over the infant. She had Tony's eyes, Tony's hair, hell she was a mini Tony through and through, with Pep's attitude of course.

"You wanna actually get something to eat, Pep? I can hold the lil monster," I asked, noticing that Pepper hadn't touched any of the food in front of here, despite it being served only a few minutes prior. I knew that she wouldn't turn down the chance to eat a hot meal as she handed Morgan over to my awaiting arms.

"Hi Morguna, Auntie Livvie loves you so much yes she does," I whispered, stroking the infant's brown hair and rocking her slowly. I heard clapping, most likely signaling the end of Bucky's speech but my attention was 100% locked on the little girl in my arms.

A low whistle sounded from behind me, "Watch out there, Buck. She'll be begging you for one if you're not careful," Tony joked from behind me, making me finally look up to see Bucky standing in front of me. His eyes were soft, fuck his whole expression was soft. He had this dopey look in his eyes and his lips had a small grin playing on them. When our eyes locked, there were no words that needed to be said.

The rest of the night passed uneventfully. Sam tried to get Natasha to agree to let him host a karaoke competition as the night dwindled and that was my cue to leave. As Bucky and I got back in the car to head to our apartment, I tilted my head and asked, "Bucky...let's have a baby, yeah?"

His head whipped towards me, the grin on his face turning into a full smile as he responded, "I thought you'd never ask, sweetheart."

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

8 months later

Turns out, I didn't even need to ask. A week after Natasha and Sam's wedding, I woke up with what I thought was a horrible stomach bug, as cliche as it sounds. That stomach bug turned out to be our son. The second I told Bucky I was pregnant his eyes got so wide, I swear I thought he was going to pass out. We set up my doctor's appointment as soon as I could get one and well, 8 months later here we are.

"JAMES FUCKING BARNES I SWEAR TO WHATEVER GOD OR DEVIL IS LISTENING IF YOU SO MUCH AS LOOK IN MY DIRECTION ROMANTICALLY OR SEXUALLY EVER AGAIN I WILL CASTRATE YOU," I yelled as I tried to focus on push, Bucky's face paling in the process, whether it was because of what I was saying or how tight I was gripping his hand I have no clue.

He moved his other hand up to brush the hair off my face as I finished the push, breathing heavily and unconsciously leaning into his hand. "That's it, baby. You're doing great, mama, but doc is saying you gotta do one more push and then you can take a break. Come on, Livvie baby, one more push," he whispered softly.

"DAMN IT BUCKY WHY CAN"T YOU DO THIS," I whined into the push making Bucky laugh in response.

"Believe me baby, if I could sw-," he started, only to be interrupted by me saying,, "So help me Buck if you're about to say you'd switch places with me, just stop because I know it's a lie. Nobody willingly wants to go through this."

"Alright, Olivia. He's close. I think if you give me one more big push, we'll have his head!" the doctor stated, my nerves returning as I realized just how close we were to having a baby. "Alright, Mrs. Barnes, push now!" I took a deep breath and pushed as hard as I could.

"FUCK FUCK FUCK WHY DID I SAY NO TO AN EPIDURAL!"

The doctor and nurses said a few more things as I finished pushing and next thing I know it's like all the pressure had disappeared. Within seconds I heard a sputtering cry and my head whipped to look at Bucky, tears forming in both our eyes as the doctor placed our baby on my chest and announced, "Congratulations, Olivia and Bucky, meet your son."

Bucky and I both started crying as I held our baby close to me. Bucky leaned in for a deep kiss and through the kiss he whispered on my lips, "I love you so much. You are so fucking strong, so goddamn beautiful. I'm so lucky you're my wife and the mother of my child. Thank you, Liv. Man I fucking love you." His declarations only making me cry more.

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

Bucky's POV

As they took our son to get cleaned up and measured, I followed them to watch in awe of the miracle that Olivia had delivered us. Tears seemed to be never ending, it's like I couldn't stop crying as I watched the nurses and doctor fuss over him.

There on the bassinet, all seven pounds and nineteen inches, laid our son. Our Grant Thomas Barnes. Named for the two men who brought Olivia Sage Miller Barnes into my life. The two pains in my ass who made sure that I married that woman who just happened to be in Sam's World Archaeology class. The two smuggest bastards in the universe now have a kid named after them, how we were going to ever deal with them now was beyond me.

A nurse came up to me, Grant wrapped up in a blanket in their arms, and held him out to me, "Wanna hold him, dad?" I nodded my head as fast as I could and held my arms out, making sure to support his head, and began walking over to Olivia. Her eyes brightened as she saw the two of us approach, a weak smile growing on her face.

"Hey, daddy," she whispered with a wink, causing a blush to rise to my cheeks and her to roll her eyes at my reaction. "Hey, mama," I responded in kind, causing a shy smile to appear on her face.

"Hi Grant, my sweet boy. I'm your mama, and this handsome man holding you is your daddy. We're so happy you're here now, little man," Olivia cooed as she reached out to touch him. All I could do was watch her. Here. With our son. Our little family grew almost instantaneously. We've come a long way from the dumb, pining idiots we once were.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

THE END

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

That is it for And They Were Roommates, folks! I hope you enjoyed this fic because I had a great time writing it! Thanks to my bestie again for helping me with ideas for this epilogue, this one is dedicated to you boo, @youlightmeupfinn!

#bucky barnes x oc #bucky barnes x original female character #bucky barnes is a dummy #roommate!bucky #husband!bucky #dad!bucky #james bucky barnes #james buchanan barnes #BuckySimp101

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butterflyyeo · 3 years

Text

drunk in love

pairing - yeosang x fem reader

genre - fluff, angst (?)

tw - lots of alcohol consumption, swearing

wc - 10k

side ships - seongjoong, yungi

a/n -- was meant to be angst but turned into fluff... im trying my best to get better at writing angst aaaah. but please enjoy this for now <3 thanks for letting me tag you @iminchaosnow !!

------------------------------------------- you had known kang yeosang for nearly two years now. two, dreadfully slow and exhausting years.it was your final year of high school when he transferred to your school, he was a close family friend of wooyoung's. his parents had spoken highly of the school, insisting that yeosang transfers in order to excel for his last year of schooling. as far as you were concerned, he had decent grades, but he preferred to spend his time hanging around the skatepark after dark, when everyone else had left.

and in all the two years you'd known him, you had never once had a full conversation with him, despite being in your group of friends. his side of the 'conversation' usually consisted of monotonous 'yeahs' and 'mhms'. wooyoung constantly assured you it was because he's shy and that he'd eventually open up. but you weren't convinced. you tried so hard for him to like you, but your efforts were fruitless. it was infuriating, feeling like you were constantly doing something wrong whenever you were around him.

you currently found yourself in the backseat of yeosang's car, wedged between a drunken yunho and mingi while a chaotic wooyoung was singing along to his chosen playlist. (though, it sounded more like wailing.)

you and the eight boys had all decided to take a gap year, spend every last cent you earned on adventure and alcohol to make lifelong memories, before your careers became a blockade in your friendship. but the year was coming to an end soon, it was already mid november. on the bright side, that meant your favourite holidays were just weeks away.

yeosang was always the designated driver. that was something you had noticed about him over the last few years. to be honest, you weren't sure just how he coped with a screeching wooyoung, because you sure as hell weren't dealing very well with yunho and mingi who were playing a very intense game of rock paper scissors to decide who would be crashing on the couch in your apartment.

"i win!" mingi cheered, waving his hands excitedly. "you're on the couch, man."

yunho frowned, "damn."

you laughed, "it's okay, yunho. you can share the bed with me if you'd like."

"hey! that's not fair y/n! you said i could this time." wooyoung whined from the front seat.

"sorry, woo. you know i keep my promises, but you're going back to your apartment. remember?" you tried to reason.

wooyoung looked as though someone had switched a lightbulb on behind his eyes, "oh yeah! i forgot."

the four of you burst into laughter, mainly caused by the alcohol and partially because of wooyoung's realisation. and still, yeosang didn't crack a smile, hands just gripping the steering wheel tighter as his knuckles turned white.

soon, you arrived outside your apartment block, quickly stepping out the car after yunho. wooyoung wound his window down and you poked your head in, attempting to hug him goodbye.

"bye woo!" you said, giggling at your faltered farewell.

"good night y/n, thanks for the drinks!" he shouted, exclaiming a bit too loudly next to your ear.

"thanks for the lift as always, yeosang!" you yelled, pulling away from wooyoung's tight hug.

he nodded, "no problem." before putting the window up and driving away.

you pouted, turning around to face the two boys. "i just don't understand what i'm doing wrong." you buried your face into your hands, "why doesn't he like me?" you groaned.

"y/n." mingi began, "its nearly 1am, its way too late for this 'why does yeosang hate me?' crap." he shook your shoulders, literally trying to shake some sense into you.

"yeah, mingi's right. we've had this discussion a thousand times." yunho said grasping your wrist and pulling you up the stairs, stumbling along the way. (because lets be real, stairs are difficult enough as it is, let alone when drunk.) "now, let us into your apartment so we can eat your food and crash on your couch!" he joked, nudging mingi in a playful manner.

you reached into your pocket and fumbled around with they key for a moment before unlocking the door. the boys practically pushed you inside and made a beeline for the fridge.

"help yourselves! i'm going to shower." you called, dragging yourself to your bedroom.

once you'd finished showering you went back to the living room to check on yunho and mingi. not so much to your surprise, they had fallen asleep on your couch already, cuddled up into each other. it was cute, even picture worthy to show their sober selves. you reached for your phone which typically lived in your pocket, though you began to panic when it wasn't there. hurrying around the apartment, you searched every possible nook and cranny for your phone, but it was nowhere to be found. you collapsed onto your bed, snuggling into the soft sheets, too tired to worry about your phone anymore and content with the assumption that you'd left it in yeosang's car.

shortly, your heavy eyes fell shut and you began to sleep away the tequila.

————————

the next morning you awoke to mingi and yunho's deep, hungover voices, discussing their plans for the next week.

you reluctantly pulled yourself out of bed and dawdled down the hallway.

"ah! there's our favourite karaoke partner!" yunho greeted, jokingly.

you laughed, "shh, don't let wooyoung hear you say that."

"she's right, man. he'd be so offended." mingi said, stretching out his sore limbs. "how are you feeling today, y/n?" he asked.

"not the worst hangover i've had. what about you guys? you're welcome to stay here as long as you'd like, until you feel better." you replied, knowing them well enough to know that they'd need at least a few painkillers and a good meal before they went home.

yunho chuckled, "i feel like crap, but nothing a sandwich and glass of water can't solve."

"i second that." mingi said, raising a hand.

"okay, well in that case, i'll go to the store and get something for breakfast. sound good?" you reasoned, running a hand through your hair. you loved these boys, and making them breakfast was just a nice way of showing you cared. drunk or not, they knew how to make you smile and laugh, which they loved to see.

"sounds amazing!" yunho said, breaking into a sincere smile.

you quickly changed out of your pyjamas and slipped some shoes on.

"i might be a bit longer, i need to stop by yeosang's. i think i left my phone in his car." you explained, picking your keys up from the kitchen counter. "see you guys soon! feel free to take a shower if you want." you said, waving goodbye and heading out the door.

"okay, bye y/n!" the boys called from behind you.

the first stop was yeosang's apartment, he only lived about ten minutes away with wooyoung and san, in the same building as jongho. both yunho and mingi lived on the other side of town, which is why they so often crashed at your place after parties. seonghwa and hongjoong were fortunate enough to live in a house, just outside town, they had actually been the hosts of last night's party.

it didn't take long to get there. you pushed open the lobby door and made your way over to the elevator, disappointed to see that it was out of order for maintenance. instead, you took the stairs and began spiralling upwards. less than a minute later you looked up, only to bump into the man you came looking for.

"oh, yeosang! i'm so sorry, i didn't mean to." you quickly apologised, worried about creating another reason for him to dislike you.

"it's fine." he shrugged.

you both began to talk again at the same time, "ah, sorry, you go."

"i was just gonna say, you left your phone in my car. actually, i was about to bring it back." he pulled your phone from the pocket of his jacket, handing it to you. as he did, your fingers brushed against his. he spun around suddenly and began to walk away, "i'll see you around."

he had left before you even had a chance to thank him. slightly confused and frustrated, you turned back around and traipsed down the stairs.

you gathered what you needed for a hearty breakfast at the local convenience store before heading home and spending the rest of the day in the enjoyable company of yunho and mingi.

yeosang had entered back into his apartment and sat down on the couch.

"back already?" wooyoung asked, rummaging through the fridge.

"she was coming to get her phone and i ran into her on the staircase."

wooyoung sighed, "when are you gonna stop hating her?"

"i don't hate her." yeosang said, not looking up from his phone.

"then why do you act like you do?"

yeosang pretended to not hear that question and continued to scroll through his phone. see, he'd rather not dwell on things that he couldn't understand.

————————

to fill up your weekdays during your gap year, you had picked up a job at a hotel in town as a receptionist. to your dismay, your boss had asked you to work night shift all week, which is how you found yourself here on thursday night, sitting alert and waiting for the slight chance that someone might check in at this time of night. it was a pretty fancy hotel, and the job payed well enough, so really, you had nothing to complain about.

the nights seemed to drag on for an eternity. to keep yourself busy, you often wasted time counting the cars that drove past, or tried to count the number of crystals that hung from the chandelier. so far, only a few people had checked in during your shift, having come from overseas and recently arriving at the airport. honestly, whenever someone walked through the front door, lugging a suitcase behind them, you got excited as it gave you something to do.

the clock was creeping up to 4am and you let out a quiet yawn, feeling drowsy as your body clock hadn't yet adjusted to the change of sleeping patterns on such short notice. taking a sip of water, you shook your head, trying to stay awake. your head suddenly jolted up at the sound of the front door opening.

a man stumbled forward, and you'd seen enough zombie movies to become instantly paranoid. you quickly pushed the thought out of your head, feeling ridiculous for even considering it. but as the man got closer, you could smell the cheap, potent alcohol lingering on his body.

he leant against the desk, peering down at you. "i need a room for the night." he grumbled. "my stupid wife kicked me out." he said under his breath.

you forced a friendly smile, despite feeling uneasy, "of course! i just need you to fill in this form with some simple details." you said, sliding across a clipboard and a pen.

he huffed, picking up the pen and scribbling onto the sheet of paper before pushing it back to you. "can i go now?"

"just a moment, sir." you replied, eyes skimming over the form as you copied the information into the computer in front of you.

the man was growing impatient, stepping from foot to foot with his arms crossed.

"uh, sir, you missed a part of the form. could you please provide your phone number here." you pointed to the empty space on the sheet.

"for fucks sake." he muttered, "i don't have my phone on me and i don't know my phone number." he said, annoyedly tapping on the desk.

"i'm really sorry, sir, but—"

"can't you just find me a fucking room?" he snapped, hands balled into fists and slamming against the desk, making you jump in fright.

before you had time to try and reason with him, he continued to shout.

"you're as stupid as my wife! i'll just find a different fucking hotel." he yelled, swiping the clipboard and pen off the desk. "useless bitch." he mumbled as he kicked over a chair on his way out.

you chewed your bottom lip, trying to fight back the tears. with shaky hands, you picked up your phone and dialled the first place that came to mind. after a few rings, the phone answered.

"woo?" you croaked, trying hard to not cry.

"he's asleep. this is yeosang." he replied, evidently having just woken up by the sound of his voice.

"oh." you began, instantly feeling guilty for waking him up, "i'm sorry i didn't mean to disturb you."

"did you need something?" he asked.

"i just, i was..." you let out a sob, wiping at a tear falling from your eye.

this didn't go unnoticed by yeosang, "are you crying? what are you doing awake right now anyway?"

"i'm at work." you managed to choke out.

"at 4am?"

"i'm on night shift."

"why are you crying then?" he asked, feeling something slightly tug at his heart, but choosing to ignore it.

you began to ramble, "a man came in and he was really drunk and complaining about his wife and then he yelled at me because i asked him to give his phone number and—"

"i'm on my way." yeosang cut you off.

"what?"

"i'll be there in ten." with that, he hung up the phone.

exactly ten minutes later, you were sat in the passenger seat of yeosang's car. he was dressed in sweats, clearly having come straight from bed. you'd left a note on the desk, explaining to your coworker why you wouldn't be there when she arrived to take over your shift. a silence filled the car, and you felt the need to talk, but chose not to, worried about giving yeosang another reason to hate you.

once you arrived outside your apartment building, you were surprised that yeosang got out the car too and trailed closely behind you up the stairs to your apartment. when you reached the door you spun around to face him.

"thank you for bringing me home." you said, voice quiet and still rather shaken up.

"it's no problem. good night, y/n." he replied, sensing that you were still upset. he suddenly felt this overwhelming urge to wrap his arms around you tightly and not let go until you stopped crying. he wanted to protect you from every drunk idiot on the planet. he wanted to make you feel safe.

but instead, he watched as you closed the door behind you and locked it from inside.

————————

you arrived at work the next morning, instantly feeling more comfortable with cleaners, employees and people coming and going. immediately, you headed for your boss's office.

"good morning, sir. i just wanted to come and apologise for leaving my shift early last night. i can assure you it won't happen again." you said, feeling nervous as to what your boss might say.

he shook his head, "i should be the one apologising, a man came in this morning and spoke very sternly about the safety problems here. i realise now how stupid it was of me to make you work night shift, alone, at such a young age. we've hired security guards and have also made sure that two people will be on desk at all times. i'm sorry that you had to deal with that."

you were at a loss for words, you didn't think that there would be such drastic changes just from the once incident. "thank you so much." you replied.

"for now, take the rest of the day off. you'll only be working day shifts for next week and can return to doing night shifts whenever you feel ready to do so." your boss said, motioning for the door.

the rest of the day you spent in deep sleep, catching up on some much overdue rest.

———————

weeks passed and you found that work was much more enjoyable. you still hadn't returned to working night shifts, but at least now you had someone to run the front desk with you and keep you company.

this weekend, you were going to visit hongjoong and seonghwa. hongjoong was sick and so you decided to go help out since seonghwa couldn't always be there to look after him.

you knocked on their front door and was surprised to be greeted by san.

"good afternoon! come in." he gave you a hug before ushering you inside.

"what are you doing here?" you said, following him down the hall.

in the living room, you saw all eight of the boys gathered around a couch-ridden hongjoong.

"jongho was already here when me, yeosang and woo arrived." san explained.

"yeah, and then mingi and yunho turned up." wooyoung continued.

"y/n! i have never been more glad to see you! you gotta save me from them." hongjoong laughed, arms open, signalling for a hug.

you went over and embraced him in a hug, "good thing i brought an excessive amount of cookies." you said, placing the box of cookies on the coffee table next to the couch. the table was covered in empty mugs and bowls, you could tell seonghwa had been busy and hadn't had the chance to clean up. you opened up the box and handed him a cookie before offering them around to the rest of the boys.

"you're the best cook ever." mingi said, taking a big bite.

"i made you spaghetti last night!" yunho countered, feeling offended that his roommate didn't think he was the better cook. mingi just laughed and took another bite.

"jongho get off the counter, please." seonghwa said, coming through the front door. "don't be so comfortable, you were throwing up in my toilet like a month ago." he joked.

yeosang glanced your way, his eyebrows furrowed like he was contemplating something.

"lets head off and give these two some space." yunho said, dragging mingi behind him.

wooyoung stood up, "yeah, lets get going."

yeosang pulled his keys from his pocket, "okay, bye guys." he said, heading down the hallway.

"can we get some food on the way home?" you heard san call as they left.

"bye hongjoong! i hope you're feeling better soon." jongho said, "bye seonghwa, i promise i won't throw up in your toilet any time soon." he joked, leaving through the front door.

"seonghwa, how are you? don't forget to take some time for yourself as well." you frowned.

"i'm tired, but i'll be okay. i just gotta clean up and—"

"why don't you go rest a while? i can keep hongjoong company for a few hours." you reasoned, wanting to help as much as possible. there was nothing you hated more than seeing you friends in distress and upset.

he looked between hongjoong and yourself, "i couldn't."

hongjoong let out an audible huff, "hwa! will you just let her help please, she clearly wants to."

you grinned, "exactly, now go read or sleep or watch some tv or something." you said, gently pushing him towards their shared bedroom.

you spent the afternoon tidying up and talking with hongjoong. you managed to do all the dishes and put them away before scouring their kitchen, deciding on what you could use for dinner. you found everything you needed for a decent meal and began cooking it up. hongjoong had dozed off mid conversation, surrounded in a pile of tissues, you chose to let him sleep so he would recover quicker.

about an hour later, you placed two steamy hot meals onto their dining table next to two full glasses of water. you quietly knocked on their bedroom door, finding seonghwa asleep amongst the covers.

you gently shook him awake, "hwa, i made dinner for you guys. you can wake joong up, i'll head off now." you said with a smile.

leaving the two of them to enjoy their dinner, you headed home and cooked yourself something to eat. it was nice having some time to yourself, but saturday nights were becoming more and more empty as winter grew closer. december was only days away and the year would soon come to an end. you reached for the phone, suddenly desperately missing your friends despite only seeing them hours ago.

"hey woo, are you free next weekend?" you asked.

he paused a moment, "i think so, why?"

"you wanna go out with the others? it's been a while since we have all caught up for drinks."

"count me in!" wooyoung cheered.

you called everyone else up and they all agreed, even hongjoong promised to come if he was feeling better.

————————

you found yourself surrounded by wooyoung, san, yunho and mingi as the music blared. it was a less popular club on the far side of town but it was a comfortable place for you all. you often came here for drinks and the staff members knew you, quite well, a little too well. san grabbed your hand and spun you around a few times with the music.

you laughed, leaning against him, "maybe spinning around isn't the best idea right after two shots of vodka."

"what?" san yelled into your ear, struggling to hear you over the music.

you laughed louder, pulling him closer to you, "i said, spinning is not a good idea after drinking vodka!"

"oh!" he joined you in laughing before trying to twirl you around once more.

hongjoong and seonghwa sat at the bar, holding hands and being intimate as always. yeosang was sat next to jongho at a booth, quietly talking with him, but from the corner of your eye, you saw jongho stand up and walk away. your eyes watched him worriedly and you couldn't help but run after him. you followed him as best you could, stumbling every now and then. he'd gone to the bathroom so you patiently waited outside until he came back, looking slightly pale.

you practically leapt at him, doing a quick scan to make sure he was okay, "jongho? are you alright?"

he smiled at your overwhelming concern, "yeah, i just drank too much as usual. i'll be alright, you can go back to dancing."

"let me just get you some water first. i'll be right back okay?" you patted his shoulder. "don't go anywhere i'll be back in a second."

you made your way back to where jongho had been sitting with yeosang. as you approached, yeosang eyed you up and down, taking in your drunken state, though, it wasn't the first time he'd seen you this way. you nearly tripped as you reached the table, struggling to walk in heels.

"i need a glass of water, do you have a glass of water? jongho needs a glass of water." you mumbled to yourself, reaching for the jug in the center of the table.

"are you okay?" yeosang asked, quickly pushing your hand away from the jug.

"i'm okay, but jongho needs water. can i take this cup? he's waiting for me, i told him not to go anywhere, i need to get back to jongho—" you tried to pick up a glass but yeosang pressed your hand back down once more.

"i'll take it to him, you stay here." he said, filling the cup full with water and heading towards the bathrooms.

your brain suddenly felt fuzzy and your eyes became blurry, it was like the alcohol hit your system all at once. your head spun round and round and you leaned forward, resting your hands on your head. you'd never felt this sick from drinking, maybe you'd had too much too quickly, maybe it was the spinning. there was no way to tell, all you knew was that you felt like you were about to fall from the top of a very high roller coaster.

your eyes felt increasingly heavy, you allowed them to slip shut, head falling to the table with a not so gentle thud.

"y/n?" someone shook you, "y/n wake up!" it was wooyoung.

"shit, is she okay? should we call an ambulance?" jongho said, reaching for his phone.

"is she breathing? has anyone checked?" seonghwa gently lifted your shoulders and sat you upright, relieved to see the rise and fall of your chest. "we should call a taxi and get her home."

"are you crazy? she's unconscious, she won't be able to get up the stairs to her apartment! what if the driver is dodgy? she's already had to deal with shitty men while working night shift, imagine if something happened while she's drunk!" yeosang blurted out. the boys were shocked over his sudden concern for you. yeosang had never once shown any interest or care for you in the presence of them.

"well, what should we do then?" mingi asked, worriedly running a hand through his hair.

"i'll take her, you've all been drinking." yeosang concluded. "she'll be fine, don't worry. enjoy the rest of your night, okay? i've dealt with woo passing out before remember?"

"that's true." san said, throwing a light hearted glare in wooyoung's direction, who showed a rather sheepish expression.

the boys went back to their drinks, taking it a little slower now and yeosang carried you to his car. it wasn't easy, but he managed to sit you upright in the back seat of his car with his rear view mirror aimed directly at you so he could make sure you were okay.

he was able to lift you up the stairs and get your house key from the pocket of your jacket, which would've looked questionable to anyone else, but he had the best intentions. he sat you down in a dining chair, watching as your head lolled forward and your body slumped. he quickly filled a glass of water and came back to you.

"y/n." he whispered, resting a hand on your shoulder. "y/n." he said again, louder this time.

the last thing he wanted to do was hurt you, but you weren't waking up and that was becoming concerning. he shook your shoulder, as gently as he possible could in a moment like this, and to his relief, your eyes hesitantly opened.

your head felt like a bowling ball and you groaned quietly. "yeosang?"

"here." he said holding the cup to your lips, allowing you to take a small sip.

"how did we get here?" you mumbled, head rolling to the side.

he caught your head and carefully pushed you back upright, "i drove you, this is your apartment."

"oh." you said, eyes drooping shut again. "oh." you repeated.

"y/n, i really need you to stay awake right now." he said, bringing the cup to your mouth again. "lets talk."

"we never talk!" you exclaimed. "this is the longest conversation we've ever had!"

"i know." he said, pulling up a chair to sit directly in front of you. yeosang felt that slight tug at his heart again tonight, the way you sounded so excited just to talk with him.

"no, no, no." you whined, "this is so bad!"

"what is it?"

you pouted before nervously biting your lip, "i'm really sorry."

"for what?" he questioned, leaning back in his chair.

"for ruining your night and making you stay here with me! now you just have another reason to hate me." you sighed, letting your head fall into your hands.

"i could never hate you." he said, voice barely above a whisper.

but you had fallen back asleep, so yeosang sat you upright once more and monitored you closely all night. with every minute that passed, he wished more and more that it was easier for him to show his emotions, to you especially. he wondered if maybe he wasn't so closed off that things would be different between the two of you. but it was hard for him, to let people in, he was afraid. afraid of people judging the real him, afraid of what might happen if he lets himself become vulnerable, afraid of facing his feelings about you.

you awoke hours later with a raging headache and extreme nausea. you headed straight for the bathroom and hunched over the toilet, feeling the sickest you'd ever felt. yeosang waited patiently outside the bathroom door with a glass of water and painkillers.

when you came out, he held his hand out, "take this."

you looked down at his hand and then up at him, slightly confused, "what are you doing here?"

"you passed out last night, and i drove you home because everyone else had been drinking." he said, passing the glass of water.

"oh my god." you ran a hand through your hair, "yeosang, i'm so sorry. i didn't mean to be any trouble! you must of been here all night, i promise it won't happen again, that was so stupid of me—"

"it's fine, don't worry about it." he said, shrugging, "i'll get going now, but make sure you take it easy and drink enough water." his eyes carefully scanned your body one last time, making sure you were really okay. he headed for the door and you followed.

"i'm really sorry." you frowned, feeling as though no amount of apologies would make it up to him.

he let out a slight chuckle, "it's okay, seriously y/n." he said before leaving. you heard the all too familiar jingle of his keys as the door closed behind him.

he'd stayed with you all night, eyes watching over you closely. ready at your side whenever you stirred in your sleep. he'd been there in the morning prepared with water and painkillers. this was never how it was, usually this was your job, taking care of the boys. it was your way of showing you cared, helping out wherever possible.

this wasn't like yeosang. at all.

————————

as soon as yeosang got home he was greeted by a very concerned san and wooyoung.

"is she okay?"

"are you tired?"

"did she wake up?"

he was bombarded by questions.

"she's okay, she fell asleep after a while and i made her take some painkillers when she woke up." yeosang said, collapsing onto the couch.

"so you really don't hate her then." wooyoung thought aloud.

"he can't, he spent the whole night looking after her!" san said, hitting wooyoung like it was obvious.

"owww," wooyoung rubbed his arm, "even she thinks you don't like her!"

"i know, she said last night. but she probably won't remember saying that." yeosang said, feeling increasingly drowsy from his lack of sleep.

"maybe you guys should like, talk things out?" san suggested, taking a seat next to him.

"maybe." yeosang said, drifting off into sleep.

you had spent the day curled up in bed, wondering how you could make it up to yeosang, and there was nothing more you wanted than to get to know him better, but what would he want? you called up san on that thought.

"hey sannie," you said, "i need your help, actually, is woo there as well?"

"oh my god she's alive!" you heard wooyoung call from beside san.

"what do you need help with?" san asked.

you paused a moment, "is yeosang there?"

"well yes, but he's asleep."

you groaned, "i feel so bad that he stayed up all night looking after me. i really wanna make it up to him but i don't know how. plus, it's not like he's that fond of me. maybe i should just thank him by staying out of his space."

"i don't think he'd like that." wooyoung interjected. "i still think he just needs time before opening up to you."

"i think its just me." you sighed, worriedly chewing on your bottom lip.

"hey! don't be like that! there's no reason to not like you." san scolded you for down talking yourself as he always does.

"agreed." wooyoung said, chiming in.

"i'm sure i'll work something out. thanks guys! enjoy the rest of your day!" you said.

"good luck!"

"bye y/n!"

————————

you had been staring at your phone for at least an hour, typing and retyping the message to yeosang. wooyoung gave you his number so that you could contact him when you'd finally worked out how to make it up to him. in the end, you decided that you would let him decide.

you drew in a sharp breath and squeezed your eyes tightly shut as you pressed send.

you: hey yeosang, i still feel really bad about the other day, i wanna know how i can make it up to you !!

yeosang: did wooyoung give you my number? T~T

you: yes he did.. i hope thats okay !

yeosang: of course yeosang: how about you make it up to me over a cup of coffee? >.<

you: that sounds great !! you: when are you free ?

yeosang: does tomorrow morning work for you ? i can pick you up ^_^

you: of course ! i'll see you tomorrow :)

yeosang sat in his room, facepalming. why was it so easy to be more open over text?

you on the other hand, felt your heart swell in a bizarre way. maybe it was the way you hadn't expected him to use such cute little emoticons. maybe it was the way that you'd be able to have a full conversation with him. whatever it was, excitement had taken over you.

————————

a knock pounded at your door and you rushed to open it.

"ready to go?" he asked, leaning against the door frame coolly.

"yes, lets go!" you said, sounding a little too excited.

the two of you made your way down the stairs and into yeosang's car. you found yourself smiling as you looked out the window.

your excitement hadn't gone unnoticed, "you seem awfully excited."

"i really wanted to make it up to you," you beamed. "it must've been boring to watch over me all night."

"i didn't mind so much." he said, shrugging.

you frowned, "you shouldn't of done it."

"and leave you passed out in the club?" he quirked an eyebrow up at you.

"well..."

"exactly." he said, parking the car outside a small cafe nearby his apartment. "come on, lets go inside."

you followed him in and took a seat across from him at a table close to the window. you both ordered coffees and resumed conversation.

"so, where were we?" you smiled, taking a sip of coffee.

"talking about how you wanted me to leave you passed out in the club." he said. you were almost convinced you saw a teasing smile pulling at his lips.

"right. i'm so sorry about that."

this time he actually chuckled, and you were taken aback. it was like the wall yeosang had surrounding himself was crumbling before your eyes.

"you need to apologise less." he laughed, bringing his coffee cup to his mouth for a sip. "half of the time we talk its just you saying sorry to me."

"i'm so—"

"hey!" the two of you broke into laughter.

his laugh was loud but warm and you couldn't help but notice the way his nose scrunched up cutely, the way his eyes looked full of stars and the way he brushed his hair out of his eyes after, revealing his beautiful birthmark. from that point on, you wanted to be the one to make him laugh every day.

he felt that familiar tug at his heart, the one he'd been feeling every moment he spent alone with you. the one he felt when he first met you. the one he couldn't make any sense of. it was as though his heart was a violin and you were the one playing it. (which would explain the tugging feeling.) but you were playing the sweetest song and he never wanted it to end.

the two of you laughed the morning away, gradually making up for what you'd missed over two years in a matter of two hours.

you'd discovered that even after getting him to open up more, he wasn't one for words. you found yourself talking his ear off while he listened intently, occasionally sharing his opinions and stories. in all his honesty, he didn't mind listening to you talk. he could've sat there all day, drinking countless cups of coffee, watching the way you bit your bottom lip whenever you paused to think or the way your eyes filled with sparkles when you talked about something that made you happy.

you insisted on paying for the infinite cups of coffee, as it was your way of making it up to him. he reluctantly agreed, but promised that he would pay if there ever was a next time, which he secretly hoped there would be. he'd finally had the chance to let his walls down. (it was actually more like you'd climbed the walls and torn them down with your bare hands.) but he was thankful for it.

he drove you back to your apartment, even after you persisted on walking home, seeing as it wasn't that far. he refused, insisting that he drive you. he even followed you up the stairs to the door of your apartment.

you turned around to face him, "you know, you're not so bad when you actually wanna talk to me."

"you know, you're not so bad when you're not drunk." he countered, his lips breaking into a playful grin.

you glared jokingly, "hey! don't make me apologise again."

"okay, okay. i won't." he said, raising his hands in defence.

you smiled, resting against the door, "alright, well, i've really enjoyed hanging out with you today. maybe we should catch up more often."

"maybe we should." he said, bearing a coy smile, "bye, y/n. i'll see you around."

————————

it was only about a week later he showed up at your work, at the end of your shift. you were pleasantly surprised to see him, and at first thought he was just someone coming to book a room.

"hello, are you looking for a r— yeosang?"

"when do you get off work?" he asked, glancing over to the clock.

"five minutes."

"i'll be waiting in the car, okay?" he said, turning on his heel and heading for the door.

on his way out, you saw as he ran into your boss, the two of them beginning conversation.

"it's good to see you've made those security changes." yeosang said as he nodded, extending his arm for a friendly handshake. "i'm very thankful."

your boss shook his hand, "and i'm thankful that you suggested them."

just over five minutes later you got into the passenger seat of yeosang's car.

"it was you who told my boss about the safety problems." you said, in near disbelief.

"hello, to you too." he joked sarcastically. "well, i would hate to think that the situation could happen again, so i just suggested some possible improvements. thats all." he shrugged like it was nothing.

"suddenly, i feel the need to make it up to you again." you smiled shyly.

"you can do that by accompanying me to the skate park." he said, motioning to his skateboard on the back seat.

"ah, so thats why you came."

"well yeah, i wanted to bring you to the skate park."

your heart swelled once again, feeling joyed that he wanted to share one of his favourite places with you. (despite him never telling you directly, you knew he loved the skate park as he spent majority of his high school time there when he wasn't studying.)

when you arrived, the sun was beginning to slip behind the horizon, causing the sky to glow a rosy pink. there were still a few kids, probably high schoolers, hanging around the park. you took a seat at a bench and waited for yeosang to come over, who was getting his skateboard out the car. you felt oddly out of place since you were still in your neat work uniform and didn't know the first thing about skateboarding.

yeosang rolled over with a grin plastered onto his face, you'd never seen him so happy, and it made you happy to see him this way. it was strange how all it took was a few cups of coffee for him to become a completely different person around you.

he didn't need to ask you to watch as your eyes were already glued to him as he dropped into the bowl, showing countless tricks and flips.

the truth was in fact that yeosang was grateful for you 'making it up to him'. he'd never been able to comprehend his feelings for you, if they were even feelings at all. he hated the confusion and decided it was easier to ignore it, and to an extent, ignore you, to make it go away. it had been working for the most part, until every time the two of you were alone together, he couldn't ignore the slight tug at his heart, that was becoming more of a pull over the last few weeks.

"you're amazing!" you cheered as he sat down next to you, out of breath.

"thanks." he smiled shyly, running a hand through his hair and out of his face. he leaned back, looking up at the sky. "do you sometimes wish you could see the stars from within the city? hongjoong and seonghwa are so lucky they can see them from their house."

you pondered a moment, thinking about the last time you actually saw stars in the sky. "i see stars in your eyes sometimes." you said, absent minded.

he felt warmth burning in his cheeks, "you do?"

"do what?" you turned to him, "did i say that out loud?" you gasped, covering your face in embarrassment. "i'm sorry, i didn't mean to say that it was just a thought and—"

"what did i say about apologising?" he laughed. "it's getting cold, right? you ready to head home?" he asked.

you smiled, "if you are."

he drove you home and said goodbye, feeling happy about spending time alone with you once again. he couldn't stop thinking about what you said and you couldn't stop feeling like a fool for saying it.

————————

the weather got colder and colder and soon it began to snow as the days of december passed. you had spent the day helping jongho move some new furniture into his apartment. it was a difficult job, but easier with the two of you, even san and wooyoung came to help. you couldn't resist wondering where yeosang was and why he didn't come, seeing as they lived in the same building. maybe he was busy, you thought.

"hey, where's yeosang?" you asked, lifting a box and placing it on the kitchen counter.

"at home, i think he's been feeling sick or something, he hardly comes out of his room lately." wooyoung shrugged, assuming it was all good.

"if he's sick i'll bring him over some food and painkillers, maybe keep him some company." you explained, not wanting yeosang to be unwell.

"i think he'd rather be left alone, to be honest." san said, giving wooyoung a side glance that you couldn't miss.

you pulled out your phone and sent yeosang a quick message.

you: are you feeling okay? san and woo said you were sick :((

he didn't respond right away and you just figured he was asleep. but as you finished helping out at jongho's house a few hours later, he still hadn't responded. when you were sitting down to eat dinner at home, he still hadn't respond. just before you were going to turn the lights out and go to bed, he still hadn't responded.

something was up. this wasn't like yeosang, not anymore. not since the two of you had been spending so much time together. maybe it was like the boys said, and he was truly very sick, but in that case, why wouldn't they let you help?

————————

days passed and you went to work as usual, repeating the same few lines, asking people if they want a room, asking them to fill in a form, then directing them to the right room. days passed and you still hadn't heard back from yeosang, you wondered if he was still sick. days passed and you began to think maybe you should go over there to see if he's okay.

but if there was one thing you'd learnt about yeosang recently, it was that he was the quieter type, and probably wouldn't appreciate you going over there to keep him company and would rather be alone. so that evening when you got off work, you didn't go visit him like you so desperately wanted to, instead, you went straight home.

you cooked and ate dinner for yourself, before picking up your phone, only to see still no messages from yeosang.

you: hey woo you: is yeosang feeling better ?

wooyoung: yeah he is

you: well then can i come visit tomorrow ?

wooyoung: i think he's busy wooyoung: sorry

you: its okay woo you: its not your fault !!

you switched your phone off and headed for the shower, trying to wash away the stress and worry for yeosang that had built up over the last few weeks. you had really grown to like him and there was still so much about him you wanted to learn, like when he learned to skateboard or how he got the small scar on the back of his hand, that you'd noticed when ever he brushes his hair out of his eyes.

two years he'd spent, not interested in holding conversation with you and two years you'd spent, wondering what you'd did so wrong. but lately, you felt like you were doing something right around him, getting him to smile and laugh, share his own stories.

you couldn't shake the feeling that maybe he still didn't like you, and had just been trying for wooyoung's sake.

or maybe he was genuinely starting to like you, but you went and fucked it up by weirding him out and telling him about his starry eyes.

or maybe he'd just had enough of you already. decided that a few weeks was enough time spent trying to change things between the two of you.

as you finished showering and changed into comfortable clothes, you glanced at the clock which read 10:56pm. you switched on the television to watch some youtube before going to bed. as you felt yourself dozing off, a faint knock sounded at your door, so quiet you almost missed it.

when you opened the door, you were shocked to see yeosang standing there, leaning against the door frame for support. he looked up at you, his normally starry eyes were dulled with tears.

you rushed forward to him, smelling the alcohol as you got closer, "yeosang are you okay? what are you doing here? i thought you were sick. are you drunk? you never drink, come inside." you gently pulled him inside, closing the door behind you. when you turned to face him, he was staring at you, tears about to spill over the brim of his eyes.

"i hate you." he breathed out, voice barely louder than a whisper. he didn't seem angry though, he looked fragile, like a glass vase balancing on the edge of a table.

you felt the urge to cry, finally hearing those three words that confirmed your biggest concern, yeosang disliking you. "yeosang, i'm so sorry. i never meant to—"

"i hate you." he said, louder this time before running a hand through his hair hastily. he let out a frustrated groan, dragging his hands down his face. "i hate the tugging feeling in my heart whenever we're alone. i hate the way you put yourself before others. i hate the way you ramble on when you're nervous. i hate the way your eyes sparkle when you laugh. i hate the way i don't drink around you because i feel the need to protect you and make sure you're safe. i hate the way i tried to ignore you for two years because i was scared and confused about my own feelings. i hate how it only took one cup of coffee with you for my walls to come crashing down!" he paced from side to side, waving his hands around crazily.

yeosang looked scared and lost, like he'd never felt this way about anyone before, and that was the truth. he didn't know how to comprehend these feelings and it terrified him.

you watched as he spiralled, seeming as though it would never stop. you weren't sure what to do, so you just listened to that swelling feeling in your heart once again, the one that had led you to develop feelings for yeosang, and you pulled him close into your arms. he clung onto you tightly, scared to let go, like if he did then he'd lose you forever. you ran your fingers through his hair briefly, trying your best to comfort him.

"i'm sorry." you repeatedly whispered to him. you'd never meant to upset him or confuse him.

yeosang let out a quiet sob into your chest, "i hate the way i've fallen in love with you." he croaked out.

he didn't hate you. never did. never will. your heart swelled completely in your chest, feeling as though it would burst through. but it couldn't be true. he's totally drunk out of his mind.

"you're not in your right mind, yeosang, you need to get home. you're drunk and talking nonsense." you embraced him tightly one more time, and you could've sworn you felt the beat of his heart through the hug. "come on," you urged, steering him towards the door, "wooyoung and san are probably worried and waiting up for you."

with much effort, you led him down the stairs of your apartment block and walked him home. the street lamps led you in the freezing city night air. you held his wrist lightly, guiding him up the stairs to his own apartment. he didn't speak a single word the whole time, instead, sniffling and wiping at his eyes. it hurt you so much to see him this broken, but you knew he wasn't saying the truth under control of the alcohol in his veins.

you knocked at his apartment door, hoping that one of the boys were still awake. luckily, they both were and quickly they flung the door open.

"y/n? yeosang?" san questioned, his eyes wide open with disbelief.

"we've been so worried about you!" wooyoung said, pulling yeosang away from you. "hang on, are you drunk?"

san had noticed his tired, tear stained eyes, "you look like you've been crying! are you okay?"

you let out a quiet sigh, knowing you didn't need to be here anymore. you gave a small wave goodbye and headed home, utterly exhausted.

and though you were so drained, you couldn't seem to fall asleep. those words yeosang said to you kept running through your mind busily.

did he mean any of it?

————————

yeosang felt bad. he felt terrible. like he wanted to vanish into thin air and float away with the breeze. though he couldn't, no, he desperately wanted to apologise to you. but he didn't know how, he wasn't good with words or expressing his feelings, and you wished he knew that was something you loved about him.

wooyoung and san tried to ask him what happened the night he drunkenly confessed to you, but he couldn't have them know that he'd been harbouring feelings for you for all this time, they'd never let him live it down. he could imagine the continuous teasing they'd give him, nudging him whenever you were together or giving him side glances after talking to you.

yeosang gave it lots of thought. he mulled it over in his head repeatedly. it was only after hours spent hidden away in his room that he decided to go back to where it all started, a text. a text that said how much he wanted to make it up to you for having to deal with him drunk, just like the one you'd sent initially.

yeosang: hey y/n, i feel really bad about the other day, i wanna know how i can make it up to you! T^T

your heart leapt a mile seeing his name appear on your phone. you grinned upon reading his message, realising it was scarily similar to the message you had first sent him.

you: hmmm you: that sounds familiar

yeosang: >.< yeosang: seriously though, how does dinner at my place tomorrow night sound? i'll cook

you: you can cook?

yeosang: there's a lot you don't know about me x_x

you: okay, i'll be there !!

————————

yeosang wasn't lying when he said he can cook. as you traipsed up the stairs of his apartment block you could smell something delicious laced in the air.

the usual swelling in your heart had instead fell to the pit of your stomach, you were feeling slightly nervous as to what would happen when you entered yeosang's apartment. you inhaled deeply before knocking at the door of his apartment.

"hey y/n, come in." yeosang greeted, holding an arm out, signalling for you to come inside.

"you must've been working hard cooking! it smells delicious." you said, feeling a sense of comfort just from the smell of food.

"yeah, lucky i sent wooyoung and san over to jongho's place, otherwise i doubt there would be any pasta to serve." he joked. "you can take a seat, i've just gotta serve up."

you sat down in front of a neatly laid table, it had somewhat surprised you how much effort yeosang had put into this dinner tonight. he placed a steamy hot plate of pasta in front of you and one where he would sit.

"so." he began.

"so." you copied, teasingly.

"i guess, i really just wanted to say i'm sorry for how i behaved the other night when i was drunk. you shouldn't of had to deal with that." he frowned, poking at his dinner.

you furrowed your brows, "it's seriously fine yeosang." you took a bite of pasta, "i was just surprised to see you drunk, since you never drink."

he chuckled, bringing a hand up to cover his mouth, "actually, i do. i just never drink when you're there."

"really? why?" you questioned, eating another mouthful of pasta.

"because..." he paused. "no, it sounds dumb out loud."

"it's okay, you don't have to explain yourself." you smiled warmly, "but that does remind me to ask... do you remember anything you said to me while you were drunk?" you leant forward, genuinely curious.

he sighed, "i remember.. enough."

"you don't really hate me, right?" you asked, playing with the food on your plate.

"of course not! that's why i invited you here tonight. to show you that i don't, and to make it up to you." he had to refrain from reaching across to hold your hand, just to show how much he cared that little bit more.

you nodded, "well, thats good. i was kinda worried that we'd gone back to square one."

comfort settled within you. it was relieving to know you weren't hated by the one person whose love you wanted most. a tiny thought crept into your mind, maybe, just maybe, now would be the right time to tell him about your blossoming feelings for him. or would that confuse him more? now you were the one feeling conflicted.

"are you finished eating?" he asked, reaching for your empty plate.

"yes, thank you! it was delicious. you're a good cook, y'know."

"ah, thanks y/n." he turned away to hide the blush appearing on his cheeks.

"would you like me to do the dishes? since you cooked." you offered, standing up. but he quickly opposed.

"don't be ridiculous." he shooed you back to your seat. "can i get you a coffee? water? wine?"

"a coffee sounds good, i think you and i have had too many drunken situations lately." you laughed.

yeosang pulled out two mugs and put the kettle on. he felt your eyes carefully watching him. once again, he hated the feeling that was pulling at his heart. the way you could say nothing, yet he felt everything.

"can i tell you something?" you asked, voice now quieter and more hesitant.

"sure, what is it?" he said, placing a warm cup of coffee in front of you.

you took a sip, humming in delight. it was exactly the way you liked it. when the two of you went out for coffee, he had unintentionally remembered just the way you like it.

"well," you began cautiously, in case you brought this situation into flames again. "i just... i always wondered why you didn't like me. if i was doing something wrong, if i said something once that really upset you. and then after we started spending time together, i finally felt like i was doing the right thing." you groaned, frustrated with yourself for not getting to the point quicker. "what i'm trying to say is that i have feelings for you. it's okay if you don't feel the same way. i wouldn't expect you to, i just thought you should know—"

yeosang basically choked on his coffee, eyes widening in shock. "it's okay, y/n! in case you hadn't noticed, i'm crazy about you."

you had continued to ramble nervously before hearing what he said.

"wait. you are?"

"basically ever since you said that thing about stars in my eyes, yes."

you cringed, remembering how you had said that so absent minded. "yeah, sorry about that."

"it's okay, it was cute. and what did i say about apologising?"

you shook your head and smiled, "i know."

————————

ever since the two of you confessed to each other, you had been almost inseparable, except of course when you had work. but he dropped you home most nights, even though you insisted it was okay and that you could walk. he came over every weekend just to spend time with you, even if the two of you just sat and talked, enjoying each other's company. you'd been dating for a few weeks now, but kept it undercover, not wanting to suffer the incessant questioning that would come if you told your friends.

it didn't go unnoticed either, wooyoung and san were constantly nagging yeosang about why the two of you spent so much time together, and each time he just shrugged it off.

christmas was just around the corner, so you were spending the evening at seonghwa's and hongjoong's house, who of course, were throwing an unnecessarily large house party to celebrate.

you were sat between a very drunk yunho and mingi, who were trying to talk to an also very drunk jongho. you eyed your boyfriend from across the room, as if asking for a way out and he just laughed at the situation you were stuck in.

after at least ten minutes more of having your ear talked off, yeosang came to pull you away to the dance floor.

"care to dance?" he asked, extending his hand to you.

you immediately jumped up, latching onto his hand, "i would love to!"

he chuckled, pulling you close to his side and leading you to the makeshift dance floor that seonghwa and hongjoong created.

the two of you laughed at the boys' reaction. they were completely shocked to see the two of you so close together and yeosang being friendly.

he twirled you around a few times with the music, before settling his arms around your waist. he brought you near to him as you placed your arms behind his neck. you swayed back and forth, engulfed in your own little bubble of comfort in each other's arms, completely out of time with the loud thumping music that blared around you.

you felt content, and yeosang no longer felt confused. he found his home in your arms and his happiness.

you reached up to place your lips on his, capturing the moment surrounding you. yeosang melted into the kiss, discovering that your lips were soft and sweet against his, just as he had imagined, which caused his knees to feel weak and his heart to skip more than just one beat. he never wanted to let you go, he wanted to compensate for every second that he didn't spend with you since the two of you met.

he leaned forward and whispered softly, just so you could hear above all the music and singing, "lets stay like this forever."

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what-i-call-men · 3 years

Text

The Evans w an independent significant other/how clingy the Evans are

The Evans x Gn!reader

Warnings: Some possessiveness, some mentions of killing

Tate:

Tate absolutely hates when you're independent. If it were up to him you’d stay in the house with him all day and you’d be dependent on him for everything. He hates when you leave the house, when you eat without him, even if you shower without him. Let’s be real though, if you're in the house you're not alone because even if you don't see him, Tate is there watching you all the time- hell he doesn’t have much better to do. If you tell him you're staying at a friend’s or going out at night, not sure when you’d be home, he would immediately try to stop you from going. When you eventually get off the property he waits at the window for you to come back just like a needy puppy. “But babe, why go to a party with sweaty horny teenagers when you could stay here and we could play a board game?” “Tate we played Monopoly, candy land, twister, uno and parcheesi today. I don’t even think we own any more board games.”

Kit:

Kit kinda finds it attractive. He obviously has his moments of wanting to be the provider and take care of you, but he also loves that you listen to him about his work and retain alot of it. He’s watched you diagnose a problem on your own car and you were completely correct on it when he took a look. On a night he had to stay late at the shop working on one car that wouldn’t seem to start, you show up to his work dressed in some jeans and one of his work shirts, offering to help him with the cars so he could get out of work a little sooner. Man, he almost creamed his pants then and there. He watched you as you looked under the hood, tweaking and filling and checking, not asking him for any help, and Kit was immediately reminded of why he loved you so much. Eventually he’d have to shake himself out of it, bumping your hip with his own. “Hey, suga, as great as you look bent over this car, you’re showin’ me up.”

Kyle:

Kyle absolutely loves watching you be independent and strong. You were in some of his engineering classes and you always seemed to know what you were doing. He had stopped you after the lecture and asked you for some help on one of his projects, and he was honestly wowed at your understanding of the work, having only been explained it 10 minutes earlier. He loves when you very blatantly turn down other guys or tell them that they’re wrong. He also boasts you up and helps you look better, a lot of the time this happens when you present research in class. Usually you read him your speeches as you write them, and he will ask questions after you present so you can reiterate your main points. “Any questions?” “Yeah can you tell us more about what you consider the biggest pros of solar power?” Post-death Kyle kinda depends on you so you had to be very independent. He likes to watch you carry the groceries by yourself or take care of the garden outside your small house. This includes when you have to fix up things around the house, you always muttering how you don’t need some old man coming into your house and telling you to turn a couple screws and charging you for it. Although Kyle never knows what you're doing or how to help, he is very good at holding flashlights and handing you screws. “Kyle, could you hand me the drill? No the drill… the drill… You know what, just hold this flashlight for me, hun.”

Jimmy:

Jimmy gets confused sometimes. Sometimes when you offer to carry props or set pieces, he will refuse your help and ask Eve or someone else, thinking that his significant other should never have to lift a finger as long as he has something to do with it. It isn’t until he loses his hands that he has to let you do everything. He watches as you lift set pieces, or pull down a rope and just kind of watches in awe because you are so much stronger than you look. He secretly loves watching you show off your strength, especially when you kicked a heckler right in the balls and the man passed out from the pain. When another heckler started insulting you during a show, you fully began to roast him in front of the crowd, this never failed to amaze Jimmy. He always loved to watch you deal with people like that because you were so quick to tell them off in a way that made them drop the fight all together. “Darlin’ you know if I could help it you’d never have to lift a single finger?” “Jimmy, you can’t even feed yourself, I have to lift a few fingers.”

James:

James gets conflicted by your independence. He loves when you ask him for help or when you search him out for encouragement, but when he saw you murder a man trying to abuse his girlfriend, and you dragged him to one of James’ body chutes, James couldn’t have been more proud. He loved to watch you murder alone, but he absolutely hated when you would leave the hotel to go out or go to work. He knew you didn’t need protection from him but that didn’t stop him from wanting you to jump into his arms and ask him to help you. He didn’t love it when you would go to the bar alone, all dressed up, drinking and eventually getting others to join in on seudo karaoke, but he loved to see you enjoying yourself and sometimes you’d make him join in. Most of the times you did ask him for any kind of help, you never let him do it all. Sometimes there would be a body you couldn’t lift, so James would offer his help a few times before you finally said yes, only letting him help you lift it, then shooing him away and taking care of the body by yourself. “Dearest, do you need help?” “No.” “Darling, you’re going to hurt yourself, let me help.” “No, James.”... “James, Can you just lift his feet up for me?” “Of course my love.”

Kai:

HA you thought. Kai doesn’t want you to be independent AT ALL. If you were independent before meeting him, that definitely changes when you’re with him. He doesn’t like you going out alone, if somehow you get him to budge on that, you’re not driving yourself, if you somehow do, you have a curfew to be back home by before he comes out and picks you up. Usually that leads to some sort of argument or fight. You always have to have your location on on your phone if you do go out. He also may or may not have a tracker on your car just in case. If you’re the kind of person that’s chill with not being independent, Kai will usually keep you within eyesight if you’re in the house. If you need to pee or want to make food, usually Kai will either join you or silently pick up whatever he’s doing and move with you into whatever room you’re going into. It’s less of a clingy thing as it is paranoia for him- he wants to make sure you’re loyal to him all the time. “Where’re you going?” “The bathroom to take a shower.”... “I’ll join you.” You could never really fight him on it.

Malcolm:

Malcolm kind of expects you to be independent, but he does enjoy it when you two hang out. He can’t spend all the time with you and you both have jobs that take up your time so being clingy or obsessive is a no-no for him. He likes to send you texts and pictures during the day though and he also enjoys facetiming when you can’t see each other. Overall being with Malcolm is one of the most healthy and non-toxic relationships you could be in. Even when you two move in together, you were both very independent and respectful of each others space. The only exception was on days Malcolm felt sad or lonely, he’d come over to the couch where you sat on your laptop, laying his head on your lap in the way of the screen, pouting up at you. “Can we watch some cheesy reality show and get drunk?” He’d ask and you’d laugh. “Want me to play with your hair too?” “Fucking of course.”

Jeff:

Jeff could be either one of the extremes. He’d either be extremely obsessed with you, wanting to provide you with everything you asked for before you even asked for it, or he’d tell you you’re in an open relationship and treat you like a choice. There’s really not too much in between. If he’s clingy, Jeff would put your relationship in every aspect of his life, even offering you more than your job paid you so you could just sit at his desk every day and do coke with him. He would never let you drive to work alone and would spend pretty much all day talking with you or even just staring at you as you did your own work on your laptop. “So how are you doing?” “I’m the same as I was two minutes ago.” If Jeff was ok with your independence, he’d pretty much expect it from you. If you were going to independent, so was he, pretty much meaning the two of you were not much more than fuck buddies. Sometimes though he’d get jealous of how much you got drinks bought for you at a bar, or how many other people you’d post on social media with, wishing he had the guts to ask for more from you, but never actually doing it. “Y/n can I ask you something?” “yeah.” “Do you… Would you… You want some coffee?” “Nah i’m good.”

#tate langdon #kit walker #kyle spencer #Jimmy darling #james patrick march #kai anderson #malcolm gallant #jeff pfister #the evans #the Evans x reader

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kuleo26 · 3 years

Note

Hi hi

I loved the one about daiya boys and the types of pets they'd have, especially with kuramochi getting a snake just to scare Sawamura SJSJJS anyways, i came to ask if you could do daiya boys who accidentally got drunk and confessed their feelings :]

haha glad you liked it! I originally thought of sawamura getting a hamster, but kuramochi getting a snake came to me later on because kurasawa is definitely a chaotic duo whether it's platonic or romantic :) and this prompt is so creative thanks for requesting <3

daiya boys confessing (but plot twist: they're drunk)

including: miyuki kazuya, kuramochi youichi, sanada shunpei, todoroki raichi

miyuki kazuya

you guys were at a party celebrating his new contract with the softbank hawks

you were luckily recruited for a manager position with the softbank hawks as well

all of your guys' old classmates from seido were there

and drunk as hell

kuramochi and sawamura were belting out lyrics from a song you didn't know of

a few of the older guys (yuki, ryosuke, tanba, etc.) were quietly drinking on the side

nori and furuya were passed out on the couch

you and miyuki were sitting by yourselves at a table in the corner (specifically far away from the karaoke machine)

miyuki was talking about baseball (because of course he was)

but you soon realized he was getting a bit too tipsy

how did you find out?

well, he wasn't paying attention and downed your drink

and he can't really hold his alcohol like you can

how fun

you also realized that he was a really talkative drunk

did you know that he talks a lot when he's happy?

yeah, no one knew he could talk a lot about something other than baseball

started complimenting you out of nowhere

you got flustured

because since when did he ever pay attention to you in that way?

you decided it was time to head out and take him home

after saying your goodbyes, you helped him walk home

he clung onto you so tightly it was hard to walk

once you got to his apartment, he refused to let you go

it was so cute that you wanted to take a picture for blackmail purposes

but you couldn't because you were stuck trapped in his arms

he begged you to stay, and you agreed to

only until he fell asleep though

after helping him get ready for bed, you sat by his side on the bed

you were laughing at his flustered state, and he was pouting

genuinely confused, you asked him why he was acting so cute and clingy

"because i like you, stupid"

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

kuramochi youichi

oh my god

never let this man get drunk with his friends

he was bouncing off the walls

it was a college party

and you (unfortunately) were dragged into going

you felt miserable at first because you don't go to parties

but you eventually found amusement in your crush's drunk state

all of your friends ditched you for one reason or another

so you were in the kitchen sipping on whatever was in your cup and eating whatever food you could find

kuramochi walked in after a while

he spots you and starts talking (and laughing) rapidly

you don't understand what he's saying

but you soon find yourself being dragged to the middle of the party

he grabs your hips and you guys start dancing

it was happening so quickly that you couldn't process

but you were flustered beyond belief

he's smiling at you like you're his favorite thing

and you can't help but smile back

because let's admit it

his smile is contagious

before you know it, his lips is on yours

and when he pulls away

you yank on his collar to bring him back in

"damn, i've been waiting to do that"

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

sanada shunpei

it was a regular night in the dorms

until you decided to participate in a game of truth or dare with some of your peers

it wasn't a big gathering

maybe around six or seven people

but you know it gets rowdy when alcohol's involved

people started taking shots for any truth or dare they wouldn't do

but then sanada and another dude was dared to down the rest of the bottle so that they could play spin the bottle/seven minutes in heaven

of course, they did it

and seven minutes in heaven started

you weren't chosen for a while

until sanada ended up spinning the bottle and it landed on you

you two go in another room and immediately his hands were on your waist and his lips were on yours

you were kind of surprised, since you both don't talk to each other that much

but you've notice his 'subtle' glances towards you

and how he always holds the door open for you because you leave for class at the same time as him

or how he always smiles at you when he sees you in the dorm common room

but even if he has alcohol in his system, he remembers all of your habits

like how you always shyly wave at him

or how you clutch your book to your chest when you talk passionately about something

and how your eyes seem to sparkle when you watch your school's baseball game

so you smile into the kiss, letting it happen

"god, i think i'm in love with you"

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

todoroki raichi

you and raichi were in your apartment

it was a weekly movie night for the two of you

but one of your friends had given you a champagne bottle earlier in the week to celebrate your job promotion

so you were drinking to celebrate with raichi, since he's been your closest friend for the longest time

raichi wasn't much of a drinker

sure, he's had a few drinks here and there before

never enough to get drunk, or even that tipsy

but he trusted you

and felt like your apartment was a comfortable enough environment to get drunk for the first time

you of course, knew of his situation

and you were definitely gonna help him

because you really loved him, more than a friend should

you just never wanted to ruin the relationship you've been building for years

anyway

you were only a few drinks in before raichi started getting tipsy

he started cuddling up to your side during the movie

which was normal

but then he started mumbling incoherent things

you couldn't pick out many words

but there were a few that were loud enough for you to pick up

like 'comfortable' and 'cute'

you couldn't tell what he meant

and then he started getting bolder

like feeling you up and kissing your neck

you definitely knew he was more than drunk

pausing the movie, you asked if he was doing ok

he looked up at you, eyes watering

you start getting worried, asking him what happened

he started tearing up, claiming how he wished you loved him

you responded that you did

but he wanted more than that

you wiped the tears on his face and hugged him

insisting that it was time for bed, you cleaned up and let him sleep in your bed for the night

he was feeling a little better after his breakdown

but still clung onto you like a koala

you kept reassuring him that you weren't going anywhere anytime soon

"i love you so much. i promise to be by your side when you wake up."

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

i'm so sorry this is all over the place :/. i honestly haven't been around drunk people or have gotten too drunk myself so i tried to write off my best judgement. i really hope you liked it, and feel free to send in more requests !!

#kuleo's inbox <3 #daiya #daiya no ace #daiya no a #ace of diamond #diamond no ace #kuramochi yoichi x reader #miyuki kazuya x reader #sanada shunpei x reader #todoroki raichi x reader #miyuki kazuya #kuramochi youichi #sanada shunpei #todoroki raichi

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pennylanewrites · 3 years

Text

I got seven different asks about the College AU so here are some headcanons I have about them! (imagine aiura is in the picture I couldn’t find a good one with all of them)

I definitely didn’t mean to make this so long but I can’t help it I love them all so much<3

~~~~~~~~♡~~~~~~~~~~♡~~~~~~~~~~♡~~~~~~~~

Saiki Kusuo

→ marine!!!biology!!!major!!!!!!!!

→ doesn’t need to study but he still does bc he finds marine life so fascinating

→ read all of his textbooks on the first day bc he was so excited eeeek

→ always wears his germanium ring in class so he can stay hashtag focused

→ him and aiura have to bail toritsuka(didn’t go to college) out of jail once a month

→ speaking of aiura, she somehow has convinced him to go on a date on five different occasions

→ i think after high-school he realised he didn’t mind a kind of casual not-relationship with her

→ lets her hug him to greet him and sometimes he hugs back bc college boys stare a lot and he is just worried for her okay?

→ maybe I’m just projecting bc I kin aiura

→ does not go to parties unless he absolutely has to

→ if he does go to a party he’ll drink something quietly in a corner, just watching the crowd

→ a perv laced Teruhashi’s drink and almost lured her up the stairs so of fucking course Kusuo sprinted to help her, holding her on the way home bc men are drawn to her like bees to honey

→ she didn’t let him live it down ever

→ he rented a studio apartment and keeps it super clean, minimum clutter but enough to look lived in

→ cooks amazing food that Nendo smells from upstairs and next thing you know, they’re all bringing chairs to Kusuo’s apartment and have dinner

→ nothing excuses the fact he makes at least eight servings every time–

→ such a dad to everyone honestly

→ usually studies at a library or teleports back home if there’s a big test

→ mrs. saiki was banned from visiting every two days but she still ends up there somehow

→ not that he minds bc he’s the biggest mama’s boy ever

→ probably graduates a year early

→ doesn’t move away even though he got a job at the aquarium at the other side of the city help–

Kaidou Shun

→ fine arts major you can NOT change my mind

→ doesn’t do good in theoretical subjects but mans can draw some good bowls of fruit

→ wears those stained from the paints t-shirts all the time bc ‘no they’re not dirty it’s art!’

→ him and aren have small designated spaces in their apartment so they can focus on their hobbies/studying

→ his corner at the living room has newspapers on the floor to protect it from the splattering paint, some canvases propped up on the wall and a lot of unfinished projects

→ hides all of them when Nendou comes over

→ can not cook or clean to save his life

→ so he calls his mum to help clean up when Aren is at work

→ got over his 8th grader syndrome at some point

→ still wears red bandages bc he’s edgy

→ volunteers at the neighborhood exhibit centre

→ got asked to showcase his own works for a night and hasn’t shut up about it since

→ goes to yumehara for relationship advice and braids her hair as a thank you

→ couples sleepovers with Yumehara and Teruhashi (yes they’re dating shut up)

→ always makes something for Aren at special occasions (birthdays, anniversaries etc)

→ at first he went back home every saturday bc he missed his family :(

→ Aren helps him get over it though!!!!

Nendou Riki

→ got in on a sports scholarship

→ we already know he couldn’t be accepted in a college otherwise

→ in the chiropractic major bc he wants to be one of those athlete doctors

→ has failed way too many exams and classes

→ Hairo helps him so much though!!!

→ the last one in the group to graduate but somehow gets a job first (excluding Saiki)

→ him and hairo get up at 5 am for jogging or to hit the gym

→ and then he goes and gets noodles bc ‘if noodles aren’t for breakfast why do shops open at 6 am?’

→ hasn’t stepped foot in class in months

→ he gets decent grades after failing the first semester and it’s totally not Saiki’s doing

→ he ends up signing up for way too many clubs

→ attends all of the meetings and has so many friends through them

→ I would be his friend too in college honestly

→ a fraternity wanted to get him bc he’s so good at sports

→ he declined bc he does not understand how fraternities even work

→ is the life of EVERY SINGLE PARTY change my mind you can’t

→ whatever you do don’t imagine nendo surprising his boyfriend with flowers after every practice

→ *dies cutely*

Kuboyasu Aren

→ SOCIOLOGY MAJOR

→ idk I just think he would enjoy Marx’s Capital

→ debate club? hell yeah

→ gets in philosophical conversations at the school yard for HOURS

→ kaidou has to drag him away

→ only shops at thrift stores and makes coffee at home bc “capitalism is not accepted in this household”

→ rides his motorcycle to college even though he lives five minutes away

→ grew his hair out in a mullet again and he looks *chef’s kiss*

→ thought he would be moving too fast if he asked Kaidou to rent an apartment together

→ aiura convinced him it was fine

→ cooks kaidou’s favorite foods every day

→ participates in student rallies, human rights protests etc etc

→ comes home with bruises and kaidou thinks he looks so hot but still yells at him

→ Aren’s favorite place to study is his balcony or at a coffee shop

→ always with kaidou! cute boyfriends who do everything together!!

→ gets so drunk when they go out

→ drunk karaoke with kokomi yes yes yes

Hairo Kineshi

→ did someone say Athletic Training?

→ does every single sport and is amazing at it

→ will cheer for his bf if they have a game at the same time though

→ it was his idea to move in together bc ‘hey we’ve been dating for three years now might as well’

→ volunteers at a nearby elementary as a coach for the kids

→ SO GOOD WITH KIDS

→ wants to be a P.E. Teacher and he’s going to be great at it

→ does everything he can at campus

→ helping random clubs, making posters, cleaning up the hallways, helping the cheer squad with their new routine

→ dances ballet as a hobby even though he’s so good at it that he could be a professional

→ makes everything a competition with Nendo so they never get bored

→ once made everyone get up to jog with them and they ended up sleeping on random benches while Hairo and Nendo were halfway across town

→ will punch someone if he sees them catcalling a girl

→ doesn’t drink at all and eats super healthy

→ designated driver for the group’s outings downtown

Aiura Mikoto

→ THEATER MAJOR

→ is so good at stage acting it’s unreal

→ lands the lead role almost every time

→ is also an amazing singer so she gets great roles in musicals as well

→ doesn’t have to get a job bc she gets all her money from doing readings on campus

→ gets coffees and pastries from all the coffee shops around campus and sits Kusuo down so he can taste them

→ they have a little taste-testing date in his apartment until they decide none of them are as good as the ones at Cafe Mami

→ she totally doesn’t make him teleport there every morning and he totally doesn’t listen to her

→ moved in with chiyo bc they wanted a nice place that they couldn’t afford on their own

→ teruhashi told them to move in with her but they already loved their little place

→ aiura’s bedroom is the most comfortable and cozy room ever

→ their apartment is also the hang out spot for the group bc it’s just so homey

→ hangs out with her theatre group a lot, especially after class

→ they can’t compare to her friends though:(

→ everyone goes to her when they’re worried and she loves it bc she’s the mummy of the group

→ she makes everyone coffee and their comfort food before big exams:)

Yumehara Chiyo

→ psychology major one thousand percent

→ you know how they say that people choose psychology bc they don’t know what major they want?

→ that’s exactly what happened except she fell in love with it immediately

→ such a good student!!!

→ always does her assignments on time and still manages to have a social life

→ teruhashi asked her out at the end of their first semester and that’s the first time chiyo missed a deadline

→ practically lives with teruhashi, insisting it’s just to leave aiura alone

→ she’s just IN LOVE OKAY?????

→ would want to be a sorority girl at first

→ changed her mind when she realized how much shit they all talked

→ her and kaidou drink wine and talk about their relationships and studies

→ she’s so sleep deprived it’s unreal

→ she doesn’t need sleep anymore though

→ coffee is her best friend

→ makes asks Aiura for readings twice a week

→ brings all her psychology friends home and they analyze their textbooks

→ once she got the hang of it, she decided to examine Kusuo

→ she told him he needs actual medical evaluation

→ he almost threw her out the window when she offered some Xanax for his nerves

→ chiyo is a neat freak one hundred percent

→ hates when Aiura throws everything on the floor, but she loves cleaning

→ opens her own office after school

Teruhashi Kokomi

→ PRE-MED

→ lesbian doctor :)

→ just wanted to get away from her perv brother at first

→ she always wanted to be a doctor though, preferably a neurosurgeon

→ she’s super duper smart and hates when she gets good grades bc of her good looks:(

→ makes it her goal to show her professors that she’s more than a beautiful girl

→ hasn’t failed a single exam

→ helps everyone with their studies even though she’s drowning in work

→ drops the perfect girl image at college and decides she should try and aim for something normal

→ gets invited to every single party

→ in a knitting club bc it would get disbanded without one more member

→ knits!!!matching!!!sweaters!!!for all of her friends!!!

→ asked Chiyopipi out while drunk

→ never regretted it though

→ her and aren get so drunk when they go out with the group

→ it’s honestly unreal how much they can drink before passing out

→ has to get carried home

→ wakes up after getting drunk and runs to her class before remembering it’s Sunday

→ her penthouse has the perfect view of the sunset and sunrise and is all she could ask for in life

→ does get lonely so she’s practically living with Chiyo and Aiura

→ once she realized she didn’t like boys she made it her goal to get Saiki and Aiura together

→ people wonder how she has so much time to play matchmaker and volunteer while she’s in premed

→ does her internship at a hospital

→ ends up working there as a neurosurgeon after her Doctorate degree

~~~~~~~~♡~~~~~~~~~~♡~~~~~~~~~~♡~~~~~~~~

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sailorsero · 3 years

Text

nothin’ else like this - nsfw

author: claire (@sailorsero) ship: solo adult bakugou katsuki, dash of adult bakugou x gender neutral reader, side adult kaminari denki x adult shinsou hitoshi prompt/genre: birthday & food kink themed solo play wordcount: 2887 warnings: explicit sexual content, swearing, kink, food fetish/food kink/sploshing a/n: • written for the Bakugou’s Birthday Bash Collaboration - check out the masterlist to see everyone elses!) • shoutout to @foolishfortuna who is writing an amazing food fetish kiribaku that inspired me to write this kink • i do not give permission for this (or any of my writing) to be reposted, by anyone, on this or any other website. please don’t do it! • title from ‘birthday cake’ by rihanna

nothin’ else like this *** pinkyofficial • HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BLASTIEST BOY IN THE GALAXY!!! @explosiongoddynamight LOVE YOU!!! 💥🧡🍹🎂😘 CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU AND GET TURNT WITH MAH BOYSSS!!! BAKUSQUAD BABY!!! 👬🧍‍♀️👬 GO TELL DYNAMIGHT HAPPT BIRTHDAY Y’ALL!!! #dynamight #pinky #birthdaybitch

its_cellophane: happt birthday @explosiongoddynamight pinkyofficial: @its_cellophane suddenly we’re a squad of 4 #cellowho theredriot: Look at us 🥺 can’t wait to celebrate together, love you guys!!! happy birthday bro @explosiongoddynamight ♥️ chargebolt: But can we get #birthdaybitch trending tho?? 🤔

Bakugou tutted, flicking through the photos Mina had posted to Instagram. One from last years Hero Gala, with Tweedle Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest crowded into his personal space - all smiles, suits and champagne flutes. A post-graduation selfie with the woman herself, where he felt so triumphant at moving onto the next stage of his quest to become #1, that he hadn’t even objected to the filter that gave them huge eyelashes and bear ears. A couple from their most recent meetups, candids from their school days (mostly taken without his knowledge, let alone permission; the only one that he was posing for featured a double middle finger that had set Iida off for a good fifteen minutes), one from a photoshoot his publicist had strong armed him into and his friends had christened ‘The Great Bakugou Thirst Trap of 2020’.

Bakugou did not consider himself a sentimental person, or someone who placed a great deal of importance on his own birthday; he hadn’t even made any fuss when you told him you were needed in Osaka for a mission that would take you away two days before he turned 24.

But he couldn’t help but go back to the first photo of the bunch, allowing himself a soft smile he would deny under oath.

His 17th birthday, his first birthday with - ugh - real friends. He remembered rolling his eyes when Racoon Eyes had given her blindingly pink phone to the waitress, yelling at Sparky and Tape Face when they’d shoved themselves into the same side of the booth as the rest of them, growling when Shitty Hair had told him to ‘say ‘cheese’, Bakubro!’.

They all looked so young, pre-undercuts and piercings and late teenage growth spurts. He’d have to remember the (very secret) happiness that night had brought him next time Kirishima annoyed him by stepping mud into his carpet or Kaminari pissed him off by opening his big fat mouth.

Bakugou was drawn from his thoughts by knocking on his office door. Knocking that started out strong for the first hit, dropping noticeably into something more tentative for the rest; probably once they remembered whose door they were knocking on. Kirishima had once told him that the interns drew straws on who had to ‘rattle the beast’s cage’ (interact with Bakugou). He’d know; that idiot had been rattling Bakugou’s cage 25/8 since their first year at Yuuei.

“Come in!”

The door opened far enough for an assistant who had already been by this morning with a sack of birthday cards mixed in with regular fan mail to poke their head through the gap.

“Mr Dynamight, Sir, there’s another delivery for you.”

Bakugou nodded, leaning back in his leather desk chair and stretching out his back. Damn paperwork day, and on his birthday. Fuck, was 24 the age your back started aching from sitting in a goddamn chair?!

The assistant continued as they approached the desk, despite the fact that Bakugou didn’t fucking ask.

“It’s a cake, from a lovely bakery downtown; a delivery person just dropped it off. Their cakes are exquisite, by all accounts.”

They stepped back from the desk once the baby blue box was securely placed down, a white satin ribbon wound expertly around it. An embossed logo Bakugou recognised shone under the overhead light.

The blonde’s quirk made short work of the ribbon, burning it idly with one hand so the rest could be severed with ease.

Bakugou flipped the lid of the box up, letting it fall fully open so he could inspect the contents. He blinked. He blinked again.

It was a cake. A strawberry shortcake, slathered with cream and fresh fruit, and perfectly placed in the centre was a chocolate disc with immaculately piped words.

♡ HAPPY BIRTHDAY DYNAMIGHT ♡

“It’s from your fanclub!”

He let his eyes drift back up to the assistant, who - from what Bakugou could infer from the overly positive, cheery tone he was using - clearly thought Bakugou was seconds away from blasting the expensive gateau across his office, and was trying to avert having to call the janitorial staff back up to this floor. He understood; unbridled, perhaps not-always-reasonable rage was kind of his brand, and the cleaners had already had to make a return journey today after Kaminari had set off several sprinklers making toast.

A cake. Yes, a cake. From his fanclub. A cake from his fanclub. That he was definitely going to eat and nothing else, nothing weird! A cake for him to eat. At home. In private. As soon as possible.

“That’s-” He cleared his throat and tried again. “That’s...great. It looks delicious...yes. Thanks. That’s all. You can...go.”

The assistant looked like they were struggling to process the combination of words that had just left Bakugou, but he was pleased when they decided to take this struggle on the road and left his office with a rushed “Yes, Mr Dynamight, Sir, thank you, you are welcome, good bye!” and the click of the office door.

Bakugou barely had time to drag his fingers through his hair, letting out a breath he had apparently been holding since he’d spoken, before the door opened again.

“Knock knock!” “You know he says it doesn’t count if you say it instead of doing it, especially if you’ve already open- Denki!”

Bakugou groaned as Kaminari shot across the room, peering into the still-open box on the desk. “Ooh, that looks amazing, bro! Can I have some?”

“Hey, Kats! Happy birthday, man!” Kirishima beamed at him before dropping his gaze to the cake Kaminari was currently eyefucking. Bakugou slid the box an inch or two closer to himself. He steadfastly ignored the other blonde’s question.

“Thanks, Ei. What’s Dunce Face doing here - world’s worst birthday present?”

Kirishima snorted, clapping Kaminari on the shoulder. “Ran into him a few blocks away on our patrols; figured we’d catch you now to say ‘happy birthday’ on the actual day instead of waiting for Saturday!”

Kaminari brought out what he probably considered the big guns; his finger guns, that he did for literally everything. “Happy birthday, Blasty! Speaking of your birthday, where did the cake come from? Sent with luuurve from Osaka? Although, that would be weird because you don’t even really like sweets and this won’t keep until Saturday when we get togeth-“

“It’s from my fanclub, Pikachu, and keep your staticky hands off my cake!” Bakugou flipped the lid back down, shielding the cake from view.

“Man, don’t be like that - there’s no way you’re gonna be able to eat all that by yourself!” Kaminari whined.

“Relax, Denks - you know Y/N has a cake ordered for Bakubro’s Belated Birthday Blowout!” Kirishima patted his back consolingly.

“I really wish you’d all stop calling it that. God, letting you guys have their number was a fucking mistake.”

Kaminari looked thoughtful; it was terrifying. “You know, I heard, one time, a hero got given a homemade cake by a fan, and when they took a bite of it, they realised they had a mouth full of the fan’s pubic hair!”

“Dude!” “What the everloving fuck, Dunce Face?!”

Kaminari just beamed, apparently proud of himself for making Bakugou question his life on the anniversary of his birth.

“Firstly, does this cake look fucking homemade to you? Secondly, where the fuck did you read that? ‘Disgusting Stories for Stupid Fucking Idiots Monthly’?”

Kaminari shrugged, nonplussed. “Sero told me.”

“Yes, then. Same thing, pretty much.”

Kirishima interrupted, looking thoughtful. “If you think Bakubro’s cake is full of pubes, why do you want to eat it?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had a mouthful of pubes, bro! ‘Toshi’s more of an au naturel kind of guy…”

Bakugou saw Kirishima’s (painful looking) thinking face intensify, and intervened immediately. “Ei, do not pull at this thread. He-“ Bakugou punctuated with a harsh jab towards the electric hero. “- has told us several times that he’s had Mindfucker’s dirty feet in his mouth before, not to mention all the bodily fluids, and then there’s all the disgusting public places they’ve fucked, and-“

“Don’t kinkshame me, bruh!” Kaminari cut in, sounding lowkey offended, but Bakugou noted the look of pride from before hadn’t diminished, even a little bit.

Bakugou snorted. He constantly shamed Kaminari and his walking corpse of a boyfriend, but that was because they were shamelessly disgusting oversharing nymphomaniacs and someone had to do it. Preferably before one of them creamed their pants in a karaoke bar again. That was Shinkami shaming, not kinkshaming.

He definitely had no room to kinkshame people; not with the plans he had for this cake.

***

Bakugou slammed the door to his apartment shut with his hip and laid the bakery box down on the side table so he could make quick work of his boots and jacket.

God, that had to have been the longest taxi ride of his life. He couldn’t risk the subway with such a precious cargo, so he’d had to sit in the back of the cab next to the box (that he’d had to resist the urge to belt in) and sweat in silence.

Bakugou didn’t know where this kink had come from - maybe he’d watched too much Food Network in his formative years, or passing by the bakery with the amazing smell opposite his junior high school twice a day for three years before going home to jerk it had warped his sexuality; all he knew was, he was gonna fuck this cake.

It was a shame that you were miles and miles away and unavailable for a Facetime like no other; introducing you to his kink had been one of the best weekends of his life, and he was pretty sure - if he knows you as well as he thinks he does - you’d placed an order for two birthday cakes for his belated celebrations.

Maybe you’d got other stuff in mind, too - pie, custard, ice cream, syrups, chocolate, sushi, spaghetti, fruit…and now he was half-hard, still fully dressed and standing in the hallway.

Well, you weren’t here now, but it was his birthday, dammit! He would just have to play alone, and send you some photos afterwards.

Bakugou seized the box and made quick strides until he could place it down on his bedside table.

The comforter flew off of the bed, pooling into a lavish lump on the floor right before the pillows landed one by one on top. The undersheet was last, leaving the rubber sheet beneath exposed to one of the only two people who knew it was there in the first place.

The box made its final move to the middle of the protected mattress, where Bakugou tilted it just enough to be able to coax the cake free with help from gravity and without getting it all over his hands. Not yet…

Bakugou made short work of his clothes, kicking his pants and briefs off impatiently a second before climbing onto the bed and kneeling beside his prize.

Normally, he’d take his time, play around more, have more of a plan, but today, the anticipation had him on a knife edge already. It had been nearly four hours since he’d unwrapped this gift, and he was dying to play with it.

Bakugou leant his knees spread apart, sinking into a squat so he was as close as he could get to his treat.

He was fully hard now, and gave his cock a couple of quick pumps, letting his fist settle loosely from the base down as he took a deep breath and brought his leaking tip to the side of the cake.

His breath left him in a quick rush when the first contact was made; the cream was on the cooler side, and the smooth finish of the outside of the cake was everything he had been missing since he’d last indulged himself like this.

It took all the self control Bakugou had to only push the head in, then pause and take a breath, focusing intently on every sensation as he pushed in as slowly as was physically possible.

The afternoon of waiting felt like edging, so the sensation against his cock, inch by inch, was almost too much as it was not enough.

The sponge was almost as soft and velvety as the cream, but providing some texture and resistance that felt as delicious as the dessert looked.

Bakugou let out the first of many moans as he bottomed out, the air in the bedroom already beginning to smell like sugar and strawberries - just the right side of cloying, and he knew before long it would be so heady he’d be dizzy from it.

He pulled out almost as slowly as he went in, raising himself back up a little and bracing himself with his hands on the other side of the intact cake, leaving him looking over it on his hands and knees.

His reentry at a slightly higher point of the cake wasn’t quite as slow as the first breach, but he’s never been known for his patience.

Bakugou pulled in and out a couple of times, leaving a clear hole to fuck as he began to do just that, his hips begnining to thrust in a steady rhythm.

It didn’t take long for the squishy sounds coming from between his legs to turn into sloppy ones; the delicate cake was beginning to buckle already, the defined layers enveloping his cock becoming mushy around him.

Balancing his weight on one arm, he swiped his now-free hand across the top of the cake, coming away with as generous a handful of cream and strawberry slices as he could without threatening the structural integrity of the cake prematurely.

Bakugou raised his hand and smacked it right into the middle of his chest, before smearing it across his right pec, rubbing purposefully over his nipple as he did so. His hips sped up slightly without intention - or him noticing - as he alternated between smearing the food deeper into his flushed skin, and tugging on his nipple.

He could hear whimpering in his ears and it took a beat or two for Bakugou to realise they were coming from him. Fuck, it all just felt so good.

He blindly grabbed another small handful, this time coming away with some cake mixed into his spoils, before repeating the treatment on his left pec, but with a roughness borne of his increasing desperation.

“Fuck, fuck, shit, I-“ He hissed out a breath, pinching his nipple firmly as he felt the cake begin to collapse inwards, the squelch of the fucking he was giving it echoing in his ears.

A final scoop of the dessert onto his fingers went straight into his mouth, his plush, pink lips parting to accommodate three fingers; he was close.

Bakugou’s balance was starting to go as his orgasm approached, so he pulled his fingers free from his tongue and resumed his position, but beginning to sink lower into the mess he was fucking into his mattress protectors. From his angle, his balls began to slap what was left of the sides of the sinking cake, and the noise that created tore another moan from the blonde.

He could feel the sticky mess coating his crotch and inner thighs, closing his eyes as he lost himself in the feeling of indulging in the kink that turned him on like nothing else, wanting to savour something he knew was nearly over.

“Oh my fuck- ing, shit, oh, fuck-“

Bakugou’s hips were moving at a frantic pace now, chasing a release inside the cake while it still had an inside.

His orgasm had been teetering for a couple of minutes, then came all at once. A shout turned into a long, drawn out moan that was almost a cry, as he spilled his release in one, two, three bursts; biting his lip so hard, he’d discover later he’d drawn blood.

His arms gave out before he’d come back to himself, his lower half landing into the gooey puddle of expensive baking with a splat that would almost have been enough to get him half hard again if his soul hadn’t just shot out of his dick into a cake.

The blonde let out a deep, satisfied sigh, smiling dopily into the shiny, specialist bedsheet. Happy birthday to me, indeed.

Bakugou had only just had the energy to raise himself back onto his hands and knees when he had to find a little more to turn his head towards the door at the sound of it creaking open.

“Awh, did someone get you a birthday cake, babe?”

He nodded. You were back early.

You dropped your duffel on the floor, taking your first step towards the bed as you slid your shirt off with ease.

“Ooh, good - you saved some for me! I’m starving…”

#happy birthday bakugou!!!#my writing #bakugou katsuki #bakugou x reader #bakugou #katsuki #bakugo #bakugo x reader #bakugo katsuki #bakugo katsuki x reader #bakugou katsuki x reader

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