#im a little nervous to post this for some reason but whatever here goes nothing

[casey-aka-cosmo]

NEW AU THINGAMATHING GO

I guess this is an au right now? i mean technically as of now it could be possible because Dark's fate is unconfirmed soo- It's basically just a scenario that I thought of when I was bored in biology class yesterday

This kind of originated from the though of "lol so what if Dark comes back but it's because he's staying with King Orange and Purple" and my autistic brain had to make an entire backstory for it

ok so

In these events, AVA V takes place before Orchid dies and Purple goes on his quest to the End, and it happens soon after Navy leaves. Orchid and Purple just so happen to be taking a walk in the forest soon after Dark is attacked by Second. They help him, not knowing who he even is.

So Dark stays at their house while recovering, he never tells them that he's "The Dark Lord" and simply introduces herself as "Dark". His initial plan is to use Orchid and Purple's hospitality while he gets better (and secretly trains so he can be ready to face Chosen or anyone possibly stronger) Though.. After a couple of months of living with them, he slowly grows closer to the two and becomes more and more reluctant on betraying them. They have a lot of great moments together and he and Purple start becoming very close friends.

-Side note: I have a headcanon that all the hollow heads become attatched to people really easily, hence Second being enraged by his friends' processes being ended in AVA IV, and Chosen being quite protective over Sec after only two brief encounters It happened for Dark too but he just spent most of their time in denial-

After Orchid's death, Dark tries his best to be there for Purple, but ends up revealing who he is and flees.

And so avm takes place and Purple moves in with Orange in the end.

Then the wanted posters show up.

Dark had gone into hiding for the time being - if he exposed himself he would probably join Chosen on those posters - but Purple managed to find her. Purple offers to help him and ends up telling him their little experience with Minecraft.

So Dark stays with Purple and whatever happens happens idk

IM WRITING A FANFICTION ABOUT THIS BTW the first chapter will be pre-avm and the second will be post-avm and its gonna take a while because woah what im proof reading a fanfic for once

[weebsinstash]

Honestly valentino is such a dramatic bitch that if you did ever leave, saying fuck it you’ll figure it out as you go, he’d lose his shit. Torn between worried and pissed and it would be so delicious for those who love runaway readers

Protags/FLs/Readers what have you that run away are my bread and butter and i need to do more running away fics. Funny enough I have a few ideas in my drafts but homie there's so much to dig through at this point 💀

Imagine setting a really polite two weeks notice on his desk (that you don't really owe him) about how you're moving and getting another job, and you're extremely nervous because he doesn't say anything after you leave it in his office, and he waits until your literal very last shift when you already have some sort of other arrangement set up or trying to when he finally says "so what the fuck is this about you trying to quit?"

I imagine so many different ways he's shitty to you. Ripping up your letter right in front of you, catching it alight with a lit cigarette before dropping it into a trashcan, merely crumpling it up and throwing it on the floor to show you your feelings and your wants are absolutely nothing to him, he really finds it so funny you were just going to try and leave? As far as he's concerned you have absolutely no reason to leave and it would have only negative consequences if you did. And considering he was already a grown ass man and has been dead for a few decades, I can imagine him acting like you're just some dumb little girl, just some cute little bimbo with all her big stupid ideas that doesn't know how to do shit compared to him.

Not to mention the grief you'd catch if you ran away and had to be rescued, say a rival of Val's has had his boys watching all his lil errand runners and knows you fetch his shit sometimes and they scoop you up to ransom you back, not knowing you've ran away and to your knowledge your former Overlord boss has forgotten about you. Meanwhile Valentino goes to do a drug deal or whatever mafia dealings he does and, oh what a surprise, there you are, tied up and gagged with your big watery eyes looking up at him in fear while also silently begging him for help while he's developing a rager and realizing you look pretty cute when you're bound and helpless. I've even thought of like, he saves you from being kidnapped or like has you resuscitated from overdosing or trying to kill yourself and he slaps you with the bill just so you owe him a debt he can slap interest on and keep you indebted to him for literally forever. And if you don't show up when he summons you, it's just a couple of texts to his Goon Group Chat and an order of "bring this bratty lil shit back asap" before you're being dragged back by his henches

Outwardly he'd try and act tough but we all know Val doesn't take his little "breakups" well. At first he says you're just a loser and he doesn't need you, doing his typical self-soothing denial routine of going to the salon, buying himself new things, posting to social media about how everyone is useless and he doesn't need them, like what he does when he breaks up wirh Vox before getting back together.

Homeboys up on here like "mothpimp posted at 2am: bitches ain't shit but hoes and tricks"

hellraiser42069, sending a photo of a familiar certain someone from a distance: I was just at the corner of 6th and mulberry, ain't this your bitch big v

mothpimp, already dispatching some of his lackeys to retrieve you within .00001 seconds: pfff that's stupid im a pimp not a simp 🙄 I don't chase no one 😤"

You finally see him again and he's clearly been pampering himself which is a dead giveaway for how you've gotten under his skin and he's all "look who came crawling back" when he knows full damn well he had to kidnap you to even have a conversation and fully refuses to acknowledge he's being legitimately creepy because you aren't even making him money like Angel or his other workers,you're just like. An unrequited crush almost. A little pet/companion/future fleshlight.

It's common with pimps and sex trafficking to force the workers to get tattoos or certain identifying marks of ownership to designated who they belong to but I imagine depending on the kind of story you've craving that Val's version of this, for the Reader, is basically having you constantly wearing things he's given you if not outright deciding what you wear and look like 24/7. That big hunky hellhound at the bar thinks you look cute? His pickup line dies in his throat when you spin around and you're wearing a choker with a big red bejeweled heart and he instantly knows that if he so much as says hi to you that there's a particularly aggravated moth sitting right across the room ready to shoot him dead out of sheer possessiveness

[20rubixcubes]

enhypen as baristas

maknae line x gn!reader (comedy, fluff, mild angst)

~1.2k words ea (headcanons)

warnings: cursing

a/n: i just wrote this for funsies, please be mindful that there is heavy swearing in these headcanons (particularly in ni-ki’s part), so if that isn’t your taste, perhaps skip this one! other than that, the rest of this is pretty chill, so i hope you enjoy my shitposting. oh, and lmk if you like this enough to want part two with the hyung line 👀 just maybe i’ll do it

sunoo

was only recently employed as an afternoon shift employee and was both shocked and distressed after discovering the cafe didnt have an instagram

“what do you MEAN you dont have instagram??? how do we post selfies???” “sunoo we sell coffee” “NO ONE WANTS COFFEE JUNGWON THEY WANT CUTE BARISTAS”

starts an instagram for the cafe and takes aesthetic pictures of his latte art

his selfies get way more likes though

speaking of his latte art, he masters the skill like a week in and everyone else is incredibly jealous

their jealousy wears off when jungwon tells him that he has to start training the new apprentices

pretends he forgot how to do it for like a week but it hurts his pride so he begrudgingly agrees to train the apprentices instead

in his free time he can be found snapping pictures around the shop, eventually expanding to taking pictures of the others too

“sunghoon stop moving you look cute and i need to take a photo” “sunoo im holding hot milk” “does it look like i care beauty is pain sweetie”

other than that, he sometimes sits in the booths to snack on muffins and do his homework since he only comes in to the shop for about an hour during his school lunch break and on the weekends

you meet sunoo after applying for an apprenticeship, wanting to get a job before you finish high school and start college

seen as though jungwon looks like the boss, you approach him, nervous for your first shift

“i’m here for the apprenticeship program?” “oh yeah! one second!”

he trots off to the back room, leaving you standing awkwardly in the middle of the cafe

“SUNOO GET OFF JAY YOU HAVE AN APPRENTICE TO TRAIN” “*gasp* YOU MADE ME SMUDGE HIS LIPSTICK I'M QUITTING” “NO YOURE NOT GET OUT THERE RIGHT NOW”

the yelling pauses before who you presume is sunoo stomps through the back room door, a scowl on his face

he spots you, groaning loudly “are you the apprentice?”

“yes” you say meekly, guilty for seeming to ruin his shift

he gestures you to follow him behind the counter, pulling an apron out from under the sink and shoving it to your chest

its clear that hes pissed, yanking his tools out from the cupboards as you tie your apron behind your back quietly

“have you made coffee before?” “only instant coffee” “oh fantastic”

he seems to be getting more irritated by the minute before he takes a deep breath and starts directing you around the machines

“to do the art, you angle the mug like this and draw with the milk, but it wont show until it reaches the top so dont go crazy”

as if its nothing, he demonstrates by drawing a perfect swan in the milk, setting the latte down and dusting his hands off

“wow… thats amazing” “i know right? no one here appreciates me enough” “they should! this is the best i’ve ever seen”

he grins at your compliment, nodding with satisfaction and sending a wave of relief over you as you notice he looks less angry with you now

“um… im sorry if i interrupted whatever you were doing before” “oh, that? i was just doing jay’s makeup” “you like makeup? me too! i’ve never seen a boy interested in it though, thats really cool” you smile genuinely at him as he blinks in surprise

“really? you think its cool?” “definitely!”

you watch the gears turn in his head before he smiles widely, seeming to have come to some kind of revelation as he nods

“i like you.”

your cheeks heat up immediately, but before you can say anything in return, he starts calling out for jungwon, leaning over the counter

“JUNGWOOON, CAN WE HAVE THIS ONE?”

“well thats up to them” he looks up from the table hes wiping down, adjusting his apron as he walks over to the counter

“so youre all finished with the course? i hope sunoo wasnt too much for you”

“i wasnt! anyways, youre employed, okay?” “sunoo stop theyre just an apprentice”

he groans loudly, irritated once more as he whips his head to you

“you have to work here, ok? i said so, so come back and apply or i’ll be mad!”

you laugh at his antics and smile “i’ll see what i can do”

after jungwon pries sunoo off of your arm, you return your apron and leave the shop with a wave

“YOU BETTER COME BACK!” is the last thing you hear as you step out onto the street, the bell ringing to signal your exit

a week later, you return to the shop, slightly anxious that your new friend(?) might have forgotten about you

but this is quickly washed away when you hear a high pitched squeal from the counter

“JUNGWON! HURRY THE FUCK UP AND GET THE FORMS THEYRE HERE”

you laugh as you approach the counter, a teasing tone on your voice

“are you supposed to be talking to your boss like that?” “whats he gonna do? fire me? im the only one who can make coffee in this place” “true”

soon enough, jungwon comes out of his hiding place, his hands clasped together

“im really sorry to ask this but please, you have to work here, sunoo hasnt shut up about you all week and i dont know if i can stand him anymore, i’ll even pay you extra please dear god”

you give sunoo a look, only receiving an innocent smile and puppy eyes back

“sure, i’ll take the job!”

jungwon sighs in relief as sunoo begins jumping up and down, yelling something about having his own little baby to take care around the shop as you groan, covering your blushing face

once you have your hours established (sunoo made you take the same as all of his, but you did the nights instead of the afternoons on the weekends, to his displeasure), you get straight to working

… well, sort of

it was hard to get work done with sunoo pestering you around the clock

“you think im cute right?” “yes sunoo” “even though i have bags under my eyes? “yes sunoo” “you promise?” “yes sunoo” “good”

admittedly he is slightly of help when it comes to the more fiddly parts of making coffee, but every other second of the day he seems to be flirting nonstop

“can i kiss you?” “no” “why not” “sunoo we’ve been over this” “BEING AT WORK ISNT A VALID EXCUSE”

worn down after his incessant yelling all day, you find yourself snapping faster than usual

“we’re not even dating, sunoo! why would i kiss you!? just stop playing with my feelings already!”

for the first time since you’ve known him, sunoo goes quiet

“why not?”

“what are you talking about now sunoo?” “why arent we dating”

now its your turn to go quiet

“do you not like me?” “what? no, sunoo-” before you can reason with him, you watch him quickly rush away from you around the counter, slamming the break room door behind him with tears in his eyes

cursing to yourself, you ensure there are no customers to serve before quickly darting after him

after looking around a bit, you hear sniffling from the supply closet and knock on the door quietly

“sunoo?” “leave me alone!”

you sigh, taking a step back and turning on your heel to face the opposite direction, running a hand through your hair as you think

you spot a dog bed at your feet, suddenly remembering that jake usually keeps his dog supplies covered in dog hair in the closet

“sunoo arent you allergic to dogs?”

“... *sniffle* y-yeah”

after you persuade him to come out by mentioning that his face is going to get all puffy, he steps out, eyes glued to the floor as he looks away from you in shame

placing a hand on his shoulder, you speak to him softly

“sunoo, look at me”

he does, hesitantly, his eyes red and watery and, as you said, puffy and inflamed

despite this, you smile

“i do like you back”

his eyes start watering again, your heart skipping a beat in fear that you had said something wrong

“e-even if my face is all puffy and gross?” his voice wobbles, the tears filling his eyes giving him a sense of vulnerability as you sigh

“yes, even if your face is all puffy and gross”

he smiles at that, shutting his eyes cutely as you press a kiss to his cheek

“and theres your kiss”

he whines “i was supposed to do that!”

“you can do it after we finish work, okay?” “WORK STILL ISNT A VALID EXCUSE…. but maybe today just because i need to ice my face” “yeah you really should, can you even see?” “no not at all” “great”

jungwon

the previous manager left suddenly and jungwon was given a semi-forced promotion as he was the only employee with at least half of a brain cell

poor boy is stressed 24/7

doesnt get paid enough for this

“hey jungwon we ran out out of coffee bea-” “I ORDERED NEW ONES FOUR HOURS AGO NOW SHUT UP IM TRYING TO MAKE SURE THE BOSS DOESNT FIND JAKE’S DOG SHELTER IN THE SUPPLY CLOSET”

goes through hell every day just to make sure the others dont burn the cafe down

is supposed to be on the morning shift but he stays until the afternoon

in his rare moments of downtime, he likes to go around and water the hanging plants around the shop

is that one vine where the mom listens to nicki minaj for the first time and screams “no” over and over whenever ni-ki gets control of the cafe music

“RIKI NISHIMURA WHAT IS THAT ON THE SPEAKERS” “ITS OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR ARIANA GRANDE” “TURN IT OFF THIS IS NOT PG13” “SHUT THE FUCK UP GRANDPA”

is only 16 but acts like a 32-year-old father going through a midlife crisis

lifts boxes of supplies all day yet his joints are famously brittle

“hey jungwon did you hear glass shattering too?” “sorry jay that was my back” “you need to invest in physical therapy” “maybe if i wasnt paying for property damage every other week 😊”

you meet jungwon when you drop into the cafe for a croissant and a coffee before your class starts

usually you come at night maybe an hour before closing so you had never seen him before, but here you were watching this cute but clearly stressed boy scramble around the shop carrying boxes of supplies to the back

trying not to be creepy, you sigh, turning back to your phone after watching him for a solid five minutes straight

as you do, you hear a crash coming from what you assume is the supply closet followed by a disgruntled groan

pausing, looking around at the other customers typing away at their laptops and waiting for another staff member to go check on the boy, you stand up as you discern that he must be the only one working and hesitantly go to see if he’s okay

“hello? are you okay?” you peer through the door, your eyes widening at the sight of him rubbing his head with a wince on his features, supplies strewn around him at his feet and a box knocked over beside him

“ah… um, yes, i’m okay, sorry if i disturbed you with that noise…” he smiles bashfully, pulling himself back onto his feet

“do you need help with all of that stuff?”

he opens his mouth to protest, not wanting to have to ask for help from a customer, but after seeing the amount of crap off of the shelves, he realises that there is no way in hell he’s going to be able to clean all of it up alone before his shift ends

“um… is that okay?” his cheeks flush with embarrassment as you smile

“sure!”

over the next couple of hours you two establish a little system of bagging the spilt supplies and passes them to eachother to put in boxes, chatting never ceasing as you discover that you actually have a lot of things in common

“since you work here, what’s your favourite kind of coffee?” “i like lattes… i cant stand bitter things” “me too! my friend drinks espressos though” “ditch them”

you also find out that he started being homeschooled after becoming the manager as he doesnt have time to attend normal school

the both of you find yourselves laughing nonstop, having fun in eachother’s company

so much so that you end up late for school

“oh shit! i completely missed my first class”

guilty for making you late, he offers to take you

“i can take you?” “you drive?” “well….. not exactly”

once sunoo and ni-ki arrive to care for the shop, he takes you out to the car park, pulling a spare helmet out of his backpack and securing it on your head before giving your head a pat as he gets onto his scooter

“you look cute” “i look like a bug” “a cute bug”

once you get to school, face red after having to hold onto him the entire time, you hop off and pass him the helmet with a shy smile

“thanks for driving me” you mutter, brushing off imaginary dirt from your shirt as you do your best to avoid eye contact, your face still flushed and heart racing

is it possible to develop a crush on someone this quickly???

jungwon is so cute that he makes it possible, you surmise

“of course” he mirrors your nervous smile, a blush finding its way to his own cheeks

as you bow and spin on your heel to start walking inside, he stops you

“wait!”

“what is it?” you turn to him, your heart still thundering against your ribcage at the fond expression he has plastered on his features

“actually… can i pick you up? after school?”

when you pause, your face growing hotter and hotter, he begins to sputter

“i-i’m really sorry, its fine if not! that was way too forward, i just really like you and- oh god that was even more forward- um-” “okay” “yeah i’m sorry that was a stupid questio- wait, what?”

before he can say anything else, your smile widens

“i’ll see you later, okay? don’t be late!” you wave, skipping into the building with a fluffy feeling in your chest

with an awkward wave, jungwon watches you leave, his mouth wide open in shock before a grin replaces his expression

getting back into his seat, the lovestruck smile never leaving his face as he drives off, he begins to count down the minutes until he gets to see you again

ni-ki

works the afternoon shift

technically an apprentice but he gets paid and has been there forever so basically an employee at this point

or he would be if he ever actually made coffee

he sits with the work phone all morning and chooses the music

perpetually dancing to 7 rings by ariana grande (look up his cover. youre welcome in advance)

jungwon and jay scream at him to at least do the mopping to which he complies, but not without performing a whole ass concert with it

once they saw him twirl and dip the mop

eventually they just told him to go back to curating the music because he was scaring customers away and they were losing business

he was horrible at cleaning anyway

“hey jungwon i think i got window cleaner in your plant” “im firing you” “i dont even go here” “STOP QUOTING MEAN GIRLS AND FIX THE DAMAGE YOUVE CAUSED”

you meet ni-ki while youre drinking your coffee at a booth and he plays your favourite obscure indie song so you have to compliment his taste and get to talking

he plays your favourite songs whenever youre in the shop and audibly hisses at anyone who tries to change it

makes choreography to said songs at home and tries to impress you by casually belting it out by your booth

when you compliment his dancing and ask how long hes been practicing that choreography hes all like “oh hahaha it was just casual freestyle super easy peasy”

(hes been practicing for two weeks)

thought he was being super obvious by doing these things but apparently nOT because you have not caught the hint at all and hes getting impatient

asks for advice from the others begrudgingly

“give them flowers” “jay thats so boring” “do you want to use one of my dogs? everyone loves dogs” “wtf jake since when have you had more than one dog” “make them latte art with a heart on it” “sunoo ive literally never made a coffee in my life” “why dont you just ask them out like a normal perso-” “shut the fuck up grandpa thats so weird no one does that”

eventually he settles on sunoo’s idea of making you latte art and he embarks on his journey to make his first coffee

rather than focusing on the actual taste, sunoo tells him to just do whatever so that he can show him how to do the art

“why is it green ni-ki” “you said to do whatever” “and your first idea was to make poison? idk if this is the best idea if youre trying to ask this person out” “shut up and pass me the milk”

burns his hands on the steaming milk jug at least fifteen times and ends up with so many bandaids on his fingers

despite how stiff the bandages are on his hands, he eventually manages to make a sort-of legible heart

“it looks like africa” “have you ever had steamed milk poured on your eyes sunoo?”

poor ni-ki waits for you all day, his heart leaping every time the bell on the door rings only to roll his eyes when it isnt you

he even stays past his shift so youd better let him take you on a date or hes quitting

when you finally arrive he trips over the bucket at his feet he was using to clean and spills dirty water all over his pants

“omg ni-ki are you okay what happened” *five octaves higher* “NOTHING I'M COMPLETELY FINE WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT”

by the time he’s finished cleaning himself up (and by that i mean fixing his hair in the mirror for twenty minutes) he takes a deep breath and walks over to you, somewhat cold latte in hand

“um,” he clears his throat, his face growing red as he slides the mug towards you “i made this for you”

“aw thanks ni-ki! why is it green” “........its matcha?”

youre slightly suspicious but you look back to the mug and slowly realise that the “drawing” slightly resembles a heart, smiling a little bit to yourself

when you look back to him, youre a little confused as to why hes just standing there

“is something wrong?” you press the mug to your lips, taking a sip

“o-uh uh actually, i wanted to ask if… if you would uh maybe sort of go on a date with me”

you can only smile

“yes, but…”

his heart starts beating faster, watching you anxiously

you stand up, taking the notepad and pen from his apron pocket and scribbling your phone number

“only if you promise to learn how to make actual coffee” you wink, handing him the notepad and sauntering out of the shop

hes stood there dumbstruck, stars in his eyes at the slip of paper in his hand

but then he realises: he has a new mission

rushing to the back room, he slams the door open

“grandpa, i need you to teach me how to make coffee right now” “literally why do i pay you”

with your promise in mind, the others see him work more diligently at the counter than they ever have before

“wow youre actually working today?” “shut up i need to figure out how to do this butterfly before i pry my eyes out with a fork” “haha funny joke ni-” “did i stutter”

at the end of the week, he forces heeseung (the cafe’s best coffee maker) and sunoo (the cafe’s best latte artist) to judge his latte

“this is… surprisingly good” heeseung peers into the mug, smiling at the swan ni-ki created with the latte foam as sunoo grumbles “dont tell me im gonna have to start competing with this kid, it probably tastes gross” “it tastes amazing too” “im quitting”

with his coworkers’ notes in mind, he finally works up the nerve to send you a quick message telling you to come into the shop

when you arrive the next day, ni-ki greets you and immediately gets to work, making sure to stand as close as humanly possible to your booth so he can show off his newly acquired coffee making skills

with you only inches away, he does make a mistake and spill milk on his shirt after looking at you and not his hands for a second too long, but you decide to give him the benefit of the doubt when he sets the mug in front of you

“wow! this heart is perfect!”

you smile, looking up to him “did you seriously learn how to do latte art just so you could take me on a date?” “… y-yeah, and?”

you can only chuckle as you press the mug to your lips, readying yourself to drink liquid dirt…

“this is… really good!” you grin, taking another sip and putting the mug down on its saucer

“i think you’ve definitely earned yourself a date… or two”

at this news, ni-ki’s face lights up, shoving the urge to scream down his throat before nodding stiffly to try and contain his excitement with a strained “cool” escaping his lips

“are you okay ni-ki?” “yes just give me one second”

he quickly scrambles to the break room, a moment of silence wafting through the store before a shrill scream fills the air

eyes wide, you turn to jay, who had been manning the till, after hearing him burst into laughter

“what is he doing?”

“we told him the freezer was sound proof”

[dweetwise]

day 16: bad day

prompt from: whumptober (tho i misread the title and can’t post to the challenge but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ i still like it) pairing: felix x ace notes: felix’s day goes from bad to neutral to Nice (tm). also everyone except david is a shitty person in this lmao. warnings: implied emotional abuse, implied cheating, threat of violence word count: 2900

It was official; this was the worst day of Felix’s life.

It shouldn’t have been. He should have been happy, maybe a little shocked and nervous, but definitely excited. Not anxious, scared and downright spiteful like he felt right now.

His girlfriend was pregnant. They hadn’t been trying, but she was excited to tell him regardless, already thinking of baby names and giving Felix no room to voice any of his doubts. He knew this was what he claimed he’d always wanted, what he knew his parents wanted for him, to continue the family name since he was the last of his line.

He took another swig of the foul-tasting beer and wondered if she’d done it on purpose. She’d been not-so-subtly hinting at marriage for months, and Felix had always brushed her off. Maybe this was her taking matters into her own hands, forcing Felix to commit to her or drag down both his family name and professional image for having a child out of wedlock.

He didn’t want to marry her because she always seemed way more fond of his money than Felix himself, and he didn’t want to have kids because…

Well. He hated children.

He probably should have brought up that particular piece of information sooner, but he wasn’t sure it would have even made a difference. Not to his parents, not to his girlfriend, and certainly not to the ungodly amount of distant relatives and business associates who kept bugging him about settling down and starting a family.

Because, for some reason, dedicating the last twenty years of his life to doing what other people wanted him to do wasn’t enough.

He’d stupidly believed it would get better. That the twelve-hour work days and countless all-nighters on uninspiring projects would eventually pay off, when in reality all it had lead to were more boring projects. He’d thought buying his girlfriend expensive gifts and taking her on weekly dates followed by the obligatory weekly sex would make them fall in love, but instead she was pushing him into commitments he wasn’t ready for.

He downed the rest of the beer and tried to numb out the suffocating feeling of being trapped. He was doomed to keep living his shitty life exactly the way others dictated, and there was nothing he could do to change his fate.

Maybe that’s why he’d chosen this bar. It wasn’t the usual high-end, after-hour cocktail bar next to his office where everyone would recognize him. It was a shitty sports bar owned and frequented by foreigners, where nobody would approach him to congratulate him on the “good news” after his girlfriend e-mailed his entire contacts list in her excitement.

He debated getting another beer, maybe finally being able to pick one that didn’t taste like piss. God, how sad was his life that the biggest act of rebellion he could come up with was getting drunk on cheap beer in a bad part of town?

Felix clutched the glass tighter in his hand, frustrated at his life but also at himself, how he was unable to do anything but play right into everyone else’s plans. Fuck, he needed to do something different, something he’d never even considered would be in the realm of possibilities for him. But what?

He looked around the bar, seeing a group of backpackers animatedly chatting in what sounded like Spanish. He could go travelling, but that wouldn’t accomplish much except buy him a little bit of time. Not to mention his girlfriend would guilt him until he let her come along.

He could always get blackout drunk and puke his guts out in the bathroom. Maybe get into a bar fight. Try to get his hands on some drugs. Hire a prostitute.

Unfortunately none of those things seemed even remotely more thrilling than the bland beer he’d been drinking the entire night.

Felix sighed and buried his face into his hands. For forty years, he’d kept telling himself he wasn’t like everyone else, that he’d do something meaningful in his life, that he was a risk taker and not a conformer.

And he still would; he just didn’t know what. If he only got a sign—

The door to the bar slammed open and Felix snapped his head up from the noise, his table rattling from the impact of the door hitting the wall.

There was a man, his grey hair and cheap suit both wet from the autumn rain, clutching something under his arm while panting like he’d just run a half marathon. He hurried to close the door, and Felix didn’t mean to stare, but it was the most exciting thing to happen all night.

The man caught Felix’s eye and gave a quick grin.

“You saw nothing,” he offered before running up to the bar.

“Don’t tell me ya fuckin’—” the bartender started, clear annoyance on his features.

“Oops, gotta run, I was never here!” the man offered good-naturedly before hopping over the bar and disappearing into the back.

“Ace for fuck’s sake!” the bartender cursed, yelling at the doorway to what had to be a back room or kitchen. Still, he made no move to follow him, instead sighing in agitation and aggressively started cleaning a couple of pint glasses.

Felix realized three things at once; one, the new customer screamed trouble. Two, he clearly knew the bartender. And three, Felix was intrigued.

He made his way to the bar with his empty glass, placing a ten euro bill on the worn wood that earned him a fresh glass of beer in only a couple of seconds. He appreciated that the bartender hadn’t tried to make small talk during the entire evening, and lamented the fact that he had to break the silence.

“Who is your friend?” Felix asked, trying to ignore the self-consciousness that always surfaced when he had to subject the world to his extremely obvious German accent.

“'Friend' is a strong word,” the bartender huffed in annoyance, though it seemed to be directed at the person they were talking about and not Felix. “'A pest who keeps comin' back like a boomerang no matter how many times I kick 'im out' sounds more fitting.”

Felix hummed in acknowledgement and sipped at his beer, deciding to sit down at the bar instead of returning to his table.

“He seems interesting,” Felix mused, trying to fish more information about the man.

Instead of humoring him, the bartender stopped cleaning the glasses and gave him an incredulous stare.

“You've gotta be fucking kidding me,” he deadpanned. “The hell's a guy like you see in a rat like 'im?”

“That wasn't what I meant,” Felix insisted, staring at his glass in embarrassment. He was just curious, he wasn't… interested, at least not that way. God, why could he never communicate properly? This is why he never tried anything new.

He heard the bartender sigh long and loud, like this wasn't the first time he'd had to put up with a similar situation.

“Look mate, whatever yer thinkin', don't,” he offered, like that was supposed to help Felix at all. “Guy's way more trouble than 'es worth, an' he sure as hell ain't here to make friends.”

Felix didn't have time to reply, not that he even knew what he would have said, before the door slammed open once again and heavy footsteps stomped into the bar.

“Oi!” the bartender shouted in annoyance. “Don't go draggin' mud into my bar!"

“Where is he?” one of the new patrons demanded in German, and his voice was threatening enough to make Felix glance over his shoulder at the new arrivals.

He saw a group of four men that looked like bad news, their cheap clothing and poorly made tattoos making Felix think of some lowly local gang.

“Read the sign, mate,” the bartender scoffed, pointing at a metal plaque in the style of a road sign that said ‘Service in English only’.

“What a fucking moron,” one of the thugs commented, not even attempting to switch languages.

“We know he's here!” the man at the front barked out and proceeded to slam a fist against the bar.

“I got no bloody clue what yer talkin' about!” the bartender claimed. “But if yer gonna come to my bar an' start a fight, so help me—”

"Let's just beat him up!” one of the men was getting impatient.

“For the last time, where is he!?” one of the thugs surged forward and grabbed the bartender by his collar.

“You've got the fuckin' wrong place, I dun know shit about what ya even want!” the bartender, to his credit, didn't even bat an eye. Then again, it looked like he could easily hold his own in a fight.

Felix heard a gasp and noticed one of the Spanish kids cower closer to the corner they were sitting in, observing the scene with fear in her eyes.

The tension in the air seemed like it was about to snap, and instead of making Felix want to bolt into the safety of his mansion, it made his adrenaline start pumping.

This was what he needed. A thrill.

“You heard the man,” Felix raised his voice, finally turning to address the group. “You're in the wrong place.”

“Shut the fuck up, this doesn't involve you!” one of them eloquently responded.

“It started involving me when you barged in and ruined my night,” Felix explained calmly despite feeling his palms start sweating from nervousness, years of faking an unphased persona finally coming to use.

“Okay, the fuck's your problem!?” the guy who seemed to be the leader demanded, finally letting go of the bartender in favor of looming over Felix threateningly.

“I said,” he emphasized, slowly lifting his pint glass to take a sip of his drink and flash his ring with the family insignia. “You've got the wrong place.”

There was a moment of silence when all Felix heard was his own heart beating in his ears, keeping his expression neutral and looking at the thugs like they were nothing more than a fleck of dirt on his expensive suit. Hopefully, they'd recognize the symbol, even if the Richters hadn’t been involved in the local underworld for years, not after the disappearance of his parents.

“The fuck is he on about?” one of the men, who looked to be the youngest, demanded. “Let's just beat them both up and—”

“Shut up,” the leader barked, glancing at Felix fleetingly. “We seem to have gotten lost on the way.”

Felix couldn’t help the smug smile.

“Happens to the best of us,” he said.

The group slowly started slinking out of the bar without further complaints, with Felix's eyes following them the entire time as if daring them to protest.

“Sorry for bother,” one of them even offered to the bartender in questionable English before the door closed after them.

“I'll be damned,” the bartender huffed and crossed his arms, giving Felix a look that could generously be described as somewhat impressed. Felix offered a shaky smile in return before he focused all his attention on staring at the surface of the bar and trying not to tremble from fear as the adrenaline left his body. He hoped it wasn’t obvious he was taking unnecessarily deep breaths and that cold sweat was running down his back under the suit.

That had been the most idiotic thing he had ever done. It was stupid, it was dangerous, and unnecessary and—

And he'd never felt such a rush of absolute victory before.

There was a thud as a beer was placed in front of him, and he glanced up to see the bartender smirking at him.

“It's on the house,” he said in a heavily accented but otherwise fluent German.

Well. It seemed this night was just full of surprises.

Soon after, Felix found himself sitting in a corner booth nursing his two beers. For the first time in what felt like forever, he felt good, and it wasn’t just from the alcohol buzzing in his system.

He’d proved to himself that he had balls. He was one wrong move away from ending up in a bar fight, and even that thought didn't make him cower in fear like it would have before. Despite never being in a fight before, his confidence was soaring, and he liked to imagine him and the bartender could have easily taken the four thugs.

And then his night only got better as a handsome stranger slid down into the opposite side of the booth.

“So, King told me you saved my ass just now,” the man said with a charming smile, casually leaning closer and propping his chin up on his elbow like they were old friends catching up.

It took Felix longer than he'd like to recognize the man as the one that caught his attention earlier. Without the baseball cap, sunglasses and cheap suit jacket, he cleaned up rather well, dressed in a simple light pink button-up and jeans. Slightly messy, silver hair was a stark contrast to the mischievous brown eyes and almost youthful, cocky smirk on his face.

Felix suddenly realized why the bartender thought he was interested in more than just the man's colorful personality.

“I suppose that's true,” Felix said after a way longer silence than was socially acceptable, but his companion was courteous not to mention anything.

“Well, whether you meant to or not, you have my thanks!” the man grinned good-naturedly. “I would have bought you a beer, but I see David's already got you covered,” he added, gesturing to the two pints where Felix was still working through his first.

“Yes, it's…” Felix started, debating whether he should be honest about his distaste for the drink or not. Fuck it, drunk and brave had worked earlier. “A shame it doesn't make it taste any better.”

The man barked out a laugh and Felix smiled at the success of his joke.

“I know, right?” his companion snickered. “I keep telling him to mix it up, maybe get some nice wines too, but he insists on importing that awful stuff the Brits call beer.”

Felix smiled politely, not knowing what to add to the statement. Regardless of what the bartender—David?—had claimed before, the two definitely seemed to be friends.

“I'm sorry, where are my manners!” the man suddenly seemed to realize, offering his hand over the table. “I'm Ace.”

“Felix,” Felix replied, returning the handshake firmly, like his father and numerous career coaches had taught him.

“So, Felix,” Ace continued, retracting his hand but leaning over the table even further. “What brings you here? I think I'd remember seeing someone like you before.”

Was that flirting? It had been so long since anyone had showed any interest in Felix, he couldn’t even recognize what was just casual conversation, too used to business world small talk about the stock market and someone's secretary's family.

“I needed a change,” Felix said, before realizing he probably shouldn't be revealing too much. “—of scenery,” he hastily added.

Ace regarded him silently for a few heartbeats and Felix gulped down some beer to try not to fret under the scrutinizing gaze.

“Scenery, huh?" Ace hummed. "Seen anything you like so far?”

Okay, that had to be flirting. Right? Felix stared at Ace's face, but the other wasn’t giving anything away. And Felix thought he was good a keeping a straight face.

“Maybe,” he answered simply, keeping eye contact much longer than appropriate on purpose.

Ace didn't look away and Felix wondered if he was the only one who noticed the tension in the air.

He always sucked at flirting, even in his native tongue, and now he had to do it in broken English. He thought he'd been pretty obvious, but he still wasn’t sure if Ace was just being friendly. Maybe he wasn’t even into men.

Well, to be fair Felix didn't think he was either, university time experimentation aside. There was something about this particular night, like he was desperate to prove to himself that he was still capable of making decisions for himself.

He’d always thought he wouldn't cheat, but he also knew that if Ace offered, he wasn’t going to say no. If this was the only thing in his life he still had control over, he was going to make the most of it, and he no longer cared if that made him a bad person.

“You know, I've stayed in a bunch of different hotels in the area while I've been here,” Ace mentioned out of the blue, and Felix furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. “There's a pretty good one just down the street.”

Felix swallowed, at last realizing what the other was getting at.

“Really?” he asked, trying to mask his suddenly surfacing nerves.

“Yup. Kinda cozy, very… discreet,” Ace chirped casually, like he was talking about the weather and not propositioning a stranger.

Felix cleared his throat and shoved a hand in his pocket, managing to fish out a crumpled twenty euro bill despite his sweaty palms. He slapped the money on the table, hoping the tip would convey his gratitude to David for setting him up for the best night of his life.

Finally, he stood up from the booth and offered Ace a nervous smile that probably made it glaringly obvious just how eager he was.

“Lead the way."

[ehstarwar]

flesh stays no farther reason (2/6)

It takes three weeks for him to contact her again.

A one word text after only one night of fucking (albeit, glorious, life-altering, religion-defying fucking) shouldn’t make her heart flutter the way it does now.

-

Five times Ben looks for Rey and the one time she finds him.

-

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 4.7K

Read on AO3

2

rank sweat of an enseamed bed

It takes three weeks for him to contact her again.

She’s just gotten home from what is, quite possibly, the most draining shift she’s had this year, when the notification brightens her phone, and subsequently, her day.

From u/KyL0_R3N

Hi.

A one word text after only one night of fucking (albeit, glorious, life-altering, religion-defying fucking) shouldn’t make her heart flutter the way it does now. 

From u/R3yoflight

hey

From u/KyL0_R3N

How have you been?

From u/R3yoflight

good, for the most part

work sucks, but thats just the way it goes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

hbu?

meeting go well??

From u/KyL0_R3N

I’m glad you’re doing good. Sorry about work. 

I know how that can be, unfortunately.

The meeting did go well. Thank you for asking.

I’m sorry I didn’t call you after our night together.

Rey stares down at her phone, not knowing how to respond. 

The morning after their night together was a point of contention in Rey’s mind. On one hand, it was a hook-up. An old-fashioned, wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am hook-up that just so happened to be between two thoroughly compatible people. They had barely even talked to one another. She hadn’t made fun of his stupid, clearly made-up name, hadn’t teased him for his large ears that she found too endearing, she hadn’t even gotten his actual phone number. 

But… it was so, so sweet.

The way he had handled her was not that of an impassive man looking to get off and get going. It was of someone who knew how to take care of another, who wanted to take care of her. The gentleness of his lips from the last time they kiss will forever be burned into her brain.

Part of her had expect get a call the next day, with Kylo confessing that he had the same butterfly feeling she did. After a few days past and she hadn’t received so much as a new post alert on reddit from him, she decided to push back the feelings into a tight corner of her mind that was slowly filling up with emotions she wasn’t ready to unpack. 

From u/R3yoflight

it’s nbd, i know how hook-ups go

don’t feel bad

From u/KyL0_R3N

I think it is a big deal, but I know what you mean.

I would like to see you again.

Would you like to see me?

Would she? Would she even survive being with Kylo Ren again?

Rey decides its all comes down to attitude, and she’ll go in with a better one this time.

From u/R3yoflight

yeah, i would

u have another big meeting u need to prep 4?

It takes him a whole 10 minutes to respond, a first for him.

From u/KyL0_R3N

Sure.

What about the 8th? 

Does that work for you?

From u/R3yoflight

i work the 7th and the 8th, but the hotel we 

were at last time is p close to my job

i could meet you there and just pack stuff

for work

From u/KyL0_R3N

We can do another date so you don’t have to do that.

From u/R3yoflight

nah 

i don’t want u to have to move ur meeting

so im good if ur good

From u/KyL0_R3N

Of course.

I’m good, too.

From u/R3yoflight

🤗🤗🤗

-

Rey bounces the ball of her foot on the hard concrete beneath her, watching the clock with rapt attention. The minutes seem to slow the further she got into the day, making the last hour and a half feel like an eon. Plutt had already barked at her to make herself useful somewhere, but there’s only so much to do when they’re down cars for the day. 

The moment the clock strikes 5:30, Rey is out of the shop like a bat out of hell. She thinks about stopping in some bathroom and changing into a skirt or dress or at least some clean underwear, but she can’t bring herself to waste that much time.

She want’s to see Kylo. Desperately. 

The wall she’d constructed around all her curiosities from their last meeting had come crumbling down with the promise of a second one, and this time, she was determined to know a little bit more about the man in question.

He’d sent her the room number a few hours ago, letting her know to meet him there whenever she got off work. Her mind had already begun reeling in the possibilities of tonight by that point, and it only added gas to the flame.

There’s a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead when she walks into the lobby, and a few things become apparent at once.

One, the hotel is full to the brim with people who look like they make in an hour what she makes in 5 years.

Two, she absolutely should have taken the time to change into something that wasn’t the grease-stained overalls that had seen much better days, probably long before she’s fished them out of a bin at the goodwill.

Three, the doorman (with white gloves) looked moments away from calling the cops on her. 

“Excuse me, miss,” the doorman says, walking up to Rey. She gulps and prays with every fibre in her being that he’ll just inform her she dropped something and let her go on her merry way. “May I ask if you’re staying at this establishment?” His tone isn’t accusatory… yet.

“Um… sort of? I’m meeting someone,” She explains. A few of the posh guest are trying to remain inconspicuous as they attempt to hear what’s going on. It makes her cheeks burn red.

“Ah, well, the bar is downstairs and… there is a dress code.”

Rey has felt small plenty of times before in her life. This is nothing new.

“He’s in his- our room, already,” She tells him, keeping her eyes on the doorman and actively ignoring the now-open stares of the lobby. The doorman’s eyes narrow.

“Why don’t you check in with the front desk to make sure you have the correct room number, shall we?” Without waiting for her response, the man moves his arm and begins walking her to the far end of the lobby, where beautiful women in black blazers stare on at her.

“I really don’t think that’s necessary. I’ll just call Kylo and tell him I can’t-“”

“I beg your pardon?” The blood runs out of the face of the doorman. “What did you say your friend’s name was?”

“Kylo. He’s upstairs but I don’t want to bug-”

“My apologies, Miss. I had no idea that Mr. Ren was expecting guest. Allow me to escort me to your suite-”

“That’s really not necessary. I’ll just go now-” 

“Rey?”

Her whole body freezes as his voice cuts across the lobby. She doesn’t turn to look at him, instead still focusing on the now queezy-looking doorman. She feels his presence come up beside her, and the warm, large hand come to rest on her lower back.

“Is everything alright?” He asks.

The doorman looks at her with wide eyes and a pleading stare.

“Everything was fine, I was just coming upstairs.” The lie rolls off her tongue and she hopes she sounds convincing. Rey finally glances upwards to look at Kylo, maybe to flash him an ill-advised smile and silently say ‘lets go please.’

It is striking just how beautiful he is, especially after so long without seeing him. His hair looks even more perfect now than she was remembering it, but Rey assumes that her imagination will never quite compete with the real thing. 

“You we’re taking a while and I got nervous. I’m glad I came down when I did.” His eyes shoot over to the doorman who looks moments away from passing out, so she acts quickly.

“Well, I’m here. Let’s get going, please.” Rey takes both her hands and pushes against the solid bark that is his chest, and Kylo eventually complies, but still sending a death glare the the rest of the hotel staff.

When she’s finally pushed them into the elevator and they’re blessedly alone, Rey takes a deep breath of relief. For as poorly as that interaction went, it could’ve gone much worse.

“What did he say to you?”

Kylo’s voice is low and sends the wrong kind of nervousness to her gut. 

“He was just making sure I was in the right place. He had every right to ask what I was doing here. I mean, I know how I’m dressed and how I look, so if we could just move on-“”

“No one should speak down to you, no matter how you’re dressed, Rey. It isn’t okay.”

“But it is!” She snaps. “Because I know people in the service industry are just doing what their told and that guy is probably underpaid as is and his boss would have reprimanded him if he’d said nothing, so it’s fine!”

Kylo stays silent beside her and she can’t bring herself to look at him. The elevator takes it’s time, crawling to their floor, but blessedly does not stop to board anyone else.

“You were going to leave, weren’t you?” He asks, voice suddenly much smaller than it was a moment ago.

“I just don’t want to be a problem for anybody. For you, for the doorman, for… I probably should leave, even now,” Rey admits. For an evening she was so looking forward to, it really is going sour.

Rey feels a hand come around her cheek and gently guide her to look up at him. His expression is softer now and his lips have that delicious pout that she should absolutely not be thinking about kissing right now.

“You’re not a problem.”

Kylo stares down at her with such intensity, she thinks she’ll melt right then and there.

The elevator chime breaks them from their reverie and Kylo steps out into the hallway. He holds his hand out for her, looking at her with a question. Giving her an option. You can go back down and leave right now and just remember Kylo Ren fondly for the rest of your life or you can go with him right now and see whatever else this bizarre experience will give to you, her mind says. 

Rey makes up her mind and takes his hand.

-

She’s on him the moment he closes the door behind them. No warning, no hesitation; just Rey pouncing on Kylo. She kisses him so deeply, the way she’s thought about for the last 3 and a half weeks, that she can feel it in her toes. For his part, Kylo doesn’t seem all that surprised. He scoops her up in his arms the moment she’s between them, making Rey’s heart flutter.

He holds her up, not pinned to anything and just lets her make out with him. Suspended in air, only holding onto him, hands touching any part of him she can reach; it’s delicious. 

“We should… go to… the bed…” He says between kisses. Rey whines into his mouth (why, she’ll never know).

“No… here…” She breaths against his lips. 

Kylo immediately lowers them to the floor, and holds himself above her. The carpet is plush against her back and is almost softer than the old futon she’s been using as a bed for the last few years.

“You… deserve a bed…” He says, while quickly undoing the buttons to her overalls. She’s trying to help him, but her hands get distracted by the growing hardness between his legs. 

“What this… here is good…” She tries to say. She’s not sure if this would make sense to anyone outside of the two of them, but she’s can’t care at the moment. 

The second the last button comes undone, Kylo focuses on getting her completely bare. He practically rips off every piece of clothing on her body, until she’s left only in her tube socks. When her hands go to take them off, he stops her.

“Leave it,” Kylo orders. Rey feels herself gush. 

Once she’s in the perfect state of undress, Kylo doesn’t even bother taking off the rest of his clothes. He just opens his belt and fly, taking out his beet-red cock and pumping it a few times. 

“… Missed your cunt…” He says against her lips as he slides the head of his cock over her core. She’s squirming under him, trying to force him to put it inside of her. “… so tight and wet for me…and you’ll just… let me make a mess of it, huh? Let me fuck it ‘till it’s… molded to me… full of my come…”

She arches her back, pressing her chest into the coarse fibers of his shirt. His hands go to hold down her abdomen as he slides himself into her, stretching her out every bit of the way.

The drag of him makes Rey delirious; like Kylo is reaching a part of her that hasn’t existed until he came into her life. If she thought that her body would be more accepting of him since last time, she would be wrong. 

“… take me so fucking well, baby…” Kylo breaths, making Rey clench. He whimpers at the sensation. Her hands go up to his neck, one holding him there and the other rubbing the shell of his ear. His whole body trembles beneath her touch. He grips the underside of her thigh, as a warning almost, before pounding into her. 

Full force, no hold-backs, pounding her right into the floor. She’s sure he’ll have to tip housekeeping very well this time around. 

With every stroke, Kylo make Rey feel split in two. He bumps her cervix more often than not, and her clit rubs deliciously on the metal of his belt buckle. The hard, cold metal feels so good and so rough that Rey is reduced to muffled cries and moans agains his skin. 

He bites more hickeys into her chest and shoulders, deeper and harder than the ones last time. Her chest will be covered in purple marks of Kylo for a long time to come and she loves it. Her legs wrap around to his back, squeezing him. His movements become messy and uncoordinated and she knows he’s close, just from the sounds he’s making above her. Rey does nothing to stop her oncoming orgasm, just letting the feeling wash over her as she convulses beneath Kylo.

He with her the next moment, come spilling out of him like the grunts spilling from his mouth. His hips still thrust, harder and more infrequent, like he’s making his final claim on her body. She lets him manhandle her as she feels a warm, sloshing heat in her core. 

Kylo rest on top of her as their breathing slows. Rey feels a twinge of carpet burn on her back and her ass but ignores it. Kylo’s hands have found their way to her sides, nearly engulfing her waist. They slide up her arms until they find her hands, and interlocks their fingers together. 

He plants warm, wet kisses on her sternum, up her throat, and eventually her lips. Rey smiles into the kiss. 

Then, as if called, her stomach growls so loud, Kylo stills. He pulls back to look down at her with a quirked eyebrow. She bites her lip and her cheeks would be red from embarrassment if they weren’t already red from their fucking.

“… would you like dinner?” He asks. She nods. 

-

The wet ends of her hair tickle the back of neck, so she pushes it out of the robe. The water pressure in the massive shower was enough for Rey to sell her soul, but the burger she’s currently devouring is coming in at a close second. 

After their entryway tryst, Rey had happily jumped into the shower while Kylo had ordered them dinner, assuring her that she could order both the Tomato Bisque and french fries as her side.

When she’d gotten out and into the plush robe, Rey had found Kylo on one side of the bed, some nascar race on the TV, and him biting into his too-raw-for-her-taste steak. 

It was a beautiful sight. 

She’s sitting at the edge of the bed, Kylo on the other side and a few feet away from her, both watching the television. It’s too quiet for how loud her head is right now, so she can’t help the word vomit that forms.

“What do you mean when you say you’re in tech?” She asks, eyes still on the television screen.

“I work in research and development for a technology company,” he tells her, unhelpfully.

“What does that even mean?” She can’t help but sound exasperated. 

“My job is to come up with the next best gadget or update and figure out a way to make it work,” he says as he shifts on the bed. Rey still hasn’t looked at him.

“Must be hard to be successful in that field right now… I mean, First Order pretty much has a monopoly on any techie thing out there.”

Kylo chuckles.

“I wouldn’t exactly say monopoly… but yeah. But I still make do.”

Rey hums while chewing.

“Do you like working at an auto shop?” He asks, after a few moments of silence between them. She shrugs.

“I like fixing things, so that parts nice, but… my boss sucks.”

“Why don’t you go work somewhere else?” Rey can’t stop the sharp ‘ha!’ that escapes her.

“I’m a young, female mechanic, with no higher education degree, who’s immigration status is tenuous at best, who can barely afford her half of a shithole of an apartment. I’m not the bright, shining pupil that most places would want to take on.”

She finally looks back over at Kylo, who seems to be in thought while polishing off the rest of his food. 

“If you’re struggling financially, I could-”

She cuts him off. “No. That’s not what this is about.” The burger suddenly taste like ash in her mouth, so she sets the rest of it down. “I make due on my own. I don’t need a… benefactor.” This makes him chuckle, causing Rey to give him an incredulous look. 

“Sorry, sorry…” He chuckles, “It’s just… benefactor? I at least think I would be deserving the title of sugar daddy.” Rey rolls her eyes and throws a soggy french fry at him. He catches it and eats it right away.

“I don’t need a benefactor or sugar daddy. But… thank you.”

They fall silent for a while before Kylo gets up and removes the trays from their room. Rey scoots back, laying herself in the middle of the bed between the mountain of pillows. When Kylo returns, he stays at the foot of the bed, watching Rey. They say nothing, just keep heavy eye contact with one another. 

Her eyes rake down his form, shirtless with some joggers on. She doesn’t see a band of underwear so she hopes that means he’s going without. 

Feeling bold, she pushes herself up and craws her way across the bed to him. When she’s finally in front of him, she goes on her knees so that they’re eye level. Her hands trace the muscles in his arms and chest, dipping down to his toned abdomen. Rey feels his eyes on her face the entire time, but looks down to wherever her hands go to next. 

“I didn’t get the opportunity to ride you, last time,” her eyes flick up to his, “I think we should rectify that.”

Kylo doesn’t say anything, just keeps looking at her with that intense gaze that could kill a lesser woman. His hands come up to push the robe off her shoulders, pooling around her calves and revealing her naked body. 

His hands brush up her sides as they make their way to her jaw, and when he’s finally got a hold of her, he kisses her. It’s slower than any of the ones they shared earlier, and reminds her of that goodbye kiss from last time; the sweetest nectar that she’ll never be able to perfectly replicate with anyone else.

The kiss deepens and Kylo crawls into bed with her. They move until she’s situated over him, straddling his stomach. His hands kneed her ass, pushing the flesh until she’s sure it’ll bruise. She allows herself to grind on him, making his abs slick with her want. His hands suddenly let go of her, and she feels him go to push off his joggers. 

Rey kisses his neck, remembering what he said in all those earlier messages about liking both giving and receiving hickeys. So she bites. He gasps. 

When he’s finally naked, Rey reaches around to pull at him. He’s already so hard and dripping that Rey gets a little swell of pride. She takes him in hand once she scoots back, and holds him center with her. She glides down on him, slick enough to take him in one go.

His whole body is flushed, his lips even poutier than normal, his breath coming out in spurts. 

“Why… do I aways feel… like you’re holding back… whenever you… get your cock… in me,” She asks between shallow thrust. Kylo tips his head back as his hands go to hold her hips.

“Rey… your cunt… I could fucking come right now. I don’t care if we have sex every day for the next year… your cunt is like a vice. I could come in you right now… fuck…” Rey smiles down at him, proud to see this big man reduced to the puddle he’s currently in. It’s as endearing as it is hot.

She starts to move in earnest, riding him with her whole body. She eats up the sounds he makes, his praises of ‘good girl’ and ‘riding daddy’s cock so well.’

Without her asking, Kylo brings a thumb to her clit, moving in time with her thrust, making her yelp. “Need you… to come… with me…” He breaths. Rey nods as she adjust her angle, making him hit the spot in her that’s guaranteed to get her there in no time. 

Her hips can’t keep up with his thrust, so their movement become sloppy, until Kylo takes charge and starts guiding her and slamming up into her.

“… So perfect… riding my cock like a good girl… you’re so fucking hot… like this…” He says, but his praises are lost on her as she’s thrown over the edge. Rey complies into him and Kylo catches her, still pistoling his hips into her. He comes after a few more thrust, biting into her skin like last time.

Rey rides out the last of her orgasm while he’s still pulsing inside of her. Her hands still grip at his shoulders and Kylo wraps his arms around her back and hold her there. She feels the warm rush of fluids dribbling out of her, and Rey knows he can feel his own come dripping back down his cock, but he makes no indication that they need to move. 

They stay like this so long, Rey cradled against Kylo’s chest, feeling so safe and warm and wanted, that she falls into the deepest sleep.

-

She’s groggy when she wakes. Kylo has maneuvered them so that she’s tucked under his arm, halfway covering his torso. He’s snoring lightly and the rise and fall of his chest is oddly soothing. She lays there for a while, hours maybe, but isn’t able to fall back asleep. 

Rey busies herself by looking at him unashamedly. Kylo is built, to say the very least. His arms are thick with muscle, and even relaxed, his stomach looks well toned. 

Why did he need to post that on reddit? She thinks. He’s beautiful. He could get anyone just off his looks, let alone his wallet. 

Eventually he stirs, hands instantly seeking her out, and head going into the crook of her neck and nuzzling there. His hair tickles her, making her giggle lightly against him as he holds her even closer.

“What time is it?” He asks, voice muffled by her skin. She glances at the clock across from her.

“6:27… I’ll need to leave in an hour,” she says. Her voice is quiet and she feels a slight, almost imperceptible shift in his body language. She brings her hands up, running her fingers through his hair, hoping he’ll relax back again. 

Neither of them say anything for a while, and it’s becoming very clear that their form of intimacy is best experienced in silence. It should concern her how quickly they’re forming habits. It’s probably one of the first things he wanted to avoid when making that post.

But the sound of soft rain hitting the window, the warmth of the expensive sheets, the feel of Kylo’s body pressed against hers, makes it very hard for Rey to feel sorry for anything. 

They shower together, after she came up with some half-hearted excuse that it would save time and water, but he makes no sexual advances on her, so she doesn’t try and pester him. Would it be nice to end their tryst with some wet shower sex or even mutual oral? Sure, but Rey didn’t want to push her luck. She was glad enough to spend this time with him, even if neither of them were getting off.

When they’re both dry and dressed, him in a perfectly tailored suit and her in the same greasy overalls from yesterday, he takes her hand. She had been reaching for her bag, but lost momentum halfway through when he touched her.

“I… don’t want to go another three weeks without seeing or hearing from you again,” he tells her. 

“You can call me? I’ll give you my number. I work usually six days a week, but sometimes I’ll have a few days off in a row, so… we can meet up then, if you’re… up for it?” She tells him. Something in his face falls, but she doesn’t quite know where to place it.

“…That would be… yeah. We should exchange numbers.” 

He passes him her phone as she does the same, putting in her number with the little purple devil emoji beside it because he probably doesn’t have any emojis in his contacts and she wasn’t him to remember her. Not that she’s overly concerned with that happening, but, it’s always better to be safe.

When they exchange phones again, she looks down to see the contact he’s placed, but looks back up at him, confused.

“Ben Solo… what’s that?”

“Me… well, my real name. I haven’t gone by it in a while but… I just wanted you to know it,” he tells her. Rey’s lips tremble. You are not going to cry because he told you his real name, she chides herself. It is the absolute bare minimum to do, so you will not read into it more than you should.  

“Well…” She begins, looking down at the phone again because looking in his eyes is too much right now, “It is a very nice name. Certainly more realistic than Kylo Ren.”

Ben has the wherewithal to look a little sheepish at her teasing. He brings a hand through his hair and smiles at the floor.

“It was something I liked when I was a teenager and became too rebellious for my own good. It was my first aol email,” He says. Rey laughs as she imagines a gangly 13-year-old Ben running home to his computer every day after school and changing his AIM status to some moody-angst ridden lyric of a bad he thought was too cool for mainstream.

When the laughter dies down and Rey is able to look at him without bursting into giggles, she thanks him.

“Thank you for last night. And for… telling me your name.” He smiles at her, and puts a hand on her jaw, tilting her head further up. Before he can bring her into another soul-melting kiss, she speaks again.

“Ben is a very nice name but… I think I prefer calling you daddy.”

His grin is wolfish. 

[seamistan]

i can’t really imagine them having a child tbh but just for a second like imagine if mermista does get pregnant,, how would she find out?? how would she react?? oh boy how would seahawk react???

WELL. 

I have thought so long and hard about this I think I have such a solid story in my head that I like. need to type this out in a proper way dnkldnklsd

(this might get a little nsfw/nsfr so just a little warning)

(also it’s really long sjbnsdjknsd)

alright so basically for me it’s like 100% canon that Mermista and Sea Hawk literally,,,,, do not plan to have kids at any time soon but I don’t think it’s as much of a “I hate kids” thing and more like it was never something either of them really considered/thought about? so like whenever they eventually do sleep together it’s like not really a huge concern for either of them because like. They’re both hot and also I like to think that sickness doesn’t really exist on etheria beyond magical sickness, and if I recall correctly no one ever really *did* get sick on the show outside of magically-induced sicknesses, maybe there’s like little colds and food poisoning here and there but nothing that magic can’t totally fix- which is my long winded way of saying that in my head STDs/STIs don’t exist in etheria so the thought of protection totally slips both of their minds fbsdnjkfbsd 

Okay so in my head it’s about the time of the flash forward (~2/3 years post finale) and I can’t fully decide if I think they have gotten married at this point yet (if ever) but I think if they did it was as a joke/celebration/Sea Hawk wanted to throw a party kind of thing. I digress. Anyway this whole thing starts because let’s say princess prom ii and Scorpia’s first ball fall within the same week and Mermista has too much to drink like three days in a row (Catra challenged her to a drinking game and she lost real bad)  and unfortunately Sea Hawk is Very Bad at resisting Mermista when she shows him the kind of affection that she does when she’s like that (they boned.) 

anyway, now I have to kinda assume etherian mermaid anatomy is like huamn anatomy in which case, It’s about a month later and our poor fish wife is goin thru it and big suffering because she has the kind of morning sickness where she can’t vomit for whatever reason and is just nauseous all day and Sea Hawk is like,,, off on an adventure or something so he can’t dote on her so she’s not only real sick she also is missing her himbo and Simply Is Not having a Good Time. SO she calls up whatever doctor they have on etheria (would it be the magicians in mystacor? I cannot decide) So she like goes and tries to figure out what’s wrong because again having kids is deadass the last thing on her mind and Sea Hawk currently has custody of the brain cell since he’s off doing pirate shit or whatever so Mermista is like very obviously pregnant and showing all the signs of it but she’s still like *surprised pikachu face* about it and it just jsnsdfjlkfjksdf HUH???? and then they’re like did you use any sort of protection? and she is like. no. and then the doctor’s like: are you actively having sex? and the answer is yes and often and the doctor’s face is just so incredibly amusing like I can literally just see it now jsdflnflfdnk Its like princess,,, what did u expect like im

ANYWAY so Sea Hawk is off doin his pirate thing, which really just means he visits his friend’s kingdoms and vibes and then goes to seaworthy and arm wrestles for stupid things. One day, he encounters a very familiar Seagull who hops over to him and basically tells him he needs to get his ass to Salineas now and that can only mean one thing-  so Sea Hawk fuckin HUSTLES to Salineas and makes it there in record time. (just to be clear- he’s not really expecting anything, he just knows that if Mermista summons him via Seagull it’s like their mutual understanding that she either really misses him or it’s the Most Important Thing Ever. either way, if he doesn’t move fast, he will have a very upset mermaid on his hands.)

So when he makes it to Salineas, there’s Mermista waiting on the dock which is like super weird because even when she sends for him via seagull she’s always kinda nonchalant about everything and is just like. in the palace chilling somewhere. Regardless, she’s on the dock and looks so fucking nervous and so many other emotions that Sea Hawk can’t read which is so weird to him because she’s the one person he always can read. (she was a poem,,, he could only read one thing vibes ) So anyway he like leaps off the boat in some dramatic bisexual fashion and meets her. She kinda tells him and it just slips out more nervous than she expected because literally they haven’t talked about it and she feels so stupid for not considering it but its like there’s so much with Salineas being rebuilt and helping around all of Etheria and keeping everything from fucking falling apart again and- Sea Hawk just kinda looks at her and asks her what she wants and pretty much tells her that all he cares about is making sure she’s okay with whatever happens, because as cool as it would be to have someone that has his gorgeous hair and her stunning face to go on adventures with he’s just like. I want you to be happy. 

and honestly? She cries. Because in all of her anxiety and worrying and running around being a leader of a god damn kingdom that has crumbled twice she always somehow forgets to think about what kind of life she wants to live, and Sea Hawk always asks her to remember. It’s always in little moments like that. it’s in asking her what she wants before doing anything else. It’s in the fact that he asked her before kissing her for the first time, in the way he always respected her space, in the way he always somehow knows exactly what she needs to hear, in how despite how unbearable he can be, it’s the moments that he reminds her exactly why he’s her person. And Mermista truly could not imagine raising a child with anyone better. 

So after a long talk, and some input from some others (Micah and Netossa and Spinnerella, Sea Hawk’s own parents and weirdly enough, rogelio and kyle since they pretty much adopted imp)they decide that somehow without realizing it, they became a couple that was mature enough and ready enough for a child,,, which is so weird because sea hawk almost burned down the palace kitchen not even 2 months ago but like. they’re happy together, they understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and are in such a good place in their relationship it just makes sense. 

So anyway, the pregnancy progresses as it does, with Sea Hawk being predictably protective and lovey and kinda just?? astounded that she like,, wants to have a kid with him of all people?? and it’s just very sweet and lovely and skdfnklsnfsdlk I feel like i am making this excessively long so lmk if you want some pregnancy/parenting headcanons because boy oh boy do i 

[mbeebowriting]

draco malfoy x reader

warnings: none other than a kinda ooc draco!

word count: 1.8k

notes: okay this is very specific and super self indulgent but also really sweet and cute so!!! enjoy!!! (also this is unedited bc im too antsy and excited to post it

     the past 2 weeks had overwhelmed you. tests, papers, concerts, forced social gatherings- your energy had just run out. you still had another week to go before any kind of break though- so the timing of your burnout was less than ideal. at this point, you barely had enough energy to talk to your friends, so when draco malfoy tapped on your shoulder during class, you whirled around, ready to fight. what you weren’t expecting was his question.

     “can you help me with this?” you blinked in surprise. she you had short conversations before class, but it still shocked you a little bit.

     “yeah, sure. i’ll show you.” you walked him through the spell a few times, until he was able to execute it well enough to pass. 

     “great, thank you!” he said with a smile. his politeness threw you off, and all you could do was smile and turn back around. what you didn’t see was how his smile fell after that.

     the next day, for whatever reason, he sat next to you, but you were still feeling equally as drained as the day before. at the end of class he stopped you from leaving with yet again, a small conversation.

     “do you think we could meet out of class to work on these charms? you seem to really understand it and i could use some help.”

     “im sorry draco- my schedule is completely packed until our break.” you replied with a sad smile. “i’ve actually got another performance tonight for the staff dinner.”

     “hm. what about after that? we could grab some dinner and study.” you were taken aback again. why was he being so nice to you? you couldn’t turn him down after he’s showing you kindness you’ve never seen before. plus, he was really cute, you’ve always kind of had a thing for him. 

     “alright, how about 8 o’clock in the great hall?”

     “great, it’s a date.” he said with a wink before leaving the class- leaving you flustered and unsure of what just happened.

     after you had finished your performance, you made your way to the great hall, spotting draco on the way. you chatted idly while grabbing some food and a table. draco sat to your right and your textbooks piled up to your left.  once you began studying, you felt the weight of the day hit you, and you ended up zoning out and staring at your textbook. you laid your head in your hand and decided to close your eyes for just one minute. unsurprisingly, you fell asleep. when you woke up, you and draco were the only ones in the room.

     “good morning.” draco said. it was at this point that you realized the position you were in, in your sleep, you had shifted so that  your head was resting on his shoulder. you immediately lifted your head up and avoided eye contact with him. 

     “what time is it?”

     “11:30-ish.”

     “you let me sleep that long?’ you exclaimed.

     “you just seemed so tired and like you needed a break. and plus…” he trailed off. “nevermind.”

     “no no, wait. plus what?” he became visibly flustered.

     “nothing, there is no plus!”

     “tell me what the plus is or i’ll ditch you and hang out with potter instead.” his eyes widened- did that actually make him mad?

     “fine. i was just going to say you looked cute on my shoulder like that.” now it was your turn to be flustered. suddenly your textbook was incredibly interesting. you could feel him smirking beside you, but couldn’t bring yourself to look at him. he leaned into to your ear and sent chills down your spine as he spoke. “but to be fair, you look cute all the time.” you covered your face with your hands to hide your blush. he went to pull your hands away, and chuckled as you swatted them away. “hey, you asked for this! why are you so embarrassed anyway, i’m just stating facts.” you sighed in response, but couldn’t hold back a smile. 

     “i need to go draco, i have another concert tomorrow and i need to be at my best.” your smile fell.

     “alright. i hope it goes well.” you gave him a sad smile and couldn’t stop the tears from pricking at your eyes. “hey woah, what’s going on? are you okay?”

     “yeah.” you said shakily and unconvincingly, to which he gave you a look. “i’m just exhausted and… i really wish my family could be here for this concert.” you were so focused on talking without crying your barely noticed draco’s hand holding your own. “everyone else’s families come for this concert, it’s our last one, but my parents decided… they would rather visit my sisters than me. i just wish someone would come support me at this last concert.” one tear was set free as you blinked. it rolled down your cheek and dropped onto draco’s hand. he was clearly caught off guard by your sudden change in emotion, but his voice was steady when he spoke.

     “what time is it?”

     “no, draco-”

     “and where?”

     “draco you don’t have to come out of pity, it’s okay. this is how it’s always been, i’m used to it. i stopped looking for familiar faces in the audience years ago.”

     “what? that’s not okay! when and where is it. i’ll be there.” you studied his eyes before answering.

     “it’s here, after they serve dinner.”

     “i’ll be there.” 

     “...why?”      “because you deserve to have someone in the audience-”

     “no, why are you being so nice to me? this feels so… out of character for you.” his eyes darted around the room, looking anywhere but your own. 

     “i- you just haven’t done anything wrong for me to… uhh…” he struggled to find the word. “tease you for.” you couldn’t help but feel disappointed at his response.

     “well, thank you for that i guess. but we should really get going. it’s late.” he agreed with you, so you packed up all your things and went your separate ways.

     “(y/n)!” your roommate shouted as you walked in. “where on GOD have you been? don’t you have a concert tomorrow and classes all morning?” you flopped down on your bed.

     “yeah, since when do you track my schedule?”

     “you were complaining about it in charms.”

     “fair enough, that does sound like me. but why are you so worried about this suddenly?”

     “hmm, not worried, just curious.” she said, sitting next to you on your bed. “i happened to walk by the great hall just an hour ago,” your eyes went wide. “and saw you with none other than the prince of slytherin himself: draco malfoy.”

     “don’t jump to conclusions, we were just studying.”

     “for god’s sake (y/n), you were asleep on his shoulder! did he ever say it was a date? i bet he did.” 

     “well yeah, but i thought he was just teasing. he does that.” she gave you the same look that draco had given you earlier. “okay and he also called me cute and is coming to my concert tomorrow but don’t read into that, he probably wasn’t serious!” 

     “guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

     “what?”

     “well if he has a thing for you too, he’ll be at the concert.”

     “too? excuse you?”

     “i love you to death (y/n) but you’re a terrible liar, and you’re not very subtle.”

     the day’s classes had flown by- it was concert time. you arrived early, helping set up the chairs and music, and once you had settled into your spot and people had filled in, you couldn’t believe what you saw. what seemed like the entirety of the slytherin house was packed into the front section, with one familiar asshole front and center. he caught your eye and sent you a smile. you couldn’t even think of what to do back, you were too shook.

     the concert itself went by quickly. you played beautifully, and all of your emotions poured through your instrument. by the end, you were shaky, emotional, and nervous to see draco after. you didn’t have much time to compose yourself however, as he was the first person you saw as you walked off stage. before you could say anything, he wrapped you in a hug (but quickly pulled away once he realized people were staring).

     “you did incredible!”

     “thank you- how did you… why are there… what?” you could barely get a sentence out.

     “i just asked some people to come and support you, you deserve a big cheering section.”

     “draco, i…” suddenly you were aware of everyone standing around you two. “can we maybe go somewhere a little quieter?” he nodded and pulled you through the crowd, out the door, and down the hallway into the courtyard. he sat down on a bench and motioned for you to sit next to him, which you gladly did. you took a deep breath before speaking, trying to kill your nerves that arose with the thought of sharing your feelings with him. you were so in your head, you barely processed what he said when he spoke.

      “you really did well up there today. and you look stunning too, by the way.” again, no thoughts heady empty, you could not think of a response for the life of you. he chuckled. “i’m sure you’ve figured it out by now, i’m not just nice to you because you ‘done nothing wrong’ or whatever i said yesterday.” he stared at you, waiting for a response, but all you could do was smile and let your palms sweat. “are you really gonna make me say it? it’s because i like you (y/n).” the final twist of the knife. there were simultaneously one million and absolutely no thoughts swimming around your head, but when you didn’t respond he started to lean away and looked hurt.

     “wait no- i’m sorry! this is just a lot all at once! i like you too draco.” you rushed out. he returned to your side, eyebrows raised.

     “yeah?”

     “yeah. you must have charmed me or something, because i really do. somehow.”

      “hey! first of all, rude. second of all, i’m terrible at charms. you know that.” you two joked back and forth until the moon shone brightly up above. after you both agreed it was time to head back to your respective dorms, a nervous silence fell. 

     “sooo…” you drawled on. “good night i guess?”

     “good night to you too.” silence again. “do you have time for another study date tomorrow? i spent most of our last one being nervous and trying not to wake you up.”

     “yeah! i’m free tomorrow night if you want?”

     “alright, it’s a date.” he said for leaning down to kiss you, and walking away. leaving you flustered and unsure of what just happened for the second time that week.

[aurltas]

author interview tag (!)

aaAAAA ty to @backcountry-deltora for tagging me!!! much loveee <333 i haven’t been looped into a tag game for so so long and this is making me feel 10000% better about the fact that i have not written a single fic related thing in MONTHS o)-( but i love to talk about writing and myself so here we go,,

Name: i went by crystal silvera on ffn and here for the longest time so a lot of ppl know me as crystal but my Real(TM) name is dani and my ao3 name is auritas so like take ur pick haha

Fandoms: currently in mxtx hell (im a mdzs main, to the shock of no one) but my og fandoms that i am still very much attached to are deltora quest (the OG og), young wizards, the raven cycle, and yuri on ice

Where you post: ao3 alllll the way babey (but i originated from ffn and still have some stuff up there.......it’s Not Good tho)

Most popular one-shot: oh boy i knew this was gonna be a popular one bc i only wrote like?? rambly reflective thematic pieces(?) before this, my First Attempt At Fluff lmao. even then, But we’re alive (because we bleed) still exceeded my expectations by far in terms of reception, probs bc mdzs was such an up and coming fandom at the time and i posted it right on the crest of that cql wave

Most popular multi-chapter fic: obviously where the light goes, also known as my beloved CHILD !!!! i don’t write multichaps anymore but this is 2 long ass chapters so ig that’s Technically a multichap haha,,, yeah i knew this one was gonna be popular for the same reasons as the previous one + the very intentional tipping of the scale i did here with the balance of fluff and other things. like this is just pure distilled sugar it’s so so fluffy

Favourite story you’ve written so far: oh mannnn i gotta say where the light goes. especially that first chapter, just,, damn. what was i ON ?? its so good!! what the heck!!! quite proud of my metaphor work there, even if balancing prose/poetry feel is very stilted at times . in terms of that balance i think i did a Really good job with and neither did the both of us bc i went back and reread where the light goes for inspiration and i was like “oh god this is DROWNING in metaphors i need to lighten it up a little”

Fic you were nervous to post: i was nervous about where the light goes bc i had such high expectations going in, like i Knew people were craving what i had but i was like, did i do it right?? will this be my breakthrough in the mdzs fandom??? and it sort of was and sort of wasn’t, which,, fair. also SUPER nervous for astriferous bc i had written it all in like, one (1) day and it was for an exchange LMFAOOO (and you can really tell it was all written in one go......it was only when i hit the end that it got Good)

How you choose your titles: when i write fic i’m often scrapbooking a TON of different things together so titles are often just whatever it is i’m already drawing from. there are a few exceptions, like here, then, begins the mending, or and i need nothing more where a phrase popped into my head during the writing/drafting/brainstorming process and i was like OH THAT’S REALLY GOOD. TITLE IT IS

Do you outline?: usually only if it’s plot-driven, like my (incomplete for . Reasons) (ok i was being pestered bc i took it as a prompt and my promptee was. hm) YW multichap equilibrium, for which i outlined EVERYTHING. it was so annoying but i also lowkey liked it because these were MY messy outline notes and i could go as ham as i’d like

Complete: everything that’s posted !! except equilibrium ofc . that’s gonna stay where it is unless by some miracle of nature i get my momentum back for it

In progress: i am working on another jaslief oneshot!!! and for my mdzs folks i have been working on a rly long lesbian songxiao oneshot for a Very long time and it’s . mwah (i showed it to one of my friends and she lost her mind so i think i can say that with confidence)

Coming soon: probably nothing until i’m released from ochem/thesis hell hahahahahahahaaa but if anything were to come out this year it would be the songxiao most likely !

Do you accept prompts?: not after what happened last time !!!! ;o; until i’m done with school altogether, i really need writing to remain something For Me

Upcoming story you’re the most excited to write?: i wanna finish my jaslief SOOOO bad oh my god . i put in so much self-indulgence in there and used what i learned from where the light goes to make it REALLY good n thematic. like don’t get me wrong i am also so excited for my songxiao but i wrote it with some uhhhhh Influence from things i was going through irl and it feels weighty now?? idk i’ll work it out eventually,, i’ve also had oubing fic brewing in my head for literally a year and i REALLY wanna write some pynch in the barns/cabeswater content. let me write about dreamthings and nATURE

Upcoming story you’re most excited about?: bold of u to assume i read multichapters anymore HAHAHA i rotate through the same library of 100 one-shots i have bookmarked now......but back when i did read multichaps i was REALLY into the work of iruutciv + orchids_and_fictional_cities team from yoi, they were absolute LEGENDS and their fic and miles to go before i sleep changed me as a person lmao (i also did read part of their ongoing but monsters are always hungry, darling and i’m actually still in their discord for it but it is SO so intricately crafted and i fell out of the loop and didn’t rly get back in) . currently i follow megafaunatic aka etymologyplayground’s work the most closely for my mxtx fix (my fav from them currently is probably you, asleep and dreaming)

tagging: @lenawin4 and uhhhhhhh anyone else who feels like doing this?? for my life i cannot recall any other writers off the top of my head rn o)-(

[missorgana]

interrupt me

pairing: finn/poe dameron

fandom: star wars (sequel trilogy)

rating: teen and up

word count: 2502

warning: swearing

summary: Finn wants Poe to be his boyfriend, so badly, it's sort of unbelievable he hasn't asked him already. But he doesn't know how. (high school AU)

(finnpoe week 2020 is here yall!!! so excited for my baby event tbh. annddd here’s my first fic for it, i chose high school au bcus well im cheesy ok. if u want to enter finnpoe week with me you can check out the event blog and my post here!! hope you enjoy this fluffy mess!)

read on ao3

“So?”

When Finn realises this is the only greeting he’s getting from his best friend, he gives her a semi-awkward chuckle, as he always does when he can’t quite figure out what she’s on about.

Very much not the first time.

“So… what?”

And she raises her eyebrows in an offended look.

Offended in the only way Rey can be, because she’s never seriously been mad at him, mind you.

“I can’t believe you.” she simply tells him, opening her locker in the process.

Okay, maybe Finn has an idea of what’s frustrating her. After all, she texted him about it last night. A text he was keen to avoid at that time.

“I got your text, I swear-”

“And you didn’t respond because of the reason I suspect?”

Man, Rey really should be a psychic or something. Kind of freaky how she’s always two steps ahead of him.

Her annoyance did fade slightly when Finn let his defeat show.

“I know, I promised you.” and he tells her while shoving the chemistry book down in his bag, the bell interrupting before he continues, “But, I, uh. It just wasn’t the right time, okay?”

Rey’s shoulders are still tense, she huffs, but ultimately shrugs.

“You also said that after your last three dates, you know.”

He does know. Yes, he knows too well.

Long story short, Finn’s been going out with Poe for nearly three months now. Exactly, pretty Poe, the prettiest person ever in the entire world, probably.

The boy who asked him out after many history lessons of looking at each other in secret, and talks of doing homework together that only resulted in giggling and gushing about Hozier.

Well, Rey thinks it’s about time they became official. Like, officially a couple.

She does this because she loves Finn, and she loves them, and yes, he wants Poe to be his boyfriend, so badly, it’s sort of unbelievable he hasn’t asked him already.

But see, he doesn’t know how.

Or of course, he knows the words, but it’s like, whenever he’s with Poe, his mind implodes and revels in whatever they’re doing, and at the end of the day, he’s none the wiser.

They’re on the way to class, and they’re gonna be late either way, so Finn asks his best friend, “I know. But, you know, what if… I mean, what if he doesn’t want to?”

Rey still looks at him in all her stubbornness, but rubs her shoulder, clearly sensing his worry.

His worry goes deep, because yes, they’ve been going out for three months, but, you know, Poe’s like the star of this school. Star of the student council, if anything.

Finn just can’t help doubting himself. Wondering, Poe’s too good for him, or maybe, Poe hasn’t asked him because what they have, what made him ask out Finn isn’t there for him anymore.

He hopes none of that is the case. But he’s always had a habit of overthinking.

“I love you.” she tells him, a certainty in her voice, tugging on his arm just a bit so they won’t be in real trouble with Ms. Holdo, “And he’s so lost in you. I know it’s scary, but he isn’t asking, and if you don’t ask, nothing’s gonna happen.”

She’s right. So right.

So he links their arms and runs down the hall, figuring it speaks louder than words.

…

Finn finds himself thinking a lot.

This isn’t exactly unusual, but, you know, sometimes he overthinks.

Seriously, he knows he needs to ask Poe already.

But his concerns aren’t crazy, okay?

He’s actually already met Poe’s mom, last month, albeit it wasn’t planned. It was maybe too fast. They’re going fast. Or what?

Rey’s assured him enough times now that three months is a perfectly healthy time to become an item, or whatever you call it.

It’s not like they’re popular. Poe’s got a bit of hype, but he’s not at the top of the food chain.

And you know, reputation isn’t all that matters.

Or he tries to tell himself that, because what if it is to Poe?

Before his best friend made him promise to make the move, as she calls it, she was visibly upset, perhaps more than himself, when the other boy hadn’t asked him first.

Maybe he’s just as nervous as Finn. Like, it’s valid, right?

But also, Poe’s been in a couple of relationships before, and yes, that might not sound like much, but Finn’s never been serious with anyone prior to this.

And he didn’t really think it would bother him until now, where Finn ponders his inexperience, and might be edging towards a mental breakdown in the middle of the history lesson, when said boy on his mind touches his hand under the table.

Yes, Rey was only bitter for a few days when the boys started sitting together, “leaving her behind”, as she called it. But she doesn’t really mind now that Rose transferred, he’s sure.

Finn always thinks Poe wants to borrow a pencil when he touches his hand, or has a question, or something mundane.

But he might be getting used to Poe reaching out just for the sake of the touch, sooner or later.

Only the other boy whispers when Ms. Holdo has her back turned, “You okay?”

Oh, so he can tell. That’s great.

No, really, it’s great, because this boy’s so empathetic, when he’s not fiercely protective, or sarcastically defensive.

Finn wonders if he’s thinking of the same thing.

He actually got started on a question last time, some form of it, anyway, but they were not so generously interrupted by some of Poe’s friends, Jess and Snap, he’s pretty sure. That scared him off. Embarrassing, he knows.

Besides, it was like, ten minutes, and Poe seemed just as embarrassed, and they more or less cheered them on. Lovebirds, they called them.

“Ignore them, please.” the other boy told him, like, a million times. He was so cute blushing like that.

If only Finn hadn’t abruptly chickened out when he tried to get the question, instead distracting Poe with whatever he saw first, which, very fitting, was ice cream.

Man, the other boy eats so much ice cream, he has to admit he’s slightly worried about his health.

He’s got a lot of things to worry about, huh.

“Of course I am.” he whispers back, and fuck, he’s just barely caught when Ms. Holdo turns around, and he’s got this feeling like Poe doesn’t believe him, but the conversation’s over like that.

The boy’s smile is a reassurance. A little bit, at least.

…

Is he avoiding Poe? Or is Poe avoiding him?

Finn doesn’t really know, to be honest.

They haven’t seen each other in, what, four days now, because he’s letting his head get the best of him, and he declined the boy’s offer to accompany him for the football game, instead having another nerve wracking conversation, filled with possible ways his crush could call them off.

Rey probably thinks he’s overdramatic, but she doesn’t say, and spends a good two hours calming him down, because she’s lovely.

It isn’t just a crush anymore, Finn realises.

God, he likes him, so much.

And on their last date, it started raining, like in every cheesy teen movie ever, and when he couldn’t hide that he was freezing, Poe, of course, gave him his jacket.

It’s just too much.

Not long after his phone call with Rey, his roommate returns from the game, and Rose tells him that Poe missed him.

Does that make him feel good or bad?

They text a lot.

Like, late into the night a lot, to a point where his sleep schedule might’ve gone for the worse. He’ll restore it sooner or later.

Anyway, Poe seemed like he had something on his mind yesterday. At least, he was taking a while to answer, and usually, his texts keep flying almost a second after Finn’s replied.

But whatever he felt coming never came. The other boy had to go, that is, and Finn thought, maybe this time, he’ll ask.

Or maybe he was looking for a sensitive way to break up. Shit. He wouldn’t break up with him via text, though, surely? Poe’s respectable. He’s got manners.

Or maybe the world just doesn’t want them to communicate anymore, ever, and will just continue to interrupt them, which is rude and totally unfair.

Even at the library this guy, honestly, he can’t remember the name for his life, but this guy had some issue with a suggestion of Poe’s in the council, which he apparently felt the need to bring up then.

The curly haired boy in front of him gave an, “I’m kind of busy, right now.” three times before the other student, finally, minded his own business.

Maybe Poe thinks Finn doesn’t want him around him anymore after avoiding him. Why does he do this?

He hates conflict. It can die in a pit.

Even though it isn’t a conflict, like his best friend so wisely told him, maybe he’s just a bit stupid, or maybe his worst nightmare is true and Poe doesn’t want anything serious.

His head feels like it might explode.

The girl discarding her shoes shoots him a weird look.

Of course, she can tell he’s nervous, just as much as Rey, or probably anyone else, at this point, but Rose has developed a sense of knowing when Finn needs to be left alone.

So, she brews them both tea and lays down with her headphones on, but not before handing him something cold and metal, which turns out to be a pin.

It’s a tiny yellow sun.

Finn doesn’t have to ask who it’s from, or who he’s hoping it’s from, anyway, because the boy is so utterly cheesy that he’s compared him to sunshine on more than one occasion.

Even more cheesy that Poe got him a gift relating to a stupid nickname. But also, he loves it. Loves it a little too much.

It’s ridiculous.

So he’ll opt to sleep now, tugging Poe’s jacket a bit tighter around him.

…

Poe’s suggested to skip school today, and Rey swears she’ll nag Finn to no end if he doesn’t go along, so here he is.

Of course this boy wants to get ice cream.

And of course he knows a perfect place, as he says, which, surprisingly, is a junkyard filled with old cars, which Finn sees little wrong with.

He’s pretty sure the rich people in this stupid town probably discard these for the newest model. Poe laughs and agrees when he voices his thought.

When they’re side by side on a blue Corvette hood, ice cream and marshmallows long gone, it’s silent, except the other boy’s humming.

Maybe this is the right time. Or the worst time. Wait, he can’t think like that, he should listen to Rey.

Finn might as well get it over with, if the worst case scenario is really gonna happen, right?

And so he decides to open his mouth with his thought along with him, only Poe does the same, and there’s a small cluster of “Hey-”s and “Oh-”s and “Sorry”s.

So maybe the boy has decided to end it on a good note, like a goodbye date.

Could be worse, right?

“I was thinking, uh…” Poe begins, but it doesn’t seem to end, and Finn nods him along, and sits up straighter, maybe it’ll be easier to bite the emotion in him like that.

“Yeah?”

The boy chuckles at himself.

It’s like he doesn’t want to look at him, cause he’s keeping his eyes on his lap, but then, gaze turning towards Finn again and biting his lip.

“Do you want to be my boyfriend?”

And Finn’s ready to deflect, to shrug off the hurt, get up and leave, when, holy shit, what did he just say?

Exactly the thing he wants him to say? Exactly the thing he wants to say? Unbelievable.

He’s got to have a few seconds to process that. Which is probably what makes Poe freak out, because he’s suddenly, almost, taking the words back, “If you think it’s too fast I understand, I-”

“No!” he exclaims. A bit louder than he wanted, alright, good thing this yard’s practically abandoned.

“No, Poe, I really want that. Like, oh my god.”

“Really?”

The nods are eager, and Poe’s smiling so much brighter now. Finn can barely hold himself from copying it.

“But seriously, I thought you’d break up, or I mean, stop our dates or something.”

Now that offended look is familiar, has Poe been spending time with Rey? Could fool him, at least.

He almost gasps, which reminds Finn how truly ridiculous he is, when he’s not keeping up his status in debate.

“Is that why you’ve been avoiding me?” he asks, and yes, is the answer, and Finn can’t help feeling bad, so he tries to make it better by touching his hand, the same way the other boy’s got the habit to in class.

“Yeah, I mean, I thought maybe I wasn’t good enough.”

Now Poe looks distraught, like Finn told him a puppy died or something, and Finn wants to shrug it off, but the boy meets his lips before he gets the chance.

Okay, he would call this a rude interruption, if he didn’t like this so much. He’ll let it slide, just this once.

“Who put that idea into your head?” Poe says, like he’s already out of breath, it’s adorable, “You’re, like, God. Too good to be true.”

And instead of answering Finn continues this cycle of kissing his boyfriend’s lips and cheek and neck, really, they’re a lot better at this than talking.

It’s so much nicer than talking too, but Poe has to finish his sentence, he assumes, “I would’ve asked sooner, you know. But I feel like everyone keeps interrupting us lately.”

It’s like their minds are one, Finn’s sure Rey’s gonna roll her eyes at them after this.

He almost can’t speak when they’re both laughing, and Poe’s touching his face, now, that’s what’ll take up his mind, “Me too.”

Honestly, Finn would let the boy say more, if he wasn’t his boyfriend now, right, so when Poe is starting on a rant of those exact problems, there’s really no other choice than direct him away from the negativity and back to kissing him again, because he loves his voice, but that’s just about enough talking now, he thinks.

“Boyfriend?” and of course, Poe laughs again at that, tipping his head back, but quick to turn his gaze back, because every quirk just makes him even more pretty.

“Yes?”

And he replies, “Can I interrupt you, though?”, not even waiting for an answer before he’s pulling him in for the millionth kiss, it seems, cupping his neck and tugging on his hair.

It’s impossible that Poe can smile even wider, surely, but he does.

“I guess I’ll allow it.”

[emybain]

The Start of Something New

so I was going to post this yesterday, but then I got busy and I also didn't want to post until it felt right, so Im posting now! thank you to @danna-bell-is-black for beta reading this for me! I definitely plan on writing more fics about Georgia because I LOVE her

     It was well after three in the morning, and twenty two year old Georgia Rawles was standing outside Hugh Everhart’s apartment, banging on his door. She didn’t know where else to go; definitely not back home, even though she lived with Tamaya and could probably get more help from her. No, right now, she needed her best friend, the person she had grown up with. 

    She knew it wasn’t safe for her to keep standing out on his doorstep, but she also knew that most people stayed back when she entered a room. It was a trait she prided herself on, being intimidating, even though in high school she received the reward for Most Likely to Cry Over Puppies. 

    After three minutes of consistent banging, the door finally swung open, and Georgia came face to face with a yawning Hugh Everhart, who was squinting at her. Before he could ask her why she was there at such an hour, Georgia pushed passed him into the small apartment. 

    “Please, do come in,” Hugh mumbled sarcastically, closing the door behind her. “Georgia, it’s three in the fuc-”

    “I’m pregnant,” Georgia blurted out. She crossed her arms over her chest tightly, swallowing. At Hugh’s blank stare, clearly no longer tired, she continued. “I...I-I-I’m sorry, Hugh. I didn’t know where else to go.” 

    Hugh’s gaze drifted down to her flat stomach. Georgia felt the urge to hide it, despite there being nothing there yet. “Please tell me Evander’s not the father.”

    A laugh escaped Georgia’s throat, though it sounded nervous. It was a running joke between the two of them that she liked Evander; in reality, Evander was closer to Hugh than anyone, and she was fine with keeping it that way. He was a little too full of himself for her taste. “Skies, no. I...It’s that guy I went out with a few times about a month and a half ago, remember? I saved him from that shoe factory?” 

    It took him a moment, but Hugh slowly nodded. He still looked dumbfounded as he suggested they sit down. He faced her. “Does he know?”

    Georgia curled her feet up underneath her legs. “No. I just found out myself. I was headed home when I came across a robbery in a convenience store.” She shook her head. “I couldn’t just let them rob the poor old man, so I knocked them out and tied them up outside. The man was so grateful that he let me take whatever I wanted from the store-”

    “And you took a test?” Hugh leaned back against the couch cushions. 

    She nodded. “I almost took some medicine, just because that’s always good to have around, and it’s so rare, but I was selfish. I remembered that I missed my period, and I acted for myself.” She grabbed one of his throw pillows and hugged it to her chest. “Hugh, what do I do? I can’t bring a kid into this world. Not like this.” 

    Her stomach turned over at the mention of a child. She had regretted hooking up with that guy, whose name she refused to think about, soon after. It was never a good idea to do anything in today’s world without proper protection, and now she was paying for her mistake. 

    Hugh rubbed the stubble on his chin, studying Georgia with sympathy in his eyes. “You’re not messing with me. You’re actually pregnant.”

    Georgia refrained from chucking the pillow at him. She sighed, clutching it tighter. “Yes! I’m pregnant! That’s been established, dumbass!” She jumped when another young man appeared from thin air in the tiny kitchenette, a glass of water in his hand.  

    “You’re pregnant? What the hell, Georgia?” 

    Georgia groaned and actually threw the pillow this time, but only to the spot beside her. She should’ve known he was going to be here; he and Hugh had been together for a while now. Well, it wasn’t like she cared if he knew as well; she had known him almost as long as she had known Hugh. “Hi, Simon.”

    “Is it that handsome man you saved a few weeks ago? You seemed to really like him.” Simon padded over and sat beside her. 

    She nodded, bringing her legs up to her chest to rest her chin on them. “I broke it off, though. He was scared of me, of what I can do.” 

    Hugh made an exasperated noise in the back of his throat. “Wait, you aren’t seeing him anymore?”

    “No. He didn’t like that I’m a prodigy...said it was too much pressure to date a superhero, so I dumped him before he could dump me.” She shrugged weakly. “I didn’t tell you because it wasn’t important.” She was sure part of it was also because she was nearly six feet tall and was a couple inches taller than him, even if he never admitted it. Her height couldn’t be helped, though. It ran in the Rawles blood. He was starting to bore her, anyway, the more she got to know him. His personality didn’t match his looks. 

    “Well, it’s important now.” Simon shook his head. “You have to tell him.”

    Georgia froze, blinking at Simon. “What? No, I...I don’t even know where he lives! We only went out a few times. And besides,” she licked her lips, “what if he doesn’t care? Or what if this baby is also a prodigy? He’ll want nothing to do with us.” She surprised herself when she placed a hand over her belly protectively, but let it fall to her side just as quickly. “I don’t think he should know.” 

    “He’s the father, George.” Simon rolled his eyes. “You were both careless, and it’s only right that he knows.”

    “Careless?” Georgia frowned. “Easy for you to say, Mister I’m-gay-and-a-man-and-therefore-don’t-have-to-worry-about-these-things!” 

    Simon raised his hands up in defense and shot a look at Hugh when he laughed. “I still think you should tell him.” 

    “Well, he’s the least of my worries right now.” Georgia grew quiet. “How am I supposed to be a mom? I don’t have time to raise a kid, and this world is too violent for any baby.” 

    Hugh scooted closer and took her hands in his. “We’ll figure it out, okay? You’re not alone in this, Georgia.”

    Tears welled in her eyes, her wall that she had been building since she read that test falling. She thought she was going to be able to get through this calmly and with a clear mind, but the more she thought about being pregnant and motherhood, the more frightened she grew. “You know that I’ve always wanted to be a mom, but not like this, Hugh. I’m broke and unmarried and there’s crime every night down the street from my apartment.”

    She felt the cushion lift up as Simon stood and went back to the kitchenette. Hugh pulled her closer to him until her head was on his lap. A tear trickled down her cheek and landed on his knee. “What am I going to do?” 

    Hugh rubbed her back soothingly. “Well, you can have the baby or not, but there aren’t many doctors around these days, and prodigy healers are rare, so it’s more dangerous to terminate the pregnancy. You could give them up for adoption when they’re born, or you can keep them.” Georgia sniffled, not liking any of those options. “Just know that we’ll be here beside you no matter what, okay? You have five people who care about you, George. We’ll support whatever you do, and you don’t have to decide right now.” It was just like Hugh to give her rational options, even if he wasn’t always the most rational person in the world. But when she needed a pep talk, he always had the right things to say. That was one of the reasons why she became friends with him so many years ago. 

    Simon came back and held out a glass of water. Georgia sat back up and accepted it gratefully, the cool liquid feeling good on her closed throat. “I’m going to be fat.”

    “You’re going to have to rest.” Simon sat back down, narrowing his eyes at her. “At least, as the pregnancy goes on.”

    “I can still kick ass even if I’m fifty pounds heavier,” Georgia said, curling her lip up at him in mock disgust. 

    Simon smiled. “I’m not saying you can’t.”

    She took in a slow breath, wiping away the last of her tears. “Kasumi is going to be thrilled. Tamaya will be pissed. Evander...hard to say.” 

    Hugh chuckled and patted her knee lightly. “They’ll all support you, don’t worry..”

    But Georgia did worry. Even with his lighthearted tone, she still felt dread at the road she was headed down. Her...a mom. Hugh had said she didn’t have to keep the baby, but Georgia knew deep down that she was going to. Ever since she was little, she had dreamed of being a mom, having always loved kids. Her parents never gave her any siblings to play with, much to her dismay. She always figured it was because of her gift, that they didn’t want to risk having another prodigy in the house. 

    Oh, skies. Georgia could only imagine what she would do if her child was a prodigy as well. Were the children of prodigies also prodigies? Was it something in their blood that was passed down? She had no clue, and as prodigies were still held at a distance in the world, she could only hope that this baby was normal. As much as she enjoyed her gift of flight, she would never want her child to be discriminated against as she had been all her life. 

    Hugh was right, though. She had a support group, which was more than many expecting mothers in her position had. She could do it. 

    After all, she was the inimitable and powerful Lady Indomitable. 

_______

    At three months, Georgia made her decision, surprising herself and the other Renegades with how quick she made up her mind. 

    At five months, she felt her baby kick for the first time, and felt an immediate burst of love for the life growing inside of her. 

    At six months, she rescued a prodigy healer from a burning hospital and found out she was having a boy. 

    At nine months, she was still terrified of her future. 

    It wasn’t until she held her son in her arms for the first time that she finally had a name for him. Adrian. She wasn’t sure where it came from, but it felt right. For a while, she considered naming him after a family member, but this was so much better. It was something of his own, not something he had to share with a passed on relative that he would never get to know. It was so rare in today’s world to have something that belonged only to one person, anyway. 

    “I will always protect you,” twenty three year old Georgia Rawles whispered to her son, who was only a few hours old. He stared up at her, mouth open wide. He had her eyes, much to her delight. “I promise no harm will come to you, my angel.” She brought him up to her face and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead and thought of how tiny and vulnerable he was in her hold. A new fear entered her mind, but she pushed it down, not wanting to worry about it right now. She was happy, truly happy. 

    A knock sounded at the door, and Georgia looked up as the door opened. Hugh entered, smiling with a curious twinkle in his eyes. “Just wanted to check on things in here,” he murmured. 

    Georgia gestured for him to come in, and he came closer, sitting beside her on the edge of her bed. He had helped her give birth to her son in her bedroom, a feat that took almost eight hours. Not as long as some mothers, but still long enough to render Georgia exhausted. She needed a long, long nap, but she also didn’t want to miss any of her son’s new life. 

    Hugh regarded her and Adrian with a look she couldn’t decipher. Adrian was watching this new face intently with his big eyes. He stuck his tongue out at Hugh, as if he were just realizing he had a tongue, and Georgia had to giggle softly. 

    “How would you like to hold your godson?”

[ghoulangerlee]

the first taste of love (oh bittersweet) ; malex

i posted this on ao3, but i am nothing if not predictable so i’m posting a tumblr version too! 

basically uhh i wrote a roswell new mexico fic, oh no. im very nervous and very anxious bc there’s so many good writers in the fandom and i am. me. but like, i saw that post, with the still from the episode tonight and my brain went okay sure here’s this. 

its definitely AU because yknow. obviously what i think could happen isn’t whats gonna happen but sdlkfj. ANYWAY. title comes from strawberry wine by deana carter bc tbh michael guerin definitely listens to country music’s greatest women artists 

also yes i know the whole alien thing isnt like anyone but said aliens thing to tell maria but yknow. guilt. being in on something someone else isnt in on. blah blah

=========

He doesn't know how long they’ve been sitting there, just talking, but Alex isn't going to complain, not when it's the first time in ten years that they've been able to have this.

And it's comfortable and nice and Michael's leg is warm where it's pressed against his, his posture open and welcoming and Alex can't help but lean into it, watching, as if hanging onto every word—and he is, hanging onto everything Michael's saying, unsure of when they'll get this chance again, with everything going on.

He's so caught up in everything, in how right all of this feels that he doesn't realize Michael's stopped talking, that he's staring at him with this horribly vulnerable look on his face, something morphing into determination and then, then —

Michael's lips are soft against his, soft and dry and chapped at the corners where Michael constantly darts his tongue out against the skin when he's nervous or annoyed and Alex’s breath catches, his eyes open wide and Michael just pushes forward, firmer, hand coming up to cup the side of Alex’s jaw.

He inhales, sharp through his nose and then, then he relaxes, his hand gripping the center of Michael's button up shirt, holding on tight as the kiss deepens, as Michael presses into his side, other hand warm against his thigh, warm through his jeans.

A noise leaves Alex’s throat, something soft and pained and desperate all wrapped together as he kisses back, gives as good as he can, feeling something warm and heavy in his chest at the needy sound Michael makes.

At once, it all comes rushing back and Alex pulls away, jerks out of Michael’s reach, panting and flushed and wishing for once he could be selfish.

“Guerin, we can't do this,” he says, wishing his voice didn't waver as obvious as it did, wishing to be anywhere but here right now. “ I can't do this to Maria. She doesn't deserve this.”

Michael's face does something weird then, a look crosses it—half pained, half ashamed, and he pulls his cowboy hat off, runs his fingers through his hair, Alex’s eyes tracking where his fingers get caught up in the curls. “Yeah well, no worries. She's not really in the picture right now.”

Alex frowns, feels something protective bubble up in his chest, “Just because she's not here—”

“ No , Alex,” Michael says, cutting him off. “She and I didn't last. Y’know. We're on an indefinite break.”

“So what happened to Maria being something easy ,” Alex can't help but ask, the words twisted with grief and pain, “If you two can't last, is there even any hope—” for us , he doesn't finish, but Michael goes rigid beside him and once again Alex is hit with the stupid realization that he's reactive , that he doesn't think before he speaks.

Michael stands up, putting distance between the two of them, hat held tightly in his left hand as he paces in front of Alex. “Look, I fucked up, okay? I fucked up big time, I just. Didn't tell her about the big green alien thing and then she found Rosa and well, now she knows.” His voice is quick, not quite panicky but not all calm either, “She’s pissed at me, at Liz, probably at you too for keeping her in the dark the whole time. And well, lying is sort of a relationship deal breaker in the grand scheme of things.”

Part of him hurts for Michael, for Maria, bit the quiet vindictive part of him just whispers if I can't be happy neither can he , but he pushes that away, quietly berates himself for even thinking that and inhales deeply. “Give it time,” he says instead. “Maria might come around. I. We still haven't quite talked since everything but I can put in a good word for you. Bring up dear old dad’s plot to destroy all aliens, you included, help you save face.”

And even as he offers to help Michael fix his and Maria’s relationship, he feels tired all of a sudden, feels like he should be selfish in this situation but, but—

“No, no,” Michael says, shaking his head hard enough to make his curls bounce. “She's made it very clear she can't trust me or Liz right now. That we're on her shitlist and it's looking like we might not get off of it anytime soon.” He breathes in deep, steels himself, “And I’m coming to realize that kissing you was a mistake,” he continues, “Just. You don't deserve that from me, I’d be doing the same chicken shitted shit I said you were doing to me.”

Alex watches as he deflates a little, his shoulders go limp, and he stands too, taking a step closer, “Look, Guerin,” he pauses, “ Michael ,” he corrects, “I get it, okay? You just started something with Maria, now you're not together and it hurts , and the physical thing between us? It's always been easy. Something to fall back on when words or whatever hasn't been enough.” He rubs his hands on his jeans before crossing his arms against his chest, posture going stiff, “I said some things I shouldn't have and this is not like me stringing you on all those years.” He swallows, “You're hurting, and I get that. Sometimes, it's easier to mask the hurt with something physical than try to parse through it mentally”

Michael looks up at him, raw and open, incredulous, “You really are a self-sacrificing piece of shit, aren't you?” He asks, something akin to wonder in his voice.

The deprecating laugh escapes before he can stop it, “Who told you that?”

Michael snorts, rubbing his right hand across his face in annoyance, “Liz briefly mentioned it when she said you'd reenlisted, said you didn't know when to quit. That you'd rather see those around you thrive even if it meant you had to suffer.” He presses his lips together, “That's why you just left after that night, wasn't it? In the shed. If you didn't leave, what, your dad would have come after me again? Hassling a teenage boy for sleeping with his son?”

Alex swallows, feels dread creeping up along with the urge to leave, but he tilts his chin up, stares across at Michael, “I did it to keep you safe.” He says, voice more steady that he expected. “And as much as it hurt, I'd do it again, if it meant he'd never lay another hand on you.”

A sour, pinched look flits across his face, “And what, you'd rather be in his shadow than have your own happiness?”

Alex squeezes his arms tighter against his chest, “I don't like seeing the people I care about hurt,” he says, and he suddenly feels vulnerable again, like a teenager, “I knew if I'd enlisted he’d leave you alone. If I distanced myself from you, he wouldn't have a reason to go after you. And after Caufield, I’m glad I did, all those years ago.” He breathes in shakily, “And yeah, I know, it's selfish, I should have asked you. I should have talked to you before making those sorts of decisions for you because it hurts , it's what makes our relationship hard and painful for you. I know .”

He goes quiet for a few moments, then, “After the way he ran my mother off, after doing that, I couldn't let him destroy you too, Michael. That's absolutely no excuse for anything I did, because I did fuck up, I fucked you up, I fucked us up, everything. But god ,I’d rather have fucked any chance of us up than lose you permanently.”

Alex rubs his arm across his face, feeling his eyes well with tears, “So yeah, I’m a self-sacrificing piece of shit but if it keeps people alive then I’ll continue to do it.”

Michael stands there, across from him and Alex feels a pull of something, sees the way Michael straightens his shoulders, makes himself look taller, and then he's closing the space between them, arms wrapping around Alex’s shoulders.

“You are a goddamn piece of work, Manes,” Michael says, voice half muffled by his shirt. “When I said loving you was hard, I didn't mean for you to fucking lie to your dad about cutting me out of your life. I didn't mean that we couldn't still be friends , that you had to sell yourself back to the air force.” he says the words so fiercely that Alex believes them.

“I want you and Maria to be happy, I want you to be happy, and that makes me selfish. There's part of me that wants to convince you to be with me, but the other part of me wants you and Maria to have a chance because. If she makes you happy? Then I want that for you.” Alex says, voice shaky as his hands rest on Michael's sides, gripping his shirt. “As much as I want to just kiss you and forget about all of this, I know we can't. We can't do that. If you want to be with Maria. If you want a chance at happiness.”

Michael squeezes him tighter, and then he's pressing their foreheads together, “But what do you want?”

Alex blinks at Michael, eyes wet and red rimmed, “I want you to be safe. That's why I enlisted again, so I can take down whatever this is my dad's planning. I can't do it from the outside. I have to be inside.”

Michael makes an unhappy noise, “Stop. Think about yourself for once. You said you wanted to convince me to be with you? So do it, Manes. Show me you're even worth my time. Show me that what we had in highschool wasn't just a fling for you.” He challenges, “I know you want what's best for me, but maybe. Hell maybe I don't know what's best for me yet. Maybe I still want you. Maybe I still want an us .”

“I don't want to force you,” Alex says, fierce, “I recognize I fucked up and I know you were with Maria because you like her and it doesn't hurt to be with her. I'm not going to ruin what little chance you have left.”

“We both fucked up, Alex,” Michael says, “We both did, and it's unfair that I blamed it all on you. We were teenagers who didn't know shit about each other except that we had feelings.” He looks into Alex's eyes, “I’d like to think that we're adults now and we can handle this more. Maturely. We can sit down, figure out shit out. And hell, maybe in the future we'll be at a place where we can be us again.” He slowly withdraws from the hug, dragging his thumb gently down Alex’s cheek, aching inside at the way Alex closes his eyes and leans into it. “Right now, we need to focus. We need to talk about all this. We need to shut your dad’s operation down. Somehow help Max and Rosa and Maria.”

When he pulls his thumb away from Alex's face, Alex opens his eyes slowly, staring at him with a sad sort of look on his face, “And if you and Maria somehow fix the mess between you, I don't want you to give up on that for me. Okay?”

Michael sighs noisily out of his nose, “I really need you to stop thinking about me and other people and please act selfish this once .” He says, “This isn't about Maria and me, this is about you and me, and the two of us reconciling , because I had a fucking good time today before I forgot to tamp down the unbridled lust I feel for you, and I want more of that. If we can be friends first, I’d just. I'd really like that.”

Alex inhales softly, nods somewhat tentatively, fighting back the urge to argue with Michael, stamps down on the voice telling him that they can never be friends because Alex feels too big for him. “Okay. Okay. You're right Guerin. I need this. We need this.”

“Just two guys talking about the past trauma they've inflicted on each other and the imminent doom of one's dad on an entire alien race,” Michael says, “Seems simple enough.”

And then, Alex pulls himself together, takes a few relaxing breaths, “We've also got to somehow bring Max back to life,” he adds dryly.

“Nope. No way, that's all on Liz. I'm an engineer not a biologist.” Michael says, finally placing his hat on his head again. “I’ll help where I can but she's taking point on that.”

Alex snorts quietly, and the tension eases out of the air, as he sits back down on the log, Michael joining him again, leaning back to stare up at the sky, their thighs pressed together.

“We're gonna figure this out, Alex,” Michael says into the evening sky, and though Alex is unsure of what exactly this is, he believes him.

[chwetuan]

Uncertainty - Im Jaebeom x Reader (a, f)

1. Requested: i was wondering if i could request a jaebum high school au + prompt 10 please! could be angsty or fluffy I don't mind! and i just also wanted to say that i love all your works 💕💕 ( @trinityysl ) 

2: Summary: Graduation is only a few months away, but here you sit, in your boyfriend’s bedroom with a pregnancy test in the bathroom and uncertainty clouding the future ahead of you (1.3k).

3. Warnings/Ratings: language, pregnancy scare

4. A/N + Disclaimer: First - My love, I am so so so sorry for taking incredibly long with this request. This was not my original plan for the storyline, but this is what I came up with after one rewriting session. Secondly - This is a fic that I am very nervous about posting. In no way am I attempting to say that teenage/unplanned pregnancies are wrong. As a teenager myself, and a result of teenage pregnancy, I support the use of protection and educating teens on safe, consensual sex. This piece is fictional, and the situation depicted is not the reality for many teens. Use this as a reminder to stay protected and prevent a situation that will change your life forever from happening. 

Your mother refused to call your boyfriend anything other than teenage heartthrob. Granted, she wasn’t completely incorrect.

Even if his shoulders were a little broader,  hair a little softer, smile a little brighter, and voice a little deeper, Jaebeom was still a normal teenager.

He stayed up too late playing video games, forgot to iron his uniforms, and on more than one occasion, found himself in the principal’s office for minor infractions.

But Jaebeom, regardless of how intimidating he could seem, was soft at heart. This you knew.

He was an utter goof, with a love for cats and a laugh that ran the rain away.

You mother isn’t wrong when she says he’s a teenage heartthrob, the only part she’s neglecting to mention is that he’s yours.

~~~

You had spent the entire morning peeling off the pretty purple nail polish your sister worked so hard to manicure. It was cheap — a $4 dollar polish you bought at the grocery store the beginning of your freshman year.

It was cheaper than the pregnancy tests you’d managed to buy at the pharmacy only months before graduation.

Three months, to be exact. Three months until you were scheduled to walk across the stage and accept the diploma, with honors, you’d been busting your ass for since you were 14.

But here’s the thing about high school — it doesn’t teach you about anything real. It prepares you for nothing that comes after the cap and gown. It doesn’t prepare you for pregnancy tests, or job hunting, anxiety, or moving out.

Nothing real.

Regardless, that's where you were. Three months away from graduating, sitting on the bus in your school uniform, blazer laid across your thighs as you bounced your knee to the sound of whatever obnoxious, overplayed song was buzzing in the background.

The binders not the only thing weighing down your bag, and assignments due the following week not the only thing weighing down your mind.

~~~

You manage to make it through your first two classes before JB tugs you aside by the strap of your backpack, an unamused expression on his face.

He leans against the row of lockers, hands shoved in his pockets and tie hanging loose around his neck.

“Avoiding me today, are we?”

“I’m not.”

He watches as you tug at the sleeves of your blazer, a nervous habit. “Okay.”

You know he doesn’t believe you, but you also know that you weren’t avoiding him. At least, not consciously.

A still silence settles between the two of you as his eyes scan your features.

“What?”

He shrugs, checking his watch and fiddling with the strap of his backpack, slung over one shoulder. “Nothing.”

~~~

In true teenage fashion, your boyfriend proceeds to ghost you for the next three days.

“You aren’t fighting, are you?” Your mother asks one of those mornings.

You don’t think it’s meant to be a fight, but Jaebeom is stubborn and you’re even worse. You don’t know why you’re not talking, and you guess you’d know if you talked to him, but for some reason, you refuse to be the one to break the silence.

But on the fourth day, a convenient Friday afternoon, Jaebeom is standing in front of your locker.

“Are you in the mood to tell me what’s wrong, today?” He asks, a hand coming up to palm your waist as you cross your arms. The way he emphasizes his words make your stomach churn.

“Oh, you’re in the mood for talking?”

“I’m worried about you.”

A bitter laugh leaves your lips. “You really don’t seem it.”

He sighs, his hand dropping from your side and finding purchase in his pocket. “You didn’t want to talk to me.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You fucking dodged me until I came and found you.” He points out, the thinly veiled concern in his voice becoming masked in irritation.

Running a hand through your hair, you reply dismissively.

“I was not ignoring you.”

“Okay. If that’s how you want to look at it.”

“It’s not how I wan-“

He cuts you off. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on or not?” The words are curt. He closes his eyes and inhaled deeply before continuing. “Baby, I-“

“My period is late, Jaebeom.”

~~~

On Saturday morning, you find yourself sitting cross-legged on Jaebeom’s bed. It’s only a little after 11, sun filtering through the curtains in streams of gold. JB is leaning against his desk, fiddling with the ring on his finger. He’s dressed comfortably, but his entire body is tense.

His parents are gone for the weekend, leaving the house unusually quiet, save for the sounds of guitar strumming coming from his sister’s bedroom and the bell of his cat’s collar jingling in the background.

“My parents are going to kill me.”

With a roll of his stiff shoulders, he responds. “Correction, your parents are going to kill us. A baby isn’t made by one person.”

You sigh, head dropping into your hands. “We don’t know if there’s a baby, yet.”

“We will in a few minutes.”

Jaebeom’s voice doesn’t waver, but you can tell that he’s scared. He’s scared, but he’s trying his best for you, and it makes your heart clench more than it brings you relief.

A nervous tear falls from your eye, and you think about the future.

You’re too young to have a baby. You’ve barely grown out of your own home, with college and moving out planned for the next couple of months.

You don’t have the money for a baby. Your part-time job at the pizzeria doesn’t provide funding for cribs and diapers.

What will happen to you and Jaebeom? Will you lose your scholarships? Will your parents kick you out? Will you stay together?

His voice pulls you from the downward spiral of your thoughts.

“Come here.”

You can’t help but practically melt into his touch as he wipes the tears from your eyes. “It’s okay, it’ll be okay.” He whispers into the crown of your head, arms holding you firmly against his chest.

“It isn’t.”

“It will be. We’re gonna make it work, okay? Regardless of what that pee-stick says.”

His choice of terminology throws you off, some semblance of a laugh leaving your lips as you taste the salt of your tears.

“It’s not a pee-stick.”

The timer set on JB’s phone goes off, bringing you back to reality.

He releases you, turning the timer off and lifting his head to meet your eyes.

Your heart is in your throat. You’re scared beyond belief, feeling as if you’re freezing and burning simultaneously.

“Do you want me to look at it?”

“No, I’ll do it.”

You walk across the hall to the bathroom, and with a clenched fist at your side, you peer nervously at the test resting on the sink.

One line, negative.

~~~

You get your period three days later. You’ve never been happier to get your period in your life.

You immediately call JB, who laughs at your excitement, but is equally relieved.

Graduation comes and goes. Your parents never know about the scare, not until years down the line, when over Italian food and strong wine, and a ring on your finger, you tell them the story.

Jaebeom holds your hand under the table. He’s not your teenage heartthrob anymore, but rather, your husband, with the same deep voice, broad shoulders, and love for cats.

He’s still yours, in a more complete sense. You feel it when you walk down the aisle, when you move into your first house together, and when you hear the words “I love you” every night before bed. You feel it when his smile is the first thing you see, and the last thing in your mind as you dream of the future, and what it will bring.

So different than the uncertainty of 18.

.

.

.

[minerva26love]

Just Say His Name Part 2

This is now Part 2 to my story! I am still not sure how many posts there will be!! Thank you for reading and liking my story so far! This one is a little bit longer. My computer keeps crashing so im sorry if there are any typos. 

My heart was beating so fast. Everything around me started to spin, and i couldnt breath. I sat on the bed and closed my eyes. I havent had this kind of panic attack in a long time. WIthout me knowing Remus was by the door. I was still hyperventilating and shaking, I couldnt control it. Remus came in my room and wrapped his arms around me.

“(Y,N), its Remus, tell me 5 things you can feel.” I took a deep breath still a little shaky.

“You holding me, the blanket on the bed, my jeans, my cat, and the pillow.” He lays his head on mine. My head is on his chest now. Also without me knowing everyone comes in the room. Remus gives them the wait sign, everyone stays quite.

“Good now give me 4 things you can hear.”

“Your heartbeat, my cat, you breathing, and people talking.” I feel him hold me tighter now just out of protection

“Good now give me 3 things you can smell.”

I waited a minute to smell things in the room. “Chocolate, your cologne, and laundry detergent.”

“2 things you can see.”

“My friends stalking us from the door, and you.”  They all laugh from behind the door

“1 thing you can taste.” I bit my lip for a moment. Im obviously not eating anything. While leaning against Remus i could feel and hear his heart beating faster. He was obviously nervous, and i knew why. There was that feeling again. Like nothing else matters. I looked up at him. He looked back at me playing with my hair. I dont think he knows how badly i want to kiss him. I slowly lean in, and kiss him softly. He was at first surprised then kissed me back just as soft. We pulled apart as we heard some whistling.

“You.” I said and smirked. He cleared his throat.

“Feel better?” Everyone laughed and i nodded. Remus shooed them away and it was just me and him again. He pulled me onto his lap, his arms were still wrapped around me.

“Thank you, for grounding me.” He kissed my head and still held me.

“Anytime.” There was a knock on the door. “Yes, you all can come in.” All the friends came in the room and found something to sit on.

“Whats grounding?” Sirius asked

“Well, when someone has a panic attack, you give them something to think about to distract them. So i was giving her things to give me through her senses.” Everyone nods.

“Yeah, what happened?” I feel Remus get tense. He knows it was his fault but not really knowing why it what his fault.

“I said something i obviously shouldnt have.”

“You didnt know its ok.” He kissed my head in an apology.

“Kids! Lets get going to Diagon Alley! We are meeting everyone's parents there! We need to get school supplies!.”

“Coming!” we all yelled. One by one we went into the fireplace and landed in Diagon Alley. It was magnificent. Looking around there are so many witches and Wizards. Everyone is going shopping, grabbing a bite to eat or getting school supplies. Im still looking around in awe. I feel arms around my waist. I jump.

“Sorry, did i scare you?” Remus smirked. I slap him in the arm and laugh.

“Yes, you did.” He kissed my cheek. We all walked around and met up with everyone's parents at the ice cream parlour. While walking up to everyone's parents, for some reason this kind of felt intimidating. I saw one couple, the man looked just like James, so i assumed that was his parents. The next couple were talking and looked like Alice. The last couple i saw was talking to the Potters, they looked very sweet. The girl had the same hair color as Remus. I almost felt nervous meeting his parents. I mean i wasnt sure why its not like we were dating. Getting closer to everyone Remus gave my hand a tight squeeze and winked at me.

“Hey mom and dad!” James and Sirius said together. The Couple laughed and hugged the both of them. Remus said hello to his and his mom kissed him on the cheek.

“How is everyone? And i see we have a new face to the crew.” I blushed.

“Oh yes im sorry, (Y,N) this is The Potters, Longbottoms and Lupins.” I waved and they all said hello back.

“So what did my boys break today.” Mrs. Potter asked. The boys looked offended.

“Mother, how dare you think that we-

“He broke her flower pots.” I told them.

“Im so sorry again i will be talking to the both of them later.”

“I like her Remus.”  Remus’s mom said looking at him. Remus blushed. We all after that got ice cream and walked to get school supplies. “So new books this year and Remus honey we need to get your robes re fitted.”

“Oh yes i agree the boys need that as well.”

“(Y,N) doesnt have her robes yet so why doesnt she go with you and get hers.” We split off in different directions. We went into Madam Malkins Robe shop.

“Hello Potters and Lupin family! How are we today.”

“We are all fine thanks, the three boys need to be refitted in their robes and (Y,N) here is new this year.”

“Well Welcome my dear! Boys go over to the dressing rooms their and put on your robes. (Y,N) and the moms why dont you take her over to the ladies dressing rooms and start measuring her.”

“Come on dear its over here.” I look back at Remus and he nods to go ahead.

“I'll be over here if you need me.” Remus said.

“I'll be over here if you need me my princess.” Sirius and James mocked. Remus punched the both of them.

“ Alright dear lets start measuring you.” James mom takes out the tape and measures will Remus’s mom starts writing them down.

“You know (Y,N) out of all our boys Remus is a good choice, My boy James is obsessed with Lilly and Sirius just does whatever the bloody hell he wants.” I blush and dont really say anything. Its kind of weird doing all of this without my own mom. She went with me to get my first pair of robes. I didnt realize that a tear fell down my cheek. Mrs. Lupin comes up to me and crouches on my level.

“Sweetheart, i know your mum and dad arent here. If you ever need anything or anyone to talk to, please owl us. I lost my mum a couple years ago and its hard not having one. I know it will be hard to get in touch with your family. You have another family right here and you know what?”

“What?” Mrs. Potter and Mrs. Lupin look at eachother and smile

“My son couldnt take his eyes off of you.” i giggle as i we finish the measurements. We head back up front, Remus is still getting fitted. Mrs. Potter nods to me to go talk to him. I walk over to him while hes fixing his robes. I look back and Mrs, Potter nods. He was trying to put another safety pin in.

“Here, i'll do it.” I start fixing his robe. Mrs. Potter and Mrs. Lupin laugh from a distance.

“How do you know how to do this?”

“I love to sew actually. My mom taught me how to sew my own clothes. I actually made this sweater.” He looked surprised and impressed.

“Well im glad my robes are in good hands.”  I cleared my throat nervous.

“Well im all done here.” I run back to the adults and stand near Mrs. Potter. We all finished paying. My robes should be done by the end of the day. We all walked around to get the rest of our supplies. By the end of the day i got all my new books and i was just waiting on my robes to be finished. I was sitting there reading and i glanced over to see Remus talking to his parents. They nodded and i went on to reading my book trying not to be nosy. Remus walks up and sits next to me.

“Hey, so im staying at James’s house since we leave for school in a couple of days. I was wondering if you would like to hang out tonight.” I stopped breathing for a moment. I bit my lip. “There goes you biting your lip again.” I smiled.

“(Y,N) your robes are ready!)” I get up and start to turn away from Remus he looked heartbroken. I smirked turned toward him.

“Yes.” I kissed his cheek and turned toward the shop. Whistles were heard behind me as i walked in the shop.

[melanoradrood]

WIP Wednesday

So this is from my Nanowrimo fic, which is the soulmates AU, which is a rewrite of Rogue One, more or less, with Cassian and Jyn as soulmates ( spoiler alert? ). Anyways, I’m pretty sure I have a title locked down, but I’m not going to start posting this fic on AO3 until I get probably another chapter done, just because the chapters are so meaty, BUT, take this little bit from the middle of Chapter 1. Chapter 1 covers Lah’Mu, Kafrene, and Wobani, btw...

Enjoy.

She pretends that her parents are here with them, her father writing away with what little light they have, her mother fixing the hole in Jyn’s leggings. She imagines her doll with her, and imagines that the rocks around her are actually sky, showing the stars.

She closes her eyes, and she tells herself the constellations, as if she can see them. She whispers them to herself, and pretends like someone, maybe even her soulmate, can hear her.

She’s so cold, so wet in this place. A storm has been brewing overhead, and despite the fact that she is within a cave, underground, the water runs, and it drips, drips onto her skin, onto her cot, onto her clothes. The longer she remains wet, the colder she gets, and she shivers, trying to hide under every blanket. The weather only gets worse, and the darkness never seems to stop.

Three days, three long days, and then, the hatch opens above her head. She recognizes the face immediately - he’s a friendly one, but she gives no response, save to climb up the ladder, her bag on her back. He does not look surprised to see that she is alone, and when she climbs out of the hole, they close the cover, although no one will be seeking shelter there again.

There’s a ship, with three big men with him, waiting at the mouth of the cave. They all look her over, tiny thing that she is, but she lifts her chin, raising herself up with all of the strength of her mother. Her mother never let anyone look down at her, and they give her a nod before she turns and looks at the one that came for her, Saw.

“They shot her,” she says, and there’s sadness in the man’s eyes. Pity, perhaps… or maybe understanding.

“And your father?”

She shakes her head - she doesn’t know the answer to that, not for fact, but she knows what she suspects. They wanted him - wanted his research, wanted his work. They would take him alive, if they could, and her father was not one to fight. He was likely still alive.

“How did you get away?” he asks, and her eyes go wide with surprise - she had done as told, had run when told, so how- “Your face, were you struck?”

She touches at her eye, where he gestures, then lets out another shake of her head. There’s no pain there, but she can imagine what it is - her soulmate. They must have gotten into another fight.

“My... “ She shows him her hands, where the knuckles are scraped and bruised. Saw gives her a nod, then sets a hand on her shoulder, leading her to the ship.

“My Papa… he’ll have a scar, where they shot her, won’t he?”

Saw is quiet for a long moment as they walk up the ramp, and he settles her into a seat in the back, sliding her bag under the chair. He then kneels in front of her, taking her hands in his.

“Most likely, yes. A mark where she was shot, to show the pain within his soul.”

“Will the mark hurt?” she asks, and it feels like a stupid question, but her father had reared back from what looked like pain when her mama was struck.

“The soul is what aches,” Saw answers wisely, as though he has known that pain, has felt that loss. “The wound is only a sign of the part of him that is now broken.”

Jyn nods, then looks down at her knuckles, scraped and marked.

“I never want to meet my soulmate. They make you do stupid things…”

She doesn’t want to think that her mama was stupid, not when she was so brave. Perhaps, if her mama had struck down the man in white, the troopers might have left her papa alone… but how could her mama think that she might fight against all of those fighters and lived? Her mama had fought for nothing, and now she was dead.

“My child… you will meet them one day, and you will only feel complete with them. It is a gift from the Force, one which you cannot fight… you are young, still, and we can talk on it later. Close your eyes and rest.”

She nods, sniffling a little, and Jyn realizes then that she’s crying, tears running down her cheeks. She was supposed to be brave, and here she was crying. Her hand runs under her eyes, brushing them away, and then her hand goes to her neck, to her mama’s necklace.

Her necklace, now.

Her eyes go towards the viewport, and as they take off from the planet, she can see in the distance that her house is now a ruins. There’s nothing left on Lah’mu, it seems. Nothing but ash, and dirt, and tears.

Her eyes close after a long moment, and she tries to wash it all away, to forget everything, to forget the past. She cannot change what has happened to her…

Ash… dirt… tears… and memories…

Dirt… sweat… tears…

Running… dripping…

Her eyes fly open, and for half a second, Jyn thinks she might be back in that cave, deep underground. Her next thought is that someone has come for her, and that this time, it’s not a friend. When she sits up, though, and realizes that the wetness on her skin is from the dripping ceiling, and that she’s no longer on Lah’mu…

Her hand reaches out to grab the rag she had left drying in the small space that is hers. It’s damp, but it’s better than letting whatever liquid drips from the floor above remain on her skin. Her eyes flick over towards her cellmate, still sleeping.

A guard walks by, but Jyn knows that it’s the middle of the night, and that it’s only memories, memories that haunt her, memories of a lifetime ago, of a girl that no longer exists. Her mama is long dead, her papa is long gone, and Saw had abandoned her, left her behind.

Everyone left her behind, everyone save for…

She looks down at her hand, sees a familiar bite on it, the bite from a blaster, used in close range, as a pistol. Sometimes, whoever her soulmate is, they grip the blaster too tight, the firing catching back on tender skin. There hasn’t been a mark in some time…

They recently shot someone. She tries to not concentrate on that too hard.

Her gaze goes out of the cell, and she tries to clear her mind. Her parents, Saw, her soulmate… none of them matter. All that matters is that she has been caught, captured by the Empire. They do not know her true name, but she knows that the name Erso means something to the empire.

If they find out her real name, find out who she really is…

A prison camp on Wobani will be the least of her worries.

For the first time in her life, Jyn is caught, trapped. There’s no way out, there’s no backup plan, no rescue crew. She’s alone. Entirely alone. And no one is coming to save her.

...

There’s a hunger deep within him, but it is not his own. Cassian has to ignore it as he moves through the busy crowd, glancing down at his hands, checking that his gloves are in place. It wouldn’t do for someone, a stormtrooper, to see the dark ring around his wrists. Granted, those marks were also not his own, but then they would ask for scandocs, and well… better to get in and out, without being spotted.

The stink in the air is nearly unbearable, but he’ll be off this piece of junk soon, heading back towards Base, or wherever the intel takes him. He hopes that Tivik is good on his word, because he keeps hitting dead ends. Jedha, though… Jedha is overrun with the presence of the Empire, and for no valid reason. Something is happening on Jedha. He just needs to find out what.

The smell of food makes him feel ill, and he knows he has eaten enough to sustain him recently, but it doesn’t help when he still feels hunger. His thoughts wander for a moment, where are they, that they’re so hungry, that they’re kept in shackles - no. No, he doesn’t have time for thoughts such as that. Things like soulmates… they have no place in a war. Those are for dreamers and fools. Nothing more.

His gaze flicks down the main street as Cassian reaches the alley where they agreed to meet, and he sees no troopers facing towards him - not that a man going down an alley is much concern, but he wants to be aware, wants to know if any are following him. He had been careful, as always, but… well, it was his job to be careful, to aware. He was good at what he did, the best, in fact.

You had to be the best, otherwise, you ended up dead.

The man is where he said he would be, and Cassian tries to put on an easy smile. There’s stress written on Tivik’s face, a sign that the intel, it has to be good. No one gets nervous sharing details about nothing.

His gaze goes back towards where he came from, and no eyes search him out. Stepping forward, he hopes that they will be out of the way… away from interruptions.

“I was about to leave,” Tivik says, and Cassian can only shrug, the grin tightening.

“I came as fast as I could.” And he had. He had had to dodge patrols to get there, but he had half run, when able. The news had to be good, the intel worth it - it was worth running there for. He pulls off his gloves, trying to get relaxed, to slow the man down, and he shoves them into his jacket pocket, out of the way. His wrists burn, but he ignores them.

[majorxsportyxboy]

Lazytown Season 1 Episode 2, Defeeted: The Rewatch

aleardy had his table down and ready to go

there was actually a little creaky sound when him stretched

is that a ball or an egg he just produced from nowhere and kickflipped into the wall

he sticks a dry toothbrush in his mouth with no toothpaste on it. not just in this episode either like it’s routine with him. ( i mean obviously it would look even weirder otherwise tbh but STILL )

once again, he did not put his seatbelt on. a headcanon waits hesitantly in the wings.

i’m so stupid because it took me til like midway season two...when the themesong goes “with Pixel, Stingy, and Trixie, too” Trixie's holding a marker and standing in front of a poster of the mayor. The poster has a mustache and beard on it and for a long time i was just like ‘‘does he have facial hair in the show??? No??? why does the poster???” and then i finally Realized and yeah jsyk i’m an absolute dumbass there we have it

“I know someone who can help” you can say his name mayor. Stephanie know him too mayor. why you being this way mayor.

i love how none of the proposed backstories actually fit with what’s presented in the show, not even the entire pilot episode. amazing.

mail tube is different

“I can allways count onn SporTaCus” always. always implies recurrence. the mayor has counted on him before and apparently last year Sporp taught the kids to play baseball but that can’t have been pre-series because Sporp had only ‘heard of Lazytown before’ and the mayor had never met him but if it’s post-pilot that means there’s been an entire year of Sporp coming to Lazytown that we don’t actually get to see and Stephanie is actually on her second year in Lazytown as of this episode. The lack of any of the kids thinking Sporpy Thoughts would be suspect if it wasn’t common practice for them to completely forget everything he’s taught them the second he leaves. It’s an uncomfy fit but i GUESS

 Eefrow decal!

Sporp managed not to say “I’ve got mail”

He looks so concerned

I got so used to the cartoony eyebrows on him that it’s weird to see him without them

also it looks like his whiskers change over the course of the series too

“I need your help. - The Mayor” first of all i love that this is what correspondence between these two looks like there’s just something hilarious about it idk

“This Must Be Important” ohh Sporty Sporty Sporty

*crying* HE LANDED BACKWARDS IN THE SEAT WHAT A

the little noise when he :}D and shrugs at his own self omg he’s tinkerbell

still didn’t put the seatbelt on

apparently he calmly parks the airship and then just materializes outside of it like he’s been shot from a canon

HE COULDN’T STOP HE JUST SLID OFFSCREEN

“Mister Mayor” aw

No but in this episode sport just looks like he has the mother of all fevers tho Sporp are you okay? all of your blood is in your face. 

him asking about floods and fires could get a pass bc okay maybe he thinks one of the houses had a pipe bust and they called him instead of a plumber, or maybe there was a little kitchen fire and they called him instead of a fireman, but earthquake...that’s...that’s real solid guess sporky

does he just really want to do some major superhero stuff is that it

‘Thunderstorm’ SPORTY DO YOU HEAR THUNDER? DO YOU SEE RAIN IN THIS TOWN? ON THIS BRIGHT SUNNY DAY?

that “WHAT” on “no one wants to go outside and play” his whole face. he’s so offended.

this poor put-upon elf

wait he says “I’m declaring Sportacular Spectacle Day...Today” does that mean this is a new holiday he just invented? still doesn’t take care of the ‘last year’ comment but hmmmmm

Sporp sounds so freaked out when he’s saying he better go practice like i think the mayor straight up scared him XD

Good-For-Nothing, Warm-Hearted, Generous, Healthy Quack Meter: 1

Sportakook meter: 3

“This was my favorite day before Sportakook came to town” I feel like this could be a highly multipurpose meme like “This was my favorite _____ before ______”??

“The Town Hero will be the Town Zero” HERO TO ZERO IN NO TIME FLAT

why is every machine in this show the thus-and-such xthousand like

“Hippety Hop Hippety Hop Sportacus (HE SAID HIS NAME RIGHT) is going to Flop!” is this the origin of Sportaflop

“Too Loony, Too Moony...Puny...”

Stephanie: “So every year, Sportacus does a special stunt” Pixel: “Exactly, on the Sportacular Spectacle Day” Mr. Scheving I just want to talk. None of these kids had heard of Sportacus? Before Pilot? Stephanie was the first to find out about him? And now she? is having to ask the other kids? About Sportacus? MR SCHEVING ARE YOU SURE

i  counted and there are like around 40+ houses on the Lazytown map so unless they’re all abandoned there’s like a bunch of people in Lazytown who i guess were just like “Elf? In this town? Not  for me thanks” and they just hide during the episodes

Sporp, after one success: “I’m ready” yeah u only need to do something right one time before performing it in front of spectators u don’t have to make sure u can do it right every time or anything

Robbie: “My name is Rob U. Blind” Sporp, thinking: “I trust him”

ngl when Robbie poured that stuff on Sporp’s shoes Sporp actually did look in that moment like he could kill a man. the entire time the shoes were being cleaned i swear he was really fighting the urge to snap. he looked so tried X’D

HIS LITTLE SOCKS

Sporty those fake shoes don’t even really look like your real shoes baby come on

He’s so mad he doesn’t even say bye he just hops in the shoes and leaves

Robbo just called him Sportacus again what

“Are ya nervous?” “Ummmm....just a little bit” i love him. so much.

Where’s Mr. Scheving’s Oscar for acting like he can’t control his leggies the  floppy sporp acting is a sportacular spectacle in itself amazing standing ovation robbie this is cruel

“My feet are going cuckoo” is that how you would describe it sportacus

Boy has to be exhausted after this im surprised he didn’t start hollering for an apple at some point

Between this and the scrapped Lazydance i can only assume that they were determined to get rid of any suppositions the audience might have had about Sporp’s invincibility as quickly as humanly possible. like “okay, Pilot’s done. Now let’s immediately let Robbie Wreck Him”

“In front of the kids”

“Sportacus! Try to balance yourself” WHAT’S HE BEEN DOING THIS WHOLE TIME ZIGGY FLAILING BECAUSE HE FEEL LIKE IT?

love how they all sit there and stare at him the whole time while he’s looking like “hjálp!"

i mean to their credit they did all offer suggestions while staring at him

bless him he just looked at his foot and went “STAY”

*after watching him suffer for a couple minutes* “was that part of his act?” “no, something’s really wrong” “.......okay let’s go help him!” these kids are my reason for living

 Bessie: “off you go!” aka “NOPE NOT GETTING INVOLVED MY HAIR IS TOO NICE”

SAID HIS NAME RIGHT AGAIN.

he’s still yelling at his feet to stay

so much of this song consists of the kids just climbing sporp like he’s a cat-tree. it’s adorable.

i still don’t know how walking on hands overrides the uncontrollable feets but ALRIGHT SPORTY YOU DO YOU

what is Robbie even saying right here?

Whatever He called him just then meter: 1

Robbie keeps saying Sport’s name right in this episode and i’m uncomfortable with this

this man backbends sm when he handstand that ain’t right dude how have you not hurt yo self at this point

“Wonderful. Now go join the circus” I can’t believe Robbie just murdered him onstage in front of everyone

Robbie dude youre enjoying this just a liiiiiiiitle bit Too Much

“I can stand still!” the only time in Sporp’s life he’s excited to say that

“But where are my shoos” BOY

this Bing Bang. oh muy gud. oh muy gud  it’s PURE

sporp keeps looking at stephanie like he hasn’t actually learned this dance yet is this partial remnants of lazydance or

BUT IT’S CUTE

OH IT WAS AN EXTENDED BING BANG TOO OHHHH

this one didn’t end in Robbie’s lair like usual

EARLY INSTALLMENT WEIRDNESS SPOTTED

[redvsvblue]

Definitely Something

Hey thanks to @starlalalala and @teamokdynamite, this happened. Some FAHC Michael/Gavin/Alfredo (with established Mavin adding Alfredo)! 

Gavin kind of knows from the minute they meet the guy that he’s going to be something. He’s tall, and friendly, with an easy laugh and an easer camaraderie – and he’s only known them for fifteen minutes, but that’s Gavin needs, apparently, to like him.

He glances at Michael while Geoff and Jeremy talk details with the new guy. Michael’s still staring at the other group.

“He’s quite nice, in’he?” Gavin says.

“He’s definitely quite,” Michael grunts cryptically. Gavin huffs a laugh and looks towards Geoff again.

“Here, why don’t you come meet the others?” Geoff says, shooting a smile at Michael and Gavin and walking the guy over.  

Gavin’s disappointed to say the guy isn’t any less handsome up close. Would make some things easier, he thinks, if he fell out of fancy just as quickly, but as it is, the guy smiles bright enough to crinkle the corners of his eyes and holds out a hand.

“Hi, I’m - ”

“Alfredo, innit?” Gavin replies brightly, slipping his hand in Alfredo’s to shake it. “Lovely to meet you.”

“Suck up,” Michael teases fondly, and goes for his own introduction.

Yeah, Alfredo’s definitely going to be something.

-- 

Alfredo’s something in more ways than one.

To start off, he’s handsome, the type of handsome that makes Gavin a little giddy inside when Alfredo laughs with him, when he bumps their shoulders together in the back of the recon van during a rough escape.

And he’s also, apparently, an amazing shot – but they already knew that. Stats and police records and stolen footage that shows headshots from hundreds of metres away – easy. Known. Part of why they hired him. But it’s during a stealth job with Michael and Jeremy that his other clear specialty shows, and that’s tactical melee – as Ryan would call it, with his fancy terms and whatnot.

Gavin just calls it the punch-stab-shoot, and Alfredo’s startlingly good at it. Clears a room of guards all by himself without tripping a single alarm, before Michael and Jeremy even get to him, and even Geoff’s surprised by this.

“Jesus Christ, how?” Geoff breathes, leaning over the back of Gavin’s chair to watch, re-watch, rewind the footage of the job and watch, in grainy 600 x 800, Alfredo cleanly eliminate the room, using only two knives and one silenced pistol shot and his gloved fists. Gavin’s impressed. Geoff’s impressed. Michael and Jeremy are impressed. Jack’s jawdropped. Ryan’s bedrudgingly impressed.  

“Don’t worry, big boy, we still need someone on the MGs,” Geoff says after the post-mission meeting, clapping  hand Ryan’s shoulder.

“Shut up,” Ryan mutters with a scowl, shrugging Geoff’s hand off. Geoff snickers.

“Aw, Vagabond all pouty?” Gavin teases, tongue poking out between his teeth. Ryan cuts him a glare but the burst of laughter Gavin hears from Alfredo is worth it. And a moment later, Ryan’s lips crack into a smile, he, too, swept into laughter with them.

-- 

The thing is, right, the thing is with Alfredo, is Gavin’s not exactly supposed to be going around developing crushes on attractive snipers.

But, well, it went so spectacularly the first time he did – back when Michael was still new, when he hadn’t found his niche yet and was the crew sniper for a while after Gavin botched up a sniping job horrendously – that he can’t help but entertain it. He thinks, tentatively, half in a dream-state where the world spins a little slower, that Michael might be okay with it.

“So, y’still like ‘Fredo?” Michael murmurs sleepily, his arm draped over Gavin’s waist and lips pressed somewhere to his jaw, breath blowing out annoyingly over Gavin’s neck.

“He’s nice,” Gavin says carefully, dancing his fingers over Michael’s forearm. “Why you askin’?”

“No reason,” Michael says too quickly, tensing up the slightest amount beside Gavin.

“What, you bonking ‘im?” Gavin jokes, as if he doesn’t want to do the exact same.

“No, I’m not – bonkin’ him or whatever stupid slang you want to use. Jus’ wonderin’.”

“Well yeah, I still like him,” Gavin replies.

Michael’s mouth opens as if to speak but then closes with another sharp exhale. He grunts, and asks nothing else. Gavin doesn’t offer anything else.

-- 

Gavin, however, is a bloody coward sometimes, just like Geoff says, and just like Jack loves to holler into the skies when Gavin’s hesitant to jump from bloody miles up in the air, Jack!, and just like Jeremy – well, just like the whole crew says at some point about something, somewhen, some jibe that never really gets to Gavin, that bounces right back off and usually ends in laughter, but sometimes he really is a bloody coward.

There’s absolutely no way he’s going to Michael with this, for one.

For two, things have absolutely gotten worse in the sense of Alfredo.

Worse in the sense of Alfredo is incredibly charming when he wants to be, and Gavin can’t help the way the back of his neck heats up when Alfredo looks at him for a beat too long, or when their hands brush reaching for the same bottle, or when Alfredo sits next to him at the table and oh-so-casually rests a friendly arm on the back of Gavin’s chair to lean over and ask what he’s up to on his phone, and it’s usually some quick little indie game Michael had downloaded for him, and then there’s minutes lost where Gavin fails more levels than usual because Alfredo’s so damn close.

He knows it’s not unusual. Alfredo’s just as friendly with Jeremy, with Geoff, with Jack, even with damn Ryan, with Michael -

Ah, now Michael, Michael – Gavin doesn’t know much but he knows Michael is oddly protective at times, almost as bad as Gavin is about him when Michael’s getting harassed – but Michael doesn’t shoot them strange glares, or try and break them up – or anything. Not even when Alfredo compliments him on something and Gavin feels his cheeks heat even as he’s locking eyes with Michael across the room. Nothing except a smile and a little finger-wave that Gavin shoots back – and then, always then, always when Gavin interacts with Michael again, Alfredo pulls away a little, takes his arm off, stops being so close. Gavin misses it.

But he’s too much of a coward to lean in to Alfredo, so he stays where he is and tries to keep his voice as level as he can.

-- 

“Hey, what’re we doin’ for bevs tonight?” Gavin asks, abruptly slamming his hands down on the back of the sofa and leaning in – Michael and Alfredo jump apart, their heads whipping around just as Michael smashes the pause button on whatever game they’re doing.

Michael, Gavin notices, whose ears are flushed at the tips and who looks quite flustered, giving Gavin an almost guilty look before his eyes drop. Gavin furrows his brow and glances at Alfredo, but he just raises an eyebrow at Gavin.

“Bevs?” He asks. Gavin gives him a sunny grin and lays a hand on Michael’s shoulder – Michael jerks a little at the touch.

“Yeah, bevs!” He chirps. “Me ‘n Jeremy stocked up on some stuff, thought we should do somethin’. You in?”

“Uh, only if you guys are,” Alfredo says with a nervous laugh, looking between Gavin and Michael.

“Yeah, why not,” Michael says, seemingly back to his normal self. He reaches up to affectionately squeeze Gavin’s wrist. “Where were you thinkin’, Gav?”

“Wherever Jeremy goes for,” Gavin replies. “His choice tonight.”

“Well sweet, let me change and then I’ll join you guys,” Michael says, pushing himself up to stand.

“Uh, will I – need to change? I don’t know what - ” Alfredo asks, looking down at himself. Michael laughs loudly.

“Hey, as long as you can heist in it,” he snickers, stepping over wires to reach the hallway.

“Heist?” Alfredo wheezes, glancing at Gavin. “Does Geoff know about this?”

“Maybe,” Gavin allows. He grins. “Maybe not.”

“So, what, combat gear?”

“Just nothing that needs dry cleaning.”

-- 

“So hey,” Michael says, one night, when their room is dark save for the moonlight and there’s a fresh bruise purpling up Gavin’s side from the job two days ago and they’ve known Alfredo for a little over a month now.

“Yeah?” Gavin says, turning his head on the pillow to look at Michael, keeps his hands laced over his chest where Michael’s are tucked under his head. The ceiling didn’t have much to offer them but they still stared at it for a good twenty minutes before talking.

“Alfredo,” Michael says, like it’s an explanation.

“’Fredo,” Gavin says, like it’s an answer.

“Shut up,” Michael says.

“Shuttin’ up,” Gavin says. Michael pauses. Drags a hand out from under his head and waves uselessly in the air above him, eyes still fixed on the ceiling.

“Alfredo,” he says, again. “He’s – he’s a nice guy. Y’know. Really nice.” He swallows. Gavin doesn’t speak. “And, y’know, I – I like him.”

“I like him, too,” Gavin says.

“Shut up,” Michael says, and he sounds – odd, his voice strained a little where it shouldn’t be, something strangely tense in his shoulders, his arms. Gavin gives him a break. Shuts up.

“I like him,” Michael continues. “Not like I like Jeremy, or Geoff, or Jack, or Ryan, or – ” Pauses. Swallows. “Not like I like them, like I like you.”

A beat. Michael turns to face Gavin, his forehead creased in the middle with worry.

“But I thought you loved me,” Gavin jokes, can’t help it, defence mechanism even though Michael’s confession floods him with relief.

“You’re so damn difficult,” Michael scoffs, but there’s a light fondness to it that makes Gavin smile.

“Right Shakespeare, you are,” he teases. “’Like I like you’. Put that in the history books, they will.”

Despite the creased in his forehead, Michael laughs, rolling onto his side to face Gavin better.

“Are you gonna say anything or?” He asks, raising an eyebrow. “Just gonna let me lay my fucking heart out here?”

“I like him, too,” Gavin admits, reaching out to make a grabby hand at Michael. Michael rolls his eyes and scoots closer, close enough to press against Gavin’s uninjured side and gently rest his warm palm over the ugly splotching on Gavin’s ribs.

“Like him like you like me?” Michael teases.

“Like him like I like you like you like me,” Gavin says. It hurts to laugh, with the bruises but he can’t help it when Michael’s giggling like that, oddly boyish and indescribably joyful.

“God, we’re idiots,” Michael breathes after a fit of shared snickering. “How long? How fuckin’ long have you liked him?”

“...since we met him,” Gavin answers. Michael closes his eyes and exhales very, very slowly through his nose.

“What, you too?” Gavin giggles, laughing louder when Michael nods solemnly, his mouth twitching in a poor attempt to hide his smile.

“We’re such fucking idiots,” Michael whispers vehemently, resting his head against Gavin’s temple. “Fucking hell.”

“Right pair,” Gavin adds, and Michael gives up his stern façade with a snort that sends them both into breathy laughter in their room that’s dark save for the moonlight despite the fresh bruise purpling up Gavin’s side from the job two days ago and with the new knowledge that they’ve both liked Alfredo for little over a month now.

-- 

The dinner reservation was Gavin’s idea. The flowers were Michael’s.

They have absolutely nothing else planned for this.

How it goes: they’re on a rooftop of a squat building in Rockford Hills, with good a view of the sunset and a few beers and soda between them, drinking lightly while the sun inches down the sky and Alfredo’s sitting between Michael and Gavin, perfectly content with all the elbow-nudging and shoulder-brushing and not even minding when Gavin leans over him to grab a Coke from Michael.

And it starts with:

“Hey, ‘Fredo, uh, there’s, uh, something we’ve been meaning to ask you,” Gavin says, takes the plunge and is much too aware of the careful way Michael’s watching as Alfredo glances between them, as his eyes eventually settle on Gavin.

“Am – Am I in trouble?” He asks. Gavin breathes out a laugh and shakes his head – on Alfredo’s other side, Michael rolls his eyes.

“No, no, you’re not – in trouble, ‘Fredo,” Gavin says.

And Gavin’s a bloody coward sometimes, just like Geoff says, but he swallows it all down now and meets Alfredo’s eyes, all the warm acceptance in them and he doesn’t even know what they’re going to say. It’s something. A daunting, terrifying something, but Gavin remembers what he had said to Michael last night, what they had talked about until the small hours of the morning, that the looks Alfredo gives them and the way he acts around them are too reminiscent of how they danced around each other at first to be completely nothing.

“We, um,” Gavin clears his throat, tries again, sets down his drink so he doesn’t spill it all over himself. “Michael and I, we – we quite like you, ‘Fredo.”

“I – I mean, I like you too – ” Alfredo says, but Michael speaks before he can continue.

“He means we like-like you. We wanna date you.”

Alfredo’s head whips around faster than a snapped neck and Gavin finds it oddly amusing, that Alfredo’s leaning back to look between them, eyes wide like he doesn’t believe it, but Gavin pushes on because he can’t stop now, he can’t just leave it in the air like that.

“We’d really like to,” he says quietly. “If you’re interested.”

“Oh,” Alfredo says. “Oh.” And huffs out a relieved laugh, a smile growing on his face. “Shit, I thought you were about to tell me to back the fuck off.”

Michael laughs, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as he sets his bottle down as well, sharing a grin with Gavin.

“Nah man, I say come the fuck on,” he says to Alfredo. “I’ve even got fuckin’ - flowers in the car for this.”

“Aw, Michael, don’t spoil the surprise, Michael,” Gavin complains, but Michael just snorts and reaches over to slap his knee.

“Okay, there are absolutely no flowers in the car,” he says. Alfredo laughs. Gavin rolls his eyes.

“Well with the flowers is an invitation to dinner,” Gavin says, looking at Alfredo. “Tomorrow night, with us?”

“Shit guys, you really had a whole thing for me?” Alfredo asks, and there’s something – soft, genuine in his disbelief, something sincere and so terribly endearing.

“We don’t know shit about asking people out,” Michael replies.

“Michael doesn’t,” Gavin says. “I, however – ”

“Bullshit I don’t. I charmed your ass into going out with me.”

“Yeah, and what about the rest of me?”

“Idiot.”

Gavin grins and Michael slaps his knee again, laughing when Alfredo starts chuckling beside them.

“Anyway, Alfredo, dinner?” Gavin asks.

“Yeah,” Alfredo says, glancing at both of them. “Yeah, I’d love to.”

“Oh good,” Michael grins, and settles back on the roof, the tension bleeding out of his shoulders.

“But can I ask for something else first?” Alfredo asks slowly, sitting up between them. Gavin raises an expectant eyebrow.

“Kind of – something I’ve wanted for weeks?” Alfredo asks, and neither of them mention the slight way his voice cracks in the middle.

“Go for it,” Michael says. Alfredo looks at Gavin. His eyes linger on Gavin’s for a moment before they drop to his lips and all the air punches out of Gavin in a heartbeat at the implication. But before he can speak, Alfredo does.

“Can I kiss you?” He asks. “B – Both of you?”

“Yes,” Gavin breathes, nodding as Michael agrees on the other side of Alfredo. “Yes, please.”

The hand that Alfredo plants on his cheek is warm and very grounding, a lot like how Michael cups his jaw sometimes when they kiss – but Alfredo kisses much softer, hesitant and a little nervous, easy and affectionate like his laughter and his camaraderie, warm like his eyes and his palms and Gavin’s so much more in love when Alfredo pulls away.

Gavin can’t resist going back in for another cheeky peck before Michael smoothly leans in on Alfredo’s other side and stealing his lips away, but Gavin doesn’t stray far, stays close to Alfredo’s side and reaches over to rest his hand on top of the one Michael’s planted behind Alfredo to brace himself.

They miss how the sun dips until it touches the horizon, too wrapped up in each other and in the fragile beginnings of something to notice how orange-pink streaks across the sky, how the cloud drift apart and settle in the corners of the world. How the stars twinkle awake one by one as night descends and how the orange fades to yellow to purple to blue, colours melting together like the three of them melt together on the rooftop of a squat building in Rockford Hills with a good view of the sunset.