#ive been staring at the computer way too long. lol

[kyo-hiki]

babies are asleep, shhhh

[dangerkittenclaws]

Are your requests still open? I’d love a fic where the (AFAB) reader is in a situation where she’s forced to share a bed with Vessel (maybe she’s a musician who’s touring with ST and the hotel is short on rooms? lol I know it’s super cliche) and in the middle of the night he wakes her up by initiating sex? 🥰

This was so fun to write, thank you!! And thank you for being my first request/ask, I'll never forget it! Sorry it took me a hot second to finish. To be honest, I feel I got a tad carried away but I hope I did our lean bean of a man justice! <3

vessel x f!band!reader

warnings: smut MDNI +18

You were waiting in the lobby of the hotel your tour agent had booked, spinning your luggage case lazily by its extended handle. The staff had been frantic as your large group entered the building.

 IV was at the counter talking to the man who was clicking desperately at his computer. Something clearly was wrong with the reservation, but you were so tired that you really didn't care, you just wanted to slide into a cozy bed and sleep like the dead. It had been a long day, not including the show tonight and piling into a van afterwards. 

Two of your best friends and bandmates, Alexis and Maggie were sitting on one of the lobby couches quietly showing memes to II. Vessel, III, and Liv, your bassist, were sitting on the bench right next to them. You all had gotten to know each other fairly well considering you inhabited a bus for numerous hours, watched each other practice, and went out to eat together. 

You had noticed Vessel staring at times the past few weeks. You didn’t particularly mind the man was checking you out, it felt good to be wanted in a genuine way. You were not opposed to something new. You had become aware of him giving you glances that were a few seconds too long, a hand grazing just a little slower, him waiting for you so he could walk with you to wherever you were going. 

And the teasing and bickering, god, it never ended. You didn't expect any different, being in close quarters with four boys and your three raunchy best friends, it was a constant war. You didn't quite know how to navigate these waters with Vessel though, it had been quite a while since your last boyfriend.

Your attention was brought back by IV walking back over to where you stood, a grimace on his face.

“Something happened to their booking system, they’re overbooked and we're going to have to share rooms until tomorrow.” 

Some sort of seniority took over his voice, “Maggie, Alexis, Liv you can share the two-queen room, II, III, and I will share the other. That leaves you and Ves with the last king room”, he said pointing between you and Vessel. 

Your eyes could’ve popped out of your head at that moment, but you schooled your expression hopefully before anyone noticed. You looked over to your bandmates and saw how Liv wanted to protest, but closed her mouth before she could say anything, knowing it was futile and everyone was too exhausted to care. It was nearing 3am and you were only spending two nights here before traveling again. 

Vessel's eyes instantly shot towards yours, a small smirk forming on his lips, his arms crossed over his chest. Those lips. 

“I guess it's you and me, then, love.” He gets up, standing to his full height before grabbing his duffel bag from beside him. The rest of the group rises and gathers their things, IV giving out key cards in silence. 

You look at your girls, bidding them goodnight with a small wave and suddenly your hands are empty. Vessel had taken it upon himself to steal your suitcase and start walking towards the elevators. 

Startled, Maggie giggles behind you at your expression. Breath leaves your mouth in a sort of sigh and laugh, and your tired legs begin to move in his direction. He is already in the elevator, keeping the door open for you. 

“Damn your long legs.” 

He turns to you once the doors shut, “I hope you have a little bit of energy left in you,” 

You look at him confused, “What do you mean?” You know what kind of tone he has, a playful, flirtatious one that makes you blush. 

“I guess you'll just have to find out, won't you?” the doors open to the new floor and he darts out, immediately walking in long strides and searching for the correct door. You try to keep up, watching him try the key card on the fifth door down the hall and entering. You walk into the blackness of the room knowing he's just in front of you. He nearly giggles as he turns on the bedside lamp and watches your face scrunch up at the sudden light. 

“You could at least warn a girl,” you yawn. Just as described, there is one large plushy looking king bed in the center of the room, a tv mounted to the wall, a little breakfast counter, and a door ajar on the other side, the bathroom. 

Vessel drops both of your bags at the end of the bed, “Okay, me first, I need a shower.” he announces. You scoff and nod anyway, both of you taking out your pajamas and toiletries you'll need to set them aside. 

Vessel puts his hand on your hip from behind you, the boldest move he’s made yet, “I’ll be quick” is all he whispers near your ear. The warmth of his hand lingers on you even though you hear the door shut. You finally breathe again, you had stood frozen for too long. Is this really happening? 

You finally search out the TV remote, finding some mind-numbing home renovation show. You watch a few minutes, zoning out entirely, before the knob of the door twists and you turn your head. Your eyebrows raise at the sight before you. 

He is a little damp, clothes in hand, the last few water droplets running down his lean torso, hair scruffy from the towel dry he did before wrapping it lowly around his waist. You almost drool before looking back up to his eyes. 

“My eyes are up here, darlin,” he smirks. You feel your entire being light up red hot before you want to implode for getting caught staring at the very… enticing area that he is putting on display. It's not like he wears those pants for no reason at shows, it leaves little to your imagination and he knows it. 

You jump up with your head down, grabbing your things and dipping into the bathroom without another word. You shower hot, needing an excuse to be as pink as you were with that fine man that you had been roomed with. Your pajamas were just an oversized Sleep Token shirt and a short pair of plaid shorts. 

After scrubbing the day off of you, you change into your pajamas before your hand hesitates at the knob. You breathe out. We are just sleeping. We aren’t even anything yet. Why am I being so dramatic about this? 

You summon all of your courage to open the door and look out to see Vessel in bed, scrolling his phone, the room only illuminated by the TV. You put your leftover toiletries and laundry on top of your bag before plugging in your phone and pulling back the covers on the other side.

Vessel looks over to you, “Come here, love”, opening his arms to you. You snuggle into his side and onto his chest, as his hand rubs up and down your back. You involuntarily let out a little sigh of relief, finally you can rest. You fall asleep like that, him holding you close and warm. 

You wake up a few hours later, having turned to your side in your sleep, one of his still around your middle and the other under your neck. 

You move slightly and become aware of something pressed against your ass. You immediately hold your breath.

You slowly breathe out, and try to inch yourself away. His arm tightens around you. Oh shit, he’s awake. 

Like he reads your nervousness, he starts to kiss along the back of your neck to the side, underneath your ear. You shiver at his warm breath. 

“Hmm, I'm sorry, I just couldn't help it with your ass backed up to me darling.” You smile and blush at his words, knowing the effect you have on him. He grinds a bit into you as his hand slowly moves towards the waistband of your shorts. 

You realize your shirt had bunched up just below your tits just as his other hand reaches up and runs through your hair, long fingers pulling just enough for your head to move back. You turn to your back when he easily grazes over your clit and you clench your thighs together. Vessel gives you a little growl in your ear and your thighs cave open as quick as your resolve. 

“I've wanted you for so long, sweet thing, and I've got you all to myself now.” His fingers move in slow, small circles over your clit and your hands go to his bicep, grabbing at him for more. You let out a small moan as you lose yourself in the feeling of warmth of both of his hands touching your body and the building starry sensation in your belly. 

You reach down towards his stomach, caressing down, trying to burn the feeling of his skin into your mind before coming into contact with the curls of his hair. You hesitate slightly and he quickly attacks your lips, like he's reading your mind again. 

You continue on to wrap your hands around his long, hard dick and begin tugging on it. He smiles against your neck and brings his other hand up under your shirt to massage your tit before pulling your nipple taut and thumbing over the hard bud forming. He does the same with the other while his fingers work their way into your wet cunt, one slender finger at a time. 

You are getting impatient now, kissing his lips and neck, sucking his soft skin into your mouth to leave your mark. He lets out a whimper before seemingly regaining control of himself. Noted for future reference. 

He slides down your body in a quick moment before licking up your slick cunt, making you nearly cry out. He tongues your entrance before making his way up to your clit and practically latches on. You claw at the bed sheets beneath you eventually finding his grown out hair to pull. You don't know if you want him to stop or if you want more, this is so much better than your own fingers. You buck up into his mouth and he locks his arm around your thighs to keep you from squirming away. That feeling in your stomach is burning. 

He makes a few deliberate swipes of his tongue in succession over your clit and he watches that you come undone beneath him. Your eyes roll back, your hips tighten, and you gasp out his name. He keeps his tongue flat against you, tasting your cum before coming up to kiss you. 

The moment you taste yourself on him is the moment you feel him press against your swollen pussy. You moan into the kiss, wanting more of him. He grabs himself to properly press his dick into you. He does it slowly, making sure you savor every inch. 

“Please, please, Vessel, please”, you beg him. 

“Please what, kitten?”, that slow devilish smirk comes back with a vengeance on his wet lips. 

“Please fuck me, I need you to fuck me.” You mumble out, embarrassed but full of anticipation. 

He thrusts into you fully, making both of you moan out curses. Ves sets a pretty quick pace but makes sure to hit the one spot inside you that makes your pussy tighten around him on every pass. He bottoms out, touching the beginning of your cervix and you see his eyes roll back. 

“God, you are better than I ever imagined.'' He reaches his hand down between the both of you to play with your clit again. This time though, your orgasm is quick to approach with him inside of you. His fingers move swiftly as you grind yourself down onto his cock to meet his every thrust. 

You are scratching down his back trying to find purchase with how full he makes you feel. Soon enough, the pool of white hot in your belly is overflowing again and he changes the angle just slightly, fucking you through your orgasm. You moan out knowing your pussy is clenching around his dick in a vice grip. Just as you cum around him, he settles deep within you and his fingers dig into your hips. His thick ropes of cum spill into you and he pulls out to leave your cunt messy. 

You open your eyes half-lidded after a moment, trying to catch your breath, “Jesus, did you… did you plan that all along?!” 

He smiles wide at you, “Which part, the room sharing or the me-getting-you-to-myself?” 

“Either?” 

“The rooms being short just happened to play into my favor, but I was plotting to get you alone this weekend, my sweet kitten.” He pecks your lips before moving to the bathroom to get a warm towel for you both. 

You sigh out as you watch him, “I didn’t know what I was missing out on, really.” 

You hear his sweet laugh as he comes back in, gently running the towel over your pussy, cleaning you up. You squirm a bit but are easily distracted by the kisses he leaves on your inner thigh. You let out a small yelp when you feel teeth graze and a quick nip before he pulls away. 

He slides in next to you again, pulling you close, “If I have it my way, you’ll be mine forever.” 

“I’d really like that,” you murmured against his chest. You feel him press his lips to the top of your head before you fall back into a satisfied dreamless sleep.

[spacexseven]

TUNA. TUNA. [imagine i am shaking you] TUNA. ALL OF UR SEA MONSTER DAZAI POSTS HAVE BEEN SOOOOO GOOD IM GONNA HAVE BRAINROT FOR THE NEXT THREE WEEKS ABOUT THIS. i love how we seem to have just made an evil little mermaid au at this point lol. (to clarify since u just made a post about this im just thought dumping below hehe) i feel like sea monster dazai even in human form will look. Off. like he doesnt Walk Correctly obviously, but he also doesnt seem to understand blinking very well (too used to being able to deploy an invisible third eyelid to keep the water out of his eyes), and hes not much better at breathing without gills either. extreme uncanny valley. itd be fucked up if this really Did go the little mermaid poor reader doesnt quite recognize humanzai as the monster that almost killed them and has been actively stalking them ever since. like, now that he isnt covered in scales and theres no long, razor sharp teeth in his mouth and no ten foot long tail behind him at all times he seems like a different guy. god knows hed take advantage of THAT misunderstanding. also, chuuya and fyodor is a yandere match-up ive never considered before but holy FUCK is it terrifying. like, between chuuya's brute strength and fyodor's... fyodor-ness, theres really no exit in sight, huh? yeesh. - dazai anon (im on computer now so now bandage emoji 4 me :( )

hello !!! i am being violently shaken!!! ive been on computer very often you can always google the 🩹 emoji and copy paste it if you want :> also. No worries when it comes to you i'm telepathic and i know whether you'd want it to be a request or just us conversing about Very Normal Things :>>> this little au is like my child i love it so much thank you

i guess this brings up the question if this is a little mermaid au whos the sea witch hmm i guess sigma works. very witchy vibes idk

cw: yandere character, obsessive behavior, possessive behavior, deception, generally creepy vibe

chuuya and fyodor would be a very interesting matchup heh all the trouble they'd have to go through to start working together....saving that for another time

well apart from the fact that he's still getting used to the legs and the eyes and the significantly weaker fingers and toes and all that, dazai is just not used to the whole human experience. he's tall, towering over most people he meets and coupled with the staring and blank expression, he's a little frightening. the good thing about all this, however, is that you don't recognise him without his claws and fangs and scales and what not. the legs, for one, convince you that he's definitely not the creature that's been haunting you, even though the hair and those eyes look all too familiar.

and maybe the way he grabs you and smiles, the way his grip tightens on you when someone else walks past, the way he whines into your shoulder about not knowing anyone here reminds you way too much of dazai. but this is just a newcomer to the town, someone unfamiliar with his surroundings and dependent on your help, not yet integrated into society and too shy to talk to anyone else.

huh, doesn't that feel familiar...?

get ready, because dazai is going to take advantage of this disguise to become your new best (and only) friend! now that he can do what these other humans can, you won't ask anyone else to walk with you by the beach or hang out together, right? once he finds a more permanent solution that lets him switch between human and monster, he'll never have to leave you alone !

(and of course, if you're interested, he'll gladly pull some strings to give you the underwater experience)

[cat3ch1sm]

Hi again!! Wow it's really cool that you do take requests, but first off, the L fic you wrote recently was really nice❤❤I can't wait for part 2!!

As for my request, could I request an angst/fluff with L where both the reader and he like each other, but he doesn't want to confess bc he doesn't think love is his cup of tea. And then they get into an argument or sth, which results in reader growing a tad bit distant from him. He ends up missing them more than he had thought he would, and when he can't bear it (or when he fears almost losing them, say bc of Kira or to another person), he finally confesses?

I hope it wouldn't be too much of a bother❤❤

💚|PLS THANK U FOR THIS

🐸|and it's no problem at all!! ive got way too much time on my hands lately so :D

🐢|this story does mention blushing? and ik i have some dark-skinned readers out there, like me lol, so feel free to just ignore that. i was only trying to make it cute lol;)

🍀|anyways i hope u like it reader! <33

・❥・・❥・・❥・

He knew you were fond of him.

It had been a couple of months, and at first you had tried to hide it. But the signs were getting more obvious; the little hiccups here and there in your usual behavior.

You fiddled more with your tie around him, you didn't really make eye contact as firmly as you used to. He'd noticed the little smiles that would appear on your lips whenever he was nearby and the way your cheeks flushed a dainty shade of pink whenever he spoke to you.

And to be honest- it was pathetic.

Your attempts to hide it had been pathetic. The way you had started to act around him was pathetic. Every time you blushed, or fidgeted, or lowered your eyes, he found it pathetic. Your even developing feelings for someone you were working with was pathetic. L should never had started feeling the way about you that he did.

But no- L liked you. Loved you, even. He had noticed it in the longer gazes at you than usual, the slight but strange sensation in the pit of his stomach whenever you smiled at him or laughed at his sarcastic quips (when you didn't match them with a smart-ass remark of your own)-dare he say- butterflies? At times, he'd find himself turning away from you to hide the own dusting of red across his almost white cheeks. His toes curled tighter when you blew by him and his heart rate slightly picked up.

He was just as pitiful as you were.

He didn't know why, or how- which drove him mad; he could solve cases the FBI couldn't, figure out solutions to problems even the most advanced thinkers couldn't, and yet he was completely unable to comprehend how he had fallen for you, he couldn't figure out something as seemingly simple as love. How had you, and you alone, managed to jilt him so much that he often spent several minutes idly staring at his computer, the only thoughts running through his head of you? Your beauty, your determined and unyielding personality- even the way you moved was mesmerizing.

He was a methodical person, too much so to be thinking like this. You were a waste of time. Love was a waste of time. L was a detective. This was not a fitting role for him.

But the subtle longing for you, deep in his chest- it was beginning to grow a bit difficult to contain. L had never once felt like this before for anybody. Sometimes, he found himself wanting to hold you, to caress you and feel your soft lips on his own.

He was going out of his mind.

L would simply have to push those feelings for you aside, in the back of his head- until they dissolved, and he could feel like himself again. They couldn't be that much of a threat- could they? But how long would that take? And did he even want to do that?

Well, what else was L to do? He was certainly never going to confess- that was suicide. To his ego, anyway. Even if you did like him back- no. Absolutely not. And what about-

"Ryuzaki?"

L's train of thought crashed as he snapped out of them to see you, a few feet in front of him, staring at him with a puzzled look on your face. "Are you alright?"

L opened his mouth to speak- but the words seemed to get jammed in his throat for a second or two before coming out. "Yes, I'm alright? Why do you ask?" He cleared his throat and hugged his knees tighter to his chest, trying to regain his composure. Agh. He needed to get rid of you, or this attraction to you, somehow.

"Well, it's just, you've been staring at me for a while now. I'm guessing you were just spaced out, but I thought I'd check."

There it was- the blush. L let his eyes rest on your rosy cheeks for a bit before looking up to meet your gaze again. "Yes, I suppose I was a bit preoccupied. My apologies, Y/N." And before you could see L's face heat up, he quickly turned away and resumed furiously typing on his computer, despite losing track of what he was actually doing.

Damn.

There were several more interactions like these in the weeks that followed this one- always ending in one or the other losing their composure regardless of their attempts to conceal it or prevent it.

And L was slowly losing it.

How were you so- so- maddening? And yet addicting? Without even doing anything? And why was this so hard to figure out? The question was so damn simple. Why was L in love with you?

But, still no answer came. The flutters in his stomach had turned into near nausea whenever you talked to him, touched him slightly- and that idiot blush of yours. It was wretched how much he adored how flustered you grew around him. The sheer emotional attachment he felt to you was actually angering.

Again he was mulling over these things in his swivel chair, working tirelessly as usual. It was late at night and the members of the task force had gone home to their families. Only you and L were left at the headquarters, and you were preparing to leave.

L did not look over at you as you stood up, slinging your classy black bag over your shoulders and pushing your chair in neatly beneath the table. He heard you sigh a little before he felt you pass him, make your way behind him. Involuntarily, L felt his body stiffen upon feeling your body behind him.

"Alright, Ryuzaki- I'll be heading home now. I think perhaps you should start wrapping things up, too... it isn't healthy to be up this late every day." The tips of your fingers brushed his shoulder lightly- and L tensed so much his shoulders rose up to his ears.

The dam was breaking.

"Please, do not touch me," L told you. His words were somewhat choppy and tone sharp- and his icy demeanor surprised you, and you withdrew your hand as if L was a hot pan handle.

"I'm... sorry," you mumbled, clenching the fist you had touched L with beside your hip. "Look, are you really okay or-"

"Y/N, I am fine. Please, refrain from asking me this again- I have never given you much of a reason to believe I am not fine. Just go home, alright?"

You tilted your head, your eyebrows furrowing and your face contorting with displeasure. "L. I'm only trying to help." Why was he behaving like this? You hadn't done him any harm- and lately, you had even been starting to think that he was beginning to reciprocate your romantic feelings for him- finding small pieces of evidence in his behavior and body language. But maybe you'd been mistaken?

"You aren't being much help." L continued to face away from you. He wasn't even typing at this point, making it evident he was just trying to ignore you.

You exhaled shortly before looking down at the ground. This wasn't something you intended on taking.

"L-"

"Ryuzaki."

"Why are you acting like this?" Your tone was more appalled than irritated- although you were very much starting to feel like that. "I'm not trying to be a nuisance."

"Acting like what?"

Was he kidding right now?

"You know-"

"I don't." L's tone was emotionless and bland, his dark eyes still focused on the still screen in front of him.

Without thinking, you snatched the back of L's swivel chair, incensed. He wasn't even letting you finish your sentences- you had no clue why you two were even having this dispute, but L wasn't about to get away with this behavior.

Roughly, you spun him around to face you directly, the chair creaking as it was swiftly pulled, and L emitted a grunt of surprise when his stoic face met yours.

You held him there, breathing a little ragged, before your expression fell and your eyes lowered. This was pointless, and you weren't in the mood. If L didn't want to talk to you, he didn't want to talk to you. There was very little you could do about that.

"Mm." You made a noise under your breath before releasing L's chair. He did not turn back around, instead peering after you as you walked quietly out of the door, not speaking any more.

╰┈➤

It had been almost a week since L and you had had your little fight, and L had noticed quite a shift in your behavior. You spent your time mostly dealing with the field work on the case rather than digital tasks with L. You didn't talk to him but rather Light, sometimes joking around with Matsuda. Nobody else on the task force seemed to notice the rift between you and L- at least you two were doing a good job of hiding it.

You yourself were just confused. Why had L lashed out at you like that? It was unlike him, especially unprovoked. And you had only been trying to get him to actually take care of himself for once- you didn't appreciate the thanks you received. There was no reason for him to act like that.

Your initial thoughts were ones of annoyance and contempt- but beneath the surface you were hurt- and equally mad at yourself for being hurt. The anger was gone, replaced with something that didn't feel like much of anything. You weren't supposed to be this person, the one who got all worked up and lovesick over tiny things. Maybe you were overreacting- it had been over a week since the interaction anyway and here you were acting like a lovesick schoolgirl.

Maybe you weren't thinking logically enough.

L could have talked to you the way he did because it was a bad day- after all, working twelve plus hours on a serial killer case wasn't exactly a picker-upper. And he was just being L- it wasn't like he was going to get up and hug you goodbye.

Wow. Now you were making excuses.

Idiot.

You had never had much patience for those who behaved inexplicably and rudely. Even if it was only one instance, you had instantly reacted with coldness, pushing that person away from you.

Damn. You were just too infatuated with L for you to feel that way. It was as simple as that, and all of this thinking was just a lame attempt to divert from that fact.

No- you had to push L away. It was the only way to eliminate all these useless and crowding thoughts from your brain. You were trying to investigate a mass murderer, for goodness' sake, and here you were whining about L? Because of a stupid crush? You were getting more and more disgusted with yourself.

Pushing him away was the only option- that would be your final verdict. Keep up what you were already doing- it wasn't like the stony detective would care.

As if he truly cared for anyone- let alone you.

╰┈➤

It had been a few more days since Y/N had spoken to L about something other than work. It was clear you were still upset with him- you were projecting all over the place, which was only obvious to L. Frankly, he was repulsed by your lack of effort to conceal this- you were really this hung up over him? Over an interaction where at most two full sentences were exchanged? Ridiculous. It had been your fault, anyway.

You were just too distracting. Everything you did made him feel things that he definitely wasn't used to. It had all just built up and he had let it out in an uncharacteristic manner- but it was your fault.

And- now here he was, missing you. That much was true. With you continuously going out of your way to avoid him, L definitely wasn't around you as often as he used to. And he missed you- he missed your half-smile, he missed catching a whiff of your floral scent as you brushed by him, he even missed the sound of your typing beside him.

Damn you. You were throwing him all off- turning him against himself. L was not this man- and love had always been a foreign concept to him. But, of course, it only made him fall for you more. Because it was you.

You were driving L out of his mind.

And now, with the increasing possibility that Light Yagami was Kira, who was working with you and L, the chance of losing you was higher as well. And that- that was something L couldn't stand.

He couldn't stand the thought of losing you. No, you were simply not allowed to leave. He was not going to permit you to make him feel such a way and then just disappear. Which meant he wasn't going to allow you to ignore him any longer.

You were done being evasive. L was going to just have to make you his.

╰┈➤

"Y/N-san- would you mind speaking with me for a minute?"

The day was over, and once again, it was only you and L left inside headquarters. You were just about to turn the doorknob and leave before the sound of L's low voice stopped you before you could open the door.

You stood still for a few seconds, hand still on the doorknob, not turning around, deciding whether you actually wanted to talk to him. Then, you sighed and shut the door.

Might as well.

"Come here."

The order sent a small chill through your body- but nonetheless, you slowly moved toward L until you stood over his hunched figure in the chair, him peering up at you as if he was waiting for something. You stared down at him, your gaze stony and apathetic. You just weren't in the mood and more or less just wanted to go home.

"I understand you've been upset with me since our last talk," L said, voice bland and monotone as usual.

You only nodded, not sure of how to respond. Where was this going?

"I thought perhaps... I owed you an explanation." Now L dropped his gaze in an aberrant display, wriggling his bare toes on the seat of his chair. He actually seemed timid- and while L had always been reserved, timid had never really been a word you used to describe him.

A little caught off guard, you blinked and your eyes softened, relaxing from their narrowed position. "Yes, I think you do," you told him, unsteadily trying to maintain a stern tone. Well, this was unexpected. L's ego never allowed him to believe he owed anybody anything.

L sighed, still not quite meeting your gaze. "I'm... not quite sure why I snapped at you the way I did. I know you meant no harm. And it was immature of me to not apologize for it sooner." He was still looking at the ground, wriggling his toes. "I hope you are able to accept my apology.'

Another blink from you- what were you supposed to say to this? Now you were just even more perplexed. But- L had apologized..

"It's alright. I accept your apology," you replied carefully.

"The truth is... I'm actually quite fond of you."

What?

Your face dropped as a surge of what was either adrenaline or seratonin rushed through your veins. "You are?"

A pause.

"Yes, I am. I have been for... some time now." L slowly lifted his head- eyes now wide. "I know this is odd for me. But..." he trailed off, suddenly losing the words. How was he supposed to sum up everything he'd been feeling for you? It was just too great for him to even try to put them into words.

Perhaps, he thought, he would have to settle for something simpler.

"I love you."

・❥・

🍃|*evil laughter* and here i leave you with that >:) may you never find out what happens next.

🌵|ANYWAYS i hope u liked this!! thanks sm for requesting<3 ily!!

[whatifyoulivelikethat]

calculated iii, m | jjk

pairing(s): jungkook x reader

summary: You wanted to say that you were able to control yourself around him and not to have wild sex at school. But this is Jeon Jungkook we’re talking about. And what Jungkook wants, Jungkook gets. You wore that pencil skirt for a reason, after all.

warnings: rated M (18+) for language; intense smut (fem reader, semi-public sex, dirty talk, nipple play, choking, m-receiving oral, gagging, pussy spanking, fingering, penetrative sex); fluff; non-idol!AU - university!AU; dom!Jungkook x sub!noona!reader, ft Jimin once again, lol

–

part i | part ii | part iii | part iv

-

Career Week was somewhat of a nightmare.

So much running around, prepping tables, setting up presentations, helping the guests with their computers before their seminars, and you had to be dressed professionally too. Not just ‘nice’ clothes, but white dress shirt, slim black tie, tailored black vest, and matching fitted black slacks. It had to be monotone, it had to be hyper professional, and you had to wear heels.

Why had you agreed to this again?

Oh, yes, Kim Namjoon on his knees begging for help because he was overworked and they needed volunteers. And you, being far too responsible, accepted.

Not only were you also overworked, but Jeon Jungkook was staring at you across the auditorium.

In all-black – leather jacket, high-necked shirt, slim-fit jeans. Sharp jawline, tanned high cheekbones, piercing dark brown eyes, his black hair pushed back with a few strands on his forehead, revealing his clean undercut.

And he was smirking at you.

You highly doubted he was here to investigate prospective career paths. Actually, you were a hundred-and-ten percent positive that that was not the reason he was here and the soreness between your inner thighs proved it. You were willing to bet Park Jimin’s right nutsack.

Yeah, sorry Jimin, but you needed all your body parts.

For one reason, really, and that reason was staring you right now.

Who was going to hire him when he was dressed like that anyway? You certainly wouldn’t. Mostly because it was distracting. No one could work with Jeon Jungkook looking like that. You couldn’t, anyway. Well, maybe if his work was wrecking your–

Get back to your damn task, you scolded yourself.

You were setting up chairs for the cardiologist that was arriving soon. All the doctors always had tons of students listening, so the administration instructed you to pack as many seats that could be crammed into the space without causing a fire hazard. You unfolded the metal chairs, arranging them neatly, already knowing they would be an incomprehensible mess when the students left and that you would be the one cleaning up after them.

Sigh.

Come to think of it, it was all Park Jimin’s fault that you were being violently undressed by Jungkook’s eyes right now. If he had kept his trap shut and let you live in blissful ignorance, maybe you wouldn’t be trying to hide your wincing every time you bent over. You snuck a glance at Jungkook.

He cocked an eyebrow, highly amused.

Never mind, you probably still would have been accosted at Calculus I office hours, except instead of the door being closed and locked and having Jimin’s warning texts, you two probably would have been caught and expelled.

You grumbled and slid a chair into place, taking back your former thoughts and thanking Jimin in your mind. He wasn’t even here to witness your inner struggle.

Jimin probably would have found it funny.

You went back to your chairs, not addressing Jeon Jungkook’s presence anymore because if you looked at him again, you probably would have abandoned your post. And he knew it.

-

The next day, you already knew Jungkook would show up again. Mostly because he texted you a winking face of a semicolon and parenthesis, to which you didn’t respond, because you would probably get roped into phone sex in under twenty seconds, and you had to help this extremely riveting lawyer set up his laptop for the projector.

As in, you were ready to tape his mouth shut as he blabbed on and on about his work and how important it was to society, which it was, because defense attorneys were very important, but this guy’s laptop was a fucking hot mess of icons all over his desktop. This was a personal pet peeve of yours, as you liked to be neat and organized, with everything clearly labeled with dates. You didn’t care about most people’s personal habits, but it was annoying when you were trying to assist and the owner of said laptop was not shutting up and demanding noises of affirmation that you were listening.

If it wasn’t Jungkook demanding you to swallow his cock, you honestly couldn’t give a single shit–

You finally got his PowerPoint working and had him scroll through the slides to make sure it was the correct one. He thanked you and you realized the older man was looking at you up and down, the same way Jungkook usually did, except in this case you were not even remotely interested.

Guess everyone had the right to get a good look before they die.

You were wearing a white chiffon blouse with a black silk neck scarf, with a tight knee-length black pencil skirt, sheer tights and sleek black heels. You knew how good your ass looked in this skirt and you had worn it for a specific purpose.

“We will be letting the students in five minutes early to get settled,” you stated briskly, cutting the older man from his daydreams. “You will have forty-five minutes for your presentation, and then we’ll have a fifteen-minute question session, led by my associate, Kim Namjoon here.”

As if on cue, Namjoon appeared, cheerful smile with cute dimples, handing the lawyer a mic.

“Let’s test the microphone and the backup to make sure you don’t have any hiccups,” Namjoon instructed merrily, instantly captivating the man’s attention and diverting it from you.

You mouthed a ‘thank you’ behind the man’s back and Namjoon gave you the tiniest of nods as you excused yourself. Hmph. You knew people would notice – you were wearing makeup for once and would be around students and professionals all day, after all – but to be so shameless and gawk like that was annoying. Plus, the guy probably had a wife and kids.

You made your way to the bathroom to check your appearance. Maybe your makeup was a bit off or something. You had Jimin check you over this morning. Surprisingly, he knew a lot about cosmetics and how to look good in all lighting. Must be a dance major thing.

Ah, the door to the women’s bathroom. You hiked your skirt up a bit do you could use your damn knees to walk, because they had been suffocating for the past two hours–

Long fingers suddenly gripped your upper arm and yanked you around the corner, slamming you into a muscular body and black biker jacket. You nearly stumbled in your heels, but a second hand came to practically lift you off the floor and shove you into the wall.

“Good afternoon, noona.”

A clear, silvery voice.

You couldn’t possibly guess who it was.

“Why, fancy seeing you here, Jung–”

You were abruptly cut off by his lips crashing into yours, one hand grabbing the back of your head and disturbing your perfect bun. You whimpered, feeling him shove you into the wall again, your shoulder blades hitting the painted brick. His tongue slid into your mouth, exhaling into your throat and forcing you swallow his breath. Your hands clutched your skirt, moaning as his hard body pressed yours against the wall.

Jungkook drew back, panting a little. Looking so handsome with his slightly slicked-back hair, black strands around his right eye, chiseled jawline, silver hoops glinting in the hall light. He arched a sculpted eyebrow at you, smirking. His pink lips had a little red on them from kissing you.

“Now, you know you can’t be looking so delicious and not expect me to want to eat you up,” he purred, licking your lips. Your breathing hitched at the touch, unlocking your death grip on your skirt.

“What are you talking about?” you answered evenly despite your panties literally turning into Niagara Falls with the way he was looking at you like a carnivore at an all-meat buffet. “I have to dress like this for Career Week. Everyone has to dress professionally.”

Jungkook nodded, not believing a single word coming out of your mouth. His right hand came up, ink black tattoos against tan skin, and reached around to your bun, slowly pulling the hairpins out. Your skin tingled at the sensation of your hair gradually unravelling.

“A professional that I would hire to sit on my dick,” he mused.

You raised an eyebrow at him, your hair tumbling around your shoulders. “Subtle.”

Jungkook showed you the removed hairpins, opened his jacket, and tucked them in his inner pocket.

“I wouldn’t work for you anyway,” you added haughtily.

With each passing moment, Jungkook was becoming increasingly amused and aroused. You could tell by the way he was shoving his crotch into your thigh and by how wide his smirk was getting. The slacks he was wearing did nothing to hide his erection and you had a sneaking suspicion that he didn’t care.

“Oh? Why not?”

“I don’t know if I could trust someone younger than me to do a good job.”

He was unbuttoning your chiffon blouse now, humming. “I’m good at many things.” His dark eyes flickered to yours. “I think you would know.”

Your hands grabbed his despite him already having all the visible buttons completely open. Cold air drifted onto your heaving chest and white lace bra.

“Jungkook, we’re in a public place, again,” you hissed, narrowing your eyes at him.

“I don’t recall that being a problem,” he drawled, removing his hands from yours and squeezing your ass. “I’m beginning to think you like it.”

You sucked in a breath as his strong hands kneaded you through your skirt. Your hormones would absolutely let Jungkook rip off your clothes right here and let him fuck you, but the sliver of your brain that had any sense at all reminded you that you had to find a closed space. Jungkook slapped your ass, loudly, the sound echoing across the empty hallway. You nearly moaned, but bit your tongue, glaring at him.

“I have to get back,” you snapped. “And look presentable.”

Jungkook licked his teeth. “Hm. You have an hour before you have to appear to the public eye.”

Who the heck told him that? He smirked slyly at you as he saw your reaction.

“I could drag you to the bathroom–”

“At least give me more class than the woman’s bathroom,” you interrupted.

Jungkook looked annoyed that you had cut him off and also looked like he was going to remind you later. His fingers dug into your hips sharply and you gasped, back pressed flat against the wall. He inhaled a deep breath and began again, voice dangerously low.

“As I was saying,” he continued. “I’m going to take you into this classroom that I stole the key for.”

You frowned as Jungkook hoisted you up swiftly, princess-style, shirt still wide open. Fuck, what was he so strong for? He carried you down the hallway to the classrooms. You tried to close your shirt, but he growled at you, so you rolled your eyes and pushed the sides open, letting your bra-covered tits hang out. He seemed satisfied about this.

“Why would you steal a key?” you muttered as he deftly kicked the door open.

Jungkook slid through the door sideways. “So I could fuck you, of course.”

He dropped you and you had to catch yourself on your heels before you broke an ankle and ate shit. Half the lights turned on. You could hear him locking the door as you smoothed your skirt.

You turned to face him, saying, “You shouldn’t be a thief just because you’re horny, Jungkook.”

Jungkook turned around slowly from the now locked door. You were about to say something else, but your words died in your throat as you witnessed the overwhelming lust in his dark piercing eyes.

“I would be a thief, a murderer, and evade taxes for your body,” he snarled, advancing on you.

You pulled your blouse out of your skirt so he wouldn’t rip it, backing up into the desks. “You’ll get caught with the last one,” you said quietly, already removing your blouse and letting it fall onto a spare seat. “First two are acceptable.”

Jungkook grinned devilishly, licking his pink lips.

“Come here.”

You chewed on your lower lip, staring at his beautiful eyes, finding yourself already walking to him, heels clicking loudly in the empty room, but it didn’t matter, because he was the master now and you were the willing servant. Or slave. 

Take your pick.

He smirked at your obedience, placing his hands on your shoulders, stopping you. His dark orbs lingered down your body, focusing on all his favorite spots, pressing his fingertips into your skin.

“One day,” you said quietly. “We’re going to get in trouble.”

Jungkook’s powerful dark orbs shifted upwards, capturing yours. Time slowed down. You stared into his dark brown eyes, unable to look away, your heart beating in time with his words.

“You’re already in trouble.”

Voice haunting you, teasing smirk on his lips, and perfectly in command.

“From the second you let me have my hands on you.”

You gasped as his nails dug into your skin, scratching down your collarbones, leaving red marks. He snapped the straps of your bra, hard, and you whined, eyes pleading for him to take it off. His palms pressed into the lace cups, squeezing them roughly. Tongue dancing in between his lips as he felt your nipples harden, barely covered by the lace.

“You’re so dirty, noona,” he purred, lowering his palms and pinching your nipples through the thin fabric, smirking at your wanton moan. “Wearing such slutty underwear under these professional clothes.”

You whimpered as he tugged on them. “No one’s going to see them but you, Jungkook.”

He clamped your nipples between his thumbs and knuckles, dragging you to him. You sank your teeth into your lower lip, pussy throbbing as you collided with his firm chest. His breath was scorching hot against your skin, making you shiver.

“What if someone finds out? Some idiot like a perverted old man staring at your ass in this skirt?”

You snorted. “I’ll rip his head off.”

Jungkook snickered, flicking your nipples with your answer. “You wouldn’t let me do it for you?”

Your hips rolled into his, hands on his waist to keep yourself up as he played with you. “I’ll reattach it for you so you can do the same.”

He laughed, almost a little too jovially for the part he was playing, but then he was back, tipping his head close to yours, blowing soft air onto your lips. You frowned, glaring at him for the lack of kiss.

“If possible, you’re even hotter dressed like this,” Jungkook murmured, his forehead against yours. “So prim and proper, even with a cute gag tied around your neck,” he added, playing with the ends of your neck scarf. “You could be a CEO, and I could be the janitor fucking you on your penthouse-floor desk.” He was undoing your scarf now, teasing it apart, making you breathless. “Maybe fuck you against the window so everyone can see how good I make you feel, noona.”

“Give yourself a little more credit than a janitor,” you muttered, stiffening as Jungkook ran his fingertips over your throat, nails grazing your skin.

“True, I would rather be your secretary so I can follow you around and stare at your ass in this skirt,” he chuckled, lacing his fingers around your neck. Thumb under your ear, the other four fingers under your other ear. You made eye contact with him. He looked almost bored, one of his eyebrows raised, but he was watching you, predatory and attentive.

“I know what I’m doing.”

His whisper was so soft that you barely heard it, but the words were there.

His grip tightened around your throat.

You gasped, feeling the blood flow thinning, hazing your mind. Jungkook watched your expression, reaching around with the hand that was holding your scarf, unclasping your lace bra. You could feel it fall down your arms, but your thoughts were rapidly being clouded by lightheadedness and lust, Jungkook smirking at you as he lifted the silk scarf into your vision.

“J… Jungkook…” you choked out.

The mole underneath his lower lip winked at you as he grinned, brushing the silk against your hard, abused nipples, touch so light, and yet it made your whine, wanting more stimulation but unable to ask because you knew he was toying with you.

“What’s wrong?” Jungkook taunted. “Not intense enough for my naughty noona?”

He choked you harder and you couldn’t respond, eyes rolling back into your head as black spots danced in your vision, the sensation intensifying but still not enough, not enough, and you shoved your hips into his repeatedly, whimpering, hands clutching his black shirt, nails digging into his abs.

“So needy for me,” he breathed, feathery touches of silk against your nipples. “Are you only mine?”

He leaned forward, loosening his grip a little. The blood violently rushed back into your head and all you could hear Jungkook’s cruel whisper of your name, tearing a moan from your lips, a raspy yes, yes, fuck, Jungkook, I’m only yours.

He chuckled darkly.

Then he forced you to your knees, tits bouncing uncomfortably as you slid on your heels, knees hitting the tile floor. You clutched his clothed legs, panting, brain only half-functioning due to the lack of blood and the relentless teasing. You lifted your head back up to look at him, panting hard.

Jungkook cracked his neck sharply, a harsh pop. “I want to believe you, noona, but you’re dressed so fucking sexy that I can’t.” His dark eyes bore into you, tearing you up, and you were dripping onto your inner thighs. He emphasized his words with a raise of his eyebrow.

“Letting other people fantasize about this body that belongs to me isn’t acceptable.”

His hands reached down, fingers of his right hand playing with the button of his pants, tattoos dancing with his movement. He smirked as you watched him, eyes darting from his face to his hands. Shit, you were nearly drooling with anticipation. You swallowed as he teased the button free.

“You gonna show me that you remember who you belong to?”

You nodded quickly, maybe too quickly, but it was doomed now anyway because Jungkook was lowering the zipper, pushing down his pants and underwear, past his muscular thighs. It was obvious this was getting him off as much as it was getting you off, because he was rock-hard, leaking, tip already a dark red. Jungkook grabbed the back of your head and shoved his hips into your cheek, smearing his pre-cum onto your skin, all the way up to your cheekbone. He hissed, using his hand to press the head against your temple, nearly into your hair.

Fuck, he was so fucking close to your mouth, but he wasn’t letting you have it.

Damnnit.

Your tongue snaked out and softly licked his balls, eyes on his face, watching him tip his head back and moan. You licked more, creeping your head closer, pressing your lips against his hot skin. He was letting you do it, holding his cock out of the way as you wrapped your lips around his balls and sucked, pushing them around with your tongue, pleading noises in your throat, begging him for his cock as you bobbed your head up and down under his hips.

Jungkook’s dark eyes shifted down to you, triumphant grin on his lips.

“You want to swallow my cock, noona?” he teased, smacking it against your face, leaving a string of pre-cum connecting your cheek to his cock. You narrowed your eyes at him, as if to say, no fucking shit, you punk ass bitch, and he chuckled deep in his chest. He looked past your head, down your back.

“Such a nice ass.”

You smacked his leg, aware that he was doing it on purpose to piss you off. He smirked knowingly, placing his palm on your forehead and pushing you off his balls.

“Swallow it all and don’t choke,” Jungkook snarled, shoving his cock into your open mouth.

Your eyes widened at the sudden intrusion, relaxing your throat muscles as Jungkook forcefully pushed into your lips, sighing with satisfaction as he buried himself to the hilt, his strong fingers tangled in your hair.

“Fuck, so good,” he moaned, making his cock throb into the roof of your mouth. You whined, hands on his hips, waiting for him to let you move. “Your throat feels so fucking good, noona. If only they knew how good you are, how perfectly slutty you are for me.” He snickered, releasing his hand, glaring down into your eyes.

“But they’re never going to know, because you’ll never service another cock ever again.”

You whimpered, nails digging into his thighs.

He ticked his chin at you. “Go on, noona. Show me how much you love my cock.”

You began to move, pressing your tongue against the bottom as you slid up and down his length, moaning at his taste. So good. You generated more saliva and ran it all over the head, sucking hard. He inhaled sharply as you teased the sensitive underside, tongue against the opening.

“That’s it,” Jungkook breathed. “Give it to me like you mean it.”

You gripped his thighs and began to bob your head back and forth, ramming the head into the back of your throat and squeezing it before arching your neck so it ran across the roof of your mouth and then back down so it hit your throat again. Was this going to make you hoarse? Probably, but you didn’t a single shit, because Jungkook moaning for you and telling you how good you were was much more important. The pace was slow at first, but you went faster and faster, tighter, your breasts bouncing with every movement, eyes closed to savor his taste and steel your concentration of not gagging because Jungkook was so big, so thick, so perfectly rough, and your tongue could feel him throbbing inside your mouth.

“Fuck,” he growled above you, nearly feral with desire. “Fuck, I’m going to cum down that perfect throat of yours, noona.”

His thighs tensed under your hands and you knew he was close. You increased the intensity, neck straining, already aching with how fast you were going.

“Drink it all and don’t fucking waste it.”

Jungkook grabbed you by your hair and thrusted his hips into your face, moaning lustfully as he shot into your mouth, hot creamy strings into your throat. You swallowed fast to avoid choking, gulping loudly as he gave you more, more, fuck it was so delicious that you gasped, swirling your tongue around his jerking cock and lapping it all up. Whimpering, you wrapped your lips around the head and milked it dry, rubbing your lips against the skin where the head and length connected.

“You’re so fucking good,” Jungkook sighed, running his fingers through your hair, pulling it away from your face. “So messy and dirty. I love it, noona.” He pressed your mouth down his entire length and held you there.

Your name drifted out of his lips, a sweet exhale.

He kept you there. You felt some of your spit drip down your chin and hit your breasts. You flinched at the coldness, still holding onto his hips. Jungkook finally looked down at you, chest heaving, panting. He looked like he wanted to say something. You shot him a questioning look, unable to respond, mouth still full of his cock.

He released your head, untangling his fingers from your hair. You drew your mouth back, rubbing your jaw and throat a little. Jungkook had a strange expression, lips parted, brows furrowed, the muscles in his neck tensed. He seemed a bit spaced out. You tilted your head.

Something felt off.

You stood up with as much grace as you could, knees aching, heels snapping to the tile floor. He still wasn’t looking at you. You backed up, to the desks, finding a study one.

“Jungkook.”

You smacked the wood loudly with your flat palm.

He whipped his head towards you, dark eyes flashing. Perfect. You smirked, placing your hands on your pencil skirt. Sank your fingers in, gripping the fabric. Jungkook’s voracious eyes watched your movement, each hike revealing more and more of your legs. A slow smirk formed on his lips. You yanked your skirt all the way up to your waist, revealing your white lace panties and sheer pantyhose, black fabric bunched around your waist.

Jungkook reached down and pulled his pants up, raising his eyebrows as he walked over, lower lip in between his teeth as he grinned at you.

“That’s a dangerous position to be in, noona,” he purred. “You know I love fucking you on a desk.”

You bounced your ass up onto the table, closing your legs, knees together. Placed your hands on your lap, pushing your tits together. Jungkook licked his lips, the predatory glint back in his eye. You kept your tone stern, with a hint if disapproval.

“Really? Because for a second there, I was beginning to think you lost your nerve.”

The menace in his eyes made your shiver with anticipation. You could tell Jungkook liked it too, your word selection, your tone, your defiance. He shrugged out of his leather jacket, and it fell to the floor with an oppressive thump. You sucked in a tight breath. The shirt was short sleeved, exposing his tattooed right forearm and his equally beautiful tanned left one. Some of his long black hair was falling down, brushing against his right cheekbone.

His eyes were so dark that you felt like they were devouring you.

Jungkook placed his large hands on your knees and vehemently shoved them apart, spreading your legs wide. He gave you a cold, expressionless stare as he placed a hand on your stomach, putting you onto your elbows, hips tipped up towards him. You were embarrassingly wet, juices soaked into your inner thighs, lace panties already molded to your soaked folds, the sheer pantyhose doing nothing to protect you from him and his hungry eyes. His voice was icy, making your pussy throb with need.

“Noona, if you close your legs, I’m going to punish you,” Jungkook warned.

Part of you wanted to know what the punishment was, but the other part of you really wanted to orgasm, so kept your snide remark to yourself and simply nodded.

Jungkook removed his hands from your knees and placed them on your shuddering breasts. Fuck. You hadn’t realized you were so horny until Jungkook touched you. A pained whimper strained in your throat.

The side of his lips curved upwards.

“Does my dirty, slutty noona want to be fucked?” His nails sank down, digging into your skin. “Do you want to be used by me, your tight little pussy stretched out and pleading for more?” Jungkook leaned forward, breathing into your face, growling whisper against your lips. He pinched your nipples and you moaned, wanting to kiss him, but knowing he wasn’t going to let you. He chuckled darkly, seeing your desperation.

“Do you want to be a slave for Jungkookie’s cock, noona?”

Fuuuuuuuck.

Your heart was beating so fast that your breathing was coming out in little gasps as he twisted your nipples harshly, rubbing the tips with his thumb. Your legs shook, threatening to close because the lack of friction was killing you.

“Y-yes, Jungkook, fuck yes.”

He yanked on your nipples and slapped them, making you hiss with pain, flinching as the sting shot up your chest. Jungkook reached into his back pocket and produced the silk neck scarf.

“Keep quiet for me noona or everyone will know how much of a slut you are for me.”

And then he shoved your own scarf into your parted lips, gagging you. Not a second too soon, because, without warning, Jungkook immediately spanked your barely clothed clit. You yelped around the silk, thighs quivering. He gripped one of your thighs, digging his nails into it, tearing the sheer pantyhose a little.

“Don’t move and take it,” he snarled.

Your back arched as Jungkook began to slap your pussy, hard, unforgiving, loud, and making you wetter and wetter, so much so his hand was slipping a little with each smack. You screamed around the scarf, hips trembling as they rose to meet each hit, flaring pain in between your thighs but so, so good. He clenched his jaw, dark eyes on your quickly reddening pussy lips that were sucking your panties deeper and deeper into your slit.

“Fuck,” he growled. “Fuck, you’re so hot and so fucking perfect for me.”

He removed his hand from your thigh and ripped the center seam of your pantyhose apart.

You started, eyes widening as you watched him tear through it, yelling at him through the scarf. You still needed to wear those! The small tears were one thing, but a full-on giant rip at the crotch was not going to be comfortable to wear for the rest of the day.

Jungkook smirked, raising a hand to his ear. “What’s that? Can’t hear you.”

You glared at him and was about to remove the scarf from your mouth to scold him, but his smirk turned into a roguish grin.

“Hm? Slap you harder and abuse your clit?”

You paled.

“My pleasure.”

You threw you head back as Jungkook mercilessly spanked your now only lace-covered clit, impossibly fast, towering over you and hooking his arm under your back, dragging you to him, arching your spine more, more, so your tits were straight up, bouncing right in his face as he changed from smacking your clit to rubbing it just as fast, rougher, so intense you were hoarsely wailing into the gag.

All of a sudden, your orgasm violently rammed into you, pleasure racking your entire body, amplified by stinging pain. Your pussy clenched around nothing, wetly squelching as Jungkook breathed hotly down on your nipples, still rubbing you through your orgasm, not letting up. You shook your head furiously, trying to tell him it was too much, that you were too sensitive, but you didn’t lift your hands to stop him, only spreading your fingers against the table, palms flat as your hips raised to his fingers.

You felt his hair brush against your nipples as he licked your cleavage, smirking up at your face.

“One more and then I’ll fuck you the way I want to, noona.”

Your legs were losing feeling from how hard you were locking them in place as you felt Jungkook pry your lace panties out of your pussy, shoving them to one side. Oh shit. You moaned as you felt him shove two fingers into you, eyes squeezing shut as he added a third, scissoring them as he smiled cruelly at you, eagerly watching your reaction.

“Such a greedy pussy, sucking in my fingers like this,” Jungkook drawled, your walls clenching around them, feeling every callus and every joint, all the way to his knuckles. “All mine, my beautiful, slutty noona.”

You would have asked Jungkook what the time was if your brain could still function, but your brain timed itself out, because Jungkook was thrusting his fingers into you now, filling you up, and feeding your need and desperation, assaulting your pussy with pleasure. The pain of your stinging, puffy lips rubbing against his hand added to the ecstasy, heightening it, your moaning now unintelligible behind the silk scarf that was saturated with your saliva. The sound was obscene, sloppy smacking sounds of your drenched hole getting pounded into the desk.

You threw your head back and choked out his name around the makeshift gag, throbbing pussy clamping down on his fingers. Thick, viscous liquid gushed out onto his palm, the back of his hand, dripping down to his wrist. It was so intense that your entire body jerked up into Jungkook’s face, hitting him with your tits.

If Jungkook was mad about it, he didn’t show it. He wrenched his slick fingers out and you whined, watching him with glazed eyes as licked them off, ferally growling at your taste. He released your back from his arm and you slid down, laying against the desk, panting.

“You taste extra delicious today, noona,” he chuckled. “Candy always tastes better in cute packaging.”

You barely had time to register that Jungkook had just compared you to a fucking convenience store snack before he yanked down his pants again, whipping out a foil packet and ripping it open. Less than a second and the condom was on, and then Jungkook shoved his cock into you, a startled gasp dying in your very over-used throat.

Jungkook moaned your name above you, softly and lustfully, pulling your hips closer to him so he was all the way inside you. You clenched around his length and he sighed, small smirk on his pink lips, eyelids fluttering.

“You’re going to kill me one day with how perfectly tight you are for me,” he mumbled.

Your eyes found his and he grinned, looking down at you through his lashes, his hair obscuring half his face.

Fuck, you could stare at him all day.

Jungkook placed your legs around his waist, finally letting them rest from the forced spreading. He roughly jerked his hips into yours and you whimpered, nails clawing into the desk. His fingers dug into your hips and he set his jaw, beginning a hard, fast pace, slapping your hips together, fucking you into the desk. It scraped noisily into the floor, but neither of you cared, you abused pussy lips rubbing against his crotch every time his hips met yours, carried to new heights of pain and pleasure, loving every second, every moment of Jungkook using you to chase his own orgasm, his cock swelling and dragging against your tight walls. So much. So full.

You could never be satisfied with another cock.

“Fuck.”

Jungkook hissed, grip on your hips tightening, bruising you with his fingertips.

“Fuck, noona, I love you.”

Your heart stopped.

And then your orgasm crashed down, overtaking you completely, your head smacking the desk and seeing stars, clenching around Jungkook’s cock and pulsating violently around his length, soaking his thighs with your juices, scent so strong you were sure whatever class that was going to use this lecture hall next was going to smell your cum splattering to the floor.

Jungkook gritted his teeth and rammed his hips into you, dragging you down to meet every thrust, intensifying your orgasm, ripping your pantyhose even more. Once, twice, three times, and he groaned, shuddering as he spilled into the condom, cock shivering inside you as he came. You could feel how much it was, pressing against your walls.

His long hair was all over his face, black strands clinging to his tan skin, sweat dripping off his chin, pink lips quivering, dark eyes roaming over your fucked-out form. Panting hard, matching your heavy, grating breaths behind your now saliva-drenched neck scarf. After a long moment, Jungkook reached down and held onto the condom, slowly pulling out of you.

Holy fuck.

Holy fuck.

You reached up with a shaking hand, pulling the silk out of your mouth. It came out in a long strip of fabric, smacking against your cheek as your removed it from your lips.

Holy.

Fuck.

You sat up, your body screaming at you, seeing Jungkook breathing hard, tying up the condom.

“Did you just tell me you love me?”

Jungkook’s ears turned bright red. He chewed on his lip, biting it hard before facing you. Dark brown eyes suddenly vulnerable, scared. It was the most uncharacteristic expression you had ever witnessed on Jeon Jungkook’s chiseled, handsome face.

“Uh… yeah.”

There was a moment where you realized both you two were mostly naked in a random classroom, clothes thrown everywhere, having made a mess once again.

“Sorry,” Jungkook added quickly. “It slipped out.”

You blinked at him. “Why are you apologizing?”

He rubbed his nose, looking away.

“Well… aren’t you just fucking me because you like to be dominated?”

You frowned. “No, I’m fucking you because I’m in love with you.”

You saw Jungkook freeze. He turned his head robotically, eyes wide and doe-like. “R-really?”

You looked down to notice that your heels were on the tile floor. When had you lost those? You grumbled, trying to straighten out your panties and the remains of your pantyhose. It was doomed. You shrugged, dangling your legs over the edge of the desk as you looked back at Jungkook and his surprised expression. You raised an eyebrow.

“Are you really that much of an idiot?” you muttered, your own cheeks burning, letting out a puff of annoyed air. “Yes, I love you. Why else would I tolerate you staring at me like I’m some kind of zoo animal? Why else would I risk getting in trouble by running around like this? Why else would I let you fuck me at school, in the middle of the damn day, again?”

Jungkook rubbed the back of his neck. “Erm… because I’m hot?”

You rubbed your forehead and sighed exasperatedly, standing up, instantly wincing. Jungkook took a step forward to catch you, but he almost tripped on his pants down his ankles. You caught yourself against the desk and raised a hand, shaking your head.

“Pack your damn dick,” you muttered. You yanked your tights down your legs, removing them and balling them up. They were useless now anyway. You found your bra and put it back on as you eyed your chiffon blouse. Good thing it wasn’t ripped. It only took you a moment to slip it back on, rebuttoning it and tucking it into your skirt. You pulled your pencil skirt back down, straightening it, thighs immediately sticking together from your own fluids.

Yup, still no more comfortable than yanking your pants back on after a session with Jungkook.

You noticed him putting his leather jacket back on and picking up the condom wrapper. He took the silk scarf from the table and shoved it in his back pocket. You went back to him to gather your shoes, but he knelt down, holding out your black heels as if you were Cinderella.

“I can just–”

“Step.”

His tone was sharp and you immediately obeyed, raising your foot and stepping into your shoe. First one, then the other. Jungkook stood back up, exhaling a little. You looked up at him. His chocolate eyes flitted about tensely. He opened his mouth to speak.

“Do you… uh…”

You cut him off. “Jungkook, if you cheat on me, I will personally castrate you with a spoon.”

He cringed. “Ouch.”

You took the used condom and the wrapper bits from him, shoving them into your balled-up pantyhose. You marched towards the door confidently, pain shooting throughout your body with every step. Jungkook called after you.

“Your hairpins.”

You turned your head back a little.

“You can drop them off at my apartment later.”

And then you unlocked the door and stepped out of the classroom.

Park Jimin waved at you, grinning. Plump lips curved into a mischievous smile, wearing a denim jacket and jeans. You almost jumped seeing him standing there. What the fuck is with this guy’s timing? He eyed your hand holding your ruined pantyhose and you put it behind your back, glaring at him.

“I told Namjoon you had a lady emergency.” Jimin wiggled his eyebrows at you before holding up your phone and black purse, the belongings you had left in the back room. “You took longer than you should have.”

You felt your ears burn. “Shit. I need to get back.”

“To Jungkook, yeah,” Jimin chimed teasingly, making you glower at him.

Of course. Jungkook had turned Jimin into his scout for your escapades. Fantastic. You suddenly felt a strong presence behind you. The door had opened and Jungkook’s arm snaked around your waist, yanking you possessively to his side. He placed his chin on top of your head, inhaling the scent of your hair.

“You wanna go on a date, noona?” Jungkook purred, his free hand playing with the ends of your disheveled hair.

You pursed your lips. “I have to get back and help Namjoon.”

Jimin waved a hand. “He’ll be fine for one day. Plus, you’re being kidnapped.”

You opened your mouth to protest, but Jungkook slapped his hand over your lips, marching you in the opposite direction of Career Week, Jimin skipping behind you two, cheerfully humming.

-

part iv

--

masterpost

[artificialqueens]

Pale Yellow, Prologue (Group Fic) - Candy Cane

A/N: i know i havent shut up abt this for the last forever on my side blog but its just bc ive been so excited lol this is a post-apocalypse/doomsday au & lesbian au wherein after the world ends, people still find each other. without @chaoticnachokitten id be totally lost bc this really needed a beta and some extra confidence thrown in and im so lucky u were there to help me out <3 thank youuuuuu!!! this is very focused on the cast of AS2 bc it sparks joy so bada bing bada boom here we are. u can follow my side blog @sillylittlecandycane where i post wip updates and get wayyy too invested in these aus!! this is the kind of fic that im still fleshing out, so if u have any suggestions for thing i may have missed id love to hear it! anyways sorry for the long a/n hope yall enjoy <3 Summary: Nearly seven years after the apocalypse, Alaska has been a part of a few different groups. None have been like this one, and she wouldn’t give it up for anything. Little does she know that change is on the horizon. 

It’s been years since Alaska could look at her friends and not immediately see them as just walking corpses. All of them are on a time limit, they’re only delaying the inevitable. No one can fix this. No one can change what has happened to their lives. Sometimes she doesn’t see the point in continuing forward. And sometimes she sees those small smiles Detox and Roxy share, sometimes she hears how carefree Tatianna will laugh at a joke, sometimes she catches her friends holding hands just because, and she knows they have to try. Even destroyed, their world still holds love and hope. Otherwise, no one would be around.

The gun in her hand is heavy and slick with sweat, her whole body is sore from walking in heels for way too many miles. Apparently the price of looking hot during the end of the world is pain, who would’ve thought?

Alaska looks over her shoulder at Katya and Phi Phi, the Russian is clearly lost in thought, while Phi Phi has her weapon poised to aim, even though she looks almost bored. Alaska almost feels bad for asking them to come with her, but there’s no way she would’ve been able to go out alone.

The whole group understands the importance of checking out supply houses, even if it looks like a longshot. Even if all they find is expired food packets and half-used emergency kits, it’s better than nothing. Sometimes they get really lucky and find crates upon crates of supplies. Weapons, ammo, medical products, food, even bottled water… It’s not often, but it happens.

Alaska breathes a sigh of relief when she sees the emergency clinic come up in her field of view. Soon they’d be home, and Alaska could kiss her girlfriends and put her feet up. She hates being away for so many hours, no matter how necessary it is.

“Let’s go,” Alaska says quickly, speeding up her pace, barely checking to see if her friends are following her lead.

The hot, spring’s day asphalt clacks beneath her heels, the sun beats down on her bare shoulders, and she breathes in the heavy, humid air. There’s a storm on the horizon for sure, she’ll have to ask Ginger to check the weather for the next week.

The cozy, two story emergency clinic that is both the best place in the world and an eternal prison looms before her. It’s the only safe place she’s been able to find and make work, but it represents how trapped they all are.

At least they’re not alone. At least they have each other. That’s what Alaska tells herself as she opens the heavy metal doors. Once upon a time they were glass, but glass doors aren’t great for defense, no matter how nice they look on the outside.

She steps into what was a trashed waiting room when she first found this place and is now a well-managed front room. The receptionists desk is where they keep all their communications equipment, and is also where she sees Ginger, the one who runs the equipment.

“You’re back,” Ginger says, a wide smile on her face that Katya can’t help returning, “Almost thought you’d be gone for good.”

“We weren’t gone that long,” Alaska frowns, letting the door close only when Katya and Phi Phi come through it.

“We were out there almost all day,” Phi Phi says, “Left at dawn, and now it’s almost sunset.”

Alaska sets her weapon down on the counter, “I guess I just lost track of time.”

She looks up to see Detox round the corner, and could almost cry with how happy she is to see her.

“Thought I heard you guys come back,” Detox smiles.

There’s a worry and fear in her eyes that Alaska wishes only a kiss could fix. There’s no way it would, but she can try. The two hug tightly, and Alaska kisses her for a long moment. It’s so good to be with her again, even with the missing presence of their third.

“I couldn’t stay away for too long,” Alaska teases her when they pull apart, “Where’s Roxy?”

“Training,” Detox sighs, “I was barely able to get her away for lunch.”

Alaska understands the need to always be prepared, it was drilled into her once this whole mess started. She still wishes they would all take better care of themselves though.

She looks over to see Katya talking closely with Ginger, and figures she’s probably just relaying what all happened. There’s a ‘ding!’ sound from the computer, and Ginger leans over to take a look. Alaska’s breath catches in her throat when she sees Ginger’s expression.

“What’s wrong?” she asks, almost scared of the answer.

“It’s… It’s Alyssa’s sister,” Ginger says, completely shocked, “Her group- They’ve got an extreme injury.”

“How extreme?” Katya asks, trying to look at the computer scene.

“Gunshot wound to the torso at the least,” Ginger says with a frown, “They want to bring her here.”

“Can we even help with that?” Detox grimaces.

“Coco saved me, didn’t she?” Alaska says, biting her lip nervously.

“Do we have room? Supplies? It’s been a while since then, Alaska-”

“Who else would be able to help? There’s no hospitals, no working clinics or doctor’s offices,” Alaska reminds her, on the way to making up her mind.

“We don’t even know this person, all we know is that Alyssa’s sister knows them,” Phi Phi points out.

“Alyssa’s sister knows them well enough to want to reach out to us,” Alaska corrects her, “During a fucking apocalypse.”

Katya turns and stares Alaska in the eyes, “So you want to help.”

It’s a statement, and not one that’s wrong either.

Alaska takes a deep breath, then turns to Phi Phi, “Tell Coco she’s going to have a patient,”

Even though she looks skeptical, Phi Phi ducks out of the room, and Alaska is left with three of her teammates staring at her with open mouths.

“Well? Get to work, we have company coming,” Alaska drawls, leaving no room for argument.

It’s a longshot, but they owe a lot to Alyssa, and Alaska wouldn’t be where she is today without the kindness of strangers. If she doesn’t ‘pay it forward’ now, she may never get the chance, and she thinks she would regret that for the rest of her life.

[sage-nebula]

If mo one has already asked about it....the fix it fic?

No one has asked, but thank you for doing so!

So, funnily enough, I honestly did not remember what it was I was trying to fix when I was writing the fix-it fic LOL. So this was as much of a surprise to me as it is a surprise to you!

Turns out, this was a fix-it fic for Avengers: Endgame that saw Tony survive because Peter tried to use the Infinity Gauntlet to end things. Don't worry, Peter survives as well; Carol ends up taking the Infinity Gauntlet from Peter and using it herself, because her powers (granted to her by an Infinity Stone, remember) let her withstand and use the gauntlet without dying or damage that was too horrifying. That said, Peter still used the gauntlet long enough to sustain damage, and ends up losing his right arm as a result of it. He gets a prosthetic made for him by Shuri (paid for with Stark Industries money, of course), and a good chunk of the fic would have dealt with Peter coming to grips with his new reality, as well as getting to know his surrogate little sister, Morgan.

Here is a snippet:

Peter shoved himself all the way up, and regretted it immediately as his head throbbed. He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his left hand over them, and when the throbbing subsided he took a deep, slow breath and looked up at the room again.

The room. His hospital room. Where he ended up after all of . . . that. The last thing he remembered was that he had the gauntlet. He had it, and he was going to use it . . . but whether he succeeded or failed, he didn’t know. And it didn’t look as though anyone was around to—

The hairs on the back of Peter’s neck stood up a second before he heard the shuffle of fabric from the corner of the room, behind the little bedside table just on the other side of Peter’s IV and heart monitor.

“Hi?” he rasped, and winced. How long had he been there, for his throat to be that dry?

For a second, there was no response. But after that second passed, and Peter’s mystery guest presumably came to the conclusion that it was no use pretending she wasn’t there, a little girl peeked out from around the table. She stared up at him with dark brown eyes framed by matching fringe, and without wasting a beat she held one finger up to her lips.

“Shh,” she said. “I’m playing hide-and-seek with Happy and I don’t want him to find me.”

Peter stared at the little girl, who stared just as resolutely back. This little girl, who looked to be in kindergarten if Peter had to guess, knew Happy. This little girl was playing hide-and-seek with Happy. This little girl was hiding in Peter’s room because she was playing hide-and-seek with Happy.

Peter blinked.

“Happy plays hide-and-seek?”

The little girl nodded. “But I’m better. I almost always win because I’m a better hider.” She frowned, and her eyebrows knitted together over her eyes. “So don’t tell him I’m here, okay?”

The idea of Happy playing anything, much less hide-and-seek, was enough to stall Peter’s brain for a good while. But the little girl was looking at him for an answer—looking at him way too seriously, considering she couldn’t have been older than five, for an answer—so because he both didn’t want to leave her hanging, and also didn’t mind giving Happy a bit of a hard time, Peter smiled.

“Yeah, no worries. It’ll be our secret.” He mimed zipping his lips shut, twisted a key at the corner, and then flicked the invisible key across the room, toward the trash can.

Instantly, the little girl beamed. She zipped her own lips shut, twisted her own invisible key, and flicked hers off to the corner as he had done before she scrambled up from her spot behind the bedside table. Heedless of the fact that Happy could walk in the room at any second and find her (Peter guessed, anyway; if the little girl was playing hide-and-seek with Happy, then Happy had to be in the building, right?), she clambered up onto one of the chairs by Peter’s bed, and then hopped from there to sit on the edge. Peter shuffled a little to his right side to give her more room.

“I know who you are,” the little girl said. Peter opened his mouth to answer, but before he could the little girl added, “I’m Morgan, and you’re Spider-Man.”

Peter shut his mouth, his eyes wide.

How did she know? How did she—Peter glanced down at himself, to make sure he wasn’t in his suit, but he wasn’t. He was dressed in a hospital gown. He didn’t know where his suit was, especially since a quick scan of the room told him that it wasn’t there. So how did she know? How did she figure it out? He racked his brain over the last five minutes, but he couldn’t think of anything he said that gave him away. All he said was hi, and asked if Happy played hide-and-seek, and said that he wouldn’t tell Happy the little girl was here. That was it. That was all. That was all he said, so how did she—how did she know—how did he give it away this time?!

The little girl—Morgan, she said her name was—was staring at him expectantly, her hands in her lap, and so after a shaky breath Peter forced a smile.

“N-No, I’m not—I’m not—” Peter huffed a laugh, “—Spider-Man, I’m not—that’d be—that’d be cool if I was, but I’m not, so—”

“Yes you are,” Morgan said, and Peter pressed his lips together, exhaling through his nose. “Daddy said you are, and so did Mommy, and Daddy’s always right, and when Daddy’s not right Mommy is, so you are. You’re Spider-Man.”

Peter understood all the words that came out of Morgan’s mouth, but it felt like they weren’t loading right. Like they were buffering, like an old website on one of the city’s library computers. “Your dad said—wait. Is Happy your dad?”

Morgan made a face. “No, Happy’s Happy.”

“He’s not when he talks to me,” Peter muttered, before he could help himself.

“But Daddy’s told me lots of stories, and Happy did, too,” Morgan said. “Daddy said you saved New York and lots of people lots of times. He said that you’re really strong, and brave, and smart, and a hero. And that you shoot webs like this.” She held her hands out in front of her, index and pinky fingers extended, and mimed firing webs at the walls. “Psew, psew, psew!”

Despite his confusion, and alarm that someone (multiple someones?) else knew his secret, Peter grinned and said, “Yeah, that’s—that’s pretty good. That’s just like Spider-Man.” Morgan grinned back, and dropped her hands to her lap. “What did Happy say about me?”

“Happy said you gave him gray hairs,” Morgan said, and Peter snorted a laugh. “But Daddy said Happy’s hairs were already gray ‘cause he’s a worrywart. And then Mommy said that Daddy wasn’t one to talk, and Daddy said she’s not either, so I guess everyone’s a wart except me.” She paused, then added brightly, “And you!”

“And me,” Peter agreed.

Morgan hummed, still smiling, and bounced a little on the bed as she said, “I made up a song about you. Wanna hear it?”

Peter blinked. “A song?” he repeated, and Morgan nodded. “Uh, yeah, sure. Go for it.”

Morgan cleared her throat, and sang, complete with wild hand gestures, “Spider-Man, Spider-Man! Does whatever a spider can! He shoots his web, and swings around! He takes all of the bad guys down! Look out! It’s the Spider-Man~!” She dropped her hands back to her lap again, and turned back to him with bright, excited eyes. “Do you like it?”

Peter was smiling so hard his cheeks hurt a little. “Yeah. I love it, it’s great!”

Morgan beamed right back, even more brightly than she had earlier when he agreed to keep her secret, and threw herself forward so that her arms wrapped around his neck. She wasn’t that big, and Peter thought ordinarily he wouldn’t even notice, but when she hit his chest the air left him with a whoosh, and he was glad she had her face over his shoulder so she wouldn’t see how he winced.

“You’re great!” Morgan said, and Peter felt his heart swell as he wrapped his left arm gently around her.

[thaliagrayce]

@ariihen​ absolutely. consider yourself destroyed. This is a little lighter on the jasico than most of my stuff, but like... I had fun and it’s still homestuck au? I hope you like it anyway. I love a lot of parts of homestuck but honestly the beginning, when they were trying to figure out this weird fucking game, was one of my favorites

-- gracefulArgonaut [GA] began pestering tumultuousTartarus [TT] at 16:13 --

GA: Im Still Supposed To Be Bullying You Right Now Because Apparently That’s What Were Supposed To Do 

GA: But Ive Been Watching You For An Hour Now And You’ve Been Listening To The Same Song And Staring At The Corner The Entire Time

GA: Are You

GA: Are You Okay?

Nico blinked down at the new messages from gracefulArgonaut, squinting a little to try and read the light blue letters against the white backdrop of pesterChum. It was confusing for a number of reasons, most of which he didn’t want to touch. It was the first time GA had contacted him, but far from the first time he’d been approached by random hostile strangers on pesterChum. Despite the influx of other, much meaner anonymous messages he’s gotten within the past year, this one unsettled him more than most.

He glanced at his computer speakers, which were playing Wake Me Up When September Ends for—he glanced at the screen, which had his music history open—the sixteenth time in a row. He had, in fact, been zoning out in the direction of the corner for almost the entire time. gracefulArgonaut or whatever had no way of knowing that. He looked down at the messages again, chewing on his bottom lip. Responding to these trolls wasn’t productive, he knew that from experience, but that was… super specific.

The last note faded away, bleeding into the intro again. Seventeen times. He unfolded his legs from the position he had been sitting on his bed in, wincing at the twinge in his knees and shaking the numbness out of them as best he could, and moved to his desk chair. Under the window that was playing his music was a pop-up from the Sburb beta. It had taken a while (or maybe he just hadn’t noticed it for a while), but the server application had finished installing.

Instead of sending anything back to GA, he switched to a different chat.

-- tumultuousTartarus [TT] began pestering effluentBlade [EB] at 16:15 --

TT: Okay.

TT: I have the option to start a server now and I’m going to do that.

TT: You only have to join when I send you the invite, it shouldn’t be too difficult on your end.

He set up the server and tried to connect, but the client server was unresponsive. He twisted his skull ring around his finger and stared at the screen. Another few messages from GA came in, but he ignored them.

-- [TT] [EB] --

TT: You there?

TT: Percy?

EB: oh yeah lol I’m here, I just had to do something for my mom

EB: it’s good, got it, hitting enter now

Another message from GA pinged in the background. They were persistent, usually the trolls would ignore him after he disappeared for too long. He glanced at the media player again. Wake Me Up When September Ends was on its seventeenth and a half playthrough. Even if they were just making a scarily accurate guess, GA might have had a point. It was a good song, but it was also without doubt his Depression Song. He hovered his mouse over the icon at the bottom of the screen, considering.

The Sburb window suddenly changed from the black background and green text that he had been seeing for an hour to a loading screen, and his speakers started pumping out instrumental music over top of his emopunk. He paused Green Day, fighting a smile. Finally.

-- [TT] [EB] --

EB: oh shit dude, false alarm, mom needs me again

EB: I’ll be back in five minutes, don’t worry

Nico let out a groan and leaned back in his chair, letting his head flop back against the headrest. He’d been wanting to play this game for months, but apparently he wouldn’t ever be able to. Percy, as usual, had better things to do than spend time with him. Thalia was still pretending that she was too cool to want to play in some misguided attempt to… establish dominance in their group? Impress all of them with her apathy? Make sure her mother was just as miserable as she was? Nico didn’t know, and he didn’t have the patience to try to dismantle whatever was going on in her brain now. She wanted to play somewhere in there, and she would eventually. That’s what mattered to Nico. Annabeth was… Nico didn’t actually know where she was now, but she wasn’t responding to messages. As usual. Probably knee-deep in some project, hyperfocusing so hard that she forgot to blink for five minutes.

At least Percy tried connecting before he left. The loading music was kind of nice, too. Maybe Percy didn’t actually have to be there in order for Nico to play.

There was another ping from GA. Nico bit his lip. It couldn’t be any more unsettling than the initial messages had been, right? He opened the chat.

- - [GA] [TT] - -

GA: I See Youve Moved To A More Comfortable Sitting Location

GA: Good

GA: That Couldnt Have Been Good For Your Back

GA: Or Your Legs

GA: Or Your Mental Health Probably

GA: I Also See That You Are Ignoring Me

GA: Which I Should Have Expected

GA: I Did Explicitly State That I Was Supposed To Bully You

TT: You know, the whole telling me what I’m doing in the moment that I’m doing it thing is a little bit creepier than your group’s usual brand of cyberbullying, but the rest of your approach could really use some work in the hostility department.

TT: Part of your strategy? Be nice, but like, really weird about it? I admit, that might be effective, if you actually planned it out. Make me feel as uncomfortable with my friendships as I do with the rest of you.

TT: Who, apparently, all know each other and have banded together in an organized campaign against myself and my friends?

GA: Oh! Youre Here

GA: Uh

GA: I Kind Of Have A Viewport That Lets Me See The Four Of You?

GA: Mine Is Focused On You At The Moment

GA: I Explained This To You Last Time

TT: Did you, now?

GA: Well

GA: Last Time From My Perspective

GA: Probably It Will Be Next Time From Your Standpoint

GA: Anyway

GA: Im Glad That You Seem To Be More Responsive Now

GA: Youre

GA: Different Than I Expected

GA: And Different Than You Were Before?

Behind pesterChum, the window for Sburb changed. Nico could see… Percy’s bedroom? Strange. He shot a quick message to gracefulArgonaut.

- - [GA] [TT] - -

TT: As fascinating as that avenue of conversation would be to explore, I have better things to do now.

TT: How about you stop creeping on my life and leave me alone? Worth consideration. Might be a more effective way of bullying me, leave me in confusion.

GA: That Certainly Is A Strategy

GA: I Confess That Im Not Very Good At Bullying Though

GA: And You Fascinate Me

GA: I Think I Would Like To Be Friends Actually

TT: Well, try again later, I guess. As I said, I have better things to do now.

He exited the chat, but didn’t log out of pesterChum entirely. Hopefully, Percy would be back soon. Nico could see him in his room, dicking around with a foam sword. Nico scrolled through Percy’s apartment until he was in an uninhabited room—the bathroom. Perfect. He hit the select button and clicked the bathtub. He could worry about GA later, it was time to learn these controls right now.

[orange-waterfalls]

Sleeping Beauty

Darkiplier x Wilford Warfstache

@grey-b0y ty for the request!(im sorry it took so long lol)

A/N: ight so. first time doin a ship. literally the best thing ive ever written. may like to do more. uhhhh Dark being an overworked bastard. Wilford being the caring boyf that he would be. Disney movies. If you couldn't already tell. Uhhhhh finished this in an hour, re-read it, may actually be the best thing I've ever made I'm ngl. Dark may be a bit OOC, but that's just cause he's a lil bit tired. uhhhhh yeah. Enjoy!

Requests are open

--

Dark let out a quiet sigh as he opened the door to his and Wilford’s house. He threw his suit jacket to the side with absolutely no fucks to give about where it landed. He stumbled through the house until he eventually landed in his office, plopping down in his chair and leaning back with a groan.

He had so much work he still had left to do, and it was already 9:00. He was so, so, so very tired. The egos had been especially annoying that week, all having the stupidest comments during meetings and refusing to shut up once they got started. Dark had noticed Wilford gave him a “look” whenever he saw the entity annoyed or angry. He didn’t want Wilford to worry, so he always brushed it off. In hindsight, it might have been a good idea to let Wil help him. They were in a relationship, after all. People are supposed to help those that they love. Dark never gave Wil much of a chance to do that. He felt bad for it at times.

Dark rubbed the bridge of his nose and yawned. He shook his head and cracked his neck and flexed his hands, trying to make himself more awake. “Trying” being the keyword here. He reached into his messenger bag and pulled out his laptop and computer mouse. He opened the laptop and opened a document of everything he was supposed to schedule, approve, and deny. He went through everything, the blue light illuminating his pale face, the bags under his eyes looking very prominent. Any person with eyesight and half a brain could see he was sleep-deprived and overworked.

He heard a noise come from somewhere in the house. He stopped clicking and raised his head a bit, trying to listen. Nothing else came. He shrugged lightly. He was probably just imagining things…

Probably…

Another noise. A THUMP. Louder this time. He took his hand away from the mouse and leaned back in his chair, watching the closed door of the office. He stared at it, waiting for another noise to show up.

The sound of shattered glass and Wilford cursing caused Dark to jump up out of his chair. He threw the door open and ran to the source of the noise.

“Wil!” He called as he stopped in the living room. The panicked look on his face died down into indifference and mild annoyance.

Wilford was laying on his back in the middle of the room, margarita glass in hand, with the window shattered and shards of glass surrounding him. He turned to Dark and smiled.

“Good evening, pumpkin!” He greeted joyfully. Dark exhaled deeply and walked over to Wilford. He had no problem with the glass because his shoes were still on. Wilford, apparently having some sort of supervision when it came to Dark, noticed this small fact. “Why do you have your shoes on? When did you get home?” Dark, ignoring the question, pulled Wilford to his feet.

“Where’s your key?” He asked, exasperated.

“Now, hold on. I asked you first. It’s not fair that I have to answer questions when you haven’t answered mine!” The reporter pouted. Dark rolled his eyes.

“Stuck in a meeting. Stuck in traffic. Got home a couple of minutes ago,” He sighed, “Where is your key, Wil?” Wilford looked around for a moment before his eyes landed on a clock. He let out an exaggerated gasp.

“Dark! It’s so late! You must be exhausted!” He said, cupping Dark’s face in his hands. He can’t help from melting into the touch of his favorite person.

“No, no, I’m fine, really,” Dark mumbled, obviously lying. Wilford frowned.

“Come along now, darling, you know you can’t lie to me,” He said, stepping a bit closer to him. He looked into Dark’s eyes while the entity avoided eye contact. Wilford huffed before his eyebrows raised and a smile formed on his lips. Dark noticed and furrowed his eyebrows

“What?” He asked, slightly worried. Wilford grabbed his hand and led him to their bedroom. Dark sighed.

“Wil, I don’t-” He was cut off by a T-shirt being thrown at his face. Dark, being extremely tired, didn’t process what had happened until he looked down and saw the shirt. He looked back up at Wilford, squinting a bit. Wilford had somehow already changed. He was wearing pink shorts and a white shirt with a rainbow on the front. Dark glanced down at the shirt and raised an eyebrow. Wilford cleared his throat.

“My eyes are up here, Darky-poo,” He teased. Dark would have blushed if he were less proud. Would have.

Dark rolled his eyes and picked up the shirt, ushering Wilford out. God knows how long into their relationship and Dark still refused to change in front of his boyfriend. Wilford shook his head and chuckled, heading into the kitchen.

--

He made two bowls of popcorn, knowing for a fact he would scarf down his in a matter of minutes. He walked into the living room. He heard creaking and looked back to see Dark walk in after him. The pale entity wore black boxers and the grey shirt that was thrown at him. Wilford smiled.

“What took so long, darling?” He asked sweetly. Dark scoffed at the third pet name that night.

“Resting my eyes,” he claimed. Wilford hummed, knowing it was a lie. He wouldn’t push it, though. Dark sighed. “What are we doing, Wil?”

“Watching Disney movies. Only the musicals, though,” Dark groaned.

“Wil-”

“Listen,” Wilford said, suddenly sounding serious. Dark closed his mouth. “I know you won’t listen to me when I tell you to rest. So, if you’re gonna stay awake, you might as well do something vaguely fun, right?” Dark smiled softly.

This person. This person loved him. This person cared about him more than anyone else did. And this person that cared about him was trying to help. Dark sighed, but not in an exasperated way. In an “I really can’t argue because a) I have nothing to argue and b) I kinda sorta really don’t wanna argue but I still wanna act like I do” kinda way. He shuffled his way over to the couch and plopped down next to Wilford, scooting as close to him as possible. Wilford grinned and settled himself.

“But do we have to do all of them?” Dark complained. Wilford stroked his mustache a bit.

“Well, no, but we gotta start somewhere.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you get to tell me which year to start from.”

“Last year.” That earned a small glare from Wilford. “Fine, fine… uh… 19...8...9?”

“The Little Mermaid it is!” Wilford said excitedly.

“Wait, you know all the years?”

“Of course I do! What do you think I am? Some sort of commoner?!” Dark slowly blinked at that wreck of a sentence and turned back to the TV screen. Wilford put an arm around Dark, who snuggled into the touch. Then, Wilford hit the play button on his remote.

--

Two movies later, Dark was out cold. They’d barely gotten through a third of “Newsies” before Wilford looked over and saw the entity sleeping. Wilford had been mindful enough to keep his singing voice to a minimum, and so Dark hadn’t woken up. Wilford wasn’t even sure how long he’d been asleep. When did he last look? Halfway through “Beauty and the Beast?” Aw, too bad. 30 more minutes and they would’ve started on “Aladdin”! Wilford shrugged and paused the film.

He gently shifted in his spot and lifted Dark into his arms. He slowly carried the “Sleeping Beauty”(shut up I’m funny) to their room. He gently laid Dark down on the bed, covering him with the blankets. Dark almost instantly cuddled into them. Wilford bit his lip as he stared down at his lover. Well, since they didn’t watch Sleeping Beauty…

Wilford gently leaned down and brushed a small curl out of Dark’s face. He gazed at his sleeping figure in admiration before leaning down further to connect their lips in a small kiss. Very small, more of a peck than a “kiss” kiss, but still. Dark slowly opened his eyes and blinked a few times as Wilford pulled away.

“Aw, Dark,” Wilford whispered, “I woke you with true love’s kiss!”

“You woke me, period,” Dark grumbled but stretched out his arms, tempting Wilford to go to bed.

Wilford climbed in next to Dark, spooning him. He held his arms tight around his partner’s torso, burying his nose into the entity’s hair and inhaling deeply.

“What are you doing?” Dark almost chuckled. Wilford smiled.

“I like your smell…”

“Oh?” Dark twisted around to look at Wilford. “And what do I smell like?”

“Home…” Wilford answered with a lovestruck look on his face. He could’ve sworn he saw a blush before getting hit in the face with a pillow. He laughed as Dark turned back around.

“You are the cheesiest person in the galaxy,” Dark said. Wilford’s lips curled into a grin as he snuggled up behind Dark again.

“Maybe…” He answered. Both of them sighed contently. “I love you…”

“I love you too...” Dark mumbled, still very tired, “Goodnight, Wil.” Wilford smiled as he tightened his grip ever-so-slightly.

“Good night, Sleeping Beauty…”

[stevie-steven-stevington]

all that we are (chapter 1)

here it is guys. the first chapter of my endgame au fic is here at last. thanks to everyone who was encouraging me lol i love you guys. also nat’s alive too because i love her and i said so

Category: Gen Rating: T Warnings: none Words 4.5k

When Tony snaps, Peter is touching him. Distributed between two people, one with enhanced DNA, the power of the Infinity Stones does not kill either of them. What it does do, however, is forge a soul bond between Tony and Peter that they can't seem to get rid of.

Reaching out for Tony is second nature to Peter.

They’ve come a long way since The Homecoming Incident, as they’ve not-so-fondly dubbed it. It was a rocky start, but all things considered, Peter likes to think that finding their footing wasn’t nearly as painful as it could’ve been. Trust doesn’t come easily, after all, especially for someone who has suffered as much as Tony Stark has, but they got there eventually. (Peter wonders if the five years dangling between them will be the thing that sends them backsliding.

But no. The first thing Tony did when they reunited - five years, five years, five years - was hug him tight, and the look in his eyes said it all.)

Reaching out for Tony is easy. Reaching out is instinctive. Impulsive. Automatic. Reaching out is something he doesn’t have to think twice about, hasn’t had to think twice about for months now, because he knows that Tony will always reach for him in return.

It happens really fast, but it feels like forever to Peter. Like everything has been running on fast forward since the moment he woke up on Titan, but as soon as the Infinity Stones are in Tony’s hands, Peter’s brain starts processing in slow-motion.

His world narrows to a point, and in this moment he cares about nothing but Tony.

He doesn’t know why he does it. It’s not like he actually expects to help anything, to change anything, to solve anything. It’s reflex, he supposes, to search for his mentor when he’s clearly out of his depth. When he’s beyond the point of scared that he feels he can handle on his own. And, watching Tony stare down Thanos with the six most dangerous objects in the universe on his gauntlet, he thinks this is the most terrified he’s ever been.

They say hindsight is 20/20 and tunnel vision is blinding, but in this case, nothing and no one could ever make him regret what he does.

If he had to go back and live through the final moments of the battle against Thanos and his army over, he’d do the exact same thing. Again and again and again.

Because reaching out for Tony Stark in the seconds before he snaps his fingers and saves the universe yet again just so happens to be the thing that saves Tony Stark’s life.

His fingers graze Tony’s arm and the energy from the Stones instantly redistributes itself. Flows into Peter like a faucet, except there’s no way to turn it off. There’s no way to make the pure power stop flooding his veins, no way to make his skin stop burning, no way to make it stop feeling like he’s crackling with electricity all the way down to his bones.

It hurts. It hurts worse than anything Peter has ever felt, the pain so intense that it’s almost all he can even register. Nothing else is real. Nothing else is comprehensible through the sheer agony of possessing a level of power than no one being was ever meant to have.

Even through the pain, he sees the exact second in which Tony realizes. But by then, it’s too late.

Tony snaps his fingers with fear in his eyes and the potential to destroy the universe pumping through his blood.

Thanos’s army slowly begins to disappear, and Peter thinks this will be a pretty respectable way to die.

Then Thanos himself fades into nothing and the universe goes dark.

Sliding back into consciousness is quite possibly the least graceful thing Tony has ever done.

As soon as he even starts to blink his eyes open, he can feel...something fluttering in his chest, a sensation that’s horrifyingly akin to the palladium poisoning of years past.

Alarm bells. Immediate, deafening alarm bells go off in his head, and before he can even think, he jerks upright. His hands fly to his chest, an inexplicable pain shooting up his right arm, and he presses, hard, into the spot where his arc reactor would be. He’s shaking, all the way down to the tips of his fingers, and then he’s scrambling, his instincts screaming at him to escape escape escape, even though he has no idea what he’s trying to escape from.

He very nearly face-plants on the tile floor. Can’t quite figure out why he hasn’t until a voice he’d recognize anywhere says, “Jesus, Tones, again?”

He doesn’t know what that means. He doesn’t know what’s happening.

But Rhodey is here. Rhodey is here, and he sounds exasperated but not panicked so Tony must be safe.

He’s safe.

He’s on the edge of a panic attack and apparently he yanked a needle out of his arm (again), but he’s safe.   

“Tony, come on, breathe.” One of Rhodey’s hands has settled on the small of Tony’s back and the other is wrapped around his forearm both to hold him up and to stem the trickle of blood from his ripped-out IV. “You’re okay. It’s over, Tones. Everything’s alright.” He knows this. In theory, at least, he does.

It’s not computing. Something is off - his stomach is twisted in knots and something in his head is yelling for him to listen, to pay attention, but he can’t hear a word of whatever that part of him is trying to say.

He’s still trembling under Rhodey’s hands, leaning into him as best he can from his awkward position between the bed and the floor. Rhodey moves his hand from Tony’s back to his waist and starts to gently shift him back onto the bed properly. Tony doesn’t resist, wouldn’t have the strength even if he wanted to. He lets Rhodey coax him down until his head hits the pillow and the fight almost instantly drains out of him.

And then, “Mr. Stark?”

Peter.

Tony shoots up again, vaguely registers something clattering to the floor and Rhodey swearing. Ignores both of these things in favor of swinging his legs off the bed and pushing up onto his feet.

(He’s pretty sure he’s going to give Rhodey a heart attack one of these days.)

He sways. Presses his palm against his still-bleeding forearm in place of Rhodey’s and just sways for what feels like hours before he feels just steady enough to stumble toward Peter’s voice.

His vision is too blurry to really see where he’s going, but all he can think is Peter and he figures he’ll find him eventually.

It’s all coming back to him. The time travel, the fight, the reunions. Using the Infinity Stones. Erasing Thanos and his army.

Peter.

Peter was there. He was there and he was alive and he was just as upbeat and talkative and bright as usual and he was alive.

They’re both alive. They’re both alive and it’s because of some ridiculous, half-cocked time heist, sheer dumb luck, and, if Tony has this part right, the fact that Peter happened to be touching him when he snapped.

It’s...on brand, if nothing else.

Frankly, Tony doesn’t have the energy to care how it all played out anyway. He’s got priorities - or, well, one priority, and right now it’s to hug a certain spider-kid.

It takes him a minute and his legs wobble all the while, but he finds his way to Peter’s hospital bed. The kid is sitting up, looking just the slightest bit more steady than Tony feels, and as soon as Tony gets close, he flings his arm out and opens and closes his hand in that grabby gesture that little kids make when they want their parent to come hold them. It’s quite possibly the youngest Tony has ever seen the kid look.

And God, Tony missed him. Five years, and all he could do was stare at framed pictures of the two of them and dream of alien planets and dust and Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good.

But he got him back. The kid’s in a hospital bed with an IV in his arm that thankfully hasn’t been ripped out (yet) and that same glazed look in his eyes that he got when Bruce put him on specialized pain medication after he was shot on patrol, but he’s back.

It feels like a dream. Tony has had this dream before, too, the one where they figure out how to save everyone and Peter comes back and everything’s great until either the dream deteriorates into yet another nightmare or Tony wakes up and remembers. He doesn’t think he can handle either of those options right now.

Peter’s hand finds Tony’s shirt. His fingers twist into the fabric so tightly that his knuckles go white, and Tony thinks he might cry.

He doesn’t. Instead, he brings his free hand up to cover Peter’s and squeezes gently. Peter smiles loopily up at him and the fluttery feeling in Tony’s chest fades.

“Peter,” Tony says hoarsely. It’s all he can get out around the lump in his throat.

The kid feels real. Solid. Not like he’s going to fade away if Tony holds him too tight.

“Hi, Mr. Stark,” Peter says. His eyes go soft. “S’been a while, huh?”

The noise Tony makes is somewhere between a laugh and a dry sob. Still staring at Peter, he calls, “Rhodey?”

“Yeah, Tones?”

“You see him too, right?”

He hates to ask. He really does hate to ask, but the level of trust he has in his own mind at this point is...low, to say the least.

There’s a pause. Tony fixes his gaze on that one curl of Peter’s that always (still) hangs in his face and prays to a god he doesn’t believe in that this isn’t just another cruel joke.

“Yeah, Tones,” Rhodey says again, and it’s not a question this time. It’s a confirmation.

Real.

Real.

Peter tugs, lightly, on Tony’s shirt. “Mr. Stark. Come sit with me.”

The bed is very much not big enough for two people. Peter scoots over anyway, looks expectantly up at Tony.

This kid is going to be the death of him.

Tony sits carefully on the edge of the bed and it’s only then that he realizes that if he’d stayed standing much longer, he most definitely would have passed out. Huh. On the list of the most dangerous things Tony’s ever done, ripping out his IV is, admittedly, pretty low, but it’s still on the list. He thinks it’s worth it to see Peter’s smile.

“Are you okay?” Peter, by now, has let go of Tony’s shirt and instead threaded his fingers through Tony’s. Apparently, the kid has way fewer inhibitions when he’s high.

Fuck’s sake, though. Is Tony okay, Peter asks, when he’s the one who vanished from existence and only just came back.

“Are you?” Tony shoots back, swinging his legs up onto the bed and scooting back to lean against the headboard. His head swims at the sharp movement and his legs end up half on top of Peter’s, but he ignores all of this.

Peter nods firmly, then promptly pitches over and buries his face in the juncture between Tony’s shoulder and his neck. Tony has to bite down on his bottom lip to keep from hissing in pain when Peter jostles him - Tony doesn’t know exactly how the stones affected him (or Peter. He’s a lot more concerned about Peter), but it hurts. Peter’s clearly too out of it to feel much of anything, but Tony’s whole body doesn’t seem ready to stop aching any time soon.

He kind of doesn’t care. Because he hasn’t gotten his hug yet - a proper hug that’s not in the middle of the fight for the universe - and he still really needs it.

There’s a lot of shifting he has to do, including letting go of Peter’s hand (he thinks he hears Peter whine into his sleeve - he wouldn’t be surprised if he actually was imagining it this time, though), but he manages to twist a little and wrap his arms around the kid’s waist. He’s careful to avoid the arm with the IV in it. Peter follows suit easily, free hand settling between Tony’s shoulder blades.

Tony breathes in.

(Peter smells like sweat and smoke and something so authentically Peter.

He’s not going to cry. He’s not.)

He breathes out.

Peter gives a quiet hum. “I like this. Can we keep the hugging?”

Tony laughs, brings a hand up to rustle Peter’s hair for the sole sake of making him squirm. “Sure, Pete. Whatever you want.”

Tony doesn’t normally like hugging. He doesn’t normally like being touched all that much in general, unless it’s Pepper, but maybe Peter’s tactileness is rubbing off on him.

He feels like the tables have turned and he’s the kid who needs to be held now. It’s not an entirely foreign feeling, but it is...a bit uncanny.

He doesn’t get the chance to dissect it, because Rhodey, who apparently made it across the room without Tony noticing, rests a hand on Tony’s shoulder and says, “As much as I hate to break up the reunion, guys, I’m gonna need Tony to come back to his bed so I can put his IV back in.”

Peter definitely does whine this time as Tony pulls back and turns to glance at Rhodey. “Do you even know how to do that?”

He knows the answer. Rhodey has done this for him and other Avengers more than once before, and the military man always has a really steady hand. He’s only asking to be annoying.

Rhodey shoots him a look.

“Okay, okay, honeybear,” Tony relents, still half-chuckling. “No need to give me that look.” Except maybe there is, because Tony really doesn’t want to move. He likes it here, with Peter, on this tiny hospital bed (vaguely, he wonders what hospital they’re in. It’s definitely not one of his own medbays), and besides, he’s not entirely sure he could make it back to his own bed.

“Does the bed roll?”

Rhodey furrows his brow. “What?” “The bed,” Tony repeats. “And all the machines. Can they move?”

“Um…” He gives Tony’s shoulder one last gentle squeeze, then turns and crosses the room. The bed doesn’t budge at first when Rhodey pushes at it, but a little investigating turns up a stopper that flips to let the the wheels roll. The IV machine moves without protest. “That, they can.” In short order, the other bed is pushed up against Peter’s and Rhodey has Tony’s arm cleaned up and a new line drawn for the IV. He looks away as Rhodey finds a vein in his right arm and expertly slides the needle through his skin, busies himself with twisting a lock of Peter’s hair around his finger, right behind his ear, to make him giggle.

After everything’s set, there’s a long moment where Rhodey just stands at the foot of the bed and stares at them. He’s been a fair bit less emotional than Tony up to this point, but now he’s looking back and forth between the two of them with more relief in his eyes than Tony has seen since Afghanistan.

“I’m really glad you two are okay.” He looks specifically to Peter, then, and while Tony knew that Peter’s death affected Rhodey and Pepper too, it’s not until he watches Rhodey start to extend a hand toward Peter, hesitate, then try to hide his smile in Peter’s shoulder when the kid reaches up to drag him into a one-armed hug that Tony realizes just how much it did. “We, uh - we all really missed you, Pete.”

“It was all…” Peter pulls away, glances at Tony before looking back to Rhodey. He’s uncomfortable, Tony can tell, probably with all the attention right after the shock of coming back to life five years in the future. Tony can’t blame him, he’s uncomfortable just thinking about it. Peter’s voice is quiet, almost apologetic when he says, “Everything happened in the blink of an eye for me. I wasn’t - I didn’t have time to miss anyone. But if I had, I would have missed you all too.”

In a way, Tony thinks it might be worse. Having no concept of the passage of time for five years, then waking up to a world that moved on without you. Not because it wanted to, no, but because it had to.

This is all so fucked up.

And where is everyone, anyway? Pepper and Morgan, the other Avengers, why are they not all crowded at Tony and Peter’s bedsides like the family of a coma patient in those corny drama movies?

Rhodey is just turning to go, surely to give them some space to talk, when Tony asks, “Hey, where are Pepper and Morgan? And everyone else, they’re all okay, right?”

“Oh, yeah,” Rhodey assures, glancing back over his shoulder at him. “Everyone’s fine, just a little banged up. Pepper had some legal stuff to take care of, with Avengers Tower and the press and all. Morgan’s with her.” “Wait, Pep’s - how long has it been?”

Rhodey’s lips press into a tight line. “Nine days. It - it was a little touch and go for a while, but things levelled out around day four. Pepper all but refused to leave your side until a couple days ago.”

Well. That explains the bags under Rhodey’s eyes.

“I’m gonna go tell everyone you’re awake,” he continues, slipping his hands into his jean pockets and rocking back and forth on his heels. It’s a habit Tony recognizes as one that only appears when Rhodey’s stressed. “I’ll tell them to leave you alone for now, but I don’t know how long Bruce and Nat will be willing to wait. If you need anything, just...have FRIDAY call me.” “Is May okay?”

“What?”

“My aunt,” Peter says loudly, too loudly, as if he’s trying to drown out his own thoughts. His teeth worry at his bottom lip, and it’s the most lucid he’s sounded since waking. “Is she - did she...turn to dust or…”

“Yes. She did, Pete.” It had been a relief, finding out that May had vanished along with Peter. He’s hated himself for it, felt horribly selfish for a long time about being so relieved that he wouldn’t have to find a way to look May Parker in the eyes and tell her that the nephew she’d taken in as her own son was gone. Eventually, he’d realized that, between the two of them, May had gotten the better end of the deal.

To Rhodey, he asks, “Did you guys get in contact with her yet?”

Please say yes. Please let this kid have one good thing.

For once in his life, he gets what he asked for. Rhodey nods, says, “She’s been staying here - this is a SHIELD facility, by the way - so she should be around somewhere. If you want me to bring her in now, I can, but the kid looks like he’s about to pass out.” Tony feels like he’s about to pass out.

“S’okay,” Peter murmurs, his fingers finding their way to the pulse point in Tony’s wrist. “I think I, uh...need a nap first.”

Again, Rhodey nods. Touches Tony’s shoulder one last time, then goes.

And then it’s just Peter and Tony.

Tony barely even has a second to fret over what the hell he’s supposed to say before Peter gives him a confused, vaguely disconcerted look and asks quietly, “Who’s Morgan?”

Oh.

Oh.

Five years. Five years in which Tony got married (a bittersweet affair) and had a daughter. Five years that Peter now has to catch up on.

Somehow, he keeps forgetting.

Tony can’t look Peter in the eyes when he tells him, “Morgan is my daughter. She’s - she’s four.”

For a long moment, Peter doesn’t react. Just sits there and, slowly but surely, processes.

Tony doesn’t know what he’s expecting, but Peter’s face lighting up isn’t it.

And yet, the kid’s smiling. Bright and glinting and happy. “That’s amazing! I always knew you’d make a great dad, Mr. Stark.”

He’s not mad. Peter’s not mad at him for moving on.

Not only that, Peter’s happy for him.

He doesn’t deserve this kid. Nobody deserves this kid.

“I - I’ll introduce you to her. Whenever she gets back with Pep, I can - you can meet her.”

As quick as it came, Peter’s smile fades (Tony’s going to get whiplash, Jesus Christ). He’s just about to backpedal, even though he has no clue what he said wrong, but Peter beats him to it. “Does she know? About...about what happened and - and about me?”

Mr. Stark, I don’t wanna go.

There was no way Morgan could have not known. With the pictures around the house and on his phone, the nightmares, all of it, there was really no getting around telling her, even if he’d wanted to.

“I gave her the - the child-friendly version,” Tony says, voice cracking, “but yeah, she knows.”

Should he tell him?

He has to tell him.

“I kind of -” He stops, mouth twisting, fixes his gaze at the spot where Peter’s fingers touch his wrist, starts again. Steadier this time. “She thinks you’re her older brother who - passed away. It felt like the easiest way to explain to a little kid why this teenage boy she’d never met was so...important to me. So just - fair warning before you have an armful of four year old.”

He’s met with silence. But he still can’t look at the kid to try to gauge his expression, so he’s stuck waiting.

Something tells him Peter doesn’t mind, though.

“That’s…really sweet, Mr. Stark.” There’s way too much affection in Peter’s voice for Tony’s liking, undercut by the teasing lilt in his time. “I didn’t know you cared so much.”

Of course I care, Tony thinks.

“Go to sleep, Underoos,” Tony says, pulling his arm out of Peter’s grip to flick him lightly on the nose. “Spider-baby needs his nap.”

Peter swats his hand and rolls his eyes. “M’not a baby, Mr. Stark. And you look sleepier than me.”

He doesn’t even try to make it sound like he believes the last part.

Tony snorts. “Whatever you say, kiddo. Tell you what, we can both take a nap and then we’ll be good and rested for when all the other Avengers come storming in here like the barbarians they are.”

That’s all it takes to get Peter to drop the topic of Tony’s daughter and lie down. He immediately curls into Tony’s side, careful of the IV on his outside arm, making Tony tense automatically. Peter either doesn’t notice or just refuses to budge, and Tony has to force himself to relax, dammit.

His left hand finds a place in Peter’s hair. Peter’s right hand twists into Tony’s shirt.

It’s nice, once he gets used to it.

He’s only just gotten comfortable with it when Peter breaks the tranquility. Not even five minutes later, Peter pushes up on his elbow to look at Tony and says, “I’m sorry.”

He hates that he knows exactly what Peter means as soon as it comes out of his mouth. Hates that he knows exactly what the kid is apologizing for. He did it on Titan too, just as he was fading away, and Tony thinks he’ll never stop being angry with himself for not finding the words to comfort him.

There’s a level of sadness in Peter’s eyes, settled just behind the drug-induced glassiness, that makes Tony’s stomach twist. He never did get to a point where losing Peter stopped hurting, never really thought he would, and Peter’s guilt, however misplaced, is threatening to dig up even the pain that Tony did manage to bury. “It wasn’t your fault, kiddo.” There’s something else there too. Some other emotion is tugging, rather relentlessly, at his heart, but he can’t put a finger on what it is. Peter smiles sadly, knowingly. Almost ruefully. “It wasn’t yours, either.” Oh. Guilt. Makes sense. If they had a contest to determine which of them had a bigger guilt complex, Tony genuinely has no idea who would win.

“Pete -“ “No. No. The - the fight -“ Peter shakes his head, irritation rolling off of him in waves. Tony knows it’s more directed at his own disjointedness, though, than it is at Tony. “We lost. I know. But it was - if it wasn’t my fault, then it wasn’t yours, either.”

Peter flops back down on the bed, finally spent, as it seems. Tony’s starting to wonder if Peter’s haziness is contagious. The longer he’s awake and the more he tries to think, the blearier he feels.

He’s not going to fight Peter on this. It’s not like it would change anything or be beneficial to either of them. Peter’s always seen the best in people, never had an ounce of blame in his body for anyone but himself, and if he wants to pretend Tony isn’t at least partially responsible, then so be it.

“Okay, Petey,” he whispers. He wishes he could believe him, he really does, but he knows better. “Go to sleep.”

Peter tucks his head under Tony’s arm and is out like a light within second.

Tony drifts off ten minutes after Peter does, with his fingers in Peter’s hair and a feeling that’s almost, almost like contentment in his chest.

It takes him a good five minutes to find a bathroom.

His IV was removed while he was asleep, apparently. Surprising, since Tony’s always been a light sleeper and it’s just gradually spiraled since Afghanistan, though he does vaguely recall waking up at some point and slurring about...something or other.

The hallways are deserted. And dark. Tony can’t see shit as he wanders around, making at least four wrong turns on his roundabout trek - he wonders if they make SHIELD compounds so difficult to navigate on purpose. Probably.

Eventually, he finds himself staring at his reflection in the bathroom mirror.

Something’s wrong. He knows it. He has no clue what, exactly, is wrong, but he knows something is. It feels like every cell in his body is still vibrating with the energy of the stones and the strange, fluttery feeling has resurfaced with a vengeance.

The longer he’s up, the worse it gets. And no matter how hard he tries to write it off, he can’t get around it. Something is so very, very wrong.

On his way back to the hospital room, he’s proven right.

He’s halfway there (he thinks) when his legs give out entirely. His vision blurs and he crumples to his knees - he thinks he blacks out, just for a moment, before coming to with his cheek pressed into the cold wood floor.

He feels sick. Weak. Lightheaded. A little bit nauseous.

Wrong.

When he tries to push himself up, his hand slips and he goes plummeting to the floor again. Shit.

“Help,” he croaks out, because as terrible as he is about asking for help, there’s always something to be said about extenuating circumstances. He’s trembling, ever so slightly. “Someone, I need - help!”

He doesn’t know how long he’s there, but he must fade in and out of consciousness all the while, because at some point, he comes to with Natasha hovering over him, more concern painted across her face than Tony thinks he’s ever seen on her.

“Call Doctor Strange,” is the last thing he manages to say before he passes out for real.

[prorevenge]

Destroy my childhood, ruin my chance at college, and laugh when I said I was homeless? Lol cool, I'll ruin your life.

Long story. TL;DR at the end.

BACKSTORY: My mother was a really shitty person. I have 4 other siblings. One older sister, 3 way younger, 3 different dads. Before I was born (im a male btw), my oldest sister was taken away from my mother when she was a few months old because she tried to stab/slice the father of my sister WHILE HE WAS HOLDING HER. She lost custody and the dude left her. Older sister goes to live with her fathers family in a different city. CUE LIL OL ME COMING INTO THIS SEXY WORLD. My dad went to jail 2-3 years after I was born for a while, I rarely saw him. He's an alcoholic if that matters. She was a single mother but she made it work and she worked hard. One of the bigger problems was that she took out all her agression and hatred of my father on me as well as work stress and etc. She dealt with sexual abuse growing up which I'm sure definitely affected her relationships and how she treated me as well. Anyways...

Cue me being abused from the age of 4-5 to about 17. Every day was hell. She was extremely strict and her perspective was warped. She was also pretty big in stature and had alot of strength. Examples of her being shitty: I've gotten beaten up badly once because HER room was dirty. The dishes weren't washed and I got beaten soon as I got home, even if there werent dishes when I left to school. If i walked too loud, id get my ass beat. She broke my nose for looking at her the wrong way on my 10th birthday when she brought me a cake I was allergic too(It had peanuts, she knows im slightly allergic but feigned ignorance..) It was more or less every day or every other day. She used her fists/elbows/extension cords/hangers/chairs/canes/bats/etc. Whatever she could find I was getting beaten with. I couldn't ever escape to my room for long because she would always call me every few minutes to get her things or to yell at me. She never drank or did drugs or anything. Whenever she was upset and I happened to be in front of her she'd kick me down the stairs to make me hurry up. She's put a knife to my neck before and had to be forcibly stopped by her bf of the time. Burned my christmas presents from other people (she didnt get me anything that year) and just other really shitty things. The only thing I will say, she tried really hard to make up for it with video games and electronics and etc. It didn't make a difference to me though, it never helped.

She controlled most aspects of my life. I got by with little petty revenges. Peeing in the lipton iced tea she drank. Rubbing her forks and spoons between ny buttcheeks before i served her dinner. Ignoring her screams for help when she had kidney stones (how tf am i supposed to help anyways??) But by the time i got to highschool I turned to alcohol. I resented her and the negative atmosphere affected who I was as a person. I started to be cold and uncaring. Calculated. She started kicking me out every few months telling me to find somewhere else to live by age 15. She sent me away to a different country for a year and tried to keep my passport but I made it back to the US with the help of the embassy and my step father (she'd already left by that time and found some other dude). I came back senior year with no credits for the prior grade which ended with me getting a GED. I spent most of the time i could with my best friend and started working shitty jobs. I was terrible at saving as i had accumulated loads of shitty habits while growing up so it didnt make much difference. She eventually told me that If i went to college, I would ALWAYS have a place to live until I finished. Cue my first 2 semesters at a 2 year college, I maintained a 3.7ish gpa. My teachers loved me and it was my escape. Towards the end of my 2nd semester during finals, i came home late one night around 10pm and my mother yanks the door open screaming in my face asking when I'll move out. I'm slightly drunk and decide to completely ignore her and walk to my room. If I opened my mouth, that day would be the day I blew up and cursed her out. I've rarely ever raised my voice at her because it never ended well. Now at this point im 19 and I've been doing school full time with no savings. Im also fairly fit and could easily take my mom at this point (Never laid a hand on her or any woman, i hate violence). I get to my room, she rips my door open, and starts yelling. I say nothing and stare at her. She walks away and called the police on me saying she thought id murder her and my younger siblings. I don't know where the fuck she got that idea from as she's the one who's nearly killed me many times.

I packed everything into a duffle bag and left 5 minutes afterwards. I failed all of my finals because I couldnt make it to my school. Things kinda spiraled and the next 2-3 years were me on and off homeless. I survived the best I could in a big city with no college degree and made alot of shitty choices due to my shitty habits. Eventually i found a profitable hobby that gave me meaning and through that i started to work my way up. Got my own apartment, had a full time job, and did my hobby on the side. I hadn't kept up contact with my mother at all but my younger sister who was old enough to have a phone found me on social media so i saw photos and such, she didn't have it anywhere near as bad but she did get beaten occasionally. My mother reached out via email all smiles asking how I've been. Now guys, ive always been envious of the relationship most ppl have with their moms so I gave her a chance and gave her a call. We talked for a few minutes and everything was civil and seemed like things would go okay but then...

She asked me what I've been up to the last few years and I told her honestly, that I was homeless for a while and struggled alot after what she did to me but I worked my way out of it. SHE LITERALLY LAUGHS. She laughed for a few seconds in a very condescending kinda chuckle and then said "I never did a thing to you so you don't know what abuse is! its your own damn fault you were homeless. So how about yo-" but by that point I hung up. I was speechless and fuming. I don't know what abuse is? OKAY BITCH. IVE SPENT TOO FUCKING LONG LETTING YOU DESTROY MY SANITY. NOW IS THE TIME.

There was a few things my mother didn't know. One, I knew for a fact that current well paying job she had was gotten on lies as she never got her college degree and lied about it on her resume. Two, I had access to all of her email accounts and cloud storage accounts since I was the one that set them up when I was younger and she never changes her passwords. Lastly, she DEFINITELY wasn't aware that from 13yrs old and onto the last time she hit me I took photos of ALL my bruises/marks/wounds/bloody noses saving them to my computer and then google drive. ON TOP OF THAT, my little sister had been sending me photos via social media of the bruises she got from my mom.

The first thing I did was compile ALL of those photos/videos into one folder. I then reached out to CPS in my city and explained that my siblings were being abused, how I was abused in the past, and that I had mountains of proof. Since ive called the cops on my mother before AND the thing that happened with my older sister, there was immediately a home visit. They arrived almost a day later with the police and coincidentally my mother was literally in the process of beating my younger sister when they were knocking. Cue an Emergency removal of all my siblings from the house and my mother getting arrested though she was released hours later. (I was getting a day to day play by play because my mothers best friend is a blabber mouth and everything my mother said she told her son who relayed it to me without either of their knowledge.) I sent CPS all the evidence and there's a legit case against my mother now. The next day I emailed and then called up her job to inform them that she had lied about having a very necessary college degree as well current events in her life which sparked a background check. She was fired days later. Say adios to 75k and a blacklist in the only industry you know how to work. I then spitefully deleted every cloud account and email address I ever made for her, which was all of them which im sure will make keeping up with alot bills and etc nearly impossible. I then anonymously reported her to the IRS because of the tax fraud she committed for years by claiming people's children that weren't hers with ALOT of detailed information since I lived with her while she did it.

So now, my mother lost all her kids and her job. Im meeting with a caseworker from CPS next week to talk more about what happens moving forward but I do know they're NOT going back. Idk how she's gonna pay her mortgage now and survive. I'm sure she's gonna get a call from the IRS who'll be looking for a few thousand dollars she owes them. She also has to go back to court in a few months, not exactly sure what she was charged with but ill update when I find out how everything turns out.

Side Note: She isn't aware im the cause of any of this. I plan on keeping tabs on her and waiting until it seems like she's close to death before I tell her it was all me and I peed in her lipton.

TL;DR - My mother abuses me badly for most of my life as well as my younger siblings. I have to drop out of college and support myself after she drove me to homelessness. She proceeds to laugh at me about me being homeless and denys abuse. So I ruined her life by getting my younger siblings removed and her arrested, making her lose her job, reported her to the IRS, and essentially set her up so that the remainder of her life is full of disaster and hardships.

(source) (story by howbout_that_lipton)

[g-idlescenarios]

(g)-idle: soyeon; our hidden lounge ~

anon requests: 

Can you do a soyeon smut where her gf is a stripper and soyeon comes to visit her?

Hi :) could I request a soyeon smut where she can’t resist your touch and you end up taking the lead going down on her ? Thank you, amazing writing 💕

Hi could u do a soyeon smut, where she comes home with her new haircut and you get too turned on Thank u 🥰

i hope you dont mind, but i think incorporating these 3 requests will work together! thanks for requesting guys, soyeon makes me weak lololol <3 also this is really long im sorry lol - ive got 3 more soyeon smut requests in my inbox, but those might take a bit longer! sorrrry ~ i promise ill get to them ;)

Soyeon nervously waited in line for the club, her hat, mask, glasses and dark clothing concealing her identity. It wasn’t the best disguise, but being solely surrounded by drunk people didn’t really allow for anyone to notice that the Jeon Soyeon was standing next to them in a strip club. Normally she’d be worried about the press and about being spotted, but tonight something had come over her, and she just didn’t care - she missed you so bad. 

It had been almost four weeks since you guys had seen each other. She has been preparing for her comeback during the days, and you had your work shifts during the night. Time was never on your side when it came to schedule, and Soyeon couldn’t stand it anymore - she needed your touch. So tonight, instead of staring at her computer screen, she came down here to surprise you.

The night for you had been long, the loud music and the lights together giving you a slight headache - or maybe it was just the pain from the thought of all the pervs you had just danced for. You had just finished your routine, earning a break from your boss, you handed you your tips, telling you to come back in an hour. You didn’t see Soyeon in the back corner, following silently behind you as you walked to your dressing room. She had been watching you for a while - the way your hips moved, how well you could shake your body, how good you looked in the pink light. Her eyes sweep up and down your body, noticing your clothes... or lack there of. You were in only a tiny push up bra and lace panties with thigh high boots - she could see all of you, and thoughts of your body race through her mind. God, she really missed you.

“Y/N... y/n!” Her quick whisper echoed through the back hallway, and you spin around. It takes a moment for your eyes to adjust to her black figure, but the moment it hits, your smile can’t be contained! You kiss her passionately, not realizing how much you craved her touch too. Your hands reach for her hair, but the wool hat isn’t what you’re expecting - so you pull it off slowly, as your lips trail down her neck. She had changed her hair back to a light brown, the highlights of blonde shining in the shitty ceiling light. She looked so good like this, you felt your stomach stir in anticipation. 

“You changed your hair...” you whisper against her lips, “and you didn’t tell me?”

Soyeon moans into your mouth, missing the feeling of your lips on hers. “I wanted to surprise you tonight...” Her breath catches as your lips suck at her neck. 

“You sure did baby girl, you really did surprise me. God, you look so good. I want you.” You blow cool air on her neck, and she shivers into your body, and you’ve got her right where you want her. You pull her into your dressing room, not bothering to lock the door as you push her back against it, making her gasp.

“Did you miss me too baby?” You whisper as your hands run up and down her waist. You pull her sweater over her head, leaving her in her bra, as your hands work at her pant button.

“Y-yes,” she makes out while you work on undressing her.

“How much. Tell me how much,” you tease, as you squat down so your face comes close to her core. Your tongue trails along her stomach, kissing her soft skin as you feel her body buck forward.

“So much, so much baby...” Her hands reach for your hair, guiding you closer. You smirk at her action, and you decide to tease her. You use your teeth to pull at her underwear and you slowly pull them down. You hold her gaze while doing so, making her moan loud. She was dripping already.

“Can you show me? Show me how wet you can be my pretty baby.” You smile as your tongue flicks at her entrance, and you lift her leg to place it over your shoulder. Her hands grip at your hair as you lick her again, and again and again. Her moans get louder and louder, drowning out the sound of the blasting music. 

“Mm, you taste so good.” You sigh into her, and she bucks her hips in response.

“Please, y/n... I, I need more!” She cries when your tongue presses into her clit.

“No, no baby... no fingers today - I’m going to make you cum with just my mouth.” You whisper as your tongue swirls around her clit, before inserting it into her wet pussy. She cries out, her hips beginning to shake around you.

“You like that, my pretty girl? When I fuck you with just my mouth? When your cum covers my face... cum for me now baby.” You command, and you feel Soyeon let loose as she squirts on your face. She cums loudly, pulling her hair and shaking on your face, as your nose rubs her swollen clit until she’s finished.

“Such a good girl... look at me, I’m all wet.” You sigh as you lick your lips, savoring her flavour. 

Soyeon’s hands reach for your arms, trying to steady herself. “You should come visit me more often!” You smile at her fucked out expression. Soyeon pulls you to her lips, smiling too.

“Yeah, maybe I should.”

[jackandmarksavedme88]

Anything But Average

TW: Alludes to some violence. @weirdmixofweirdness i had a brain and thought: why not pull up desktop mode ONTHEFREAKINPHONE. DUH 😂🙈

Formatting sucks but. Yeah.

@ashphoenix06 @nekob00

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

Chase sat at the bar, his second glass of whiskey in his hand. He didnt want to go home, JJ and Jackie would want him to talk. And he just didnt feel like talking now. Itd been so long since she left it seemed...but seeing her today, across the street, holding hands with some guy theyd gone to school with, it seemed she was his just yesterday.

"Oh suck it up. She didn't want you. Youre here drowning your sorrows, and shes onto the next dick..deal with it" he thought to himself, draining the glass and waving for another.

"Ya know. Thats the cheap crap. You really wanna get blasted theres better stuff.." The bartender said "Yeah well. Im just drinking. Not getting crazy."

His phone buzzed and he looked down, laughing to himself at the meme Jack had sent him. Then a text came through from Alison She was Jacks friend that had become close with the Septic guys over the last few years. Based in Texas in the US they didnt see her in person much, but Chase and her communicated almost daily

A:Heyyyy. Whats up?

C: *picture he took of Stacey and her boy toy* Thats a guy we went to school with 😑. They were 'friends'

A: Dude. Thats a downgrade. Although she was never good enough for you anyway. Only good thing was the kiddos

C:yeah. It still hurts like hell though.... I need to run away. Get out of here. Theyre going to her moms for a month or so for school holidays and i dont want to be here.

A:well. You could always come here? My Dad and step mom are leaving so i have my cabin on the ranch plus the main house to myself for like a month. You should come!

Chase sat and pondered this. Him go to Texas? With horses and a lake and a bunch of land to explore with fourwheelers....that sounded like heaven

C: Are you for real? Because i could seriously use that lol

The phone rang with Alisons ringtone "Hello?"

Alison: Hell yes im serious! Itd help me out because i don't really want to be by myself out here that long. And you sound like you could use it. Seriously. Fly in, ill come get you and we can tear some shit up

Chase laughed 'alright. Be careful what you ask for Allycat"

Her laugh echoed across the line "Ohhh im shaking Mr Brody. Figure out a flight and let me know!"

Chase told her ok and hung up with her, immediately finding a flight that left in a couple of days "I am outta here" he said

************* 'Wait. So youre going for a month??' Jackie said in shock , 'Just like that??' He was standing in the bedroom door watching Chase pack. He had to be at the airport in about 2 hours

"Yeah. I need to get outta my head and Ali offered. So Im going. I think it'll do me some good. She has a computer and Stacey said i could skype the kids, they wont be in town anyway... I just need this Jackie" The hero stared at him knowingly and then nodded 'ok. Just be careful.... Hey..She ever say anything to you about her going MIA a while back?'. Chase shook his head. Thats one thing he hoped to get out of her. Even Jack had tried to get her to tell him where she'd been, but no dice. 'Hm. Ok. Well, let us know when you get there man...'

Chase zipped his suitcase and grab his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. 'I will bro. Thanks for understanding' he hugged his brother hard and then grabbed the suitcase and left.

******* Chase sat in the passenger seat of the truck, still speechless at Alison's appearance. He was expecting the Alison hed seen two years ago; but shed been training and gained muscle and holy hell. She was dressed in cutoff red shorts and a sleeveless black shirt. When she ran up to him at the airport hed almost stepped on his own bottom jaw. Her auburn hair gleamed in the sun as she talked about everything she had planned for this weekend

"Uh...chase..you ok? Awful quiet there bud" she looked over at him. Chase shook his head to clear his brain 'yeah. Yeah im good.... Hey. You look incredible!"

Alisons face flushed 'aw. Thanks' she laughed. "So. Here we are" she pulled the truck up to a gate and punched in a code. As she drove onto the ranch Chase stared out the window.

'Holy hell Alison. This is gorgeous.' They drove for another fifteen minutes, passed the huge main house and pulled up to a log cabin.

'Alright. Let's go in.' She grinned and stepped out of the truck. Chase smiled and followed her. She walked up the steps and unlocked the door. As Chase walked in he laughed. A Sam pillow and Pink Mustache pillow decorated the couch on either end.

'Really Alison?' He said, picking up Septiceye Sam "Hey! Yes really!' She said laughing. 'Just because im friends with them doesnt mean im not going to buy their shit!' He shook his head, all awkwardness gone.

There was the Alison he knew, a goofball with an affinity for Markiplier and Jacksepticeye.

She walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge, pulling some steaks out. 'You hungry?' Chase nodded. 'Hell yes, ive been needin some of your cooking!' He said, his smile lighting his face. 'You know. Im gonna have to teach you how to cook Mr Brody.' She grinned at him. And he looked at her wide eyed "um..alison. You sure you wanna do that?' "Um. Yes" she said. Grinning at him. 'First lesson..music!' She pulled up an app on her phone and music began drifting through the room. Chase shook his head. Yep. Still Alison

****** Chase watched as Alison danced in place as she cut up some vegtables and potatoes. She was barefoot, singing along to the beginning notes of 'Small Town Boy' by Dustin Lynch, he smiled as he stood up from the barstool he was sitting on... Vegatables could wait He walked up behind her and took the knife from her hand, she turned to him 'what are you-?' Chase grabbed her hand and pulled her to the open kitchen floor and started dancing with her. She threw her head back and laughed as they swayed and Chase sang along

* I'm a dirt road in the headlights I'm a mama's boy, I'm a fist fight Kinda county line, kinda cold beer Little hat down, little John Deere I kinda give a damn I kinda don't care You see that girl standing right there She loves a small town boy like me She's my ride or die baby She's my cool, she's my crazy She's my laid back in the front seat She's my with me to the end girl My turn-it-up-to ten girl....* Alison laughed and sang with him. She was in trouble if her stomach and heart were going to continue playing Zoo escape with him here. Shed been friends with the guys a while. But this was out of left field. She hadnt expected her heart to try to beat its way out when she saw him standing there at the airport. His green hair had been replaced by a natural brown and his eyes shone as blue as ever. When he saw her and smiled as she started to run toward him for a hug, shed almost fallen over. This would be a very interesting visit.

*********** They were sitting on the back porch after dinner. Chase was watching Alison animatedly talk about training with some of the guys in her Dad's work, laughing when she knocked over her water glass when her hands flew into it 'Oh shit!' Alison cried out. Then she just started laughing and Chase couldnt help but laugh along with her as he went inside the sliding glass door to the kitchen and grabbed a towel and handed it to her. She mopped up the mess and then sat back down, still giggling.

'Well. Still gracefull as ever i see Miss Calaway' Chase said teasingly She stuck her tongue out laughing 'oh fuck off Mr Brody' They laughed and then sat in silence, watching the lake.

'So.' Alison said quietly 'how are you...really?'

Chase smiled at her 'you know.... Earlier this week i was in hell. Seeing her with him opened old wounds...but being here now i feel a little better. Like i can breathe. It hurts still. But i can breathe' Alison nodded and reached over and squeezed his hand 'im really glad you came. I needed some company...'

She dropped her hands to her lap and stared out at the water. The energy around them shifted and Chase could sense something hed been feeling all evening. Something was weighing heavy on her. 'Alison....whats going on? You never told me what happened that two week span you quit replying to anyone..and ive left it alone this long but.. i can tell now sitting here it wasnt a case of being too busy with fun stuff to look at your phone' Alison looked down, a mixture of sadness and guilt shadowing her face. He was talking about last year. Even Jack had tried to get out of her where shed been...but she hadnt told a soul. Only her family knew. Tears welled in her eyes... that had been during a bad time for Chase...she remembered the pain in the drunk texts from him that shed read when she got the phone back...

She stood and walked over to the railing. Trying not to cry and failing 'Hey...alison im sorry. I didnt mean to-..' Chase stood and walked up beside her and put an arm around her shoulders. She turned to face him and burying her face in his chest, silent tears rolling down her face for a moment. Then she took a deep breath, stepped back and wiped her face 'Sorry...its just... I never apologized for not being there for you. I read those texts a million times after the fact and... Im so sorry Chase'

Chase stared at her shocked 'thats whats upsetting you? Alison, i send angsty texts to my brothers every time im freakin drunk' he laughed. "You dont need to apologize. It was a bad point but nothing for you to feel guilty for being absent for... But i would like to know where you were. We all know when you reappeared you were different." Alison stared into his eyes, hed had never noticed how green they were. She was searching...but for what? 'Chase.... Not even Jack knows what happened...' She took a deep breath '....i was in the hospital.' Chases mouth dropped open in shock 'What?! Why???'

She stared at her feet and was quiet for a minute. 'Do you remember Chris?' She asked. Chase grimaced at the name, he remembered Chris. He also remembered the broken nose and black eye he gave him a couple years back when he saw him shove Alison to the ground "Yeah. Your boyfriend that no one liked?' She nodded 'yeah. That one.... God i shouldve listened to yall. ' Chase put his hand under her chin and lifted her gaze to his and spoke softly 'what did he do ali?' She swallowed hard. 'Short version? Got mad that i wanted to leave the country to come see yall.... Tied me up and used me as a punching bag for 3 days....'

Chases eyes widened in horror 'what the fuck....howd you get away???' She snorted 'my Dad came to find me.... Imagine for yourself how pretty that was' Chase knew it hadnt been.

Her father was famous for being called The Undertaker. Almost seven feet tall and 300lbs...and Alison was his little girl. His first daughter. His pride... Oh lord that couldnt have been good....

'So' she continued 'i was in the hospital for a good while... Actually the first time i texted you i was still there for another week.... ' Chase pulled her into a hug 'Ali im so so sorry..my God if i had known...' Alison laughed 'if you had known you wouldve been deported and arrested for murder...no i didnt want anyone knowing. Im the one who stayed when yall told me to leave. I'm the idiot.' Chase leaned back, arms still around her. 'No! Its not your fault. I dont care what we told you to do. You want to see the good in people. You want to believe everyone is good and thats an amazing trait. You should never think thats stupid' She smiled and leaned into his chest savoring the warmth and safety.

Later, after they had said goodnight and gone to their rooms, Chase lay there awake. He could still feel her head on his shoulder, feel the warmth from her, and his heart skipped. "What the hell is going on ??' He hadnt felt that since high school...that first skip of the heart when you find someone.... 'Oh grow up Brody. Shes your best friend and doesnt need your damaged ass complicating her life..' Little did he know she was in the room at the opposite end of the hall thinking along the same lines...

****** A week had gone by, they danced around the flirtation and the obvious tension that lay under their banter. The day before it had rained, creating mud puddles everywhere. Now it was sunny and muggy out. Alison excitedly threw a pair of 4-wheeler keys to Chase and grinned as she pulled her ponytail through the back of the hat she was wearing. Chase watched as she bounded down the front steps and followed suit. They were both in jeans. The day before Chase had bought a cheap pair of boots he could get muddy. They were heavy but at least it wasnt his sneakers. They headed down the path between Alison's and the main house. Chase studied her as they walked. He hadnt been as brave since the first night. He wanted to say something....anything. But he wasnt sure where to start. 'You good ?' Alison stopped walking and looked at him, his face flushed slightly "Yeah, im good. Ready to tear up the mud' Alison laughed 'well the shed is right over here. I keep mine here since its closer to my place' They rounded the bend in the path and came upon the metal shed. She unlocked the door and walked in, pulling the tarp off the two four-wheelers. She threw a michevious grin at Chase as she climbed on hers "You ready to get dirty?' She laughed Chase grinned 'Hell yeah!' He climbed on his and they roared to life, Alison shot out of the building and took off, he threw his head back laughing and started after her

****** After about an hour or two of flying through mud and water puddles, they were sitting on the edge of the lake on a blanket Alison had laid out under the big umbrella. Chase had his shirt off as it was wet and muddy. He looked over at her and couldnt help but laugh. She had mud streaked down her arms and some on her nose.. The only part that wasnt spotted was her legs. Shed taken off the jeans and was in her swim shorts that had been under them.

'What?!' She said

'Youre a little...uh...dirty there girl' She laughed 'you should see yourself, your floofy hairdo aint cuttin it kid' she said as she reached over and messed up his hair, dirt falling out 'Hey!' Chase cried and grabbed her hand as he chuckled 'you leave my hair alone. Youre just jealous' Alison laughed and rolled her eyes. 'Yeah. Ok' They sat next to each other in silence, her knees pulled up and arms wrapped around them. She leaned against his side and looked like she was ready to fall asleep on his shoulder. Chase scooted over to the far side of the blanket and laid back, then pulled her down so her head rested on his chest and an arm was around her. His pulse raced and she easily fit in his arm and curled against him.

She sighed contentedly 'hey Chase... Anytime i need to lay with someone im gonna find you. Because youre really comfortable' she said giggling. He laughed 'ok. But youll have to come across the pond a lot' 'Hmm' she said thoughtfully 'ok. Im good with that. Ill come over there for some Brody cuddles' He squeezed her and smiled. 'Hey....Ali?'

'Yeah?' She shifted her head so she could look up at him. Her heart raced as she caught his eyes. Shed been having trouble concentrating on anything since he took his shirt off and this wasnt any easier.

'What are we avoiding here?' He asked... He hadnt meant to be so blunt but it just kind of came out that way. 'I mean. We're good and normal and then other times its so freaking awkward..i dont get it' 'I-.' Alison didnt really have an answer for that. She knew what she thought she was avoiding. But she wasnt 100% sure. 'I dont know.. I mean... I think its obvious theres something to talk about. But neither of us wants to say it'

Chase stared into her green eyes intently 'Well if you want to say what i want to say, then fuck this silence. Tell me'

Alison sat up and looked the other way and he followed. 'Its not just that easy for me Chase.... I dont know what you want...i dont know what im supposed to do..i dont know wh-'.. '

He grabbed her chin and turned her face towards his 'what i want is for you to shut up and kiss me...what youre supposed to do is stop rambling and let me show you'

With that he pressed his mouth to hers and kissed her. Slowly at first and then harder. She sat up on her knees and wrapped her arms around his neck as she kissed him back. They pulled away breathless and stared at each other.

'Now alison' he said, his voice husky "Whyd you wait so long to do that?' He grinned and pulled her to him again and kissing her deeper, laying back, her laying halfway across his chest. After a moment she pulled away and laid her head down on him and laughed 'Holy crap' He laughed out loud, 'yeah... Thats one way of putting it' He kissed the top of her head and wrapped her in his arm, they both drifted off..

****** It was a month and a half later. Chase stood by the front door. Nervous. He didnt want to leave. They hadnt been what youd call official..neither of them labled it . Sure they had held hands, slow danced with each other, kissed and gotten close..but it wasnt like *that* was it?... And now he was going home. He wasnt supposed to feel this way. His heart wasnt supposed to ache like this....

Alison stood in her room making sure she had her keys and phone...stalling. "What the hell...why is this so damn hard. Hes my best friend....a great kisser...but my best friend! Its not supposed to be like this' she thought to herself. Walking out she caught his eyes and saw her sadness reflected there

'Are you ready to go?' She inquired, trying to sound happy

"....you want the truth or the answer thatll make you feel better?' He chuckled.

'Chase...' She stood by him and grabbed his hand... 'I know, i know. We live a million miles from each other... I just didnt think it would-' 'Hurt this much?' She said, staring up at him He sighed and wrapped an arm around her, pulling her in and kissing the top of her head. 'Yeah' She opened the door and they walked out to the truck.

******** 'Seriously. Come out sometime, the boys and me will show you a good time' Chase said Alison smiled at him ' Definitely...ill miss you. Thank you for coming. I had a blast'

Chase smiled and her 'And stop standing so far away.' He grabbed her hand and pulled her close 'its harder to kiss you goodbye from over there....if thats okay.... Just one last time?' She smiled and nodded as a blush crept to her cheeks he leaned down and kissed her, both of them holding on longer than they intended. 'Alison...dont be a stranger' he said. Hugging her one last time and picking up his bags. 'I..i wont Chase. Tell everyone i said hi'

She waved goodbye and watched him walk toward his gate, then turned and headed for her truck. When she got inside she let go of her control and cried. The tears didnt stop until she was back to her place. She walked into the room Chase had been staying in and found one of his worn shirts folded on the bed with a note and a small bottle of cologne. She smiled and cried a little reading it

'I know its not the same as falling asleep on me. But this is the cologne i use, you can wear the shirt or use it as a pillow case... Ill miss you' She laid down on the bed and could still smell him as she drifted to sleep

******** 'Dude. You were supposed to go over there to get happier. Now youre just more mopey. What the hell happened?' Jackie asked Chase

They were in the living room, Chase sprawled on the couch. It had been almost two weeks since he came home 'Jackie. Just leave it alone man. Ok? I dont want to talk about it'

'Chase, you need to talk about it. I havent seen you like this ever. When Stacy left you cried and drank and talked about it... You dont even drink anymore. You just sit and watch tv or sleep' Jackie said, worry coating his words.

Chase sat up 'look man. Im an idiot and i caught feelings at the wrong time and the wrong place. Ok? And it hurts because i cant be where i need to be and where i want to be at the same time! I dont drink because then i dream about her and....'

His words drifted off Jackie came to sit by him and put an arm over his shoulder ' you always dream about Stacy though. I thought the sleeping pills helped with that'

Chase put his head in his hands 'Bro. This isnt about Stacy. I never thought id say this but i think this hurts worse'

Jackie was shocked. He couldnt believe what had just come out of his brothers mouth 'Then...who? And what did they do that was so bad???'

Chase shook his head 'thats just it. Nothing bad. It was all amazing... But.. Damnit man. I just wish it wasnt so fucking far, you know?' Jackie thought for a minute and his eyes widened and mouth dropped as he caught on

'Holy shit you mean Alison???' Chase's head shot up 'Jackie if you tell anyone so help me ill strangle you' Jackie put his hands up 'No no. I wont..but..what happened?' Chase laughed 'nothing like that... We just kissed and cuddled a lot and... I really think i fell for her man and i dont know how to process it... I feel like I'm losing my mind.' Then he opened up and told Jackie everything about the trip. His brother just sat and listened.

*************** Two weeks later...

'Alison!' Jack ran over to her, shed begged him to pick her up at the airport but hadnt wanted anyone to know. Hed been happy to oblige. Confused. But happy

'Jack!' She ran over to him and hugged him hard. Shed missed this goofball

'Ok so are you going to tell me whats going on?' Jack said as they grabbed her bags and walked outside to where the Uber was waiting for them

' um.... Its a little hard to explain. But.. I just had to come ok? Im actually meeting my Dad tomorrow. Theyre here because of a movie shoot. We are all staying a month or so.'

Jack shook his head 'i know when youre lying. Theres something youre not tellin me Ali' She looked at him. Knowing hed either laugh or help her... Well only one way to find out

'Jack....when Chase stayed with me for that month... We..I.... I fell for him ok? And i think he feels the same way. And this last month has been hell because i cant stop thinking about him. I know it sounds crazy but i had to come see him, and yall. ' it came out in a rush.

Jacks mouth dropped open in shock. 'You mean...youre the reason Chase has been so mopey? Thank God i thought he was on about Stacy again' and he laughed 'So. Wanna suprise him?' His smile conspiratorial Alison grinned. She shouldve known she could count on him.

*********** 'Well why do i need to go Jack? Why dont you?' Chase whined into the phone 'i dont feel like talking to anyone about filming man. I dont have it in me' 'Chase. Youre going. Trust me. Just meet the agent at the park. Theyll be by the river. Itll be a good opportunity for you man' Jack said on the other end of the line, trying to keep from laughing. 'And what about the others? Jackie and everyone left the house today. They said they were staying with you tonight because you were filming some stuff. Why cant i help?' Chase questioned 'Look Chase. I need you to do this for me. Ok? Please bro?' Chase rolled his eyes 'fine. But this better be a good meeting' Jack hung up the phone and laughed 'oh trust me Brody. Youll love it' he said to himself. Shooting alison a text. 'Now we wait'

At the house Chase threw the phone. He wanted to be mad but he knew Jack was just worried. Hed been holed up in his room since he came back, hadnt touched his skateboard in a month, hadnt even looked at his PS4.. All he could do was go through the photos from his trip. Hed talked to Alison on facetime and she seemed to be happy, was training and riding horses. She had sent him phtos of her and her Dad and little sisters... He felt like he was lying to her. He said he was okay, just more tired...but the reality was he wanted to beg her to come to him. He wanted to tell her he thought he loved her-- but he just kept a smile on his face because as long as she was happy, thats all that mattered

****** Later that night Alison sat on the bench. Nervously playing with the hem of her dress she had bought that morning. He should be here any minute.... What if he was mad...what if he didn't want her here? What if.... She recieved a text from Jack

J:Hes there.

Her heart pounded. Now what? She sat and waited...hearing footsteps

* Chase could see someone on the bench by the water and headed that way. As he walked his eyes focused on the figure. Their hair was an auburn color... That thought made his heart ache as he remembered brushing Alisons from her face... He got close enough to the bench and the figure stood and turned toward him. His heart jumped and he almost fell down 'Al-alison?' He whispered. Not believing what he was seeing. 'Chase..' She said softly. Her face broke into a smile as tears filled her eyes. She ran to him and he embraced her. He finally let go and looked down at her grabbing her face with both hands "ali what the hell are you doing here?!' Tears rolled from her eyes 'Chase....i couldnt stay away anymore. Im sorry...i know i shouldve told you but i didnt know if you wanted me here and-' her words were cut off as he kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. When they pulled back he looked at her for a long minute and then spoke as he wiped her tears 'Dont ever apologize for making me this happy...ever. Of course i want you here. Its been hell just talking to you on FaceTime and not being able to say what im thinking. My God Alison i missed you more than i thought possible' She smiled and kissed his cheek and hugged him again. Savoring the feel of his arms around her

'Cmon. Lets go talk' he said pulling out his phone to call a ride 'I got it' she said grinning 'My dad loaned me a driver for my trip' she called someone and said whered they be. As they walked to the road Chase saw a black limo waiting and laughed 'Well. That beats an Uber'

As they rode he just stared at her. She was looking out the window. His heart beat faster. She came....she missed him so much that she came all the way here. He smiled to himself and then shot Jack a text

C:'Youre an ass for letting me walk into that unwarned....but thank you man'

J:no thanks needed. I did it for both of you. You both deserve smiles on your faces man. Now put the phone down... Also Jackie said to tell you 'stay in your own room' 😂

Chase laughed out loud and covered his face. He was going to have to smack him Alison looked over 'whats so funny?' She reached for the phone and snatched it before Chase could stop her 'alison i wouldn-' he warned laughing 'Oh my god.... Im gonna have to smack him when i see him' she said laughing as her face turned red. They both giggled and Chase grabbed the phone and turned it off after sending 'tell him i said ..' Followed by a couple of middle finger emojis

***** They walked into the house and Chase locked the front door before grabbing Alisons hand and kissing her again. He couldnt believe she was here. Alison leaned into him and kissed him back and then said smiling 'i cant believe im standing here' Chase laughed 'i cant either! I mean...why would you come all this way??' Alison locked eyes with him. 'Because... I never knew i could miss someone so much Chase. Honestly it was driving me nuts. I got tired of having the pictures from your trip and FaceTime with fake 'hey buddy' bullshit..... But i wanted to say it to your face.

Chase nodded. He knew exactly what she meant.

** Alison had been there a week and couldnt get over the fact that she was with him. Chase was sprawled out on the other side of the king sized bed and snoring. They had both decided to stay in the hotel room she had reserved for her time here. Chase wasnt used to such a huge bed and Alison laughed thinking back to his face when he first laid on it. She laid her book down and reached over, brushing his hair back and smiling. He stirred and blinked at her sleepily "Ali-- you ok babe?" Her heart jumped at that name. She felt a blush spreading as he sat up and his bare chest became visable. "Yeah- yeah. Was just admiring how cute you were when you sleep" He chuckled and ran his fingers through his hair "what. Are you saying im not cute when im awake? " "Well....when youre asleep youre much quieter" she said laughing. His mouth opened in fake offense and then he grinned mischeviously "Oh. Okay.." He rolled over and caught her and tickled her and she laughed and squealed. 'Chase! Chase! Okay i give i give!!" He stopped and looked down at her as he laid across her and laughed 'youre pretty cute yourself Alleycat " he kissed the tip of her nose and she craned her mouth up. He smiled and leaned down to kiss her and she wrapped her arms around him. He still wasnt used to the sparks that went through his brain with her. That first night hed stayed with her they... Caught up.. quickly. He was still addicted to the taste and feel of her even after as many times hed experienced her. "Ali-" he whispered as he placed his forehead to hers "Yeah Chase?" "I...i think... This is gonna sounds insane' he laughed She pushed him up so she could look in his eyes "Baby...what?" Chase stared into her green eyes. Never having been more sure of what he was about to say...knowing if he didnt hed never sleep "Alison..... I love you...and i know thats crazy. I never thought id ever say that to anyone with this feeling behind it after her....but honestly if she walked up to me right now and asked me to come home...id say no. Youve made me feel whole. You make me the man i want to be. Even my kids when i saw them yesterday asked why i was so happy... ' He stopped and grinned sheepishly "i kinda talked about you a little...they want to meet you. I told them maybe in a couple of weeks..but thats up to you..Stacy was cool with it if you are..' She stared at him, not knowing what to say. A smile broke across her face and her eyes misted over "Chase...id love to meet them..." She pulled him to her and kissed him before saying quietly 'and Mr Brody...you should know. I love you too.." *****

[warmau]

I'm so impressed with how quickly you make posts, you're amazing

thank you!! ive been thinking about sci-fi concepts so here’s some mini aus for nct u!! because i miss ‘em ;;note: the ideas here are my original creation, but if you would like to use them feel free to do so with proper credit 

Taeyong

a bio-hacker, mainly interested in uncovering governmental projects about the rumor of genetically modified human 

never leave his house,,,,,,,,like ever

trusts only one person, a disgruntled civil servant by the name of doyoung who sometimes leaks him info but is also responsible for keeping taeyong alive,,,,,,,

he has a paranoia about eating anything that isn’t,,,,,like,,,,organically grown because he’s sure gmo food brainwashes you

doyoung: it’s just an apple taeyong

taeyong: an apple,,,,that could kill you

doyoung: you need to go outside

and,,,,,well taeyong’s hacking all leads up to the faithful day of doyoung hurriedly pushing open his door - ignoring taeyong whose eyes are wide with concern

as he lays you down on the sheets of taeyong’s untouched bed (he spends most of his days crouched in front of his laptop - sleeps there too)

“who is this??? why are they here???”

taeyong begins, doyoung hushes him - then points to the barcode on your neck

“they escaped from a lab, i found them wandering in the parking lot and got to them before the guards could.”

taeyong’s anxiety flushes from his face, now it’s excitement - curiosity as he looms over you,,,,,looking closely at the barcode 

he mumbles the number, runs back to his computer to see if it matches anything in his notes

“god, i don’t know if they’re ok,,,,,they just fell asleep while i was getting them back here - what are they,,,,,,”

“they’re a human test subject.”

taeyong answers, looking at his bright screen that makes doyoung’s eyes water

“i cross checked the number with what access i have to a couple database and see - “

he taps the portrait of you on the screen, the number written in the profile beside it

“human test subject, scheduled for injections on thursday,,,,,goal is to create a body immune to exposure -”

doyoung’s jaw drops, “holy hell are they trying to turn a human cold blooded?”

taeyong gets up, comes closer to you - still out of it and he apologizes to what seems like the dense air in his small apartment and then touches your skin

“cold.”

doyoung has to leave, being away from work for too long is suspicious and taeyong is left with you

he keeps a distance, but goes to work on opening encrypted files around your case

finally, you come to - sitting up slowly to see that you’re not in your lab - you’re in a dark, small room

a boy, with combed back green hair sits in the corner beside a flashing screen, when he turns to you his handsome, but deeply dark eyes settle on you

“should i call you by your name or by your number?”

is his first questions and you blink,,,,for a moment you silently stare back at him

“number, don’t remember,,,,,,,,,,my name”

tayong feels something surge inside his chest - something he hasn’t felt in a long time,,,,,,an anger,,,,,but not the usual anger,,,,an anger with an almost protective tone underlining it

because for the first time he’s not speculating, snooping through things on the internet

his proof is right in front of him - your tattered grey hospital gown, your barcode, your voice that shakes in instinctive fear

he feels it almost slip from his lips, the number on your skin, but he only pulls up your profile again and shows it t oyou

says your name,,,,waits for you to repeat it

“remember it, ill make sure you never get called by a number again.”

Taeil [tw: body mod] 

an aloof professor of alien languages, he never shows his face and wears a mask that always covers his nose and mouth

when he teaches, he has a microphone in the mask which allows him to not take it off

everyone loooooooves making rumors up about what he’s hiding - most people think it’s a mutation or some kind of battle scar

but taeil never let’s anyone near enough to know

and when people, even other professors, ask him about it he just laughs into the microphone and goes “you know, i don’t know. but what i do know is it’s super hard to drink coffee like this.”

his office is so messy,,,,and he has all these weird trinkets from alien planets and photos of him in worlds that look nothing like yours

and you,,,,,,have a total crush on him

but as the university’s nurse you barely ever see him - unless he drops by for pain killers or has to come by to sign a student’s late note

but there is something so!!!! fascinating about him, because despite only seeing his eyes

which always seem sleepy and non-alert,,,,,,,he’s so freaking smart

he speaks so many languages, communicating with alien students and administration - he knows heaps about the history of other planets and has stories from the far end of the galaxy every which way

when you see him, you clutch your notepad to your chest - hearts probably floating above your head

everyone knows about your crush

everyone, but taeil

who one afternoon comes strolling into the nurses office

you’re the only one on duty and seeing his lean figure, a long jacket thrown over his shoulders making him look more like a scientist than an alien linguist 

he walks right up to the bed and you’re about to ask if something is wrong, when he lets out a loud loud cough

and falls face first onto the bed

you run over, asking in shock if he’s ok - if he can respond

turning his head slowly, taeil’s eyes look at you - empty

and then he pulls at his mask, slipping it off his face to reveal his nose and mouth

perfectly human,,,,perfectly handsome

and then he opens his mouth and his tongue - well,,,,tongues,,,,two of them are obviously infected with something

you run over to your cupboard, searching for anything that you’ve used for those kind of infections before finding what you need

taeil sits up, watching your frantic search 

and when you return, pills in your hand and water in another

taeil smiles slightly, takes them and then reaches to feel around for his mask

before he puts it on, he stops and sees you still looking at him

“professor moon, maybe you should cancel your classes? infected tongue,,,,tongues make it hard to speak,,,”

he blinks, lazy smile back on his face

“you’re right,,,,,,,,,,,,,are you not scared of it?”

“y-your ,,, tongues?”

he nods, slipping his mask on and you shake your head

“no, not at all. is that why you h,,,hide them?”

taeil shrugs, standing up as your eyes stay glued to his

he reaches out, ruffling your hair as if you’re not an adult too and then he turns to float out of the room

a couple of days later you find a note in the office, in the characteristic mindless scribble of taeil’s writing

“if you would like, i would love to take you out. ill even take off the mask. (i can’t kiss with it on afterall)”

Mark

a really cute and excited vet apprentice,,,,,,,,,,,,for dinosaurs !!!!!

favorite kinda dino??? brachiosaurus - chill, big, eats like 500 pounds of grass all day - mark always jokes that they’re living THE life

“you wanna eat 500 pounds of grass all day?”

mark: no. i wanna eat 500 pounds of ice cream though

he works under xiumin, whose the only dino-veterinarian in their country and who honestly,,,,,,mark idolizes

like most people are frightened to death of dinosaurs if for their huge size or menacing appearance, but xiumin treats them like big puppies

petting their noses and giving them nicknames, mark thinks it’s so cool how easily he gets along with arguably,,,,,,,,,the only species of animal capable of putting an end to humans LOL

mark’s picked up xiumin’s mannerism though, he has a special cute bond with a baby brachiosaurus who he calls “palm” (because he loves eating palm leaves the most,,,,,,,)

all of his friends don’t get how he does his job - he’s like an ant to a dinosaur it could cruSH him

mark actively petting an animal that’s like a hundred times his size “they’re,,,,,,,,,,,cute”

you’re also an intern, but to a researcher who has been studying dinosaur breeding 

so you’re always around xiumin and mark,,,,,and when xiumin and your mentor get into conversations - they go on for a while

so you and mark also talk,,,,,,a lot of the time about how hard work is but how fun it is too

mark has told you so many dinosaur facts you can’t keep track and you show him photos you’ve taken of other ones that you and your researcher have come across

and although you work closely around dinosaurs,,,,,you’ve never touched one

which shocks mark when you tell him because he’s like !!! you gotta try it - their skin is so unique and feels really cool

and when your mentors are least looking, he sneaks you away and toward the pen where “palm” is

his mother is grazing nearby, she’s used to mark so she makes no alerted movements when he approaches

palm on the other hand rushes over on his big, stumbly legs and you’re like “he-he’s a baby?!?!?!”

because palm is probably over 25 feet

“he’s still pretty young, check it out!!” mark grins, reaching out as palm leans his long long neck down - till it’s nearly at his feet and just in reach of mark to pet his nose

“c’mon, try it~” you urges

and you don’t realize you’re shaking till your taking a step forward and your arm is out

and you touch the nose of the gigantic creature, only to jump back behind mark because it’s just - it’s just so massive,,,how isn’t he scared?!?!?

mark laughs, but it gets stuck in his throat when he sees xiumin standing in the corner - tapping his foot with an amused look

your mentor is there too,,,,,and you and mark freeze up like preschoolers caught red handed from stealing cookies at lunch

“now what do we have here?”

xiumin asks, but there’s playfulness in his tone - your mentor on the other hand is wagging you over with a finger

“you can’t fool around when we’re here to do research-”

he starts, but xiumin gives him a good clap on the back “let the kids go on a date, everyone knows you bring your crush to see dinosaurs!”

you and mark both redden at the mention of the word date, but neither of you quite makes a noise to protest the idea

a couple of minutes after xiumin distracts your mentor with more conversation, you and mark stand in front of each other avoiding eye contact 

“i,,,,,,,are you coming back soon?”

he asks, running his hand over the back of his neck, hiding behind the hem of his safari hat - which,,,,,,,,you think is adorable,,,,,,,even though mark’s like it’s part of the uniform here,,,,

you nod, but also hesitate before asking “we,,,,,if you want,,,,,,,should go on a d-,,,,date?” you pose it as a question and mark look bright cherry red but agrees quickly

“i’d like that!”

before you can say anything, palm makes a noise - almost as if to grab your attention away from each other and you and mark both giggle,,,,,,

but you leave with your mentor, smiling at the number on the page in your notebook signed mark lee ,,, a mini scribble of a dinosaur with a heart around it too

Ten

the prince of a small star planet where the species is closely related to humans in appearance

minus the silver markings on their face which they are born with (different for the royals - ten’s markings are gold) 

and the ability to communicate through touch rather than words

so the whole planet,,,,,is pretty quiet 

ten ,,,,,,, absolutely hates it - this whole lack of sound, of loud and colorful voices,,,,,,,,, whenever he has the chance he talks with locals and other royals

much to the surprise of others, who reach out on instinct to link hands to transmite words

but ten dances around them, his smile big and wide as he asks them how they’re doing outloud

and all the replies are hushed, whispered because no one is used to talking anymore

you’re visiting the star planet on a student visa,,,,mostly to just take in the beautiful sites

and talking,,,through touch has been pretty odd for you - fascinating - but odd,,,,

and you’re on a tour of the royal palace - completely unaware of the fact that the prince is there too

ten’s just managed to get out of some boring, routine meeting and that’s when he hears it - a voice

you accidentally mumble something to yourself about forgetting your hotel key

and ten - seeing you, alone in the grand ballroom, no markings on your face realizes quiclky that you’re human

and he’s before you in a matter of seconds, shocking you and making you take a step back

as he pulls his arm out to shake yours and smile

his dark eyes bore into yours as he introduces himself through touch, but just from the gold accents on his cheekbones and nose you can tell he’s,,,,royal

“i- i - uh-” you start stuttering, clasping your hand over your mouth because right no talking

but ten let’s your hand go and beams, “please, go on. i love to speak outloud.”

you blink back even more shock, “oh,,,,i just - most others usually prefer talking through touch-”

ten waves a hand in front of him, the robe he’s wearing looks expensive and a bit large on him

“im different, i miss sound, i miss voices, i always love a chance to talk with someone verbally.”

nodding, although you’re not sure why you tell him you’re a student from earth

the two of you continue to stroll around the ballroom, ten’s voice is clear and positive the whole time

and when you show him that your phone can actually play music outloud without headphones or the need to touch it to hear the sound

ten nearly jumps up in joy, saying that he must get a phone like that shipped over from earth

it’s enjoyable,,,ten - unlike other royals on star planets who are secretive and traditional,,,,, seems so open - if not for his markings he could fit in on any human college campus

he also makes you blush,,,,when he asks if all humans are cute like you, in apperance and in voice

after a while, a figure appears in the ballroom - it signals silently to ten who frowns at it

“i must go, my parents are looking for me.” he says and the figure raises an eyebrow at the sound of his voice

you nod, thanking him for taking the time to talk to you

you bow,,,,thinking it’s the only thing to do in a situation with a prince but ten asks you to lift your head

and with a cheerful smile goes “tomorrow, are you free? id like to take you out to see the gardens of our palace. i can send someone to pick you up at your hotel it’ll be a,,,,”

he leans forward, fingers cascading over your wrist

the word transmitted through his touch is; date

Jaehyun

a pretty normal athlete, with average grades and good friends

until one night he wakes up, sweating, feeling woozy after taking a pill that his coach said would help him feel “more energized” for the game,,,,,,

at first, he thinks it’s just a side effect of the pill - but then,,,,in the morning at the track meet he’s in,,,,jaehyun runs at a speed he’s never run before

and when he looks over at the runner beside him, and thinks “trip”, it happens

a struck of coincidence, jaehyun is sure 

until,,,,,he does it to every other runner and it happens - they all trip

he’s given his medal, everyone cheers for him but jaehyun feels odd,,,,,,

he locks eyes with his coach and thinks, “say you’re proud of me”, and the couch grins

“im proud of you, jaehyun.”

it takes a week or two of tests, small tests and jaehyun realizes that pill gave him the power to control people - to control their actions - to make them do things

and when you, his long time best friend and crush, come jogging toward him on the quad

jaehyun thinks no - you can’t do anything to them. they trust you. don’t control them

but it’s so hard,,,,when he’s looking at you, the person who he finds most beautiful in the world

and he could just think, “kiss me” and you would - you would

but he forces himself to stop 

of course, he can’t hide it for too long. there’s a moment where you and jaehyun are studying and you’re so close your knees are touching and jaehyun sees a classmate of yours approaching

the same classmate whose been in love with you for weeks, and jaehyun can sense it - he’s here to pull you away and ask you out

and jaehyun feels horrible, but silently thinks “forget about it. turn around and go away.”

and the boy does,,,,,,,,you don’t even see him - to absorbed in your notes and jaehyun feels a faint smirk come on, but the guilt washes it away

he decides he needs to tell you - to control himself

so you come over and he closes the door and sighs “im going to do something, it’s going to be crazy - but it’s going to explain a lot.”

you watch him, concerned 

“walk toward me.” he says and you do, but jaehyun flashes the word stop in his mind and it’s like your limbs are frozen in place

“wh-what’s going on?!?” you panic and jaehyun releases the thought

“i controlled you. i made you stop.”

jaehyun thinks you might storm out, lash out, but you do none of those things instead your first question is

“have you done it to me before, or was this the first time?”

“the first time.”

you sit down and jaehyun isn’t sure what you’re thinking, he can control your mind but he can’t read your thoughts

you ask him more, about when it started and how and jaehyun feels so relieved that he can share it with someone - with you

and you trust him, evident in the way you put your hand on his without him willing it

and then, when it’s just silent you lean over and press your forehead to his

“hey, think of it as a super power. you can mind control people from falling over banana peels or something.”

he laughs, but he’s happy to feel you close

“ill be here for you. you know i will, ill be here for you always.”

and you press your lips against his, unsure at first, but then with a bit of force

jaehyun is startled, but kisses back

it’s your first kiss, and jaehyun’s power has nothing to do with it. it was your decision. 

“just promise you won’t use it on me.” you whisper, “i want all of this o be natural.”

jaehyun promises, and he means it, and he’s so happy he forgets he has the power when you crawl into his lap and kiss him again

Doyoung 

as mentioned, doyoung is a civil servant in the government 

technically he’s got a ‘clerical’ position, paperwork and scheduling but he is also a part of a secret faction in the government dedicated to keeping files on government experiments and classified personal

that’s how he’s able to leak information to taeyong 

other than being rather snappy and strict to people who work with him,,,,doyoung is rather funny, in a sarcastic and dry way that gets him favor with higher-ups

he’s never been one to show his true personality around those he works with because he,,,,hates the government

you could call him a spy,,,a mole,,,whatever - but he’s only in cahoots with taeyong, hoping that finally they can bring to light the disgusting things the people in power are up to

but, on surface level to those his colleagues, he’s the same sweater-vest wearing, tea-without-sugar drinking, handsome in a distant way doyoung

is there an affectionate side to him? a need to be close? yes, but it’s hidden under the cover he’s made for himself

that is until,,,you’re hired as his helper

you’re insanely distracting to doyoung, which annoys him at first because he doesn’t understand why he keeps looking at you - needing to know what you’re up to 

maybe it’s because,,,,he’s worried you’ll find out about his secret position, see him slip a file into his bag or whatever

but no,,,,,that isn’t it,,,,,,you trust him wholeheartedly - he can see that in the way your eyes gleam pure up at him

no, it’s something else

“you think they’re cute right? the whole office does.”

someone says at lunch and doyoung feels a shiver run down his spine,,,,,,that’s it - he’s distracted because you’re - ,,,,,, cute?

it’s a theory, that proves to be true because suddenly doyoung is hyper aware of how sweet johnny from IT is to you. how interns haechan and renjun are always helping you carry stacks of paper - or whispering jokes to you during break

he’s also aware of how long it’s been since,,,,he’s liked someone. all of it made worse by how much you seem to look up to him, adore him,,,,

one afternoon doyoung is sent to retrieve a package from the classified files room. when he comes upstairs carrying the box his face is twisted

the box belongs to a case on botched laser testing - most of the victims, young undocumented children

he’s thinking to himself a mile a minute about how cruel the government is, how he should share this with taeyong when he can

when he hears your voice

“what is that? should i help you carry it?”

doyoung’s eyes turn wide, he looks up and you’re at the end of the hall 

“oh, no. it’s nothing.” his voice falters and he’s worried you’ll see through him - see the beads of sweat on his forehead

but,,,,as usual,,,,you don’t - you smile at him and it makes doyoung feel like his heart is being ripped

“mr. kim,,,” you never call him doyoung, no one but taeyong and the higher ups do, but he sort of wishes you would

“the government is looking out for us, right? they don’t,,,,,,hurt others to do it,,,,right?”

you look at him and doyoung can hear concern ring in your voice

he strains a smile,,,,he wants to tell you the truth because,,,,he cares about you wants to initate you into his world - have a chance to be with you

but he doesn’t want to hurt you

“of course they don’t.”

he pauses, clears his throat

“from now on, please call me doyoung.”

your face brightens and you nod with a blush on your cheeks, doyoung wishes he could save the image of you in his memory forever 

what you don’t know,,,,won’t hurt you 

[andthisisthewonder]

A/N: Despite starting this last year and working on it on and off since, I still only managed to finish this today. It’s a longer one at just over 10,000 words. Title from Frozen. Yes, Frozen, lol.

These past few months have been hell. Not only has Peeta been in and out of court battling his ex-wife for sole custody of his daughter, his new boss Ms. Everdeen won’t cut him any slack. So far, this holiday season sucks.

Someone Worth Melting For

The harsh clatter of high heels against linoleum announced her approach. Everyone sprang into action, a domino effect down the two rows of desks in the office. Madge clicked out of Pandora, which had been playing Christmas music behind the design she worked on. Delly shoved the brightly-colored wrappers of several Hershey kisses into her purse. With a wave of his arm, Finnick knocked all the Christmas decorations he had set out that morning into his desk drawer.

It wasn’t as if Katniss had forbidden them from celebrating Christmas. She just strongly discouraged a cluttered desk, and, for whatever reason, seemed to hate the holiday season.

Peeta shoved his cell phone in his pants pocket a second before Katniss rounded the corner. If she had heard Burl Ives urging everyone to have a “holly, jolly Christmas” as she approached, she made no indication. Unfortunately, she didn’t ignore the cell phone on Finnick’s desk. In his haste to hide the decorations, he had forgotten all about it.

While the rule about keeping personal phones out of sight during work hours existed before Katniss became their boss, she was the first one to actually enforce it. She was, above everything, a stickler for rules.

“Phone,” Katniss said as she walked down the aisle in between the two rows of desks.

The slam of Finnick’s drawer stopped her. She looked down at him, eyebrow raised. This was her usual expression when she was displeased. It was eerie how quiet she could be. Even when chewing someone out, she never raised her voice. She just turned that cold, disappointed expression toward her target and waited for him or her to wilt.

“Sorry.” Finnick forced a smile. “I was just eager to complete your request.”

“If only you applied such enthusiasm to your actual work,” Katniss said.

Finnick’s eyes widened, but before he could respond, Katniss disappeared into her office. As soon as the door shut behind her, Finnick tugged at his hair and pantomimed a silent scream.

“I thought she had a meeting,” Madge said, leaning across the aisle.

Peeta looked over his shoulder to confirm the blinds in Katniss’s office were closed. “Guess it ended early.”

“Everyone probably froze to death in Elsa’s presence,” Finnick said.

“Oh my goodness, would you stop with the Elsa crap?” Delly demanded, popping another Hershey kiss into her mouth. “I don’t know why you have to be so mean.”

Katniss had been their boss for three months, but it had only taken three days for Finnick to dub her the Ice Queen. Eventually, Madge had suggested they use the name Elsa, so they could shittalk Katniss in public without worry of repercussions. It was childish, but they desperately needed the outlet. Katniss was, to put it mildly, a real piece of work.

“Uh, maybe it’s because she’s a nightmare?” Finnick suggested.

Peeta leaned back in his chair and waved his open hand. Delly cast a surreptitious look at Katniss’s office before throwing Peeta a piece of candy.

“She really isn’t,” Delly insisted. “If you’d just have an actual conversation with her--”

“No thanks,” Finnick cut in. “I tried that. You know things have been...difficult at home.”

Delly’s expression softened. “How is Annie?”

Finnick stared down at the keyboard. Delly, Peeta, and Madge inched closer so the rest of their co-workers wouldn’t overhear. It wasn’t a huge department - there were only twelve of them - so everyone knew each other, but that didn’t mean everyone had to know everyone’s business.

“She’s back in the hospital,” Finnick said quietly.

Peeta winced, his gaze automatically flickering to the time bar on his computer: December 21. Only four days to Christmas, and Finnick might be spending it alone.

“The holidays have always been a trigger for her. I just thought we were prepared this year. I thought I was doing everything right…”

“You’re doing your best,” Delly said.

“I’ve just been stressed out. It’s hard to focus when I’m wondering how she’s feeling, if she’s lucid…” Finnick trailed off. “Anyway, I ventured into the Ice Queen’s office and asked if I could be taken off the Jensen project.”

“And?” Delly prompted.

“What do you think? She told me if I was too preoccupied to finish it, she’d be happy to relieve me of the rest of my projects too.”

A burst of anger shot through Peeta, staining his cheeks red. “She threatened to fire you?”

“Basically.”

Peeta clenched his fist and swallowed the stream of obscenities that threatened to spill from his mouth. Anger was an all too familiar emotion. He tried not to let it get the best of him, tried not to let it explode into a rage, but he couldn’t always help it. He had inherited his mother’s temper.

“Unbelievable,” Madge said. “I’d offer to help with your workload, but she just dumped two more projects into my lap.”

The landline on Peeta’s desk rang, interrupting their chat. Madge, Delly, and Finnick settled back into their chairs and returned to work as Peeta answered.

“Peeta Mellark.”

“Hello, Mr. Mellark, this is Nurse Henderson at Panem Elementary.”

Fuck.

Peeta squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he gave the person on the other end short, affirmative answers.

“I’ll be right there,” Peeta finally said, hanging up the phone.

“Everything okay?” Finnick asked.

“It’s Paige.”

“Again?” Madge asked.

Finnick sighed. “Good luck with Elsa.”

Before Peeta could move, Katniss opened her office door and cleared her throat. The noise immediately dissipated as all eyes turned toward her.

“After much consideration, I’ve decided to keep our department open the day after Christmas,” Katniss announced.

A chorus of groans rang out, but Katniss ignored them.

“With the amount of work that needs to be finished before the New Year, it would be irresponsible to close,” she continued.

Peeta had worked here for Abernathy Inc. for seven years, and every single year, the office had been closed from December 24th to the 26th. The decision was made in each individual department by the supervisor, but none of Katniss’s predecessors had ever decided to actually open the day after Christmas.

“We’re lucky Christmas Eve is a Sunday this year,” Finnick said.

“I bet she’d make us work Christmas if she could,” Madge said.

“Mr. Mellark?” Katniss called. “A word?”

Peeta followed Katniss into her office. She settled into her chair, but he remained standing.

“I need to take the afternoon off,” he said.

“Please take a seat.”

“It’s a family emergency. I really need to--”

Katniss stood suddenly, and walked around him to shut the door. When she returned to her seat, she folded her hands and looked up at him. Her face remained maddeningly calm.

“I received your time off request for next Wednesday afternoon,” she said.

“Yes. Is there a problem?”

“Look, Mr. Mellark, you’re a hard worker. Your designs are always top quality, but you’ve been missing deadlines, and I know Delly’s been doing some of your work for you.”

This time the flush of his cheeks stemmed from embarrassment. He had always prided himself on being a capable, diligent employee no matter where he worked. But the past several  months had been hell.

“I can’t allow you to leave early today and take off Wednesday afternoon. It’s just not feasible.”

Peeta’s jaw clenched. “I know I’m out of personal time. I can take it unpaid.”

“That’s not the issue. I need your current slate of projects completed before January 1st.”

Peeta balled his fists at his sides, his fingernails cutting into his palms, as he forced himself to remain calm. He was all too aware of the minutes ticking by. Paige was waiting for him.

“Well, Ms. Everdeen, with all due respect, this is ridiculous.” When her expression didn’t change, he nearly kicked her desk. He wanted some kind of reaction out of her, proof that she was more than a well-oiled robot. “I’m not waiting around. I told you it’s an emergency, and I’m leaving. Fire me if you want. I don’t care.”

He headed toward the door.

“Mr. Mellark,” Katniss said.

He grabbed the doorknob, but before he could storm out, two very strange things happened.

One, Katniss raised her voice, and two, she called him by his first name.

“Peeta, wait!”

It was a weird quirk of hers that she referred to everyone by their last names. Peeta would have preferred she use his first, but for whatever reason, she insisted on maintaining a certain distance from her employees.

When Peeta turned, he was surprised to find Katniss had come around her desk and had her hand outstretched, as if to stop him.

“You’re not required to disclose whatever is going on in your personal life. It’s none of my business. However, if there truly is a problem that’s going to continue to interfere with your work, then I think it’d be best if you explained what was going on.”

Peeta glanced at his watch. Anxiety burned in his chest, but he forced himself to take a breath. Paige was safe. She knew he was coming. He’d get to her soon.

Katniss gestured to the chair across from her desk. With great reluctance, Peeta sat down.

“Would you prefer I get someone from HR in here?” she asked.

“No, it’s…” Peeta stared down at his hands. “I’ve been in and out of court these past few months battling my ex-wife for full custody of our daughter.”

A beat passed as Katniss absorbed the information. “I see.”

“The court dates were often changed at the last minute. I needed a lot of time off.”

“Of course,” Katniss said.

“Your predecessor, Mr. Crane, didn’t care one way or another about my schedule as long as I completed my work.”

“So you never discussed it with him,” she said.

“No. And I didn’t feel comfortable discussing it with you.” He still didn’t, honestly, but this seemed like his only option.

Peeta chanced a glance up. Katniss’s eyes were fixed on the green stapler on her desk. Her expression was all wrong. Instead of cool indifference or even anger, she looked concerned.

“My daughter hasn’t taken the past few months well, as you can imagine.”

“How old is she?”

“She just turned six.” Peeta sat up straighter, but Katniss didn’t make eye contact. “She’s been dealing with a lot of anxiety, which is why I’ve been leaving the office early. She gets upset at school, and I pick her up.”

Silence stretched between them. Peeta assumed Katniss was judging him as either an incompetent father or an overindulgent one.

“I know I can’t keep pulling her out of school, but for now, I need her to know that I’ll come if she needs me. No matter what.”

Something truly miraculous happened next. Katniss smiled. It was a small smile, barely an upturn of her mouth, but it transformed her entire face. She looked softer, younger. More importantly, she looked like she understood.

He had a feeling that he could stop now, and she’d let him go, but it felt good to explain the situation to a neutral party. Finnick, Madge, and Delly would tell him he was making the right decisions no matter what. Katniss wouldn’t humor him.

“I’m taking her to her first therapy appointment on Wednesday. Usually you have to make it weeks in advance, but they managed to squeeze her in.”

“That’s great, Peeta.” Katniss cleared her throat and smoothed her blouse even though it was already free of wrinkles. “Perhaps we can compromise. I do need you to complete your current projects, but I would never ask you to choose between work and your daughter.”

Peeta nodded as he tried to hide his surprise. Katniss seemed exactly like the kind of person who would ask such a thing.

“I appreciate that.”

“Why don’t you bring your daughter back here?” Katniss suggested. “Get some work done today. Then, you can take off next Wednesday afternoon.”

“You want me to bring her here?”

“You can use my office. It’ll give her room to move around.”

Katniss was already standing and collecting her things before Peeta found his voice.

“Are you serious?”

“Unless you’re not comfortable having her here?”

“No, that’s not--” He stopped. He didn’t want to explain that her offer had surprised him because he believed her to be a cold, callous person who valued work above all else. Somehow, he doubted that’d go over well. “I just don’t want to put you out.”

“I can work at your desk,” she said as she gathered a pile of files. “It’s not a problem.”

Who was this person? Not only had she been completely understanding, but she also seemed eager to help.

“I--I’m going to go pick her up.”

“Okay,” Katniss said without looking up from the files she sorted.

Peeta hesitated before nodding once and exiting the office.

Finnick looked up as Peeta grabbed his coat off the back of his chair.

“Everything okay?” Finnick asked.

“I have no idea what just happened,” Peeta said as he tugged on his coat. Without further explanation, he turned the corner and hurried toward the elevator.

*

By the time Peeta returned to the office, Paige’s tears had dried and she no longer felt sick to her stomach.

“Well hey there, Miss Paige,” Finnick said, his wide eyes sliding from her face to Peeta’s. He cocked his head to the side in question, but Peeta shook his head.

“Hi,” she said quietly, clinging to her father’s leg.

“Paige!” Madge and Delly both waved, which she reluctantly returned.

“Paige is going to hang out here for the afternoon.” Peeta stuck a flash drive into the computer and began loading it with files.

“You need me to grab an extra chair?” Finnick asked, already on his feet. “I’m sure the meeting room on twelfth won’t miss it.”

“Actually, that won’t be necessary. We’re going to work in Ms. Everdeen’s office.”

“Elsa?” Finnick blurted out.

Paige, who knew Elsa only as the queen from Frozen, blinked up at him.

“Ms. Everdeen,” Peeta corrected as he ejected the flash drive. “We’ll be in her office, and she’ll be at my desk.”

“Oh.” Finnick deflated. “Super.”

“C’mon, sweetheart,” Peeta said, leading Paige down the aisle. The rest of his co-workers greeted Paige with smiles and welcomes, but she only waved quietly back.

Katniss was hunched over her desk, her back to the open door when Peeta and Paige came in. Peeta handed Paige her backpack.

“Why don’t you put that on the couch?” he said.

Katniss turned around at the sound of his voice. The smile she wore disappeared as her gaze landed on the back of Paige’s head.

“Ms. Everdeen, this is my daughter, Paige.”

Katniss stared, lips parted, her expression blank until Paige returned to her father’s side.

“Ms. Everdeen?” Peeta prompted.

“Hi!” Katniss blurted out. “I’m sorry. It’s just...she looks so much like you.” She gestured between the two of them. While both were blonde and blue-eyed, Peeta had always thought Paige took after her mother.

“Paige, this is my boss, Ms. Everdeen.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Katniss said, taking a step closer. “I really like your hair.”

Paige grabbed one of the blonde braids that hung over her shoulders and frowned down at it. “Daddy did them,” Paige said. “But he made them too loose. They got messed up at school.”

Peeta tugged on her other braid. “I’m getting better. I just need more practice.”

“Do you want me to fix them for you?” Katniss asked.

Peeta’s mouth fell open, but Katniss didn’t notice. Her focus was completely on Paige.

“Do you know how to braid?” Paige asked.

“I do,” Katniss said.

“Can you do a French braid?”

Katniss nodded. “Come sit down.”

Paige settled onto the couch sideways, folding her legs in front of her.

“You don’t have to do that,” Peeta said.

While Katniss didn’t seem like the type of person to do something she didn’t want to, he still worried. Not only had he forced her out of her office, but he was now eating into her time. It didn’t matter that she had volunteered both.

“I’ll just take an early lunch break,” Katniss said as she pulled out a small brush from her purse.

“I just don’t want to keep you.”

Katniss’s hand froze halfway to Paige’s hair. “I’m sorry.  You’re right. I’m overstepping.”

“Wait. That’s not what I meant. Just ignore me.”

Katniss bit her lip. He had never seen her look anything but one hundred percent certain of herself.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Yes. Please fix the disaster I braided into my daughter’s hair.”

“It’s not a disaster, Daddy,” Paige said.

“Give yourself a little credit. This is pretty good.” Katniss pulled the two elastics out of Paige’s hair before carefully unraveling her braids.

Peeta sat behind Katniss’s desk and watched as she brushed Paige’s hair with a gentle hand. He stuck the flash drive into the computer, but his gaze wandered back to the couch before he could open a single file.

He had to get some work done. He had to show Katniss he could balance his personal life with work. But then Katniss asked a question.

“What grade are you in?”

“First,” Paige replied.

“Do you get homework in first grade?”

“Yeah.”

“What kind?”

There wasn’t much substance to the conversation, but it was still a conversation. Paige had been so quiet since her mother had moved out. She always answered Peeta’s questions, but she wasn’t her usual chatty self. Typically, when he arrived home from work, she’d throw herself into his arms and talk his ear off about her day at school.

Her teacher had mentioned how withdrawn she’d become, how she no longer raised her hand or played with her friends.

But here she was having a quiet conversation with an adult she had never met before. Maybe it was easier for Paige to speak when she didn’t have to look at the other person, or maybe she realized how rude it would be to remain silent while Katniss did her hair.

Either way, this day was getting stranger.

A couple of minutes later, Peeta still hadn’t made a single edit in Photoshop, but Katniss had finished Paige’s braid.

“There,” Katniss said softly. “All done.”

Paige slipped off the couch and stood in front of her father. “How does it look?”

“Gorgeous,” Peeta said. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and shot Katniss an apologetic look before snapping a picture.

Paige leaned in close to see. “Wow!” she said. “You’re really good.”

“I’ve had a lot of practice,” Katniss said as she stood and slipped her purse over her shoulder.

Her comment surprised Peeta. He had never seen her hair in any sort of braid before. Most of the time it was pulled back in a low, sleek ponytail. Other times, she wore it in a bun, not a hair out of place.

For the first time, Peeta wondered if Katniss had children or siblings. There were no family pictures in her office, and she usually arrived earlier and stayed later than everyone else. If she had family, she didn’t see them much.

“Thank you. Can I do your hair now?” Paige asked.

Katniss opened her mouth, but Peeta spoke first. “Ms. Everdeen has a lot of work to do. We shouldn’t keep her.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“It was very nice to meet you, Paige,” Katniss said. Even though she wore a skirt and heels, she crouched down so she was eye level with Paige and held out her hand. Paige grasped it with her own and they shook.

“It was very nice to meet you too, Miss Everdeen.”

Peeta beamed, proud of his daughter’s good manners.

“Please, call me Katniss.”

Peeta did a double take, but Katniss didn’t notice. She was already out the door.

*

When Peeta and Paige emerged a little after five, he found half the office gone, including Katniss.

“She left for a conference call an hour ago,” Finnick said, shrugging on his coat. “She said she didn’t want to disturb us with all the tedium.”

Peeta’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Did she actually make a joke?”

“I think she did,” Finnick said. “You know, I thought it was going to be a nightmare having her out here with us, but it was fine. Just quieter than usual. She even accepted a Hershey kiss from Delly.”

After Finnick switched off his computer monitor, he followed Peeta and Paige to the elevator.

“You going to explain what all this was today?” Finnick asked.

“What do you mean?”

The trio walked onto the elevator. Finnick hit the button for the Lobby. “You went from being in some sort of trouble to hijacking her office for an afternoon.”

Peeta didn’t want to go into too much detail with Paige standing at his side, so he simply shrugged. “We compromised.”

“Are you sure that’s all you did?” Finnick asked. “Because before she left, she told me to have a good evening.”

“Miss Katniss did my hair,” Paige said. “She’s really good at braiding.”

Finnick’s eyes widened as he studied Paige’s hair. “She, uh, did a good job.”

“Yeah,” Paige said. “She’s really nice.”

For once, Finnick didn’t have a single thing to say.

*

The next day, Peeta stepped off the elevator balancing three trays of cookies Paige had helped him bake the night before.

The company had already thrown their official holiday party. It had been a stuffy affair held in the ballroom of a hotel down the street. Peeta hadn’t attended as he hadn’t wanted to bother his sister-in-law, Hailey, who served as Paige’s unofficial babysitter. Hailey swore she didn’t mind watching Paige, but Peeta still felt guilty. As a Registered Nurse in the Emergency Room at Panem Memorial, Hailey had a crazy work schedule. There was no way Peeta was going to ask her to watch Paige after a twelve-hour shift just so he could wear an uncomfortable suit and mingle with people he barely knew.

Turns out, he didn’t miss much as he got a summary from Finnick the next day: “Absolutely awful. Terribly boring. But the booze was free.”

Individual departments had their own parties if they wanted, which Peeta’s had done for the past few years. He had worried Katniss would disapprove even though the party was after-hours and offsite, but she never commented on it. Even after Delly invited her - which Finnick had begged her not to do - and Katniss had politely declined, she said nothing more about it.

Delly was holding the potluck-slash-booze fest at her apartment a couple of hours after work, so he decided to bring the cookies in now. She could cart them home and serve them later.

“Peeta, no!” Madge frowned at him from her desk. “You’re not coming tonight, are you?”

“No sitter,” Peeta said. He didn’t want to bother Hailey, and he was reluctant to leave Paige with someone he didn’t know. Eventually, when the custody issue was settled and his divorce was finalized, Peeta would look for a sitter outside of his family. But for now, he just couldn’t leave Paige with a stranger.

“You suck!” Finnick called as Peeta disappeared into the breakroom.

Peeta nearly stopped in the doorway when he saw Katniss leaning against the counter, stirring a mug of coffee as she stared into the distance. He quickly recovered and set the trays down beside her.

“Good morning, Ms. Everdeen.”

She startled at the sound of his voice. “Good morning, Mr. Mellark,” she replied. “Is it someone’s birthday?”

“No, these are cookies for, uh, tonight’s Christmas party.” He didn’t know why he was so reluctant to mention it around her. It wasn’t as if Katniss could stop them from having it.

“I thought Ms. Cartwright was hosting.”

“She is, but I can’t make it, and I’m in charge of dessert.”

“Can’t have a party without dessert.” She took a sip of her coffee.

Peeta thought he caught a small smile hidden behind her mug, but he couldn’t be sure.

Katniss was in her typical professional attire: pencil skirt, matching blazer, a white collared shirt peeking out from underneath. Her hair was pulled back into its usual ponytail. Despite all this, she seemed a little more approachable today, a little warmer.

Instead of hightailing it out of there as he would have any other day, he offered her a cookie.

“A cookie?” she echoed.

“Yeah. I’ve got peanut butter blossoms, chocolate chip, and sugar cookies.”

Without waiting for her response, he opened the top tray. He almost grabbed a Christmas tree-shaped sugar cookie before he remembered her dislike for the holiday. Instead he grabbed a star, decorated with red and green icing.

“You made these?” she asked, peeking at the assortment over his shoulder.

“Yeah. Paige and I had a baking party last night.”

He grabbed a paper towel off the counter and wrapped the cookie in it.

“I shouldn’t,” she said as he tried to hand it to her. “They’re for the party.”

“But you can’t go,” he reminded her. “You should get at least one.”

“Thank you.”

He was surprised by the sincerity in her voice. She sounded genuinely appreciative as if he had presented her with a very thoughtful gift.

“What about you?” she asked.

He grinned. “Don’t worry. There’s a plate at home for Paige and I to share.”

“No, I mean the party. If you don’t mind my asking, why can’t you attend?”

“Oh.” His smile faded. “No sitter.”

“That’s unfortunate. You weren’t able to attend the company’s party either.”

“It’s no big deal.”

“I guess.” Her mouth twisted with doubt. “You seem stressed. You could probably use a fun evening with your friends.”

“You too,” he said without thinking.

Her eyebrows shot up. He braced himself for a reprimand, but she didn’t deliver one. “I don’t have any children,” she said. “My nights are quiet.”

That was one mystery about her solved. He shrugged. “It’s just drinking and listening to Christmas music for a few hours.”

“I’m sure it’s more than that. I could…” She stopped, as if reconsidering whatever she was going to say. She glanced at the closed door. “I could watch Paige for you.”

If he had thought Katniss couldn’t surprise him more than she had yesterday, he was sorely mistaken. There was no way he had heard her correctly.

“You could...watch Paige?”

“I have a lot of experience watching children,” she said. “I can cook, I’m CPR-certified, and I could come to you.”

“I…”

While Katniss’s offer was completely unexpected, he was more surprised that he was considering it. She had gotten along with Paige so well yesterday. And she certainly wasn’t a stranger.

“I’m sorry.” Katniss dumped the remainder of her coffee into the sink and rinsed out her mug. “That was inappropriate. I just wanted…” She shook her head and put her mug into the dish rack to dry.

“No, I was just...surprised,” Peeta finally said. It was the word of the day. “I figured you were busy since you couldn’t come to the party.”

“Oh. No, I don’t have plans, but I know the invite was just a courtesy. No one really wants their boss at a party.”

Peeta almost contradicted her, but he decided there was no point. Katniss would never believe him. More importantly though, she didn’t seem hurt by it. It was just another fact of life to her.

If Peeta hadn’t seen her with Paige the day before, there was no way he would consider this. But Katniss was experienced, and he didn’t doubt she was responsible. And Paige had asked about her before going to bed last night…

“You really don’t mind?” He wanted to ask her again. Maybe twice more. He couldn’t believe this was really happening.

“Definitely not. What time should I be over?”

“Six-thirty would be great,” he said. “Paige will already have had dinner and be in her pajamas. Bedtime is eight-thirty.”

“Okay. I can do that.”

“I’ll be home by eleven. Earlier if you need me to.”

This time there was no hesitation in her smile. “You don’t have to rush home. I’ll bring a book.”

“I have Netflix,” he blurted out.

“Even better.”

He rattled off his address, and she nodded.

“I’ll see you tonight,” she said.

As he watched her leave the kitchen, he thought about how her words, when considered out of context, sounded like the promise of a date.

*

Paige didn’t take the news of Peeta’s plans to go out very well, but she brightened at the identity of her babysitter.

“Do you think she’ll braid my hair again?”

“I’m sure if you ask nicely, she will,” Peeta said.

Paige considered this.

“I’ll have my phone with me.” He wanted to reassure her that he would come home if she needed him without encouraging her to call. She had to get better at being away from him. It was a hard balance to maintain.

Finally, she nodded. “Okay.”

Peeta’s doorbell rang at exactly 6:25. Of course Katniss was early. He swung open the door to find someone much younger - and shorter - than the Ms. Everdeen he worked with. It wasn’t as if he expected Katniss to show up in her skirt and blazer, but he had never imagined her wearing anything else. He couldn’t.

But here she was dressed in skinny jeans and a plain green sweater. Her hair was braided and hanging over her right shoulder. He couldn’t believe how much younger she looked, how much softer. This was a woman he would approach in a bar, a woman he could hold a conversation with. He had always thought Katniss was beautiful, but it was more in an objective way. She was beautiful, sure, but she was also a pain-in-the-ass.

Tonight though, he forgot about the frustration and anger. Tonight she wasn’t Ms. Everdeen. She was just Katniss.

“You’re shorter,” he blurted out.

There was that smile again. Wide and unguarded. “I wear heels at work.”

Right. Of course. He knew that. He had just never considered what she looked like out of them.

He gave Katniss a tour of the downstairs, Paige joining them as they walked through the living room. Katniss lingered in front of the pictures on the wall, a combination of photos of Paige and paintings Peeta had completed over the years. She didn’t ask or comment on them, although he could tell she wanted to by the way her gaze kept drifting back to them. He knew it was the rules she lived her life by that kept her from asking. She was overly concerned with coming off as rude or inappropriate, which is why this entire night felt so surreal. She didn’t want to overstep, yet here she was, in his house, babysitting his daughter.

“Can I show you my room?” Paige asked when they reached the kitchen.

“Sure.”

Katniss followed Paige upstairs. A couple of moments later, he heard laughter. He wanted to follow them, find out what was so funny, what had managed to crack not only Katniss’s serious exterior but Paige’s as well, but he didn’t want to interrupt.

After they returned to the kitchen, Peeta took Paige aside and asked once more if she was comfortable staying home with Katniss. The stress of the last few months had turned him into a worrier. He wondered if Paige could sense it, if her anxiety was his fault.

“It’s okay,” Paige said. “Miss Katniss said we could watch a movie if it was alright with you.”

“Of course,” Peeta said. “Bedtime at eight-thirty. Don’t eat too many cookies.”

Paige nodded.

“Why don’t you get two glasses of milk for you and Katniss while I talk to her?”

As Paige disappeared back into the kitchen, he gestured for Katniss to come into the living room.

“So you’re sure you don’t mind doing this?” he asked.

“Peeta, I’m already here. I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t want to actually do it.”

She had called him Peeta again. He liked his first name on her lips.

“But I do need your phone number,” she said. “Just in case I need to reach you.”

She stored his number in her phone after he recited it. “Do you have a landline?” she asked.

When he shook his head, she looked back down at her cell phone. “I’ll send you a text, so you have my number too.”

His phone buzzed, and he pulled it out to find a simple “Hello” from an unknown number. He added her to his contacts, debating whether or not to list her as Ms. Everdeen. Finally, he just typed in her full name.

“I’ll be back by eleven,” he promised.

She shrugged. “Take your time. Paige and I will be fine.”

*

Finnick threw his hands in the air as Peeta followed Delly into the living room. “You made it!”

Peeta grinned at his friends as Madge handed him a hard cider.

“You found a sitter?” Madge asked.

Peeta took a long drink as he considered what to say. Katniss hadn’t mentioned anything about keeping her actions a secret, but he doubted she wanted others to know. She was so careful about keeping her personal life separate from her work life.

“Hailey,” Peeta finally said. “She insisted I go out and have some fun.”

“Your sister-in-law is amazing,” Finnick said.

“I know,” Peeta agreed. “Now where are you hiding all the food?”

Delly laughed and led him into the kitchen.

*

When Peeta left at ten-fifteen, the party showed no sign of slowing down. Everyone was stressed out for one reason or another. They all needed an outlet. Finnick, Delly, and Madge begged him to stay, but he had to get home. While the party had worked wonders for his anxiety, he couldn’t keep reality out forever.

He walked into his house at 10:30 to find Katniss curled under a throw blanket on the couch watching the Hallmark channel.

“You do like Christmas,” he said without thinking.

Katniss leaned back against the couch cushion, her head tilted up so she could see him. “I never said I didn’t.”

Peeta racked his brain, trying to come up with a specific example of her dislike for the holiday, but came up empty. It was just the vibe she gave off.

“I told you that you didn’t have to hurry home,” she said as he sat down beside her. Well, almost beside her. He left a respectable gap at least a foot wide between them.

“I know. I just didn’t want to take advantage.”

“You didn’t. I had fun with Paige. She even talked me into letting her stay up until nine.”

Peeta’s eyes widened. “You broke a rule?”

Katniss stood and folded the blanket. “The babysitter always extends bedtime. And gives an extra cookie. That’s why they’re the babysitter and not the parent.” She draped the blanket over the back of the couch. “So really, I was just following a different set of rules.”

Peeta laughed. “Well, thank you for telling me. I’ll need to know these things when I finally find a permanent babysitter for Paige.”

“Until then, I don’t mind watching her.” Katniss rolled her eyes. “Stop looking so surprised.”

“Can you blame me? How many people turn to their boss for child care?”

Katniss sat back down and stared at her lap. “I’m just trying to be helpful. Paige is sweet, and you’re...a really good employee.”

“Thanks.”

“I...I don’t want to bring up anything uncomfortable. And you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to, but...Paige talked to me about your ex-wife.”

Everything good about that night disappeared. The food and alcohol which had tasted so good going down suddenly curdled in his stomach.

“She did?”

“She told me some very personal things, and I didn’t think it was right to keep that from you,” Katniss said.

He buried his face in his hands, hoping not having to look at Katniss would make this easier. Could Paige have told her everything that had happened? It wasn’t a secret, or it wasn’t supposed to be, but Peeta had never told his friends the complete truth. Paige refused to talk about it. Peeta worried what it would do to her to keep it all inside, but he didn’t push her even when the Department of Children, Youth, and Families had interviewed her. He wanted her to talk to someone, but he had never expected that Katniss would be the person she opened up to.

“What did she say?” he asked.

“She thinks everything is her fault. Your ex-wife moving out, the divorce, your stress...she’s afraid you’re mad at her.”

His heart plummeted, landing in the swirling mess of acid eating away at his stomach. His worst possible fear had come true, and of course, Ms. Everdeen, the source of his stress at work, had to be the messenger.

“But I told her…” Peeta stood and hurried into the kitchen, worried that if he didn’t move right away, he’d be sick on the living room floor.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to upset you.”

Peeta spun around at the sound of Katniss’s voice to find her standing in the entrance of the kitchen.

“I told her I wasn’t mad. I told her it wasn’t her fault. I’ve said it so many times,” Peeta said.

“It’s okay.”

“It’s not okay!” Peeta slammed his fist on the counter. Katniss jumped, and he immediately regretted his actions. He had to keep his temper under control. He had to stop acting like his mother, like Glimmer...he was better than this.

“That night we spent at the hotel, I told her what her mother did was wrong. That she didn’t deserve to be insulted or hit or…” Peeta trailed off.

He had tried so hard to avoid becoming his mother that he hadn’t noticed he’d married a woman just like her. He’d never forget the night he came home early from work to find Glimmer screaming at Paige over a spilled cup of juice. He’d never forget the the sight of Glimmer pulling her hand back or the sound it made when her palm connected with Paige’s face.

How long had it been like that? How could he not have noticed?

He had very nearly grabbed Glimmer and thrown her across the room. He wanted to rage and yell and hurt her the same way, but Paige’s tears had stopped him. He couldn’t fight Glimmer’s violence with violence of his own. He picked up Paige, told Glimmer she had twenty-four hours to move her stuff out of the house, and spent the night at a hotel in the next town over.

“You did the right thing,” Katniss said. “It sounds like you’ve done all the right things.”

Peeta shook his head. “I let it happen. How could I not have known?”

“It doesn’t matter that you didn’t see it at first. You can’t change that. Abusers are good at hiding their true colors. What matters is that you took immediate action. You didn’t make excuses. You didn’t give her another chance to hurt Paige.”

He stared at Katniss for a long moment. Katniss wouldn’t lie to him. She wasn’t in the habit of softening a blow or holding back. He had seen how blunt she could be at work. He let out a shuddering breath and tried to absorb her words.

“Once all of this is over, and you have sole custody, things will get back to normal. Paige will get better,” Katniss continued.

“Thank you.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry too. I know you try to keep your distance and now...”

“It’s okay.” She fiddled with her braid and looked down at her feet. “I should probably get going.”

“You don’t have to.” He didn’t want to be alone, cycling through thoughts of shame and guilt for the rest of the night. Her hesitation suggested she might not want to leave either. “Weren’t you watching a movie?”

“Yeah. Who knows how it’ll end? Hallmark can be so unpredictable.”

He laughed. For the longest time, he had assumed Katniss didn’t possess a sense of humor. As it turned out, she had just been hiding that dry sarcasm.

They settled back on the couch. The silence between them wasn’t exactly tense, but it wasn’t an easy, relaxing one either.

“It’s not that I don’t care,” Katniss said as the movie cut to commercial.

“About what?”

“About you and...everyone else at work. I know everyone thinks I’m some sort of ice queen who doesn’t care, but...I do.”

Peeta turned at least three different shades of red. Was it possible she knew about their nickname for her? Her use of “ice queen” was way too coincidental otherwise. “I don’t think that.”

“Don’t lie. It’s okay.” She clasped her hands together in her lap. “I just have trouble connecting with people. Part of me doesn’t want to.”

“Why?”

“It’s just easier.”

At first he thought the conversation was over. Her terse answer didn’t invite a follow up question. Tension had sprouted between them, and he knew the topic of conversation was the cause. The commercial break ended, they both stared at the television, but after another moment, she spoke.

“I’ve been alone for a long time. I’m not sure I remember how to not be alone.”

“You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to,” he said.

“No, I want to.” She brushed her braid off her shoulder before settling her hands back in her lap. They were clasped together so tightly, her knuckles were white. “My dad died when I was eleven, and my sister...she was killed by a drunk driver over winter break her senior year of high school.”

“Katniss, I...I’m so sorry.” Without thinking, he laid his hand over hers and squeezed.

“It was hard after my father died. I did everything I could to make sure Prim was happy, that she never wanted for anything. I did odd jobs around my neighborhood, and when I finally turned fifteen, I found a job at the grocery store. When I graduated from high school, I got a secretary position at Abernathy’s.”  

Peeta didn’t know what to say. He had no idea Katniss had been with the company for so long. If she had started as a secretary and worked her way up to a managerial position, she was obviously smart and capable. She had to know what she was doing.

“I saved every cent I could to make sure Prim could go to whatever college she wanted,” Katniss continued. “She wanted to be a doctor.”

And then she had died a few months shy of her high school graduation. Imagining Katniss’s loss cracked his chest open. He tried to make it real, imagine it as one of his brothers, but he couldn’t. It was unfathomable.

“It was all for nothing in the end,” Katniss said. “A college fund for no one.”

He wanted to pull her into his arms. He knew whatever he said right now wouldn’t help. But he doubted Katniss would allow it.

“After she died, I just kept working and saving. I don’t know how to do anything else.”

Katniss was stuck in survival mode. It sounded as if she had been there since her father’s death, and had never found her way out. Her grief was a labyrinth, and while he couldn’t relate to her specific tragedies, he knew what it was to forget how to live. To wander the maze with no hope of escape, just the drive to go around one more corner, make it through one more day.

A tear slipped down Katniss’s cheek. She practically slapped herself in her haste to wipe it away.

“I shouldn’t have told you all that,” she said.

“I’m glad you did.”

She shook her head. “Can I tell you something else then? Something I shouldn’t and clearly makes me a terrible boss?”

Peeta’s heart rate rose as he realized how close the two of them now were. His hand still rested on hers.

“Mr. Abernathy is considering layoffs in the new year,” she said.

Peeta blinked in surprise. At first, he felt ashamed that he had hoped Katniss would confess something else, but it quickly changed to shock. “Layoffs?”

“It’s why I’ve been so hard on everyone. Why I want to open the day after Christmas. You’re all hard-working, talented employees. I don’t want to give Mr. Abernathy a reason to doubt your dedication.”

Peeta sat back and covered his face. He wanted to laugh. He could feel it bubbling up in his throat.

“I can’t believe this,” he said.

“I’m sorry,” Katniss said. “I know I shouldn’t have said anything. I didn’t want to ruin anyone’s holiday. I just wanted you to understand.”

“We were so wrong about you,” Peeta said.

“I don’t know,” Katniss said with a small smile. “The nickname Elsa sort of fits.”

“Oh my god.” He dropped his hands. “You know about that?”

“I’m not an idiot.”

“I am so sorry. You just, you seemed so…”

She shrugged. “Usually I don’t care what people think about me. But I guess I just wanted you to know that I’m not as bad as you think.”

He couldn’t tell if there was a deeper meaning to her confession. Out of all the employees in the office, she specifically wanted him to know she was a real live person with real live feelings? Or had she confessed because he was the only one she had ever seen outside of the office?

It didn't matter. Or it couldn’t, at least not right now. Tears were still drying on her face, but at least she was smiling.

“I have to ask you then...why didn’t you lessen Finnick’s workload when he told you about his wife?”

Katniss’s smile immediately disappeared. “What about his wife?”

Shit. “You mean, he didn’t explain why he was feeling so stressed out?”

“No. He said he felt overwhelmed, and was hoping to give one of his projects to someone else. I thought he was trying to get out of doing work. I had no idea something else was going on.”

“I thought he told you.”

Katniss rubbed her forehead, her mouth twisted in a scowl. “It doesn’t matter that he didn’t. He felt stressed out, and I dismissed him. I knew I shouldn’t have listened to Seneca.”

“Mr. Crane?” Peeta asked.

“He warned me about Finnick before I took over. Told me he liked to slack off. I shouldn’t have listened. I should have waited and formed my own opinion.” She met Peeta’s eyes. “I’ll fix it. I promise.”

“You’re too hard on yourself. Everything will be fine.”

“And you’re way too optimistic.” She glanced at the cable box beneath the television and sighed. “I should get going before I tell you anything else I regret.”

“Hey.” He touched her arm. “I don’t regret what you know about me now. I’m glad Paige found someone to open up to.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. So you shouldn’t regret it either. It’s good to get out of your own head every once in a while.”

She smiled, and once more, his pulse raced. He couldn’t decide if this attraction to Katniss had been there all along, buried beneath the stress she caused, or if it had developed over the evening as the real Katniss came into focus.

He walked her to the door and thanked her once more for watching Paige. And then before he could change his mind, he blurted out, “You should come over Sunday night. For dinner.”

Her eyes widened “On Christmas Eve? Are you sure that’s--”

“Don’t say appropriate.”

“I don’t want to intrude on your time with your daughter.”

“Are you kidding? Paige would be thrilled if you joined us.”

“Is this a pity invite? Because you know I’ll be alone?”

He shook his head. “Sorry. No pity invites here.”

She bit her lip. “What’s the dress code?”

He suppressed a laugh, but he was sure she could see the amusement on his face. “How about you dress to your comfort, and I’ll dress up or down accordingly?”

“Okay.”

“Come for six?”

“Okay,” she repeated. “I’m going to leave before I realize this is a terrible idea and change my mind.”

“Better hurry,” he said. “I’ll let you know how that Hallmark movie ends.”

*

While Peeta failed to talk to Paige about what she said to Katniss, he succeeded in telling his daughter that Katniss was coming to dinner.

She was, to put it mildly, excited. “She is so cool, Dad! We watched Tangled, and it turns out Rapunzel is her favorite princess too! She said she could give me Rapunzel hair.”

While Peeta had no idea what Paige meant by “Rapunzel hair,” he did learn a lot about Katniss thanks to his daughter. For example, Katniss loved to read and had been thrilled to read a chapter of Charlotte’s Web to Paige before bed. She practiced yoga regularly and had shown Paige a few poses. And, most importantly, her favorite kind of pie was apple, and therefore, it was on the menu for tonight.

Two minutes before six, the doorbell rang. As soon as Peeta opened the door, Katniss thrust a bottle of wine at him.

“I picked this up, and then I realized I have no idea if you even like wine.” She pulled a box of green tea out of her purse and pushed it into his free hand. “But I know you like tea, so I have backup.”

He was surprised to find the tea she had purchased matched the kind he kept at work. Apparently, without him noticing, she had been paying attention.

“You’re in luck. I enjoy both wine and tea. Come on in,” he said.

He moved aside, giving her room to step over the threshold. He was lucky his hands were full because instinct had him reaching for the small of her back to guide her. He shut the door, and they both went into the kitchen.

“Can I get you something to drink?” he asked.

“Water’s fine. Thank you.”

As he grabbed a glass from the cabinet, he felt the distance between them, the easy familiarity of the other night gone. He worried they wouldn’t be able to recreate it until Katniss held out her arms.

“I settled on a sweater dress and tights. Not fancy, but not too casual. What do you think?” she asked.

He glanced down at his dark blue jeans and red sweater and nodded his approval. “I think I don’t have to change. I did have a suit hanging in my closet just in case.”

“What would you have done if I had shown up in my pajamas?”

“I would have left you standing on the doorstep while I ran to change into sweatpants.”

“Alright. Next time it’s sweatpants.”

She turned away and took a sip of her water, missing the look of shock on his face. Next time. There was going to be a next time.

Katniss pulled a set of flower clips from her purse. “Is Paige upstairs?”

“Yeah.” He eyed the clips. “What are those?”

“I told her next time I saw her, I’d make her look like Rapunzel, which means lots of flowers.”

An unexpected warmth filled him as he studied Katniss. She appeared genuinely excited.

“You didn’t have to do that,” he said.

“It’s fun doing someone’s hair again.” She swept past him and disappeared up the stairs.

Her sister. Of course. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t realized it before. Katniss had a talent for braiding and watching children because she had done so much for her younger sister.

When Katniss and Paige came down fifteen minutes later, Paige wore her Rapunzel dress, her hair in a long braid down her back with at least a dozen flowers decorating it. She and Katniss looked so happy, it made Peeta’s chest ache.

“Ready for dinner?” he asked.

*

Peeta decided not to enforce Paige’s bedtime, knowing she’d fall asleep eventually. Halfway through the live action version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, she passed out in Peeta’s lap. Katniss carefully plucked the flower clips out of Paige’s hair before Peeta picked her up and deposited her in bed.

When he returned to the couch, he sat a little closer to Katniss. Not enough to touch her or make her uncomfortable. Just a little closer.

“Thank you for dinner tonight,” she said. “The apple pie was delicious.”

“You have Paige to thank for that.”

“You even remembered the vanilla ice cream.” She finished the small amount of wine remaining in her glass and looked over at him. “I guess I should go?”

He liked that she posed it as a question, that she hadn’t bothered to stand up or pull on her boots.

“If you go now, you’ll miss the best part,” he said.

“Something better than delicious food and good company?”

“Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

A moment after he disappeared down the hall into his home office, he reappeared with two Santa hats. He threw one to Katniss before tugging the other onto his head.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“Are you ready for elf duty?”

Her eyes lit up. “You mean put out presents for Paige?”

“We also have to eat the cookies she left out. If you’re up to the task.”

Katniss stood up and pulled the hat on. “Lead the way.”

A week ago, if someone had told Peeta that Ms. Everdeen, his rigid, overly serious boss would be in his house helping him place gifts around the Christmas tree, he would have doubled over in laughter. But this woman next to him, this sweet, thoughtful, beautiful woman was nothing like the Ms. Everdeen he knew. He recognized traces of her. There was an intense focus on her face as she arranged the gifts, and despite the confessions they had shared with each other, she still hadn’t asked him about the art on his walls.

But there was warmth in her expression now, and her smiles came so easily. He could tease her without worry of reprimand. He could notice how beautiful she was and how good she smelled, and when he touched her hand, he could pretend it was an accident.

After they had carefully arranged the presents, they sat on the floor, the lights dim, wine glasses in hand, and talked. For two hours, Katniss came into sharper focus as whatever walls she usually hid behind crumbled. The blue, red, and green lights from the tree danced across her face as she threw her head back and laughed at the story of Paige’s first encounter with a mall Santa. When she set her wine glass down and looked over at him with bright eyes and flushed cheeks, he couldn’t help but lean closer.

“Has she been back to see Santa since?” Katniss asked.

“Yes, but we never made it this year.”

“No time?”

“No, there was time. Christmas just felt different this year, I guess. Usually, she starts dropping hints about going to see Santa on Thanksgiving, but it didn’t come up this year.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it. You definitely made up for it.” She tilted her head toward the mounds of gifts surrounding the tree.

Peeta laughed. Yeah, guilt had definitely been the driving force behind his purchases this year.

“Thank you for coming over tonight,” he said. “Paige had a lot of fun with you. I don’t think it would have been the same without you.”

Katniss shook her head and looked down at her lap. “I highly doubt that. You two make a wonderful little family.”

“Thanks, but I mean it. It made a difference to me.”

He reached out to touch her hair. When she didn’t move away, he tucked a few strands behind her ear. She swallowed, and he resisted the urge to press his mouth to her throat and trace the movement with his tongue.

“You couldn’t stand me a few days ago,” she said.

“I was an idiot a few days ago,” he replied. “I should have listened to Delly. She kept saying if we just had a conversation with you, we’d realize you weren’t so bad.”

“Is that what I should do then? Start offering child care to all my employees? Crash their holiday dinners?”

“I hope not,” he said. “I kind of thought I was special.”

“You are.” She squeezed her eyes shut. It was hard to tell with the lights so dim, but he thought he saw her blush. “I mean…”

When she didn’t try to explain further, he leaned forward, and pressed his lips to hers. The kiss was soft and unsure, but the longer it went on without her pulling away, the bolder he became. He cupped the side of her face, his fingers disappearing into her hair, and sucked on her bottom lip. She grabbed a fistful of his sweater to pull him closer. A moment later, she was on her back, her hips cradling his as he hovered over her.

“Wait.” Her fist flattened into a palm against his chest.

“Please don’t,” he said, his breathing heavy. “Can’t we worry about appropriate later?”

She laughed softly. “I was going to ask if you heard something. I don’t think Paige should come downstairs and find us like this.”

He paused and listened hard, but there was no noise.

“I think we’re okay,” he whispered.

“You’re right though,” she said. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”

“That’s not even close to what I said.”

“There are so many reasons why I should go.”

She was his boss. He was in the middle of a divorce and fighting for full custody. Paige was upstairs. And yet.

“I feel like if you go now, then that’ll be it. It’ll be like this never happened.”

“Maybe that’s for the best,” she said.

“I don’t think that’s true.”

When he kissed her again, there was no hesitation. She wrapped an arm around his neck and pulled him closer. Time slipped away as his hands wandered beneath her dress, and she gasped into his mouth.

“Do you think we should go upstairs?” she asked as he kissed a trail down her neck.

“Are you sure?”

Suddenly, she was Ms. Everdeen again, serious and composed, as she looked him in the eye and said, “I am one hundred percent sure.”

Her footsteps on the stairs were soundless. When they reached his bedroom, he didn’t bother turning on the light.

*

The next morning, he woke up to Paige dive-bombing his bed. He sat up in a panic, unsure how he was going to explain Katniss in bed with him, when he realized there was no Katniss to explain. It was just him, and now Paige jumping up and down. Peeta’s heart sank as he looked around the room, but there was nothing to suggest Katniss had ever been there much less spent the night.

Only a few hours ago, Katniss had curled up in his arms as his eyes fluttered shut, the worry he constantly lived with finally giving him a reprieve. He fell asleep content and calm, the scent of her hair on his skin.

But now...

Peeta finally snapped out of it when Paige jumped into arms.

“I guess you want to open presents?” he asked.

“Presents!” And then she was out of his bedroom, running down the stairs.

Peeta shoved the night before out his mind, buried his disappointment, and went downstairs to celebrate Christmas with his daughter.

*

An hour later, as Paige danced around the living room in her new Rapunzel dress and Peeta cleaned up the discarded wrapping paper, his phone beeped.

It was a text message from Katniss.

I’m sorry to disturb you at home on Christmas, but I wanted to let you all know that after much consideration, I have decided to close our department tomorrow. Please respond, so I know that you received this message. Have a wonderful day off with your families. Merry Christmas.

Peeta nearly sent his phone flying across the room. It wasn’t a group text. She must have sent it to each person individually, and yet his read like any other generic message you sent to an employee you barely knew.

He sent a thumbs up emoji back, shoved his cell phone back into his pocket, and returned to cleaning. He didn’t hear from her for the rest of the day.

*

The next day, after he dropped Paige off at Rye and Hailey’s house so she could celebrate a second Christmas with her cousins, he found himself driving in the direction of the office. It was a bad idea, especially after Katniss’s not so subtle brushoff, but he felt like he had to try. It had only been a few days since he had first seen her outside of the office, but already his feelings for her had grown.

And he knew she felt something for him too.

As expected, she was in her office in the empty department, typing away at her computer when he walked in. She jumped when he knocked on the door, but smiled when she saw it was him.

“Look, I know you don’t want to see me,” he said.

“Why wouldn’t I want to see you?”

Great. This was the way she was going to play this.

“Are we just going to pretend nothing happened?” he asked.

“What are you talking about? Are you okay? You seem upset.”

As usual her tone was calm and quiet, although he detected a hint of worry.

“Can we not have this conversation with you on the other side of that desk?”

“Okay,” she said, brow creased as she walked around to where he was standing. “What’s going on?”

“I get that you regret what happened, but--”

She touched his arm. “What are you talking about? I don’t regret anything. I had an amazing time with you.”

“But you think we should pretend it never happened.”

“Why would I want that? I mean, if this is to continue, we’ll have to be discreet, but--”

“Wait.” He shook his head. “I don’t understand. If you want to keep seeing each other, why did you leave?”

“I wasn’t going to let Paige find me in bed with you! And I certainly wasn’t going to insert myself into Christmas morning with your daughter. Didn’t you read my note?”

“You left a note?”

“Of course! I wouldn’t just leave. I left it on the pillow.”

Peeta thought back to Christmas morning, to Paige jumping on the bed. The note must have flown off. It was probably under the bed or behind his nightstand table.

“I didn’t see it. I didn’t see it, and I’m an idiot,” he said. “You really want to give this a try?”

“Yes.”

“Even though it’s a terrible idea and breaks several rules?” he asked.

She rolled her eyes. “Yes. I don’t follow every single rule, you know.”

“I can see that. You said the department was closed, and yet here you are.”

“I have a lot of work to get done,” she said.

“I hope you’re planning on taking a half day.”

She bit her lip, the only indication she ever gave that she was unsure.

“Come on. You can come over, and I’ll make lunch. Let’s worry about work tomorrow.”

They walked out of the building together, but separate, their conversation generic and unimportant, their arms glued to their sides. They parted ways at the parking lot and climbed into their respective cars.

Twenty minutes later, she was walking through his front door, his hand on the small of her back.

“Is there any apple pie left?” she asked.

“Pie for lunch? I’ve turned you into a rebel.”

He cut two slices, set them on plates, and scooped vanilla ice cream onto each. When he went into the living room to tell her it was ready, he found her staring at the artwork on the walls once more.

This time, she asked him where they had come from, and when she found out that he had done them, she asked how long he had been drawing, what other kind of art he did.

The questions flooded out of her. He was happy to answer each and every one. He led her upstairs to show her his sketchbooks, and she pored over them, admiring each page, complimenting the ones she liked best. When he ran out of sketchbooks, he kissed her instead, and the afternoon drifted away, the ice cream on their pie melting downstairs.

By the time they returned to the kitchen, it was time for dinner, and Peeta was the happiest he had been in months.

For the first time in a very long time, he believed everything really would be okay. He had his daughter, his friends, and his family on his side, helping him through everything.

And now, he had Katniss too.

[cow3survivor]

Ep. 4: “Trying To Cover Ur Murderous Tracks” - Jones

JENNET 

nash isnt on my tribe but i cant help but feel bad for them :((( the last two days that we were together as old calumma i actually started to connect with them. they will be missed 💔

(a little later)

why am i obsessed with ethan ? *insert meme of that tiktoker just standing there*

(after building a bamboo bed)

super nervous for immunity, if we end up losing i think i might try to push for pennino bc he pissed me off the other night saying he wouldnt be available for the comp and literally SITTING THERE watching us do the comp... i really like sam and ethan (tbh more than i like lindsay and jabari) but thats only bc of how much we communicate with each other idk i do know lindsay wants to push for pennino too bc she was annoyed it too so maybe let her do all the pushing and if it backfires, just push for her to go😳

JESSICA

No song 4 today Last round we voted out Nash. That was not my ideal choice (I wanted Nicole to go) but Pete was paranoid Nicole may have an idol, that Nicole/Mikey/Nash were secretly working together, or just that something might go down. He also trusts Nicole for reasons unknown. I didn't love leaving Mikey in the dark (I think that really only helped Pete, not me) but I was nervous that if I pushed Nicole too hard as the vote, Pete would vote Mikey and then that was really the worst case scenario. If we lose this round, I am voting Nicole no question. She asked me what happened after the vote + if we could talk which I thought was great! I sent her an explanation that basically said I didn't trust Nash because they did not talk to me, I was worried OG Calumma was still a thing, and I didn't trust Nicole because she didn't start talking to me until after we lost + she left me on read a lot. And what does she do right after I sent that? Leave me on read again! I was excited to work with her when we first swapped but I don't see that happening at all now. The nice thing is because Pete lied to her, Mikey and Nicole voted each other, AND Lovelis was already initially down to vote Nicole, I'm hoping if we lose the vote is really easy. I also don't think Nicole has the idol because.... ...I found it! Okay, no I didn't. I did find a ruby though. I think that in each quadrant of the adventure, there is a gem and the four gemstones combined will make an idol. I already have 1, I have a good idea of where it could be in the north, and most importantly I am pretty sure Nicole has no advantages. I think if she had an idol, she might have played it last round, but my guess is that there is only one idol in the game and no one has it yet. However right now I'm not sharing this information with anyone. I hope that if we lose, Pete votes for Mikey out of paranoia (and that Nicole does as well) which means moving forward, Mikey really only has me and that's an alliance I can keep long term. I do also think that we are potentially swapping after this OR we will do a double tribal after this and swap then. I do not want us to lose twice because that's when things get tricky but if we do, I think I will be set up well enough that no one is coming for me.

PETE 

so my og Brookesia alliance of jessica and lovelis (plus me) they want to vote out Nicole but i reeeeaaally don’t wanna do that. Nicole and I had this talk of moving on from our past so if I just vote her out first chance I get that’d just be a huge dick move. They for some reason believe Mikey which I honestly don’t, I think he may be a little weasel. Nash doesn’t talk to me at all, so i’m hoping maybe I can shift the vote onto Nash by scaring them with the thought of Nicole having and idol

(after dropping his rice into the sand)

AAAAAAAAHHHHHH IDIDIT I DID IT IDIDIT literally i have THE biggest fucking knot in my stomach i was SO fUcking NERVOUS this is so fuckignw crazy i cant skdjdbxsjkdb i’ve NEVER been in control of a vote before like everything i told someone to do they did like i’m not gonna get all like egotistical and all that but like sjkdsxkdbsjjdjxjdkdb ive never been in this position before it’s wild i’m usually like the mikey. like i’m just there, hoping people include me but kinda just scraping by until they decide it’s my turn to leave and NOW!!!! I JUST BLINDSIDED SOMEBODYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

JENNET

trying really hard to do this comp and my arthritis is making my hands spasm :(( powering thru and hopefully we dont go to tribal. if we do im afraid that im going to be voted out :((

JABARI

So i scored for the tribe which is great but then we tie and there is tower of hanoi. Lets just say ill never play that game again but I swear im not giving up no sir....they said they wouldnt boot me because of it but ima make sure of it.

JENNET 

in love with ethan hes the best person in the world

(after staring at Ethan)

really sucks going to tribal council and i know i let my team down so now im trying to find a way- SOME WAY to remind them that old calumma wanted to go after pennino next and to hopefully keep ethan out of the fire. sam approached me about an alliance with him and ethan and tbf idc what anybody calls me or what they think but im honestly closer to the too of them than to anybody on the tribe- closer to ethan than i was to jake even😳

LINDSAY

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12YzvXBooOu3lndrE99YopPOcO4VEAYYB/view?usp=drivesdk lmk if this works also fun fact i just tried to open the camera on the computer im borrowing and the computer bluescreened lol i hate it here

SAM

https://youtu.be/M4E00bmBj0A

PETE

The way this game is going Id say that I’m probably closest with Jessica just because we’ve been talking since the start, she’s really nice & enthusiastic, and we’ve agreed so far on the things that need to happen so we share a lot of information with each other. Lovelis is a little bit of a wild card because he never really talks that much so I’m going to try to bond with him more so that he doesn’t feel like just another number.

LOVELIS

Who knew we’d pull out a win with flash games! Maybe we need to stop shitting on then and start praying for more of them to pop up here LMAO. So glad I can just have this day to speak to people a bit more and just relax a little - I feel like me Jess and Pete are in a comfortable position within this tribe so I’m praying for no more funny business with another premerge swap but I’m tryna stay on my toes!

ETHAN

Ok so tribal time: I am in a minority position right now and it is looking sketchy. I feel like I am going because of how Jabari and Jennet have not talked to me at all today and instead have ghosted me. I have something, but not sure if I want to play it. Do I trust people, or do I just full send and blow it up? Time shall tell

JESSICA 

Yay we won immunity! I love getting my Dolphin Olympics redemption arc, it's been 6 years in the making.

PENNINO

Now, it's 4 hours before the first tribal as Furcifer, and I think that us from OG Calumma will go and do a Pagong to Ethan and Sam. Since Ethan was a beast in  the comps, and we want to keep tribal lines, that puts Sam up for the chopping block. As for Nash leaving, no surprise. Honestly, I feel pretty safe and now i'm just waiting for another swap.

MADISON

I don't know how I've survived four rounds but here we are. I think I've legit gotten the lowest score in the past 2 challenges but everyone else is a beast so I get to stay safe for another round. The downside to being safe so long is that there isn't really a lot of gameplay happening over on Planet Brookesia and some of us might be a little bit too comfy so that when swap time comes or we lose the next challenge, it'll be scramble city to figure something out.

JAKE

https://youtu.be/Hz-Ix0ZeQ7E y'all when I tell you i'm manic just thinking about crazy fringe theories related to this game lmaoooooo

JONES

ok bet lets get strategic:tm: i feel like a lot of my confessionals are rlly like ,, , , ,me just talking ab "wow i rlly like this person, not this person so and so and whatnot" and i haven't rlly gotten to bare bones like ,, what i'm thinking ab game wise ? for starters - i think i'm in a rlly good spot surprisingly? LIKE don't get me wrong its fking dangerous being in a 4-2 but i think i'm set up super super well? i'm officially working with all of Daisy, Sammy, Shane, and Jake, and am in an alliance w everyone of those people besides Sammy. but sammy has vouched saying that he does want to work w me and has my back and i don't have like,, any reason to doubt that rn ? unfortunately the only way to rlly like ,, ,, have everyone prove their trust to me is by going to tribal aldksfjasdlfj but i dont rlly see a reason for them to like ,, , lie to me ? esp when we haven't gone to tribal? i don't see the point in marinating someone this isn't among us and ur trying to cover ur murderous tracks,,, but ya ? i'm in a good spot. i think based on my alliances and allies and whatnot, and i've stated this already so this isn't rlly a surprise, but madison would probs be the target if we'd have to go to tribal. and Jake has stated to me too that he hasn't rlly talked to madison that much either so it doesn't seem like an uncommon thought process. after the challenge tiebreaker yesterday , the newly formed ALLEANCHE! kind of came together as the 4 most active people on the tribe so it SEEMS like it would be madison AND sammy getting targetted and , ,, , sammy going for me isn't rlly cash money bc if sammy DOES have my back then that's me losing one of MY allies,, but i don't think we're going to enough tribals before another swap for that to actually be a thing ? so hopefully if we do go to tribal it'd be madison and not sammy, but i think i, if not i then maybe jake LOL, can make a good case for madison to go over sammy. speaking of jake i have a rlly bad gut feeling that i'm gonna have to think ab cutting him soon - or at least before merge. i've kinda been letting him take the reigns since preswap to make him kind of look like a leader ish ? so i'm rlly hoping that like ,, , hypothetically speaking. lets say i'm AGAIN put on another tribe w jake (bc lbr we're swapping again),, and lets say hypothetically they wanna split up the supposed "duo" of myself and jake,,, whos the smarter person to take out - the leader whos kinda been calling the shots and making the alliances since round 1, or the person whos proven themself to be reliable and to keep their team safe and be able to go to bat for their team ? idk IDK that's just me but i definitely think like ,, in terms of a building threat level i think jake is definitely the easier target asldkfjasd which is UNFORTUNATE like i LOVE JAKE but i feel like if it comes to me and jake and jake is putting me in DANGER then , ,, well,, :( i gotta do what i gotta DO i'm pawned as old reliable for a reason :katenails: but ya uhm,,, shane/daisy/jake/i were talking on call after the tiebreaker ab what could happen and we all basically agreed theres no way in hell that there ISN'T another swap on the horizon or at least like,, a twist or something. u can't just swap at 18 on a 20 person cast and just expect us to sit like lil ducks on sunday brunch, if anything we're probs gonna swap at like ,, , , , 15? OR hosts are cracked and swap us NEXT ROUND bc they're sadistic. but ya there's def another swap it rlly just depends on when and whos there to experience it - i.e whether or not i'm gonna have security from my allies or not ya feel? i feel. also there's definitely probs like ,, , ,a double tribal. or smth. or like, smth crazy and dumb and stupid that i don't have the brain capacity to rlly comprehend. but ya hope i win this was a good strategy talk #fruciferandcallumathrowchallenge

NICOLE

Hello!!! Nash went home and I'm sad so I am PROTESTING confessionals! You won't know anything that is happening with me! Nothing! (Just kidding nothing happened this round, everyone ignored me and then we won immunity so they had no need to)

SHANE

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TxoVh69i2GPA-agNAfyW0G-Bu07weXyZ?usp=sharing

SAMMY

so I had to write a paper and I'm rushing to get this in...blinks...whats new anyways I have been so off in like the idol hunting and I have felt so detached from this game since I have only been to tribal once? but I think the people in danger would be like Madison or Jake? they have both been brought up to me by daisy...and in all seriousness I would be fine with that? I honestly really am only prioritizing Jones and Daisy in this tribe. I feel fine with my position in this game and I even got a point from the flash games. Luckily Daisy won for us in the tiebreaker and we were able to barely escape tribal. I really do hope I can continue to avoid tribal so that I can get as far into this to make it to the more individual stage of this game.

DAISY

https://youtu.be/3kCYnxDIdQY

TRIBAL COUNCIL