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#like not to sound like a Karen but I worked in food service up until two years ago and I’m about to report that cause you CAN NOT do that
sl1ghtly0dd · 1 month
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Bruh, I just watched the car in front of my at sonic get my drink, take a sip, return it to the carhop telling her it was the wrong drink, carhop brought me the drink and tried to give it to me, I said please remake this that’s not safe???
And she went inside and brought the same cup, WITH the cup holder marks from the other car on it! Like could you be more obvious?
And they laughed at me when I rejected it and asked for a refund.
🤢
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radiocrypt-id · 2 months
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My fav Maritime Canadian phrases i used on the reg as a retail/food service guy
"It's goin'." in response to "hey hows it going?" or "Hey how are things?" etc.
similarly "Livin' the dream." usually in response to "Hey how ya doin'?" etc.
"Oh for sure bud." said without a single ounce of understanding or shits to give.
"Yeah no, yeah." used instead of just saying yes, for some reason.
"No yeah, no." used instead of just saying no, for some reason.
both previous phrases are used to express understanding or sympathy as well, no I can't explain how, you'd have to hear it being used in context repeatedly to get it.
Also, it doesn't matter how many times you say yeah and no together before the final word, because the final word is the sentiment of either agreement or not. I've had entire conversations with customers that has consisted of me just repeating "no yeah, yeah no yeah, yeah no, no yeah" for twenty minutes until I either agree with their final statement/request and send them on their way or say goodbye without any indication of a final word, leaving it ambiguous as to whether or not we agreed at all on anything.
"If I could bibbidi bobbidi boo it into existence for you I would happily do so, but sadly I'm not a fairy and don't have a wand." said in response to an outrages request/demand/question about a product, typically about something that we didn't sell or were out of. I don't know if this is Canadian or just a thing I started doing and everyone picked up on where I worked but I've heard several variations of it, including the more simple: "If I could wave a wand and have it for you I'd do that but I can't I'm sorry." and the angry blunt: "I'm not a magician, sorry." I like my version best because it always shocks them into laughing and immediately deescalates their anger as they realize how silly they sound demanding the impossible, and let me provide a genuine solution.
"You got it pal." Said in response to being ordered around when you're busy or annoyed, usually with the customer service voice/smile that barely conceals the boiling rage of the service industry under it. I never did as told if I said this, it's a polite go fuck yourself.
"Go on then." usually used to tell people to explain what their issue is with a blank expression. used a lot to deal with complaints or bullshit karens that you know is just being a pain to be a pain. usually combined with crossed arms or a jut of the chin at them.
"Ooh she's pissed eh?" only ever said about the weather or a machine, never actually a person.
"Ain't that a thing." Said in complete admiration for either complete stupidity or something beautiful. Be it your coworker/buddy scaling shelves to reach a 10lb barrel of something, or the sky turning purple at dusk, it was said the same regardless, in complete awe.
"Yeah that's uh... That's a thing." Said in response to the above, also in awe but also usually more tired as they recognize the danger of the situation or that they are in fact still at work for several more hours no matter how pretty the sky/thing is.
"Boy jesus get that fuckin' thing outta here!" often used for those birds that get stuck in big stores, but also just for literally anything that shouldn't be there or is annoying for the speaker. could be a pop-up on their computer for an error or a lawnmower driving through the front, equally pissed. said in one breath very fast.
"She broke." said about literally anything that isn't working immediately as expected or any coworker that's expressing extreme emotion, often laughter or sobbing. everyone/thing is 'she' regardless of gender.
"Now what exactly do you think you're doin' there bud?" Said to anything out of place in bafflement or in annoyance/outrage to someone doing something incredibly stupid when they know better.
"Aw no bud, come on now." said in absolute devastation.
"Work with me here big guy." said in prayer to any piece of machinery before trying to use it appropriately, as designed.
"We're gonna commit a few crimes but be back for dinner, yeah?" Said in prayer/prep to any piece of machinery before using it incorrectly on purpose. Also to coworkers when you're about to do something very unsafe that will piss off your more mature/responsible coworkers but you're hoping you'll get away with it. It's a confident phrase, said before disaster.
"Eh?/Hey?/Hah?" a sound just used to express deep confusion or sudden attention onto a new person you think has called you
I might add more as I think of them
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maddiwrites · 3 years
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The Hybrid (I)
Pairing: JJ x Reader
Summary: The Pogues rekindle their friendship with their old childhood best friend and JJ’s first crush, Y/N. Old feelings resurface for JJ and Y/N, possibly leading to a summer neither one of them could ever forget. Due to past trauma, Y/N is reluctant to let anyone into her heart, but JJ never backs down from a challenge, even if he knows it will come back to haunt him in the end.
Note: Thank you for being patient with me as I slowly write this series. I had this idea a long time ago and I’m not finding motivation to write it but the inspiration comes and go. I smile with every comment that is left on my fics and I’m so grateful for this community. Thank you for letting me pursue my creative writing without judgement. Love you guys! (Also, yes. If you didn’t see my last note, I based YN’s family off of the Gilmore Girls characters. That’s who I picture as them.)
Word Count: 8k
 Masterlist   Prologue 
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You wake up to someone falling on your bed next to you with a dramatic sigh. Knowing exactly who it is, you choose to ignore her and try getting back to the dreamless sleep you were peacefully having before you woke up.
That is, until she sighs again. 
You flip onto your back and stare up at your ceiling fan that’s quickly spinning above you. “What, Rory?”
“How did it go with Andre and that boy?”
You look at her with one brow raised. “You woke me up to hear about Andre’s love life? That hardly sounds like you. You don’t care about high school drama or hookups.”
“You’re right,” Rory says. “But I thought I would ease you into what I actually need to tell you.”
You turn on right side and look at your sister confused. “What?”
She sighs. “The cafe’s basement flooded last night. Mom needs us there to help her clean up and take inventory on what’s salvageable.”
You turn back on you backside and close your eyes, exhaling a deep sigh. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Unfortunately not,” Rory says and pats you twice on your covered thigh as she sits up. “Come on. I made you pre-cafe coffee. It’s sitting in the kitchen.”
You throw your sheets off of you and trudge to the bathroom to brush your teeth and clean your face. It’s about 8 a.m. At least you were able to get about six hours of sleep. 
Last night, it was hard to let your brain rest to fall asleep. You kept tossing and turning, thinking about the blonde Pogue who walked you home. You missed how easy it was to talk to someone who you felt truly knew you. Your banter rolled off your tongue easily and you never had to worry about offending him because you knew him like the back of your hand. You knew what he could take and what he couldn't. 
Talking to him brought back childhood memories you had hidden deep in your mind. How JJ would constantly poke you until you ripped into a smile on days that were grey. How you used to steal John B’s bandanas until he was chasing you around his house to get them back. How you would draw a mustache and a unibrow on Pope’s face when he fell asleep by the water. 
Those days felt like they were decades ago. So far away, you didn’t know if you’d be able to reach for them again. If it was even possible to get back. 
You thought about texting him. Thanks for walking me back. We should all get together soon! You had written out. But then you deleted the whole message, telling yourself it was because you didn’t know if he even had the same number. But deep down, you were just afraid of the rejection. 
Its been about three years since the four of you had been together in one place. You don’t know what they’ve been through or if they’ve changed. They for sure as hell don’t know what you’ve been through. You don’t know if they're dynamic has changed. Clearly you and JJ can still joke with each other but what about John B and Pope? You heard about John B’s father disappearing at sea, most people believing he’s dead, but John B holding onto hope that’s he’s alive. You always thought about calling him to reach out and offer your condolences. But for the same reason you didn’t text JJ, you never called. It didn’t feel like your place. They had Kie for that now. A little part of you felt jealous of her, like she had replaced you and any memory of you. She seemed nice, but she wasn’t you.
“Ready?” Rory pops her head in to your room as you slip on a cropped plain white zip up jacket over your cropped black tank. 
“As I’ll ever be,” You say and snag the car keys out of her hands. “Don’t even think about it. I’m driving.”
Rory rolls her eyes. “I want to get there safely.”
“And I want to get there quickly.”
“Fine. But we’re taking my car. It actually has doors.”
For your sixteenth birthday, your grandparents gifted both you and Rory your own individual cars and even let you pick them out. Rory chose a black 2020 Honda Civic for it’s safety features and reputation for longevity as if she was planning on handing it down to her future kids. And you picked out a white 2020 Jeep Wrangler with a hard top that pops off along with the doors for a very open and thrilling ride. Everyone but you called it a death trap, but you found it to be the perfect summer car. 
You park Rory’s boring Honda Civic in the back of the cafe in a lot used specifically for employees. The cafe is already booming with teens and families, waiting for their morning coffees and fresh pastries. Kids your age are running around behind the counter with sweat dripping down their brow bone to get everyone’s orders out in a timely manner. 
In the back of the store, your mom walks up the steps from the basement with two large trash bags and immediately notices the two of you. “Oh good. You’re here. Rory, help the girls behind the counter. The dishwasher’s broken and poor Hailey is hand washing everything. Y/N, come with me downstairs.”
“Why does Rory get the fun job?” You grumble and follow your mom back downstairs after she tosses the two trash bags. 
“Because she’s actually nice to the customers.”
“Treat others how you would like to be treated. Isn’t that what everyone always says?” You smirk. You never agreed with the phrase ‘the customer is always right.’ It’s complete bullshit and being the employee shouldn’t mean letting yourself getting verbally abused by a ‘Karen’ on the other side of the counter. 
The basement is used for the cafe’s storage, lined with wooden shelves Steve put together that hold to go cups, back up espresso machines, boxes of coffee and food and ingredients, etc. Now all the boxes are dark and sopping, creating puddles on the concrete floor. 
“Oh my god. Mom. How did this happen?”
“Jenky water pipe busted in the middle of the night,” Steve walks down the stairs and passes your mom a knowing look. It didn’t surprise you that he was here. He’s the jack of all trades. Owns his own automotive shop, builds a lot of his own furniture, actually cooks a decent meal, and has the same outlook on customer service as you do. He was probably your mom’s first call. “Talked to the plumber. They can’t get here until at least noon.”
“Noon? We’ll be underwater by noon. I might as well turn all my employees into a swim team,” Your mom says.
Steve shakes his head. “I was able to hold the leak until he gets here. You should be fine.”
Steve was the first person that actually helped your mother out when's she moved to the Cut. Six months pregnant, she pushed her car into his automotive shop after it broke down on the side of the road. Their banter was similar to the one you and JJ have. He helped save your mom money by building yours and Rory’s cribs, changing table, and dressers. And ever since, the two of them had been connected by the hip, although they both refuse to admit it. You think the pair are just trying to deny the love they clearly share for each other. And you think the main reason for that is because of the incident four years ago with your mom’s ex boyfriend. No thanks to you.
 “Look at you constantly building your resume,” You smirk at him. 
Steve scoffs. “It’s more than what you’re doing.”
You roll your eyes. Steve is the closest thing you have to a father. He practically helped raise you with your mom. He’s the one you turn to whenever a fight with your mom goes too far, which isn't too often but it happens. He usually lets you stay at his house for the night to let you cool off. But he’ll never sugar coat his advice when it comes time for him to give it. Even if you don’t ask for it. He knows growing up with Rory has been challenging. She was clearly your mom’s favorite, or at least that’s what you thought. She has a 4.0 GPA with a realistic dream to get into Brown University and study journalism. She played by every rule, never got into trouble, and spent most of her free nights getting ahead of her school work or staying late at the cafe with an open book from the library across the street. She was an absolute angel to everyone else, making you look like her evil twin. 
You glare at him before turning to your mom with crossed arms. “What do you want me to do, Mom?”
“Actually honey. Can you go to Heywards and grab more coffee filters and napkins. The water soaked right through the plastic wrapping on our last box.”
You nod, leaving your mom and Steve to clean up the basement themselves. Before heading out, you sneak behind the counter and make yourself a quick coffee to go.
“Where you going?” Rory asks as she reaches behind you to grab a banana for her customer at the register.
“Heywards to grab a couple things for Mom.”
“Oh. Make sure to grab toilet paper while you’re out. I think we’re almost out of it.”
“Got it.” 
Heywards is only a short drive from your mom’s cafe. It’s the closest convenient store that isn’t crazy pricey. It’s where your mom gets all her supplies whenever she runs out of things before shipment gets there. 
You use to always come here when you were younger with the boys, each of you, even Pope, stealing a small bag of chips or a candy bar here and there. Little did any of you know, Mr. Heyward caught your thieving hands every time but never said anything. 
The bell above the door chimes when you walk into the store. You know this place as well as you know the cafe, finding the toilet paper and coffee filter immediately. 
When Mr. Heyward looks up from the counter, his smile grows. He can pick you out of a crowd anywhere, but he hasn’t seen you in a long time. Last time he saw you, you had braces and overgrown bushy brows. Now you had bushed hair and shaved legs. 
“Hi. Mr. Heyward,” You grin shyly at him. You don’t know how he’s going to react to see you, unsure of what Pope might have told him about you. 
“Little Miss Y/L/N? Is that you?” Heyward smiles widely, pulling your own lips into a wider smile. “I haven’t seen you for a long time.”
“Yeah, I’ve been busy with school and my mom’s cafe...” Both of those things were a lie. You just avoid the Cut to avoid the Pogues. 
“How’s the fam?” 
“They’re good,” You say as Heyward hands you your bags. “Mom says hello by the way. I’m actually taking these to her store now.”
“Well, don’t be a stranger. We miss your smiling face around her. Anette, too.” Heyward says, mentioning his wife. 
“Tell her I said hi.”
“Of course, darling.” 
Heyward and Anette always had a special place in their heart for you and Rory. They’re not one for gossip, but they knew a little bit about what your mom’s been through and have heard plenty of stories about your grandparents. They always thought, despite your mom’s background, that you and your sister were raised impressively. Anette always hoped that one day Pope and Rory would get together. Everyone always wanted their child to be with Rory. 
As your about to leave the store, the bell chimes again with another customer. Only it’s not another customer. It’s Pope and John B. They don’t see you at first, and you wonder if maybe you can sneak out without them seeing you. But something about that felt wrong. Especially because Heyward would more than likely mention to them that you were here. 
Pope sees you first and stops in his tracks. “Y/N?” 
“Hey, guys. Long time no see,” You smile at both of them. You bite down on your lip awkwardly when you meet John B’s stare. You don’t know if you should mention anything about his dad’s disappearance. But what would you say? Sorry? What good would that do?
“How’ve you been?” Pope gives you a small side hug, then John B. 
You shrug. “You know, living the dream.”
“How’s life as a Hybrid?” John B smirks. 
You roll your eyes playfully and groan. “Oh god. Never call me that again.”
You may be considered a Hybrid by everyone else, but you would never put yourself into that category. You grew up a Pogue, the same way everyone else did around you. The only thing tying you to the Kooks are your grandparents. 
“Why?” John B smirks. “I wish I was a Hybrid.”
You smirk back. “Maybe you will be one day. I hear you have a Kook of your own for arm candy.”
You saw a faint hint of blush on John B’s cheek at the mention of his girlfriend but you don’t mention it. “Sarah, yeah. She’s not like the other Kooks.”
“I would hope not. Her brother’s a dick.”
“Yeah,” They laugh. 
“We miss you, you know.” John B says. Pope looks at you, trying to read your expression. John B’s not wrong. They do all miss you, especially Pope. He felt like you were the only one who really understood him. Of course his other friends are great, but you actually took the time to try and understand his passions. Like forensic science. 
“I miss you guys too. It’s been a while.”
“Well, hey. We’re actually all getting together tonight at my place. Nothing big. Just a bonfire and a couple beers. You should stop by,” John B says.
“Yeah,” Pope says, immediately getting hopeful that you’ll show up. 
Your smile falters. The invite makes your heart swell and your lungs contract. It’s an invite you’ve been wanting for three years. And now that you have it, you don’t know what to say. It’d be different if it was just the four of you like old times. But now there’s Kie and Sarah and although you have nothing against them, you’re afraid they won’t accept you. The thought of your boys picking them over you terrifies you. 
“Okay. Yeah, sure. I’ll try to swing by later.” 
Pope smiles wide and looks at his friend to see his reaction. John B grins and nods, almost impressed that you had agreed. But he saw the twitch in your lips when the question was asked. 
“Great. I guess we’ll see you later then.” 
You nod. “Okay. Bye guys.”
You suck in a deep breath when the fresh air outside of Heyward’s store brushes over you. Your heart thumps wildly with both excitement and nerves when you’re finally able to collect your thoughts. You don’t know what you’ll do tonight, but the possibilities can change your entire summer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
You spent the rest of the day mopping up the cafe’s basement and rearranging the shelves. You smelled of sweat and coffee grounds by the time you were done and dreamt of the shower you would be taking when you got home. 
Rory drove you home after the two of you closed up the cafe for the day. Neither of you said much. Rory was exhausted from running around behind the counter and you were too busy thinking about whether you’d go back to the place you used to call your second home.
You took a longer shower than usual, still pondering what your night would be like. Your head was telling you to stay home but your heart pulled you in the direction of the Cut. You yearned to hear about what the future held for Pope, and listen to John B retell stories of when you were kids, and be able to stare into JJ’s bright blue eyes without him noticing. 
You changed into a pair of jean shorts and a plain red cropped tank. Rory walks into your room as your brushing out your hair and looks at you as if you lost your mind.
“Are you out of your mind? You can’t wear that,” She says.
You brows scrunch together in confusion. “What are you talking about? I wear shit like this all the time.”
“Not to the Country Club, you don’t.” That’s when it hits you. Today’s been so hectic, you forgot what day it was. “It’s Sunday.”
Sunday dinner at the Country Club is now a weekly commitment forced upon you by your grandparents. Each week, your mom, sister, and you are forced to spend one dinner with your grandma and grandpa. This is basically your mom’s payment back for sending you and Rory to Kook Academy. Only they actually pay for the dinner. It’s usually the longest two hours of your entire week. It’s hard to listen to your grandfather rant about Real Estate and your grandma slyly critique your mother in almost every aspect of her life. 
“Shit. I completely forgot,” You say.
“Well, you better change. We’re leaving in about five minutes,” Rory says then plucks a gold necklace from your dresser. “Oh and can I wear this tonight?”
You sigh. “Sure.”
You change into a baby blue wrap around dress and pin your wet hair into a half up half down due. It’s gonna have to work for the limited time you have to get ready. After applying a thin layer of makeup to look the least bit presentable, you meet your mom and sister by the front door.
“Finally,” Your mom says when she sees you. 
“Sorry. I didn’t realize it was Sunday.”
“It’s okay, honey. I just don’t think I can handle another late remark from Mom today.” She looks you up and down and grins. “You look great.”
Despite the many fiery fights you and your mom can have, she is also your best friend. It’s kind of like a love hate relationship. Steve says it’s because you’re exactly like your mom - almost like a sixteen year old version of her. 
You really hope that isn’t true. You’re not ready to have a kid in two years. 
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
Your grandparents are already sitting at a round table in the corner of the country club by the two tall windows that reach up to the ceiling with a view looking out into the golf course. The best seat in the house for the richest a holes on the island. 
“Lorelai,” Your grandmother grins, but you can instantly tell it’s sarcastic. “Did you have to walk here?”
You speak up before your mom could. “Sorry Grandma. It’s my fault we’re late.”
Your grandparents are hard on your mom but easier on you and Rory, especially Rory.
“Well, you’re here now,” Your grandpa says. He’s usually the mediator between your mom and grandma. Although he’s usually sucks at it. “Sit. Sit.”
Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, JJ shuffles through his many coworkers with his apron in one hand and a piece of fried calamari from Miss Carol’s appetizer in the other. 
“JJ -” She scolds and slaps his hand away from going in for a second piece. 
“Good evening Miss Carol,” JJ smirks and makes his way to the area between the kitchen and dining room where most of the servers and bust boys hang out. Some of the boys slap him on the back or shove him by the shoulder, chuckling to themselves. “What’s going on boys? Busy crowd?”
“What are you doing here? You never work Sundays,” His friend, Mitch, says. 
Luke Maybank was behind on several bills - worse than it’s ever been. They already shut off their electricity and JJ wanted to make sure the water wouldn’t be next. 
But JJ shrugs nonchalantly. “Little extra dough can't hurt.”
“Well, you picked a good day,” Raymond walks up to the blonde, rolling his sleeves. “You got Kook Royalty and their Hybrid offsprings in your section.” 
“What?” JJ looks through the small square Plexiglas on the swinging door. He knows exactly where to look and immediately sees you sitting with King and Queen Kook, looking absolutely miserable, pushing around your food with your fork. 
“Damn, Maybank. Almost broke your neck - you turned so fast.”
“Shut up, Easterling. I was just seeing how crowded we were,” JJ lied. He really just wanted to see if you were here. And now that he sees you are, he’s a little nervous to do his own damn job.
Raymond Easterling chuckles. “Yeah, I know what you were looking at. But don’t get your hopes up. There’s a reason Kooks call that girl the Heart Sucker. Not even the high and powerful JJ Maybank could get a piece of that.”
The guys around JJ and Raymond chuckle and nod in agreement, hearing the stories of how you’d reject every single guy that’s ever asked you out. Sometimes you’d go on a few dates, trying to push yourself out of your comfort zone, but then things would quickly become too much, and you’d get overwhelmed. 
JJ didn’t like the way Raymond talked about you or how the others laughed at your expense. His hands clenched into fists, tempted to throw a punch in Ray’s cocky face.  The guy’s just being a jerk because he’s one of the guys that got rejected by you, he thought. 
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” JJ shakes his head and ties his apron around his waist to distract his hands.
“No?” Raymond challenges him. “You think I’m wrong? You think you could pull the infamous Hybrid over there?”
JJ glances back through the window. You’re looking at your grandma with a clearly forced grin. You’re twirling your hair between your fingers, a habit you picked up when you were little to do when you’re bored. JJ would find you doing that in school all the time. 
You’re gorgeous, he thought. It’s no wonder that almost every guy on this island has tried to make a pass on you, including JJ himself, but his remarks always come off as playful, afraid of actually telling you how he feels about you. His fantasies about you went further than just getting you between the sheets. He could picture getting married, having children, and growing old together. Years ago, the two of you would talk about your future. Neither one of you cared about money or fancy jobs. All you wanted was to be free - of this island, of each other’s families, of responsibilities placed on you from birth. You hold the same values as JJ, and he’s never met another person like you. 
But JJ has a hard exterior. No one other than his best friends know his true heart, and he wasn’t going to let someone like Raymond Easterling find out about his soft spot for you. He would never hear the end of it.
JJ looks at you one last time. You’re talking to Rory, your face in his direction. This time you’re smiling, probably discussing something other than your grandparent’s expectations of you. He’d kill to see that smile every single day.
What’s the worst that could happen? You reject him? Yeah, that might kill JJ inside, but maybe you’d still be his friend, or continue to be acquaintances like you are now. As long as he gets to see you, he’d be okay. There was always the future. But who knows? Maybe you’d say yes? He’ll never know unless he tries. Right?
JJ fakes the same cocky grin that Raymond wears. “I haven’t failed yet.”
The guys around him whistle and shake their heads with smiles. 
“All right, Maybank. Let’s make a bet. I’ll give you one hundred dollars to get Y/N Y/L/N in the sack by the fourth of July.”
JJ scoffs. “You like giving away free money?” He ignored his racing heart at the thought of being that intimate with you.
Raymond nods. “Okay. Let’s put your money where your mouth is. Get her to say ‘I love you’ by the end of the season and I’ll raise you an extra hundred and cover all your dishwasher shifts in September.”
JJ raises his brows with surprise. No one offers to take the dishwashing shift. Sometimes the boys are pulled back there when the kitchen is short staffed and it’s easily one of the worst jobs at the Club.
This bet was almost too good of an opportunity to pass up. “Deal.” JJ says.
The boys shake hands on it and the other guys whisper to each other about how intrigued they are to see this play out.
JJ wipes his sweaty palms against his apron and pushes the door open to approach your table, hoping he can hear you over his thudding heart. 
“Good evening folks. May I take those empty plates out of your way?”
You look up at the voice you know so well and a smile raises on your lips. JJ meets your eyes and he winks at you, splattering your heart in flutters. 
“Please.” Your grandmother pushes her plate away from her, stuffed with filet and red wine.
“JJ,” Your mom grins up at him. Growing up, your mom always had a soft spot for the blonde Pogue. She’s heard the stories about his father, mostly from Steve, who actually grew up with Luke Maybank, his cousin. As a child, he was sent to live with Luke Maybank and his single father. Lets just say, he’s not surprised by the way Luke turned out. “Look at you. You’re all grown up now. Last time I saw you, Y/N was still pushing your head in the sand for stealing her popsicle.”
“Yeah. I quickly learned no one should mess with Y/N and her food,” JJ says.
“Never stopped you though,” You smirk at him.
“Lorelai. Who is this?” Your grandma asks, disregarding the boy himself.
“Mom,” Lorelai gives her mom a warning look. “This is JJ Maybank. He went to school with Y/N and Rory.” Lorelai knew to play it safe with her wording. She didn’t know where you and JJ stood. It’s been so long since you’ve seen him and she knew better than to ask. 
“Nice to meet you,” JJ says politely. “I’d shake your hand but mine are kinda full.” He motions to the plates in his hand.
“That’s quite all right.” Your grandma’s smile is so forced, it makes you uncomfortable. 
“I won’t hold you up. Has your server been around with the dessert menu?” JJ looks at you. “We have chocolate cake tonight.”
Heat rushes up your neck. Not because of the cake itself but because JJ remembered your favorite dessert. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate sprinkles. It was safe to save you were a choco-holic. The boys use to make it for you every year for your birthday. It usually came out burnt, none of them ever remembering how to properly make it. But it was all you needed to feel like a very special girl. 
“Your favorite,” Rory elbows you.
Your grandma cringes. “Sounds like diabetes on a plate.”
“Mom,” Lorelai scolds. 
“What?” She asks, not understanding the concept of a filter.
Now heat rushes to your cheeks for an entire different reason. “He did. We’re not doing dessert tonight. Thank you, though.”
JJ nods but feels disappointed by the way your face flinched at your grandmother’s comment. 
“My pleasure,” He says like he was taught to do and excuses himself to drop the plates off in the back before he can say anything else that would probably get him fired.
Your mom looks at your with raised brows. “He’s cute, honey.”
“Lorelai, please. He’s the busboy,” Your grandma says.
“He’s a good kid, Mom.”
“If you’ll excuse me,” You stand up. “I have to use the restroom.”
Rory gives you a knowing grin as you walk away from the table. When you walk into the hallway between the dining area and the front lobby, you immediately feel like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders. Sometimes just the presence of your grandparents and their pompous judgements can be suffocating. You do your best to bite your tongue around them, excusing yourself when you feel yourself getting heated. 
JJ catches a glimpse of your light blue dress out of the corner of his eye when he rounds the corner to collect the plates off a different table. He looks over his shoulder at Raymond, who’s staring at the blonde watching you, and winks.
“Hey, Y/N,” JJ says, walking up to you.
You look up from your phone and immediately smile. “Hey. I was actually hoping I’d catch you out here.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” You nervously tuck a piece of hair behind your ear. “I’m sorry about my grandmother. She can be...”
JJ shakes his head. “Hey. It’s okay. I work for Kooks almost every single day. I’m use to it.”
You sigh. “That doesn’t make me feel any better.”
“Don’t apologize for something you can’t control,” JJ says. “Besides, that’s probably the nicest she’s ever been to me.”
You hide your face in your hands. “Stop. You’re making it worse.”
JJ laughs and takes your wrists in his hands, slowly pulling them away from your face. Your eyes shoot up to his, immediately feeling a tingling feeling run through your skin, straight to your heart. 
“It’s okay. I promise,” He says softly. His voice is so sincere that you have no other option but to believe him. It almost makes your feel guiltier, wondering how much bullshit he’s been through with ungrateful Kooks that it’s so easy for him to forgive and forget.
“Okay,” Your voice is a whisper, taken off guard by how close he is to you and how he still hasn't let go of your hands. 
In that same moment, JJ realizes he’s still holding you and gently removes his hands. He coughs awkwardly and scratches the back of his neck, where sweat begins to bubble. Why is he so nervous?
“So um...” You say, suddenly feeling nervous too. “You going to John B’s tonight?”
JJ’s eyes shoot up in surprise. How did you know that? “Yeah. I’m heading over there after work.”
“I saw him and Pope at Heywards earlier today and they invited me over. I wasn’t sure if I should come or not.”
“Why wouldn’t you?”
Because it’s different now, you wanted to say. But you didn’t because you feel like the elephant in the room would only grow. And you didn’t want to admit you were nervous to meet Kie and Sarah outside of school. 
You shrug. “I don’t know.”
“You should definitely come. The boys miss you.”
You pretend like a little piece of your heart didn’t just break when JJ didn’t say ‘we.’ 
“What time do you get off of work?”
“Around 9ish.”
You nod. “I can pick you up if you’d like and we could go together?”
Your heart races after you suggest it. What if he says no? Why were you feeling this way? This is the same kid you use to make fun of for pouring milk into his bowl before his cereal. 
“Yeah. That’d be perfect.”
“Great!” Your phone pings with a text from Rory, telling you that your grandparents are wondering where you are. “Shit. I have to get back. I’ll see you at nine?”
“See you then,” JJ nods and turns back to the kitchen. When his eyes meet Raymond’s, he’s reminded of what he agreed to. Almost surprised how quickly he forgot about it. You were able to take his mind off of anything without even trying. He clears his throat to get rid of the giddy grin he was wearing after talking to you, wanting to look tough and casual in front of his coworker. “Easy.” He says to him. But that felt anything but easy. He could vomit with nerves.
“There’s still plenty of time for you to screw up, Maybank.”
JJ huffs. He’s not wrong. 
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
You drive up to the front of the country club and park in front of the main entrance. It’s 8:57. You’re early and will look eager. So you wait until 9:06 to text him that you’re here.
You changed into a pair of dark washed denim shorts, a yellow cropped tube top, a grey flannel, and navy converse. You changed your outfit about four times before deciding on your first one, not wanting to look too casual or too dressed up. 
For the last three years, you wondered when the four of you would get back together as a group. You wondered if it would ever happen. And now that two Kooks are involved, you feel more nervous than excited.
You jump when the passenger seat door opens, lost in the depth of your own head. JJ smiles, not seeing your reaction.”Cool ride,” he says and looks around the interior. 
“Thanks,” you say, pulling out into the road.
“I got you something,” JJ says.
You glance at him with furrowed brows. What could he have possibly gotten you since you saw him last? A book mark from the Country Club’s gift shop?
JJ reaches into his backpack and pulls out a plate with clear wrap around it. Your mouth drops when you see the chocolate cake on a plate in his hands, the smell immediately hitting your nose with pure delight.
“You saved me a piece?” You jump in your seat excitedly.
“Had to hide it good too or else Miss Carol would have had my ass handed to me,” JJ jokes and even pulls out two forks. He undoes the wrapping and cuts off a piece. He waits until you hit a stop sign and says, “Open up.”
You look at him and immediately open your mouth. He gently places the fork between your lips and you take the piece of cake off with your teeth. Like a baby.
Your eyes close with pure pleasure. “Oh my god. That’s amazing.”
“Miss Carol does know how to bake a mean cake,” JJ says and takes a bite of his own.
“Another one,” You say, glancing at the cake again. Like you said, choco-holic. “Please.” You say when JJ teases you by holding the fork away from you.
JJ laughs. “I like hearing you beg.”
You slap him in the arm with the back of your hand. “In your dreams, Maybank.”
“You got that right, Y/L/N.”
The two of you finish the cake with only a few bites each. Small but rich in chocolate that leaves you craving more. You were gonna have to meet this Miss Carol woman. 
After he puts the plate back in his bag, JJ reaches for the aux cord, but you quickly slap his hand away. “Hey. What do you think you’re doing?”
“You’re seriously gonna make me listen to this the entire way to John B’s?”
You scoff. “I’ll have you know Blink-182 is one of my favorite bands.”
“It’s also soccer moms’ favorite band,” JJ laughs at you.
You turn up the volume, blasting ‘All the Small Things’ and point to your ear. “Sorry. Can’t hear you!”
JJ rolls his eyes but laughs along with you, even bopping his head to the beat. You drive with the windows down, dancing and singing along to a bunch of throwback songs with JJ as if the two of you have been doing this forever. 
You pull up to John B’s and park behind his dad’s old van, better known as The Twinkie. When you turn down the music, JJ looks at you with a shake in his head. “Next time, I’m driving.”
“What was wrong with my driving?”
“We’re in the Outer Banks, Sparky, not NASCAR.”
You scoff and follow behind JJ who’s leading the way up John B’s driveway. As you get closer, you smell the smoky scent of a bonfire nearby and eventually hear John B’s laugh mixed in with a female’s. Your smile falters as nerves gather in the pit of your stomach. 
“What’s wrong?” JJ asks.
“Nothing,” You say, but JJ easily catches your lie and gives you a knowing look. “What if they don’t like me?”
“Who? Pope and John B? I’m pretty sure they like you more than me even after three years -”
“Not them, you idiot,” You shove him playfully by the shoulder as you two let yourselves inside. “Sarah and Kie.”
“Don’t you go to school with them?”
“Yeah, but we don’t talk,” You say quietly, not wanting them to hear you.
“Hm.”
“What?” JJ shrugs. “Nothing. I just didn’t think you cared about what other people thought.”
“I don’t,” You say quickly. “But they're your best friends. It’s different.”
“You don’t need their approval. You technically were here first.”
“Yeah, but I’ve been replaced,” You try to say it as a joke and even throw a smirk in there. 
But JJ stops in his track and looks at you seriously. “No one can replace you. Not even if they tried.”
You open your mouth to respond, but you’re at a loss for words. It’s not a common occurrence that JJ gets all serious on you. Warmth covers you like a blanket and the longer he holds your stare, the weaker your knees become. 
“JJ! Is that you?” John B calls out from the backyard.
“Yeah,” JJ yells back. He opens the fridge in John B’s kitchen. “Want a beer?” He offers to you.
You shake your head. “No thanks.”
For the first time, you take in John B’s home. It looks the same as it did three years ago, only a lot messier. The pull out couch looks like its been used recently with blankets and sheets tossed about on it. Empty beer cans and cigarette butts are thrown messily on the coffee tables and the air smells faintly of old marijuana. 
JJ leads you out to the back where four people are gathered around a fire. Three out of the four immediately smile when the two of you approach them, but Kie’s eyes narrow and her head tilts with confusion.
Shit, you think. 
“You came!” Pope laughs and hops up from his beach chair and embraces you in a hug.
You laugh, not expecting the embrace, but welcoming it all the same. John B’s next, giving you a quick hug and shaking his head.
“I gotta say, I didn’t think you were going to come,” John B says.
“You can thank me for that later,” JJ says jokingly.
“Actually when I heard JJ was coming, I almost changed my mind and stayed home,” You joke and smirk JJ’s way.
“Just like old times,” Pope says, looking between you and the blonde. The banter felt like the yall never separated in the first place. 
“Hey, you know Sarah and Kie, right?” John B points to the girls. Sarah stands up to say hi, and eventually Kie follows her, not wanting to look rude, but stays off to the side, keeping her distance.
“Yeah,” You wave awkwardly. 
“Hey!” Sarah says sweetly. “I didn’t realize you guys use to all hang out.”
“Y/N grew up down the street,” JJ explains and sips at his beer. 
“You want a drink or something?” Pope asks you, not knowing JJ already did.
“No thank you,” You say again.
“You don’t drink?” Kie asks. It was the first thing she’s said to you.
“Not usually,” You say and hold her stare. You try to get a read on her, but she’s had to get a tell on. You can’t tell if she just doesn’t like you or just doesn’t know you. Either way, it makes you uneasy. 
“Here, I’ll go grab you a chair,” Pope says and walks to the side of the house to grab another beat up beach chair. 
As the night goes on, you feel the tension in your shoulders loosen and your body feel lighter. Most of the night was spent retelling childhood stories the four of you shared. Sarah would laugh at most of them, occasionally rolling her eyes at her boyfriend from the stupid shit he would do, although it sounds like he’s no different to you now. 
You talked about the time you and JJ stole a golf cart for a joy ride on Figure Eight, or when you and John B pranked Pope by putting a dead fish in his locker, or how you and John B learned how to play guitar from youtube tutorials. 
Midnight came around quickly and exhaustion was slowly taking over your body. It’s been a long day between the cafe flooding, dinner with your grandparents, and now this. 
JJ was the first to notice you slowly fading. 
“You okay?” He asks you quietly as everyone else is caught up in conversation. 
“Yeah,” You say, lazily grinning at him. 
“We can leave if you want,” He says.
“You’re not staying?” You ask. It sounded like everyone was planning to spend the night here. And as much as you wanted to, you just didn’t feel comfortable enough yet. 
JJ shrugs. “My dad’s out of town tonight. It’ll be nice to have the house to myself.” Before you can say anything, he stands and brushes his hands against his pants. “All right, losers. We’re out of here.”
“Aw, you’re leaving?” Sarah pouts.
“Yeah, I’m beat and Y/N’s my ride home,” JJ says.
You were glad he didn’t call you out for being tired. You didn’t want to look lame in front of everybody, especially Kie.
“Thanks for having me,” You say to everyone. It might have been John B’s house, but it was everyone’s night you intruded on.
John B stands up to hug you. “Don’t be a stranger, okay?”
You nod. “I won’t. I promise.”
Pope hugs you next. “Text me when you get back safe.”
“I will.”
“Bye!” Sarah waves and Kie exhales a ring of smoke from her blunt.
You wave at them before following JJ back to your car. 
“Nuh-uh-uh,” JJ says. You didn’t realize you both walked to the driver’s side.
“What? No.”
JJ nods and holds his hands out for your keys. “I’m not dying tonight.” 
“You’ve been drinking and smoking all night,” You say. You didn’t think JJ was drunk or even that high, but you were not going to let a teenager with an ounce of alcohol in his system get behind the wheel. “Next time. For now, hold on to the cupholder.”
JJ sighs dramatically and goes to the other side of the car and hops in the passenger seat. 
This time you keep the music quiet, listening to the hum of the radio instead of your phone. 
“Take a left,” JJ says.
“JJ, I know where you live. And it’s not left.”
“Don’t you trust me?” 
You snicker. “Not in the slightest.”
JJ rolls his eyes. “Just take the left.”
You hold your hands up in surrender and take the left turn. He directs you for a couple more miles until he has you park in front of a 24 hour diner. 
“What are we doing here?” You ask.
“I’m in the mood for a milkshake.”
“We just had cake!” You say.
“Come on, Sparky. Show me what that mouth can do,” JJ smirks. 
You go to hit him again but he takes off running to the front entrance and pulls the door open. You chase after him, almost running into his back at the front host stand where JJ safely smirks at you in triumph.
“Two please,” He says to the hostess. 
The old cranky woman leads you to a booth off to the side next to a window without a word. 
A couple minutes later, a waitress walks by and asks if you’re ready to order. 
“Yes. One chocolate milkshake and one black and white milkshake,” JJ orders for both of you, already knowing what flavor you’d want.
“And fries, please.” You say. The waitress nods, takes your menus, and walks off. JJ raises his brow at the extra order. “What?” You shrug. “Just showing you what my mouth can do.”
JJ scoffs. “What a tease.” 
You playfully kick his shin under the table.
“Did you have fun tonight?” JJ asks.
“Yeah,” You answer. “Felt like old times. The girls are nice too.”
You were about to only mention Sarah, but you didn’t want to cause any issues with Kie. Not yet at least. Maybe she just needed time to warm up to you.
“See? I told you they wouldn’t bite.”
A couple minutes later, the waitress comes back with your milkshakes and fries. 
“How’s John B doing? You know, with the whole Big John thing?” You ask delicately, unsure of how JJ would react to you pestering about John B’s business. “I didn’t want to ask and bring the mood down,” You explain yourself although you don’t need to.
JJ shrugs. “He’s in denial I think. Won’t sign a death certificate until he sees a body. He could be worse, though.”
“Yeah,” You say softly. You don’t know what you would do if you were in that situation. In a way you felt lucky that you never knew your dad at all. It would be harder to lose him, knowing who he was.
You take a fry and dip it into your milkshake before taking a bite. This makes JJ freeze and look at you like you have two heads. 
“What?” You say with your mouth full.
“I can’t believe you just did that.”
“Don’t knock it till you try it,” You say and give him a look to do it.
JJ reluctantly picks up the fry and dunks it into his milkshake. He looks at the fry questioningly before popping it into his mouth. Somehow the sweetness of the milkshake and the saltiness of the french fry complement each other beautifully and his widen in pleasant surprise. 
“Oh wow,” JJ says.
“Told you,” You smirk.
You spend the next hour catching up, trying to fit the last three years into an hour. JJ does most of the talking because you want to know more about what John B, Pope, and JJ have been up to. Your life was so boring and depressing, you didn’t want to bore JJ with the details.
You drive JJ home and talk for a few minutes more when you park. He seems to be procrastinating getting out of the car, but you don’t mind. You could talk to him all night, suddenly not feeling tired anymore.
“All right. I’ll let you get home before the sun rises,” He says and opens the door. He pauses when his feet hit the ground and he looks back at you. “What are you doing tomorrow?”
“I have to work at the shop, why?”
“Well, there’s a storm coming in. John B and I might go out to surf the surge before it hits. You still surf?”
You scoff. “Do I still surf?”
JJ holds his hands up in surrender. “Just checking. You think you can handle the surge?”
“Let’s not forget who the better surfer is, JJ.”
“I didn’t. It’s still me.”
“You wish.”
“So I’ll see you tomorrow?”
Now you have a point to prove. You have to show JJ that you’re still the better surfer. 
“I'll see you tomorrow,” You agree. 
“Great, it’s a date.” He winks and shuts the door before you can tell him otherwise. 
You giggle to yourself as JJ walks up the front yard and stay there until he you see he gets in safely. 
You pull out of the driveway, wishing he had asked you out on a real date. One that didn’t involve John B.
Tag list: @super-funky-bisexual​ @sunsetswithjj​ @moniamaybank​ @throwawayfish​ @poguestyle17​ @5am-cigarette​ @jjpouggues​ @fly-away-from-here​ @buckys2thicc​
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aching-tummies · 3 years
Note
(Not exactly sure if I'm really doing this right but here we go.) If I was your partner... I'd take you someplace nice and encourage you to eat whatever you want. After a large meal I'd be the one to drive home, as your complaining of an upset stomach. Wanting a reaction, I'd take you down the secluded, bumpy road to see what happens.
A/N: Thanks for the lovely ask! I kind of deviated a little, incorporating some of what's been going on in my life lately (new job, stresses causing me to skip meals, the craving for pasta, etc.) The beginnings of this do delve into spiraling about weight(loss) and body image stuff a little...so if that's a trigger for people then this is your warning.
It’s been more than two years since we indulged in dine-in service at a place with non-disposable cutlery. I’ve been craving pasta for even longer than that. Creamy, garlic-y, non-reheated pasta served on a plate and twirled around a metal fork.
We haven’t taken any opportunities to celebrate for the last two years. Birthdays, holidays, promotions at work or major advancements in our career adventures—we’ve barely done anything more than acknowledge them as we both go to pick up extra shifts wherever it is that we have been working. Honestly, we’ve seen so little of each other that it wouldn’t surprise either of us if the other snuck in a job-change in the last two years. That all changes tonight.
A nearby pasta place is offering dine-in service. We booked a reservation for tonight—all you have to do is pick me up from work and we can head on over.
I’m the one that managed to sneak in a job-change in the craziness. Fast-food to office intern. I’m barely handling things. I’ve been beyond exhausted because the change happened suddenly. The office place demanded that I start with them on a whim (despite my only condition on hiring being the time to give my fast-food job the proper two week notice). Due to their abrupt “start now or we will move ahead with other candidates” ultimatum, I’ve been pulling 44+ hour weeks juggling two jobs located on opposite ends of the city.
Tonight is a celebration. Dine-in service by itself is already something to celebrate in my books, but you’re insisting that tonight is for me because I finally finished my dues to the fast-food place. The hellish four weeks of juggling is over. No more calls at midnight from me begging you to pick me up from some random quadrant of the city because I nodded off on the last bus home. No more days where I make it home from my office job only to get an urgent call from the fast-food place begging/demanding that I show up because someone cut work. No more packed weeks with no days off or time to even pack myself lunch. Hopefully no more nights where you have to peel me off of the floor because making it home was all I managed before passing out from exhaustion.
I’ve got an hour before you’re set to come pick me up from my office job. I can’t help but smile as I count down the minutes while working on editing some funding proposal that was shoved at me a couple of minutes ago.
My stomach grumbles at me and I clam up. I blush as I look around to ensure nobody heard it. The office is basically empty. All the other staff seem to have gone off to lunch. That’s something I’m going to have to get used to: the fact that there doesn’t seem to be a set schedule here…people head out to lunch whenever. As a petrified newbie, I haven’t had the guts to just take off whenever. The number of shifts where I’ve stayed here for a full eight hours and then navigated an hour and a half of transit transfers only to come home ravenous is pretty high.
Welp, if a stomach growls and nobody is here to hear it then I guess it doesn’t make a sound. I’ve got an hour left before you come to pick me up and we’re basically just two hours away from satisfying my years long pasta craving. Going out to hunt for food now would only spoil my appetite.
“I AM HERE!”
I giggle at the reference and accompanying gif you’ve sent to announce your arrival. I pack up my area and get up, saying ‘bye’ to Jerry on my way out. The second I walk out that door will mark the start of my days off for the week, something I haven’t had in over a month.
“Hi, sweetie!” I chirp as I open the passenger door and bend over to set down my bag.
As I settle in, folding myself into the car, the movements dislodge a deep rumble from my tummy. I freeze, arm still reaching out to close the door. You snicker at me with your left arm perched on your open window, fingers close to your face and highlighting that charming grin of yours that I love so much.
“Oi, close the door and we can get going.”
I do just that. With the door closed, you carefully back out of the parking space and off we go. We don’t get very far. Ah, the joys of rush hour. No use honking, Karen, you’re not ‘stuck in traffic’—you are traffic and there’s no manager for you to speak to here, moron!
I adjust my seat a little, leaning back and allowing myself to relax. I’ve done it. Tomorrow is a day off. And so is the next day. My first true weekend in over three years and my first days off in over three weeks. I can feel the tension ebbing out of me. My shoulders untense, leaving behind a distinct soreness.
My shoulders aren’t the only thing to stop tensing. Apparently, my abdominals decided to join in as well.
Grrr…RRRR…blr.br…rrr.
I blush and sit up, arms wrapping around my stomach as it continues to snarl at me. The growls come with the sharp pains of hunger pangs and I wince, hugging my tummy and pressing my arms against the pain. The grumbles are quickly drowned out by your laughter.
“Man, no wonder you say your coworkers don’t talk to you here. If I heard that coming from a newbie I’d be scared of ‘em too.”
“S-Shut up!” I don’t want to admit that my tummy has been growling very loudly at the office. I’ve skipped more lunches than I’ve eaten in my time here. I lean back in the seat again, arms crossed over my chest as I look away from you, pouting. I’m hungry enough that my stomach really hurts, I’m a panicking newbie at work that doesn’t know the ropes or what’s expected of them, and here you are teasing me.
Your right hand reaches over but instead of stopping on the shift stick it continues further until your palm finds my stomach. The gentle pressure and the warmth of your palm nudging right over where my stomach joins my intestines aids in the relaxation of my tensed muscles and brings forth another loud grumble from my guts. You move your hand slightly, patting and rubbing my flat tummy absentmindedly as you keep the rest of you focused on traffic.
“You’ve lost weight.”
“Y-Yeah…” I don’t want to admit that I’m happy about it. My waistband was loose enough to fall to my thighs before I put my belt on this morning. I love it but you and I both know weight and eating are sore subjects for me. I bite my tongue to keep from asking whether or not you think the weight loss is a good thing or not. Your tone was flat—it was an observation. The fact that I’ve been too busy and stressed out to have time to eat (or digest properly when I do) has led to the rapid shedding of pounds. Not just in the last three or four weeks, but for a long time yet. The reasons for the weight loss aren’t good…but I really do like the results, so I don’t want to hear it from you…good or bad…I don’t want to hear it. Thankfully, you don’t push the issue. Traffic picks up and you remove your hand from my stomach and put it back on the wheel.
My stomach continues to gripe and snarl as we make our way through the city at a crawl. I no longer have work to distract me and your impromptu massage has definitely woken the beast in my guts. ‘Starving’ doesn’t even begin to cover how my stomach feels. I’m starting to feel the other effects of the lack of food too. Light-headedness, feeling cold, and a limpness in my limbs. I want to press my arms into my stomach to quell some of the ache and the noises but I just can’t seem to summon the strength to put enough pressure on it. I wish you had kept your hand on my tummy. As much as your touch intensified the hunger, the pressure of your hand on my stomach was kind of comforting. Ugh…this is all wrong. We’ve been together long enough to know that both of us are into tummy stuff. Any other opportunity we’d be all over each other right now. Your mention of the weight I’ve lost and the silence that has followed since is filling me with anxiety. Under normal circumstances you’d have parked the car somewhere to tease my hungry tummy into oblivion. The fact that we’re currently driving in silence when there’s a golden kink opportunity in the palm of our hands is worrisome to me. Suddenly I don’t feel so good about the weight I’ve lost. I like it. It made me look totally bomb in my new office clothes. Buttons don’t strain even when I bend over or stretch. I spend the rest of the car ride lost in my anxieties. I’m not at an unhealthy weight. Sure, losing it is a testament of the stress I’ve been under lately…but it’s not like I’ve been intentionally skipping meals or fixating on some unachievable body image or something. This isn’t about the weight or anything, it was just a happy consequence of the hectic times I’ve gone through.
We arrive at the restaurant and you get out, expecting me to follow. I’ve managed to work myself into a ball of anxiety in the passenger seat and I don’t move. You pause on the sidewalk when you see me still strapped inside the car. You walk over and open the passenger door.
“Babe?” You see me petrified and chewing on my lip—a tell-tale sign I’m fighting some internal battle. “What’s wrong?” You cup my cheek with your hand, thumb going to pull my lower lip away from my teeth.
“Huh? Wha?” My gaze sharpens as I’m brought back to reality. I didn’t even realize we’ve arrived.
“What’re you thinking about?”
“Uhm…w-well…y-you said…n-nevermind.” I unbuckle the seatbelt and step out of the car. You frown as you think back on what I meant about you having said something.
“Oh, about the weight loss?” I freeze. Bingo. “Babe—I didn’t mean anything by it, honest. Just an observation.” You scratch at the back of your head. “You’ve been under a lot of stress lately and gosh knows neither of us has had time to cook or pack lunches. I was just thinking that maybe we should work on that together. Going hungry so often sounds like a dream, kink-wise…but neither of us has had time for that lately. I was going to suggest creating a mealplan or something together, maybe bringing out the slow cooker and freezing some stuff so that we can just grab and go for work going forward.” I stumble over and rest my head on your shoulder, giving a slight nod.
I’m overwhelmed. One thing you said sent me spiraling and you just pulled me out of it.
“Ugh…don’t do that again.”
You smirk. “I won’t. Rather than think yourself into a hole over that, you should really think about what it is you want to eat. We’re ordering off the full menu tonight.”
My eyes widen. The full menu has more selection but it’s way more expensive. Every time we’ve come here in the past, we have always ordered off the specials menu—the discounted, half-size portions that they offer. You smile seeing my stunned reaction.
“Birthdays, holidays—and Sweets, you got a job! You got a job where you don’t have to deal with the dreaded ‘customer’. I’m proud of you, Sweets. This…this is supposed to be a celebration…right? For all the celebrating we haven’t been able to do in…damn, how long has it been—” Your rambling is cut off when I seal your lips with mine. I step back with a grin, watching the dumbfounded, wide-eyed expression pass over to you ‘cuz I’m usually the no-kissy-touchy type.
“Chicken parm with garlic, angel-hair pasta in cream sauce.” I know exactly what I want to order. I’ve known it for over two years. That dish has been taunting me in my dreams for over two years. When I chew on my pillow in my sleep ‘cuz I skipped dinner in lieu of sleep I’m dreaming about that dish. The last time I had it from here was with my parents—long before I met you—for a birthday when I was still in grade school. My stomach growls, punctuating my declaration. The sound shocks you out of your reverie and you slide an arm around my waist, resting your palm against my stomach as you feel all the empty rumbles reverberating beneath your palm.
“Alright. Guess we better walk in before they give away our table…or before you decide it’s quicker just to eat me here in the parking lot.”
Ugh…how am I already full? There’s still so much food on the plate. So, so much. Urrgh…
My stomach silently gripes at me. A sickly, sticky feeling is blooming in my guts. I’m sated but there is still far too much food on my plate. The full menu is more expensive, but they fill the plate up more and often use bigger plates. I’ve forgotten just how big, and my tummy is suffering. Two years is a long time to go without something and I’ve gone without fulfilling my craving for pasta in cream sauce for over two years, maybe even three. That’s a long time…long enough for my stomach to forget how to handle cream sauce, apparently.
I’ve only swallowed about a fifth of my plate and my stomach already feels heavy. The warm bread to start and the bites of chicken parmesan cutlet went down alright. They lined my stomach comfortably and my digestive tract knew exactly how to handle them. The first couple of bites of pasta were cushioned by the bread and chicken. When that lining dissolved away and more of the pasta came into contact with my gastric juices, I realized there was a problem.
My stomach pounced on the bites of bread and the water and cola I chased it down with. I could practically feel my duodenum yawning wide to suck in the masticated bread, my intestines just as hungry for it as I have been all day. When it had to contend with the cream sauce things started to slow down. I can feel a backlog of stuff sitting in my stomach, refusing to be broken down further into a form that will comfortably move onto my intestines. I’m chewing a lot more, my mouth creating more saliva. I feel sick. My stomach doesn’t hurt, yet, but it’s definitely going to as it fights with the creamy, oily pasta.
“Ooh…they’ve got tiramisu here.” You’re eyeing the dessert menu. “It’s your favorite, right?”
“Yeah…but it’s expensive and this is a lotta food.”
“We’re supposed to be celebrating, Sweets. We’ll take whatever you don’t finish to-go. Leftovers are a Godsend, remember? C’mon, let’s live a little.”
I feel a weight settle in my stomach as you flag down a passing wait-staff and order a tiramisu. To share, thank God. My stomach churns in vain, serving only to churn up the mess of creamy pasta and chicken without moving it along further in the digestive process. The sphincter to my duodenum is squeezed tight, refusing passage to the foreign cream and oil mix that it doesn’t seem to recognize.
I managed to finish just under half of my plate before the dessert arrived. I decided to throw in the towel and asked for the rest to be packed up to-go. I put on a smile as we share the dessert and hope it’s not as shaky as my guts feel. The dessert is delicious. Rich, flavorful, and perfect. If only I didn’t have to feel it sickeningly sliding down my esophagus, plopping down heavily into a stomach crammed much too full with indigestible pasta. As my stomach clenches and churns things around the creamy tiramisu is going to get incorporated with the rest of the mess. It’s going to make it thicker and creamier…as if it wasn’t already too thick and too creamy for my duodenum to open up and allow it to wreak havoc in my intestines. As sick as my overstuffed stomach feels, I am a little grateful that my duodenum is being a stubborn prick.
If the creamy mess had passed into my intestines, I’d be doubled over in the bathroom right now, rubbing futilely at my revolting intestines. I know what dairy does to my guts. It doesn’t usually happen, just when I’m stressed or it’s close to that time of the month. It’s nasty and it hurts bad enough that I honestly think hell is enduring those cramping intestines for eternity.
We finish the tiramisu. You offer me the lion’s share, but I refuse and push it back to you with a mention on my stomach being really full. I bring my hands to my stomach and I catch the way your eyes smolder at the sight. Good. Yes. Get us home quickly, darling.
You pay for the meal, and we are off. I clutch my tummy behind my bag as we walk out to the car. Every step sends aftershocks into my guts and it’s really upsetting things in my stomach.
As I settle in the passenger seat, I notice the buttons on my blouse are a little bit strained around my stomach. Horror sets in and I quickly fumble to get the buttons undone. I don’t want to ruin my shirt and the sight of the straining buttons triggers something nasty in my mind. I calm down a little once the buttons are undone and I rub my tummy under the cover of my bag, palms running up and down the dark undershirt that is draped snugly over my full belly.
“It’s still early. Want to really paint the town red and see if we can catch a movie somewhere?”
I swallow back a sickly belch to answer your question, my questing hands churning up the mess in my guts and dislodging air pockets.
“Umph…n-no…let’s go home.”
“Sweets, you okay?” Your voice is laced with concern. Surely you can hear the sickly squelching from my guts. Do I have to spell it out for you?
“Hmm? No,” I blush as I fidget and grapple with whether or not to come clean. I’m shy about this kind of stuff—you’re my partner though and have been for a long time—we’re both into tummy stuff—we haven’t done anything on this front in a very long time. Making my decision, I move my back over to the floor, resting it against my shins and I lean back, allowing you full view of my distended tummy with my blouse undone. “I just…uhm…m-my tummy’s kinda…upset…I just really want to get home.” My stomach burbles sickly throughout our conversation. I have both my hands on the rounded curve of it, rubbing at tender spots with my thumbs.
Your eyes widen at the sight of my belly rounding out my undershirt. You start the car and pull out of our stall. Instead of righting the car onto the road you keep backing into a more secluded spot on the far end of the lot. This one is obscured by an overgrown bush or tree on the passenger side.
I haven’t even bothered with getting my seatbelt on. I was too caught up in my indigestion to think of it despite it normally being a habit. To be fair, I don’t think the seatbelt is a good idea with my tummy so bloated and sore.
“What are you—”
You unbuckle your seatbelt and turn in your seat, giving me your full attention. My seat is still reclined a little further than normal from the drive over. Gently, you put a hand on my shoulder, indicating for me not to sit up. Your eyes briefly meet mine and convey your plan before they go back to fixating on my belly.
I relax my arms, letting them rest at my sides as you slide a hand over the crest of my bloated gut. I bite back a groan as the slight pressure of your hand increases the pressure in my intestines. My stomach is packed full with an indigestible mass of creamy pasta. My duodenum is not allowing any of that entry into my intestines so they sit, bloated with air. The ingredients for a very upset tummy are inside of me…they just need a bit of a push to act as a catalyst.
The push comes in the form of a literal push as you place both hands, one on each side of my tummy, and squeeze. I bite back a mewl of pain until the pressure relents and you are sliding your hands all over my taut tummy.
“Oh my…you really are full.”
“Ugh…haven’t…haven’t eaten so much in a long time.” I groan as your hands churn up the mess in my guts. You know what you’re doing. You felt the firmness in my upper left and you know that everything is sitting heavy in my stomach. You focus your massage on my left, on the area where my duodenum is. You rub and nudge and coax at the area, intent on getting the sphincters to unclench and allow my meal to continue to digest.
“Oh…ah!” I can’t help but cry out a little as I feel my duodenum flood with the lumpy mess. A rumbling, wet burble indicates when the sphincter finally gives up and allows the mess in my stomach passage. My stomach acid wasn’t enough to break down the creamy, oily pasta so it’s entering my intestines relatively undigested.
After ten minutes of you massaging my belly, (in)digestion is in full swing. My intestines are filling up with the ache-inducing mass and the straining pressure that started in my stomach has now spread all over my abdomen. You reach over and pull down my seat belt, buckling it before reaching over to get my seat back into an upright position. My stomach cramps sharply with the change in orientation and my mewl of pain is cut off by a harsh belch. You pat my tummy almost teasingly as you right yourself in your seat and start the car.
I don’t bother to keep track of where we are heading. You could be taking me to the movies, intent on letting my indigestion stew for a couple of hours, or you could be driving us home. I don’t care. I can’t care because every ounce of me is focused on the sharp pains exploding all over my guts as the car hits every bump in the road. Damned city not bothering to spend money to fix the thousands of pot-holes in our roads. My stomach is just as vocal as I am about the indigestion.
You brake sharply, causing the seatbelt to dig into my tummy and tear a sharp gasp of pain from me. I see the road ahead of us…it’s not a road at all but literally the worst road in our city. This stretch of road is famous even outside of our city for just how bumpy and nasty it is. People scrape the undercarriage of their cars if they aren’t careful in avoiding the potholes that litter this thing like craters on the moon. People have lost pieces of their cars and done massive damage to their vehicles by driving down this road. People around here know to avoid this road. The alternative is a ten minute detour to take the safer, newer road and everyone agrees that ten minutes more is better than damaging their car on this road so it is always empty.
“Darling, no—”
You floor it, going down the secluded road at a high speed. We hit every bump and hole in the thing (that won’t damage the car)…you used to come down this thing often and you’re a master at navigating it to avoid damage to the vehicle. Damage to my tummy, on the other hand.
My stomach gives off aborted grumbles and gripes, each one interrupted as we hit another bump in the road. My tummy sloshes and churns. Digestion had stalled without your hands pushing everything along, but this new form of “massage” in the form of a very bumpy ride is kick starting things all over again…in the wrong direction. Stuff swirls inside of my stomach and I swear that it’s filling up rather than emptying. The pressure is building in my stomach. I’d like to believe it’s the air from my intestines, but I’m sure we managed to get most of that out with your massage in the parking lot.
"Ugh…ouch…ah—ow! Ungh…my tummy…urp…my tummy…ulp…” I can’t help it. Belches and protests roll through my throat, unchecked. It’s better than the alternative of something solid, I guess. The road has increased the upset tenfold as I clutch my stomach in both hands. The road has dialed the cramping pains up to eleven and many more aches and tender spots have erupted thanks to the bumpy ride. We’re about halfway through the road when I feel something solid tickling at my esophagus.
“Ugh—Babe—STOP!” I reach up and slap a hand over my mouth, fearing that we’re about to see my dinner come back out.
You slam on the brakes and the pressure from the seatbelt is what does it. My mouth fills with the sour mess of barely-digested pasta.
“Ugh…urk…” I swallow back the bile. It’s nasty, but there’s no receptacle and I don’t want to stink up the car. Luckily, this wasn’t a true vomiting session triggered internally—it was basically regurgitation brought on by external factors—like the seatbelt putting too much pressure on my over-packed tummy. My stomach snarls violently at the return of the sickly concoction.
You watch my struggle, fascinated. Reaching over, you put a hand on my palm, a hand that is quickly slapped away as I give you the fiercest glare I can muster.
“None of that until you get me home, darling.”
You grin, exaggerating taking your foot off of the brake pedal. I realize my poor phrasing a moment too late.
“As you command, Sweets.”
“Darling, no—”
53 notes · View notes
mcheang · 4 years
Note
Lila doesn't know that Marinette's parents own the bakery and thinks that she's just an employee. So, she tries getting Mari fired by acting like a Karen, complaining about the service, etc. Or, she just tells the Tom and Sabine about how Mari is a bully at school and other lies. Unbeknownst to Lila, one of her classmates or someone from school overhears and records what Lila said. Tom and Sabine either reveal that they're Mari's parents or she learns at school.
Nickname
I’m not gonna use the phrase “Karen”. It’s kind of sad that this name can also be an insult. I always liked the name ever since watching Mermaid Melody.
Everyone knows Chloé refers to Marinette as “Dupain-Cheng”. But how does Lila learn about it?
One morning, Lila saw Chloé lounging at her desk when Marinette rushed in, surprisingly on time for once.
Chloé held out her hand imperiously. “Dupain-Cheng.”
Marinette huffed. “I have a name you know.” And she handed over a T&S box of macarons.
Chloé: your point?
Lila turned to Nathaniel. “Does Marinette work at a bakery or something?”
Nathaniel: You’ve never been to Tom and Sabine’s patisserie before? You’ve gotta go today. They are the best patisserie in Paris!
Lila raised a brow. “Wow, Marinette must be quite the baker to have gotten hired.”
Nathaniel shrugged. “Well, she’s still learning but Marinette comes from a long line of bakers. She’ll probably be a professional by the time we graduate.”
Lila hid her scowl. She had not forgotten her promise of war to Marinette. And what better way to start then by sabotaging her job? After all, Lila had only just returned and while the class was under her spell, they won’t be so easy to turn on their old friend just yet. A professional bakery on the other hand...
Lila visited the bakery after school, when she was certain no one from class would be visiting it.
Down there, Lila wasn’t that impressed by the space, though the decor was colourful and elegant.
She ordered a macaron. After having a nibble of the admittedly scrumptious macaron, Lila made a face.
Tom: oh, is something wrong?
Lila: oh, it’s just that this is my first time in Paris and I was looking forward to trying the pastries here. I’m a popular food blogger you see. I travel overseas for holidays and recommend what to try and what to avoid on my blog. My fans were so excited to see my food recommendations, one of which was the macarons. But after this, I’m disappointed.
A waiting customer in line heard what Lila said and started filming her. Lila didn’t mind.
Tom was worried. “I’m sorry to hear that. Normally our customers love our macarons. Perhaps it’s because you are not used to french cuisine?”
Lila but back a retort, and instead sighed. “I gave this place a try after Marinette recommended it.”
Tom: our Marinette?
Lila: yes, she kept pushing me to come visit your patisserie. Even after I said yes, she kept badgering me and even the teacher reprimanded us!
Tom raised a brow. “That doesn’t sound like Marinette.”
Lila: she also promised me a free box of macarons if I visited. But now I’m not so sure. I’m afraid this is a definite place-to-avoid for my blog.
Tom was now suspicious of this girl. Marinette never pushed for reviewers to visit their place. She never needed to. Their bakery was doing splendidly. And it’s not like Marinette to just surprise them with a strange blogger without leaving a warning message.
Lila was hoping her representation of Marinette would paint her as a horrible employee. And she wanted some free macarons too from a boss hoping to salvage his company’s reputation.
But Tom just crossed his arms and gave a cold smile. “I’m sorry you didn’t like our macarons. But you still have to pay for the macaron you just ate.”
Lila frowned at the man. “So rude. I should at least have gotten a refund for the horrid taste.”
Tom’s face turned stern. “If you refuse to pay, I will call the police.”
Lila rolled her eyes. “Don’t be such a drama queen.” She handed over a bill. “Here.”
Lila stormed out, too upset to even enjoy the macaron in her hand.
When Marinette and Alya came inside, Tom called them over. “Marinette, is there a food blogger in your school.”
Marinette blinked. “Not that I know of. Alya?”
Alya shrugged, “Sorry. I don’t watch those.”
Tom: a girl came by today saying you had offered her a free box of macarons in exchange for her visiting. She also claimed to be a food blogger.
Alya: must have been a scammer.
Marinette: but how did she know my name? From the sound of it, she probably never came here before.
Tom: she had brown hair.
Alya: that’s it?
Tom scratched his head. “I’m not good at remembering people. But that’s the beauty of security cameras!”
Tom led them to the back where he showed the girls the Lila drama.
Marinette growled. “Lila!”
Alya: what the hell? You never go near her if you can help it, always claiming she’s a ...liar...oh.
Marinette: yeah.
Alya: well, I can see why you hate her so much now if this is her true personality. What a snob. Even Chloé doesn’t act like that.
Tom: so you do know her.
Marinette: Lila’s a new girl who likes to make up grand stories about herself and has somehow convinced our friends to buy her lunch.
Alya counted off her fingers. “Forgotten wallet, sprained wrist, allergic to the cheap menu items, donated all her allowance to charity...”
Marinette: which one did you pay for?
Alya: when she told me she was robbed. Ugh. That liar is going down!
Marinette: but Adrien thinks we should take the high road.
Alya: Adrien’s rich. We’re not! I’m busting her right now! Mr Dupain, may I film this scene?
Tom: sure. I have to get back to the counter to help Sabine.
But as Alya spread the footage to the class, another clip was being shared rapidly among Parisians.
The girls opened their messages to see a video link.
WHO IS THIS GIRL TO CRITICISE OUR BELOVED PATISSERIE?
It was the same scene, but shot from another angle.
The waiting customer was a fan of the patisserie and a regular customer. She was not pleased at hearing a supposedly famous blogger giving the shop a bad review from just one nibble. and Marinette was such a sweetheart, the customer didn’t believe the drivel that came out of Lila’s mouth. And so she posted this clip, calling Lila out on her rude behavior, and asking if anyone knows this so-called famous food blogger.
Alya eagerly replied.
This clip became so widely spread that it even made the evening news, told by Nadja Chmack, who had even interviewed Mrs Rossi and told her what Alya and other commenters have said.
Mrs Rossi was too stunned to give a comment and had retreated to her office.
Ironic that the diplomat had such a mob-rousing daughter.
Mrs Rossi’s public humiliation was perfect for akuma bait. She basically spent her time looking for Lila to confront her but was defeated before Lila even knew what was going on.
Mrs Rossi apologized to the heroes for doubting their ability.
When Lila came home, she was surprised to see her mother waiting for her. Were they actually having dinner together?
Not exactly. Mrs Rossi tore into Lila for her horrendous behavior and outrageous lies.
And because Mrs Rossi was in the spotlight for negligent parenting, she went for extreme measures. From now on, Mrs Rossi would call the school every day, once in the morning to see if Lila had arrived, and every evening to see her progress report. Lila’s allowance would be cut off since she had been cheating her classmates for lunch money. Lila would also be seeing a professional therapist regarding her behavior.
Lila was shocked and furious she had been exposed to Paris as a fraud. She was hoping for an akuma, but Mrs Rossi had realized her lecture would cause upset emotion so she had asked the heroes to keep an eye out while she lectured her daughter. Ladybug caught the approaching akuma quite easily. Chat Noir’s night vision helped.
Lila tries to claim she felt lonely but Mrs Rossi retorted that was no excuse for her behavior. Then Lila tried to blame her mother for neglecting her and forcing her to keep leaving behind any new friends she makes just because of her diplomat job.
Mrs Rossi paused at that. It was true.
“Fine. I’ll concede on that point.”
Lila brightened up until her mother continued. “You’ll be finishing one last semester here before I send you home to live with my parents. They’ll give you undivided attention (monitoring) and you’ll have friends for the long-run (which means if Lila gets caught for lying, she will face the consequences instead of moving away)”
Lila: you’re abandoning me again?!
Mrs Rossi: I’m going to leave you in capable hands. And it’s not like I don’t want to spend time with you, Lila. But someone has to keep a roof over our heads and pay the bills.
When Lila returned to school the next day, she scowled right back at the glares that came her way. Upon entering class, Chloé called out, “Look, it’s the famous blogger. Oh, wait, no, never mind. It’s just some bragging nobody.”
Adrien stayed silent. Alya had chewed him out for his advice and warned him he was on shaky ground. Yeah, Nino wasn’t happy with him either but defended his bro was unaware of the cafeteria activity since he was always at home for lunch.
When Lila sat down, Nathaniel drawled next to her. “Oh, did I mention Lie-la, that the patisserie you asked about is Marinette’s family business?”
Lila’s fingernails had splinters under them.
558 notes · View notes
cluster-fandom · 3 years
Text
Not the day for this
Atsumu, Oikawa, and Noya prank their S/O on a bad day
Warnings: Swearing, food/eating || hospital mention, knife mention, stitches mention, and getting a cut in Noya’s (nothing descriptive just the words themselves)
A/N: This is my first time writing for multiple characters! I enjoyed this a lot 
I was heavily inspired by @kybabi​ !! Go check them out if you haven’t before :)
Atsumu
• Today was not your day at all
• You had failed a test and got in an argument with your best friend
• So all you really wanted to do was come home to your boyfriend and relax
• Unfortunately Atsumu was not aware of how your day had been going
• You both liked to poke fun at each other and this time Atsumu had planned what he thought was an amazing prank
• He couldn’t wait for you to get home
You were driving home from university to your shared apartment with Atsumu. Between the frustration of scoring low a test you had studied so hard for and getting into a dumb fight with one of your best friends, you were ready to snap. The heat didn’t help anything either. At the very least you got to come home to Atsumu. The thought of being wrapped up in your boyfriends arms had kept you from lashing out at anyone that came in contact with you.
You two had been together for over a year and while he could be insufferable at times, you adored him. He was always making you laugh through his ridiculousness, and you were the same. But your favorite memories were when he looked at you with that lopsided grin and said that he loved you.
As you walked up to your front door you noticed it was slightly open.
‘Did Atsumu forget to close the door?’ You briefly wonder before going inside where it was cool.
“Ats-OH MY GOD!”
You were drenched in ice water and the bucket that had been sitting on the door clanked to the floor.
“HEY BABE I THOUGHT YOU COULD USE SOME COOLING OFF!” Atsumu grinned, finding his prank hilarious.
“FUCKING HELL ATSUMU THIS WAS NOT WHAT I NEEDED TODAY!” You yell as you shake your arms of water.
You shove past him towards the bathroom where you could get a towel and hairdryer.
“Wait wait wait! It was just a joke I’m sorry!” He’s fumbling over his words in confusion.
He follows you into the bathroom where you were shoving things out of the way to get your hairdryer out of the cabinet.
“Babe- I’m sorry I didn’t know you’d be mad!” He whines.
You ignore him as you try to (unsuccessfully) untangle the cord of your hairdryer.
“God-dammit-“ you mumble as you only end up getting it more tangled.
“Do you want me to hel-“
“NO ATSUMU IVE GOT IT!” You snap at him.
“Why are you so mad?” He’s genuinely confused. You’ve never been this mad at a prank before?? And this wasn’t even the worst one he’s done-
“I DONT KNOW MAYBE ITS BECAUSE IM DRENCHED AND FREEZING FUCKING COLD? JUST- LEAVE ME ALONE RIGHT NOW!” You’re just done with everything and Atsumu can clearly tell he’s not making anything better at the moment so he retreats to the living room.
After you’ve dried your hair and changed into some dry clothes you went to you and Atsumu’s shared bedroom.
You were scrolling on your phone when there was a knock at the door.
Atsumu cautiously stepped into the room.
“Y/N, can we talk?”
You sighed and set your phone aside.
When you nodded, Atsumu sat on the bed in front of you.
“I’m sorry I upset you. The prank wasn’t funny,” he looked at you with guilty eyes.
“I’m not mad about the prank. I’ve just had a really bad day and it all piled up and I took it out on you. I shouldn’t have yelled, I’m sorry.”
You explained the events of your day and how you had wanted some quality time with him, and instead you had gotten an ice bath.
“I’m so sorry Y/N, I never wanted to make you feel so bad. Let me make it up to you?” He pleaded. He gave you his biggest puppy dog eyes. (🥺)
Your heart melted and of course you said yes.
He perked up immediately, rushing out of the room. He came back with an armful of snacks and settled in next to you. He switched on your favorite movie and pulled you onto his lap.
“I love you so, so much baby,” he whispered into your hair. He leaned down to press a kiss into your cheek.
“And I love you,” you whispered back.
Oikawa
• You knew that with dating Oikawa, people would be jealous
• But his fangirls could get really bad sometimes
• Today they had been following you around saying how you weren’t pretty enough, smart enough for him
• It had gotten to you a little bit
• So you were ready to be home with your boyfriend away from others eyes
• Oikawa had no clue of this though and had devised, in his mind, a brilliant prank to get a rise out of you once you got home
You were finally home to your apartment with Oikawa. He had been on his phone when you walked in and greeted you with his signature grin. After a tight hug, he said he needed to go grab something in the bedroom.
You settled down on the couch letting your body relax on the plush cushions.
*bzzt bzzt*
You looked to see that Oikawa had left his phone behind. You were about to go back to resting, until you registered the name of the sender.
You bolted upright and grabbed the phone, hoping you had read it wrong.
#1 Fangirl 😉
You and Oikawa had been together for a year and you trusted him with your entire being. But seeing that name made fear pool in your stomach.
You didn’t dare to unlock his phone, despite knowing his password, for fear of what you might find.
Your thoughts were running a mile a minute as you entered your bedroom where Oikawa was in the closet.
Was there someone else? He wouldn’t do that to you right? He seemed so happy with you. He had never said he wasn’t satisfied with anything at all. Nothing had changed recently, so was something going on the whole time? Were his fangirls right?
That last question scared you the most.
“Love?” You called out.
Oikawa had a devilish smirk on his face. He knew that you would have seen the texts by now. He had come up with the prank a few days ago and was excited for you to get smart with him and call out the obvious.
“Yes?” He called back, not looking to you.
“Who’s number one fangirl?” You said, voice shaking. You didn’t know when your vision had started going blurry.
At the sound of your shaky voice, your boyfriend whipped around, eyes wide.
“Oh Angel, it’s nobody, it was all a prank I swear,” he pulled you to his chest, “I asked Iwa-Chan to help me, that’s who’s actually sending the texts.”
“S-so you’re not cheating on me?” You hiccup slightly and Oikawa’s heart aches he wipes away a stray tear. He mentally slaps himself for making you insecure.
“Never. I would never leave you for some other girl who just wants me for my looks. You love me for who I am and I am so, so grateful to have you,” he holds you tighter to him.
Once you’ve collected yourself, you tell him about all the things that had been said to you and how it had made you doubt if you were good enough for him. He quietly listened to you talk, holding you the entire time until you were finished.
He gently lifted your face up to meet his eyes. You noticed how his jaw was clenched and his lips were pressed in a thin line.
“Y/N. I am so sorry that those people made you feel unworthy. I promise, you are more than I could have ever asked for. They won’t bother you again ok?” His voice was low, but still as gentle as ever. His eyes softened as he looked at you. He let his muscles relax and gave you a small smile.
Your heart felt full as you nodded.
“Okay, now why don’t we go to the couch and cuddle for a while. Let me show you how much I love you,” he gave your forehead a light kiss.
You smiled up at him.
“I love you Tōru.”
“I love you more, Angel.”
Nishinoya
• You were one inconvenience away from exploding
• You worked the customer service center at your malls department store (it hadn’t been your first choice but you needed money) and you had already had to deal with two Karens this morning
• The second one actually made your manager come down, who wasn’t happy about that
• So now you were at risk of losing your job
• Thankfully though you finally got to go on your lunch break
• You were excited because your boyfriend had time to spend it with you today
• You needed the pick me up and Noya’s naturally energetic personality never failed to do so
• Unfortunately, Nishinoya decided that today was the perfect day to execute his genius prank
You growled in annoyance as your keys got momentarily stuck in the lock to your apartment.
You had been yelled at three times today already. By two entitled middle aged women who wouldn’t listen to you no matter how many times you gave an explanation to them, and then by your manager who told you off for making him get involved with your “nonsense.”
You had been hanging on to your last shred of self control to not start screaming at your boss.
But you were home now and were more than ready to have a nice lunch with your boyfriend.
“Y/N! YOU’RE HOME!” You stumbled back as you were tackled in a hug.
“I made you lunch!” Noya grinned as he released you from his hold.
You giggled as he grabbed your hand to lead you to the kitchen.
Now, you loved Noya, but his cooking was, well, not edible sometimes. But he seemed to have gone pretty safe this time around.
There were two bowls of ramen with bread rolls on the side.
“Looks like someone was busy,” you tease. He rolls his eyes and motions for you to eat.
You were listening to Noya talk about his morning while you ate.
“And then I-“
“AH! HOT! HOT! HOT!” You were panting. The noodles were spicier than you could handle. You took a bite of the bread and nearly puked.
“Is- IS THAT MAYONNAISE?!?” You cough trying to get the awful tastes out your mouth. You rush to the fridge and down a glass of milk.
“Yū what the fuck?!” You say after catching your breath.
“What? I thought you said you wanted to expand your palette,” he’s wearing a smug grin.
You huff and get your things together to leave.
“Wait- don’t go!” He’s scrambling to catch up to you.
“I can’t do this today. I’ll see you after my shift,” you slam the door behind you as you leave.
You picked up a quick meal from the food court and find an empty table to eat at.
You had turned your phone off, not wanting to hear your notifications go off. The rest of your shift was uneventful thankfully, but you were still beyond irritated.
It was twenty minutes until the end of your shift when you turn your phone back on. You had about a dozen texts from Yū, which you were expecting, but you had a missed call from Tanaka from five minutes ago.
Confused, you called back.
“Hello?”
“Y/N! Uh, so you see, Noya he- well he was trying to make something up to you? Anyways, he called me over to your place and I was helping him cook and he may have accidentally, umm, cut his finger pretty bad.”
“What?! Tanaka where are you right now?” You were already gathering your things and writing a note to your boss explaining your leave.
“The hospital,” he replied.
“I’ll be there in a few minutes,” you rushed to your car.
You may have been driving way a little past the speed limit, but you were at the hospital in record time.
Thanks to the lady at the front desk, you found Yū quickly. You thanked Tanaka as he left the room, not wanting to stand around awkwardly.
“Yū! Are you okay? What were you even doing with a knife! Here let me see,” you grabbed his hand and looked it over.
His pointer and middle finger had been wrapped up in bandages, but the rest of his hand looked fine.
“They didn’t need stitches,” he said bashfully.
“Hmph you’re lucky,” you mumbled, “but why would you need to use a knife?” You searched his face. He looked away, hand rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.
“I was trying to make you a nice dinner. I wanted to make it up to you for lunch,” he was uncharacteristically quiet.
You gently turned his face towards you, giving him a quick kiss. His face turned bright red and he sputtered incoherently for a minute.
“I’m sorry for what I said. I was having a pretty bad morning and getting my tongue burnt off didn’t help. You’re still an amazing boyfriend though and I still love you,” you intertwined your hands with his and gave it a gentle squeeze. He smiled and leaned to touch his forehead to yours
“Does that mean we can have spicy ramen for dinner then?” He asked.
“Don’t push it.”
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I hope you enjoyed! Any feedback is highly appreciated!
*I do not own Haikyuu!! or the characters only the story*
*Do not repost anywhere, all credits to me*
105 notes · View notes
hopekiedokie · 3 years
Text
Mall is Life | INTRO : She’s Broke, He’s Broke, We’re All Broke!
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Summary: Your dad thinks it’s best for you to pay off the credit card that you just maxed out. Meaning, it’s time for you to finally get your very first job…at the mall. As a true blue spoiled daughter from a very rich family, what could possibly happen? Form a labour union and overthrow the oppressive government with 7 other underpaid and overworked guys??? Or maybe just form a bond with them and have the best time of your life?
Pairing: bts x reader
Genre: mall!au, lowkey a sitcom, fluff, eventual angst, and a whole lot of pure crack
Word count: 5.3k+
Notes: As I’m doing final rewrites for this, I overheard my co-teacher call one of our students a “crack” and I honestly have never related hard to a student. Anyways, transferring this from gdocs to tumblr took sooooo long. I literally aged 10 years. I didn’t think writing in this style would be such a pain so I really do hope you enjoy this! Keep safe and hang on while the world still seems like it’s on its way to destruction.
Posted on: 8th of Jan, 2021
— • masterlist | Character Guide | INTRO | next • —
Red
Red is all you see.
Your vision has been clouded by the colour red since the moment you stepped inside the mall.
Sale season is upon you and red tags are everywhere!
Buy one get one for a girlfriend sized “boyfriend t-shirt”, a free cookie if you get 7 drinks, 5% off on your next purchase from Kucci and… Gasp! 75% off for a light sabre handheld immersion blender???
Do you even cook or watch Star Trek or whatever it’s called? Heck no.
bUT IT’S MORE THAN HALF OFF and it looks cool so might as well get it.
Right?
You saunter off towards the sights of free or marked down signs to start making damages.
“Ehem.”
The sound of your best friend, Taehyung’s voice, freezes you in place and you feel like a kid caught in the act of stealing a candy.
Literally, you have both your hands in front of you with your mouth open and watering.
“Just what do you think you’re doing?” His hands are placed on his hips, like a slightly inconvenienced Karen.
“Oh, uh...I was just, you know!? About to admire the general splendour!”
He was like, ya right sweetie.
“Shut up. This isn’t a Jane Austen book.”
Well, one can dream.
And lowkey, you were kinda expecting him to not get the reference.
…or even understand what you just said.
Damn.
You really need to give Taehyung some credit.
He is after all, your best friend and that is an achievement in itself.
“Focus, y/n. FOCUS. We’re here on a mission, don’t get distracted.”
Ugh, right.
Reality hit you again like a ton of bricks.
“And as if you can afford anything! Unless, you’re in for some service water.”
You scoff hard.
Though he isn’t lying.
See, the thing is, your family is rich.
Like rich 𝑹𝑰𝑪𝑯.
Like “rent a whole stadium for your dad’s morning run” rich
You, alone, though?
ʰᵉ ʰᵉ ʰᵉ
“Sorry, you’re absolutely right. We’re here for one thing only and that is to find a job! We’re not leaving until we get one.”
And that’s what you did for the next two hours
Job hunting
You might be wondering, “If we're so rich then why are we looking for a job?”
Well kids, let me tell you a quick story.
Here’s what happened
A week ago, you had probably the most embarrassing yet most eye opening experience of your life.
You were shopping
(like duh do you have anything else to do?)
And your credit card got…
Wait for it…
…………….
🚫DECLINED🚫
◉.◉
Like, that can happen????
Next thing you know, you’re on the phone with your dad and he is MAD
You don’t even know why he is so pressed about it.
Okay, so you maxed out one of his seemingly endless supply of credit cards.
BIG DEAL.
It’s not like he lost a bunch of money.
Maybe to a normal person, yeah…
BUT to you guys?
Come on! He can earn that money back in like two days.
Besides, he always goes on saying that he'd willingly give everything for you, his one and only princess.
bUT NOoOOoo! He has to teach you to be rEsPoNsIbLe with money! You need to be a 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏.
"What? You think I'm a money making machine here?"
Well, tbh he kinda is.
"You think money grows on trees?"
Well, technically, money is paper so...ya it kinda does.
"I don't slave around just so you could plunge yourself in all of your whims!"
Uh, actually.
You kinda do though if we refer back to your whole willingly-give-everything-to-you shtick.
So that wasn't real, huh?
ALL MEN DO IS LIE.
smh
Taehyung, on the other hand...
Well, his mother’s old but rich sugar daddy just recently passed away and unfortunately all his money and prized possessions were inherited by his one and only beloved son.
All they got was a couple of stupid jewelry, which did allow them to pay for a new (less glamorous) apartment, but still
Eh.
What a complete disappointment.
11+ years of being a sugar baby, all for nothing.
So now it’s back to the slums for the both of them.
Sad reacs for a fallen warrior.
I’m talking about Tae’s mother, not the sugar daddy...
THOUGh rip for him. Uh,,,,
He’ll be missed? I guess???
(1 like of this post = 1 respect for him)
DW about his mother though. She doesn’t seem quite fazed by it.
“This is why if you find a rich old bastard, make sure he doesn’t have any kids. That or have an affair with their kid. Oh well, on to the next one.” She told you and Tae during the funeral.
It’s been three months since.
She’s currently working at a hair salon and also,,,,
Taehyung thinks she’s seeing someone again cause she’s been using her designated “𝑠𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔” parfum.
WHICH you still don’t know if you should be impressed or be concerned about.
Nonetheless, you respect the hustle of this woman. ✊✊✊✊
Unfortunately, her efforts are still not enough to satisfy their expensive needs so that brings us to the present situation.
Actually, it couldn’t have been more perfect though!
You and your best friend coincidentally just happen to be in the same dilemma.
Kind of
Well, not really
Plus, it’s not really the most pleasant circumstance bUT STILL
The point is, you’re in this together and that’s enough for the both of you.
:’)
“Ugh, this totally blows.” Taehyung says as you both sit on one of the food court booths.
“Which one, us not getting any jobs yet or the fact that we’re hanging at the food court?”
“Get used to it, princess. Honestly, you'll find that the food here isn't as disgusting as you think they are." He says as he fishes for his phone in his man purse.
"Well, at this rate, I won't be able to get used to it since I sTILL haven't found a job. Why are the good stores so demanding? Like, an intensive classroom and in-store training only to have a possibility to get hired??? To think that I'm a loyal Louie Button customer!"
(A/n: This is actually a real procedure for Louis Vuitton, at least in my own experience. But I only applied and never went through with the training cause I figured that it just ain't for me.)
You continue ranting your little heart out about how you could sue these stores for unfair treatment.
Taehyung, though, has long tuned you out and has pointed his full attention to his phone.
This is turning out to be a lot more disastrous than what he anticipated.
So he needs to phone a friend in.
Orrrrr a couple.
He's getting desperate, okay??
The entire spring collection was practically screaming out to him when they entered Kucci.
He's a 𝓚𝓾𝓬𝓬𝓲 𝓫𝓸𝔂 through and through.
He hasn't missed a single Kucci season collection in years.
IN YEARS, PEOPLE!
He can feel his right eye twitch at this blasphemy.
"I'm telling you! These stores are absolutely ungrateful-hEY! Are you even listening??"
"No. I thought that was obvious the second I whipped my phone out."
( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
Rude
He didn't even try to deny it.
"You know, I really don't need you to be mean to me right now."
"Sorry y/n but this…" He lifts his phone up, "is more important right now."
What could possibly be more important than your current problem??
If you don't leave today with any form of productivity, you just might have to sell the entirety of your closet.
And we all know that ain't happening.
"By 'that', you mean?"
His phone vibrates a couple of times, indicating that he just received a bunch of messages.
He instantly opens them, disregarding you once again.
I-
Seriously, thIS bOy!
"Hello???? I'm still here and we're still hideously unemployed!"
He looks up to you with a smile that seems a tad bit too eerie.
Okay, this is somewhat alarming ngl.
"I called in some reinforcements."
Reinforcements... Huh?
What's that supposed to mean?
You stare at him with scrunched brows and mouth slightly agape.
And as if on cue, a male voice rings from behind you.
"Tae! We're here!"
"Jimin! Seokjin hyung!"
Ohhhhhhh
*Looks at the camera*
Them.
♫︎DUN DUN DUN♫︎
For everyone's information, Taehyung grew up a hair away from the poverty line.
He was in his preteen years when their family found success through his mother's sugar daddy.
He didn't grow up rich whICH there's NOthing wrong WiTh THAT.
A person's financial status does not define them.
Taehyung's friends, however, already have a collective definition in your head.
One word
༼ つ ◕◡◕ ༽つ MESS™
♫︎DUN DUN DUN♫︎
A hot mess you are so not willing to become a part of.
Tae keeps them away from you because he knows that they are not the type of people you would associate yourself with.
Which is why you've never met any of them.
...Until today.
♫︎DUN DUN DUN♫︎
Guess being besties with a broke Taehyung means it only makes sense that you finally meet them.
♫︎dUN dUn- ok that's enough of that.
"We got the Code 17 message. I can't believe I'll ever get that from you. This is history, man! We need to celebrate!" Someone says accompanied by what sounds like someone wiping a window.
You look at Taehyung with a very displeased look.
May god and every higher being out there give you strength.
He doesn't even look the slightest bit bothered by what might be one of the boldest crossovers to ever happen.
Also, "Code 17"??? Wth?
"What's wrong? You never ask to meet at the food court… And who's this with--oh." A different, softer voice talks this time.
"You guys remember my bestie, right? Y/n? Well, I think it's time you guys finally meet."
From behind you, Seokjin and Jimin share a slightly wary yet excited look.
Jimin, being the natural people lover that he is, instantly thinks that he's about to have another best friend.
From what he's heard from Taehyung, you two are slightly alike, being a total softie.
So don't be surprised if a montage of things like the two of you going on picnics at the mall garden or watching the premiere of the next Disney movie plays in his head.
Seokjin, on the other hand, being the woman lover that he is, instantly thinks that he's about to score big time.
He's heard a lot about you from Tae but the only thing that stuck (and pretty much the only thing that matters) is that you are HELLA rich.
$ ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕓𝕒𝕓𝕪 $
So are we even surprised that what he imagines is him breezing through the luxury section of the mall, with his personal butlers in tow, and having everyone swoon at him?
“Y/n,” Taehyung gives you a pointed look as if telling you to be nice. “Meet Seokjin hyung and Jimin, two of my other best friends.”
Alright, you heard that these people work here at the mall.
So you’re gonna have to suck it up if it means being stuck with them for god knows how long.
You just hope they have some level of bearableness.
(Oh and some form of acceptable fashion taste too please, thank you very much!)
As much as you're not in the mood to smile, you still plaster on the sweetest one you can muster and turn around to face the two----
Oh
(o.O)
oh oh oh oh ho ho ho ho
Hello
hELLO indeed.
One of them has a white button up with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, black slim fit trousers, and a brown newsboy cap like a cherry on top.
He's also wearing a brown apron with a small name tag that says 𝓙𝓲𝓶𝓲𝓷.
The other guy's more casual with his baby pink t-shirt, french tucked into his black ripped skinny jeans.
Personally, you wouldn’t really call them amazing outfits…
bUT SWEET BABY JESUS ARE THEY DOING THINGS.
GREAT THINGS
(Tbh maybe it’s their handsome faces that do it for you)
"Hi, I'm Jimin! It's very nice to finally meet you."
He extends his hand and you take it in a heartbeat because my god that smile.
Wooooooooooo
Now, that's what greets you into heaven.
"Tae says a lot of good things about you and I think- oof."
Cute pink shirt guy (rudely) shoves him to the side.
Jimin almost topples to the ground and it makes you want to stand and check up on him.
The poor cutie.
For some reason, you feel like Taehyung and pink shirt guy get along well.
"AND I'M Seokjin!"
This time, Seokjin swiftly takes your hand without any warning which leaves you feeling flustered.
“Umm… Nice to meet you..?” You manage to politely croak out.  
He gives your hand a kiss and then drops you a sultry wink.  
Thank god you're sitting right now.  
You'd be a lying fool to say that that didn't make your knees weak.  
But ngl, that’s a face that definitely greets you into hell.  
Like, no offense to his handsome face but you are sure there’s something completely devious going on underneath.  
No one can change your mind on that.  
"OKAY! Enough introductions, we’ll have plenty of time for that later... Where are the others??”  
“Hoseok hyung said that he's with Jungkook and they're on their way to get Namjoon hyung." Jimin says as he fixes his hat that slightly slid off.  
"Well, they better hurry!"  
Taehyung DEFINITELY did not have any reasons to cut your introductions off.  
He just did not like how you are practically drooling over Jimin and Seokjin.  
He’s nOT JEALOUS OR ANYTHING  
It’s just...  
It’s not like you’ve never been close to any hot guys before.  
Uh hello???  
HE’S HOT  
And you’re with him 24/7
Wait…  
Do you even think he’s hot???  
Okay now that’s a thought he never considered before.  
Damn bro  
Now Tae’s having an existential crisis…  
anD hE’s dEfiniTEly NOT jEALous!!!  
ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ  
"WE'RE HERE!"  
All four of you direct your heads to the sound of a new voice and you start to think that Taehyung might actually be playing a joke on you.  
Come on!  
THREE 👏  MORE 👏  HOT 👏 GUYS  👏
???  
This can't be real.  
This is literal heaven!  
Gasp!  
Are.  
You.  
DEAD?!  
Maybe you're right about Jimin being what greets you into heaven!
It all makes sense.  
“Dude, we came as soon as we could. We even pulled Namjoon out of his rabbit hole.” The handsome one wearing a sports jersey says. 
“This better be important. I didn’t even get to ask permission to take a break! I’m supposed to be stocking utensils right now.” The handsome one wearing an atrocious outfit of a bright blue shirt and a much brighter yellow pants chimes in.  
The handsome one wearing loose fitting jeans, a plaid button up and a black t-shirt underneath just stayed at the sidelines not saying anything.  
Out of all of them, you think he’s the most stylish one.  
Your eyes meet while you are assessing his outfit but he instantly looks away.  
A noticeable blush blooms on his cheeks and you almost swoon.  
Awww he’s extra cute.  
“Yeah, cause organising cutlery is more important than a friend in a literal crisis.” Taehyung says in a sarcastic tone.  
“So what are we doing here?”  
“What is this ‘crisis’ you are referring to?”  
“Yo, who is she?”  
Namjoon, Jin, and handsome jersey boy all talk at the same time.  
Ugh you need a massage.  
Being surrounded by these broke handsome men is making you lightheaded.  
“This is Y/n. You know, my other best friend.”
“Oh, your money buddy.” Handsome jersey boy butts in.   
Uh EXCUSE YOU, WHAT’S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?  
You scoff hard and loud.  
Taehyung clears his throat and you thought he was going to make a comment defending you or something.  
Oh honey, you are wrong.  
Because for the nth time today, he just brushes you off.  
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Anyways, Guys, meet Y/n. Y/n, this is Hoseok hyung, Namjoon hyung, and Jungkook.”  
You didn't think it'd be possible but for the first time ever, you so badly want to rip someone's hair out.  
And not just someone, it's Taehyung.  
Normally, a sassy, moody, rude boy Taehyung doesn’t affect you at all.  
But then again, his negative vibes were never really directed to you.  
And given the current circumstance, you’re also not in the best mood as well.  
So you aren't as inviting as you usually are when you shook hands with the three boys.  
Somehow, even their overflowing handsomeness did not do anything for you now.  
Your presence, however, did something to the three boys.  
AND I MEAN A LOT.  
Confused, attracted, intimidated, confused, in awe, slightly scared, nervous, confused, hungry…  
What? Hoseok hasn’t had lunch and coincidentally, he started feeling his tummy rumble when he looked at you.  
…..  
Fun fact: Hoseok is DEFINITELY NOT A CANNIBAL NOR HE EVER PLANS ON BEING ONE.  
If ever you were thinking...  
“Okay, so here’s the sitch.” Tae starts to explain your situation and everyone listens to him intently.  
Little did you all know, the final member of the friend group just arrived at the food court and is now walking towards where you all are.  
It wasn’t difficult to spot your group with Namjoon’s obnoxiously brightly coloured towering self and the few girls hanging around.  
Probably Jimin’s fanclub.  
“And so, here we are!” Tae finishes, keeping everyone updated.  
"Wow, so you two are looking for an actual job? Like, here? At the mall??" A very baffled Seokjin asks.  
Tae rolls his eyes.  
"Yes. Is that really hard to believe?"  
"Actually, yes. It is."  
Another male voice is heard coming from someplace.  
“Yoongi hyung!”  
Oh great! Another one.  
Surely, this guy’s not that interesting.  
I mean, what are the fricking odds that he’s also an immaculate being??  
You turn around and your mouth drops to the floor.  
No no no no no.  
No way!  
Another freaking gOOD LOOKING GUY HAS WALKED UP TO YOUR GROUP.  
Okay, this is getting unbelievable now.  
Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?  
Like, where and how on earth did Taehyung manage to get and round up SIX insanely good looking guys??  
What is this? Are you on The Bachelorette??
Wait no   
It's like Oprah!  
And instead of cars, she's giving away handsome men
You get a hot Asian man, you get a hot Asian man, you all get a hot Asian man!  
OR MAYBE  
Are you on MTV Punk'd?????  
Statistically speaking, a hot guy can have two or maybe three equally hot best friends
BUT SIX???   
ARE YOU KIDDING?  
Is Taehyung like Thanos? Collecting the six infinity stones?  
Thanos? lol.  
If anything, he's more like Henry VIII with his six wives.  
“So you guys didn’t even wait for me, huh?”
Yoongi, oh so casually, just takes a seat beside you   
Without even giving you a single glance or whatnot.  
“I didn’t know you'd be here at the mall today?”  
“Yeah, what are you doing here?”  
Yoongi raises an eyebrow. “It’s a free country, I can be here whenever I want to be.”  
Well, can’t argue with that logic.  
The mall is practically your second home at this point.  
“... Also… uTunes is hiring and uh… I’m applying...”  
You don’t understand why but everyone else looks either shocked or annoyed at Yoongi’s announcement... 
Are you missing something here?  
“Man, you need to give it up! That place can suck it.”  
Yoongi gives Seokjin one of the scariest glare you’ve ever seen.  
It could rival against your dad’s famous death glares that he gives to his incompetent subordinates.  
Namjoon shakes his head disapprovingly, “You’re applying there again?? I can’t believe it.”  
Yes, again.  
This is going to be the seventh time he’s applying at uTunes Records, the most popular music shop there is.  
So many people flock to it even though we’re already in the digital age.  
But he doesn’t question it.  
All he cares about is getting a job there because the employees get to play their own music in the store.  
Do you know how much of a popularity boost that is?  
A CRAP TON.  
On top of that, one of the employees gets a chance to get signed by a record label every year.  
And if you're not awarded by that chance, you can still meet agents and get signed through their many parties.  
Because of that, so many people also apply for a job there.  
But they unfortunately have such high standards which is why even after three years, he still hasn’t passed their vibe check.
"Listen, seven's a lucky number. I have great feelings about this one. Besides, I've built up a strong résumé. Winning one of uTunes' own rookie dj contests must mean something, right? They can't not take me!"   
Wow.  
You've only known Yoongi for a solid three minutes, but you can already tell that he's quite passionate about this.  
"Hyung, all we're saying is that maybe you should consider doing something else? You could do so much more than run after that store." Jimin says and pats Yoongi's hand a couple of times.  
"All of you perfectly know getting a job there could quite possibly set my music career!"  
"Is that really it? Or is it because of a certain Daphne??" Seokjin teases him.  
The rest just mutters an "ooh" or an "aah".  
You seem to have been turned into an accessory.  
You so cannot relate to anything they've talked about since Yoongi came. 
It's like you're at one of your dad's social gatherings and all you can do is smile and nod.  
"ANYWAY," Yoongi interjects in their teasing. "So Tae, you're also looking for a job?"  
Jeez FINALLY.  
Something you can talk about that involves you.  
It felt like you were just back home watching some random show that doesn't require your input.  
Taehyung gives an overly dramatic heavy sigh.  
"Unfortunately, yes. Y/n and I both need one badly. But all the stores had been rejecting us left and right. Like, the audacity!" Taehyung rants all over again.  
Jimin, listens to him intently as if he hasn't heard all of this before.  
Seokjin seems to have been entertaining the surrounding ladies for a while now.
[by giving some ( ˘ ³˘)♥︎ and some (•̀ᴗ-)☞  ]  
Across the table, Namjoon complains to Hoseok about getting in trouble with his boss.  
Jungkook, well, he's just staring at the beautiful pizza this kid next to you guys is eating. (Someone's hungry too, okay?) 
While Yoongi just openly stares at you.  
Welp.  
What the frick are you supposed to do now?
Is Taehyung or anyone going to properly introduce you two?   
No???  
Okay fine.  
Seems like you're gonna have to get used to doing things on your own.  
You smile at him and timidly hold your hand out.  
"Uh hi. I'm Y/n. I don't know if Tae's ever mentioned me to you before but--"  
"Oh, trust me. He's mentioned you plenty. He actually never shuts up about you."  
ʰᵉʰ  
Ok  
You don't really know if he was stating that as a fact or if he's trying to be mean…  
"Oh ha ha… That must be really annoying then."  
"Yeah, it is actually."  
Your small polite chuckle died down your throat.  
Wow and you thought Taehyung can be rude.  
hE'S STILL JUST STARING.  
"Uh…" You finally lowered your hand that he obviously isn't going to shake.  
That is definitely going in your top 10 most embarrassing moments ever.  
God, can someone get you away from this guy?  
What's his problem?  
"SO, can any one of you help us? Like, any tips or something?" Tae concludes his really long and repetitive rant.  
Everyone's eyes FINALLY focuses on Tae again.  
Seokjin snorts loudly.  
Eww.  
He opens his mouth to say something but Tae immediately holds his hand up to stop him.  
"Anyone except you hyung. I don't think you're classified."  
Everyone laughs to that and again,  
ARE YOU MISSING OUT ON SOMETHING HERE?  
Seokjin raises one finger like he's trying to make a point. "If anyone is classified to give tips on how to get accepted, it's me!"  
"Yeah, just not on how to last on one." Namjoon loudly whispers to Tae.  
"HEY I HEARD THAT!"  
Ohhh….  
So,  
Does he constantly get fired from a job?  
Well, that's just sad.  
Hopefully you don't end up like him.  
😳  
"Actually," Hoseok starts, "how do you end up landing on so many jobs? Like, don't they know your reputation?"  
And that's your cue to finally insert yourself in the conversation.  
"Uh, what reputation?"  
"Sweetheart, you don't really want to know! It's not that big of a deal." Seokjin quickly steers you away from the topic but the other guys didn't allow it to happen.  
"Oh, you know. Just that, he's known to be the "job eater" here. Cause he pretty much eats a job and moves on from it in a flash." Namjoon graciously fills you in.  
So you were right.  
That's kind of impressive though…  
But a huge waste.  
"Still! It makes me very much qualified to give the unemployed a tip!"  
"Save it hyung, you might need it for your next job once you get fired from Uncle Aang's."  
Seokjin gives everyone a sheepish smile.  
What's that about?  
It almost looks as if he…  
"YOU GOT FIRED ALREADY?!"  
"Oh you bet I did."  
To be fair, how could he not stop himself from eating the free samples? Those pretzels are literal drugs.  
"You just got that job four days ago. I can't believe it!"  
"I can believe it." Yoongi says out loud.  
Can't he say anything nice?  
"Whatever! Point is, these stores still hire me no matter what."  
"You know what, that is a good point." Taehyung mutters, slowly turning convinced by Seokjin.  
Namjoon groans. "Are you for real Tae? If you want some job advice, maybe ask one from us who has only had one permanent job all throughout."  
"Guys, let's give Seokjin hyung a chance!" Jimin, ever the sweet positive boy, suggests.
"Of course you would say that."    
Not wanting to fade into nothingness, you insert yourself again in the conversation.  
"I want to hear what he has to say."  
Once those words left your mouth, you instantly regret it.  
A.) Seokjin gives you another wink and gives you a flying kiss that has you weak in the knees again- I MEAN WHAT. I SAID NOTHING.  
And B.) Yoongi is clearly not a fan of you sharing your opinions with the group.    
Despite the obvious protests of Namjoon, Seokjin still gives his number one "professional" advice  
And that is to have a perfectly 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉 𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 résumé.  
"A high quality résumé? YOU? What the fuck are you talking about?" Yoongi says, slightly amused and slightly tired of the older guy's shenanigans.  
"Don't believe me? Fine. But I'm telling you, it's all here on paper!" Seokjin takes out a folder from his backpack and waves it around.  
Namjoon immediately snatches it from him  
"5 pages long?? Are you for real?”  
Seokjin hums and watches smugly with a cocky grin as the guys read through his résumé.  
“Hang on, since when did you do balloon modelling?”  
"I don't."  
Hoseok gasps. "But bro, isn't that lying?"  
"Yeah, duh! How else are these people gonna hire you? You have to sell them what they're looking for."  
"What if they ask you to use these skills that you clearly don't have?"  
"Then you're just gonna have to fake it till you make it, baby!"  
Huh  
No wonder he doesn't last long on a single job.  
"And how's that working out for you?" Yoongi presses on.  
"Well at least I get hired, Mr. 7th Time's the Charm!"  
Yoongi is like ᶠⁱᵗᵉ ᵐᵉ ⁱ ʷᵒⁿ'ᵗ ʰᵉˢⁱᵗᵃᵗᵉ ᵇⁱᵗᶜʰ (ง'̀-'́)ง  
"That's not really the point of having a job, but I guess, whatever floats your boat, dude!" Hoseok finally sides with Seokjin.  
"So everyone is looking for a job then?" Taehyung realizes, "this is so cool if all of us get hired! We'll all face the real world together."  
"All of us except Jungkook though."  
Who?  
Oh that extra cute shy boy.  
You forgot he's here.  
Boy really hasn't said a word at all.  
"Did ya hear that? All of us are getting jobs!"
"You should get one too!"   
"That would be so cool!"  
"So what do you say? What are your plans Kook?"  
"Guys, don't pressure the kid!"  
The guys talk simultaneously, ultimately kind of pressuring Jungkook to say something before he even thinks about it.  
The table falls silent and everyone eyes Jungkook.  
The guys are like ( ・ิ ͜ʖ ・ิ) and ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)  
Jungkook is like (ʘ ͟ʖ ʘ)  
Then the guys are like (≖ ͜ʖ≖)  
So jungkook is like (¬‿¬ )  
In the end, they are all like 
(☞°ヮ°)☞ ☜(°ヮ°☜)  
And through it all, you are just ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ  
What the heck is going on?  
"Yeah, why not?" Jungkook simply concludes and the guys make various celebrating noises.  
Gasp!  
He can talk???  
"Okay, everyone calm down! Let's wait until after everyone gets hired before we celebrate." Namjoon scolds everyone.  
"Well that might take a while considering Y/n and I can't find one!"  
Namjoon places a comforting hand on Tae's shoulder. "Oh relax, there's like ten thousand stores in the mall!"  
"Actually, there are only 613 stores in the entire mall." Hoseok points out a matter of factly.  
You all look at him dumbfoundedly.  
Aaaand he just stares back at all of you.  
Is this some kind of trivia that you need to know if you work around here?  
Are you gonna have to memorise a lot of facts about the mall???  
Oh, you don't like that.  
Seokjin was the first one to react.  
"Dude?? What the hell?!"  
"I got bored once while I was on a break and counted."
Huh.  
Makes sense.  
Yeah, sure.  
Why not?  
Why wouldn't you just go and count the total number of stores out of boredom???  
…  
THAT WAS A SARCASTIC REMARK IF YOU DIDN'T GET IT.  
"Even if there are 600 stores here, there are only like, 20 good stores that exist!" Tae remarks   
You want to say you can't agree more but you stop yourself because you don't think you can handle another cold stare from Yoongi.  
"Are you perhaps pertaining to the high end stores?" Namjoon muses.  
"Yeah. What else?"  
Jimin's eyes widen in shock. "Hold on. So you two have only been looking at that small section of the entire mall?"  
"Yeah. Why?"  
Yoongi chuckles condescendingly.  
"Bros, you know that saying… 'Beggars can't be choosers'?" Hoseok tries to enlighten you two.  
You and Tae look at each other.  
What an epiphany.  
A very disgusting yet important epiphany.  
"Are you… Are you guys saying that… We need to find a job… Outside of that section??"  
They all nod.  
Ughhhhhhh  
You and Tae make an annoyed sound.  
"Welcome to the real world, peasants!" Seokjin warmly tells you.  
Could things get any worse?  
"Hey, at least we'll all be here together!"  
Ha ha 
Great . Awesome. Wow.
"Well, on that note, I really need to get back to work. Lady and gentlemen, may the odds be ever in your favour. Good luck!"  
Namjoon stands and walks away.  
One by one, the other working guys went back to work as well, leaving you unemployed slackers.  
Hey they didn't even give any actual help!  
Wasn't that the reason why Tae called for a… What did they call it?  
Code something something.  
Oh whatever!  
Anyways,  
So to summarize things  
You might end up working at an awful low end store.  
And you're unwillingly stuck with the wrong set of people.  
One of them is a total flirt and an actual pain to society.  
Another one might possibly hate you for unknown reasons.   
This tall dude seems to be really uptight.  
Then there's this guy that seems really weird.
The other one, well… He's cute and doesn't really have any negative points yet BUT you're sure something's wrong with him.   
And the last one literally said one thing during the entire time!  
Oh, you've got a really really long way before you can pay your dad.  
Good luck to you, indeed.   
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managingmymuse · 3 years
Text
employment
for writer's month day 2: coffeeshop AU
(original work, time-traveler universe)
No one in my family had ever really had a job.
We worked, of course. Running the farm was an entire summer's worth of back-breaking labor. Our portion of the homestead, too, required a lot of work to keep and maintain. When we were away, in another town or another century, we took on odd jobs to keep ourselves fed. In the pre-industrial age, my mother and sister and I took on laundry and mending, while my brother and my father hired themselves out as hands. Sometimes we'd stay for a week, other times for a whole season, but no matter where or when we were, there was always work to be found.
But that was the pre-industrial age. I was beginning to discover that the twentieth century was a lot harder to work around.
"Do you have your social security card?" the woman behind the counter asked.
I was standing in the pleasantly blank hallways of a large department store. The carpet was a dingy peach, and the walls had a magic-eye-like pattern to them. The faint sounds of classical music drifted through the air, piped in from a speaker that I hadn't yet been able to locate.
I shifted uneasily on my feet. "My what?"
"Your social security card," she said. "It's a blue card about this big." She held up her thumb and forefingers about three inches apart. "It's a government document."
"I don't think I have one," I said slowly.
The woman behind the counter popped her gum. "Sure you do. Everyone has one. It's probably at your parents' house."
"Right," I said, already thinking of how I could lay my hands on someone else's. "Can I call them and get back to you?"
"You sure can." The woman blew another bubble and removed the clipboard containing my half filled out job application. "You don't need to start today, do you?"
"I can't start without the card?" I asked. "Really?"
"Yeah," she said. She gave me a sympathetic smile. "It's corporate policy. We get in big trouble if we hire you without it. But don't worry, we've got tons of available positions. Come back with it by next week, and we'll start you on the floor. Okay?"
I pressed my hands flat against the counter, struggling to take deep breaths. "I don't think I'm going to be able to get the card that fast," I said. "My parents... they live out of state."
"They haven't lost it, have they?"
I shrugged. "I have no idea."
The woman stared at me over the counter. Her jaw worked furiously, but her eyes held sympathy. "You can always write to the records office where you were born if your mom can't find it," she said. "Though that's going to take longer."
"I really need this job," I said. "I can't... I don't know if I can wait a week.
The woman tilted her head to the side. I don't know if she sensed my desperation or not, but she must have felt bad for me, because she pressed up on her toes, looking out into the empty hall behind me before rummaging around on the counter for a piece of paper.
"Okay," she said. "You didn't hear this from me, but I've got a friend in town. Her name's Sherri. She owns a little place down by the university. Java and Jams. You ever heard of it?"
I shook my head, and the woman wrote down an address. "Sherri's got a bit of a bleeding heart. You tell her you've got no papers, and she'll probably take you on."
"You think she has a job for me?"
"Fall term is set to start in another week," the woman said. "I know she's got a job from you." She smiled brightly. "Tell her Karen sent you."
"Karen," I said.
She pointed to her name tag and smiled again. "That's right. You take care now, dear. And if you do get your card and you still want to a job, well, give me a call."
She extended a card to me along with the paper she'd written the address on.
"I... thank you," I said.
"No trouble," she said.
Behind me, the sound of footsteps heralded the arrival of someone else. Karen straightened up, smoothing her vest down over her shirt. "Well, miss, if that will be all?"
I glanced at the corner, and a man, heavy-set and wearing a thick tie, came into view. Karen's manager, if the squinty look in his eye and his name badge was to believed. "Thanks for your help," I said, before disappearing down the crowded aisles of the store.
It was a forty minute walk from the mall to the university district in the center of town. On an ordinary day, I would have hated it. But today it gave me some time to think.
Some time to think about how screwed I was, that is. I'd been in the 1985 for three days now, and already my supply of emergency rations was running dry. I hadn't planned to come here, so I didn't have any kind of modern currency on my person. Before my jump, I'd been in pre-colonial America, and the things the Iroquois had traded-- corn and squash and tobacco-- wouldn't get me anything here.
(Also, they were precious difficult to carry; say what you will about the modern capitalist economy, but it did make emergency funds easy to carry around).
I'd lucked into a place to stay, an apartment that was, blessedly, vacant. But if the calendar on the wall was to be believed, the professors that lived there would be coming back, and soon. I had to find a new place to stay, and enough money to buy it with. Not to mention a little extra to buy some food to eat.
My stomach rumbled even as I thought about it, and the sound tempted me to just jump home. To find a nice, shadowy alleyway, cross my fingers, and jump. But even as my stomach begged me to do it, my mind pulled back on the idea.
It wasn't that I didn't have the juice for it; after three days' rest, I had the stamina to jump back five hundred years at least, let alone a paltry one hundred. But the last time I'd jumped, Micah had found me. Not after an hour or a day or a week, but immediately. Within moments of my arrival.
I supposed I was lucky he hadn't turned up here. That I hadn't turned a corner and run smack into him. But even though I was in the clear-- for now-- I couldn't help but worry that by jumping to the Homestead, I was endangering everyone within it. Turning our only safe haven into a trap we couldn't escape.
A shiver rolled down my spine, even in the afternoon spine. I'd jumped with with Micah literally on top of me that last time. His knee had held me down while his hands wrapped around my neck. If I'd been anyone else-- my brother, or my mother, even -- I'd be dead now. I would have been too drained from the last jump to jump away.
But I was a freak among freaks. Damaged almost too far for repair. I screamed and kicked and fought, and somehow I drew in just enough air to pull it down into my middle. To speak the words to send me away.
I hadn't been terribly concerned with where at the time. I certainly hadn't been thinking of 1985. But apparently my subconscious was ready for hair bands and spandex, because here I was.
It wasn't a bad place to be, I told myself, as I turned onto the coffee shop's street. It could have been worse.
The coffee shop was tucked away in a Tudor-style building that looked more like a home than a shop. Though it stood on a relatively busy street, it had a front garden fit for the suburbs. Wildflowers grew in great plumes on either side of the walk. A sign hanging from a wooden post in the yard read "Java and Jams."
I sighed and started for the door.
At nearly four o'clock in the afternoon, the place was almost empty. A man sat behind a bistro table in a corner reading a book and nursing a cup of coffee. A woman with frizzy red hair in a bun swept the floor in the middle of the room.
She looked up when I entered and set the broom down. "Need an afternoon pick me up?" she asked. "Today's special is the Colombian blend."
I wrinkled my nose. "No, no thank you. Are you Sherri?"
She wiped her hands on her apron, red and splattered with what looked like foam. "Who's asking?"
"I'm Allison," I said, putting a hand over her chest. "Karen sent me. From the mall."
Sherri tilted her head to the side, and the resemblance between the women instantly resolved itself. Sisters. They were sisters. "You looking for a job?"
"If you're hiring," I said. "I didn't see a sign."
"I don't advertise much," Sherri said. She sighed and moved behind the counter. "What was wrong with the mall? Don't you want to work in that over air-conditioned tundra?"
I risked a smile and stepped closer. "Karen said she would hire me if I came back with my social security card," I said. "But I... I don't think I have one."
Sherri's eyes flashed wide in alarm. She glanced over my shoulder at the man in the corner. He was still deeply absorbed in his book. "Well then. Have you ever worked in a coffee shop before?"
I suspected that doling out cups to hungry miners in California didn't count. "I've done some food service before with my family," I said. "But not coffee."
"Well." Sherri sucked on her teeth, looking me up and down. She must have decided something, because she nodded once, fiercely. "You seem a good sort. I can give you a try. We can fit in two weeks of training before the poets come back."
"The poets?" I asked.
Sherri's lips spread into a broad, genuine smile. "That's who mostly comes in here, in the first weeks of term. It's poets and novelists, starving and otherwise. They come to discuss literature and human misery. It's all quite dramatic."
I gaped at her, but the sparkle didn't leave Sherri's eyes. "We'll have college students later in the term, too," she said. "They don't usually show up until they've got midterms, though. Are you at the university?"
I shook my head. "Not yet."
Sherri looked at me, thoughtfully. "Well then. Two week trial. Cash okay? We'll do under the table unless you've got a bank."
A sigh of relief bubbled up from my stomach. "Cash is great," I said. "When can I start?"
Sherri untied her apron, pulled it off her neck, and offered it to me. "Right now. There's only an hour until we close up-- summer hours and all that-- but I think I can run you through the basics. Does that work?"
I tied the apron behind my back. "That works," I said. "That works really well."
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lady-divine-writes · 3 years
Text
Klaine Advent Drabble 2020 - “Up in the Air” (Rated PG13)
Summary: Kurt is heartbroken after his plans for a romantic Christmas with Blaine are demolished when he gets locked into a flight he'd been trying to switch. Blaine reassures him that it will be okay, that they'll have their romantic celebration when Kurt's feet are back on the ground. But is Blaine possibly hiding a secret that just might sweep Kurt off his feet? (1638 words)
Notes: Written for the @klaineadvent Drabble Challenge 2020 prompt 'join'.
Read on AO3.
“Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!” Kurt grumbles, rushing down the corridor that leads to his gate with his carry-on in tow and his heart pounding, trying to give off the impression that he’s not rushing.
Appearance is everything in the flight attendant game.
He was supposed to get an hour sit before this flight, but the one he was on was late by close to forty-five minutes! He has roughly a minute-and-a-half to reach his destination, covering the distance of two football fields, and that’s not the crappiest part of his day.
“Pick up pick up pick up pick up! Blaine! Ugh!” 
This is the fifth time he’s tried to get a hold of his boyfriend to tell him the bad news. Try his hardest, he couldn’t trade this flight out for one that leaves after the holiday.
His plans to join Blaine for a romantic Christmas have officially been canceled. 
“Pick up pick up pick up pick up,” he chants as he checks in with security and heads for the boarding area. 
“You’re late,” his friend Monica teases.
“I had three seconds to make it here from the complete other side of the airport,” he replies with a forced smile for the waiting passengers. The flight attendants can get away with making snide remarks as long as they keep a smile on their faces.
“At least you did it in flats!"
"Wah wah wah," Kurt teases back, giving Blaine’s number one last try before he'll need to turn off his phone and stow it away for the duration.
He's in for a long night - a soul-crushing series of flights, each one taking him farther and farther away from the man he loves.
Finally, Blaine picks up. 
“Hey! Kurt! I was hoping you’d call!”
He sounds eager, Kurt thinks. Shit! “Hey.”
“Are you okay? It sounds like you've been running.”
“I have.” Kurt stops in the crook of the tunnel, out of sight from both doorways, to catch his breath. He has one precious minute before he has to perform his pre-flight checks with the crew. And here he is, spending it breaking a wonderful man’s heart. “Look …” He squeezes his eyelids tight, on the verge of frustrated tears “… I’m sorry, Blaine. It’s not going to happen.”
A moment of confused silence. Then realization. “Oh, no! Shoot!”
“I warned you there was a four percent chance it actually would. It’s impossible to make plans over the holidays. It would have taken a miracle.”
“Yes, but, Christmas is the time for miracles.”
“I know, I know,” Kurt says in a shaky voice. “Don’t make me feel worse than I already do.”
“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Blaine says in a soothing voice. “I understand.”
“I know you do.” Kurt sniffles, pulling a handkerchief from his inside jacket pocket and dabbing under his eyes before they can get puffy. “It’s just … I know how I am. I’m the clingy, jealous type. I want to see you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I don’t want you to resent my work. Or me.”
“Kurt, I could never resent you! I knew what I was getting into. This is one trip you couldn’t switch, and I understand why. This is just a hiccup. That’s all.”
“A hiccup on one of the most important holidays of the year.”
“There will be plenty of time after the holiday rush for us to spend together. I’ll see you soon. We’ll lie in bed together, hold each other in our arms, and it will be better again. You’ll see.”
Kurt nods in response even though Blaine can’t see. “I’m trusting you.”
“I appreciate that.”
Kurt hears footsteps hurry down the ramp, Monica whispering, “Hurry up, Kurt! We have to go!” as she passes. He watches her disappear around the corner and onto the plane. He sighs. “I love you, Blaine.”
“I love you, too. Have a good flight.”
“I will,” Kurt chokes out, blowing a kiss into the phone. “Bye.”
“Bye.”
Kurt hangs up and shoves the phone into his pocket. He grabs the handle of his carry-on and continues on his way. Halfway down the ramp, his phone buzzes in his pocket. Before he even takes it out to check it, he knows it’s a message from Blaine.
He should have waited until he got on the plane where there’s a bathroom to duck into because it unravels him more than he is.
I love you, Kurt. And I’m pretty sure I always will.
***
Kurt doesn’t want to be here.
He doesn’t want to be flying over Miami on Christmas Eve. 
Not when he has a sexy man at home waiting to see him again.
Kurt loves his job. He really does. 
He stumbled into it unexpectedly. It was supposed to be a stop-gap while he worked his way to Broadway - something to pad his bank account, keep food in his belly, and a roof over his head while he got to experience life, hone his craft. And even though he's held on to his dreams of Broadway fame, this job stuck. He has never regretted a single flight in his entire career …
… until this one.
God, what he wouldn’t give to be at home right now, watching cheesy movies on Lifetime, snuggled in Blaine’s arms!
Kurt doesn’t pay much attention to the passengers as he maneuvers the beverage service down the aisle, dishing out Diet Cokes and mini bottles of vodka and Crown Royal. He makes eye contact, nods and smiles, but that's it. He can perform this part of his job on autopilot, has perfected the art of appearing engaged while, in his mind, he goes over notes for an audition or takes a stab at writing his memoirs. 
He knows the bare minimum about the passengers on this side of the plane from the things they let slip out of excitement or need - an older lady flying to see her daughter for the first time in ten years, an unaccompanied minor, a row of sorority sisters on a holiday excursion. Everyone is mellow, polite when he stops to ask them what they want from the cart. But there’s always one clown in the bunch.
And Kurt finds his sitting in Row 27, Seat E.
“Soda?” Kurt asks. “Coffee? Tea?”
“A medium drip, please? Or maybe a flat white?”
“A-ha. That's one coffee black for you,” Kurt says, his tone chipper, but sharp around the edges, barely glancing at the man as he hands over his drink. 
"Perfect. Thank you, Kurt."
"You're very welcome." Kurt internally groans when the man uses his name. The airline requires all customer-facing employees to wear a name tag for passenger comfort "in a time of need" (or so says the employee literature). In this age of social media, it's used more by the Karens of the world to flame what they consider 'inappropriate conduct' without impunity. All claims are thoroughly investigated, and require passenger and employee corroboration before disciplinary action is taken. But it's gotten to the point that he doesn't Google his name and the name of his airline in the same sentence anymore. 
It keeps him sane.
Kurt doesn't mind passengers knowing his name.
Just so long as they never use it.
But this man said Kurt's name like he owns it, and that Kurt doesn't appreciate. Not from strangers.
Kurt's eyes flicker up once it hits him.
He knows that voice. 
But how in the hell can it be here?
'I'm projecting,' he thinks. 'I miss my boyfriend, I wish that he was here, but he's not here. No. I'm not going to look at the occupant of this seat and see ...'
“Blaine?” Kurt stares at 27E perplexed. It is him! Unless there's been a gas leak the pilot hasn't told them about yet, Blaine is sitting right there, looking as adorable as ever! Maybe more so, his smile bright and goofy with his master plan revealed. “Blaine!”
“Well, well, well ...” Blaine turns in his seat, attempting a casual recline against the rigid armrest, masking the pain on his face when its sharp edge digs into his back. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“I didn’t know you’d be …! Wha---when did you even get a ticket?”
“A few days ago. Your friend Monica helped me with the details. I had to grease a lot of wheels, seeing as most holiday flights were already packed, but I’m on every one of your connections. I figured we can spend your layover together.”
“And what if I had managed to get the time off?”
“I would probably be out close to a few thousand bucks, but it was a chance I was willing to take.” Blaine tilts his head down so he can look coyly up at Kurt through long, thick lashes. “Are you surprised?”
“Yes! I … I don’t know what to say!”
“Say that you love me," Blaine says sincerely. "Say that you’ll have a little more faith in me.”
“I do have faith in you. It’s just sometimes … I don’t have all that much faith in myself. In my overall appeal.”
“Well, your overall appeal is so strong, I spent a small fortune to take this journey with you.” Blaine chuckles when he notices they’ve garnered attention from other passengers, wondering what happened to the drink cart but watching quietly to see the drama unfold. “So why don’t we enjoy the journey? See where it takes us?”
Kurt grins, his cheeks burning when the sorority sisters occupying the seats behind Blaine awww, and the older woman claps.
Kurt rolls his eyes when other passengers join in. 
Only at Christmas, he thinks.
Then again, isn't this what he wanted?
His cheesy Lifetime movie?
His improbable Christmas miracle?
Kurt smiles. “That sounds like a plan.”
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sprnklersplashes · 4 years
Text
work-love balance (rejanis one shot)
There are a number of reasons Regina wishes she didn’t have this job.
For one, the uniform is gross. And yeah the uniform is just an apron but it’s a gross apron. It’s navy, that’s all that needs to be said about it. Second, she’s realised she hates dealing with people. Not all people, there are a few that are okay, but some people are just so, so hard. And since she’s already on her second warning from her manager, she can’t tell someone to shove it whenever they snap their fingers at her, or don’t say thank you, or refuse to tip. She just has to swallow her pride, paint a smile on her face and complain when it’s quiet. Thirdly, it’s coming up to Christmas now which means she has to deal with Mariah Carey being played on a constant loop or six hours straight and not even Jolly St Nick himself could put up with that.
And fourth and most important; it eats into her Janis time.
Senior year is hard for both of them, especially now with finals coming up and work starting on their college applications. Janis is swamped with artwork, her hands constantly covered in paint, and Regina can barely breathe with all the assignments she has to get done. Where weekends were once for movie nights and coffee dates are now booked through with studying and projects and their conversations happening almost completely through the phone. They kept themselves busy enough earlier, with Regina’s lacrosse and Janis’ various extracurriculars, but now it seems that neither one can fit the other into their schedule. And believe it when they say they’re trying.
“Okay,” Janis sighs. They sit at an empty cafeteria table, a soft silence about the room at this early hour. Since the only time they see each other is in school, they agreed to come in early to try to work some sort of plan out. Regina was fine with it because she’d have been up anyway, Janis on the other hand was a little harder to persuade. A little begging, a lot of pleading, and a promise of a coffee on her swung it in the end. “Okay, so Monday is out, you have lacrosse training. Tuesday I have to study for my biology final. What about Wednesday?”
“I can’t,” she sighs. “Group project to work on. And then job-work after that. Thursday?”
“The talent show has their tech rehearsal. And they need the whole team down there.” Janis takes a long drink of her coffee, a scowl etched onto her face. Regina knows Janis loves doing the techy stuff for the school shows, and she outdoes herself every year, but she simply wishes that this year she’d have skipped it. Regardless of how good it looks on the college application. “Friday night?”
“More lacrosse practice,” Regina grumbles. “And I’m working.”
“Saturday and Sunday?”
“Work, work, work. Both in the school and the job.” Her head falls onto her arms, a low groan emitting from her and shaking the table. She feels Janis’ hand on her back making soft, reassuring pats and it makes her feel a little better, especially with her girlfriend mutters “there, there” in a half-joking, half-serious way that only Janis could pull off. A smile curls on her mouth, even if it’s muted by the rest of her frustrations.
“I just miss you,” she says, her head back up. “I miss how things used to be with us. You know…” She grins slyly, her finger tracing across the table until it reaches Janis’. “You and me. My room. Laptop between us.” Her fingers slowly interlink with Janis’ and she watches as the faintest hint of a blush creeps across her girlfriend’s cheeks. “Your head on my shoulder… us sharing the same blanket.”
“Stop,” she says softly, her voice so close to a plea. “You’re making me nostalgic.” She lets out a wistful sigh then, her thumb rubbing the back of Regina’s hand and sending goosebumps up her arms. “I miss you too. I mean who else is going to stop me from going crazy?”
“Thought that was Damian’s job.”
“Damian’s job is to keep me crazy.” She winks then and now it’s Regina’s turn to blush. “Your job is to keep me crazy.”
“My mistake,” she chuckles. Janis lifts her hand and presses a kiss to her fingers, her eyes never leaving hers, telling her she’s forgiven.
There’s a sort of breathless excitement she’s started feeling since dating Janis, and it comes in the small moments like this. Those moments have been so few and far between recently that Regina’s almost forgotten what that felt like, but here it is. The way her heart picks up just slightly, the way her veins seem to hum beneath her skin, the little soft feeling that unfurls in her stomach, all making her feel good-really, truly good-for the first time in a long, long time.
It doesn’t last long though, the bell ringing rudely and cutting into their alone time, and so they head off together, pinkie fingers linked, both hoping that somehow, they’ll find more time this week. She knows that it’s not likely, but if her relationship with Janis has taught Regina anything, it’s that miracles can happen. Sometimes they just need a little push.
Regina spies her opportunity for a ‘little push’ on Friday night. As per usual, the mall is absolutely packed with Christmas shoppers-parents buying for kids, teens getting Secret Santas and young men trying desperately to find a good gift for a girl who probably expects a ring. The mall is utterly flooded with people everywhere you look and that means that the line for Regina’s little milkshake shop is at least a mile long. She’s not been here an hour and both she and her colleague, a little wisp of a thing named Clara, both have headaches from the amount of screaming children and her cheeks sting from the smile plastered on her face. She’s been keeping score since she got here and so far there’s been three assholes telling them to hurry up and two Karens chastising her for her lack of customer service skills.
She wishes so badly she didn’t need this job, otherwise she’d flip each and every one of them off. Or, she would if she could remember their faces, but as she takes orders and turns around they all blend into one, and she doesn’t see them again until she’s shouted “small Skittles shake!” for the third time and the owner finally, finally comes forwards.
So all in all, she’s exhausted.
“Seriously,” she pants when she line dies down. “Who the heck wants milkshakes in December? Or ice cream? Why do we still sell that.”
“The kids,” Clara explains with a vague wave. “You know… kids like ice cream. And parents just want to shut them up.”
“Reminds me why I’m never having kids,” she scoffs and Clara actually laughs at that. She’s not so bad, not at all. She’s good fun and she’s nice, which is all you could want in a work buddy.
They serve the last few customers, and Regina wonders if she’ll actually be able to take a break, run down to the food court and get herself a sandwich, only to look up and find the manager appearing in front of them, carrying two cardboard boxes on his shoulder.
“You said you were running out of cones?” he asks.
“Did we?” She turns and looks and yep, their supply of cones has dwindled to almost nothing at all. Clara must have find a second, if even, to send him a text. “Oh yeah, thanks.”
“How have things been over here?”
“Well we’re alive,” Regina sighs. “Barely, but we’re alive. We made a lot of money if that’s what you’re interested in.”
“Oh, sounds good,” he says. “And Regina… you’re good to close up shop?”
“Yes I am,” she says through gritted teeth. He nods at that and gives her a brief, clipped thank you before asking her for the delivery receipts and heading on his merry way, back to his comfy office and his comfy office chair while they remain on their feet for the next few hours, serving customer after customer until they collapse. And then, with Clara leaving soon (she deserves it after all), Regina’s left to shut down all by herself…
Hang on. Lightbulb moment.
“Clara.” She grabs the other girl by the shoulder, her eyes wide and a smile tugging on the corners of her lips. “Can you hold the fort down while I go on my break?”
The girl hasn’t even finished saying ‘sure’ before Regina is gone, flying down the halls and pushing past people as fast her legs can carry her, her months of lacrosse training finally being useful. She makes a quick pitstop at the foodcourt and grabs herself some dinner before sitting down at an empty table and whipping her phone out, mistyping the number twice in her excitement.
Janis picks up on the second ring and that’s still not fast enough.
“Regina?”
“Hey,” she says through a mouthful of noodles, a small prick of anxiety in her gut. “Okay, so what are you doing tonight?”
“Um, nothing I guess,” she says. “Homework, art, watching Netflix. Why?”
“Because I have an idea,” she begins. “For us.”
“Oh do share.”
“It’s a surprise.” She can practically see Janis’ face falling. She hates surprises, and that’s what makes this fun. “I just need you to trust me on this.”
“Okay… I trust you,” she says in the least-convincing voice Regina has ever heard.
“Perfect,” she says. “Just get here late and hang around until 9 okay?”
“9? The mall closes at 9.”
“9:15 actually.” She wolfs down some more noodles. “Just be subtle when you get in here, okay? Be sneaky.”
“And then you’ll reveal to me your mysterious plan?”
“I promise.” She hears Janis laughing then and oh what that sound does to her heart.
“Okay. I better get some studying done then before I get there.”
“And I need to finish my food. Oh and Janis-” she interjects. “Bring your laptop. And your charger. Just in case, you know?”
And it’s the long, confused ‘okay’ from Janis that makes this all so worthwhile.
The mall is practically deserted when Regina switches off the sign and gets out the brush and pan. Normally the clean-up process is painfully slow, what with the dozens of things that need doing and Regina feeling utterly drained by the end of the night. But tonight she’s found a source of energy she didn’t know she had, one that has everything to do with her girlfriend, and she wipes down surfaces and brushes the floors in double quick time and throws things in the fridge with no rhyme or reason. She sprints out to the dumpster with the trash and back again in less than ten seconds, determined that nothing and no-one cuts into her time with Janis. She’s so focussed on her mental to-do list that she doesn’t even notice a person coming up behind her, not until she hears those dreaded words-
“Hi can I get a large Reese’s milkshake?”
Oh for the love of-
But her rant is stopped entirely when she turns and sees only Janis, chuckling on the opposite side of the counter, hair slightly damp and her backpack on her shoulders, a self-satisfied gleam in her eyes.
“Asshole,” she sighs. “That’s what you are. An absolute asshole.” She waves her hand. “Come on in, asshole.”
“Oh someone’s been busy,” she comments. “You know, I did get a little worried when I didn’t receive one snapchat from you about how much you hate the closing shift.”
“Oh shut up.” She checks that the coast is clear and then pulls down the shutter, with them still inside. Thankfully she had the foresight to slip the stepstool underneath it, preventing them from being shut in completely, but Janis’ eyebrows still shoot up, her mouth hanging half-open in a silent scream of oh my god my girlfriend’s finally lost it.
“Regina…” she begins. “Please look me in the eyes and tell me you are not locking me in a milkshake store with you. Please, tell me that.”
“Don’t worry,” she says. “I’m not locking us in. What I am doing is having an amazing idea for a date night.”
“Which is…” Regina gestures around them.
“Look around,” she says. “We’re alone. We have all the ice cream we can eat. We have sparkly lights. And you have your laptop, so we can whack on something cute. Or something dark if you’re into it.” She shrugs. “I thought if my job interrupts our dates, maybe we could have a date at work.”
For two seconds, maybe less, a cold fear washes over her as she waits for Janis’ reaction. Maybe this is too far, maybe she already had plans, maybe she doesn’t want to sit on a dirty floor with her.
Or maybe, she’s throwing her arms around her and the force of her body is throwing them back. Maybe she’s giggling into her shoulder and rocking the two of them gently, her smile brighter than any of the lights and sweeter than any of the candy around them.
“This is amazing,” she whispers. “You’re amazing. Maddening and possibly crazy, but amazing.”
She kisses her then and Regina wonders how she can still get butterflies in her stomach, even now.
They sit down on the floor, using their jackets as impromptu blankets, and Regina grabs some ice cream from the freezer, settling on Rocky Road after some deliberation, while Janis opens up her laptop. The heat from the computer contrasts with the coldness of the ice cream, both balanced across their legs, and it’s an odd sensation to say the least, but Regina doesn’t care.  They keep the ice cream close by and the toppings even closer; Janis has already covered her servings in chocolate sauce, and of course, rainbow sprinkles. The opening credits of To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before play onscreen, which Janis swears she only watches because Regina likes it so much, but she’s heard the muffled squeals behind her hand. She knows how she feels and one day she’ll get her to admit it.
But for now she just leans her head on Janis’ shoulder and snuggles into her. Janis presses a kiss to her head, slow and soft and so precious and Regina concludes that if they get trapped in here overnight, it won’t be so bad. Not if there’s Janis.
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yoongihoseok97 · 4 years
Text
Cookies and kisses💋Pt3
BTS Jungkook
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Summary- Jeon Jungkook is a broke college student who’s just trying to get his degree and find his place in the world but things aren’t always that easy. Especially when you’re only 21 years old and have a 4 year old daughter.
Warnings- Mentions of underage sex, brief mentions of past drug & alchol abuse. Mentions of past depression, self harm and suicidal thoughts. Quite a bit of swearing but nothing too harsh, don’t read if you’re sensitive to anything mentioned above.
Word count-2.7k
-
“Eunha baby please for the love of god can you just listen to me for once!” Jungkook cried out to his daughter who giggled loudly and ran away from her fathers grasp. He had been trying to get Eunha to have a bath for the past 10 minutes but the young girl was determined to get her own way. A quality she 100% got from her father.
“But daddy I had a shower the other day! I don’t need another one.” She exclaimed slightly out of breath from running up the stairs, her half naked frame was covered in a mixture of dried paint and dirt that she managed to pick up from nursery. Jungkook eventually managed to scoop her into his arms before she ran away again and locked herself in her room. A trouble he has had to face a few times when it came to bath time and he is only realising now that it would be easier to remove the lock. Luckily non of the boys were in to witness the young fathers struggle due to a ‘welcome back’ party half the campus was going to. Jungkook of course wanted to go and see everyone again after the summer break but the thought quickly disappeared when he realised he wasn’t a teenager anymore, he was a father and his daughter was his top priority, not some stupid house party that’ll probably be shut down by the police within the first few hours.
She squealed in delight when Jungkook playfully tickled her belly, an action that he knew would help win her over from past experiences. “Daddy has to shower everyday, some days when he’s really stinky he has two so you don’t get to complain misses.” He sat her down on the closed toilet seat and added the finishing touches to the bath, bubbles. Eunha hated baths more then anything but she wouldn’t even go near one of it didnt have bubbles in and so he makes sure to stock up on ‘unicorn mist bubble bath!’ Every week. After making sure that the water was just right he turned to his daughter and smiled “Bath time.”
-
It didn’t take long for Eunha to grow bored of the bath so Jungkook quickly dried her off, put her pyjamas on and ordered some food for them both whilst they relaxed in his bed. His long fingers made their way through her thick brown hair as she laid against her fathers chest. Jungkook couldn’t help but be reminded of the times when Eunha was first born and her mother was still around, cuddling into his side whist Eunha laid in his arms. Back to a time when Jungkook was vulnerable and believed her when she swore she’d never leave him. For a long while after she had left he wanted nothing more then to go back in time and and be with her where he felt loved and cared for. Now however he despised those memories. He wanted nothing more than for the images of her to be out of his head so he could finally move on. Eunha taught him what love is and he had finally learnt what she gave him was not it.
The father shook the thoughts out of his head and focused on the girl in front of him. Her glowing eyes were engaged with the tv. They were watching Beauty and The Beast, Eunhas favourite film. Even as a new born when Jungkook was 17 and had no fucking clue on how to take care of a child she always seemed to calm down and relax when it came on. Now himself and Eunha has watched it so many times together that they knew every word to every song and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t know the script inside out also. Even so Jungkook didn’t mind watching the film, deciding it was one of the better disney movies that actually taught kids the lesson of not to judge a book by its cover and that love comes in all different shapes a sizes.
Eunha lifted her head suddenly from her dads side and shifted to look around the bed, her tiny hands patted down onto the mattress clearly searching something. “What are you looking for baby?” He asksd curiously sitting up so he was beside her again. “Your phone daddy I want to know the time.” He chuckled and leaned across her small frame to grab his mobile from the bedside table.
“Why didn’t you just ask? And it’s 9:45 why do you want to know?” He picked her up and placed her on his lap so that she was facing him. She smiled brightly “Well earlier you told me to remind you about getting your clothes from the laundry place but I forgot so I’m telling you now.” Jungkook burrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he wondered what she was talking about before it dawned on him. He gasped and mumbled a small curse word under his breath and prayed that she didn’t hear him before removing her from his lap and began getting changed back into the clothes he was wearing before.
“God I completely forgot! I need those clothes for tomorrow so we’re gonna have to get them now sorry baby.” He apologized and kissed her forehead before taking her into her own room and grabbed a light jacket from the back of her wardrobe. It was a nice summer evening so she probably didn’t need it but her pyjama shorts and tank top were too little to be wearing outside at this time. The father sighed as he paced around the house, picking up his keys and turning off the television whilst Eunha waited patiently by the door.
“Are we going in the car daddy?” She asked as Jungkook picked her up and walked out of the shared apartment.
“No baby the place is only a couple minutes away so we’re gonna walk.” They strolled hand in hand down the street as the sun set in the distance. The warm evening breeze struck them with a pleasant burst over their bodies, a reminder of the summer that had just arrived in Seoul after a year of bitter coldness. The laundry shop wasn’t far from the house, just through the park and down the street so Jungkook didn’t have to worry about rushing to get there as it was a 24 hour service. Something the father was thankful for.
Despite the time there was still quite a few people sitting around, students having a beer before the sun went down and older people walking their dogs which Eunha was intraced by. She looked up towards her father and pointed out a particular dog that she always seemed to fondle over than any other. It was a golden retriever puppy that made the young girl giggle as he raced up to her and buried his face in her shoulder. “Look daddy!” She screamed in excitement and pet his golden fur whilst Jungkook laughed at the cute sight in front of him. He had always wanted to get a dog. A big silver husky that could help keep the house in check. The thought sounded stupid to some people but Jungkook weirdly felt like getting the dog was perfect to help keep Eunha safe but after discussing the plan with the rest of his housemates his idea was quickly shut down by Jin when he mentioned the price of such a dog.
The father snapped a quick photo of the pair and kneeled down to join his daughter with patting the overly energetic pet. “When can we get a dog daddy?” She said with a voice full of hope as she looked over at Jungkook, a wide smile wedged on her face. He chuckled and stood up, brushing himself off before holding his hand out to help his daughter up off of the floor. “Soon Eunnie, soon.” The young girl turned around once again and waved goodbye to the small dog. Her knees were muddy from the grass but she didn’t seem to mind as she skipped through the park, forcing her dad jog a bit to catch up with her.
-
“This needs to be done by 4:30 tomorrow latest, washed and dried. I have a very important party to go to.” The middle aged women smirked as she pulled a $50 out of her over priced Louis Vuitton purse and handed it to you from the other side of the counter. “And keep the change, you clearly need it.” The obvious fake smile on your face widened as you snatched the cash out of her perfectly manicured hand. “Of course ma’am I’ll see you tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of your day.” The smile stayed glued to your face until she was out of sight of the building. The last thing you needed was for her to catch you flipping her off and get you fired.
You inhaled deeply for a moment and regained your composure before putting the money into the till and taking out the tip in change. After months of searching you finally found a job that fit perfectly with your schedule and whilst working at a laundromat was not the most ideal job, it paid well and the amount of tips you got was surprising.
“God she’s a right bitch. Her names Karen Kennedy and she’s a regular, I don’t think she even owns a washing machine.” Your co worker said as she carried a large bag of clean laundry to the desk behind you. You chuckled quietly and shook your head. You’d only been working there a few weeks and you’ve already dealt with too many rich white people bossing you around and quite frankly, you were sick of it.
“Yeah well she tips good so I’m not saying anything.” You joked and turned to face the petite girl. Your co worker Mia was another reason as to why you hadn’t quit the job yet, she was slightly older then you and she was the type of girl that was pretty enough to be on a magazine cover so you had no idea why she was stuck working at a 24 hour laundromat. The two of you quickly clicked after working a 13 hour shift together and discovered that you both had a weird obsession with ‘NSYNC’. After that your friendship bloomed into snarky comments and late night trips to 7/11 after your shift.
“Anyway how’s rehearsals going?” Mia asked as she sat herself down in the space next to you, sorting through a bag of laundry that was dropped off earlier on in the day. You sighed “not the best, out choreographer broke his leg the other day so he can’t help anymore so we have to hold auditions for a new one”
“Shit that sucks, has Richards asked you too help?”
“Unfortunately, I mean it’s not like I mind helping her she’s done a lot for me it’s just I have no time at the minute”
“Oh well, why don’t you-” Mia was cut off by the sound of the bell Indicating a new customer has entered. Your eyes widened when you saw the beautiful man from the park with his daughter standing in front of you, smiles across on their faces. “Hello I’m Jungkook, I’ve come to pick up my dry cleaning.” He said as he picked up the little girl from beside him.
“Okay sir I’ll go grab them from the back, feel free to take a seat.” Mia said as she smiled at the two before raising her eyebrows at you and disappearing into the back.
He smiled at you before taking the young girl to go and sit down in the chairs closest to the counter. You looked away and pretended that you were busy so you didn’t embarrass yourself and do something stupid. You could hear the two talking quietly between themselves and you smiled as the giggles left the little girls mouth. It was just the two of them yet again, making you further wonder about the young girls mother. You turned your head away before he could catch you staring and pretended you were busy writing things down, his deep brown eyes and cute smile engraved in your mind. He was truly beautiful and the way he acted with his daughter was completely adorable, you wanted nothing more than to have the confidence to talk to him. Boys never usually made you feel like this. Why was he so different?
You were snapped out of your thoughts by Jungkooks voice “Eunha! Stop that please you’re gonna hurt yourself.” You turned to look at the two and found yourself amused when you saw the young girl twirling to the music that was playing through the building. You giggled at the sight, finding her dancing cute. He placed her on his hip and turned to look at you, a sheepish smile on his face when he heard your laughter. His tattoos were on full disply as he was wearing a short sleeved shirt and you admired the way the designs wrapped around his muscular arms.
“Sorry love, she gets excited when she hears this song it’s her favourite.” His deep voice sent shivers down your spine, a small blush covered your cheeks at the nickname he gave you. You smiled widely “Don’t worry about it, I loved it! You have some good moves.” You smiled at the brown haired girl as her eyes sparkled with delight. “I love dancing.” She stated proudly grinning widely.
“Love is an understatement, she dances all day and if she could she’d do it all night.” You laughed at the statement happy he was speaking to you. “I want to be just like daddy! He’s good at dancing too.” Excitement laced in her words as you raised your eyebrows in surprise. He was a dancer, no wonder why he was so buff, your mind filled with thoughts of how good he’d look all sweaty and panting for breath. Your cheeks flushed at the thought, Jesus this man was something else. “You’re a dancer? That’s so cool, I’m terrible at dancing it’s like I have two left feet.” You joked.
He laughed at your comment and the young girl giggled into her fathers neck. “I might have to teach you some time then.” He smiled as another blush spread across your cheeks. “Maybe” you said as Mia came out with his dry cleaning, a wide smile on her face as she handed Jungkook the bag.
“That’ll be 18.95 please sir.”
He nodded as set his daughter on the ground next to him, pulling out his wallet to give Mia 20 dollars. “You can keep the change, thanks a lot.” Jungkook smiled at Mia before turning to me, “I’ll see you around.” Giving me one last smile before mumbling a small ‘come on baby’ as the two walked out the shop. The young girl turned around and gave me a quick wave bye which I grinned at and returned.
Mia turned to me with a wide smirk wedge on her face, “He was so cute! He was so flirting with you!” She exclaimed clapping excitedly.
You turned to look at her after watching the pair walk down the street, “he was cute but he was not flirting with me, he was a daughter! Meaning he probably has a girlfriend.” You stated giving her a sad look before sitting down on the chair behind the counter. The thought of him going home to another women made you weirdly uncomfortable even though You had just met him.
“You don’t know that y/n, he could be a hot single father for all you know” she replied looking at me with another smile.
“Oh well, I doubt I’ll see him again.” You shrugged like you didn’t care when deep down you knew You were disappointed. He seemed like such a nice guy and for some weird reason he made your heart flutter whenever he spoke. You really wanted to see him again and talk more but you knew it was very unlikely.
She rolled her eyes at your words and got back to her work “whatever you say hun.”
-
Author’s note!- Hi everyone! It’s been awhile since I last updated this fanfic & it’s been awhile since we’ve been active on this account but we’ve just been so busy and we didn’t have time to update. I’m not gonna make any promises as to when chapter 4 is coming out because I have no idea but it won’t be as long a wait as this one was. Again I���m sorry it took so long but I hope you all enjoy!- love anon hobi Xxx
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itshardcandy · 4 years
Text
Jinnuendo
Kim Seokjin x Reader
(Originally written for and posted by @letsgetitinbusan for a writing game but I chose to also post it on this blog now)
8806 Words
Genre: Fluff, Friends to lovers, Smut, Crack,
Warnings: Alcohol consumption, dirty talk, fingering, outdoor sex, unprotected sex (wrap it before u tap it, kids), Jimin’s cakes
Summary: Camping with your friends was supposed to be fun- you could only agree, now that Jin had made camping even funner.
Preview: 
“Ohmygod”
You mumbled with a full mouth,
“Amazing”
You said and Jimin smiled proudly. Jin watched the interaction quietly from his seat. Damn, he thought, he should have remembered to bring some rice cakes for you. He wasn’t really jealous of Jimin and his cakes. Really, he wasn’t. He was convinced that little crush of yours was completely food related, so he didn’t really think there was anything more to it. All he wanted was for that interaction to have taken place with him and also, for you to give all your attention to him and not Jimin. That seems like a reasonable mindset, right?
“Yikes, I wouldn’t wanna be her right now”
Said the bus boy standing next to you, crossing his arms as he watched the restaurant manager approach the newest addition to the waiter team, who was currently involved in a rather heated discussion with a guest,
“It’s a shame she’s gonna have to leave, she was nice…” 
You added and both of you sighed heavily and returned to your duties while the poor girl was being fired for standing her ground. She was the third one this month alone. To be fair, your manager was not an easy man to please, so it only made sense that new additions to the tea would be examined even more closely than you and the others, who had worked here for longer. The only thing keeping you safe from the manager’s wrath was your natural ability to fake-smile for hours on end. It was a gift as much as it was a curse but it had secured your job in the customer service sector so far.
And soon you will have survived another painful day of serving bitchy, rude and entitled Karen’s and Chad’s for the sake of financing your studies. At least they tipped well if you smiled hard enough.
This was your last day of work before you could look forward to two weeks of uninterrupted relaxation time. You handed in your last paper for this semester last week, so all of the work for university was also done and nothing would interfere with your plans to sleep for three days straight and then spend the rest of the time at the beach, cooking in the sun.
 “See you guys in a few weeks”
You yelled into the kitchen after you gathered your things and clocked out for the night. A few hurried goodbyes reached your ears before you exited through the back door of the restaurant and finally breathed in the fresh air, smelling of freedom and definitely not the burger grease stench coming from the kitchen AC vent.
No, it was definitely freedom and it was glorious.
_________  
After a hot shower and big glass of wine you were slumped on your couch, ready to pass out any second now, when your phone went off and almost gave you a heart-attack.
You took a deep breath and checked the caller ID to see your friend Seokjin calling,
“What is it?”
Normally, Jin calling was a thing you were happy about, however, being interrupted while passing out after a 10-hour shift at your job, was not a happy occasion and you couldn’t mask the annoyance in your voice,
“Whoa, what’s got your panties in a twist? Did that guy at work steal your tips again?”
He asked and you breathed a heavy sigh,
“No, I think he learnt his lesson after I cut out the butt on all his work pants…
You answered, slowly sitting up and reaching for your wine glass to empty it with a last few sips before continuing the conversation
“Why are you calling so late? I was about to fall asleep…”,
“I just wanted to remind you to pack if you haven’t done it already. Which you probably haven’t. Case in point”
Pack? You creased your brows. Pack for what?
“YN? You still there?”,
“Uhh, yeah I am I just… can you remind me what I’m supposed to be packing for?”
If you weren’t so tired, you’d probably be a little more embarrassed,
“Seriously? It’s that time of the year, YN! It’s blackout week! Joon send everyone reminders months ago! And then weeks ago! And then again 2 days ago! How could you forget the most magical event of the year?”  
You needed to hold the phone at a slight distance as to not go deaf at the sound of Seokjin’s friendly reminder. He was right, though, how could you forget? Blackout Week was the one week that you and your group of friends all looked forward to collectively every year. A whole week of camping in the mountains near a beautiful lake and no one was allowed to bring any kind of electronic devices, unless it was absolutely necessary for survival. A flashlight would be an exception but other than that you guys were pretty adapt at reverting your way of life back to the good old dark ages. You were lucky that Jungkook and Hoseok had been part of a group of boy scouts or else blackout week would have ended in a disaster each time. Yeah well, maybe you had exaggerated when you said that all of you were pretty adapt at this stuff… But nevertheless, you were all very determined, which was just as important,
“Shit, you’re right, I completely forgot…”
You ran your hand across your face and sighed,
“Of course, you forgot, why am I even surprised…”
Jin sounded more upset that he actually was, you knew him by now. You just needed to work him a little bit,
“How early are we leaving tomorrow? Can I do it in the morning? I’m so tired…”
You probably sounded a little whiney but that usually did the trick with Jin,
“I told you to be ready at 5, you know how long the drive is. Ah YN, I still can’t believe it, you’re so careless sometimes…”
He already sounded a little softer,
“I’m sorry, I’ll start packing right now, ok?”,
You made sure to sound like the helpless damsel in distress you wanted Jin to believe you were and you were sure you had cracked him. You heard him sigh heavily on the other end of the line,
“Do you need help packing? I’ll come over and help you, it’ll be quicker and you can get more sleep”,
“Are you sure? It’s late already…”,
“Just stay awake for the next fifteen minutes and open the door when I knock, ok? I’ll be right there”,
“Ok…”
He hung up and you smiled to yourself. There were a few advantages to knowing how Jin’s mind worked. And knowing Jin, he would never not come and help you out and you were grateful to have such a selfless friend. He knew you were an absolute mess and he didn’t mind picking up your slack once in a while because you took care of him in turn. It wasn’t like you turned up whenever he called, like he usually did for you but you were the type of friend to think of things he forgot to do for himself. You had been friends for so long, that he had given you a key to his apartment a while back and you used it to make sure his fridge was always stocked, and his plants were taken care of. He worked a lot. Way more than you and the little things like self-care and chores sometimes got put on the back burner. Since you had a little more time on your hands you would take care of these things once in a while. Before you got up off the couch to put on some comfy pants, you stretched your tired limbs and pressed play again to let Netflix run in the background. Jin knocked right as you finished pouring two mugs of coffee, which both of you would probably need to undertake the monumental task of packing your camping bag. You opened the door and let him inside, handing him the mug right away and watching a smile creep onto his face,
“Coffee was a good idea”
He said and slurped loudly after he closed the door,
“Thought it would make me feel less dead. I have yet to see that theory proven”
You sipped on your coffee, too,
“Thank you for helping me, though, I completely forgot about the trip”
Jin waved you off,
“At this point I’d be surprised if you actually remembered to take a shower after work. I know I’m usually the busy one but this semester you’ve had so much stuff to do, that I can’t even be mad you forgot everything not related to uni”
You smiled at him. Even though Jin loved to get his Dad mode on and get all red-faced and out of breath from all the scolding, he was a softie at heart and everyone knew, no matter how hard he puffed up his chest, he never really meant any harm. He was all bark and no bite and none of your friends took anything he said seriously,
“Let’s get started then”
He said and put down the mug in your sink before waltzing off towards your bedroom and digging around in your closet until he emerged with your suitcase. You watched him zoom around the place for a second until you joined him, sitting down on the bedroom floor and grabbing some clothes to roll up and place in the case,
“You want any snacks?”
You asked Jin in case he wanted some food in addition to the great entertainment you provided with Netflix in the background, your loud combined breathing and the rustling of useless stuff around you as you moved it around to find viable things to pack,
“I’m good, thanks, though”
He said and dived head first into a pile of clothes to look for your warmer sweatshirts. The end of summer was in sight and you would be staying pretty high up the mountains, so better be prepared,
“Although… do you still have some of those mini pretzels?”,
“Yeah, sure”
You got up and got him the bag of his beloved snack and then it was time to get some real work done.
­­­­_________  
“Thank GOD we finally made it!”
Jin jumped out of the car and went to kneel down to kiss the ground but you stopped him before things could get ugly. What a baby, you thought to yourself… so what if you sang along to Cotton Eyed Joe for three hours straight? It’s a timeless masterpiece,
“So what if I sang along to Cotton Eyed Joe for three hours straight, it’s a timeless masterpiece!”
You argued and Jin’s eyes almost bulged out of his head,
“A timeless- can you even comprehend the unspeakable agony I was in? It felt like my soul left my mortal body and only the haunting of Cotton Eyed Joe remained…”
He could be such a drama queen sometimes. You rolled your eyes and sighed; deciding to be the bigger person really should be considered a virtue,
“Anyway, we made it here on time, didn’t we? You sure know how to burn some rubber when you don’t like the music I play…”
Jin pulled himself off the ground, holding onto the car door. His joints weakly cracked while he got up,
“I aged like 30 years during this trip and it’s only just starting…”
He mumbled to himself, shaking his head and making his neck crack in addition to everything else,
“What was that?”
You asked and Jin quickly went to unload the trunk,
“Nothing, nothing”
He answered, avoiding an even longer discussion about Cotton Eyed Joe.
You quickly joined him and had your bags unloaded in no time.
It seemed like you were the first ones to arrive at the camping site and when you informed Jin of that, his mood immediately shifted,
“We get to choose our spot?”
He looked at you in disbelief,
“Seems like it…”,
“Finally, we don’t have to sleep next to the dumpster!”
You never got to choose your spot because you had never been the first ones to arrive,
“Jin, there isn’t even a dumpster here, were in the middle of literal nowhere, nothing but lake, mountains and forest for miles”,
“True but somehow, the garbage always ended up being next to our tent because it was the only space left”
Ok, well, you guessed that was kinda true. You didn’t mind it though, you were a heavy sleeper,
“Ok, so let’s pick a good spot this time, hm?”
You said, clapped your hands together and looked around to assess the available spots,
“How about over there?”
You pointed to the edge of the clearing, where the trees began to grow thicker and taller. Jin squinted and pursed his lips,
“Hmmmm….”
He hummed and you guessed you wouldn’t be setting up there,
“What do you think about setting up here?”
You walked into the middle of the clearing, near the stump where the campfire would be set up later and Jin immediately pursed his lips even harder and hummed louder and you quickly suggested more,
“Ok, so near the lake then? Work with me here, Jin”
You walked down to the soft grass near the shore and presented it as appealingly as possible and Jin lips formed a smile. He nodded, finally. He walked towards you with the rolled-up tent under his arm and you planted it firmly in the ground. Not a second to soon, too because right after you set it down, another car approached and parked right beside Jin’s,
“Ah, the cavalry arrives”
You commented and just as you and Jin had planted the last fixture and the tent was stable, the car doors opened and the three Musketeers exited the vehicle in style.
Yoongi, sporting his usual urban-grandpa-couture, adjusted his tinted glasses and ran a hand through the hair that stuck out from his headband, before he casually nodded at you and Jin in greeting. Hoseok and his brother Taehyung waved at you enthusiastically in their brightly coloured jackets and each held up a bag filled with goodies that looked extremely promising,
“Woooow! You’re here early!”
Hoseok could barely believe it,
“And you even grabbed the best spot, well done guys!”
He congratulated you, genuinely surprised that you made it here before anyone else for the first time,
“be honest, did you ever expect this to happen?”
You asked him as he came over to hug you and Jin simultaneously,
“Not in a million years”,
“But we’ve been rooting for you guys ever since we started this tradition”
Tae said as he leisurely strolled over and hugged you tightly,
“Thanks, it only took us almost 10 years to get here, so we’re gonna make sure to rub it in your faces whenever possible”
Jin piped up and you chuckled to yourself,
“If you got here so early you could have prepared the fire already instead of being lazy”
Yoongi grumbled and trudged over, as well,
“Missed you too, boo bear”
You cooed at him and went to pinch his cheeks,
“Goochie goo, look at you, you put on weight”
You loved treating him like a baby. He also loved it when you did it but he would sooner die than ever admit to that,
“Ugh, don’t touch me”
He weakly tried to wiggle out of your grip on his pinchable cheeks and after they presented all the goodies, they brought with them, you helped the guys set up their tent. Then you actually did prepare the fire. The last of your friends to arrive were Namjoon, his baby cousin Jungkook and Jimin. Even more pinchable cheeks for you to victimize, you thought, rubbing your hands together evilly. When they arrived, the rest of you were sitting around the fire and you only noticed their arrival when you heard their voices approach through the trees. Apparently, they had chosen to hike here,
“I’m never listening to you again… hiking here, for fuck’s sake! I can’t believe I thought this was a good idea”
Joon said, sounding somewhat out of breath as he and Jungkook stepped into the clearing. He dropped his bags and drew in a long breath,
“Come on, it wasn’t that bad! And it’s not like you couldn’t use a little more exercise…”
Jungkook said, mumbling the last part of the sentence,
“What was that?”,
“Nothing, nothing…”
Jungkook picked up Joon’s bags in addition to his and marched on towards you guys, sitting by the fire. Jimin stepped out of the woods last and looked just as ethereal as everyone remembered. As he ran a hand through his hair, the sun immediately took a step back to let him take the place in the spotlight. A collective sigh ran through your group and a couple of awkward glances and coughs were exchanged before you all got your bearings back. He smiled when he saw you and gave a little wave that made you giggle like a little girl when you waved back. Jin could only shake his head in disbelief. Sure, Jimin was hot. Even he could admit to that; but surely you thought Jin was handsome, too, right?
“Sorry we’re late, guys!”
Jungkook said as he reached you and set the bags down,
“Don’t worry about it”
Hoseok got up first and hugged the younger boy tightly before the rest of you got up and said hi. Joon and Jimin walked over, too and the hugging continued for a little longer than usual hugging because everyone took a little more time to get an extended hug with Jimin. It was honestly ridiculous how thirsty all of you were for him. And the poor guy had no idea.
______
After all the tents had been set up, everything was prepared and all of you had settled back around the fire, you watched Yoongi and Jimin prepare dinner, while Hoseok and Taehyung played UNO and Jungkook was scribbling something in a notebook. Jin was sitting next to you and reading through the gas grill’s user manual, Jimin and Yoongi were currently trying t get to work,
“Are you sure, you’re not holding it upside down?”
You asked him and reached out to grab it from him but he held it out of your reach and sighed,
“YN, I know how to read a damn…- hold on, it’s actually upside down”,
“Wait, really?
You were only joking about the upside-down thing,
“NO, of course not! How incapable do you think I am?”
Jin slapped your shoulder with the papers and you laughed as you tried to lean away far enough,
“Very, and I’m not even sorry for it”
you said and Jin’s mouth dropped open and he coughed out a laugh,
“With a friend like you, I really don’t need any enemies”
He said and you leaned back in to look up at him and channel your cutest pout,
“This is why you love me, though”
You were right, he thought, no one could make him feel so dumb, yet so happy at the same time. Especially with an annoyingly cute pouty face like yours,
“You’re lucky, that’s true”
He continued flipping through the manual and soon, the grill was working and he saved Yoongi and Jimin from their misery. Just in time, too because Tae was getting hungry and no one wanted to deal with that.
_______
“Aw man, that was so good!”
Jungkook said, stuffing the last food from his bowl into his mouth, chewing loudly,
“You want the rest of mine?”
You asked him, holding your bowl in his direction and he nodded eagerly, big eyes getting even bigger,
“There you go, big boy”
You smiled to yourself and handed him your bowl,
“God, where is all that food even going?”
Yoongi said, as he watched Jungkook devour the additional food he had just received,
“Shhh, let him eat”
You shushed Yoongi with a pat to his leg and watched Jungkook munch happily,
“Anyone want some rice cakes?”
Jimin piped up and opened up a Tupperware filled with the juicy looking sweet treats,
“Oooooh, Jimin, they look amazing!”
You couldn’t believe your eyes; they were your favourite,
“I knew you’d like them”
Jimin said as he watched your eyes and smile grow bigger,
“Have some”
He added and held the box your way,
“Oh yes! Thank you”
You got up and tiptoed around the fire to kneel in front of him to munch on his cakes. You looked at him with glossy eyes, happy that he remembered your favourite treat. And they were good, too. So good, that you had to close your eyes as you had the first bite,
“Ohmygod”
You mumbled with a full mouth,
“Amazing”
You said and Jimin smiled proudly. Jin watched the interaction quietly from his seat. Damn, he thought, he should have remembered to bring some rice cakes for you. He wasn’t really jealous of Jimin and his cakes. Really, he wasn’t. He was convinced that little crush of yours was completely food related, so he didn’t really think there was anything more to it. All he wanted was for that interaction to have taken place with him and also, for you to give all your attention to him and not Jimin. That seems like a reasonable mindset, right? So, in conclusion, he wasn’t jealous, at all. However, when Jimin took a second rice cake out of the box and held it to your lips, time seemed to slow down for Jin and not in the good, romantic way he would have preferred it. Jimin gently placed the cake in your mouth and your lips closed around his finger for a second before he slowly pulled away. You moaned in pleasure as you started chewing and Jin had to bite down on his tongue to not lose his mind. To the others this was a completely normal and innocent thing to witness; just two friends sharing some food, what’s wrong with that? Everything, according to the way Jin was currently staring Jimin down and tried to telepathically communicate his disdain for the way he fed you food in the most erotic way possible. Ok, maybe he was a little jealous, after all. Why was this suddenly getting to him? He knows that the relationship you have with him isn’t purely based on friendship, since the both of you had had some ambiguous moments of will they, won’t they before but it was never really anything you acted upon or even talked about. Nothing to take seriously. Maybe, by watching you and Jimin flirt so innocently, he had just realized now, how precious you really were to him and that he wanted to try and incorporate a romantic aspect into your relationship. Or maybe, he just never felt threatened before. Never felt like his place in your life was about to be taken away from him by a guy with sweet, juicy and delicious cakes. Damn Jimin’s cakes! Jin got up and started collecting everyone’s dishes. He didn’t want to continue watching you basically crawling in Jimin’s lap and sucking the cakes off his fingers. Maybe he went a little too hard with the whole dish collecting thing because as he ripped Jungkook’s bowl from his hands, the younger hadn’t completely finished I and yelled after Jin, as he went down to the lake and started vigorously scrubbing everything. However, Jin didn’t know that he had absolutely nothing to be jealous of because as soon as he had left the circle, Tae, who was sat next to Jimin, made him feed him cakes, as well. Let’s just say that even someone as oblivious as you knew when some actual sexual tension was developing. You decided it was time to awkwardly retreat to your seat now, before you were sandwiched in between the two boys. Only now did you notice that Jin had left the comfort of his camping chair,
“Hey, where did he go?”
You asked Joon, who was wrapped in a thick jacket with his hands around a warm cup of tea. While someone outside of your circle might be a little confused at the sight of someone with such a warm jacket on in this warm weather, you had stopped wondering about his weird habits a while ago. He slurped his tea and pointed down to the shore where, if you squinted heavily, you could faintly recognise the outline of Jin’s body in the dark. You excused yourself from the others and walked the short distance to join Jin in washing the dishes. He was slumped over, kneeling at the shore and, apparently, hadn’t noticed you approaching. So you yelled and gripped his shoulders from behind:
“Careful!”
The high-pitched scream he let out almost burst your eardrums but it was definitely worth it to see him almost jump into the water in shock,
“What the hell, YN? Why would you do that?”
He was clearly very upset about the whole thing but you only snickered like a mean little kid and kneeled down next to him,
“I’m sorry, I just couldn’t resist”
You said and took the knife he was scrubbing out of his hands. Safer this way. Even in the dark you could see his eyes, big as saucers and it only made you laugh more. You took his hand in yours in apology and Jin didn’t resist, he just yelled louder like he usually did,
“You’re such a brat! I volunteer to do the dishes and what do you do? Wow, the disrespect is off the charts!”
His yelling was like an affectionate pat on the back by now because you knew he would never actually yell at you in anger. He knew you loved it because you always laughed even harder when he started ranting. And when you squeezed his hand a little tighter, he was sure there was nothing he enjoyed more than making you laugh by making an ass of himself,
“I’ll stop, I promise!”
You bowed your head and clutched his hand to your chest, still smiling,
“Tsk, empty promises”
He shook his head and you looked up at him,
“I’ll make it up to you, I’ll help you with the dishes”
You said eagerly,
“And also, I snagged one of the rice cakes for you”
Jin listened up,
“I know you love these things even more than I do”
He heard some shuffling and then you held your hand up in front of his face, a tiny cake sitting in your palm,
“Open up”
You said, taking the treat between two fingers and holding it up for Jin,
“For me?”
He asked, just to make sure he wasn’t imagining this,
“Of course, for you, you genius”
 Jin slowly opened his mouth and you gently placed the treat in it, like Jimin did with you. However, Jin didn’t think of Jimin in this moment, he only thought about the way your thumb lingered on his lower lip for a few seconds before you pulled your hand back. He felt his affection for you stir in his heart again. He also felt something else stir in a different bodily region at the feeling of your fingers on his lips. He quickly turned away and swallowed the sweet cake before clearing his throat, 
“Thanks”
He managed to mumble and went right back to washing dishing and willing away the growing problem you were responsible for,    
“Move over, I’ll help”
You said and crowded his space again to help him with the dishes and then a comfortable silence set in, only interrupted by the occasional loud laughter from the rest of the guys.
_________
The last night approached quicker than all of you would have liked. After all of the days spent on the lakeshore, basking in the sun and eating smores at night around the campfire, it was finally time to return to your normal life. You and Jin had gotten used to the tent situation quickly, even though it wasn’t the most comfortable or convenient. Well, for Jin at least. After the you had gone to sleep on the first night, Jin lay awake for a while longer, not being able to get your small fingers and your gentle touch out of his mind and it didn’t help that you were right here next to him, bodies only separated by a thin sheet you used as blanket.
And it had only gotten worse.
Tonight, the silhouette of your body, illuminated by the dying light of the fire outside, made Jin especially weak. He, like you and the others, had a few drinks to celebrate your trip and commemorate your friendship and, surprisingly, alcohol didn’t do a lot to enhance his self -control. More like the opposite,
“You good? Are you comfortable?”, 
“Yeah”,
“Ok”
You and Jin had finally arranged yourselves into the bed rolls and were about to go to sleep. You were turned away from him with not a lot of distance between your bodies. It had been an especially hot day and even though it was already dark, the air and the ground hadn’t begun to cool down, yet. Jin was uncomfortable in the heat and he had already stripped down to his briefs; just being in the tent, next to you, not even a sheet over your bodies, to avoid even more heat, he felt like his body was heating up even more. He heard you shuffle around a little and then your thin top was flying over his face and you wore nothing but your underwear,
“I’m sorry if this makes you uncomfortable but I feel like I’m melting”
You said and fanned your face to feel even the slightest relief from the heat. Jin didn’t say anything for a few seconds, too caught up in the realisation that you were in nothing but your underwear, right next to him,
“It’s fine”
His voice betrayed him, sounding breathy and thin. He cleared his throat,
“Don’t worry about it”  
There, he sounded super manly again,
“I’m dying over here… it was nice when we were in the water but now? I’m not made for this weather”
You lamented and turned to Jin, tucking your hands under your head to be comfortable. He was glad that it was so dark because if there were even a little bit more light coming in from the outside you would have seen him staring shamelessly at your tits, pushed together between your arms,
“Yeah it’s uh… really bad”
Very smooth, Jin, managing to answer even though his briefs were getting uncomfortably tight, he thought to himself. The fire outside finally went out completely and the clinking of glasses and the sound of another tent zipper let you know that the last of your friends were about to hit the hay, as well,
“Do you mind if I open the zipper? Let some more air in?”
You asked and sat up already,
“No, go ahead, can’t be worse than this, anyway”  
You felt around for the zipper and dragged it down until the flaps of the tent opened and a slight breeze greeted you from outside,
“Well, it’s not much but I can breathe a little better”,
You fell back into the bed roll with a sigh and Jin suddenly had an idea,
“Hey, YN”,
“Hm?”,
“How about we just go down to the lake? Put our feet in the water, cool down a little, you know?”,
“Mhmh, I guess”,
“It’s probably more effective than just opening the zipper”,
“Yeah, you’re right”
You sighed again and sat up in the tent,
“Ok then, let’s go. We gotta be quiet though, I think everyone’s sleeping already” 
You said and Jin sat up, too, to crawl out of the tent and help you stand up after you crawled out, too. He grabbed your hand and slowly you navigated the dark clearing in the full moon light down to the soft grass around the lake shore until you felt the water gently lap on your feet. Both of you sat down on the grass and let the waves envelope your feet on their way up,
“Ugh, I already feel so much better”
You relaxed and lay back on the grass, stretching your overheated and tired limbs,
“Same”
Jin stretched his legs, tapping and tickling your smaller feet with his and making you giggle,
“Jin, that tickles”
You tried to wiggle away, and escape his big gorilla feet,
“Is this an unexplored fetish of yours?”  
you asked, making Jin laugh and trying to not be too loud,
“The tickling or the feet?”,
“Oh my god is it both?”,
“Are you kink-shaming me?”
“Definitely! Feet are gross”
You smiled and pushed yourself off the grass back into a sitting position,
“I don’t have a weird kink, calm down”
Jin loved riling you up, just as much as you did it to him,
“Anyway, I’m gonna go in, I think”
He announced after he was done teasing you and slowly waded into the shallow water,
“you coming?”
You looked up at him, shaking your head,
“I don’t think so, I don’t have my bathing suit. Don’t wanna sleep in wet undies”
“Suit yourself. But don’t complain about the heat”
He simply said and turned around, walking until water reached up to his ribs. It probably wouldn’t be so bad to get your underwear wet; in this heat they would be dry in no time anyway. But another thought crossed your mind and you contemplated just going commando. Even though yours and Jin’s relationship had never been anything more that friendly, except for a little flirting here and there, you felt like it could be more. There could be more to the flirting and the innocent hand touching. And times like these made you want to just cross the line. Despite Jin thinking he was pretty subtle about everything, you had noticed how, during the trip, he eyed you and Jimin curiously whenever you were talking. You had also noticed how he tried to put as much distance between you as possible in the tent as to not push his very obvious hard on anywhere near you. By now you just wanted to see if he would cross the line first. Watching him, you unclipped your bra and slipped your panties down your legs, before you also let the cool waves roll against your body. He had already made his way a little farther out and you stopped where your feet could still feel the ground and the water just reached around your clavicle,
“Guess the heat finally got to you, hm?”
Jin said, as he noticed you approaching,
“Right, the heat”
You mumbled and he swam closer, back to you,
“Not worried about the clothes anymore?”
You shook your head and smiled,
“What clothes?”,
“Your under- Oh”
Jin stopped in the middle of the sentence after he had realised what you meant. His mouth fell open as his eyes took in the naked line of your shoulders, no straps in sight,
“I didn’t wanna get them wet”
You said and Jin has to swallow hard. You’re naked under the blurry sheen of the water and he doesn’t know how to handle the situation,
“Yeah, no, I get it, convenience and all that, right?”
He laughs awkwardly and tries and fails to cover up his sudden insecurity about your naked boobs just a few inches away from his face,
“Yeah, I just thought I’d let the girls breathe, you know?”
You looked down and Jin could see your hands covering your boobs right under the surface,
“Yeah, yeah, no big deal, just let the… the girls out”
He took a deep breath and tried to look anywhere but your hands encasing your tits. The trees were pretty in the dark, so out there. And their crowns looked so big and full and round in the moonlight. They were probably very soft if he were to submerge his face between them.
Yeah, trees really were something; He had always been a tree guy.
And he probably should take a step back so he wouldn’t accidentally poke you in the stomach,
“Are you ok? Am I making you uncomfortable?”
You asked, your voice sounding all soft an innocent,
“Do you want me to put it all back on?”
Jin whipped his head around at that and held his hands up,
“No! No, I mean…”
More awkward coughing,
“Don’t bother, you’re comfortable. I’m completely fine”
You giggled cutely and Jin felt his self-control pack its bags and jump out of the window,
“Are you sure? You seem kinda bothered…”
You took a step forward and Jin escaped immediately,
“I think I’m gonna go back out, it’s freezing in here, don’t you think?”
He stuttered and rushed through the water so fast that I splashed you in the face. You smiled to yourself, fully aware that Jin was definitely not unbothered by your boobs. A fact, that you would use to your advantage.
And Entertainment.
You also swam back to the shore, where Jin was already standing on the grass again, his back turned to the water. When the water wasn’t high enough to cover up your nakedness anymore you wanted to get Jin’s attention again. You slowly exited the water and walked towards Jin, who was currently picking up your underwear carefully. You noticed him stalling a moment and feeling the soft fabric of your panties between his fingers before he spoke up,
“YN, I’ll leave your stuff closer to the water, ok?”
He said, thinking you were still swimming around without a care in the world,
“No need”
You said from behind him and he jumped, dropping your things, then tripped and landed on his ass, as he tried to put some more distance between you again,  
“Ah… you scared me again
He said, sitting on the floor and covering his eyes with his fingers immediately. He was only able to see your face through the gaps between his fingers. You didn’t say anything; you just stood there for a few seconds, making Jin suffer even more,
“I uh, do you wanna go back by any chance? I’m kinda tired”
He tried to find an excuse to flee again but you weren’t having it. You knelt down and placed your self firmly in his lap, straddling him,
“I don’t wanna go back, yet”
You mumbled and gently wrapped your small fingers around the wrist of Jin’s hand, trying to get him to uncover his eyes and look at you. He resisted. Not at all cost but it was enough to give you pause and make you doubt your intentions,
“Jin, it’s ok, you can look”
You tried to soothe him a little but he didn’t relent,
“YN, please, I’m trying so hard”
He whispered, hoping you would get the message.
It wasn’t like he didn’t want to look, he definitely wanted to. He was sure, the hard dick poking you in the thighs told you so very clearly. It was just that he wasn’t sure what would happen, if he gave in. Your friendship was something he treasured and was thankful for every day, no matter how annoying you could be at times,
“Would it be so bad? We’ve been friends for so long, have you never thought about it?”
Your soft voice slowly but surely worked on dismantling his determination,
“Of course, I thought about it. Multiple times, actually. Especially this week”
Jin answered and he felt you shift slightly above him,
“So, if you thought about it, does that mean… you just don’t want to?”
He thought he heard something like disappointment in your voice and he was never good at ignoring when you felt down,
“Are you kidding? You think I’d be this hard if I didn’t want to?”
He tried to lighten the mood and let his free hand move up and down your thigh,
“I’ve been wanting to do this forever, YN, I just don’t know if this is a good idea”, 
“Jin, please…”
He swallowed as he felt you move again, this time you were pushing down on him, grinding against him and he had a hard time to keep his eyes covered,
“Shit”
He cursed at the feeling of you grinding on him and you moved his hand higher from your thigh while you tried again to remove his hand from his face. He slowly let you but he kept his eyes closed,
“Jin, look at me”
You now held both of his hands in yours and you slowly moved the up your body until they cupped your breasts. You sighed and squeezed Jin’s hands around them making him moan and his head fell forward, against your shoulder,
“YN, fuck, you need to stop… I’m a weak man and your tits feel amazing”
He started squeezing on his own and slowly rubbed his thumbs on your nipples,
“Touch me, baby, please”
Your pleas were making him so weak and he knew there was no way he would stop now, that he felt your soft skin under his hands. He turned his head just a little, placing his lips against your neck and kissing you gently. He listened to your moans and let you move against him, rub yourself against his dick in his briefs and it made him so hard; shit, you just felt so good against him, warm and soft and your tits were so fucking nice he couldn’t form a coherent thought anymore. He wanted more, needed more, needed to touch more and taste more of you, so he quickly spun you around and pushed your body back into the soft grass and hovered above you,
“Kiss me”
You whine and he wants nothing more than to kiss every inch of your skin. Starting with your pretty lips; you pretty lips which were always pouting smiling, making him crazy and making him wish he knew what the felt like around his dick. He leans down and they’re so soft. So damn soft like your beautiful tits, which he went right back to squeezing and massaging, making you moan into his mouth. Then it’s wet; tongues finding each other, wet bodies grinding together and your wet pussy rubbing against him. God, you’re so wet. He even feels it through his boxer briefs. He never thought he’d be able to get you this wet. When you lift your legs and wrap them around his hips, he can’t hold back any longer,
“Shit, you feel so good, YN, so fucking soft”
He starts kissing your neck again, moving along the smooth skin down to your collarbone and then further down to suck one of your nipples into his mouth. You moaned and ran your hands through his hair, tugging slightly and running your nails along his scalp,
“Feel good, baby?”
He asked, voice rough as he switched sides,  
“So good…”
You managed to answer through your bliss-clouded mind,
“Want more”
You added and weakly grabbed one of Jin’s hands to move it lower, between your legs,
“More? Want me here? Want me to touch your pussy?”
You never would have guessed Jin would be so vocal during sex, you always thought he’d be the sweet and vanilla type of guy but you weren’t about to complain when his fingers felt so good rubbing your lower lips,
“Yes, touch me, please, want you so much”
you pulled his face back down to yours to kiss him as he let his fingers slide through your wetness and moaned into the kiss at how fucking good it felt,
“Shit, you’re so wet… so fucking warm, fuck”
He started rubbing your clit lightly and you broke the kiss to bury your face in his neck and muffle your moans,
“Ah, Jin…”,
“Like this?”,
“Fuck, yes”
He made you feel so good, you wanted to do the same. You worked your hand between your bodies, too and started rubbing Jin through the fabric of his briefs. The feeling of his hard dick in your hands made you want more and you slipped your hand inside, wrapping it around him for real and gently moving it until you felt his fingers lose their rhythm on your clit and all you could hear were the pleasured moans he failed to hold in,
“Am I doing it right?”
You knew you were doing it right but you also knew Jin loved it when you acted helpless and cute. Could only apply even more in this situation,
“Yeah, you are… So right, so good, shit”
He sucked on the skin of your neck and slid his finger from your clit down and slowly, gently slipped it inside of you, moaning at the warm wet feeling that greeted him. You couldn’t find any words that would accurately express your thoughts at this moment; you could just tighten your legs around him and try not to be so loud you’d wake the others,
“You like that, hm? Feel so tight, baby, can’t wait to fuck you”
Jin moaned in your ear and you felt a heatwave run through your body,
“Jin, fuck me, plea- Ah…”
right as you begged him, he slid in a second finger,
“That what you want? Want me to fuck you?”
He pushed his fingers in deeper and you tried to not lose the rhythm you had going on with your hand around his dick,
“Mhmmh”
You couldn’t form a decent answer at this point,
“You sure, baby? I could make you come like this and then fuck you; make you come again”
He kissed you slow and deep this time, moving his fingers in tandem with his tongue. You shook your head, tightening your legs again, pushing his fingers even deeper,
“No? You want it now? Want me to fuck that tight little pussy?”
Jesus, you thought, you never knew words could turn you on so much,
“Then you’ll get it, baby”
He pulled his fingers out slowly and you watched as he stuck them in his mouth to suck them clean,
“Mhm, fuck, I’ll eat you next time, don’t even try to stop me”
You spread your legs as he sat back on his haunches and pushed his briefs down, finally. You couldn’t make out his size in the dark but you had already felt that it was a little bigger than what you were used to.
Jin gripped himself, moving his hand along his dick and sighing,
“Can’t believe this is happening…”
He said and leaning back down, hovering over your body,
“Wanted this for so long”
He continued and you let your hand travel over his naked chest as he guided his dick to slide through your wetness. You watched him shudder and a breath hitched in his throat as his dick made contact with your wet, warm centre,
“God, feels so good already, Jin, don’t tease me”
He bent down and kissed you,
“I won’t, I just…”
He hesitated for a second and took a deep breath,
“I don’t have any condoms with me, I wasn’t really planning on this to happen”
You smiled at the sudden insecurity in his voice and gently ran a hand through his dishevelled hair,
“It’s fine, I have an IUD, you don’t have to worry”,
“I can come inside you? You sure?”,
“I want you to”,
“Fuck…”
Jin went right back to kissing and sucking on your neck,
“Please, Jin, just fuck me… want you so bad”
The way you sounded so fucking whiney and sweet; he moaned into your skin and rubbed his dick along your pussy before he slowly pushed the head inside. Unprepared for the incredible feeling of your wet, tight pussy around his dick, he pushed in even more, swallowing all your moans and pleas. Never had he felt this good before, literally never. Your pussy felt so damn good around him, he wasn’t even completely sure this was real,
“Ah, Jin!”
He could tell you tried to be quiet,
“Shit, it’s so big…”,
“You ok? Want me to go slow?”
He asked for your comfort, yet he wasn’t sure he could do anything about it because his dick was definitely pushing itself deeper inside you of its own accord. He probably couldn’t stop, even if he wanted to,
“No, I’m fine, it feels amazing”
You threw your head back into the grass and Jin bent a little to suck your nipple back into his mouth, adding to your pleasure even more. He pushed in deeper and deeper, moving his hips until they wouldn’t go any further and he was balls deep inside you. Even if you didn’t, he needed a moment to come back to reality and not finish before he had even started. You held him so tightly and he squeezed every bit of skin he could reach as your hips moved against his, stealing his breath and making him feel so fucking good,
“You feel so good, YN, so fucking good”
He closed his eyes and let himself get lost in the feeling of your body against his, 
“So wet, so tight- this pussy’s made for me”
He mumbled against your skin and kissed and sucked what his lips could find. He wanted to be more in control, wanted to be more focused on your pleasure but it just felt so good. He could only hope he was making you feel as good as he possibly could,
“Jin, touch me…”
He heard you sigh and he placed one last kiss to your lips before he pushed himself up to sit back, so he could bring his fingers back to your clit,
“Like this?”
He asked as he rubbed you and immediately felt you clench around him,
“Yes, ah… like that”,
He lifted your leg onto his shoulder with his other hand, spreading you even more for him. This new angle had him hitting you deeper and Jin did his very best to hit all the right places. He already felt his end approaching and he knew he couldn’t hold it off for long,
“Jin, fuck, I’m close, don’t stop”
Your words were music to his ears. He held your leg tightly to his chest, fucking you deeper and harder, working his fingers as close to the rhythm his hips were setting as possible,
“That’s it, baby, come for me”
He ben forward slightly, wanting to be closer to you, wanting to see your face when you came,
“Come all over my dick”
His words made you feel hot all over and you felt your muscles contracting, bringing you closer to your end,
“Ahh, I’m gonna come”
Your voice was strained and you put both of your hands over your mouth, knowing this was gonna be a loud one. Jin was captivated by the pure look of pleasure on your face and devoted all of his movements to making you come, desperate to see your face and feel you clench around his dick,
“Gonna come for me? I can feel it, baby, tell me what to do”,
“Just like that, don’t stop”,
“You’re so beautiful… look so good like this; I want you so much”
He told you all the things he always wanted you to know and more until he felt your pussy tighten around him and your leg spasm in his grip while you moaned through your hands in a desperate attempt to deafen the noise as you came around him. He pushed in so deep, revelling in the feeling of your orgasm and letting his own take over. He bent down, pushing your hands out of your face and capturing your lips in a slow, deep kiss that made your toes curl like that orgasm just did. He came so deep inside you, filling you up so good and holding you so tight and close, you never wanted him to let you go. As your muscles relaxed and your breathing evened out again, just like Jin’s, he took your hands in his and kissed them before intertwining your fingers and pressing another long, deep kiss to your lips,
“Jeesus, Jin, I never would have thought you’d be so uh... vocal”
Was the first thing that came to your mind as he slipped out of you and lay down next to you. He let out a hearty laugh and ran a hand over his face,
“I don’t know what came over me”
He said and you smiled,
“I just bring out the best in you, don’t I?”
He squeezed your hand lovingly,
“My best is definitely in you, yes”
He snickered and you slapped his shoulder,
“You’re so nasty”
You both giggled as suddenly a loud voice rang through your post-orgasmic bliss,
“You’re both nasty! Fucking like horny teenagers while all your friends are trying to sleep? What are you, 16? Get a damn room next time, fuck!”
Both of you recognized Yoongi’s voice. You probably woke him up or kept him from sleeping,
“Whoops…”
You said, hiding your face in Jin’s neck,
“You should be happy it’s only happened now! Otherwise you wouldn’t have gotten any sleep at all!”  
Jin yelled back and you laughed even harder.
He had exactly zero shame and that was probably why you worked so well together. And you continued to work well together two more times that night. And then you continued to work even better together for a lot more years to come.
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returnsandreturns · 4 years
Note
Au where Foggy owns a bakery and Matt runs a law firm. Foggy always smells like yeast but Matt doesn't mind.
“I have always subscribed to the theory that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach,” Foggy says, seriously, sliding a muffin across the counter, “so I’m sorry in advance for making you fall in love with me after you eat this.”
If Matt were braver, he would say too late but he isn’t, so he just picks off part of the muffin and eats it and makes an embarrassing noise that has the welcome side effect of making Foggy’s heart beat a little bit harder. 
Knowing that Foggy is attracted to him makes his entire life more difficult, considering he’s locked in the routine of stopping at the bakery every morning to get coffee and whatever Foggy recommends and also to desperately flirt to the exact limit that would be creepy. It’s an unsustainable way to live. 
Surviving exclusively on Foggy flirting back isn’t going to last very long.
“Marry me?” he offers, smiling. 
“Name the day,” Foggy says, happily. 
*
“It’s creepy to ask someone out where they work,” Karen says, “unless they very clearly, undeniably, one hundred percent want to be asked out. Like, I would say there’s no situation where it’s okay except for your situation where you’re both clearly head over freaking heels." 
"I don’t know how clear it is,” Matt says.. 
“What’s his heart doing around you, weirdo?” Karen asks. 
“I don’t know,” Matt sighs, sinking down lower into his seat. “It’s definitely–noticeable–but it’s not like it’s a foolproof method or something.”
“I guarantee that, based on observation alone,” Karen says, “he either has a heart condition or he wants to run off into the sunset with you and adopt sixteen babies.”
“…I asked him to marry me this morning,” Matt says, as casually as he can, “but it was a joke.”
“Oh my god,” Karen says, covering her face with her hands. “Are you sure you were joking?" 
”…mostly,“ Matt says, weakly.
"Matthew,” Foggy says, later that week. “Why do you think I give you so much free food?" 
"You’re…really nice?” Matt offers. 
His inner desperate, horny teenager thinks it’s because Foggy like likes him, maybe, possibly wants to hold his hand and do other, better things that he tries not to think about because willing away an erection from thinking about that time their hands brushed and he could feel Foggy’s callouses and thought about where else on his body he could feel them is a terrible way to start his morning. 
God, he feels like a pervert.
“I am,” Foggy says, solemnly. “I am very nice. But–dude, if you actually asked me to marry you, like, for real? I would probably say yes. I realize that makes me a total lunatic but that’s just kind of where I am right now and it’s killing me that I can’t tell if you’re just an outrageous flirt or if you’re too polite to ask me out while I’m working. I think it’s the latter, but–" 
"It’s the latter,” Matt interrupts him, quickly. “I thought maybe you were just really good at customer service. Confusingly good." 
"Again,” Foggy says, laughing, “I am good but I don’t treat any of the other customers like I treat you." 
"I still feel weird about asking you out when we’re about to exchange money for goods,” Matt says.
“Fair,” Foggy says. “Hold on. I’m taking off my name badge and my–mind you–extremely masculine apron and going on my break." 
"You have two other customers,” Matt says. He didn’t realize until right now. He’s kind of flustered by the fact that Foggy clearly doesn’t care. 
“They’ll wait,” Foggy says. “Will you wait? We’re about to have a romcom moment." 
They both agree to wait.
"Matt Murdock,” Foggy says. “I am asking you out on a date as two humans on equal footing with no money exchanging hands or other obligations. You in?" 
"I’m in,” Matt says, laughing. “I’m going to kiss you now, as two humans on equal footing with no–" 
Foggy interrupts him by kissing him first, quick and firm, murmuring, "There is a line,” before pushing Matt backwards gently.
“Thanks for waiting,” Matt says, smiling at the other customers, who wave him off congenially.
“Meet me here before I close up?” Foggy asks, going back behind the counter. 
“Sounds good,” Matt says, happily.
Out on the street, Matt takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, unable to stop smiling as he heads toward his office.
Karen’s going to be so excited.
240 notes · View notes
disneygirl626 · 4 years
Text
Patrol Gone Wrong :An Irondad Oneshot:
A/N: Alright y’all, I know the title is terrible and the ending is rushed, but I was in a very big hurry to write this and finish it so this is as good as it’s going to be. Enjoy!
-
In Peter’s defense, no one was harmed. Well, except for him. But in the short morning he was robbed of his eyesight, everyone else stayed relatively safe.
It had started out like a semi-normal weekend. Until May told him he was going to Mr. Stark’s for the weekend. 
“But May, I’m sixteen! I don’t need a baby-sitter!”
“He’s not baby-sitting you, Peter, he’s just going to hang out with you for the weekend,” May had said as she grabbed her purse and keys. 
“That’s just a fancy way of saying he’s baby-sitting me, May,” Peter had grumbled. 
May rolled her eyes and sighed, mumbling something in Italian that was too quick for Peter to catch.
“Honey, I’m not going to be home at all this weekend. I can’t go to work knowing you’re going to be here by yourself. What if you hurt yourself while out on patrols? Before you even try to lie to me about getting help next time you patrol, remember last week?”
Peter did remember last week, but he wasn’t going to tell May that. 
Patrol had gone wrong. Very wrong. He’d crawled into the apartment hoping to stitch himself on his own, but he couldn’t reach his back where the stab wound had been. May found him in the bathroom that morning and… let’s just say she wasn’t happy. Peter got an earful of Italian after she was sure he wasn’t going to bleed out. 
Anyway, after Happy dropped him off at the Tower Peter walked in and FRIDAY took him to the lounge floor to find Mr. Stark talking to Miss Potts. 
Mr. Stark did a double take and grinned. “Hey, Pete! So I was thinking we could spend some time in the lab, then eat way too much junk food and binge-watch some cheesy-sitcom.” 
“Sounds good, Mr. Stark,” Peter said with a small smile.
“Great! Go put your stuff in your room then meet me in the lab, ok?” 
Peter nodded and set off for his room. 
After the internship became an actual thing every Friday after school, Mr. Stark gave Peter a room in the Tower for when they went extra late, which happened quite a lot. 
So that’s how the day went. They spent a little too long in the lab, Pepper practically forced them out to eat, and they spent the rest of the binge-watching ‘Friends’. After Peter realized he wasn’t being a burden to Mr. Stark, he was able to relax and have a lot more fun.
Everything was going great! Until Peter went on patrol. 
“Peter, there is a robbery on 5th Avenue,” Karen said. 
“On it! Thanks, Karen!” Peter said. 
Peter reached the robbery in a matter of minutes. “Hey fellas, it’s not nice to rob people.”
The robbers looked up from the cash register they were stealing from. There were two of them, but they didn’t look that threatening. They didn’t even wear a mask! What kind of robber doesn’t wear a mask? Peter figured they were probably pretty new to the ‘robbery’ gig. So he decided to have some fun.
“What- who are you?” the left one shouted. 
“You don’t know who I am?” Peter placed a hand over his heart in mock offense. “That hurts guys. That really hurts.”
The robbers looked at each other and raised their guns. 
“Whoa! You guys are in need of all kinds of lessons in manners, aren’t you?” Peter said, webbing the muzzle of the gun. “It’s rude to point guns at people.”
“What the-?”
“Language!” 
Peter webbed their mouths shut, grinning under his mask. 
The guy on the right dropped his gun and pulled out something else. It looked vaguely like a gun, but there was no chamber for the bullets. Instead there was a small container of some sort at the bottom of the gun. 
“Whoa, what’s that?” Peter asked, joking aside and beginning to grow alarmed. 
The man grinned and held down the trigger. Peter heard a high-pitched whining sound and he widened his eyes. 
Peter coughed as the gas burned his lungs. He tried to take a breath but his throat and lungs felt like they were being lit on fire. 
“Peter, should I call Mr. Stark? It seems an unknown toxin has-”
“No, I’m-I’m fine, Karen don’t bother Mr. Stark.”
When Peter finally stopped coughing, he rubbed his burning eyes and looked up. A string of curses in Italian flowed from his mouth when he realized the men were gone and had taken the cash register’s content.
He ran out of the store only to realize the men were long gone.
The rest of the evening wasn’t nearly as eventful as that one. It mainly consisted of an old Italian lady that was lost, a couple Puerto Rican kids wanting a picture with him, and stopping a man from mugging a young mom and her kid.
When he returned to the Tower, exhaustion hit him like a brick wall and he stepped out of his Spider-man suit before practically collapsing in his bed.
The next morning he woke up to his growling stomach. “Stupid metabolism,” he grumbled, rollling over and rubbing his hands over his face. He sighed and sat up. Then froze. 
“Where am I?”
“You’re in the Tower, Peter,” FRIDAY replied.
He waved his hands in front of his face then rubbed his eyes violently. All he could see was darkness. “Why-why can’t I see?”
This didn’t make any sense! He was fine the night bef- wait. Those guys! Whatever they sprayed him with must’ve blinded him!
“Would you like me to get Boss, Peter?” 
“No, no, I’m fine. Um, where is Mr. Stark?” Peter asked. 
“He left for a meeting this morning. He wanted me to tell you he’d be back after lunch and to call him if you need anything,” FRIDAY said. 
“Who’s in the Tower?” Peter asked. He swung his legs over the bed and stood, placing his arms in front of him and waving them around wildly as he took a couple steps to what he hoped was the door. 
“Miss Potts is in the conference room on a phone call and Captain Rogers is in the training room.”
Peter frowned. What was Captain America doing here? Mr. Stark hadn’t mentioned anything about that.
New plan. Avoid Captain America, avoid Miss Potts, get to the kitchen. His stomach grumbled loudly in agreement to the new plan. 
“FRI, am I heading to the door?” Peter asked. 
“No, you’re heading to the closet. Turn left and walk approximately ten steps,” FRIDAY said.  
Peter did as told and slowly made it out of the room without hitting any walls. 
“Peter, are you sure I should not alert Mr. Stark?”
“Yes, I’m sure, FRIDAY.”
If an AI could sigh, FRIDAY would have. 
Peter ran his hand along the wall as he walked. “Turn left,” FRIDAY said.
FRIDAY guided him to the kitchen and from there helped him get a protein bar without hurting himself.  
A cold, sharp, tingling sensation ran up and down Peter’s spine as he ate, making him pause his chewing. “FRIDAY-”
“Oh, hello. Sorry, I didn’t realize anyone else was here.”
Peter jumped. “H-Hi. Um-I’m Tony-uh, I mean, I’m Mr. Stark’s intern.”
“Intern? I didn’t know Stark had interns.” The female voice travelled across the room as the woman walked. 
Peter didn’t recognize the voice… He couldn’t exactly ask FRIDAY. He swallowed anxiously and continued in his charade. 
“It’s a… uh… thing with my school,” Peter said, trying to subtly feel around for his cup as his mouth grew dryer and dryer. He had gotten a cup right?
“What do you do with the internship?” the woman asked. 
“Get him coffee, run errands. Sometimes I’ll work on small little projects in the lab,” Peter lied. 
Where was his cup?!
“I thought Tony was at some meeting today?” she said. 
“I.. uh.. got here a few hours ago,” Peter replied. 
He tried to quickly hide the smile that tugged at his lips when he finally found his cup. He picked it up. And promptly spilled it all over himself.
“Are you ok?” she asked as Peter jumped up.  
“Y-Yeah, I’m great. Um, I knocked my cup over,” Peter said. He realized the cup was still in his hand and quickly set it down on what he thought was the table, only to hear it drop to the floor.
“Do you need help?” she asked.
“Uh… no, I’m good. I’m just gonna… head to the… the… bathroom. Yeah. I’ll be right back, nice talking to you,” Peter said, walking off briskly.
He ran smack dab into a wall. An Italian curse escaped his lips and he rubbed his nose.
“Do you have a cane or a service dog that I can get for you?” the woman asked. 
“Uh… no, I’m fine. Thank you. Would-would you be able to help me to my room?” Peter asked, his face burning with embarrassment.
“Sure.”
A hand gently touched his arm, making him jump. “Sorry,” the woman said.
With FRIDAY and Peter’s help, the woman led Peter to his room. 
“So you’re Stark’s kid?” the woman asked.
“What? No, I’m his intern,” Peter replied, trying to find his backpack that had his clothes in it.
“What regular intern has a room here?” the woman asked.
Peter didn’t have an answer to that. He had no idea who this woman was, he couldn’t just come out and tell her he was Spider-man!
“Where do you keep your pants? I’ll help you find some,” the woman asked. 
“My-my backpack should be around here somewhere,”  Peter said. 
He picked something up. “What’s this?” he frowned, feeling it and turning it around in his hands.
“That’s a... Spider-man suit. Wait. Are you Spider-man?” 
Well so much for that. Peter stood dumbfounded. Could this day get any worse?
“Yes, but-but please don’t tell anyone!” Peter said.
“Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me, kid. I just didn’t know Spider-man was blind,” the woman said.
“I’m not! Well, I mean I am, but it’s-it’s new. I haven’t always been blind,” Peter said.
“When did you become blind?” the woman asked.
Peter sighed. “This morning.”
“This morning?! Does your dad know?”
“He’s not my dad! And no, he doesn’t know. Don’t tell him! I-I can figure this out,” Peter said. 
“Kid, this is something Tony would want to know,” the woman said. 
Peter sighed again. He won’t be able to figure this out on his own. He can’t see. He needs Mr. Stark’s help.
“Fine. FRIDAY, where’s Mr. Stark?” Peter said.
“Walking into the elevator. Would you like me to tell him about your sight?” FRIDAY asked.
“Yes,” Peter grumbled. He sat down on his bed. Well, he thought his bed was behind him. He fell to the floor. 
“Kid?” the woman asked.
Anxious footsteps grew closer and closer to him. “I’m fine, I just missed the bed,” Peter said, sitting up.
“Peter, Boss has informed me that… in his words ‘tell him he needs to stay put’.”
“Got it,” Peter said, holding up a thumbs up. 
The woman stayed with him until Mr. Stark got there.
“You’re blind? What- when did this happen?” Mr. Stark shouted. Peter could hear the door hitting the wall and his footsteps quickly approaching. 
“This morning. I fought these guys last night on patrol that sprayed me with some sort of gas and today I woke up blind.”
“You didn’t think this was something I need to know? What’re you doing here?”
Peter struggled to come up with an answer, but when the woman answered he realized that second question was for her. 
“The kid needed help. Rogers was busy and I hadn’t eaten yet so Pepper told me to come get some food,” the woman said. 
“FRI, is Bruce here yet?”
“He just walked in, Boss.”
“Tell him to meet me in the medbay,” Mr. Stark said. 
Peter stood and Mr. Stark gently took his arm and led him to the medbay. 
“Tony, what’s going on?” 
Peter couldn’t help the pure joy and excitement that filled him. “Oh my gosh, you’re Bruce Banner. I-I love your work, I’ve read your papers so many times-”
Mr. Stark spun him around and Peter quickly realized he���d probably been talking to the wall. 
“Uh, thanks,” Bruce said. 
“He said he got sprayed with some sort of gas and today he woke up blind. Can you help him?” Tony said.
“I can try, but I’m not exactly that kind of doctor, Tony,” Bruce said slowly. 
Mr. Stark helped Peter sit on a bed (or what he thought was a bed) and after some silence, Bruce said, “I’m going to give you some anit-biotics to try to fight this toxin, ok?”
Before Peter could question that meant, he felt Bruce giving him a shot. “It should kick in in about ten minutes,” Bruce said. 
Peter’s eyes started to feel like a weight was being lifted off. After a few minutes of blinking and rubbing his eyes, the darkness cleared away. Everything was a little fuzzy, but other than that he could see!
Mr. Stark, Bruce, and Natasha Romanoff stood in front of him with expectant faces. “It worked!” Peter said with a grin.
“Glad you’re ok, kid,” Natasha said. 
Peter froze. That voice. The Black Widow had been the one helping him all morning. “I think he just went into starstruck mode. Don’t worry, Pete. You’ll have all the time in the world to talk to them after the meeting. Have you eaten today?”
Peter thought back to the catastrophe that was breakfast and shook his head. “Ok, go get some food, I’ll meet you there in a little bit,” Tony said. 
Peter nodded and got up to leave. 
“Oh and Pete?”
Peter turned. 
“Next time you get blinded by a bad guy, maybe tell me?”
Peter chuckled and said, “I will, Mr. Stark.”
29 notes · View notes
onebatch2batch · 4 years
Note
kastle + “Do you even own a shirt?” please!!
Thank you so much for the prompt, this was really fun to write!!
The worst part about finding a new roommate, Karen finds, is the staggering amount of bullshit to wade through just to find someone who isn’t going to kill her. Or smell her hair in her sleep. Or something equally as horrifying. The first person to answer her ad in the newspaper had been a small, mousy girl that wore cat ears and cried when Karen asked about it. The second person had been a man a few years her junior who reeked of weed and waggled his eyebrows when he asked if they’d be sharing the room and the rent. The next blunty told her he was only interested in the room as a rendezvous point for his mistress.
And so on.
Karen likes to think she’s not picky. She’s honestly, truly not picky. She’d been living with Foggy for three years before he and Marcie got engaged, prompting them to get a place together uptown. Foggy had been a good roommate—never late on rent, easy to spend time with, non combative about sharing a bathroom and chores. He also never took out the trash and was a serial dish-breaker. But everyone has their quirks, and she’s prepared for some level of weird. Just not as weird as the people she’s met with today.
So when the sixth person knocks on her door, Karen is less than optimistic. According to their brief phone call earlier in the day, his name is Frank Castle. He’s an ex-Marine, fresh out of service in need of a place in the city. He’d been polite and cursory on the phone, giving nothing else away–so when she opens the door to a handsome man with a clean shaven face and a charming smile, she’s a little shocked. And when he takes off his jacket during the tour to reveal thick, corded arms and a shirt drawn tight across his chest, she very nearly gives him the room on eye candy potential alone.
Common sense overrules her–if she really does give Frank the room, it would be a living nightmare to hook up with him. What if they sleep together and then have a falling out? She would still have to see him every day. She’ll have to vet him just like everyone else and make a decision fairly. Part of her hopes that he has a pet tarantula or something. Any reason to turn him down.
Unfortunately, the universe doesn’t work that way.
“I’m clean,” he tells her as he casts an eye over the vacant room. She watches the back of his head, enraptured by the low timbre of his voice. “And I’m quiet–I do play guitar sometimes. If that’s alright.”
Because of course the stupidly hot, charming man asking to live with her plays guitar. Of course.
“Do you work?” she asks him, leaning on the doorframe as he opens the closet door to look inside.
“Uh huh. I work construction. Sometimes I work odd jobs on the weekends.” He flashes her a quick smile. “And I promise to keep the parties down to a minimum.”
She offers him the room.
Two months after Frank moves in, they’ve settled into a rhythm. Admittedly, not the kind of rhythm that Karen thinks about when she’s alone at night and with him just across the hall but–
–yeah, they have a rhythm.
After a brief period of awkwardness and some time spent learning each other’s little quirks, Karen finds that she really enjoys Frank’s company. He’s funny in a very subtle, deadpan kind of way. He’s respectful of her space and privacy, and just like he said before–he’s quiet. Most nights find them at separate ends of the couch, Karen typing up an article for the paper she works at while he reads or strums his guitar. Sometimes he’ll cook them both dinner, pulling some old family italian recipe out of nowhere, table set by the time she gets home. She’s pleased to find he’s as clean as he claimed, and that sharing a bathroom isn’t as terrible as it could be. It seems neither of them have a very active social life, which suits her (and her growing crush) just fine.
Four months in, Karen decides that Frank is trying to kill her. She knows that he is a disciplined man; he starts every day the same way. He wakes up long before her. She knows this because the coffee pot is always nearly done brewing by the time she drags herself out of bed around 6am. In fact by the time she’s done pouring them both a cup–his black, hers with cream–his keys jingle in the door like clockwork. Frank spends every morning, seven days a week, running five miles before the sun even decides it’s going to rise. And then he walks in like it’s nothing, and Karen sits in her bathrobe and makes small talk and pretends not to notice the sweat glistening on his skin.
It really sinks in that Frank’s trying to kill her on a humid June morning. Even in the apartment with the AC circulating she feels the wetness of the air, and she lounges at the kitchen island with her coffee and watches the door. Frank’s keys sound a moment later, and then he walks in and nearly has her falling out of her chair.
Of course she’s seen him shirtless once or twice, but it’s always a brief flash between the bathroom and his bedroom door after a shower. It still leaves her wholly unprepared for the sight of Frank Castle’s chiseled abs, sculpted chest and thick, sinewy arms at half past six in the morning. She’s suddenly very awake.
“Mornin’,” Frank tells her easily, picking up his mug with a quick nod of thanks. He heads down the hall towards the bathroom and Karen takes a sip of her coffee, heart thundering in her chest. The image of him half naked, sweating for a whole different reason, fills her head. She thinks about him balanced above her, moisture beading on his forehead as he bruises her hips with his own. She thinks of what would happen if she made his heart race without even leaving the apartment–and if she even could.
The shower turns on and Karen groans, snapping out of her daydreams. She’s fucked.
She suffers through this newest form of torture in silent agony. Day after day, morning after morning, she considers staying in her bed until the shower switches on. And then day after day she pulls herself out of bed, far too eager for someone who can’t afford to have this big a crush on someone she’ll be splitting rent with indefinitely.
It’s seventeen shirtless morning later–not that she’s counting–when she finally cracks.
Frank strolls in before she can even take her first sip of coffee. As soon as she sees him, a flush rises on her cheeks. He’s got a nice, even tan over his skin that seems to glow under the lights of her kitchen. His hair is a little shaggier than normal, which means it’s about time for a trim. It gives him a softer look. There’s a sheen of sweat on him that she’s not embarrassed to say she finds ridiculously hot. When he directs one warm, wide, post-exercise smile at her she feels her insides turn to mush.
“Mornin’, Karen,” he greets, picking up his mug.
“Good morning.” By some small miracle, she only sounds a little strained.
Regardless, Frank raises a brow at her, leaning against the counter. “You alright?”
“Mhm.” She searches for a safe topic, one that will steer him away from looking at her like that when she knows she must be flushed red. All she can come up with is: “Do you even own a shirt?”
Frank blinks once. And then once more, for good measure. He glances down and then back up at her with a sudden clarity. The slow, shit-eatening grin that spreads across his face makes her palms sweat.
“Am I makin’ you uncomfortable?” he asks with a lilt in his voice that tells her he knows exactly what he’s doing.
“Not at all,” Karen mumbles, watching through lowered lashes as he makes his way around the kitchen island. “Just…you know. Um. It’s not really fair.”
“Yeah? What’s not?”
Frank’s close now. He smells of sweat and sunshine, and he should smell gross so why she’s suddenly getting poetic about it gives her pause. Enough of a pause for him to huff out a laugh.
Karen’s eyes lower unwittingly to the sharp jut of his jaw and the slopes of his collarbone. She traces it down, over nipples pebbled in the cool apartment air, past the uneven ridges of his abs, and then back up into his amused gaze. She panics. “I can’t walk around without a shirt,” she tries, grappling at something–anything–other than it’s not fair because I want to see you take your shirt off after you take off mine. And then I want it to stay off, and I want to–
“You could take your shirt off.”
Karen gapes at him. “What?”
“I wouldn’t be complainin’.” Frank fixes her with a wide eyed look that she thinks is supposed to mimic innocence.
This is it. This is how I die. Frank Castle is the world hottest roommate and we shouldn’t be flirting. But we definitely are. I think. And he’s–he’s–
–he’s walking away.
“I’ll put a shirt on after my shower,” he tells her, tossing her a grin over his shoulder. The bathroom door closes softly.
Now…now he’s just doing it on purpose.
One day Karen sits on the couch and types an article. At soft footsteps she glances up only to meet the wide plane of Frank’s bare chest as he casually traverses the carpet towards the kitchen.
Or another day, late afternoon on a Sunday, she walks into the apartment and he’s doing shirtless push ups in the middle of the living room.
Or another day she comes home from work and he’s cooking dinner in gray sweatpants and her apron—the one that says “whisk it real good” that she got for her birthday from Foggy last year–is far too small on him. Karen stares as her face flames, knowing how the next time she wears it she’ll only think of him.
And then the day that she snaps:
Karen comes home late. It’s nearly eight o clock by the time she manages to get her key in the lock, and she can think of nothing but bed, wine and food. And not particularly in that order.
“Frank,” she calls. “I’m home.”
There’s a scuffle from his room, and then the closing of a door before he appears in the hall. He has a guilty look on his face that almost distracts her from his shirtlessness. Almost.  
“What?”
“i got somethin’ to show ya.” He pauses. “Don’t be mad.”
Karen sets her bag down, eyeing him with trepidation. “O…kay…”
With a gesture, Frank leads her back to his bedroom. She’s only been inside it once or twice–she knows it’s sparsely decorated, neatly kept, and the bed is always made. In any other instance she’d be excited that he’s bringing her into his space. Now, with the tautness of his shoulders and stiff, awkward smile–she’s just nervous. He puts a hand on the doorknob and then pauses, looking back at her.
“It’s nothing bad,” he starts, and then opens the door before she can reply.
A large ball of fur comes barrelling towards her and careens into her legs. Karen yelps, stumbling forward into the room. Her hip bumps his dresser but she doesn’t pay it any heed.
“Frank–”
“Aw, come on, Kare–” Frank leans down to scoop the excitable, yipping puppy into his arms. It’s young with that blueish grey sheen of a pitbull and wide blue eyes. It wiggles in his arms in an attempt to escape, snout sniffing in her direction.
Karen crosses her arms, trying and failing miserably to be upset with this new development. She certainly doesn’t have time to take care of a puppy, but if Frank wants to she knows she’ll be unable to say no. He takes in her failing stern expression as he wrestles with the writhing mass of fur in his arms.
“She’s just a puppy,” he says in a rush. “I found her out behind the buildin’. She was diggin’ through trash, Karen. I figured I would bring her in and get her cleaned up and then if you don’t want her in the apartment then I’d–…”
He doesn’t finish, trailing off. It’s obvious he didn’t have a plan for her rejecting the dog. Frank peers at her over the puppy’s head, and the image is too much for her to handle. The puppy, the imploring stare he is directing at her, his half-naked state, being in his room with his masculine, earthy smell in the air–Karen huffs and smiles in defeat. “What’s her name?”
Frank’s eyes widen, and then his grin nearly knocks her over. He steps closer and hoists the puppy up, holding her so that Karen can pet her. The dog nearly falls out of his arms with excitement when Karen starts to stroke her soft fur. Karen laughs. Frank watches her, smile gentling.
“I liked Blue.” He meets her gaze with a touch of shyness. “Unless you can think of somethin’ better.”
He’s standing close enough that she can feel the heat of him on her skin. At this distance, she sees the five o'clock shadow across his face. He smells of laundry and cologne and a little bit of wet dog, but that doesn’t stop her from stepping close. “I like Blue. We can keep her.”
His expression perks up, and then quickly shifts to cautious hope. He ducks his head slightly, hiding a smile. “We?”
Something tells her that if she were to inch closer, lean close and brush her lips over his, he wouldn’t mind. That instinct is right because before she can muster up the courage, Frank beats her to it. His kiss is brief and chaste. He pulls away to gauge her reaction but Karen pulls him back impatiently, slotting her mouth over his in a kiss that he reciprocates gladly. It would almost be perfect except for–
“Blue,” Karen sighs, pulling away as the dog clambors out of Frank’s arms into her own. The puppy whines excitedly, licking at Karen’s cheek until she laughs and pulls away. “Okay, okay. You’re lucky you’re cute–I’ve been waiting on that forever.”
Frank chuckles, reaching over to scratch under Blue’s chin. When Karen meets his gaze, it’s warm and pleased. She feels it all the way to her toes.
“She’s not sleeping in the bed with us,” she tells him, fighting a smile.
Frank’s eyebrows raise. He huffs. “Try tellin’ her that.”
But she wont–she’ll let the dog sleep in the bed every night as long as Frank’s there too.
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wannabecowpoke · 4 years
Text
The House You Promised Me
TITLE: The House You Promised Me
RATING: Teen
PAIRINGS: minor or background relationships, including Dutch/Molly, Karen/Sean (referenced), and Arthur/Eliza (past)
WARNINGS: vague discussions of sexy times, mild cursing
DESCRIPTION: The Blackwater Ferry Heist was a success, and, stuck in Colter for the time being, Arthur spends a quiet, cold morning with his family.
xX————————————————Xx
Taking a long drag of his cigarette, Arthur combed his fingers absentmindedly through his son’s tussled brown curls, staring out at the snowy valley spread out before them. Isaac snoozed against his chest, the eleven year old exhausted from both their hasty journey up north and from staying up late. waiting for Arthur to get back from amother hunting trip with Charles that lasted longer than they’d intended. The boy had come out to join Arthur for his early morning smoke, falling asleep against his chest, and Arthur had pulled him close, trying to protect him from the cold.
Money in their pockets, Pearson’s wagon stocked, and with plenty of medicine and alcohol for everyone in camp, they were prepared to spend awhile in the mountains waiting for both the snow to melt and for the law to lose their trail. Arthur could tell that everyone was eager to leave regardless, especially after John’s unfortunate incident with the wolves, but he knew how important it was to get themselves well and truly lost before trying to head out west.
The door creaked open behind them, and Arthur turned around to see Eliza, her shawl pulled tightly around her shoulders and a scarf wrapped around her throat and ears. She smiled at him warmly, coming to sit down next to them, although she didn’t try moving Isaac, and he nodded at her, noticing the cup of coffee cradled in her hands. If she was already having it, then he assumed that Hosea was up, too, having his own cup indoors.
“So we’re all finally settling down,” Eliza sighed, sounding pleased. The decision to join the gang had been a difficult one for her, but their recent talks of purchasing land out west had her hoping that she could finally raise their son like she’d originally wanted to. She nudged him in the side with her elbow, looking at him slyly. “Isaac’s really excited, you know.”
“It was hard for him, leaving Nebraska,” Arthur agreed.
“Even if this life is hard, I knew you could protect us better than we could protect ourselves up there,” Eliza said. It’d been with reluctance that she’d agreed to join the gang after a robbery had nearly left them both dead. He’d been happy to have them closer, even if the letter she’d sent him explaining what’d happened had left him a trembling, crying mess over the possibility of losing them both. “Anyways, everything worked out in the end. We’re settling down, and you’re staying with your family.”
Arthur chuckled, taking another puff of his cigarette. Eliza snatched it from between his fingers when he pulled it away from his lips, placing it between her own. “Never thought we’d be homesteaders,” Arthur mused, plucking the coffee from her hands, “although with how large our gang’s becoming, I figured we’d have to put down roots eventually.”
“I could tell that you’ve always yearned for it,” Eliza admitted, smoke spilling from between her lips as she spoke. Arthur sipped at the coffee, the warm liquid almost scalding as he swallowed it down. “You were engaged to marry that Mary Gillis, and you would’ve married me, if we could’ve.”
His loyalty to Dutch had always surpassed everything else, but he’d wanted a family of his own since he’d met Mary. Then she’d rescinded on their engagement, and he’d been careless and gotten Eliza pregnant in the miserable period afterwards. He might have married her, if she hadn’t insisted that it was a bad idea. “Someday real soon,” Arthur promised her, “our boy’s gonna’ have his own bedroom, and we’ll send him to a proper school.”
“I don’t doubt you for a second, Arthur Morgan,” Eliza teased, walking away with his cigarette towards the building that he knew held the other girls and the older members of their gang.
There was that widow, too, the Missus’ Adler they’d picked up from a homestead up north, and an O’Driscoll they’d taken captive and were holding in the barn. Boadicea was still resting after a nasty gunshot wound to the thigh that, while not lethal, would keep her from being ridden for awhile yet, and he’d taken a stallion to use until she was fit for service again. They had more mouths to feed, and it was good that Pearson had enough time to pack all of their provisions, or else they’d be critically low on food supplies.
“We’re almost home, son,” Arthur mumbled, pressing his nose into the crown of his son’s head. Isaac stirred, but didn’t awaken, making a noise of protest in the back of his throat that made Arthur smile wider. He was all gangly limbs and wide, blue eyes, and he could already tell that he was probably going to be as tall as him, with his strong jaw and broad shoulders. “We’ll be there soon.”
The snow was starting up again, so as gently as he could, he placed the empty coffee tin onto the ground and slipped his arms underneath Isaac’s legs and shoulders, lifting him up and keeping him pressed close to his chest. He was easy to carry, but he used to weigh next to nothing, and Arthur knew it’d be only a short time before he’d be unable to lift him anymore. It was easy to forget that his son was growing up quickly.
Shouldering open the door to the wooden shack they were staying in, Hosea winked at him from his place by the hearth, a smile twisting his lips. The door to Dutch and Molly’s bedroom was closed, and Arthur knew they were probably sleeping in after celebrating the successes of the past week. “Eliza wondered where you two wandered off,” Hosea said, laughter in his words. Arthur hadn’t seen him look so relaxed in years. “He has the same restless feet as you do.”
“I suppose,” Arthur said softly, shifting his son in his arms so that his head lolled forwards to rest against his chest. The smile curling Hosea’s lips widened, his eyes softening as he watched them. “These past few days have been hard on him, though. I think he’s missed me while I’ve been running around.”
“You’re his father,” Hosea agreed, shrugging. Bending forwards, he refilled his cup of coffee, and Arthur was left wondering if he should try restricting his intake before he gave himself heart palpitations again. “He was worried that you wouldn’t be coming back.”
Arthur’s heart twisted in guilt, and he huffed to disguise his remorse, shuffling as quietly as he could towards their small, shared bedroom. “The kid’s got nothin’ to worry about.”
Pushing through the door, he stepped past his bedroll to set Isaac down on the bed he that was temporarily stuck sharing with his mother. One of them should probably be sleeping on the floor with Arthur, but even sleeping together in the bed was more comfortable than that, so they’d been huddling together through the cold, snowy nights.
Even though he’d been quiet, Isaac still blinked open his blue eyes, staring up at him as his lips curled upwards into a small grin. “Morning, pa’,” he mumbled, closing his eyes again and tugging his blanket up towards his chin as he shifted onto his stomach. Arthur felt his own lips twitch upwards at the sight, and he kneeled down next to the bed to card his fingers through his hair, rubbing just behind his ear. “Are we leaving, yet?”
“Tomorrow, so long as this good weather holds,” Arthur assured him. If they hadn’t been so successful during their heist in Blackwater, maybe they would’ve tried stealing Colm’s score, but they had enough money that whatever they made doing the train heist would be paltry. “You eager to move somewhere with warmer weather?”
Isaac hummed, nodding. He didn’t say anything else, and Arthur pressed a kiss to the back of his head before standing up, ruffling his hair and leaving the room. Hosea saluted him as he left the building, brown eyes twinkling, and Arthur headed towards the building where the men were sleeping.
“Morgan,” Bill snapped, repeater in hand as he stood guard at the scout fire.
“Hey, Bill,” Arthur said, patting him on the shoulder. The man softened at the warm greeting, always bristly until the other person showed they weren’t going to antagonize him. “You got early morning guard?”
“Drew the short straw,” Bill grumbled.
Chuckling, Arthur shook his head. “At least you’re turning in early tonight. We’ll be traveling for awhile.”
“Sure,” Bill said, “see ya’, Morgan.”
Pushing through the door, the room smelled like cigarettes and Pearson’s signature meat stew, which consistently smelled significantly better than it tasted. Lenny waved in greeting, smiling warmly at him, while Javier and Mac just nodded in acknowledgement.
Micah huffed, rolling his eyes at his appearance. “So the hero of Blackwater returns to gloat.”
“Oh, shaddup!” Sean crowed, throwing up his hands in frustration. Arthur had to bite back the amused smile that tugged at his lips. “You’re just jealous he fixed your mess for ya’, asshole.”
Raising his hands in surrender, Micah looked heavenwards. “There ain’t any jealously here,” he sighed placatingly, tapping the ashes off of the cigar pinched between his fingers. Taking another drag or it, he puffed out the smoke, most of it clouding in Javier’s face. “Just patiently waiting for this snowstorm to end so we can go our separate ways.”
“And whatever happened to your loyalty to Dutch?” Mac asked wryly, raising a red eyebrow. He’d stopped sleeping after Davey had gotten shot, not leaving his bedside, but since he’d awoken, he’d taken to bunking with the other men again. “Used ta’ talk so fondly about him.”
“Hey,” Micah said, “the boss knows I’m not keen to settle down just yet.”
“I know how much you want to earn your noose,” Javier quipped, a smirk twisting his lips. He’d always been a fan of riling people up, even if it was against his own best interest. Bill and Micah were his favorite targets, the former for his idiocy, and the latter because of his generally disagreeable personality.
Micah’s jaw clenched. “We’ll see who’s laughing when I put a bullet in a Colm O’Driscoll’s head.”
“Ya’ see, Morgan,” Sean said amusedly, standing up and gesturing with his hands as he spoke, “Micah here thinks he can become the most infamous gunslinger in the history of the country, ruling over this part of the country with a gang of bloodthirsty outlaws in a manner not unlike Colm O’Driscoll!”
Arthur scoffed, shaking his head. “We’ll see about that.”
Stubbing out his cigar, Micah stood abruptly, stalking outside. The atmosphere got noticeably lighter after he’d left, everyone relaxing once the door had closed behind him. Micah was a man that only Dutch liked, and that was because he sucked up to him. None of them would ever openly question Dutch’s decision in letting him stay, but that didn’t mean they had to like him.
“I’ll be glad when that bastard’s gone for good,” Lenny sighed, and Arthur chuckled, clapping him on the shoulder.
“Well, boys,” Sean said, collapsing back into his chair, “we’ve made it!”
“You finally planning on courting Karen when we settle down?” Lenny asked, tilting his head.
“And when are you planning on making a move on Jenny?” Sean retorted, ignoring the question. When Lenny spluttered, fumbling for an answer, he laughed boisterously, slapping his knee. “Yeah, exactly!”
“If you’re gonna’ keep fuckin’ her,” Mac grumbled, uncorking another bottle of whiskey to add to the growing collection of bottles on the floor, “at least have the decency to do it away from the rest of us. I haven’t gotten decent rest in the two years since she joined.”
“Hey,” Sean protested, “you’re just jealous because you can’t get any action.”
That got a blush to rise up on Mac’s cheeks. “Just have some feckin’ sympathy for the rest of us,” he grumbled, running a hand through his short red hair. The stubble on his chin would be gone as soon as they unpacked the shaving mirror, Arthur knew, and when Mac mused up his hair, it made him look even more uncharacteristically disgruntled. Out of all the boys in camp, he was probably the cleanliest, besides maybe Javier and Dutch.
“It’s hard to believe that soon, we’ll be farmers out west,” Javier sighed, thankfully changing the subject. Moving forwards, he nudged his elbow against Arthur’s side, raising a dark eyebrow. “Most of us haven’t had a day of honest labor in our lives. It’ll be hard to adjust.”
“I’ve worked on a ranch before,” Arthur drawled. His experience was mostly odd jobs for extra cash, and one occasion where Hosea had been running a con that necessitated him to work on one for a few weeks, but he knew most of the basic skills. “It ain’t too difficult.”
“Maybe I’ll get to attend a proper university,” Lenny said dreamily, leaning on his palm. The boy had talked before about how he wanted to pursue a career in law, but besides Hosea, none of them thought he’d ever get the chance to actually get a higher education. “There are some good law schools out west that’ll accept black folks. There’s even one for women, out in Annely.”
“Mary-Beth would like that,” Arthur added. Patting Javier on the back, he waved, stepping towards the door. “I’m gonna’ go check on the others, now. Try not to kill each other while I’m gone.”
“What about Micah?” Sean asked jokingly.
“Well, if you shot him,” Arthur sighed, “I suppose it wouldn’t be entirely your fault.”
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