#like the SOP? fine i can talk about my work and skills hell yeah

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writing personal statements for grad apps is killing me... i should be allowed to just post screenshots of my top 5 tumblr text posts and call it a day

[hayjeon]

You Set My Heart on Fire 01 [M] ft. Namjoon

→ fireman!namjoon and paramedic!y/n au (warning: drunken sex, oral, etc.)  → 10k words, part 1 | part 2 | fin. → As a surgeon forced to volunteer as a paramedic in the Seoul Fire Department during an unfortunate probation incident, your one and only goal was to get to work, do your thing, and get the hell home and back to your original high-salary job. But when the SFD’s Chief is the incredibly attractive, cocky, and persistent Kim Namjoon, things start to get heated.  

Hi! this is a reupload, and i figured i’d vamp up the title and the header in the meantime! Thank you to the user who managed to save this just in time, after I accidentally deleted it T___T I am forever indebted to you, and I lost your username, so if you see this pls dm me i’d love to write something for as a token of my appreciation!

You roll your eyes, crossing your arms and leaning back in your chair as the lawyer continues to lay out the demands.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” you huff, glaring at the idiot gangster who’s at the other side of the room. He cringes a bit at your glare, nursing an ice pack against his bruised cheek.

“I swear, he slapped my ass! I was just retaliating!” You cry, frustrated. Your surgery chief huffs angrily at your behavior and you settle back, clenching your fists on top of the table.

The lawyer snarks back, “You also managed to cause damage to the victim’s body in the process. He’s demanding full reparations. Let’s see,” she muses, flipping through the documents spread out on the table between the both of you. “A broken nose, bruised cheekbone, fractured wrist from when he fell, and muscle strains on his lower back, and psychological damage from framing him for sexual harassment and from the physical assault. In total, it would amount the hospital to about $50,000 to cover the hospital costs and the time he would need to talk off from his job, and the continued physical and mental therapy sessions to follow for around 6 months.” She closes the file with a grin. “So, Dr. Y/N, what’s it gonna be?”

“Chief, I can’t believe we’re just losing to him!” You cry, following after Dr. Kim, who’s seething as he storms down the hall outside of the conference room.

He screeches to a halt, turning around with a glare. “Well, what do you wanna do?!” He throws his hands up in defeat, “You want to cause a whole legal issue? You know that there’s really nothing else we can do in this situation! It’s your word against his, and the video cameras only show proof of him passing by you, and then you throwing a big ass punch in his fucking face!” He cries, taking off his glasses and rubbing his temples.

“Look, Dr. Y/N, you did the right thing. The fucker deserved the punch, and you threw a good one. But,” he continues, placing his glasses back on his nose and patting your shoulder, “giving him the money is the best thing we could do for both the hospital and for you. So, just, take this next month off, get the community service done and then come right back. Alright? I’ll even let you head all the interesting cases that come into the operating room.”

He sighs, and walks off, leaving you behind. You roll your eyes and run a hand through your hair, fist clenching on the brochure of community service options for doctors.

The fucker had brought his girlfriend in during your shift at the emergency room, and while she was getting stitches for a cut that she got from a building collapse, in the craze of the emergency room, he was going around touching asses. You’d heard the nurses complaining about it, about how it was just a swipe of the hand that seemed like an accident, but multiple had the same experience from the same seedy-looking jerk.

When it was your turn to go up to the patient and explain that her stitches were done and she was alright to go home, he’d come up next to you and his knuckles grazed the skin of your ass. Sick of everything, you’d pushed him back and socked him straight in the face.

Later, from the cameras though, there was no visible evidence of him touching anyone, and it was your word against the clear security camera shot of you socking him right in his big ass nose. So you open the brochure and plop down at your desk to see what options there were. There were the general ones, where you could serve and clean up at a park or volunteer at a soup kitchen, and then there was a separate page for doctors who probably just wanted to maintain their skills in the field they volunteered in. You pick up the phone.

“What?” Yugyeom asks, “Chief seriously ended up giving you a probation period for community service?” He sighs over the phone, and you roll your eyes too.

“Yeah,” you huff, “which one should I do? I should sign up today, since it might take a bit to get approved and might as well start early so I can go back to work as soon as I get all my hours finished.”

He muses, probably scanning the picture you sent him. “Hm...well look, you can go travel to Africa or Cambodia or something. It’ll be like that one drama with Song Joong Ki in it. Maybe you’ll meet a hot military general. What do you think?”

“Too far,” you complain, taking a red pen and drawing a line through it. “Also, they don’t cover air fare or housing. Maybe something more local.”

“Okay, well then what about teaching kids in elementary and high school about general first aid and health? You can maybe meet a single teacher who’s good with kids. That’s kind of hot.”

“I fucking hate kids, Yug, you know that,” you sneer, rolling your eyes and crossing out that option. “Also, why are you trying to get me laid, you should be worried about your own empty gay love life.”

He huffs, “Well, bitch, if you’re gonna be so picky why’d you call. Just take the second to last one, the medic for the fire department! It’ll be fun, I know a friend who works in the one that’s close by to the hospital, so you can just commute from there and if you guys ever end up coming to the emergency room, you’ll see all of us there too.”

You hum, scanning through the brief description: Medic for the Seoul Fire Department. In-department housing and meals provided during both on-call and working hours. Needs basic EMT and paramedic skills. Must be able to handle emergency situations calmly and communicate with safety officers.

You purse your lips, scoffing a little bit at the emergency part. “Well, if there’s something I can handle, it’s emergency.”

He laughs, “What a downgrade...from a cardio surgeon to a paramedic. Jeez, you better get out of this one quick. Just make sure not to punch anyone during duty, and you’ll be fine.”

“Shut up bitch. Let’s go clubbing tonight. I need to let some of this stress out before I get trapped in there.”

The night was lively and the drinks kept flowing. Jennie and Jackson from Health and Nutrition, Sana from pediatrics, Yugyeom and Seulgi from Cardio, and even the oh-so-popular Jaebom and Jinyoung from general surgery came out.

You were dressed in the hottest dress you could find in Seulgi’s closet, and according to Yugyeom’s apparently “gay and therefore superior opinion,” your outfit and hair and makeup were basically a “straight guy’s ticket to bonertown.”

“Legit, how could you be so gay but also talk like such a frat boy at the same time?” You sneer, taking another shot of vodka.

He sucks on his lemon, and then flashes a smile. “It’s the best combination. I pull.”

He cocks his chin to a direction behind you. “Also seems like I was right, because you’ve been pulling too. That guys been staring ever since we got to the bar.”

You turn, blurry vision settling on a handsome, leather jacket clad guy that’s sitting with two other guys at the table. He’s looking now, eyebrow cocked and lip between his teeth. He’s not usually your type, but you feel it. This, was the guy you were gonna fuck tonight.

You get up, patting Yugyeom on the arm. “Thanks, I’ll take myself home tonight.” He whistles behind you as you try your best to make your way to the guy, but suddenly your drunk ass hobbles on your Forever 21 heels, and you topple to the side. All of a sudden, there’s a strong hand gripping your upper arm and pulling you up, and an arm wrapping around your waist to offer support.

“Oh shit, miss, you alright?” A low voice sounds right next to your ear. You look up, expecting to see the leather jacket guy, but this...this was much better. This guy was dressed in only a black t-shirt tucked into blue jeans. But his simple ensemble didn’t matter. He was tall, way taller than you in your tallest heels, and he smelled so damn good. His hair was slicked up and his skin absolutely golden. He wasn’t biting his lip or doing anything to try and hook up with you, but in seconds, you were sopping wet.

No, this was the guy you were gonna fuck tonight.

“I will be,” you answer him, straightening up and pressing yourself up against him. “when you buy me a drink.”

He seems to understand what you’re getting at. He chuckles a bit, eyebrow quirking and you think it’s the hottest shit you’ve ever seen since waterproof scrubs. He helps you straighten up. “I think you’ve had enough drinks already. Can I get you some water?”

“Yes,” you breathe, but not letting go. “But only if you stay with me until I’m finished.”

He smiles, and keeps his hand on your waist as he guides you the bar and orders a cup of water. You sit on the single empty bar stool, and he stands, and you revel in the fact that even on this tall bar stool, he still stands taller than you.

You sip the water, and he leans an elbow on the bar, inches from you.

“So, what brings you stumbling into this bar?”

“I’m here with some coworkers,” you say, and he leans in closer to hear you over the loud music.

“Won’t they be looking for you?”

“Are you trying to get rid of me?” You pout, and he laughs, shaking his head.

“Hell no, I’m just worried.”

“Wow, and they say chivalry is dead.” You fire back, and he laughs again.

“You gonna keep laughing at my jokes or are you gonna ask me to come home with you?” You raise your brows as you sip your water, looking at him over the rim. His expression darkens, but the corner of his mouth sexily turns up.

“I might laugh a little more just to tease, I suppose. Helps build up for later.” He leans up, hand on the bar, but steps a bit closer to you this time. If you leaned up a bit, you’d kiss. He chuckles again, and you can feel his breath on your lips.

You roll your eyes, “Shut up and kiss me already.”

He smiles and leans down, other hand cradling your waist as you reach up and tangle your fingers in his hair, pulling harshly when he slides his tongue into your mouth as soon as you open up for him.

He’s a good kisser. He knows how to move his lips, knows when to pull back to leave you wanting for more, and does that thing where he stops kissing to just peck wetly at your lips before sinking in for more. Hook, line, and sinker. You’re done. “Let’s get out of here, please,” you whimper against his lips, and he smiles, straightening up.

“As you wish. Oh, also what’s your name?”

“Y/N,” you shout over the music. “What about you?”

“You can call me Joon.” He smirks.

The ride to his apartment is blurry, because all you remember is a lot of giggling and trying not to moan at how his hand is so big around your thigh that you have you physically restrain yourself from jumping him on the highway right there. The tires screech as he parks and you both laugh as you stumble into the elevator, giving the security guards watching the cameras a show when you straight up make out with him in the corner of the elevator, his hand up your dress and your hand up his shirt.

He pushes you against his closed door, dropping his keys and jacket on the ground as he undoes the zipper on your dress. You tug at his shirt, “Off,” you whine, and he smiles, stepping back to whip his shirt off with one hand behind his neck.

“Fuck, that’s hot.” you whimper, and he kisses you breathless. “You’ve been saying that all night. Creative, much?”

“Fuck off, I don’t do hook ups much and I’m just telling the truth,” you say, as he gathers you in his arms and literally picks you up and heads to his bedroom. His hands squeeze your ass as he makes his way over, and you catch a glimpse of a neat, tidy living room. His bedroom is clean too, especially for a bachelor. Navy blue sheets, sleek, black furniture, expensive looking place. He was literally so fucking hot.

He drops you on the bed and immediately drapes over you, his jeans rubbing against your soaked panties. He slides his splayed palms up from your waist up to your breasts, mouth following the motion as he laves his tongue over your nipple, palm gently cupping the weight of your breasts in the grip between his thumb and the rest of his fingers. You preen at the sensation, back arching off the bed. “Pants off,” you pant, squirming underneath the warmth of his hands and mouth.

“So bossy,” he comments, smirking as he leans up on his knees to undo his belt. “I dig that.”

You lay back, taking the time to wiggle out of your soaked panties. You thank the gods you chose to wear your new set of lace undies because the rest of your drawer was basically an ocean of white granny panties. He finally drapes back over you, hand gripping your thigh to open you up as he mouths at your neck.

You retaliate by reaching down and gripping his cock, hand squeezing at his base. You can’t really see it because your face is nestled in his shoulder, but you can feel how hard and big he is. He groans at the sensation, nipping at the sensitive skin behind your ear, sending tingles down your spine and your core clenching around nothing.

He props himself up as he looks down at you and slides a finger between your folds. Your yelp dissolves into a drawn out moan. “Oh my god,” you pant, as he slides the flat of two fingers over your bundle of nerves, “please don’t stop that.” You also work your fist over his cock, mouth blubbering nonsense into his neck. He moves the fingers down into your pussy, sliding in with practically no resistance and slowly drawing them in and out your wetness. You don’t really have much time to be embarrassed by the wetness you can hear, because Joon closes his eyes and bites at the soft skin at the top of your breast.

“Shit,” he grits, and he looks down to see the way your wetness glistens on his fingers, “I don’t think I can wait. Are you good?”

You nod eagerly, and you let go of him as he gives you a hard kiss on the mouth and slides a condom on while still fingering you. Its probably not porn-worthy whatever sounds you’re making, but it seems to do the trick because he kisses you even harder and then flips the both of you over so that you’re sitting in his lap. He cradles your waist and descends on your breasts again, tongue circling your sensitive nubs as you sink down on him inch by inch.

When you bottom out, you clench around him. He’s so long and thick, and it’s been a while since your last hook up. It borders on soreness, but the sensation of him moaning with your nipple in between his lips is enough of a distraction for you to work up the nerve to start moving.

It’s embarrassing how turned on right now you are, but Joon seems to be at the same level of deliriousness because he doesn’t stop touching you. From gripping your thighs, to groping your ass, sliding his hands from your waist up to your ribs, tangling in your hair, gently curling around your neck and tightening slightly, he’s literally everywhere.

“Fuck,” you cry out when one of his hands are around your neck, squeezing lightly. You slow down, grinding instead of bouncing, and the new rhythm puts your clit in that perfect position to get stimulated by his pelvis, and his cock hitting that perfect spot inside of you that you find yourself hurtling over the edge much faster than you’d imagined.

He mouths at your cheek and ear, hand still around your neck when you cum, and suddenly he grips your thigh and presses you down against his pillows as he kneels in front of you and begins fucking you hard. The bed knocks against the wall, but you can’t care because the new position has your orgasm prolonged to a point that you’ve never felt before and your mouth just stays open in a mouthless cry against his chest as he tenses and finishes into the condom, mouth panting hoarse compliments into your ear. “Holy shit, your pussy feels so good. So tight, fuck.”

He pulls out and rolls over so he’s not crushing you, and you let out a final breath. “Wow,” you say, chest heaving as he ties the condom and throws it away. He props his head up on an elbow, grinning at you. “That good?” He says cockily, and you turn to lightly punch his chest.

“Don’t get too cocky. It was just one orgasm.”

“But also seems like the best you’ve ever had.” He adds. You roll your eyes and retort, “Well, that’s what you think--,” but your laugh dissolves into a moan again when he reaches over and pulls you underneath him to press a long, wet kiss to your mouth.

“Shut up,” he whispers between kisses, "and kiss me back already.” You smile as he kisses you, fingers tangling in the hair at his nape, and scratching lightly at his shoulder blades. He growls, and moves to your neck. You sigh as he draws more open-mouthed kisses down your neck and torso, and again when a big hand splays over your thigh to hook it over his shoulder. He presses a peck against your folds and looks up at you, and you mewl as he draws the flat of his tongue thickly through your pussy all the way up. You’re a goner.

“I’m gonna make sure you never forget my name.”

The walk of shame isn’t so bad when you basically have no time to waste as you gather your things and glance once back at Joon who’s still sleeping before running down to his lobby. You don’t really care for the disapproving looks you get, as you rush to get into your uber, and immediately thank god that this particular driver offers you a tiny complimentary water bottle. You chug it down, and try not to throw up.

You literally hurtle out of the car when he gets to your place, making a mental note to tip him heftily, seeing the way he booked it when you asked him to hurry a little. You step into a hot shower and don’t even have time to pick up the dirty clothes off the floor as you quickly dress in a white shirt and navy skirt and run out of your apartment to the bus stop.

Thankfully, you make it on time to your interview, and even though the captain gives a small disapproving look to your wet hair tips, he gives you a huge,  bright smile when you tell him you’re a cardio surgeon “taking a break.” When you told him that you used to work as a paramedic before medical school a few years ago, he basically hired you on the spot, babbling on about how much he loves people with more experience.

“So, miss Y/N, what are your interests, your hobbies?” Hoseok trails like a little puppy after you as you walk down the hall from the Fire Captain’s office to your team’s multipurpose room. You frown at him. “Eh,” you brush him off, “not much.”

He smiles, pushing his hair back from his face and trying to stand up tall, “Well, doctor, I love lifting weights and saving damsels in distress. What are you doing later, say, around 5?” You turn on your heel, and he bumps into you, scuttling backwards at the glare you have on your face.

“Look, honey,” you sneer, stepping towards him with a scowl, “You’re cute, but I’m hungover.” you say, scanning him up and down, “And I’m only here for a month and I swear if I have to spend the entire 30 days having you chase me down like a little pet, then I’m probably going to just jump off a building. Okay? So do me a favor, and stop asking me out.”

He gawks at you, and then recovers. “Wait...you’re only here for a month?”

Rolling your eyes, you resume walking towards the wait room. He wasn’t going to stop. “Yes, I’m here just to serve a short community service sentence.”

He hums, following your footsteps again, grinning. “Okay, fine. I won’t try to ask you out. I’ll just keep replaying the part where you said I’m cute over and over again in my head.” He winks at you lightheartedly.

“Here, let me introduce you to the guys.” He walks a bit faster than you as you approach the room, and creaks the door open and lets you in.

As soon as the door swings open, your eyes grow wide as you take in the sight in front of you. In the room, theres a half naked guy digging through the refrigerator, his firefighter’s outfit hanging around his hips. A pair of muscular large ones are wrestling in the corner, also only decked in sweatpants low on their hips. One lounges on the couch in a pair of glasses and a plain white t-shirt and navy uniform pants and boots, while a similarly dressed shorter one is asleep. A tall one is in the corner playing with a tiny puppy. All six of them swivel their heads towards you when you enter.

You wave awkwardly and take a step back to leave when Hoseok bounds in after you and throws an arm around your shoulder, announcing proudly, “Hey guys, this is the new medic hire! Dr. L/N!”  

The one closest to you gives you a smile, taking off his glasses and setting his book aside to reach out a hand. “Hey, I’m Seokjin, captain. Nice to meet you doctor!” He smiles and you make a note of how hot he looks in glasses and how broad his shoulders were.

“You can just call me by my first name, y/n,” you shake his hand, “Likewise.”

Another one that was digging through the fridge approaches you with a piece of gummy candy hanging from his lips. His face is sharp, but he breaks out in a huge smile that lights up his face. “Taehyung! Hi y/n, welcome to Unit 55!”

You shake his hand too, “Thanks. Do you have any firewomen?” You glance around as the pair who were wrestling stop their antics and approach you shyly. The taller one shrugs, his muscles rippling as he does and you make a huge effort not to stare. “No, honestly it’s really hard to find a firewoman these days and they probably don’t like spending time with all guys like us either.”

Taehyung leans over. “That’s Jungkook by the way.”

His partner punches Jungkook’s bicep and turns to you with a show-stopping smile. Oh. The girls would swoon for both of them, you note. They’ll have no problem finding firewomen who want to spend all day with them. “I’m Jimin. And even though this idiot makes us sound like a bunch of goons, it’s just rough being around 7 guys all the time for girls probably. But we’ll do our best to help you get comfortable around here. We’re really fun, I promise!”

You frown, glancing around the room and counting the people you’d met already. Hoseok, Seokjin, Taehyung, Jungkook and Jimin. Which left just the one still asleep somehow through all the commotion on the couch. Seeing your eyes trail over him, Seokjin looks at you over the rims of his glasses, pointing at the sleeping figure with his chin. “Oh, yeah. That’s Yoongi. Good thing he’s not awake cause he’s really grouchy, but he’s also a really good driver so we keep him. You should meet him later when he’s done with his nap.”

You laugh a little, and nod. “And the 7th?”

Jungkook throws on a shirt as he talks. “Namjoon, our unit Battalion Chief. He’s not here right now, but you’ll be able to meet him later. He basically runs this whole thing.”

“Oh I see,” you muse, and give a tight-lipped smile. “Well, maybe I’ll start moving my things in soon. Can you show me my room?”

“Bitch,” Yugyeom sneers as he watches open-mouthed as the guys help unload your car at the station. “You didn’t tell me that all your co-workers were single, hot guys that walked around shirtless all the time.” He frowns at you, ignoring your eye roll, and then switching 180 degrees and laughing and smiling when Taehyung walks by with all your heavy trunks in his arms.

“Hahahaha, Y/N, you’re so funny,” he fakes, and then turns to you with a glint in his eye. “Maybe I should’ve punched that idiot in the face too and I would’ve been here instead.” He hisses, gawking at the way Jungkook and Jimin both easily haul your mattress up the steps. Shirtless, by the way. Again.

You sigh. “It’s only for a month. And honestly, you’re such a fake ass little bitch. You were the one trying to find me a man, and now that I’m surrounded by them, you resent me for it?” you huff. “Oh, Jin, those drawers just go in the closet, thank you.”

“No problem Y/N,” Seokjin grins, pushing up his glasses as he walks past you two easily, holding up the chest of drawers that took both you and Yugyeom an entire twenty minutes to shove in the moving truck. You give him a smile in return and turn back to Yug with a snort. “Wipe your drool.” You laugh, and he closes his mouth with a clack.

“I’ll literally visit you, like all the time, Y/N,” he whispers.

“Please don’t.”

“Oh also,” he turns to you inquisitively. “What happened last weekend? Did you end up going home with that hot guy?”

You pull him closer. “Keep your voice down,” you hiss. “Yes. I fucked him.”

He whistles lowly. “He wasn’t that good?”

Sighing, you check to make sure all the other boys aren’t in the vicinity. “No, that’s the problem. He was too good. I can’t stop thinking about it. Haven’t had a proper orgasm since.”

He looks unsurprised. “Well, when’s the last time you got laid. College?”

“Shut up, asshole,” you frown, “It’s only been like...a few months.”

“Okay, so I guess we’re calling last year’s during our we’re-not-interns-anymore-party a ‘couple months’ ago. It was like 13 months ago.” He points out, and you glare at him.

“Fine,” you snap, “okay? It’s been, like a year. But he was really good, no matter how deprived I’ve been.”

Yugyeom still looks unimpressed, so you pull his sleeve down to whisper in his ear. “I had five orgasms that night.”

He straightens up, turning to you with wide eyes, “FIVE ORGASMS?”

You wince as chief walks by with a stern look, and you pinch Yugyeom in the side as you laugh, “Oh hahahaha, Yugyeom, you’re such a hilarious guy. Why would a patient even talk about those kinds of horrible things in the waiting room?!”

That seems to help as the chief’s expression lightens and he smiles as he grabs a cup of coffee and ascends the stairs again. You drop the smile as soon as the chief is out of earshot and punch Yugyeom hard.

“Little bitch,” you hiss, “are you trying to get me fired?”

He rubs the spot that you punched. “Ow, and no. I’m just shocked. Did you even get his number or something?”

You sigh, watching as the boys come back down to retrieve a couple more things. “No,” you say forlornly, “I literally had to run out for my interview. I only know his name, and I’m not even sure if its right.”

Yugyeom sighs, watching Jungkook and Jimin banter as they come back down.

“Well, at least you have guys like them to keep you company. Did you bring your vibrator along?”

You pinch him again.

With the help of the boys, moving in wasn’t a problem. Surprisingly, the bunk rooms aren’t at all what you’d expected. It was less of a college dorm room style, and more of like a communal housing unit. Apparently, the Seoul station had updated their housing recently, so the inside looked like a newly furnished office hotel, basically.

Jimin was nice enough to move into Hoseok’s room so that you could have the corner room all to yourself, with a private bath attached. It was adequately sized, but there was a nice closet and twin size bed attached, which was an upgrade from the dinky communal on-call room bunk beds that the hospital provided for the residents to sleep in.

There wasn’t even much to unpack, besides a few articles of clothing, a desk and computer for you to do some catching up on hospital paperwork, a mattress so you could sleep on without knots in your back, and your toiletries. You had a uniform anyway, and you were pretty low maintenance. The hospital shifts didn’t really give much space or time to pay attention to your fashion sense or your looks, and it wasn’t going to change now, either.

You make your way downstairs after finishing, with the stairs of course. The boys had kept trying to convince you that you won’t die if you try the pole, but honestly you weren’t down to break your ankle, especially when you were expected to help during an emergency situation. The stairs were fine. You were only on the second floor anyway.

The boys are already eating in the large lounge, and you see that the sleepy fireman had woken up and had starting to cook.

“Y/N!” Jungkook calls, scooting his chair over to make room for you at the center of their table. “Here!”

You smile and set down your phone, taking a seat as Taehyung brings you a tray. Its pasta and steak, with a huge side salad and green beans. You gape at the cook who’s still engrossed in tasting and perfecting the sauce for the pasta.

“Yoongi hyung’s a really good cook,” Jimin says, with a mouthful of salad and steak. With that, the man in question appears behind the younger firefighter and hands him a cup of water. “Don’t eat and talk at the same time. It’s disgusting.” He says with a curled lip, and then gives you a nod.

“You’re the new paramedic hire right?” He asks.

You nod, “Hi, yes. I’m Y/N.” He shakes your hand, nods, and turns away. “Not much of a talker, is he?” You say, and the boys chuckle.

“Yeah,” Hoseok says, “Yoongi’s not really an extroverted type. But he’ll warm up to you, just give it time.”

The rest of the day goes by smoothly. You have to sit in your room for a couple hours though, watching boredly through the instructional training online lessons you had to complete before starting your first day. You’re close to dozing off when a soft knock sounds.

“Yes!” You sit up and turn, and Jungkook appears, smiling sweetly. “Hi, Y/N! What you doin’?”

You stick a thumb at your computer, “Training videos,” you sigh, curling your lip. “Why?”

“Oh, hyungs and I are gonna watch a movie. If you wanna come sit with us in the lounge and do your training or just watch with us, you’re welcome to!”

You pause. “Won’t it be loud? I probably won’t be able to get anything done.”

“I’m pretty sure Seokjin hyung has done basic training before. He can probably give you all the answers to those end-of-lecture quizzes.”

Now there was your incentive to go. You smile, standing up and closing your laptop. “Why didn’t you say that sooner? Let’s go.”

He guides you down to where the lounge is and all the boys chime a nice “hello” or “y/n!” when you appear in the doorway. You can see that a new episode of Game of Thrones is on. You pad over to Seokjin and he smiles when you ask him for the favor, and moves seats to the couch behind so you can sit with him and watch at the same time.

The night goes smoothly, you tapping Seokjin everytime you finish a lesson and him pausing to quickly finish the quizzes, and you joining in with the debates about the show occasionally. Yoongi brings out some snacks, and eventually Jimin brings out a blanket for you, and by the end of the episode, your training is finished and you’re sipping on soda and eating pizza.

It’s nice, you think, a lot nicer than the hospital. You were used to the competitive nature of medicine. It was always competing against the other residents or interns to get a spot that had ridiculously low acceptance rates. There was always no time to relax. This wasn’t bad at all.

But you shake your head. This was temporary. A break. No need to get attached. They’re just being hospitable. You give a tight lipped smile as the episode ends and you take your laptop and blanket with you as you stand. “Thanks, guys, for inviting me. I’m gonna turn in tonight.” you say, slowly shuffling away. “Good night!” Taehyung yells, and the other boys chime in one by one.

You set your stuff down in your room and get ready for bed. Laying in your single bed, with no one else snoring or sleep talking, and with no post-surgery fatigue to get you straight to sleep, it’s hard. You end up staring up at the ceiling of your room, sighing as you try to think of the most boring topics in the world to try and get to sleep.

“Just a few weeks, y/n.” you murmur, turning onto your side.

You’re finally dozing off when suddenly, the intercom you had no idea was located right outside your door bursts to life. “Code 904B Building Fire. Code 904B Building Fire.”

You scramble up, throwing your covers back as you stick your head out into the hallway. The lights are flashing brightly, but you can hear the sounds of the boys in each room getting ready. The first one out into the hallway is Taehyung, and he jogs up to you. “Put on your uniform, y/n,” he pants, “and meet us downstairs as soon as possible. We gotta go, and since it’s a building fire, there might be a few injuries you can help us with.”

“Okay,” you nod, as the rest of the boys begin appearing in the hallway with navy shirts on and their firemen overalls already on. They one by one disappear down the pole and you scramble to get the paramedic bodysuit on. You pull on your boots hastily and then sprint down the stairs, and see the chief addressing everyone.

“Alright, Yoongi and half of you in car 1, and the rest of you in mine. Namjoon is already in his way from his meeting, so he’ll meet us there. Let’s go!” The boys break out into jogs as they hurriedly begin packing the hoses tightly and jumping into the cars. “Chief,” you call out, “Where can I go?”

“Go with Yoongi!” He yells, and drives off, sirens wailing. You jump into the first car and immediately you’re surprised when Yoongi, usually lethargic and slow, slams on the accelerator and your own truck bolts into life. Stumbling into a seat, you ask Hoseok, “So, this is how it always happens?”

He nods solemnly, his usual playful smile gone. “24/7. We gotta stay alert.” You nod. He points to a large, bright orange utility box in the corner of the bus. “That’s your medic kit. You can look through it now if you want, we’ll be getting to the site in a few minutes.”

You nod, perching the box on the seat next to you and digging through it. It was pretty basic, syringes, bottles of lidocaine and epinephrine for stitch jobs, synthetic thread, scalpels, bandaids, alcohol, gauze, and more. You were used to working with the minimum at the emergency room. And seemed like whoever was in charge of this box had kept it neatly and pretty well-stocked. You lock the box when the truck begins to slow, and look out the window to see the commotion.

A large building has caught on fire, and already there are two other trucks unloading at the site, their firefighters already hooking up their hoses onto the fire hydrants and assembling into position to enter the building for any remaining people. The whole area smells like smoke and through it, the glow of the orange fire against the night sky is barely visible.

Immediately as the truck parks, the boys in the vehicle spring to motion. Their uniforms are already on, helmets, gloves, and oxygen tanks and all. One by one they jog out the door of the truck and do the same, unloading the hose from the side of the firetruck and linking it easily to the fire hydrant and getting ready to spray down the building.

You pull your hair back into a ponytail and look around for anyone who might be in need of help. There’s already a few survivors out around the area in the grass, and you run over to a woman laying down.

“Ma’am, are you okay?” You say as you approach her and kneel next to her. Her husband is crying. “Sir! Is she okay? What happened?”

“P-please! We were just picking up our son and then the burning piece of wood fell on her leg. No one has been able to h-help her yet! Our son is still in that building, too!”

You unlocked your box and reassured him, “Okay, sir, I need you to calm down and help me. Someone will go find your son, but we need to help your wife right now. Do you have a phone on you? Can you use the flashlight? I need to see the area.”

He does as you instruct with shaky hands, and you carefully use the scissors in the kit to cut a strip down her pants. The burn is quite bad and covers a lot of surface area, in addition to having a huge laceration down her thigh that needs to be stitched up now, in case of infection or bleeding out. You frown, she must have been in a lot of pain.

“Ma’am, can you understand me? This is going to be a bit painful, but I need to sanitize the area.”

She’s just sobbing at this point, but you can make out some words. “Please,” she sobs, “M-my s-son!”

You lean closer, “Sorry? Your son?”

She sobs and nods, “H-he’s still inside!!” She pushes your hands away from her leg, “I won’t be treated until I find him!”

You sigh, turning around to see if there are any firefighters available. You see one coming out of the building to replace his oxygen tank. You run up to him, unable to see anything but his eyes through the protective gear he was wearing.

“Hey! Hey, this woman I’m trying to treat is refusing treatment until she sees her son, and she claims he’s still inside. Please, if she doesn’t let me treat it right now, she might have to amputate her leg.” He nods, and follows you to the couple.

When they see him approaching, the woman goes hysterical. “Please!” She screams, “He’s still in there, on the second floor. I haven’t seen anyone bring him out!”

“Okay, ma’am, I’m going to go back inside for him. You need to calm down, and let this lady treat your leg, or else it could get worse. You need to stay strong for your son.”

She nods, and turns to you. You spring into action, giving the firefighter a nod as he stands. You frown, his voice sounded so familiar, but you couldn’t pinpoint it.

The lady begins wailing as the adrenaline fades and the pain of her injury begins to hit. You have her husband hold her hand as you pour some alcohol on the area and she wails as the open cut is cleaned out.

Quickly, you stitch up the wound and dress the burns so that they’re manageable. She refuses to take the ambulance to the hospital until she sees her son, so you coax her into just sitting on the gurney in the ambulance and wait for her son. You try and calm down the couple as you move onto address a few more people in the vicinity with minor cuts, scrapes, and burns.

Suddenly, you hear a commotion, and you turn to the building that’s now less of a bonfire and more of a quiet smolder, and the firefighter from earlier emerges with something in his arms.

The woman you had treated earlier immediately starts wailing and crying as the firefighter jogs over to you and her and sets a boy down onto a gurney. He’s unconscious, and the firefighter whips off his helmet as he addresses you.

“He’s breathed in quite a bit of smoke, and fell unconscious when I picked him up. He needs pediatric CPR!”

“Namjoon!” Hoseok cries out.

You gawk as you watch him yell instructions at you and the rest of the firefighters you’d met, brows furrowing and eyes widening as you recognize those slanted eyes, thick lips and angled jawline that you’d run your tongue over that one fateful night. It was Joon. He was a firefighter. His name was Namjoon.

“Y/N!” He grabs you by the shoulders, “Focus!”

You immediately spring into action, running towards the boy and checking his pulse. “Do you know how to do compressions on a pediatric patient?” You breathe, and Joon nods, throwing his helmet and his tank aside and opening the buttons on his uniform jacket before he climbs atop the gurney.

As he begins compressions, you deliver some shots on his arm and search his body for any large cuts or burns. You hook him up to an oxygen mask and turn up the machine to high. “Switch!” You call out, and your hands replace Joon’s as you climb atop him and begin compressions.

“One, two, three...” You count out, as other paramedics swarm around you to prepare him to be delivered to the hospital as soon as possible.

The boy stirs, and you stop compressing, and watches as he begins coughing, from deep within, and you help remove his oxygen mask and pull him up to a sitting position as he continues coughing the smoke and ash out of his lungs. A paramedic gives him some water and after the boy finishes coughing, you help him sip some water as he recovers.

The others help usher him onto a gurney and also help his mother and father join the ambulance.

You watch as the blaring sirens fade away and sigh as the remaining firefighters douse the building in water and put out the flames. Your knees are feeling weak, your heart up in your throat, and your breath short.

Feeling a presence standing next to you, you turn and meet eyes with him. You narrow your eyes at him, giving him a once over from his ash-stained angular face to the bulky equipment and uniform lining his body. Probably from the boots he was wearing, he seemed even taller than from the club.

He gives you a cocky grin. “So, you’re a paramedic, huh?”

You roll your eyes, stopping down to collect your materials and all the wrappers of the syringes and needles you had used to treat your patients.

“Not a paramedic, a doctor. On voluntary community service.” You huff.

He stoops down too, setting his helmet aside to help with your tools. “No wonder you’re good with your hands.”

You stop, sitting on your haunches to give him a look. He does the same, matching your cold gaze with a smirk. “I think that’s very unprofessional, Mr. Joon.”

You stand, locking the paramedic box angrily and stomp away.

But he easily catches up to you, having those damned long legs of his, and follows you to your truck. It makes you angrier that he begins unloading his equipment and uniform off into the same truck you came in.

“I think, Y/N, the moment you started making out with me at that club, professionalism was kind of thrown out the window, don’t you think? You disappear that morning without a trace, and then suddenly you appear again at my workplace. Don’t you think I have the right to be a bit confused and curious?”

“Look.” You turn to him. “That was a one-night thing. I told you that I don’t do them often, and it was a mistake and I’m sorry, I won’t do that to you again. So just--” you throw your hands into the air, frustrated that he looked so goddamn good as he took off his thick outer coat and stood in front of you with just a black t-shirt and the pants of his uniform low on his hips. “--just pretend it didn’t happen. Just forget about it.”

You turn to walk away into the truck, but he stops you. “Wait! Wait wait wait, Y/N,” he turns to face you, the smirk wiped away and now brows attractively collecting in a frown, “For the record, I don’t consider that night as a mistake.”

“Huh?” Your eyes widen as you frown up at him.

He doesn’t look away. The playfulness has dropped and he’s completely serious as his voice takes a lower tone.

“Sleeping with you wasn’t a mistake for me. Don’t apologize. I’ve only been able to think about you since then, and I don’t think that you showing up here out of all the other precincts or departments is another mistake, either. I’m sorry if I came on too strong, but I want to be clear with you that my intentions are to get to know you better, and do it the right way.”

“Do what the right way?”

“Date you,” he says simply, like he was talking about the goddamn weather.

Literally, who was this guy? Your mind was completely blank. Like, who just says exactly what they’re thinking? How could he just be so...honest? What’s his game?

You blubber out the first thing that comes to mind. “I don’t date co-workers. Especially here. I’m only scheduled to volunteer for several weeks.”

He seems to gain a bit of confidence. “Y/N, that sounds more like an excuse, than it does a reason.”

You huff, blowing your hair out of the way. “Nonetheless, the answer is no.”

He nods thoughtfully. “Don’t be surprised if I ask you again.”

And he does.

Every. Single. Day.

When you wake up, “Hey, Y/N, will you go on a date with me?”

“No,” you’d say, roll your eyes, and spit out your toothpaste.

When you’re in the library, reading up on the latest studies. He’ll pop his head in and say, “Oh, Y/N, dinner’s ready.”

When you look up and nod, “Thanks. I’ll be right there.”

He’ll nod back, and then say, “Oh by the way, will you go on a date with me?”

You’d learned to just laugh it off or ignore him.

When you’re in the dining commons. You’ll be chatting with Taehyung about something and Namjoon will walk by, hand you a mug of coffee, and walk away without a word. When you lift the coffee up to drink it after Taehyung leaves for something, you find a slip of paper on the saucer.

Will you go on a date with me?

You crumple up the paper while maintaining eye contact and drop it into the steaming cup of coffee. Then, you stand, and pour the mug out into the trash, while he watches with an amused smirk.

The only times he doesn’t ask you out is when you’re on calls.

Over the next few weeks, you notice that Namjoon has three modes: 1) His Chief mode, 2) his off-duty mode, and 3) his flirting-with-you mode. Modes 2 and 3 tended to mix, especially when he was with you.

But whenever that light on the walls of the department begin to ring and flash, indicating an emergency call, Namjoon immediately enters his chief-mode. One time, he was in the middle of taunting you with probable bad-date ideas, the lights began flashing and you had watched as he shook himself out of his off-duty mode, and immediately started barking out orders to the group and you, responding to the dispatch on his walkie-talkie. It had happened in a millisecond.

You were in the lounge with Seokjin and Jimin, watching a movie while Yoongi dozed off in one of the couches. You had slowly begun to easily sink into this lifestyle. You guys were lucky if you got at least a few hours in between calls to relax, and since the most recent call was a small issue with some old lady’s cat up in a tree, Hoseok and Taehyung had volunteered to go on their own. It was a relaxing Thursday afternoon.

Like clockwork, right as you were almost dozing off, the lights began to flash and blare as your walkie-talkies exploded to life and the dispatch officer began reading out the issue.

The boys spring to life, immediately jumping over to the pole and going downstairs to change into their uniforms. You sigh and use the stairs to run down to the garage and get into your uniform, clambering into the truck as Namjoon begins listing out orders. It was a gas leak in a chemical factory, and they wanted the firemen to take care of it. You were only following for protocol.

“It shouldn’t be too complicated. Yoongi, did you contact the engineers to shut off the power?” Namjoon asks.

“Yeah, they turned off all electricity, but they can’t turn off the gas valve. It’s stuck.”

“Okay, that’ll be the first thing to take care of. Jungkook, can you take care of that?”

You watch as the firetrucks pull in and follow the men into the warehouse. It’s completely dark but they all turn on their headlights as they treck through.

Namjoon leads them into the main gas chamber where one of the tanks is steadily leaking a stream of cold, compressed air out of it. Him and Jungkook immediately head over and begin working together to tighten the valve, while Seokjin begins looking for the pipe that leads into the tank.

You watch, boredly as the men do their thing, when suddenly, Jungkook yanks a bit too hard and both him and Namjoon are thrown back.

Jungkook immediately begins yelling out, and you scramble up in horror to see that he’d been thrown back into a piece of metal that was sticking out.

“Oh my god,” you cry out as you rush to his side. “Jungkook, hold on, I got you. Can you turn on your side so I can see the wound better?”

He moves while wincing in pain, but manages to maneuver so that the wound on his back is facing you. Using a flashlight, you make sure that the metal didn’t pierce any vital organs or arteries, and reassure him that it’s okay as you begin cleaning and stitching up the wound. After you’re finished, you look up to see Seokjin run into the room, and let you all know that he’d disassembled the valve and fixed the leak.

You sigh in relief as you cut the final thread and place some gauze over the stitches. Hoseok and Jimin had returned to help, and they throw Jungkook’s arms over their shoulders as they help him walk out of the building. You begin to pack your things, when you see Namjoon lagging behind the rest of the group, clutching his arm.

You catch up to him, “Hey, are you okay?”

He winces, but nods at you to go. “I’m fine. Catch up with the rest of them. I’ll be right behind you.”

You frown as you survey his features. The boys are now out of sight and you and Namjoon are the only ones left inside the chamber. “No, you don’t look very okay. Did you get hurt?”

He finally relents, groaning in pain as you guide him to sit down on some steps and remove his jacket. You gasp as his t-shirt comes off. Jungkook had been impaled when he hit the wall as he was thrown back, but it seemed that Namjoon had been in the direct line of contact when the valve of the pipe had blown off. It had sliced through his uniform and left quite a deep cut in his rib.

“Holy shit, Namjoon, you are not okay. Let me stitch this up right now.”

He shakes his head, “Let’s get out of here, first.”

You push him back. “If you keep moving, this wound is too close to your vital organs and it might cause infection or you might bleed out. Why didn’t you say you were hurt?”

He shakes his head as you begin unpacking your box of materials. For the first time in your few weeks at the department, you see a dark look of shame and regret written over his face. “I was the one who asked Jungkook to help me, if I didn’t, he wouldn’t be hurt.”

You click your tongue at him as you clean the wound, apologizing as he hisses in pain at the contact of alcohol. “You know, you say a lot of stupid shit, but that’s one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard you say to me. Ever.”

He laughs a little at that, wincing as it puts pressure on his side. You glare at him as you examine the wound and begin numbing the surrounding skin. “You’re a great chief, you know that. I’m administering some pretty heavy painkillers. Tell me when you start getting a bit woozy.”

He just silently watches you hover over his torso, squinting as you maneuver the hook needle and stitch him up. “I think that’s the first time you ever complimented me, Y/N.”

You roll your eyes, “Oh, so now your chief mode is off, I guess.”

He furrows his brows. “Chief mode?”

You nod, snipping at the threads as you begin another stitch.

“You have these modes you enter on the job. One of them is when you become this intense, no-nonsense leader, telling us all what to do and what to get done.”

He smiles, “And the other mode?”

“There’s two actually,” you say, still focused on his wound, “There’s one that’s always flirting with me, and there’s a third, where I can see that you really, really care for everyone on this team. That third one is the mode you’re in.”

“Are you maybe getting turned on by that mode, Y/N?” He winks at you, and you laugh, poking him in his side and making him groan out as you finish dressing the clean wound and help him get his uniform jacket back on. “Shut up, now your flirty mode is back on too.”

You’re cleaning up the materials in your box when suddenly, the lights come back on, bright white, and as you and Namjoon are squinting to try and reassess your surroundings, the huge gate to the chamber closes with a hissing noise and a loud clang.

“Shit,” you hear Namjoon cuss, and you scramble up, running over to the door and searching for a handle, a knob, or a button, anything to get it back open. You click your walkie-talkie, waiting for the static to sound to let you know that it’s communicating, but there’s nothing.

“No use,” he winces, zipping up his jacket, “The company probably just turned the electricity on when they saw some of the trucks leaving.”

You watch in horror as the vents surrounding you begin hissing and cold air begins drafting in. “What is this?”

“It’s a containment chamber for flammable chemicals, so I assume that it stays at a cool temperature. It’s fine, some of the boys will probably realize we’re here and be back in no time.” He lays down against the steps.

“Namjoon!” You scramble over, “Do not fall asleep, do you hear me? The temperature dropping is going to make your wound even worse. You need to stay warm, stand up if you can.”

He frowns, curling into himself with a pout. “I’m cold.”

You roll your eyes. It was the painkillers kicking in. He was getting lethargic, and it could kill him. “I know, you big fat baby, but if we don’t start warming up, we might die in here. C’mon, stand up.”

He begins moving around, although you instruct him not to stress his wound, he begins rocking around on his legs to try and make some body heat. You do the same, waving your arms around and trying to generate some heat.

At one point, you lose complete sense of time, and Namjoon wakes up from the initial wave of his painkillers to find the both of you huddled in the corner of the chamber, knees curled into your torsos as you shiver in the cold.

“Y-Y/N,” he breathes, and reality dawns on him as he sees the mist of his breath fan out from his mouth. “Y/N?”

“S-s-so cold,” you chatter, curling into him as he puts his good arm around your shoulders and pulls you closer.

“D-don’t fall asleep,” he breathes, and you don’t respond, the chills rocking your entire shaking body as you curl into him further.

The walkie-talkie screeches for a moment, and Namjoon grabs it, responding back to the static. “H-hello? Anyone! Y/N and I are stuck in the main chamber! Temperature is dropping quickly. Hello?!”

The only response is static as he drops the walkie-talkie to just pull you in closer. “Y/N?”

There’s no response, and when he pulls back to try and look at you, your head lulls in his arms.

“Shit,” he mutters, “Y/N, Y/N!” He shakes you, but you’re completely unconscious in his arms. "Wake up!”

“No no no no no,” he chants, as he begins undressing, his whole body resisting the motions as he shivers in the cold, but he perseveres. He pulls his uniform open, baring his chest, and then proceeds to unbutton your uniform as well, baring a t-shirt underneath. He pulls your limp body close as he removes the t-shirt and then completely drapes himself over you, pressing your bare chests together as he pulls you tight against him, skin to skin.

He pulls the uniform tighter around your back so that you don’t lose any more body heat, when he finally hears yelling and pounding on the other side of the huge gate. He hugs you closer to himself before everything goes black, too.

[dessiekarma]

My Harem is Entirely Bad Boy Types (Kirisaki Daiichi x Reader) Pt. 3

Chapter Three: Get That Girl a Megane!

 “No no no. You seem scared of the ball. Remember follow through with your wrist. Okay better, now try again.”

 Hara was surprised at the voice coming out of the gym. The team never practiced during study period but the instruction as well as the sound of sneakers squeaking was undeniable. Peaking his head into gym he squinted to see (Y/N) and Matsumoto assisting the rest of the second-string players.

Matsumoto had a weird place with the team, he was in the first string but not part of their web. He was down for their rough plays but also usually wanted nothing to do with them outside of basketball and well that worked out just fine for everyone.

 It was, however, a shock to see (Y/N) here helping him out. Hara and the others for that matter tended to forget that Kirisaki Daiichi had over twenty players total.

 “Hey girl!” Hara whistled for (Y/N), knowing it would annoy her. Sure enough she turned her head slowly to cast him a frustrated look before sighing and walking over.

 “Whadya want Hara? I told you not to call me girl.”

 “And I told you not to call me Hara, we should be on first name basis by now.”

 “Kazu-chan.”

 “Not that either! Whatever! What are you doing in here anyway?”

 “Managing the team. What else?”

 “You know this isn’t really the team right?” Hara whispered cattily. “I mean most of them aren’t bad but they’ll only ever get to play an actual game once all of us graduate.”

 “I know you guys are the main players but there’s a lot of first years on the team. They’ll inherit it, and don’t you think its better to leave a legacy as opposed to just graduating and letting the team crumble.”

 “I don’t really think about that sort of thing and I don’t think Hanamiya cares. Come on, you’re supposed to being doing stuff for us. Besides what do you even know about basketball?”

 “I did date a basketball player, ya know? I mean I would never be able to play an actual game but I’m pretty good at shooting. That’s a foundational skill so I might as well teach these guys, right?”

 “I guess, hey where’s Mako?” Hara said as if the thought suddenly popped into his mind.

 “Umm right here.” (Y/N) said with a quirked brow, pointing to the baby sling around her torso. “Did you not see him?”

 “Oh I guess I just didn’t notice. Good job finding a way to carry him around while you’re busy.”

 “Well yeah I needed to, since you suck so badly at taking care of him.” (Y/N) said poking Hara’s side.

 The male was about to retort before a ding on his phone caught his attention. Opening the text, he was greeted with an image of a scantily clad girl. Without thinking about it (Y/N) tiptoed to see his phone and whistled.

 “She’s hot! Is she your girlfriend?”

 “No, she’s not and don’t nonchalantly call other girls hot!”

 “Why not?”

 “Because you aren’t a lesbian!”

 “Says who?”

 “W-what? You had a boyfriend!”

 “Hmm I guess I did. You’re so funny to tease Kazu-chan!” The girl exclaimed with a laugh before giving him a wave and heading back to practice.

 Hara frowned as his manager blurred back into the background of players. Blinking his eyes hard a few times he sighed and closed the door to the gym.

 ‘So can you come over tonight?’

 The lavender haired male looked down at the text message from the girl in the picture and mulled it over. Scrolling through his camera reel he sized up his options.

 ‘My parents are overseas on a business trip, so we have the place to ourselves.’

 Welp that was good enough for him. She wasn’t his first choice but she��d responded the quickest with the least hassle.

 Typing out a quick response, he shoved his phone back into his pocket and made his way out the gym.

~~~~~

 “What’s with all this?” Seto asked motioning to the dozen new charms and button dangling from (Y/N)’s backpack.

 She looked up from her phone quickly to see what her friend was pointing at before quickly returning back to her screen.

 “My new obsession! He’s a character from Paranormal Payphone. Basically, it’s a new game where these boys call me from a payphone at certain times of the day and he’s my favourite!”

 “What’s so great about this character in particular?” Hara asked grabbing at the small figure on the zipper.

 “Besides the fact that he looks like Imayoshi.” Furuhashi retorted tiredly, before his own comment snapped him out of it.

 Everyone including (Y/N) was looking at him in disbelief. It was an unspoken rule that they avoid mentioning him around the girl, unless she brought him up first. They’d learned the hard way that when mentioning anything to do with Tōō there was a 50/50 chance she would cry.

 Surprisingly no tears came to (Y/N)’s eyes, instead she wrinkled her nose and let out a scoff.

 “I don’t see it! And I will not let that deter me from loving my best boy!”

 “Well clearly you have a type.” Hanamiya said sizing up the buttons. He’d never played the game nor even heard of it before now but with otaku shit…you could kind of tell which characters were assholes or not.

 “Hmm? I just think he’s cute is all! Like those glasses for instance! I always end up falling for the megane characters. Kyoya Ootori, Rei Ryugazaki, Austria, Tenya Iida!”

 The guys listened to her ramble off a long list of glasses characters.

 “She talking so fast, I didn’t understand half of what she just said.” Seto remarked as the girl slowed down to think of more characters.

 “I’m pretty sure she named a whole ass country in there.” Hara laughed blowing a large bubble.

 The guys were almost amused by the girl’s stupid antics and none of them noticed the sudden milk carton that came flying towards their table. It was only after they noticed their manager tense up from the sudden impact on her head that they all, without thought, got up from the table threateningly.

 “Who the fuck threw that!?” Hara snapped out casting a glance to (Y/N) who looked stunned as milk dripped off her forehead and down her back.

 Only after their initial defensive move did they notice a girl on her knees not to far behind where (Y/N) was sitting. Her tray was splayed on the ground, after having apparently tripped.

 “Sorry! I should have watched where I was going!”

 “That’s okay!” (Y/N) said wiping the liquid off her face. “No use crying over spilt milk after al-”

 She stopped midsentence as she turned to the girl who had not gotten up off the ground. The boys all noticed an unspoken exchange between the two. Yamazaki watched the situation like a hawk not prepared to let the girl take a step closer to (Y/N).

 “Hopefully you get yourself cleaned up, I’m sure you hate being…dirty.” The girl said with a smiling face but snark laced in her voice. With that she walked away and the guys looked back and forth between the two.

 “There’s no damn way she tripped, you know that right?” Seto asked finally taking a seat along with the rest.

 “Yeah I know but it’s not surprising.”

 “Because she’s Y-”

 “I went to middle school with her. We had some bad blood between us and I thought she’d gotten over it. I didn’t even know she went here. I didn’t think anyone I used to know before came to this school.” (Y/N) said looking more and more concerned as she spoke.

 “Before what?” Hanamiya asked analyzing the girl’s face.

 “Before highschool! I was so cringey in middle school!” (Y/N) said now back to her normally cheerful self. “But I’ve been here for a few months now, I wonder what triggered her to suddenly lash out on me.”

 “Probably because she’s Yam- oww! Fuck!” Hara called out rubbing his shin from under the table, clearly having been kicked.

 “It doesn’t matter. I just… Oh no! My plush got all wet.” (Y/N) said lifting a sopping wet miniature plush of the character she’d just been fangirling over.

 All of the guys suddenly felt a pang through their chests at just how sad her voice had sounded.

 Getting up from the table, Furuhashi walked over to the girl’s side of the table and extended his hand to her.

 “Come on, let’s go wash your clothes and your Jaeyoung plush. We have a washer and dryer in the gym.” He said smiling at her, hoping to get her sad face a little brighter.

 Sure, enough she grinned back at him before taking his hand and disappearing out of the lunch room.

 “How did he know the character’s name!? Why didn’t I think to take her to wash her clothes?” Yamazaki cried out as the two disappeared from sight.

 “He probably goggled it while she was fangirling. Clever bastard.” Hara said kind of impressed with Furuhashi.

 “You do know this is your fault, right?” Hanamiya asked Yamazaki who looked completely offended. “Don’t act so shocked. You know the real reason Mai went after (Y/N) and then you didn’t even stand up for her.”

 “I didn’t do anything!”

 “Exactly. Don’t wear your heart on your sleeve and then be surprised when certain people notice.”

 “Whatever, I’m gonna go take care of this.” Yamazaki said storming off from the table in the direction of the girl who left earlier.

~~~~~

 “What the hell is she wearing?” Hanamiya asked trying not to look at the girl sitting on the bleachers.

 “The back of her skirt had gotten wet too. She needed to put something on while it was in the wash.” Furuhashi explained.

 The flustered male glanced over to where (Y/N) was swinging her legs with the number 4 Kirisaki Daiichi jersey on.

 “Why’d you have to use mine?!”

 “You’re the shortest.”

 “I’m only one inch shorter than Yamazaki!”

 “Yeah but you’re thinner and a whole size smaller. This was the only thing that came closest to fitting her.”

 (Y/N) was leaning back on her elbows, her eyes not leaving her phone and Hara’s eyes not leaving her. After a few minutes she turned to him with a quirked brow.

 “What?”

 “You’re not wearing a bra.”

 “I was but the milk soaked all the way through. What’s it to ya?”

 “I can see a lot through the sleeves of the jersey. I can also see that you must be pretty cold in here after your shower. You look good.” Hara said with a teasingly seductive voice.

 “Yeah? Push that dry over processed hair out your face and you could probably enjoy the view even more.”

 “Bitch.” Hara grumbled as he patted the baby sling around his chest. Smirking he thought he’d try again. “So, no bra huh? Do you have any panties on underneath those basketball shorts?”

 “Why don’t you check for yourself? Maybe we’re wearing a matching set.” The girl deadpanned back, this time not even tearing her attention away from her phone.

 Hara grew red in the face and began to sputter.

 “Stop teasing him (Y/N), you know you have your anti-pervert shorts on under that.” Furuhashi said coming up to pat the top of her damp hair.

 “Damn, how does it feel to have a girl as quick and snarky as you?” Seto asked Hara with a laugh.

 “It’s cause she’s a otaku! All of those types are huge perverts!”

 “You’re hardly fit to be calling someone a pervert.” Hanamiya spoke up, finally able to gain his composure over the manager wearing his jersey.

 “I’m not a pervert. All you guys wish you could pull a different girl a week like I do.”

 “More like you can’t keep a girl for more than a week.” Seto chuckled tossing a basketball up in the air.

 “Why are you guys always picking on me! We’re supposed to be a team!”

 “Speaking of teams. Hey stupid, you’re coming with us to the Seirin vs Rakuzan game next week.” Hanamiya said to the girl.

 “What why would we go to that?”

 “Because Caps is obsessed with Kiyoshi.” Hara remarked only to receive a hard fist in his ribs.

 “Fuck off! It’s because I want to see just how well a team that beat us does.”

 “That’s understandable. I guess I can have my driver take me to the-”

 An obnoxious ringtone cut the girl off from her thoughts. Pulling her phone out she looked at the name and groaned. She appeared to be hyping herself up before hitting talk.

 “Hey Shoi-chan.”

 All the guys suddenly snapped their heads up at the cutesy nickname. Shoi-chan as in Imayoshi Shoichi?

 “I’m ummm with my team.”

 The reprimanding on the other end of the phone was hard to make out but clearly a voice of disapproval.

 “Did you just call me to bitch at me or did you actually need something!?” (Y/N) said with a scowl, startling the guys who had never really heard that tone from her.

 “Umm that’s fine, I guess. When? Okay. At the usual place? Sure, I’ll see you then. Bye Shoi-chan.”

 “Do you actually still talk to that guy?!” Hara exclaimed barely waiting for her finger to lift of the end call button.

 “Well yeah. I was a part of his team for a year and regardless of anything, he’s still really important to me.” (Y/N)’s voice sounded gravely serious and held a deeply sad tone. The brimming of tears in her eyes got blinked away quickly but it was clear to see their shared past was hurting her.

 “He doesn’t like us.” Seto responded glancing down at the manager.

 “I know. But…it wasn’t just my ex ya know? My entire team at Tōō didn’t agree with me coming here and definitely didn’t agree with me joining the team. After the breakup, nearly all of them called or found me to try and talk some sense into me.”

 “And Imayoshi asked you to meet with him, right?” Hanamiya asked.

 “Yeah he says he wants to talk. All this time has gone by and he’s never tried to come find me to talk to me face to face just over the phone. I need to see him. I…miss him.”

 “Then you should go. It’s not like we’re gonna try to stop you. We’re a bunch of cheating, violent bastards but we aren’t going to tell you who you can and cant talk to.” Hanamiya said with a shrug. “Just think for yourself. You’re an idiot but you’re not clueless, so don’t let him think for you got it?”

 “Yeah I know you’re right.”

 “So where are you guys gonna meet up?” Furuhashi asked as nonchalantly as possible.

 “Juniper café, why?”

 “Just curious.”

~~~~~

 ‘Why are we even here?!’ Hara text the group message before slamming his head on the table.

 ‘Because I want to know what exactly Imayoshi is gonna tell her. Nobody asked you to come you know?’ Furuhashi responded quickly

 ‘What’s with you guys and the huge spike in interest over (Y/N) recently? I thought it would die out eventually but you guys are falling for her hard!’

 “Well I liked her from the start!” Yamazaki joined in, sipping a cold tea.

 ‘I just think she’s cute, never gonna have a chance with her but I had nothing better to do today.’ Seto finally typed out, drinking a cup of what was probably just 15 espresso shots.

 ‘She could make an interesting self-selected candidate for me.’ Furuhashi added in.

 ‘Candidate for what?’ Yamazaki asked, much more chill after accepting the fact that he was not alone in his pursuit of (Y/N).

 ‘I don’t want to say until I know for sure.’

 ‘What about you Hanamiya? You’re being awfully silent on why you’re here.’ The orange-haired male typed out quickly.

 ‘Not for that idiot, that’s for damn sure. I’m here to make sure Imayoshi doesn’t put shit in her head that will cause problems for ME. Besides I want to know who she really is when she doesn’t know we’re around.’

 ‘Why is she running so late?’ Seto asked before peeping over the bench, where Imayoshi had been waiting for about ten minutes now. His back was to the team and they figured if they stayed down and quiet (Y/N) wouldn’t notice they were there.

 “Sorry I’m late! There was a sale on manga at the bookstore down the block!” A familiar voice called out as she burst into the room.

 ‘That explains it.’ Nearly all the boys text at the same time.

 “It’s no worries. I got you, your usual. Did you find anything good?”

 “Thanks. I was able to find a few things…umm why are you staring at me?”

 “You’ve gotten so much more beautiful in the few months I hadn’t seen you.”

 Seto pretended to gag as the rest of the team rolled their eyes.

 “Stop it, I look the same.”

 “No, you look happier…and that isn’t easy for me to admit. Ohh what’s this?”

 “Oh umm this is Mako.”

 “My my I leave you alone for a few months and you’re already a teenage mother, so soon after a breakup. Were you cheating?” Imayoshi said in a teasing voice. “Mako. I’ll assume my sweet little kouhai is the father?”

 Hanamiya made a move to stand up and fight when the other guys grabbed his limbs to drag him back down to seating position.

 “It’s a project I’m doing with Hara Kazuya.”

 “The gum munching kid with the hair in his eyes?”

 “Yeah…”

 There was a silence that washed over the table and the guys held their breaths wondering who would speak next. Surprisingly it was Imayoshi.

 “Look, I’ll get right to the point of why I came here. I want you to come back to Tōō with me. The team misses our little cheerleader, even Aomine asked about you the other day.”

 “I do miss you guys but I won’t leave them.”

 “The bad boys of KiriDai? Why exactly are you so stuck to them? Hmm? You detested them as much as the rest of us when you saw the Seirin game. What changed? Don’t tell me its simple physical attraction, you’re much smarter than that.”

 “I guess when I first saw that game…I thought they were bad people. But now I think…I know…sometimes good people do bad things. I think that deep down they’re good people. They’ve done horrible, really horrible things but they’ve also been really good to me.”

 The team was more or less stunned by (Y/N)’s honest answer.

 “‘Deep down they are good people?’ You sweet girl, I’ve told you a million times over that there’s no such thing as a good person.”

 Hanamiya felt the same chill run down his spine as the one he had when he first met Imayoshi. He’s said that very phrase to him as well.

 “I don’t believe that Shoi-chan.”

 “Because you’ll take it personally. You desperately need to think that you’re a good person and that your m-”

 “I don’t need to think anything. I know who I am, and I’ve made peace with that.”

 “But you haven’t made peace with the other half, have you? Ahh its to be expected, you’re young after all and with the life you’ve had you need to cling onto something. I came to you because I really am worried about you. Your insistence on staying with this team is self-destructive, I would go as far to call it self-harm. You know they’ll hurt you…haven’t you been hurt enough?”

 “I have but not by them. Not yet.”

 “Then don’t give them that chance. You know our fears aren’t unprecedented. Think about it, since going to that school and associating yourself with them, has anyone tried befriending you? Does anyone try talking to you when they don’t have to? You’re alienating yourself. You’re giving yourself a reputation and isn’t that the exact reason you left Tōō?”

 “I left Tōō because I have a goal and to make it happen, I need connections.”

 “I see, you’ve told yourself that enough times to actually believe that’s the reason. Stop punishing yourself, stop trying to fix broken people, and stop letting others hurt you.”

 “But Shoi-chan…YOU hurt me. All of Tōō did. You guys saw what was happening to me there and nobody said anything. You were all afraid to get involved, all too worried about yourselves. You told me to ignore what the people said but you never tried to make them stop.” The guys heard (Y/N) take in a shaking breath and couldn’t figure if she was crying or just about to.

 “Someone threw milk on my head yesterday and every single one of the KiriDai boys got up ready to fight someone. One of them even helped me get cleaned up.”

 “They all have you tangled deep in the spider’s web, don’t they? Once you realize that, you’ll never get out. They can predict exactly how you’ll react and change their personalities to be exactly what you want them to be. It’s not just a basketball technique, it’s a manipulation technique. You really think you’re something special to them? Think they’ll hurt anyone who crosses them but not you?”

 The boys could hear the whirl of the coffee machine and the chatter of other patrons. They could hear the cars outside and even (Y/N)’s shallow breathing before a sudden sharp intake.

 “I’m not anything special…but they wouldn’t hurt me unprovoked. Because I’m not trapped in their web, I’m part of it!” The boys felt the movement of (Y/N) push up out of her seat.

 “KiriDai is everything you say they are but they’re also a team. They may not give a fuck about anyone else, but they at least give half a fuck about each other and that’s already more than you can say for Tōō. They won’t hurt me, because I’m one of them and if anyone from Tōō is not okay with that…then I’m not okay with anyone from Tōō. Thanks for the coffee Shoi-chan.”

 The guys ducked their heads a bit as the girl stormed out of the café. They heard a deep sigh followed by some chuckling from Imayoshi’s table.

 “She’s hard-headed. I’m surprised you stubborn bunch have been able to handle her for as long as you have.”

 Most of the boys bristled, save for Seto and Hanamiya who had long since figured Imayoshi knew they were there. Standing up from their seats they turned to glare down Imayoshi who was giving them his signature creepy smirk.

 “How could you sit there across from her and tell her how shitty we were when you wouldn’t even defend your own girlfriend. You give her your emotionally abusive ‘leave your friends or I’ll break up with you.’ bullshit and yet you think she’s better off going back to school with you? Her shitty ex who wants to control her?” Yamazaki ranted out, saying everything he was gonna dream of saying later.

 “‘Shitty ex?’ Such a foul mouth with so much anger behind those words. Don’t tell me you’ve already developed an attraction to her? Is that why you’re keeping her around? To use her?”

 “I would never do that!” Yamazaki belted out.

 “No, I suppose even (Y/N) wouldn’t give you the time of day. None of you are really her type, after all. But I don’t blame you for falling for her, she is quite the catch. Not that any of it matters, she’ll come back to me and Tōō soon. It’s only a matter of time you see.”

 “And why exactly would you believe that?” Hanamiya asked with a deep scowl.

 “If I’m not mistaken, in a few months you’ll have a scrimmage with Yosen. It’s in your very nature to go about your usual rough play. (Y/N) isn’t a ref, she will be able to see every despicable and clever trick you pull. I wonder if she’ll still think you’re good people then?”

 Imayoshi slipped through the group and made his way to the exit before turning around with that smirk.

 “Do remember that she was mine first and I will get her back.” With that Imayoshi was out of the building and turning the corner as the Kirisaki Daiichi team stared after him.

 “How did he and (Y/N) actually date? What does she see in him?” Seto asked wondering how that couple could have ever worked out.

 “It’s because he’s a megane.” Furuhashi commented flatly.

~~~~~

 “Wow Furu you look so good!” (Y/N) exclaimed while burping the baby on her shoulder.

 Furuhashi gave her a small smile as he adjusted his glasses. They were the first two to make it to the game and were waiting outside for the others.

 “What the hell?!” Yamazaki exclaimed as he saw Furu.

 He and Hanamiya made their way towards them, both donning a pair of glasses. (Y/N) stopped patting Mako’s back to gawk at the three bespeckled males. Covering her mouth with her hand she left out a soft snort.

 “Did I miss a team memo? Why are all you guys wearing glasses?”

 Furuhashi and Yamazaki glared at each other, neither having anticipated the other to pull the same stunt. Hanamiya rolled his eyes and cursed his fate for the suspicious situation.

 “Since the game was gonna be crowded, we figured we would have to sit pretty far. The guys needed the glasses, so they wouldn’t miss anything.” Seto said, stepping out of a pretty nice car and waving to the driver to take off. He didn’t seem to have had the same idea as the others.

 “Ahh that makes sense! Hara should be in there already, holding out seats for u-” The girl didn’t get to finish her sentence as purposeful shoulder came and crashed into her own. Whipping her head around the girl snapped her tongue.

 Tōō stood not more than a few feet from her and Imayoshi had a teasing grin on his face. The rest of the team looked like they couldn’t actually believe (Y/N) was even standing next to the KiriDai team. Not turning her head, (Y/N) shot a hand out to grab Furuhashi as he had already taken a threatening step towards Imayoshi.

 Her hand delicately wrapped around the male’s wrist didn’t go unnoticed by the members of Tōō. Imayoshi sighed before chuckling his mean-spirited laugh that (Y/N) always hated.

 “That’s kind of cute, isn’t it? You’ve got your pet tarantula on a leash. To think you changed pets from an obedient puppy to this creature.”

 “Is he referring to himself?” Seto mumbled with a grimace. “More like a feral cat.”

 “Is that a baby?!” Wakamatsu suddenly bust out, taking notice of what (Y/N) was holding. The whole team snapped their eyes to her arms. Some looked baffled while certain people looked genuinely concerned. “No way, is that the real reason you went to Kirisaki Daiichi!?”

 (Y/N)’s face held no emotion and she gave no comment before charging past the team knocking her own shoulders with Imayoshi and a nervous looking brown-haired kid who had been avoiding eye contact with KiriDai the entire time.

 “Ehh my sweet little (Y/N), that was rude. Not even a word to poor Ryo. Looks like you boys are reverting her faster than I expected.” Imayoshi teased looking at her walk into the stadium.’’

 “What the hell does that mean!?” Yamazaki spit out.

 “I just mean that perhaps you’ll find how quickly you’ll rub off on her.”

 “Well then I guess that means you’d all better watch your backs.” Hanamiya said pushing through the team as well and following after their manager. “After all the female spider is more venomous than her counterpart.”

 With that the team walked inside leaving behind a slightly shaken Tōō and a particularly impressed former Miracle.

~~~~~

 “They were amazing!” (Y/N) exclaimed walking out into the cold with her team. “Their teamwork and skills were beyond belief! That’s true basketball!”

 “It was really great game. You guys wanna go grab ramen or something?” Seto asked with a yawn.

 “Ehh I’m not hungry.” Hanamiya responded quickly.

 “I don’t want to spend too much. How about we go to Maji Burger instead? It’s really close by.” (Y/N) suggested scrolling through her phone.

 “Yeah, that’s fine.” Seto said looking to the other guys who nodded except for Hanamiya who sighed heavily.

 “Ya’ll go, but I’m heading home.”

 “What no come on! We can’t go as a team if we don’t have our captain!” (Y/N) exclaimed reaching for his hand only for him to jerk it away quickly.

 “What the hell does it matter? I’m not even that hungry!”

 “Please please please please please! Go with us! I’ll pay!”

 “….Ugh fine!”

 (Y/N) let out a small whoop before snatching Hanamiya’s hand and giving it a small squeeze. Once again, he jerked out of her touch but the girl was content.

 “Alright so Maji Burger it is.” Seto said as the team began walking in the right direction. There was a question on everyone’s minds and surprisingly it was Seto who had the gall to ask (Y/N). “Hey so out of curiosity are you tight on money right now?”

 The team looked to her. If there was one thing KiriDai girls weren’t worried about it was spending money. Hanamiya was the first to turn away, figuring it was probably a personal matter for her. The others didn’t have as much tact and pressed on.

 “Oh don’t worry about me. My financial situation is…comfortable. But I don’t like asking for things and want to pay for stuff on my own. Right now I have saved a good amount of my money for a trip back home during winter break.”

 “Back home?” Yamazaki asked, slowing down to walk beside her.

 “To America! That’s where I’m from. I’ve been living in Japan since I was about 8 but I go and visit often”

 The guys took in that information pretty easily. They’d figured as much based on her appearance as well as the accent she spoke in.

 “Well I hope your trip goes well and…what is that!?” Yamazaki asked pointing an accusing finger at the girl’s phone charm.

 “Hmm a phone charm? It’s Zun from Paranormal Payphone.”

 “I thought you liked Jaeyoung?!”

 “Well I did but then I played Zun’s route and he was soooo cute!”

 “But he’s not a megane!”

 “Hmm? Megane are cute but that isn’t all I look for in my type!”

 “Ahhh!” Yamazaki let out a sound of frustration before taking the fake glasses off his face.

 Furuhashi had long since removed his, as they only got in the way during the game. Both of them turned to Hanamiya, waiting for him to remove them as well.

 The raven-haired male looked away from his team before pushing his glasses higher up on his nose.

 “Fuck off! Unlike you two I need these! My contacts tore!”

 (Y/N) tried to suppress a laugh but a giggle escaped her lips.

 “Cute!” She mumbled much to her captain’s displeasure.

 “Fuck off fuck off fuck off!”

[noradarhkpalmer]

when it rains, it pours

Title: when it rains, it pours

Rating: T

Pairing: Nora Darhk/Ray Palmer aka Darhkatom

Warnings: none

Summary/Notes:

The Legends stopped being Legends 18 months ago. That left everyone to either resume or find civilian lives. For Nora Darhk, figuring out civilian life has been more than difficult. And that's how she ends up on Ray Palmer's doorstep in the pouring rain asking for a place to crash for the night. Only she gets something more. Something she's always wanted.

There will be an epilogue posted sometime tomorrow!

As per usual I blame these following hooligans: @princesstomaz, @timetravelingpalmer, @superstitious19, @jakelovesamy, @truelittleblackstar, and @iaintnosidekick.

ao3 link: here

The small awning above his front door was the only shelter that had been provided for her for the past four blocks. She had seen lights on and rang the doorbell a few times but no answer. And of all the things she was worried about, Ray just not being home wasn't one of them. She had fully expected to come all this way from the shelter to find a woman answering the door. She’d ask to see Ray and then Nora would zero in on the rock on the woman’s finger. She wouldn’t be the least bit surprised in the year and a half since she had seen Ray Palmer that he would have found someone and settled down. Just like he had always wanted.

They’d sit across from each other on his bed eating some healthy meal he had prepared, talking about life and what it would look like if they ever stopped being Legends. She wanted to subtly, not so subtly hint that any time she thought about life after the Legends, she always pictured him by her side. But she always chickened out when it came to verbalizing that.

The day they stopped being Legends came a lot sooner than any one of them ever thought. They had literally been to hell and back together as a team but that didn’t mean their story was over. But one bad temporal storm put the Waverider out of commission indefinitely, and then permanently when the Time Bureau was absorbed into governmental agencies, both secret and public.

Before being completely dissolved Nora and a few others (Zari and Charlie) had been given modern day identification papers, that way no one would question any of them if they needed to get a job or a place to live. Given that Darhk was a pretty distinct last name, all of her papers said Nora Adams, after her mother’s last name. But inside, she was still a Darhk, they couldn’t take that away from her, no matter what silly little papers said. She had gone from wanting to completely get away from the legacy her father left behind, to vehemently preserving her personal history. To hold onto some semblance of identity she had created for herself as Nora Darhk after no longer being a demon vessel.

She rung the doorbell a fourth time and finally the door opened. Her breath left her. He hadn’t changed a bit. His hair was a bit shorter but other than that, he was still her Ray. Well, he’d never technically been hers. No matter how many times she had dreamed he one day would be.

“Nora?” He looked past her into the raging thunderstorm outside. He was hard to hear over the rain and the water draining off the awning. “What are you doing here?”

“Can I crash for the night? I just… I really need a place to stay.”

Within ten minutes she’d changed out of her sopping wet clothes and into a large navy blue shirt with an art festival’s logo on the front and she definitely had noticed the Palmer Tech logo on the back under the sponsors. She’d also been given sweatpants too large for her, they dragged the floor a bit and she had to roll the waistband up a few times but both articles of clothing were dry and that was all that mattered. She used the towel she’d initially dried off with to squeeze the excess water out of her hair. When she returned to Ray’s living room, she saw him stoking the fireplace.

“Thanks for the clothes,” she said quietly.

Ray turned around, almost shocked to see her there, in the flesh, after eighteen months of radio silence. “You would’ve caught a cold staying in the wet ones. I went ahead and put them in the wash so they’ll be clean, I hope that’s okay.”

Nora smiled at his gesture. Always wanting to look out for people. “Totally fine.” She walked further into his living room. “Sorry to barge in like this… I probably scared your family.” She looked towards the stairs where his family had no doubt been instructed to wait while he saw who was the impatient intruder.

Ray shook his head with a sad smiled. “I don’t have a family. I mean I have my mom and my brother and his wife and my nephews but I’m not married.”

“I guess that’s why you gave me your clothes to put on and not your wife’s.”

“Cause I don’t have one.” Ray picked up a mug and offered it to her. She took the calming tea and let the warmth from the mug bloom across her hands and up her arms, right into her cheeks, to mask the fact that she was so incredibly torn by the fact that Ray had not in fact settled down quite in the way she thought.

They sat across from each other on the couch, cross legged, much like they had when they’d sit on his bed and eat dinner on the Waverider. The ghost of the memory caused Nora to shiver and Ray reached for the knitted throw that was on the back of the couch and gently draped it around her.

“So you’ve got a house in the suburbs of Star City but no Christmas card Palmer family inside it?”

“I don’t live totally alone.” Ray whistled and Nora heard a thumping from above her, she looked up at the sound of the noise which quickly traveled over to the stairs until the pitter patter of paws barreled down the stairs and over to her, nearly knocking her tea out of her hand.

“Whoa boy, let’s not scare our friend here.” Ray gently tugged the large goldendoodle over to him and scratched him between his ears. “Nora, meet Chewbacca, or I usually just call him Chewie.”

Nora smiled and hesitantly reached out to pet the pooch between his ears. He leaned into the pet and smiled up at Nora. “Hey boy… you’re as hyper and friendly as your dad I see.”

“I got Chewie about six months after I moved here. It was lonely without well an extra eight people constantly stomping around. Chewie can sometimes make about that much noise so, it’s a welcome comfort.”

“At least you don’t have to share a bathroom with him.” She smirked and took a sip of her tea.

Ray chuckled. “Yeah, that’s definitely the biggest benefit to living off the Waverider.”

“For some.” Nora looked down at her mug and watched the steam swirl in the cup.

Ray placed a hand on her arm. “Is everything okay?”

“Do you want the long answer or the short one?” She looked up at him, she had learned long ago how to open up to him but a lot could change in 18 months, and if he didn't want to hear all of it anymore, she'd understand.

“Long, if you need to get it all out, Nora, do it. I’m here.” Ray rubbed her bicep comfortingly.

“The Bureau, before they were dissolved, set me up with basically any type of I.D. I’d ever need which is good and it no longer says I was born in 2003 on my driver’s license and they also gave me money to get started because they knew not all of us had lives to just resume. Me and Charlie and Zari all had an apartment on the south side of Star City but they got married and I had to find a place and because it was down to just me and I didn’t trust anyone else to live with, the money ran out. I can’t exactly put ‘demon vessel’ on a resume and I don’t really have the best temperament so working somewhere in like a retail environment… let’s just say it would be worse than Sara’s stint at “Shower, Sink, and Stuff”. I’ve been hopping from homeless shelter to homeless shelter for the past four months.”

Ray paled. “Nora… why didn’t you come find me at Palmer Tech? I would’ve given you a job. Even a job in mailroom would put a roof over your head. I make sure every one of my employees can provide for themselves.”

“I don’t really have the skills to warrant working at a tech company. I can hack computers but I really don’t think you want that.” Nora shook her head. “Besides, I don’t want a hand out. I can take care of myself.”

“Can you? I don’t mean that to say you’re an invalid but I think sometimes, part of taking care of ourselves is knowing when to ask for help. If you don’t have anywhere to go, you’re welcome to stay here for as long as you want.”

“It’s a big enough house.” She chuckled.

“My hopes and dreams were a bit ambitious when I first left the Waverider. Picking back up at Palmer Tech wasn’t really all that hard. But my family still doesn’t really talk to me and Team Arrow is more than capable to continue doing the superhero thing without me and honestly? Seeing Felicity and Oliver and their growing family would've just been too hard.”

“Because you wanted that.”

“Maybe I wanted it with Felicity for a very short time but she was honestly such a blip in my love life. I’ve kind of given up on thinking someone would want me for the long haul, ya know?”

Nora placed her hand over his. “Don’t give up hope. The person that deserves Ray Palmer needs to have solved world hunger or something. She’s out there, Ray, I promise.”

Ray took in a deep breath, looking like he was gearing up to say something a few different times, but losing his nerve. He finally looked down at their hands, and tangled their fingers together.

“I know our lives are going in two different directions but… I feel like… you should know… I had feelings for you at one point. But I never wanted to pressure you into something you didn’t feel. You’ve had enough of your choices taken away and I…”

“I had feelings for you too.” Nora swallowed hard. She wanted to tell him how she still did. But his had probably faded, and like him, she didn’t want to force him into something he didn’t feel.

“You did?”

Nora nodded. “But I was saving you the heartbreak of having to deal with someone so broken. I’m not exactly the easiest to get along with.”

“I always felt so much more at ease talking to you than I did any of the other Legends.”

“That’s cause I was your little pet project. Operation Turn Her Good.”

“That’s not why. And you weren’t my pet project, you were my friend. You are my friend, Nora.”

“And being with me would just be holding you back… I’m just old broken baggage, Ray.”

“You’re not… Nora you’re… I didn’t…”

“You should be having this full life, Ray. I know that looks different for everyone but you told me so many times what that would look like for you.”

“But when I stopped being a Legend, yes I did want to settle down and have a family but the person that I pictured all that with? I didn’t see her anymore so I just didn’t even try to find it with someone else.”

“Doesn’t mean you want me now. Or should for that matter.” Nora sat her mug on the coffee table and stood up. “I’ll umm…” She scratched her head. “I’ll come back for my clothes tomorrow… I’ll find a laundromat to wash these in or something… I’m sorry, I should go.” Nora made her way to the door and was nearly reaching for the doorknob when she felt a hand tug her back. Ready to fight Ray (verbally) to get him to give up, realize she wasn’t worth it, she turned around, and was instead met with his lips.

And her resolve to fight him completely shattered.

Nora wrapped her arms around his neck and he picked her up to kiss her better. Nora wrapped her legs around his waist and soon Nora felt her back press against the front door. She felt the vibrations of the storm raging outside against her back and it only fueled her need to keep herself as glued to Ray Palmer’s body as possible.

Ray pulled back briefly for air. “I do want you now. You’re the only person I want this life with.” He pressed their foreheads together.

“I want you too.” She pulled back a little to look his eyes. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Ray kissed her again, moving them from the door, to up the stairs, and up to Ray’s bedroom.

xxxx

Nora wasn’t sure where she was. Whatever mattress she was laying on was far more comfortable than any she’d slept on since the Waverider. Nora went to bury her face into the pillow but was met by the warm bare chest of Ray Palmer. Nora looked up and finally realized where she was.

She looked down at their state and smiled. She curled into him further and he tightened his arms around her. Nora rested her head on his chest, letting his heartbeat fill her ear. Soon she felt fingers trace up and down her bare spine and she looked back up at Ray to see that he was indeed awake.

“Mornin’ handsome.” Nora grinned and leaned in to kiss him softly.

“Good morning.” He smiled.

“Did last night really happen?”

“You tell me.” He tugged the sheet down slightly to expose them to the cool air.

Nora gasped in feigned offense and dragged the covers back up over them. She moved off him, she'd been half laying on his body, and instead curled up next to him on her own side of the bed, facing him.

Ray ran a hand up and down her arm. “How are you?”

“I’m laying in bed with a man I harbored feelings for, for nearly two years, and he loves me back. I feel pretty amazing.” She grinned goofily and buried her face in her hands out of embarrassment.

“That man is taking you in as well.”

“Ray…”

“If you don’t want to live here, not sure why, all the beds are this comfortable.” He made her grin at his comment. “Then at least let me find you a job at Palmer Tech so you can get your own place.”

“Not going to just buy me an apartment?”

Ray chuckled. “I can if you want me to.” He grinned.

“No, that’s not what I meant.” She poked him in the chest. “But you know what… I think I would like to stay here. Right here. In this bed.”

“Really?” Ray swallowed hard, inferring her more than just joking implications.

“Really.” Nora pulled him in for a kiss. “I wanna stay here forever with you.” She pressed their foreheads together. “And I don’t want to waste any more time.”

[sparxwrites]

(so, the best time to write 3.5k of fic for a new fandom is when you’ve just dislocated your shoulder, right? anyways, have some pre-ittd-ep fic about teens being teens, and thinking about the future. i’m a monster, so it’s as angsty-with-hindsight as i could possibly make it. enjoy!)

cw mentioned homophobia / homophobic slurs, (‘jokey’) suicide mention, drug use, underage drinking

[ao3]

“What do you wanna be when you grow up?” Raina asked, curiously, drifting starfish-like on her back over the dark, glassy surface of her parents’ pool. “Like, when you leave high school, I mean. we’ve only got a year left, so…”

It was October, the schools long since back after the lazy summer holidays – but with the weather hovering in the high seventies, it was still plenty warm for a pool party. Or, rather, a mildly-illicit pool gathering, since Raina’s parents had expressly forbidden any parties when they’d left for a long weekend in the city. Not particularly averse to breaking rules when it suited her – an inevitable consequence of being friends with Kayden and Sat for any length of time – Raina had decided to stick to the letter of the law, rather than the spirit. Five people were hardly a party, she reasoned, and what her parents didn’t know couldn’t hurt them.

Which was how she’d ended up with five people in her pool, and enough booze for ten stacked over various pieces of garden furniture, having a definitely-not-party in the dying light of an early-autumn evening.

“What does who want to be?” asked Sat, from her place on the side of the pool, pressed thigh to thigh with Kayden and sharing a joint with him. He was shirtless, with knee-length cargo shorts rolled up to mid-thigh – whether through laziness, or because he genuinely didn’t own swimwear, was anyone’s guess – and she was in a high-cut black bikini, a scrap of a thing that left little to the imagination.

None of the others had been able to stop staring at her since she undressed.

Raina came to a stop at the edge of the pool by Sat’s legs, clinging to the side like a bedraggled limpet and looking up at her friend. “I don’t know,” she said. “Anyone! Any of you. Hmm… Kayden! What do you wanna be?”

Kayden made a thoughtful noise around the joint pressed to his lips, pulling it away to blow a thin stream of smoke up towards the sky. “I dunno,” he said, words already a little weed-slow, wrinkling his nose. “Dead?”

He laughed – and then stopped, abruptly, when Sat elbowed him hard enough in the side to nearly make him drop the smouldering joint into the pool below. “Not funny, Kayden,” she snapped, though Raina was giggling a little beside her. “Not fucking funny.”

“Fine, fine.” He rolled his eyes, passed the joint over at her beckoning, and rubbing at his ribs as though more pressure would somehow stop it bruising. “High-school dropout, I guess. What?” he asked, when Sat scowled at him through the cloud of smoke between. “Look, I come from a long and prestigious line of alcoholic, trailer-trash addicts who couldn’t even get their fucking GED. It’d be a shame to break tradition.”

“What about marijuana farmer?” called Tanner from half-way across the pool, where he was swimming steady but determined laps. There was, surprisingly, only the slightest hint of mockery to his words.

Kayden grinned, and laughed along with the others, nodding in agreement and ignoring Tanner’s faintly smug smile “Now that’s a career I could get behind,” he agreed, and then sighed at Sat’s crossed-arms scowl beside him.

“Fine, Miss High-and-Mighty,” he said, plucking the joint from her fingers again, and pushing her easily into the pool with a hand between the shoulders. “What to you wanna do, then?”

Sat squealed as she hit the water, flailing desperately in an attempt to avoid going under, and failing dismally. When she resurfaced, it was to squirt a mouthful of water at Kayden, makeup streaming darkly down her cheeks, and with Tanner trying to haul her up out of the water as though he was afraid of her drowning. “Asshole,” she informed him, scrubbing at the running mascara and batting away Tanner’s ‘helpful’ hands.

“Guilty as charged,” agreed Kayden, smirking, lips curling to blow smoke up towards his now sopping wet and pancake-flat mohawk. “Question stands, though. What do you wanna be?”

“Porn star,” she snapped back at him without missing a beat, hauling herself out of the pool to find a towel and clean off her face. She missed the way both Darby and Tanner turn pink and flushed in the low, late-evening light, but Kayden’s gleeful cackle was unmistakeable.

Raina sighed, kicking off from the edge of the pool and setting herself drifting on her back, eyes to the moon. “Oh, come on,” she said, a little sulkily. “It was a genuine question! I wanted real answers, guys.”

Clearing her throat slightly, Darby tore her eyes away from Satine’s hourglass figure in the low light, and nodded. “Yeah, real answers,” she agreed, trailing her tongue across her lower lip in an almost unconscious motion. “We never talk about… college, or work, but Raina’s right. We’re going to be graduating in a year, we need to think about this seriously. About how it’s going to affect all of us.”

Kayden waggled his eyebrows at her, smirking, and she studiously ignored him.

“Fine, fine,” said Sat, returning to the pool edge and settling a safe distance away from Kayden – though not before judiciously poking him in the side with her toes, hard enough to make him jump. “Um. Actress, I guess? Like, a movie star or something.” She looked almost self-conscious, her eyes softer and more open without their usual thick, dark lining. “I dunno. I can’t see myself going to college, and like hell am I gonna work some shitty minimum wage job for the rest of my life, so…”

“Oh, that’s so cool, Sat?” Raina gushed enthusiastically, grinning as she flipped herself upright to tread water. “I can totally see you as an actress, you’re so- so glamorous, and you’re gorgeous, and confident, and-”

“Yeah,” Tanner said, as he stopped his lengths to tread water next to Raina. “You’ll be a great actress, Sat.”

Though it was hard to make out in the low light and with her slightly darker skin, they all saw the way Sat blushed. “Really?” she asked, oddly vulnerable for a moment before her usual wickedly confident smile slid into place. “That’s really sweet of you, Raina, Tanner. …I mean, of course, I’m incredible, but it’s nice to know you guys think so too.”

“Of course you’re incredible,” agreed Tanner, softly, an odd sort of smile on his face as he stared at Sat – and did his best to ignore the barf motions Kayden was making mere feet from her, entirely unsubtly.

Raina ignored all three of them, though whether deliberately or through cheerful obliviousness was anyone’s guess. “So, Darby!” she said, turning in the water to face where Darby was sat on the pool steps – water halfway up her chest in a poor attempt to hide the rather old-fashioned and unflattering swimming costume she was wearing, and a rapidly-emptying wine bottle in her hand. “Last but not least. What do you wanna do?”

“Hey!” objected Tanner, waving a hand in front of Raina’s face unexpectedly enough to make her shriek in surprise and recoil. Darby, across the pool, snorted in amusement. “Hello? What do you mean last but not least? What about me?”

“Everyone knows what you want to be, Tanner,” drawled Kayden, splashing at the water with his feet and tossing the burnt-out roach of the joint behind him. “Let the lady take her turn.”

“Oh yeah?” Tanner snapped back, taking the bait with his usual ease and speed. “What do I wanna be, then?”

The other four look at one another, and then back at Tanner. “Professional photographer,” they all said, in unison – and Sat took advantage of the brief moment of unity to shove Kayden into the pool.

“Ha, ha, ha,” droned Tanner, over Kayden’s howls of indignation, though he did take the opportunity to splash water at the flailing form of his friend. “Very funny. No, I don’t want to be a professional photographer. I want to be an accountant.”

“You assholes,” hissed Kayden, clinging to the edge of the pool and glaring at them all through narrowed eyes, looking for all the world like a pissy cat who’d just taken an unexpected bath. “You know I can’t swim, fuck all of you.”

He was summarily ignored by absolutely everyone on the basis that – swimming skills or no – he didn’t appear to be drowning. Or, at least, didn’t appear to be imminently drowning. A little bit of water and humiliation in front of friends never hurt anyone, after all, though Kayden was doing a good job of sounding like he’d been mortally wounded.

Raina frowned at her friend next to her, though, lower lip sticking out. “Aww, Tanner,” she said, a little sadly, putting her feet down and standing on tiptoes on the pool bottom to rest a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “You don’t want to be an accountant, your dad wants you to be an accountant. That’s not the same thing.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Tanner, biting sarcasm laced through his voice as he swept his overlong hair back from where it was plastered to his forehead. “I’m pretty keen on not being disowned and disinherited, so. Y’know.” He shrugged. “Besides, you guys know what my family thinks about photography. Pretty sure most other people feel the same way. I’m not gonna find much business if I’m that one weird kid with the camera, am I?”

“Yeah, well, your dad’s a fucking prick,” growled Kayden, hauling himself dripping out of the pool and slumping on the tiled edge, breathing heavily and glowering in the general direction of Sat. She stuck her tongue out at him in return, grinning. “So he can go fuck himself, frankly.”

Raina gasped. “Kayden!” she said, eyes wide and bright with shock. “You can’t just-”

“Oh, I absolutely can ‘just’.” He pushed himself up into sitting position, crossing his legs underneath him rather than sticking them back in the water. “The guy called me a fucking faggot last time I saw him. Right to my fucking face. He deserves that, and worse, the shit-mouthed bastard.”

Tanner, though he hadn’t responded to the insults, frowned. “Well, I mean. It’s not like he’s wrong? You are…” he started, quietly, trailing off only when Darby kicked water at him from across the pool and made frantic don’t gestures with a hand across her throat.

“Oh, fuck you, asshole,” snarled Kayden, flipping him the bird with one hand and combing fingers shaking faintly with anger through his ‘hawk with the other. The heavily hair-sprayed hair had gotten tangled with the water, sticking out in all directions against his scalp. “Jesus shit, you’re gonna try and defend that crap? Five fucking years we’ve been friends, and you still have no fucking- god. Fucking hell.”

“It’s… that’s not the point, Tanner,” said Raina to him, quietly, as Kayden’s cursing slowly tapered off into unintelligible mumbling. “That’s a shitty word, and your dad knows it. I’m not saying Kayden should have called him- all that stuff, but…”

“Oh,” said Tanner, quietly. “Yeah. Right. Uh… I didn’t mean it like that, Kayden. Just that you… uh. Forget it. Sorry.” He got only a grunt, and Kayden’s middle finger again, in response.

An awkward silence settled over the five of them, broken only by the soft splashes as Tanner went back to his laps – his strokes a little more aggressive than before – and the paper-crinkle of Kayden rolling another joint.

“…I want to be a teacher,” said Darby, finally, when the quiet started to feel like a physical itch and it became clear no one else was going to speak first. “When I leave high school, I mean. Or, when I leave college, I guess, since you’d need to study for that sort of thing.” She smiled at Raina as the other girl doggy-paddled over to her, shifting sideways where she was sat half-immersed on the pool steps to make room for her friend. “I’m not sure, really, but I guess college is plenty of time to decide, right?”

Raina settled next to her, leaning her head on Darby’s shoulder. “But you hate kids, though!” she said. “Or, well, not hate, I guess, but you always talk about how annoying the elementary and middle-school kids are…”

“Oh, god no, I don’t want to teach kids.” Darby shuddered, and took another sip from the wine bottle, staining her tongue and lips an even deeper purple-red. “No, I mean I want to teach college students. Be a lecturer, I guess? I’m not sure what I’d want to lecture in, but maybe geography, or geology…”

She trailed off, tracing patterns in the water with her free hand and tapping fingers against the wine bottle in the other.

“I can totally see you doing that,” said Raina, thoughtfully, shifting to rest her chin on Darby’s shoulder and peer at her friend’s profile in the late evening darkness. “You could do pretty much anything you set your mind to, though. You’re so stubborn when it comes to stuff like that. You’ll do great, teacher or not.”

Darby merely shrugged, and smiled a little shyly – but as close to Darby’s cheeks as she was, Raina could see the pleased blush that coloured them at the compliment.

Slipping back into the pool, Sat swan away from the awkward tension still bubbling between the boys to join the other girls on the steps, and to steal the wine from Darby. The effort was slightly ruined by the fact that Tanner immediately swam after her to settle on the steps too, but she ignored him in favour of taking a large gulp of wine.

“And what do you want to do, Raina?” she asked, once she’d swallowed the cheap alcohol, pulling a face at the vinegar-sharp taste of it. “C’mon, we’ve all aired our dreams for your amusement. Spill.”

Raina actually blushed, plucking the wine bottle from Sat’s unresisting hand and taking a long gulp. “I, uh… I’ve actually already applied to some art schools,” she said, wiping at her mouth with the back of her hand and playing nervously with her hair. “My mom and dad encouraged me to, over the summer, and I thought- well, the worst that can happen is they turn me down, right?”

“Fuck off,” called Kayden from across the pool, in a friendly sort of way. He sounded almost impressed. “Really?”

“Yeah!” said Raina, enthusiastically. “All you gotta do is write a letter, and have a portfolio to send them – I photocopied a bunch of my artwork at the library – and pay the application fee…” She shrugged, looking down at her lap, apparently embarrassed. “I mean, it wasn’t like, super hard or anything? I already had the art, and…”

Sat hummed thoughtfully. “Well, look at you, little Miss Organised!” she teased gently. “You’re gonna have a college offer before any of us even have a plan.” She smiled, and nudged Raina with her shoulder companionably, before squinting through the growing darkness at where Kayden was still sat on the other side of the pool. “Hey! Kayden! Get over here and help me give Raina shit for how smart and organised she is!”

Across the pool, Kayden blew a cloud of smoke in their general direction and stuck his tongue out. “What part of can’t fucking swim are you guys not getting?” he called back. “Jesus. I don’t even know why I agreed to come to this thing, I fucking hate pools. No way you’re getting me in one.”

“You’ve already been in, asshole,” said Tanner. He sounded exasperated, but he was smiling, a soft, crooked quirk-up of one corner of his lips. “You’re already damp. May as well come and at least sit with us, huh?”

“Only if I can sit on your lap, sweetheart,” Kayden taunted – but he was already padding his way round the edge of the pool to squeeze into the space left between Tanner and Sat, handing off the half-smoked joint to whomever’s fingers were grabbing at it. He leaned back against Sat, the line of his spine pressed into her upper arm, and swung his legs up over Tanner’s lap to prod at Raina’s thighs with his toes.

Tanner sighed, rolling his eyes, but didn’t object, especially when Sat shifted her arm from behind Kayden to drape over his shoulder. “Asshole,” he repeated, but there was no bite to it. Not even when Kayden smirked, and blew a weed-laced kiss directly into his face.

For a long moment, a companionable sort of silence passed over the group, as they sat in the shallows of the slowly-cooling pool and watched the stars come out, one by one. The joint was passed around until it burnt down to a stub, and the quiet was interrupted only by Darby disentangling herself from Raina to go and get another bottle of alcohol, given Raina had finished off the previous one.

“We’re… we’re gonna stay friends, though, right, guys?” asked Raina, eventually, as Darby settled back in at her side with a bottle of Jack Daniels, no doubt stolen from some unfortunate off-license by Kayden’s wandering fingers. “After this year. I mean… if we all go off and do different things, we’ll still stay in touch?”

“Of course,” said Darby, immediately, fierce and more than a little wine-drunk. She grabbed at Raina, as though concerned the other girl was planning on leaving there and then, and dragged her close in a wonky, one-armed hug.

Nodding, Tanner, looked at all of them, a soft sort of smile at the corners of his eyes. “We’ll stay friends,” he said, quietly. “You guys are real important to me, you know that? I’m not gonna let us just drift apart, not if I’ve got a say in it.”

“Aww! Tanner’s gone all sappy,” teased Sat, leaning over to pinch his cheek hard enough to turn it pink. “But yeah, what he said.” She raised an eyebrow at Kayden, where he was slumped against her. “What about you, Kayden?”

Kayden shrugged, making a seesawing motion with one hand, and then grinned as he grabbed for the bottle of whiskey. “Nah, I’m just fucking with you. You lot are the only assholes I’ve found so far that’ll put up with me.” He took a long drink, and handed it back towards Darby’s grasping fingers, stealing the joint back from Raina to replace it. “I’d be dumb to let you just run off. You’re stuck with me for life, now.”

“Oh, joy of joys,” intoned Tanner, but he was grinning too as he flicked at Kayden’s toes where they were settled on his lap.

Raina grinned, bright and radiant, and hugged Darby right back, even as she beamed at the rest of them. “Well, I’ll drink to that!” she said, stealing the bottle of Jack from Darby just as she had with the wine. “Uh… not, like, to that bit about being stuck with Kayden for life. No offence Kayden. But- to friendship! To sticking together.”

“To friendship,” the others echoed after her, as the Jack was passed around like communion wine.

The liquor burned as it went down, settling warm in their stomachs – and though, theoretically, only a single sip was needed to toast the toast, seal the deal, they were high schoolers. One sip turned to two, to three, until the bottle was empty and they were onto the next. As the night spread dark and star-specked high above them, they huddled together in the shallows of the pool steps, drunk and laughing and confident in the knowledge that nothing – nothing – would ever tear their little group apart.

[escapingreality1992]

Birthday Escape Room and Steamy Dates

Maria Hill x OC - Maria wants to go to an escape room for her birthday. Her comrade and crush Lauren Rogerson sets it up and asks her out. After the escape room, they commence in “other” ideas.

"Hill! What do you want for your birthday?"

"Nothing. To be left alone,"

I started at the voices coming from the common room of an apartment. I had been taking a nap on my friend Maria Hill's couch after a long mission. We'd both been sent to Italy, undercover to get intel on our enemies' plans to take down the Avengers.

Take down the Avengers? Ha! I thought, getting up from the couch in the spare bedroom.

"You have to want something. And you don't really want to spend your birthday alone do? Come out with the boys. Invite that pretty comrade of yours too. Lauren Rogerson, right?" the male voice – I assumes belonged to Wilkins – a new agent who had recently joined our group with larger missions - complained. Even though I wasn't in the room, I could sense one of her eyebrows raising up at the last comment, as if to say, 'Really? You're just going to drool over her all night,'

"So, you and Mendelson can flirt with her all night? No, thank you," Maria snapped. I almost laughed at the comment.

"When will you realize I'm not interested? If she wants to be left alone, then leave her alone. Not everyone wants to be surrounded by people on their birthday," I said, walking through the room to the kitchen.

"Rogerson. Looking good. You sure you don't want any of them?" Wilkins greeted me. I paused, looking him over. The tall, lanky build he had, his black hair cropped short in the back, fringe lying across one eyebrow, and his dark green eyes. There was potential, but I didn't feel the attraction to him. Not like I did with Maria or some of the Avengers; both men and women. I saw how he flexed his muscles, thinking that was how he'd win over my love and affection.

"Fuck off, Wilkins. Not. Interested. Hill, got any eggs?" I answered, deliberately swaying my hips as I entered the kitchen. I wanted her to look at my ass, not Wilkins but felt his eyes on it anyway.

"Yeah, they're in the very back, top shelf. I've got cheese too and picked up another bottle of hot sauce," she said. She knew without asking what I had wanted and something that I loved to make for the two of us whenever we got back from a mission. An egg sandwich fixed to perfection; the yolk that ran sopped up with the bread.

"Want one?" I asked, waving the bread in her direction.

"Sure. Wilkins, leave. Now. I'd like to relax on my day off," The agent left as I fried the four eggs to put on the sandwich, followed by the cheese and hot sauce.

"So, what are we doing for you birthday?" I asked, spreading a thick layer of mayonnaise on the toasted bread as I waited for the eggs to finish cooking. Maria shrugged on her way to sit at the dining table.

"You're telling me you haven't thought of anything to do on your birthday? Nothing at all?" I questioned.

"Well...there is one thing,"

"Which is?" I asked, raising my eyebrows, putting the two sandwiches on plates and sliding Maria hers. I pointed at the coffee and she nodded; I poured two cups and doctored them up with what we liked in them.

"You wouldn't be interested in an escape room, would you? I mean, we'd probably get done in about half an hour but, they seem fun," she said.

"Actually, that does sound like fun. Should I invite Nick? Steve? Tony? Both?"

"Sure. To all four," I simply nodded, forming a plan in my head. I'd be in charge of putting things into place for tonight because she didn't feel like doing anything that wasn't work. You'd think it would be the same, but no, not in this case. In the office or debriefings, even in the field, she took charge, but off the job she was more laid back, which is something I loved about her. Though, she didn't know it. That I loved her.

For three years, I had a crush on the woman, ever since SHIELD had recruited me. I had great communication skills but lacked in knowledge of weaponry. She had taken it upon herself to teach me the basics, both in hand to hand combat as well as weaponry. I had liked the way her fingers lingered on my skin or the way that she gripped my waist while helping my form in punching. I cherished the way she whispered in my ear as she taught me about shooting a gun. I thought she was interested, but I still had doubts about it. Hell, she could be straight for all I knew, and my bisexual ass could have misinterpreted things.

As I called in reservations at an escape room – I researched all sorts in the New York area – I took a chance to glance at Maria. She wore a gray tank top and light pink pajama pants. No bra, as evident by her nipples poking through the thin fabric. She wore no socks, her bare feet stretched out on the couch she was sitting on after we left the kitchen. Her shoulder length brown hair messy in the morning. A beautiful sight.

'Have you asked her out yet?' a text message from Stark read.

'No, Tony. She may not like women, anyway.' I sent back.

'You won't know until you ask. The worst she could do is say no, right?'

'I know. I'm too nervous to ask her.'

'Lauren, you're one of the most confident women I know. If you don't ask her out soon, I'm going to tell her you like her.' He texted.

'No. Don't. It's not the right time.'

"Everything all set?" Maria asked, breaking the silence. It caused me to jump since I had been texting away with Tony.

"Yep. We're meeting the guys downtown at 5. It takes an hour to do the escape room," I told her.

"Okay," she said.

'I'm going to text her. Better ask her out now,'

'Stop threatening me. Alright, fine, have it your way. I'll ask her.' I texted. Here goes nothing, I thought. I took a deep breath, preparing myself.

"Hey, Maria?'

"Yeah, Lauren?"

"Do you...would you like to grab dinner after the escape room?" I asked.

"Sure. The six of us can decide what we want to eat once we get there," Of course she'd think I'd want them to tag along.

"No, not with them. Just us. Alone," I clarified. I started twisting my hands together, a nervous habit I developed in middle school.

"Are...are you asking me out?" Maria asked, surprise written on her face. My face grew hot and I averted my eyes to the floor.

"Yeah, I guess I am. You don't have to say yes if you're not interested,"

"I'd love to go out with you," she stated. I looked up at her in surprise at her answer.

"Did you really think I didn't like you? Why do you think I agreed to train you?" she commented.

"I wasn't sure. I kept think I was reading things wrong,"

"You weren't. I was hoping you'd catch on to my feelings,"

We got ready a few hours later to meet the guys at the escape room, excited for our date afterward.

An hour, my ass. The six of us completed the room in half an hour, going our separate ways to dinner. Maria and I decided on fish and chips for dinner, heading to our favorite pub to eat and drink a few pints of beer. We were already so comfortable with each other that the conversation flowed naturally and at the end of the night, she asked to come over.

"I've never seen your place. You're always over at mine," she said. I countered with the fact that she had never asked to stay at my apartment when missions were done.

"It might be a little messy. I didn't expect any company tonight," I told her. We took her SUV to my apartment building, parked and walked up three flights of stairs to my door. I unlocked it and we went inside where we could talk some more...or do something else.

"I have to say, I like your apartment better. It's much more spacious than mine. How big is your bedroom?"

"Eh, it's decent. There's two of them. I've converted the one in the back into a library. There's better lighting in there whenever I feel like curling up with a good book," I answered, bringing her to the one closest to the kitchen, across from the second bedroom's bathroom. Mine had a bathroom connected to it, so I left the one of the second reserved for guests. I let her look around, an unofficial tour, trying not to cringe at the mess on the floor.

"What do you -," I asked, cut off by her lips on mine. She pushed me back towards the bed. I stumbled, taking her down with me. We laughed and her lips captured mine again. Her hands moved to unbutton my jeans and she continued to unzip them from there. She paused kissing me to tug both them and my underwear off. Coming back up, she kissed me again.

"This isn't going to be a problem is it? Sex on the first date?" she asked.

"No, of course not,"

"Great, because I've decided I want you to cum all night. It is my birthday after all," she said. She pulled off my shirt and bra, leaving me naked before her. She undressed and laid flat on me, her fingers going to work on my folds, slipping one finger inside my entrance, followed by two more. I moaned into her kiss while she fucked me with her slender digits. Maria was magical with her fingers and I came over and over again. She didn't stop there. She made me cum with her mouth, her tongue and even asked if there were any toys she could play with.

I only had two to our disappointment, a wand vibrator and one that sucked on the clit. I made a mental note to pick up some more for next time. I got her off a couple times with my own hands, though she still got off on making me orgasm, turning on me every chance she got. Maria preferred being on top and the more she played with me, the more dominant she got. I was excited to see where she would take it. By the time we finished, we were both sweaty and sticky and the sun was shining through the blinds. She held me tight in her arms, spooning me and kissed my cheek.

"Best birthday ever," she whispered, allowing sleep to take over us both.