#met some cool baristas today

[mitsies]

❊ one more time! - michael kaiser . . kaiser thinks that he was destined to meet you in this lifetime.

it's january when kaiser firsts asks you out. and it's january, when, in response, you laugh in his face and decline.

he'd met you in a coffee shop. your aunt's coffee shop, to be specific. he'd been a regular for a while but had never seen you there before. sitting at a booth in the back, by a window, rare winter sunlight kissed your cheeks and bathed you in a brilliant soft white light.

eyes dead-set on your textbook and laptop, sitting on the small table in front of you, he watches. kaiser thinks you're just so cute, with your fingers thrumming against the ceramic mug that holds something light brown and steaming, and with your headphones blocking everything but your notes out. actually, he's so enamoured that he ends up walking right into a table.

with a rather unattractive 'oof,' he hunches and grabs the table with both hands to stop it from rattling; unfortunately for him, the damage is done. the sweet older barista is laughing at him. customers in line snicker. and you? you look up from your work, blink, and then crack a small smile. and oh, kaiser thinks his bruised ego and battered side are all worth it now. because you smiled at him. and god, it was the prettiest thing he's ever seen.

in line to order, he's thinking about you the whole time, and stealing furtive glances (that he hopes are more subtle than they feel) back at your table. and at the counter, he orders a caffé mocha instead of his usual large iced chai latte with oat milk, 1 pump of caramel syrup, and 3 pumps of sugar-free vanilla syrup. the barista, who knows him from his daily overly-complex orders, gives him a raised eyebrow. kaiser simply shrugs and smiles. he tells her that he's testing a hypothesis. she gives him the stink eye and upcharges him.

once his drink is up, he's on the move, taking confident strides over to your table, where he asks, "is it okay if i sit here?"

and karma is in his favour today, because when you look up and around, the café is busy and bustling and the tables are all full. and he thinks that if cool guys swooned, he'd be swooning hard as you give him the tiniest, polite smile and a brief "sure" in response.

he thinks he's the smoothest man in the world, really, as he takes a seat across from you (like a date) and glances at your beverage. it's the same shade of caramel-ly brown, same kind of mug, same everything. he's fairly sure he's got the same drink as you-- a perfect conversation starter, just like he planned. kaiser clears his throat. "you order a caffé mocha? me too."

you look up again and glance at his drink before turning to him. "uh, no. not quite."

damn. kaiser's really done himself in, now. but he's cool. he can play it smooth. "really? what do you order, then?"

he then moves to shift his hands and, with an incredible lack of grace for a professionally-trained sportsman, he knocks his drink into his lap, spilling the lukewarm beverage all over his white sweater and jeans. he curses under his breath, and then remembers he has a really, really cute person he wants to impress, so he sucks up the embarrassment and grins (grimaces, more like) at you. "i don't suppose you ordered some napkins, too."

you let out a huff of laughter that makes him forget about his permanently ruined sweater as you fish around in your bag for a small, cloth napkin which you hand to him. "hopefully your sweater isn't too stained."

he hums. and a small smile takes over his face. "so, do you give a handkerchief to every guy who spills his coffee, or am i special?"

you raise your eyebrows in amusement. "you're the first guy whose spilled his coffee on himself while trying to talk to me. so i guess you're special."

kaiser beams, and he's sure satisfaction makes his grin grow on his face when he catches you flustering ever-so-slightly at his smile. "that's what i like to hear."

"what about you? you come here to impress strangers often?"

"only the ones i want to take out on a date."

and that's when it happens. that's where you laugh. and he's sure he looks appalled, absolutely shocked, when you stop, and say "sorry, no thanks."

he's a little speechless, when you look at him next, so you very helpfully fill in the silence. you offer, "any guy who drinks a caffé mocha isn't my kind of guy."

he splutters, cheeks likely redder than he'd like, reeling from embarrassment. "that was only because i thought you liked them!"

"why would you think that?"

kaiser doesn't reply. he's dug his grave, he knows, as you blink. in real time, he watches you connect the dots. "oh. you walked into the table because you were trying to see what i got. so you could talk to me, right?"

maybe he could still salvage this. if not his chance with you, then his dignity. "maybe i did. it worked, at least."

you're staring at him again, a contemplative look on your face. and he's willing his heart to stop racing under your gaze, and he's begging his face to return to a normal colour, and he's practically praying for the butterflies to stop churning windstorms in his stomach, when you say, "it's hot chocolate. and i'll be here tomorrow. same time, same table. if you want to try again with the right drink."

he's never believed in fate. kaiser is a realist. he's practical. he knows, or at least, pretends to know what he's doing. kaiser believes life is what you make it. kaiser believes his future is in his hands. but then you smile at him again. and it's a different kind of smile; one where your eyes crease and it's more on your left side than your right, and he thinks that maybe, if one thing was bound to happen in this lifetime, it was to walk into this café and meet you this winter morning.

"hot chocolate," he smiles back at you, "i'll remember that."

you take your textbook and slide it into your bag before standing. "i'll see you then."

you're already gone when he realises that he still has your napkin. but, he smiles to himself, it's okay. he can just give it back to you tomorrow.

flowers chosen: sweetpea & tarragon . . thank you for the lovely time & lasting interest

❊ send a request! ❊ 5k masterlist ❊ event info ❊

[louloulemons-posts]

Rainy Days and Lattes

Steve Harrington X Fem!Reader

Summary : Steve goes to get a treat for him and Robin and ends up meeting you.

Word Count : 0.6k

Warnings : Pure fluff, not proofread, 4am writing 🫶🏻, steve is a cutie, just a cute little meet cute drabble, autumn-y rainy days (i am ready for the ber months) no use of y/n, fem pronouns, reader calls steve pretty.

A/N : Guys I don’t know how it happened but we hit 700 followers?!?! I am in shock! Thank you all so much for the love and support it means so much to me 🤍

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

Steve had gone on his break, planning on fetching himself and Robin some warm drinks and sweet treats. He headed into the cafe at the end of the block.

It was quiet today, the autumn weather rolling in fast. Leaves turning from green to yellows and oranges, it was beautiful. Although it was damp, drizzling rain fell on him, speeding up to get out of it. Pushing the door open, a small bell jingled above him.

There were a few people sat inside : an older couple, a woman deeply interested in her book, a man and his daughter and two teenagers who were giggling away. Steve smiled, he enjoyed people watching.

Looking up at the boards and the glass cabinets he thought about what to get for Robin - probably opting for the sweetest thing they had.

“Hi, can I help you?” a voice spoke from the counter. Looking up he met your gaze, god you were beautiful. “Uh .. Hi, can I get um,” be cool man, relax, relax.

“Can I please get a hazelnut hot chocolate and a latte please,” he spoke, finally getting his words out. “Sure, is it to drink now?” you smiled.

“Take out please.” He was scared to meet your gaze again, worried he’d be tongue tied and embarrass himself.

He didn’t do as well with girls now as he used too, and well you were probably the most beautiful person he’d ever laid eyes on.

“Okidoki, anything else?” you asked, taking his order into the register. “What’s the sweetest cake you have?” he asked.

“Maybe the brownies? or the millionaires shortbread, they’re both filled with caramel,” you explained, whilst pointing them out in the cabinet.

“Could I get one of each?”

“Sure,” you smiled at him again - secretly hoping he’d meet your gaze, cause gosh he was so pretty. “Okay thats $8.65 all together.” After exchanging cash and change you spoke again, “You can wait here or I’ll bring your things over.”

“I’ll wait,” he spoke gently, “Are you new here?” he asked. He’d been here before a few times and never seen you. “Not really. I don’t normally work this shift it’s all, and if I do I’m normally making cakes out the back,” you told him.

He hummed and nodded as he did so. “You come in here a lot?”

“Me and my friend take it in turns, we work at Family Video down the street.”

“Ah I see,” you nodded as you frothed some milk for the latte.

“I might start asking her if I can come here everytime we’re on together,” he spoke up.

“Oh yeah why’s that?” you asked, mouth curving into a slight smile. “Well there’s this really beautiful barista I’d like to see again.”

You nodded, pouring the hot drink into a cup. “Right, and if that barista was completely flattered because such a pretty boy wanted to see her again?”

“He’d ask her out, ask to see her out of this awful uniform.”

Huffing a laugh, you slid his cakes over the counter, turning to finish off his drinks.

“Well she’d be interested, can I take your name for her?”

“It’s Steve.”

“Steve,” you repeated, a smile now consuming your lips. “Mhm, that’s me.”

“I’ll let her know,” you spoke over your shoulder. Sliding the cups into sleeves and placing them in a cup holder so he wouldn’t hurt himself, you handed them over.

“Well it was nice meeting you Steve.”

“You too, have a good day.” You watched him walk out the shop, giving you a goofy smile and carry on his way.

Looking down at his latte cup he noticed some scribbles on the side. Moving as quickly as he could he headed back to work, passing Robin the cakes, to decide which she wanted and her hot choc.

He slid the sleeve off the cup and couldn’t help grinning, it was a number and a name. Your number and name. “God Dingus, you finally get your game back,” Robin teased from beside him.

“Maybe,” he shrugged, smiling as he took as sip of what may have been the best coffee of his life.

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

Thank you so much for reading! Please leave any requests 🤍

[1nephthys]

The one with you

Word count: ~1.2k

Summary: just when a young barista thought her day couldn't be worse, it actually turns out it is... not so bad?

Pairing: Mick Schumacher x fem!reader

Warnings: a bit of body shaming, a solid portion of delusional, English not being my first language

She got on the bus dripping wet because, of course, she forgot her umbrella and she was standing at the bus stop for a good ten minutes because traffic jams in the morning were awful. She wanted to text her boss that she would be a bit late but just as she took her phone out of her pocket she noticed a notification.

Battery low, 1%

And before she had any chance to do so, little electronic device shut down.

She looked at her watch, good thing she was old-school about those and preferred to check the time on her wrist instead of her phone.

9.03am

She was already three minutes late and the ride was at least ten more minutes long. Her boss was going to kill her.

She finally made it to her stop and got out of the bus. She ran to the coffee shop in the hope she wouldn't get wetter and be even more late.

9.17am

Just as she opened the door and the little bell above them rang she was met with an angry face of her boss.

"You are late." The lady said strictly looking at her poor, wet hair, clothes and makeup on the verge of melting.

"I know, I'm so sorry. The bus was late, the traffic jams are terrible." She tried to explain but the face of her boss hadn't soften even a little bit.

"Then maybe you should start getting there on foot. That would do great for your weight. And bring an umbrella with you. Now you gonna take some time to get ready." Oh. So she chose to be mean that day.

"I- I'm sorry. It won't happen again" She could explain herself better, but it wouldn't work. So she chose to ignore mean remark about her weight and get ready for eight hours of work.

Her day was awful. Starting with the bus, then the mean boss, then the lady who wanted a vegan latte but with cow milk, the little boy who dropped his glass of hot chocolate and his mother who yelled at her for not cleaning it was enough.

She was on the verge of crying while counting down the last minutes of work. It was still raining awfully and now the last bus just passed by the coffee shop but she couldn't wait for this 40 minute walk home.

3.28pm

She was collecting half full glasses that two girls who left few minutes ago left on the table.

While the sign "Leave your glasses and mugs right there. Thank you:)" was just a few steps away, above a counter for them.

She put the first glass of now cold, half-full coffee on the tray while grabbing the other one and turning around to get them to the counter.

And just then, she was met with a chest of somebody.

She spilled half of the glass of coffee on the customer that just come in.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry- I'm just gonna..." She didn't even know what to say. The day just couldn't get any worst.

"It's alright. I was in the way. Sorry." He saw the panic in her eyes and he definitely didn't put "make a poor barista cry" on his to-do list today.

"No, I'm sorry. God. I will pay you for that shirt." She said. Yeah, she definitely had money for what looked like a Tommy Hilfiger shirt with her salary.

"There's no need. I'm alright, really" He said, and just then her boss rounded the corner and looked at her employee and the man beside her, she looked like she would blow.

"Oh my god, your shirt! What happened?" She asked, trying to act all cool in front of a customer.

Just when y/n tried to put herself together and start explaining herself without getting fired, the blond guy picked up the glass from the floor, which somehow hadn't broken and looked over at the boss.

"I'm sorry, I just spilled it all over myself. The glass is in one piece though." He explained and looked over at y/n, who tried, she really did try to tell the true but today was too much so she just decided to let the stranger save her in front of her boss.

"Oh, alright. I'm so sorry then. I'm sure y/n there can help you and bring you new coffee as soon as possible." She said with a smile, oh how fake this smile was.

She went back to the back of the coffee shop, probably to sit in her office while y/n with the stranger walked up to the counter in the cafe.

"Thank you so much for that. I think you literally saved my life." The girl said quietly. She finally had a chance to properly look at the guy. He had blond hair and the deepest green eyes she had ever seen in her entire life. "What would you like to order? It's on me" She asked with a tired smile, but it was still the prettiest smile he had a chance to look at ever.

"I think coffee would be nice." He said.

"Alright, which one?" She pointed at the menu above her head, which consisted of about 20 different coffees.

"The one with you? After your shift?" The question just slipped out of his mouth and his cheeks got a bit red. Already thinking what to say if he got rejected.

"I guess I own you, huh?" She answered with a question, but hey, that wasn't no, right? He asked himself.

"Only if you want to." He was shy. cute. "I'm Mick, by the way" He scratched the back of his neck without taking his eyes off her.

"I'm y/n," She said with a smile. "And I would love to get a coffee with you, Mick" He felt like a huge stone was being lifted off his shoulders.

"You are closing in twenty minutes, right?" He asked and she answered with a nod of her head. "Let me go home quickly and change a shirt without a huge coffee stain and I will pick you up. That's sounds good?"

"Yeah, but I still need to clean up the place after." She explained.

"Don't worry about it. I can wait. I will see you soon." He didn't even give her a chance to answer as he was already at the door.

He did seen her soon, and then he seen her every single day of his life. And there two things she learned that day: do not call the day the worst of your life before sun sets and do not cry over spilled coffee.

a/n. I'm honestly not very happy with that but I started writing it literally a month ago and finished it just now because I simply do not have any time.

[kitthepurplepotato]

Chapter 5 - Is this a date?!

Summary: Kirishima has no idea what’s going on. Y/N takes the matter in her own hands and forces his himbo to ask her on a date. The date ends with a quite a lot of uhm… surprises.

Warnings: Swear words + Y/N wants to kiss Kirishima constantly. 😂

First Chapter Master List

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Okay, so… Kirishima is really fucking confused. He’s so confused he even decided not to get a coffee today because he genuinely can’t look into Y/N’s eyes without dropping dead on the floor.

He’s met a lot of uhm… touchy people during his short little life, one of them being him to be honest, but…. None of his friends have kissed him on the mouth before. Okay, that’s a lie, Tetsutetsu did but he was absolutely wasted and for some weird reason he thought he’s his girlfriend. He also almost kissed Katsuki out of pure worry once. Nevermind.

Also, his heart didn’t erupt like a fucking lava inside his chest when Tetsutetsu kissed him, but obviously, Kirishima is a big boy, he knows why is his heart having a hard time with doing normal things like beating in a regular pattern and he’s absolutely not ashamed of his ridiculous crush on the barista next door but like… why did she kiss him? And what’s up with that promise? You can’t just promise that to someone, you can’t just throw your life away to live in an unhappy marriage for the rest of your life just to prove your point, can you?

Maybe the kiss was an accident. Technically, it barely touched his mouth. Yeah. It can still be a friendly gesture if he thinks about it that way even though that doesn’t explain the marriage thing but…

“She kissed you because she fucking likes you, what the fuck, Eijirou?!” Katsuki yells into Kirishima’s face out of the blue.

“She doesn’t hate me and maybe she feels pity for me for having an obvious crush on her. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, sir.”

Katsuki is clearly about to have a meltdown but he braces himself for the sake of his friend.

“She likes me too and yet here I am, untouched. She gives out free coffee to the people she likes, not fucking kisses and promises to marry them.”

Katsuki has a point. But…

“Do not fucking ‘but’ me, you absolute moron. Get the fuck out of the building, your shift is fucking over and all you did was writing your girlfriends first name and your last name all over the official paperwork so honestly, I don’t fucking want to see you here anymore.”

“I’m so sorry, Katsuki…”

“No.”

“I mean it… I’ll stay and fix this, I’m really sorry…”

“Get the fuck out, Eijirou!”

Kirishima has been thrown out of his own office by a sparking hand. What a shameful day. He leaves the building with his head held low, moping towards the nearest train station because Kirishima was so fucking all over the place this morning that he forgot he owns a motorbike. He also got fined on the train because he forgot to buy a ticket. What a shitty day.

“You forgot something this morning?” The sound of an angel comes from the coffee shop he’s walking past by. Kirishima looks up and he feels like he just flew to fucking heaven. It’s his favorite barista in cool, edgy clothing, a lollipop hanging from her mouth. She looks at Kirishima with a beautiful, offended gaze which doesn’t make any sense because he’s quite sure he didn’t hurt any puppies today or like… ever.

“Hi.” Well done, Kirishima. The awkward smile and the even more awkward head rubbing is definitely the way to every woman’s heart. “Are you finished for today?”

“Are you asking me on a date, himbo?”

Kirishima’s face becomes the color of his hair.

“Oh, I would never… I mean I would, hundred percent, oh my god, but… like I didn’t…” Kirishima can’t form any more stupid words as Y/N shoves her lollipop into his mouth to shut him up.

The lollipop that was in her mouth a second ago.

That’s an indirect kiss. Hell, that’s an indirect make out session.

This is how Kirishima dies. Or maybe, he already died and this is just his brain showing him all the good things he missed by fucking dying at the humble age of 26. Or is it 27? Hm, maybe 25. He forgot. He’s definitely less than 30. That’s all he knows.

“So where are you taking me, hubby?” Y/N nonchalantly hangs to Kirishima’s arm like it’s no biggie while Kirishima has a meltdown inside. What’s happening right now?! What is this shenanigan?! This must be one of Y/N’s pranks. Yeah. That’s okay. He can live with that. He can just pretend he’s not about to have a heart attack from Y/N’s closeness and play the hubby, whatever that means. Is it like “buddy” but in homosexual? But Kirishima is straight. Well, mostly. He’s the kinda guy who certainly can love anything and everything, he believes that love is love and the gender doesn’t matter, but he only had crushes on women. Because women are really manly and Y/N is the manliest of them all.

“Wanna grab something to eat in the arcade?”

That’s a good place, right? They can play games, have something to eat, enjoy a few drinks… it’s also a place where people go with their friends but they also go there for a date so…

Not like he actually believes this is a date. Nuh-uh. He’s gullible but not that much. Y/N is just teasing again.

… right?

~•🪨•~

You did it. You asked Red Riot out on a date! Okay, well, that’s a lie, you kinda forced him to take YOU out on a date but that doesn’t matter because now you are standing in front of the coolest arcade in the area with your favorite himbo. You also walked through half of the city with your arm entwined with his and it felt fucking great.

“Let’s get something to eat.” You pull the man inside, following the lovely scent of popcorn. “Can I have a big ass tray of French fries with ketchup and mayo and bowl of mozzarella sticks? Uh, and can I have a box of pocky? Also, that cheesecake looks lovely, can I have a slice with two forks, please? Uh, and a strawberry milkshake with two straws!”

“Are you hungry, Y/N?” Kirishima giggles next to you and asks for a small popcorn. Oh, that fucking giggle will be the death of you, how can such a massive, bulky man be so adorable?!

“Are you not?” You look at the small box of popcorn in his hand but he only smiles at that. “Not really!”

Kirishima and the bartender exchanges a knowing look and while you definitely don’t like that you let them do whatever they want because the only thing you can focus on is the massive tray of food right in front you.

~•🪨•~

… okay, maybe… you bought too much. Technically, you could stuff some more food into yourself without feeling sick but you need to have some space for the desert.

“I can finish this for you if you don’t want it!” Kirishima gives you a gleaming smile and takes a fry from your tray. Damn, those teeth.

“So… are your teeth… uhm… when you kiss someone, do you tend to cut them by accident!”

Kirishima chokes on his fry. It’s hilarious.

“Khm…” He coughs a few times before he manages to answer. “I had a few accidents when I was younger but I think I’m doing okay now.”

“Can you show me?”

“Y/N!”

Ahh, it’s so much fun to tease him, goddamnit. It was worth waking up today.

“Haha, joking… for now.”

Red Riot finishes your fries with his face red as your uncle’s hair. Amazing.

Now it’s time for your second attack.

“Why don’t you try the shake? It’s really good!” You take a sip from your own straw for great measure, lips playing with the end of it. You push the second straw over to face him, your eyes full of challenge.

Red Riot understands your cheeky intentions, and by that, you mean he gets even more red if that’s possible. Apparently, it is. He leans in close, takes the second straw, your foreheads almost touching as he takes a skip, his eyes never leaving yours. Now it’s your time to get red like your hair.

“It’s really nice. Sweet.” Kirishima mutters, barely moving away from his straw; his strawberry scented breath fanning your face. Oh how much you want to kiss him right now. Oh, fuck, this was a terrible idea. His eyes are so fucking beautiful, the prettiest shade of crimson with a hint of pinkish undertone to them. How dare he be born with those eyes?!

“Yeah. Really sweet. And handsome.” You mumble out loud; you tear yourself away from the situation, your face boiling hot as you look anywhere but him.

“That’s an interesting way to describe a beverage but… it’s okay.”

“I wasn’t talking about the shake, you himbo.”

Oh boy. You can cut the tension with a fucking knife right now. Is this the time when you just ask him to bring you over to his place to…

Do not finish that sentence, Y/N. Do not. This is your first fucking date. It’s not appropriate.

“Uhm… thank you? You are also handsome… I mean… pretty. You perfume is really nice. Is it new?”

“Yeah, I got it a few days ago. It’s for… special occasions.”

“Is this… a special occasion?” He stutters and you are quite sure you could cook an egg on his face right now.

“Yeah… a really special one.” You mutter under your nose before you shake your head to clear your thoughts. It doesn’t help. “Wanna play the pocky game?” You literally shriek into his face. Honestly, you can’t be more obvious than this, can you?

… well, apparently you can. By the confused look on his pretty little face he has no idea why you want to play that game. He’s such a himbo and thank god he is because there is no way in heaven this is appropriate.

“Let’s see how far can you go. The winner gets a second date.”

“Oh! Okay!” The stupid himbo perks up, not even realizing that it doesn’t matter who wins because even if he looses he still gets a second date.

Is it too soon to say that you genuinely love this guy? Probably. Not like you ever cared about what’s acceptable and what not.

You take a pocky out of the pocket and put the end into your mouth.

Kirishima stares at a pocky for a second then it seems like an idea just popped into his head because he STARTS SHREDDING THE FUCKING POCKY with his shark teeth, looking like a bunny in the middle of a raging meltdown, pieces of biscuits flying all over as he shreds and shreds and shreds, and honestly, you are not sure your face won’t be eaten by the end of it, and you don’t mean that in a good way. Obviously, you can’t help but move away, genuinely terrified by the sound his teeth make as they collide with the poor edible stick and he takes is as a win, clearly over the moon as he stares at you with his stupid puppy eyes, his teeth full on display.

“Red, No!” You reprimand and Red makes a sad puppy face. Why is he so cute?!

“I’ll show you, okay?” You put a new pocky inside his mouth and start eating the candy stick slowly, smiling at him cheekily as you get closer and closer to the middle. “Now do the same.”

And he does. He’s so close. He’s so flushed. There is barely any pocky left so you turn your head to face sideways, letting him come closer to take the last bit of the pocky; your lips touch for a second, the minuscule touch electrifying your whole body and when Eijirou freezes and doesn’t move further, you close the remaining distance…

“Excuse me, uhm… sorry to interrupt, I’m glad your date is going well, but you are making the customers uncomfortable.”

You both jump away from each other. Also, he doesn’t look sorry at all. The guy looks fucking smug.

“We are really sorry, sir.” Eijirou gets all flushed right away, eyes staring at the concrete like a child caught eating his boogers.

You decide to not say a thing because all you can think about is death threats and being kicked out of the arcade would definitely ruin the date.

He quickly eats your leftovers in shame then you two go into the arcade to play some games, finally free from the judging looks of those lonely bozos in the food court. You were so close to kiss him. So fucking close! Goddamnit!

Red Riot tries his best to win you all the stuffed animals possible. You already have a bag worth of random stuff and he just… can’t stop.

He makes his way to one that has different rings and necklaces inside and they look quite high quality as well. It costs more coins for a round but Eijirou is set on winning some because “giving jewelry to a lady is really manly” so you let him do his thing. You don’t appreciate being ignored for the sake of it, but what can you do. Clearly, Eijirou likes a good challenge.

“I can do this.” Suddenly, Eijirou turns over to give you a bone crushing hug. “I will get you the prettiest ring. I promise.

He’s really struggling with this one. Also, you are quite sure he spent your weekly wage already.

“Ei, it’s fine. Let’s play something else.”

“No.”

For your surprise, when he turns over to fucking snarl at you, half of his face is hardened. He doesn’t look okay.

“Hey, what if I try?” You mumble, going all shy from his aggressive behavior. No, not because you are scared. It’s more like … uhm… he’s kinda hot? Okay, he’s a little bit creepy but at the same time… it’s really sweet how he goes all hot and bothered just because he wants to give you something valuable. You really do appreciate the passion even though you would definitely prefer it in another way, like for instance with his tongue down your throat or… something.

Fuck, you really want to kiss him, it’s actually getting pathetic at this point. “Or I can give you a motivating kiss? Would that help?”

Yup. You are absolutely pathetic.

Eijirou’s face softens at that. He touches his own skin, probably just realizing how worked up he was just a second ago, a tiny blush decorating his pretty face, probably from the embarrassment.

“You saw me loosing my mind over a stupid claw machine and you still want to kiss me?” He mutters and damn, how hard it is to not go for his lips right away.

“I think it was really passionate. Really manly. I like it.” You move towards him to leave a kiss on his cheek. “Get me the prettiest ring you can, Red Riot.” You mumble to his cheeks, slowly moving towards his lips to tease him. You pull away right before your lips are about to graze his and honestly, it probably hurts you more than it hurts him.

“On it.” He breaths out, downright panting.

The he wins.

He fucking wins.

“Oh my god, you actually did it!” You jump around happily as Eijirou crouches down to get his prize. You crouch down next to him to take a good look, but Ei turn away from you and opens the box without letting you see the ring. “Hey!”

“Wait, I want to give it to you properly!” He mutters, then turns towards you, still crouching. “Y/N! I really-really like you.”

Your heart makes a somersault inside your chest. He’s stating the obvious, but somehow it still makes you feel all tingly-tangly; you guess this is how it feels like when someone you actually like confesses to you. Damn, these heart palpitations are not a joke.

“I… I really like you too, Eijirou.” You admit sheepishly. For some reason, he doesn’t look to affected by your words which stings a bit but oh well.

“I promise you I’ll… I’ll get better. Stronger. I’ll learn how to love myself. This ring…” he finally pulls out the ring from behind his back and takes your hand in his. Then it’s silence. He takes a deep breath to calm down.

Oh my god.

Oh my fucking god.

You are all about the YOLO, but this a bit… too much?! Too soon?!

Okay, who are you kidding, you literally can’t say no this man. You literally knew this man will be the end game since day 1. You don’t need to date him for several years to know that he’s… special.

“With this ring, I promise you that I’ll become the best version of myself and then… I’ll marry you. Because you deserve the best and nothing less, Y/N. So… I know it’s a lot to ask but… will you wait for me?”

Eijirou puts the ring on your ring finger. It’s a beautiful silver ring with a crimson colored gem in the middle. It’s actually gorgeous.

Don’t cry. Don’t fucking cry.

Your favorite hero just proposed to you with a ring from a claw machine. With a ring he technically spent half of your rent money on right in front of your eyes. With a ring he worked so hard for that even his quirk acted up from it.

“Okay.” A few stray tears escape from your eyes so you quickly rub them away. “I’ll… I’ll marry you, you himbo. I promise. Don’t make me wait for too long though, yeah?”

“Why are you crying? Was that too much? I was an absolute idiot, wasn’t I? That’s so selfish of me, I’m sorry…”

“Oh my god, shut the fuck up!” You let yourself fall into his arms, your own arms snaking around his neck to pull him closer, toppling the both of you over. You two end up lying on the floor, hugging like two idiots and you only hope that no one will come over to this corner in the next few seconds because you are quite sure you’ll be kicked out for inappropriate behavior if they do. “Wanna come to mine?”

Eijirou’s face is as red as his hair and it’s hilarious. “To your… flat?!”

“Yeah. To my flat. I have some wine we can share. We can watch a movie… I have some old school Crimson Riot stuff somewhere in a box, we could… go through it together?”

“You have Crimson Riot stuff in your flat?!”

Well, apparently coming to your flat was only cheeky until Crimson Riot wasn’t involved. He’s such a fucking geek.

“Duh. Where do you think that old ass poster was coming from? Santa?”

“Y/N… this is the best day of my life!”

“Well, I’m glad that all I needed to do was to mention Crimson Riot for you to actually appreciate our date.” You roll your eyes offendedly as you finally stand up from the dirty floor.

“No, it was the best day anyway but now it’s the best best day! Double best day! Triple! Quadruple! I don’t know what comes after that I’m afraid, I’m quite dumb.”

You can’t help but laugh at that.

“You are such a himbo, I swear to god.” You reach out for him to help him up. “Come on now, hubby. Let’s continue our date at mine.”

“Yes, sir.”

~•🪨•~

“Well, this is my flat. Well, technically it’s my uncle’s. He’s uhm… loaded.” You mutter under your nose as you put the key into the lock.

Then you change your mind and pull it out.

One last chance for that cheeky kiss. One last fucking chance. You can do this. “Before we go in, I want to… uhm… thank you for today. I had so much fun and thank you… for your promise. I also want to give you something, it’s definitely not a big deal or anything but…” You slowly turn around to face the big red man. Haha. The big red man. Like the big red dog. That’s funny.

…

Anyway.

You slowly stand on your tiptoes, trying your best to reach Eijirou’s lips. You make sure to give him enough time to be able to move away if he’s not comfortable, but by the glassines of his eyes as he stares at your lips, you have no reason to worry. He looks like he’s not even on this planet, his breath is ragged and he doesn’t blink at all, like he’s trying to remember every single second of this. His eyes close when you are too close for him to actually be able to see anything, and you are just about to kiss him senseless, when your door randomly opens. Aggressively. Eijirou jumps up so high he almost bumps his head into the ceiling.

“Did you forget how to open your own door, you silly sausage? … oh. Oh!” Crimson Riot stares at your companion with a shit eating grin of his face.

… oh fuck.

… next chapter!

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

TL: @porusuniverse @sixxze @unofficialmuilover @cheesenmax @readingfan @sammmm29 @pwinglez1 @happydragonfrog @magicalhandsherringclam @lovingnightharmony @theequeenofcurses @kirishima-eijirock @nerinefy @selfindulgenthoe @fierysplash213 @woofwoofwolf @touyasprettydoll @confused-smol-fan @themultifandomgirl @dark-witch-bitch

[pcttymcrlecu]

dreams of someone ✒︎ m.barzal

summary: all lina’s dreams seemingly had come true – and then she met mat in a time where they both needed ... someone

featuring: mat barzal, lina thorne (oc), sydney esiason martin, and the rest of the martin family in mention

word count: 3.8k

warnings: none -- there is a ton of food mention though especially of the baked variety

dedication: this little one shot was written for bre (@fallinallincurls) for demi's winter fic exchange!

the last time ii wrote about mat was two or so years ago so please give me some grace. but writing this was the exact challenge that i needed so i really did enjoy writing it for you and adjusting it to suit your desires. so, i hope it meets your expectations and that you enjoy it!

and a little dedication as per always to demi (@wyattjohnston) for hosting and understanding that life sometimes happens.

It was a typical opening morning for Lina Thorne. She’d woken up at 4:30am, showered and got herself ready for her shift. It was a quick morning stroll to her place when the city that never sleeps was a lot quieter than and the sun was still well below the horizon and wouldn’t be painting the skies until the first batch of cookies was in the oven. The woman couldn’t hide the yawn that left her mouth as her key slid into the lock and the front door to the store opened.

Lina never imagined that she be living the dream in New York City, especially since her dreams of staying out in the big city upon finishing her internship with her mentor never came true. Instead, she found herself dreaming of what life in the big city could be for her, working in a bakery out in Boston honing her skills and surprisingly making herself seemingly at home. She had been referred for the position by her mentor despite his own wants to let the young chef go. Working her way into management and securing respect and acknowledgement in the pastry world. All an up-and-coming pastry chef could ask for. It wasn’t until during a prep day that her boss mentioned a position that she was put into consideration for that would lead her back to the city of her dreams and training not only as a baker but rather the head baker of the newest branch of the bakery she’d happily called home for the last three years.

However, as stood in the commercial kitchen under bright cool lights, being able to say she ran the little bakery on the island, she couldn’t help but pat herself on the back. The nerves had initially consumed her and although her boss and the owner of the bakery had been around for training of staff, prepping for the opening and the grand opening itself. Almost as soon as the store was open and running within the week, she was then solely in charge. It was days like this, however, that she loved the most. Mornings where she was able to get back into the very reason why she got into baking in the first place. It was a time when she could take a moment to herself and just breathe. Especially on a day like today when she had a big order to fill out, for none other than one of her newest friends in the neighbourhood.

Lina’s eyes flitted towards the clock, keenly aware that it was fast approaching time to slip the decorated sign on the door and let customers know that they were open. She had since been joined by two baristas and two of the bakers who were due to take over from her once the store opened up whilst she got her deliveries done before working through paperwork. The shout from one of the aforementioned baristas shook her out of her haze as she iced the cookies in front of her. Calling out for a moment, she finished up the cookie she was decorating before placing the pining bag down and reaching for the dishtowel. 

Walking out into the front, she sent a smile to the two college students who were pulling down chairs and wiping tables before her eyes landed on a familiar head of hair tapping their fingers against her counter. Pulling a face of confusion, she moved towards him dropping the dishtowel.

“We’re not open yet.” She spoke before crossing her arms as he turned towards her. A smile that she could only describe as cheeky sat on his lips as he gave her a little shrug before leaning towards her.

“I was told to pick up a cookie deliver. Sydney’s orders,” He spoke with amusement filling his words, “There’s no saying no to that woman.”

“Mat, Syd’s order is set for delivery.” She wasn’t quite sure if she believed in what he was saying but it wasn’t in her nature to be unkind.

Lina had met Mat by chance and obviously all thanks to the woman currently in question. Sydney and a couple of the other wives and girlfriends of the Islanders had dropped by for a coffee date from which Sydney had made it her newest spot and was happily welcomed by the bakery’s staff as a regular. The more time Sydney spent in the establishment, the more opportunities she got to speak with young women and truly it was hard to say no to that woman. Before she knew it, she was being invited to dinners, and girls’ nights – she had even frequented hockey games which was something she hadn’t done since she was in culinary school. The late nights of the games just didn’t align with the early morning that was required of her at the store. It was one of the rare late nights she had free when she was invited by Sydney to a dinner party at the Martin residence and she had run into Mat. The story according to Syd was that Mat was only invited because of a recent break-up and them wanting him to be around people who loved him and wanted nothing but happiness for him. It, and Lina will quote, “is not a matchmaking setup” like other introductions to Sydney’s male friends of the same age as the baker had been.

The two had been seated next to one another and Mat’s glum mood had caught her attention. But not knowing anything of his current situation and maybe having had a little too much fun doing unplanned pres with the hostess with the mostess gifting her looser lips than normal, she had made a remark about his apparent brooding. A thought she assumed was just that but upon hearing the chatter quieten down a little, she realised her words most definitely left her mouth. Slowly lowering her glass to the table, she turned to apologise to the male beside her when the snort that he let out left her sorry and confused. It was all quickly replaced with intrigue when he shot back with a retort of his own, prompting the two adults into a comfortable and playful argument. It was that moment where instead of anticipating the presence of a certain blonde every day, she noticed a certain brunet make a place for himself at the table closest to the counter by the display case.

The baker had been warned against Matt’s teammates but none other than Matt himself. She’d gotten the idea that Matt was keenly aware of his wife’s ability to befriend people and more importantly take them under her wing, if how quickly she was welcomed into the family dynamic of Martins was anything to go by. Regarding dating, who was she to question a man who spent most of his time with said teammates, she doubted she’d ever even meet and if she ever did, so many faces pass through her doors, she wouldn’t even remember them. Which is why the hockey player who had chosen to make himself a fixture had initially garnered a little apprehension from her but without fail, he always came in and grabbed a coffee (and a cake on those days he chose to treat himself), his a seat and left when he was all done, never without a generous tip. He was kind enough to her staff and even kinder to the other regulars who were in at the same time as him, so she let him be. All business is good business, even though she knew for a fact there were coffee shops much closer to his apartment, the arena and even the practice facility. But who was she to complain.

She couldn’t remember when it started but she eventually started joining him when he’d visit in the mornings. Their chats were surprisingly something familiar, and comfortable, like talking to an old friend. They joked and teased but most of the time they just let go. It had been a couple weeks since they first met, and it wasn’t until the second week of them sharing a drink that he’d actually opened up about why he was looking so glum the night they had met and why he was hanging around her café. How he got her store details from Sydney and how he was drawn to the fact that she didn’t handle him as though he was fragile. How all he had wanted when it felt like someone he cared about deeply had uprooted him from his very foundation was normalcy. And that’s what Lina gave him. He was just another friend of a friend to her; he was just Mat to her. Not heartbroken Mat, not healing Mat, not even NHL superstar – Just Mat.

“Well, you’re not all that Mathew.” She had stated to which he could only respond with a soft ‘Exactly’. Ever since that moment, they had shared ample time with one another both in and outside of his coffee trips. And despite the time Mat has been spending within their four brick walls, it was still a surprise to see him at the store before opening.

“Can’t be, she sent me a frantic message at 7 telling me she needed a favour and who am I to fulfil my favourite uncle duties,” He explained before sending a wink her way, “Anything for Winnie.”

“Yeah, she lied to you,” She answered, giving him a double pat on the shoulder and a short cackle before moving over and opening the gate for the man, “One time only, might as well put you to work.”

The two of them made their way to the kitchen and while Mat went to wash his hands (not before Lina pointed a firm finger towards the sink to gently direct him to do so), Lina grabbed him a free apron and tossed it over his shoulder. Moving back to the station where the last of the cookies were waiting to be decorated and then packed away for delivery. 

“So, what can I do?” Mat slipped the apron over his head as he leaned over to observe the spread of baked goods before glancing back over at her. His confident smile slowly slipped off his face as she grabbed a piping bag and handed it over to him.

“I line, you flood.”

“Didn’t you train like three years for this?” Giving the bag a gentle squish and frowning when no icing flowed out.

“It’s basically impossible to mess it up, it’s like colour by numbers,” She explained softly as she grabbed a pair of scissors and snipped the end of the piping bag while adjusting his hand to make sure no icing was wasted. Pulling the cookies, she was previously working on in front of him all lined and ready to fill in front of him, before gesturing towards the piping bag and gesturing back to the cookies. “Match the flood colour to the line colour. Winnie does it all the time.”

“While I know that’s not really true, the dig hurts.” His free hand flew up to his chest in mock hurt before laughing and finally putting icing to cookie with an almost amusing amount of concentration.

“Get filling pretty boy, I will not have my little princess disappointed.”

The two of them worked almost like a well-oiled machine. It almost felt like she was back in culinary school, helping out with the younger years. They weren’t always perfect, but their hearts were always in the right place and if there was one thing she had learnt about Mat was that his heart was always in the right place. Almost to a fault. The whole bravado he put on was more like a mask. At least in front of her. He never had any walls up with her, but he definitely had worn the walls she constructed when she moved down. She always knew that those walls had to come down eventually, but she definitely didn’t expect it would come from a chance encounter with a random stranger. The girls and her staff had done their fair share and warming her up and making her feel at home but the first time she ever truly let herself be with no pretences and no fears of being judged and not fitting in was sitting in the store over a cup of coffee with Mat.

Before long, all the cookies, cupcakes, and the grand finale cake of it all were packed into the refrigerated bakery van ready for transportation to the Martins' house, where preparations, if the texts and calls she had received from Sydney were anything to go by, were well underway.  Despite Mat’s pleas to drive, Lina kept a firm hold of the keys until they were safely parked in their friends’ driveway. Grabbing her garment bag from its place hanging in the backseat, she walked up to the front door. Mat’s knuckles were knocking against the wooden door as Lina reached him up on the front step. His eyes were drawn to the bag in her hand, and he couldn’t help but bring up his curiosity.

“What’s with the change of attire?” 

“As if I’m going to spend the rest of the day in clothing that’s covered in powdered sugar, flour and dried batter and dough. Plus, if I’m going to be around kids with surprisingly sticky hands, I’m going to start with a fresh slate.” Her words were light and humorous and before Mat could even attempt a response, the door opened and a hand was wrapped around Lina’s wrist, pulling her into the house quickly.

“Thank goodness you’re here, I need your help.” The blonde in front of her pulled her to the side before aggressively motioning to Mat who was still pulling his shoes off. He almost comically pointed to himself before looking behind him only to be physically pulled into their little huddle a second later, “There’s so much left to sort out and both Alice and Winnie want pancakes. Help Matty and I out?”

“Don’t think I’m your guy, I’mma just –“ 

“Of course we can help, go do what you need to do,” Lina responded, grabbing onto Mat’s arm before he walked away. Sydney gave her a smile and with a blown kiss, she was gone. Once her friend was out of view, Lina’s hand swung up to Mat’s shoulder, “Really?”

“What?” He was greeted simply with a shaken head as she slipped her own shoes off along with her jacket before she walked into the kitchen. Pouting at the lack of an answer, he followed her quickly “What?”

Mat watched as she made quick work of pulling out the necessary ingredients and equipment for the pancakes. Pulling up one of the bar stools, he settled into a routine that was very much a typical evening for them. Since he frequented the store so much, Lina had decided that for all the real estate he was taking away from her other customers, he had to give something back and that was how he became her official taste tester. Once, every other month they’d get together and along with a constantly refilled glass of wine (courtesy of Mat), she’d bake all her experimental recipes and flavour pairings on him. It was one of the things that she loved about him. She loved simply baking with no pressure of it being commercially viable and nothing is better than baking for someone who is more than happy to consume. Even if it means she has to put up with the constant whining about how her goods are going to make a certain someone work harder at the gym.

The two worked in a comfortable quiet, Mat had put music on the Alexa quiet enough not to disturb anything happening in the other parts of the house. Mat was picking at the tester pancake before he hopped off the stool and made his way over to the cupboard and pulled out the Nutella and a spoon, before settling himself beside the baker who was humming along to the music.

“What happened to all that ‘I’m a disciplined athlete’ talk?”

“I’m just a man and you’re out here teasing me with all those amazing treats you made me decorate and now you expect me to not have at least one spoonful of chocolatey goodness?” Forcefully scooping up a spoonful of said spread, her pointed it in her direction for a moment before shoving it in his mouth, “You have too much faith in me.”

“Oh, now that is pushing it,” She said flipping one of the pastries onto a plate before turning to face him as she poured more batter on the hot plate, “Would you please just cut some strawberries and stuff?”

Although it wasn’t without complaints, sure enough, they were working side by side. Lina flipping pancakes and Matt cutting strawberries into quarters as they quietly spoke about their weeks, catching each other up on their respective TV shows. 

“You know this is what I miss the most.” Lina hummed in question at his statement, only slightly inclining her head in his direction, “I miss just having someone to talk to. To exist with. To be with.”

Silence flooded through the pair as her head turned towards him as he continued chopping the fruit, a bittersweet smile on his face. She took a deep breath as she felt a wave of emotion flood through her as his words processed in her head. Her hand was on the dial, turning the heat off and placing the spatula down. Her words came out as an unsteady breath as she turned fully towards him.  “Oh Mat…” 

“I know I’ve already talked you to death about … that situation but –“ Mat lowered the knife but still made no effort to look in her direction and shook his head slightly before huffing out a quiet laugh,  “It’s not just that you didn’t treat me like I could break but the time we spent together, the conversations we had. It almost felt like having someone again. Except this time, it was in the shape of friend – someone I can’t lose. Until I kept getting to know how wonderful you are.”

The words to comfort the man in front of her were proving difficult to come by so Lina simply stepped towards him and did the only thing she could think of, wrapped her arms around him. With one arm around his back and the other holding onto his arm, she laid her head on his arm and gave him a gentle squeeze.

“I’ve done the whole break up thing before I don’t know why this time it was difficult. I guess I got too comfortable with the wrong person, I don’t know but I know it was wrong now. I knew it was wrong the moment I had coffee with you for the first time because you made me feel more heard and all you were doing was entertaining a customer who wouldn’t leave your store.” She couldn’t help the laugh that left her, giving him a whole-body nudge and shaking her head as it pressed against his bicep muttering a soft ‘not true’.

Lina felt Mat’s head move to look towards her, moving her own to look up at him but keeping him in her soft hug. She would never admit it to him, considering the subconscious promise she made to herself upon finding out he was still working through his breakup. Their eyes met and he couldn’t help the smile that floated onto his lips until a little embarrassment covered his face,  “Sydney didn’t tell me to come and collect Win’s treats, I just hoped if I turned up, I wouldn’t have to share your attention with your customers.” 

“I’ve told you before Mathew you never have to be jealous of customers taking me away from you. I’ll always be there for you,” She muttered, pulling away before turning him until they were chest to chest, “I know we joke but I truly will always be there for you. Maybe covered in icing but always there.”

“And I you,” At his words, she wrapped her arms around his neck giving him a proper hug.

Inhaling deeply, she felt him do the same as his arms wrapped firmly around her trapping her between them, not that she was complaining. Her mind rushed through the past couple weeks of her life since meeting the man and she couldn’t believe just how close and open she had got with him. There were people she’d met during culinary school and knew for 4 years and worked with in Boston for 3 years who didn’t know as much about who she was outside of the kitchen as Mat did, and she’d barely known him for a couple months.

He had an interest in getting to know her and just wanted to sit and speak with her, whether or not he had his own ulterior motives for appreciating her company, they bonded. They spent a lot of time together doing nothing more than talking in their own little world. Lina would go as far as to say that she knew him and not just superficially but at a much deeper level and she could entirely feel what he was saying about how being with her feels because she felt the exact same way. Releasing him from her hold, she was suspended on her toes as Mat took a little longer to pull his arms away. She laughed softly, keeping her hands perched on his shoulders as she looked up at him with a soft and gentle smile.

“You bring me peace too,” She whispered, letting out a breath as she steeled herself to admit her truth to him, something that she’d become very comfortable with so what did she have to lose this time, “I love being your someone, because you’re my someone.”

If Mat was smiling before, the smile that took over her face at her words was rivalling the sun. A deep sigh left his mouth, and it was almost like all the tension that had filled his body since he started speaking had been loosened instantly. His shoulder dropped as the tension fell away and his hands found hers up on his shoulders, holding them tight between them. He went to speak but a shout of ‘LiLi’ filled both of their ears from the living room. Touching his forehead against hers, they both laughed gently as the shouts got closer and more frequently. Pushing back up on her toes, Lina pressed a firm kiss to his cheek before pulling away. Giving him one last peck on the cheek before she properly pulled away.

“Later?” He simply smiled at her question as the sound of small footfalls got closer.

“Later.”

[dvrk-moon]

SPIDER-FIEND - chapter i

— synopsis: spider-man spilling coffee on you wasn’t on your 2008 bingo card.

— word count: 1.7k

— warnings: cursing, mentions of divorced parents

— featuring: p1h jongseob, kiof haneul

— a/n: i will die on the riki spiderman hill. anyways enjoy this thing while i kms over finishing eat me up 😆😆😆🙏🙏🙏

series masterlist

i. COFFEE, NEWS, AND A SPECIAL GUEST

You were sat at a table with two of your friends, Haneul and Jongseob, in your favorite coffee shop. For it being in New York City, it had a quaint atmosphere, something that not a lot of places here had. You three were exchanging in conversation about school while drinking your drinks.

You and Haneul had just been laughing at some stupid joke she made about one of your teachers at your school: Midtown School of Science and Tech. You hated the fact that of all people, you had to go there. You only had three real friends anyway, Jongseob, Haneul, and your best friend, Riki.

Speaking of Riki, he was supposed to join you all at the coffee shop today, but had just not shown up, no warning. He had a tendency to do that as of late, and it had you losing your mind over what the hell he could be doing that’s so important.

Suddenly, Jongseob pointed his finger at the TV behind both you and Haneul, interrupting your conversation and grabbing your attention. You craned your neck to take a look at what he was pointing out, but your eyes had to take a second to focus. The news was on, but the camera was moving so rapidly that you couldn’t place your finger on what was happening onscreen.

As if it had read your mind, the news now had subtitles accompanying the chaos, some speech about the alleged “Spider-Man” saving some people from a threat. You had seen pictures in the newspaper of the anthropoid-human figure, some videos on a new platform called YouTube, and even caught him in person once, swinging from building to building.

You didn’t really understand all the hype, though. Sure, it was cool that he could save people or whatever, but there had never really been an actual “supervillain” for him to defend the city from, so most of the time you called bullshit on his “powers”.

It was a little cool, though. Just a little.

The TV screen suddenly went black, signifying that something had happened to the camera or news station. You couldn’t tell, you hadn’t been paying that close of attention anyways.

Turning back around, you were met with a gaping Jongseob.

“What is wrong with you?” you teased, pointing out his facial expression. Haneul laughed and mimicked him.

“Stop it,” he commented, fixing his face, “I just think he’s cool, is all.”

“Awww,” Haneul reached across the table and grabbed Jongseob’s cheeks, “our little baby is a fanboy!”

He swatted her hands away before pulling his wrist to check his watch. You took a peak at the wall clock in the shop.

It was 5:17 PM, April 10th, 2008. Stopping by the cafe after school with your friends was always your favorite, but you’d been there for almost two and a half hours now, you should probably leave.

You gave Jongseob and Haneul a pointed look, and you could tell that you were all thinking the same thing. It would be best to go.

You stood up, grabbing your mug and bringing it to the counter, asking the worker for a to-go cup so you could leave. You returned to the table and grabbed your bag and your iPod from off the table, which Haneul had been using for the time being.

Walking back to the counter, the barista called out your name and handed you the coffee in the to-go cup.

Jongseob and Haneul met you near the counter, you three now taking your leave from the coffee shop. Jongseob opened and held the door for you two.

The streets of the city were as busy as ever, people, traffic, flashing lights, you were used to it all. Even in a neighborhood less close to the heart of the city, it was crazily busy. You watched from across the street as a man was casually walking backwards, another man was breakdancing for money, and a woman was scantily clad calling out at random strangers from her window. Some classy city you lived in.

You shook your head as you exited the building, taking a right to head towards the subway station, which was about three blocks away from the cafe. Haneul and Jongseob quickly caught up with you, following your lead.

“I don’t know,” Jongseob started, “I think it’s just be cool to see Spider-Man in person.”

You groaned and looked over your shoulder at him, “So we’re back on this now?”

“Sorry, sorry. I’m just saying,” Jongseob defended himself, shrugging at you.

“I just don’t really think I get the hype,” you admitted, picking up your pace as you reached a crosswalk.

“What’s there to not get?!” Haneul cocked her head at you, furrowing her eyebrows but still smiling.

“I dunno,” you said, reaching the other side of the crosswalk, “I just don’t think he’s all that.”

“Sounds to me like you’re just being a hater for no reason,” Haneul commented.

“Maybe I am,” you replied, “so what? It’s not like he’s ever gonna know.”

The steps down to the subway station quickly came into view, so all three of you picked up the pace. Ever since you left the cafe and got closer to the heart of the city, the human traffic only picked up. You had to almost shove your way through to get to where you needed to go.

You grabbed your Metro Card out of your bag, ready to swipe your card as you neared the entrance.

Once through, you three stepped up to the platform, waiting for the subway. Moments later, Jongseob’s phone started blasting his ringtone — “Low” by Flo Rida — and begging to be answered. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, he had a much newer phone than yours. He was lucky enough to get an Ericsson P1i, one you’d been wishing for, hoping to have for a little less than a year now.

You were stuck with a dingy Nokia N70, a hand-me-down from your older brother, which was now an almost three year old phone. You couldn’t always complain though, some of your classmates weren’t allowed to have individual smart phones. It was hard for you to believe; it’s 2008 now, not the 1800s!

Jongseob quickly answered the phone to who you assumed was his mother because his demeanor completely changed. Seconds after he answered, the subway pulled up, and you three filed yourselves in.

At the other end of the car you’d just entered, there was someone performing music with a guitar and a hat on the floor for money. You really didn’t want to listen to whatever was going on, so you fished your iPod and Apple earphones from out of your bag and drowned out reality. The music wasn’t bad, per se, in fact it was better than a crack addict being in the car, but you just weren’t in the mood today.

Your green iPod started playing “Thnks fr th Mmrs” by a band called Fall Out Boy, a song you had recently purchased on iTunes.

You let your mind drift to Riki. It’d been like that all too often lately. He wouldn’t even do anything and you’d be thinking of him. You knew you liked him more than a friend, you had now for a while. You weren’t stupid. But with all the flakiness he had been pulling lately, you began to get annoyed with him.

A few songs later and you were at your stop. Haneul and Jongseob still had a stop to go, so even when they offered to walk you home, you politely declined. You knew the way home well, and it wasn’t even dark yet. Plus, you had a taser in your bag.

You straightened your white blouse and plaid skirt before bidding your goodbyes to your friends, stepping out of the car and making your way back up the stairs up to the ground level.

You didn’t live extremely close to the inner city, you were about 15 minutes away by subway. It was far enough to not go crazy by the amount of light that Times Square had always elicited at night, but close enough to where you didn’t feel isolated from the inner city life.

The next song on your playlist was “How to Save a Life” by The Fray, a new favorite of yours. It had come out last year but you weren’t sure how you’d missed out on it for so long. As soon as you got the iPod for Christmas with an iTunes card, you bought that song. 2007 really did have the best hits.

As you slipped through alleyways to get to your street, you made sure not to spill any of your coffee. You hadn’t been drinking it so the cup was mostly filled, but you were waiting until you got home. You’d probably post about it on MySpace.

You got through a few more alleyways and back to a more crowded street that led to your mom’s apartment, easing your nerves as you approached your safe space.

Maybe it was because you had your earphones in, maybe it was because you’d been looking down at your iPod for a second too long so you could turn up your music, or maybe you were too distracted, your mind still on Riki.

No matter what it was, you definitely weren’t expecting to see Spider-Man swinging around your neighborhood. He had a bit of swagger about him naturally.

You wondered who hid under that mask.

Once your eyes left his figure, you once again drew your attention towards your iPod, turning it up once more. You believed it would be optimal for you to go deaf.

Within an instant, your once white blouse had hot coffee spilled all over it. Your mouth flew open, turning around to face the culprit that had bumped into you, roughly, causing you to spill your drink. You weren’t even sure how the drink had spilled as much as it did, you had a safety lid on it.

When you whipped your head around, you did not expect to be met face-to-face with none other than your personal hero, Spider-Man. You couldn’t believe what happened, immediately starting to curse out the man under the suit.

“Yo, can you watch where the fuck you’re going, man? You ruined my shirt, thanks.”

Instead of offering an apology, Spider-Man stood there for a few seconds before simply webbing away.

Some fucking hero he was.

[willalove75]

Hii, can I request Rebecca X reader. Something similar to the plot where she met the Dutch man and had an amazing day . She met reader is Paris (the most beautiful woman line is so 🥺). they met in a bar or coffee shop and spent a wonderful weekend together ? Rebecca is surprised that reader still wants to see her considering she's younger . She actually felt free and happy ,no stress and not judged . Flirting, fluff , anything. You write her character so well and accurately 😁

I LOVE THIS🥺🥺 And thank you so much!! I'm glad I'm able to do her justice!😄💕

Thank you so much for the request!!💕💕

Walking through the streets of Paris, you're trying your best to not get lost. You left your hostel almost an hour ago trying to find the café you went to the day before but since you know virtually no French, your search hasn't been going well.

You stumble across a different café, it wasn't the one you were looking for but you're in desperate need of food and caffeine so you cut your losses and walk in.

You walk up to the counter and butcher your order of a tea and croissant, the barista manages to understand you, but you still receive a ton of dirty looks from the staff and other patrons of the café.

You're handed your order and turn to find a place to sit down. In the corner of the shop you see a beautiful blond woman gazing out the window, sipping on her drink. The café isn't super crowded, but you decide to shoot your shot and ask her if you can join her. She's absolutely stunning so it takes you a few seconds to gain up the courage to put one foot in front of the other.

As you're walking over she looks away from the window and your eyes meet, her gorgeous green eyes take your breath away for a moment. It's in that second you realize that there's a good chance she's French and doesn't speak any English and you start to panic, but you can't back out now. You take the last few steps up to her table and she smiles at you.

"Hi, um, is this seat taken?" You shyly ask.

The woman smiles, her eyes sparkling, it would be a miracle if she understands you right now.

"No, not at all."

You exhale a sigh of relief and sit down.

"Oh thank god you speak English. It didn't dawn on me that there was a really good chance you only spoke French until it was too late for me to abandon ship." You say with a laugh as you sit.

The woman softly laughs. "Well today must be your lucky day."

"It certainly seems that way. I'm y/n, sorry for interrupting your breakfast, this might sound super cheesy but I saw you and I was like 'wow she's absolutely beautiful' and I had to at least try and talk to you." You look away as you feel your cheeks getting red.

"You're so sweet, thank you so much. I'm Rebecca." She reaches out her hand and you shake it. "So what brings you to Paris y/n?"

"My friend and I were supposed to come here together but she got covid before we left so she couldn't come."

"Oh no, so you're here all by yourself?" She asks.

"Yup, it's even more unfortunate because she was the one who spoke French and I don't speak an ounce of it, so it's safe to say that most of the people I interact with are not my biggest fans." You say as you look over at the barista who catches your eye and gives you a dirty look. You turn back to Rebecca and you both laugh. "So why are you in Paris?"

"I had some time off from work so I decided to go on a little trip by myself."

"Oh that's cool, I'm guessing you speak French?"

"Oui, je parle couramment le français."

(Yes, I am fluent in French)

"I have no idea what any of that meant but I'm going to take a wild guess and say that's a yes?"

"Yes," she says with a laugh. "It means 'yes, I'm fluent in French.'"

"Oh that's really cool! Where did you learn French?"

"I learned it in school, we started learning young and I picked it up really easily. Do you know any languages?"

"Not really, I took Spanish in middle school and high school but I didn't like it and forgot just about all of it by the time I graduated. I do know sign language though. Well, American sign language that is."

"That's really interesting, how much sign language do you know?"

"I'm pretty much fluent." You begin to sign as you speak. "I can practically have this whole conversation in asl. I took a few classes in high school because my friend convinced me to sign up for it and I fell in love with it. They offered asl classes at my college so I just kept with it. I don't get to use it often, but it's a fun party trick." You say with a laugh.

You watch Rebecca follow your hands as you sign, she looks mesmerized by it, like she's watching a ballet dancer.

"That's really, really fascinating." She says with a smile.

"Yeah, but I do have to be careful when I'm not in the US because signs in asl could mean something completely different in another languages sign language. With my luck I'll sign a song I'm listening to or something and end up accidentally cursing out an old man." You say with a laugh.

Rebecca laughs and you take a sip of your tea as you giggle.

"Where are you from in America?" Rebecca asks.

"I'm from New York." You say with a smile.

"Oh you're from New York City?"

You laugh "No, although it's always really funny to me that everyone assumes you're from NYC when you tell someone who's not from New York that you're from New York. I'm from the suburbs, but the city is only like an hour or so away. Where are you from?"

"I can understand that, I'm from London."

"Oh cool! I'm actually going there on Monday! Where in London? Like near Buckingham Palace?"

Rebecca laughs "No, New York and London are similar in that it seems that people assume when you say you're from there, they automatically think of the city. I live in Richmond, about 45 minutes from Buckingham Palace."

"Ah, I guess New York and London are much more similar than I would have expected."

"Will you be travelling to London by yourself as well?" She asks.

"Yup, we were going to spend five days in Paris and five in London and then head home, although I may extend my stay if I'm really enjoying myself in London, but we'll see."

"Ten days is a long time to be alone." She says.

"Oh it sure is, I was starting to go a little stir crazy which is also one of the reasons I decided to come talk to you. But mostly because you're really beautiful and I knew I was going to kick myself if I didn't at least try to strike up a conversation with you."

You swear you see Rebecca blush a little as she brings her cup to her lips. She looks out the window and back at you.

"This may ridiculous, and please don't feel obligated to say yes, but I was going to take a walk along the Seine, would you like to join me?"

You begin to feel butterflies in your stomach and you immediately try and squash them.

"Yes, absolutely. I would love to."

You finish your drink and your croissant and you both leave the café and head towards the Seine. You make small talk as you walk, Rebecca points out different buildings and structures, talking about their history. You watch her as she talks about what you two walk past, the passion she has in her eyes and the excitement that radiates off of her is precious, even though you barely know each other, you feel a bond already.

"So what have you done so far since you've been here?" She asks.

"Well, I got in really early Wednesday morning so I checked in and just wandered around for most of the day, truthfully I got lost for about three hours and managed to find my way back by some miracle." You both laugh. "And Thursday I went to Versailles and spent the day there and yesterday I walked around the Louvre for the entire day on accident, that place is massive. But I've just been doing touristy things for the most part."

"You haven't been to the Eiffel Tower yet?" She asks.

"Not yet, I mean I've seen it, but I was planning on doing that sometime today, I want to see it sparkle at night. I heard it was beautiful."

"It is very pretty, although I did tell a friend of mine once that the Eiffel Tower was just a lamppost with a publicist."

You laugh out loud "Stop, that's really fucking funny."

The two of you walk around some more, making small talk, laughing, just genuinely enjoying each others company.

After a few hours of walking around you both decide you need a rest. Rebecca says she knows of a good restaurant that's more of a "locals" place where you can get lunch and you two head there.

Rebecca asks for a table for two in what sounds like perfect French, although you genuinely would have no idea if it was perfect or completely butchered, but whatever she said, it sounded great. The waiter brings you to your table and hands you menu's. You both look over the menu's and she translates everything for you. You both decide on what you want to order and the waiter comes back to take your orders. Rebecca orders in perfect French, once again, and you completely butcher the name of the dish you want. The waiter gives you a dirty look and takes the menu's and walks away.

As soon as he's out of ear shot you and Rebecca bust out laughing.

"Holy shit that guy hates me."

"I can't believe he gave you that look!"

"Oh I can, I've been getting that look from everyone since I got here." You say as you laugh.

"Oh no!" Rebecca says as she laughs.

The waiter comes back over with your drinks and you both try your hardest to hold back your laughter, the waiter gives you both that look this time and as soon as he turns his back you both burst out laughing again.

You food comes out and you enjoy your lunch, Rebecca leaves to go to the bathroom when she's finished eating and when she gets back she grabs her bag.

"Ready to go?" She asks you.

"Wait, what about the check?"

"I took care of it."

"Oh my god no you did not!"

The waiter hands Rebecca the receipt and she thanks him in French.

"Dude! You did not have to-"

"I know, but I wanted to treat my new friend to lunch for her first time here in Paris."

"Thank you, but then I'm buying dinner!" You pause for a second and try to save yourself, you don't want her to think she has to be stuck with you all day because you're alone, or make her think you assume she'll go out to dinner with you. "Or something." You quickly add.

Rebecca puts her hand to her chin and thinks for a second.

"Um, nope. I'm buying you dinner also." She says with a smile. "If you would like to have dinner with me as well, that is." She says a little shyly.

"I would love to, but I don't want you to feel like you have to pay for me!" You say as the two of you leave the restaurant.

"I don't, I want to."

"Are you sure? Dinners here can get expensive and I would hate to-"

"Don't worry about that, trust me, it's not a problem." She says with a smile. "So what else were you planning on doing today?"

"I wanted to see the Notre Dame, the Sainte-Chapelle, I'd like to see the arch, your usual first-time in Paris touristy things."

"Well then allow me to be your tour guide."

"Are you sure? I mean don't get me wrong I'd love to keep hanging out with you, but I'd feel so bad if you wasted your whole day chaperoning me around and not get to do whatever you planned on doing today."

"Well actually my plan was to find a pretty girl that was in Paris all alone and give her a tour of the city." She says with a wink and you laugh. "No but truthfully, my plan was to walk around and shop, that's it. I'd much rather do this with you."

"Okay, if you insist. Where to next my lovely tour guide?"

Rebecca spends the rest of the afternoon showing you the city, you see the Norte Dame, the Sainte-Chapelle, and make your way across the city to the arch. You feel like you're spending the day with one of your best friends, not a stranger you just met that morning at a random café you decided to wander in to.

"Do you want to come get a drink with me before dinner?" Rebecca asks.

"Yeah, absolutely." You say with a smile.

"Okay, the bar in the hotel I'm staying at is gorgeous, and I can make reservations at one of my favorite restaurants."

"That sounds perfect. Is there a dress code for the restaurant?"

"Oh good point,"

"I have fancy restaurant clothes in my hostel I can change into."

"You're staying in a hostel?" She asks, surprised.

"Hell yeah, it's actually pretty nice, and it was like dirt cheap."

"Where is it?"

"Close by the Notre Dame!"

"The Notre Dame?! How the hell did you end up all the way by the café this morning?"

"I was looking for a café I went to yesterday but I couldn't find it and got lost, so I just walked into the the first café I found, and it was that one. It's quite serendipitous if you ask me."

Rebecca shakes her head at you and hails a cab and you both get dropped off at your hostel.

"This is it?" She asks.

"Yeah!"

"Okay, it's actually nicer than I thought it was going to be."

"See? I told you!" You tease her. She rolls her eyes at you and you walk inside.

You bring her to your room and she looks horrified when she sees that you're sharing the room with two other people.

"It's not bad, they're a nice German couple."

"You can't stay here."

"What are you talking about?"

"Grab your stuff, stay with me in my hotel, I have a suite with an extra bedroom you're more than welcome to stay in."

"Oh god Rebecca I can't do that I don't want to impose-"

"You aren't and you can, I can't let you stay in this hostel, alone, with two random German people. Come on." She says with a smile as she grabs your bag.

"Are you sure?" You ask as she walks out.

"Yes!" She says, walking down the hall with your luggage.

You check out of the hostel and take a cab to Rebecca's hotel. Your jaw hits the floor when you realize she's staying at the Hôtel Plaza Athénée.

"Rebecca, are you fucking joking?"

"What?"

"The fucking Hôtel Plaza Athénée? This is your hotel? Where you have a suite with two rooms?!"

"Yeah, I stay here in the presidential every time I come to Paris."

You look at her like she's insane. "What the fuck do you do for a living?" You ask as she pulls you into the hotel.

"I run a football club."

"Football? I didn't even think football was popular over here."

"Soccer."

"Oh, right." You laugh. "Ah, gotta love the American ignorance." You joke and the two of you laugh.

You get into her suite and your jaw is on the floor, it's absolutely stunning, it has a full living room, fireplace, two big, gorgeous bedrooms, each with their own master bathroom. Rebecca pulls the curtains open and you see the Eiffel Tower perfectly from the view.

"Holy shit." You say quietly, completely captivated by the view. "This is amazing." You turn and look at her and see her with a smile on her face.

"Isn't it?" She says, gazing out the window.

You both admire the view for a moment and eventually you bring your stuff into your room and get changed. You walk out in a cute cocktail dress, your most comfortable pair of heels, your hair pulled back on one side and a little bit of makeup. You see Rebecca sitting at the little desk on the phone, you assume she's making dinner reservations. She hangs up and looks at you.

"Wow, you look beautiful y/n." She says with a smile.

"Thank you," you say. She stands up and your jaw practically hits the floor. "Jesus Christ," you quietly say. Rebecca is wearing a dark blue dress that hugs every curve on her body perfectly. You figured she had a good shape when you were with her all day, but the jeans, t-shirt and jacket she was wearing hid a lot of it. You never expected her to look like a fucking model.

"What?" She asks a little worried, looking down. "Does this not look good?"

"No, holy shit no, you just look amazing. Like I new you were beautiful, but I didn't know you literally had a perfect hour glass figure, wow." You shake your head to try and snap out of it. "I'm sorry, I'm no better than a man sometimes." You laugh as your cheeks turn pink.

You're worried you offended her, but you look at her and it actually looks like she found it endearing.

"Well thank you, I appreciate the compliment. Ready to go?"

"Yes! Absolutely."

You two head down to the bar and grab a few drinks before dinner. You chat and laugh as you enjoy your drinks. Once you finish, Rebecca pays the bill, against your wishes, and you head to the restaurant.

The restaurant is absolutely stunning, you can tell just by looking at it that it's a 5-star restaurant. You're brought to your seats and given menu's. Just like she did at lunch, Rebecca translates the menu for you and this time you let her order for the both of you in French, you've had enough nasty looks from waiters for one day. Your drinks arrive and you both cheers to new friends.

You're talking about your lives, where you grew up, what your friends are like, just generally getting to know each other.

"How old are you anyway?" She asks.

"I'm 28-"

"Oh my god. I could be your mother." She puts her face in her hands.

"Oh stop it no you can not! How old are you?"

"48." She says quietly.

"Oh shut up there's no way, I don't believe that for a second!"

"I am!"

"You look damn good for your age then, I thought you were like 40, 45 at the very oldest, and like in a 'wow she looks young for 45' way."

"Well thank you." She says as she laughs.

Your food arrives and smells delicious, you both dig in and laugh and chat over dinner. You order more drinks and dessert and when you're finished Rebecca pays the bill and you two head out.

"Okay, now for our last stop of the night." She says, looking at you. "The Eiffel Tower."

She grabs your hand and leads you to it. She buys two tickets and you take the elevator up to the very top. The sun is just setting and you stand by the railing, stunned by the beauty in front of you.

"Woah." You say with wonder in your eyes.

Rebecca stands next to you, both of you taking in the gorgeous view. You both stand there for a few minutes in silence, just enjoying each others company and the gorgeous sunset.

Once the sun sets Rebecca turns to you.

"Come down to one of the lower decks with me."

She grabs your hand and you follow her down a few flights of stairs to a lower level. You stand by the railing and look across the city, a cold breeze passes through causing you to shiver.

"Here," Rebecca says, taking off her scarf and wrapping it around you. "Better?"

"Yes, thank you." Her scarf smells like her, you close your eyes as you inhale the scent, you never though a scent would match a view so well, but for some reason, it just pulls the entire experience all together.

The lights on the tower shut off and you quickly turn around, unsure of what's happening.

"Woah, why did the lights go out?" You ask, looking around to see if anyone else is reacting.

After a few moments they come back on and you realize they're flickering. You look up to the top of the tower where you were earlier and you realize that the tower is sparkling.

Your eyes light up like a child on Christmas day, you stand there in awe as you watch the tower sparkle above you. You look over at Rebecca and see that she's looking at you, looking at the lights. The lights flashing across her face make her eyes glitter, you don't think you've ever seen someone look so beautiful as she does right now. You both look into each others eyes for a moment.

You're not sure how it happened or who made the first move, but in an instant your lips are together. You bring your hands to her face and she holds onto your waist. Her lips are the softest lips you've ever felt in your life, her tongue slides into your mouth and dances around yours. This moment is absolutely perfect and you don't ever want it to end.

What felt like hours later, but in reality was probably only a minute or two, your lips finally part. She gently brushes her lips against yours, you can feel her heart beating quickly as she holds you against her; she can probably feel that yours is racing too.

"Do you want to go back-" she asks quietly.

"Mhm." You mutter as you shake your head yes. Your lips meet once more and after they part you make your way back to the hotel.

You were worried that the moment would pass by the time you got back to the hotel, but the closer you got, the more eager the two of you became.

You get into her suite and you put your bags down, take your jackets off, you remove Rebecca's scarf and she pulls you into her again for another kiss. She kisses you passionately for a minute before leading you into her bedroom.

You both kick off your shoes and Rebecca comes up behind you and places her hands on your hips and kisses your neck. You sigh and lean back into her, tilting your head so she has more access to your neck. Her hands travel up your sides and you feel her move your hair aside and pull down the zipper of your dress. You let it fall to the ground and turn to face her and gesture for her to turn around. You grab the zipper and slide it down, you kiss down her back as the zipper exposes her skin. Her dress falls to the ground and you unclip her bra and you reach behind your back and unclip yours.

She leads you to the bed and pulls you into her, your bodies pressing against each other, your lips interlocked, your fingers tangled in her hair and her hands exploring your body. This might be the most passion you've ever felt in your life.

The night goes by in a blur. You have flashes of memories of you kissing her down her body, the way her skin felt on your lips, you remember the sounds you both made as you panted, the moans that escaped from her lips when you went down on her. How sweet she tasted, what her fingers felt like in your hair as she grabbed hold of you, the way her back arched when you hit that sweet spot deep inside her, how warm and wet she was, the way her skin felt under your fingers as you held onto her hips. The cries she made were the most beautiful sounds you had ever heard as you brought her to her climax and took her over the edge. You remember how her legs gently shook as she came down from her high, that she took a minute just to be able to catch her breath.

You remember the dominance she showed when she flipped you onto your back, how she definitely left marks as her lips traveled down your body. The ticklish sensations when she kissed and nibbled the inside of your thighs, what her tongue felt like when she finally made contact with your dripping center, the way her hair felt between your fingers as you grabbed hold of her. The sounds that you made when her fingers curled deep inside you, the way she felt inside of you, how your hips bucked wildly when she brought you to the edge. You remember seeing stars when you felt her lips wrap around your clit when she pushed you over the edge, the way you cried out her name when she had you ride out your orgasm as long as possible.

You remember her wrapping you in her arms when you were done, how she slowly and passionately kissed you, how your legs felt tangled with hers under the sheets. You remember looking into her gorgeous green eyes, how they reflected the sparkles from the glittering Eiffel Tower out the window. You realized in that moment you've never felt so connected, so bonded, so in love with anyone else in your life. Sure you had just met that morning, but over the course of the day you became closer to her faster than you have with anyone else. You let out a relaxed sigh and closed your eyes when she nuzzled her nose against yours, you felt her chest rise and fall against yours as she drifted off to sleep, you drifting off to sleep with her.

You wake up the next morning convinced that yesterday was just a beautiful dream. As your senses wake up you recognize her scent, you realize that you're still wrapped in each others arms, you try and savor the moment before you open your eyes, anxious that once you do, everything that you both had last night would be gone. You feel her shift in your arms and you open you eyes to meet hers, she has a worry in her eyes that makes your heart hurt a little. You can tell that she's worried about the same thing that you are, you smile and tuck a piece of her golden locks behind her ear, your hand coming to a rest on her cheek, caressing it with your thumb. A smile crosses her face and she brings her lips to yours, you hold onto her as you kiss her with a soft passion. Your lips part and you look into each others eyes for a moment.

"I was so worried I was going to wake up and this was all going to be a dream." You quietly say as you study the details of her face.

"So was I, or that I would wake up to an empty bed, or that I would wake up and you would tell me it was a mistake." She quietly responds as she strokes your hair.

"It certainly was not." You say with a smile as you gently kiss her.

You see a sadness in her eyes when your lips part.

"What's wrong?" You ask, concerned.

"When are you going to London?"

"My flight leaves tomorrow afternoon. Why? When do you go back?"

"Tonight." She says with a sadness in her voice that makes your heart hurt.

"Well, then I'll see you when I get in tomorrow."

"You don't have-"

"No, I want to. I don't want to not ever see you again after you leave tonight."

She looks a little surprised. "Really?"

"Really. I know it's crazy because we've known each other for literally 24 hours, but, I really like you. I haven't felt this close to someone in a long time, I don't want to lose this."

"Even though I'm 20 years your senior?"

"I don't care about that, not even a little bit. It wasn't even something that crossed my mind once."

She pulls you into her and kisses you, a smile left on both of your faces when you part.

"Where were you planning on staying in London?"

"Another hostel." You say with a smile.

"Well, that's not happening. Stay with me." She says as she looks deep into your eyes.

"I would love to."

"I'll have my driver pick you up from the airport and bring you to my house."

"You driver? How much fucking money do you have?!" You say as you laugh.

"A lot." She says with a laugh as she kisses you again.

"Hm, lucky me." You joke between kisses.

Rebecca laughs into the kiss.

You spend the rest of your last day together in Paris in her suite, most of it was spent in bed. You had breakfast and lunch delivered to the room and you both sat in the living room in fluffy robes laughing and cuddling while you ate. You laid in bed together for as long as possible, trying to stretch out every minute before she had to leave to catch her flight. Rebecca extended the room reservation for another night so you could stay. When it finally came time, you helped her pack her things and you got dressed and walked her down to the lobby.

You felt ridiculous for having a lump in your throat as you make your way downstairs, not only will you see her literally tomorrow, you've known her for less than two days. But in those two days you fell completely head over heels in love with her, even though neither of you have said it out loud, you're pretty sure she did too.

The driver puts her bags in the car and she stands in front of you and wraps her arms around you, you wrap your arms around her and you two hold each other for a minute. You look up at her and she meets your gaze, you look into her gorgeous eyes and she leans down and kisses you. When you part you realize her eyes are glassy, yours are too.

"I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?" She asks.

"Yes, absolutely."

"Good." She says as she lets go of you. "I l- I'll see you tomorrow." She catches herself from blurting out the three words you can't wait to be able to say to her.

"I'll see you tomorrow." She turns to get into the car. "Oh shit wait!" You say and she turns back to you.

"What?"

You start laughing and pull out your phone. "I need your number."

Rebecca starts laughing, a few of her tears escape and trickle down her cheeks. "Oh my god." She says grabbing your phone. "I can't believe we didn't do this yet."

She puts her number in your phone and hands it back to you. She kisses you once more and heads to the car.

"I'll see you tomorrow y/n."

"I'll see you tomorrow Rebecca."

She waves as the car pulls away and you watch it until it's out of sight. You look down at your phone and see her phone number and the contact name she put in for herself.

"Rebecca Welton💕"

You send her a text

I can't wait for tomorrow❤

You immediately get a response

Me either💕

You smile down at your phone and hold it close to your chest. You head back into the hotel and your phone starts ringing as you get into the suite. You look down and see that your friend is calling you.

"Hey!"

"YOU'RE ALIVE THANK GOD!"

"Yea, very much alive." You say with a laugh.

"Well I didn't hear from you for over 24 hours and I got worried that you died!"

You open your texts and realize you have 5 missed calls and 20+ text messages from her and a few other people.

"Where the hell were you?!" She asks.

"In heaven."

"Okay, you're gonna have to elaborate."

You tell her about your adventures with Rebecca and give her most of the details, there are definitely some you keep to yourself. You tell her that you're meeting Rebecca in London tomorrow and how excited you were.

"So honestly, it's a good thing you weren't able to come, because if you did, I probably would have never met her." You said.

"Is this the plot of some French rom-com you watched or did you actually just live in a Paris fairytale for the last two days?"

"Fairytale, for sure."

You talk to her for a while and your friend looks her up and freaks out when she reads about who she is.

"No, don't tell me anything, I want her to tell me when she's ready, I don't want to google her to learn about her."

"You're such a sap, but fine. But I will tell you, she's hot, and rich as fuck."

"Oh, I know, she spoiled the shit out of me. Honestly, even if she didn't have all of that money, I'd still be going to see her in London tomorrow."

"Are you in love with her already?"

"I know how fucking crazy this is going to sound, but yeah, I think I am."

You two continue to talk and catch up for the next hour, after you get off of the phone with her you text Rebecca your flight info and you go out to a little restaurant for dinner and walk around for a bit. You get back to the hotel and get ready for bed, impatiently waiting for tomorrow to come.

You phone dings and you roll over in bed and see that you have a text from Rebecca.

12 hours left, I miss you.

You smile and your heart does summersaults, you reply to her.

12 hours too long, I miss you too. I can't wait to see you. Goodnight Rebecca.

You put your phone down and try to fall asleep, excited for tomorrow to come so you can hold Rebecca in your arms again.

[pumpkin-cake]

Midnight Rain

(part three of ???)

-part one- -part two-

tyler galpin x gn!reader

summary - things go wrong at the Poe Cup !

tw - cursing, some violence

really minor spoilers for WEDNESDAY !

You woke up bright and early the next morning. The morning of the stupid event your stupid mother was stupidly making you do. Your eyes adjusted to the light in your room, and you forced yourself out of bed so you could get into your uniform to which you’d soon change out of into a very embarrassing cat costume. Why couldn’t you be apart of say, Xavier Thorpe’s group? They got to dress as cool scary clown-jester things. Oh wait. You HAD to be in Ophelia Hall.

Well, to be honest, it didn’t matter what you looked like, since you were gonna be changing anyway.

You got yourself ready for the day ahead of you, leaving your dorm to grab breakfast. All you heard was chatter about the Poe Cup. How Bianca was probably going to win again, and how annoyed they were over it. You ignored it, you heard talk like that all the time. Bianca was just crazy talented, and in your opinion others were just jealous. She was also dating a crazy attractive dude, so she had that going for her too.

You eventually found Bianca in the Quad, sitting next to Xavier who didn’t seem very interested in whatever she was saying. His pencil furiously scribbled across his paper, his brow furrowed in concentration. Bianca’s eyes met yours and she decided to ditch Xavier, who merely nodded in acknowledgement as she stood and went over to you.

“You ready for today?” She asked, the two of you heading to an empty table.

“As I’ll ever be.” You sighed, rubbing your temples.

“Your mom make you do it again?” She chuckled.

“Yup.” You muttered, taking a sip of your drink. The coffee at Nevermore wasn’t as good as the coffee at Weathervane. “Even gave me a whole plan.”

“You’ve got the principal on your team?” She scoffed a bit and crossed her arms. “Not fair.”

“You really think I’m gonna put in all my effort?” You snorted in reply. “I don’t care as much as my teammates about winning this stupid cup. It doesn’t matter that Mom came up with the plan if I don’t give a single shit about it.”

“Well, you have a point.” She agreed, resting her cheek against the palm of her hand and glancing over to Xavier, who was still drawing away.

“…alright, spill.” You hummed, finishing your coffee. “What did he do?”

“He just got all bitchy with me this morning.” She said with a frown. “Said something about trust? I dunno, I was too tired to comprehend a lot of it.” She tapped her nails on the table.

“You think it’s cuz you’re a siren?” You inquired. “If he’s talking weird about trust. Unless you did something that I don’t know about.”

“(Y/n), you know I’d tell you. Or he would, telling you to tell me like you’re some messenger pigeon.”

“I already told him I’m done being Hermes for him.” You chuckled. “Got tired of it last fight.”

“It wasn’t a fight!” She defended, almost pouting when you quizzically raised a brow. “Whatever, but I swear I didn’t do anything to prompt it.”

“Maybe his little white boy ego is insecure for whatever reason.” You suggested. “You’ve never used your powers on him before, have you?”

“(Y/n)! You know I’d never!”

“Exactly. Then I think this is a ‘Xavier Thorpe can’t communicate’ case. Talk to him.” You shrugged, earning a sigh from Bianca.

“It’s not that easy.” She said, looking back to you. “If you were in a relationship, you’d know.”

“Uh huh. Well I am definitely not in a relationship.” You chuckled, finishing up your food. “Don’t plan to be.”

“Oh yeah?” She cocked an eyebrow, glancing to your phone on the table as it lit up. “Who’s Tyler?”

Your eyes followed her to the phone, to which a banner appeared on your lock screen, which was a message from Tyler.

“No one.” You said simply, taking your phone and putting it in your pocket.

“Oh no, now you gotta tell me.” Bianca demanded with a mischievous grin. “You talkin’ to someone?”

“He’s just the barista from Weathervane.”

“Why do you have just the barista from Weathervane’s number in your phone, hm?”

“He’s been tutoring me, I guess.”

“Just tutoring?”

“Bianca!”

“Okay okay, kidding, sorry. But seriously, the barista at Weathervane’s been tutoring you?” She questioned, sitting up as she was now fully interested.

“Yeah. That’s how I aced my homework assignment.” You chuckled.

“Isn’t he the sheriff’s son?”

You shrugged. “I dunno. Why?”

“Well, a dude named Tyler who works at Weathervane who is also the sheriff’s son destroyed Xavier’s mural in town along with some of his buddies.” Bianca said. “He was pretty upset about it.”

Weird.

Tyler doesn’t seem like the type who’d do something like that. He was so sweet to you, and always seemed more introverted. His dumb friends came into the coffee shop every once in a while, and Tyler always seemed so uncomfortable.

“Huh. I’ll mention it to him next time I see him.” You promised, before checking your watch. “We might wanna go get ready. It’s about that time.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~🛶~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“O. M. G.”

Here we go.

“(Y/n), you look so cute!” Enid squealed after you exited the tent in your black cat costume. You really hadn’t wanted to do the nose and whiskers, but Yoko pretty much forced you down.

“Don’t push it, Enid.” You sighed.

“So! You mentioned not being in the boat! What’s your plan?” She asked, a huge grin on her face.

“You’ll see.” You waved your hand. “Good luck, Enid.”

“Oh- well okay! Kick some butt, (Y/n)!” She grinned, and you gave another half-assed wave of your hand before trudging to your spot in the woods that your mother told you to wait at. Sure enough she was right.

Kent was standing there pretty awkwardly, but with anticipation. He seemed antsy.

Bianca probably came up with this one.

You stayed hidden, about ready to pull out your hair when your mom started her big long speech. It reminded you of her lectures. Finally, the cue was given to begin. You waited patiently until Kent dove into the water, and you did the same along with the item you held. He didn’t seem to notice, watching as his legs molded into a long tail.

Within about five seconds, you looked exactly like him. You shuddered at the feeling of the tail. Yuck. You clutched the net you held, taking a deep breath before darting over.

Alerted by the noise of your swimming, Kent whipped around and his jaw dropped at a copy of himself zooming towards him with a net. You swam circles around him before diving down and catching him in the net. You smiled cutely and waved, smacking his head with your newfound tail. His eyes rolled back into his head and he began to sink.

That was sort of…exhilarating.

You remembered the task at hand and swam towards the surface, looking for the canoes. You caught Bianca’s gaze, who glared and you and beckoned you over and angrily gestured to the vampire boat.

Right, you were currently Kent.

You decided to play along as to not arouse suspicion. You darted underwater over to the boat, before placing your hands on the boat and shaking. There were yelps from the vampire as their boat began to rock back and forth. You gasped as a compartment in the bottom of the boat opened and a full spear shot out. You let out a yelp and dodged, but the spear fully took out a good chunk of your forearm. You shrieked and grit your teeth, trying not to lose focus and change back into your original self.

You shot up and grabbed the side of the boat and flat out pulled it over angrily, pretty pissed that you were losing a bunch of blood from your forearm. You punched a couple vampires in the face and darted off. By the time you caught up to everybody else, they had gotten to the island. A couple people were guarding the boats, and you waited patiently from afar.

You spotted Xavier and Rowan running back with their flag. They hurriedly got into the boat and their team began to row away. Bianca soon followed, and she shouted angrily at who she thought was Kent to get them. You rolled your eyes and swam after Xavier’s boat, doing the same thing you did with the first boat. You made sure to keep an eye out for traps, not wanting to get impaled or anything.

Just as you thought, some compartments opened and curved blades appeared. They were about eight of them protruding from the bottom, all in L shapes pointing to the edges of the boat. You grit yourself teeth and carefully swam to behind the boat in hopes to slow it down.

But you forgot about one crucial thing. Or one crucial person.

The resident telekinetic.

You felt an invisible force grab you by the throat and force you up out of the water. You let out a shout and gripped at your neck, obviously grabbing onto nothing.

“Uh-!” Rowan’s eyes were wide, like he didn’t know what to do next. He looked at Xavier in a panic.

“Knock him out or something!” Xavier yelled.

Your mind raced. You needed to come up with an idea and quick. You took a deep breath and started to shift into Rowan himself, hoping to scare him enough that he would drop you. Everyone in the boat was completely stunned, and Rowan let out a shout and quickly threw you back into the water. Your head collided with the side of the boat and then…

Everything went dark.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~🌊~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When you came to, you felt your head pounding. Your ears rang as you slowly opened your eyes, which one of them also felt sore as well. The light was bright. Too bright.

“(Y/n)! Oh my gosh, you’re alive!” A loud voice exclaimed, only making your head pound even more.

“Shh!” Someone else shushed, but you could hardly see the people in front of you because of how bright the light was.

“Wh…huh?” You said groggily, your eyes adjusting to the light. There in front of you was your entire team, back in their uniforms but still wearing the cat makeup. “Guys?”

“Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay!” Enid said, not listening to whoever had shushed her. “I had no clue that was you the whole time! Xavier Thorpe said your name or something or said something about you and then we all saw you in the water!”

Oh. Right. Rowan dropped you. You being unconscious must have reverted you back to your regular form.

“Did we lose?” You asked, and Enid smiled half-heartedly.

“Yeah. Only because we stopped to go get you.”

Your heart sank. They lost because of you. You were so careless and got hurt, and they all suffered.

“Oh. Okay.” You breathed out. You knew they’d all try to reassure you, but you weren’t going to believe them anyway so what was even the point?

Then, a light clearing of the throat got the attention of everyone. There stood your mother, an almost unreadable expression on her face. Your teammates got the idea, waved to you and left. Once they cleared, she sat at the edge of the bed.

“How are you feeling, sweetheart?”

“Not great. My head feels awful.” You said honestly. “My eye kind of hurts too.”

Your eye pain wasn’t as prominent as your headache, but you didn’t think much of it as you reached up to rub it. Your mother tensed. You were confused for a split second and then you felt it. The skin didn’t feel as the rest of your body. It felt rough and uneven. It wasn’t some dry skin, either.

“Mom. Get me a mirror.” You said, feeling the rough bit of skin around your left eye. It was in a longer stripe going up and down the eye.

She sighed and fished around in her pocket and pulled out a compact mirror, handing it over and lightly putting her hand on your leg for comfort. You opened the mirror and held it up to reflect your face.

There was a scar running over your left eye. Gross and ragged skin in a line about half an inch thick and about five inches long.

“Mom…what the hell happened?” You breathed out shakily, reaching up and tenderly running two fingers along the scar.

“When Mr. Laslow dropped you off the side…you knocked your head and one of the blades sticking out from their boat…well, you can see.” She sighed. “You’re lucky your teammates pulled you out in time. You could have…drowned.” She said, her voice strained as if she were forcing them out.

“Oh my god.” You breathed out, shutting the mirror and tossing it on the bed. “And you made me do this stupid thing!”

Anger suddenly welled up inside you. You had never wanted to participate. You only agreed at first because Enid was sick, and it was unfair to her to risk losing like that. But because of your mom’s need to win, you suffered. You could have died.

“I never wanted to do this!” You shouted, relieved the infirmary was empty. You moved your leg away from her hand. “This is all your fault!”

She flinched, like she knew you were right, but she didn’t reply.

“Now I have this ugly scar and maybe even brain damage from almost drowning! I hope every time you see me you get reminded of what you did! Now get out!”

Your mother winced once more and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. “I know that people your age says things they don’t mean.” She breathed out, standing. “I’ll let the nurse take care of you for now. I love you very much, dear.” She leaned down, planting a motherly kiss on the top of your head before walking out.

Well maybe you were a bit harsh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~🏥~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After being looked at by the nurse for about a day, it was determined you were now suffering from mild hypoxia brain damage.

Basically, the restricted flow of oxygen being supplied to the brain had fucked up your head. Luckily, it wasn’t severe, and the nurse told you not to worry about any of the more intense side effects. She did warn you about headaches, disorientation, poor concentration, and difficulty coordinating balance. It also turns out you’d been out cold for a day when you first lost consciousness.

Great. More impairments for your grades.

The nurse let you go and you made a beeline for your room, angrily throwing the door open and shut. You sat on your bed and took some deep breaths, trying to calm yourself down and think things through. You knew your mom didn’t want anything terrible to happen to you, what you said just slipped out. You should be angry at Rowan, not her.

You were interrupted by your thoughts by a buzzing of your phone, that was oddly charging on your nightstand. You didn’t remember putting it there.

You took it off the charger and checked it. There were a lot of messages from your friends. Bianca had sent about fifty, Enid about fifty-five, and Xavier around ten. You decided you could catch up with them later. You see them like, every day.

What really caught your eye was Tyler’s name popping up. He only sent you about two messages.

Yesterday: Hey! Haven’t heard from you. Hope you won!

Today: I didn’t see you today. Everything alright?

Why did he bother texting you? You couldn’t believe he even remembered. Guess you were the star customer of Weathervane.

You quickly typed a response.

Yeah, just some injuries from the Cup. I should be back tomorrow.

You were very surprised at how fast he replied.

Oh no! I hope you’re feeling alright. Although, if you are coming tomorrow, I am off work.

Oh? That’s alright, I can just not come in.

No no no! I actually wanted to see if you wanted to grab a coffee and sit with me?

Holy shit. Holy fucking shit.

HOLY SHIT.

Was he asking you on a date?

Like…a date?

Y’know, yeah. Like a date. I’d like to get to know you more aside from tutoring

If that’s okay, of course

Holy. Shit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~☕️~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

tags 🏷 @justageek @peachycupotea @realmermaid333 @noahspector @mizzydr @gasolinesavages @elizabeth916

[aclowntiny]

It's Not Easy Being Green- Jongho x Female!Writer!Reader

woohoo this title is a pun because green like new but also drink haha get it??? MORE COFFEE SHOP MORE >:) but we get to mix it up, no barista!reader this time hehe. Also, Jongho with glasses???? I simp

Word Count: 3089 | Coffee Shop, Fluff, Faint Angst | Warnings: I mention Fifty Shades of Grey just by title lmao

The sun remained faint beneath the cover of clouds and morning. A cool breeze blew, blessing what bits of Jongho's skin it could reach. He sighed to himself at the release, having just left a morning gym session and still feeling a tad bit sweaty despite wiping off.

As he shook out his hair, Jongho spotted a café two doors down from his position, deciding to stop in on the way back and get an iced coffee. Anything to cool off and regain some much-needed energy.

He was second in line despite it being so early. The girl in front of him probably had work, he considered. She did have a laptop case in hand, after all, though it didn’t appear she was dressed up. Huh.

When she was done ordering, he stepped up to the counter, ordering a caramel iced coffee from the kind shop owner, a lady about ten or fifteen years older than Jongho himself, before making his way to a seat. The girl that had been in front of him in line was now sitting at the table adjacent to his; she had pulled out her laptop, typing away as she waited. Wow, hard worker.

A few scrolls on his phone later, Jongho glanced up to watch the woman shuffle happily over to his table neighbor, placing a cup down with a smile and a “Here you go, (y/n). What are you working on today?”

The girl, (y/n) apparently, smiled back. She had a kind smile. “The same one as usual,” she sighed, “but you know I love it.”

“I do. You know I’ll read it when you finish, right?”

“If I finish it.”

“You will. I know you will. You're so close.”

“Thanks, Dahye-eonni.”

Jongho couldn’t help but smile to himself at the warm interaction. Clearly the lady was friendly to regulars, doing more than just serving them coffee. He couldn’t help but feel curious about what the girl was working on, though. Glancing over, he met her eyes, prompting her to smile, so he took his chance.

“I heard you’re here to work- what is it you’re making?”

“Well, I write, which you probably guessed by the reading comment,” you answer with a chuckle.

“Like essays or a book?”

“Novels, yeah.”

“What are they about?” Jongho found himself asking before he could stop and think.

She got shy suddenly, her eyes dropping from his. “Well, I won’t go on and on, but I can tell you a bit about what it’s about.”

“Sure.”

The café owner, Dahye as (y/n) called her, slid in and dropped Jongho’s drink off as he listened to (y/n), making a joke about her bringing more regulars in.

“She’s here every other morning for a matcha latte and a quiet place to write,” the woman explained with a smile as she looked back and forth, “doesn’t she have an amazing imagination?”

She sure did have some big ideas for her story, things Jongho would have never even considered. He had some artistic skills, sure, but crafting characters and stories like that wasn’t what he’d call his forte. And the fact that (y/n) did it almost as second nature?

“Yes, she does.”

The way she beamed alone was worth the comment.

~

It wouldn’t hurt to stop by that café again. Dahye was nice, the coffee was good, it was a nice place.

The image of (y/n) flashed in Jongho’s head. The coffee was good, he repeated to himself simply.

She was there. Jongho saw her seated already by the time he’d entered, laptop out. He found his eyes scanning the stickers on its (y/f/c) surface, taking in the things she liked before they flicked over her face. She looked focused, determined, eyes not even leaving the screen when she took a drink, reaching blindly but straight for her matcha and bringing it to her lips as she typed with one hand.

Chuckling, he crossed the stained concrete to the simple white cash register, venturing a protein latte since he wasn't looking forward to what Wooyoung was making for breakfast that morning.

The chairs were faintly bowl-shaped, Jongho falling a bit into their embrace as he took a seat at the same table as last time. The one facing (y/n).

For the first time, she looked up from her screen, LED light reflected in her eyes as she gave Jongho a smile, one he immediately returned.

"You come from the gym, don't you?"

He nodded.

"Look at you being all healthy and stuff," you teased, one corner of your lips quirking up a bit more.

He shrugged, amusement playing on his own expression. "I just enjoy staying active."

"I wish I had that," (y/n) replied, glancing down a bit, cheekily sheepish.

"If you did, though, we wouldn't have your great stories, right? I also wish I could do what you do, but you know what? You can train, get stronger and stronger, but the spark of telling a story is either there or it isn't. It's hard to make yourself good at understanding characters, you know?"

Nodding, (y/n) peered into Jongho's eyes with wide ones, the color of which really was quite nice. "I guess I never thought about that before. That sounds like something out of a book, though!" You both giggled at that.

"Well, work it in then," Jongho teased.

"If it ever fits in, I will. Guess I need to write a writer."

"Well, you'd know how to do that."

"Are you kidding? Half my job is just staring at a word doc. It's like this meme. Hold on," you told him as you reached into your pocket for your phone.

~

He'd gotten up a little earlier and worked a little harder. Thoughts of his plan both sped him up and spurred him on, suddenly making his gym trip seem secondary- a stepping stone along the way, albeit a sweaty, barbell-laden one.

Jongho had decided to buy (y/n) her latte for her this morning. Dahye greeted him with a wave and used his name, cementing his unwitting regular status as he leaned on the counter. The woman gave a smile that rose straight to her eyes when he ordered both a caramel iced coffee and a matcha latte.

"Oh?" She inquired, gaze boring into Jongho's.

"I decided to surprise (y/n) with it. Would you mind making it for her when she comes in?"

"Not at all," the kind woman answered, clicking the pen she held in her hand out, in, out, in, "Are you going to stay and watch?"

"Of course," it was Jongho's turn for a scheming look, "but not from my regular spot, I'm going to hide around the corner."

The café seating area was L-shaped, stretched around the kitchen and treated to a minor visual separation in the form of a small decorative trellis. Jongho positioned himself behind ivy to wait for both his coffee and (y/n).

The bell tinkled. He'd timed it well, then, (y/n) arriving right before his own drink was done. She stood, laptop bag slung over her shoulder, and waited a few moments while Dahye puttered around the kitchen, pouring this and measuring that. Enough pours and measures and a frown of confusion furrowed (y/n)'s brow, though she remained in place, hand fiddling with the strap of her rectangular computer bag.

"Sit, sit," Dahye finally urged, popping from behind the counter to wave her hand forward and back at (y/n) as if shooing a bug, not a woman, "I'll be right there."

Jongho had to suppress a laugh at (y/n)'s confused face, brow furrowing even harder and eyes squinting slightly. This was turning into far more than he thought it would.

(y/n) slid into her usual seat and pulled out her laptop with a shrug. Just as she was opening up the program she wrote on, though, Dahye appeared at her side with a mug of steaming green.

"You didn't take my order," she told the older woman.

"I didn't need to," Dahye shot back, "it's been covered already."

"Wha-"

Jongho chose this moment to pop out from behind the ivy with a wave and a small "surprise!"

(y/n)'s eyes looked like she'd been handed a winning lottery ticket, not her go-to drink order. "Really?"

"Absolutely. You've been working really hard, it sounds like, so I just wanted to take a bit of burden off of you, maybe make you smile?"

"You did," (y/n) replied, beaming, "my manuscript is almost done and it has been really stressful. I feel like a disgusting little hermit, but I want to be submission ready more than anything."

"You don't look like a disgusting little hermit," both Jongho and Dahye chimed in at the same time, followed by a shared glance and smirk from the latter, which caused the former to suddenly break contact uneasily.

"You guys are too sweet," (y/n) giggled, taking a sip of her free drink with a little shoulder dance of joy at its taste.

"We're your fan club," Dahye remarked, "though I think Jongho here is taking over as president."

He started. What did she mean by that? "I'm sure I'll be an even bigger fan when I read the whole novel. Good luck, (y/n)." And with that, he took up the iced coffee he'd purchased and strode out, giving the writer one last smile and wave.

~

"Ok, this is it!"

Two more café visits later, (y/n) had hermited her way into having a submission-worthy format on her novel. Her words, not Jongho's, though he'd been there for some of it about four days past, hours of staring and clicking with some breaks to talk about her characters or worries that no one would want to read what she was writing.

"I'm sure they will. I mean, look, Fifty Shades of Grey sold and all people do is make fun of how badly written and uncomfortable it is. Your sentences actually sound intelligent and contribute something good to people's brains."

She giggled at that. Jongho's straightforwardness was refreshing to her, she'd told him. No need to question his motives or anything like that. "You probably give the best criticism, too."

He hadn't thought about that before, but a sudden wave of motivation to give her the best criticism if she asked it of him had hit when she'd commented that.

She wrung a napkin in one hand as the other hovered over the track pad of her laptop in preparation to submit. Before clicking, she paused, a few heartbeats passing as she glanced between her now-empty matcha mug and Jongho. "Wait."

"What?"

"Should I change the tagline on the cover here? It looks corny now, I feel like I could put out better. But what quote would I use?"

"I like that one you posted on the graphic on your instagram the other day," Jongho suggested with an approving nod.

(y/n)'s eyes lit up, their lovely color shining as bright as ever as sunbeams cut through the latticed windows of the shop, stopping in their tracks upon reaching her irises. "You followed my writing page?"

"Of course," Jongho responded with a soft smile, "I'm in your fan club, remember?"

She smiled. Backspaced. Typed. Submitted. "I feel confident now. That was all I needed," she told him, reaching over to lay her hand over his as it rested on the table.

Confident was how she should feel, Jongho's brain managed to override his somersaulting heart, how she should view herself all the time. Capable. Skilled. Wonderful at what she does. Pleasant. No, a joy. He wanted to be what she needed again. And maybe again and again.

"No, you're the president, remember?" Dahye strode by with another customer's dishes in hand, chiding Jongho with a wink.

Ignoring that, he pulled out his phone to show you a writing meme he thought you would like, grinning widely when you showed him you saved a gym one to show him.

~

Something was wrong, Jongho could see that the moment he detected the absence of (y/n)'s laptop or its bag at her table. He still ordered her drink, maintaining the custom he'd begun a handful of trips back, but he asked Dahye if she knew anything.

"Stop her from spouting that nonsense," the woman told him, "you're the only one that can."

"What does that mean? Why are you always saying things like that?"

The café owner just looked at him, dark eyes daring his. "I think you know why, free matcha boy. Now get over there. She's more blue than green today, at least for now. You're the one to add that sunshine yellow."

Jongho squinted into her nonsense. "I think you've been hanging out with the literary types too much."

"Just get in there and cheer my other regular up. I'll bring you two donuts."

"Just one, I'm not a big donut person."

"No, you have all the sweetness you need, don't you?"

There was no defending himself from the remark, not when his eyes involuntarily slid (y/n)'s way at the mention of sweetness. Sighing at the way her head fell into her bent arms, he strode over to her table, taking the seat next to her instead of the one across from her like usual. Heart beating a little faster, he tentatively raised a hand, hovering it over her back before thinking better of it.

"(y/n), are you alright?"

She shook her head, glancing up at him with tear-filled eyes. "I got rejected."

Jongho's heart was really hammering then; any moment it might burst out of his ribcage. "What kind of fool would reject you?"

"I told you people wouldn't be interested in the type of story I told. Not enough drama. Not that they said that, of course they had to be vague and just say it wasn't what they were looking for so I don't even know how to improve! I don't even know what I have to change, and with that I can't grow into an actually good writer-"

"Whoa," Jongho interrupted, leaning a bit closer to her with a jolt of pleasure at the feeling of their arms brushing against each other, "I'm going to have to stop you right there. You are a good writer. Remember how frustrated you were with your classmates in college barely having elementary sentence skills? That's because they aren't good like you are. Have you heard Dahye talk lately? She's become more and more colorful thanks to you. The way you put the world out there, even if it isn't this one, has changed the way she sees everything."

"It has?" She sniffled, sitting up a bit.

"It has," Jongho repeated, "and your story doesn't need to become something it's not over one rejection. Harry Potter got rejected, like, five or eight times. Would you say Harry Potter was not successful?"

"No," (y/n) muttered, shaking her head.

"And this is only your first try. Sometimes we crash, but that doesn't mean we're destroyed."

"I feel destroyed," she replied quietly, "I don't want to write anymore."

"You don't have to right now, but don't stop doing something you love because one person doesn't like it. You have plenty of followers, you have Dahye and me, and we all like it just how it is. I never want you to feel destroyed. I like you too much."

A single tear slid from her widening eye, cutting a glistening path down the lovely curve of her cheek. "You like me?"

Jongho gasped, not really having planned on confessing like that, but he was nothing if not straightforward. No going back now. "I do. I only kept coming to this café to see you," he answered.

"I knew it!" Dahye called from the kitchen. That got a shaky chuckle even from (y/n), who ventured a bigger smile when Jongho's face lit up at her returned mirth.

Once again, he felt spurred on, like that runner's high that hits or the determination to finish a set, though expressing one's feelings was a far different exercise than pull-ups or a good jog were.

"I kept coming to see you and I really wanted to make your burdens lighter. That's why I kept buying your drinks. I just wanted to take care of you a little, especially if you weren't doing it yourself. I like the idea of being there to take care of you. To hear every bit of your stories from your own mouth. That's the effect you have on me, and I'm sure you could have it on countless other people if you put yourself out there and let them know you."

(y/n) just stared at him, eyes still wide, smile faltering and rising again tentatively.

"You, er," Jongho rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly feeling awkward over the whole monologue, "don't have to worry about all the me stuff or answer that, but please keep writing, alright? You felt so confident the other day- don't lose that over one opinion, ok?"

"You're right," she breathed, nodding shakily, "it was like this in writing workshop, too. People tore one of my stories apart because one of the characters was too one-dimensional and one of my professors only craved extreme drama. I can't let that get into my head. Everyone is different. It's just...hard when you pour hours in and they don't like it. But it's like you said, I love to write. I do it subconsciously every day, imagining how I would describe things in words. I physically can't stop," she chuckled, the playful lilt returning a bit, "and I really won't if that's what got you to like me back."

"Back?" Jongho's face lit up again, awkwardness melting away like butter.

"That's right. I was getting a little worried my love interest character was going to shift gears and become a strong, athletic sweetheart if I didn't keep the reins on it."

"Well, I like your character's love interest as he is, just like the rest of your amazing story that you need to submit to more, better publishers that actually have taste, but could I try out being your love interest?"

"Wow, you just dropped feedback, a corny line, a diss, and flirted with me in one incredibly long sentence," (y/n) commented, dabbing tears off her face with a napkin, "how could I say no? I'd love to go out with you."

"Good. I already know what I want to do."

You gave one final sniff. "What's that?"

"I want to hear you read to me."

[green-agent]

Fate?

BREWING LOVE NEXT DOOR (masterlist) chapter 2

Jung Wooyoung x neighbor!oc (Yujin)

Synopsis: because of her mother who loved coffee, Yujin had an unhealthy obsession with caffeine. Feeling down? Coffee. Feeling great? Coffee. Passed a test? Yay coffee. Failed a test? Naur, coffee. Her friends joked about her having more caffeine In her veins than blood.Now, after leaving her hometown and coming to Seoul, she was excited to study in KQ University. Will she die of shock after finding out that the handsome barista was her neighbor? Will she realize why people actually have crushes on baristas? Will she be able to confess?

Genre: fluff, crack, barista au, uni au, neighbors au

warning: slight Seongjoong? Yujin thinks Seonghwa is mother, frat party but labelled as Thanksgiving party, let me know if I missed something.

word count: 1k

note: I'm sorry for all the pov shifts and scene changes 😞 but hey, Chapter 2 is here. The story's just starting!

Nobody's POV

7:30

Yujin was late, not only for her classes but also for the new club she had applied to in University.

Today, the president of the club wanted to introduce the freshmen to the older students. And as a fellow freshman, Yujin was supposed to be early. Something that she most definitely wasn't.

Grabbing her things, she ran out the door. Bag in one hand, she carefully locked the door as she clumsily put her shoes on.

As she sat down in the room, she couldn't help but bite the inside of her cheeks, a habit she had. Right then, A slightly shorter boy, probably a University Junior, spoke up.

“Hello, our fellow university classmates and juniors, I'm Kim Hongjoong, the president of this club. I hope you guys will have a good time here…”

His hair was two toned, half black half white. Pretty cool.

He spoke more about himself and the club, also introducing the new ones to the vice president, Park Seonghwa. Another gorgeous man. Yujin had to resist the urge to say ‘mommy?’ Cus' he felt so…mother

But as Hongjoong carried on about the club, Yujin's eyes caught a beautiful sight. The beautiful sight was sitting across the room.

The barista from the cafe…he was chatting with a guy. Blond haired guy, to be exact…his hair looked like the boy the barista joked with, maybe he was the same person?

Yet, Yujin was regretting the fact that she didn't take a good glance at his name tag. What was his name!?

“Thank you!”

Yujin's new cheerful downstairs neighbor, Shin Ryujin, beamed at her.

When Yujin was about to go upstairs, she noticed that Ryujin was having trouble with putting some boxes up the stairs, so she decided to help. Plus, She hadn't met all of her new neighbors yet, but Ryujin was definitely a good one.

As the two girls were talking, Yujin saw a figure walk up the stairs. No way…

“What happened?”

Ryujin asked, confused as to why Yujin suddenly stopped talking.

Hearing her, Yujin came out of her little confusion. She turned to Ryujin and asked,

“The guy who just walked up, who was he?”

“Oh that? That's Wooyoung, Jung Wooyoung. Why? Did you get a crush on him?”, Ryujin teased.

“...no, I just saw him at the cafe, Refresh and Recharge. Then I also saw him at uni today, in my club meeting. I was just wondering…”

Yujin drifted off, well, only the first word was a lie.

Ryujin nodded, “hmm, yeah. He is a Barista at the cafe. He's also your neighbor”

“huh!?” Yeojin kinda whisper-yelled.

Confused, Ryujin mumbled, playing with her own fingers, “did you not know that or something…”

Yujin's POV

As I sat on my bed, I just did a quick review of everything I found out.

The boy I had a teeny tiny smol little crush on…is not only my clubmate and uni senior…but also my fucking neighbor!? Like a literal next door neighbor.

That's a lot to take in. Should I talk with him? I mean, he's only a doorbell away…

But then again, what would I talk to him about? That hey, bro. Nice to meet you, I think I got a crush on you cuz you're gorgeous. Please don't think I'm weird.

Yeah, he'd definitely think I'm weird. And his gorgeous face tells me he probably already has a girlfriend.

What if it's the other female barista in Refresh and Recharge Cafe? I mean, she was pretty, sounded polite. She seemed very lovable.

But hey! We improved a little bit. I now know his name. Jung Wooyoung, it's cute, if you ask me. Wooyoung.

Nobody's POV

And like that, Yujin spent a whole month going to Refresh and Recharge, trying to focus on her studies. She had to agree, Hongjoong and Seonghwa were a great duo, just one thing, they argued like an old married couple. A sophomore told Yujin that they were a very ‘parents’ typa friends.

She spent a lot of time in the evening, trying to figure out if she should ring her next door neighbor's bell or not.

She always got rejected by her own brain with things like ‘he probably worked very hard today, you should let him rest’ and ‘he’s also a student, he might be studying’.

It wasn't until November.

As her doorbell rang, she quickly fixed her clothes before opening the door. It was another fellow neighbor of hers, Karina.

“Hey Yujin! I wanted to invite you to the Thanksgiving party in my apartment. All of our neighbors are coming so I'd be glad if you came too.” Karina happily suggested.

Yujin had never been to this type of Thanksgiving party yet, so she accepted happily.

“Yeah, I'd love to”

Nobody's POV

I'd love to, my ass.

Now while she actually sat at the party, she realized she had nothing to do.

A cup of orange juice was in her hand as she stared mindlessly at the wall. Randomly playing with her own fingers once in a while.

Even Ryujin was having a fun time with her boyfriend.

After coming to the party, Yujin realized that it wasn't actually the typical thanksgiving party, it was nothing like a thanksgiving party. It was more of a typical university frat party.

Everyone was dancing crazily, some random couple making out in the corner. And Yujin could swear she saw someone drink alcohol in the other corner.

So when a hand tapped on her finger, she kinda freaked out, yelling, “WHAT THE FU-”, and then slapping her own hand on her mouth after seeing who it was.

The barista, the really handsome barista. Her university clubmate, and her neighbor…Jung Wooyoung.

Again, the mole under his eye made her choke on air, it was so…attractive.

He gave a little smile as he sat down in the chair in front of her, still maintaining a comfortable distance.

“If I heard the birdies right, you must be Yujin. Am I right?”

Taglist: @dinossaurz

Dividers: @cafekitsune

Banners: From Pinterest

Send an ask or dm me to get on the taglist! And I'd prefer if you commented on the masterlist instead of chapters 🤗

[pupmini]

First Date Pt. 3 (Bang Chan x Reader)

!!PT 3!!

summary: Day to day life was perfectly uneventful, you wake up, go to work, make coffee, go home, and start all over again. But today... you met Chan. And you continue to meet chan... a lot.

pairing: bang chan x f!reader

genre: strangers to lovers, non idol au, crack, mostly fluff, some anger from mc, later chapters to include: slight angst/comfort, slow burn.

general warnings:  barista!mc, slow burn, adult themes including but not limited to: suggestive content, cursing, mentions of death.

word count: ~4.6k

chapter content: mentions of food, coffee shop manager!Changbin, nonidol!Chan, nonidol!Han, first meets, first love flutters, roommate!Felix, angry mc!

author's note: Part 3 is here everyone! I'm so excited to see some people checking this out! Let me know if you see any errors so i can fix it, I'm contemplating adding a tag list, so comment if you want updated when the next part is out!

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"I met someone," you breathe, a soft huff passing your lips as you lock your front door.

Felix raises an eyebrow, his expression shifting to a mix of curiosity and caution. His smile was still there, seemingly happy but there was something behind his eyes you couldn’t quite discern. "Was it the guy who walked you home?"

You let out a small smile as you take a deep breath, digging in your pockets to take out your keys and nod in response. You find the paper football that was in your pocket this morning and hold it in your hands before quickly hanging your keys, “Yeah, his name is Chan. it was actually a really funny story, he said we met yesterday but he had just confused me with someone else--”

“Oh… that’s kinda funny,” Felix says with a smile, putting the whisk down, and then wiping his hands on the ‘Kiss the Chef’ apron you got him last christmas. You watch his brows furrowed a moment before glancing back up at you, “What did you guys get up to?”

Slipping off your coat, you gently place it on the back of the chair and then take a seat at the kitchen island, “Well, at first I thought Chan was a creep because he said something about thinking about me while mixing music-- but then I realized it was because he confused me with someone he met yesterday so he showed me his recording studio to prove he wasn't being weird and really did make music.”

Felix pressed his lips together in thought as he continued mixing the chocolate batter in the glass bowl, “And?” 

 “I went with Chan to his recording studio, and his friend Han played some incredible music, and we just vibed. It was really cool, and Chan was just so genuine with me. Admittedly he was cute too.”

As you express your excitement about Chan, you can't help but notice Felix's face contorting in hesitancy. His brows furrow slightly, and there's a subtle tightening around his eyes, a silent expression of concern that doesn't go unnoticed.

You tilt your head, picking up on Felix's hesitancy. "What's on your mind, Felix?"

He pauses, and you see him almost perfectly wipe the concern from his face and replace it with a smile, “Stranger danger, you know. It’s really reminiscent of how you met him,” Felix widens his eyes at the word, “But if you’re happy I’m happy, you know that Y/N.”

You appreciate Felix's concern, but a twinge of disappointment creeps in as you rub your thumb across the folded paper in your hands. "Felix, it's not like that. Chan is genuinely nice, and we connected over music, and he waited hours for me to get off work in order to apologize for making me uncomfortable.”

Felix offers a small smile, his worry easing slightly. "I trust your judgment. I just care about you, you know?”

You offer him a small smile and lean against the countertop, “I know Lix. You and Binnie are like hover parents sometimes,” You laugh, hoping to lighten the mood a little as you watch Felix pour the batter into a pan.

The sight of Felix finally laughing makes you relax a little, “Can you blame us after the last guy you dated? It’s not us with the poor taste in lovers,” He laughs as he jabs at you.

“Ooooh… that was low, Lee Felix,” You say, jaw wide open in faux offense. You take a deep breath and hold up the paper football with your pointer finger, aligning it up with Felix’s body and giving it a flick. The triangle launches into the air and hits Felix before he quickly turns around and looks downward, picking it up with a laugh.

“Did you make this?” He laughs, flipping it in his hands in an attempt to read the receipt paper it was made out of.

“I found it in my pocket this morning on my way to work, thought you made it,” You say as you point at the little thing in his hands. You watch as Felix shakes his head in response before passing it back to you. 

“Dunno, maybe,” He says with a shrug, a comfortable silence between the two of you while he starts tending to his dishes.

You take a deep breath and stand up from the counter as you slowly make your way down to your room for bed, “In all seriousness though, I kinda hope Chan keeps coming to the coffee shop.”

Felix smiles a bit, a slight sadness in his eyes as he keeps his back turned to you, “I hope so too.”

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

“And that happens every day.” Chan concluded. He was pacing the studio slowly while Han sat in this chair, and another friend was sitting in Chan’s spot. Han’s hands run over his temples as he tried to absorb the information Chan was spewing out. 

After walking you home, Chan was feeling pretty melancholic about what he found out from Changbin today. Han’s face was contorted as Chan moped in his oversized hoodie, hood over his head while the hat fell lower over his eyes. It was late enough in the evening now that Han and Chan were the last ones in the building, meaning if shit got loud it didn’t matter anymore.

“So then how long will it take for her memories to come back?” Han asked.

“Changbin said it might not ever come back.”

“So what you're saying is, she’d be perfect for you, right?” the other guy said with a half laugh. He was spinning in his chair, legs pulled up off the ground. 

“What is that supposed to mean, Sungmin?” 

“You can hang out with her every day and flirt with no attachments because--”

“She just won't remember me anyway?” Chan interjected, looking exasperated at Han, “funny,” Chan rolled his eyes at Seungmin, “even if that were the case, I can’t keep doing this to her you know?”

Han furrows his brows, “why not?” 

“It’s evil.”

Seungmin scoffs and rolls his head back, “No, it isn't. You meet with Y/N, hang out, flirt, relive meet cutes over and over, no commitment, no one gets hurt!” he says, throwing his hands up into the air for dramatic effect.

Chan froze in his place, staring at Seungmin in disbelief, “She has memory issues, you asshole!”

“Alright, okay!” Seungmin shouts in defense.

Han takes a deep breath, “I think it’s healthy for you though, Chris. You haven’t allowed yourself to connect with anyone but me since before we graduated college.”

Chan shakes his head as he finally falls backwards onto the couch, “I appreciate your concern Dr. Han, but no.”

“Chris, you’re already starstruck and you’ve known her for two days. You’d be doing the same thing anyone else in her life is doing, just making her enjoy her day?” Han says, his tone was more like a question than a statement.

“Yeah man,” Seungmin added, “then when it’s time for you to move on from Y/N, poof, you can just leave without the consequences.”

“See, I’m not exactly sure about that ‘poofing’ part. I’m not a good ‘poofer’. Unless you two care to give me an example?” Chan says sarcastically, gesturing to the other two boys.

“Quit slamming on us for five seconds, huh? We’re just trying to help,” Han says, bringing his hands up to the headphones around his neck and putting them on the desk. 

“If you don't want our idea, what the hell are you gonna do?” Seungmin says, throwing his hands up in the air before they fall back onto his lap once more. 

“That is the million dollar question,” Chan said, sitting up from the couch. What, indeed, was he going to do? Stop going to the cafe so he doesn’t have to see you? Pros: Heartbreak and rejection avoided. Cons: not seeing you. Not seeing you smile, or hearing you laugh at his stupid jokes, or see you furrow your eyebrows in that really cute way when you’re confused.

Or maybe, Chan could go to the diner, do what Seungmin suggested, ensnare you under false pretenses, have fun with you for a day, then leave you at the end, no commitments, no strings attached. Pros: Seeing you again, even without you remembering who he was. Cons: unethically taking advantage of a trauma patient, even if it was because he was in love with you. 

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Chan went to the cafe the next day. He decided that if he could only have you in the short couple of hours when he had breakfast, then that’s what he’s going to get. So now his mission was to get you to talk to him again. He took a seat at a table, opening up his laptop, and waited for you to come in for your shift before ordering anything to drink.

Chan worked on his music for a bit, and the sound of a chair moving distracted him from his focus and he sees Changbin taking a seat at his table with a heavy sigh, “Hey man,” Chan greeted, slipping his headphones off his ears with a warm smile. 

“What are you doing, Chan?” Changbin leaned on his elbows as his upper body shifted over the table towards Chan with a look of disapproval and concern.

“I, uh… I just wanna say hi to Y/N,” Chan sighed as Changbin shook his head slowly, “Bin, I promise I’m not going to do anything wrong.”

“Chan, she’s not going to remember you. You’re hurting yourself doing this, you know that?” Changbin said exasperatedly, bringing his hands to cover his face in frustration.

“God, no I-- I know, trust me I know but…” Chan says as he leans back in his chair, “Look, I can't help it okay? The sliver of a chance I have to make her remember me is enough to convince me to try.”

“Well, don't be surprised if she’s uninterested in you,” Changbin shrugs, standing from the table. 

“What do you mean? She’s been friendly the last two times?” 

“It’s not a bar, Chan. She’s working, and getting hit on while on shift is weird,” Changbin explained.

Chan shakes his head in confidence, “No way, she’ll like me, I’ll even bet on it.”

“You’re on, man.”

The bell rings, alerting staff that someone had come inside, and before Changbin could muter out a greeting, he heard your voice.

"Traffic was worse than usual today, Changbin. I swear the city has a conspiracy against punctuality."

Changbin quickly turns around to face you as you walk into work, laughing as he pretends to ignore Chan and he chuckles, "Excuses, excuses. You know, I might have to dock your imaginary punctuality bonus."

You mock gasp and let out a pout as you slip an apron over your head, "But that's my favorite bonus! How will I afford my daily caffeine fix?"

Changbin leans against the table with one hand, feigning seriousness, "Well, you'll just have to make it up with some extra enthusiasm today. Can you handle that?"

You salute dramatically, "Sir, yes sir! Latte art will be at its finest today."

He laughs, shaking his head, "Alright, soldier. Get to it. The customers are waiting for their dose of joy, and you're the supplier today."

As you approached the espresso machine, you strained your neck to see the other guy sitting at the table Changbin was near, “Who’s your friend, Bin?”

“Oh uh, no one, I was just making sure he was doing alright,” Changbin gave you a tight lipped smile before looking back to Chan, widening his eyes as if to advise him to stay put.

You could see the other guy’s shoulders fall a little, and you look between the two with a suspicious look on your face before cracking a smile, “Bin, you don’t have to be embarrassed to introduce me to your new boyfriend.”

Bin rolls his eyes, “You know as well as I do that’s not the case,” Chan grumbles as he walks back to the other side of the counter, returning to his position at the register for the next customer.

Chan presses his lips together as he watches you work across the bar, admiring you from behind the bustling coffee bar, gracefully maneuvering between the espresso machine and the milk steamer. The rhythmic sounds of brewing coffee and the soft hum of conversation create a lively ambiance around you. As you expertly craft drinks, your focus remains on the task at hand, a subtle smile playing on your lips.

In the farthest corner of the coffee shop, Chan sits at a secluded table, seemingly engrossed in his laptop. However, his attention keeps drifting from the screen to you. There's a warmth in his gaze as he watches you move with a certain grace, an admiration that transcends the busy atmosphere of the cafe.

He sips his coffee, eyes never leaving you as if he's appreciating a piece of art. The play of light from the hanging bulbs casts a soft glow on your features, enhancing the natural charm that seems to emanate from you. Chan can't help but watch you laugh lightheartedly with customers, butterflies filling his stomach as he looks on from under the brim of his hat.

Every now and then, you catch his eye, and a smile is exchanged. It's a silent acknowledgment, a shared moment amidst the coffee shop chaos. When things slow from the morning rush, you slip out a muffin from the bakery case and take a seat at the coffee bar to rest your feet for a moment. And you take a deep breath before you feel a flick onto the back of your head.

“What the fuck?” You mumble, brows stitched together as you reach behind you to feel the back of your head and look around you before your eyes spot a small folded paper football. Your eyes scan the room until you see that guy from earlier waving at you with a stupid grin on his face. 

“Hey what the hell was that for?” You curse at him, picking up the paper from the ground and walking over to him as you hold it up into the air. 

“Sorry, I was just trying to break the ice--”

“Well, consider the ice very much intact.” You interject loudly, tossing the paper onto the table in front of him with a scoff, “seriously, if you wanted attention from me, a simple ‘Hi’ would have sufficed.”

Chan’s lips press together in complete embarrassment, “Yeah, my bad I was just… I thought you were cute so I--”

You let out a short huff of disbelief and cross your arms over your chest, this guy is a fucking idiot, “Sure, yeah because flicking this wad of paper at someone is the the perfect way to say, ‘Hey, you’re cute can I take you to dinner and maybe take your clothes off later?’ Come on--”

You turn curtly on your heel and retreat behind the counter to continue your shift, a simmering anger bubbles within you, fueled by Chan's ill-timed attempt at flirting. Each latte you craft becomes a vessel for your frustration, and the clinking of cups provides a rhythmic backdrop to the furious monologue echoing in your mind.

Changbin leans on his arm, looking between you and Chan as your hands move with more force than usual, a subconscious outlet for the irritation coursing through your veins.

Changbin looks over at Chan, giving him a sarcastic smile and two thumbs up before turning them upside down and making a fake pouty face before laughing and going back to work.

Chan stands up and looks over at Changbin before exiting the cafe, “double or nothing tomorrow.”

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Several, several, several, days went by at the cafe. Several, several, several, days of you turning down Chan with every chance he had. And by now… Chan was in some serious debt to Changbin, but luckily your boss was a pretty forgiving guy. 

Today, Chan was just going to get his drink, go back to his studio, and actually get some work done with Han. If he didn’t, Han was going to actually kill Chan for leaving him to do all this work on his own for the last few weeks. He was determined to get you to remember him somehow, or even just talk to him again, but if you didn’t remember him then he had some time to take a break to help out his friend in the studio and try another day.

“Hey there, what can I get for you today?”

Your eyes were sparkling when they met his, and you couldn’t help but take in the softness of this guy’s features. His smile was gentle and warm, one dimple on his left cheek as his full lips curled up enough to greet you. 

“Uhm… a lemonade refresher and an iced americano, please.” He said, meeting your eyes briefly before looking back down at the countertop. He seemed upset, but his eyes held a slight kindness to them that you didn’t see in anyone else’s eyes when they looked at you. 

You look at the screen, tapping a few buttons, “a name?”

You watch the guy hesitate for a minute, then speak, “Chan.”

“Chan…” You repeat softly as you scribble his name across both of the cups and set them aside for the baristas to make before reading him his total and watching him bow his head thankfully before continuing on.

Your eyes trace his movements for a moment as he takes a seat at the coffee bar, and you snap out of your thoughts when you hear the next customer clear their throat. You quickly smiled at them and took their order, keeping an eye on the man you had just helped. He just seemed so sad…

You watch the cups be placed gently in front of him, and you hurriedly snatch a muffin from the bakery case and chase him down the cafe, “Hey wait--”

You watch him turn around to see you jogging up to you, and the once sad eyes that had looked to you before seemed a little hopeful and his smile widened. Chan felt every nerve in his body electrify when you ran up to him, maybe you’d recognized him? Did you remember him? Were you finally going to tell him you liked him too?

“You seemed like you were having a bad day.. So take this,” You say, holding out the brown paper bag to him, “on the house.”

The hope dwindled almost instantly, as he saw a quickly scribbled phone number on the paper bag and Chan’s face fell flat, staring it in your hands before he spoke, “Fuck this…” and he turned curtly on his heel and started to walk away. Even if he wanted your number he’d have to delete it the next day to keep himself from contacting you when you didn’t even know him.

You grabbed his arm, “What the hell is wrong with you?”

Chan yanked his arm from you and his wrist slipped from your grasp, “I don't need you to pretend to be nice to me. I just came for something to drink, not to get into your pants.”

His words hit you like a ton of bricks and you felt your chest tighten a bit at the outburst, “I was just trying to lighten your day a little, you fucking asshole,” You say back, chucking the muffin at him before straightening your apron and walking back to the coffee bar.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Chan knew fucked up. And he knew your address. Not in like a weird way, he walked you home that night you went to his studio. Chan needed more information on what happened, or at least things you liked that way he’d have some leverage sparking some kind of memory for you. Chan was lost, feeling like he had exhausted almost everything he could do to get your attention again.

When he finally got to your complex, he entered the building and up the stairs to the first door on the left, and knocked a few times, hoping you were home after your shift that day and you would answer the door. But he was greeted with Felix. 

Oh god… she has a boyfriend.

“Ah… I think I might have gotten the wrong pla--”

“I know you,” Felix’s deep voice startled Chan for a moment, a bit rough as it rumbled out his chest and it did not promise anything reassuring to Chan. Felix stepped outside and shut the door behind him to stand with Chan in the hallway. 

“I want to apologize to your… uh,” Chan trailed off, waiting for Felix to fill in the blank.

“Roommate? Yeah, I don't think so. She’s inside, and not going to speak to you,” Felix shot him down, shaking his head, “You and I are actually going to chat about it.”

Chan pressed his lips together as he looked at Felix, “I hurt her feelings earlier and I just didn’t want it to end like that.”

“I get that, and the fact that you’re even here in the first place is something to respect. But Listen, she doesn't remember you walking her home all those nights ago, and seeing the guy who basically spit in her face this morning at her apartment might freak her out,” Felix explains calmly, pointing to the door behind him over his shoulder.

“And Chan, Changbin, myself, and her friends at the cafe work too hard to keep her safe and protected for someone like you to come in and ruin it all,” Felix continued, leaning against the door.

“Yeah, Changbin told me about what you guys do for her, and I absolutely respect that.”

Felix’s eyebrows raise, “And if you know about her condition then you know that she can’t fall in love with you, or anyone for that matter. She will never remember you.”

“I’m not looking for a one-night stand with her.” Chan said defensively.

“Anything with Y/N is a one night stand, what aren’t you understanding?” Felix says, a hushed exasperation in his voice, “And good God, what are you doing to yourself? You spend weeks being shut down by her, finally call it quits and she’s the one shooting her shot and you cuss her out? You hit a breaking point and now you’re mad at her?” Felix’s eyes look at Chan as if he was pleading for some kind of explanation.

“I was-- She gave me her number and the idea that I couldn’t ever actually use it was enough to make me upset, and I had an outburst which is why I came to apologize,” Chan repeated.

Felix put a hand on Chan’s shoulder out of empathy, “Let up man. She can’t know you know she lives here, and you’re killing yourself doing this.”

And with that, Felix goes back inside. Chan was left standing alone with the guilt growing  in his chest as he bit down on his lip and reached into his pocket to pull out a little folded up piece of paper. He spins it in his hands before looking down at his own name on the folded receipt before tossing it onto the ground in front of your apartment, trudging away and back to his studio.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

“What can I get for you, hun?” You returning the same warm smile the man in front of you was giving you.

“Lemonade refresher and an iced americano,” He says, pulling out exact change for you, passing the coins to you, “For Chan.”

Chan. You know that name. You look up at him for a moment, studying his face for any sort of recognition in his features, but he eludes you. You reach into your pocket and feel the folded football you had on your doormat this morning before you smile at him politely again, “Of course, it’ll be ready at the end of the coffee bar.”

Chan walks away and you hurry to the backroom, pulling out the folded receipt paper and unfurling the creases in your hands to see the name and order.

Chan. A lemonade refresher and an iced americano.

Your lips part in deep thought, glancing around your shoulder and through the window at the man you had just rang out. How have you not recognized him? There’s no way he’d been here before or you’d know his name--

You quickly fold up the paper back to it’s original state before returning to the cafe, where the man, who you now know as Chan, is seated in the far back of the room. You take a deep breath and approach him with the receipt paper held tight in your hands, taking a seat in front of him.

“Do we know each other?” You ask, your brows are furrowed in confusion as you look across his face.

“Do… we?” He repeats, raising a brow at you as he chews on his lips in hesitance. 

You put the receipt football on the table and unfold it, pointing at his order and then his name as you hold it flat against the table. “I found this on my doormat this morning.”

Chan reaches forward and picks up the paper, reading the order and his name before glancing back up at you, “I mean, yeah this is me and my order, but… I don't think we’ve met. Maybe someone used the receipt I left behind to make it.”

You squint your eyes at him for a second before relaxing, “Yeah… yeah,” you repeat yourself, closing your eyes and shaking your head, “I’m sorry for that, it was weird--”

Chan lets out a laugh before holding out his hand to you, “I know you know my name, but I’m…” He hesitates for a second and meets your eyes, “Chris.”

You reach out, taking his hand, “Y/N. What about Chan?” 

“Christopher Bahng Chan,” He says with a soft laugh, “I uh, don't usually use it with people I’m not familiar with.”

“Oh, but I’m familiar to you?” You joke, placing a hand on your chest as you roll your eyes at him.

“Well, I mean I suppose you could say that.”

You smile a bit, reaching forward and picking up the little football again, flicking it towards him. You watch as he puts his hands up to stop it from hitting his chest, and laughing a bit and something felt… familiar.

"So, what's your experience level? Beginner, intermediate, or paper football prodigy?"

That’s Chris’s voice.

"Let's go with intermediate. I've had my fair share of competitive matches in my day."

That’s my voice.

"Oh, we've got a pro here. Well, prepare to face the champion."

What the fuck.

 You furrow your bows and shake your head with a soft laugh, Chris looking up at you with concern in his eyes as he reaches out and puts a hand on the table in front of you.

“Are you alright, Y/N?” 

You let out a soft laugh with a shake of your head before dropping your own hands to the table and glance up at him for a moment before speaking.

“Yeah just…” You pause, with a wave of your hand to dismiss his concerns, “intense deja vu.”

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

ending note: *insert gremlin laughter here* I am never going to hear the end of this from my best friend. I can feel it in my bones. anyway-- Enjoy!! thanks for all the love<3 -- Bunn

[aceofswcrds]

[ victoria pedretti, cis-female, she/her ] — whoa! MARY MARGARET WILKINS just stole my cab! not cool, but maybe they needed it more. they have lived in the city for THREE YEARS, working as a BARISTA at the��KITTY AND BREW. that can’t be easy, especially at only 25 YEARS OLD. some people say they can be a little bit MELANCHOLIC and SHY , but i know them to be GENTLE and WELCOMING. whatever. i guess i’ll catch the next cab. hope they like the ride back to BROOKLYN!

tw: religious trauma, homophobia, bullying, anxiety attacks.

mary is your typical textbook georgian peach... which is almost funny, because she was, indeed, born and raised in peach county, georgia. she is the baby of the family, with two elder brothers who are ten and thirteen years older than her. the wilkinses had always been a tightly-knit family, and mary had spent a lot of the time not only with her parents & her brothers, but also her grandparents — on her father's side. she never knew or met her maternal grandfathers... or the rest of her mother's family, come to think of it.

she was raised in a strict christian household and, for the longest time, it was the only life mary really knew about. she struggled making friends growing up, but it didn't really bother her as much, as she was fairly introverted and would much rather stay at home reading while the other kids played. she got along well with plenty of older teens and adults at the local bible study evenings, and, at the time, that was enough.

when mary was eleven years old, she experienced her first anxiety attack when a couple of kids from her school lured her into the local corn field and scared the living daylight out of her. ever since that event, she has a phobia of being alone: whether it's in her own house, at work, at school, or somewhere outdoors.

mary left home to pursue higher education in the big apple, with a promise to her family that she will be returning as soon as her education is finished. however, the closer she is from graduating, the more she wants to stay... which is scaring her more than she would like to admit. after all, she had never broken a promise made before, especially to her family.

while in university, she had discovered a lot of things that she has been sheltered from her entire life and is finally surrounding herself with likeminded people and friends. some of those discoveries were happier than others. her orientation falling in the category of self-discovery that genuinely scares her, because, knowing her family, they would not approve of having a gay daughter.

she is deeply closeted about her orientation, pushing it into the furthest corner of her mind and, every day, is desperately trying to "pray the gay away", because the alternative frightens her and causes the anxiety to spike more than she would like to. how dare she disappoint the people that raised her and sacrificed so much to give her the best life she could have?

today she is juggling between two majors in the nyu (theology & elementary education) and her part-time job as a barista in a cat café called kitty and brew. for the last month she has been living in a studio apartment that she shares with her boyfriend. the two had met at the university and mary moved in from an on-campus housing to his apartment after six months of dating.

mary's entire life has been based on lies from her family, disguised and wrapped in bible verses, and unknowingly she had brought those lies with her, paving her road with more and more falsehoods, which is slowly beginning to crumble upon her shoulders... but she shakes those thoughts off and keeps on going, because she can't afford to break. in truth, she isn't certain that if she would recover if it were to happen.

[kaebedom-me]

late afternoon cafe run

synopsis: you decide to head to jjk cafe for a quick pick me up but when you run into a situation involving your favourite barista you just had to step in to help him! only to be face to face with the scariest looking man you've ever seen! but wait??? he's actually really hot???

cw: yuji x reader, aged up! yuji, slight toji x reader, cafe au, fluff, nicknames (dollface, doll, cutie), toji flirting with yuji, slightly ooc! toji, i tried my best to make it gender neutral! reader, they/them pronounce, slightly proofread but not really

word count: 1885

a/n: i've been writing a lot for freyz the past two days so i wanted to write one just for me 🥺 anyways pls give love to the original pieces that freyz drew that directly inspired this fic! here, here, here and here! i also think it's fairly obvious that i have favourites- once again, my ramblings at the end!

You were annoyed. Kind of. Not entirely. But something happened and you're sort of kind of annoyed? Really, it's just an excuse to visit your favourite café a little ways away from your place. 

You had happened across it while exploring the area when you first moved to town. It had been a little busy when you went in then but the service had been phenomenal; it was a tad bit pricier than other cafés in the area but completely justifiable (to you).

The handsome pink-haired young man that had been working the cashier during your first ever visit was hands down one of the nicest people you’ve ever met in your entire life. He practically radiated with good vibes and a kind of sincerity so warm and sweet you think you could get diabetes from spending too much time with him.

He introduced himself to you as Yuji, recommended a drink and pastry, and welcomed you to the neighbourhood. And that had been the end of you, you were hooked, you knew then your soul was signed away to the sun personified to visit this café whenever you could.

Your feet were already taking you out of your door while you day-dreamed. You definitely weren’t hoping that your favourite barista was in today, no, you were going to get a quick drink then come immediately back home to work. 

You thought about what drink you wanted, this had always been your biggest problem whenever you visited them since they had such a large variety, it didn’t help that every drink you’ve tried up to this point had been delicious.

“Welcome!” A voice you recognised greeted you.

It wasn’t too busy today, there was only one massive guy that was in the queue. Your eyes quickly scanned the café, the pretty and friendly brunette was behind the coffee machine tapping away on her phone, and a flash of blonde just went to the back. You also noted the dogs that were behind the baby gates at the back of the café excitedly watching the counter, that meant the broody black-haired guy was here today.

You were practically vibrating in your spot in the queue because you didn’t have to see past the extremely well-built customer in front of you to know who was working the counter. You took out your phone to fiddle with it, trying to act cool and distract yourself.

“C’mon, sunshine, couldn’t you do it for me?” the man in front of you asked.

A shudder went straight down your spine when you heard the man in front of you speak. It sounded so impossibly deep, you subconsciously stepped back a little, mind sensing some kind of trouble. You peaked up a little from your phone to observe.

If Yuji was good vibes, then the man that stood in front of you is bad vibes, overpoweringly so. You thought he’s the exact opposite of Yuji. You could even picture in your head a very menacing and scary face for the man, you gripped your phone a little tighter, you felt like you needed to watch this man like a hawk in case something happened.

“I can’t, I’m sorry, I already made plans tonight.”

Yeah, that was definitely your favourite barista speaking. Good on Yuji for sounding so sure of himself! If you were in his place, you surely would’ve started crying at the mere sight of that scary man’s face.

“Sunshine… Please?” The man drawls, almost purrs. “I’ll buy you your favourite manga, I’d even take you out on a date as thanks if you just did this one tiny favour for me.”

You felt like you were going to wet yourself, your heartbeat was thumping so quickly in your chest. If you were in Yuji’s shoes right now, you’d definitely start crying while trying to serve danger personified. Your mind started to race. But why was he just standing there harassing Yuji?! Was he even going to order!! Did he just come in to bother Yuji because he knew Yuji couldn’t do anything but be polite while working? That’s so sick!

You weren’t sure if it had been bravery or stupidity that took over your body when you suddenly shoved your phone into your pocket. “Excuse me,” you started, mustering up your best angry scary face.

The two men turned their attention to you, confusion clearly written on their faces. You, however, were only focused on the absolute unit of a man. You had severely underestimated the height of this man; he was so huge you hadn’t even realised he was leaning down to talk to Yuji a moment ago, and now that he stood up to his actual height you seriously started to regret your decision.  

“Are you seriously talking to him like that? In broad daylight? How shameless are you?” you said through gritted, glaring at the man.

You were so proud of yourself for sounding so tough! That was until you made eye contact with the scary man. His sharp green eyes bore into yours; you felt your cheeks started to heat up and you almost fell to your knees. You were so wrong, you had it all wrong! He didn’t look anything like the mean, grungy, stink faced man you pictured! No!!! You were face to face with God’s personal favourite creation, handcrafted to perfection, an absolute beaut of a man. No, no, no. You were looking at an actual God because there was no way a human being could be this beautiful.

“I’m sorry?”

Your anger from just two seconds ago just dissipated. You were truly dumbfounded. Speechless from the sheer perfection that was this man’s face. You wanted to look away, but you had to keep looking at him; he was so mesmerising, there’s no way you could physically tear your eyes away from him.

“Fushiguro-san, don’t scare them!” Yuji’s voice pulled you out of your trance.

You watched on as this “Fushiguro-san” eyed you then back at Yuji, his eyes seemed to have sparked a little with recognition before a sly grin started to form on his lips. Your eyes caught the movement, subconsciously flickering down to see the scar on his lip stretch. He let out a hearty laugh.

Something about the way he looked right now made you almost lower your guard. But no! You had to keep it together, in your gut you think you know he’s not to be trusted, you’re just temporarily blinded is all!!

“Listen,” he chuckled, and, oh God, maybe the feeling of wanting to wet yourself hasn’t gone away after all. “It’s a misunderstanding. Promise, dollface.”

“Fushiguro-san!” Yuji huffed.

Fushiguro-san turned his attention back to Yuji and gave him a pout. You briefly wondered how you’d react if Fushiguro-san, in all his glory, gave you that look. You think you’d cry.

“I won’t take your shift tonight and that’s final,” chastised Yuji. “Also, stop trying to hand your shifts to people at the last minute because you don’t feel like working.”

Just then, the tall blonde walked out from the kitchen with a tray of hot pastries, Yuji moved to help the blonde with the tray.

Fushiguro-san turned to you again and offered you another smile. “Worth the shot, yeah?”

You weren’t able to answer. Not when he looked so charming. Your brain steaming up while trying to process how it was physically possible to switch up his demeanour so quickly from a beast to the most charming, handsome man you’ve ever seen.

“Come here often?” He asked you.

Your eyes snapped back to meet his. As if really compelled by God himself, you nodded yes to his question.

“Good,” his voice drops, purring the same way he did to Yuji. Fushiguro-san barely had to step at all to get into your space, he leaned down so close to you, you could drown in his cologne. “Come by later next time, while I’m on shift. I’ll treat you to something as pretty as yourself.”

You gasped. You tell yourself it must be because you had been holding your breath, not because of Fushiguro-san, no way his charms were working on you. No, it’s definitely because you’re so scared right now.

Fushiguro-san hummed, eying you like prey. “Cat got your tongue? What happened to your spunk, doll?”

“Ah! Toji-san!! I told you not to scare them!” Yuji’s voice pulled Fushiguro-san’s attention away from you, much to your dismay.

Fushiguro-san laughed and reached over to ruffle Yuji’s hair, mumbling about how he was just messing around. He then turned to you to excuse himself and walked toward the back where the dogs were. They were jumping and whining, incredibly eager to greet him. You watched as he dug out a couple of treats from his pocket and fed it to the dogs.

“I’m really sorry about that,” Yuji pouted a little when you looked back at him. “Fushiguro-san just likes to mess with people because he can.”

You nodded, still feeling a little dumbfounded. “Ah,” you let out when it finally connected in your head that they were co-workers, possibly even friends. Man, you really wanted to be swallowed up by the ground right now.

“Thank you for standing up for me though! I appreciate it!”

You met Yuji’s eyes bashfully; he truly was an angel.

“Do you want your usual?” Asked Yuji sweetly. “Nanami-san just whipped out a fresh batch of croissants, we have your favourite today too!”

“I think I’ll do my usual and the croissant,” you finally started to relax again.

“Of course! Please, have a seat. It’ll be on me today as thanks,” he offered.

You protested him, you hadn’t done much you told him. But Yuji was very insistent, already stepping to the side to grab the croissants he laid out with Nanami-san earlier. He wanted to properly thank you. You stood there, watching him, you didn’t think you’d be this helpless when you walked into the café today.

Yuji quickly came out from behind the counter with the croissant and a small selection of spreads that he knows you like. He then guided you to the seat you’re fond of, asking about your day and how you’re feeling. Sweet Yuji even pulled out the chair for you, too! Oh, your heart can’t possibly take this.

He set down the still warm croissant in front of you and smiled at you again. “I’ll go make that drink for you now, okay? If you need anything else, please call for me!”

“Thank you,” you sighed, looking up at him. Today sure was something.

“Anything for you, cutie,” Yuji winked. “I’ll be right back!”

Your heart almost stopped for the umpteenth time today. You felt heat rushing back into your cheeks, muttering a small “yeah” to Yuji before shyly turning away.

You’re not sure if you’re able to return here again after the mess that was today. You snuck a glance at Yuji who was humming away behind the counter making your drink. Then you looked at Fushiguro-san who had just finished playing with the dogs; he turned to you as he was walking, you chalked it up to some sort of delusion or hallucination when you thought you saw him wink at you before disappearing into the back.

No, yeah, you’re definitely coming back. 

i like to think that toji's nice and chill in this au because everything is nice and chill that is why he is the way he is uwu

he just looks scary kinda like a bear uwu

aged up! adult! yuji because i want it to be

also I'm a huge advocate for toji/ita actually so that's why they're like that in the story

this route is supposed to be yuji x reader x toji for me 🥺 LOL

harem au when? they all want you 10/10 best route

also, i couldn't fit it in the story but toji can be read as a brother to megumi rather than dad. ofc he can still be megupapa but i thought oniisan toji is very good very cute too

yuji and sukuna are twins but contrary to popular hcs i hc sukuna is baby brother uwu

panda is panda in this au i like to think uwu

choso is biggest bro in the itadori family, followed by eso and kechizu

it's actually a very rowdy time when reader eventually has to sit down to have dinner with the itadori brothers as his official lover

[linn-94]

Chapter 7: I'm so sorry

The next morning I woke up happy but tired. I tossed and turned a lot that night. Thinking about everything that had been said in the messages. But most of all I was nervous.

I got into the shower and washed my hair. Got dressed and did my make up. I decided on wearing a short skirt with little flowers and a white top. For make up it was just some mascara and a lipgloss.

I was just about to put my white converse on when I heard someone knocking at my door.

I opened the door and there he was. He smiled at me and then hugged me.

"Goodmorning Sophie." He said calmly but also sounding a bit nervous.

"Morning Aaron." I responded.

It was quiet for a moment, we just looked at each other.

"Are you ready for breakfast?" Aaron asked trying to make conversation.

"Yes almost, I have to put on my Converse and get my bag out of my room. But come in and make yourself at home."

Aaron walked into the apartment and looked around.

"Great place you have here!" Aaron said.

"Thank you, I was very lucky to get it." I almost screamed from the other room.

Then I walked back into the living space. "It's not big, but it's also not the smallest place I ever saw." I said lauging.

"I think it's a great place!" Aaron said.

"So you ready to go?" He asked.

I nodded and we both walked to the door, he opened it for me and let me go out first. Then he shut the door and we walked out of my building.

"So where do you want to go for coffee and breakfast?" I asked him.

"Well we could go to Starbucks? I know it's maybe not breakfastish, but I always like the coffee there."

"Yes, Starbucks is fine with me." I said.

We walked down the streets in midtown Manhattan. Looking for a Starbucks where we could sit and talk quietly.

We walked in silence, both of us not knowing what to say to each other. Then I started the conversation again.

"Do you have a show again tonight?"

"Yes at 7 pm I have a show again, so we have time." He said smiling.

I smiled back and liked the fact that he mentioned we got time. He was not in a hurry and I liked that.

We finally found a Starbucks with a big seating area so we went inside.

"What coffee do you want?" He asked me.

"Oh I can order myself, just order what you want and I will be behind you."

"No no, I want to pay for you coffee." He said.

"Caramel Macchiatto will be fine, thanks." I said blushing.

"Anything to eat? You can not live only on that coffee."

"Uhm cinnamon roll please."

Aaron ordered our drinks and food and I looked for a place where we could sit.

Aaron sat down with me.

"I forgot to say how beautiful you look today." He blushed when he said it.

"Well Tveit, you don't look bad yourself today."

It turned quiet again and we could only look at each other and smile. We were interupted by the barista calling out our order.

Aaron walked over and got our coffee and food.

"Here you go!" He said. Handing me my coffee and cinnamon roll.

"So Sophie, when did you move to New York?"

"A few months ago. I'm originally from Philadelphia, but it was time for me to move."

"Why was it time? Was it not fun anymore?"

"No it was still fun, I mean my whole family lives there and I love them more than anything in the world. It's just.. uhmm.."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to" Aaron said.

"I want to tell you, but it's hard.. It's still fresh in my mind."

Aaron laid his hand on mine and started rubbing his thumb over it.

I relaxed a bit and decided to tell him anyway. Sooner or later I had to tell the story, so it was better to do it know. Rip it off like a bandaid.

"When I lived in Philadelphia I had a relationship with this guy. We knew each other from high school and a few years later we saw each other again. I had always liked him, but thought he was too cool for me. I wasn't in his league."

I turned silent again. Aarons hand was still on mine, he didn't say anything, but I could tell from his face that he was listening.

"When we met after those few years we went out on a date and he told me that he had like me for a long time also. I couldn't be more happy and we started a relationship right away. The first two years were perfect. We did everything together, he was loving and caring. We were making plans for the future, like buying a house and talk about marriage. But after two years he turned distant.

Everytime I wanted to go out on a date or just chill at home together he had an excuse. He didn't text me as much as he did and we only saw each other at most twice a week. I knew he had a busy job with long hours. But still I was thinking it was all me. That I didn't treat him well, that I wasn't pretty enough anymore."

A tear stroke down my cheek. I rubbed it away quickly hoping that Aaron didn't notice.

"One day I decided to surprise him at work. I thought that I needed to show him more love. So I made lunch and brought it to his office. When I walked into his office he was not alone. I saw him making out half naked with another girl. A co-worker of him. I knew her because in the two years that we had a great time, that girl had dinner with us a lot of times. I dropped the lunch on the ground and ran out of the office, out of the building. He came running after me screaming he was sorry and that it was not what I thought it was.

I dumped him right away and never saw him again. He tried to text me sometimes. I never responded.

Later I found out that he was seeing that at least for a year already. And they also made plans to move in together."

Now the tears were streaming down my face.

Aaron was looking at me with tears in his eyes.

He grabbed both of my hands and looked me deep into my eyes. Then he started talking.

"Sophie I'm so sorry you had to go through that. But please know that you're perfect and that it wasn't your fault at all. You don't derserve guys like that. You deserve a guy who puts you on the first place. It's so wrong what he did and I'm so so sorry."

He pulled me into a hug, a very long and tight hug.

[officialleehadan]

Bring a Crowbar

Hello darlings! Today’s story was brought to you by L! Darling, thank you so much for all your support. It means absolutely everything to me! Enjoy!

Prompt: "Snatch everything not nailed down, and for anything that is, bring a pry bar!" —Old Khajiit Proverb.

+++

“So, I hear that you have a very interesting history before you were a lawman.”

The accent was Texan. The voice was Leonardo’s.

Will turned to see the thief leaning against the wooden bar of the coffee shop. They had the best lox in the city, and Will stopped in for breakfast at least twice a week, and for coffee more often than that. Apparently Leonardo had taken it as an ideal place to arrange a meeting. Will wasn’t entirely sure why the thief had come looking for him outside their official contact, but he didn’t particularly mind.

“I’m very good at what I do,” he said, and took his bagel and lox with a nod for the barista behind the counter. “Are you joining me?”

“Didn’t know I rated a breakfast invitation,” Leonardo said, and eyed the bagel. “Is that as good as it looks?”

“Best in the city. I’ll meet you at the corner table,” Will told him and left Leonardo to order his own breakfast. I wasn’t long until Leonardo joined him, bagel and tea in hand. Will noted the tea but didn’t comment on it. “So, is there a reason you’ve decided to accost me before I even make it into the office?

“I’ve been doing some digging,” Leonardo said and set his tea aside to cool while he went for his bagel. Will let him talk and got started on his breakfast. “I like to know who I’m working with, you see, and while you’ve been interesting, our little game of cat and mouse over the last two years, I didn’t know as much about you as I’d like.”

“Dig up anything juicy?” Will asked, unconcerned. His record was either sealed or expunged thanks to his work with the Department of Justice, and Alexis knew everything there was to know about his choice of work before he signed on with the DoJ. So did Vanessa, for that matter. There wasn’t much Leonardo could dig up that he wasn’t willing to discuss over coffee. Frankly, Leonardo would probably be more bothered by some of his history than Will was. “I’m a big topic.”

“I was surprised. I took you for a clever government lackey, not a thief with a reputation almost as impressive as mine.”

Leonardo tried for arrogance, but Will could hear the way his Texas drawl went uncertain around the edges. He must have found quite lot, then, including the trail of bodies Will left behind him during his last spectacular heist. He had taken close to eight million off a crime family, but they realized what he was up to on the way out and he had to shoot his way out.

Leonardo might not be a violent thief, but Will, he had been plenty violent in his time.

“I did have something of a reputation for stealing anything not nailed down,” Will admitted and raise his coffee to Leonardo like it was a wine glass. “And for bringing a crowbar for whatever was.”

“Takes a thief to catch one, does it?”

“We have more in common than you think. I jumped ship to the legal forces for the same reason you reached out to me.”

Will’s own catalyzing moment had been a human trafficking ring. He had been approached for his skill at avoiding security systems supposedly as a consult to one of the bigger organized crime families around. The work was fun, paid a fortune, and wasn’t overly problematic, morally speaking.

Right on up to the moment he discovered that the shipment he was organizing was thirty-two women and girls, all under the age of twenty.

He met Alexis three hours later. Given, his entrance into her life had consisted of a series of tips to start with. Nameless, faceless, but detailed enough for her to action on immediately. The girls had been saved, and Will had managed to walk away clean.

That time.

Eventually though, after several years of quietly tipping Alexis off, she reached out with a job offer straight from DoJ brass.

So will left his old life of thievery behind in favor of more interesting puzzles catching the kind of people he used to be. It was good timing after that last heist. He had enemies he couldn’t handle on his own.

So his last big heist turned into his first big bust, and his place in the Department was sealed.

Leonardo was considering him carefully, and was doodling idly on his paper napkin with a cheap ballpoint pen. Will’s own face looked back at him, complete with a cowboy hat. Will was pleased to see that the hat itself was white. Leonardo was too smart not to understand the symbolism of white hats versus black ones. It was a remarkable drawing, considering they had only been sitting for a few minutes.

“it’s interesting to see the difference between your reputations,” he said after a while. His eyes were on the other patrons, but his hand didn’t stop moving, idly shading in the portrait of Will. “It took some work you know. Finding out who you were. The DoJ vanished your old life properly.”

“They’ll do it for you too if you stay useful and ask nicely,” Will pointed out with a chuckle. His bagel was gone, and so was most of his coffee. “Is there a reason for this morning chat?”

“I like to know who I’m working with,” Leonardo reiterated. “Your reputation as a thief is interesting. Your reputation for treating criminals well is more interesting.”

“Most people get into the life because they have no other choice,” Will said reasonably. He had gotten into it because he was poor, and good at the work. Leonardo probably had done the same. “So, do I pass the test?”

“Not yet, but the essay part of the diagnostic is over,” Leonardo said, and grinned as he stood. “There’s a package waiting for you at work. Can’t imagine who it’s from. Have fun, Cowboy. I expect we’re going to have a very interesting week.”

+++

Confidence Scheme:

Deliberately Careless (Subscriber Only!)

Pure Guess

Phone Trace (Subscriber Only!)

De Vinci Terrace (Subscriber Only!)

Criminal Portraiture (Subscriber Only!)

Evidence Report

Bring a Crowbar (New!)

+++

MASTERLIST

[jerseyoklahomo]

Day 48

Running on very little sleep because my roommate had to wake for his first day of work at 4am and snored loudly until so, I started the day in great spirits. I give today an B+ overall.

Some great things I accomplished today were:

Woke up and cooked breakfast/packed lunch for the day

Made it to my first day of IOP on time

Participated in IOP group by sharing a bit of my story

Met my primary therapist, who I really like. Fatima is her name. She seems to get me and I vibe with her really well. She is a student right now, so she actually used my clinical intake as an example for her class and recorded the session (with my consent, of course). I opened up to her and shared a lot. I need to remember that I relate to women who are LGBT+ allies more closely than any other demographic when it comes to therapy.

Set up my treatment plan with Fatima.

Participated in meditation in IOP.

Visited and applied at Bath & Body Works, Cheesecake Factory, and Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. (All seemed like good prospects)

Applied at many hotels via Indeed.

Started looking for barista jobs! ☕️

Set up interviews for Wednesday with CRM for a GM of a laundromat.

Set up interview with Smash Burger for a supervisor position. 🍔

Reached out to some dude about a pizza place about to open with a Now Hiring sign near my therapy office.

Attended AA meeting

Shared in meeting

Dinner/Fellowship with new friends. I didn’t spend any $$. 💧 water please

See “UGH!!!” below (Developed a school boy crush on a guy) 👨🏾‍❤️‍💋‍👨🏻

Sent my gratitude list to my sponsor and checked in with him.

Prayed! Multiple times.

Spoke to my Mom!

Today was an overall great day. It was a bit chill, but I was all set with my hefty hoodie. I was so pleased to have kept myself positive throughout the day. Today was the first time I didn’t really think about that urge to walk into a place and get a drink since I’ve been in New Jersey and free from the #hab.

With my counselor I came to the realization that I wasn’t giving myself credit for the things I’ve done this week for self-care. Monday to Monday, my first week, and I have already started to build a sober network, began therapy, learned the NJ bus/light rail/PATH/NY Subway, updated my resume, applied to over 50 jobs, had 2 interviews, kept my cool and sobriety, made the CHOICE to go to IOP and be present, made it to a meeting every day since Tuesday, walked 6+ miles each day, got a sponsor, and made new sober friends. Phew. I actually was getting down on myself for not finding a job yet, but I stopped and looked at it and I’m doing okay. Yes, the job is a major priority, but I feel like my priorities are in the right direction to make everything successful.

I’ve decided to broaden my search to Brooklyn for jobs. I also have decided to look for barista jobs in Manhattan. I also need to work on my reasons why I moved to New York story for everybody that asks.

Okay, time for bed says the melatonin.