#miles will forever remain ace in my heart

[adozentothedawn]

I would like to congratulate Klavier Gavin for both the worst aa name and also being the first prosecuter with pretty much no dirt on him. I am impressed and will be adding him to my (slightly) sad boy collection.

also klapollo is better than writghworth

althought the ship name is terrible and i hate it

[imsosocold]

Thank you so much for your answers :D :D :D In both cases Manfred being a father would really really make the guilt worse, wouldn't it.

In the Yogi AU I just had this very vivid image of Miles visiting his father and them each putting a hand together against the glass, and of that one scene in Dumbo you know with him visiting his mom, and Manfred seeing this and being like "damn. This is going farther than I thought it would. Why am I having Emotions." I wonder if Miles goes to the police at some point to try and confess to the crime? Would Manfred try to prevent him from doing so, potentially leading to harsh arguments, or does he try to tell himself he doesn't care and if Miles wants to go to prison then Manfred certainly will indulge him? Franziska would certainly be very mad at Miles for doing something like that...

And in the Miles AU, do you think Manfred would try to stop Gregory from going to the Feys? Because Gregory doesn't really need him to do so, and I'm not sure how Manfred would prevent him. I think it's more likely he'd just try to convince Gregory the Feys are frauds and such pitiful supernatural nonsense won't bring him closure. Does the truth come out at any point? Or does Miles's death remain forever unsolved? If Phoenix still goes on to become a defense attorney (which I think most likely than not, and not just because of the "honoring Miles's memory" thing; I love a good "Phoenix is Elle Woods" meme as much as anybody else and will make the joke ad nauseam but being a lawyer just suits him so well, he's got a HUGE hero syndrome and that is the ideal outlet for him), does Gregory take him under his wing? Does Phoenix intern at Edgeworth Law Offices rather than Fey & Co.?

I think that in the Miles AU Gregory's perceptive, beyond his devastating grief that is, would be interesting... because Yogi would insist he is innocent, wouldn't he. I wonder if Gregory goes to hear him out. I cannot imagine him defending him, but just... trying to get closure maybe? And Yogi insisting that he's innocent, he didn't do it, and insisting to Gregory's face that "you're a defense attorney, you've got to believe me, I didn't kill your kid" and Gregory being torn between "he's behaving exactly like all my clients" and "he was the only one who could do it, the gall he has to lie to my face"... I can see him investigating obsessively, looking for the third option... and Manfred catching wind of what he's doing and on one hand he feels for him but on the other hand this cannot go on. Gregory cannot be allowed to find the truth... quite the pickle, as another prosecutor would say x)

Anyway hhhhh sorry about the ramble your ideas ignited something in me. Thank you so much for answering and have a nice trip!!

Don’t ever apologize for rambling, I love that my idea made you happy and even inspired you!  Yes, Manfred’s greatest weakness is that he’s a family man at heart ( forever thinking about the anime only episode where Manfred, at Franziska’s demand, takes her and Miles to fucking build-a-bear and IHOP, the  highlight of the Ace Attorney series.)  For the Yogi au, the scene with with Gregory and Miles is… so…good…the best thing I’ve eaten today! Manfred would tell himself he doesn’t  care if Miles incriminates himself, less trouble for him, but Manfred would stop Miles every single time, assuring him it’s not his fault ( which is one of the few truths Manfred has given Miles) and that Miles shouldn’t waste this opportunity of life Gregory gave him. Which is meant to be encouraging and to inspire Miles but just makes him feel even more guilty and undeserving of everything he has :(.  Franziska definitely would be confused and concerned and upset, even more so when she learns Miles’s behavior isn’t just something she can fix with her whip or her father. It’d probably drive her deeper into her career as a prosecutor. For the Miles au, I imagine at the start, when emotions are fresh, Gregory would absolutely hold no sympathy for Yogi, especially considering the attack in the elevator. Manfred would definitely be influencing Gregory negatively as well, perhaps even being the one to prosecute Yogi in court. But as more time goes on and the feelings of pain and guilt and wrongness don’t go away, Gregory probably start to question the events that occurred and inevitably Yogi’s potential innocence. For the Fey stuff, I think Manfred and Gregory would be practically codependent at this point, and Gregory thinking Manfred, who’s been there for him ever since the loss of his son, would give him the best advice regarding his actions, including attempting to contact a spirit medium to get closure.  Manfred naturally would be like “ no no no no they’re all shams trust me bro the man who’s entire lineage is chained down by the living concept of karma don’t do this please” in all his cool, calculated charisma.  ( Though Manfred does individual investigation with the supernatural himself… Frankenstein au, anyone ?) I love the idea of Phoenix working with Gregory instead of Mia, and I think that, due to both of their determination and skills, the truth WOULD come out eventually. Of course, that’d open a whole new can of worms, especially with how close Gregory and Manfred are. I hope you enjoyed anon, thanks for the interest and asks. My main journey is going back to the place I was born in an attempt of healing. It’s been fun so far though I nearly passed out multiple times from all the walking I’ve been doing lmao.

[everafterkeiji]

Song: drivers license by Olivia Rodrigo

Summary: How the flashing lights in the street bring you to the moment that was once yours and Oikawas.

Parings: Tooru Oikawa x fem! reader

Word count: 7.3k

Genre: angst

A/N: fuck it honestly, self control we don't know her boo, pls be careful with the flashbacks and little details, enjoy pt. 1 <33

next

"Can't you give me just one more kiss?" Oikawa begs, leaning his arm behind your seat as you see his irresistible pout resting on his lips. You chuckle before leaning close to him and him copying your actions.

Lips lingering with each other, as he removes his arm behind you to ghost upon your cheek. It was so intoxicating, a distance too great that was covered in tension. He glides his finger through your lips before resting it on your chin.

"Run away with me."

He states, closing his eyes and leaning his forehead to yours with a shaky sigh, his hand now running through the hair from the back of your neck. You smile at his words, caressing his arm, shutting your eyes like he did, embracing his warmth in his car.

"And we'd go everywhere?"

"Everywhere, any time, you name it babe." He whispers with desperation in his tone. This close. Why can't he hold you like this forever? A tear nearly escapes his eye as he cherishes your touch. Why did he have to lose contact with his true self?

He opens his eyes to see yours closed and in full serenity. He bites his lip before allowing the tears to cast down his cheeks. He tried not to sniffle so you'd let this moment last without any trace of pain.

"In that case, I'm not driving."

You joked, making him let out a soft laugh as he wipes his tears before you can see. Instead, he leans in finally breaking the distance between you two. You kissed back, not knowing his cheeks were tear stained as he lets his lips tell his apology. This wasn't him, this wasn't a kiss that could last more than once.

He hesitantly pulls away as you caress his cheeks as he leans into your touch, melting in the skin he's adored every inch of. He takes in the way you stared at him, the lights of the passing cars glowing on your face as his hands shakes at the sight of you.

He wished the silence wouldn't give out how painful it was to watch you like this, so with a disguise, he smiles.

"You'll be able to in the future." He says, earning him an ache to surround his heart. You intertwine your hands with his, your thumb assuring him since you've noticed a change in his aura.

"Maybe, but it's still you and me right?"

His eyes wander around his car, reminiscing on each memory that you've made in just a vehicle. Every moment where you'd leave the window open, freedom in your clutch. Every time your voices were close to being gone from furiously shouting the lyrics. All the times you'd rather sleep in his car and run from your problems. Even the random placements of clothes from the two of you, to scattered photographs and snack wrappers.

Just one more, Tooru.

"You and me, love. That's all it takes. "

You let your head rest on his shoulder as he turns on the engine, surprising you with your hands still intertwined with his.

"What'd you say babe? One last drive?"

You nod happily as he chuckles looking at you before driving, his facade weakening with every mile.

One more.

-

"Pick up, Tooru!" You shout, aggressively clicking the button on your phone as each call was heard with his voice mail. You threw the phone to the floor as you let out a scream, your throat begging you to stop torturing yourself.

"Pick up!" You scream once again before lying down on the bed, not giving a care that your sobs echoed outside his apartment. Your cheeks were warm, with heavy eyes and mascara staining the pillow cases. Tears nonstop with the crumpled paper in your hand. Shaking uncontrollably as you denied what he's done.

Running to your door, the breeze greeting your legs since you wore his hoodie to sleep and little shorts to cover the weather. Frantically turning left and right to reach the entrance of the building.

You let your hand cover your mouth as you see his car nowhere in your sight. You gripped on the handle of the door to steady yourself from falling, with your sob catching the attention of strangers.

"Y/N! Fuck- I'm here- hey I'm here."

Clouded with water, you barely recognize the person who was hugging you tightly. Falling to the rough surface of the ground, he joined you in your downfall and it seemed that nothing made sense anymore. The noise of the world drifted far from you as the only sound that replayed was his words, and you despised it.

How come it was only you?

"Y/N- I got you, it's okay now." Iwaizumi whispers but you shook your head punching his back as you fell into a state you didn't know Oikawa could put you in, solitude.

Iwaizumi hated hearing you cuss at the universe. It still scares him the way the color was drained out of your body when he saw you got out of the apartment looking like an absolute tragedy. Your punches felt numb to him but he couldn't ignore how painful it was to hear you scream Oikawa names, and for him to desperately come back.

"W-why-" You couldn't form the words properly since you were having trouble breathing. Iwaizumi carried you in his arms since he noticed your knee had been scraped, as he tried his hardest not to fall in rage for his best friend.

"I'll be here. C'mon, let's calm you down yeah?" He assures you making you nod, left with no energy but what remained was your heart torn by the person you loved the most.

-

You woke up to Iwaizumis voice making you shift in the sheets, mistaking him for your Tooru. When you opened your eyes, you didn't see your favorite pair of brown eyes instead you were face to face with the same hue but a different person.

"Y/N- hey I got somewhere to go to today but I made breakfast, is that okay?" He asks softly, a comforting hand to your shoulder. You nod as he smiles standing up to open the curtains now that you were wide awake.

"Thank you, Hajime." You bid him as he sits down on the bed, beside you. You turn to where he is and stare at him, overwhelmed with how he chose to stay.

"I'll be gone for half the day." He states as you sit up slowly, rubbing your eyes.

"I've never seen a birds nest this up close before." He jokes making you glare at him before punching his shoulder as he laughs.

"Says the fucking spikey ass hair." You threw back as he laughs, delighted that your past self was resurfacing every now and then.

"What about you? Don't you have any plans today?" He asks as you check your phone. You sigh as you saw the reminder on your phone as he takes a peak and his heart drops at it.

"It's nothing."

"You have to go. "

"It doesn't matter anymore."

"Okay now put your foot here babe." You obeyed Oikawas words as he pecks your cheek. Before you could insert the key in, he stops you. Questioning him, he turns to you with a smug smirk before leaning close to your lips.

You expected him to kiss you the way that he does but instead he pulls away before strapping you in, putting your safety first before kissing you. He laughs at how you were clearly upset that he lead you on. He strapped himself in as well.

"You'll get that kiss if we make it out here alive." He jokes as you gasp in betrayal, making him stick out his tongue, still taunting you.

"I'm kidding baby! But you will get that kiss when we reach that pole over there." You glanced to where he was pointing as you sighed in relief at how easy it was. Turning on the engine, he smiles at how eager you were to succeed.

"Then I'll get us there."

"Y/N-" he bites his lips before he could throw you something he'd regret. You look to him, wondering why he became silent. Clicking in your mind that he's being careful with his words since Oikawa left, you leaned your head on his arm.

"I know, Iwa. I'm sorry." You apologized so suddenly, surprising him that you'd catch up on his behavior. He shakes his head before wrapping his arm around yours, just like he always would.

"I know how much this means to you. Hate me for saying this, but he'd be proud to see you get it." He says, making you smile at how honest he was. If he were here, he'd immediately bring you to your favorite restaurant and go all out just because you aced it. To others, it'd look like another step into growing up, learning how to drive and how to maintain the quality of the car.

It wouldn't be this important if his words didn't paint you perfect memories.

"You know what makes me so excited?" Oikawa asks as you continued to run your fingers through his brown locks. His head was laid on your lap as he draws constellations in the air, smiling to himself.

"What is it babe?"

"I'll get my drivers license." You whispered as Iwaizumi pats your hair, happy that you managed to push yourself through that cloud of sorrow.

"Okay that is extremely random, Tooru." You chuckled but he shakes his head before sitting up to meet with you. Slowly, he pulls you into his lap as you wrap your arms around his neck as his hand loosely finds its home to your waist.

"We don't have to wait anymore, think about it." He asks making you focus on what he's hinting to. Once he realizes you couldn't figure it out, he chuckles before pulling you to him gently. Your heart beating too quickly for you to even realize that it felt normal for you to be this dangerously close to him.

"We can come home to each other."

At first you questioned why he was so worked up in teaching you how to drive and finally getting your drivers license, but now it was too clear for you and you hated it.

"Call me when you get it ok? Maybe by dinner we can celebrate?" Iwaizumi suggests as you nod, genuinely smiling that he was there to celebrate with you. You immediately wrap your arms around him as he does the same, closing his eyes, proud of you.

"You got this." He whispers as you embraced him longer, desperately wanting to cry at how thankful you were for him. Iwaizumi feels a flush to his cheeks as he pulls away, fearful of the pace of his heart.

"Well don't get my shirt wet with your tears again- I need to look presentable!" He jokes make you wipes your eyes as he smiles when he hears your laugh.

-

Hajime: I'm sorry I can't make it tonight, Y/N. I'll promise I'll make it up to you by morning.

That was the message that was sent to you hours ago yet here at 11pm, you were staring at the movie in the ceiling. Oikawa insisted buying a projector for the two of you to enjoy movies in the comfort of your own space. So using it now felt nostalgic remembering how much he loved this movie.

Sighing, you sat up as you lift the drink to your lips, relieved at the sensation of alcohol entering your mouth. It's been a while since you've got a hold of it. Iwaizumi being protective of the amount you could consume while he was gone so he kept the alcohol cabinet away from you. He promised that he'd allow you to drink once a month because he was indeed worried for your health if you allowed yourself to drink everyday.

On this day, you chose to ask him if it'd be okay to drink. Understanding the pain that you were in, he agreed. Before he went away, he got the key and unlocked the cabinet handing you your favorite drink. You thanked him as usual, now being satisfied with being alone with a bottle of liquor that could temporarily drown the pain.

Hearing a smack from where the projector was set up, the bright lights of the ending movie flashed through your eyes so you shield yourself from it. You immediately turn your back to the projector that was now facing you since it's lost it balance from your previous angle.

The credits rolled in as you reached for your laptop to stop the screening but then another video plays, making you read the date of the video.

"Hello! Unfortunately I'm still here in the car but I'm making this video as proof if I died, it's because of my girlfriend right here who can't drive properly."

It's him.

Turning your attention to the video playing in front of you. You scoot to the left so your silhouette doesn't create a barrier while you watched.

You had a hand to your mouth, lost at words for this unexpected video to play. His voice immediately brought you to tears as you gripped the pillow beside you as your laughter in the video echoed in the background.

"For the record- I'm learning so get this camera away from me, Tooru!" You defended yourself as Oikawa looks at the camera before rolling his eyes.

"On this episode, I'm teaching her how to park! So wish me good luck- maybe prepare a casket for my car." You immediately slap his shoulder as he lets a loud laugh. He sets the camera in a better landscape angle.

You smiled at his teases. It struck you how much you missed his little remarks that would always make your day. Wiping the tears from your eyes, you watched the way he looks at you as you tried to figure out which direction to turn to. His stare was one of the things many people wished they could experience.

A look as if you were the reason they believed in love and how endless it was.

Surprisingly, in your last drive, he still looked at you the same way.

Your chest tightens as you fell for his illusion. It felt like it'd be an eternity for you to move on from how he looked that night. You should've asked him why a tear landed on your clothes, why was his fingers cold and trembling? You thought that his kiss felt like the one you'd receive when you finally hear the priest bid you two as husband and wife but it was a kiss that held farewell in secret.

"Would you look at that! I'm alive and barely a scratch on my car so far- good job baby!" He cheers engulfing you in his arms. You swarmed him in sweet and tiny kisses as he giggles at each one before placing a delicate to your lips, closing his eyes as you pull him closer placing your hand on his cheek.

You wondered if there was something that could hold you back from how much you allowed yourself to endure the pain this long. Moving closer to the wall, your chest heavily coming up and down, difficulty in finding a way to breathe properly.

Kneeling to reach him, you let your hand touch the wall as your hand lands in Oikawas face as he laughs at something you said in the video. You felt how you closed your eyes and reminiscing on what it felt like to hold him in your hands again. His soft lips, his skin that warms you up during your cuddles, his hair that would be snuggled in your neck when he embraced you.

"I love you, Y/N."

He says, leading you to sob as you turned away from the wall, the light of the projector passing through you as you dropped to the bed with knees to your chest, the walls of the room was familiarized with your cries again.

You felt every part of you crumble as you continued to scream, having another miserable night. You'd rise from your knee from time to time to gasp for air from the unstable breathing.

You felt like a stranger to him.

That alone was enough for you to be swallowed by darkness once again.

-

How careless was he to assume you'd give him a call?

You're probably out with Iwaizumi celebrating and driving freely with him. Oikawa sighs as he removes the reminder from his phone as he takes another punch to the steering wheel as he feels the irony hit him that he's jealous of his best friend.

For someone who has been with you since you went to Aoba Johsai, Iwaizumi would've been perfect for you, Oikawa thinks. To keep you grounded, to take his position in making you the happiest.

He's everything Oikawa is but the difference is that Iwaizumi was the one who could give you more, and importantly, he stayed.

And nothing scared the setter more than to lose you to a person that can truly love you more than he ever could.

Though it feels like he's defeated already.

"Sir! Good morning, this is Oikawa from room 104?" He greets through the phone as the man smiles fondly at the sweet boy who he's seen chasing around in the hallway with his girlfriend.

"Ah! Mr. Oikawa! I barely see you nowadays what happened?" Oikawa sighs, running a hand through his hair, debating on what answer to give to the landlord.

"I've been okay sir, I just called to ask about the payment due-"

"No worries Oikawa-kun, the man took care of it for this month!"

Man?

"E-excuse me sir?"

His heart was beating too loudly at the sudden information. What man? He feels sweat rushing to him, heavily anxious of what happened to you and his apartment.

"Hajime was it? Ah anyway he's covered it this time!"

Iwaizumi?

It felt as if he was struck down by force as he drops to his couch with his mouth agape and eyes widened with his heart raging too fast for his liking. He let out a gasp, putting each piece into its place as he feels a swift of the threatening atmosphere surround him, along with anger.

"H-he's my friend sir- does he stop by often?" He asks, biting his fingers in anxiousness. With his other hand, he reaches for a pillow, gripping it tightly like he'd want it to collapse in his hand.

"Often? He lives there silly. I was honestly surprised you'd let him but I guess young love isn't for everyone, son."

He didn't even notice that he's thrown the pillow all the way across the room as he stands up, his phone held tightly in his hands, wanting nothing more than to be slammed to the floor but with sourness in his tone, regret in his heart then he replies.

"You're right."

After that day, even if it's been months since he was informed, he chose to feel numb but there was a tug on his heart at the thought of Iwaizumi taking care of you. You deserved every ounce of effort that the ace gives you. Oikawa is more than thankful that Iwaizumi was there to wipe your tears and embrace you since he was the one to cause you this overwhelming amount of pain.

But he didn't expect this.

"Iwa-chan, how are you?" He asks with envy hidden from his true intentions of calling him. Iwaizumi stretches, tired from the workout as he answers the boy.

"I'm tired. What about you?" Oikawa lets out a mocking laugh as he leans on the couch, hands behind his head but both hands were formed into fists as he converses with him.

"I'm sure Y/N is there to patch you up huh?" He exclaims making Iwaizumi sit up, nervous at the outburst but then he looks at the apartment, seeing your sleeping state on the couch, and he sighs. Oikawa was bound to know sooner or later.

"I'm sorry Oikawa but-"

"Hajime that's my apartment!"

"And she was your girl wasn't she? But where are you right now!"

He was at lost for words, like the life of him was knocked out of him, deeply taking in Iwaizumis words. It was unhealthy with how much he was shaking and how he felt so cold and empty. On the other end, Hajime bites his lip, suddenly regretting his words but he can't turn back knowing it struck a nerve to Oikawa.

"Oikawa, listen to me." Iwaizumi starts as the setter was left to no other option then to obey since he couldn't think of anything else to respond to him.

"I know you love her but you're never going to be there for her. You asked me to go to her when you left and it's been a year. I know it's a dick move to move in with her but I don't trust her when she's alone. If you ask her, it feels like it's been forever so I'm just- being there for her cause she needs me."

He hated how right he was. If he would be honest, leaving you alone would be the least appropriate thing to do. All he can hear was your screams and imagining the way you look made his heart throb with too many emotions.

What made him lose was the fact that he can come back with hundreds of medals, but he'll never have you.

And Iwaizumi was more than ready to win.

-

He was surprised to see you awake at 12am but seeing how distraught you were, he couldn't help but want to end the day with you smiling or at least a reaction where he'd feel his heart flutter at the sight of it so he sighs before asking.

"Wanna go for a drive?"

The question that left you with so much trauma, sounded so soft when Hajime said it bringing a new feeling to it. It didn't sound like an unfulfilled promise and you nod to him knowing he could never hurt you the way Oikawa did.

Maybe it was best for you to escape the apartment.

Spending time with Iwaizumi as you drove around made you realize that there was a world where you can enjoy life without wondering about him.

Or maybe because it was suffocating.

Being in your apartment and Iwaizumi moving in with you was something your heart can never handle. To this day, you couldn't put into words how you despised that Iwaizumi had to care for you so much, even letting him living with you for a year. You admired the way he's known you since high school and now that you all had to choose different paths but he still took the one that had you in it since Tooru left you stranded.

With every tear that left your eyes, he was one step ahead to wipe them away and comfort you with his embrace. His patience when he sees you passed out on the couch from binge watching a series you were never really interested in, even to bringing you to random events just to spark your interest like you had back in school. Taking the time for you to fully open yourself to him by sharing your memories with Oikawa and why you've gained an attachment to his white car that held too many memories for you to just let go instantly.

At first, Iwaizumi wanted to laugh at how simple it was. What was so special about these late night drives and basic driving lessons from him? Wasn't that just one of the little things included in a relationship?

But then he sees the way you'd always ask him to put the windows down and how you preferred driving at night, driving without a specific location. Even when you'd clung to the seatbelt when he'd drive in the rain. He was more than curious. There were so many questions in his head but he had to give you some space knowing these memories course through your heart and mind everyday.

Now looking at you as you leaned on the seat with a solemn look on your face, he realizes how heavy it was for you to drive like this, without him by your side.

"He's proud of you, you know?" Iwaizumi whispers as you shift your body to face him, leaning your head on the seat.

"If only that was true." You whispered as he shakes his head before hesitantly sets his hand on your knee as a way of reassurance.

"I never understood it at first but now I guess it makes a fuck lot of sense why you didn't wanna get your drivers license." He comments, making you nod drunkenly.

"Because what's a journey without him?"

Iwaizumi then shifts his body like you did, fully invested in whatever you had to say feeling like this was finally the moment where you'd let him just how bad were those memories embedded in you.

"He used to say- that the best part of getting my license was that distance can never be a problem but says the asshole who's fucking miles away huh?" Iwaizumi knew that even if it was a joke, you held nothing but the truth. He sees the way your eyes didn't hold a sparkle anymore when Oikawas name was mentioned or just the sight of him. You didn't look like the lovesick fool back in high school, that made Iwaizumi realize how love makes such an impact on a person.

"I don't even know who to come home to anymore."

"You have me."

Iwaizumi boldly confesses as your eyes gaze at him, wide eyed at his statement. How come it held something that you could never figure out? Realizing that he held his heart in his hands, he switches the tone of his voice, finding it hard to fight the urge to be real with himself.

"As your friend, idiot. Plus, I don't trust you around cup noodles." He adds, trying to clear the tension that surrounded the two of you. Smiling at him, you close your eyes, wondering why it felt right to be in this moment. You felt your self drown in intoxication as you took him by surprise as you let your hand rest on his cheek as Iwaizumi flinches at the sudden contact but finds himself accepting it, ignoring the pleas of his thoughts to back away.

"Don't fall in love with my broken pieces, Hajime. You deserve someone who is- complete."

You let a tear slip from your eyes as it mixed with exhaustion as Iwaizumi lets out an anxious breath as he takes in every word you said.

Yet there he was picking every piece of you wherever you went, admiring each of them.

Before he could answer, he felt your hand slip away from his skin and he turns to see you asleep. He gently puts you back in your seat, putting on your seatbelt as he frustratedly runs his fingers through his dark hair as he feels the trembling of his fingers. Hands to the steering wheel, gripping it knowing he's betrayed his own promise.

Opening his phone to check the time, what flashes before him was a photo of the three of you when you graduated. He sees Oikawa with a hand to your waist, grinning brightly at the camera while you had your eyes closed with a smile, holding out a peace sign. His eyes linger on Oikawa before he watches over your figure on the passenger seat.

Lastly, he throws his head back before glancing at Oikawa in the picture, closing his eyes before painfully whispering to himself.

"I've never felt this way for no one."

He then shuts his phone as he turns on the engine, hoping that this isn't the night where he'll regret leaving his heart open.

-

"Don't overthink it." Iwaizumi whispers as you sniffle in his arms, he let his hands play with your hair as he removes the phone from your hands. Why did it have to be so early? It's 10am, both of you were utterly exhausted from the night before, one of you experiencing a heavy hang over, and the other just extremely tired from his racing thoughts.

Unfortunately, Hajime found you sat up frantically on the bed as he quickly stepped in just to see an image of a post from one of Oikawas fan pages. Spotted in multiple places were the one and only Oikawa Tooru, accompanied by a certain blonde. Captured in photos were segments of them in a café holding hands, smiles plastered on either lips. Which lead him to sit beside you and embrace you, seeing that your luck was purely running out.

You hated how in each photo, he looked painfully happy. Even if you were meant to skip the photo, how could you when this was real evidence that he's promises were turning into thin air the more you look at it. After a year of constant aches and wasted tears, here he was smiling, which you envied until the end.

"God- she's tall, gorgeous, I can never-" Iwaizumi shushes you as you wiped you tears as they continuously ran through his sweats. Iwaizumi leans his head on yours, sighing as he prepares himself, wishing that you'd realize that not enough words were there to describe how beautiful you were.

"Don't try to tell yourself that you can't compare to her- because you're all he could ever want. "

"Shit, I'm so sorry. " Iwaizumi says as he watches a figure pick up the ball that landed next to her, a ball that was spiked by him, almost hitting her directly. You turn around, the ball in your hands with a smile.

"No it's fine!" You say but Iwaizumi was struck with the view of you. You hand the ball to him but the beating of his heart was as loud as fireworks during New Years. He knows you, of course he does. Oikawa never stops ranting about you anyway, showing him multiple photos of you, completely bragging about the fact that he's got you to himself.

And fuck- you were prettier than what the pixels display you in the setters phone, you had the ace momentarily blank at your presence.

How lucky. He thinks.

"Iwaizumi was it? I'm Y/N!" You reach your hand out as he smiles at you, taking in your hand shaking it lightly, as he stared at your eyes and admired the way your lips were tugged in a beautiful smile.

So this is her. He says to himself and the feeling washes away when Oikawa walks up to greet you with a kiss to your cheek. Turning away, he shrugs his shoulders returning to play.

She's his.

"Believe me that Oikawa can never look at anyone else the way he does with you." He puts your face in between his hands, wiping your tears as you sobbed holding onto his him. Iwaizumi wanted to scream at how the world kept pushing you through your limit.

Seeing the images felt like the universe added salt to your open wounded heart. It felt like your heart was progressively being tossed around like it was nothing. How come everyday felt like you weren't given a chance to be at peace? How come the moment you felt the tiniest amount of calmness was being in the car with Iwaizumi and then the next day you were back to zero all over again.

The image of yourself was already broken when you let yourself completely fall for the insecurities, but how can you rise from all of it? When it was clear that she was all you ever wanted to be.

"Hey, why don't we take a break? For real now, Y/N. Let's just put the phone down and- rest." Iwaizumi whispers, caressing your cheek as you closed your eyes, desperate to remove all trace of emotion. You wanted to blur out the world even for a second and Iwaizumi could promise you a silence worth more than you could ever want.

Your lungs were giving out, every muscle in your body, every function. It felt like any time you could collapse from the lack of sleep, the lack of proper nutrients, the lack of a smile. Your confidence was down to one as you held onto Iwaizumis words, drifting off into what he said before about Oikawa.

If all that he could ever want was you, how come you didn't feel like you weren't what he needed?

-

"You know that you're just being an asshole at this point, Tooru." Iwaizumi says as Oikawa sighs at the other end of the line. The blonde casually looks over to the setter as she takes a sip of her coffee. Oikawa leans on the pillow as he chooses his words wisely.

"How is she?" He asks, he can imagine the way Iwaizumi would roll his eyes, followed by a disappointed scoff. Oikawa knew the way your mind would work, and it never grew on him how every motion of his would bring destruction to you in any shape or form.

"What do you think? She's fucking crying again."

Even if there was a pinch to his heart, he simply took a deep breath to sustain how painful it was.

"Who is she, Oikawa?" Iwaizumi asks desperately. Oikawa turns to the girl sat in the dinner table as she meekly smiles unknowing she was the certain topic of the two best friends. The setter tiredly runs his hand over his face, wondering if there could be a way that he can exit without stepping on you and Iwaizumis heart.

"You owe me at least one explanation. If you can't give me one, then I'll be-"

"I'm ready. I'll tell you who she is."

And with the following sentences, the ace felt his ears ring along with a ruined heart.

-

Driving has never felt so rueful before but with every passing mile, all Oikawa wanted to do was stop and turn to where you were.

With a stab to his heart, he promised himself that he can never come back until he's found the silence in his mind.

"This is for us. I'll be better, Y/N. I'll come home to you- and I hope you can wait."

Those words may seem like they were directed to you but Tooru can feel himself stand small to his own declaration. He knows you're willing to wait for god knows how long, but he's indecisive if he has the power to wait for this emptiness that surrounds him.

He couldn't allow the rage in his soul to sit around and act like he's deaf to the screams of it. He needed to stop the sensation of his hands missing the way the ball was placed in it and how each serve leaves a breathtaking reaction on any crowd. The hole in his heart was too big enough for him to ignore, and he'd allow anyone to call him selfish knowing it was the inescapable truth.

Hearing all your voice messages to him the following morning had his heart begging for release. Every crack in your voice had him tipping over the edge. He deserved it- god he deserved it more than anyone else because he would have never heard such pain if he didn't book a flight to Argentina.

"Tooru, baby what happened? Please tell me this is a joke."

"Please fucking answer I need you- god Oikawa please!"

"Come back to me, Tooru- I'll do anything please."

"I love y-you, but I guess you've changed your mind huh?"

"Tooru, let's go home yeah?" A soft voice calls out for him as he averts his gaze to her. He sees how his bags were packed as well her tiny suitcase next to her, all dressed up to go. He stands up from where he is, gripping the handle of the luggage as the girl turns to him with such worry.

It was usual for the girl to awake him from his thoughts and he was thankful that she was brought to him, helping him in ways he could never imagine. She was a mere light in his street, a guide in his moonlight trips, and this was finally the moment to stop the waiting.

He takes a look at his apartment, before landing his eyes on the blonde girl who was tying her hair. He smiles fondly as he's felt the adrenaline to finally move again.

"Yeah, let's go."

TWO DAYS LATER ; 9:16PM

"Hajime, stop fucking around!" You laughed as you continued to drive. What a breather it was, to drive with somebody who brought warmth to the passenger seat. Previously, Iwaizumi tested your so called driving skills as he purposely flicks your forehead from time to time for no absolute reason.

You two were on your way home from a movie and Iwaizumi was the star that had grabbed your heart the entire night. He was pulling these jokes, making you cackle to no extent, threatening you that if you'd lose the arcade game one of you will have to forcefully wash the dishes for a week, of course both wouldn't back down.

Maybe for the first time, Oikawa has never visited your mind.

And damn did it feel good.

The part that you found pieces of yourself slowly gathering as you were introduced into a new way of light, it felt too good to be true. Felt like each piece was slowly coming all back together because Iwaizumi was the glue that got you together, it may take a long time to fully be fixed, but the ace proved to you his promise.

You're finally resting.

After the anger that rose above you, Iwaizumi stayed confident to his promise of finally giving you a break you well deserved. He fulfilled you days without technology to shield yourself from any knives from the social world, got you out of bed to watch the sunrise with you, left you places to visit while he was out for his internship. This was more than you could ever ask for.

It felt like flowers were decorating your lungs, heart was slowly being treated with a smile, and laughter that radiated growth.

All because of Iwaizumi.

Now there's a new feeling that has unlocked in your heart and you could feel the burn of it when you noticed how everything felt so light. Unlike before where every step felt too heavy for you to carry on, now that weight is being lifted off by Hajime.

And nothing feels better than that.

-

Inserting your hands into the pocket of your hoodie, you shivered in the nights embrace. Once Hajime has fallen asleep on the couch, you decided to take a stroll and your feet lead you to a place you've yet to visit in a year.

It was a walk meant for you to clear your head, to settle if everything was going to be permanent because you had to know which part of the moments you wanted to hold onto.

This was entirely a mistake- to stroll around his neighborhood like it was always welcoming you with open arms. All the things you wanted to decide on felt like it vanished once you became familiar with the turns of his car when it drove to this place.

This is where it all began. The lessons, the confessions, the blossoming of love, everything. It doesn't matter how many times you try to deny it, this place will always make your heart bleed at how noxious it was. You can never hate the way chills ran up your spine because of how they all rushed to your mind as fast as light.

It's truly a crime to despise how love is formed.

With the sight of his house, a smile creeps on your face remembering your last interaction in this household.

"This is my lovely, Y/N." He sweetly introduces you as you respectfully bowed but you were taken by surprise when you were hugged by his mom, making your boyfriend laugh at your crazed expression. You lose this tenseness when you felt how endearing she was as you gained courage to gently wrap your arms around her too.

"Welcome honey! I've been wanting to meet you so badly since this twat never shuts up about you." She says earning a pout from your boyfriend and a giggle from you. You turn to his dad smiling softly, as he reciprocates your gesture.

"Might as well get used to the house babe, you'll be an Oikawa soon."

You felt your heart clench with his words and you avert your eyes on the road instead. Finding it hard to sustain the bite of how it all turned into a pile of lies.

"No, mom! Please don't embarrass me like that."

You hear a voice shout out making you jolt from your previous stance.

Meanwhile, Iwaizumi awakens with a groan as his phone dings with every second. As he grumpily opens his phone, he was greeted by a flood of messages coming from a certain setter making him sit up and frantic to reach for you. Seeing your door that was wide open, he lets out a gasp as he fidgets for the door, cussing himself at the situation.

"Fuck, Y/N please no."

You suppressed your sobs with a tight hand to your mouth as you felt your feet gain the urge to ran away but your mind demanded you to stay to finally awaken you in this false hope you've been holding onto.

A silhouette of his tall now much more bulky figure was stood next to more of a petite on with hair tied in a ponytail. Wiping your eyes to sharpen your vision, it hit you like a grenade at war.

There he was, proudly introducing the girl that's haunted your dreams.

Oikawa was smiling brightly at her as you watched her look at him with the same expression.

He's right there with someone who isn't you and can never be you.

"You and me, love. That's all it takes."

"Tooru." You whispered as if you'd ever get the chance to let him notice your cries. God, it was unbearable. No words came to your mind, no beating of your heart, it was all gone because the only thing that will forever linger in your mind is the sight of the person you waited so long to come home to, has gone and found the perfect replacement.

Her.

Another glance meant like a sword heading straight to your heart in one swing so you finally decide to turn your back on something you knew you had to forget.

Love.

-

"Tooru, who is she?" His mom asks softly, not wanting to let the curiosity lace her tone knowing the smile on his sons face was an exact look he had when he had you.

"This is Himari." He glances to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, with his lips tugged into a smile, a genuine one that's been kept a secret for too long.

"My dear little helper." Oikawa jokes as Himari rolls her eyes as his parents grew more in confusion at the sight of this stranger.

"Help with what Tooru?"

"To get Y/N to live with me in Argentina."

[moonshine-dan]

what would kissing your close friend, kuroo or bokuto, for the first time be like? i imagined that you've been with him since high school and you only realized your feelings for him in college gahhh please indulge this hopeless romantic >.<

I would love to! This is for all the hopeless romantics out there who love Bokuto.

@janellion ... I hear you like stuff like this?

Downtown

Is it really this fun when you're on my mind? Is it really this cool to be in your life?

Bokuto x Reader, fluff. 2.2 K

Warnings: Nothing major. Suicide mentioned as part of a drink title. A little suggestive at the end.

The automatic doors hiss open as you walk into the humid Osaka night, wincing. The AC inside the 7/11 had made it easy to forget how hot it was. The slurpee you just bought is sweet and takes the edge off, but beyond that, you couldn’t say what the flavor was exactly. You let Bokuto take both of your cups to the machine and make suicides out of every option - “So none of ’em feel left out!” - like you always did. 

He was following you out, eyes gleaming in the fluorescent lights of the signs above you.

"It's good to just hang out like this again. We haven't done this in forever!" He was waving animatedly in your general direction, the drink in his flailing hand getting dangerously close to spilling on your shirt.

"Woah! My bad! Nothing got on you, right?"

You nod. He responds with a thousand watt smile that pushes his eyes closed and makes you want to grab his stupid hair spikes and drag him into a kiss.

You’ve got it so bad for your best friend that it’s almost funny, if it wasn’t also completely pathetic. It's only recently that you realized you liked him as more than a friend- but now that you’re reminiscing with him, the signs were very, very obvious. To you, at least. 

The pair of you are moving from the eye-piercing light of the storefront and over to the far side of the parking lot. The plan? To loiter, just like you did in high school when volleyball practice got out. Usually, you'd have 3 or 4 of his teammates with you, eating garbage snack food and joking around on the curb until the manager would chase you away. 

You can see in your mind how you would gravitate towards Bokuto on those nights, sitting next to him in the parking lot, bumping your foot or your knee into his while you talked. How you laughed at his jokes and would ask for his jacket when it got cold. His presence was magnetic, and you got pulled in deep. It wasn’t until after you both had graduated and started down separate paths that you were able to really see what you had. What you missed so deeply. 

It's just the two of you tonight, Bokuto fresh out of practice and talking excitedly about his teammates' antics, just like he used to. The only things that are different now are the names of the players. He’s telling you a story about his germophobic friend, Sasuke? You think? Bokuto talks so fast sometimes he doesn’t really annunciate well - and you sigh at the familiarity of it all. Maybe this would turn out alright; maybe you had been avoiding meeting up with Bokuto for no reason? 

You had thought that seeing him in person again, not just on a grainy phone screen, would be disastrous. It was hard enough to try and keep your feelings inside over video calls and text messages, but having him in front of you? You knew you’d do something to tip him off on how you felt toward him, and even though you knew he would never stop being your friend, the fear of your love being unrequited held you back. 

He'd been asking for weeks to meet up, and you had been successfully blaming college on your schedules not working - until he offered you to meet him late night on Friday, just like you used to. With no excuse and an irrationally heavy heart, you agreed to meet up.

Perhaps it was just a crush? Maybe you sought him out between classes and waited for hours after school just so see him because you just…. Liked him. And you had halfway convinced yourself that's all it was, until he had smiled at you brightly and reminded you just how dull things were without him in your life. 

He’s sitting now on a parking block with his back against a bollard, slapping the spot next to him invitingly. Bokuto whoops when you drop down next to him, slush flying from his cup as he whips it excitedly. "You gotta see this!"

He scoots closer to you, phone in hand. There's a paused youtube video onscreen: a highlight reel someone had made of his spikes. He hits play as soon as you lean in a little, grinning wildly and giving a play by play commentary as you watch. The outside of his thigh presses into yours warmly.

Here's hoping he can’t somehow feel the heat creeping up your neck.

He beams at you from over the phone, looking at you expectantly as the video ends. “Wasn’t I great?” 

You feel like you’ve run a mile and all he did was press his leg to yours. He’s too great. “Yes, Bokuto, you were amazing.”

He’s really grinning now, eyes crinkling shut. “You’ve gotta come to one of my games and see me in action! I promise, it’s waaaay better in person! You could even,” he pauses for a moment, thinking, “bring one of the guys you’ve been seeing? Watching me win would be an awesome date.”

Oh god, your dates. You had tried going on a few recently, another attempt to distance yourself from your best friend. Nothing serious - just coffee shop conversations, but they easily lost a competition they weren't even aware they were in. None of them could even begin to make you feel the way Bokuto did. And the thought of taking one of them to see your best friend and unrequited crush in his element? There’s no way that wouldn't find a way to blow up in your face.

“That’s a great idea, man,” you lie. “I’m not seeing anyone right now though.” Bokuto’s giving you a spectacular double eyebrow raise above his cup. “Oh ho?”

You flick his arm gently. “Don’t be mean, Bo. I’ll just come to a game and hang out in the stands with your date instead.”

Why did you say that. Why did you say that. Why did you say that. 

The eyebrows come down. He’s smiling, but it’s not quite reaching his eyes, which aren’t meeting your own. “Nah, you can’t do that. We broke up.”

You feel terrible for the little thrill that sends through you.

“Oh, Bokuto, I’m sorry.” You are. He’s your best friend. The cruel joy you feel does not go away. 

His eyes flicker to you momentarily. “Nah, it’s fine. They weren’t the one, you know?”

Who is? You want to ask. What comes out instead is, “How did you know?”

Bokuto hums inquisitively. “Know what?”

“That they weren’t the one. How did you know?”

He’s still not looking at you when he replies, “I just know.”

Silence falls. You use the quiet moment as an excuse to turn away as well. This is really unlike him. Had he changed that much in the time since you last saw him? Nothing else about Bokuto seems different - maybe the issue was just you?

Stop it. Don’t think things like that. 

The silence drags on. You pull the straw of your drink into your mouth and chew, trying to think of something not romance-related to talk about. Nothing is coming to mind - Bokuto has been all you can think about for a solid week, and being next to him is NOT helping. It’s just the two of you, alone together in silence. It’s late enough that there aren’t any pedestrians on walks to distract you, the night quiet and dark outside of the strangely illuminated parking lot. Desperate to think of anything else, you look up at the hazy summer sky.

It’s hard to see stars through the light pollution, but you can make out Vega, you think. Some stars were bright enough to see even in the middle of the city. The straw pops out of your mouth as you point it out loudly, getting Bokuto’s attention.

“Check it out Bo, you can see part of Lyra. That star’s got to be Vega. You remember?”

Bokuto jerks slightly before he turns to face you, looking startled. His gaze follows your finger up, mouth still pursed around the straw in his mouth. His smile returns as he tilts his head to peer up at the sky with you. “You told me about that one once! It’s a summer constellation, right?”

You drop your hand as Bokuto starts pointing out the faint other stars of the summer triangle. It may be hard to see stars in the city, but with Bokuto shining next to you, it’s hard to see anything else at all. The weird fluorescence of the parking lot light should have washed him out, but somehow he was aglow, soft shadows instead of harsh lines shading him lightly. He really was a star, and he burned the brightest out of any that you could see tonight.

You were staring at him again. 

It’s no surprise when he catches you this time, golden eyes meeting yours and matching your gaze. The delight is still present on his face but it’s sobering, turning serious. Your heart is racing as Bokuto continues to stare you down in silence. His eyebrows draw together as he raises his hand slowly, reaching for your face.

A finger grazes your cheek. You might have stopped breathing. He opens his mouth.

“You had some slush on your face.” His finger remains there, rubbing at the stuck on sugar.

...

Okay. Something has to change. There’s only so much your heart can take.

You reach up and cup your hand over his, holding it in place. Bokuto stills at the sudden contact, bewildered. You aren’t sure what you are doing, much less how to say what you want, but you hope that somehow he understands. No sound escapes your mouth as you maintain eye contact and slot your fingers together. Bokuto stares, still uncharacteristically silent - but he’s not just looking anymore. His eyes are searching, gaze sharp and analytical. You couldn’t look away from them if you wanted to.

Bokuto blinks first, eyes flitting over to your joined hands as you press your cheek into the heat of his palm. His thumb drags lightly over to your skin, meeting your bottom lip and tracing along the curve of it. He watches, entranced, as they part slightly from the touch. 

Even if this doesn’t work out. Even then. Just having this moment would be enough. Your eyes close as you huff out the breath you had been holding. The hot coil of anxiety snaking through your stomach makes you hesitant to open them again. When Bokuto’s thumb moves from your mouth to pad at your cheek, you steel yourself and open them again. 

You shouldn't have worried. There’s nothing in his golden eyes but understanding when you finally dare to open them again. Bokuto’s remaining hand is impossibly gentle as he places it on your shoulder, leaning into your space. His shoulders shake minutely with barely contained excitement from the breakthrough he’s just had - you like him, just as much as he likes you. There’s no way he can’t feel the heat in your skin rising now as your pulse skyrockets. 

“Kou…”, you whisper into the shrinking space between you.

Bokuto doesn’t bother with a response. His lips are a little chapped when they capture yours, but they're warm and eager and pressing in with the weight of half a decade of unconfessed feelings.

You know immediately what he meant earlier about knowing ‘the one’. No kiss from any of your dates was ever this electric. None of them made you feel like time was stopping when their lips met yours, or made your heart beat like it was about to fly from your chest. None of them made you feel like you were finally home, held in strong arms and with a familiar hand gently running along your cheek. 

There really was no one like Bokuto, and you were so glad there was no one else for him but you right now. 

You push forward until you chests are touching, desperate for closer contact now that you know you’re allowed to get it. The back of his head is cradled in your free hand, fingers tangling in the short spikes at the nape of his neck. Bokuto hums against your mouth, tongue slipping out to trace where his thumb had been earlier. He starts backward slightly as you meet it with the tip of yours, breaking away with a gasp.

“Woah! Not on the first date!”

“You used tongue first.” Your deadpan expression doesn't faze him. He wraps a heavy arm around your shoulders and pulls you close to his side, laughing. 

Wait a minute.

“Did you say date? Is this a date?”

Bokuto freezes. He glances at you side-eyed and inquires quietly, “Do you... want it to be one?”

It’s much easier to be truthful when you’ve had his tongue in your mouth. “I’d love it to be one.”

Bokuto whoops loudly, the exclamation echoing in the empty lot.

First dates usually sucked. This one, however, was going to stick with you for a long time. You run your tongue over your lips as you bump your head to his shoulder. Who knew slurpees tasted even better on someone else's mouth?

“Y'know, If we don’t leave soon,” you tease, “the manager might chase us away again.”

He hums dismissively and bends to press a kiss to your temple.

“Let’em.”

[dc41896]

The Whole Time?!

Pairing: Jake JensenxBlack Reader

⚠️: Maybe a tiny bit of technical angst (🤷🏽‍♀️ lol), fluff💕

“P-Pooch?,” you stammer unable to fathom that your supposedly dead brother was standing in front of you and his wife who was about to give birth to their son in any minute.

“Hey peanut,” he smiles stepping further in the hospital room. “I’d hug you, but I’m w-,”

You didn’t even let him finish before immediately wrapping your arms around his neck and burying your face in his shoulder. Good thing he was already wet from the rain, your tears would just be a welcomed addition.

“Wait. D-Does that mean-”

“Hey babe,” the all too familiar voice speaks making more silent tears fall as you lift your head. Just as soaked as Pooch, he nervously smiles removing his hat to reveal his spiked frosted tips. He pretty much looked the same as you last saw him. Toned arms and chest shielded by his dripping jacket along with your personal favorite, his black circular frames bringing even more attention to those crystal baby blues.

There were plenty of times you thought about what you’d do if granted this moment. Cry, scream, maybe jump into his arms clinging onto him like a koala on a tree. Possibly all three even. Now, finally being granted your wish after all these months, there was one main thing on your mind.

“Wow,” he smiles as you slowly move closer to each other. “I didn’t think it was possible, but somehow you’ve gotten more beautiful.” Just as the words left his mouth, the back of your hand connecting with his abdomen in the hardest hit you could muster nearly knocks the wind out of him as he keeled forward.

“And apparently stronger too..,” he coughs.

“How could you?!”

“I didn’t do it on purpose! We had to so we could go after the guy who set us up. And why didn’t you hit Pooch?! He was in it too.”

“He’s got one coming after my nephew safely enters the world, right now though it’s your turn,” you glare before smacking him again.

“Told you she had a strong backhand,” Pooch states quickly closing the room door before his sister decided to direct her rage at him.

The rest of the team merely watch in entertainment as your hits move to his shoulders and biceps until Jensen can grab your wrists pinning them by your sides.

“I’m sorry for putting you through all that, but it’s not like I completely left! I could still see you.”

You tilt your head in confusion ready to ask what he was talking about, until seeing Clay nervously scratch the back of his neck as he and Cougar shift their gaze clues you in on what he meant.

“SERIOUSLY JAKE?!”

“Wha-? I-,”

“Did you really think that would make me feel better?!”

“...Honestly at this point I’m afraid to answer.”

Annoyed groan falling from your lips, you tried to escape his grasp, but his larger hands slightly tightening their grip on yours, along with him following your every movement, keep you in place. “When we go home I can explain everything.”

“Will you? Or are you just gonna lie some more?”

“I promise I’ll tell everything,” he whispers, leaving a chaste kiss on your temple before flashing one of his ‘please don’t stay mad at me forever because I love you’ smiles. So far, it’d gotten him out of any argument you had. Including this one.

Darn those good looks of his.

“Fine,” you reply as you cross your arms, leaving him to find a seat in the nearby waiting room.

“Any tips here Colonel?,” Jake sighs.

“I’m probably not the one you’d want relationship advice from.”

Another heavy sigh leaves his lips as he follows your path down the hall to sit next to you. That is if you’d let him.

“Okay, is anybody else stuck on the fact that Jensen actually has a girlfriend?,” Aisha states breaking the momentary silence and making both men chuckle.

———

It’s the happiest he’s ever been to walk into his small, outdated apartment. Things weren’t exactly the same as he left it with your few new decorations and pieces of furniture trying to make the place a bit of your own, but of course he didn’t mind. It actually warmed his heart that although he was “gone” you still chose to stay, sticking by his side when you easily could’ve moved on with your life.

“Jeez, the faucet always drip that loud?,” he lightly chuckles shedding his coat and placing it on the small hanger by the door.

“It started a bit after you left,” you sigh kicking off your shoes. “Think it’s loud now, it’s even louder when you’re just sitting here alone.”

Following you to the bedroom feeling like a dog with its tail between his legs, he sits at the foot of the bed looking down at his hands as you move about the bathroom getting yourself ready for bed. Your words were like the sharpest sting as his mind vividly showed an image of you just sitting in this apartment with nothing but thoughts of loosing your brother and boyfriend along with the hum of the AC. He knew for the sake of their mission, and the team, he couldn’t say anything, but it still didn’t take away his guilt of what you went through mentally and emotionally.

“I tried to write you.”

“What, your computer go down and you couldn’t watch me anymore?,” you counter over your shoulder before rinsing the soap from your face.

“That was only once okay? I was watching my niece’s soccer game and then I thought about what you were doing and kinda sorta hacked your office’s cameras, which yes I know was wrong. Speaking of, they really should update their software, a fifth grader could easily hack into it just guessing the password,” he answers making you roll your eyes with a chuckle.

“And who’s Tom?”

“Tom?”

“Yea. Curly brown haired guy, cubicle across from yours. Big head you can see a mile away.”

“I’m sorry are you somehow trying to turn things on me when you’re the one that’s supposed to be explaining why I’ve thought you were dead this whole time?,” you ask wiping the remaining moisturizer from your hands before crossing them in front of your chest as you step closer to the now nervous looking man.

“N-no, of course not! But I mean since he’s been mentioned...”

“He’s just this guy at work that apparently likes me and asked me out but I said no, because a small part of me kept hoping that you’d miraculously come back. Happy?”

“I-uh...y-yes?”

Sighing, you sit beside him tucking your bare legs under you and taking his hand in yours to trace the lines on his palm. You never knew how or why you started, but it was something you occasionally did while you two were talking or just lying next to him enjoying each other’s company. It brought a smile and giddy feeling to Jensen, just as it did to you.

“Listen, I’m sorry I’m giving you a hard time, I know you didn’t have a choice, and understand. Selfishly though, I just missed you so much and wish I could’ve known. It definitely would’ve saved some sleepless nights and tears.”

With his other hand, his thumb and index finger gently grab your chin guiding you to meet his eyes. “I’m sorry for everything I put you through having you think I was dead. The second we threw our tags in that fire you and my family were all I could think about. Like I said I wanted to write and give you some sign that I wasn’t gone, but I could never figure out how to start. Plus Clay threatened to cut off little Jensen if I did send anything back home once he found out, which only made it tougher.”

“Yea we wouldn’t want that,” you softly laugh following a short sniffle you were trying to hold back. You really were done with crying, having done so since you got that devastating call so long ago, and just wished your tear ducts would shrivel up already. “Sorry, I thought I was done with the tears.”

“Shh, don’t be.” Leaning forward, his soft as clouds lips meet the single salty droplet in the middle of you cheek erasing its presence before moving to yours in quite possibly the most delicate, tender kiss you’ve ever experienced. Any other time, you’d probably call it painfully slow, trying to take the lead to move things along. But as you both sat there taking everything in from each other’s scents to the feel of how one’s lips and mouth felt on the other, you couldn’t feel more connected.

Just barely pulling away, his swollen lips rest centimeters above yours ready to take them again as soon as he caught his breath.

“I don’t know if I should be embarrassed at myself or amazed at whatever powers you have,” he starts, a light chuckle escaping him. “But I think you just made me-,”

“Jensen!,” you laugh, playfully smacking his shoulder. “Way to ruin a romantic mood.”

“If it’s romance you want, say no more,” he smiles taking your hand in his and placing it on his chest as he clears his throat. To the best of his ability, he begins singing the opening lines to your couple’s song, as Jake proclaimed it, instantly making you fall back on the bed in laughter.

“You actin' kinda shady, ain't callin' me baby, why the sudden change. Say my name, say my name!”

“This is definitely not a couple’s song,” you laugh feeling his forearms rest on either side of your head and chest vibrate from his laughing.

“I’ll admit lyrically wise..yes, you’re right. But it’s still ours which makes it special.”

You’d never forget that day in the grocery store trying to find a pint of your favorite ice cream as the song played overhead. Without really looking, you thought you were on the freezing aisle by yourself and began singing along as you gently bobbed your head. Suddenly hearing a voice singing the background vocals made you slightly jump turning to see the taller man in a grey sweatshirt, blue and white basketball shorts, and sneakers holding up his hands.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. I-It’s Destiny’s Child, I couldn’t resist.”

“It’s okay, and I mean who can?,” you respond, both softly laughing before shyly looking back at your respective sections to get your frozen desserts.

“Soo...you like ice cream?,” he asks interrupting the momentary silence.

“Yea, um my favorite’s moose tracks,” you answer briefly holding up your pint with a smile.

“You know who has a good moose tracks? Bennie & Bailey’s downtown. They make it from scratch and I don’t know what all they put in it, but it’s amazing.”

“Oh, okay thanks. I don’t think I’ve ever been there.”

“Well you should definitely go one day. I mean if you want,” he nervously chuckles.

“Will do,” you smile. “Only if you’ll take me though?”

At first, being met with his shocked, speechless expression made your newfound confidence falter thinking you might’ve been too bold with the cute stranger, whom you hadn’t even asked if he was single or not. However seeing his eyes shine bright and adorable smile grace his pink lips, your excitement returned as he moved closer handing you his phone.

Years later, the rest is history as you lie in bed with the man you were sure was the love of your life.

“Hey what’s going on in there?,” he asks brushing his fingertips across your forehead noticing you become quiet. Lightly scratching his goatee, you feel your eyes start to water again causing you to blink a few times trying to keep them at bay.

“I just don’t want you to leave again,” you whisper, moving your fingers to card through his chestnut and blonde mixed strands.

“I’m not going anywhere unless you ask me too.”

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[xwing-baby]

Pull Over (Frankie Morales x gn!Reader)

Warnings: Fluff!! description of a dead bird, swearing, not edited

Word Count: 1.7k

Summary: On a cross country road trip with your boyfriend Frankie, you wake to a beautiful sight...

A/n: I’ve pining for Frankie all week, add this gorgeous prompt photo and this is the result

---

You woke up slowly to the sound of Frankie mumbling along to the radio, as he had been when you fell asleep. Blue sky was all you could see out the window as you slumped in your seat, it wasn’t until you sat up properly that you saw the majesty of your surroundings. You gasped at the sigh of the expansive red dirt, sun dancing on the endless road ahead in mirages. The last time your eyes were open you were driving through concrete suburbs, a far cry from the desolate and beautiful desert you drove in now.

“Holy shit, Frankie!” You exclaimed, choking up in emotion at the sight through the windshield. Frankie startled at your sudden proclamation, “Why didn’t you wake me up sooner?” Tears streamed down your cheeks, happy tears, shocked and amazed tears. You wiped them quickly from your eyes hoping your fiancé wouldn’t see.

“Are you crying?” Frankie laughed, turning his head for a moment to look at you properly. He didn’t miss the tightness in your voice.

“Shut up,” You sniffed, wiping your eyes, “Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“I didn’t know you’d react like that!” Frankie continued to laugh at you, “And besides you looked cute!”

“That is not an excuse!” You exclaimed, cheeks heating up at his compliment, “Oh Babe, it's so beautiful,” You sighed happily. You pulled your phone from your jeans and took pictures through the truck window. They’d come out blurry and scratched, Frankie knew that. Then he had an idea.

“Do you want to pull over to take a proper photo?” He asked. Your mom had recently given you her old polaroid camera, the one she used when you and your siblings were younger. Having been there as a stop on the road trip already, it was sat in your bag waiting to be used. Here would be the best location to start, he thought. 

“Really? What about your schedule?” Ever the military man, Frankie liked to have a plan and stuck to it religiously. You’d been on the road for two weeks, he had planned every moment down the minute. He’d refused to stop at rest stops, despite if he himself needed to pee, all in the name of the schedule. You were surprised he was allowing the break. 

“Baby I can allow five minutes for a photo I’m not a complete hard ass,” He chuckled, “there's a stop point up ahead, I’ll pull over there and you can take some,”

You cheered and began to root around the stuffed backpack in the footwell to find out the camera. Frankie pulled the truck up ahead a few meters, parked and you jumped out eagerly.

“Fuck me it’s hot,” Outside of the cool AC in the vehicle, the air was dry but scorching hot. You could practically feel the soles of your shoes melting to the tar as you stood on the road. 

“It is a desert,” Frankie said, looking around at the expansive nothingness.

“Really? Would never have guessed!” You stuck your tongue out at him, he copied and you quickly snapped a photo. Frankie pouted and reached for the paper as it printed but you were fast and slipped the photograph in your pocket before he could get it and ruin it. 

Frankie wandered around the truck, you walked a few paces in the opposite direction enjoying stretching your legs. You’d been driving for eight hours, even if you had been asleep for the last two hours, your legs were cramped up. You stretched them out as you walked through the red dirt, watching your sneakers slowly become red stained too. You snapped a photo of Frankie leant against the truck staring off into the distance, a photo cliffs in the distance and then...

“Ah gross there's a skeleton!” You exclaimed. A half rotted carcass lay on the side of the road, bones pale under the beating sun it had been there for a while. It used to be a bird, though its feathers were gone. You stepped closer to it to get a better look.

“Don’t go closer to it!” Frankie said, walking over to you to look at it too.

“What? It’s already dead, it’s cool!” You peered at it, gagging as the smell of rotting flesh hit you. You retreated back to him and wrapped your arms around his waist as you took in the expansive desert surrounding you. 

“I do worry about you sometimes,” He teased you. 

“As you should, baby,” You grinned and kissed him quickly. “Take a picture of me, I’ve got loads of you,”

“Watch for cars,” Frankie warned as you stepped into the middle of the road. 

“Somehow I think I might see them,” You joked, it was clear from miles around you. You stood in the road and posed for the photo, waiting for a moment before calling back, ”Did you take it?”

“If you stop moving!” 

“I’m posing!” You laughed, Frankie raised a brow. “Fine I’ll hold still for you, slow poke,”

“Got one,” He said after another couple seconds. You sighed and jogged back over and took the developing photo from his fingers. You smiled, it was a really nice photo actually. 

“That’s cute! You are a surprisingly good photographer,”

“What can I say, I’m a man of many talents,” He smiled proudly. 

“That you are,” You pressed up on your toes and kissed him on the lips again, “I’m going to take a couple more and then I will be back in the car and we can get to Vegas!” You sang, doing an excited dance at the thought of finally getting to your destination. Frankie cheered too and laughed heartily before giving you ass a little tap and letting you go. 

He watched you wander about in the wilderness ahead, ever the adventurer. Unlike him, you didn’t really know the harshness of the world. You knew the things he had done, the things he’d seen, but only through stories. You weren’t hardened to the world like he was, like he used to be. Pope always teased him that you’d turned him soft but Frankie couldn’t find fault in that if it meant he could have moments like this. Usually a small reminder in his head would tell him to watch the back mirror, to watch for people hidden on the side of the road. Now, he didn’t think about any of that and instead watched you stride fearlessly into the unknown, smiling at the wildness taking photos as if you belonged among the rocks that surrounded you. 

Your smile was his favourite thing in the world. He would rather die than never wake up to see it again. You brought so much joy into his life, even when things were tough to hope that you would stick around long enough to smile again helped him through. Through fights, through low moments for the both of you the smile always sat as the prize for getting through the dark. It was what he dreamt of stuck in the Andes, it was what drove him home when he wanted to run away from everything. You.

The question had been his head the entire trip. He wanted to ask at a good time, a romantic spot meant something to the two of you. One memorable and meaningful. His plan was to take you out to California, where you’d met, and propose on the same beach. But each day with you in the truck was making him impatient. He nearly slipped it out when you had sex in the horrible motel you’d stayed at the night before. He was desperate, couldn’t wait another day to ask you to be his for forever. Now, watching you and your reaction to seeing it waking up from your nap. Maybe he didn’t need California, and past memories. Maybe he could make new ones here in the middle of the desert.

He watched you walk back to the truck, slipping the last polaroid into your back pocket. You opened the door and smiled at him. That smile. The decision was made. He had to ask now.

“What?” You asked, with an awkward laugh. You could tell he wanted to say something. He didn’t so you began to pack up your camera, putting it and the polaroid photos you’d taken away safely.

“What would you say if I asked you to marry me?” He asked, you stopped fiddling with your backpack and looked back up at him. Your heart fluttered in your chest. 

“What?” You were surprised. You had spoken about marriage with him, from the beginning of your relationship you had joked about being grumpy grandparents on a porch swing together. You just didn’t think Frankie was the type to just ask like this. You sat up and looked at your boyfriend. He was staring directly at you, he cleared his throat and readjusted his shirt. 

“Marry me? Tonight. In Vegas,” He said with more confidence, “Our friends are already there, I don’t have ring but we can go get one when we get there and I-,” He stopped, catching himself rambling, getting excited at the idea, “I would like to marry you,” He admitted, with a hopeful smile.

“You’re serious?” You asked, shocked at his words in the best way. Francisco didn’t speak, looking back at you with hopeful eyes. He needed an answer, “Yes of course I’ll marry you! Yes!”

“Thank fuck,” He gasped as you leaned over the console and kissed him hard. You’d kissed him a million times, but this was special, a new spark. 

“I have one condition,” You said as you pulled away. 

“Anything,” He smiled, eyes starry looking at you, so full of love.

“I want an Elvis impersonator to officiate” You tried to remain serious but couldn’t fight the grin on your lips. Frankie laughed and shook his head, “And you need to call my dad,” You said seriously, “I know it takes away from the spontaneity but he’d be-,”

“Already asked him, two weeks ago,” He interrupted you. Your jaw dropped, shocked.

“We were at their- Oh my god that’s why Dad had that stupid grin on his face when we left, isn’t it?” You gasped, hitting his arm playfully.

“Maybe,” He smirked, proud of himself now his plan had fully worked out. You gaped at him, 

“So you really planned to propose next to a decaying bird?” You looked at the skeleton again, curling your lip at it.

“The bird wasn’t in the plan,” He chuckled, turning your attention back to him with his hands on your cheeks. You smiled and leant into his touch, affectionately. 

“I love you Frankie Morales,” you whispered. 

“I love you too sweetheart,” 

---

tagging: @autumnleaves1991-blog​ the wonderful host of this awesome game

@hunters-heathen​ @peterssweetpea​ @beskarbabs​ @this-cat-is-dea​ @wille-zarr​ 

[arotechno]

The Heartless: Chapter 1

Next

Read on Inkitt

(A/N: HOOOO boy here we go, after five years of staring down the barrel of this thing it’s finally done! Important question: does it matter to y’all if I don’t post the text of the chapter directly below the cut in the future and just link to Inkitt? I ask because formatting for tumblr was beyond annoying and I’m not looking forward to doing it for like 20 more chapters. But if it’s necessary for accessibility reasons, I’m willing to do it.)

Chapter I: in which the story begins

When the winter first melted into spring, Basil and I crept to the edge of the woods behind our houses to pick wildflowers in the meadow. It was still too early for raspberries; in the summer, we’d fill our baskets and our stomachs with them until our mouths were stained red with juices. Our mothers would bake pies in the afternoon and we’d eat them in the evening, cleaning every last scrap from our supper plates with the promise of a sweet dessert. Now, the earth was still cool beneath our bare feet, our toes wiggling in the soft dirt. Once we’d filled our fists with flowers, we settled in the tall grass and began weaving together goldenrod, daisies, and violets into flower crowns and daisy chains.

Basil presented his work and beamed at me, shielding his eyes from the afternoon sun with the back of his hand. “Take it, I want you to wear it,” he urged, thrusting the flower crown into my lap.

“But you worked so hard on it,” I replied.

He shrugged and brushed the dirt from his tanned knees. “I want you to have it,” he insisted, reaching forward and taking the crown from my lap to place it gently on my head.

I stared down at my own work in my hands; it was not nearly as beautiful as the one Basil had made. Some of the stems had split, and many of the flowers had lost some of their leaves and petals. I didn’t have the same steady hands that he did.

“In that case, I want you to have mine, too,” I decided, pressing the crown onto Basil’s head as a couple more leaves fluttered to the ground.

Basil grinned a mile wide, practically radiating sunshine with every inch of his being. “Now we match,” he beamed.

A peaceful silence fell over the meadow. Behind us, the trees rustled in the woods. Insects hovered in the grass, hopping from flower to flower; Basil jumped when a bee buzzed past his face to land in the flowering raspberry bushes that bordered the tree line.

“We’ll be friends forever, right, Basil?” I asked after a while, sheepishly adjusting my flower crown.

"Of course we will,” he responded. “Even when we’re old!”

 “How old? Like, eighteen? That’s super old!”

Basil laughed. “Yeah! Eighteen and then even older!”

I smiled hopefully. “And we can still make flower crowns like this?”

“Ace, when we’re eighteen, I’ll still make you all the flower crowns you want,” Basil decreed with a grin. “That’s a promise.”

* * *

The warmth of the sun and Basil’s innocent smile faded as I woke up to last night’s rain dripping down on me from the cracks in the ceiling above. Bertrand stood over me, jostling me awake with one hand while the other held a vial of another one of his concoctions. I assumed I had fallen asleep after supper, because the dishes remained untouched by the washbasin and twilight was just pouring in through the window.

“Drink up,” Bertrand commanded in that voice of his that just begged to be disobeyed, holding the potion in front of me expectantly as if to remind me of the curse that filled the vacant space within me. He stared at me with piercing eyes over the top of his dull gray beard, swishing the vial back and forth for emphasis.

I grabbed it from his wrinkly hand and sloshed the red liquid around in disgust before shutting my eyes and downing it in one gulp, just to appease him. Even so, I could not resist the urge to lay a hand against my chest, but still I felt nothing. Shaking my head, I rose from my cot and pushed past Bertrand, grabbing my bow and arrow off the hook by the door and slinging it over my shoulder.

“Where are you going?” Bertrand called after me.

“Out,” I answered, already halfway out the rickety wooden door.

“It’s past nightfall, Ace, it’s dangerous out there!”

But I was already gone, walking away from the old house as the door slammed shut behind me with a satisfying thud.

Over the seven years I’d spent under Bertrand’s leaky roof, I had slowly become disillusioned with the idea of ever finding a potion strong enough to light a fire in my ribcage. Bertrand had tested a lot of his spells on me throughout my life, but the love potion had always proven to be the least effective.

But I suppose that is to be expected when you do not have a heart.

The Village of the Heartless was smaller than the town where I grew up. A single dirt road ran from the village gates to the top of the hill, through the neighborhood before coming to a stop at the edge of the woods that surrounded the kingdom of Amistadia. We were a close-knit community, learning to provide and look out for each other through thick and thin, through every harsh winter and plentiful spring.

Bertrand’s house stood at the edge of the village, where the hill dropped off toward the gates below. At the base of the hill stood a large, sturdy oak tree where I perched some nights with my bow and arrow on the lookout for trouble.

Nights in the Village of the Heartless were always dark, as we could never afford enough oil to keep all of the town’s lamps lit, but they weren’t always quiet. Kids from neighboring towns sometimes wandered the area at night, brandishing knives in their grimy hands, looking to stir up trouble. Tonight was no exception; as I neared the village limits, I caught a glimpse of a pair of boys making their way down the road, and a thrill shot up my spine. I climbed swiftly up the oak tree and perched in the shadow of its lush, leafy branches, fingers itching for my bow.

The pair dragged a child behind them by the arm, yanking her across the dirt with them as they cackled and cheered triumphantly at their prized catch. The girl held tightly to a canvas sack, trying fruitlessly to pull away from her captors.

“Get away, get away!” she shrieked, dodging a blow as she fell to the ground, clutching the bag to her torso desperately.

“What’s the matter, little runt?” one of the assailants sneered. “You’re not afraid of a couple of kids, are you?”

“I just wanted something to eat!” the girl cried out as a likely filthy knife narrowly missed her cheek.

If I had been in my right mind, I would have simply shot the pair of boys in the shoulder, snatched up the child, and run away, but Basil’s face kept flashing in my mind; an anger was boiling in my gut that demanded confrontation.

“Hey, ugly!” I shouted, pulling back an arrow and pointing it in their direction.

The kid with the knife froze, eyes darting up to my place on the tree branch. I was yards away, but I could see the glint of light from the last of the setting sun on the knife as his fist tightened around it. His partner, as well as the child still laying on the ground with the sack clutched to her chest, stared wide-eyed as he

“Who’re you talking to?” he grumbled.

“Doesn’t matter,” I quipped, hopping down from my perch and tightening my grip on the arrow. “Just let the kid go.”

“Why should I?” he retorted, nonetheless taking a step back when he saw the arrow aimed directly at his head. “Y-You’re not really going to shoot that.”

“How do you know?”

The other kid called out, “Hey, let’s just get out of here.” He was ignored.

Pointing to the little girl, Knife Boy puffed out his chest and continued, “There’s no way you’re really worried about her. You Heartless are all the same; you don’t feel a damned thing. No way you’d go out of your way to save her.”

I allowed myself a bitter, self-indulgent smirk, too brief to be seen in the thick darkness. “If that’s what you believe, that I am entirely emotionless, then wouldn’t it also stand to reason that I would feel no remorse about ending your sorry life right here and now?” I drew my bowstring further; the wood audibly creaked. “If that’s the case, then it would seem you had better start running.”

Knife Boy froze, taking a few steps back before he and his friend took off running in the direction they came. “Cursed bastards!” he yelled over his shoulder as he hopped the gate and disappeared. Once they were out of sight, I let my arms drop to my side and slung my bow back over my shoulder. I felt my brow furrow in frustration; life in the village had become so mundane that I was almost hoping for a fight. I quickly stifled that selfish thought, pushing it to the far recesses of my mind; the girl, who had stayed completely still on the ground throughout the whole ordeal, now scrambled to her feet, still clutching the bag in her white-knuckled hands. Now, no longer squinting through the dark, I recognized her immediately.

“That was awesome! How did you know what to say?” she beamed, slinging the canvas sack over her shoulder and wiping the dirt from a pair of ratty pants that fell three inches from her ankles.

"Petra, you’re the one who I keep hearing has been stealing food from the neighboring villages?” I asked her, and her expression soured immediately at having been caught.

“Yeah, that was me,” Petra admitted under her breath. Then, scrambling to justify herself, she added, “But I only do it because there’s not enough food in the village and I gotta eat something!”

I nodded, mulling it over. “Sure, now I suppose I can’t blame you for that, but stealing is wrong. You’re plenty old enough to know that.”

“Of course, I know that, but I needed food!”

“Fine, I get it, I get it,” I sighed. “Just don’t make this a habit, got it? I promised Annie I would keep you out of trouble.”

Petra pouted. “Fine,” she mumbled. I started back up the hill, with Petra trotting silently alongside me.

At thirteen years old, Petra had been living in the Village of the Heartless since she was a baby—which was still longer than I’d been in town—left outside the home of one of the village women, Annie, in the middle of the night. I’d met her several years ago, and she quickly became enthralled with my stories of life outside the village. Annie was dead several months now, leaving Petra to fend mostly for herself, though the community kept a watchful eye over her (Not watchful enough, I thought ruefully).

“You didn’t tell me how you knew what to say to that kid,” she urged, struggling to keep up with my strides.

“I used to spend time around those kinds of people a lot when I was a kid,” I explained, deciding to humor her. “I’ve learned how to turn their own words against them by now.”

I did not tell her that had I learned how to do so sooner, things may have turned out a lot differently.

 * * *

I eventually sent Petra home with a warning that I’d be watching to make sure she didn’t get into any more trouble. When I crossed the threshold back into Bertrand’s musty old house, the palm of his hand came down hard across my face, leaving a sharp stinging sensation behind on my skin.

“What on earth was that for?” I yelped. Bertrand grabbed me by the wrist and dropped me into one of the rickety dining chairs in the center of the room, bearded face practically sparking with rage.

“You must not keep doing that!” he scolded.

“Doing what?” I asked innocently.

“Getting into confrontations with… hooligans! What else?”

“I did what I had to—”

“Don’t think I wasn’t watching, Ace! I could see the entire ordeal from the window!”

 “Well maybe if you’d actually done something to help instead of just watching—”

“Unlike you, Ace, I value my life and am not going to get myself killed just to feel like the hero!”

I couldn’t help but bristle at his comment. Something in my soul shattered, and I sprung to my feet, the wooden chair tipping backward onto the stone floor behind me with a loud clatter that would have rang through the eaves had I not immediately erupted into theatrics.

“What do you mean you value your life? All you do is sit around making futile potion after potion and you still think it’ll work next time!” I clenched my fists at my sides, willing the confrontational energy in my veins to burn out before it swallowed me whole. “So maybe I need to tell off some asshole every once in a while to finally feel like I’m doing something meaningful. So you can keep pouring bile down my throat all you want, but I can assure you it’ll never make me happy!”

Bertrand’s face fell, and I knew deep down that I had hurt him, but I could not bring myself to feel guilty. He had it coming, I thought, stalking across the room to my cot by the window. I sat down on the thin mattress, kicked off my boots, and pulled my knees up to my chest.

“Ace—” Bertrand, having followed me, reached out a hand as if to lay it on my shoulder, but I flinched away from the touch and he retracted the appendage as if he had been burned.

“Don’t touch me,” I muttered, directing my gaze out the window at the dark, lonely night creeping across the landscape. “Just leave me alone.”

With a sigh, Bertrand retreated from my bedside, retiring to his back potion room to conjure his demons away, and I sat back against the wall, longing for home and the warm voices of my parents.

That night, I dreamt of Knife Boy, and his words reminded me of Carita, the girl who kissed me under an oak tree when we were younger and told me I was weird for flinching

Next chapter releases 7/25!

[overheardatthecontinental]

Talk Chapter 16

AO3 Link

Thanks to @meetmeinthematinee for editing and reassuring me on this chapter <3

Mornings for John have become excruciatingly difficult. Driving away from Helen had always been hard. Leaving her office, then later her home always felt impossible. Each step away was like torture but nothing compared to the pain of leaving her at the cottage.

The drive to New Jersey isn’t much further than New York but every mile stretches on. What once wouldn’t have phased him now tears at his soul.

The only comfort he has is every hour he drives is an hour closer to the time he can turn his car around.

It’s a little after noon when he finally reaches the motel by the airport. He pulls into the lot, driving by the strip of rooms, looking for something to indicate which is Sofia’s.

He finds a window with a playing card in the window. The ace of hearts. She had used a sharpie to etch on the letter ‘V’.

His v-card. Hilarious.

John parks the car outside the window with a sigh, shaking his head as he does. He walks over and knocks on the door. It doesn’t take long for Sofia to answer.

Her hair is piled into a ponytail. She’s dressed inconspicuously. Blue jeans and a hoodie as she hides away in a sleazy motel.

“Hey, Sof.”

“Owe me big, John. This bitch is a talker.” She replies shaking her head, the start of a smile on her lips. She opens the door wider, allowing John to slip in. The motel room itself is shit but he knows that Sofia has slept in far worse conditions.

The room is adjoining, and an open door leads to a second room. John walks over, looking in. Isabella DeLuca’s are bound behind her, a rope leading from her hands to the headboard. Her head lolls in a way that tells John she is asleep rather than resting.

“She wouldn’t shut up, so I sedated her. Hope that’s okay.”

“Considering how many times Helen was sedated by her son, I have no qualms.”

That causes Sofia’s head to swing in his direction and it occurs to John that he never really went into detail with his friend.

“I’m sorry, what?”

John dips his head, “It’s a long story.”

“We got time.” She says without room for argument. Sofia shakes her head as she turns back to her room. She walks over to the small, two-person table and sits. “What the fuck, John?”

Having already sat for the past four hours, he remains standing, leaning against the wall as he does. “I should probably preface this with the fact Helen and I aren’t actually together.”

Sofia makes a face, “You’re kidding.”

John shakes his head.

She makes a large show of sighing, rising to her feet. Sofia walks over to the window and reaches just past the blinds, pulling out the card she had left in the window.

“Guess you can keep this.”

She throws it at him and John catches it with ease, placing it face down on the table as Sofia settles back into her seat.

“You’re hilarious.”

“You’re hilariously disappointing.” She shoots back, “Here I thought I was helping you save the love of your life.”

“I never said she wasn’t that.”

Sofia narrows her eyes, “So you love her. But you’re not together.”

“That sums it up.”

She rolls her eyes, “So what are you? Friends? Neighbors? Confidants?” And like Winston, he can see the moment it clicks in her head, “Oh, fuck. She’s not your therapist.”

John changes his mind about standing in that moment, pulling out the chair and sinking in. “We met in a café about seven months ago. Gave me her card, introduced herself.”

“And you thought she was pretty. So instead of asking her out like most people would have done, you booked an appointment.” She shakes her head, “Jesus fucking Christ, John.”

“She was normal. And kind and pretty. And I knew she didn’t belong in our world.” John leans forward, desperately trying to explain where his thoughts had been all those months ago. “I didn’t mean for it to turn into what it did. I just wanted to talk to her one more time, get her out of my head. But, instead, it became addicting. Being around her.

“After two months, we were starting to run out of things to talk about. And I was more afraid of losing her than I was the consequences when I told her about the Underworld.”

Sofia puts her face in her hand, “You didn’t.”

“I did. In hindsight, I think I was looking for her to reject me. To force me to move on when I wasn’t strong enough to walk away on my own. But she didn’t reject me. She wasn’t afraid or disbelieving. And it was around there that I went from being obsessed and infatuated to madly in love with her. It was also around there when I got a little out of control.”

She looks up at him doubtfully, like she can’t believe it’s going to get worse.

“I started following her.”

“John!”

“I’m not proud of it. And God knows I’ve done worse things in my life.” He shrugs, “I—again, it started small. I told myself it was just curiosity that made me follow her home the first time. And then it became every Friday. Then every weekend. Then every day. But nothing stays a secret forever.”

“DeLuca.”

John nods, “Last Friday, Hels was taken from her bed in the middle of the night. I got a call not long after saying I would get Helen back, alive and unharmed, if I killed Lorenzo, Gianna, and Santino D’Antonio. At the time, I didn’t know it was DeLuca. I didn’t have a name, an organization. Just an order and a blind promise.”

“It was two days of hell, trying to find anything on who had her. Where she was. But Hels is nothing if not resourceful. She managed to manipulate one of the guards into sending me a text, letting me know who had her. Sunday night, I was able to get her out. Took her home.”

“And Monday the contract went wide.”

John nods, “One-part revenge, one-part manipulation. Mateo still wants the D’Antonio’s dead. Did you get the file that was scanned to you? On Isabella?”

Sofia nods back, “Yeah, got it before I even landed in Rome. Isabella’s mother was a D’Antonio.”

“It’s a whole lot of political bullshit that I don’t care about.” John admits, “The running theory is that Isabella thinks she can simultaneously get revenge on her family and strengthen the Syndicate by eliminating Lorenzo and his heirs.”

“But if you eliminate Lorenzo, the High Table and the Camorra come for you.” Sofia finishes, “That said,” she looks up at John, curiously, “I heard a rumor Santino D’Antonio is dead.”

“Good.”

“Did you kill him?” John pulls out his phone and finds the pictures. He hands it to Sofia. Her eyes widen as she looks back to him, “The Camorra is going to destroy you!”

“It’s staged.”

Sofia looks back at the picture, eyes narrowing. “It is?”

“Lorenzo and Gianna have agreed to do the same. Hopefully, it will be enough to convince Mateo. If not…” He gestures with his head towards the other room.

 Isabella was the contingency plan. Unfortunately, she was the contingency plan for every possible thing that could go wrong.

“How’d you get Lorenzo to agree?”

“I agreed to testify in front of the High Table that Mateo was trying to commit treason. Reverse of DeLuca’s plan. Instead of the Camorra falling and the Syndicate reaping the benefits, Syndicate will fall. The Camorra will be strengthened. And the contract on Helen will be lifted.”

Sofia nods along, handing John back his phone.

“Not bad. I can’t believe you thought of it.”

“I didn’t.” John says with a shrug, “I was more than willing to just kill them and suffer the consequences.”

“There’s the idiotic bastard I know.”

“Helen wouldn’t entertain it as an option. She came up with faking their deaths. And the plan with Isabella.”

Sofia inclines her head, “Seriously?”

His lips twitch just thinking about his love, “Hels is incredibly good at what she does. She pieced together that DeLuca wasn’t working alone long before I did. Kept telling me that he was too self-absorbed to come up with that kind of detailed plan. Kept pushing me to look at his mom.”

The other assassin leans forward, eyeing John with blatant curiosity. Like she can’t quite decide what she thinks about it all. After a minute of not being able to find whatever it is that she’s looking for, she says aloud, “I don’t get it.”

“Get what?”

“She’s smart. Pretty. Clearly cares about you if she’s willing to put up with you and figure out how to save you. You admit you’re in love with her.“

John looks away, “So?”

“So why aren’t you fucking?”

He shakes his head, still looking at the ground, “You’re worse than Marcus.”

“I’m serious. You’ve kept her around, despite the obvious dangers of our world. But you’re still keeping her at arm’s length. Why?”

John exhales a long breath. If she had only asked him that question a week ago, he would have been able to respond without hesitation.

It was safer for both of them to avoid intimacies. Of course, he can’t say he wasn’t attached to her already. The stalking negated that in itself.

But sex complicated things. It always complicated things.

Then there was the matter that she was, technically, still his therapist. And though Helen was right, they did have god-awful boundaries, enough had changed over the course of the week that he couldn’t use that as an excuse.

And, if he was already being honest with himself, he didn’t think Helen felt that way about him. She was always so professional, even when she teased him. It never occurred to him that she might have feelings for him too.

By the time he found out, they were already in over their heads with DeLuca.

And, truth be told, it didn’t matter that she held some kind of affection for him, too. She was still too good for him. And despite what she said and thought, he would always believe that.

“I thought I could keep her away from our world. That if I didn’t cross that line, no one would come for her.”

Sofia nods, genuinely looking sympathetic to his plight. “Relationships and the Underworld don’t mix. You can’t go to bed with someone when you’re both clutching a knife under your pillow, but you can’t date outsiders. You can’t walk in two worlds.” She inclines her head, “But her contract went viral. And now, for better or for worse, she’s in our world.”

John shakes his head. “No. No, Helen can’t stay in the Underworld.”

“People aren’t just going to forget, John.”

“She has a life. Family, friends. A career that she’s worked hard for. I can’t take that away from her.”

“I know it won’t be easy, but she’s already in. There’s no turning back from that.”

He blinks and licks his lips, considering a thought he had never allowed himself to fully entertain. “What if there was?”

“There isn’t.”

“Helen’s only tie to the Underworld is me.” John says aloud, “But what if I wasn’t tied here.”

Sofia’s eyes narrow, “You mean leaving?”

It was unheard of, he knew. A near impossible task, especially for someone like him. Someone who had so many ties to the Underworld and virtually none in the real world.

He nods, more to himself than to her.

“Could you really give this all up?”

“For her?” John asks, nodding, “Yes.”

Sofia shakes her head, pushing, “Don’t just say that, John. Really think about it. If you cut ties from the Underworld, you’ll be isolated in a way you never have experienced. You won’t be able to come and go from the Continental. The High Table won’t protect you from legal trouble or the police. Friendships will be compromised because you can’t just walk between the two worlds. All those markers you’ve spent years collecting will be worthless.”

“You’d have to blend into the real world. And the rules are different there. No more fights, no more killing. You’d have to follow the social rules that exist for outsiders. And it’s a whole lot of bullshit. If someone disrespects you, you can’t just snap their neck. You have to take it.”

“And you’ll be utterly alone. You may love Helen and she may love you, too, but she won’t understand. She won’t get that the rules you two live by are different. She won’t understand the extent of everything you stand to lose—wealth, status, privilege. Because you’ll be nobody.”

“And, John, you hate to depend on anybody for anything. But you’ll need to depend on her to navigate the real world. You’ll need to trust her implicitly. Have to learn to let her take the lead. You, who have spent your entire life alone, will have to figure out how to let somebody in completely.”

“Now, tell me, do you really think that you can do that? That you can give up your entire life and livelihood for this woman?”

For her to be happy? To have her life back?

“Yes.”

 Sofia watches him, but he holds her gaze. He knows it wouldn’t be easy, but he also knows that he could do it. Without regret or hesitation.

After a minute, she softly asks, “Then what’s stopping you?”

“She deserves so much better and—”

“That might be the most misogynistic thing I’ve ever heard you say.” Sofia interrupts.

“What?”

“Your Helen, she’s smart, right?”

He nods, “Ridiculously.”

“Uh huh. And she’s emotionally stable?”

“She shouldn’t be, all things considered, but she is.”

“Then why are you doubting her ability to make her own damn decision about what she wants and what she deserves?”

The breath he has just taken now feels trapped in his chest. John is frozen in place as he realizes that is exactly what he had been doing. Not purposefully, but true all the same. Making decisions, calling the shots.

But that wasn’t his job.

Fuck.

“I have to go.”

…………………………………………………………………………

The drive is a blur and it’s a miracle he doesn’t get pulled over. He doesn’t touch the brake pedal until the moment he’s turning into the driveway of the safehouse.

Half his day has been lost in a car and he can’t bring himself to care as he throws the car into park. He slams the door behind him, hurrying up the stairs and into the house. Marcus looks up as John reaches the living room, eyeing him over a furrowed brow.

John ignores him, focusing instead on the sound of someone moving about in the kitchen.

Helen looks up as he rounds the corner and her mouth curves into a smile at the sight of him, “You’re back earl—mm!”

John places a hand on either side of her head, drawing her in for a kiss.

There’s a moment where she freezes, almost stunned, before Helen seems to realize what is happening. And then her arms wrap around him, reaching up over his shoulders as her lips part. She kisses back with fervor.

Her lips are softer than he imagined and, oh, he had imagined them a thousand a day for months.

He kisses her again, unable to stop himself now that he has begun. She tastes sweet and perfect and he can’t quite figure out how he’s made it this far without ever having done this.

Helen’s tongue brushes across his lip and he meets it, licking and sucking at her like a dying man.

And, fuck, he hopes he dies like this. Asphyxiated, drowning in her kiss.

Let this be how he dies.

He’s never wanted anything so badly in his life. Just release with her taste in his mouth, her body pressed to his. Oh, how he loves her.

Her hand winds its way into his hair, holding him to her. Unyielding. He growls in response, his own hands trailing down her body. Down her torso, his fingers digging into her flesh as he tries to learn and memorize the way her body feels under his hands.

“Fucking finally!” He idly hears Marcus exclaim but he literally doesn’t give a single shit.

His hands reach Helen’s waist as her teeth gently graze at his lower lip before sucking it into her mouth again.

John grips her hard, lifting her from the ground, pulling her body impossibly closer to him.

And his beautiful girl responds by tightening her arms around him, wrapping those perfect legs around him.

Good, he thinks, because they aren’t doing this here. Both for their sakes and for Marcus.

She doesn’t stop kissing him as he turns around to head back to their bedroom. Her wet mouth trails over his beard. Her lips press kisses across his face, his neck as he rushes down the hall before slamming the door behind him.

Helen unwraps her legs as the door closes and John, reluctantly, gets the hint and lowers her back to the floor.

Even as she stands, however, she doesn’t stop. Instead, she kisses him with renewed vigor. Her grip in his hair remains the same, pulling him down to her height.

He wants to get lost in her kiss.

Her warmth, her softness, her taste…

He needs to commit it to memory so he can never forget how she feels. To know what it’s like to kiss someone you love.

And no, this isn’t his first time doing this, but it’s like a puzzle is clicking into place. A realization, a moment of oh, this is what it’s supposed to be like when he kisses the woman he loves.

I love you, I love you, I love you.

He wants to say them but his lips are otherwise preoccupied. Helen controls the kiss now, as his hands rest, one on her waist, the other wrapped around her.

Her tongue circles his and John barely finds the strength to maintain his balance. They each vie for a better angle, deepening the kiss and he wonders, to himself, if she’s as weak in the knees as he is at the contact.

He wants to swallow her; to consume her.

To be swallowed and consumed by her.

Is that possible?

And he’s not making assumptions. He doesn’t want to presume that this is going in any specific direction but his heart just about leaps out of his chest when she breaks the kiss. She steps back half a step, placing enough room between them where she can reach down. He watches her tug her t-shirt over her head. She discards it without a care.

He barely has a moment to soak in the sight of her, the dark blue of her bra standing out against her creamy skin, before her arms are back around him. Encasing him.

Helen steps backwards and John finds himself kicking off his shoes as she leads him back towards the bed.

She releases his hair only for her hands to drop to his chest. Releasing the buttons on his vest, and his jacket. John’s hand goes for his belt, undoing the clasp to allow him to pull out the ends of his shirt. She pushes the shirt off of his shoulders, taking the vest with it, as she turns so that John is the one walking backwards.

His legs meet the edge of the bed and she gives him a guiding push. He lets himself sit on the edge of the bed as she has wordlessly directed.

He can barely process a thought before she has climbed onto his lap, a leg on either side of him. Helen catches his face in her hands and kisses him again.

John never wants this to end, he thinks, as she rises up on her knees so that she is a head above him.

How can she be so gentle while she is being so passionate?

She breaks the kiss, only for the sake of oxygen. Helen gasps for breath as she rests her forehead on his, her eyes flickering open to look down at him.

Dark, like a Belarusian forest, her eyes gaze at him with a mix of adoration and curiosity. But she doesn’t ask, instead, drawing her head up so she can kiss his forehead.

Affection blooms in him anew and he knows, he knows that he doesn’t deserve this.

But Hels didn’t believe in deserving or not deserving. And Sofia had been right when she had reminded him that this choice didn’t rest on him. It was Helen’s to make.

She kisses his nose and his heart skips a beat.

I love you.

The words that had been trapped in his head, his heart for months on end. Rattling around, growing louder and louder every time he looked at her or heard her voice. Every time she entered his thoughts, which was all the time.

“I love you.”

Her hand slips down to his chin, tipping his head up so that he meets her eyes. “I love you, too.”

Her lips descend on his again before he can even process her response. She deepens the kiss, wrapping her arms around him to pull herself closer to his body.

And then, it clicks. Her words settle into his head.

John moves quickly, faster than she’s ever seen him. An arm comes around her and Helen is flipped from his lap onto her back. She gasps in surprise as John suddenly appears above her, straddling her.

He kisses her back, hard. His teeth graze at her lip before he demands, “Say it again.”

Helen’s breath hitches, her hand coming around to run over his chest, stopping at his heart.

“I love you.” She tells him, holding his eyes. Leaving no room for fear or doubt or disbelief.

His heart clenches.

No one, save her, had ever uttered those words towards him before. Not once in his life had that kind of affection ever been directed his way. Not in any language, by any person.

“I love you.” She repeats, bowing her head slightly to maintain eye contact as he starts to get lost in his thoughts. Helen pulls him back, like she always does. His life, his love, his anchor.

John kisses her again, keeping one arm wrapped around her. Her skin is warm and soft and he wants to touch and kiss every inch of it.

Helen presses a soft peck to his lips before her head veers to the side. She kisses his neck, licking at the exposed flesh. Sucking it between her lips and John feels his length aching and straining against his pants. He shifts to alleviate the growing tension. It only serves to remind him that he is atop her.

He moves his hands, trailing her torso. Feeling her curves under his palm. Her skin is soft and smooth, unmarred with battle wounds. Attesting to her innocence.

Her teeth graze at his neck and his fingers dig into her flesh. He can’t help but hold on to her at the sensation.

“Fuck!” He swears and he can feel Helen’s mouth form into a smile. She kisses the spot she had just grazed before kissing his mouth again.

She arches her back and moves her hands from his body, reaching under herself to the clasp at her bra. With nimble, practiced fingers, she undoes the latch. John pushes up to give her the room to discard the garment. Helen crawls backwards up the bed and he follows her, entranced by the sight of her breasts.

He feels powerless to stop himself, surging forward and kissing the swell of her chest. He licks at her flesh, dragging his open mouth across the soft mounds until he reaches her hard nipple. He swirls his tongue around the bud, reveling in the way she takes a sharp breath at the contact. She arches her back, pressing her breast further into his mouth.

He sucks greedily at her, his hand coming up to caress her untouched breast. His fingers do the best they can to mirror his mouth, squeezing her flesh and pinch at her nipple.

“John!” She gasps his name and it encourages him all the more. He nips at her tit, grazing his teeth along before he switches attentions.

He kisses her other breast as he switches hands, groping at her. He feels his own spit in his hand as he rubs her tender flesh.

She moans, her head falling back into the mattress. Her hips grind into his and it’s all he can do to not let his eyes roll back into his head.

Even still clothed, he’s harder than he’s ever been.

Helen reaches between them, her hand slipping into his pants, under the band of his boxers. He hisses as her hand brushes against his cock.

One hand weaves its way into his hair, pulling him up from her breast so she can kiss him again.

Is she as addicted as he is? He wonders, while her other hand wraps around his length.

Her hands are impossibly soft as she runs her hand up his cock and gently back down. He feels himself twitch in her grasp and he deepens the kiss. His tongue swirls around hers before he sucks the muscle into his mouth.

He loves her clever tongue. The gentleness that rolls off it in quiet, tender moments or the lashing of the storm in the moments she takes no shit. It tastes as sweet as her.

Helen’s thumb circles the head of his cock and he thrusts into her hand.

Is this real? He thinks. Is this actually happening? Or has he finally lost it?

He’d spent so long imagining what her touch would feel like, what her kiss would taste like that it couldn’t possibly live up to the expectations in his mind. But, fuck, she was better.

She pumps him in her hand and John shoots out his own to catch her wrist, to stop her, before it’s over before it begins. Helen whines softly at being stopped but releases him, only to reach for the edge of his pants to push them down.

He obliges, discarding them with the rest before hooking his fingers at the top of her leggings and dragging them down her body, along with her panties. He crawls down her body, kissing her chest, her stomach with every inch.

He can fucking smell her arousal. She kicks them off at the ankles and John parts her thighs, getting lost in the sight that befalls him.

And, again, he has dreamed of this. Of burying his face between her thighs and driving her wild with his tongue until she is an aching, quivering mess. A myriad of fantasies slip into his head where he has done just that.

He glances up at her, watching the harsh rise and fall of her chest as she tries to regain her breath. Her tongue darts out to wet her lips as she watches him.

His lips quirk into a small smile, holding her gaze as he bows his head. John’s tongue slips between her slick folds, tasting her essence. He growls at the tangy flavor, dragging his tongue up to her clit.

Her hips jolt and John smiles against her. He kisses the soft bundle of nerves before licking her again. And again.

John’s mouth dips to her opening, pressing his tongue inside as her wetness floods his tongue and coats his beard. Just like her very presence, he thinks of how easily it will be to become addicted to this. Her taste and smell. The way she grinds her pussy against him to alleviate the tension he knows must be growing within her.

And John has changed his mind. This is how he wants to die. Drowning in her pussy as she convulses around him desperately.

Her thighs hold him in place and he would be more than happy to remain here until he either asphyxiates or drowns in her.

He moves his tongue and Helen keens, her high-pitched moan egging him on. He swallows her down and nips at her lower lips before turning his attentions back to her throbbing clit.

He takes the bud within his mouth, teasing it with his tongue as a stream of swears and pleas escape Helen’s lips.

“Fuck, John! Fuck! Please… right there. Fuck!”

He rolls his tongue over the bundle and her please turn into a shriek. He doesn’t ease up.

Instead, he continues his ministrations, bringing a hand to her opening. He teases her with a finger. He coats it in her slick before sliding the digit inside her. She clamps down around him and John rewards her by sucking her clit.

She cries out again and John slips a second finger into her.

Helen’s leg comes up and around his shoulder. She uses the position to bring her pussy impossibly closer to his face.

John breaks away long enough to nip at the soft, sensitive flesh of her thigh as his fingers stretch her, preparing her. He turns his hand and curls his fingers up and Helen almost seems to levitate with the way she arches up into him.

Her words have lost meaning, slipping into a cacophony of non-sensical begging for his cock. His name on her lips drives him crazy.

He’s torn between tormenting her like this, riding his fingers while she grinds against his tongue, and giving her what she begs for.

John decides on mercy, if only for the sake they had both waited long enough.

He removes his fingers from her and sucks them into his own mouth, tasting her again. Addicted to the taste. Crawling back up her body, he rests himself between her thighs and he kisses her.

Her breath comes out in a stutter as he thrusts his tongue deep into her mouth. He forces her to taste herself on his tongue as he wraps his hand around the back of her head, his fingers becoming lost in her hair.

“Next time,” he promises as he breaks the kiss, holding her back from following him with his grip in her hair, “Next time, I’m going to fuck you on my tongue until your throat is too hoarse to scream.”

She tries to lift her head to kiss him, only for him to yank at her hair.

“John, please!” she rolls her wet core against him.

“Please what?” He kisses her jaw.

“Fuck me!”

His lips twitch as he presses his lips to hers, slanting his mouth to deepen the kiss as he reaches between them. John takes his cock in hand, leading it to her soaking pussy.

She brings her hips to meet him as he kisses her hard enough to bruise both their lips, and John slips inside of her.

Helen whimpers at the contact, again, wrapping her leg around him to take him deeper.

John chokes on his breath. He’d waited so long for this, for her. And now she’s here. In his bed, naked, beneath him. He’s buried inside her and he wants to savor it but he wants her to come undone around him even more.

He rolls his hips and Helen’s grip on him tightens all the more. He reaches down to her leg still stretched out and brings it up. Eagerly, she wraps it around his hips, like the other one. Clinging to him.

She was already close before they began and, already, she found herself on edge again.

He hopes she knows that he’s not letting her go after this. He can’t live without this now that he knows what it feels to be inside her.

His movements, which had started gently, slowly, pick up a pace. Become more frenzied.

Nails rake down his back.

He responds with a bite to her lip, grazing his teeth along. As they part, Helen curls her head into his shoulder. Her breaths come in quick, sharp increments.

Her mouth opens on his shoulder and she bites down, making John groan. His already frenzied thrusts start to lose control as he can feel pleasure building inside of him.

Helen screams, muffled by his shoulder, as she breaks apart. Her nails dig into his back as she thrashes into the mattress, but John doesn’t stop.

He reaches between them, pressing his thumb on her clit as he continues to thrust. The action prolongs her orgasm and he feels her pussy convulsing around him.

John feels dizzy, intoxicated as his own pleasure reaches a new height before he, too, comes undone. With a cry, he feels himself release, spilling inside of her as his hips start to slow, still rocking against hers.

He gasps for breath as her pussy milks him. He turns to kiss the top of her head, her face still buried in the crook of his neck. Her breaths are still uneven.

John swallows as he wraps his arms under her, holding her to him as he rolls to his side, taking her with him.

Helen curls into him, holding him just the same. He strokes her hair, still caught up in the stunned disbelief of what had just happened between them.

It occurs to John that he has lived his entire life with one foot in the grave. Ready for death, even if not expecting it. But as she holds him, clings to him, it breaks over him at once that he is not ready to leave the world behind.  

Salvation found in her kiss; heaven is where he is still buried deep within her.

Can he stay here forever?

He feels her lips shift into a smile against his neck and he kisses her head again.

Hels looks up, her eyes twinkling playfully. She reaches a hand to his forehead, brushing back sweat-soaked hair so she can see his face.

“What took you so long?”

[therainroguefanfiction]

🏐 Sparking Eyes; Asahi Azumane (Sportember #003)

📑 Table of Contents | ⚾ Challenge Post

Genre: Angst, School, Romance

Word Count: 2,278

Pairing: Reader x Asahi

World: Haikyuu!!

Prompt: “Promise me you’ll never leave my side. Show me what I can’t see, when the spark in my eyes is gone.”

Sport: Volleyball

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“Are you… sure about this?” Sugawara frowned deeply, scanning your face for any sign of hesitation, but there was none. Your mind had been made up.

Despite the emotions swirling around within him, Daichi’s face remained blank. He wasn’t happy about your decision. How could he be? You were his twin, his other half, and the two of you had been dreaming about going to nationals since you were both small children, but now you were resigning from the volleyball club and for what? A boy. You were choosing a boy over your own flesh and blood. That’s what bothered him the most.

Daichi took the resignation form from you, crumpling it within his fist as he turned on his heel, leaving the room without a word.

You felt guilty, of course, but you had to support the boy you had fallen in love with. You could only hope that he could find it within himself to one day forgive you. You offered Sugawara a sad smile. “I’m sorry, Suga. This is something I have to do.”

He nodded, feeling more sadness than anything else. “I understand. Take care of Asahi, okay?”

“I will, thank you.” And with that, you left the room, sequentially leaving the Karasuno volleyball team behind.

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The final bell chimed throughout the school and you leaned back, stretching your arms above your head. “Today seemed to drag on forever.”

Asahi glanced up from his notes, offering you a soft smile. “You’re looking forward to the weekend, right?”

“Of course!” You turned in your chair to face him, but he had returned his attention to the notebook. To you, Asahi was an open book and you knew he wasn’t looking forward to the weekend because he was under the impression that you would be at practice, so he wouldn’t get to see you. You smiled softly, folding your arms on the back of the chair. “I’m hungry. Let’s go get some ramen, Hi-chan~”

His cheeks bloomed with color at the nickname, despite having heard it so many times before. “You can’t skip practice, Daichi will be upset.”

“I quit the team.”

His brown eyes widened in disbelief. “You… Why would you…”

Standing up, you approached your boyfriend, gently cupping his face with your hands. “That should be obvious, my love. I will always be by your side, supporting you through whatever path your life takes.”

His large hand slipped over your own, eyes turning glassy. “You quit… for me?”

“Mhm, and I’d do it again, a million times over.”

Asashi tried to keep his emotions in check as he stood up, throwing his arms around your body and burying his face in your neck, facial hair tickling your skin. He was positive that he had just fallen in love with you all over again, but he also felt guilty knowing that he most likely ruined the relationship between you and your brother. “Y/N, I don’t want to -”

“Shush, Hi-chan,” you ordered softly as your fingers played with the short hairs at the nape of his neck. “I quit because it’s what I wanted. You mean the world to me, much more than volleyball ever has. Dai will come around, I’m sure, he just needs time to process. Don’t you dare blame yourself for a decision that I made.”

He pulled back so his eyes could meet yours, shimmering with love and adoration. When he spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper, a ghostly touch upon your lips. “You mean so much to me, Y/N.”

You pulled him into a chaste kiss and offered him a smile. “You mean the world to me, too, darling. Now get your stuff, I want ramen!”

He chuckled, pulling away so he could do as you ordered.

━━━━━━༻🎾_🏀_🏐༺━━━━━━

To be honest, you didn’t really believe that the team’s attempts would be enough to convince Asahi to return to the team, though you had to applaud their efforts. You had seen the ace at his best, spiking past the best blockers. He was not only very talented, but he loved the game, as well. After being shut down again and again and again by Date Tech’s iron wall, that spark in his eyes was snuffed out. He took personal responsibility for the loss and what little bit of confidence he had died with it.

Deep down, you wanted the first-years to succeed, to persuade him to give it another try. You knew he missed the game, missed his team, but he was far too stubborn to admit that and he continually got upset when you attempted to talk to him about it. He felt like he was being ganged up on and started to pull back from you, using his college prep as an excuse.

You wanted so desperately to show him how strong, how incredible he truly was, how important he was to the team, but you couldn’t seem to convey these feelings. Especially when he ran away at the mere hint that the conversation was shifting to volleyball. You were honestly at a loss, so you did the only thing you could think of.

Kageyama and Hinata exchanged a look when you approached them outside of the classroom – they had been searching for your boyfriend, only to come up empty. They had seen you with Asahi several times but neither had spoken to you before. Were you going to scold them for messing with the brown-haired third-year?

“I have a request for the two of you,” you spoke softly, eyes shimmering with determination.

Hinata straightened his back, cheeks turning pink. “S-Sure! How can we help, senpai?”

You surprised both of them by bowing at the hip. “Please… please remind Asahi what it’s like to love volleyball!”

Their eyes widened at your pleading tone, not expecting such a thing to be your request. They could sense how desperate and sincere you were and they wanted to help in anyway that they could. It was true that they needed Asahi on the team, but they would also be honoring your request, which they were happy to do.

They copied your stance and chorused, “We’ll do our best, senpai!”

And that was all you could hope for.

━━━━━━༻🎾_🏀_🏐༺━━━━━━

You sat in class, watching as the clouds slowly rolled across the baby blue sky, the sun shining cheerfully upon the earth. If only your current mood reflected the weather.

“Y/N!” One of your classmates, Yuki, approached you with a smile, plopping into the desk in front of your own. “Shouldn’t you be heading to the gym? Volleyball practice started already.”

You smiled at her, thankful that she didn’t notice the sadness lurking just beneath the surface. “I have plans this afternoon, so I can’t go. Actually, I’m going to be late, excuse me.” You glanced at the clock for effect before quickly gathering your things and rushing from the room.

The truth was that you wanted more than anything to be there, cheering for your friends, your boyfriend, your family, but… it felt wrong for you to be there. Ever since you left the club, Daichi had been avoiding you, both at home and at school, but you couldn’t blame him. You knew he felt hurt and wasn’t quite ready to forgive you and that was okay. You didn’t want to push him or invade his space.

You suddenly came to a stop when you heard the familiar thwap of palms slapping against the ball, shoes squeaking across the polished wooden floor. While lost in thought, you hadn’t been paying attention to where you were going and had subconsciously traced the path to the gym, the path that you had taken so many times in the past. For a moment, you just stood there debating on whether you should just walk away, but you ended up approaching the door anyway. It was cracked open, just barely enough for you to see through.

‘Ugh, what am I doing? I must look like such a creep.’ As you pulled away, you caught site of Asahi jumping into the air, spiking the ball past a tall blonde. And then you saw it – that spark that had once fizzled out was now shining brighter than it ever had before. He was playing volleyball again and he was happy. They were all smiling as they received and spiked, yelling to each other. ‘Good job’ if they played their role properly or ‘it’s okay!’ if they made a mistake.

“Ah, Y/N-san!”

You whipped around in surprise as Takeda-sensei approached, carrying a black folder to his chest with one arm.

“Did you come to -” his grin suddenly dropped, replaced with a panicked expression. “W-What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

“What? I’m not -” you lifted your hand to your cheek, feeling moisture on your fingertips. ‘I’m… crying?’

He took you gently by the shoulder. “Are you injured? Sick? I’ll take you to the nurse!”

“No, I’m okay, really!”

“But -”

The door slid open behind you, followed by Daichi questioning what was going on. He was so close to you and yet he felt miles away. Your shoulders shook as you clamped down on your bottom lip in a poor attempt to control your emotions. With a bow and a quick apology to Takeda, you quickly jogged away from them, hoping that they would just leave it at that, but you should have known better.

A warm hand grasped your upper arm softly just as you rounded the corner and you knew who it was simply by how softly his fingers rested upon your skin. He was slightly out of breath from practice and his eyes were filled with worry.

“Y/N, what’s wrong? Did something happen?”

You frantically shook your head, eyes focused on the single ant that was skittering across the pavement between the two of you.

Asahi rested his fingers under your chin, forcing your head up. “Please talk to me, darling.”

The pain in his tone went straight to your heart, more tears threatening to spill over your cheeks. “I’m sorry, I just… I saw you playing and you just looked so happy, I’m so proud of you and I just… I wish I knew how to fix things but I don’t and I -”

His lips silenced your rambling, warm and soft against your own. His forehead rested against yours, his thumb gently wiping away your tears as they fell. “What are you trying to fix?”

You sniffled, hand clutching at his jersey. “Things with Daichi… I thought he just needed time, but… I guess he hates me now.” A humorless laugh bubbled past your lips.

“You really think that?”

Your head snapped to the side, wide eyes locking with Daichi’s, your lip quivering. “What else am I meant to think? You haven’t said a word to me since I left, haven’t even looked at me! It’s like I don’t even exist anymore. I’m sorry, okay? I just… I wanted to support Asahi! I never thought you’d hate me because of it…”

“Idiot!” He snapped, stomping over to you as his aura darkened. Both you and Asahi tensed up, not knowing what the captain was about to do. Daichi’s arms suddenly wrapped around you, bringing you to his chest. His voice was full of emotion. “I could never hate you, idiot. I just… I felt like you were choosing Asahi over me and I got jealous. I was in the wrong, not you, so don’t apologize.”

You gripped onto your twin, having missed his company and the warmth that he provided. “I really missed you, Dai.”

“I missed you, too. I’m sorry for being such a jerk.”

“I’m sorry, too. I didn’t mean to make you feel like I was choosing someone over you. I love Asahi, but you’re my family, I could never replace you.”

“Y-You lo-love me?!” Asahi cried, face turning the same shade as a cherry. Though the two of you had been seeing each other for a while, the word love had never left your lips, a mere thought within your mind, but now it was out in the open, floating around you like a moth to a flame.

You had honestly forgotten that he was there and the realization of what you had just done made your own face burn. Your eyes snapped to your brother, begging for help, but that was definitely not in his job description.

“Sorry, I’ve got to get back back and make sure the kids aren’t burning down the gym. See you at home, Y/N!” Daichi grinned, turning and jogging away. You tried to catch the back of his jersey but you didn’t react quick enough, your hand suspended in mid-air.

With a nervous gulp, you slowly turned toward your boyfriend to gauge his reaction, only to find him clenching his shorts, head lowered as his shoulders shook. “A-Asahi, I -”

“Is it true?” he questioned, voice barely above a whisper as it floated to you on the warm afternoon breeze.

“Yes…” You took a deep breath to calm your nerves. “I’m in love with you, Asahi Azumane!”

His head shot up, tears sliding down his reddened cheeks. In just a single long stride, he was in front of you, pulling you into his arms. How many times had he dreamt of hearing those words from your lips? It was sweeter than he ever imagined it to be. “I love you, too, Y/N! So much!”

Your arms found his waist, hand sliding across his broad back. A smile came to your lips as he repeated the words over and over again into your ear, his lips soft against your jawline.

━━━━━━༻🎾_🏀_🏐༺━━━━━━

[littlemisssquiggles]

Pinehead Headcanons: Oscar Gets A Scroll

So quite a few things were teased during the first episode of V7 including the prospect of Oscar training privately with a certain individual while his friends are off on their own training missions. That being said, if this is indeed going to be the case and Oscar is carded to have his own separate development outside of JNR_RWBY for the first half of V7, this squiggle meister has only one request to tie this predicament together perfectly.

Oscar MUST receive his very own Scroll which he then uses to remain in close contact with JNR_RWBY, mainly Ruby who acts as his key liaison.

[Spoilers Ahead]

I’m praying that Oscar being trained by Ironwood doesn’t fall into the same outdated habit of the Writers omitting him from opportunities to gain a genuine connection with the group. No offense to the CRWBY Writers (particularly Miles and Kerry who were responsible for V5 and V6) but if I’m being completely honest here, at times I have a hard time grasping the believability that Oscar is meant to be part of the heroes.

Don’t get me wrong. I want more than anything for Oscar to be a part of the group. But at the same time I also want him to feel as if he has become a part of team of his own merits and as an audience member, I don’t think the Writers have done a good job of handling his integration into the hero team in previous seasons. 

For most of V5, Oscar was treated as a shadow to Ozpin who took up most of his screen time including one scene I was really, really hoping the Writers would’ve included Oscar in. It’s the dinner scene from V5 C7 where RNJR are catching up with Weiss and Yang.

It still bothers me that we didn’t get to see Oscar officially meet Yang and Weiss and actually play a part in all the reminiscing of the good ole days of Beacon plus shenanigans. I understand that Oscar was the new kid so it would’ve been weird to have him be there while JNR and RWY walk down memory land. But at the same times, that’s exactly why I wanted him to be there. It would’ve been cool to see how Oscar would’ve reacted to hearing all the stories of JNR_RWY’s past adventures in Vale.

I understand that Oscar also needed to converse with Qrow, cause of Ozpin. However it would’ve cool if that bit was shortened so he could’ve later joined the others and have Ruby and JNR properly introduce him to Weiss and Yang.

Seriously, it really bothered me how we got this nice dinner scene with everyone eating and Oscar is just off elsewhere inside his own head cause I’m sure Oz would’ve taken over to talk to Qrow about his findings in Mistral.

Just imagining Oscar playing silent audience to Ozpin and Qrow; not even getting to taste some of the delicious food that RNJR prepared while all the ‘cool kids’ were off laughing over a hearty meal while he’s stuck listening in on the adults. And what sucks even more is that he can’t even tell anyone else what he heard or knew from what Qrow and Oz discussed. Not like he tried, 

That’s kind of maddening when I think about it. And don’t even get me started on the completely botched way the Writers dared to shoehorn in the group coming to see Oscar as part of the team in V6 by having Jaune come to realize that Oscar is important to the team…by having him come to this realization without even sharing a heart to heart with Oscar. 

Other things were focused on for that episode. Other things the Writers claimed to be more important than concluding the discourse they sparked between two of our main characters in the last episode…by NOT actually having them talk to each other but somehow still reach the same conclusion. Oof...that plot development still stings for me. 

I think one of these fine days I’m going to have to write a more in-depth post to justify my eternal disdain towards the ninth episode of V6. You guys have heard me voice my opinions of it now and again; most of them negative. But I really had a lot of problems with that episode. Issues that I still very much have even after all this time and have actively contributed to my concern for Oscar’s writing going forward in V7. Or rather the treatment of his writing and character overall.

I guess part of the reason why I’m hoping Oscar getting a Scroll is a canonical thing is because it’s the one way I can see him remaining close to JNR_RWBY as they all go their separate ways temporarily. It’s also the one sure sign that will highlight to me that Oscar’s growing friendship with the group will be maintained and continue to grow even in distance.

Since if JNR_RWBY will be off out in the field on training missions around Solitas with the Ace Ops, I’m assuming Oscar will remain up in Atlas main kingdom with General Ironwood who will personally be overseeing to his own training.

 If that is the case and Oscar is to be separated from the group a little bit, I hope him remaining in contact constantly with everyone is a sure thing that’s actually shown in the show. I really hope it’s not another V5 bit where the rest of the heroes are one place doing their thing and acting like there isn’t a newest young member whose been added to their ranks while Oscar in turn is off doing his own thing while not bothering to maintain the friendship and team comradery he (supposedly) built up with everyone in V6.

I know it’s only been 48 or 49 days total since Oscar joined the heroes and while he still has much more growing to do, he’s still a part of the team. Allegedly. That’s how the Writers want me to feel. I just don’t want Oscar’s relationship with Ironwood to become like how things were when Ozpin was around. Oz was off being elusive with adults while poor Oscar played tag along…in his own freaking body.

I just hope the Writers don’t neglect the small development they made with Oscar being on the team without Oz in V6. Oscar is a part of the team now. Let him maintain that, please. Don’t have him ghost JNR_RWBY while they in turn act like he doesn’t exist either.

I guess the point I’m mainly getting at here is that I just want to see Oscar and JNR_RWBY keep each other updated on their respective progress as they move forward with their own individual training moments, if you know what I’m saying. I don’t know the extent to which JNR_RWBY will remain apart from Oscar.

I’d imagine they’d be staying wherever the Ace Ops are staying since they’re supposed to be working with them. Oscar on the other hand mind stay with Ironwood wherever he lives which could be...interesting. Hence why I like the thought of Oscar finally having his own Scroll.

Since Ruby is currently the closest person to Oscar as a friend amongst the heroes, I’m picturing Ruby exchanging contact info with Oscar the instant he gets his own Scroll. From there, Ruby and Oscar keep in constant communication with one another.

Ruby updates Oscar on how everyone is progressing out with the Ace Ops while Oscar in turn updates Ruby on how he’s going with Ironwood (and maybe Qrow).

I just really, really like the idea of a potential scene where Ruby calls Oscar after she and the others have finished a mission and the two spend hours on a video-call with Ruby giving Oscar an epic recap of all that went down on the mission, in meticulous detail and with jubilant exaggeration, much to Oscar’s entertainment on the other end.

As the younglings of the group, I figured the Rosebuds would at least keep in constant communication as much as they could afford; whether it’s via text or instant messaging or video calls when they’re available at the same time.

I even have this cute idea where Ruby and Oscar often exchange ‘selfies’ with each other---y’know Ruby takes captioned snapshots from their missions to send over to Oscar while he in turn sends the occasional snapchat too;; although not as good as Ruby.

I’m in favour of Oscar being technologically inept, coming from a farm bred background. Either that or Oscar is just sort of like a lost little lamb when it comes to operating a standard Scroll leading to comical moments where Ruby has to play his guiding shepherd to help the precious freckled farm boy understand the techno-stuff he’s not used to.

I just hope that if my assumption is true and JNR_RWBY and Oscar are indeed divided for a while due to their different training regiments that the show at least indicates a sign that the Rosebuds frequently keep each other abreast of their respective affairs.

I would gladly take a small moment where Ruby is about to join everyone on embarking on their very first training mission with the Ace Ops, only to receive a video call from Oscar wishing her and everyone good luck just before they jump out of the airships.

Later we can then have a follow-up parallel where Oscar is on break from one of his training sessions with Ironwood only to soon answer a call from Ruby. That’s all I need. Just two scenes to establish that these two kiddos still remain close and communicate a lot during their training. As a matter of fact, it’d be ten times more adorable if they did do that

Also if Oscar gets a Scroll, I’m praying that his official Scroll handle is ‘Cute Boy Oz’. I couldn’t help but noticed that Ruby’s Scroll handle for Jaune was ‘Vomit Boy’ in V6 as a callback to his nickname dubbed by Yang (I think) from way back in Volume 1.

Since Oscar keeping the “Cute Boy Oz” has been established twice between V5 and V6, as dubbed by Nora, I hope it’s a nickname that sticks with him and that’s the handle Ruby uses for Oscar on her Scroll.

Like picture another moment where someone---probably one of the Ops members Ruby befriended---indicates to her that her Scroll was ringing, remarking confusedly that someone called ‘Cute Boy Oz’ was trying to get her, only for Ruby to jubilantly announce that was Oscar before hastily taking the call with her favourite farm boy.

I mean ‘Farm Boy’ can also work as a decent Scroll handle for Oscar too but it doesn’t have the extra pizazz as ‘Cute Boy Oz’. Besides, I really want that pet name for Oscar to stick with him forever to the point that it becomes an inside joke between him and his teammates/friends that’s as immortal as he is.

Like just imagine, years down the line after Salem is defeated, when Oscar is a grown ass man and his closest peeps, particularly Nora and Ruby (who’d possibly be his wife at this point) still call him ‘Cute Boy Oz’.  But it’s mostly Nora. Kinda like how Toph Beifong still called Aang by her ‘Twinkletoes’ nickname for him in the Legend of Korra despite both being adults in their 40s.

I can just see that being a thing too for Nora and Oscar as part of their long-standing friendship. Like imagine  a dialogue exchange between a 44-year-old Nora Valkyrie and a 40 year-old Oscar Pine be like:

Nora: C’mon. Let’s go check in on the old gang Cute Boy Oz.

Oscar: *pouting* Nora, I’m 40 years old. Don’t you think I’m a bit too old now for the Cute Boy nickname?

Nora: *grinning cheekily* Afraid not.

That’d be cute. Anyways, that’s my headcanon. I hope you guys like it. 

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

[chnsfairy]

a rose of a different color | yang jeongin

words ; 2,302

requested ; no

genre ; fluff

warnings ; literally one, maybe two, curse words

a/n ; dedicated to one of the best people i know 

m.list in bio

-

ok so maybe you weren’t a big fan of the whole valentines day thing

flowers and chocolates and whatnot

the whole shEbANG

love was such a foreign concept to you as throughout your first couple years of high school you’d been solely focusing on your grades,, you didn’t have time for romance or anything like that 

cAUSE WE GOTTA GET THOSE GOOD GRADES KIDS ヽ( `д´*)ノ

your school had, unfortunately, decided to sell roses and chocolates that could be anonymously given to people. it was pretty cheap and people had fun sending their friends or special someone presents throughout the day

but you hadn’t been paying attention to whatever that was,, in the end, you completely forgot about it

anyway,,, i mean you’ve got a history test tomorrow GOOD LUCK BBY (づ￣ ³￣)づ

you’ve got other things to focus on other than that stuff 

so while other’s were busy wasting a dollar on the red roses, you were catching up on some school work in the library

at this point during the day it was nice and quiet, only a couple of other kids were sitting at the desks surrounding you and the librarian had left to eat or something

no one really knows where she goes

and the only noise that you could hear was the scribbling of pencils on paper or the clicky noise of fingers tapping keyboards

well that was until jisung decided to burst through the door and diSRUPT EVERYBODY LIKE USUAL THAT KID IS LOUDD (⇀‸↼‶) (＃＞＜)

your best friend everybody, with his fluffy blonde hair and headphones, permanently glued to his ears

“look y/n- i love that you always fix up my essays and homework for me, really, but you gotta do something other than just sit in here and workkkk” jisung said, quickly sliding into the seat across from you and took the book from out of your hands and into his lap

“hey!” he took your book bitch you want it back (︶︹︺)

“nope,, you can get it after class if you want~” jisung stood up and started waving it in the air before checking his watch and giving you a smirk

“lunch is over anyway do you ever check the clock?” book still in his hand he headed towards the doors that opened up into the busy hallway and disappeared into the crowd of students

did you want to get up?

no

did you have to to get that useless education? 

yes

so you frantically tried to shove everything back into your bag,, dropping things multiple times onto the floor as you scramble to catch up with jisung

who feels miles away at this point

and after about ten seconds you just gave up said ‘fuck this’ and started walking at a normal pace towards your locker 

aint no boy gonna make you run through the crowd of rushing teens o(>< )o (;¬_¬)

however when you did reach your locker you could clearly see the same boy you just basically ran away from you, leaning against the metal box and who seemed to be reading the back of your book

jisung saw that you were coming up from the hallway and stood up straight, allowing you to actually open your locker instead of just block you from it

“so can i have it back now?”

“i don't know what you’re talking about.”

that littlE-

“you know what- nevermind i guess you’ll just have to work on calculus by yourself” you chuckled lightly to yourself as you opened your locker

“wha- no! i’ll give it- oh hey” jisung stopped mid-sentence as he peered into the same metal box you were looking at

“woah y/n who’s the lucky guy?”

“uhhhh,,, no one???” wth jisung you know its me stfu

when you looked in you could see a delicate rose laying at the bottom of your locker next to your books, the same one the school had been selling to students

carefully, you picked it up to examine the red flower closer,, it was beautiful, to say the least

it almost looked perfect you were shocked to see it being preserved this well

“at this rate its gonna be like that forever-”

beT you wacked his arm as he gave out a small laugh and raised his hands in surrender

“im kidding~ anyway, who’s it from?” 

you looked deeper into your locker, maybe this person left a note or something,,, who knows

“um it doesn’t say...” you said, still confused, as you close the door to your locker

“uuuu y/nnnnn~ looks like someones pining over youuuu” h a its me

you quickly shook your head and shrugged it off as jisung went on about how good this was for you

ok so maybe you’re kinda dying on the inside and you’re trying really hard not to say anything but this is kinda sweet and adorable and omg you dont even know who this kid is but they’re already doing things to you and your heart<(｀^´)>

‘GETTING ROSES FROM STRANGERS DOESNT MATTER’ YEAH OK SURE LOOK AT YOU NOW 

“sungie a flower can mean a lot of different things” you argued

“but on valentines day?? of all days?? come on y/n,, red one's represent love you know”

“yeah yeah whatever,” you said as you continued walking towards your next, soon arrivng and heading for the back of the classroom where you took a seat in your usual spot

“hey how do you think they got into your locker?” jisung questioned as he plopped his bag on the floor and sat in the seat next to you

oh shit he’s right how- huh- how did they get in cREEPY

“maybe they have access to the master key,,, um student council?”

“jisung why would the student council have access to the master key?”

jisung scratched the back of his head and shrugged his shoulders

“i dont know maybe they stole it~” he wiggled his eyebrows and gave you a smirk before pulling out 

“oh shut up, they probably know seungmin or something- who’s mom is literally the principle” 

the teacher had then started the class and for the first time in a while you found yourself distracted, you couldnt focus on anything the teacher was saying and your notebook remained empty by the end of the period

i mean like

the fact that someone went to all that trouble just to give you that,, i mean couldnt they have done it another time?? i mean you’re not complaining at all,, but you dont want to make someone go out of your way to do that (╯︵╰,)

“y/n its time to go, come on” snapping out of your daze you see jisung and everyone else packing up to leave “wow first time i’ve seen you distracted about anything”

iTS NOT YOUR FAULT YOUR HEART IS GOING bBoM BOM BECAUSE OF THIS STUPID PLANT OK ヽ(`⌒´メ)ノ

“n-no there was just nothing note worth today”

“uh huh sure”

the rest of the day passed as normal, you only had one more class before you headed home and all you were doing was working with your project partner, jeongin, to finish a presentation, which was due next week

when you got home you found a small vase from a cupboard in the kitchen and filled it with water before placing the pretty flower in it,, unsure of what else to do with it but put it on your desk

the next day went the same as always, you went to class, jisung annoyed you to a point where you felt like hitting him, but you gave up and helped him with his math work and you read in the library during lunch

nothing new

you met jisung at your locker once again after lunch and you could clearly see the sweat laced across his forehead and his heavy breaths indicated that he was probably outside playing basketball with hyunjin or something

“what’s your bet i can cheat on this history test”

“can i bet negative”

“wow o ye, of little faith,, come on believe in me”

rolling your eyes you opened your locker once again to grab a book, which you were instead met with what looks like another rose?

but its not valentines day??

“y/n there's no denying it now”

this time the fragile blossom was more of a lavender shade

“oh hey cool it’s a different color,” jisung said as he peered over shoulder “that means its got a different meaning”

“hey maybe you’ll ace a botany quiz instead of this history one, yeah?”

“haha very funny”

and that was that,,, you left it in your locker and took it home and placed it gently in the vase with the other flower, not giving it much thought other than that

still you were kinda curious

over the weekend you almost forgot about it, but your mind still drifted to the origin and the person who bought the flowers that continued to sit at your desk

you didnt know how to feel honestly, you had no clue who this person was yet they still make your insides all squishy (⁄ ⁄>⁄ ▽ ⁄<⁄ ⁄) uWU

on monday, you thought that this whole thing would have passed and that you would never get to find out who your rose giver was

yet when you opened your locker yet again after lunch, with a wild jisung peeking over your shoulder again, there they were again

but this time there was wayy more than just a single flower

a bouquet of thirteen different colored roses, all identical and just utterly gorgeous

“you know i once read something about the number of roses given to you...although i’ve forgotten about it now” jisung whispered, causing you to jump back in surprise

turning to your friend you gave him a glare before closing your locker once again

“oh come on arent you curious who it is??”

“no”

“yeah right y/n i can tell you do”

“i do not,, because whoever it is shouldnt waste their time or money on me”

jisung laughed and swung his arm around your shoulder, “ok y/n whatever you say”

for the rest of the week this person continued to fill your locker with all sorts of colors and combinations of roses

and day after day the number seemed to get smaller, tuesday it was twelve, wednesday there were ten, on thursday it suddenly dropped down to two, and finally back to only one on friday

but something was different this time

there was actually a note

“meet me by the orchid tree after school? um only if you want to...”

even in their notes they sounded adorable you couldnt just not go,, and you would be lying if you were to say you weren’t at all curious

jisung continued teasing you throughout the entire week, offering to find out who it was if really necessary and ended up just continuously guessing who it could be when you said no

“awww look at my y/n,, growing up and getting into relationships~” jisung cooed as you put the rest of your notebooks into your bag and pulled out the single rose from this afternoon, as well as the note that came with it

you were actually quite nervous, to say the least, i mean,, you’ve never had any experience with romance and you didnt know what you were even going to say

throughout the afternoon you had kept fidgeting with your fingers and hair out of nerves, and when it finally came to leave for the day your hands were clammy and you just felt so...jittery

jisung pat your back and pushed you out the front doors and into the small courtyard, motioning towards the old orchid tree that sat at the other end of the field

“ok if you’re not back in five minutes im going home and assuming you’ve got a date,” he said giving you a wink before pulling out his headphones from his bag

‘go!’ jisung mouthed before he sat down on a bench near the front doors,, leaving you completely vulnerable on your own

breath. take a couple steps. breath. take a few more. just keep breathing and maybe the nerves will calm you down,, you thought as you made your way across the grass towards the tree

in the distance you could see a boy sitting under it, black hair covering his head and such bright red roses in his hands you could see them from all the way over here

as you reached closer you were able to make out the face of your admirer

“jeongin?” you asked, an unknowing relief sound filling your voice

standing up quickly, red across his cheeks, jeongin gave you a small smile before looking back down at the ground

“are you disappointed?” he asked, you could hear the nerves tint his sentence,, he went through all this trouble because he just has no other clue hOW TO TALK TOO SOMEONE SO AMAZING AS YOU OK HES SCARED OF REJECTION HE DIDNT KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO

“um, surprisingly?” you took a couple more steps towards him, only a couple of inches separated the two of you now

“not really” you said before quickly pecking his cheek, causing jeongin’s entire face to go red 

you quickly hid in your hands and shook your head,, trying not to squeal or do anything more stupid than you just did

“a-ah im sorry!” 

you heard a small giggle come from in front of you,, opening your eyes you saw jeongin holding six pure crimson red roses out in front of him

“im glad~” he said as you took the small bouquet from his hands

“wanna go see a movie or something?” jeongin offered, hope glittering his eyes you couldnt help but grin

“of course i would”

-

bonus ;

“hey you dyed your hair again.” you said to jeongin, carefully reaching your hand out to touch it

“uh yeah...do you like it?”

“i love it black baby,” taking his hand in yours you gave him a smile “you look really good.” 

[randomminer]

HPHM MC X Preferred Ship Questions

Sorry this got a little long in places.

1) Who is your MC preferred significate other?

-Charlie Weasley [[MORE]]

2) When did they start developing feelings for each other?

-sloooowly

-Svari is aro/demi and the typical depictions of romance really make her uncomfortable

-Charlie is aro/ace and while he doesn't usually experience sexual or romantic urges, he does still feel strong connections with companions, in particular Svari

-Svari was the first to realize she may be drawn to Charlie in a way that's "more than friends", but where as many would become a blushing mess upon experiencing a first crush, Svari was terrified

-she didn't know what to do with these emotions and urges that just fell in her lap

-the only people she confided in were her Aunt Minerva, Penny, and Rowan

-at best, she was clumsy with her "flirting", much to her friends' amusement

-to make it worse, Charlie was completely oblivious to her attempts

-she tried shifting her affections to others, Barnaby Lee and Talbot Winger being examples, but her heart always seemed to pull her back to Charlie

-while Svari never lacked confidence in her skills and appearance, she didn't see herself as a worthy match for this young man she had become drawn to

-she had resolved herself to keeping her feelings secret and just being happy for Charlie with whoever he fell for and made him happy

-she tried to convince herself that that would be enough

3) Who confessed their feelings and where did it happen?

-Svari didn't actually voice her feelings to Charlie until well after Hogwarts

-it happened at the Burrow, at a small farewell party for Charlie, a few days before he would actually leave for Romania

-the two were sitting by themselves in the garden and Charlie was excitedly yammering on about dragons and his dream job, talking about a mile a minute

-Svari listened with a strained smile, feeling a bitter sweet ache building in her heart

-Charlie would be leaving and with every sentence, Svari could feel her resolve crumbling away

-midway through one of Charlie's rants, the dam finally burst and Svari basically regurgitated years of suppressed feelings into two minutes, a silent Charlie wide eyed and blindsided

-after much embarrassment, reassuring, and talk, the two decided to give it a shot and see where things would go

4) How long had they had those feelings? 

-while Svari had been grappling with her feelings for years, Charlie just kinda stumbled into it and thought "eh, what the hell, could be fun"

-the relationship would be slow, mostly long distance, and little more than hand holding and cuddling when in person, but both were content with that

-Charlie would set his boundaries and Svari would respect them. If either wanted to try something more, it was always with consent from the other

5) Where was their first date to and how did it go?

-neither was very keen on the idea of flowers, chocolate, and dancing under the stars

-they just did what they would do as friends...only now they were more than that

-in this case, they were packing the last of Charlie's things and had lunch

-Svari felt the need to give Charlie a gift to take with him to Romania

-after their "date" she handed him woven leather bracelet similar to her own, but with a poorly made dragon picture burned into the side

-he'd laughed, but was touched

6) What was the most awkward moment they have shared?

-definitely the first kiss

-it was the first Christmas holiday that Charlie had been back since going to the sanctuary

-the remaining Weasley family members and some wizarding neighbors were gathered at a magical pub for a neighborhood Christmas Eve party

-and cheesey as it sounds, Charlie and Svari got caught under the magic mistletoe that had been floating around looking for victims

-Charlie had noticed it first and silently gestured at it with his head

-Svari didn't know where to look, what to do with her hands, was stumbling over her words

- their relationship was still so new, she didn't want to make Charlie uncomfortable, and at the same time was overwhelmed herself

-so imagine her complete surprise when he was the one to gently pull her in by the collar of her jacket, plant a quick but loving smooch on her lips, smile, then got back to the party like nothing had happened

7) When did the curse gang found out about them?

-Svari had talked about her feelings before with her Aunt Minerva, Penny, and Rowan

-Bill has eyes, has been around them all through Hogwarts, and isn't an idiot

-everyone else either found out at Charlie's farewell party or through gossip

8) Do they follow the same career path after Hogwarts or follow different choices?

-Charlie, of course, went to Romania and worked at the dragon sanctuary

-Svari, due to her half-breed status, found it hard to hold a job and mostly stuck around the UK

-she did become part of a group who aid and rehabilitate half breeds and turned humans (it was through this group that Svari met and befriended Remus Lupin) her volunteer work kept her busy and happy

-up until after the Second Wizarding War, they mostly kept in contact via owls, fireplaces, and holidays

-while they would have liked to be closer and seen each other more, each had their own calling.

9) What song(s) describes their relationship with one another?

-"Another Night on Mars" by The Maine

-"You're My Best Friend" by Queen

-"Head over Feet" by Alanis Morissette

10) Do they have any inside jokes with each other?

-the amount of times the two of them and Bill have snuck into the Prefect's Bathroom as a group has become something of a joke

-"going to the toilet, Charlie? Should I grab Bill? Just like old times?"

11) Have they worked together with finding the curse vaults or do they try to convince the other not to endanger themselves?

- To Svari, there isn't a Hogwarts story worth telling that doesn't begin with the words "Charlie and I"

- finding the vaults is no exception

12) When did they have their first kiss? 

-see #6

13) Is either of them a member of the quidditch team? Do they root for their house or each other?

-at the current time in Hogwarts Mystery, Charlie is a seeker for Gryffindor and Svari is a beater for Ravenclaw

-they cheer for each other when they are up against other houses, but when it's Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw, they know loser wears winner's house colors the next day and winner buys loser butterbeer

14) Do they participate in any of the same clubs or made any of their own?

-between the vaults, Quidditch, and school? I don't see them being part of clubs anyway

15) Are they reserve about sharing affection or open about it?

-neither has a problem with public displays of affection, but their's are pretty tame in comparison to most of their friends

16) Have they ever had a fight? Was it small or big? How did they solve it?

-any couple who says they'll never have a fight isn't going to last

-fights are hard, but they help a couple grow

-Svari and Charlie are no exception

-one of their larger ones happened while Svari was in the hospital

-while trying to help a couple of half-breed teens who were quickly becoming involved in some bad stuff, Svari had gotten caught up in a battle between aurors and dark wizards

-she managed to get the two teens to safety, but had been hit with several spells and almost died

-she was in St. Mungo's for three weeks

-Charlie had come as soon as he could, but was very angry at the risks she was taking

-going into a dangerous neighborhood, that was a known dark wizard gang's territory, at night, with no back up, to try and talk sense into a pair of teens who probably wouldn't change anyway, was one of the stupidest things she had done

-they had tried to keep a civil conversation, but it esscalated into a loud back and forth about the dangers of both their jobs and the strain it put on both of them

-at one point, Svari felt her "other" form beginning to surface and in frustration threw a small vase of flowers at the wall by Charlie and told him to leave, which he did

-they didn't talk for several weeks, but both were hurting

-after Svari was released from the hospital, but not back to work yet, the two teens came to her for advice and options.

-feeling a wave of relief that these kids were going to be ok, Svari decided to ride the good vibes and go fix things with Charlie

-when she got to the Romanian sanctuary, Charlie was being treated for minor dragon related injuries (at this point I'm thinking it was what would eventually become the shiny burn mark on his arm, as described in the GoF when he first met Harry)

-their reversed positions was a good ice breaker

-they sat outside and just talked for hours

-they agreed that while the worry will always be there, it wasn't right for them to hold the other from following their path

-they would need to be more careful, because they both had someone who would be hurt if something happened to them

-after everything was said, Svari pressed her forehead to Charlie's and told him she loved him for the first time

17) Do they get jealous easy? And if so, who?

You tell me.

-Since Charlie wasn't one for dating, Svari never really had to battle with feelings of jealousy (except maybe with dragons)

-Charlie, on the other hand, would be supportive, but withdrawn

-this wasn't territory he was used to and he may not have entirely understood why he felt upset when Svari was romantically involved with someone else

-he wasn't feeling so much "hey, I love you, and want to be with you forever and always, that should be me with you"

-it was more like when your best friend or a sibling suddenly starts giving all their attention to a girlfriend/boyfriend and you feel left out, betrayed, and conflicted

18) Do they sneak into each other’s dorms without being found?

-not usually, there are much cooler places to hang out in a magical school

19) Have they broken rules to have fun?

-they have snuck into the Forbidden Forest so much that I think the prefects have given up trying to stop them

-"whatever, just don't lose us any house points...and bring a jacket"

20) Who is the most protective between them?

-they are both very protective of each other

-if the situation called for it, either of them would fight like hell for the other

[ladyshandioftheendless]

~KISS AU writings 3~

Hope you all enjoy a cute, flustered Foxy!

~Shandi

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~COFFEE SHOP AU Part 2~

Featured Pairing: Ace Frehley/Eric Carr

Special Guest: Paul Stanley

Summary: Eric goes to Ace’s first performance..and meets his beautiful stage partner. Misunderstandings ensue~ (told from Eric’s POV)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I get a call from Ace while I’m cleaning up the shop. 

His excitement is so cute that I can’t help but smile. “I’m gettin’ up on stage tonight, Curly!” I can practically hear him jumping up and down. “You’ll come won’tcha? If I see you in the audience maybe I won’t choke!” I laugh. “Of course I will! Give me about an hour? I’m almost done cleaning up then I have to go back to my place to change. I’ll make sure I sit up front~” I blushed as I hear Ace kissing the receiver. “Thanks a lot, babe~ Gotta go! I’ll seeya at 9!” I hang up and sigh. I’m definitely not as nervous as he is right now but I’m pretty close. Why am I sitting down?! I have to finish up here so I can go home and get ready! Once I get home I take a quick shower and go through my dresser. The club Ace is playing at is a lounge as well so..somewhat fancy dress is required. I take out one of my trusty black button up shirts, pull on some black jeans and finish off with an orange vest. I’ve always loved the way orange and black look on me. They just seem to be my colors~ I look at my watch. 8:25. Thankfully I’ve got enough time to get there. 

My stomach sinks once I see the club entrance. There is a line wrapped around the block. Great. I’ll never get inside in time! I go up to ask the guys at the door what the wait is like and one of them looks at me as if he knows me from somewhere. I look back at him confused. I would remember if somebody as big as him came into my shop. “Your name Eric?” he asks gruffly, startling me. “Um..yes..?” He places a huge hand on my back and guides me through the doors. “Ace said he’s expectin’ you so c’mon. Show’s startin’ soon.” I can’t believe my luck! Ace just starting working here and he’s already charming the staff. I shouldn’t be surprised. The guy could charm a rock~

I find a seat near the stage and settle in. The lights started to dim as soon as I sit down. Looks like I got in just under the wire! A purple spotlight swept the stage then settled on the microphone stand. I see someone walk out but..that doesn’t look like Ace. Once he comes into the light the audience is dazzled by his appearance..and I don’t blame them. He’s perfect..with long, thick curly hair that went slightly past his shoulders, elegantly curved eyebrows and..dare I say it..the prettiest fullest lips I’ve ever seen on a man. Is he..wearing lipstick? I can’t really tell because of the color of the light but if he is it suits him. He’s wearing a rhinestone studded collar, a black and silver sequined vest and suit jacket with tails, its sleeves and lapels also covered in rhinestones. There are rhinestone decorated stars lining his pants and a white lace garter around his left thigh, all leading down to black platform heeled boots decorated with silver chains. Even in the dim light he’s glittering. He’s only come out and everyone is already applauding. That’s…some stage presence.. 

The singer smiles and blows kisses to the audience. “Thank you, all you wonderful people~” he says, taking the microphone from its stand. “It means so much that you all came out to see me tonight..as well as the newest member of my band~ Let’s welcome our new lead guitarist, Ace Frehley!!” I clap as loudly as I can when Ace comes out, waving to the crowd with a big grin on his face. He sees me and winks at me, mouthing ‘thanks, Curly’ before picking up his guitar. I think he’s going to be okay~ The band starts to play a soft melody as the singer holds the microphone close. They all sound as if they’d been playing together for years.

Though I know that you are sleepin’..girl, there’s somethin’ I must say Though the road may wind my love will find the way Many the miles have come between us..and the days, they come and go Still with all we feel it never really shows

Hold me, touch me, and think of me when we’re apart Hold me, baby won’t you touch me And think of me here in the night And you know it’ll be alright

I don’t have words to describe how amazing they are. And what a voice that singer has! Clearly it was made to sing ballads. He sways to the melody with his eyes closed, and I can see various people in the audience swaying right along with him. There are even some women crying!

Though the time apart seems endless all my thoughts remain with you I believe one day we’ll make our dreams come true

Our goodbyes go on forever..and with all that we may say Till tomorrow comes we’ll dream of yesterday

Hold me, baby won’t you touch me, and think of me when we’re apart Hold me, baby won’t you touch me And think of me here in the night And you know it’ll be alright

I didn’t expect the bridge to be so late but it worked perfectly for this song. A blue spotlight fell onto Ace as he stepped forward beside the singer. The way he played that guitar..it just made my heart absolutely melt. He’s poetry in motion..a work of art. I can’t help but cry myself. When the song ended we all stood up to applaud and cheer. A standing ovation. After a performance like that it was well deserved. The lights brighten again as the band gathers at the front of the stage and take their bows. The singer goes to Ace and presents him to the crowd. “Isn’t he wonderful?! Ace Frehley, everyone!!” My heart just about sinks down into the pit of my stomach when he gives Ace a big, long kiss. Right on his lips. In front of everyone.

Ace asked me to wait backstage for him. I don’t know why I still decide to do it after what I saw. I’m nervous about even facing him..but I want an explanation! I hear voices..then I see Ace turn the corner with that singer practically glued to his side, just laughing and joking away. Are you kidding me? I’m upset. I’m angry. I just want to turn away and leave..but Ace has already seen me. “Hey Curly!” he shouts, waving at me. I wave half heartedly in return. The need to not be here is pretty overwhelming right now. Ace comes closer in an attempt to kiss me but I turn my head and his lips kiss my cheek instead. The singer sees the look on my face and quirks an eyebrow. “Is this the guy you told me about Acey~?” he asks. 

Acey? They’re already using cute nicknames? 

“Yeah!” Ace says, ruffling my hair. “This’s Eric but I like to call ‘im Curly. You can see why~ Curly, this’s is the club’s number one songbird Paul Stanley~ Ain’t he beautiful~?” I resist the urge to roll my eyes. “Yes..I..enjoyed your performance. That song was lovely.” Paul beamed. “Why thank you..how kind of you to say~ I wrote it myself~” Ace let out a cackling laugh and smacked Paul on the shoulder. “The king of modesty aren’tcha Paulie~?” 

PAULIE? 

My eyes are darting around looking for the closest exit so I can make a quick getaway. I don’t know how much more of this I can take. They’re bantering back and forth, pretty much forgetting I exist. Ace is laughing. Paul can’t keep his damn hands to himself. That’s the last straw.

“I have to go..” And I bolt, not even caring if they heard me or not.

To Be Continued!!

[pertenebris-adastra]

He Was Mine (Updated Version)

Word Count: 1716 (the original was 850)

Pairing: none

Warnings: Mentions of death, feels

A/N: So This was one of the first stories I published on tumblr. I have always wanted to go back and revamp it. Add more, try harder and so on. Well, I finally did. Please tell me what you think, I will link the original here.

ORIGINAL

We all know his story. What he conquered, what he achieved, the troubles he had to face, even the hell he had been through. Just like the two-lane roads we’ve traveled all of our lives, there are two sides to every story and this… this is mine.

In life you meet thousands of people, some you only know for a short period of time and other for years. People always came and went. Loved ones who came back and were gone too soon. Enemies who were here too long and came back too quickly. Friends who make life bright for the fleeting moments they are with us, only to have the world cast a shadow upon us again once they leave.

No matter how many people we met, however, he was always there. Through thick and thin, through good times and bad. He was the person I was destined to meet. He was my person, my fate, my life I spent years trying to find. He was, for lack of a better term, my reason I was brought into this world.

I haven’t known him my whole life, but he knew me all of his. Before I met him, I stayed the course, did what I was supposed to do and I was good at it. When he arrived though? My job changed, I was no longer just a factor in a bigger picture, for him, I was the picture. When he was little he would sit with me for hours with his father, both oblivious the darkness that would soon invade their lives. Oblivious to the pain, the heartache, the fights, the losses he would eventually endure. Too young to know the horrors that the world had in place for him. To precious for these thoughts to even invade his mind. He loved me even then. I loved him as well.

It was after his brother was born that tragedy struck his family and our dark, twisted journey began. I remember that night so clearly. I remember seeing the terrified look on my boy’s face as he ran from the burning home clutching his screaming brother in his arms. I remember his soft whimpers as his father drove them away. I remember his father's broken sobs as he tried to appear strong for his sons. I remember his broken whispers, trying to figure out where his mommy was.

I remember every place we stopped; I remember every road we traveled. I remember the nights where he had no bed to lay in, so instead, he laid with me, they all did. I remember when he would feed his brother the stolen food when their father had gone away again. I remember watching him grow, watching him change and become the man we all remember today. I remember every song we sang, every moment he smiled, and every moment he cried.

I went everywhere with him, I gave him a place where he felt safe, loved, and most of all, where he felt happy. Whenever we were apart, I always worried about him. Was my boy okay? Was he hungry? Was he safe? It crushed me that I couldn’t be with him every moment of the day. As he grew, I stayed with him, cared for him, and made sure that he always had a place to call home even though he never had the actual thing.

Through the years, both he and his brother left their mark on me. I will always carry a piece of them with me, just as I know I will always have a place in his heart. His brother loved me too, but not nearly as much as he did.

When he turned 18, I was truly his. We got to spend every day with each other. Nothing mattered but me, him, and the open road. Of course, I knew what he did, the trouble he subjected himself to just to save people who he didn’t know.  No matter how he came back to me though, he always comes back.

After a hunt, he would come back to me with a mall smile on his face if it was a success. I could tell that despite the brutality of his job, he could save someone. He was, in an odd way, a hero like the ones he used to idolize before that night long ago.

For a while, it truly was only the two of us. The nights alone, the long drives filled with the songs of Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, and so many more floating through the open windows. Those were my favorite. It was us against the world, against the monsters the lurked in the shadows. We could do anything. We felt invincible.

Soon though when his father went missing and we had to pick up his brother. For my boy, he was elated to see the brother he had raised. The boy he had cared for, worried about, sacrificed everything for. He wants him to stay even though that’s not what his brother wanted. My boy thought that if his brother was with him, he could always keep him safe. He did, keep him safe that is. For the most part. Whenever they left to go find their father, however, his brother’s girlfriend perished. She was brutally murdered just as their mother had been. From that point on, they were both my boys. Broken, sad, angry? Yes, but mine nonetheless.

I’ve seen many faces pass through. Some friendly and some not. I’ve seen the relationships build between these people and my boys. I have been there for them through years, through fights, through many deaths, and through anger. My poor broken boy had gone through so much. He played tough, putting on a brave face to his brother. When we were alone though? I’d sit with him as he broke down. I’d catch his tears, listen to him as broken sobs wracked his body or as he’d yell out to no one. The hardest part was watching him lose people. His brother, his friends, the people he cared for most. Watching him lose someone was like watching someone carve out a piece of his heart while he was awake and screaming. In all my years here, I have never seen someone experience so much pain and feel the need to shoulder it all to remain strong for those he had left. He was a broken wall that was held up with shaky lean-tos, tape, and grit. He could have buckled at any point but he grew stronger, harder. I knew he needed someone who would always be there, someone to care for him like he cared for all of the other people in his life, and I was the girl for the job.

I watched as he grew older, as the fights grew harder. I watched as the losses grew more painful. I watched as his family grew and shrunk. I watched as the world taunted and played with my boy like a kid burning ants with a magnifying glass. He’d come back to me more broken than before. Then one day he never came back.

I waited for him, hoping my boy was okay. The days that passed turned to weeks. My heart grew cold, my thoughts grew darker, I knew something was wrong. When someone did come it was his brother. He came to me with tears in his eyes and silence on his mind. It was then that I knew. He was never coming back. He was gone. My poor boy would never sit with me again. He would never take me on another trip. We would never listen to music on the open road. I was no longer his home.

His brother and I drove for miles until we hit Sioux Falls only stopping when we had reached the salvage yard that had once belonged to his uncle before he too had passed. It had been years since I had been there. Everywhere I looked reminded me of him. It was like his memory was laced through every nook and cranny. I could see his shadow between each car, hear his voice in the wind that blew through the piles of other useless things. Once we stopped, his brother turned to me, kissed me softly and said his goodbyes.

He told me how much he appreciated me, how much I meant to him and his brother, but he said without Dean there, seeing me would be too painful. As much as it hurt to have to say goodbye to the only other person I loved in this world I understood. That’s what you’re supposed to do for someone you love though right? At least that’s what my boy taught me. If you love someone, you do everything in your power to help them, even if it means sacrificing yourself.

It’s been many years now since I’ve seen his brother or anyone else for that matter. I’m all alone now. I spend my nights widowed and in silence. I see the world spinning around me as I sit motionlessly. Days pass, the hot sun beating down on my skin, a painful reminder of the days I used to spend with him. As bad as the days are though, the nights are so much worse. The hollowness seeps into my body, the silence deafens me. It's like being surrounded by every living creature in this world and being absolutely invisible.

Sometimes I think I can hear his voice, maybe even his laugh but I know that it’s not him. It couldn’t be. He was taken away from me. He was ripped from me far too soon, leaving me alone. A useless being in a world that needs him desperately.

He named me Baby, and I was his. He took care of me like he did everyone else. In reality, though, he was mine. I took care of him. I comforted him. I loved him. I loved that broken, the guilt-ridden, the righteous man who believed that the ones he held closest would only end up hurt. I loved and cared for him his entire life and I will spend the rest of mine clinging to his memory that haunts the old leather seats of this fading ‘67 Impala.

Honeybees ♥: @adoptdontshoppets @mymysosa @familybusinesswritingbro @mlovesstories @blue-moon-writing @caswinchester2000 @dreamchester67 @tumbler-tidbits @dean-winchesters-bacon @ruthiesconnells @fangirl-forevers-world @sammyimpala-67 @maddiepants

[arotechno]

The Heartless: Chapter 1

In a world where those born without hearts are said to carry a dangerous curse, Ace has lived most of his life believing himself to be a monster. Now, seeking closure about the defining moment of his childhood, Ace embarks on a coming-of-age journey to learn the truth about what it means to be human.

Note: Yes, this is your surprise. Yes, this is just a draft. No, I don’t know when the other chapters will be coming. Yes, this is an aro story and you will just have to trust me. Yes, the main character’s name is Ace. This concept comes from a short story I wrote for a class over five years ago, and I assume I wrote him with being asexual in mind, but it doesn’t much matter to me whether or not you read him that way. Yes, I am aware that I’m risking readers conflating aromanticism and asexuality. No, I cannot bring myself to change his name. You try working with the same character over a five year period and then attempting to bring yourself to change his name. And no, I have no idea how archery works but I’ll be damned if I don’t pretend I do. I’ll shut up now.

When the winter first melted into spring, Basil and I crept to the edge of the woods behind our houses to pick wildflowers in the meadow. It was still too early for raspberries; in the summer, we’d fill our baskets and our stomachs with them until our mouths were stained red with juices. Our mothers would bake pies in the afternoon and we’d eat them in the evening, cleaning every last scrap from our dinner plates with the promise of a sweet dessert. Now, the earth was still cool beneath our bare feet, our toes wiggling in the soft dirt. Once we’d filled our fists with flowers, we settled in the tall grass and began weaving together goldenrod, daisies, and violets into flower crowns and daisy chains.

Basil presented his work and beamed at me, shielding his eyes from the afternoon sun with the back of his hand. “Take it, I want you to wear it,” he urged, thrusting the flower crown into my lap.

“But you worked so hard on it,” I replied.

He shrugged and brushed dirt from his tanned knees. “I want you to have it,” he insisted, reaching forward and taking the crown from my lap to place it gently on my head.

I stared down at my own work in my hands; it was not nearly as beautiful as the one Basil had made. Some of the stems had split, and many of the flowers had lost some of their leaves and petals. I didn’t have the same steady hands that he did.

“In that case, I want you to have mine, too,” I decided, pressing the crown onto Basil’s head as a couple more leaves fluttered to the ground.

Basil grinned a mile wide, practically radiating sunshine with every inch of his being. “Now we match,” he giggled.

A peaceful silence fell over the meadow. Behind us, the trees rustled in the woods. Insects hovered in the grass, hopping from flower to flower; Basil jumped when a bee buzzed past his face to land in the flowering raspberry bushes that bordered the treeline.

“We’ll be friends forever, right, Basil?” I asked after a while, sheepishly adjusting my flower crown.

“Of course we will,” he responded. “Even when we’re old!”

“How old? Like, eighteen? That’s super old!”

Basil laughed. “Yeah! Eighteen and then even older!”

I smiled hopefully. “We can still make flower crowns?”

“Ace, when we’re eighteen, I’ll still make you all the flower crowns you want,” Basil decreed with a grin. “That’s a promise.”

The warmth of the sun and Basil’s innocent smile faded as I woke up to last night’s rain dripping down on me from the cracks in the ceiling above. Bertrand stood over me, jostling me awake with one hand while the other hand held a vial of another one of his concoctions. I assumed I had fallen asleep after supper, because the dishes remained untouched by the washbasin and twilight was just pouring in through the window.

“Drink up,” Bertrand commanded in that voice of his that just begged to be disobeyed, holding the potion in front of me expectantly as if to remind me of the curse that filled the vacant space within me. He stared at me with piercing eyes over the top of his growing gray beard, sloshing the vial back and forth for emphasis.

I grabbed it from his wrinkly hand and sloshed the red liquid around in disgust before shutting my eyes and downing it in one gulp, just to appease him. Even so, I rested a hand against my chest, but still I felt nothing. Shaking my head, I rose from my cot and pushed past Bertrand, grabbing my bow and arrow off of the hook by the door and slinging it over my shoulder.

“Where are you going?” Bertrand called after me.

“Out,” I answered, already halfway out the rickety wooden door.

“It’s past nightfall, Ace, it’s dangerous out there!”

But I was already gone, walking away from the old house as the door slammed shut behind me with a satisfying thud.

Over the seven years I’d spent under Bertrand’s leaky roof, I had slowly become disillusioned with the idea of ever finding a potion strong enough to light a fire in my ribcage. Bertrand had tested a lot of his spells on me throughout my life, but the love potion had always proven to be the least effective.

But I suppose that is to be expected when you do not have a heart.

The Village of the Heartless was smaller than the town where I grew up. A single dirt road ran from the village gates to the top of the hill, coming to a stop at the edge of the woods that surrounded the kingdom. We were a close-knit community, learning to provide and look out for each other in the harshness of our everyday lives.

Bertrand’s house stood at the edge of the village, where the hill dropped off toward the gates below. At the base of the hill stood a large, sturdy oak tree where I perched some nights with my bow and arrow on the lookout for trouble.

Nights in the Village of the Heartless were always dark, as we could never afford enough oil to keep all of the town’s lamps lit, but they were rarely quiet. Thugs from neighboring towns wandered the village at night, brandishing knives in their grimy hands, looking to stir up trouble. Tonight was no different; as I neared the village limits, I caught a glimpse of a pair of kids making their way down the road, and a thrill shot up my spine. I climbed swiftly up the oak tree and perched in the shadow of its lush, leafy branches, fingers itching for my bow.

The pair dragged a child behind them by the arm, yanking her across the dirt with them as they cackled and cheered triumphantly at their prized catch. The girl held tightly to a canvas sack, trying fruitlessly to pull away from her captors.

“Get away, get away!” she shrieked, dodging a blow as she fell to the ground, clutching the bag to her torso desperately.

“What’s the matter, little runt?” one of the thugs sneered. “You’re not afraid of a couple of kids, are you?”

“I just wanted something to eat!” the girl cried out as a likely filthy knife narrowly missed her cheek.

If I had been in my right mind, I would have simply shot the pair of thugs in the shoulder, snatched up the child, and run away, but Basil’s face kept flashing in my mind; an anger was boiling in my gut that demanded confrontation.

“Hey, ugly!” I shouted, pulling back an arrow and pointing it in their direction.

The kid with the knife froze, eyes darting up to my place on the tree branch. I was yards away, but I could see the glint of light from the last of the setting sun on the knife as his fist tightened around it. His partner, as well as the child still laying on the ground with the sack clutched to her chest, stared wide-eyed as he rose to his feet and stalked toward the tree.

“Who’re you talking to?” he grumbled.

“Doesn’t matter,” I quipped, hopping down from my perch and tightening my grip on the arrow. “Just let the kid go.”

“Why should I?” he retorted, nonetheless taking a step back when he saw the arrow aimed directly at his head. “Y-You’re not really going shoot that.”

“How do you know?”

The other kid called out, “Hey, let’s just get out of here.” He was ignored.

Pointing to the little girl, Knife Boy puffed out his chest and continued, “There’s no way you’re really worried about her. You Heartless are all the same; you don’t feel a damned thing. No way you’d go out of your way to save her.”

I allowed myself a bitter, self-indulgent smirk. “If that’s what you believe, that I am entirely emotionless, then wouldn’t it also stand to reason that I would feel no remorse about ending your sorry life right here and now? If that’s the case, then it would seem you had better start running.”

Knife Boy froze, taking a few steps back before he and his friend took off running in the direction they came. “Cursed bastards!” he yelled over his shoulder as he hopped the gate and disappeared. Once they were out of sight, I let my arms drop to my side and slung my bow back over my shoulder. I felt my brow furrow in frustration; life in the village had become so mundane that I was almost hoping for a fight. The girl, who had stayed completely still on the ground throughout the whole ordeal, scrambled to her feet, still clutching the bag in her white-knuckled hands. Now, up close, I recognized her immediately.

“That was awesome! How did you know what to say?” she beamed, slinging the canvas sack over her shoulder and wiping the dirt from a pair of ratty pants that fell three inches from her ankles.

“Petra, you’re the one who’s been stealing food from the neighboring villages?” I asked her, and her expression soured immediately at having been caught.

“Yeah, that was me,” Petra admitted under her breath. Then, scrambling to justify herself, she added, “But I only do it because there’s not enough food in the village and I gotta eat something!”

I nodded, mulling it over. “Sure, now I suppose I can’t blame you for that, but stealing is wrong. You’re plenty old enough to know that.”

“Of course, I know that, but I needed food!”

“Fine, I get it, I get it,” I sighed. “Just don’t make this a habit, got it? I promised Annie I would keep you out of trouble.”

Petra pouted. “Fine,” she mumbled. I started back up the hill, with Petra trotting silently alongside me.

Now twelve years old, Petra had lived in the Village of the Heartless since she was a baby—which was still longer than I’d been around—left outside the home of one of the village women, Annie, in the middle of the night. I’d met her several years ago, and she quickly became enthralled with my stories of life outside the village. Annie was dead several months now, leaving Petra to fend mostly for herself.

“You didn’t tell me how you knew what to say to that kid,” she urged, struggling to keep up with my strides.

“I used to spend time around those kinds of people a lot when I was a kid,” I explained, deciding to humor her. “I’ve learned how to turn their own words against them by now.”

I did not tell her that had I learned how to do so sooner, things may have turned out a lot differently.

I eventually sent Petra home with a warning that I’d be watching to make sure she didn’t get into any more trouble. When I crossed the threshold back into Bertrand’s musty old house, the palm of his hand came down hard across my face, leaving a sharp stinging sensation behind on my skin.

“What on earth was that for?” I yelped. Bertrand grabbed me by the wrist and dropped me into one of the rickety dining chairs in the center of the room, bearded face practically sparking with rage.

“You must not keep doing that!” he scolded.

“Doing what?” I asked innocently.

“Getting into confrontations with… hooligans! What else?”

“I did what I had to--”

“Don’t think I wasn’t watching, Ace! I could see the entire ordeal from the window!”

“Well maybe if you’d actually done something to help instead of just watching--”

“Unlike you, Ace, I value my life and am not going to get myself killed just to feel like the hero!”

I couldn’t help but bristle at his comment, and I sprung to my feet, the wooden chair tipping backward onto the stone floor behind me with a loud clatter. “What do you mean you value your life? All you do is sit around making futile potion after potion and you still think it’ll work next time!” I clenched my fists at my sides, willing the confrontational energy in my veins to burn out before it swallowed me whole. “So maybe I need to tell off a thug every once in a while to finally feel like I’m doing something meaningful. You can keep pouring bile down my throat all you want, but I can assure you it’ll never make me happy!”

Bertrand’s face fell, and I knew deep down that I had hurt him, but I could not bring myself to feel guilty. He had it coming, I thought, stalking across the room to my cot by the window. I sat down on the thin mattress, kicked off my boots, and pulled my knees up to my chest.

“Ace--” Bertrand, having followed me, reached out a hand as if to lay it on my shoulder, but I flinched away from the touch and he retracted the appendage as if he had been burned.

“Don’t touch me,” I muttered, directing my gaze out the window at the dark, lonely night creeping across the landscape. “Just leave me alone.”

With a sigh, Bertrand retreated from my bedside, retiring to his back potion room to conjure his demons away, and I sat back against the wall, longing for home and the warm voices of my parents.

That night, I dreamt of Knife Boy, and his words reminded me of Carita, the girl who kissed me under an oak tree when we were younger and told me I was weird for flinching.

[you-and-i-for-forever]

10 Things I Hate About You AU Chapter 8

Fandom: Be More Chill, Dear Evan Hansen

Ships: Boyf riends, treebros, richjake, Zolana, Pinkberry

Word count: 1.8k

Feel free the read this on my ao3 instead! 

Jeremy was flipping through his French homework on his bed when he heard the front door open and close. He threw his book down onto the bed and ran to his door to find Evan coming up the stairs.

“Hey,” Jeremy said

Evan looked up at him and gave him a small smile, “Hi.”

Jeremy gave him a quick once over. Evan didn’t look any worse than last night except for-

“What happened to your cast?” Jeremy asked once Evan had reached the top of the stairs. Evan’s cast was gone, replaced with a heavy wrapping of ace bandages.

“It uh- it melted a lot last night so I went to the hospital this morning and had it taken off. The doctor said that it was basically healed so he just gave me this.”

“What even happened to you last night?” Jeremy asked.

Evan picked at his cast as he filled Jeremy in on what had happened once they had arrived at the party and Jeremy went off to find Jake.

“…and then after the hospital, Connor dropped me back off here,” Evan finished, picking at his bandage.

Jeremy was leaning against his doorframe, arms crossed, eyes squinting by the time Evan finished his story.

“What the hell are you doing with Connor Murphy?” Jeremy asked

“What?” Evan asked, looking caught off guard.

“What are you even doing with him? He’s the school nut job, why are you hanging around him?”

Evan blinked rapidly, “He…he’s my friend.”

“It’s bad for your image” Jeremy pursed his lips and shrugged, “There are rumors about the two of you around school. I didn’t think they were true but when he showed up last night and you just went with it?”

Evan stared at him, eyes large and shiny, face flushed, “I, um, he’s-he’s really nice. He was, uh, the one who convinced me to go to, to go to the party.”

“Evan, you can’t hang out with him. People are going to start thinking you’re a freak too.”

Evan was quiet for a long moment.

“Don’t they already, don’t they already think that? Plus, Connor saved my-my life.”

Jeremy opened his mouth to say something else, but Evan cut him off.

“Why do you even…care? I’m surprised that you even-even noticed what I’ve been up to with all the time you’re spending with-with Jake.”

Jeremy’s face turned red, “We’re dating! We’re supposed to hang out!”

“Well, I’d rather hang out with the school freak then…someone-someone who abandons their friends for some popular jock. You’re becoming a real jerk, Jeremy!”

Evan watched as Jeremy’s hands and teeth clenched.

“You know what? I’m so sick of having to deal with this!” Jeremy yelled, stomping back into his room.

He turned around, glaring at Evan, “I wish our parents had never met so I didn’t have a loser for a brother!”

The door slammed and Evan’s eyes blurred. A mix of sad and angry tears almost fell but Evan rubbed them away.

He walked to his own room and laid down, mentally exhausted from all that had happened in the last 15 hours.

-

Evan,

Are you still doing ok?

 Dear Connor,

I’m still a little freaked out, but other than that I’m ok. What about you?

Evan

 I’m fine, I’m just glad you’re ok. Can we meet up tomorrow or something?

 Dear Connor,

I can’t. My mom doesn’t want me going anywhere for the rest of the weekend.

Evan

 Ok. I wanted to ask you in person, but do you want to go to the school dance that’s coming up? I don’t really want to go but I heard someone mention it at the thing last night so I thought I’d ask.

 Dear Connor,

I don’t have a tie to wear so I can’t go.

Evan

 Just think about it? I promise it can’t be any worse then what happened last night.

 Dear Connor,

I will.

Evan

-

Michael was reorganizing his collection of Magic the Gathering cards the day after the house party. He was too worked up to do anything productive, like gaming. Plus, there was no one to play with.

Michael frowned at the thought of who he should be playing video games with. He sighed and flopped over the beanbag chair next to him. He glanced over at the red one next to him. That was Jeremy’s spot.

Whenever Jared was over, Michael always insisted on dragging his bed, a stack of mattresses, in front of the tv so they could sit on that instead.

The beanbags were Michael and Jeremy’s.

Michael covered his face with his hands right before the doorbell rang. He pulled himself up and climbed the stairs. When he opened the door, he expected the pizza delivery person to be on the other side, but to his shock it was Jeremy.

“Hey…” Jeremy said, looking a little nervous.

The surprise of seeing Jeremy again almost caused Michael to pull him into a hug, but he remained where he was.

“What?” Michael asked

“I just wanted to talk.”

Michael remained silent.

“About what? How you called me a loser or how you left me for dead?”

“Michael, please it’s not like that-” Jeremy started but Michael quickly cut him off.

Of course, Michael still wanted Jeremy, but he was so hurt he couldn’t stop himself from speaking brutally honest.

“Not like that? Then what was it like, Jeremy? You're finally realizing that you can do better than me? That I’m nothing to you? That you’re so much better than me? That I really am a fucking loser? How can one anyone, let alone Jack, change you so much?”

Jeremy looked down at the ground in shame. Michael had to fight the urge to comfort him.

“I just want people to like me. To think I’m cool.” Jeremy said in a small voice.

“Newsflash asshole; I already liked you and thought you were cool before you frenched Jake!”

“Yeah?! Well, you and Jared-”

“What about me and Jared? At least I didn’t leave him to die in that fire!” Michael shouted before slamming the door close in Jeremy’s face.

Michael stomped his way back down to his room and yelled into a pillow.

He didn’t even get back up when the pizza boy arrived.

-

“No.  None of that stuff is true.” Connor said with a grin.

Connor had called Evan the Friday after the house party. They still emailed most of the time, but Connor was allowed to use the house phone at times. He and Connor went out for ice cream and decided to go back to Evan’s house since there was no one home.

As they pulled up, Evan has started asking Connor about the rumors that followed him and Connor asked him questions back.

“State trooper?” Evan asked

“Fake. Uh, did you really hide in a janitor closet all day?” Connor asked.

“Not-not exactly.” Evan said with a blush “The duck?”

“He’s safe. Throwing up on Mr. Munsin while trying to give a speech?” Connor asked

Evan groaned, “Fact. I hid in the bathroom-in the bathroom until school ended then dropped, uuuum, his class the next day.”

“Fair enough.” Connor laughed and followed Evan inside after he had unlocked the front door.

“The hair?” Evan asked with a smile.

“My hair?” Connor asked, sounding surprised.

“Someone said that it’s just a-a wig you made from the hair of your…murder victims.” Evan laughed and led Connor up the stairs.

“Yeah well no,” Connor said with a smile.

“Where, um, were you last year? I know the porn career's a lie.” Evan said

“Do you?” Connor asked with a quirked eyebrow

They both paused for a moment then shared a laugh.

Evan opened the door to his room and they sat down together on his bed. They were both still grinning from the ridiculousness of the rumors and gossip people had spread about them.

“Will you…tell me something true?” Evan said.

“Something true?” Connor parroted, then scrunched up his eyebrows in what looked like deep contemplation.

“I hate peas.” He offered.

“No. Something real. Something no one else…no one else knows.” Evan said.

“To be fair, no one else probably knows that,” Connor said.

“Come on. Really though.” Evan said and nudged Connor’s shoulder with his.

Connor readjusted on the bed so he was facing Evan and rubbed his neck, looking awkward.

“Okay, so when I was 12, or something, my mom took me shopping for a really nice suit. You know, something I was just gonna grow out of in a year but she said that everyone was gonna start having Bar Mitzvahs and parties and I should have something nice to wear to all of them. I didn’t…end up getting invited to anything so it just sat in my closet forever.” Connor said

Evan felt terrible, “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you talk about that.”

Connor shrugged and reached into his hoodie pocket.

“Actually, I went looking for it the other day cuz um -”

Connor pulled a blue folded up square and held it out to Evan. Evan took it and unfolded it. It was a tie.

“When we talked about the dance the other day you said you didn’t have a tie and this is the only one I have and I thought it’d be cool if you wore it and it’s never been used before and it’s blue and you like blue you know?” Connor rambled

No one had ever given him something like this before or told them something so personal. It must have been embarrassing to bring up something like that from the past but Connor had done it because Evan had asked. Connor had hung onto the tie all these years, it probably still hurt to think about not getting invited to any parties but he still dug it up to let Evan use it.

Evan felt his heart start to beat fast and he started to sweat.

“I mean I’m not gonna wear it so only if you want to you can and -” Connor was still talking.

Evan leaned forward and kissed him. Connor jerked back and Evan’s face heated up and his body froze.

Oh god, what had he done? He hadn’t even though that through a little bit. He had just thought it would be nice to do then he did it. What if Connor got up and left? What if he never wanted to talk to Evan again?

Evan’s mind was going a mile a minute, but he tried his best to concentrate on Connor.

Connor looked slightly scared for some reason, then just nervous, then something that looked like guilt, before he met Evan’s eyes. They stared, wide-eyed for a few heartbeats then Connor lurched forward, and kissed Evan. Evan threw his arms around Connor’s neck and kissed him desperately. Connor snaked his arms around Evan’s middle and clung to him. Evan made a soft noise into Connor’s mouth and was kissed harder.

They kissed and kissed and kissed and finally Evan pulled back a little. His heart was wildly pounding in his chest. He rested his forehead on Connor’s and took in shaky breaths. They just sat there holding each other after that. Their chests were pressed together, and Evan could feel Connor’s heart beating just as fast as his.