#my dad growing up used to tell me that i need to eat my meat first cause guests always wanted to take the meat before it’s all gone

[ghastlybirdie]

Thinking about having the men in the 141 over to enjoy Dominican food cause Hispanic food is food to be SHARED with the masses

When it’s winter and the air is too cold? Time to make sancocho, a big big BIG pot of meat like chicken, beef, and pork, as well as roots like potatoes, carrots, yuca, malanga, platanos, with a bowl of rice to boat the flavors on; so filling, so rich that Price would have to break up with his mother’s roast for something that keeps his belly both FULL and WARM. The man would be comatose for how good it is, I promise

And in the morning, when Johnny finally has a day in a proper home and can eat a filling meal? Mangu. Fried eggs, fried cheese (yes, cheese, it’s really yummy), Dominican salami, and mashed platanos with butter and topped with red pickled onions?? UGH it’s so filling, it keeps him full until it’s almost dinner time, he swears! He can barely have seconds

Is it summer yet? Cause morir sonando is so sweet and delicious and cold. It’s a simple drink, orange juice and milk with splashes of vanilla and it;s just deeeelicious. Kyle is itching for it cause it’s so hot outside and he needs just a sweet drink and woah that’s so good and tangy, can he have more? Oh, you have pastelitos? What’s that, you ask? Meat of whatever you want (or if you want dessert, guava paste and cream cheese, price likes that one too) in a thin dough thats been fried to be a crispy half circle meal you can hold in your hand..!! Super delicious, Kyle bodies a half dozen in a single sitting at the cookout

Speaking of cookouts- Simon is at all of them, corona in hand and helping babysit the grill and fryer and just listen to chatter. It’s not that he doesnt want to engage, it’s just he’s waiting for the meats cause they smell delicious and heart stopping cause the burgers are great and the rice and beans are to die for- also someone had him try a chicharron with some lime and now he’s ready to dog every piece of food coming his way cause no tia or abuela would let any of these grown men go hungry for even a millisecond…

Just eat your meats first before one of the guys takes it from you

[incorrectbatfam]

Bruce goes to meet the other fathers? Have a barbecue with Clark, Oliver, Berry and talk about their kids?

"Damian told me that I was cool, it's been a while since one of my kids told me that" or "Mia is doing so well at school these days"

those moments when they are all (old men) father proud of the mess the kids are?

The dads: *lounging on beach chairs*

Clark: It's nice to finally get a day off. I think Jon needed it more than me. He's still reeling from growing up and suddenly turning back into a kid again.

Ollie: How'd that happen, anyway?

Duke, walking by: That's just this blog.

Clark: What?

Duke: Nothing. Hey, B, can we use the jacuzzi?

Bruce: Sure, go ahead.

Duke: *gives Emiko a thumbs up*

Emiko: *drains the jacuzzi*

Harper and Cullen: *start cleaning the pipes*

Ollie: I know how you feel, Clark. Roy's the happiest I've seen him with Lian back but it's still a big change. We're working on getting her enrolled in school this fall so she can catch up on what she's missed.

Roy: *sprays the tub with disinfectant*

Jason: *dries it with a leaf blower*

Hal: Speaking of changes, Jaime graduated with honors. I know he's not my kid but I can't help but feel like a proud uncle. Kyle got a new concept artist job, by the way, and I think he really likes it.

Jaime: *turns the jacuzzi back on*

Kyle: *sets up folding tables*

Barry, chuckling: Bart tried to enter a marathon the other day.

Clark: Kon wanted to pay money to go skydiving. I don't get it.

Aquaman: I remember when Kaldur joined an amateur scuba class at that age. Perhaps it's an attempt to feel more human.

Bruce: It's easy for us to forget sometimes too.

Kon, carrying a giant pot: Boiling hot soup, coming through!

Kon: *pours it into the jacuzzi*

Cass: *adds spices*

Tim, with a clipboard: One down, eleven more to go. Bart, stop eating the ingredients.

Bart: It's just tofu.

Tim: That's for Damian. What's he gonna do now, starve?

Bruce: Dick's been coming home more often lately. I can tell Alfred's really happy when he sees us all together.

Dick: *drapes tablecloths over the tables*

Wally: *sets up plates*

Steve, walking in: Mind if I join? Diana's running a little late so she sent me and the girls ahead.

Clark: Of course, feel free.

Donna, holding a basket: Where do these vegetables go?

Barbara: I'll take them. Could one of you get some spoons from the kitchen?

Cassie: On it.

Steve: So where are all the ladies?

Bruce: They're in the living room. Selina's showing off her latest... um... collection. Alfred has tea in the kitchen if you want some.

Steve: Don't mind if I do.

Yara: Should I put the meat in now?

Jon: One sec.

Jon: *scoops some soup aside*

Jon: You're good now. I just needed a vegetarian portion for Dami.

Kon: MORE SOUP COMING!

Ollie: Honestly, I'm surprised everyone's doing fairly well given the industry we're in.

Steph, leading a crowd into the yard: And here's where our main event will be.

Bette: *checking names off a guest list*

Bette: That's almost everyone. Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter are gonna be a little late. Avery's on a mission in Shanghai so she can't make it. Beast Boy and Raven stopped to buy desserts. And the We Are Robin kids just got stuck on a stalled subway train but they should be here pretty soon.

Clark: I think it's a matter of good mentorship and giving them plenty of time and space to get acclimated to the superhero lifestyle.

Jesse: *making lemonade*

Ace: *fills the coolers with ice*

Garth and Kaldur: *handing out drinks*

Barry: And giving them plenty of room to grow at their own pace.

Hal: Very true.

Bruce, sighing contently: You can't help but be proud of them.

The kids, chanting: HOT POT! HOT POT!

[dogboytim]

ok I have a another idea can you write Thomas Hewitt with a teen daughter who is in a relationship! Also love your work ❤️❤️❤️

Ok this one may be odd but I work all the time so uh. I hope it’s good. I don’t know if you mean like the reader being the daughter or the reader being Thomas’ partner. So I’m going with the second one. If you want me to write the first one too just let me know!

Amelia. That was the name Thomas had given your daughter. She had become his whole world the day she was born. He spoiled her. Well, the entire family did. She was the first baby girl in the family since Luda Mae. So they made a really big deal out of it.

Though as Amelia grew older, Thomas began to worry. He could deny it all he wanted but you knew something was eating at him. It got worse when you insisted on sending her to school. You had a friend in a nearby city that let you use her address to enroll Amelia. See, Thomas was used to being around his daughter 24/7. He needed to know that she was ok at all times. Sending her to school was a big jump for him. Her first day of High school was even worse. Thankfully, he seemed to worry less as her time in school went on.

“Hey, question.” Amelia looked at you as she got off the bus. “Um, could I bring Sam back to the house to meet dad?” Sam? You looked behind your daughter, locking eyes with the brunette boy. Amelia had only been in high school for two months and she already had a boyfriend? Or had they been together since middle school?

“Of course.” You smiled. You knew Thomas wouldn’t hurt the boy. Especially if he was Amelia’s significant other. He wouldn’t be happy about it but he needed to accept that she was growing up. She was a freshman in high school now. Of course she was going to start dating.

The two teenagers got in the back of the car. Both were nervous. Amelia more so than Sam. She had a reason to be with her fathers’ particular line of work. You just hoped Thomas would take the news well.

Sam seemed a bit shocked when the three of you arrived at the house. Both by how far out the family lived and by the size of the house. You couldn’t help but laugh at him.

“Alright. I’ll go get your father while you introduce Sam to Luda Mae.” Amelia nodded, grabbing Sam by the wrist and leading him in to the kitchen. That left you to go down to the basement and break the news to Thomas.

Your husband was, as usual, working. His hands covered in blood. You’d have to make him clean up before he met Sam. It didn’t take long for Thomas to spot you. He gently wrapped you up in a hug, placing loving kissing all over your face.

“Amelia is in the kitchen.” You managed to get out between the kisses. “But you’ve got to clean up. She brought her boyfriend over to meet you.” His eyes nearly doubled in size. You could feel him get tense. A boyfriend meant that Amelia could get her heart broken and he didn’t want his little girl to suffer through that. Despite his worries, he did clean up to look somewhat presentable to Sam.

As the two of you entered the kitchen, you could see Sam practically shrink in his seat when he saw Thomas. Amelia seemed less nervous and more excited to see her father. She was nothing if not a daddy’s girl.

“Sam, this is my dad.” She introduced. “Dad, this is same. We’ve been together since middle school last year.” Thomas held his hand out to the boy, trying his best not to chase the boy off. No matter how much he actually wanted to. Sam took his hand, quickly shaking it.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, sir.” He smiled. “Amelia is an incredibly smart woman. If it weren’t for her help, I wouldn’t have passed science last year.” Thomas huffed. He knew the boy was trying way too hard now. As if sensing the tension between the two men, Luda Mae brought out some food. You and Amelia gave her a questioning glance before she silently confirmed that it wasn’t human meat.

Dinner passed smoothly. Sam became more confident and began to tell everyone about how he and Amelia first met. Though Thomas still tried to kill the boy with nothing more than a mere glare. It would probably take a few more visits for Thomas to actually get used to him.

The real issue was the goodbye kiss Sam gave Amelia when his parents came to pick him up. That made Thomas really upset. So upset, in fact, that he had to go down to the basement to let off steam. Amelia frowned, giving you a worried look. You assured her that you’d handle it and she needed to go to bed for school.

“Thomas.” You stopped on the bottom step, watching him rip and tear at the corpse on the table. “Can I talk to you for a moment?” He stopped, giving you enough Tim to walk over and gently grab his arm. He seemed to ease up at this.

“Thomas, I know you don’t like the fact that she has a boyfriend but she’s growing up. She’s wanting to experiment and try new things.” You smiled softly. “She’s genuinely loves that boy and I’m sure if they do break up, you’ll be the first person she runs to.” He just had to accept that killing him would be off the table.

He pulled down his mask, kissing your forehead. It was a gesture that you had come to learn meant that he understood you. Neither of you were ready for Amelia to grow up. Then again, no parent ever was.

[sirianasims]

Chapter 32

Never Grow Up

Less than a year later, Samuel and I were married.

The wedding was everything I’d dreamed of. I’m sure our parents would happily have paid for an enormous wedding if we’d asked them to. But that wasn’t our style.

All I wanted was a small, intimate affair with our closest friends and family while I said ‘I do’ to the love of my life. We rented the Myshuno Observatory. It almost felt like my grandma Cora was with us in spirit.

Even Charlie showed up. I knew it meant a lot to Samuel, although his brother couldn’t stay for long.

At least he was there for the ceremony, and he came over to congratulate us afterwards.

He said he had a flight to catch, his band was on tour at the moment. I suspected that he was also trying to avoid talking to Colten and Kailani.

I wondered if Charlie actually preferred his solitude, or if he secretly wanted to be a bigger part of his family than he was.

I was grateful that I got along with my own family, especially my sister Grace. I couldn’t believe that she would be starting high school after the summer, it felt like yesterday that I’d taught her how to cross the monkey bars in our backyard.

By the time Grace and I headed inside for the reception, Charlie was gone and Kailani was talking to Jessica. Jessica had volunteered to do the decorations, beautiful blush-coloured roses everywhere, my favourite.

We kept the wedding alcohol-free for my dad, and Griffin and Daria had offered to do all the food for us as a wedding gift. It was impressive, the entire menu was vegan since Griffin had also stopped eating meat after his first visit to the cadaver lab during medical training. I didn’t blame him, it sounded horrific. Samuel hadn’t seemed as bothered.

Over by the cake, Conrad was making my dad and Cecilia crack up with outrageous anecdotes. It was strange to see my parents interact with each other. It had happened before, of course, they had celebrated my birthday together a few times when I was younger, but I couldn’t remember if they had been in the same room since my mom and Conrad moved to Del Sol Valley.

Looking at the four of them now, it was impossible to tell that things had ever been bad between my parents. Still, I couldn’t imagine two people less likely to work out. They both had a certain desperation to them, and they both needed someone to temper them, not stoke the flames.

Conrad, with his extravagant approach to life, gave my mother a safe outlet, a way to release all that intensity so she didn’t blow up.

Cecilia, kind but unwavering, calmed my father down and turned his particular brand of chaos into something less destructive.

But who was I?

Was I like my dad, prone to holding on in an attempt to do the right thing until I finally self-destructed?

Or was I more like my mother, desperately trying to make people love me until I gave up and left them in the dust?

I needed to do better than both of them. I wanted everything to work out. I shook my head lightly, trying to chase away the dark thoughts. This was my wedding day, why was I only thinking about disaster?

I went to find Samuel. He pulled me close and kissed me.

This was what I needed. My husband.

Samuel would temper me, like Conrad and Cecilia tempered my parents.

We would be fine.

By the time we were back in our bed that night, I was both exhausted and deliriously happy.

I took Samuel’s hand, marvelling at the ring on his finger.

“I can’t believe we’re actually married.”

He sent me a mischievous smile.

“Me neither. But you better let go of my hand. I need it for something.”

I was glad that we’d had some practice over the last year, otherwise I might have chickened out of my wedding night completely.

Samuel was gentle, always making sure that I was satisfied.

A small part of me wished he’d be a little less restrained, that he would lose himself in it, the same way he made me lose myself, but it was still good.

beginning / previous / next

[renaiswriting]

Velvet Embrace (part 2)

Pairing: Jeon Wonwoo/Reader

Summary:

Shadow people were always there in your life. They never disturbed you; they never interacted with you; it was like there was a pact between both of you to simply ignore each other. They saw you grow from a baby to an adult.

So why are you now getting attached to one of them who keeps looking out for you?

Warnings: None in this part I think

Word count: 1.2k

Author's note: Hello there! I'm creating a tag list, so if you wanna be tagged on the next updates for this story please let me know!

If you wanna be tagged, please fill out the tag list form

Previous | Velvet Embrace masterlist | Next

The Silent Watchers Masterlist

Masterlist

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"You're really tense." Your mother noticed, moving behind you and giving your tense shoulders a massage. "Those exams are really giving you a hard time, isn't it?

 

You nodded.

 

But it wasn't because of the exams.

 

You have been done with exams for almost a week now.

 

You haven't failed any of them.

 

"I just have been studying a lot lately." You excused yourself, giving him a weak smile.

 

"I can tell; look at those dark circles." Your mother clicked her tongue, shaking her head in disapproval. "Are you sleeping well? Are you eating enough vegetables? Maybe sending you away was not the right choice."

 

"I'm doing fine. Really." You reassured her, taking her hands in yours. "Exams would have been hell in here, just as it is on my own."

 

"Language." Your mother scolded you.

 

"Sorry. But soon I'll be on a break, and I'll come home more often. You'll get sick of me sleeping all day and eating all your food before you notice it." You laughed softly.

 

"I'll never get sick of you being home. You know it." She dismissed your words. "I'm always worried about you. I just want my baby to be healthy and happy."

 

"I am, mom. Don't worry about me; you worry too much."

 

"Whatever." She rolled her watery eyes, holding you in a thigh hug. "I love you."

 

"I love you, too."

 

"I'll make sure your father remembers to drop by next Tuesday and give you some of the meat he will buy; he always buys way too much for us two."

 

Having these weekend visits was never easy. You went back home, missing your family more than ever, and the big empty house always made you feel lonely.

 

Not to mention that they always insist on you staying for dinner and to sleep, even when you didn't bring your books with you.

 

Which always ended up with you going back home when it was already late and dark.

 

And it meant dealing with them.

 

You took a deep breath from the other side of the door. Your father was watching you from his car, waiting to see you get inside safely before driving back to his own house.

 

You have never mentioned the shadows again, ever since you were little.

 

You were scared they would think you had officially lost your kind and make you go back to them.

 

You needed to prove to them that you were not crazy. That you were not imagining things and, most importantly, that you would do well in life even if those things were always around.

 

You needed to prove it.

 

You needed to prove it to yourself.

 

You need to believe it yourself.

 

You could hear the TV from outside; you remember clearly leaving the house on Friday afternoon and turning the TV off to avoid having a big bill at the end of the month.

 

But clearly, Hidden did not have any consideration for your wallet, and he probably even knew about the existence of bills and money.

 

You opened the door.

 

Everything seemed normal.

 

The hallway was barely illuminated by the lights coming from your bedroom, all the way from the second floor.

 

The kitchen was silent, as was the second floor; the only noise that you could hear was the one coming from the TV and from the bathroom that you had forbid yourself from ever entering.

 

You waved your dad goodbye when the car started driving away, closing the door behind your back. You clunked your bag and your jacket closer to your chest, like an invisible cape to protect you from the shadows.

 

You took your shoes off, not wanting to make any sort of noise as you were walking through the stairs.

 

The sofa moved near the window, and that was enough to make you run upstairs.

 

You shut your door. Your chest was moving up and down fast as your lungs were trying to catch as much air as possible.

 

Your jacket and bag were both at your feet, your body resting against the door to give it extra weight and make it more difficult to open it if one of the shadows were even trying to.

 

When you recovered, you moved to your closet, searching for your pajamas to change into and make yourself feel safe.

 

Or at least as soon as possible.

 

Your phone vibrated with an upcoming call from one of your university classmates.

 

"Hello! Did I call you in a bad moment?"

 

"Of course not! What do you need?" You replied. Kate was sounding just as stressed as you remembered her. She was in so many classes that you actually wondered how she managed to pass every single one of them and still find time to eat and sleep.

 

"I was checking our team project, and I realized Melissa didn't answer one of the points she was supposed to make." She sighed. "I tried to contact her all day; I called her like five times, and I haven't received any reply from her yet. I would do this on my own if I could, but I still have to study for my Math exam tomorrow and the Economic one I have next Tuesday. Could you do me a favor and do that answer, please?"

 

"That's weird; I texted her this morning and she replied to me," you frowned, "but yeah, I'll look at it now and see what I can do. Don't worry about it."

 

"Thank you! I'll be here all night, so if you need something, just text me, alright? See you tomorrow."

 

I was not needing that sleep at all. You bitterly said to yourself, finally freeing you from the uncomfortable outside clothes to your comfortable pajamas.

 

You knew why Melissa hadn't replied to any of Kate's texts or calls.

 

She had mentioned to you about that party she was so eager to go to and the one she had invited you to a thousand times because she didn't feel like going alone.

 

There was no way to get out of it now, you thought. You wouldn't be selfish and drop everything on Kate; she was already extremely busy, and you couldn't make Melissa start writing what she hasn't done yet because the girl was probably drunk by now.

 

It needed to be done by tomorrow.

 

You were ready for another all-nighter.

 

This was the fourth one on that list that week; one more? What could possibly be added to the list?

 

You opened the file Kate sent to your email, checking every single answer just in case something else was missing since you couldn't afford to fail it.

 

You were already fifteen minutes in when a soft knock on your door startled you.

 

You kept quiet, not moving at all.

 

The knock repeated itself once again when there was no reply from your side.

 

Then, something moved under your door; it was a tiny piece of paper with something written on the back of it.

 

Hello.

 

The letters were neatly written, with a black tint.

 

You took it with shaking hands; your body temperature was dropping with every second that passed.

 

The knocking started again. It was always the same. One single knock was enough to tell you that it was still there, waiting for a response.

 

Another tiny piece of paper moved under the doorframe.

(Y/n).

[autism-purgatory]

OC mega questionnaire

thanks for the tag @the-golden-comet! I’ll pick Tors and Feron from Our Lonely Ocean! This’ll probably be the last tag game for this WIP before I start posting the chapters on AO3 :)

What is your favorite thing to do to avoid responsibility?

Tors: “If I’m not in the mood to train or hunt, I’ll just say there’s an emergency with Taos or whatever. Always works.”

Feron: “I-uh…I don’t. I don’t have any excuses and I don’t want to find out the consequences of making them.”

If you could choose anyone in the world to be your sibling who would it be?

Tors: “Already got a twin brother. One is enough…”

Feron: “I wouldn’t want siblings, it looks…unpleasant, to say the least.”

What is the most sublime thing you have ever eaten and why?

Tors: “Cooked dragon hide alllllll the way from Vulcada. The Drakes seem nice enough, but I’m pretty sure them eating dragons counts as cannibalism.”

Feron: “Amber-preserved meat from the Quorian Capital. While I was thankful to be shipped one, it tasted like dirt, at least to me.”

What was the worst day of your life?

Tors: *doesn’t respond*

Feron: “T-The storm that killed my parents. I think I was nine at the time. I remember getting a scar on my lip from a flying chunk of wood. I-I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

What’s your worst nightmare?

Tors: “Losing both of my hands. I’ve lost a lot of parts and would do fine with one arm, but losing both of them to some fucking beast would be pretty horrible. I already don’t got that many fingers.”

Feron: “Getting stuck in a thunderstorm…or a hurricane…or a flood. As in, the most common weather occurrences in Quoria.

If a monster asked you your worst nightmare what would you tell it and why?

Tors: “I’d kill it, end of story.”

Feron: “I would be honest. L-Lying won’t keep me safe so I’ll do what it wants.”

Would you give away secret information if tortured? Be honest.

Tors: “Probably. Torture isn’t super effective, and they don’t have a lot of parts to work with.”

Feron: “Y-Yes. Absolutely.”

Who could you trust most with a secret?

Tors: “Taos. My brother’s always understood me, even before we could talk. Other than Feron, he’s the only one who knows my love for…never mind.”

Feron: “Nobody, not anymore, not even Tors.”

You have been caught somewhere you shouldn’t be! Quick, what is your excuse?

Tors: “I’m the Gods dammed royal guard, I don’t need an excuse.”

Feron: “I-I could use my position as a knight, or a noble, even if I’m not one anymore…”

How good is your sleep schedule?

Tors: “Pretty shit, all things considered. I wake up at around five to train the squires or hunt, then I spend a good chunk of the night reading or skinning.”

Feron: “It’s rather inconsistent. It all depends on the day. If there have been more monster sightings than usual, we wake up earlier sometime around six.”

Do you have any siblings? If so, is your relationship good?

Tors: “Mhm. Got a twin brother, Taos.”

Feron: “I have no siblings. My grandparents were too old to bear any more children.”

What’s the toughest time you had to endure growing up?

Tors: “Most of my childhood wasn’t all that great. My dad wasn’t super present since he was the royal guard and left mum to do all the caring. The worst worst was recovering from my trial when I was fifteen. I was stuck in bed for a good six months with a clawed out eye, one ear missing, and a few fingers gone.”

Feron: “The days after being banished. I-I was always so cold…starving…wanting to die.”

What’s your relationship with your family like?

Tors: “Love my brother to death, same with mum, I’d die for them without skipping a beat.”

Feron: *shakes his head and ignores the question*

Do you have any hobbies? If so, what ones?

Tors: Skinning monsters, stuffing them, hauling their guts to local healing mages or the royal chefs. Got a lot of beast skulls on my wall, makes them less scary.

Feron: “Oh, I love cartography! I love mapping out caves and cities, it’s quite the obsession since I was young.”

Do you dream often?

Tors: “Yeah, doesn’t everyone?”

Feron: “I’m sure I do, I just don’t remember them.”

What do you dream about?

Tors: “Honestly? Really random rubbish, nothing of note.”

Feron: “l always dream of somewhere calming, like a garden back home. It never looks exactly like how I remember it, though.”

Have you ever been in love?

*They make extremely fast glances at each other before looking away and hoping nobody notices*

What is your least favorite thing in the world?

Tors: “Beasts, monsters, whatever you call them. Primeval humans brought a shit ton to Neretia before The Blank. They’re parasites to the islands.”

Feron: “Hurricanes. I-I’d pray every night for safety when I was younger. They happen so often in Quoria, every island has had at least one notable disaster because of them.

What is your pet peeve?

Tors: “Ignorance. I’ve dealt with plenty of stuffy nobles saying that killing beasts is wrong. They don’t even provide any reasons, they’re right just because.”

Feron: *Spoilers :)*

Would you consider yourself different?

Tors: “Eh, not really. I’m strong enough to protect Neretia, but I’ve met plenty of warriors who could kick my arse like it’s nothing.”

Feron: “N-No, at least by noble standards.”

How far would you go to save a loved one?

Tors: “I’d die, or kill a lot of people or monsters.”

Feron: “I-I’d try everything in my power, but I wouldn’t die for someone.”

Would you team up with your worst enemy if it was your only option?

Tors: “Sure, why not, but the second the job’s done we’re back to hating each other.”

Feron: “Yes, if it was in my best interest, or if they were a powerful asset.”

What is the worst insult you can give?

Tors: “Don’t think I can say it out loud.”

Feron: “Uh…Cunt? Is that good enough?”

Are you a jealous person?

Tors: “Depends. Not a huge fan of anybody that’s contended for the throne or royal guard.”

Feron: “Sometimes. Quorian culture isn’t as…accepting as others, so I feel at least a sliver of envy with foreign nobles.”

Have you ever committed a crime?

Tors: “Technically, but it’s under the name of Neretia so it’s fine.”

Feron: “Why do you want to know?”

Are you neat or messy?

Tors: “Neat. Actually fuck it, messy. I’ll know where everything is, at least.”

Feron: “Neat, I couldn’t understand why someone has a messy room. Tors’ quarters looks like a cry for help…”

How do you feel about crying?

Tors: “It’s necessary, everyone does it. Not a huge fan of doing it anywhere that isn’t private.”

Feron: “Agreed, though a lot of Quorians think otherwise.”

Let it out or hold it in?

Tors: “Similar to the last question. Let it out, just don’t do it where strangers can see you.”

Feron: “Sometimes you can’t hold it in, I’ve dealt with that plenty of times.”

Who do you live for? Why?

Tors: “I dunno, my family? The king?”

Feron: “M-Myself, I guess. It wasn’t always like that.”

Who has betrayed you most?

Spoilers :)

I’ll leave this open tag bc this is a fucking MONOLITH.

[briamichellewrites]

11

Bria had an idea for a music video. She hadn’t even started working on the song yet. Joe asked her what it was. They were hanging out with Mike, Rob and Topher in the living room. Rob brought Mowgli with him, so he could play with Micha. They watched as the kittens sniffed each other out. Mowgli was unsure, so Micha extended his paw to him as a sign of wanting to be friends. Topher was introduced to her friends. He had the same personality as his character, Eric Foreman. They were enjoying hanging out with him. What was her idea?

She could do a music video with Mike as her boyfriend. He thought that was a good idea. Their parents would love it! Topher asked them how they knew each other. They used to be neighbours, so they grew up together. He was four years older but they had playdates with his younger brother. His mother also used to babysit her.

They remained close friends over the years. It was a joke how their parents wanted them to get married. Mowgli pounced on Micha. Hey! I’m cleaning myself! He swung his paw at him. Haha. You missed me! Joe noted they acted like brothers. They laughed. Joe had two older sisters while Topher had a younger sister named, Jennifer. Bria was an only child. Rob had a younger brother who was the same age as Bria. Mike had her share her good news. He was anxiously awaiting Rob’s reaction to her being able to eat meat. He jokingly called her a traitor with a straight face. Like Joe, he had a dry sense of humour.

“You will have to tell Brad and see what he says.”

“I will. You guys are the first Jewish vegans I’ve ever met.”

“I’m Jewish but I’m a vegetarian”, Topher said.

“You’re not a traitor, then. Good for you.”

They laughed. Topher was a cool guy. He had the same dry sense of humour as Joe and Rob. They would definitely hang out with him again. He was a year younger than them since he was born in 1978 but three years older than Bria. Rob joked about not being the youngest anymore. When was he born? 1979. He was a classmate and friend of Mike’s younger brother, Jason. That was how they knew each other. He, Mike and Joe had a band with three other guys. They were trying to get signed to a record deal. What was the name of their band? Xero. X-e-r-o. Joe asked Bria for her opinion on the name. She liked it. At the same time, she would consider other names.

“You’re being too considerate of our feelings. Give us brutal honesty”, Mike said.

“I don’t see very many people going to see a band called, Xero. You guys need a name like the Rolling Stones or the Beatles that lasts forever. Your fans will introduce your music to their children. They will grow up listening to it. Linkin Park. That name literally just popped into my head.”

How would they spell that? L-i-n-k-i-n. Park. Topher agreed that sounded like a very cool name. He would be first in line to see a band called, Linkin Park. They would talk to Dave, Brad and Chester about it. Joe called her a genius. She joked about being fucking awesome! It was how she won her Grammys. Meow. Rob picked Mowgli up. He looked at the humans and said hello. How was being a cat dad? It was wonderful, especially when he woke him up at six in the morning. They laughed. Micha did that too. He sat outside her door begging for food.

She was trying to enjoy every minute because he would grow up to be an asshole. Joe jokingly asked her if he could have his roommate back. Mike laughed.

“I’ll fight you for him”, she joked back.

“Careful. Joe’s secretly a ninja”, Mike said with a smile.

“Fuck you. You said you were a vampire.”

“I’m a vampire ninja.”

“Bitch.”

The guys laughed. Meow. The cats both decided they were hungry, so they meowed for food. Everyone went into the kitchen. She got out a plate for Mowgli to use before dishing up food for him and Micha. Rob thanked her for doing that. Yeah. She didn’t want him to go hungry. Her phone went off in her pocket. It was her father wondering if Mike left his jacket at their house. Yes, he did. He thought he was missing something. Since he and Christina were on their way home, they were going to stop by and drop it off. Awesome. They were just hanging out.

When they got to the house, they were introduced to Rob, Joe and Topher. It was nice to meet them. Have they eaten dinner yet? No, they hadn’t. He offered to take them to Noe. It was an Asian restaurant he and Christina wanted to try. Yeah, they thanked them. Bria asked to have a few minutes to get her stuff. Yeah, they would wait for her. While she went upstairs to her room, they engaged the boys in conversation.

Rob and Joe were friends of Mike’s while Topher met Bria on the set of That 70’s Show. Who was his character? He was Eric Foreman. Jasper watched that show during his lunch breaks. He appreciated Red’s brutal honesty. He thanked him for watching the show. Christina asked about the extra kitten since she thought Bria only adopted one. Rob spoke up. The other one was his.

“Oh, yeah. She mentioned one of her friends adopted a cat. What is his name? It’s something Disney, right? Am I remembering that correctly?”

“Yes, his name is Mowgli from the Jungle Book.”

“That’s right. I get those Disney characters mixed up sometimes. There’s so many and they are always coming out with new ones. “

She came back down after brushing her hair and getting a jacket. Mike thought she looked gorgeous. The way the fluorescent light shined on her made her more beautiful than ever. She was the type who would look beautiful wearing a garbage bag. The other guys noticed it, too. She was the most beautiful woman in the room.

She had one of her expensive handbags with her. They talked about the car situation. Both cars had five seats. They decided to have three in one car and four in the other. Christina made sure she knew how to get there. Yes, she did. They would meet them there, then. Topher rode with Mike and Rob while Joe went with Jasper and Christina. Should they be worried about Joe riding with her parents? She thought her father would get a kick out of his sense of humour.

They would find things to talk about. After getting in, she put in a CD. Shania Twain. It was either that or the Spice Girls. Shania Twain was perfect. They were not going to complain about that. Jasper did have fun talking with Joe. He was a good kid. That was his first impression of him. They listened to U2 on the way to the restaurant. The sun was starting to go down. It was the perfect evening. Jasper and Christina were eager to meet Bria and Mike’s friends. When they got to Noe, they found a parking spot and got out. They were the first ones there, so they went inside to get a table.

@zoeykaytesmom @feelingsofaithless @alina-dixon

[dinkflocculent]

This is a WIP of my anthro novel (which will have a yandere antagonist later on), Old Prey. Please give put any advice; this is just a draft.

CHAPTER ONE

BEAU

✲ 12 / 18 / 1980 ✲

“Beau,” Duko started through the other line of the telephone. “You need to stop worrying so much.”

Softly clenching my paw, I try to defend myself. “I'm not just worrying, I'm being cautious—not a jumpy cub afraid of made-up tales.”

“I get that your…” he thinks of an inoffensive phrase. “...condition makes you more vulnerable, but can you chill out? You never want to hang out because you think you’ll be devoured; you're an apex predator!”

Volatile Rupia, a rare condition that makes a beast’s growing process slower, makes my life hell. Even though I’m a bear, I feel like a prey beast because of my small size and strength. Not to mention my father’s overprotective nature.

“That’s easy for you to say,” I scoffed. “You’re a wolf.”

“And you’re a bear!” Duko exclaimed. “Do you know how big you'll get when you’re in your early twenties—like in a year—or how strong you’ll be?”

“I won't be so cautious once I grow…” I mumbled, covering my face with my paw even though I was alone.

“And your father is a large rhino,” Duko sighed. “Look, I'm sorry for bringing this up again and reminding you about your volatile rupia, but don't you get what I mean?”

“But…” I ponder but shake the thought away. “What if I was alone and coincidentally, some beast had a taste for meat?”

Duko softly sighed, possibly tired of my anxieties. “That's… rare. You're always with someone else.”

“...It could happen.”

The rustling of covers could be heard through the other line as an awkward silence fell between us. Duke has brought up this topic many times, and it always ends like this—me denying everything. Even though something inside me is telling me to listen, my father’s words that he told me as a cub always play through my head.

“Remember, Beau,” my father looked down at me with a soft but serious smile. “Any beast could take you for your fur or meat. Even if you're an omnivore, you're not the size yet. That’s why you always have to look behind your back.”

I can't seem to make it stop.

“You know my father? He never lets his guard down; not trusting innocent strangers, always looking behind his back, even in his home…” Duko said, breaking the silence. “I don’t want you to become that paranoid just because of your father’s… never mind.”

I pause for a moment, taking in his warning. “…I won’t.”

“Anyways…” Duko awkwardly changed the subject. “Call of the Beast is coming up soon. We’re going to have three weeks off after tomorrow…”

Call of the Beast was a celebration that fell on December 25th. Beasts would meet with their animal family and have a feast; family, friends, strangers—everyone came to celebrate and travel. It's the favorite time of the year because students get a three-week break. Tomorrow was the last day before the break began.

“Me and my parents are going to celebrate with their friends and relatives,” he said happily. “My father doesn’t trust any strangers because he ‘wants to be sure no one unpleasant comes to get us,’ or something. What about you?”

“Oh, nothing much…” I responded. “I usually go out to eat with my dad and stay home to watch movies with him.”

“So you don’t celebrate with any other ursidae? But that's not even celebrating!” Duko asked. “…How about you hang out with me after the celebration? My father won’t mind, you’re harmless.”

I hesitate, thoughts swarming inside my head. So many things could go wrong. Call of the Beast is the most wholesome time of the year but has the highest percentage of beasts devoured. That’s why my father was always so wary of the holiday.

Duko is a kind soul. He's nice, respectful, caring… but he’s a canidae. He would never do such a thing, but any beast could just… snap. It happens all the time.

“Beau?”

“Oh, I…” I take a glance at my clock. “It’s… It’s getting late, I have to go!”

“It’s just a minute after ten-“

“Goodnight!” I quickly hang up the phone, fall into bed, and look at the ceiling. Eventually, I will have to face my fears of going into the real world once I graduate. I'm not going to be small forever. But my father’s overprotective words get the best of me.

“Any beast can snap—and a small, vulnerable beast is a great target.”

***

✲ 12 / 19 / 1980 ✲

✲ 7 : 15 AM ✲

“What is it like with volatile rupia?”

The snow crunches beneath my boots as I stop, looking up at Duko with a confused expression. It isn’t like him to ask me a question that I'm very sensitive about.

“W-Well, of course, if you’re not comfortable-”

“Like a rabbit in a forest full of starving wolves,” I cut him off, avoiding eye contact. “It's difficult. Knowing that my vulnerability can cause my fate in the black market.”

Duko lowers his ears and gaze. “I'm sure you wouldn’t be taken to that place…”

The black market is where you can illegally buy and sell meat and fur. Usually, beasts are raised for slaughter, but sometimes they are kidnapped and then killed. It usually happens to herbivores, but omnivores and carnivores like me are still on a plate. That's why I never go out alone at night.

I began to walk again. “Why did you ask?”

“I just wondered how it felt to be a herbivore,” he caught up with me. “It would be rude to ask a prey animal… since I'm a carnivore and all.”

“...alright..?”

Realizing how awkward the question was, Duko didn’t say anything else as we both walked in silence, eventually arriving at the bus stop. Duko wasn’t a conversation expert. He always ended up blurting out things and unintentionally saying something rude or nosy.

But he had a good mind. He tries to make me feel better, but it's hard to explain my troubles to someone who will never experience what I am experiencing.

Ever since last night, I've been thinking more and more about Call of the Beats, and I can’t get it out of my head. Every year is the same. Every beast is going out and traveling to have a great feast and meet other species. But I stay home with my father, bored and alone.

This year it hurts even more because of Duko. I don’t know how to explain the feeling, but my mind isn’t letting me let go of it.

The bus rolls in front of us. Duko gives me a nervous glance before going in first as if he’s trying to protect me. I walk in behind him, quickly taking a seat to escape the awkward glances by every other beast.

The bus began to move. “I'm sorry.”

I tilt my head. “...You’re sorry for asking me a question?”

“For how it made you feel. I know your disease lowers your self-esteem. I don’t want you to feel that way.”

I smile, looking up at him. “Don’t worry, wolf pup. I get down for even thinking about it, you didn’t change a thing! Besides, I wouldn’t want you to be screamed at by a rabbit for asking them that question.”

We both chuckle, Duko seeming glad he could brighten the mood.

“Uh… so, have you thought about spending time with me during the break?”

I flinch, gulping as my gaze treads away from his. That thought left my mind when I was thinking about the break, and now it has come back to haunt me.

“Well, I…” I stumble over my words, trying to find a way to explain this most nicely.

Suddenly, this stops and we all get off. I wave at Duko as I begin to walk to class.

We part ways, anxiety was still prominent in my mind.

***

In algebra, once again, I am sitting alone with nothing to do. Since we have nothing to do, everyone has moved the tables and chairs around to sit with their friends.

Not wanting to deal with the boredom, I decided to take the hall pass to sit in the bathroom until the end of the period. No one will care anyway.

Arriving at the door, I raise my paw to the doorknob, but the door opens for me.

I am met with the large figure of a lion, looking down at me with a piercing glare.

Mr. Santifelon.

[baka-monarch]

Y'know what's a little funny but probably shouldn't be?

Okay so growing up my stepmom was obsessed with our health- not in the like normal motherly way though, no, she liked to tell me and my siblings about how we were constantly overweight (and how I was disgustingly ugly) and how that was bad

So every year she went online and would find these crazy diets, just look at the results, how to do, then force everyone in the house to follow the diet- no research on body types or how it might affect someone or anything like that- and it was crazy because all of us had different body types- my dad and stepmom obviously were very different, then me and my sister shared no genes whatsoever (I shared no genetics with my stepmom and she always compared my body to her's) and my brother was a mesh of the two parents

None of our bodies were the same, we all needed very different types of diets to stay healthy

Anyways

My stepmom focused on me the most with making me eat healthy because I have a little bit of a gut (so did my brother but he looked like my dad so I guess she considered it fine, and so did my sister but she worked out and stuff so it was less than me) but my gut has always been just part of my body type- I know that because of what my mom looks like and what my dad looks like

Anyways anyways anyways

So my stepmom decides that red meat and dark greens and vegetables are all bad for me. I have to eat white meat and light colored vegetables (which I hate btw)- and one time for a full 6 months she made me and everyone in the house go on a no red meat diet where she cut red meat completely out of the house and forced us to eat none of it

Okay

Cool

I was too young to do anything and would get grounded whenever I ate too slowly so I just pushed through and ate whatever was on my plate

Fast forward and I'm 18, I move out of my stepmom's house and into my mom's house (for reasons that don't have anything to do with my diet)

I'm not a kid anymore so I don't qualify for the child doctor the insurance had been paying for so my mom sets me up with a doctor for adults

Cool

I tell the doctor about my need for anxiety medicine and she decides to do some lab tests to check and see if I need any other medication- again cool, I let her take my blood and run the lab tests

Now here comes the funny part

The results come back and I have an iron deficiency (possibly anemic) and a vitamin D deficiency but otherwise I'm very healthy

So basically

That's everything my stepmom wanted to cut out of my diet for "my health" (of course the vitamin D is probably my fault for staying in doors all the time)

Basically basically basically

I was probably the healthiest person in that house and she fucked over my iron and other things that point to anemia (I don't remember what they were specifically but yeah- foods she wanted me to not eat because I was "fat") because she decided to force me to go onto diets that she did barely any research for and now I have dangerously low levels of iron because of it

I literally love red meat and dark green vegetables (I actually like vegetables more than fruits) and growing up I kept getting yelled at and grounded for eating it because it was "unhealthy"

Yeah in certain amounts, but I still needed it and now I have proof that I did need to eat it

Idk I find it a tad bit funny I probably shouldn't and I'm probably being dumb, I could even be completely wrong idk

[belethlegwen]

Hello My Dearest I'm Here With the Shopping List. Gimme #1 For Martellis because that man is on Benecio Del Toro levels of needing a goddamn nap and I would like to know that it is even possible for him. Also 4 for Henry people need to know for reasons.

14 for Miller tell me how sappy this beautiful animal can be i wanna know

Hello My Love, I have gone shopping for you and have brought you these:

#1 - What’s something that puts them to sleep without fail? [Commander Peter Martellis]

Daniel is literally the only person alive who knows this about him, only because he and Peter have had to crash in the same quarters a number of times.

Peter's had a hard time sleeping since he was a boy, his mind constantly gets tangled on something right before sleep and will not let it go unless it focuses on something else, and it's very hard for him to get it to focus on something else unless he's surrounded by a lot of noise (like in a crowded bunk room)-- which is still a problem, but notably less of one. His Mom managed to come up with a trick, where she would put a tinted shade over a candle or a lantern to change the colour of the room to blue (or green if she couldn't get her hands on spare blue dye from her employer) and told him he was only allowed to think about things if they were the same colour as the room. If for some reason he's in a room and the colour of it changes, the man's brain is programmed to start listing things that same/similar color and he knocks out pretty quickly after that. His bedside lantern in his quarters at both the Training Grounds and the Barracks have blue-tinted glass.

#4 - What’s one of their comfort foods? [Henry]

He's got two he goes for as his absolute favourite comfort foods.

For sweet: Oat & Apple Crumble, basically an apple-crisp type recipe but with more of a cakey/bread kind of structure around it. His Mother used to make it for them and neighbours at the start of fall of every year when the apples around their farm were ripe.

For savoury: Chicken stew and dumplings or beef pot pie, it's a tie. Homey meal with a comforting mix of meat, veggies, sauce and bread of some variety. Whenever he's in a port he looks for something like this to fill him up before he heads back to sea. His all time favourite comfort meal, but he basically never gets to eat it anymore: It's an indulgence, he admits to the decadence of it, but growing up on a farm with a strong rotation of egg-laying chickens, ducks, and geese... the man adores a properly cooked duck. His Mom knew the perfect way to cook it where it was less fatty and didn't sit on your gut as heavily, and his Dad had an incredible marinade or rub for it that made it transcendent to eat, and also made the fat-drippings just gold to pour on vegetables or sop up with bread.

#14 - How sappy are they? [Miller]

Miller plays sappy very very well. He loves to flirt. He'll try to cook a meal (or pull a favour with someone else who can) if he hears it's your favourite, he'll recite song lyrics or poetry if he thinks it will woo you, he'll pick a bouquet of flowers just because he happens to see them and thinks you would like them, though he's terrible for remembering the names of flowers so you'll sometimes just have to settle with him remembering what colour of flower is your favourite, everything else is a matter of what's available.

He still mostly sees flirting as a game. He has all of these as strategies to impress a woman, and sometimes that's all he's aiming to do: just get a smile out of a woman and then be satisfied and move on. What he really loves is when the woman plays back like it is a game. Nobody's feelings get hurt and he still might get some action if that's what he's aiming for, but mostly he just wants everyone to have a good time.

[clustercollective]

Things they don’t tell you about food insecurity as a child:

I’m 23 now. I buy my own food. I have food in my kitchen, and I can afford to go out to eat every so often. I have nutritious food, and I do not have any logical reason to worry it won’t be there later.

Yesterday I had a panic attack in the grocery store because I didn’t budget for cat litter. I could afford cat litter, and I need cat litter, but I could not leave the aisle until I put it back on the shelf because what if I can’t afford food now. I will have to make another trip to the store today to buy the cat litter.

I ate lunch earlier today. I ate leftovers, but it was a decent amount. I had chicken and mashed potatoes. By the time I finished eating, I was not hungry anymore. I am still not hungry. I have checked the kitchen 3 times looking for something to eat; not because I am hungry, simply because I need to eat so that when I inevitably run out of food, my body will have fat stores to sustain me.

Whenever I go out to eat, I set aside half of my meal to bring home, so I can guarantee I’ll have food for my next meal. When I get home though, I immediately panic that the leftovers won’t be there and I usually eat them right then, so that I will have fat stores and won’t have wasted food.

I keep a single cup of easy mac in my pantry so that no matter what, I always have food in the house. I keep cokes in my kitchen so that when I inevitably don’t have food, I at least have a sugary drink to lessen hunger pains. I compulsively buy ramen because it is cheap. If I have less than 3 packs of ramen in my house, I buy another box of it so I don’t run out, because it’s cheap and it’s at least filling. It’s not healthy or nutritious, but it’s filling.

I have a panic attack if my total at the grocery store is more than $50. If it is more than $50 I have to do multiple transactions. Because growing up, we never had more than $50 to spend on food. If the grocery bill was more than $50, my mom had to call my dad to ask if we could afford to pull money out of the utilities budget to pay for food.

If any one item in the cart is more than $10, I desperately try to find a cheaper alternative. Yesterday at the grocery store I nearly lost it on my fiance because they picked out a roast that cost $16. I had to walk away and splash water on my face in the bathroom to avoid breaking down in the middle of the meat aisle.

I’ve seen people talk about the physical effects of food insecurity, how it causes similar physical effects as famine. Even if where you live has an abundance of food, if you can’t afford it your body will end up in the same starvation mode that survivors of famine experience. You learn to function with a headache, sleep instead of eat. You get used to ignoring hunger pains, when your stomach growls audibly you blame it on indigestion. An inability to lose weight because your body is desperately holding onto those fat stores.

But I rarely see people talk about the emotional result of food insecurity. So I feel crazy when I start crying in the grocery store because milk went up by 10¢. I feel crazy when I eat nothing but ramen for a week because i had to buy $8 cat litter, and needed to make up for that cost in my savings. I feel crazy when I eat and eat and eat, because what if this is my last chance to eat this week. I feel crazy when I eat nothing but grilled cheese sandwiches for a week before I have friends or family over for a meal, so that I can afford to cook them good food. I feel crazy when I ask my fiance to go to the store so that o don’t have to see the cost of food, and then I feel crazy when I can’t eat because I’m worried if I eat all of their food, they won’t have any for themselves. I feel crazy when I go get fast food or pizza because I can’t make myself cook anything in the kitchen because what if it isn’t there later and I need food for tomorrow. I feel crazy when every time I’m asked where I want to eat I suggest cici’s pizza, because then I can eat enough that it won’t hurt for a couple of days if I don’t get to eat later, and it’s carbs, which is energy that takes a while for your body to process so it’ll be energy for tomorrow. I feel crazy when I shy away from any kind of salad because it just takes up room in your stomach that could be used for something with a higher caloric value.

Food insecurity makes me feel crazy. It isn’t just a physical issue, and it doesn’t go away just because food is more available. Not having access to enough food when I was I child has permanently altered my brain chemistry. It is a trauma. And it is not something I see taken seriously enough.

[onmymasa22]

When I was little my grandparents would come for pesach and we would go to the zoo, get into a line, and take a picture. And we have the picture at a bunch of different ages.

My dad used to play with us catch

My brother and I used to go to temple bat and eat at Ken's and finish doing our homework until my mom was done teaching. And sometimes still we go to Ken's

Pesach in my family growing up: second hand stores, jeans with sequins, smell of coffee and vanilla. Lincoln Park zoo every year, yaakov David, hagaddah- my grandfather would put on kippah, matzo with cream cheese and jelly. Chutzpah, taking walks in the park. Crossword puzzles, the van, chitty chatty bang bang, jewel Osco, doctor browns, corned beef and potatos, BBQ, cards, afikoman present, big red cups of coffee with their name on it, hagaddah that has wiked crossed out and wrote, egg soup, absolutely positively yes, vanilla perfume and shimmery eyeshadow rollerb

פסח בילדות שלי

כשהייתי קטנה, סבא וסבתא שלי תמיד היו באים עלינו לחג פסח. הם היו באים בוואן גדול וכבר הייתי יכולה להריח את סבתא שלי- מא. Pa would come and give me a big bear hug, an ma would put her hands on both sides of my face and kiss me, and tell me that she loves me. כשהייתי מתעוררת, הייתי מריחה קפה מהמכונה, סבתא שלי הייתה עושה איפור שלה בבוקר- אייליינר, מסקרה, משו מבריק על העיניים, שפתון, שמן בושם בריח של וויניל. היינו הולכים ליד שנייה שהיא מוצאת גיינסים עם נצנצים או חולצות עם פרפרים או נצנצים. היא הייתה לובשת סווטשרט עם רוחסן בצבע נייבי או אפור חולצה עם קצת נצנצים וג'ינס יפה וגרביים לבנים ונעליים של ניו בלאנס או נייק אבל לבן. הציפורניים שלה היו תמיד עשוי אקרילי פרנצ ארוך. אף פעם לא ראייתי את הציפורניים האמיתיים שלה. אחר כך היינו הולכים לגול אסקו- סופר לקניית אוכל. הייתי נשארת בוואן עם ,אחי וסבא שלי וסבתא הייתה הולכת לקניות. היינו בחנייה במקום הכי רחוק שאפשר מהרכבים האחרים. הוא היה שם את הכסא שלו במקום של נהג הכי אחורה שאפשר ואיפשהו בין צופה בסרט או יושן. ראינו chitty chitty bang bang. היינו מאחורה, והיא תמיד הייתה בכיסא באמצה עם פרווה על הכיסא שיהיה לה נעים וחם, ועם משקפיים ועיטון ועט לעשות את החלק של משחקי מילים. היא תמיד כתבה עם אותיות גדולות.

She would buy meat chicken, hamburger buns, diet coke, doctor browns, disposable big red cups. They'd go to dunkin before I'd get up and have coffee cups already with their names on them so they'd know what to reuse. We'd go to Lincoln Park zoo and take a picture at the same place eery time. It was on a bridge where ud see behind the Chicago skyline. My grandfather would be taking the picture on his disposable camera that you'd need to spin the dile to take the next picture, ud get like fifteen pictures. He always used those cameras and then later send the camera in to get the photos. It was a time when you'd take one picture and then deal. It didn't matter if I blinked, you wouldn't know. You took the picture and moved on. The sun was always in our eyes no matter what, and there was always a picture of us waving. Sometimes my beothers friends would come with us, it didn't matter who was there, we always took that picture. During the seder I'd sing the questions because I was the youngest. I would get one day to tell all the stuff I'd learned and my brother would get the next day. We'd always eat dinner at around 5/6 and by the seder no one was starving. Since second grade I'd use the hagada from second grade because it had a song that my grandfather loved. Every year he'd wait for me to get to the song before he considered the night accomplished. We'd get through the whole seder, my mom would read most of it, my grandmother would repeat a lot of it quietly to herself but I could always hear cuz I sat in between her and my father. Egg soup was something that came from my great grandmother from the women's side, and I always thought it was funny that it was most important to my dad and grandfather. Because they loved my great grandmother. Every day of pesach I'd wake up, and on the way to the bathroom I'd hear everyone talking at the table in the kitchen and smell the coffee and get excited that I had another day with ma and pa and that the day started already. I'd rush downstairs and my grandfather would spread cream cheese and jelly on matzo and them with his finger Write a d for dalya. It would be on paper towels on place Mats. After lunch we'd play a game called chutzpah. It's a Yiddish version of monopoly and the only game my mom will actually play. My granmother never played, she'd do crossword puzzles while sitting in the sun with her feet up near a cup of coffee with her name on it- either ma or honey which is what everyone in her life called her except her children and grandchildren. This game We'd also play every year. My grandfather would check what time was an hour and half from then, and say that by this time, we're done and whoever has the most money wins. We'd never play by the rules, we'd always make up our own. My grandfather would be banker or help me be banker and everyone would laugh at me for my money being a mess. We'd go on walks by the park next to our house all the time. Go to the playground. Take matzo to the river by my house where there's a garden and river and feed ducks. We'd sit on the steps by the river and throw matzo into the river for them. My grandmother could sit there forever but my grandfather wanted to walk

[i-cant-sing]

I’ve seen child/baby reader for the Todoroki clan but what about Erasermic? They just adore the chubby little girl that could barely say their names right or their hearts just burst at her cute smol hand gripping their finger as she smiles to them! Watch em lose it when she calls them “Papa” or “Daddy” 😭💕💖

Yandere Platonic Erasermic x child reader

Check out my MASTERLIST for more!

Yandere Erasermic:

Aizawa looked intimidating. Unapproachable. Distant. Unwelcoming.

It was clear from how all the parents looked at him, quickly ushering their kids away from him as if he was a villian. This was the reason he never really liked going out in public all that much.

"Daddy!"

But for you he will walk though hell barefoot if has to.

At the sound of your voice, a warm smile immediately appeared on his face. Crouching down, Aizawa caught your little body that jumped at him.

You giggled as he picked up and nuzzled his nose with yours.

"Hey, princess."

Pulling you away from him, he took in your appearance.

Your pony tails were lop sided, your face was flush and sweaty, your uniform was all dirty. Your shirt was tucked out of your skirt, your once shiny black shoes were now muddy.

"Why do you look so messy? Did you get in a fight?" Aizawa asked you, but he already knew his sweet little angel wouldn't hurt a fly.

"No! We were playing!" You giggled.

"Okay, okay. Let's go." With that, Aizawa took your hand and began walking home.

Every single day for the last week since kindergarten started, you always returned looking like you had rolled around in mud.

"I missed you today! Did you miss me?" You said as you skipped. Your father nodded. "I did. What happened at school today?"

"Great! I went to class and said hi to my friends, and then miss Hita came and then we did numbers and then-" And you continued to ramble on about every single detail about your day. Aizawa loved hearing you talk, even if you did become repetitive, it was the gleam in your eyes and the awe in your voice and your oh so real expressions.

"Is Papa home?" You asked him mid rambling.

He nodded. "Yes. And he has a surprise for you."

Your eyes sparkled. "Surprise?! What is it?" You jumped up and down. Honestly, he was amazed with how energetic you were. Even after a tiring day at school, you would always have to be wrestled or bribed for an afternoon nap, as you always claimed you weren't sleepy.

You're going to wish you took more naps now when you grow up.

Aizawa smiled. "No point of a surprise if I tell you." He liked teasing you, and he knew you were about to play your guessing game now.

"Is it a balloon?"

"No."

"Is it 2 balloons?"

"No."

"Is it a an elephant?"

"No."

"Is it an aeroplane?"

"What? No."

You'll never figure it out at this rate-

"Is it... something to eat?"

"..."

"It is something to eat! What is it? Tell me please." You whined.

"You've guessed it right so far, you can figure out the-"

"Is it Katsudon?"

"..."

"Dad... Is. It. Katsudon?" You asked him, mustering up your utmost serious face, but you just ended up looking even more adorable than before.

"...yes."

Aizawa closed his eyes as you screamed in glee.

And then the rest of the way home, you skipped and chanted "katsudon".

Hizashi heard the front door open and as he walked over to welcome his darlings, his knees was tackled by a very small body that screeched "KATSUDON!"

The blonde shot a mean glare to Aizawa for ruining the surprise, but that was interrupted by you jumping up and down. Hizashi picked you up and gasped at your appearance.

"Why do you look like you came out of a war?!"

"Katsudon!" You kicked your feet excitedly and wriggled in his arms.

Hizashi chuckled. "Okay okay. But first, you need a bath. Daddy will clean you up while I will go prepare your-" "KATSUDON!" Both men erupted in chuckles.

During lunch, you swung your feet back and forth as Hizashi fed you. You could feed yourself, but you're busy telling them about your day.

"And then we began playing in recess. And then Tabiko was the Prince and I was the Princess and then Tabiko saves me from the dragon and we were going to kiss and live happily ever after! And then Hirio fell, and then-"

What?

Did they- did they hear you right?

Your fathers looked at each other as if to confirm they both heard the same thing.

Kiss?

"Honey... what- what do you mean kiss?" The blonde asked, his tone full of worry.

You gulped down the delicious piece of meat before speaking. "I was the Princess and Tabiko was the Prince, and when he saved me, we would kiss!"

"You kissed Tabiko?" Aizawa asked, his eyes turning a bit dark at the thought of this boy.

You shook your head giggling. "Noo, recess was over so we had to go back to class." You smiled. "But Tabiko said that we can kiss tomorrow!"

No fucking way.

"No. You won't do that." Your dad said, eyebrows furrowing slightly.

"Yes, I wiIl. Tabiko promised me!" You smiled.

Aizawa got up from his seat and moved to crouch in front of you, making him at eye level with you.

"Princess, you're not going to kiss Tabiko." Your dad took that serious tone, the one that left no room for argument but you didn't pick up on that.

"Why?" You pouted.

"Because I'm telling you. And you're not going to kiss anyone else either." Aizawa said as he held your hands.

"No one?"

"No one."

"But what if I love them?"

"You only love us, honey!" Hizashi pitched in.

"But I get to kiss my boyfriend, right?"

Aizawa lightly squeezed your hands. "No. And no boyfriends or girlfriends either."

Your eyes became teary and they could see your lip wobbling too. "Not even when I'm old?"

No. Not even then.

Is what they wanted to say, but Hizashi tried to pacify you. "Yeah. Sure, you can be in a relationship when you're old, like... 70?"

You immediately began counting on your fingers. I'm 4, so 5, 6, 7... that is 1,2, 3 years?

"So...like in 3 years?"

"70. Not 7" The blonde chuckled.

You began counting again but then got tired at 18, so you stopped.

"But... I will get kisses when I'm 70?" You asked worriedly, still confused why your dads weren't letting you kiss people.

Aizawa scooped you up in his arms. "You don't have to wait that long. You can have kisses now." And then your dad began attacking your face in kisses, making you laugh. "And you can get more but only if you promise not to kiss anyone else!" Hizashi said. You nodded and then both your dads tickled your face with kisses.

You're so naive, so innocent. Their sweet little angel.

They'll be damned if they let some scum take you away from them.

[watchmegetobsessed]

TO LOVE AND BE LOVED - Part Three (Harry Styles)

a/n: part 3 wohoo! thank you so much for all the love you’ve been showing the series, it keeps me going and writing more and more! originally i thought it would turn out to be about three parts, but it has outgrown that limit so i added two more parts to the masterpost, that’s for sure is gonna happen but i might even add more?! not sure, im still in the writing process so i can’t tell how long it’s going to turn out to be, but this just means even more content for you guys!

as always, feedback is very much appreciated, please make sure to share your thoughts and comments on the part, it’s such a huge boost for writers to read what you thought!!

pairing: CEO!Dad!Harry X Reader

warning: mentions of death, cheating and divorce

word count: 11.4k

SERIES MASTERPOST masterlist

When you were working at the daycare you couldn’t focus on photography as much as you would have liked to. You often had to stay in for extra hours, wait until the last kid was picked up and then do paperwork, or change the decoration in your room or whatever Clair asked you to do that day. By the time you got home you just wanted to take a bath and fall into bed. You also had to travel 40 minutes to work which took away a lot of time from your day.

Working for Harry helped you immensely with focusing more on your passion. Even on his worse days he got home by six and since your workplace is your home, you don’t even have to drive forty minutes to enjoy the comfort of your home, you just walk up the stairs to your room and that’s it.

In addition, taking care of Izzy, you still have the chance to work on some editing or snap new pictures. You have time off when she has her classes and when you put her down for her nap. The best thing is that Izzy is quite interested in photography, she gets very interested whenever she sees you bring out one of your cameras and she always lets you take pictures of her, posing and goofing around. The folder on your computer that has her name is growing each day with more and more sweet photos of the little girl that has completely stolen your heart. You’ve been regularly getting your favorites shots of her printed and you always leave them on Harry’s desk so when he gets home he sees them and they make him forget about whatever happened at work that day.

You are getting more and more emails about possible sessions and slowly but surely, your weekends start to fill up with weddings, birthday parties and engagement photoshoots. It seems like you have definitely made the right choice when you took this job. No doubts.

“Can I ask a question, daddy?” Izzy is poking the peas around on her plate as the four of you sit at the dining table at dinner. Ruth has joined you today, because Harry had to make a quick trip to his office in the afternoon and you were out shopping with Trevor today.

“Sure, baby,” Harry hums nodding.

“Why don’t you eat meat?” she asks seriously, eyeing her own plate that has some chicken on it, while Harry’s is only stacked with veggies and potatoes.

“Because I decided that I won’t want to.”

“Can I decide that too?”

“You’re a little too young for that, baby. You need the meat to grow big. When you’re older you can think about what kind of things you want to and don’t want to eat.”

“Okay,” she nods without throwing a tantrum about her dad telling her no. You know quite a few kids who would have flipped over it, but not Izzy. Harry might not even realize how good of a job he is doing raising her and teaching her how to be a good human.

“I have another question,” she announces, glancing up at Harry.

“Go ahead.”

“If you don’t eat meat, does that make you an herbivore?”

You can’t push down a chuckle, you were not expecting this. Your eyes meet Ruth’s over the table, she is enjoying this conversation just as much as you do. It’s cute how Izzy put two and two together and made a seemingly logical conclusion.

“We learned about herbivore dinosaurs this week,” you inform Harry, who is a little lost about why his daughter just called him an herbivore. Also, you’re quite impressed that she remembered the word, though she struggled with it at first, but it seems like it finally stuck.

Harry shakes his head chuckling as he sets his fork down, looking over at Izzy.

“In a way I should be called an herbivore, but that’s not what you call people who don’t eat meat. I’m a vegetarian.”

“Oh, okay,” she nods, wrapping up the information in her head as she keeps eating.

You and Ruth clean up after dinner while Harry gives Izzy a bath, a little earlier than usually, because she spilled apple juice on herself, so he decided to just go straight for the bath instead of changing once more before bedtime.

“Will you be fine with putting these away, Darling?” Ruth asks as you’re drying the last few dishes.

“Sure! I’ll take care of it,” you smile back at her as she nods and heads into the living room.

Harry emerges from upstairs with a freshly cleaned Izzy on his arms. As soon as her little feet touch the floor she bolts over to join Ruth in front of the TV while Harry walks into the kitchen just as you put the last dish away.

“Hey, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about,” he starts and suddenly, you feel your stomach drop, especially because his face seems very serious.

“Oh God, what did I do?” you ask, feeling yourself panicking already.

“Nothing! It’s not like that!” he chuckles softly, realizing you kind of misunderstood the situation.

“Okay, good. Sorry, you just looked so serious.”

“Sorry, I was just… thinking. So two friends of mine that I work together with also are getting married soon. They had a photographer booked already, but the guy cancelled on them and, um, I hope you don’t mind, but I recommended you to them.”

“Really?” you ask in complete surprise.

“Yeah. Actually, they saw a picture of Izzy that you took in my office and we started talking about how you do photoshoots in your free time and then I told them to ask if you’d be up to do their wedding as well.”

“Wow, that’s really nice of you, Harry. Thank you!”

“I gave them your number, they’ll probably call you sometime next week or so.”

“Great!” you beam, excited about the new event you can work at. “I hope they’ll want to work with me.”

“I kind of hyped you up for them and they seemed very pleased with the pictures I showed them, so I’m sure they will want to,” Harry chuckles softly, even blushing a little. It always amazes you how a tall, muscular guy with so many tattoos can be such a soft, caring and loving person. It always reminds you not to judge the book by its cover.

“Thank you, Harry. This means a lot to me.” Reaching over you place your hand on his arm and give it a gentle squeeze before moving past him to join Ruth and Izzy in the living room.

Harry was right about Sarah and Mitch being all excited to get in contact with you, because they don’t even wait for the next week to reach out. Sunday afternoon you are working on some more editing at the dining table while Harry and Izzy are painting on the other end of the table, busy with their masterpieces when your phone starts ringing, an unknown number shown on the screen.

“Y/N Y/L/N,” you answer it, leaning back in your seat.

“Y/N, hi! My name is Sarah Jones, I hope I’m not calling at a bad time, Harry gave me your number this week.”

“Oh! Sarah, yeah! So nice to talk to you!” you beam and Harry’s eyes snap up to you at the mentioning of the familiar name. “Harry mentioned you’d reach out and don’t worry, I’m happy to chat.”

“That’s great. I wanted to wait until Monday, but truth is that we are kind of in a short of time and I was afraid you’d be already busy for our date, so I wanted to call you as soon as possible.”

“No worries.”

“So first and foremost, I’m gonna ask if you have anything planned on the last weekend of May. I know it’s just in a few weeks, but I really hope we can work it out.”

“Let me pull up my calendar,” you tell her as you open up the app on your computer that you use to keep track with your sessions and events. Finding the weekend in question in it, you smile at the empty space. “Good news, seems like I’m free that weekend.”

“Oh thank God!” she breathes out in relief and you let out a chuckle. “That’s so amazing. So then would it be possible to meet up sometime next week? You could show some more works of yours and we can discuss more details, how does that sound?”

“This week? Well I have to work—“ you start, but Harry cuts you off.

“Come into the office tomorrow morning.” “What?”

“Put her on speaker,” he smiles nodding towards your phone and you do as he asked, setting it to the table with Sarah on speaker. “Hey Sarah!”

“Harry, hi!”

“Aunt Sarah?” Izzy’s ears perk up, some pink paint on her cheeks that you have no idea how it got there, because her painting doesn’t even have any pink in it.

“Hi Izzy! So good to hear your voice!” she chuckles through the phone.

“Sarah, you’re gonna be at the studio Monday morning, right?” Harry asks and you can’t not notice how his voice changed the slightest bit as soon as he started talking about business.

“Yeah and Mitch is coming too,” she confirms.

“Okay then how about you come in tomorrow morning, Y/N?”

“But what about Izzy?”

“She can come too. I’ll look after her while you discuss the details, it’s no big deal. It’s been a while since the last time she came to work with me,” he smirks over at the little girl, who is already excited to spend some more time with her daddy at his workplace.

“Are you sure about that?”

“Absolutely,” he nods smiling.

“Thank you, well then I’m okay with tomorrow if it’s fine for you as well, Sarah.”

“That would be perfect! Thank you guys both, Mitch and I really appreciate it.”

“No worries,” Harry nods, going back to his painting. You take Sarah off the phone as you say your goodbye before ending the call.

You start Monday off with some extra excitement. Not just because you are about to get booked for another event, but also because it’s going to be the first time you see Harry at his workplace. He has been quite good at keeping his business separated from his private life, it never really happens that you catch him dwell about anything work related whenever he is home and around Izzy. The phone call with Sarah was like a tiny glimpse of what he might be like when he is in work mode and you’re kind of curious to see more of this side of him.

Just as usual, Harry takes care of Izzy in the morning while you get ready on your own. You want to look good, not only are you going to meet more of his friends, but people he works with. Or should you say, people who work for him.

You choose a light pink dress, throwing a white knitted sweater over your shoulders with a pair of ballerinas. After putting on some light makeup and grabbing your purse and laptop you head downstairs to grab a quick breakfast. Izzy is already sitting at the table, still in her pajamas since her and food are a dangerous combination and Harry always makes sure to get her dressed once she is away from all of that.

“You look so pretty, Y/N!” she beams, her legs dangling from the chair as she digs into her oatmeal. Harry appears from the kitchen and he has the same look on his face like when he saw you leave for that wedding a while ago. A blush paints his cheeks as he slows his steps down, his eyes running down on the length of your body before they return to your face.

“Izzy is right, you look… really pretty, Y/N,” he compliments into your face, unlike last time when you only heard him call you pretty when he thought you were long gone.

“Thank you,” you breathe out with a soft chuckle.

The morning carries on as usual, Harry dresses Izzy for the day and then you all head out, however you stop short upon seeing the various cars parked on the driveway and the double garage.

“Maybe take the Rover, it’s got the child seat in it and I’ll take the Jaguar today,” Harry suggests as he hands you over the keys to the Rover and then nears the car he is taking for the day.

“Oh yeah, you just take the Jaguar, boss,” you chuckle under your breath, finding it a little funny that deciding on which car you’re taking for the day is even a question in someone else’s life.

Izzy sings along the radio as you follow Harry’s car into the label’s building. Of course, it’s not just some simple office building, it’s situated in the riches area of the city and the building is massive with loads of floors and a huge HES Records sign above the entrance where you meet Harry after parking down.

“Good morning, Mr. Styles! Hello, Izzy!” the woman behind the front desk smiles widely immediately, standing up from her chair to hand Harry a stack of envelopes. “Your post, sir.”

“Thank you, Veronica. Have a nice day,” Harry nods in her way as the three of you move through the hall to the elevators. Waiting for it to arrive, you glance at the board on the wall that lists everything you can find in the building and the level you should look for it at. There are endless amount of studios, at least three on each levels, offices, creative rooms and conference rooms. It’s pretty clear that HES Records manages a lot of talents and that requires a lot of space.

Arriving to the twentieth floor, which is of course the top of the building, you are in awe as you realize that the whole floor is basically Harry’s office. There’s a kind of hall area for his two assistants, he has his own conference room, his kitchen and dining area and of course, his office space. The whole place screams power and influence. The modern design of the interior makes it such a fancy work space not just for him, but for everyone else in the building. It’s truly impressive.

“Wow, Harry. This place is… amazing,” you breathe out as he walks the two of you into the conference room where Izzy immediately climbs up to one of the chairs, standing up so she can lean onto the table. Harry walks behind her and adjusts her so she just sits before she could fall off.

“Thank you. I really like this place too. I always thought it’s important to have a great place to work at,” he smiles, clearly proud of how far his business has come. “There’s a mini fridge over there, feel free to take anything you’d like. Sarah texted me on the way here that they’ll be here shortly.”

“Great, thank you,” you nod, taking a seat next to Izzy as you set your laptop up. The glass door of the room opens and one of the assistants peeks inside.

“Mr. Styles, Mrs. Wonstein is on the phone asking for you.”

“Oh, alright, give me a minute and I’ll take it.” The assistant nods and walks out. “Izzy, come with daddy a little, alright? Let Y/N do her thing.” “She can stay, if you want. I can look after her,” you tell him, but he shakes his head as Izzy climbs off the chair and running over to him, she takes his hand.

“No, just focus on this one. I’ll take care of her, don’t worry.”

“Thank you, Harry,” you smile with gratitude as the two of them walk out, leaving you alone. You start scrolling through your folders, wondering which photos you should show Sarah and Mitch, picking out some of your favorites while you wait for them, though they don’t take too long to arrive. Soon enough the glass door opens and the lovely couple walks in.

“Y/N! Hi, it’s so nice to finally meet you!” Sarah greets you, wrapping you in a warm hug before stepping aside.

“Hi, I’m Mitch, nice to meet you,” the groom-to-be smiles shyly as he pulls you in for a short hug as well.

“Good to meet you guys too,” you smile back at them as you all sit to the table.

“Thank you so much for meeting us in such a short notice. Our photographer bailed out on us and I was starting to really worry when Harry mentioned that you are doing this kind of stuff in your free time,” Sarah explains.

“No worries. Would you like to go over some of my previous works?” you offer and they both nod in excitement before you start clicking through some old projects.

They share their vision for the whole wedding and the kind of pictures they would like and you like their approach and feel like it’s right up your alley. They both seem to like what you show them and Sarah compliments on how well you are able to catch small, but important moments.

“The wedding won’t be too big, just friends and family, but we do want a lot of memories, it means a lot to us,” Sarah explains and you nod, noting everything she says.

“Harry said you like this oldschool kind of vibe in your pictures,” Mitch chimes in.

“Oh, yeah. I like to make them look like they weren’t taken on a digital sometimes.”

“Do you think you can make some of those for us as well? Not all of them, just a couple,” Sarah asks.

“Sure! It’s more about the editing process, but it’s totally doable.”

You go over a few more things, making sure you’re on the same page, but you feel like things are working out perfectly. Though you guessed they would be great people, it’s still nice to work with such a nice and professional couple. You’ve had some crazy ones before, they definitely don’t make the job easy on you, but it’s not the case right now.

“Okay, so are you sure the date is okay for you? We wouldn’t want you to cancel on anything you had before just because we are Harry’s friends,” Mitch assures you, but you give them a warm smile.

“I’m totally free, don’t worry. Harry doesn’t have that kind of advantage here,” you chuckle softly.

“Thank you so much in this case. You’re truly a lifesaver,” Sarah breathes out in relief.

“Thank you for the trust. I’m really looking forward to working with you guys!”

Finishing up the meeting you pack up, chatting a little out of the business talk with Sarah and Mitch as you head over to Harry’s office.

“Hey! How did it go?” Harry asks as soon as the three of you walk in. Izzy is sitting at his desk, like a little boss, coloring something as he is sitting on the corner of the desk.

“Amazing, we owe you one for suggesting her,” Sarah sighs and you can’t help but just chuckle at how thankful she really is that you could help them out.

“You owe me no more than just one dance at the wedding,” Harry smiles at her.

“Can I dance too?” Izzy’s head perks up.

“Oh baby, you’re not coming to the wedding. You’ll be staying with Grandma, I already told you.” Izzy pouts at her dad, but she doesn’t seem to mind it that much, she quickly goes back to coloring.

“We’ll dance some other time, okay?” Sarah offers her and she nods happily.

“Can I dance with Uncle Mitch too?” she questions and Mitch just smiles down at her.

“Of course,” he hums, curling an arm around Sarah’s waist. “I have a meeting in ten so I’ll head out, I’m gonna pick James up in the afternoon, alright?” He kisses Sarah’s temple before pulling Harry into a brotherly hug. “Y/N, it was so nice to meet you and thank you for everything again,” he smiles at you, enveloping you in a quick hug as well.

“See you soon,” you smile back before he waves his last goodbye and leaves. “Who’s James?” you ask curiously.

“James is our son. He is turning three this year,” Sarah beams proudly.

“Oh! You two already have a son, that’s great! I’ll make sure to snap a bunch of photos of him too,” you chuckle.

“Please, our house is already packed with pictures, but there’s just never enough,” Sarah laughs.

The three of you chat a little longer while Izzy is busy with her coloring, talking about the wedding and whatnot, Harry invites her and Mitch over for dinner sometime and she happily says yes before business is calling her so she heads out as well.

“Okay, come one, little Sunshine. Let’s get home, Rosaline will be over soon for your piano lesson,” you smile down at Izzy who throws all her coloring stuff into one of Harry’s drawers before hopping off the leather seat.

“I’ll see you in the afternoon, okay?” Harry leans down and kisses the top of her head before pressing his lips to her cheek as well.

“Bye daddy, have a good day!” she calls out, grabbing your hand as you head to the door, Harry following behind.

“Mr. Styles, you have a meeting in five with—“ one of the assistants speaks up, but Harry stops her.

“I know, tell him I’ll be down in a minute. And please call Isaac to remind him about his deadline tomorrow,” he asks in that voice again you heard yesterday when Sarah called. There’s just something so intimidating yet exciting in the way he bosses around, but not like an asshole. He is a man in power, but he surely knows how to use it for the good.

“I forgot to talk to you about the time Izzy is spending at my mum’s, please remind me to go over it with you tonight, alright?” Harry asks and you nod as the elevator’s door opens and the two of you walk in.

“Bye daddy!” Izzy waves at him.

“Bye baby, be good! Bye Y/N!” he smiles as the door starts to close.

“See you later,” you smile back before he disappears from your sight.

The meeting with Sarah and Mitch got you buzzing, because it’s gonna be such an intimate yet beautiful wedding and those are your favorite. You can’t wait to start snapping the pictures and make their memories last forever of their big day.

You want to say thank you to Harry for suggesting you to them, so while Izzy is with Rosaline, you make a quick round to the grocery store and get everything you need to make some cupcakes, knowing well Harry loves those. He once told you that he could easily eat a dozen of those if he had the chance, so you think it’s gonna be the perfect way to thank him.

You keep the usual schedule, but after your little learning session in the afternoon, instead of heading out to the backyard to play, you suggest you bake the cupcakes together and Izzy is more than happy to help you.

It doesn’t take long for the kitchen to turn into a warzone, ingredients spilled to the counter all over the place, some music is playing in the background and you’ve been struggling to figure out how to use the different machines around the super modern kitchen.

You go all out with the decorations, you even bought some food coloring so you can make the cupcakes different colors and mess around with the icing and cream as well. You get so busy with the task on hand that time flies by faster than you expected. The two of you are still working on the decorating when the front door opens and Harry walks into the mess you’ve created in the past hours.

“What is doing on here?” he chuckles, seeing Izzy’s hair covered in flour, whipped cream on her nose and cheeks as she is throwing some sprinkles on one of the cupcakes, sitting on the kitchen island counter while you are finishing up another one.

“Oh! I wanted it to be a surprise!” you pout. “Izzy and I are making you cupcakes!”

“Why do I deserve a surprise?” he asks smirking, walking farther into the kitchen as he looks around, finding the mess quite amusing, rather than annoying. Harry knows well enough that it’s not easy to keep the place around you clean when there are kids involved in any process.

“I wanted to thank you for suggesting me to Sarah and Mitch. It was really nice of you.”

“Already told you it was nothing. Of course I suggest them a good photographer if I know one.”

You just smile at him shrugging, because no matter how hard he is trying to play it down, it meant a lot to you.

“Look daddy!” Izzy holds up her cupcake, half of it is covered with sprinkles, the other half is decorated with chocolate chips and she is clearly proud of it.

“That looks great, baby!” he smiles proudly, kissing the top of her head. “You have so much stuff on you, you could easily turn into a cupcake too,” he jokes, making her laugh.

“Be a cupcake with me, daddy!” Izzy beams and before Harry could stop her, she wipes some whipped cream to his face, getting him dirty as well. You gasp before letting out a laugh, Izzy shrieks happily seeing her dad all dressed up fancily and licking the cream off his face.

“Isabelle Styles, you have no idea what you just brought on yourself,” he warns in a low tone, already making Izzy scoot backwards as she is trying to escape, but she doesn’t have anywhere to go, the kitchen island’s edge is right behind her butt. However, she doesn’t realize it and tries to push herself back some more, deeming herself to fall right off, but before anything could happen Harry scoops her into his arms, pressing his creamy face to her cheek, making an even bigger mess that’s already there. Izzy is moving around, laughing and screaming as Harry gets some more cream to his hands, wiping it onto her anywhere he can.

“Oh my God, you are wasting all the cream!” you call him out, but it’s such a sweet moment to witness, you would never blame him for wasting it.

Harry stops attacking Izzy and turns to you with a dark look in his eyes.

“Izzy, I think Y/N looks too clean, doesn’t she?” he cocks his head to the side, exchanging a look with the girl in his arms.

“She does!” Izzy agrees as you start backing away from them. Harry sets Izzy down to her feet, grabbing the bowl with the remaining of the cream. He gets a handful for himself and lets Izzy fill her palms as well.

“Oh no, don’t you dare!” you warn them, holding up your pointing finger at them, trying to escape, but you are kind of cornered against the counter.

“It’s my house, I do whatever I want to,” he smirks, so full of himself and in a blink of the eye, they both launch themselves at you and Hell breaks loose.

They start whipping cream on you anywhere they can and when it’s gone, Harry just decides to go for anything else he can reach. Izzy is throwing sprinkles around while thanks to Harry, flour is flying everywhere, completely destroying the kitchen.

“Stop! No! I surrender!” you scream, fighting back, but it’s two against one.

“No mercy!” Harry shouts, so excited, as if he just transformed into a little boy, throwing mud around.

You grab his wrists when he tries to pour sugar on top of your head straight from the contained, holding him back, but he is so much stronger than you, it’s kind of a lost fight already. You don’t even realize how close he is, your chests are almost touching as he has you pinned against the counter, faces only about two inches away from each other. His wrist slides out of your hold, but he drops the sugar to the counter next to you. You try to snatch it to use his own weapon against him, but he is quick to stop you, forcing your hand down next to your side, but in the process he managed to bring you even closer, flushed against his hard chest and your lips part at the sudden mood change that he must be feeling as well, because the playfulness disappears from his eyes pretty fast and it’s replaced by something entirely different, something you can’t even read, because you haven’t seen it in his eyes before. And then…

Then you see his eyes flicker down to your lips, just a moment before yours move down to his. It’s that moment. It’s that exact moment when you just know you both are thinking about kissing, but you don’t know if it’s going to happen or now. You’re not even sure you want it to happen.

You fucking moron, of course you want to kiss him! That tiny voice in the back of your mind screams at you. In a heartbeat, it seems like he is about to move closer, but then the moment is interrupted and completely destroyed when a woman walks into the house, scaring you to death.

“Wow, it seems like Izzy took over control completely,” she comments, walking further into the house as you jump away from Harry, suddenly very aware of the mess you’ve made.

“Gemma, what—“ Harry starts, but he is quickly cut off.

“Don’t ask what I’m doing here, I literally texted you today that I would come by and you said it’s okay.” She gives him a look before her eyes move over to you as you’re trying to somehow clean everything up, but it’ll take a little longer probably. “You must be Y/N, hi! I’m Gemma, Harry’s sister.”

She steps over to you holding out a hand and you reach for it, but then stop, seeing that your palms are all floury. You both let out a chuckle, deciding to just move over the handshake.

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you, though it would have been better if we met when I didn’t have whipped cream in my eyes,” you joke.

“Auntie Gemma, we made cupcakes, do you want one?” Izzy runs up to her, holding up a cupcake that was finished, unlike the majority that are going to have poor decorations, since Harry and Izzy decided to use everything in the fight. Now it’s the floor that’s covered with icing, cream and sprinkles.

“Maybe later, sweetie, but they look awesome!”

As you wipe your face with a kitchen towel, you can feel Harry’s gaze on you, your heart beating so fast in your chest, it’s pushing all the blood up into your head that’s already feeling dizzy. What would have happened if Gemma didn’t walk in? Would has he kissed you? Or did you misread the situation and it was nothing just part of the game?

You busy yourself with cleaning up as Harry cleans himself a little with a paper towel before stepping closer to his sister.

“I totally forgot you texted, I replied in the middle of a meeting, I think I didn’t process the message.”

“It’s fine,” Gemma sighs. “I’m already used to my little brother forgetting about me,” she teases him, but he just rolls his eyes at her.

“Let me just help Y/N clean up the kitchen and I’ll be right with you. Would you mind cleaning Izzy off?” Harry asks her, but you stop him short.

“Oh, I’ll take care of this, don’t worry,” you assure him, but as his eyes snap over at you, you lose your voice. He clearly felt the moment as well earlier and now it’s kind of getting awkward, you don’t really want to be left alone with him right now. Not until you figure out what this whole thing was.

“Are you sure? I mean I was the one who started it and—“

“It’s fine,” you try your best to smile at him without overheating. He is standing several feet away from you, but you can still feel what it felt like to be pushed up against him.

Harry hesitates, his eyes following your every move while you are trying to busy yourself and act normal, while you are literally crumbling inside. You almost kissed your boss in the middle of his kitchen, you need a moment to process that.

“Alright, let me know if you need help,” he murmurs before picking Izzy up and heading upstairs to clean them both, Gemma following them right behind. When they are out of your sight, you lean against the counter, breathing out heavily.

Meanwhile upstairs, Harry hands Izzy his phone to play some games while he cleans her and himself off in the bathroom. Gemma sits on the edge of the tub, eyeing her brother curiously, which Harry notices.

“What?” he asks, stripping Izzy out of her dirty clothes.

“What was all that about?”

“What do you mean?”

“I saw you, Harry. You were like, ready to snog Y/N right then and there when I walked in. Did I miss something?”

“No idea what you’re talking about and I would appreciate it if you didn’t bring this up when it’s not just the two of us,” he replies firmly, looking down at the girl who is obliviously tapping on the screen. Gemma just rolls her eyes before leaving the two of them alone.

Wandering down she finds you scrubbing the counters from the mess you’ve made, deep in your thoughts. Seeing her walk in, you shoot her a smile, not sure what to say or if you even should say anything, but when she grabs a towel for herself and starts helping, you speak up.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it.”

“Don’t be silly, I’m happy to help,” she smiles, as she starts cleaning the kitchen island up. “So how do you like working for my brother, so far? He mentioned what happened with the daycare. Honestly, those mothers are entitled spoiled brats,” she scoffs making you smile.

“They weren’t too delightful even before the whole fiasco,” you chuckle softly. “But I really like it here. There are a lot more perks and it’s so much easier to focus on one kid than to have fifteen at a time,” you point out making her laugh.

“Yeah, I’m good with my two, don’t think I could handle more.”

“Oh, you have kids?”

“Yes, two sons. Beau is turning ten this year and Jasper turned six in January.” Gemma pulls out her phone from her back pocket and unlocking it she shows you the homescreen that has a picture of two adorable boys sitting on a bench next to each other, munching on a big bowl of strawberries. The younger one, Jasper has a red sunhat on his head while Beau is rocking some cool sunglasses.

“Oh my God, they look so much like you!”

“I get that a lot and honestly, they really should!” Gemma scoffs. “It took twenty fucking hours for Jasper’s big head to come out!”

“Wow that sounds way too much,” you laugh and Gemma nods with a tired, but clearly proud smile.

“Yeah, but it was worth it. Anyway, after my two boys, Izzy is the little princess of the family.”

“The boys get along well with her?” you ask as you both keep cleaning.

“They act like her big brothers, they get so protective over her!”

“That’s cute.”

“Yeah, they really are. My mom has this summer barbeque every year, if Harry doesn’t invite you with him then I’m doing it now, because you need to see how crazy out family gets,” she smirks at you. “All of our cousins and the kids are there, it’s a whole parade.”

“I’m sure it’s a lot of fun,” you smile at her. “One of my friends in high school had a really big family and they always invited me to birthdays at their place, I loved how lively and buzzing it was always.”

“Yeah, it’s nice to get together from time to time,” she nods smiling. “So do you have a boyfriend or something?” she asks then, implying that she is not even sure if you are playing on the team she is assuming.

“Oh, um, no. It’s just me for now. So no boyfriend for me.” Your answer, making sure it gives her the information she was trying to get as well.

“Are you done interrogating her, Gem?” Harry appears from upstairs, Izzy running ahead of him before smashing herself against Gemma’s legs.

“We’re just having a chat, is that a crime now?” she rolls her eyes. “Swear to God, he is such a control freak sometimes,” she then adds turning to you.

“Would you stop offending me in my own house?” Harry gives him a look. Gemma leans down and picks Izzy up into her arms.

“Izzy, you really should tell your dad to pull the stick out of his as—“

“You are not finishing that!” Harry cuts her off and you can’t push your laughter back. Harry’s eyes meet yours over Gemma’s shoulders and he realizes that you are still all dirty and messed up. “Y/N, go and take a shower if you want. We’ll take this over, alright?”

It wasn’t an order, but you feel like it was a very firm suggestion. He is clearly uncomfortable with you talking to Gemma and though you’re not sure why, you don’t want to upset him, so just nodding you drop the kitchen towel and head upstairs to clean yourself up.

“I hope you didn’t say anything to upset her,” Harry comments as he takes over the cleaning. Gemma grimaces.

“What could have I possibly said? I was just trying to get to know her!”

“You are always a little too up in my business, Gems,” he sighs.

“Daddy, can I watch some TV, please?” Izzy asks, tugging on his pants.

“Sure. Do you need me to switch it on?”

“No, I’m a big girl, I can do it,” Izzy nods before running off, leaving the siblings alone.

“Didn’t know Y/N was your business,” Gemma tilts her head to the side. Harry opens his mouth to defend himself, but nothing comes out. He was caught with this one. “Oh my God. I knew I walked in on something, you have a thing for her!” Gemma gasps with wide eyes.

“Stop with this! You and Niall are like some middle schoolers, it’s so fucking annoying!”

“So Niall sees it too, huh?”

“Niall is an idiot,” he points out. “He is… obsessed with this idea that I should start dating again and he thinks I should make a move on Y/N.”

“Well, he is an idiot, but he has a point.”

“No he doesn’t!” Harry argues, but Gemma just rolls her eyes.

“So you want to die alone? Is that your plan?”

Harry has always hated his sister’s bluntness. She never held herself back when it came to giving her opinion, whether it was wanted or not. But what Harry hates even more is that most of the time… Gemma is right.

He doesn’t want to die alone, no one wants that, but being with someone is a hard topic for Harry after losing the person he thought he would spend the rest of his life with. Even just the thought makes him feel like he is doing something bad, like he shouldn’t even be thinking about anyone but his wife, even years after the tragedy.

“Harry, look…” Gemma breathes out leaning against the counter next to her brother. “I know it’s a fucked up situation and I know things are still not in the right place in your head. But eventually you’ll have to move on. We all want to see you happy and I think that… I think Maggie would want that for you as well.”

Harry tries not to physically cringe at the name, the familiar pain is already clutching his heart, like it has been since the day of the accident. Some days are easier, some days are harder, but Gemma is right. Things are still not in the right place in his head and he knows that, he is just not sure how to fix it at this point.

“I’m not saying you should date Y/N, I’m not Niall to force anyone on you. I’m just telling you to try to get out a little more, just to test the waters. But you obviously like her so if it happens to be her, it wouldn’t be a big deal, if you ask me.”

Gemma shrugs and goes back to the cleaning while Harry keeps his swirling thoughts to himself. Two of the most important people have told him the same thing recently and though part of him wants to stubbornly go against it, his rational side knows that they might be right.

But not much can be done when a man is still blaming himself for the death of his own wife. Because that’s exactly the case when it comes to Harry and no one really knows that the thought has been haunting him for years now…

After taking a quick shower, washing your hair and changing into clothes that are not covered in flour, you join Harry and Gemma downstairs and insist on finishing the rest of the cleaning while they move out to the terrace to talk. The evening goes by peacefully, Harry decides to order dinner and Gemma joins the three of you at the dining table.

You love watching the dynamic between them and they truly seem to be very close. Gemma likes to embarrass Harry with stories from their childhood and you are enjoying them all a little too much maybe, but it’s nice to think that he wasn’t always this confident businessman.

“It was so good to meet you, Y/N!” Gemma hugs you goodbye after dinner.

“You too!”

“Bye Izzy, come and give a smooch for your favorite auntie!” Squatting down she lets Izzy wrap her arms around her neck as she kisses her cheek sloppily.

“Bye Gemma,” she singsongs. Harry pulls his sister into a hug as well before walking her out.

You start washing the dishes, Izzy talking to you about whatever show she was watching earlier on TV. When Harry returns he tells you to just leave the rest of the cleaning up for him while he bathes Izzy, but you don’t listen to him and finish up while they are upstairs.

Bringing your laptop down you settle on the couch and just start scrolling through social media, reading articles and whatnot, the TV quietly playing in the background. You send out an email regarding the wedding you are attending this weekend, making sure everything is in place.

When Harry emerges again he joins you on the couch with a tired sigh.

“Thanks for washing the dishes but you really should just leave it to me when I ask you to,” he smiles at you softly.

“It’s not a big deal, I like to be useful,” you chuckle shutting your laptop down.

“As if you’re not useful enough already,” he huffs smiling to himself. “Oh, before I forget, I wanted to talk to you about Izzy going to my mum’s.”

“Oh, yeah, you mentioned it earlier.”

“Yeah. So she is going to spend a week at my mother’s and I timed it to line up with Sarah and Mitch’s wedding. So I’ll leave her at my mum’s Sunday evening and pick her up the next Sunday which lines up perfectly with the wedding on Saturday. That week is obviously free for you as well, like a paid vacation,” he chuckles.

“Sounds good. How far does your mother lives from here?”

“Just a few hours, not that horrible of a drive. If you’re up for it, we can carpool to the wedding and then pick her up together right from there and head home.”

“Yeah, that works for me, thanks,” you nod.

Harry stays and turns his attention on the TV, seemingly pretty unbothered while you still haven’t stopped thinking about what happened in the kitchen earlier. Glancing over at Harry it appears that it’s not that big of a deal for him, so it makes you settle with the thought that it’s not one for you either.

“Good night, Harry,” you smile at him grabbing your laptop and phone as you rise from your seat.

“Nigh, Y/N,” he smiles as you round the couch and head upstairs, but you stop at the bottom of the stairs, lancing back at the mop of locks that’s visible from him from behind. You watch him run his fingers through his hair and you let out a shaky breath, knowing well you did not convince yourself that it was nothing. Not for you, at least.

Because you wanted him to kiss you.

The wedding you’re attending is held on a farm owned by the parents of the bride. The whole barn was transformed into this very country like fairytale location, lots of fairy lights and candles along with some nice, pastel colored flowers with a hint of purple between them.

Everything goes planned. Arriving you meet first with the groom and then with the bride in their separated rooms of the house, going over everything they want just one last time before you get down to work, snapping loads of pictures from them getting ready for the big day.

Emily, the bride is a chatty girl and all her bridesmaids are her sisters, coming from a big family with five daughters, she is the second oldest. The groom, Jesse is a few years older than Emily, but they are such a cute couple and they are clearly so madly in love, it’s always nice to see people be so happy with the right person.

You keep going back and forth between the groom and the bride and later you do the first look thing as well, when Jesse stands outside in the field and Emily walks up behind him, letting him see her for the first time. It really is always such a special moment and you tear up as well, watching Jesse fall speechless upon seeing his beautiful fiancé.

As the ceremony is about to start and the guests slowly take their seats on the two sides of the aisle, you make a quick trip down there to make sure you are using the right lenses, not wanting to change a lot when the ceremony has started. You stop in the corner, just trying out if you can shoot some pictures of the guests as well with the lens you are planning to use, you take a look around using the camera and that’s when you almost faint.

You would pick out that face from any, it has grown to you way too much, but you didn’t think you’d ever see him again. Lowering the camera you stare at the tall figure with parted lips, blinking a few times just to make sure it’s who you think it is.

But it is in fact your ex-fiancé, Keith, and to make it even worse, the woman standing next to him with his arm around her waist is the one he cheated on you with. They are still together and now you are staring right at them.

Tears sting your eyes as you try to look for a way to escape before he spots you, though you know he’ll see you sooner or later, but right now they are standing right at the entrance of the barn and you can’t avoid walking past them.

Keeping your head down you try to stay unnoticed as you march towards the exit, but you apparently, you are out of luck.

“Y/N? Is that you?” Keith calls after you just when you thought you were successful in sneaking out. Stopping in your tracks you seriously think about just running off, pretending like you didn’t even hear him, but it’s kind of too late and it would be ridiculous. So turning around on your heels, you plaster the fakest smile on your lips as you look at him.

“Keith, hi!” you breathe out, taking just a few steps closer to him, still keeping some distance between the two of you. Stella, the lucky woman on his arm blinks at you and at first you’re not even sure she realizes who you are or if she even knows you. The longer she looks at you the more certain you become that she indeed does not know that you’re the woman Keith cheated on with her. Nice.

Keith realizes that the two of you have been staring at each other awkwardly, so clearing his throat he quickly introduces the two of you to each other.

“Um, Y/N, this is Stella. Stella, this is… Y/N.”

You can tell he was thinking about using titles, but he decided to leave it at that, though it would have been a lot more interesting if he just titled the two of you.

Y/N, this is the woman I cheated on you with, who is my girlfriend now. Stella, this is Y/N, to whom I was engaged when I was fucking you!

You flash her a quick, not too honest smile and it seems like she is catching onto that something is not right, but she can’t tell for sure.

“What are you doing here?” Keith asks, a little harsher than you would have liked him to talk to you, but it’s kind of understandable. Seeing each other after what happened is not a pleasant experience for either of you, you assume. You hold up the camera as the answer for the stupid question and Keith furrows his eyebrows at you. “Oh, you still to the photography thingy?”

“Thingy?” you ask, quite offended. Keith always belittled your love for photography. He thought it was just a hobby, something that should stay just a hobby and not get turned into anything more. He once told you during a fight that it takes your time away from more important things, like doing chores. That was one of the most sexist things he has ever said to you and you should have packed your stuff right then and there. But you didn’t, stuck around for three more months before you found out about the cheating.

“Well, this thingy is kind of a side job for me,” you inform him.

“Oh. That sounds… fun,” he nods, but it’s clearer than daylight that he thinks it’s just a waste of time. Good thing he has no business in anything about you anymore.

“Um, I’m gonna go now, but I guess see you two around.” You shoot them another fake smile before turning around and walking away from this conversation straight from Hell.

Marching away from the barn you rush into the nearest bathroom you can find. You need a minute. Or maybe two… five. This did not just happen. You didn’t just face your cheating ex-fiancé with the woman he cheated on you, what kind of sick movie plot is this you found yourself in?

Placing your camera to the counter near the sink you wash your hands and sprinkle some water to your face as well before you lean to the edge of the sink, staring at your reflection in the mirror. You look like you’ve just seen a ghost and quite frankly, you would have been happier with the ghost than with Keith and Stella.

You’ve been doing alright since the breakup, but it’s obvious that only because you didn’t have to see Keith. Following the blowup when you found the explicit texts in his phone, you only had to face him twice and never since then. It’s easier to be okay when you don’t have to look at the person who hurt you most all the time, but coming face to face with him now really threw you off, especially with Stella on his arm. The fucker did not only cheat on you with her, but he went straight into a relationship with her and she probably doesn’t even know that she was just the sidechick in the beginning. If you were really evil, you’d go up to her and enlighten her about who you really are, but you are not one to cause a scene. Keith kept the two of you apart consciously, he never let you go into his office because he wanted Stella to think that he is a single man while he was engaged. Sickening to think how slyly he played the both of you and even after his little plan failed, he kept lying to the poor girl and lured her into a relationship. You wonder if he is already fucking another girl behind her back.

Your fingers start to turn white, gripping the edge of the sink tightly so you loosen up a bit, shaking your arms and shoulders off to pull yourself together. You fix your makeup and run your fingers through your hair quickly to give it some volume before grabbing the camera from the counter and heading out. However shocking it is to be at the same place as Keith again, you have a job to do right now and the bride and groom are expecting some amazing photos and that’s exactly what you’re gonna deliver.

You manage to busy yourself to the point where you are able to forget about Keith’s existence for most of the time. Following the happy couple around you don’t get too much free time, the camera is glued in front of your face basically and it brings you some peace. For a while.

Emily and Jesse disappear for an outfit change and it gives you a short break since they didn’t want that to be photographed, only when they return. So you get yourself a virgin cocktail from the bar and head outside to get some fresh air. You text back Heather and Trevor and then just scroll through Instagram, enjoying some alone time from the buzzing you’ve been around all day.

“Y/N!”

Turning to your right you spot Keith walking towards you, this time alone, but it doesn’t stop you from rolling your eyes.

“What do you want?” you mumble under your breath.

“Just… though we could chat for a little. It’s been a long time.”

“Not enough,” you retort. “And I would like to skip the chatting.”

“Come on, you can’t be still that mad at me,” he chuckles and you almost punch him in the face right then and there.

“Well I am. So go back to your little girlfriend and leave me alone.”

“I know things didn’t end too well, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be civil towards each other.” You can’t help the laughter that bubbles from your throat. He can’t be serious, trying to act like the bigger person now after everything he has done to you. This has got to be a joke.

“This is me being civil, because I’m not throwing anything at you. So leave me the fuck alone, let me do my job and then we hopefully don’t see each other again.”

“Come on. You don’t miss me, baby?” he smirks at you, completely ignoring what you just told him. You physically cringe at the pet name he just called you and you take a step away from him, needing the distance more than ever.

“I don’t. Now leave.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Too fucking bad. Now leave!” you raise your voice, but it does nothing. He is still standing there, looking at you like he didn’t completely destroy you just about a year ago.

“Heard that you haven’t dated anyone since we broke up.”

“Are you asking around after me?” you scowl.

“We have a few mutual friends,” he shrugs. “Is it because you still want me?”

“My dating life is none of your business, Keith. And I don’t want you. Quite frankly, I don’t even know how I could ever want you, so now please let me enjoy my break and leave me alone.”

“Y/N, I just—“ Keith reaches for your hand, but you pull back before he could touch you, holding up a finger at him you start talking slowly and very clearly so the message goes through.

“Don’t ever fucking touch me or talk to me. I want nothing to do with you, you’re a manipulating, cheating, egoistic asshole who ruins the life of others. I’m telling you this for the last time, Keith: leave me the fuck alone.”

He looks a bit stunned at your harsh response, but you couldn’t care less if you’ve hurt him. He did way worse things to you than snapping at you. As you walk past him to head back into the barn, he doesn’t let the chance to punch you in the stomach with his words one last time.

“I wish I could say you were a good fuck, but that wouldn’t be true. Good luck finding some lowlife loser who would even think about marrying you!”

Every fiber in your body is screaming to launch yourself at him and punch him until he is unconscious, because that’s exactly what he deserves. The tears are already stinging your eyes, but you don’t give him the satisfaction to see you react to his words. So swallowing hard you just keep on walking until you are out of his sight, bottling up the sobs and tears for the time when you’re home and on your own.

It’s past two am when you arrive home, drained and exhausted, both emotionally and exhausted. Following the conversation you had wit Keith he didn’t try to talk to you anymore, but you could always feel his eyes on you, wherever you were, as if he wanted to see if you are watching him too, but you weren’t. Looking at him would have been too painful so you tried your best to keep your eyes away from him through the night.

You know damn well that what he told you when you were leaving was just to get a reaction out of you, to get you upset enough to start a fight with him, it’s just who he is, he enjoys having the last word and the higher ground in every situation, but you didn’t want to be his partner in his stupid games this time. However it still hurt, what he said.

Walking into the dead silent house you kick your shoes off, drop your keys into the little bowl next to the door and head to the kitchen to get yourself some water. Pouring yourself a glass you lean against the counter and as you stare ahead of you, nothing can stop the tears from falling.

Everything you kept bottled up during the afternoon and evening just hits you all at once, making you break down heavier than any time in the past months. You sob and cry, letting it all out until your head feels like exploding, but you still can’t stop. You were not ready to face the man that broke your heart like no one before.

In the middle of your breakdown you don’t even realize the footsteps coming from the stairs.

“Y/N?” Harry’s voice calls out, snapping you out of your pity party. He immediately sees that you’ve been crying like a baby, no doubt, but you still try to wipe your cheeks and eyes, pretending like everything is totally fine.

“Harry! What are you doing up so late?” you breathe out hoarsely.

“Just wanted to get some water, but have you been crying? What happened, are you alright?” he starts bombarding you with questions, clearly worried about you, seeing you in this state.

“Everything is fine, I just… had a rough night,” you chuckle through your tears that are still rolling down your cheeks, those bastards!

“A rough night doesn’t make you sob like this. What happened?” Rounding the kitchen island he stops in front of you, not sure how to approach the situation, but it’s kind of sweet how he wants to help, but doesn’t know how.

“I, uhh—I met my… ex-fiancé tonight. He was at the wedding I worked at,” you mumble shutting your eyes closed.

“Did he hurt you? Y/N, if he laid a hand on you, I swear—“ “No, he didn’t hurt me,” you shake your head before adding: “Well, not physically.”

“Come on, let’s sit down for a bit.” He gently takes your hand and pulls you to the couch in the living room, making you sit before he plops down next to you. “Tell me what happened.”

“It’s really stupid, I shouldn’t be this upset about it, but I just… It hurt and I can’t change it,” you whine, wiping some more tears away.

“I’m sure it’s not stupid. Tell me what happened!”

“He was there with the woman he cheated on me with. They are basically a couple now, but she doesn’t even know that Keith was engaged to me when they started dating, so it’s really fucked up. And it wouldn’t have been that big of a deal, because, you know, fuck him, he can do whatever he wants, it’s not my business anymore, but then he came up to me and tried to chitchat with me, which I didn’t really want, of course.”

Harry listens carefully, giving you his undivided attention while you fumble with the hem of your shirt, kind of avoiding to look him in the eyes. Part of you is afraid you’d see judgment in them and you don’t think you would be able to handle that.

“I asked him to leave me alone, but he just kept talking and then I snapped at him a little harsher and when I was walking away he…”

You scowl again, hearing his words play in your head so clearly, as if he was standing behind you, repeating them to you. Harry reaches out and he gently covers your hand with his warm palm, giving it a gentle squeeze, letting you know that he is patiently waiting, not rushing you to talk. Taking a deep breath you blink your tears away before continuing.

“He basically said that I wasn’t even a good fuck and no man will want to marry me.”

“Jesus fuck, what kind of asshole did you date, Y/N?” Harry snaps in horror and it’s kinda funny, makes you laugh through your tears.

“Seems like the worst kind,” you mumble with a bitter chuckle. “I know I shouldn’t have let his words get to my head, but… it’s easier said than done. I feel like such a loser,” you breathe out, your lips trembling as the tears are threatening to flow again.

“Don’t blame yourself for having feelings, it’s completely normal. Of course his words hurt, he once meant a lot to you and he probably knows that too, that’s why he tried to use it against you. What he said held no truth.”

“You think so?” you ask, voice barely more than just a whisper as you finally look at him. His green irises appear so warm as he smiles at you, squeezing your hand again. He scoots a little closer, his knee bumping against the side of your thigh.

“Y/N, I know so,” he chuckles. “That guy was a proper idiot for what he did to you. You didn’t deserve any of that and any many would be lucky to have you as their wife.”

“Really?” you pout, feeling so touched and loved from his words. It’s exactly the reassurance you needed.

“Absolutely,” he nods smiling sweetly.

Everything that happened today messed with your head big time. And now sitting with Harry on the couch, listening to him telling you how worthy you are of love and happiness, it completely throws you off. Ever since that moment in the kitchen before Gemma walked in, you’ve been nonstop thinking about what would have happened and it made you notice even the tiniest things about him.

Harry Styles is a man who is clearly a sight for the eyes, with his chiseled jawline, pink lips and gorgeous green eyes, the duality of his powerful and business appropriate attires he wears during the day and the tattoos hidden under his dress shirts, you’d have to be blind to say that he is not an attractive man. But on top of everything on the outside, he is a wonderful person on the inside and it twists your head more than you’d like it.

Your brain switches off for a moment, or just the rational side, but you completely stop thinking as you stare at each other. The intimacy and emotionality of the moment pushes all your common sense to the side as your gaze wanders down his lips.

The thought of kissing him comes fast and before you could even stop yourself, you move forward and press your lips to his. The touch of his lips against yours is sweet and warm and kind of intoxicating, but in just a blink of the eye your rationality gets a grip of you and your eyes pop open in realization of what you just did. Pulling back you gasp and cover your mouth in shock, feeling your whole inside trembling at the thought of getting yourself fired by this move.

Harry seems frozen and quite shocked as well, his lips are parted as he stays still in his spot.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry, I-I don’t know what’s gotten into me! Harry, I’m sorry, I promise—“

You start rambling in panic, but you don’t get to finish. Harry moves forward, his hand coming to the back of your head as he pulls you in for another kiss, this time making it a lot more passionate and even your tongues get involved. He is kissing you hard and you almost moan into his mouth when you feel his other hand come to your thigh, squeezing it just enough to send a shockwave up your spine. Your hands come up to the back of his hair and you hold onto him for dear life, carrying the kiss on like you’re two teenagers in your parents’ basement, doomed to get caught any moment. Harry goes in again and again, tugging on your bottom lip, licking into your mouth and making your insides twist just from having his lips on yours.

And then you both let go of each other, needing some time to breathe and you slowly realize what just happened. You both stare at each other in disbelief, completely shocked at your own actions, but neither of you have any idea what should happen next.

You let go of each other, sitting back to your normal positions, awkwardly breathing heavily and you realize you cannot deal with this right now. You are way too drained and tired to make it make sense so you decide to just… call it a night.

“I’ll head to bed,” you quietly inform him as you stand up from the couch, walking like a zombie, the shock still clouding your judgment.

“Good night,” Harry mumbles, just as confused as you are.

“Good night,” you nod and basically sprint up the stairs and don’t stop until you shut your door behind you.

Leaning your back against it, you slide down to the floor, hugging your knees to your chest as you stare into the darkness for long minutes. Quite some time passes by before you hear Harry walk upstairs, his door opens and then closes before silence falls on the house again. With a blank mind, you push yourself up, take a quick shower and just go to bed, ignoring everything that has happened today. You’ll deal with it in the morning.

Thank you for reading, please like and reblog if you enjoyed it!

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[mindofharry]

In which sam and bucky come home.

kind of a part two to this...... just a little blurb with a whole lot of fluff, kissing and the occasional dad joke. BF!BUCKY MELTS MY FUCKING HEART. feedback is welcome as always! enjoy <3

“So you and bucky” Sam said helping you set up the table. Nobody had arrived yet, but you were expecting the whole town and maybe some people from the city to pop in and say hi. Sam, along with bucky, had just gotten back from saving the world as sam likes to say it. All jokes a side, you’re so proud of your brother and you’re happy he’s home safe and sound.

“What about me and bucky” You said placing the cups on the table. Sam raised his eyebrows and stood tall, placing his hands on his hips. “Girl, don’t lie to me” He said making you tut at him.

“I could smell your perfume on him and you were wearing his shirt the day after he stayed over” Sam said and you rolled your eyes, mimicking his pose.

“We haven’t talked about ‘us’ yet” You said, biting your lip to hide the smile. You really hadn’t talked about it much, just that you both want to explore more.... of each other, if you get what i mean. That night was nothing like bucky had ever experienced before, the same with you. You both had this connection, sexually and mentally. You don’t believe in fate, well not until bucky came walking into your life.

It had been a couple weeks since the hook up, but you talked everyday over the phone. Bucky liked you and you liked him.

That was enough for the both of you.

“You know buckys coming around today” Sam said and you shook your head. “Sarah invited him” He said and you giggled.

“I think sarah likes him more than me and you combined” You teased and sam rolled his eyes. “He’s definitely growing on me” Sam said, before walking off, over to sarah.

You took out your phone and looked for buckys number on your contact list. These couple of weeks have been bliss, having sam home and a possible boyfriend? Things haven’t been this good since the blip. Sarah and the boys are really happy, maybe that’s because we get to keep the boat and we have enough money to keep paying the bills. It feels like all the stress had been lifted.

It felt too good to be true, but you did not for a second question it. If this only lasted for a couple months, you wanted to savour it. So no more thinking about the future, you’re going to live in the moment.

And you’re going to do that with bucky barnes.

“Hey, baby” Bucky answered, making you blush. You could hear his motorcycle, you gasped.

“Buck are you on the motor cycle? I told you not to answer when you’re driving” You groaned and bucky laughed. You loved that sound, his laughter is so angelic. It makes you feel so warm and gooey inside.

“Oh, stop it. I’m nearly there anyways. I miss you” He said and you sighed. “I miss you too, we need to talk about some things when you get here” You said and bucky nodded to himself. He knew this talk was coming.

“I’m still going to be able to fuck you after that talk, right?” He asked, that went straight to your pussy.

“We’ll see” You teased, after a few more seconds of talking you both hang up and you help sarah with the food. She laughed to herself which made you look up, eyebrows raised. Sarah had been extremely happy that you and bucky were..... something. She really wanted you to be happy - sarah is the person you have to thank for pushing you to talk to bucky.

“What?”

Sarah laughed to herself again.

“Just like you seeing you happy, lil sis” She said, turning over the meat. You just smiled back. 10 minutes later, practically the whole town was on the dock waiting to be fed and get a picture with sam. Yes, you’re exploiting your brother for money. You gotta do, what you gotta do.

A truck pulls up, one that neither you or sarah recognise. You were expecting bucky on his motorcycle.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Bucky barnes steps out of the van, cake in hand already getting attacked but the kids.

“Woah, Woah” He said moving around, the kids following him. You bit your lip to contain your smile, but failed miserably. Sarah nodded, crossing her arms over her chest. “He’s a good one, don’t let him go.” she said sternly and you nodded.

“I don’t plan on it”

Bucky saw you and pulled his sunglasses on, leaving them on his head. You smiled and took the cake from him putting it on the table. He placed his hands on your hips, some of the elders were having a good look too but neither of you cared. He pecked your lips a couple times before saying hello.

“I missed you” He mumbled, pecking your lips again. You smiled and placed his sunglasses over his eyes. “Missed you more” you said and kissed his lips.

“Thought you were on the motorcycle?” You asked looking at the truck.

“Yeah, i just like to wire you up” Bucky said and you hit his chest, pouting. Bucky laughed and you walked over to the food area with the cake. “Baby, it was just a joke” Bucky said hugging you from behind.

“Not funny”

The day went on, with bucky entertaining your nephews and a few of the local kid and his horrible, horrible dad jokes. The kids were hanging out of his arm while you and sarah laughed at him.

“I could do this all day” Bucky said, and you giggled. “I’m sure you could baby” You teased and placed your head on sarah’s shoulder. In that moment you realised how much you liked bucky. He was good with kids, he was funny (most of the time), he has a somewhat good relationship with sam and he’s a fucking hero. He’s good to you. He respects you and he’s got a big fucking dick.

“Hey, buck?” You called out, he nodded knowing what this is about. He walked over and placed his hand in yours pulling you over towards the boat. He was nervous, not like he was going to pay his respects or crossing someone off the list. This was different, this was you. Bucky liked you, he couldn’t let you go.

“Wait, just listen to me before you tell me to leave. I like you, Y/N. We may not go together on paper, but we’re perfect in real life, in this moment. i’ve never felt this way about someone, especially someone i met just a month ago. You’re beautiful and smart and everything a person could want when they’re looking for a relationship. Please don’t let this go, what we’ve got is good” Bucky said all in one breathe, his finger pointing at you. All you could do was blink. Perfect? Smart? Beautiful? This man is so fucking good to you. He’s right, that you might not look good on paper, but this thing you have going on is good. One of the only consist and good things in your life right now. You’d be crazy to let that go.

“Buck” You said placing a hand on his cheek, before you could talk (again), he placed his lips on you, his tongue peaking in as you gasped. God, he’s so good at that. He always kisses you like the world is going to end.

“Bucky”You said again, placing a hand on his chest. This poor man looked like he was about to cry.

“I want you be my boyfriend”

“Wait- What?” Bucky asked and you giggled, pecking his lips in between the words.

“I” kiss “Want” kiss “you” kiss “to” kiss “be” kiss “my” kiss “boyfriend” You said and bucky grinned picking you up and spinning you around, you both laughed kissing eachother again.

“You know i think you should take me for a spin in that truck” You teased, biting your lip. Bucky let out a breath before picking you up and throwing you up on his shoulder, you squealed as he walked back to the area everyone was in. Sam and Sarah just shook their heads as bucky sat you down.

“You’re going to eat and then i’ll eat when you’re home” He said and you nearly choked on your own spit. He smirked leaning back.

“Who wants to have a swing at uncle bucky!?”

[hxseok-honee]

blossom | part 16

blossom [part 16] || 'Hoseokie'

[‘cause all i need is to see you blossom out, blossom out, blossom out]

previous || masterlist || next

a/n : I cant tell if this is a hobi chapter or a yoongi chapter but i am very in love with them both thats for sure -- lmk what you think!

“Hobi, hi!” Y/n had practically slammed face first into the front door in her rush to answer it, and she’s a little breathless when she finally greets him. She’d honestly been expecting maybe a different, more confident Hoseok than the one she’d become familiar with to be standing there -- after all, he certainly looks the part today. But she’s pleasantly surprised to find that he’s still the same old Hoseok, rocking back and forth on his heels on her porch while he takes in the exterior of her home with bright, wide eyes.

He turns those eyes to her now, his smile boyishly charming as his red ears poke out cutely from beneath his winter hat.

“Y/n! Your house is so cute!” The compliment rolls off his tongue immediately, because frankly it’s all he could think about as he’d walked up the path to her door. It suits her perfectly, this lovely little home on the outskirts of town. He holds up a bag when she thanks him, shaking it lightly while he steps inside, following her into the entryway.

“I know you said no gifts, but I couldn’t show up with nothing!” He sets the bag into her waiting hands, pulling out four flower crowns -- they’re perfect, clearly crafted with care and delicacy that borders on professional. Each one is unique in size and style, somehow a set of matching winter crowns but created with individual intent. She can’t even bother to hide the look of endearment she shoots him.

“Hobi, you really didn’t have to do all of this.” He waves her off while he removes his hat, and she sets the bag down so she can take his coat while he explains.

“It’s nothing, seriously. I didn’t know what I could possibly buy you and your family because I don’t know what they like, so I thought I’d stick to something I know… I tried to make the one for your dad a bit more, uh -- manly? It was hard, though.” He laughs off his slight embarrassment, but Y/n’s mind is stalling on what he’d said. She turns to him with an awkward smile.

“Ah… I thought the big one might have been to fit Yoongi’s massive head… I think it still would fit him, to be honest.” When Hoseok blinks at her in confusion, she only offers an uncomfortable laugh. “My dad’s not around, actually… There’s only three of us.” Hoseok’s eyes go wide, and he finds himself swearing internally. He hadn’t even noticed that she’d never mentioned her dad before.

“Shoot, I’m sorry -- I didn’t even think about it--”

“No, you’re fine! It’s okay, it’s my fault for forgetting to mention it.” When he tries to apologize again, Y/n only sets the larger flower crown on his head to silence him. It hangs low on his forehead, making her smile. “Seriously, Hobi -- you’re sweet for even thinking of all of this.” He opens his mouth, still feeling unsure, but another voice cuts in before he can say anything.

“Yoonie’s here! Oh-- you’re not Yoonie…” Sliding into the doorway with small socked feet is a literal carbon copy of Y/n -- granted, she’s about a head shorter and very clearly a child, but the resemblance is uncanny. Hoseok blinks at the girl, and she only blinks back, hands on her hips in what can be described only as disappointment. Y/n rolls her eyes playfully.

“Hoseok, meet Hana, my 8-year-old sister. Hana, meet the boy that brought you a handmade flower crown -- so be nice.” Immediately, Hana’s arms are dropping in surprise, her eyes wide as she glances at Hoseok’s hands. He smiles kindly, picking out the crown with the smallest circumference and handing it to her. The girl’s eyes almost sparkle with excitement as she moves to take it from him, fingers delicate as she sets it on her hair.

“I had to guess at what size your head would be, but I hope you like it!” Y/n’s sister blinks up at him with an expectant gaze when he’s done talking, clearly waiting for an assessment.

“Do I look nice?” Hoseok warms immediately, finding the girl entirely endearing. He nods, handing Y/n her own crown while he responds. He has to stop himself from doing a double-take when she puts hers on.

So pretty…

“Yay! Thank you for the pretty crown!” Hoseok blinks, realizing he’d definitely just said that out loud. Luckily, the sisters had taken it as a response to Hana’s question, and he feels relief flood his body at the coincidence. He’s so busy thanking whatever higher power had just saved him from that awkward moment that he misses the sound of the front door opening behind him.

“Yoonie!” Coming back to reality, Hoseok barely has time to jump out of the way as the 8-year-old barrels past him, charging with purpose for the person entering the home.

“Monkey!” The voice that hits his ears is familiar, but it’s entirely unlike the person he knows it belongs to. Looking up, Hoseok can only stare lamely as Hana all but flies through the air, caught securely in the arms of one Min Yoongi. The Slytherin laughs loudly at the sudden attack, swinging the girl around in greeting before taking a good look at her.

“Jeez, do you ever stop growing? I’m getting nervous over here, kid.” Yoongi sees Y/n and Hoseok then, and he greets them with nothing more than a nod and a cool grin.

“Happy Christmas, nerds--” Somehow managing to hold onto Hana with one arm, he extends the other out to Y/n, passing her a large bag of gifts. “The one on top’s for you -- don’t even think about it, loser.” Y/n had peered curiously at the topmost gift when he’d said it was hers, eyeing it with excitement. She rolls her eyes now, letting the bag hang at her side as she waves Hoseok into the next room -- a living room, decked out in warm blankets and an even warmer fireplace. There’s a staircase on the far end of the room, the wooden steps uneven from years of use. The home is small but very clearly lived in, and Hoseok’s happy to think that he’s been allowed into Y/n’s childhood home.

There are a few picture frames on the fireplace mantel, and he can’t help but wander over to them while Y/n sets the gifts under the decorated tree in the corner. He looks over the photos with a smile, listening as Yoongi and Hana catch up behind him.

“What’s that on your head, Monkey? I like it.”

“A flower crown from Y/n’s boyfriend! He said it looks pretty on me.” Y/n chokes on her own saliva when she hears those words -- Y/n’s boyfriend -- and Hoseok finds himself overheating just slightly. He swears it’s from the crackling fire in front of him, and he tugs a few times at the front of his dress shirt in discomfort. Y/n glares at Yoongi, who’s barely managing to contain his laughter.

“Hoseok’s not my boyfriend, Hana--” The girl turns, maneuvering her way out of Yoongi’s arms and onto his back while she responds, clearly confused.

“But the last boy you brought home was Stinky Koo, and he was your boyfriend!” Hoseok’s immensely glad that he’s still facing the fireplace, because the name Stinky Koo is much more amusing to him than it should be. He turns to face them only when he’s got his face under control, but he almost cracks when he sees how proud Yoongi looks -- it must have been him that had nicknamed Jungkook for the young girl.

Desperate to change the subject, Hoseok gestures at the photo in the middle of the mantel -- a portrait of the sisters and their mother.

“Your mom’s beautiful, Y/n. Like a queen.” Y/n smiles shyly, Yoongi nodding appreciatively behind her. He's doing just fine, Yoongi thinks to himself, seeing how obviously nervous Hoseok is.

“Well, thank you, young man! Y/n, I like this boy.” The photograph in question is nothing compared to the woman that enters the room, and Hoseok swears the genetics in this house have seriously won the lottery. Y/n’s mother has the kindest eyes he’s ever seen, and he feels like all he wants right now is to see those eyes look at him with approval. It would mean the world, honestly.

She steps toward the group of kids, smiling sweetly at Hoseok before immediately turning to Yoongi with an evil glint in her eye. The boy never stood a chance, only having enough time to inhale sharply before her fingers are coming down on his cheeks, pinching with all her might. Y/n snorts when Yoongi lets out a pained wail.

“Release me, woman!” Hoseok’s shocked at the tone Yoongi takes with her, but Y/n’s beside him in an instant to do damage control.

“My mom’s favorite pastime is antagonizing him -- Yoongi’s been around long enough that formalities just… don’t exist… You get used to it.” Hoseok only nods as he watches her mom start in on the Slytherin.

“Never in my life have I seen a boy with so little meat on his body -- do you even eat, or is the sickly look in style these days?” The woman pinches at Yoongi’s torso for emphasis, and he starts to wriggle away from her, Hana barely managing to hang onto him for dear life.

“This is why I never come here -- the bullying is insufferable!” Yoongi hops around the living room with the 8-year-old glued to him, racing for the doorway into another room when he sees that Y/n’s mom isn’t giving up anytime soon. She almost follows the pair when they disappear, deciding instead to stay in the room with Y/n and Hoseok, an innocent grin on her face.

“You look much healthier than that bag of bones over there--” Hoseok realizes she’s addressing him and smiles, extending a hand to greet her and ignoring Yoongi when he lets out an enraged ‘hey!’ in the other room.

“You have such a lovely home, Ma’am-- Oh! I made you this!” He’d almost forgotten about his gift, but it’s hanging from the wrist he’s using to shake her hand, making him look both awkward and cute as he struggles to hand it to her with some semblance of elegance. “I hope you like it-- I can mend it if it’s too big! But… I left my bag at home, so I’ll have to run to get the scissors and twine-- Oh, it fits!” Y/n’s mom had watched him stumble over his words for a moment before decisively setting the crown on her head with a smile.

“I love it, Hoseok -- thank you.” He blinks, realizing that she knows his name although he had forgotten to introduce himself, and it clicks that Y/n’s talked about him to her mom before. The shy smile on the Gryffindor’s face only confirms his suspicions, filling him with joy. He smiles brightly, following Y/n’s mom when she waves him into the room where Yoongi had gone.

It’s a kitchen, small but comfortable, with a dining table positioned in the middle of the room. When they enter, they find Yoongi bent over the open oven door, lifting a large dish out of it and setting it on top of the stove. Hana’s clung tightly to his back, but the Sytherin moves around the kitchen with ease, dropping the oven mitts on the counter on his way to grab plates from one of the cabinets. It’s obvious not only that he’s very used to having Y/n’s sister stuck to him, but also that he’s comfortable in this home, fully aware of how the house functions.

“What in the world do you think you’re doing? Get out of my kitchen -- you’ll break something!” Y/n’s mom makes a beeline for Yoongi, swatting him away with an oven mitt scooped up from the counter. He complains loudly, grabbing at it and arguing with the woman.

“Will you please just sit down and let me do this?! You’re in my way -- go sit down, Mom!” It looks like a fight -- by all standards, it’s a mother and son arguing and nothing else. But Hoseok looks around the room, taking in the table full of homemade food, the sink full of dishes from the cooking. He sees the light sheen of sweat on the woman’s face, knowing just by looking that she’d been working tirelessly to make Christmas dinner for them. And when he looks to Yoongi, he sees that the boy knows this, too -- that he’s urging her to sit down and relax, that he’s just making it seem like he’s annoyed instead of openly caring for her. That, along with the fact that Hana is very clearly emotionally attached to the Slytherin, makes it obvious to Hoseok that Yoongi belongs here. That this Yoongi belongs here, not the promiscuous one that the entirety of Hogwarts knows. Hogwarts doesn’t know this Yoongi.

“You’re doing that thing again.” Hoseok jumps, realizing when he turns that Y/n’s watching him closely. He smiles, cocking his head to the side in confusion. The chaos of the room never stops, happening in the background while he and Y/n stand in the doorway.

“What thing?” She grins, pointing at his face.

“That observant badger thing. You’re just watching and taking mental notes.” He flushes slightly, not even realizing that he does this often enough to classify it as a ‘thing’. He gestures to her best friend, a question slipping out in the form of an observation, something he’s apparently good at.

“I didn’t realize Yoongi was good with kids.” Y/n snickers, shaking her head.

“He’s not, actually. One time, he tripped over a kid at the store because he hadn’t seen them walking past, and for the rest of the day he kept saying ‘children are the evil groundhogs of the world… waiting to pop their little heads out of the ground and scare you’. It was kinda dramatic.” Hoseok blinks, utterly dumbfounded by that story because it sounds exactly like something Yoongi say, but the Yoongi in the kitchen right now is not showing any of that malice.

“So… then how did this happen?” He gestures to the pair hopping around the dining table, Hana now clinging to Yoongi’s leg while the boy sets out utensils, all the while bickering with her mom. It’s not hard to imagine, seeing how the girl hangs off of him, why Yoongi calls her Monkey.

“Well -- Hana’s 8, which means Yoongi’s been in her life for… almost the entirety of it. And, although I doubt he’d say it, I know he feels some sense of responsibility for her since our dad’s not around. He’s just kind of always looked after her, so she definitely relies on him a lot.” Y/n looks at peace when she says it, and Hoseok gets the feeling that she appreciates Yoongi’s involvement with her family more than she’s letting on.

“They’re pretty cute… It’s nice to see.” Y/n smirks at Hoseok’s final assessment before beckoning him further into the kitchen, commenting in a low voice as she moves to the table.

“Don’t let Yoongi hear you say that -- his ego needs to be kept under control as it is.” Yoongi looks up when he hears his name, lifting an eyebrow but asking no questions as he examines Hoseok and Y/n. Letting it go, he glances down at the child sitting on his foot.

“Let’s wash our hands, Monkey. I dont need your dirty germs getting in my food.” Hana protests loudly but allows Yoongi to haul her off to the bathroom to wash up. He sets his phone on the table when he goes, and Hoseok can only imagine how much trust he has in Y/n to leave her with it -- especially because it keeps buzzing with notifications, and Hoseok can tell even from here that Yoongi has his message previews on.

When they return, Y/n passes the boy his phone, but not before it lights up again in her hand. Without meaning to, she glances down at it, and Hoseok’s not sure what she sees, but it has Yoongi looking at her with wide eyes once he’s gotten a chance to read it, too. He eyes her almost guiltily, but she only smiles knowingly and turns back to the table, taking the seat next to Hoseok.

“Let’s eat!”

--

Dinner passes surprisingly easily for Hoseok -- he’d been nervous all day, changing and re-changing his clothes until finally he’d just given up and left his apartment. But now, sitting here with Y/n and her family, he feels welcomed, included immediately in the chaos of the group dynamic while they eat. Her mother insists on piling his plate high with insanely delicious food, although it’s not nearly as much as she feeds Yoongi, who looks disgruntled at being called a walking skeleton but eats it all with vigor, anyway.

Just as they’re finishing dinner, Hoseok jumping to his feet to help clear the table, Hana rests her elbows on the wood, peering up at him curiously while he moves around the room. He has to purse his lips to stop himself from smiling when he spots her legs swinging back and forth from her chair, not yet able to reach the floor.

“Who’s that other flower crown for? Is it for you? It’s kinda big on you!” His eyes widen just a fraction, and he looks to Y/n for help as he hums. Y/n starts talking at the same time he does.

“Oh, it’s just an extra--

“He just accidentally made it too big--”

“It’s for me!” Yoongi cuts them both off with finality, sticking his hand out almost childishly for the crown hanging low on Hoseok’s head. Hoseok looks at him in shock, forgetting to mask his emotions for the young girl in front of him. But it’s fine because Hana’s only looking at Yoongi, something the Slytherin's clearly aware of when he waves his awaiting hand, dramatically impatient for her sake.

“But then why haven’t you been wearing it the whole time?” The girl’s questions are straight to the point, and Y/n’s mom starts to tell her not to pry, but Yoongi’s always ready for Hana’s inquiries.

“Obviously, Hoseok’s a little shy about giving me a Christmas gift -- he’s been waiting for the right time!” He sounds so sure of himself, like he actually believes it. But as Hoseok’s lifting the crown off of his head and setting it in Yoongi’s hand, he sees the look the boy gives him, and he knows that Yoongi’s aware of the assumption he’d made about Y/n’s father.

And of course Yoongi knows -- he’d made the exact same mistake the first time he’d visited the home at 11 years old, walking in with expensive gifts for both parents because his mom had always stressed that ‘you never go to someone else’s house empty handed’. Hana was much too young then, only a year old, and Yoongi’s not about to let the girl catch on now and risk souring the Christmas spirit. He knows how insecure she gets sometimes about not having a dad, so he saves Hoseok from the moment with practiced ease.

Looking away from the Hufflepuff and turning to Hana while he sets the crown on his head, he points up at it.

“How’s it look, Monkey?” The girl hums, squinting for a moment before nodding.

“It fits! Probably because you have a big head.” Y/n snorts loudly, even Hoseok coughing out a laugh while he sets dishes in the sink. Yoongi only nods, accepting that he’s just been blatantly insulted by an 8-year-old, made worse by Y/n’s mom running her hand over Hana’s hair in amused approval.

“That’s my girl -- you tell the skinny boy how it is.” Yoongi opens his mouth to protest, but the woman’s standing to retrieve something from the fridge, and immediately his complaints are replaced by an excited gasp.

“Is that--”

“Well, someone’s gotta feed you your favorites!” Hoseok only glances over his shoulder while he and Y/n clean up, seeing that the woman’s setting a pumpkin pie on the counter and reaching for a knife to cut it. Another glance tells him that Yoongi’s argumentative nature’s been won over by the dessert, and he’s standing to help her serve 5 plates of it, shy smile peeking through.

“Thanks, Mom…” The woman grins, bumping him with her hip but not saying anything about the embarrassment on his face. She turns, holding two plates and gesturing toward the fridge while she heads for the living room.

“Grab the whipped cream on your way, will you, Hoseokie?” Hoseok almost drops the dirty plate he’s setting in the sink, all the hair on the back of his neck standing on end when he hears the name Y/n’s mom calls him. Y/n notices that he stills suddenly beside her, but before she can mention it, he’s blinking, the moment gone as he moves to the fridge with a smile.

The group migrates to the living room, Y/n’s mom taking the armchair by the tree while Y/n and Hoseok share the couch. Yoongi’s sitting on the floor with his legs crisscrossed, Hana seated comfortably in his lap. The plates of pie sit on the table next to Yoongi’s head, and he keeps glancing anxiously at them, like he’s wondering if he can sneak a bite without anyone noticing. Y/n’s mom’s voice rings out, and he knows he’s been caught.

“Not a chance, Yoongi -- presents first!” Rolling his eyes but nodding anyway, he turns his attention back to the group, where Y/n is passing out presents to everyone. The biggest ones always go to Hana, who seems very excited but is somehow even more enthused about finally giving everyone her own gifts, small trinkets she’d picked out with immense care during her school’s holiday field trip. Y/n has to stop herself from snapping a photo of Yoongi’s face when he unwraps a snake plushie, watching with amusement when he cradles it close to his chest, eyes full of adoration as he mouths "I love her" to the Gryffindor. Hana doesn’t even notice how dramatically sentimental he is, her short attention span having her already turning to Hoseok with a large smile and a small gift.

“This one’s for you, Hoseokie!” Hoseok chokes on his saliva, paling slightly when he hears that name again. Y/n picks up on it for sure this time, but she doesn’t say anything, not wanting to interrupt his and Hana’s moment.

Hoseok takes the gift with shaking hands, masking whatever’s running through his mind with a shy smile.

“You didn’t have to get me anything, Hana -- thank you!” The girl watches with intense interest while he peels the wrapping paper off, revealing a pink ballpoint pen in the shape of a flower, explaining when he holds it up in the light.

“Y/n told me you liked flowers when I asked! Do you like it?” Hoseok smiles brightly, pressing down on the center of the flower with a quiet click and running the tip of the pen along the knuckle on his thumb to test the ink.

“I love it! I’ll use it every day!” Y/n smiles then, thinking how endearing he’ll look, using a pink ballpoint flower pen in a school that still standardizes quill and ink. But she knows he means it and won’t even think twice about using it. Hana beams up at him, but her eyes become curious almost immediately.

“But -- do you not like the name ‘Hoseokie’? You looked a little sad when I said it…” Y/n cringes, cursing the fact that her sister is both extremely observant and completely lacks a filter. She’s like the perfect mix of Hoseok and Yoongi, something that would be really funny if the situation hadn’t just gotten really uncomfortable.

Hoseok gapes at the girl, letting out a breath of laughter when she only tilts her head to the side curiously. It’s fine that he’d been caught -- it’s just a little embarrassing that it had happened here at Y/n’s family dinner, where he’d been trying to make a good impression and leave only good energy behind. With a slight sigh, he shakes his head to answer Hana’s question.

“I don’t not like ‘Hoseokie’ -- I actually really like it… it’s just--” He glances quickly at Y/n, feeling a bit awkward. “My little sister used to call me that…” Immediately, Y/n’s looking to Yoongi out of the corner of her eye, finding that he’s doing the same, the alarm in his eyes matching her own. Hoseok had never mentioned a sister.

“It’s a little… uncomfortable, so I feel bad…” Hoseok looks to Y/n’s mom then, watching carefully for her reaction when he continues. “My parents run an apiary -- they’re very big nature types, all about the ‘way of the natural world’ and stuff like that… that's why--" He cuts off, gesturing vaguely to the crown on the woman's head. That's why I know how to do this, he means. Clearing his throat, he continues. "So it didn’t really… go well… when I turned 11 and got the letter saying I was a wizard.” Y/n hears Yoongi inhale sharply from where he’s sitting, and she knows he’s putting the pieces together like she is.

When Hoseok sees that Y/n’s mom is watching him with a guarded expression, almost worried about where he’s going with him, he bites at the inside of his cheek nervously. Y/n had never explicitly said it, but he could tell the minute he walked into the house just a few hours ago that she’s also a muggleborn. Wizarding homes always show signs of magic -- dishes that wash themselves, hanging plants that can’t be found anywhere in the muggle world, that kind of thing. He hadn’t seen anything to give away a magical upbringing, almost shocked at how much Y/n’s home reminded him of his own childhood.

He can see now that the woman is glancing at her own daughter, and he knows what she’s thinking. Y/n and Hoseok are the same, but his world had been entirely different. He sees her making that connection, so he just decides to rip off the metaphorical band-aid and finish explaining.

“My parents didn’t want something ‘unnatural’ living in the house, influencing their innocent daughter, so they kicked me out. Agreed to help me pay for an apartment and bills as long as I promised to never reach out to them for anything else -- Dumbledore helped me out the first few summers, let me stay on the grounds since I wasn’t old enough to be on my own. I moved into a place not far from here when I turned 15.”

He’s got his eyes screwed shut now, terrified of the pity he’s going to find when he opens them again. It’s too quiet, and he feels his ears warming, knowing that it looks like he’s been thrown away, discarded. He doesn’t feel that way, having accepted his situation when he was still young -- having decided to accept his situation because it was better than being bitter. But he knows what people will see when they find out, so he’d gone to great lengths to hide it. Because he doesn’t need pity, he’s happy as he is.

While he’s thinking of how to ease everyone’s tension, he’s completely unprepared for the arms that wrap around his neck. Cracking his eyes open, he realizes these arms are quite small, that the person hugging him is quite small.

“Will you come back for family dinner every year?” Hana’s question is muffled in his neck, but the words have his heart stuttering because he really hadn’t been expecting this. Glancing quickly at Y/n, he finds that the pity he’d been preparing for isn’t there. She looks completely heartbroken, her eyes shining with unshed tears, but more than anything she looks mad.

She blinks it away when they make eye contact, and she nods while reaching for his hand. He’s not sure what she’s nodding at, and he gets the feeling she doesn’t know either, but he takes it as her understanding. Understanding that he doesn’t want to talk about it further, understanding what he’d meant in the forest that day about being happy alone.

Just past Y/n, Yoongi’s standing from his spot on the floor with a groan and a crack of his spine. He moves for Hana, who’s still clinging to Hoseok’s neck.

“Of course he’ll be back, Monkey. He’s not goin’ anywhere.” It’s said so simply, without any particular feeling to guide it, but Hoseok’s so immensely grateful for Min Yoongi in that moment. Not only because he hadn’t changed at all in the way he’d looked at Hoseok -- his eyes are still even and calm, if not laced with slightest bit of emotion when their gazes lock -- but because Hoseok had just received clear and direct approval from the one person in Y/n’s life that he’d been most nervous about.

It’s one thing to be nervous about family or the entirety of her friend group -- those things are normal. Min Yoongi is not normal, not to Y/n. He’s the only person that knows Y/n better than she knows herself, and Hoseok hadn’t even realized just how terrified he’d been that Yoongi wouldn’t accept him suddenly appearing in Y/n’s life the way he had. But he sees now, while Yoongi is slowly peeling Hana off of him and carrying her to the staircase, claiming that it’s ‘way past her bedtime’, that Yoongi’s just let him in. The girl waves goodnight to the rest of the group, almost immediately sleepy now that Yoongi's carrying her to bed.

When Hoseok looks to Y/n, eyes wide with surprise, he sees that she’s noticed Yoongi's behavior, too. Because she’s got her eyes closed, but she’s smiling fondly, like the telltale signs of Yoongi’s respect have finally revealed themselves, decidedly giving Hoseok his stamp of approval.

He’s so busy reveling in the fact that he’d just gotten all the reactions to his life story that he’d been expecting the least that he barely feels Y/n’s mom set a hand on his shoulder when she stands. He looks up now, taking in her kind eyes, and he thinks she’s going to say something sentimental, but--

“I like you a whole lot more than I liked Jungkook.” Hoseok’s jaw drops, and Y/n’s scoffing loudly beside him.

“Mom!” The woman smiles, leaving the two them there on the couch while she grabs the plates of pie, mumbling something about ‘needing to pack Noodle Arms a plate to go’ before heading into the kitchen. Hoseok can do nothing but laugh when he looks to Y/n, who’s still completely scandalized by her mom’s comment.

“I can’t tell if I should feel highly approved of, or just regularly approved of since Jungkook is apparently low on the Family Opinions list.” Y/n nudges him with her elbow playfully, and they sit there quietly together on the couch for a moment. He finds himself reaching out to brush his fingers across her knee insecurely.

“You know, you don’t have to feel bad for me. I really am okay -- I said it before, but I just… I’ve been okay not having anyone. It never really haunted me or hurt me or anything I’m sure you’d expect an abandoned child to feel. I just… took the bad with the good and decided to focus on the happy moments of my childhood because, believe it or not, I had a lot of them. It’s just easier to remember my parents as they were before, so that’s what I do.” Y/n nods slowly when he’s done, feeling a lot of things but wondering if maybe it’s not her place to say it. He sees it anyway, because he sees everything.

“You’re angry. That they left me.” Y/n glances at him quickly, wondering if he’s upset at all -- this is such a delicate subject, and she doesn’t know if she’s allowed to feel this mad for him. But he’s smiling, like he can tell she’d been trying to hide it and he’s finding her incredibly endearing for it. She purses her lips and nods shyly, confirming his suspicions.

“That they left you… yes. But I’m angry that they kept your sister from you.” It’d been obvious in the way Hoseok had talked about his parents that he’d become purposely detached from them, that he’d accepted the situation and doesn’t feel any certain way about them. But the name -- ‘Hoseokie’ -- it had set him on edge in a way she’d never seen in this carefree, sunny boy before. His sister’s a sore spot, probably the one thing that hurts most. His smile tells her everything she needs to know, because she’s never once seen him smile bitterly. And yet there it is, forcing his dimples to make an appearance in a way that isn’t as heartwarming as it usually is.

“The last time I saw her, she was Hana’s age… she probably looks so different now.” If a person could physically deflate into nothingness, Y/n would have successfully done it. Hoseok can’t help but snicker, the image of Y/n almost melting into the couch too endearing.

“I -- I can’t even imagine… not knowing what Hana will look like in a few years.” It breaks her heart all over again, the way Hoseok nods, because he knows exactly what that feels like. But he refuses to dwell on it, clapping his hands down on his knees decisively and shaking Y/n from her stupor with the noise.

“Spend New Year’s Eve with me!” Y/n’s brain stalls, trying to process what he’d just said. He waits patiently, smiling while she switches mental gears and catches up to him.

“Huh? I mean -- sure? Yes? But, huh?” He laughs under his breath, finding her confusion almost obnoxiously cute.

“I’ve never had anyone to spend it with. Now that I do… I really want to spend it with you.” Y/n swallows hard, wondering where these butterflies in her stomach are coming from -- maybe it’s the way he’s watching her, eyes curious as he waits for her reaction. She only nods, suddenly very shy under his gaze.

“I’d love to, Hoseok…” He warms at how low her voice is, and now he’s the one feeling shy, pressing his palms into his thighs and staring down at his lap. They’re quiet for a moment, the soft crackling from the fireplace filling the silence, until--

“Oh, just kiss already!” They both turn quickly toward the voice, finding Yoongi standing at the bottom of the staircase, a look of disgust filling his face. He shakes his head when they gape at him, going so far as to wave his hand quickly, his palm passing through the air with intent. “Look, I even helped.” He’s looking at the space above their heads, and when she and Hoseok follow his eyes, they find a piece of mistletoe growing from the ceiling, hanging down between them.

Y/n groans in annoyance while Hoseok sits there, blushing brightly at Yoongi’s forwardness. As if to make things worse for him, Y/n’s mom enters the room again then, noticing the mistletoe right away as she’s handing the comically large stack of to-go containers over to Yoongi.

“Oh, cute! Did they kiss?” She looks at Yoongi when she asks, and he shakes his head in disappointment -- Hoseok gets the feeling they’re enjoying pretending he and Y/n aren’t right here when they start snickering in unison.

“Well, I gotta go--” Yoongi stops to glare at Y/n when she looks at him knowingly, eyebrows raised. Hoseok wonders if maybe this is about the messages she’d seen on the Slytherin’s phone earlier. “-- but I’ll catch you guys later. Happy Christmas, nerds!” With that he’s heading for the entryway, and Hoseok can hear him bickering with Y/n’s mom all the way to the door.

“Yes, I brought my coat--”

“You don’t have a hat! I’m sure they make hats for big-headed people, too--”

“That is so offensive on so many levels--”

“I’ll just have to make you one myself--”

“Mom! Stop working so hard, I promise I’ll go buy a damn hat!”

“Don’t you take that tone with me, Big-Head!”

--

“I got us takeout!” It’s the first thing she says when Hoseok opens the door to his apartment, emphasized by the large bag she’s shaking in his face with enthusiasm. He pokes his head around it, smiling brightly at her.

“I also got us takeout!” Lowering her bag in surprise, she follows Hoseok into the small studio when he beckons her in, slipping her shoes off at the door as she looks to the kitchenette, where an equally large bag of food sits. She only looks to Hoseok, dumbfounded, and she finds he’s giving her the same look.

“How are we gonna eat all this--”

“No idea.” Y/n snorts when he looks between their two bags, face deadpan as he reaches for hers and sets it on the table beside his. He looks at them for a moment longer, finally speaking.

“Did we get takeout from the same place?” Y/n hangs her head with a groan when she realizes the bags look exactly the same. When she looks up again, he’s heading for the cabinets to get plates, his shoulders shaking with laughter. It’s infectious, and soon she’s shaking her head, turning to look around the apartment while she laughs openly. Her breath is cut short almost immediately when she looks at the living area.

“Holy plants.” Hoseok glances over to where she’s looking, a nervous laugh leaving him.

“Too much?” To put it simply, they’re everywhere. Floor plants, hanging plants, windowsill plants -- everywhere. There’s even a massive plant overtaking the table next to his bed in the corner, not an inch of space for him to put anything else. She feels like she just walked into a jungle.

“Your air must be really clean…” Hoseok laughs loudly, not having expected that to be her one assessment of his plant collection.

“You’re lucky I haven’t covered the couch in plants, too -- where are we gonna sit to watch TV?” As if the universe has decided to test him at this very moment in time for absolutely no reason other than to make him suffer, the apartment goes dark with the booming sound of the entire room powering down.

Hoseok barely manages to hold in his groan when he hears Y/n turn in his direction in the dark.

“I wasn’t watching anything good on TV these days, anyway.”

--

“Come on, come on -- where are they--”

“Hoseok, it’s fine--”

“I swear I had candles--”

“Hoseok--”

“Aha!” He pokes his head up from where he’s crouched by the closet, holding a stack of small candles triumphantly. Y/n’s sitting at the dining table, having cast lumos long ago and unpacked their copious amounts of food with nothing but the light of her wand. She’s smiling at him fondly now as he shows her the candles.

“Are you feeling better now?” Hoseok lowers his candles, sending her a sheepish smile as he rises to his feet and moves to join her at the table. He’d immediately started apologizing to her when the power had gone out, thrown into a panicked rush to fix things as he flitted around his apartment. She’d tried to reassure him that everything was okay, but he’d still felt really bad for messing up their night.

“I’m sorry, Y/n… I told my parents that I’m still in school until the spring, but I don’t think they heard that part when they said they were gonna stop helping me pay for stuff after graduation… I’ve been applying for jobs all year, but they just don’t really start accepting people until they see our NEWT results and transcripts and stuff, so--”

“Hobi.” He stops at the nickname, realizing when she levels him with a hard stare that he’s devolving into anxious rambling again. She reaches across the table, taking his hands in hers.

“Stop apologizing, Hobi. This isn’t your fault, and you haven’t ruined anything. I promise.” He’s slow to nod, but eventually he accepts her words, seeing how insistent she is.

“I do have one question, though.” He blinks, humming curiously when she continues and wondering what she’s going to say. “Do you… have spare blankets? Because it’s going to get very cold in here very fast.”

--

“I don’t think I want to eat anything ever again.”

“Mmm… Mmmm…”

“So you agree.”

“Mhm… Mmm…” Hoseok throws his head back against the couch, completely unable to form words after the meal they’d just had. Y/n snorts, nodding as she gets used to his various sounds of exhaustion.

“Me too, Hobi.” They sit there quietly for only a moment before Hoseok is lifting his head, urgent. Y/n looks at him, wondering what’s happening in his head when he turns to her, face deadpan yet again.

“I bought us ice cream on my way home with the food.” Immediately, she’s groaning, and he joins her in flopping around on his couch dramatically. Y/n takes a moment through her food-induced haze to appreciate their little setup.

The candles are set strategically on his coffee table and counters, clear of any plants because the last thing they need tonight is a fire. She’d been right in assuming it’d get cold, and they’d eventually stopped trying to manage with small blankets, dragging his comforter right off the bed and curling up together beneath it as they ate dinner. She can’t even recall what they’d talked about, the entire thing a confused fog from the food.

She knows they’d been giddy the whole time, on a weird high from the collection of ridiculous things that had happened in the first five minutes of her being here. That, along with the sheer amount of food and the wine Hoseok had pulled out for them, ended up creating nonstop laughter over the smallest things. She’s comfortable here, never having experienced a bubble of quiet happiness like this. She feels no pressure and she’s worried about nothing -- everything had fallen away when she’d walked in the door, the rest of the world blocked out from this safe space, here with Hoseok in his apartment.

“Oh! It’s almost midnight!” Hoseok’s squinting at his phone in the dark before showing her the screen -- 11:55pm. She glances at her own phone, sitting peacefully on the table in front of them, and she hates that the only thing she can think of is Jungkook. She’s scared that this period of silence between them will have done nothing, that as soon as the new year starts, he’s going to be back to badgering her constantly. She just wants everything to return to normal, and she’s scared that she only has five minutes left before that dream falls apart.

“Hey… Where’d you go just now?” Blinking, she sees that Hoseok’s peering at her, brow furrowed in concern. His phone toggles when he moves closer to her, a small pout set in his features, and the screen lights up again. 11:57pm. She hates that, after such a good night, it had taken only this to have them both frowning. She hates it.

“I just… I really just want all of this to be normal again. I want Jungkook to be normal again. I want the new year to be something good again, and I’m terrified it won’t be. I just want to forget everything bad from this year and start fresh.” She rolls her eyes at herself, hating that she’s ranting to Hoseok about her love life again, when they’d just wanted to have a nice New Year’s Eve together. But his mind is elsewhere, a thought crossing his mind suddenly. He checks his phone again. 11:59pm.

“Maybe I can help with that?” Y/n looks to him when he says it, confused.

“What do you mean?” He blinks, trying to decide if he’s really going to do this. The nervous feeling building in his stomach is somehow telling him this is a bad and good idea. He turns to her quickly.

“With that fresh start… forgetting the bad from this year… Maybe I can help…?” Y/n’s not sure what he means, but she doesn’t see why she would say no. Hoseok’s never done anything but help, even when he doesn’t realize it. If anyone’s going to help her forget, it’s him.

So she nods, waiting for him to explain. And then she’s gasping, because he’s leaning in, and she can see even in the dim lighting that he’s looking at her lips -- that he’s going to kiss her.

He pauses for a second to give her time to push him away. When she doesn’t, he’s glancing up and finding that she’s looking at him nervously, her gaze flicking back and forth between his eyes and his mouth. With a small inhale, he lets his eyes drift shut, closing the gap between them carefully.

Y/n’s not even sure she’s kissing him back -- she’s too focused on the feeling of his lips on her, how gentle he’s being as he applies just the slightest pressure to her mouth with his own. But she must be kissing him back, because he’s responding to something, his lips pressing harder when he feels her reciprocating.

It’s only one kiss, one that he pulls back from slowly after a moment, their breaths mingling warmly in the small space he’s created. Neither of them makes a move, eyes hooded and noses brushing in his dark apartment as they try to make sense of this haze long enough to figure out if this has really just happened. If Hoseok’s really just kissed her on New Year’s Eve.

And then her phone is lighting up on the table, celebratory texts from her friends pouring in, and they turn at the same time to glance at the screen. 12:00am.

Hoseok turns back to her then, eyes searching hers for something -- he’s not really sure what it is, but when a shy smile starts to dance at the edges of her lips, he knows he’s found it.

“Happy New Year, Y/n.”