#not want to bother jumping through all their hoops to try n get them to listen to me and hear what i have to say

[arcadequeerz]

ton of shit i need to do and i'm just

[poppadom0912]

So I do have a request for Antonio! Maybe it’s a Antonio Dawson x Reader story where After Eva’s kidnapping Antonio files for some kind of emergency custody hearing and it’s just a angsty fluffy imagine between the reader and Antonio and the hoops and jumps they have to take to try and get full custody of Eva & Diego?

Warnings: Mentions ff fighting for custody, divorce

A/N: This is my first Antonio one shot so I apologise if I didn't do him any justice, give it some time and I'll hopefully get better at writing for him.

*****

"Hey."

You looked up from your flies, softly smiling at your long-term boyfriend, watching as he hung up his coat and put his keys in the glass bowl by the door. You followed his every movements, not even having to motion for him to join you on the sofa after he toed out of his shoes because he was already making a beeline for you once doing so.

"How was work?" He asked, eyeing the mess of your papers on the coffee table, not even enough space to put down your mug of hot chocolate which haphazardly rested on the sofas arm rest.

"Work was work." You very, very briefly summed up your twelve hour shift, not wanting to keep the talk all on you when you knew exactly what was going through Antonio's mind. "You okay?"

You knew that he wasn't but such a simple ask would allow the two of you to start talking about what was bothering him.

He swallowed harshly, clenching and unclenching his jaw, staring ahead at the blank tv before looking down at you who was looking up at his side profile intently, patiently waiting for him to unload all his emotions in the comfort of one of the people he loved most.

"I don't think I'm getting custody." Antonio ripped off the bandaid, finally saying it aloud what he'd been thinking since Eva's kidnapping. Taking into account everything about him, bundling it altogether and putting it against everything his ex-wife had, Antonio saw no reality in which he had full custody of his only children.

There had been a time the two of you spoke about having a child that was half you and half him but just two weeks before Eva's kidnapping you collapsed at Med, all your colleagues telling you what you understood as a doctor but as a woman, couldn't comprehend.

Fibroids, which you tried to contain with drugs and non-surgical procedures but after much crying, you and Antonio came to a joint decision to have a hysterectomy. Antonio didn't really decide for you but when he told you he couldn't care less if you had a uterus or not because at the end of the day, you were still you with or without one.

"Antonio." You frowned, bringing your hand to his shoulder and lightly rubbing it in a comforting motion. Despite not being fully convinced he could gain custody, you didn't want him to think so negatively about it. "Don't think like that."

"Why?" He pushed, angry at his inability to do his job as a father. Maybe this was a sign and he should just give up before he was slapped in the face by a judge in court who saw straight through him.

They wouldn't see the loving father he was to Eva and Diego. They wouldn't see what he did to bring them back home safe, the sacrifices he gave and the nights he stayed awake in his babies rooms, rocking them with hushed lullabies and oblivious to the rising sun and his badge in his bedroom.

Instead, the judge and everyone in the courtroom would see a man who was never home. They'd see a middle aged detective who is putting his life on the line everyday, the man who let his only children get kidnapped despite his occupation. A latino working in a unit under a so called dirty cop and in a nearly five year relationship with a female doctor who was still paying her med school debts, yet to be married but cohabitating.

In what world was Antonio bringing Eva and Diego home to the very apartment the two of you sat in.

You watched as all the worst case scenarios flashed before his brown eyes which started to glisten in the dim lighting, sniffing and blinking it all away in one swift motion.

But, the judge didn't know the Antonio who was resilient. They had yet to see but would be faced with the Antonio who worked his entire ass off to provide for the only family he thought he knew, the man who saw the entire universe in the kids that were his and he loved more than he loved himself.

The courtroom wouldn't be prepared for Detective Antonio Dawson who had more than the world cheering for him in his corner.

*****

With red rimmed eyes, scratchy voices and his suit still on, Antonio stumbled into the ED alone, walking straight pass the waiting room and towards the first person he could recognise with his vision which was starting to blur.

Before he could approach anyone, you took a step out a treatment room and immediately caught sight of your boyfriend in the suit he left in this morning.

Quickly excusing yourself, allowing Natalie to carry on for you, you speed walked towards him. Still rubbing sanitiser into your hands, you looked at him in concern and interest. You desperately wanted to be at the hearing with him but with a sudden shooting and very little number of staff in the ED, you had no choice but to work.

Taking note of his red eyes, you linked your hand with his and brought him into the doctors lounge filled with students who you forced out, scrambling at your intense stare and semi-harsh tone, scared at one of the ED's attending doctors.

Forcing him to sit down on the sofa, all it took was a peck on his knuckles and a bit of patience before Antonio crumbled.

That was all you needed to know that Antonio didn't gain custody but with his cries that he muffled, leaning forward and resting his face on your shoulder as his tears fell on your maroon scrubs.

Wrapping him in your arms, you stayed by his side till the tears subsided, your own eyes tearing up at the sound of his desperate cries that were long overdue.

"They're not mine." He hoarsely whispered, still leaning against you. He still couldn't believe it but it wasn't yet set in stone. There was going to be one more hearing, the last one where the final decision would be made but taking into account everything from today, Laura was winning.

"No matter what I do or how much I try, I'm not getting custody." He bitterly laughed, harshly wiping away all of the wetness on his cheeks and eyes.

Your assurances fell on deaf ears because all Antonio could see was a life without the kids that took his last name.

"Antonio, look at me." You forced him to look you in the eye, your hands cupping his jaw to make sure he wouldn't move.

"What does Laura have that you don't? Better yet, what do you have, we have that she doesn't?" You said confidently, not even bothering to count the do's and don'ts.

Antonio opened his mouth, ready to answer you but you tutted, shaking your head in disapproval. "Your not supposed to answer that, your still listening to me."

Taking in a deep breath, you maintained eye contact and continued with your motivational speech once he let his mouth drop. "You love these kids so much that you've done the unspeakable. Do I have to remind you that you had to handle your daughter's trauma while dealing with your ex-wife fighting with you and a girlfriend who was practically dying in hospital."

You licked your lips and shook your head in disbelief. "You may not be the most decorated man in the father and policing world but I'd be damned if you weren't granted custody."

You whispered a warning, it was meant to be humours and a bit of comedic relief, you didn't want to sound like an obsessive step mom even if you weren't married yet. "Over my dead body are those kids staying with her."

*****

It felt like deja vu.

Exactly a week later, Antonio was walking into the ED with red rimmed eyes and a slightly hoarse voice. Dressed in his suit, he had one thought on his mind and that one thought was you.

You were deep in conversation with Dr Charles, exiting the treatment room and you were so invested that you hadn't even caught a glimpse of the man who stood out like a sore thumb. It wasn't until the older doctor lightly nudged you and looked to the front desk, you following his line of sight, for you to finally notice him.

With his appearance, your mind immediately thought of the worst but when you looked at the two figures standing behind him did you realise what was happening.

Not even excusing yourself - Dr Charles didn't mind anyways - you rounded the desk in utter shock.

The first thing you did was envelop Eva and Diego in the biggest hug, trapping them in your arms despite you smelling like chemicals and everything sterile.

"You did it." You whispered, looking up at Antonio who was watching with a soft smile, the teenagers still in your embrace with your head resting on theirs.

"We did it." Antonio shook his head, correcting your mistake. Had it not been for you and your constant presence at his side, always motivating and reminding him why he was fighting in the first place.

"Come ere." You sniffled, blinking away the tears and gesturing for Antonio to join your hug, wrapping his arms around his family.

Pressing a firm kiss to your cheek, he tightened his arms around all your bodies, not caring that all your friends and colleagues were watching but only caring that your family reunited.

The Dawson's did it.

That included a certain future Mrs Dawson too.

[nnightskiess]

𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐧 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞

₊° - 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐧 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦!𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

₊° - 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭: hey idk if you’re still taking requests for love quinn but if you are, could i request love finding out that someone has been harassing reader or otherwise bothering y/n? i love her protectiveness :3

i mixed two requests together for this one. it's up to 10k words, i hope you will enjoy it <3

☾ ⋆*·ﾟ:⋆*·ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:·ﾟ .: ⋆*·ﾟ: .⋆

please do not copy, republish, translate, reproduce or use this imagine on wattpad or on other platforms. respect the author’s work

She watched you like a hawk from her place in the kitchen, absentmindedly looking at the ingredients in front of her every few seconds as to not make it obvious how big her admiration for you really was. But her obsession with you had helped her out before. Because of it, she knew exactly what kind of pastry to give you the first time she decided to walk up to you-- you always went for the same boring cupcake. When you seemed to stall in front of the pastry display only to always pick the same plain thing, it gave Love the idea to broaden your taste. So now, every time you seemed to linger around, she would approach you with another free sample of whatever pastry she knew you hadn't tried out yet, using it to strike up a conversation. And it had worked, slowly but surely Love noticed that you would stall a tad longer, lingering the isles, when Love still hadn't shown up. She never missed the way you tried to seem surprised when she appeared next to you, or how you tried to hide a smile.

Meanwhile, Love's obsession grew, but she knew rushing things would only scare you off. In the meantime, she would wait and let things unfold naturally, only steering here and there when needed, and try her best to be a protective eye in the background. This is exactly why every alarm was going off inside her head when she saw you fidget with the hem of your shirt. You'd usually do the same whenever talking to her, but this time there were no shy glances or soft eyes. You were afraid. A guy stood just a bit too close to you, the cocky grin on his face displaying he knew exactly what he was doing.

Love stopped cutting the spring onion, wiped off her hands on her apron and rushed out of the kitchen, only to stop herself in the doorway.

Don't scare her off. Don't get too protective or you might ruin things.

She slowly strolled around the counter and grabbed a plate, hurrying to put a few pastries onto it as she had left them there to cool off, all while keeping an eye on the two of you.

You hadn't heard her approach, so her voice sounding from behind you made you jump in your place,

"Free pastry? Fresh out of the oven."

Love's toothy smile was wide but she was feeling anything but bright and cheery. She clenched her teeth shut, still smiling, and tilted her head, trying to seem customer-friendly.

You let out a visibly relieved breath and quickly grabbed a danish off the plate. The guy seemed less amused with Love's sudden arrival and his smile disappeared at her interruption. He took a pastry nonetheless, lifted it in the air as a thank you and took a bite.

Love turned to you, her eyes quickly scanning your face and noticing how her arrival had not soothed you whatsoever. What was going on here? Who was this guy?

"Y/N, I just finished packing your meal kit. Would you walk with me?"

"I didn't-" Love tilted her head and slightly squeezed her eyes, trying to get through to you without making it too obvious. She let out a soft sigh as you read her eyes with barely any effort and played along.

"I didn't think.... it would be finished already."

"I packed yours first, so everything is still fresh." Love sent a charming smile the guy's way as she playfully tugged you back by your belt hoops, wanting to usher you away to safety, like a shepherd with his sheep. But like a disobedient sheep, the guy grabbed your wrist, ruining Love's plans and stopping your movements.

"I'll wait here, then I'll give you a ride back home."

"No, that's okay." You answered.

Love's smile had disappeared as soon as he grabbed you, the look in his eyes even making her uneasy, but your shaky voice was what really ticked her off.

"Come on, we'll grab a coffee, catch up, yadayada." Though the offer seemed sincere, his tone was demanding.

"That's kind but I'm not-"

He put his hand on your lower back to try and get you closer, "I'll wait here. Or I can pick you up at your apartment later?"

"She said no!" Love raised her voice and she yanked your arm loose from his grip. You froze, immediately worrying Love that it was because of her. She let go of you almost instantly and took a step back, ignoring your eyes on her as she got out,

"She... she said no." She whispered softly, before clearing her voice and straightening her stance, more confident now, "She said no." She dared to grab your wrist softly, rubbing soothing circles on where he had squeezed it, before guiding you to the back of the store.

You let out the biggest breath as you sat down on an upside-down crate, almost as if you had held your breath ever since he had approached you. You let out a soft thank you, rubbing your knees to try and calm yourself.

Love watched carefully as she leaned against the doorway, not wanting to invade your personal space like he had just done. She effortlessly picked out all the signs of distress and fear.

"You know him?"

"Yes and no." You looked at her, saw the confusion on her face before clearing your throat, "I know who he is, but I don't truly know him."

She pushed herself off against the doorway, grabbed a crate and sat down on it.

"He's some guy I met at a college party I wish I never went to." You let out a groan, which only heightened Love's curiosity.

"Sounds like a story." Love grinned softly as she saw you enjoy your bite of the danish. Seeing you appreciate her baking never failed to make Love grin like a little kid.

"Tell me about it." Your breathy chuckle vanished quickly as you remembered everything that had happened after that party. Love's grin disappeared and she turned serious when she noticed the frown on your face.

"My friend threw a party, I had some drinks and I kissed him. I was twenty and he was a good looking guy, simple as that. That was all. One drunken kiss and he thought we were meant to be. He practically followed me around like a lost puppy until the end of college and I was so glad I had lost him until his sister moved into my building a month ago. She threw a tiny get-together for everyone in the building and of course, he was there to help. I didn't even know they were siblings until she introduced him as her younger brother."

"Let me guess," Love rolled her eyes, "-he's just as smitten with you now as he was back then?"

"Yes... however,"

Love immediately heard the change in your voice, "What?"

"He seems persistent now. He keeps knocking on my door, leaves gifts, lets stuff get delivered to my apartment, puts love letters in my mailbox or under my car's wipers and whenever he sees me outside, he basically corners me and won't leave me alone. To top it all of... he-" You stopped your rambling.

"He what?"

"He told his sister we've been dating ever since college. I think something's wrong with him... mentally, I mean. Every time I see him it's as if he's on another one of his made-up timelines. I never know which version he's living in whenever I see him."

Love bit the inside of her cheek, contemplating what to say next. Every fibre under her skin was itching and poking at her to do something, to protect you, to make a stop to whatever this weird stalker was up to next. Though every bone in her body ached with anger and protectiveness, she knew she needed to conceal it. She couldn't risk losing you, she couldn't risk you losing yourself, like Forty had, in a way, after she had tried to help. However, she could protect you. If you would accept her help, she would be around you as much as she could. If you didn't, she would try to protect you from the background, like she had done so for a while now.

"I'll tell him you had to run. You can stay here or I'll drive you home."

"No, you really don't have to. Your shift-"

"I do, Y/N." Love stared at you with a look of finality.

You nodded, still feeling like somewhat of a burden before cracking a tiny smile and taking a bite of the pastry.

"What's this? I love it." You licked your lips and groaned.

"A danish." Love had a distant look in her eyes. Normally she would have focused on your lips or the look in your eyes, but her mind was too occupied with keeping you safe now.

"Wait here." Love walked back into the shop and immediately locked eyes with the guy, who had been eyeing the backroom door the two of you had disappeared behind ever since you left. He raised an eyebrow when the door fell shut behind Love, no sign of you following her.

"Where's-"

Love cut him off immediately, sending icy daggers with her hard glare, "Do me a favour? Leave her alone."

He scoffed, "So much for that kind shop clerk act, huh? Who are you to keep me from my fiancée, anyway?"

Love was visibly caught off guard. How mentally ill was this man to truly think that? What other stories had he made up? She pulled herself together and looked around to who was close, her voice a hushed whisper when she spoke,

"I don't care how sick in the head you are, but she is not yours. So if I see you around here or hear you've-"

"I have every right to go and stand where I want to. I'm just shopping with my girl, she loves when we do little quality time things like this."

Love clenched her jaw, fuelled with anger, not knowing how else to get through his head, "She's scared of you!" Love's yell echoed through Anavrin. People turned to watch. So did Forty, who walked right over as he saw the uneasily familiar look on Love's face. He waved people off, sending them kind smiles and energetic 'happy shoppings' as he made his way over to his sister.

"Everything alright here?" He approached slowly and side-eyed Love as he tried to get a feel of the situation.

Love ignored him completely, still too busy glaring the guy down. She pointed to the exit, her voice stern as she spoke, "I need you to leave. Now. Or we'll have you removed."

Forty flinched as the guy threw his basket on the floor, "Fine. This shit's way too expensive anyway. Organic apples? What does that even mean?! They all grow on the same trees!"

He stormed off and Love only now seemed to calm down, knowing he was getting far away from you.

"Okay.... what was that all about?"

Love blinked a couple of times and swatted the stray hairs out of her face, turning to Forty with her signature smile, "Oh, it's nothing!" She breathed out a chuckle, "Just a difficult customer, all taken care of as you see."

☾ ⋆*·ﾟ:⋆*·ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:·ﾟ .: ⋆*·ﾟ: .⋆

The car stopped in front of your apartment building and Love turned to you from her place behind the wheel.

"You've been quiet." She noted.

"Um, will you walk with me? Till I'm inside? I don't know where he's-"

"Of course." Love gave you a reassuring smile and squeezed the hand on your knee. So far, the two of you had only met in or right outside Anavrin. Without you knowing, she had been close on multiple other occasions, but Love had always resisted the urge to approach you and talk to you. She didn't want to push her luck by meeting up with you too much. Apparently, her patience had paid off, seeing as you were leading her right to your very doorstep.

She quietly followed behind you, her eyes scanning the lobby, the hallway and every door you crossed. Love saw you fumble with the keys in your hand as soon as you saw a package on your doormat.

"Is that his?" Love watched you keep the door open for her and she walked inside. This wasn't expected so soon, but a nice turn of events. Should she thank the guy for helping her out with getting closer to you?

"Yeah, other packages get dropped off at our mailboxes down in the lobby."

Her eyes then scanned around the room. It wasn't the biggest apartment, but it was big enough for one person. You had used every available space given to you, though it didn't make the living room and open kitchen seem cramped or messy. Your apartment was personal, with little knickknacks showing your personality and likes. It all seemed perfectly in place. The only messy thing was the trashbag resting against the balcony door.

You threw the gift onto the trash bag from your place at the door before it fell over, a couple of other gifts and letters falling out. Love ignored your eyes as she walked over, kneeling to inspect what was on the floor.

"Is this all his?!" She turned around with wide eyes, "He's crazy."

"I'm afraid so. Tried to throw them away until they all appeared back onto my doorstep the night after. Now I just keep them here. Waiting for the right moment to throw it away somewhere else, but he's somehow always outside whenever I go out."

"I'll take it." Love immediately offered. She recognized the look on your face, how you really wanted to accept her help, but also how you felt too much of a burden and didn't want to engage Love with your problems. "It's the least I can do," She added, seeing the hesitation wash away.

You gave her a thankful smile, "Um, want something to drink? It's the least I can offer to my... knight... in shining armour?"

Love smiled wide. You wanted her to stay. She had to bite her lip to prevent her from letting out an overly excited 'yes', and instead, playfully tilted her head,

"Hey, I am never one to back down from a fight with a ferocious dragon. I think I won't be missed for one quick drink." She teased and leaned against the kitchen countertop and watched you get the drinks ready, "We've exchanged words a couple of times but I don't think I ever came to know anything more than the boring basics."

You turned to her, a glint of mischief in your eyes, "You find me boring?" You let out a laugh as Love was ready to defend herself, but waved her off, "I never thought it was appropriate to do anything else but suck up to one of Anavrin's owners so she would keep giving me delicious pastries. I never found you boring, by the way." Love laughed and loved how the apples of your cheeks slightly turned pink.

"I'm just Love now and you're not just some customer, because I wouldn't bake something different every week for just anyone..." She raised an eyebrow playfully when she saw the flustered look on your face and shyly placed a cup of coffee in front of her. Alright, she'd work on that. She just needed to perfect the art of making you more comfortable around her and the rest would work itself out.

"You know, maybe I should just take advantage of this all and get him to pay my monthly rent. I doubt he'd say no." You smiled into your coffee mug, blowing it to cool it off. It pained Love to see you try and joke about it all while it was obvious how much the past month had done a number on you.

Love laid a gentle hand on your forearm, guiding your hands back down to rest on the counter, "Or maybe, you should get the police involved. He's stalking you. You don't know what he's capable of. It might get out of hand if you wait too long."

"I... I don't want to go through all that trouble. I doubt they'd take it seriously. It's LA, a lot of shit happens here."

Love had tried. She had tried to lure you to the right path, to keep herself from going down the same road as well. But you had refused, and so she had to take matters into her own hands.

☾ ⋆*·ﾟ:⋆*·ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:·ﾟ .: ⋆*·ﾟ: .⋆

Love looked at the pile of gifts on her living room floor. From boxes of chocolates to now dried up flowers, from letters to candles to perfume bottles- he'd given you all of it.

Was this what men thought would win over women's hearts? Was this what he thought would win over your heart? Persistency, fear and disrespect accompanied by cliche gifts mostly seen in romcoms? Instead of chivalry, respect and kind words? He could dial down on the creepiness too.

You clearly had only opened the first few gifts but had decided to immediately throw away the ones that followed, probably aware who it was from.

She had promised you to throw it away, and she would... after she had gone through it all. The cheap drugstore chocolates, ruined bouquets and way too sweet perfume would be thrown away for sure, but the letters he wrote you might be useful.

Love tried her best to put them in chronological order, to try and decipher a pattern or a timeline. But just like you had said, he seemed to have everything mixed up in his head. There was no clear order-- some addressed you as the neighbour down the hall, in other letters you were already married, in others his possessiveness over you was as clear as day, like a dog marking every lamppost he'd come across, just because he could, as if it was his right.

Bile formed in the back of Love's throat, leaving a nasty aftertaste. This man was insane and you being on the receiving end of him only made things worse.

☾ ⋆*·ﾟ:⋆*·ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:·ﾟ .: ⋆*·ﾟ: .⋆

Waking up before the break of dawn was never Love's forte, but for you, she would skip sleep any day. Her hair was up in a topknot, a big pair of shades shielded her face and a dark jacket was zipped up to her neck as she waited in her car. She had a perfect view of your building's entrance and if she moved her head, she saw the still curtained windows of your living room and kitchen. That wasn't what she was here for on this early Thursday morning. The man stalking you was crazy and delusional, that much was clear, but he was still human and thus he must have some kind of routine. It was up to Love to figure that out, to know the ins and outs of it all, where he slept, when he ate, where he went off to when he wasn't pestering you. All so she could keep you safe.

The two large cups of black coffee were already empty and apart from some hipster walking their dog at 5am, the street had been silent. She saw movement in the corner of her eye and noticed the blinds to your living room being opened. You stood on the other side of the window, hair messy from your slumber, a cosy blanket draped around your shoulders as you shielded your mouth when you let out an adorable yawn. Love's eyes fixated on you. Though you looked less elegant than during the day, like any normal being after just waking up, she still couldn't take her eyes off you. A daydream took over, one where she would wrap her hands around your waist from behind, one where she would usher you to sit on the couch while she'd make you breakfast. Mornings together. Days together. Nights together. That was what she daydreamed of.

A loud knock on her window made Love flinch in her seat. She had been so fixated on you that she had failed to notice a guy stepping out of the muddy green car that had been there since she'd arrived.

He was clad in regular jeans, a maroon beanie shielding his light brown curls, but it was him. The wicked smile on his face said enough-- he knew. His eyes shifted to the windows of your apartment before he looked back at Love, his smile now a scowl.

"Leave her alone, you creep." Love heard his muffled voice from outside. "Do you really think I wouldn't look up my wife's stalker? I recognized your license plate as soon as I saw it. I waited to see what you would do."

Love went through all the letters and known information in her head, trying to catch up to the timeline he was currently referring to.

"I've seen you follow her before. Stop it or I'll call the cops on you."

Love wanted to think he was bluffing, until he pulled out his phone and showed her several pictures he'd taken of her days and weeks prior, indeed during moments where she had been following you.

"I'm RJ, by the way. Remember that name." And with that, he crossed the street before he disappeared into your apartment building. Love's hand moved to the car door until she stopped herself. There was no telling how much RJ really knew about her already or how long he had been onto her. If she wanted to do this right, she needed to wait. Let him think he's getting the upper hand. But Love couldn't deny or hide the frustration she felt bubbling inside of her. She was anything but afraid of the LAPD, a few pictures didn't prove anything. She was more afraid of you finding out. RJ knew. He had her pushed into a corner now.

The tables had been turned.

☾ ⋆*·ﾟ:⋆*·ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:·ﾟ .: ⋆*·ﾟ: .⋆

A week had passed. A week of Love demanding herself to stay out of your way. She would have thought it would prove to be a difficult task but you made it uneasily easy. You hadn't shown your face Monday morning, your usual grocery shopping day. Nor had she seen you walk in for some additional groceries on Thursday or Friday afternoon. The eclairs she had baked for you had landed in the trash can now that you had been a no-show.

Love whisked the batter like a madwoman, frustrated and angry to no end that she had, once again, not thought things through. She been so fixated on you that she failed to see her surroundings. She hadn't been careful enough and that had inevitably led to RJ figuring at least some bits of her out. Had RJ told you everything? How Love had been stalking you? Had you believed him? Or had RJ done something way worse? Was that why you hadn't shown up yet?

"Hey," Forty sang as he walked into Anavrin's kitchen, inspecting the fruit bowl, "Just a quick heads-up, the people who ordered all those club sandwiches for their team meeting are here to pick up their order. Is it done?" He grabbed an apple and took a bite. "They look as dull as their order but please tell me you didn't spice it up and change it just because you think they have boring taste?"

Love only hummed.

"Good, because we don't want a repeater of when you gave that old lady way too spicy Thai chicken sandwiches because she called you a name." Forty snorted, "Oh! And what about the cupcakes for that baby shower? Will they be done in time?" He scanned his clipboard, "They'll be here in two hours so I say-"

"Let me be, Forty! I've got it!"

"Jeez, who shat in your cake batter today?"

He raised his eyebrows, rolled his eyes and threw the apple in the trash can on his way out, muttering something under his breath as he walked back into the store.

Love stopped, clenched her jaw and leaned against the countertop. She squeezed her hands around the cold marble counter, trying to squeeze her searing anger away. Thoughts raced through her head but she kept seeing your face flash before her eyes. She ripped her apron off, grabbed her bag and walked out.

☾ ⋆*·ﾟ:⋆*·ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:·ﾟ .: ⋆*·ﾟ: .⋆

You had purposefully closed all your blinds and curtains, not wanting him to be able to take a snoop inside your apartment. The TV's volume was on low so that no one could hear you were inside. You doubted he didn't know though. He probably knew you hadn't left yet. Not only today but for a whole week now. The only way you could leave or enter the building had been guarded by him for days. He had noticed you hadn't emptied your mailbox and had slid a letter under your door.

Apparently avoiding him, hiding from him, didn't have the desired effect you had wished for. He hadn't gotten bored of you, or forgotten you, instead, you had made him angry. He hated how his girlfriend was ignoring him and he now started doubting your faithfulness. You had no clue what had caused all this, but it worried you. You had no close friends or family in LA. For a minute, you had contemplated calling Anavrin to get them to deliver groceries or meal kits to your place, but you knew he would swoop in and offer to take your order up to your door, like the chivalrous boyfriend he was. You also wondered if you should call Anavrin and ask to talk to Love, but you didn't want to hear Love say I told you so.

A knock on your door made you freeze, especially when another knock followed soon after. Trying to make no sound, you made your way to the door. You were preparing yourself to see him through the peephole, but before you could, Love's voice whispered,

"It's me, Love. Let me in, please?"

You let your head fall back in your neck, thanking whoever that it was Love and that she hadn't shouted her arrival through the hallways. Quickly unlocking the door, you opened it and pulled a baffled Love inside as fast as you could, before locking the door once more.

She looked around, saw the mess and the closed blinds, a big contrast to the first time she had seen your apartment-- filled with natural light and cleaned like a showroom from Ikea. Then she looked at you. You looked tired, your tiny puffy eyes still showing how scared her knocking had made you feel.

"What's going on here?" Love softly grabbed your underarms, trying to calm you down.

A loud knock made both of you flinch and turn to the front door behind you.

"Come on, baby, it's me. I lost my key."

Love felt you squeeze her arm. She turned around to tell you to keep quiet.

"You haven't left in a week. Are you sick? Let me take care of you. I brought chicken noodle soup." He suddenly let out a soft whimper, "Did I do something wrong? Are you mad at me? Please tell me and I will fix it. I will fix us. I miss you, beautiful."

Then it was quiet for a long time until a loud kick against the door broke it,

"I'm at my sister if you need me." He grumbled out.

The both of you stayed silent for another minute until you eventually let out the biggest sigh and dropped on the couch.

"That's what's going on here."

"This... this isn't okay, Y/N." She pointed a shaky finger at the door, having a hard time hiding her anger.

You rolled your eyes, the tiredness making you grumpy. Love's comment had not been helpful. Of course, this was anything but okay. You didn't need her to come to that conclusion,

"Like I don't know."

Love ignored your reply and walked through the apartment like it was her own, grabbing blankets and clothing off the floor and folding them up before she waltzed into your kitchen to inspect the damage. The fridge was as good as empty and she saw the bread you had attempted to bake on your counter. Judging by the form of it, you hadn't let it rise long enough.

"Give me half an hour and I'll be back with groceries. I'll cook you something nice. I promise."

"Don't leave me alone, please." The sudden fear in your voice alarmed Love. She watched you watch her-- you had turned around on the couch, your body slumped like an afraid puppy with its tail between its legs, begging her to not go. "If he sees you leave my apartment he'll know I let you in."

Love tilted her head, "When's the last time you slept without being afraid?"

Your lack of an answer was an answer in itself. Love walked out of the kitchen and motioned you to get up.

"Grab a bag."

"What?"

"Grab a bag. Get whatever you need. You can stay with me for tonight so you can get some rest before I'll help you figure this all out tomorrow. You can't stay here."

You got up, albeit unsurely, "But I hardly know you. Are you sure it's okay? I don't want you to feel obligated to help me."

"I can't go home knowing how I'm leaving you here, with that creep on the other side of the door. It's alright, Y/N."

You nodded softly and excused yourself into your bedroom as you gathered whatever you needed. Love peeked through the blinds, not seeing his dirty green car in its usual spot. Either he had left or he was still hauled up in his sister's apartment.

She gave you a reassuring smile as you returned with an overnight bag in your hands.

"Got everything?"

You nodded, still shaken by everything that was happening. Love stayed glued to your side on your walk through the apartment building, wanting to be prepared, glancing backwards and looking in front, wanting to be two steps ahead for whatever scenario.

"Y/N? Hey! Y/N!" A female voice made you halt your movements in the lobby.

RJ's sister stood by the mailboxes, her mail in her hands as she watched you and Love.

"What's going on?" She smiled as she approached. Love stood slightly behind you, eyeing the street outside. "How have we never properly been introduced when you're going to marry my baby brother?" She laughed slightly, but both of you could hear the confusion and slight offence in her voice. "Everything good with you two? I know he can be too forward sometimes but- Oh God." She stopped herself, "You look horrible. You really are sick."

Love's head snapped to the woman, a hard glare on her face.

"He told me. You should really let him help you out. RJ's soup always gives me the biggest immunity boost whenever I'm sick."

Her eyes then flickered to Love, whose locked jaw and hard eyes were eyeing their surroundings as her hand was protectively placed around your waist. Then she noticed the bag in your hands and how you were slightly leaning into Love, finding comfort and safety the closer you got. You looked up at Love for comfort but then quickly looked back at your supposed sister-in-law.

Realisation dawned on the woman's face, "Huh." she huffed and crossed her arms, "So I guess you're the girl RJ has talked about." She tried to be playful, but there was nothing funny about the look in her eyes as she narrowed her eyes at Love.

"Oh- we're...friends." You spoke as soon as you caught on.

RJ's sister grabbed her keys from her handbag, "You should know RJ doesn't like to share, friends or not." She looked back at you, "You know how it looks when you ignore him for a week but go out with your... friend?"

She turned around before she got into the lifts, "Not good."

☾ ⋆*·ﾟ:⋆*·ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:·ﾟ .: ⋆*·ﾟ: .⋆

You sat around Love's dining table, hands wrapped around the cup of tea she had made you as you watched her cook. Delicious smells filled the house as you sat there wondering what she was even making.

"Hmmm, spaghetti?" You asked.

"Spaghetti? Anyone could make that. Who do you think I am?" She chuckled at you, adding the sundried tomatoes to the garlic oil sizzling in the pan. "I'm making a marinade for the chicken." She disappeared behind the counter. You heard her pull something out of the oven before she jumped back up, a baguette in her oven mitts.

"You made that yourself?"

"Of course, I did. Would be a shame if I didn't, seeing as I am a chef and all." She smirked, seeing your reaction.

"I thought you only did pastries."

Love shook her head.

"Could really use some tips on baking bread then, I tried but it was disastrous." You laughed, feigning offence as Love agreed with you.

The two of you became silent again. You loved how you didn't feel pressured to keep the conversation going, to just let the moment be, while Love liked how you had visibly relaxed as soon as you had stepped into the safety of her home.

☾ ⋆*·ﾟ:⋆*·ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:·ﾟ .: ⋆*·ﾟ: .⋆

"Love, thank you so much. I don't know how I'll ever-" She silenced you by pulling you in a quick hug. She squeezed you tight, feeling rich with you in her arms.

"Don't worry about it. Sweet dreams." Your tired smile was the last thing she saw before closing the door to her tiny guestroom.

She walked back to the kitchen and started to clean up, putting everything in the dishwasher. She rose an eyebrow as her ringtone went off. She put it on hands-free as she continued putting the dishes away.

"Love Quinn here, what's up?"

"You think you're the shit now, don't you?"

His voice made her grab her phone immediately as she took it off hands-free, afraid you might hear it.

"You think you've won now that she's hauled up in your home, enjoying a warm meal, sleeping in your bed. Feels good, huh? Now that she trusts you."

"What's your fucking problem?" Love hissed out in a whisper. "She's not yours to have, not yours to keep, not yours to lose. I don't know whatever fantasy you think you're living in, but it's not Y/N's reality."

"Give her back." RJ's voice yelled.

"She isn't yours."

"Then I'll get her myself." It was quiet for a while. "You should really finish the dishes."

Love looked up at her tall living room windows and glanced at the darkness of the night before she rushed to throw all the curtains closed. Then the line went dead.

Love grabbed the first weapon she could find, one of her larger kitchen knives, before she all but ran to the guestroom she had left you to rest. The guestroom didn't have a window, so she knew she should guard the only way in, the door. She had thought RJ to be all bark and no bite before, but he seemed clever and had even been one step ahead of her before. She needed to be sure. She slid down against the wall next to your door and overlooked the hallway entrance with a certain focus and determination in her eyes.

Hours passed and eventually, the sun replaced the moon. The first sound she heard ever since his phone call, was the guestroom door opening to reveal a tired yet adorable you.

Love scrambled to her feet, the kitchen knife hidden away in a plant as to not scare you.

"What are you doing here?" You rose an eyebrow, your giggle turning into a yawn. "Did you not sleep?"

You noticed the distant look on Love's face, the clothes she had been wearing the night before as well as the same coat of lipstick still on her lips.

"Forgot to prepare an important order for Anavrin so I had to stay up and bake all night." She let out a yawn herself, one that made you laugh before she locked eyes with you. She gave you a toothy grin.

Love hated how she had to lie through her teeth, how she had to lie to you. But this was for you.

"You should've told me. I would've loved to help. Maybe together we would have finished sooner."

"I doubt that." Love laughed.

You took a moment to think before you shrugged, agreeing.

She laughed once more, "Let's get breakfast, come on."

Love stayed close to you, not entirely sure what she would walk into. Yes, she had guarded the guestroom all night long, but there was no being sure he hadn't someway made his way inside. Everything looked the same, nothing was out of place. No window or lock was broken, as far as she could inspect from her walk to the kitchen.

Love let you take a moment to wake up as she sat you down in the kitchen, a nice cup of coffee in your hands as she put every breakfast item on the counter. You rose your eyebrow,

"Do you peg me as a giant? Or are you a feeder?" You smirked slightly at Love's expression as you took her off guard.

"No, I just... thought, now you can pick whatever you like. I can bake you something if you want to? Name it and I'll make it."

You walked over and placed a quick kiss on her cheek, "No worries. I appreciate it. Some yoghurt is fine, though. I don't have a big appetite after just waking up."

Love's distant behaviour didn't go unnoticed as you quietly ate your breakfast. You didn't know her well enough to know if this was a common thing. Maybe she was just tired. You knew you liked to space out whenever you lacked sleep too.

However, Love immediately noticed when you started shifting in your chair.

"So..," You cleared your throat, "What's the plan? I've... never had to deal with something like this before. Do I just, you know, call the local police department?"

"Don't worry about anything. I already called my parents."

You were aware of the Quinn family, heat rose to your cheeks as you remembered the hours you had stalked the family online, just to know more about her.

"Love, I really-"

"We've dealt with this before with Forty once, it's no big deal, we'll handle it."

"But your family has nothing to do with RJ... or me. Why would they be willing to fix my problem?"

"It hurts me to think you don't see us as friends." Love teased you playfully, but her face soon hardened, "He harassed you in our store. Of course, we are involved. This problem will be gone before you know it."

"You really think so?"

"Do you trust me?"

You gave her a curt and determined nod, "Yes, I do."

That was all Love needed to hear. Last night he had not only threatened you, but he had threatened her too. She would walk through fire for the opportunity to be close to you. He wasn't going to ruin that dream. She needed to end this. She needed to keep you safe.

☾ ⋆*·ﾟ:⋆*·ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:·ﾟ .: ⋆*·ﾟ: .⋆

You didn't want to return to your apartment and neither did Love want you to stay alone at hers, for reasons she could not tell you obviously, so she dropped you off at Anavrin while she went back to your place with a list of things you told her to bring.

Love did her best to keep quiet as she tiptoed through the hallways, unlocking your door and locking it back behind her. She first decided to clean the kitchen counter and throw away the now spoiled bread. She grabbed the list out of her jean pocket and walked into your bedroom, getting caught off guard by how different it was from her daydreams. In her imagination, it had been a tiny room, with barely any space for a double bed and a closet. Instead, your bedroom was larger than your living room and there was enough space for your enormous double bed. She stood in front of your mirror, which had seen you so many times. Then she looked at your desk where it looked like you had abruptly paused the work you had been working on. She grabbed a perfume bottle off your dresser and inhaled, of course, this was much better than the cheap smell RJ had tried to let you wear. You had taste.

Love felt like an intruder as she opened your underwear drawer. She begged herself not to look at anything but what was on her list, but a soft blush crept up her neck and warmed her ears and cheeks nonetheless. She respected you, so she would not go snooping for anything else.

She walked into the bathroom, putting shampoo bottles in a plastic bag before walking back into the living room. You had asked her to bring your favourite soft slippers, the ones you always liked to wear before bed. Love scanned the living room, no slippers. She imagined you taking them off right before going to sleep, so maybe they were safely tucked away under your bed? She turned around to walk to your bedroom when her eyes fell on a shadow on the floor. Her heart slammed against her chest as she saw it move.

It didn't take her longer than a second to know who this was. She walked to your desk and grabbed a scissor, wanting to be prepared. Did he know she was Love and not you? Would it even matter?

For a second she swore she heard his heart slam against his chest as well. She moved to the closet, pretending to rummage through it, but in reality keeping an eye on him through the mirror in the corner of your room.

An eerie silence floated around your apartment, the knowledge of Love not being alone in there making everything worse. But Love was a woman on a mission, and she would not leave until she was sure you would be safe. Knowing where he was gave her a confident feeling and so she waited. She dragged it out as long as she could, seeing if he would break first. And he did.

Love saw his reflection in the mirror move from under the bed and she turned around instantly, ready to strike. What she hadn't expected, was him pulling at her ankles. She tried to kick him off and managed to grab hold of your dresser, only for him to grab her other leg and make her slam into your mirror.

It broke into pieces as they all flew and fell onto Love, who turned on her back almost instantly after impact. RJ crawled up to her, holding his cheek where Love had previously kicked him. He pulled her closer by her legs while Love's hand searched your bedroom floor for anything to defend herself with. RJ was a tall and strong-build man. It had been stupid of Love to think she could take him down in a one on one fight.

He held her down before he crawled over her, hands groping her neck. Love coughed loudly as he squeezed. Her legs kicked and moved as she tried to get away, but he was too heavy for her, even if she was filled with adrenaline. She tried to wriggle her head around, but that made the squeezing of her neck even more unbearable. RJ mumbled something above her as his spit coated her face like he was some angry wolf ready for its prey. His smirk disappeared as soon as it had appeared and his off-white shirt turned crimson.

RJ looked down at his collar, where a thick piece of glass stuck to his skin. His face turned white at the view and the pain and he stumbled back. Love shot up and dared to get close again as she turned the glass shard halfway, making RJ scream out in pain. She was so furious and full-on adrenaline that she didn't even feel the wound the glass had left on her own hand at all. She watched him fall back, oddly fast, almost too easy. He mumbled something incoherently and let out painful moans until, once again, the apartment was filled with an eerie silence.

Love looked around the room, at her wounded hands, at the broken mirror and the man half slid against your closet before her breaths started to quicken. She started hyperventilating and soft sobs left her trembling lips before she ran out of your apartment.

☾ ⋆*·ﾟ:⋆*·ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:·ﾟ .: ⋆*·ﾟ: .⋆

Though you loved how Forty had tried to entertain you and to make you feel at home, his constant talking had made you tired. You wanted to see Love again and it worried you that she still hadn't returned from grabbing some simple things at your apartment.

When she did return, with that same distant look on her face as that morning, you knew something had happened.

With a turtle neck rolled up till just under her chin and a bandage wrapped around her hand, she made a bee-line to the two of you, her eyes cold and far away. Forty hopped off the seat next to you, said goodbye and immediately started a conversation with a customer walking by.

Love's instincts told her to grab your hand. And you let her, as she started to play with your fingers, simultaneously looking through the store as if she was afraid of something.

"Hey, you alright?" You softly tugged her closer by the hem of her shirt, not expecting Love to flinch.

"Hm? Oh, yes. Are you hungry? What are you into? I'll make you something."

"You're an angel but... can we just... go to your place?" You missed your bed and the familiarity of your apartment, but it was no longer home. Home was where you felt safe, not like a mouse stuck in a trap. RJ wouldn't know where to find you if you went to Love's place, besides, the effort she had made to make you feel comfortable was greatly appreciated.

"Sure." Love took a breath, trying to calm herself down by the feel of your soft fingers brushing against her own. The realisation that you asked to stay with her washed away any fear or insecurity she still felt.

She opened your door and softly closed it as soon as you hopped in, like a real gentlewoman, and sped off the Anavrin parking lot soon after. You didn't ask her why she had taken so long, and for that, she was immensely thankful. She reached over to squeeze the hand on your knee, giving you a reassuring smile afterwards. You reciprocated the smile and let yourself rest against the seat, not taking your eyes off Love. She was like a mystery to you. One you would get obsessed with solving, one you couldn't tell yourself to stay away from until you had solved it. You weren't a fool, you had noticed the longing glances she'd sent your way for weeks whenever you dropped by at the store. You just didn't have the guts to tell her you would actually like to get to know her a little bit better like that as well. Maybe you didn't have to. Maybe it would just play itself out. Maybe it was so obvious that you would never have to utter another word. Maybe it was that easy. Maybe.

"What happened to your hand?" Your fingers softly travelled over the bandage.

"Oh, accident in the kitchen." Love gave you a distant smile as you watched her face turn pale and saw her check the car's mirrors multiple times.

"Anything wrong? We're not being followed, are we?" You joked, to which Love let out a soft smile.

"It's taken care of."

"What's been taken care of?" You rose an eyebrow.

"Your problem."

You looked at the hands in your lap, taking a moment to let it sink. Love's eyes flickered between you and the dark green car a couple of cars behind her, telling herself this little hallucination was just the aftermath of her adrenaline kick a few hours ago.

☾ ⋆*·ﾟ:⋆*·ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:·ﾟ .: ⋆*·ﾟ: .⋆

A two-person party, though small, still well-meant. Your problem was solved, you needed to celebrate and so you convinced Love to pop open a bottle of wine. The first bottle was delicious as you truly got to know each other this time, no more talking about crazy stalkers or pastries at Anavrin. The second bottle was a spontaneous decision by you, as you felt euphoric... as if you had won a battle without any casualties. Love just agreed, seeing she loved every moment spent with you, a happy you, nonetheless.

The third bottle was a mistake. A big mistake.

Both of you were well past tipsy and started to act like two teenagers who had gotten drunk for the first time after some High School prom. After the countless giggles, stupid jokes and weird drunken rambles, you felt your subconscious gravitate you towards Love. Even more than usual. Your head hurt like hell but the feeling of standing in Love's arms made up for that. The feeling of her hands on your waist made you want to jump in your place like a toddler. She let out a toothy grin and jokingly rubbed her nose against yours. But there was no joking with your next move. Though drunk, you knew exactly what you wanted. You wanted Love.

You pulled her forward by her neck, albeit harshly, and planted your lips onto hers. The alcohol in her system made her initial reaction delay, but there was no guessing if she was just as into it as you were when she pulled you closer by your waist before a hand pulled at your hair, just as harshly. Your leg hooked around her and pulled her closer against you while she had you pushed against the kitchen counter. When you heard a low moan leave her throat, you bit her lip and pulled it back, not wanting her next moan to be muffled. Your action elicited yet another moan and within a few seconds, she had you sit onto the kitchen counter with her body as close to you as she could.

The alcohol in you weirdly heightened your senses, but the sense of time was gone. You had no idea if you were making out for just a few seconds, mere minutes or even longer, but your and Love's shirts on the floor was an indicator of where things were going. You should have known the third bottle was a mistake when you didn't even see the bruises on Love's neck.

Love gently laid you down, sneaking sloppy drunken kisses in between, before she took off your pants with your help. The cold marble counter didn't help cool off your flushed body, but you enjoyed every second of it. You closed your eyes and dropped your head back as Love's kisses moved from your stomach to your thighs.

A gasp left your mouth as Love was doing her best to tease you some more and you blinked softly in the pure bliss of the build-up. She planted a few kisses on the fabric of your underwear, teasing you more. You saw the room upside down, which didn't help your drunken headache, but the feeling of Love between your legs and what she was about to do was enough of a reason to ignore it. You let out a breathy moan and arched your back. You opened your eyes, smiling to yourself, but you blinked and furrowed your brows when a silhouette moved to stand in the doorway of Love's darkened hallway.

Your breathing quickened as your whole body felt ecstatic, but you forced yourself to lightly tap Love's bare shoulder. Maybe you were hallucinating, the third bottle had been one too much after all, but you wanted to warn Love nonetheless.

Love thought the taps on her shoulder and her name coming from your mouth were praises and continued teasing you. Maybe if she hadn't been so intoxicated herself, or if she hadn't put her guard down, she would have noticed him approaching. But Love was too focused on you to notice anything else.

A sudden scream coming from your mouth made her jump up. You looked at her, eyes wide, wait... no- you looked behind her? Before she could react, she was yanked back by her hair, leaving you to let out yet another scream.

RJ looked terrible-- his face was pale and his eyes sunken, his shirt still coated in a dried-up crimson but it seemed like he had tried to patch himself up. His need to steal you from Love had apparently been greater than his want to see a doctor, seeing as he limped while pushing Love against the fridge. RJ was injured, Love was drunk, so would this finally be a fair fight?

RJ slammed the last bottle you'd shared against the counter-- glass and the remains of the bottle spilt everywhere. He wanted to slam it into Love's neck, but he let out a loud yelp when Love pushed a finger into the wound from before and forced him back.

"Go! Get out!" Love yelled into your face. You scrambled off the kitchen counter and tried to run. You couldn't. You couldn't leave Love and let RJ ruin her too.

You watched him fall, grabbing the curtain in the hope of staying on his feet, but the curtain fell down with him. Love and RJ were now draped in the fabric, there was no telling where Love started or RJ ended, and you watched the struggle continue.

"Y/N! Help me!" His voice echoed through the house, making you sick to your stomach.

You had never imagined RJ to go to these kinds of lengths just to get what he wanted. The Quinn family clearly hadn't taken care of it, seeing as he was here right now. Unless this was still a drunken nightmare. You cursed yourself for ever opening that third bottle of wine.

You ran over, needing to do something, even if you never liked violence. This was different. This was Love's life.

"Y/N!"

You jumped back when the two of them reemerged from underneath the curtain, Love sitting on top of him as she grabbed the nearest pottery decoration and slammed it against his temple. RJ seemed dazed for a few seconds, but Love's actions were still delayed by the alcohol in her blood and so he had the upper hand again within a second. He plunged a fork he had secretly picked up from the kitchen into Love's upper thigh which made a horrible cry of pain leave her throat. It sent chills up your spine.

Your yell made Love look up temporarily and worry flashed over her face as she realised you still hadn't left. RJ used your distraction as an opportunity and threw a right hook at Love's jaw, making her fall onto her back entirely.

In a panic, you looked around the room. But for what? For an escape? A way out? A way to help Love?

You ran over, grasping a candlestick off a table on your way and stopped behind RJ. Your eyes were locked with Love's as she looked at you. You made a move to strike but stopped. You weren't evil. You weren't a monster. You couldn't do something like this!? But RJ was. RJ was a monster and he would soon kill Love if you didn't step in. This... this would be deemed as self-defence, right?! Another look into Love's wide eyes, filled with pain, made you make your decision.

You lifted your arm and a second later, the candlestick had made a hard blow to the back of his head. RJ groaned and turned around hazily before resting on his side, his injuries getting the best of him. He looked at you, shocked you would hurt him. A quiet whimper left his mouth, "Y/N?"

Instead of taking this to run off, you raised your arm back over your head, but before you could slam it into RJ's head once again, Love's trembling hand stopped you. She closed her eyes and let out a shaky breath, prying your trembling fingers off the candlestick one by one before hovering over RJ.

What happened next, made you look away. It was clear how much in pain the girl was, but Love continued to strike blows into his head until she was could be sure he was gone this time. You heard the untasteful squishing and cracking of flesh and blood being pressed together and skull breaking, together with Love's painful groans. With a thump, the candlestick fell to the floor and so did Love, who fell down next to her victim.

You stood there, taking it all in, while you didn't know if you were coated in blood or in wine, or both. All you could think of was how the third bottle had been a mistake. A big, stupid mistake.

Either the alcohol or the fear and utter disgust caught up to you, but you moved away from Love and emptied your stomach on her floor. It needed to be cleaned after tonight anyway.

"Oh, God." Your voice was shaky as you leaned against the couch, spitting out the vile taste of puke. Love's deep, fast and painful breathing filled the air and made you come back to your senses.

You hurried to her and dragged her away from RJ's corpse, not wanting to be near it. She let out a cry when you touched her leg.

"I'm so sorry." She let out a strangled sob. You shook your head, she had nothing to say sorry for. She did what she had to do, what you would've done had she not stopped you and protected you from doing something so horrible.

However, Love was sorry you had seen that side of hers way too soon. Would it scare you away? Would you walk away and leave her there in pain? Would you look differently at her now that you knew what she was capable of? Were you scared? She was sorry you had to witness something so horrible, something she had tried to protect you from so intensely. She had tried so hard not to go down that road again, but there came RJ screwing up her plan. Besides, she'd do anything for the ones she cared about.

"Fuck," You started freaking out again, once again realising the situation you were in. "Your leg- I need an ambulance."

"Are you okay?" Love managed to get out, but you heard how much effort it cost her.

You ignored her and started to gently examine her body, realising you needed to make haste if you wanted to get Love out of pain.

"P-Phone," You stuttered, still in shock, "Where... where is it?"

She let out another sob, "I'm sorry."

"Love! Shut up and tell me where I can find a damn phone in this fucking house so I can call a bloody ambulance and... and the police!" You yelled, filled with panic.

"Love?! Help me out here!"

Love turned around slightly and pointed a finger at the coffee table behind you. You hurried to grab the phone, sliding away in the blood that coated the floor, making you fall against the couch. You unlocked the phone with her help before she stopped you right as you were about to dial 911.

"No, no 911. Call this number." Her trembling hands scrolled through her phone before she pointed at a contact on the now bloody screen.

☾ ⋆*·ﾟ:⋆*·ﾟ:⠀ *⋆.*:·ﾟ .: ⋆*·ﾟ: .⋆

You sat on the kitchen counter, watching Love bake your favourites. A lot of time had passed, but your mind still wandered off to the first time you had sat on a kitchen counter with Love so close, and how different things had ended that day. Something you would also never forget? How Love had fiercely fought for her life the moment RJ had grabbed hold of her hair, or how she had ushered you to get out. You could never forget the events of that night. The scar on Love's upper thigh was another strong reminder of what had happened.

But the exact details had disappeared from your mind, just like the alcohol from your system the next morning when you had thrown it all up. You vaguely remember calling a number, but everything that had followed was a mystery to you. Drunken you must have been wise enough to call an ambulance, seeing as you woke up with a patched-up Love sitting by the bed that morning.

What was that saying again? People who go through horrible events together, are bound to get close? Hm, maybe that wasn't a saying, but that was exactly what had happened with you and Love.

A stripe of freshly whipped cream landed on your face, taking you back to reality. To Love.

"Where did you go off to?" She smiled up at you and dropped her whisk to stand between your legs. You let out a content sigh and wrapped your arms around Love's neck, pulling her closer against your chest. Love rubbed soothing circles on your lower back as she let you use her to calm down, something she loved. She loved whenever you showed how comfortable she made you feel, how much her touch calmed you down. It showed her how much you loved her.

You didn't need to answer for her to know where your mind had been. She planted soft kisses against your collarbone while you still refused to let go of her. You squeezed your eyes shut, realising you could've lost the best thing to ever happen to you on that damned night.

"As much as I love being glued to your chest, I do need a breather. You're suffocating me out here, babe."

You let out a soft chuckle, one that matched Love's, grabbed her head and planted a kiss on her forehead before letting her go. Love pulled back, her hands travelling to rest on your knees.

"I love you. We're safe. I will always be around to protect you. Nothing will ever happen again." She spoke the mantra she used whenever you needed reassurance.

You nodded, believing her, and planted a kiss on her lips, "I love you too."

"I will... always... protect you."

You were part of her family now, the best thing she had in her life. No one would ever hurt you again. And, as it seemed, Love had finally gotten what she had dreamed of--

Mornings together. Days together. Nights together. Together with you.

please do not copy, republish, translate, reproduce or use this imagine on wattpad or on other platforms. respect the author’s work

[to-star-lake]

in the early days when you joined bonten as their new advisor, you spent a lot of time with koko; drawing up business plans, managing the books, overseeing construction on new clubs and buildings.

koko had the nicest office of all of the bonten leaders. it was on the top floor of a highrise in the middle of the shibuya business district. complete with high-end leather and mahogany furniture, and a gorgeous city view.

you'd spent time with each of the bonten executives when you joined and koko was probably your favorite to work with. you found takeomi too serious, kakucho boorish, mochi too macho, the haitani's were exhausting, and sanzu..well..

koko was like you; blunt and efficient with work, a little impatient, maybe a little condescending. you enjoyed your daily work with him in his office. it was always quiet, productive, and his assistants always served the best sencha.

except today.

today when you walked in through the mahogany double doors that led to his office, you were almost decked in the face by a toy rubber basketball.

"he shoots! he scores? no! he misses!" you heard a voice yell, followed by a maniacal cackling.

what...the hell is this? the floor of koko's office, which was normally clean, surgically clean, was littered with teddy bears, squeak toys, board games with their pieces strewn about haphazardly, a jump rope, a putting green, and a trash bin overflowing with crumpled candy wrappers.

the rubber basketball that almost hit your head rolled towards the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves on one end of the room and you saw a kiddie basketball hoop attached to one of the shelves. and below that, sanzu, flopped on his stomach on the floor, a different flavored ring pop on each of his fingers.

"koko..i'm really bad at basketball," he grumbled, picking himself up and walked over to koko's desk, slamming his hands down on the surface, the sudden gust of wind almost blowing the stack of papers in front of koko away.

"oh no, well, why don't you go try the putt putt?" koko sighed, not even looking up from his work, waving his hand in the air like he was shooing away a fly. "ah, y/n! finally, someone sane. please, get over here, i need you to look at something," koko waved you over when he noticed you standing in the doorway.

you made your way across the minefield of toys on the floor and greeted sanzu as he walked past you. "good morning," you smiled cordially.

he sauntered past you, looking down at you through bloodshot, half-shut eyes, his usual sinister smile plastered wide across his face. he'd opened his mouth to say, "good morning, little prin-" but then stepped on a pile of toy soldiers and tripped, tumbling to the floor, his long limbs getting all tangled up in themselves.

"uh... hey, koko?" you took a seat in the armchair beside the desk, setting your laptop down on the tabletop. "what's going on here? where's mikey?"

koko let out an exasperated sigh, rolling his eyes. "sometimes mikey goes off on his own, and when he does, the rest of us have to take turns...babysitting," he nodded at the gangly man with bubblegum colored hair with a plastic toy putter in his hands. "i pulled the short straw today," he sighed, pushing the large binder of documents he was looking at over to you.

"koko!!"

"jesus, what now?" koko looked up, so annoyed you could almost see the steam coming out his ears.

"there's no balls," sanzu pointed at the putting green on the floor.

"well, who decided to ambush people by pelting them with the balls outside the bathroom last time?"

sanzu stared back at koko blankly.

"ugh, nevermind. could you play with something else? y/n and i have work to do." koko scooted his seat closer to you, and began circling a few line items on the page in front of you. "got this today from the guys over at the club in akasaka. these totals look off to you?"

you glanced over the document, and flipped back a few pages and reviewed the itemized lists also included in the binder. "damn," you said, looking up at koko. "these assholes are skimming."

koko opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by a sudden loud popping noise. both of you turned to see sanzu on the floor, pulling the heads off of a pile of barbie and ken dolls.

koko raised his hands to his temples, the frown lines between his eyebrows deepening by the second. "jesus christ, this psychotic clown, if he wasn't the number 2 I swear to god-” he muttered under his breath.

"hey, sanzu?" you called out and sanzu's head jerked up to look at you, his eyes suddenly bright and attentive, like a child amongst the sea of toys on the floor.

"yes, princess?" he called back.

"could you go on a coffee run for us?"

sanzu tilted his head a little, confused. "a coffee...run?"

"yeah...you know, to buy coffee?"

he blinked, still confused.

"to buy...starbucks?"

"ah! you want me to buy you starbucks," he suddenly shot up.

"yes! yes, please, for me and koko, that would be great," you smiled, thinking you were finally getting somewhere with him.

he walked over to the desk. "anything for you, princess. and you can call me haru," he hummed, taking a bright pink ring pop off his finger and sliding it onto your ring finger, and a blue one onto koko's ring finger. "be back in a flash."

he turned to walk out of the office, whistling and not bothering to avoid the toys scattered on the floor, simply stepping on them as he went.

the doors closed behind him and you turned to koko, "now we can get some work done."

"let's hope he takes his time," koko rolled his eyes, sliding the ring pop off his finger, holding onto only the plastic part as gingerly as possible, a disgusted look on his face because he could tell sanzu had definitely licked the candy already.

"is it always like this when mikey's away?"

"sanzu? yeah, pretty much. but mikey tolerates him cus he's been with him longer than any of us, he's his loyal mad dog," koko sighed. "but that bastard's insane. apparently back in the day he got moved back and forth between all of mikey's captains cus nobody could handle him."

"wow. yeah, i guess i can see that," you glanced over at all the toys scattered on the floor. "seems pretty tough for you too."

"oh, i've actually done the best with him," koko scoffed. "last time, he was the haitani brothers' responsibility, they decided to take him to a hostess club. thought it'd be a good distraction for him. crazy maniac decided to pay for all the women there."

"all of them? that's..that's a lot-"

"no, that's not the crazy part. he paid for all the women, and then made them line up against the wall with liquor bottles on top of their heads and he used them for target practice." koko ran a hand through his hair, sighing. "anyway, who knows when he's gonna be back so we should try to get as much done as possible while he's away."

you nodded. the two of you worked dilligently, reviewing the rest of the books collected from bonten's other clubs and businesses in town, making one stack for ones that pass, and one that required additional scrutiny.

after a while, you stretched your arms up over your head, noticing the sun hung high in the sky and glanced at the clock on the wall. it read 12:15.

"i wonder where he is," you said, realizing it'd been almost two and a half hours since he left.

"who knows what that lunatic gets up to," koko sighed, turning the page of the binder he was leafing through.

"i actually could've used some coffee though," you yawned.

"i can have my girls make some sencha-"

just then the doors to his office burst open, and sanzu staggered in, eyes blood red, a blue gift bag in one hand, the other dragging a giant 10-foot teddy bear behind him.

"and suddenly my headache's back," koko muttered and sanzu approached the two of you at the desk.

sanzu dragged the huge teddy bear over and plopped it beside you. "i got this for you, princess."

"hah..um...where'd you get this..giant thing?" you didn't even know where to begin.

"there's a carnival downtown. i got it playing a shooting game," he grinned from ear to ear. koko groaned, knowing sanzu, by 'shooting game' he probably meant he threatened to shoot the person manning the booth if he didn't give him the bear.

"hah..i see, thank you. but why is it missing its eyes?" you asked, looking at the bear's face and noticing the eyeballs had been ripped out, only some tattered threads remained in the sockets.

"they were ugly," sanzu shrugged. "koko, i got you something too," he dropped the gift bag down in front of koko.

"thanks.." koko reached into the bag and pulled out a tiny cross-stitched sweater which could've only been made for an infant. "uh...dude, what is this?"

"it's a sweater for your chihuahua," sanzu explained, yawning and plopping down onto a chair by the desk.

"i don't have a chihuahua?"

"i could've sworn you did," sanzu tilted his head, as though in deep thought. "oh, i guess it's just you that's always yapping. it's amazing y/n puts up with this every day," he laughed, but his tone was filled with hostility.

you saw koko's body tense in your periphery and you quickly spoke up to diffuse the sudden tension. "haru, did you get coffee?"

"coffee? oh! the starbucks. yes, i did."

you stared back at him. "that's great, uh...so where is it?"

"on the corner of harajuku square, by yoyogi station," he smiled.

"what?"

"oh my god," koko groaned, raising his palms to his eyes and rubbing them in circles.

you looked back and forth between koko and sanzu.

koko took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair, turning to look at you. "he bought the starbucks."

[young-dumb-and-vaccinated]

Cult Girl: Doctorate (Hannibal x Female!Reader) pt. 8

Cult girl and Hannibal go through an exhaustive list of potential adoptive couples. 

@wisesandwichshark

Trigger warning: sexual harassment, christianity, discussion of pregnancy and family planning, adoption, murder and cannibalism 

Step two: find an adoptive family.

Some would say your list of expectations for potential adoptive parents was too extensive. Impossible for any human to reach. But it was really just the bare minimum.

Regardless of if they were two men, two women, one of each, or a few people, the parents had to be trustworthy. It wasn't easy to earn Hannibal's trust, but he could recognize those who had the capacity to right away. It was a little instinct you had dubbed 'friend or food'.

On paper, the apostolic pastor and his wife of 19 years seemed like the perfect candidates. The adoption agency tried to push them on you, as they had a great track record with adopting from them prior. Three boys, all of which were honors students.

Hannibal insisted on a formal introduction, during which you could conduct a proper, though surreptitious, interview. It was an invitation to dinner.

He invited the couple into his office, where a pot of tea and an interrogation was waiting for them. Then there was you. Barely-pregnant little [F/N], feeling entirely safe so long as your fiancé was beside you.

"You're doing the right thing, y'know." The woman, who introduced herself as Mrs. Landon, said upon meeting you.

"How do you mean?" You asked, already knowing the answer.

"All god's life is precious." She said, placing a hand on your not-even-remotely-showing-yet stomach. "You're walking in obedience to the lord by giving this child a shot at life."

Strike one: bringing up religion unprompted. Strike two: touching me without asking first.

You wanted to swat her hand away, but remembered that patience was a virtue. She and her husband took a seat across from you.

"Y'know," The man began, his mannerisms eerily similar to those of his wife. "I don't usually begin with the god talk, but I think a higher power had to have been involved in the conception of this- well, our child. I'd like to think the good lord brought us together today."

Strike three: already believes he is entitled to my child. You're outta here.

"Don't flatter the adoption agency like that, Jacob." Hannibal chuckled, placing his teacup on the side table.

"I'm serious, Dr. Lecter." Jacob interjected. "Faith and I really do believe that god put us on this earth to prepare his smallest soldiers for the spiritual war."

You shot Hannibal a side glance that said 'can we please just eat them now?'.

The answer was no. Hannibal liked to play with his food.

"And your adult children have all moved out?" He asked.

"That's right." Jacob nodded. "We have plenty of room in our five-bedroom house for the new little slugger to run around in."

"And if it's a girl!" The wife interrupted. "We have enough closet space for all the denim maxi-skirts money could buy."

Strike four: arbitrarily genders the behavior of a nine-week-old embryo.

The man then returned the teacup to the table, not bothering to use the saucer and instead leaving a nasty ring of condensation on the polished mahogany.

"Okay." Hannibal huffed, resignedly rising from his seat. He pulled two hypodermic needles from his back pocket and carefully, subtly stuck them onto the couples' necks. They couldn't even scream.

The tacos al pastor that followed (after a few days of marinating, of course) were exquisite.

The next week brought a new couple to your doorstep. Frank and Angela, they were named. Their claim to fame was that their oldest son played football for one of those big southern party schools. Either Auburn or Alabama. There was hardly a difference.

You sat for what felt like hours listening to the man speak in unintelligible football babble, waiting for him to take a breath. Surprisingly, it was the mom who got him to finally shut up.

"Frank, please." She said with more frustration than this one situation even remotely warranted. Either she had enough intuition to know she was being tested, or she’d spent the last decade putting up with this. Possibly both. "You're boring our hosts to death."

"What? No way! She loves it!" Frank replied, then turned to you. Not to Hannibal, just you. “Aren’t you having a great time, sweetheart?” 

Strike one: takes advantage of the female socialization to be passive and polite, allowing himself to take up the most space.

You shook your head. “I hate football.” 

His wife looked quite pleased with herself. 

“Angie, I just wanted her to know what good breeding her son is going to have.” He said, without a lick of irony or self-awareness. He eyed you up and down and licked his lips. “And it is mutual, I see.” 

The room went quiet as everyone tried to determine whether he was serious or if it was just a fucked-up joke. The longer the silence lingered, the more you realized he wasn’t kidding. Angela looked like she wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

“I don’t know what the agency told you, Mr. Wyatt,” Hannibal said, trying not to grit his teeth. “She isn’t a surrogate. She’s already pregnant.” 

Frank’s jaw hung dumbly open. “I thought you were looking for a sperm donor? I just-” 

“No.” You cut him off, raising your hand and covering your face. “I don’t want to know what you thought.” 

“Well, I would!” Angela interjected, righteous fury eclipsing what should have been crippling embarrassment. “What exactly did you think this was, Francis?” 

“The file said that he was over fifty, so I just assumed--” Frank rationalized, his voice far too loud for the room. “Y’know? That she wanted a baby that wouldn’t come out all funny-looking?” 

“You’re disgusting.” You blurted out. 

“Francis Howard Wyatt,” Angela scolded as if she were talking to her son. “You are forty-eight and the only increasing part of your body is your blood pressure. Why on Earth would any woman choose you over her smart, handsome doctor fiancé?”

This made Hannibal sit up a little straighter. He wanted Francis on the butcher’s block yesterday, but he momentarily considered letting Angela live. 

“They’re not married?” Frank whispered, or whatever the loud-aggressive-toxic-masculinity version of whispering was. He paused, as the dead hamster on the wheel powering his brain crept back to life. “That actually makes sense.” 

Angela loudly smacked her hand against her face. “Dr. Lecter, Ms. [L/N], I am so sorry.” 

“It’s quite alright, Mrs. Wyatt.” Hannibal stood up, readying the next batch of needles. “It just makes what I’m about to do easier.” 

It took quite a bit of restraint to not make their deaths hurt, but he made up for it when it came time to carve. He had fun running his fittingly small penis through a meat grinder. Not with any intent to cook it, though. Just because. 

Hannibal wanted to make Francis Wyatt into the least dignified meal imaginable. You quickly recalled going to a friend’s barbeque in Georgia and encountering a horrendously Southern delicacy known as Frito Pie. You proposed the idea to Hannibal, who, after reviling in abject horror at the notion of eating something out of a bag, agreed that it was the most fitting end. He could spare a few pounds of flesh to grind up and make into chili. 

The third week brought yet another couple. They seemed smart enough to realize your invitation wasn't the friendly olive branch the others had interpreted it as. Their healthy skepticism was refreshing, to say the least. Then, you met them: Max and Archie.

"You'll have to forgive my partner's paranoia." Max said upon entering the house. He tugged playfully at Archie's hand. "We watched Get Out recently, so an invitation to the suburbs sounded some alarms in his sleep-deprived brain."

"I love that movie." You chimed in. "It reminds me of my family."

"Oh no." Archie's eyes widened in only half-pretend fear. He shot an I-told-you-so look in his partner's direction. 

"But my favorite horror flick has to be Midsommar." You added. "My friends and I saw a midnight screening and we didn't sleep at all that night."

"But have you seen Hereditary?" Archie posited.

"Of course." You shrugged. "Aster is totally genius."

You made more than just polite conversation with the couple. Max, despite his young age, was a skilled data analyst and day trader. He attributed his success to the hard work of his immigrant parents. Archie was an environmental lawyer and land activist. He was also a bit of a thrill junkie, indulging in everything from scary movies to bungee jumping.

It didn't take long to realize that you wouldn't be eating them. They were far too pleasant of company to eat.

"So when is this baby planning to make its entrance?" Archie asked, gesturing to you. "You don’t look all that pregnant to me."

You put your hand over your slightly-protruding stomach. "Late August, I believe. If everything goes according to plan."

"You're not far along at all, aren’t you?" Max observed. "That gives us plenty of time to prove ourselves to you."

"Believe me." You put up your hand. "You're doing a great job so far."

“If you like horror stories, we might have to indulge you in the last two encounters we had.” Hannibal commented, leaning back comfortably in his chair. That was a good sign. “No blood was spilled, thank god. Would have ruined my carpets. But believe me when I tell you it came very close.” 

The couple laughed along. Archie leaned in like he was about to tell a life-shattering secret. “You wouldn’t believe the hoops we had to jump through to even have the chance to adopt. And I don’t want to say that it’s because we’re an interracial gay couple, but...” 

“Agencies aren’t exactly colorblind.” You finished, via his prompting. 

“She gets it.” Archie pointed to you. “See, Maxie? She agrees with me.” 

Max pushed his glasses up his nose. “I never said I disagreed.” 

You spent the rest of the afternoon waiting for the conversation to take a sharp left turn off a cliff, but it didn’t happen. They were wonderful company; polite, intelligent and articulate. Exactly the kind of people you’d want to see taking care of your child. 

You’d have to look for you next meal elsewhere. 

[rivers-rambles21]

The one with the surprise

Part 5 of The one where Bucky has a cute neigbour series!

Pairing: Bucky Barnes X Reader (f)

Summary | Reader and Bucky become friends after he saves her from  a creep in their apartment building. Each chapter explores a different  point in their friendship - very slow burn!

Warnings | 18+ only, Smut in later chapters (this is a slow burn), swearing, unprotected sex, oral sex, cockwarming (later chapters)

Will include elements of TFATWS in later chapters

Chapter 5 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 1 | Masterlist

“C’mon, where are you taking me doll?”

Bucky trailed behind you, his feet dragging as he continued to moan about your late night adventure. You’d lured him out with a promise of pizza but as you exited the train in Queens, his mood had turned sour. 

“Not much further, I promise” You waited for him to catch up and looped your arm through his. “Have I ever steered you wrong?” 

“Pineapple on pizza comes to mind” He muttered, eyes darting around the quiet street.

With a sigh you dug into your purse and retrieved your secret weapon “I’ll give you these if you stop whining” You shook the bag of cashews you’d picked up from the store in front of his face before swiftly moving it from his grasp. “Nope! Hey!” Bucky had made a grab for the bag but you’d quickly anticipated his move and spun on the spot, taking it out of reach. 

As you turned, Bucky’s arm moved with you, pulling him into your back as you bent over in an attempt to stop him from getting his snack.

You laughed as he snaked his arm around your side, pulling you flush against him as he tried to take the bag from you, his fingers brushing your sides in an attempt to tickle you. 

With a jolt, your ass pressed back into him in a vain attempt to free yourself from his grasp. You both stilled as your behind pressed into his crotch, acutely aware of just what you were feeling. Bucky was the first to act and swiftly removed his arms from around you, glancing around in embarrassment. 

Standing straight, you adjusted your dress which had become dislodged. “Shall we?” You asked, trying to act as though nothing happened. 

“Yep.” He responded, a bit too quickly. 

To try and ease the tension, you ripped open the bag of nuts. “Here” You threw one toward him which he caught with his mouth effortlessly. “Thanks doll” 

You smiled back and looped your arm back into his, directing him down the road. 

A few minutes later you arrived at your destination and you held your breath as you both looked up at the building. 

“What do you think?” 

Bucky simply glanced down and smiled at you, his white teeth catching the light from the street lights. 

“This is one of the very few perks I get with my job, I figured who better to enjoy it with?”

“How do we get in?” Bucky asked, pulling you towards the doors at the front. 

“Security will let us in, they’ll be doing the odd patrol as standard but apart from that, we’ll have the place to ourselves” 

“Y/n… this is incredible” 

“Yeah well… I knew you wouldn’t come here because of the crowds and I didn’t want you to miss out.”

You’d brought him to the New York Hall of Science in Queens way past closing time. After dedicating to a ridiculous amount of unpaid overtime, your boss had finally relented and given you access to the contacts who ran the museum. Using your company's connections, you’d manage to swindle full exclusive access to the museum for the entire night. 

Over the past few months you’d picked up on Bucky’s interests, one of them being technology. Despite spending most of the last 70 years in a big freezer, he loved technology of the modern age, often speaking of the projects Shuri was working on in Wakanda.

You spent the next hour or so strolling around the many exhibits, reading up on each subject and interacting with the activities throughout the building. Bucky didn’t know where to look next, each section of the museum peaking his interest more and more. 

“Okay so I may have one more surprise for you” You confessed as you gently steered him towards the theatre.

Bucky remained silent as he felt himself become overwhelmed. He was genuinely touched by the thought you’d put into the entire evening, slightly bewildered why you even bothered with him in the first place. He knew he could be hard work, he often spent days being a miserable bastard, responding with only sarcasm. Yet you stuck around and got to know him and his quirks. Heck the two of you had gotten that close you knew how he’d been eager to pay a visit to the museum but hadn’t due to the worry of being recognised.

He’d now stopped kidding himself and accepted he felt something more than friendship for you. At first he brushed his feelings off as purely physical as afterall it had been over 70 years since he’d been with a woman and he’s not blind. Everything you did drove him insane. It took all his self control to stop himself from kissing you senseless every time you hung out. 

The closer you both got, the deeper he fell for you. He tried his best to find fault with you but he came up short every time. 

He loved how easy you were to talk to, how you never pushed him too far or tried to change him into something he’s not. He loved how selfless you were, always thinking of others before yourself. He also loved how thoughtful you were, constantly coming up with plans or ideas on what you both could do so he wasn’t cooped up in his apartment all day. 

Bucky had fallen hard.

“Now we do have other options if you’re not feeling it but I thought we could watch the original Dracula!” 

Bucky couldn’t hold back his smile as you looked up at him with excitement etched across your face. All he wanted to do was kiss you. 

“So what do you think?” You asked, waiting for his response. 

“I think you’re incredible.” You beamed up at him and led him into the quiet theatre which was housed within the museum. 

“Grab a seat and I’ll be right back” 

Bucky nodded in response and picked one of the seats in the middle of the empty theatre, pulling his phone out as he did. He flicked through some of the pictures you had both taken throughout the evening, landing on the one of you both in the space exhibit. He’d bent down to your level for the photo to be taken, your arms not quite long enough to get you both in frame otherwise. You’d flashed a smile for the photo, leaning back into him, pressing your face against his as he did his best to pose for the photo. It had been a long time that he’d had a photo taken that wasn’t linked to a crime. Smiling to himself, he updated his settings and set it to his background. 

The lights then dimmed and the screen changed as the movie began. A moment later the door swung open and closed as you entered the theatre, your shoes stomping down the isles as you raced over to Bucky, eager to get there before the film started.

“I remember seeing this when it first came out.” Bucky confessed, a small smile gracing his face as he recalled the memory. “Me and Steve snuck in shortly after it started, we were too broke and young to get in on our own. He was so worried we’d get caught he spent the entire movie watching the door.” 

You laughed along with him, struggling to imagine the Captain America you’d seen on the news sneaking into a movie theatre. Reaching into your bag, you pulled out the blanket you had brought with you and covered you both in it, sinking into the warmth it gave as the movie began.

Although it was a horror, you both couldn't help but laugh at some of the scenes, special effects had come a long way since the 30’s. 

The evening had gone exactly as planned. You’d wanted to do something special for Bucky for a while, knowing he didn’t venture out much due to the large crowds making him a bit uneasy.

Your friends at work had teased you about it after they heard the hoops you had jumped through to pull the entire thing off; knowing you wouldn’t put in so much effort for someone you regarded as just a friend. 

You’d wanted your relationship with Bucky to develop into something more for a while now; you couldn’t deny the attraction you had with him and the bond that had developed. Deep down though, you knew he had a lot going on that he needed to work through and you didn’t want to get in the way of that. You heard his tortured screams on a night as the nightmares took a hold of him. You never brought it up but you saw how it affected him. The dark circles under his eyes were always a dead give away.

Although your body craved something more with him, you were content on leaving things how they were. You genuinely enjoyed spending time with him and wouldn’t risk losing it.

It was the early morning when you both left the museum, having thoroughly enjoyed yourselves. Due to the late hour you agreed on hailing a taxi and sat in comfortable silence on the journey home as you struggled to keep your eyes open. Begrudgingly you watched as Bucky paid the driver as you reached your apartment building and accepted his hand as he helped you out of the cab. 

“Thank you for tonight” 

“Don’t mention it” You replied as you entered the empty elevator, pressing the button for your floor. 

“The last person who did anything like that for me was Steve” He confessed as he rubbed the gold markings on his vibranium hand, not quite knowing what to do with himself.

“You’re making me blush Serg” The nickname slipped out without you realising and you glanced a peak over at the man beside you. 

He simply shook his head, grinning to himself as he followed you out of the elevator. 

[pillow-anime-talk]

chibi-chan.

synopsis: A little bit of jokes about your height from GoM’s boys or situations where you need some help. But don’t worry, we all know that you are super cute and adorable.

# tags: scenarios; current relationships; comedy; fluff; romance; jokes; also protective/helpful boyfriends; sfw

includes: female reader ft. ryouta kise, daiki aomine, shintarou midorima, atsushi murasakibara, seijuurou akashi & tetsuya kuroko {knb}

— RYOUTA

You’ve been wondering how to impress your boyfriend for a few days, because he hasn’t paid much attention to you for a long time. Even when you came in a different hairstyle or changed your perfume, Ryouta just smiled at you, then stole one kiss from you and run for basketball team training...

Oh, right. Basketball. You didn’t know a bigger fan of this sport than your boyfriend. Stupid thought of playing basketball passed through your head to show off your skills (or rather attempts to have any skills to play in this sport) to Kise.

The more you thought about it, the more convinced you were. You decided to try and on Friday immediately after your lessons you went to the gym. You knew that at 5 p.m. the Kaijou team would start their training, so you only had an hour to take off your whole uniform, jump into the P.E.’s tracksuit and pick one ball from the big bin and start slowly throwing into the basket hoop.

Of course, it’s easy to guess that it was hard for you to hit into the hoop with your... small height. Certainly when you were born, you didn’t queue for ‘being tall’, but rather for a nice smile and big eyes. No wonder that for the first ten casts only one was successful and it was certainly a coincidence, because the ball spun three times on the rim before falling inside.

“I suck in this game.” You muttered under your breath, again taking a position on the first line on the court.

You were so absorbed in the game that you didn’t even notice how a curious blond-head looked inside the gym because of the noise and the light on. What a surprise for Kaijou’s ace who saw you in front of the basketball board and the ball in your hands.

However, when he noticed your next inaccurate shot he laughed under his breath. “I think you’re a little too short for this game, Y/Ncchi.” He said in an amused voice, entered the room. You turned to the voice and then sighed.

“And too short for you to notice me, huh?” You added wearily, catching the ball.

“Y/Ncchi... I always see you!”

“I don’t think so. But I don’t blame you. I just wanted to... impress you. You like basketball, so maybe you would like me more if I could play with you.” You shrugged, throwing ball into the hoop again. Miss. “Shit.”

The blonde man shook his head approaching you. “I like you no matter what you do or how you do it. You don’t have to play basketball to impress me. You should change you for you and only you, not me or someone else. Anyway, I said what I said. I notice you all the time, Y/Ncchi. You looked pretty last time when you had a ponytail. Your new perfume was amazing too. Hmm, now when I think about it, I don’t praised you for that, right? But know that I appreciate everything you do.” He confessed quietly, patting you on the head. “And now Chibicchi, I’ll show you how to play basketball, because you have a terrible position to throw a ball...”

— DAIKI

Aomine definitely loved teasing you the most if your height was at stake. He usually made you as his own armrest or asked what’s weather below. They were a puppy jokes that somewhat irritated you, somewhat amused you, and somewhat embarrassed you, but what can you do? After all, they were just pokes and you knew that well. In retaliation, you often mocked him by calling him a ladder, giraffe or Eiffel Tower.

Daiki was glad you weren’t offended about it because... you were incredibly cute to him when your cheeks turned red and slight insults came from your lips. Of course he would never say it out loud, but you were super fluffy for him and he liked this side of you. And hey, as your tall boyfriend he had nice views from above. For this and if necessary he liked to take you on his lap or cuddle with you on the armchair, because you were the pocket-sized person and he could cover your whole body by his.

But as I wrote, Aomine would never have said it out loud. He just always laughed, saying you were shrunk again.

Of course, Daiki wasn’t such a bastard to you.

I mean, yes. Aomine had the right to make fun of you, but no one else him could do it, because he knew that after all your height is your complex. Your boyfriend spoke his jokes in a gentle way, always saying at the end that he loves your body anyway, because of this he feels more manly and needful. He didn’t spare wet kisses or hickeys on your chest at that time, so you didn’t feel bad with him. You love each other very much.

However, when other people’s jokes were involved, such as those from girls who were jealous of your blue-haired man or gross jokes from boys who didn’t like Aomine or wanted to pick you up... Daiki changed his mood immediately.

Just like now, when you were walking towards Aomine’s class to go to the roof with him and have breakfast. Unfortunately, just before the door a couple of first-year students stopped you; one of them hit the wall with his hand, blocking the way for you.

“Hey, Y/N-chan. Oh, this bento is for me?” The tall black-haired boy took your breakfast box, then raised it high up, smiling broadly. “Thank you, it’s really nice. You are such a damn cutie.”

“Please, no. W-Wait...”

“Maybe we’ll arrange a date? We can go to the cinema and then to me. I think it won't be a problem with you getting into my bed, because you're so small...”

“Don’t touch me and give my bento back!” You jumped to catch the white box, but in vain.

“Oh, I have great views from my perspective.” The teenager laughed, not even noticing the shadow of a much taller person behind him. The box with your bento was picked up and the perverted student was pressed against the wall next to you.

“Why don’t you repeat what you just said a moment ago?” Daiki asked and you immediately ran up to him, hiding behind him. “Harassing girls... especially girls in the relationship... It’s really shitty, don’t you think? Get out, brat and never approach my girlfriend again.”

As I said, only Daiki can use your height for kissing or joking.

And of course to show that he’s the best boy on the whole world.

— SHINTAROU

Your boyfriend was a difficult man. He rarely showed any emotions, but you knew that he cares about you very much and despite his cold behavior he always worries about you.

No less, Midorima is... Midorima. You didn’t know any bigger tsundere than him; especially when you two were together at the random moment.

Like. Did you forget your scarf? No problem, Shintarou will lend you his own and tell you that you are irresponsible and childish. You’re hungry? All right, your boyfriend will buy you something from the school cafeteria or share his bento saying it’s the last time he does it for you (spoiler: this isn’t the last time because he’s a simp for you anyway). You’re tired? Girl... Midorima will take you on his lap and hug you so tight that your heart will melt, but three times he will mention that you can’t tell anyone about this situation. Mom, I love him.

In any case, Shin has his own way of showing affection, which is primarily based on texting to you or bringing for you your lucky items for the day; for example, recently, Midorima brought you a key ring with a puppy's pendant, because Oha Asa mentioned that this wouldn't be a good day for your zodiac... Sweet.

Today, however, he brought to school only an item for you (by the way, it was a Tokyo’s guide), or so you thought, because Shintarou always discusses with you about his lucky thing. And today he didn’t say a single word about it. He only took your hand and led you to class, saying that he would come for you at your next break.

And so, throughout today’s day Midorima didn’t leave you even for a moment, and by the way he still walked with you by the hand, which was a bit strange for you because Shin didn't like a public PDA. Takao was equally surprised.

Only when you started coming back to home with the green-haired man who was walking next to you (of course with your fingers laced with his) you decided to ask Shintarou if something had happened.

“So... your today’s happy item is a holding hands or maybe rather a woman’s hand?” You asked seriously, laughing under your breath, at which Midorima looked at you surprised.

“No.” He said honestly, so you immediately thought that your boyfriend joined into a PDA lovers! You were about to say something, but he continued. “My lucky thing for today is something small, that’s why I thought about you.”

You hit the boy on the shoulder, blushing furiously. “Idiot.”

— ATSUSHI

With Murasakibara, no matter if you were 155 centimeters tall, 168 centimeters tall or even 180 centimeters tall... you would still be small for him. And because you were below average, your relationship looked at least funny, but also sweet.

Of course, Atsushi didn’t care about your height, what’s more – he considered that it’s your advantage because he was pleased to took you in his arms while watching movies or grab your hands and play with them. Therefore, while you were next to him, you praised him and (maybe) from time to time you fed or played with his hair, Murasakibara paid no attention to your height. And when someone asked him if he didn't mind about it, he answered with his the most weary voice ‘Why would that kind of things should bother me? My Y/N-chin is my Y/N-chin and I like her no matter what. Do you have any problem with her or me?’

Of course, Atsushi is a big baby who likes to tease you, but he doesn’t use words for it; I mean, very often, when you want to kiss him, a tall boy laughs quietly and specifically asks that ‘huh, do you have a problem’ to reaching his lips. He always suggests bringing a ladder or chair. You snort, hitting him at the waist and laught shortly after that. Finally, you always pull him by the shirt to bend him down. He can't refuse you anyway.

Especially when you threaten him with not giving him snacks the next day.

Atsushi is a very supportive boy! If someone else teases you and you feel bad about your height difference, then your man always grabs the other person's head and asks rhetorically whether to crush him. Therefore, in order not to feel bad about it, you immediately offer him something to eat; if it's one of his three favorite dishes he'll probably follow you like a faithful dog.

‘Sushi likes to lift you up and help you to get to the basket board. His height is also very helpful when you cook something together, and he has the task of reaching for ingredients or bowls.

Nevertheless, sometimes he can’t refrain from saying that you are really smol. And if you’re together among the crowd, he sometimes he loses sight of you.

Fortunately, Atsu is so tall that you can find he quickly (usually at food stalls).

“You’re lost again, Y/N-chin...”

“You went to the snack machine without even telling me anything!” You laughed reaching for your wallet to buy ice cream for both of you.

“Sorry, sometimes I forget that you’re so small and have short legs, Chibi-chin.”

— SEIJUUROU

Your boyfriend definitely isn’t one of those type who joke about such serious matters as appearance, style or diseases. However, if he only saw or heard that someone was laughing at you, he immediately appeared next to your figure, which caused the tormentor escape. No one dared to object to Seijuurou, it’s a fact.

Akashi, of course, didn’t laugh at your height as I wrote, but this doesn’t mean that he didn’t like the fact that you asked him a favor or asked him to give you something or help you in doing a random thing. This brat asked for something in return each time; usually it was a kiss but sometimes it was also something more.

In any case, your man always went into defense mode when he was with you, through what many people were surprised by his change from Akashi in the basketball team > Akashi in the company of Y/N.

For example, imagine such a scene: You go to your home with Seijuurou because the boy decided to help you with chemistry and physic, but on your the way you unfortunately stumble over the protruding curb and fall into the ground, injuring your knee. Sei immediately changes from ‘full seriousness’ to “God, honey, are you all right?”

“Sei-kun, I’m not dying.”

“Yes, but it looks really bad. Let me take you in my arms.”

“Seijuurou-kun, I can really go on my own legs.”

“I won’t let you. Come here.”

“You’ll be tired and I’m heavy.”

“No, you’re not. You’re tiny.”

There really is no point in arguing with him because you won’t win anyway. Although you have to admit that thanks to the pink-haired you feel really loved and appreciated. There is no person in the world who cares about you like Akashi.

— TETSUYA

This boy is literally an angel. He probably won’t say a bad word about your height, but if he does, he will be 100% unknowingly about it and if he quickly understands his mistake, he will apologize for it; for example, he says you have recently seemed taller, but after a while he will remember that you were wearing shoes with a higher heel that day, not sneakers. Tetsuya is the most supportive boy in the world who will help you with everything you have a problem with.

You can’t reach the top shelf in the store? Kuroko will take your favorite cereal without a word and say that if you need something else from this or other shelf, just tell him. Do you have a problem with hanging laundry or putting curtains on your window? Tetsuya will gladly help you or lift your body to make you more comfortable. Are you cold? This cutie will lend you his sweatshirt/jacket/blanket, saying that you should take care of yourself, because you quickly catch a cold.

You! Literally! Have! Nothing! To! Complain! About!

Angel. I said what I said.

Kuroko isn’t one of the highest either people, so he is somewhat happy that his girlfriend is much shorter than him and sometimes needs his help for even such simple matters as changing a light bulb, reaching for a book in the library or chips from the storage locker in kitchen.

Sometimes, however, you get the impression that Kuroko is too worried about you. Like at this moment when you were going to go swimming with your boyfriend in the lake because you and your friends from Seirin went for a little rest. And also ‘cause the basketball team has a training under the supervision of Riko.

“Y/N-chan can you swim here? It’s quite deep. I’m worried.”

“Yes, Tetsuya, I can handle it. But I will take your hand when I feel threatened.”

“Yes, but you can hurt yourself. Grab me now. Pretty please.”

Kuroko is definitely cute and lovely, but he should chill.

[heliads]

Haha being sick means I have nothing but time so I can spew out my thoughts about things that have bothered me so I'm all in for spilling the tea 😂

i'm not saying fic writers have to jump through hoops trying to perfectly fit every facet of a character's personality into their fics

That's one way how some people seem to misinterpret people who ask for in character Kaz pieces, they start defending themselves and being like "yoU CAN'T ASK ME TO BE LEIGH BARDUGO" and I'm like??? No??? But it can't be so fricking hard to keep Kaz's fingers off Y/N 😅 And if you can't create cuteness and a romantic relationship into the fic without Kaz being glued to the reader, people will less likely read it if they appreciate in character stuff more than OOC stuff. If you simply don't know how to do that realistically, you should practice, ask for advice from writers who know how to do it etc if you actually want attention here and want more people to actually read your stuff and not just scroll past.

For some time, I offered help with people's shorter pieces (under 1k), looking them over and saying if I found anything to fix. A lot of times, when a OOC Kaz piece was presented to me and I pointed out that (for example) that passionate, heated kiss against the wall comes way too soon with Kaz's character, maybe it could be replaced with a partial handhold or something, some people defended themselves with "BUT I WANT THEM TO KISS!!!" and I replied ok, that's cool, it's your fic. Once a writer came back after a discussion like that accusing ME for still not getting enough attention for their piece even through they had me proofread it and "approve it" and said I was no use and they wasted their time on me, the situation ended in me having to block them. (This happened in like October? November?, I made a post about not being a public beta anymore shortly after and deleted all my posts where I advertised my will to look through short pieces and giving constructive feedback if someone wants to improve as people rarely bother to give other feedback than "part 2?" if that either)

I've gotten thank you's more than once because I write Kaz as he is, or at least try to write him as he is. People feeling the need to say thank you about it tells me that they haven't found many other writers who write in character Kaz either which is… kinda concerning in terms of enjoyable Kaz x reader content.

Also!! I've talked about this once in my blog last year, but imo people writing Kaz as this cuddle monster who healed only because of the Power of Love creates a harmful illusion of the reader having "fixed" him. If Kaz was real and I encountered him and immediately started to train him into being able to touch me, it might end up with his condition becoming worse because I'd pressure him into it too quickly and too soon. A lot of such relationships lead to breaking up because the partner isn't patient enough/is just unable to work through their s/o's traumas which prevents them from doing normal relationship stuff. It's incredibly exhausting in the end, and most of us might think we could do it but if we really got a such person in front of us we start crushing on and dating them, it would most likely turn out to be a lot harder than we thought, it's incredibly emotionally draining.

I once had a friend who had intense traumas because her mother was a monster and all that stuff and those delusions she had of her own husband… yeah, if my boyfriend constantly accused of me of something like that, I wouldn't have been able to take it for very long. Like she weekly accused of him of cheating, talking shit behind her back to her friends and they all having a "conspiracy" against her to ruin her live, stealing money from her, planning to leave her, insulted him having hypersensitive hearing and he couldn't stand her playing a flute etc. Those accusations eventually also mirrored onto me after she quit her medicines which, on a bad day, made me snap at her -> she wrote shit about me into multiple forums with my name -> her other friends attacked me on social media, through my irl friends and even here in my blog -> I confronted her about it -> she cut ties with me and poured all the fault on me and still continues with her parade after 2½ years from that, lastly she sent me an anon message accusing me of trolling myself which she has done multiple times since 2019. But if my boyfriend, someone who I'd deeply love, would be like that, I'd probably break into a million little pieces. Well, I don't think Kaz would be that messed up in a relationship, but it's just that traumas may do a lot of stuff, they may turn a person toxic even, like it did with H/that ex-friend.

+ People seem to forget that Kaz definitely isn't a good man. He's feared, and he aims to be feared, the most feared man in Ketterdam. Being a teary-eyed puppy whenever Y/N bats her eyelashes at him just doesn't fit the picture. And yeah, of course people can write about a character like that who's named Kaz Brekker who lives in Ketterdam and runs a gang, but it isn't the Grishaverse Kaz. It's just someone who took slight inspiration from Kaz but has mostly been built again, and most people don't want to read about a Kaz who isn't our Kaz.

hope you're feeling better, jenni! also i'm so sorry to hear about that stuff with your friend, you definitely don't deserve any of that.

but yeah, i feel like it's pretty difficult to find in character kaz fics. i mean, every fic author has a slightly different take on any given character, but still. if you want a grishaverse morally gray mob character who's affectionate, jesper is right there!!

aa it's just so frustrating to get reqs for very ooc stuff. i agree, most of the time i don't take them either, it just gets annoying after a while lol

[imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl]

The Perfect Bad Boy (Pt. 05 of 18)

Pairing: Billy Hargrove X Reader

Word count: 2.8K

Summary: Working as a lifeguard in the Hawkins Community Pool, you try to fit in after moving from New York. Things were going pretty well when you notice you've been under someone's stare. Billy Hargrove, Hawkins' bad boy, has been staring at you since day one. You never intended to have anything to do with him, judging by the reputation he has. But Billy won't leave you alone, determined to show you his feelings are different this time...

As if your heart flooding you with confusing feelings wasn't enough, there are weird, strange animals lurking in the woods... But those have to be just part of the wild live of the woods surrounding Hawkins... Right?

<- Previous part (04)

Next part (06)->

{Stranger Things Masterlist}

×

Would You Believe Me?

“When are you planning to tell me about this Billy?” Diane stands by the kitchen door frame, an eyebrow raised at you.

Taking another bite of your apple, you roll your eyes. “He's just a friend. I have nothing to say.”

“I know you, (Y/N). And I know you've been hanging out with him.” She comes to sit across from you at the table, and you feel like a child under her stare. Diane has always been your best adviser, the one you tell everything since you can remember. But you couldn't bring yourself to tell her about Billy yet. With Monica, you don't have a choice since you work with her, and she has been around when some stuff happened. But with Diane... You feel like it'll make things real.

You're just about to deny everything again when you remember how confused you are, how there's always a fight inside of you, between two different lines of thought, and suddenly you need Diane's opinion on it. “Billy is a friend.” It's different now, you're admitting it. “He... He offered me a ride home when my car wouldn't start and we stopped to eat tacos. A couple of days after he stopped by this snack bar I was with Monica's friends and... Well, he punched David in the face because he called me dumb.” The memory brings a smile to your lips.

“What?” My aunt smiles too. “I heard some kids talking about David being beat up but I'd never guess that. What else?”

“Uhm... He said he likes me that day.”

“Oh...” She mumbles, furrowing her eyebrows. “So Billy is interested in you.”

Shaking your head slightly, you look down. “He's as interested as he would be in any other girl, right?” Your voice is lower now. “Aunt, Billy is the perfect bad boy. He has the looks, the attitudes, the pretty face, the breathtaking body, and the long list of heartbroken girls.”

“Honey, haven't you heard?” Diane keeps her voice light, taking your hand over the table. “They say the perfect bad boy is bad with everyone except to his girl.”

“Well, I'm not his girl,” you mutter, not sure why saying this makes you feel sad. You shouldn't be so sad about something that's true, something that you made up your mind about. “We're bound to break apart.”

“(Y/N), you're a smart woman. You can read the signs and I trust you to choose what's best for you, as you always have. Even when it meant to leave New York behind and come to such a strange place.” Her eyes are like beacons, reassuring you. You wish she was your mother instead of Kate. “You'll know if you're meant to be with Billy or not. I trust you enough for that, as should you.”

“I love you, aunt.” You breathe out, standing up and hugging her. “Thank you... And not only for this, but for everything. For taking me in and for moving here with me.”

“It was a pleasure, honey. Both to come back to my hometown and to be with you.” Diane never had kids, and her husband died eight years ago. She's still young though, and you hope she finds someone. But until then, you're ok with being somehow her kid. “Now I gotta go. Have a nice day at work.”

“You too.”

Half an hour later you're at the pool, on your chair, eyes scanning the sea of people. The sun is shining bright, and the kids seem especially electrified today. Despite having a lot of people to watch over, you're getting bored by the second, finally understanding why Monica sometimes complains so much about this job.

Billy, as usual, keeps shooting you glances every now and then, winking and smiling when you look his way. After rolling your eyes at him for the hundredth time this morning, you turn your gaze at Monica, who has a meaningful smile on her lips. You get the feeling she'll never stop teasing you about it. Well, she will have to one day. 'We're bound to break', the sentence comes to your mind again, and you decide to let the hot wind blow it away. Mon has a weird expression on her face, which makes you furrow my eyebrows at her.

She then gestures at her eyes. 'Look', you read the word on her lips, just before she gestures at Billy.

That again. You don't want to stare at him. You know he's hot, you don't need to be constantly reminded of that. Running a hand through your hair, you force yourself to focus on the activity that gives you some money at the end of the month. You're not bored anymore, you're thankful you have something to keep your mind off things you certainly shouldn't be thinking about.

When your lunch break finally comes, you jump from your chair to the ground, making the way over Monica, touching her leg. “Hey, you. Lunch, c'mon. I'm starving.”

“I'm a good friend.” She simply says, not even bothering to look at you. Monica can be a freaking interrogation sign sometimes, and you're about to ask her what she means when you notice Billy, standing a few feet away. “I switched my lunch breaks with him.” She looks down, taking her sunglasses off. “You're welcome.”

“I hate you, Mon,” you mumble, sighing at the laugh that leaves her lips.

You have no choice but to walk towards Billy, trying to keep your eyes on his face. But you use the distance to take a quick look, just so you can tell Mon you did it and she'll stop bugging you about it. He's tall, obviously, way taller than you. So you have to look up not to have your eyes glued on his chest. The guy works out. A damn lot, you're sure, and his tan is perfect. It makes you wonder if he even tries because it doesn't seem like he does. Billy doesn't have to act, he just is who he is. No doubt why he had no trouble carrying that heavy backpack during the trail, his muscles look like stone, iron. Even though the small distance you can see how his chest moves when he breathes, and the well-defined muscles of his bare arms. But you're getting close now, so you avert your eyes.

“Was it your idea or hers?” You inquire as soon as you're walking side by side to the cafeteria.

“Mine. I asked her this morning and she accepted.” As you walk, you notice all the heads turning.

The boys look with either anger or envy, and the girls keep checking him out shamelessly. Even the married ladies don't seem to hide the lust in their eyes. You feel a little weird, suddenly so small and out of place. But you can't blame them. Billy is a hell of a view. “You ok?” He suddenly asks. “You tuned out for a moment.”

“Just thinking.” You reach the cafeteria and you get your lunch from the fridge, moving to the microwave.

“About what?”

“The stares you were getting while we walked over here.” It comes out abruptly, and you realize you're angry. Why are you angry? You can't be mad because people are staring, he's not yours.

“People always stare.” He says, coming to seat with you on the table next to the microwave. “But today is for a different reason.”

“Oh, of course.” You avoid his eyes, letting your hair down from the ponytail and detangling it with your fingers, just so you have something to do.

“You only notice half of what's going on around you.” You mumble as a response, not sure if there's anything else you can say. “I never spent this much time without going on dates, and I never spent this much time hanging out with the same girl.” Billy's lower voice slowly makes you raise your eyes, meeting his. “People are impressed. I am impressed.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. It's been a while and I still want to be around you, to get to know you.” As he speaks, you look at the door, because you don't want anyone listening. It's bad enough that you'll end up telling Monica, which only makes you even more confused. You don't need someone else adding up to the mix.

'We're bound to break'. It comes to your head again. “How long do you think it'll last? You know you'll get tired of this little game you're playing, Billy.”

“From the bottom of my heart... I don't think I could ever get tired of you.”

The sudden beeps of the microwave make you jump up, thankful for it breaking through the atmosphere. You get your food and hand Billy his since he shoved it into the microwave with yours.

“Every time I see you it's like the first damn time. It took me by surprise too, believe me.”

“Just eat, Billy. Or it'll get cold.” A stupid thing to say since there's smoke coming from both your meals.

“If I find a way to prove you I'm not joking, that I mean every word I say when I say you're nothing like the other girls, that I'm being serious this time... Would you believe me?”

Holy shit, you need to get the hell out of this cafeteria. You don't want to listen, you want to be left alone until whatever is driving you towards Billy disappears. But can you do that? Stand up and walk away when you're right here with him, nobody else around... You don't think so. “I'd like to see what you would come up with.”

He takes a deep breath, resting his back against the chair. You can only watch as he takes one of his earrings off, doing the same with his necklace. “The hell are you doing, Hargrove?” You mumble, crossing your arms.

He gives a quick glance before focusing on whatever he's doing. He removes the pendant of the necklace, throwing it on the trash next to the fridge. You raise an eyebrow, your hunger momentarily put aside. Billy passes the silver chain through the tiny hoop of his earring, making a whole new necklace. The earring is kinda nice, and it looks badass on him. It has four black little stones and a metal piece at the end, which reminds you a claw.

Your eyes follow him as he stands up, walking around the table to stand behind you. You were just about to ask what he's doing when he puts the necklace around your neck. “Move your hair up, please.”

With wide eyes fixed on the light green wall across the cafeteria, you do as he says, feeling the cold metal against your skin. You're even more confused now. “Wear this every day, and I'll wear mine every day too.”

“Is it... Is it supposed to make people think I belong to you or something?” You burst out, still a little shocked, a little perplexed, trying to control the butterflies on your stomach.

“Then they'll think I belong to you too.”

“Just-just eat, Billy. Please.” You stutter, looking down at your food as your heart drums on your ears.

“And I making you nervous?”

Biting back a smile, you don't answer. You quickly search through your mind for anything else, just so you can change the subject. “I heard you study at Indianapolis University. The same I happen to have transferred to. Which course do you take?” That's good. You got your mind to function.

“Mechanical engineering.” He shrugs his shoulders when you raise your eyebrows. “I always liked cars, so it wasn't a difficult choice. What about you?”

“Biomedicine. I'm planning on specializing in Hematology and get a job on Hawkins National Hematology Lab.”

“So you plan on staying here?”

“Yes. I came to stay.”

There's a change in his expression, as it softens like he just realized something new about himself. A small, genuine smile breaks into his lips, beautiful lips. You were just about to ask what's on his mind when James, another lifeguard comes into the cafeteria and you decide to keep your mouth shut.

•••

When you walk out of the bathroom, still drying your hair with a towel, your eyes fall on the necklace lying on the nightstand, near your telephone. Sitting on the bed, you touch the earring, wondering if Billy is wearing his now. “What's happening to me?” You breathe out, throwing yourself down on the bed.

Your phone starts ringing, but you don't pick up. You know Diane will answer it downstairs. You hear her low voice coming from the living room, your eyes on the ceiling, and your thoughts revolving around him again.

Him.

You don't even need a name, he's the only guy you think about.

“Honey! It's Monica!” Your aunt yells.

“I'll pick up!” You shout back, moving up just to pick up the phone before lying down again. “Hi, Mom.” You hear the sound of the downstairs phone being put down as you speak.

“So. How was it?”

“Uhm... It was a lunch break. We had our breaks together and we had lunch.”

“Seriously? That was it? Don't you think I noticed something very unusual around your neck when you came out?”

Sighing, you let out a humorless laugh. Monica is very perceptive, the reason why she's coursing psychology. She's always paying attention to everything. “Mon...” It's almost like a cry.

“Talk to me, (Y/N).”

“I can't keep doing this.” You cover your eyes with one hand, and the image that immediately comes to my mind is him. “I'm... Scared.”

“What happened in the lunch break?”

“Billy said stuff, you know... That he won't get tired of me, that still wants to be around me...” Tossing around, you hug a pillow. “He took one of his earrings and made it into a necklace... He gave me and told me to wear it every day because he will wear it too.”

“(Y/N), I think Billy is falling in love with you.”

“No, Mon, I–”

“I've seen how he treats girls, (Y/N). He never acted like that. All day long I see them walking around the pool in the tiniest bikinis they have, but he never looks. He used to devour them with his eyes, but since that Monday, when you started working... His eyes are on you, on such a... Kind way. It's like he's someone else entirely.”

“I want to believe you,” you whisper, eyes focusing on the necklace. “What if we're bound to break?”

“Give yourself time, then. And give you both a chance. (Y/N), you need to stop overthinking and enjoy your summer. If you're bound to break, you'll know. But for now, enjoy the attention he's giving you. And if it doesn't work, at least you would have enjoyed it... I mean, you like being around him, don't you?”

“Way more than I should.”

“Then try living in the moment for a while. When it's time to think and make big decisions, you will make them.”

Nodding to yourself, you know she's right. If you keep overthinking, maybe you'll be the one to ruin everything. “You're right...”

“Now, you can either stay there or come with me, Chris and Jason to the mall. What will it be?”

Smiling, you stand up, already moving to chose what to wear.

An hour later you're at Starcourt Mall, completely reformed about a year ago, Monica tells you, after it was destroyed by an explosion. The place is very modern, but it's still very different from those in New York. But you like it, how lit up it is, and crowded. Families, teenagers, and kids, who pass by, running. You take in the lights, the laughers. Monica laughs at something Christopher says, his arms around her shoulders. Jason had to bring his two toddler siblings, so he's walking a few feets away, carrying the two years old Michael on his arms and holding Melanie's hand, who's the five years old.

“Hey. Have you crossed paths with David? After he had his ass kicked?” Chris asks.

“No. And I hope it remains that way.”

“It's a small town, you'll bump into him eventually. But I think he won't bother you anymore.” He says and Monica nods.

“Yeah...”

“You and Billy dating yet?” Jason asks, making it clear he was paying attention.

“Not yet,” Monica answers before you can say anything. Rolling your eyes, you decide not to say argue.

Blushing a little, you touch Billy's earring around your neck. A smile comes to your lips, and you hope he'll be wearing his tomorrow... It's stupid, but it kinda makes you feel closer to him, even though he's not here.

You decide to follow Monica's advice, but you'll still be careful. You can do both.

×

@chloe-skywalker @dpaccione @tilesandtokens

[mentalhealthcocktails]

[OC] Have you ever noticed that ( THEODORE 'THEO' CAIN ) who’s connected to ( BARBARA KEAN ) looks a lot like ( MICHAEL VLAMIS )? But ( HE ) also go/goes by ( N/A ). Having the ability to/of ( HIGH LEVEL INTELLIGENCE, HUSTLING & EIDETIC MEMORY ) sure makes them a force to be reckoned with. Rumor has it they are ( 30 ) and is working as a ( MECHANIC). 

                                    ɪ ᴍɪɢʜᴛ ʙᴇ ɢʀᴇᴀᴛ ᴛᴏᴍᴏʀʀᴏᴡ,                                            ʙᴜᴛ ʜᴏᴘᴇʟᴇss ʏᴇsᴛᴇʀᴅᴀʏ

THEN

Born to Elizabeth Kean out an affair with a man that was not her husband. She only kept the baby so she could sell him to an interested couple. However once Theo was born, it was discovered he had a congestive heart condition (atrial septal defect, a hole in the heart). The couple opted out, not wanting a ‘sick baby’. Elizabeth, in her frustration, left him with his birth father (who she hadn’t even informed of the pregnancy). The man was at a loss, not wanting the baby and not wanting his actual family to find out about him. 

Eventually Theo was found in a dumpster by a passing couple who brought him to safety, and eventually, foster care. However the rough treatment only worsened his condition. He had to go through a lot of expensive surgeries in his childhood. By the age of three, Theo finally becomes adoptable, but many saw it as simply far too much trouble. 

Growing up, he hated ‘Theodore’ which is why he took up the nickname Theo (he doesn’t like Teddy either, but doesn’t dislike it as much as Theodore). He was always a bit of a troublemaker. Not anything serious, but enough to annoy his caretakers into disliking or downright hating him. Sometimes it was easy, sometimes it was harder, other times they hated him before they even met. His longest residence was probably four months. Due to never staying in a school long enough to learn things right, Theo began reading into the subjects he was supposed to be learning, self-teaching himself instead of learning at school. At age 14, Theo decided to cut to the chase and left his placement. He officially went AWOL and never looked back. He knew he would have aged out of the system anyhow, and decided he was sick of waiting.

Always the resilient type, Theo made it work. He may have been young, but he was a smart kid and he managed to take care of himself. At the best it was imperfect, at the worst it was disastrous. He kept moving around until he could find himself the most convenient place to live and to work, once he did he settled down. It was a crappy apartment, but he found a job close to it and it all worked out well enough.

Once he turned 16 he got his GED and looked around for colleges who were ready to take on a charity case. To Theo’s amazement, he found more then one college ready to accept him. Any test he took he scored off the chart in, he was remarkably brilliant for someone with such crap schooling (something which he was all too happy to brag about). All his acceptances, however, were quick to fall through. Sending in the applications made his status as ‘ward of the state’ uncovered. He never bothered to properly emancipate himself, and there were hoops he would have needed to jump through to go anywhere. Theo was never the jumping type, and instead of pushing for his schooling he left the convenient home he’d made.

For a few years he wandered around trying to figure himself out, no matter where he went Theo never found himself. Usually he hitchhiked and made use of what resources were at hand, but on some bad nights he would find himself sleeping on the pavement. As the years went by Theo picked up skills to get by. His easiest gambits were hustling and counting cards, on harder times he took to stealing, but the most reasonable and secure job came in the form of a mechanic. Eventually on his travels he found an add of someone looking for a roommate. It was random, but he took it as a sign to finally settle down.

Theo found a secure job as a mechanic, and made the most of what he could. He found a new angle of life, and tried to enjoy what simple pleasures he could. He still never quite felt like he found himself but Theo tried to ignore that feeling. He found friendship in his roommate, and love in them too. The man’s name was Alex Cain, and Theo loved him the best he was capable of doing (love was funny to him, confusing, but god did he try and do it right). 

For seven long years they lived happily. Love was enough for him to strive to be better. He reminded himself of it every impulse he felt to steal, to badger someone, to be the headache he was so good at being, he fought to be better. He was better. Until everything came crashing down around him when he found Alex dead on the bathroom floor. He overdosed, and the worst part was Theo hadn’t even known he was an addict. In his grief, Theo lost his job and was on his way to losing their once shared apartment. Unable to deal with Alex’s death, his funeral, or their landlord’s threats, Theo took off.

Realizing he hadn’t even known the person he loved, Theo decided he needed to figure himself out once and for all. So he looked into his birth records, finding the name of his birth father on file and tracking the man down. A violent drunk, Theo didn’t need to spend five minutes with the man to see he was better off without him. At the very least he found out the name of his birth mother, Kean.

NOW

Unbeknownst to Theo, Alex Cain had been a false identity. An alias used by a man who was hiding. His true name had been Calvin Rose. A former Talon of the Court of Owls, Calvin had wanted to be free and went into hiding where he met and fell for Theo. Alex’s ‘death’ had been the Owls taking him and making him their Talon once more. Breaking his mind until he became theirs again and forgot all of his time as Alex Cain.

Theo tracked down the last remaining Kean to New York City, Barbara Kean. His half-sister if the paternity test they took comes back as accurate.

Getting a job as a mechanic once again, it was there that Theo encountered Calvin Rose. A haircut, new personality and a heavy dose of denial allowed Theo not to recognize him as Alex. Only note the uncanny resemblance between Calvin and his deceased lover. It wasn’t long before the two were dating once more, the old spark flickering to life once more with ease. 

[almostkoo]

How Not to Train Your Dragon | Kim Namjoon

pairings: kim namjoon x oc

summary: getting placed with a familiar creates a sacred bond but when your familiar despises you with a passion the hoops you’ll jump through to patch things up will lead you on a journey

word count: 2.1k

warnings: language (as always), 1 (one) death threat, oc & namjoon got more beef than wendys, i swear one day i’ll write them being friendly .. but it is not today 🤡

author’s notes: day four !! of spooktober! getting these stories out back to back have been challenging but i’ve been having fun with this and i hope you guys are enjoying my stories ! we’re almost done :)

link to my main masterlist

The sweet smells of your workshop swirled around in the air as you bustled around over your cauldron, dropping things in and stirring around every so often. You were focused on the potion that had been taking you months to master. Shrinking potions were always hard to do, anything with changing anatomy was always hard to do. What made things worse was that potions were never your strongest area.

Stirring the lime green substance around you looked around at the shelves around you trying to find the one last ingredient you’d need for this and you’d be sure it would tie this potion all together.

The Water Buffalo’s tooth was placed on the shelf to your left in a transparent pink jar. Keeping an eye on the cauldron you started side stepping in an attempt to reach for the tooth. Your hand remained on the handle of the ladle you were using to stir. Fingertips barely ghosting the jar at all you didn’t know what to do. If you tried levitating it towards you there was a chance you would accidentally release the jar from it’s hold and drop it. If that Water Buffalo’s tooth hits the ground it’s gonna be of no use. You let out a sigh doing something you dreaded to do.

“Namjoon? Can you come help me in here please?” you called.

Every witch had a familiar, yours so happened to be Namjoon. It was bad enough he seemed like he hated you the moment his sharp, slit frosty blue eyes laid on you. He was a dragon too. The most hardest to deal with of all the supernatural beings. Namjoon was stubborn, arrogant and stand offish. You hated having to deal with him for prolonged amounts of time.

The curtain to enter your workshop pushed to the side and in came Namjoon, his grown out purple tresses hung wildly around his face.

“What do you want?” he asked, arms crossed.

“Can you please hand me the Water Buffalo’s tooth, it’s right there on the shelf in the pink jar I just can’t reach it.” you asked. Namjoon snickered at you.

“You can’t just make it fly over to you?” he waved his fingers around mockingly.

“Don’t you think if I could I would. If I do I could risk dropping it. If I drop it I’m going to have to travel just about half way up the mountains again to get another one and I really don’t want to do that.”

“That’s too bad. Figure something out. If you need me, which I hope you don't, I'll be out front handling your store while you squander ingredients trying to be a potions master.” Namjoon turned on his heels and stepped back out of your workshop. You felt a hot tear start rolling down your cheek. Quickly, wiping it away with your free hand. You straightened up, reaching out your hand to summon the tooth to you. Multitasking between that and stirring you looked out of the corner of your eye, watching the jar slowly float to you. The cauldron started bubbling and you looked away from the floating jar. When suddenly you hear the glass shatter, you looked down at the floor where the Water Buffalo tooth laid useless. Fighting back the urge to cry some more. You waved your hand freezing the potion in place. You walked towards the door to your workshop grabbing your cloak on the way out.

Namjoon looked up from the book he was reading. He snapped it close, the sound making you jump and stop in your tracks.

“Where are you going ? Thought you had a potion to finish.” He said.

“I dropped the Water Buffalo’s tooth on the ground, I can’t use it anymore. I’m gonna hike up the mountains to get another one.” You said, pressing the door open to the shop to exit. You were walking down the road in the direction of the mountains. Loud footsteps came from behind you, not even bothering to turn around you knew who was following you.

“Why are you following me Namjoon?” You sighed.

“I can’t let you just go off into the woods alone. Why don’t you let me fly you up there? It's going to take you hours to get up there and that’s if you don’t rest and power through.”

Not many things scared you. That’s something you learned early into your existence. Until you met Namjoon, then you realized heights and Namjoon’s dragon form was two of the only things that truly shook you to the core. Them put together you couldn’t just handle it it was too much.

“I don’t like heights and you know that.” You kept walking forward, dreading the trip up the mountains. A shot of fire blasted straight past your shoulder. You jumped back out of the way, whipping around to look at Namjoon who blew a puff of smoke out of his mouth.

“Namjoon? Are you serious? Did you just try and burn me?” You questioned. Namjoon let out a loud sigh, dropping his shoulders.

“Come on y/n. Please let me fly you up the mountain. I don’t wanna do this walk either! I still have to protect you and assist you. Stop being so damn stubborn.” Namjoon hissed at you.

“Me being stubborn you’ve got to be kidding me.” You shook your head, turning back around to continue walking.

“Y/n if you want you can close your eyes. I fly quickly, we’ll be there before you know it.” He pleaded.

“No Namjoon” you snapped. “I don’t care if my eyes are closed! I don’t care if I had soundproof headphones so I won’t feel the wind rush into my ears! I don’t care if I have on mitts so I won’t feel your rough ass scales on my hands! You’re NOT flying me up the mountain.” You yelled.

“I hate dealing with you.” You heard Namjoon mumble.

“I fucking hate dealing with you too, you aren’t special.”

Hour One

Somewhere during the first 30 mins of the hike up the mountains Namjoon’s airpods found their way into his ears. His loud rapping filling up the quiet air, annoying you very quickly. You scanned the ground as you continued walking until you saw a small pebble. Stopping in your tracks you picked it up, turning around in one swift move throwing it right at Namjoon’s chest. He flinched back in pain, snatching an airpod out of his ear.

“What the fuck is the matter with you?” His eyes narrowed at you.

“Cut it out with all that loud ass rapping. I don’t wanna hear that shit!” You shouted.

“So what you’re gonna assault me with fucking rocks?”

“If I could levitate a boulder and get away with crushing you to death I would. But I can’t so the pebble will have to suffice.”

“You wouldn’t kill me.” Namjoon said smugly.

“Don’t tempt me.” You stated, sternly. Your cold stare peering into Namjoon’s eyes. He rolled his eyes and looked away. Muttering a soft “Whatever” under his breath.

You continued moving up the mountains and Namjoon resumed rapping out loud.

Conjuring up a pair of earbuds to listen to your music from your own phone. Seeing that your device was on 25% you hoped to the heavens your phone would at least get you the full trip up the mountains. You couldn’t even conjure up a portable charger because you know you would’ve managed to electrocute your hands … again.

Hour Two

The 25% did not last the complete trip up the mountains. Leaving you once again to listen to Namjoon’s loud rapping up the mountains. Slowly you found yourself getting irritated again. Scanning for another pebble you found a slightly bigger one than last time. You picked it up, tossing it up in your hand a few times to feel the weight of it. You turned around like a pitcher aiming to throw the pebble at Namjoon again, he attempted to dodge it, he missed it but his phone in his hand didn’t. It fell underneath the small rock, the now dark screen had a visible crack in it. You could see the smoke leave Namjoon’s nostrils.

“Y/n” Namjoon hissed. “You did not just do that.”

“Oh, but I did.” You said, in a saccharine tone.

“Why would you do that? You keep acting like a fucking caveman. You could’ve just asked me to stop rapping out loud.” He scoffed.

“I’m acting like a caveman? Says the giant lizard. You’ve got to be kidding me.” You muttered.

“If I’m a giant lizard why are you afraid of me then?” Namjoon taunted.

“I’m not afraid of you. I’m afraid of flying.”

“Well if you’re not afraid of me then I guess you won’t mind if I stretch my wings and trot around then until we get to the top of the mountain then.” You quickly turned around, spotting Namjoon’s blue scales appearing all over his arms.

“CUT IT OUT! I’M SERIOUS!” You yelled. Namjoon started cackling. You felt yourself getting angry. It wasn’t funny that you were scared. You could quite piece exactly why you were scared of Namjoon. But you knew you were and that was enough.

“Namjoon don’t talk to me for the rest of this hike. I swear to the heavens if you don’t you won’t speak again unless I want you to.”

“But y/n come on-“ You turned, waving your hand, binding Namjoon’s lips together.

“That’s enough out of you for now.”

Hour Three

The rest of the hike up the mountains was pretty peaceful. Quiet and serene, except for the small sounds of nature here and there. Water running in a creek, birds chirping, animals running over leaves. The only non nature sound was the occasional grunt from Namjoon.

Soon you found yourself met right with a board of Water Buffalos. You searched around. The tooth you needed was from a special specific silver Water Buffalo, that made whoever wanted its teeth solve riddles. You found it in the back of the hoard. Bumping in between the Water Buffalos you stood in front of the silver one, taking a bow and waiting for it to speak to you.

“How could I be of service to you child?” the Water Buffalo hummed.

“I need another tooth … please.” You said.

“To receive one of my teeth, you must answer a riddle correctly. You may only have one chance. Are you ready ?” It asked you. You nodded.

“This number added to it's square, and the digits of that summation added together, bring it back to itself. What is it?” It questioned. Your mind went blank and then filled itself with confusion.

“I thought I was supposed to be answering a riddle. Is that a math question?”

“It is indeed a riddle.”

You were stumped. You couldn’t tell if this was going to be one of those twisted riddles that had some philosophical meaning or just one straight forward. You started thinking deeply when that was interrupted by Namjoon’s grunting. You looked at him. He pointed at his mouth in frustration. You waved your hand removing the binding.

“What is it? You better have something useful to bring to the conversation.”

“I have the answer. I do.” He stated, eyes big and his smile wide, deep dimples indenting his cheeks.

“Namjoon, I swear if you say something incorrect and I can’t get this tooth.” You rubbed your temples.

“I’m not stupid. I know this one. I swear, let me answer it.” Your eyes scanned Namjoon’s face trying to see if there was any indication of him lying or being uncertain and you couldn’t see any. You really hoped he didn’t fuck this up.

“Fine answer it. But I swear if you fuck this up I will never forget it. When I finally master this potion I’m going to shrink you down and keep you in a jar for the rest of your days.” You stated, sternly.

“3. 3 squared is 9. 3+9=12. Take the two digits of the summation and add them; 1+2=3. In short; 3-9-12-3. This can also work with the number 0 and 9.” Namjoon said, proudly. Hands on his hips and puffing out his chest like a superhero that just saved the day.

The Water Buffalo hummed in approval. Before opening his mouth and dropping out one single tooth.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.” You smiled, bending over and picking up the tooth. Wrapping it gently in a cloth and placing it in your bag. You bumped your way back through the hoard and started your way back down the mountain.

“So what, you aren’t going to thank me?” Namjoon called from behind you.

“Jesus. Fuck. Thanks Namjoon. Are you happy?” You snapped.

“Yes actually I am. Thank you.”

“You are so annoying I can’t wrap my head around it.”

“Thank you.” Namjoon smiled. You looked at him as he poked his cheeks right in his dimples. You shook your head laughing.

One would say you and your familiar have a dysfunctional relationship. Maybe one day it would change maybe one day it wouldn’t. You’d work through it any way it went.

[starrysupercell]

if it doesnt bother you too much, could you maybe do a stu and rico drabble?? platonic or like. brotherly?? if you can ^^

also i rlly like yer blog :p

TwT just when you think you're safe from robot feels. This became more of a oneshot because... Stu. (Can we call Tuesday....Stu's Day, lmao.) Hope you like it...! 🎆🔫 Also, thanks! 😊

At the start of the show, Ricochet sat stubbornly, crossing his arms. His eye remained narrowed even amidst the excited crowd.

"Cheer up, Rico," Brock said, leaning over to him, speaking loudly to be heard over the crowd. "C'mon, give the guy a chance. You can't judge him on how he looks alone."

"I can and I will." Rico said.

8-Bit grinned mischievously. Due to his height, he was standing on the seat next to Rico to watch the show. "Scared you might be replaced by the next model?" He asked.

Instead of answering, Rico reached behind  8-Bit, grabbed the top portion of his head, and pushed him forward so he was precariously on the edge of the chair.

"Stooop!" The arcade machine complained, trying to upright himself to no avail. Rico laughed.

Brock double-took and reprimanded them. "Hey! Behave yourselves. You're going to start something."

"Is everyone here ready to start!?" The announcer, Max, asked into the microphone. "Let me hear you cheer!"

Rico pushed 8-Bit back to normal in his chair as the crowd gave a resounding cheer.

"Glad to hear it!" Max grinned. "Before we get to the guts and glory of this event, I'd like to welcome back our opening act- Spectacular Stu!"

There he was, the top of the ramp. The spotlight made sure you wouldn't miss him. Rico rolled his eye as cheers resparked.

"If you were here last time, you'll know he took a nasty dive and got wrecked. But he's back and rollin' as smooth as ever!" Max assured them. "So without further ado, our very own Crash Robot!"

The Stuntdevil waved, pumping the crowd up even further. He spun in place, and geared up to rocket down the ramp.

He left tire marks on the top with a screech, and his engines revved. He had to pick up enough speed to make the jump through a lit ring, and over on the other ramp to make a loop.

Stu soared through the air and twisted through the fired-up hoop.

Even Rico had to admit that his aim was impressive. 8-Bit leaned in with awe as Stu stuck the landing on the second wooden ramp.

Oh, but wait-! Red flames trailed behind him, right on his cape, and traveled higher.

Stu looked back upon hearing the starting jeers of the audience. It was a good indicator of when something went wrong. "U-uh-oh..." he muttered to himself. He started to reach at the burning fabric to try and remove it, but he began to veer.

Stu began to panic. Was it more important to remove the flames and complete the loop, or get it off before it reached his main body-?

He didn't have time to decide. Stu made it up halfway through the first half, but was too far off-center and he flew right off the track.

He flailed, feeling the flames crawl up even further even as he began to fall.

He faceplanted, skidding and rolling a good amount of distance. At least the fire was put out.

"Ha, wow! That must be a world record of eating dirt!" He picked out from the crowd.

Cheers...for him..

His blue lens flickered and gave out.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

"Yes! There we go!" His vision flickered on and he saw Max over him. "Up and at 'em, Stu! There's someone who wants to greet you outside. He insisted, and I gotta go now. Careful, because you aren't really fixed yet. I'm up next with Surge, catch ya' later!" she caught him up, and waved bye as she practically flew out the door.

Stu sat up slowly, still feeling his processors warm up. Max and Surge's show was the third act. Ugh...

Wait. Someone wanted to see him? A fan?

He hopped up from where he lay. He glanced at the mirror on the way, stopped in his tracks. No, no, not presentable at all! His clothes were burnt.

The bot rolled back to the mirror and changed into a different suit as swiftly as he could.

White suit, red cape. He looked dashing.

Stu rolled to the door, and paused briefly. Great first impression. He flung the door open.

"H-h-how's it go-o-going, champ?" He asked gleefully, before seeing that it was.. another robot. Oh. Not what he was expecting. And one that looked similar to himself too. Wait, wasn't he... Rico?

"Are you okay?" He asked.

Stu looked at him blankly. That was it? Just a question? He looked around. Well, a fan's a fan. "L-l-looking for an autograph? Advice?" Stu laughed, and spun once. "No free pho-o-oo-photographs." He said.

Rico looked at the bot in concern. "You're sad..." he pointed out.

Stu jolted back. "Wh-at?"

"Blue Visor." Was the blunt response.

"Hahahaha. B-b-buddy. This," Stu pointed at himself. "Is blue tin-ti-tinted. Ever her-heard of fshh-fashion before?"

Rico was in disbelief. "Then explain the broken regulator for your voice box?"

Stu's eye narrowed at the word broken. "R-ru-de. I cou-ouUol-cou-ou..." Stu stopped himself, feeling...just horrible. He could handle the jibes included in a cheering crowd. But being picked on like this was just plain cruel. "N-n-ot ev-everyone can b-be as lul-lucky as you, can th-they?"

Rico blinked. "What do you mean?"

Stu rolled his eye. "Ric-Co. The ro-r-robot just adored by every-everybody. All you-ou had to do was wal-wa-walk up here a-nd the ress-st is histo-ory."

Rico shook his head. "Even if that were important to this situation, I worked hard to make friends... But that isn't important right now. We're discussing you." He reminded. "You can make them stop putting up so much hazards. Or walk out. They can't force you to stay."

"I cho-oo-ose to, Dummy." Stu griped.

Color him shocked. "Why?"

"They love me." Stu said. "Now sc-scram before I ca-call se-see-security on you."

The bot couldn't wrap his head around that. Love? Did he not hear the rude comments? The laughs and jabs? Being used? He couldn't even begin to imagine Brock and 8-Bit treating him like that and seeing it as praise.

You can't help those who don't want to be... but Rico didn't want to leave without any indication of getting through to him at least somewhat.

He stepped forward with his arms outstretched and pulled him in for a hug.

Stu froze, surprised. He couldn't process anything right now. He just stood there, being hugged for the first time.

After seconds of silence, Rico pulled away. "I'll leave now. We should keep in touch. If you want." He suggested.

"....I-if I c-can find t-ti-time for you, buddy." Stu shrugged. "I'm a v-very busy bot." He rolled backwards to enter his room, and shut the door.

Rico sighed. He's tried his best. If Stu truly wanted help, he would have to take the next step.

On the other side, Stu didn't know how to feel. He wheeled slowly across the room, and caught a glimpse of the mirror. He rolled over and looked at himself. He was happy with his role. Happy.

...Just the same, he could grace that fanbot with an appearance every so often. Make his day. That... sounded nice.

[yaneyanedaze]

My Special Girl Pt: 1

(Yandere!Various x Beta!Chubby!Reader)

Whoo boy, it’s my first time taking a step into the realm of Omegaverse, but i hope you guys like it, I am working on My Android Lover and Our Goddess (Which is the Royal Pillarmen story!) those should be coming soon as well! I’m happy to write for you guys and I hope you all are having a wonderful day!

With that! On with the story!

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

F/n is a college student with a little problem, She’s a beta that apparently give off the scent of an Omega. So when she finally goes out one day, her life gets turned upside down as multiple Alpha’s try to claim her as theirs.

Will she tell them the truth? or let them find out on their own?

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

“Come on f/n, you never go out with me anymore? Are you alright?” My friend, Crys (Pronounced Chris) asked. I shook my head, sighing heavily, already knowing where this conversation was going. I stood up from the table and headed to leave, not wanting to be apart of this. “Hey wait up! F/n!” She whined, following after me, “Is this because of-“ “Do not. Mention. His. Name.” I practically growled, anger dripping from each word that left my lips. I could see the sadness in her eyes as she looked down at the ground, kicking dirt around. 

“Come on, that was in the past. We’re in college now!” I rolled my eyes and continued walking on, more annoyed than ever now. “Look, I’ll think about it, Now go please..” I said, as I was now standing in front of my apartment. Her look of somberness quickly turned to glee as she practically bounced with joy. “Yay! You won’t regret it f/n!” “I haven’t agreed yet- annnd she’s gone.”

I watched as she happily skipped away, I shake my head, a ghost of a smile appearing on my face. Walking inside, I was greeted to the cold, crisp air, I could feel the goosebumps already on my skin from the nice, relaxing feeling. My name is F/n L/n, I am a plus size girl in her 3rd year in college, majoring in fine arts, I have two sisters who live with my parents still back in (Hometown). My sisters are both Omegas, as well as my mother, and of course my father is an Alpha, but me?

 I got unlucky and ended up being a Beta and because of this they basically shunned me, even though I was the baby of the family. They didn’t want anyone to know that I was apart of their family. Then again, she didn’t like me anyways because i was a bit on the plump side, I had a chest, curves and a butt, so i guess i had everything that she wanted. She used to call me names, pick on me because of my weight and even my sisters joined in on it, while my dad just sat and watched. So I eventually ended up moving away to go and live with my Grandmother. She was a beta as well, so I don’t understand why my Mom hated me so much when her mother was the very thing I am. My Grandma loved me and cared about me, she bought me anything i’d like, make sure i was  happy and never judged me . Soon she knew I was going to be heading off soon so she helped me get my own little apartment and car for school. I still visit her when ever i can.

My friend Crys was also an Omega, I don’t even know why she bothered because she was kind of considered the top tier of the school. But she’s been by my side since elementary school (minus..that incident.) and has been a huge sweetheart. 

But again, it sucked.

Crys wanted me to go to a party on campus, but I usually don’t do well at parties, cause you know anxiety is a thing, and why go be social when you have Netflix. I groaned loudly “Why musty I have such a soft spot for that girl!!” I yelled out as I dragged myself to my room to get ready when I get a call from my best friend, Reimi. She was a sweet girl with bubblegum pink hair and big redish/pink eyes, She’s another friend that I’ve known for years, and I’m a lot closer to her than I am with Crys.

“N/n! I heard you were going to the party! Someone must’ve black mailed you into going” She jokingly, I rolled my eyes and chuckled slightly as I roamed through my closet looking for something to put on. “Oh shush! Crys persuaded me to go with her puppy dog eyes.” I explained getting a soft ‘Oh’ from her. “Well I was just calling to see, I’m not going do to exams, I gotta crunch that study time” “I understand, I just wish I would stay home but I’ve already got an outfit out and Crys is expecting me.” I say pulling out a cute pink dress. It was a bodycon dress with slits on the sides and a sweetheart neckline, i smiled and shrugged, tossing over on the bed so I could wear it. It was a gift from my grandmother one year for my birthday. “Well, let me go so you can finish getting dressed! See Ya!” “See ya Reim” She hung up the phone and i headed over to the bathroom to freshen up and finish up.

I sighed and looked at myself in the mirror as I walked past, Even after all these years, I was still having a problem with loving myself. I guess my mom really did affect me more than i thought she was going to, I shook my head and slapped my cheeks.”Come on You’re gonna have fun tonight!” I say hyping myself up before i go in the bathroom to get ready.

                                                     (TimeSkip)

It was around 8:00pm when Crys and I pull up at the party, It was being hosted by one of the most popular boys of the school, Joseph Joestar, and of course, he was an Alpha. It’s probably the only reason Cyrs wanted to go to be honest. Speaking of the red head, she was wearing a pretty blue tube top with matching skirt, silver hoop earrings and a glittery choker. She wore heels to the party, but i know she had a change of shoes in her bag for when she get tired.

We both got out and she let out an excited squeal, “Yes! Look at us! two friends going out together, come on we’re gonna have fun just like the good old days!” She exclaimed, grabbing my hand and pulling me inside. Once we reached inside an overwhelming scent hit me straight in the face, I nearly dropped, but Crys caught me and giggled only making me nudge her as we walked in. We smiled and waved as we saw some of our classmates and some new people as well. But soon we separated as I had gotten tired of walking around already, and I usually didn’t do well in social environments. 

I wandered around the large house until i came across a room that looked to be another sitting area, so I found the corner and sat down near it. I apparently didn’t hear the footsteps coming up beside me either.

“Surprised to see you here, F/n, Didn’t think you’d come to parties.” 

I jumped slightly in my spot, turned and nearly fainted.

Jotaro Kujo was leaning against the wall behind me. He was one of my classmates, and he really didn’t come to class much, but when he did, you knew. Because majority of the girls would be swooning over him while the poor guy just wanted to rest and do his work. “Ah, I came with a friend, I got a bit tired, So I just came here to rest a bit,” He hummed in agreement as he leaned there. “Joseph made me come, said i needed to get out more, I would’ve been fine with chilling at home reading my marine biology books.” he said letting out a soft chuckle, followed by a ghost of a smile.

I felt like i was living some girls dream, To be sitting here chatting casually here with Jotaro would make them just melt. But to me he was just a normal guy, someone who loved marine biology and all things about the ocean. He was a gentle giant, at least towards me. “Let’s go outside, Its getting too stuffy in here.” He said, grabbing my hand, leading me outside, we pushed past people, saying my excuse me’s when we bumped into people.

Once we reached outside, I looked up at the sky seeing stars in the sky, all of them twinkling brightly, all of them just as beautiful as the next. Jotaro was also looking up at the sky as well, but he looked like he was contemplating something, like he wanted to say something, but he couldn’t.

“Jotaro? Are you Okay?”

                                                   (Jotaro’s Pov)

I breathed out slowly, gripping my fist as I let out a soft growl. ‘Why can’t i just get this over with.’ I thought to myself, She was standing right beside me. This cute girl, who didn’t find me scary, who didn’t just fawn over me like I was an object. Did she even know what I was? Other would be practically drooling over me, I’ve even had some males fawn over me. I glanced over at her and saw her face in awe looking at the sky. The way the moonlight glossed over her perfectly chubby cheeks, the way that dress hugged her curves and fitted her body in all the right places. If I wasn’t able to control myself I would’ve taken her right here and now, not caring that anyone else would see. They would know she is mine, and no one would dare look at her or try to claim her.

I was so lost in my thoughts I didn’t even hear her call my name out.

“Jotaro? Are you Okay?” I snapped out of my thoughts and turned to face her fully, she was about 5′1, so compared to me she was so small, She would fit so perfectly in my arms. I mentally slapped myself and let out a sigh before speaking. “Are you dating anybody?” I asked, and it came out blunt, but i didn’t mean it to, panic started to surge up in me as I didn’t want to come off as rude to her. But she seemed to ignore the tone of my voice and answered anyways with a smile. “Uh..no, I’m not really the dating person, i’ve ever only crushed on one person.” She admitted, a small blush on her face. ‘Thats cute.’ I thought as I watched her. She would be the perfect wife, I could see her swollen and round with my children, welcoming me home from a long day at work. I was happy with the response she said so I couldn’t help but give a slight smirk and a chuckle which seemed to surprise her as I saw another plus appear on her cheeks.

That’s when it hit me, She had a sweet scent to her, one that reminded me of roses and sugar, it gave off such an innocent vibe, not compared to some of these other girls around this place. She did say she’s only liked one person, so maybe that’s why, but I couldn’t wrap my head around it,it was teasing me, she looked to cute and innocent. I shook my head and let out a low growl hoping she didn’t hear, and luckily Joseph came outside just in time to save me from myself.

“There you are! I thought you had left, didn’t know you were out here chatting up this cutie here~!”

 He said teasingly. F/n didn’t pay him no mind and neither did I. “Shut up, are you done hoeing around?” I asked, now standing in front of F/n. He smirked and laughed at my comment before throwing an arm around my shoulder. “I wouldn’t call it that, I was just looking for a girl~, but to answer your questions, no, I didn’t see anyone I like..that is..” He stepped around me and grabbed F/n’s hand.

                                                     (Pov Switch)

I jumped slightly when Joseph suddenly grabbed my hand. “You’re such a beautiful sight Baby doll~ How come i have never seen you around?~” He asked and I was about to answer until Jotaro practically growled at him. “Okay Okay jeez, i’ll back off for now~” He said, getting the hint. he scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to me before heading back into the house. He was gone as quickly as he came, i looked down at the paper in my hand and saw it was his phone number with hearts beside it. I rolled my eyes and giggled slightly.

“Don’t pay attention to him, thats how he always acts around girls he doesn’t know” Jotaro says before pulling down his hat and handing me his own piece of paper. I looked at it and saw it had his number on it but a date on it as well. “That day, after class, be ready we’re going out.” he said bluntly and walked back inside. I was in shock, so i didn’t immediately follow him. I had gotten two numbers in one night, both of them guys that all the girls loved. Needless to say, I didn’t know whether to be scared or excited, but i felt something.

 I just didn’t know what.

I eventually walked around to the front to find Crys waiting on me. She smiled at me and started talking as we walked to the car. “Soo~ Did you have fun~?” She asked getting over into the drivers side. I nodded slightly, a smile growing on my lips, “yea..I did..” I said as I looked out the window, thinking about Jotaro, and excited for the next few days.

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

I hope you guys liked this, as i stated above this is my first time really writing something like this and i also hope that i didn’t write Jotaro and Joseph too OOC, if i did let me know and i’ll try to fix it!

[sionnachoir]

Secrets (Todoroki Shouto)

Warning: idiots, vampires n mermaids

Words: 1,469

(Mythical au based on  a mermaid and a vampire are both human-passing and believe each other are human and both jump through hoops to avoid each other finding out what the other is and they just started dating by this user)

You let out an annoyed groan when the back of your head hit the ground, you were currently in the kitchen and you hadn’t noticed the puddle on the floor. You mentally cursed yourself out, Todoroki could come home any minute now. If he did you were screwed, he was going to think you were a freak, maybe tell his father who’d sell you to a mad scientist. You shook those thoughts away, Todoroki wouldn’t. 

You dragged yourself over to the counter and ripped the kitchen towel dangling from it off, you quickly started rubbing your tail. Begging anyone, just anyone to make it go away before he could see it.

You were pretty sure you had gotten everything off, freezing when you heard the front door lock turn. Your eyes bugged out of your head, your tail disappearing and scales turning back to skin. You quickly got up once your legs separated again and ran to the bedroom, hands covering your chest, praying he wouldn’t see the scales that still slightly coated your legs.

“(Name?)” Todoroki called out questioningly once he heard your footsteps rushing away. Your brain froze for a second, trying to find an excuse. “Uh, just out the shower!” You shouted back, shutting yourself inside your room and quickly throwing on some clothes.

Your eyes widened at your lack of wet hair, you looked around for the towel you had used this morning. Luckily it was still damp and you threw your hair up into it. You let out a deep breath and quickly made your way to the livingroom. You gave him a sheepish smile. “Sorry about that.” He just shook his head, a small smile on his face.

“I did call, we got out early today.” Your eyebrow raised, he hardly ever got off early. His boss must’ve been in a good mood for once. You frowned at the thought of his father, he irritated you. The way he treated his kids were abhorrent, it had taken you a while to gain Todoroki’s trust. You knew you still didn’t fully have his trust but you had made progress.

“You want anything? I was thinking takeout for supper.” You smiled, not noticing the twitch of his lips at the mention of food. “I’d love that.” His smile seemed forced but you chose to ignore it, if he had something to say you’d let him do it in his own time.

You picked up your phone and sat down on the sofa, Todoroki sitting next to you. You leaned against his as you brought up n app and put in your order, you handed the phone to Todoroki and he quickly put his order in. “Is that all your getting?” He never ate much around you, it always confused you. “I ate some at the restaurant.” He shrugged, you furrowed your brows and looked at him for a second before shrugging and hitting pay.

He picked up the remote and put on the T.V, pulling you close to him. You leaned your head on his shoulder as he loaded up netflix. Your eyes widened as you saw twilight, nostalgia rushing through you. You eagerly pointed to it, not seeing the short look of uncomfort that flashed across his face.

The scene when Edward started glowing in the sun came on and Todoroki snorted, causing your eyebrows to raise as you looked at him. “That’s impossible, they burn in the sun.” He sounded so matter of fact you couldn’t help but wonder. “You met a vamp?” You questioned, Todoroki’s eyes widened. 

“Uh, no. They obviously don’t exist. Oh look!” Your head shot to the T.V, you wondered why he sounded nervous. You shrugged it off, and lost your self in the movie.

_________________________________

________________________________

Todoroki wiped his mouth, after he had gotten home he had quickly ran to the bathroom, cursing himself out. He shouldn’t have gotten so heated by the movie but it was so idiotic.

He let his shoulders relax, finally feeling his stomach ease up after the noodles he had ordered. The cramp had caused him to sweat a lot he had been surprised you hadn’t noticed. He stood up, heading over to the sink to brush his teeth.

He pulled back his cheek to see his fangs poke out, he hadn’t managed to eat in a while and it was getting harder to keep them away. While eating they had popped out, Todoroki’s mind had fried up trying to hide them.

He squeezed some toothpaste onto a brush and started to clean his teeth, taking extra care with his fangs. He spat out the liquid into the sink, taking a step back.

Todoroki exhaled, his eyes almost rolling back after holding back for so long. He drank the blood pack down quickly, some blood dripping down the sides of his lips. He leaned back against the counter, head falling back. He needed to get a steady supply, he couldn’t risk blood lust around you.

His head shot up as he heard your footsteps approaching the front. He quickly grabbed a dish towel out of the washer, his face frowning at the smell of fish that coated it. He ignored it and quickly wiped the blood off his chin, looking in the mirror to make sure it was gone. 

Once you had reached the kitchen door he quickly threw it into the machine and turned back to look at you. His face was pretty emotionless, you smiled at him and greeted him. You dropped four shopping bags onto the center table, Todoroki joining you and helping put the shopping away.

After the job was done you made your way to Todoroki, wrapping your arms around his neck. His hands came to rest on your hips, you both leaned in to kiss eachother. You frowned and pulled back. “You taste weird.” Todoroki’s eyes slightly widened. “Oh uh I had raw tuna.” On of your eyebrows darted to the top of your hair. 

“Raw tuna?” He shrugged, you shook your head, not bothering to question him and his weird eating habits. You turned and started to brew some coffee, you worked in the mornings and usually didn’t have time for coffee or breakfast.

________________________________

You had been swimming in the ocean, the feeling of following a current was unlike any other as you didn’t have to worry about drowning. You yawned causing bubbles to flow out of your mouth, it was time to head back. 

You left the current and headed back, the water flowing around your body. Once you had gotten to the dock just outside your house you raised yourself out of the water. You looked up to see Todoroki walking by, heading towards your house. You quickly shoved yourself back into the ocean, hoping he hadn’t seen you. Once in the water you swam around the corner as fast as you could, quickly dragging yourself onto land. 

You looked at your tail, biting your lip. You grabbed a towel you had left there from your earlier swim during the day and dried yourself out, luckily it had been hot so the towel had dried up during the day.

You thanked your lucky stars as your tail disappeared quite quickly this time, the air still quite hot from the blazing sun you had endured today.

You quickly got up and ran through your back garden to your door, towel wrapped around you. You yanked your backdoor open and got into the living room just as Todoroki had, your eyes widening at the sight of each other. “Why is your hair wet.” “Why is there blood on your shirt and neck.” You spoke at the same time.

“Vampire.” You spoke, eyes widening, suddenly realising why he tasted like blood and why he got peeved with the movie. His eyes widened, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. “I won’t hurt you.” He spoke quickly, desperation in his eyes. You blinked, slightly taken aback. “I know.” Came your reply, confusion crossed his features again.

“You do?” You nodded, it was time to come clean to him too. You walked over to a flower vase, Todoroki’s slightly panicked gaze following you. You took the flowers out and dumped the vase on your head, Todoroki’s face morphed to one of shock. After five seconds you flopped over onto the floor, Todoroki rushing over to catch you.

“Well then. We were both hiding something.” You nodded, smiling at him. You let out a laugh. “I can’t believe I thought you were human, you only come over at night. You taste like blood sometimes.” You shook your head. “Yeah, and you sometimes taste like the sea, you always rush off when you get wet.” Todoroki chuckled. 

“For mythical creatures we sure are dumb.” Todoroki laughed at your statement, nodding.

[swampofiniquity]

Modern Chemistry (Leon Kennedy x Reader)

Part One of the new Point / Counterpoint series 

Rated: Teen and Up

Word Count: 2,260

Cross-posted from AO3 (Pizza_Of_My_Eye)

Summary: Life sucks so you drag your best friend to a bar and attempt to drink your problems away. Probably not the smartest idea you’ve ever had, but you’ve had worse nights.

Warnings: Self-medication, some language, maybe not the most healthy friendship ever.

You relished the feeling of the alcohol rushing to your head as you stared into your now empty glass. It was smudged with your lipstick and fingerprints and the swirling patterns of each captured your drunken attention, the bar and your best friend’s voice melting into background noise as you zoned out completely.

Three drinks in and you were so close to achieving your goal of blissful inebriation.

“Y/N!”

You jumped, the volume of his voice calling out your name startling you out of your stupor. Judging by the annoyed furrow in his brow and the sharp clench in his jaw, it wasn’t Leon’s first attempt to get your attention. You closed your eyes and rolled your shoulders, trying and failing to nonchalantly force the bubbling pit of anxiety back down your throat.

God, you needed another drink.

You forced a smile and focused your increasingly blurry eyes on the man beside you. Even after five years of friendship, it was still surreal sometimes, seeing him outside of work and very nearly blending in with regular civilian life. To the untrained eye, he pulled it off perfectly, but you could tell by the way he sat - spine just a little too straight, feet planted a little too solidly, stool angled just right to keep the bar’s exits in clear view.

He had seen too much in his relatively short life to ever be truly relaxed in public again.

“You don’t have to shout; I’m right here,” you admonished, plucking the glass from his fingers and knocking back the remainder of his whiskey. You winced as the warm liquid burned on the way down.

“Are you?” he sniffed, clearly unconvinced, and flagged down the bartender for another round.

You shrugged, a little inelegantly from the three vodka cranberries you’d already killed that night, and swayed a little as you reached for the fourth when your fresh drinks were slid across the bar. Leon grabbed them both first and held them to his chest as he frowned at you again, his blue eyes narrowed in the low light.

You laughed, misreading his intentions completely, and the sound was harsh and overly loud as most drunken laughs tended to be. “Didn’t think mixed drinks were your thing, Leon.”

Leon’s lip twitched like he was fighting a smile, or maybe a sneer, but otherwise didn’t respond. After a moment, you whined impatiently, all your dignity pretty much checked out for the night at that point. You were about to make grabby hands for your drink when a sudden wave of dizziness washed over you, causing you to need to grab the bar for support. “Give it, Kennedy.”

“Not sure that’s a good idea.” The words sounded off, almost forced, like he was fighting his own teeth to get them out. “Why don’t switch to water for a while, sweetheart?”

“Jesus, what are you my dad all of a sudden?” You snorted. It was a throw away line, a joke so completely lacking in self awareness that it would have made your skin crawl had you been sober.

Leon licked his lips and leaned forward, crowding you so close you could smell his shampoo. “Dunno, you drinking to mask your fear of me too?”

You shouldn’t have been so shocked that he called you on it, because of course he did. He was one of the few people in the world with the security clearance to even know about your father, but, unsurprisingly, binge drinking to repress your rampant daddy issues also came with the side effect of being slow on the uptake. Was it really too much to ask of your friend to let you drink yourself into oblivion and ignore reality in peace?

The alcohol in your blood was enough to swing the irrational pendulum of your mood from shock to fury in record time.

Thankfully, the music was loud enough in the bar to cover the sharp crack of you slapping him hard across the face, a move you would come to regret by morning, but one that the rage burning hot through your veins had demanded in the moment. Whether or not he deserved to be on the receiving end of that rage wasn’t the point, not that you were in any sort of condition for nuanced introspection. The point was you were angry and scared and had finally been pushed too far.

Leon straightened on his stool, mouth agape and eyebrows up to his hairline. He hadn’t been expecting that. You had never hit him before, and it wasn’t like he hadn’t given you plenty of reasons to over the years. Hell, he had spent nearly the first full year of your acquaintance obnoxiously and endlessly trying to get you to sleep with him. He wanted to deck himself just thinking about it.

He sighed and turned to place the drinks back down on the bar, quickly scanning the room to check that nobody had witnessed your little scene. When he turned back around, he caught your arm raised to strike him again and pulled, knocking you off balance so that you had to hold onto his shoulder to stay on your stool.

“Fuck you,” you seethed too loud, struggling to snatch your arm free. Leon’s free hand shot out to your hip, countering your weight to prevent you from falling since you seemed alarmingly unconcerned with the way your actions were making your stool wobble.

“Oh so that’s not what you’re doing here then? Will ya quit trying to hit me, goddamnit , people are staring.”

“ Fuck. You .”

“Fine, I’ll just leave then. Good luck getting your belligerent ass home yourself.” He stood, but your hand on his shoulder latched onto his jacket lapel and you were pulled forward onto your feet. It could have been the abrupt movement or the new fear of him actually abandoning you in a dive bar or just another stupid drunken mood swing, but you could feel the rage start to drain from your body along with any energy left to keep yourself upright. Instinctively, Leon caught you against his body before you could crumple to the bar’s dirty floor like a stringless marionette.

You both stood there, pressed together and silent for a while. Almost an entire verse of Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin” came and went over the speakers, and Leon started to worry that you might have fucking passed out on him until you heaved a deep breath and finally spoke.

“Leon…” you muttered, your face smushed against his chest.

He sighed again, his breath puffing out against your hair and sending a pleasant tingle down your spine. “What?” he asked, not unkindly.

“Don’t - please don’t leave me?” You shifted in his arms, winding your own around his waist and squeezing, either for reassurance or in an attempt to adhere yourself to him like a barnacle thus making leaving you impossible.

“You gonna hit me again?”

You shook your head and sniffed. “‘M sorry. Shouldn’t have done that.”

“Well, alright,” Leon replied and took his seat again, arms spread as if to say the floor was all yours.

You heaved yourself back up on your stool, still a little wobbly, but you waved off Leon’s move to help you. “But you shouldn’t have said that. It was fucking out of line and you know it.”

And there it was, the end of his rope. With how frustratingly evasive and cryptic you had been all night, he was surprised that he’d been able to make it as far as he did. You had called him to talk, not the other way around, and getting anything more than a despondent “I’m fine” out of you so far had been physically painful. Leon fought the urge to throw up his arms and scream at one of his few friends.

“What the hell do you want from me, huh? We’ve been sitting here for hours now on a fucking Tuesday night and you have yet to even allude to what’s bothering you. So, let me help you out and save the two of us some time, hmm? Your old man’s getting paroled and you’re scared.”

Leon’s threshold for being jerked around was normally pretty impressive - one didn’t get as far as he did in the DSO without willingly and exuberantly jumping through some pretty ridiculous hoops. He’d become an expert at playing the long game.

But his patience with you was always shockingly limited, despite his genuine affection towards you. Maybe it was because he knew you so well and expected more. Or maybe you were just the only person he actually let get under his skin and as such had a more direct line to his nerves. Leon really didn’t like to dwell on it.

The blood drained from your face, your mouth suddenly full of spit. You didn’t know if you were about to pass out or vomit or both as reality crashed back onto you with a vengeance. “How-” you croaked. “How do you even know that?”

“I keep an eye on you. Bad habit, I know, but I’ve been doing it for so long now that I can’t seem to help it.” His lips twitched into the barest approximation of a smile and you just blinked at him, stunned.  

“Jesus, Leon, I don’t know whether to be touched or to slap you again. You keep an eye - do I even want to know what that means?”

“I don’t know, when you first told me about your father I pulled his file at the DSO’s office. The shit he did, what he put you through -” he paused, taking a moment to polish off the rest of his whiskey. “I didn’t - I couldn’t let anything like that happen to you ever again. In fact, that reminds me, I called in a favor with the DA’s office and had them draw up some papers for you to sign, restraining order and the like. I’ll have them sent to your office when they’re ready.”

You had forgotten how far up the ladder Leon had climbed. Mr. Right Hand of the President, having favors to cash in from the District Attorney. He’d come a long way from the sarcastic, reckless, young agent you used to bandage up after missions.

“I don’t… Leon -”

“Unless, do you want your own lawyer to handle things? Though with the way that clown bungled the parole hearing, I wouldn’t trust him with my dry clean- hey!”

He was cut off by you all but launching yourself off your stool and into his arms again. He caught you as you whispered, “I can’t believe you did all that…”

Leon let out a surprised, uncomfortable chuckle and pulled you more securely onto his lap. “Yeah, well you know me. Big fan of contingency plans. Hey, c’mon are you crying? Gorgeous, don’t - you don’t have to be scared, okay? I swear to you, if he comes near you, if he even thinks about trying to find you - he’s a dead man.”

It was said with the same sort of nonchalant certainty one usually reserved for low stakes, banal declarations like “it’s going to rain later” or “we should get Thai food for dinner” not promises of violence. A chill went down your spine as you were reminded of the fact that, for Leon Kennedy at least, being a thoughtful, caring person and being a killer weren’t mutually exclusive. It came with the territory of being an agent.

But what did it say about you that the first feeling at the thought of your own father dead at the hands of your closest friend wasn’t horror or revulsion, but gratitude?

“Thank you,” you murmured into his neck, struggling to compose yourself.

Leon shrugged, as best he could with his arms full of a weepy woman, and pressed a kiss to your temple. “I got your back, you know that. Now, can we be done with this crying shit please? You’re making the entire bar uncomfortable here.”

You nodded and took a deep breath, letting his expensive cologne and warm touch sooth you. It was remarkable how safe Leon made you feel after the tormenting trip down memory lane that had been your life since it was announced that the government was willing to support your father’s appeal for parole in exchange for information on his old boss. You had been so sure that you could do it alone and not let him get to you. But seeing that man again at the hearing, having to give another statement outlining the years of abuse and horror you and mother had suffered, only for it all to mean absolutely nothing. To have to see him walk free again...

It turned you right back into that terrified, weak little girl that you had fought so hard to put behind you. But being in Leon’s arms, knowing that you had his support, helped. Made you feel less alone and vulnerable. For the first time in weeks, you felt yourself actually start to relax as you finally let someone else shoulder a little bit of this burden that had been breaking you down.

“That’s my girl. We good now or are you going to continue using my favorite jacket as a snot rag?”

You let out a watery laugh and pinched Leon’s side, making him jump. “Asshole,” you muttered, hiding a genuine smile into his chest.

Leon laughed, smoothing the hair back from your face and titling your chin up until your eyes met his. “Let’s get you home, kid.”

[criminalmindsmad]

What baby?

Requests are OPEN until Sunday! Hope you like it teehee - Ash x

Request: can you write a request where you're in a relationship with Hotch and the rest of the team don't know until the reader finds out she's pregnant. 

"Ok, you go in now and I'll meet you there in half an hour" you rolled out of his arms so he could move. He sat up slightly and looked down at you, your hair all messy from the pillows, eyes still pressed closed and a quite contented expression on your lips. He smiled as he stroked the hair out of your face.

"I don't believe you y/n." He chuckled to himself and he saw one of your eyes pop open to look at him, you smiled at him, one of your cheeky smiles.

"Fine, 45 minutes" you spun yourself over snatching the quilt away from him. He pounced on top of you trapping you in a duvet cocoon and placing his face inches from yours. Your eyes traced over his face and you bit your lip "I love you."

"I love you too y/n." He smirked as he pressed his lips gently to yours, releasing you from your cozy prison so you could bring your hands up to his hair. His grip was thoroughly on your thigh, forcing out a small moan from inside you.

Just as things were getting good your phone's buzzed, swiftly followed by the face of Penelope Garcia plastering itself over Hotch's phone screen as her caller ID flashed up.

"I'll hop in the shower while you answer that. We can pick this up later huh?" He nodded and slapped your butt as you walked past him. You winked as you dropped your pyjamas on the floor just as he answered the phone.

***

The team touched down in Colorado and Hotch sent you and JJ to the crime scene, a mother of two had been brutally murdered in her home while the rest of her family were locked in the basement.

You both walked directly to the crime scene, the body was still in the centre of the room as CSI technicians hurried around the place collecting evidence. JJ started to rattle off things she had noticed as you quietly listened and observed. You decided to have a look at the victim to see if the state of her body could tell you anything. Pulling back the sheet you felt the bile rise in your throat and you found yourself gagging, you were not normally the one to be phased by a crime scene but everything in you felt like it wanted to get out. You quickly set the sheet down and stood up hoping taking the site away would make you feel better.

"Y/n are you ok? Do you wanna go and get some air?" JJ looked at you with her concerned eyes, but you didn't want her to worry about you, at least you didn't have your head caved in by some psycho.

'yeah...yeah I'm fi...I'm..oh god" you quickly ran out of the house and past the police tape, losing your breakfast next to an unsuspecting tree. A couple of the local police officers had watched your antics and quietly judged you. You centred yourself and managed to stop the seasick feeling from overcoming you again. Popping a piece of gum in your mouth and wiping your mouth you headed back into the crime scene, greeted by JJ doing the 'im very worried but I don't want you to think about it too much so I'm going to pretend it didn't happen but will give you a look as I leave to tell you I'm worried' act. "I'm fine JJ" you smiled at her reassuringly "must've eaten something bad"

***

"Are you sure you're ok?" Hotch had pulled you aside at the precinct after JJ mentioned your incident.

"Yes I'm fine" you glanced around to make sure none of your team could see you before placing your hand on his and squeezing "I just took a funny turn, it was either something I ate or for once I stopped being an FBI robot and let the site of a woman with a caved in face bother me" you looked into his brown eyes and pleaded with him to relax, you'd been through much worse together and a little sickness wasn't going to hurt.

Hotch and you had gotten off to a rocky start, he didn't particularly want you on his team but the brass had forced him to take you on after you'd made it clear you were a valuable asset. In an attempt to prove a point he had really put you through your paces, making you jump through hoops and testing you in any way he could. But no matter what he did and how hard he pushed you, you came back fighting and he had to admit he was impressed. Gradually your relationship developed, you became very good friends and discovered you were strangely very similar but it only took one small moment of weakness on your part for you to plant a kiss on him and push your relationship over into the next stage. Somehow, and you had no idea how, you had managed to keep this relationship a secret for over a year, you'd been sure the team had caught on but yet they never did, Garcia continued to sign you up to dating apps without your permission and Rossi had forced Hotch onto a multitude of blind dates. You'd thought about telling them a couple times but it never felt right, and besides having a secret from your team was just a little bit, on a lot, fun.

"I know y/n. But I just worry, and it gets harder to pretend it's just because I'm your boss when every time I see you my stomach hurts" you smiled at him and bought your hand to his cheek.

"I know what you mean but you have nothing to worry about. I'm too busy to get sick, busy being sexaay" you struck an awkward pose and he just stared at you.

"Wow I think we should break up." He laughed as you softly smacked him "let's get back to the team before you strike another 'sexy' pose and I tear your clothes off"

"Oh my Agent Hotchner that's hardly appropriate" you winked as you walked out of the door.

***

"Ryan Yates FBI put your hands in the air!" You and Reid apprehended the unsub, backing him into a corner and forcing him to surrender. As you walked over to him and grabbed his wrist he swung his body back and slammed you into a wall knocking the air out of you. Reid quickly took down the unsub and cuffed him while the rest of the team filed into the room. Aaron, trying to stay professional, ran over to you to check if you were ok, helping you to your feet.

"Are you ok? You hurt?"

"No no I'm fine, just a bit winded, I can walk it off." You smiled at him and held onto his arms as you got your breath back. Suddenly, your knees felt week and your vision began to blur, you felt your body falling from beneath you as you reached out further for him "aaron...something's not right... Aaron"

***

The soft beeping of the heart monitor woke you up and you opened your eyes as you shuffled up the bed. You looked around the hospital room and were greeted with the faces of your team, Aaron was sat right next to your bed looking the most worried you'd ever seen him.

"What happened?" In all honestly you felt fine, actually you felt quite refreshed.

"You collapsed, just after we took down Yates" Reid piped up from the corner of the room "how are you feeling?"

"I'm ok" you smiled at him and then looked at Aaron, still looking pale and concerned "I'm ok Aaron, I probably just got winded and forgot to breath, either that or I just passed out because I thought it might spice things up a bit" you winked at Rossi who rolled his eyes and shook his head.

A short round doctor appeared in the doorway, clearing his throat to catch you attention. "Ah Miss Y/l/n I'm so glad to see you awake."

"Yes, I'm so sorry about this, I'm sure it was nothing, have you come to discharge me?" You smiled at him.

"Actually Y/n I just needed to ask you some questions about the baby?" He walked over to the foot of the bed.

"What baby?"

"You baby miss Y/N. You're pregnant?" Your mouth dropped open. As did Aaron's. As did every member of the teams'.

"Pregnant?" Both you and Aaron spoke in unison, eyes fixed on the doctor. "I'm pregnant?"

"Yes. About 10 weeks" your eyes began to tear up and you looked at Aaron.

"I'm pregnant. I'm pregnant!" You began to cry as you smiled and took his hand "I'm gonna have a baby." You looked into his tearful eyes "we're gonna have a baby"

"Yeah…yeah we are." He leaned in and kissed you, pulling you close to him and wrapping his arms around you. "I love you so much"

"I love you too" you choked out as your lungs filled with happy sobs. He took his arms from around you and pressed his hand against your stomach. Bringing you in for another kiss.

"Ahem" the room descended into silence as you both realised who was still stood in the room. Slowly you took your eyes off one another and scanned around the room, a sea of shocked faces greeted you. You couldn't help it, but you started to giggle.

"I guess we have a lot of explaining to do huh" you looked back to Aaron who just started to smile "can I have my congratulations hugs first?" You looked over to Rossi who cracked the biggest smile and came in to hug you both followed swiftly by the rest of the team. And as you and Aaron were pressed together by the weight your your team you looked up at him as he spoke.

"You will be the best mum and the best wife." And he pulled a ring out of his back pocket.