#on top of other inconveniences as of late and not much activity going on here and ... yeah]]

[whirling-fangs]

[[ pointless little munday rant/apology under the cut!! ]]

I just wanted to say: i'm sorry for being really clingy at times and especially as of late. Things aren't going well with IRL interpersonal relationships recently, I've been having a lot of autistic breakdowns at work which make me isolate myself and act rude to others without realizing it, and I figure that's why people are (understandably) rejecting me a lot in return... so I turn to online spaces even more than usual. I rely too much on current plots/threads I'm excited about in order to maintain a good mental health balance ;-;

I'm really sorry for always being up in people's notifications or sometimes DMs/discord, when I should probably give everyone more space (or on the contrary, nurture the friendship more, it's either 0% or 100% with me haha). I know I can't force friendships, sometimes you'll click with another person and sometimes you don't, but I've probably been trying to force things when I should just accept that I can't be BFFs with everyone everywhere. It's not anyone's job on here to help me feel better, friendships should be natural and I can't rely on tumblr for therapy haha.

I know that having only one muse to offer means that scenarios I can write are limited, and I can be very self-obessessed and I probably make things about my muse too much, and I also wanted to apologize about that. It's frustrating when I can't give the people I want to write with the kind of content they seem to really enjoy, but again, I shouldn't try to force it.

Tl;dr: if I've ever misread signs and acted either too clingy or too distant, I'm super super sorry!! i'm learning every day and I just hope to find that sweet spot between enjoying my time here and having a fulfilling real life experience that doesn't make me want to escape online 24/7. I'm working on it. Thank you for sticking with me ♥

[berenwrites]

Whole New Us Ch20 - Stranger Things - Steddie

Whole New Us: Trauma Bonded and Beyond

Also on AO3 | Or here CH1 | CH2 | CH3 | CH4 | CH5 | CH6 | CH7 | CH8 | CH9 | CH10 | CH11 | CH12 | CH13 | CH14 | CH15 | CH16 | CH17 | CH18 | CH19 | CH20 | CH21 | CH22 | CH23 | CH24 | CH25 (Mature) | CH25 (Fade to black) COMPLETE

Summary: Steve has been ignoring his own problems, he’s been busy. They’ve all been busy, preoccupied with fixing everything that was broken. Vecna has been defeated, but the Upside Down is still there, and the gates are not completely closed even though Hawkins has almost returned to normal. It’s been a couple of months and the aftereffects of Steve’s encounter with the demobats is about to come back to bite him. However, it also brings some unexpected hope.

Pairing: steddie (Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson)

Rating: Teen (with mature content in later chapters)

Chapter 20.    Unexpected Truth

Steve sighed as Mike threw popcorn at Dustin, but he was so content that he didn’t have the heart to yell at him. He was going to have to take out all the couch cushions to clean, again, but they looked so happy. It had been a week and a half since graduation and Dustin had begged for a movie night as summer boredom set in. It was him, Robin, Eddie and all the kids except Erica, who was having a sleepover with Tina because she did not trust anyone else’s taste in movies.

Eddie was almost sitting on top of Steve, but Eddie was a touchy-feely kind of guy, so no one had even blinked, and Robin was on his other side using him as a sentient space heater even though it was late June. She always complained the AC was on too high.

The movie was just about over and, for once, Steve had made it all the way through. He still wasn’t quite back to one hundred percent and had an unfortunate habit of falling asleep when there wasn’t anything actively taking his attention. Robin was constantly ribbing him for it, especially at work, although, suspiciously, she always left him to it if they didn’t have any customers to deal with.

There was a big fight scene going on when he suddenly had the strangest feeling. His hackles went up and he was instantly alert, then the front door slammed. Nearly everyone in the room was ready to leap out of their seat at that, but Steve was the only one who stood as shock made him move.

“Mom, Dad,” he said, staring at his parents, “you didn’t tell me you were coming home.”

“Clearly,” his mom said, looking at all the kids in their movie night PJs.

“Well, this is inconvenient,” was what his dad chose to say, annoyance dripping from his tone.

Steve had no idea how to respond.

“No, nope, definitely not, just no,” it was Eddie’s voice that cut through the uncomfortable atmosphere as he stepped past Steve, putting himself right in the firing line. “You do not have the right to call the family Steve found because you couldn’t be bothered to be here, inconvenient.”

“How dare you,” Steve’s mother said.

“Who the hell are you?” his father said at the same time.

“Probably your worst nightmare,” Eddie replied.

Steve reached out to put his fingers on Eddie’s shoulder, but Eddie gave him a look. It said so many things.

“Wait, I’ve seen you before,” his father said.

Eddie put a hand up to his face, covering the scars on his cheek.

“Better?” he asked, his tone scathing. “I didn’t have the pretty additions when they took my picture.”

Steve saw his father’s eyes open in shock.

“You’re the man who killed the Cunningham girl,” his father accused, because of course he did.

“No, he didn’t,” Steve said very loudly and very firmly.

Eddie momentarily shrank a little at the accusation, the guilt at not being able to save Chrissy clearly obvious, and Steve was not having that.

“Eddie was a victim, just as much as Chrissy,” he said, refusing to back down from his father’s angry stare. “He was completely exonerated, and he nearly died saving Dustin, so don’t accuse him of what you don’t understand.”

“Which you would have known if you had been here,” Eddie added, totally not helping.

“That’s enough,” his father shouted, “I want everyone who does not live here out of my house now.”

Steve’s heart thudded in his chest as the thought of being alone crashed into him.

“No.”

Eddie’s voice cut like a knife. Steve’s father opened his mouth to say something scathing back.

“No,” Eddie said again, “you don’t get to say that. This might be your house, but it’s Steve’s home. If you had told him you were coming back, I have no doubt he would have made sure your big empty house was perfect for you, but you didn’t even give him that courtesy, so, no, you don’t get to say that. He needs this more than you need your spotless house.”

“Steven, do something about your friends,” his father demanded, but Steve didn’t know what to say. “You’re a disgrace, lounging around in bedclothes with children.”

“Stop right there,” Eddie said in a tone that added or-I’ll-make-you without it being said. “Your son is the farthest thing from a disgrace you can get. He is one of the bravest men I have ever met, and he’ll look after anyone who needs it. At the moment I can’t for the life of me figure out where he picked up either of those traits.”

“How dare…” was as far as his father got.

“How dare I, I’ll tell you how I dare,” Eddie went on, and all Steve could do was stare. “While you weren’t looking, your son helped save the world five times…”

“Eddie,” Robin hissed.

“No,” Eddie said turning to give her a look, “they need to know, or they will never get it. And I mean that absolutely literally, by the way,” Eddie went on staring down Steve’s parents, “there has been shit going down here you would not believe. I’m late to the party, I was only in on one of those, but Steve, and those kids over there, they’ve done it all five fucking times. And let’s not forget the fact that your darling boy has been kidnapped and tortured by the Russians twice, and you don’t have the remotest clue it happened even once.”

His mom was staring at him flicking between horror and disbelief.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” his father started to say.

Steve just couldn’t take the tirade that he knew was about to come, so he did the only thing he could think of, he pulled his t-shirt off. The scars that littered his skin were clear for all to see. His mother gasped, dropping her clutch purse and immediately coming towards him.

“Oh my god,” she said, almost, but not quite reaching out to touch him, “my poor baby. Why didn’t you tell us?”

The cruel words that jumped into his head were ‘you wouldn’t have listened anyway’, but what he said was, “I wasn’t allowed to.”

“What do you mean weren’t allowed,” his father demanded, “we’re you parents? Tell me everything right now!”

It was exactly the wrong tone at exactly the wrong moment. Steve’s mind filled with memories. There was Starcourt and there was the brute with the cattle prod, overlayed on each other as the present vanished in pain and fear.

“Fuck,” he heard, but it sounded so distant.

He wanted to run, to struggle, but he was frozen, unable to do anything.

“Steve, Steve, sweetheart look at me.”

The voice called to him, but he couldn’t remember who it belonged to.

Someone grabbed his chin, yanking his head around and he couldn’t fight back. He felt Eddie, but he couldn’t see him. Did they have Eddie too? He couldn’t bear it if they had caught Eddie.

“Steve, it’s Eddie, I need you to come back,” the voice said, out of his captor’s distorted face. “You’re safe, Stevie, no one is going to hurt you.”

“Eddie,” he muttered, but Eddie hadn’t been at Starcourt.

Then it was like a revelation: but Eddie had come for him this time. Eddie had been there.

“Yes, Steve,” Eddie’s voice told him out of the chimera face his mind was conjuring, “that’s right, Eddie. You’re safe, everyone’s safe, it’s all good.”

“Safe?” he asked, even more confused.

“Safe,” Eddie confirmed.

Ever so slowly the hard grip on his chin morphed until he could feel a hand on each of his cheeks, a gentle touch unlike the one his mind had conjured. And like the sun coming out from behind clouds, the twisted face in front of him melted away to leave Eddie’s worried visage. He blinked a couple of times just to make sure.

“Are you back, Stevie?” Eddie asked in an incredibly gentle tone.

He still felt a bit spacy, but Steve nodded. He wasn’t sure he could manage words right at that moment. When he realised his dad’s voice had sent him into a full-blown flashback he began to shake.

“Okay, Dingus,” Robin’s warm voice told him as she gently placed her hands on his shoulders, “we’ve got you. Time to sit down before you fall down.”

As Eddie and Robin guided him to the kid’s couch, he didn’t have any will to object. He found himself pushed down onto the soft cushions as the others made room for him before he was wrapped in a blanket and surrounded on all sides by careful teenagers.

“Look after him,” Eddie told Dustin, “we’ll deal with this.”

When Eddie looked over at Steve’s parents he tried to reach out, to protest or something, he wasn’t quite sure, but his arms were pinned in the blanket, and he had zero coordination to get out.

“Eddie,” he said, but any other words failed him.

“Steve,” Eddie said, no playfulness in his features at all, “let Robin and me handle this, you’re in no state. Let the kids keep you grounded, and Rob and I will be back soon.”

He really, really didn’t want Eddie to go anywhere, but after a moment he nodded.

Eddie shared a look with Robin which Steve couldn’t follow because his brain was too fuzzy before they stood back from the pile of people and walked where he couldn’t see. He almost panicked again, but El patted his shoulder and curled closer to his side and distracted him. Flashbacks were hard and his brain felt all out of sync, but he accepted the comfort as well as he could.

His eyes flicked to the TV screen where the credits of the movie were playing on mute.

“Don’t forget to rewind,” was possibly the stupidest thing he could say, but it was the only thing in his brain that made sense.

End of Chapter 20

Chapter 21

[snorfbin]

just a little eensy teensy rant about eso lately

im not looking for a discussion or anything like that, this is just a rant i couldnt stuff in the tags

eso is one of those games that i want to like but it feels like with each passing day i find theres more and more to dislike about it. sometimes i feel like im submitting a ticket every week bc theres something broken i come across. stuff environmental asset that were once entirely solid can now be clipped through which prevents people from getting loot the devs stashed ontop of it

lately theyve been celebrating the 10th anniversary jubilee, 10 whole years of eso, and of course they can even do that smoothly along with literally every other event theyve put on in 2024. it started out fine but shit soon hit the fan

they made an update to pts so players can test out the new dlc and some new pts features to test out higher level builds. things were going well until about an hour after the pts was brought back online when my server, pcna, was suddenly taken offline without any warnings. i had to hop over to the server to get some info which is where i learned that the pts update hadnt gone smoothly. zos somehow crossed the wires between pts and pcna where people could bring over their max level pts toons over to pcna and i heard people had billions in gold and trillions in loot. pts and pcna were taken down for this emergency bc it absolutely wouldve devastated the player economy to have that much money flowing around. speculation on how zos would handle this was grim on the forums, generally people were expecting a server rollback and all progress they had made that day would be erased. ill give zos credit, they didnt do a rollback but just locked the accounts of those who were affected by this pts exploit so the devs could dig through their inventory and xp histories to pick out the exploits; everyone else who didnt exploit the game would be fine to continue on playing when the servers came back online

pcna was taken down i wanna say around 7 am for me and was only brought back by around 11:30 pm so thats most of the day for the event gone. to my knowledge it took a couple days for pts to come back online. overall the issue didnt bother me beyond the time the server was down at that point. those with locked accounts would receive incredibly generous gifts from zos to make up for the inconvenience of being locked out during the event. theyd get...

-16k endeavours. they can use that to buy items from the gamble crates without spending any irl money. 16k is enough to buy like 400 of the bottom tier items or just 1 of the top shelf fancy as fuck items. thats about 10 months worth of constantly grinding for endeavours

-5 replica style pages released this year for the event. you can normally get these style pages through a handful of activities but the drop rates have become infamous for how abysmally low they are. ive heard of people running 700 dolmens now throughout the whole event and they have nothing to show for it. players whove been locked out get all 5 without putting in the work

-25 confetti scrolls to make the new jubilee horse mount. normally you get these by doing 1 daily quest to get a gold event reward box, you get 1 confetti scroll per box and the event was originally only meant to go on for 18 days, youd have to spend event tickets to buy more to complete the achievement to earn the horse

so locked out players get all 3 of these overwhelmingly generous gifts to make up for the time theyve spent locked out during the event. usually whenever zos actually feels bad about a blunder they just give us some ugly as fuck pity pet and move on with their shenanigans. theyre basically sucking the dicks of players here in my humble opinion. they even added on an additional 2 days to the event, instead of just 18 days worth of the event its not 20 days in total! hallelujah for that!

and then they decided to go back on the 2 additional days and essentially just make it 1 day for literally everyone on pcna. for the final day of the event, from 3 am to 7 am, pcna would be taken offline starting at 3 am when tickets are supposed to reset so that they can restore locked accounts. zos even stated that they expect the server to be offline for like 8 hours. just go fuck yourself if youre on pcna and were hoping to get the final 3 tickets and maybe some bonus rewards, those 2 extra days zos promised is effectively just 1 day and a broken promise

my gripe with the server being taken down is that it was scheduled for 3 am. thats when daily quests and tickets reset. if you werent already on and ready to get your tickets youre just fucked with no hope of getting your tickets, spending them, or earning any other rewards for the extra day zos promised you. they S E R I O U S L Y couldnt wait maybe another 10 mins so those dedicated to the event and to earning tickets could maybe actually have just a little bit more time to actually earn the final tickets and the last of the event rewards as well as buy event goodies from the impressario and indrik vendor merchants who are only around during events and tend to have items associated with specific events and seasons? they seriously needed to take the server down for the entirety of the final day of the event? players whove been locked out seriously cant wait just 10 extra minutes?

i consider myself to have be very lucky to be nocturnal for the past while. i was able to be online before the servers went down. i prepped some daily quests to turn in for my last rewards and was ready to earn my final tickets. i got the event boxes and my tickets. not many other players are awake at 3 in the fucking morning on a weekday and had absolutely no chance to earn their final event goodies! they were also p damn fast at taking the server down too. usually it takes like 3-5 mins but ive personally seen it take as many as 8 mins for the server to go offline. my clock read 3:01 by the time the server was pulled offline. thats unusually punctual for zos in my experience over the course of 3 years of playing eso. players who were locked out wouldnt even be able to get the rewards of the last day of the event either

im just fucking pissed that they promised us 2 extra days of the event and then unexpectedly backtracked in the worst way possible by giving everyone on pcna only the slimmest of chances to get the rewards of the final day. this round of maintenance has turned the forums into more than a bit of a warzone too with players fighting each other over whos fault it is when its so very clearly the fault of zos. it feels like the whole fucking dev team is made up entirely of clowns keyboard smashing their way through some very delicate spaghetti code so its just inevitable that like 50 bajillion things break with each and every update.

i dont fucking care if youre one of the players who got locked out or if youre also mad about missing the final day of the event. i just need to fucking vent about how god awfully stupid zos is at least this one time. the only reason why i even continue playing eso is bc its the only source for tes content nowadays bc tes6 is never coming out

[tobesobri]

Firstly, I apologize for how late this is and I know nobody is going to read this right now because it’s currently 11 PM BUT I still wanted to get this up on halloween and so here we are. 

A very long (31k words) smutty halloween fic with one bed, a ghost, enemies to lovers, and an unsolved murder case. (I’m sorry that there’s also very little editing)

He lifted his mouth after a moment. “I was right.”

He was positive she’d look just as dazed even if she did comprehend what he was saying. So, he chuckled, quickly explaining himself after guiding his lips to her ear.

“You’re cute when you come too.”

She shut her eyes again, laying her head back with her mouth open as she struggled to get enough oxygen in. “You’re welcome to be reminded of that any time you like.”

“Is that an invitation?”

She nodded without a single breath of hesitation. “Any time.” She reiterated.

“What about when you’re alone in your office?” He kissed his way down her neck, lips lingering on her pulse for a moment longer. Then he trailed his way back up to her ear, glancing at her face while he whispered, “Because I’ve thought about all the ways we can make your desk useful countless times.”

“Are you saying my desk is useless?”

He chuckled, his breath fanning out pieces of her hair which he quickly fixed, tucking it behind her ear as he then placed both hands on either side of her face and his forehead on hers, staring at her swollen lips while he spoke. “I think it’d be better utilized if I was fucking you on top of it.”

He wasn’t sure why his final breaking point had been what it was, but he was getting way too much pleasure out of fantasizing strangling her for the past ten miles—and then doing the same to their boss for putting him in this situation in the first place—that he was having to white-knuckle the steering wheel on their way through Maryland just to hold himself back.

“Can you just,” his grip tightened more, if that was even possible, “just pick a fucking song.” 

Maybe he should have lost his shit back at the start of this mess, when she was forced upon him, but twenty-six hours ago it had just been a minor inconvenience. Just a blip in all his plans that he had no choice but to accommodate for. 

Plus, he’d also been actively drinking his first pumpkin spice latte of the season and their boss could’ve have gotten away with murder right in front of him and it wouldn’t have bothered Harry.

However, perhaps worse than murder, his boss had decided at the very last minute to stick YN with him for the whopping six-hour trip to Lexington, VA to do research for a story they had both fought over. He knew it hadn’t been a random coincidence. Or that his boss suddenly had a change of heart. No. YN had made one last desperate attempt to snatch the story out from under him and, instead, ruined both of their weekend plans. 

And he was determined to make sure hers ended up worse than his—although, so far, he wasn’t doing nearly a good enough job of that. Every insult and glare he threw at her since they began their trip she’d just deflected and then came back with something even worse for him. 

Like when he’d told her that the Cheetos she’d brought with her were going to give her bad breath. She just shrugged and told him all the one-night stands he had were going to give him chlamydia. Then ate another Cheeto.

So, after that, he shut his mouth and stewed in his anger for a few miles until he had a clear enough head to come up with other ways to ruin her weekend. But he was beginning to fear she was just unbreakable and he was a fucking piece of tissue paper that was being ripped to shreds each of the twenty-seven times—yes, he was counting—she abruptly changed the damn song.

“I didn’t have time to make a playlist,” her excuse made Harry’s blood boil and then to make matters worse, she changed the song for the twenty-eighth time, “so I don’t know what to listen to.”

Harry spoke through gritted teeth as he seriously struggled to stop himself from swerving and hitting a light pole on her side of the car. Unfortunately for him, he’d opted out of buying the insurance for his rental, so that option was off the table. “You really don’t want me to remind you of why you didn’t have any time.” 

She sighed and finally set her phone down, letting Michael Jackson actually get to the chorus of Thriller for once. “I didn’t mean for this to happen, Harry, for the billionth time already.”

“No, of course not. You just meant to take the job from me after I’d already rented my car, booked my air bnb, packed my bags, did my preliminary research, and planned out my entire route and itinerary.”

She shuddered. “Don’t say that word.”

He glanced over at her like she was crazy. Which she was. Because that was the part where she was supposed to be apologizing to him and instead she was complaining about his word choices. 

Strangling her was becoming a very viable option now.

“What fucking word? Itinerary?”

“Yes that word. I don’t like it.”

“What else am I supposed to say then?”

She threw her hands up as if she was the one who was rightfully annoyed and then crossed them around herself as she actually sifted through her brain for a good synonym. It just annoyed him even more when her eyes widened the tiniest bit and he noticed the edge of her lips lift into one of her stupid, satisfied smiles.

“Schedule. You could’ve said schedule.”

He rolled his eyes. “Guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you care more about whether or not my word choice is personally offensive to you than apologizing for what you tried to do to me.”

“Oh my god,” she scrunched up her face at how big of a baby he was being right now, “don’t be so dramatic, Harry.”

He grumbled half under his breath, “It’s true though.”

She was the one rolling her eyes this time. “Yeah, I do care about how personally offensive I find your word choice, it’s why I never read your pieces.”

He realized then he really should have left it alone when she clearly was way past the point of apologizing to him—probably because she’d already apologized approximately fifty times. He was still mad though and now, on top of everything, she’d just taken an iron dagger right through his heart and it made him even angrier that he cared so much about whether or not she was reading his work. He didn’t always read hers either. 

“Yeah well at least I don’t overuse the word ‘literally.’”

“At least I write at my age level! You write like an old man! Fucking itinerary!” She sat back against her seat in a huff, quickly realizing she was getting way too heated but she really couldn’t help it when she was around him, he always brought out the worst in her and she was sure she had the same effect on him.

She considered the three-hour drive they still had ahead of them and brought her temper down a notch.

It didn’t last long when Harry opened his mouth again. “You realize saying I write like an old man just proves that you do actually read my writing.”

She ignored that because frankly she was done arguing over something so fucking stupid. “You know what, Harry? I already apologized to you a million times. I didn’t mean to crash your fucking five-star vacation to murder town. I told you how badly I wanted this story when it first came up. I called fucking dibs and you still got it over me, so, yeah, I tried to take it from you. Get over it. We’re stuck together now and trust me, I don’t like it anymore than you do.”

He was quiet then, and for most of the rest of the trip, really. They only spoke if it was necessary to communicate. Like when he needed to stop in Harrisonburg to go pee at a gas station and she begrudgingly asked him to buy her another bag of cheetos and a coke.

It was just getting dark when they finally arrived in Lexington, both still giving the other the silent treatment—though the tension between them had simmered—as Harry pulled into the driveway of the little bungalow he’d rented. And it was just that—little. As she stared at the house through the passenger window, she couldn’t see any possible way there was more than one bedroom in there. Unless the house got bigger in the back and she just couldn’t see it through the overgrowth of trees. Just as she turned to ask Harry about it, however, he was already out of the car and mumbling something about a security number.

Rolling her eyes, she unbuckled her seatbelt and followed him to the front door, leaving their suitcases behind until they’d checked the house out first. She stood behind him on the small front porch as he punched in a code on the bright red door that she assumed replaced a ley to make renting easier. The house from the outside was cute, like a little white cottage surrounded by all sorts of plant life and plenty of room between them and the neighboring houses, given them some privacy in case she did, in fact, end up viciously murdering Harry before their trip ended. 

“Do I get to know the code?” She asked as she followed him through the front door and into what appeared to be the living room. 

“No.” He quickly answered, flipping on a light switch as he walked further into the house and she shut the door behind her. Once her eyes adjusted to the light, she realized the house did not actually get any bigger in the back. The living room bled into the kitchen and there was just two doors to the right of the living room. The first was the bathroom, which was made clear when Harry swung the door open and switched on the light. And then with nothing but hope for a hidden second bedroom, she checked behind the second door. Flipping on the light, all her hopes dwindled down to nothing.

“Is there only one room?”

“It was just supposed to be me here, remember?”

“You couldn’t have booked something else once you found out I was coming?”

He shook his head and shut the bathroom door. “Too late to cancel, I wouldn’t have gotten any of my money back.” He spoke nonchalantly, completely unbothered by the situation.

She glanced inside the room again as Harry ventured into the small kitchen. The bedroom was also pretty small with just one queen-sized bed taking up most of the space, a small five-drawer dresser, floor-length mirror on the wall opposite the door that both opened up the space and showed her exactly what six hours of sitting in a car had done to her dark circles. There were also two nightstands with lamps that appeared as if they’d been stolen from a grandma’s house. Or maybe this was somebody’s grandma’s place that they were now renting out. 

Turning the light off in the bedroom, she shut the door behind her as she joined Harry in the kitchen. “So where do I sleep?”

Harry twisted around, having been investigating the fridge which appeared to be mostly empty besides a few unopened bottles of soda and water. “I’m sure there’s a hotel somewhere in town.”

Closing the fridge, he leaned against the peninsula counter opposite her, not even a hint of a playful smile on his face. “You can use the wifi and get a ride or whatever. But I paid for this place so…”

“It’s almost dark out,” she reminded him. They were literally here to investigate an unsolved murder case and he was… kicking her out? 

He just shrugged, “Better be quick then. I’m gonna go get my things.” Stepping out of the kitchen and around her, she watched him the entire time, waiting for some kind of punchline or… anything, really. He couldn’t be serious, could he?

“I can’t even get a ride?” She asked before he made it out the front door.

“I’ve been driving all day.” 

“Why didn’t you just drop me off at a hotel first then?”

He finally turned to face her, grabbing the doorknob as he did. “Why did you just assume you get free room and board? You invited yourself, remember?” And with that, he was out the door. 

She could not believe he was being completely fucking serious. 

She glanced around the living room. She supposed she could make the couch work. It was only a few nights, anyway. Maybe if she offered to split the costs, he’d let her stay. His words did still annoyingly sting the backs of her eyes, though. It was stupid to react that way, she knew that, but him bringing up that up again just emphasized the fact that he clearly did not want her around and it made her feel like shit. It made her want to just go home and never talk to him again, in fact. But that wasn’t really a logical option.

She made use of her time alone to check out the local hotels just in case. But then quickly realized he hadn’t given her the wifi code and there was practically no service. So that was a bust. She shoved her phone back into her pocket and really hoped he wasn’t actually going to be that cruel. They didn’t always get along, sure, but she’d never just kick him to the curb like that no matter how irritated she was at him.

As she stood in the middle of the living room, not sure if she should also retrieve her things from his car, her worries quickly shifted when she felt something touch her shoulder. Almost like someone had just tapped her from behind. She whirled around to nothing, though. Taking a couple steps away, her eyes darted around as if maybe she’d find someone hiding somewhere. This was a rental house after all, anything was possible.

“Is someone there?” She asked, and the silence that followed only made matters worse. 

Maybe she didn’t want to stay here after all.

Or maybe being alone in a car with Harry for six hours had really driven her crazy.

Moments later, she was jumping and whirling around agian for an entirely different reason as Harry came barreling through the front door with his suitcase and pillows in tow. He kicked the door shut with his foot and the froze as his eyes met hers.

“Why do you look like you’ve just seen a ghost?”

She wanted to tell him it was because she might have just done exactly that. But it would only give him more fuel to torture her with, so she calmed down and forgot about it. “What if I give you money, can I stay here then?” 

Rolling his eyes, he huffed as he carried his things toward the bedroom. “I wasn’t being serious, YN.”

Now she was confused. “Kinda seemed like you were.”

He stopped short, not far from her now, possibly only a few feet away as he met her gaze again. “Guess I can’t be offended you think I’m really the type of person to do something like that.”

“Then why…?”

He shrugged. “Makes me feel better being mean to you right now.” Then he stalked off to the bedroom and she let out a deep breath that she’d almost been scared to do ever since she’d felt that tap on her shoulder.

She still wasn’t sure she was comfortable having to sleep on the couch after that, but it was better than trying to get a hotel by herself at this time of night in a small town she’d never stepped foot into before.

After all, it was way more plausible that she’d just been imagining things anyway.

Harry emerged from the bedroom then, leaning on the doorframe. “Are you gonna get your stuff or just stand there all night?”

She blinked a couple times and then took off without another word, or even meeting his gaze. He might not have been being serious about making her leave, but there was no way she’d be getting anything but the couch all weekend. It would definitely do immense damage to her back and neck by the time they left, but she wasn’t about to impose on him any further, especially when she already knew what kind of answer he would give if she asked to share the bed.

It would probably sound something like, hell fucking no, are you insane? In his deep accented voice that would either annoy her or make her cower, there was really no telling. 

She shoved thoughts of Harry and whatever the hell had tapped on her shoulder from her mind as she grabbed her suitcase, makeup bag, and purse, making her way back in after shutting up his rental car. The biggest pitfall of the whole weekend was that she hadn’t thought to bring any pillows or blankets, assuming those would just be provided with a bed. Maybe there was a linen closet she could borrow from, she hoped.

While Harry was unpacking in the bedroom, she took up root in the living room, toeing out of her boots first before opening her suitcase up just so she could locate her pajamas and toothbrush and then zipped it shut, tucking all her things neatly into the far empty corner next to the fireplace. At least she had a pretty decent TV above the mantle place, and she didn’t remember seeing one in Harry’s room. There was one plus.

She escaped into the bathroom to change and brush her teeth quickly, emerging five minutes later in her shorts and t-shirt that she’d also packed assuming she’d have a blanket to keep her warm.

Glancing in the bedroom as she passed, she spotted Harry lounging on the bed, engulfed in his phone, possibly overlooking his stupid itinerary for tomorrow. She’d agreed, when they’d first discussed their division of labor, that they’d follow his lead since he had already planned everything out anyway. She didn’t really like that he made it sound like she was just going to be his practical assistant, but back then she was just glad to be involved in the story. Now, however, it gave her a bitter taste on the back of her tongue. She wanted them to be equally involved, split everything fifty-fifty. But that was also something that felt like imposing and was the furthest thing from what she wanted.

Sighing, she sought out any cupboard that could possibly house a blanket, and if she was really lucky, a spare pillow or two. The pillows on the couch were not only made of that terrible, scratchy, grandma-floral fabric, but they appeared to also actually be older than she was. However, with the lack of storage space, she just came up short. Not even the small cabinet in the bathroom had anything useful. 

She gave up when she heard footsteps and headed for the couch, attempting to locate the remote while Harry wandered into the kitchen without saying a word. She kept her eye on him, though, peaking over her shoulder after she clicked on the TV, watching as he sat at the small, circular dining table that was tucked up under a window. It’d probably have a nice view in the morning, letting sunlight in. But right now, as the curtains were drawn, she couldn’t think of anything besides seeing a ghost pop up outside. Shuddering, she spied on Harry for a moment longer as he scrawled in a notebook before she took to finding a cable station that would suffice her need to forget all the unfortunate circumstances her weekend would entail.

However, every time she switched the channel, she was met with static after static. What was the point of the TV if it didn’t even work?

“You can only use the HDMI cable. I didn’t think it would matter since…” Harry’s voice startled her and when she turned, he was standing behind her. And no, he didn’t need to finish that sentence because she already knew how it would end. It wouldn’t have mattered because Harry was supposed to be here alone this weekend. 

“It’s fine.” She mumbled, flipping the TV off and setting the remote back down where she’d found it on the coffee table. It was also, like the rest of the house, small and compact. In fact, she had begun to fear for her legs as well as her back and neck once she’d finally sat on the couch and realized it was more… loveseat-sized and not nearly long enough for her. It was her only option, though, so she’d have to deal. Maybe tomorrow, in the daylight, she could find a hotel. 

“Here.” Turning back to him, she found him holding out a folded piece of paper to her and after she took it from him, he ventured back to the dining table without another word. The paper didn’t really need an explanation though because when she flipped it over, she found he’d written out both the wifi password and the house code. At least she could entertain herself on her laptop, she supposed. 

After punching the password into her phone, she set the paper on the table beside the remote, saving it for later when Harry eventually went to bed. She didn’t exactly want him to know she was rewatching Criminal Minds again for the billionth time.

He cleared his throat after a moment of her checking her email and she turned to meet his gaze. “Are you, um, hungry or anything?”

She thought for a moment. They hadn’t gotten dinner, but the Cheetos she’d eaten toward the end of the trip gave her heartburn, so, no she wasn’t really all that hungry. Shaking her head, she turned back to her phone. “I’m fine. If you want something though…”

“I might go out and get something and drive around the town for a little bit. I wanted to see some of the places before we go tomorrow.”

She glanced down at herself, realizing she’d have to change back into her clothes if she went with him. And she did want to go, mostly because she was still too freaked out to be staying in this house all by herself. Also because she was just as curious about the town as he was.

“You don’t have to go, though, I won’t be that long.”

She weighed the cumbersome task of changing back into her clothes against the possibility of staying by herself with a potential ghost and quickly stood, leaving her phone on the table as she went for her suitcase in the corner.

“Just give me a minute to change back into my clothes.” As she grabbed the jeans and flannel shirt she’d worn on the trip down, she suddenly considered the idea that maybe Harry wanted to go by himself. And that maybe she was just imposing again.

With her clothes in hand, she turned to find him gathering his things, putting his wallet into his back pocket and clipping his keys to one of his belt loops. She had always, shamefully, enjoyed watching Harry do things. He was far too attractive for one, almost to a ridiculous amount, so everything he did was attractive even if it was the most mundane thing ever. Like once, in the office, she couldn’t take her eyes off him as she watched him making coffee in the break room while she waited impatiently to use the machine next. Then there was just the fact that he was so quiet sometimes. She always wanted to know what he was thinking about while he did those things. How he always seemed so calm and peaceful and how he went from that to how he often behaved around her. She couldn’t even remember at this point why they didn’t like each other much, but to be fair, YN didn’t really get along with too many people. She preferred keeping to herself and never really let anyone all that close. So, even though they argued more than anything, Harry was one of the only coworkers she actually spoke to outside of just work matters. 

Probably because he unfortunately knew too much about her and so she might as well be his friend. If they could be considered friends. She wasn’t sure. But he knew all about her current obsessions, knew how she liked her coffee, knew she hated carrots and mushrooms with a burning passion, and he knew all the shitty details about her ex-boyfriend. Amongst way too many other things. She didn’t like people knowing things about her, but Harry never made her feel like she regretted sharing pieces of her with him, so she allowed it. Most of the time. When they kind of got along. 

Blinking back to reality, she found him staring at her, his eyebrows furrowed. “Did you say something?”

He ran his fingers through his hair, sighing. “Nevermind… I’ll wait in the car.” Then he was on his way out before she could insist he repeat what he’d said or demand to know if it was actually okay that she went with him. 

As soon as he shut the door behind him, though, she let both things go and started changing her clothes there in the living room. She really wasn’t all that concerned about Harry potentially walking back in, since he’d already seen her in a bathing suit at their company’s annual beach barbecue. It was just the fact that it wasn’t something he needed to see, nor did she imagine he wanted to. But since he wasn’t in the house at all, she figured it was fine and if he decided to barge back in knowing full well she was changing her clothes, that would then be his own problem if he saw bits and pieces he didn’t want to see.     

Luckily, she got back into her clothes without any incidents and left her pajamas in a pile on the couch for later. She grabbed her phone and her little crossbody bag and made her way out to the car.

He was on his phone with the heat on when she joined him, half expecting him to just have left her and relieved that he hadn’t. Mostly because she would have gotten herself locked out since she didn’t commit the house code to memory yet.

“There’s this diner…” Harry began as he put the car into gear and backed out of the driveway, his eyes secretly scanning her face as he turned his head over his shoulder to look out the windows and make sure the road was clear. “I know you said you weren’t hungry, but if you want a coffee or something…”

“That’s fine.” She mumbled, buckling in her seatbelt while he took off down the road. 

They were quiet for a while, and Harry flipped through radio stations until he found something that wasn’t just pure static. It wasn’t music she’d normally listen to, sounding mostly like popular fifties and sixties tunes, but it was nice. It matched the neighborhood they were staying in, which seemed to be mostly older couples in their little cottage homes. There were surely some families, but the size of the homes seemed to cater to people without children. And none of the houses were identical, which was also nice coming from New York where things quickly lost all their character. She was far removed from her small town roots, but she didn’t mind the nostalgia the town brought up. Harry was from a smaller town too, she knew that, but not quite the same. His family never really struggled for money and his parents had a nice house. That hadn’t been quite the same experience she’d had.

“So where is it that we’re going first tomorrow?” She finally asked when Harry turned onto a new road, one that appeared to be a main street leading out of their cute little neighborhood and into the central hub of the town.

“Thought we’d start at the police station. I already called ahead and asked about looking at their files, so they’re expecting us.”

She nodded even though she was sure he couldn’t see her. She had done her own research into the case beforehand too, of course, but since she hadn’t been assigned it, she hadn’t gone as far as planning anything out like he had. So, maybe it was best that he take the lead. It’d make things easier. And then she could find ways to make herself useful as they went. It was always better having two sets of eyes on investigations than just one, anyway. Although, she was sure Harry would disagree considering she was the very last person he wanted to be spending the weekend with. Even if he was currently being tame. She blamed it on the fact that it was almost eight o’clock at night and he’d been driving all day. The energy he stored up for making her life hell had all been depleted by now.

When he parked outside the diner, which was most definitely the exact definition of a diner, she swallowed every bit of her pride. “I am sorry about all this, Harry.” She looked over at him while he stared down at his lap. Listening, but not daring a single second to meet her eyes. “But also thankful because you didn’t have to agree. Lenny would have listened to you over me if you complained. To be honest, as soon as I found out you also wanted this story, I knew I wasn’t getting it. He… he never lets me do much.”

He scrunched up his face. “If that’s true, then why did he agree to sending you with me?”

She swallowed hard. “I may have… guilt-tripped him into it.”

He finally looked up at her incredulously. “What did you say?”

She blinked slowly. “I, um…” Before she could explain, however, there was a knock on her window that had them both jumping out of their seats. Looking over and up, she found a man, possibly in his mid-thirties, smiling at her. Cautiously, she rolled her window down only a couple of inches. “Can I help you?”

The man glanced over at Harry. “Oh, my bad.” He laughed then and she quickly realized he’d been drinking from the scent on his breath. And also the very obvious bottle of something in his hand. And beyond the cup she also saw that he wasn’t alone. Two other men, one who seemed the same age and another a bit younger, stood behind him. All three, she assumed, drunk. “We just saw you, didn’t see your boyfriend over there.”

She glanced quickly at Harry, shaking her head, “Oh, he’s not… we’re not—“ She stammered, laughing it off in a huff and then slightly regretting that decision when the man’s smile deepened.

“Is that so?” He asked and it kind of gave her the creeps a bit. He wasn’t hideous or inherently creepy-looking. But she was someplace new and it was dark out and YN didn’t necessarily enjoy people she didn’t know talking to her. Especially while they were drunk.

Harry cleared his throat then, leaning over to her side slightly, “Can we help you with something?”

The man just barely paid Harry any mind before locking his eyes back on YN. “No, just wanted to say hi… are y’all new in town?” And then his eyes most definitely made their way down to YN’s chest and Harry’s hand balled into a fist.

“No.” Harry answered before she could. “And if you don’t mind, we were in the middle of something.”

The man cocked an eyebrow, glancing between both of them before talking only to YN. “Thought he wasn’t your boyfriend.”

YN’s hand quickly went to the switches on her door, “You all have a good night.” She could not have rolled up her window faster. And it took them a moment, and a few menacing looks, but the men did eventually leave, and YN and Harry sat in silence as they watched through the mirrors as the three of them piled into a beat up, old truck and eventually drove off. 

“That was weird.”

“Yeah, uh, next time some creepy men come up to the window, don’t talk to them.” Harry advised.

YN rolled her eyes, still watching the truck as they peeled out of the parking lot. “They were just harmless drunks.” Then she undid her seatbelt and grabbed her purse off the floor. “Let’s go.”

She had decided, after all, to order something to eat. Maybe it was the adrenaline of being spooked for a second time that night that worked up an appetite, but she downed an entire plate of waffles and two cups of coffee.

“Thought you weren’t hungry?” Harry asked from across the booth, his half-eaten burger and fries going cold since he had been too busy flipping through the local paper he’d grabbed from the box outside the diner before they went in. 

She shrugged, sitting back in her seat and watching him curiously while he read through the opinion pieces. There wasn’t much she found to be all that interesting in the newspapers anymore that she couldn’t read online, but for some reason, Harry still enjoyed them. The ones in New York were possibly more entertaining than that in Lexington, Virginia, but she had a feeling it really didn’t bother him. She supposed he preferred it to being forced to have a conversation with her.

The waitress, Lucy, reappeared then. “Can I get you some more coffee?” She waved the glass pot she had in hand, only about half full at this point. YN considered it, but then also considered the possibility of not sleeping tonight in a house where there may or may not be a ghost and decided against another cup.

“No, I’m alright, thank you.”

The waitress nodded politely, “No problem. Can’t I get you anything else, then? A box?” She pointedly asked Harry and he finally looked up from the newspaper to shake his head.

Just before she turned to leave, Harry stopped her. “Actually, um… do you know anything about the murders that happened here a few years ago?”

YN kind of wanted to smack him for asking her that, but she was also way too curious herself and thankful that he’d been the one to bring it up and not her. She had been on a couple trips herself for work and knew some of the most helpful people were waitresses. They tended to know everybody and everybody’s secrets, too.

The waitress frowned, though. “Don’t think I’d be of much help. I’ve only been in town for a little over three months. Jackie, though… um, another waitress, she works mornings, she knows all about them… if that’s what you’re in town for.”

Harry nodded, “Thank you, that was actually extremely helpful.”

Lucy just nodded, smiling softly at both of them before making her way to her other tables. 

YN rolled her eyes and Harry most definitely noticed. “What?”

She just shook her head and let it go, not really up for some petty argument with him at the moment.

But Harry had other plans. Plans that involved getting under her skin, right where he liked to be at all times. “You’re not jealous, are you?”

She lifted her eyes back to his and instead found his stupid little smirk. “And why exactly would I be jealous?”

He shrugged. “You won’t tell me what that look was for, so I just have to assume. You do like to bring up all the girls I’ve slept with all the time.”

“Yeah because I think it’s gross, not because I’m jealous of them.” She folded her arms across her chest and watched as his eyes ventured there, but never thought anything of it as she went on. “And now I just think you have an even bigger ego than you let on if you think that I’d actually be interested in you.”

She was, in fact, quite interested in him. But Harry was… he was just in a slightly different world than her. A world she could never get into no matter how hard she tried. Her boss gave him all the promotions, almost anything he ever wanted. Harry could afford to live in a nicer part of the city. On top of that, he was just… very clearly not interested in her that way. If the type of girls he brought home were any indication besides the fact that they barely even tolerated each other.

“Ouch.” He feigned offense, acting as if she hadn’t said much worse to him in the past twenty-four hours alone. 

Again, she rolled her eyes. “Yeah like you’re bothered by that.”

“Maybe I am.”

“You can pick up any random girl you want, you don’t have to concern yourself over whether or not I’m interested in you.”

He studied her for a moment, tilted his head to the side slightly, then averted his eyes to the table while he thought about something. Possibly a witty comeback, she thought. Although, that’s not exactly what came out of his mouth next. 

“Maybe my ego would just like to know if you are.”

She scoffed then. “Yeah as if your ego will never recover from the knowledge that I’m not interested.”

He met her eyes suddenly, narrowing his own curiously. “Why did you say it like that?”

“What are you talking about?”

He opened his mouth to explain, but the words got caught. He wanted to know why she thought she’d be any different. Why she emphasized herself like she had. He didn’t hate her by any means. He actually kind of liked her, maybe more than he should sometimes, but the arguing was just… comfortable. He enjoyed it. He enjoyed listening to what she had to say, even if it was something incredibly personally offensive to him. So, he really had no idea why she thought he wouldn’t be concerned with whether or not she was interested. Especially since he’d just more or less flat-out asked. But it seemed as if it was all just a joke to her and he supposed he couldn’t blame her for seeing it that way. They were almost never not messing with one another.

She sighed and pulled him from his thoughts. “Are you ready to go? The coffee’s gonna wear off and I’d rather crash back at the house than in your car.”

“Might be a more comfortable place to sleep than that couch.”

She froze because it was the first time he’d even mentioned the sleeping arrangements. She’d been sure he hadn’t even thought anything of it, nor did he care or have any reason to care about it. He’d paid for the bed after all. 

He pulled his wallet from his back pocket, picking out enough bills to cover their meals and the tip before placing the money on the table, underneath the bottle of syrup. She watched as he stood and pulled his jacket on, not saying another word about the couch or anything else.

And as she sat in the passenger seat again, she realized he was probably right about it. It was quite a bit more comfortable than the couch.

Harry drove first to the police department, just so he could figure out where it was without having to use his phone’s GPS. Then he drove around to one of the houses that had been a crime scene. The first house was still empty and it was very obvious no one had lived there in a long time. All the grass and weeds were overgrown, where the windows once were was now covered by planks of wood. And then there was the graffiti. Most noticeably, the bold letters that read, “Cyprus is guilty.” Both of them knew Cyprus referred to James Cyprus, who was the lead sheriff in town. Although neither of them had really considered him to be a suspect, there could potentially be something buried that they’d have to dog up. It was definitely something they’d wanted to look into.

The second house had someone living in it now. It wasn’t often that someone would purchase a house in which a brutal murder occurred, but they probably got a good deal on it. Harry watched that house the longest, parked with his lights off across the street, just trying to see if he could make out who was living there. If he could find them and ask them if they knew anything.

“Do you always stake out people’s houses?”

Harry shrugged. “When those people moved into a house where an entire family was murdered? Yeah. I’m a bit interested.”

She sighed, not really against the stake out itself. But mostly because she could feel the crash coming on and she wanted to go back and get some sleep. The trip had drained her and not even two cups of coffee was good enough.

Just then, though, a young woman emerged from the front door and both Harry and YN crouched in their seats, trying not to be seen as the woman walked down the length of her driveway with a trash bag in tow. Both watched her closely, picking up on all her features so they’d be able to recognize her if they saw her in the daylight. She knew Harry was right because YN was also quite curious even if they were being slightly invasive.

“I wonder if whoever Jackie is would know who she is.” Harry nodded toward the woman as she made her way back inside the house.

“Figured you’d be up bright and early to go bother that poor waitress.”

Harry just ignored that comment and continued to watch the house. Not necessarily for any other signs of life, but to map out exactly how the killer had gotten in. The details were never released to the public, but neither house seemed to be all that damaged as if the killer had broken in. Sure, they could have fixed it by now, but even at the abandoned house, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Every window had been replaced with wood and the front door had seemed more-or-less in tact. 

The last stop was further out than he’d realized, far from any civilization in an open field. When his GPS told him to turn down a dirt road, he pulled doff to the side of the main street instead.

“You’re not taking me out here to kill me, are you?” She teased, although when he peered over her at her, he noticed the way she wearily glanced around at their surroundings. She’d been a bit uneasy all night, he thought, but right now, with that hallowed look on her face, he felt bad about driving out to the real middle of nowhere.

Instead of making a U-turn, however, he looked out his window and tried to calm her nerves. Knowing that discussing the case would, oddly, do the trick. “When I was researching, I found out that they had found a body buried out here about six months before. Well not here exactly but… back in there a little ways.” He nodded toward the dirt road that made even him a little spooked. “They never linked it to the case because it wasn’t the killer’s MO. He killed two families, and left them in their beds. But,” he paused, glancing over at her to make sure she was still listening and no longer as scared as she’d just been, even if she hid it from him. And she was, in fact, listening, and watching him instead of their desolate surroundings. “But I found this article someone had written that tried to connect the buried victim to the others.”

“Really?” 

He nodded. “Well, you know how both families had fifteen-year-old daughters who both walked to school and both reported to the sheriff about some man in a mask they’d seen following them? And how most people think that the killer went after them in particular and just killed everyone else while he was at it?” She nodded, having read about all of that. “Well,” he continued, “The body that was buried out here was also a fifteen-year-old girl. It could just be a coincidence and not related, but I personally think it was his first kill.”

“Hm.” She hummed, wondering how deep he’d dug to find that bit of information. And how convincing he was going to have to be tomorrow at the police station in order to see both the case they were on and the one of this other poor girl who may or may not even be related.

“Is that all you have to say?”

She met his gaze. “You took me out here to the middle of nowhere at night to tell me about a girl who was buried over there. I’m just trying to keep my dinner down.”

“Thought you weren’t scared of anything?” He reminded her of something she constantly told him all the time. It wasn’t often she investigated a murder for a story, but she did tend to investigate things that would probably freak out a normal person. And, usually, she wasn’t all that scared.

But now she was thinking about whether or not there had actually been a ghost at their air bib and then Harry was unloading all of this on top of her too. There was only so much spooky shit she could handle in one night.

“I’m not… scared I just… think you could’ve told me all of this back at the house.”

He chuckled softly, but then put the car in gear and finally made that U-turn. “You’re cute when you’re scared.” He teased.

“And you make me want to bury you out in the woods when you’re being a jackass.”

“How exactly am I being a jackass? I just paid you a compliment, did I not?”

“Yeah a backhanded one, maybe.” She grumbled and it only made him laugh again.

It was quiet between them while he drove back toward the lights of the town, back toward their air bnb, and then finally he spoke again, softly enough as to not startle her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that might freak you out… I’ve never seen you scared of anything before though, in my defense.”

“It’s fine. Maybe just save going out into desolate fields for the daytime.”

They both went their separate ways once they were safely inside the house again. She changed back into her pajamas while he sprawled on the bed and got lost on his phone again, surely going to stay that way most of the night and then fall asleep in his clothes. 

She pulled her coat from her suitcase and made herself up a very sad little bed on the couch, not even bothering with Netflix because she was too exhausted. She shut off all the lights and made herself as comfortable as she could manage, attempting to curl her entire body up under her coat but not exactly being successful. After a while, though, it didn’t matter. She stopped shivering so much and finally relaxed enough to fall asleep.

There was no light when she woke several hours later, but it was the eerily type of quiet in the house that let her know it was well past midnight. She wasn’t sure what had woken her exactly, but she glanced over at Harry’s door to find it closed and then tried to ignore the pit in her stomach that formed as she thought about that stupid tap on her shoulder. 

And then she realized she was a lot warmer than she had been when she went to sleep. Along with that, her legs were stretched out and still covered by something, definitely not her coat. Glancing down, she found herself covered in a blanket, her coat neatly folded over the back of the couch. Had Harry…?

She really hoped it was him and not the ghost. She hoped there wasn’t a ghost at all, actually, and that it had all been in her head. Nothing weird had happened since that, so she let herself believe Harry had done something nice for her for once. 

Sure, he’d grab her coffee if he was already picking up an order from Starbucks. And he sometimes remembered to wish her Happy Birthday. But that was about it. Not that he was obligated to do anything else. Not that she really did anything all that nice for him, either. But… nice things from anyone were always a big deal for her. A bigger deal for her than they were for anyone else. A normal person. No one ever really gave her nice things or did nice things for her.  And she robbed herself of all the opportunities to make any friends that might be nice to her because she was too afraid to let anyone be that close. 

But she just wasn’t used to nice. To being treated like she deserved nice. And she knew, deep down, she didn’t deserve it. At least not right now. For attempting to sabotage Harry, she deserved the scratchy couch and a blanket-less sleep with whatever ghost was haunting their air bnb.  

Sighing, she ripped the blanket off and stood, knowing she’d never get back to sleep when her mind wouldn’t shut the hell up. So, she wandered to the kitchen, grabbing one of the waters she’d seen in the fridge and leaning against the counter while she sipped on it. It felt way too nice to stretch her body out and she knew that stupid couch was going to cost her in the morning. Her legs ached. Her neck was stiff. And she didn’t even want to think about how bad it hurt whenever she bent too far in the wrong direction and her back threatened to crack in half.

Maybe Harry’s car was a better idea after all.

She set the water bottle on the counter, securing the cap as she ventured back to the couch where she’d left her purse on the coffee table. Digging inside, she quickly found her small bottle of Advil and grabbed three of them before making her way back to the kitchen.

However, when she got back to her water bottle, the cap was sitting on the counter. Which was… not where she had left it… right? She swore she’d put the cap back on before she walked away. 

Taking a couple steps backward, she braved a few glances around the room, praying she didn’t actually see anything happen because if there was one thing she was actually scared of, it was the idea of ghosts.   

It was silent for a few moments and then she nearly turned inside out when she heard tapping on the front window. And after a mini heart attack, she realized it was just tree branches swaying in the breeze. 

She peered down at her water bottle again, convincing herself she hadn’t put the cap back on and was in fact just sleep deprived. She swallowed all three Advil and then put the bottle back inside the fridge.  

As she made her way back to the couch, she fought the urge to knock on Harry’s door. To convince him to let her sleep in there. Where she didn’t have to be alone with… with whatever was going on. But that would be crossing a line. He would just say no and then it’d be awkward the whole rest of the trip. 

Besides, he’d given her a blanket and could’ve very easily woken her up and let her have the other half of the bed if he actually wanted to do that. But he didn’t. So there was her answer. 

She curled up on the couch again and covered most of her face beneath the blanket, knowing that wouldn’t shield her from anything, but it made her feel better. Her mind rattled on for a while until she found a thought to fixate on that made her feel better.

And though it calmed her nerves, it wasn’t exactly the best thought to be having. 

Because she thought about wrapping her arms around Harry instead of the blanket she was holding onto for dear life. Or his arms wrapping around her. Being and feeling safe and not worrying about ghosts or men who bury girls in the middle of nowhere. Or about the stupid fucking tree branches. 

But then she really was on edge when she heard a door creak open. She squeezed her eyes shut tight and barely even let a breath out in her attempts not to move a muscle.

It was quiet for a moment as all she could do was listen. She didn’t even hear footsteps, though, and that’s what worried her the most. 

Until there was a soft, familiar voice breaking through the silence. “YN?”

It was Harry. She had no idea what to do. Should she get up? Then he’d know she was faking being asleep. But she didn’t exactly want to ignore him either. His presence alone made all her fears fall to the wayside.

She decided on the former. Blinking her eyes open, she sat up slightly, just enough to spot him over the couch’s armrest as he met her eyes through the darkness.

“You’re awake?” He asked.

“Now I am.”

“Did you… did you knock on my door?”

Her heart sank then. She had thought about it. So much that she had to fight her feet into taking her back to the couch instead of his room. But she most definitely had not knocked on his door.

“Um… no?”

“I swear I heard…” He shook his head and although he was possibly considering the fact that he’d just been hearing things in his sleep, she was now convinced they were being haunted by a ghost. A ghost that was quite possibly a mind reader, but still a ghost nonetheless. 

There was no way she was sleeping alone in the living room for a second longer.

She stood then, grabbing her coat and then her blanket. And he watched her carefully as she came around the couch. “There’s something weird going on in this house so I think I’m just going to sleep in your car, if that’s alright.”

“Wait.” He followed her as she walked to the dining table to get his keys. “What do you mean by weird?”

She grabbed his keys and turned to him. “I set my water bottle down right there just now, right?” She pointed at the counter and his gaze followed. “I know I put the fucking cap back on. Then I went to get something and when I came back, the cap was off.”

“What are you… what are you talking about, YN?”

“And earlier, when we first got here, you asked why I looked like I’d just seen a ghost? Well when you were getting your things I felt… I felt like something had tapped my shoulder but… nobody was there.”

He just looked at her for a moment and she knew he was about to call her crazy or something along those lines. She could feel it coming, so instead, she started up again.

“So, I’m going to the car because I’m not sleeping by myself in this house anymore.” She gathered the blanket again and made her way around Harry before he even got a word out but he very quickly wrapped his hand around her arm and stopped her when they were just inches apart from each other.

“You could, um,” he did not like the idea of her sleeping in the car by herself one bit. He’d barely tolerated her sleeping on the couch but he didn’t want to suggest she sleep with him and potentially make things weird. But now, there wasn’t a choice. And he didn’t exactly want to sleep alone now anymore either. “You could share the bed. I wouldn’t mind.”

She just stared at him for a moment, quickly realizing their faces were way too close and so she took a step back which made him release his hold on her. Her voice came in a near whisper. “I don’t want to impose anymore than I already have, Harry.”

He shook his head. “I know you don’t. You didn’t even ask me for a blanket.” He glanced down at the one he’d strewn over her many hours ago that she was now clutching against her chest. And her heart raced when it was confirmed he’d been the one to do that, not the resident ghost. 

“I—“ She started, but never finished. She didn’t want to bother him, he was right.

“You’re not imposing I’m… if what you’re saying is true… I don’t exactly want to be in here alone either. And I know what I heard.”

“Have you ever seen a scary movie? You’re not supposed to stay inside the house with the ghost, Harry.”

He rolled his eyes. “I think maybe we’re both just spooked from earlier and that’s all it is.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Or you’re just trying to get me to sleep with you.”

Even in the darkness surrounding them, there was no mistaking the smirk that crept to his lips. “Trust me, YN, if that’s what I wanted right now, I would not be entertaining the idea of a ghost to get into your pants… or, uh…” he glanced down at her bare legs, “shorts. I guess.”

“Yeah because I’d just easily climb right into bed with you.” 

He took that step closer to her, the one she’d taken away from him moments ago. She swallowed thickly as he leaned in the tiniest bit, the look in his eyes the furthest thing from worried about a ghost. “I think we both know you would do exactly that.”

He was right. She would. Ghost or no. She was stubborn as hell though. “You’re making the car sound more and more appealing.”

He ran his hand through his mess of curls. “You’re not sleeping in the damn car. Come on. The bed’s big enough, everyone’s keeping their clothes on. You’re the one that said you weren’t interested anyway.”

She thought it over for a moment, glancing down at the keys in her hand. She knew she wouldn’t get any sleep out in the car either. That it might actually be worse than inside the house because although there was something fishy going on, nothing had tried to harm them. 

“Fine.” She muttered between her teeth, turning to set his keys down and then tossing the blanket at Harry while she discarded her coat along the back of one of the chairs.

When she turned to him, it was obvious he was not looking at her face and had not been either when she was turned around. “Why exactly did you bring shorts that short to wear to bed?”

“These,” she gestured down at herself, “are my sleep clothes. Sorry that I expected to have a bed and a blanket on this trip.”

She hadn’t exactly gotten the point of his question, and although he had been quite concerned about how cold she’d been huddled underneath just her coat, he wanted to know why there were no other shorts in existence she could have worn that were not ones that made him think about very inappropriate things. 

Turning, he led the way back to his room, still holding onto her blanket until he was at the bed and tossed it to the other side where she’d be sleeping.

Closing the door behind her, she made her way around the room, thankful Harry had chosen to sleep on the side closest to the door just in case there was actually a ghost haunting the living room. He’d be the first to go, she supposed.

He waited for her to get settled on her side of the bed before he climbed in, and as soon as he was comfortable, he reached up to shut the lamp off and smother them in darkness again. It didn’t bother her as much this time, though, because she heard his breath and felt his warmth and it calmed whatever lingering nerves she still had. 

Still, though, she couldn’t fall asleep right away. 

“Harry?” She whispered after who knew how many minutes of just laying there, staring at the ceiling.

He groaned beside her, half muffled by the pillow. And when she glanced over at him, she saw that he was sprawled out, the blanket pooling in the middle of his back, exposing his broad shoulders. And even though he wore a shirt, it was still a magnificent sight. She always thought he had a really nice back and watching it now as it rose and fell with his every breath, she almost forgot what she was going to say.

“Are you awake?”

“No.” He mumbled.

“I just, uh… thanks. For the blanket. And for the bed. You didn’t have to.”

The bed moved then as he twisted around to face her and she watched, captivated by the exhaustion taking over his features that made him, if were possible, even more attractive. It, as weird as it sounds, made her stomach twist in the most glorious way possible as he looked at her through barely awake eyes. “It’s not a big deal, you don’t have to thank me. Especially not when I’m trying to sleep.”

She knew that. To him, it wasn’t even a small deal. It meant nothing to him. “Yeah, sorry.” Her eyes danced across his face for a moment, especially those eyebrows of his as they furrowed and his mouth as he opened it to say something, but she beat him to it. “Goodnight.”

She woke with her cheek pressed against something hard. Not a soft pillow. Not even the scratchy one from the couch. This one was soft, like cotton. Just hard, and…

Her eyes flew open when she realized what she was touching, when her hand went to adjust said pillow and instead she just found more of it. Lots more. Because it wasn’t a fucking pillow. It was Harry. His chest, to be exact.

Quickly, she pulled away. On instinct more than anything. She’d never been that close to him before and she didn’t exactly want him to wake up and find out about it. She had no clue what time it was, but soft grey light was just beginning to seep in through the curtains so it had to be early. Too early for her to want to get up, but she knew she couldn’t continue to use Harry as a pillow.

However, when she jerked back, she hadn’t considered the arm that was firmly tucked around her, keeping her in place. And when she moved, he groaned softly in his sleep and she cautiously glanced up to see that crease between his eyebrows and a frown on his lips. And as she reluctantly settled back against him, both soothed out until he slept peacefully again. If she tried to move again, it would just wake him completely and then she’d be met with the awkwardness. So, she stayed. Hoping he’d be the first to move at some point and it wouldn’t matter. 

She kept her hands to herself though, not needing anymore added embarrassment of having groped his chest on accident. He hadn’t ever moved though, not before she drifted back to sleep again.

All Harry knew when he woke was that he was hot. In more ways than one. And when he blinked his eyes open, he soon found out why. She was pressed against him, her forehead resting in the crook of his neck, one of his legs was tucked in between hers, and the worst, most incriminating part of it all: one of his hands was curled up in her hair.

Well, okay, the very unfortunate consequence of sleeping the way he was mixed with some questionable dreams and it being morning was also quite incriminating. But that could be hidden and ignored and forgotten about. His hand tangled in her hair, holding her against him? No denying that one or pretending it was just because of a wet dream. 

As he untangled his hand from her, as gently as he could, she stirred, and then he began to regret thinking the hardness in his boxers could just simply be ignored. Without any control over it, he moaned when she’d unintentionally rubbed herself against him.

He knew he had to get up, before she woke up and found out. Sure, he wanted nothing more than for her to wake up and for this to lead somewhere it really shouldn’t but he knew it wouldn’t ever lead there. She was… she was different. If she knew how close she was to him right now, she would very quickly put the Grand Canyon’s worth of space between them. He’d never seen her even so much as hug anyone, let alone be all wrapped up in them like this.

He gathered his nerve for a moment longer before he finally unraveled himself from her, holding his breath as he did, and replacing his body with a pillow as to hopefully not disturb her too much. And when he was safely on his feet, he realized it had worked. She was still fast asleep, clutching the pillow instead of him. 

Which… made him want to get back into that spot again, but his better judgement sent him on his way to the shower instead. Because there really was no hiding it anymore.

He grabbed a change of clothes and all his showering essentials before he left, having been too tired last night to deal with it. Plus, she’d been hogging the bathroom when he’d unpacked his clothes, so he just didn’t get the chance. And then he just kind of forgot about it.

It didn’t matter now though. All that mattered was getting in the fucking shower and dealing with himself. He hadn’t even thought of the ghost either. Which he probably should have, since he’d just walked into the living room, albeit briefly, with a very obvious bulge in his underpants. 

He hoped the ghost was at least of age, and he also hoped it wasn’t whoever’s grandma who may have died in this house. That would be embarrassing, to say the least.

As soon as the warm water touched his bare skin, he sighed in relief. Which turned more into a whine when he touched himself under said water. He felt every ounce of shame for what he was doing, but it had to be done. Sure, it’d go away eventually on its own, but as soon as he saw her in those fucking shorts again, it’d come right back. Ten times worse.

He leaned against the wall, resting his forehead on his arm as he closed his eyes and pretended it was someone else’s hand around his cock right now instead of his. And if the water hit him just right, he could almost pretend he was inside someone warm. 

That someone, of course, being the one someone in the world he shouldn’t be thinking about while he was getting himself off in the shower. But there YN was and he didn’t even try to fight it. Didn’t try to stop thinking about how she’d looked on the beach this past summer. That red bikini she’d worn that left nothing to the imagination. The way she didn’t even know what effect she had on him. What effect she had on anyone. The way she chewed on her bottom lip when she was concentrating and how she stared at his mouth while he spoke. The way she’d been wrapped around him, the fact that he could still feel the press of her against his thigh.

He bit down on his forearm to stifle the unruly sound that bubbled up within him as he came. As he came and saw nothing but her face, contorted into pleasure beneath him as he buried himself deep inside of her. 

Shit.

He was fucked.

She woke clutching a pillow to her chest and an otherwise empty bed. And it had been empty for a while, there was no warmth still on the sheets where Harry had slept. Golden sunlight lit the room this time, and she was sure he’d already taken off to that diner and left her here alone with the ghost.

And when she tiptoed out of his room and didn’t find him anywhere in the small living or kitchen space, she realized that was exactly what he’d done. At least there was daylight. Ghosts weren’t as scary when it wasn’t dark outside.

She checked her phone first, finding out that it was not only fifteen minutes after nine, but that she also had way too many unanswered work emails to deal with that she most definitely did not want to even think about.

Clicking the screen off, she went to her suitcase, opening it up fully on the floor to locate her phone charger first. Once that was secured and her phone was on the kitchen counter recuperating, she grabbed her bag full of hygiene products and made her way to the bathroom.

It hadn’t been long that Harry had left because the shower was still wet. After she unpacked her bag and got everything set out inside the shower that she’d need, she flipped on the water and got undressed. She thought about the last time she’d taken off her clothes in this house, when she’d changed in the living room and wondered if the ghost had been around then. If there was actually a ghost. She hoped not. 

The warm water felt nice on all the still achey bits of her body. The bed and the meds had soothed out some of it, but she hadn’t made a full recovery. She let the water linger on her neck and her lower back for a little while as she washed her hair and shaved what she wanted to shave. She thought about how she’d woken last night, practically on top of Harry and really hoped it hadn’t still been that way when he woke up. Though, she didn’t remember him moving at all. She figured she would have felt that. So maybe they went back to sleeping on their respective sides of the bed. 

And if they didn’t then, well… she just hoped he didn’t say anything about it.

She finished up and grabbed the towel she assumed Harry had left for her on the sink. With him gone, she didn’t bother bringing in a change of clothes. She didn’t want to walk around naked in someone else’s house—with a potential ghost lurking—but walking around in a towel wasn’t so bad. Even if it was kind of short and just barely fit around her and she couldn’t bend over without showing everything. 

They weren’t even sure there was a ghost. It could have just been what Harry said. Their minds playing tricks on them after everything last night.

So, she got over it and opened the door once she was sure her towel was secured. She made a bee line to her suitcase, not even realizing until it was too late that the last thing she needed to worry about seeing her was a ghost.

Not when Harry cleared his throat from the dining table. Not when she froze and looked over at him to find him already staring. At her legs, mostly, and then he finally dragged his eyes up to her face.

“Sorry, I… I thought you left.”

“Went to get coffee.” He lifted two takeaway cups in his hands that appeared to just be from some local cafe. But, at this point, coffee was coffee.

“Oh.” She dropped her eyes and they fell to her suitcase. It wasn’t going to be very easy holding her towel up while she dug through her things on the floor.

“Do you need some help?”

Her first instinct was to shake her head no. Mostly because she didn’t want to need his help. But the alternative to his help… well it could become an incredibly awkward weekend within seconds if something slipped. 

So, instead, she reluctantly accepted. “Uh, sure.” 

She stood frozen still in the living room as he walked over and then past her, hitting her with a very distracting scent. It was slightly different than how he normally smelled, like he’d changed something in his routine. Maybe he’d gotten a new cologne or aftershave. He still smelled incredible though. And on top of that, the contrast of her nakedness to his fully clothed, jacket and all, made her shiver in all the very wrong, inappropriate ways. 

And on top of everything, he was currently getting down onto his knees in front of her. 

Well, in front of her suitcase but… in front of her too. While she was… while there was nothing but her underneath the stupidly small towel.

“What am I looking for?” He asked, moving aside her extra pair of shoes and her blow dryer to get to her clothes underneath.

“Um, well, I need…”

He nodded, “Right. Suppose those are important.” She didn’t even want to know what he’d just meant by that, but she didn’t question it.

“Under those jeans right there… actually you can hand me the jeans too.” He did as she asked, handing them over and then moving onto the way too many pairs of panties she’d packed for the two night trip. He hid his smile from her, mostly because he knew she’d think he was thinking of something mean to say when in reality, it made him laugh because he had done the same thing. Packing an unnecessary amount of underwear.

“I don’t care which ones, just… hand me one. You don’t need to sit there and stare at my underwear.”

He grabbed a pair, particularly the black ones that had more lace on them, and twisted around as he gave them to her. “Had to make sure I picked the right ones.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He let his eyes fall to her thighs, which were, as she realized, way too close to his face right now, and then he shrugged as he met her gaze again but with a look that… that sent a shameful amount of heat to an even more shameful part of her body. A look that made the lower part of her stomach twist into knots.

Then he smiled, almost… knowingly at her before twisting back around to the suitcase. “What else, then?”

“That shirt, right there,” she pointed, “the black one.” He pulled out a simple long sleeve that didn’t nearly feel thick enough for the weather outside, but he figured she had her coat to go along with it.

“That’s all?” There was a hint of amusement in his voice because he knew he was missing one thing. Purposefully missing it, though, of course. 

“The bra right there.” She pointed again. “It’s black too.”

“Oh, this?” He pulled it out and held it up, teasing her with it and when she went to grab it from him, he quickly pulled away.

“That’s not funny, Harry.”

“Of course it is.” He stood then, taking the bra with him. “I don’t think you need it anyway.” He made a point to not glance down at her chest which he’d seen more of in the past ten minutes than he had since the beach.

“How did you go from threatening to kick me out last night to… to whatever it is you’re doing right now?”

He shrugged. “I’m over it.”

She eyed him like she didn’t exactly believe him, but she didn’t say anything else as she went for her bra still clasped firmly in his obnoxious hands.

And, of course, she didn’t manage to get it from him, for the second time now. They’d flirted sometimes over the years of knowing each other, although she’d consider it more aggressive flirting that never led anywhere or that they ever even took seriously. Like it had been last night when he teased her about being jealous. It was harmless. But this was— no, it felt like something different.

She went for the bra once more and actually fought him this time, though she was at a disadvantage since she only had one hand. The other held both her clothes and her towel. It was a very unfortunate accident waiting to happen, but he was irritating her and she didn’t really fully think things through.

When she almost had her bra within reach, he held it up above her head, to the point where she couldn’t reach it even if she was dressed and wouldn’t be risking everything to reach up and grab it.

She did try once though, also not realizing how close she had to be to him to make the attempt. And she felt way too much of the hard length of his chest and quickly retreated away from him once her attempt failed.

“I hate you.”

He handed her the bra once he realized she was done fighting him for it. But as she went to grab it, he held on tightly. “I hate you too.”

He let go and she couldn’t help but think that their ‘I hate you’s’ were filled with something else rather than actual hate. 

Getting back on his knees, he glanced up at her, ���Anything else?”

“Um… there should be a bag in there. It’s black.” 

“Of course it’s black. All of your things are black. How am I meant to find a black bag in a sea of black?” Still, he dug gently through her clothes, feeling around for a zipper or some other indication of a bag.

“There.” She pointed and he followed, but he still didn’t see what she was seeing. He grabbed something in the vicinity, but it turned out to be a shirt, not a bag.

“No.” She huffed and then leaned over to grab it for herself. However, she accidentally bumped against his shoulder when she did so and as she grabbed the bag, he turned his head around to find her chest very nearly right in his face. She hadn’t done it on purpose, nor had he looked on purpose, but he could not get himself to stop staring. The towel was not holding up very well at this point and she was… spilling over the top of it. He swallowed thickly as she shifted away and then his eyes lifted to hers, giving her that look again before she was able to stand up straight.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

He wanted very little more than he wanted to rip the towel right off of her. To say fuck it to his stupid itinerary and her clothes. To fall back into bed and make her forget all their petty arguments, any bad thing that’d ever happened to her, maybe even make her forget her name.

He stood then, never taking his eyes off of hers and she fought the instinctual urge to take a step away from him. She never did it out of fear. She’d never put space between herself and Harry because she was scared of him. She did it because she was scared of what that type of closeness entailed. Closeness that she didn’t know how to deal with. 

“Am I looking at you in some special way?”

She swallowed hard. He was… what was he doing? She knew Harry well enough to know that whatever it was, he was just trying to get a rise out of her. So once she fell for it he could make fun of her. She was not about to let him have the upper hand.

“No,” she nearly whispered, “I suppose not.”

He titled his head, crossing his arms over his chest as he studied her. “So,” he glanced down the length of her and she couldn’t tell if she wanted to hide from him or… or do even worse. “Are you just going to stand there in that towel then?”

She was bone still and he wasn’t sure she was even breathing until she finally mumbled, “No, I’m… I’m gonna get dressed. If you don’t mind.”

He shrugged, dropping his arms, “If that’s what you want to do, I’m not stopping you.”

But still she… didn’t move. Didn’t back away even the tiniest of inches. Just… stayed there, holding his stare and she was sure if either of them moved any bit closer to each other, things would very quickly not be going to plan.

Which would be… a very dumb thing to do, she was pretty sure.

Although, being dumb didn’t seem all that bad when it was wrapped up in something as nice to look at as Harry.

“Im… gonna get dressed.” She repeated.

A smirk crept onto his lips. “Yeah, you said that already and yet… you’re still here.”

“I am… but I’m gonna go now.” She slowly started to slip away, wondering if he was going to stop her, but as she got further from him and he didn’t, she felt a weird sense of disappointment. 

Instead he let her go, not saying anything until she was halfway to the bathroom. “I’ll be waiting.”

Once she was ready, she joined him at the dining table, taking the cup of coffee that he wasn’t currently sipping out of and sitting in the empty seat beside him. Whatever… tension had been there before had fizzled out considering his eyes were currently glued to his phone and, frankly, she was thankful for it. She had no idea why she’d been seconds away from doing one of the dumbest things she’d ever done in her entire life. 

“So, uh… you said the police station was first?”

He looked up at her finally and she most definitely noticed the way he glanced down at her as if he half expected her to show up in that towel again. “Aren’t you hungry?”

She shrugged. “I suppose you’re going to force me to go back to that diner and bother that poor waitress.”

“Oh my god,” he huffed, clicking his phone off and stuffing it into his jacket pocket. “You don’t even know if she’s all that poor. She could be mean, you know.”

“Good.” YN stood from her seat, pushing it in and slipping into her coat. “Then I hope she’s extra mean to you.”

The diner was busier than it had been last night, almost as if no one in town made their own Saturday breakfast and instead hustled their asses into a booth for some—albeit pretty tasty—pancakes and has browns.

But it frustrated Harry to see because it put a bit of a damper on his plans. Still, as he eyed the packed dining room with little hope, he held the glass door open for YN and did something kind of stupid without even thinking. 

When she passed in front of her, he placed his hand on the small of her back, ushering her inside like they were… together or something. Once he came to his senses, and before she seemed to notice his touch through her thick coat, he quickly snatched his hand back and pretended that had never happened. Mostly because if she knew that it had, she might just cut his entire hand from his body.

And he liked his hand attached to his arm just the way it was to ever thoughtlessly touch her again.

YN paused behind a family of four waited to be seated, slightly angling back to Harry as he let the door close shut behind him. “It’s kinda busy… and we don’t even know which one she is.”

Harry stepped closer to YN, to get out of some people’s way that were trying to exit, but still made sure he kept every inch of his body to himself. He peered over her head, trying to see if he could make out any of the name tags on the waitresses that flew by, even from a distance. Unfortunately though, they both moved way too fast and he also didn’t have that great of vision.

“Wait.” He glanced at down at YN and then followed her finger as she pointed a covert finger at one of the waitresses. “That’s…”

It didn’t take long for Harry to recognize her as well. She had the same short, curly brown hair and the same pair of glasses sitting on her nose as she had last night.

The woman from the house.

Before either of them could say anything else, though, someone bumped into Harry’s back as they passed and he jumped forward, closing what little gap there had been between him and YN as his hand came down on her waist to catch his balance.

And just as quick as it landed, he was pulling away. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.”

“It’s fine.” Still, he noticed the way she tensed up and couldn’t help but to think it wasn’t all that fine.

“I know you don’t like—“

She twisted around to face him then and he shut his mouth. “You don’t know anything, Harry.” He really couldn’t tell if she was mad at him or not. “I said it was fine.”

He also had no idea what that was about, but he didn’t get a chance to ask as the hostess called them forward and YN put space between them again, asking for a seat for two, particularly in Jackie’s area.

They were seated quicker than expected with the promise that Jackie would be by soon to take their drink order and then they were left by themselves, although they didn’t really say much to each other at all.

They did, however, steal glances at one another until YN’s phone buzzed and that took up all her attention. It wasn’t long before Jackie arrived, and Harry thanked god for the distraction so he stopped thinking about YN for at least a few minutes anyway.

And it wasn’t just… thinking about her. She was… making him feel things. Like a tightening in his chest and fluttering in his stomach every time he thought about this morning, from when he’d woken to that stupid towel to just now, standing that close to her like they were an actual couple coming in for a simple breakfast together.

He snapped out of it as Jackie introduced herself. “I’ll be helping you all this morning. Can I get you something to drink?”

They both, Harry and YN, stared blankly up at Jackie because Jackie was the same curly-haired, glasses wearing woman from before. The two of them shared a look between each other, leaving Jackie to shift her weight uneasily.

“We have coke… or orange juice. Coffee… milk…” She listed off a few options to fill the awkward space Harry and YN had left open because they were too busy putting pieces together.

But, then, YN snapped out of it and blinked back to Jackie. “Oh, uh… I’ll have a coke.”

Jackie nodded, writing it down and then turned her gaze to Harry, who just mumbled, “Water, please.”

She was gone with the promise of returning with their drinks soon and Harry was the first to look at YN but she quickly met his gaze after having been distracted by watching Jackie disappear into the kitchen. “She’s…”

“Yeah.” YN agreed.

“I guess that’s why our other waitress said she’d know about it.”

“But why would she…” YN trailed off, picking at the skin along her fingernails in her lap while she averted her gaze and thought. “Why would she live in that house?”

Harry shrugged. “Maybe she knew the family?”

YN met Harry’s gaze again with a look of horror. “Jesus, I hope not. I can’t imagine the other waitress suggesting we talk to her if that were the case. That’d be…”

“Fucked up.” Harry finished.

“Yeah. Exactly.”

Harry opened his mouth again, but YN quickly leaned in and shushed him. “Wait, she’s coming back.” 

“Alright, a coke” she set down the soda in front of YN and the other glass in front of Harry, “And a water for you.”

Backing away, she pulled her notepad from her apron and flipped it open. “What can I get started for y’all?”

Harry cleared his throat, looking over the menu for the first time since they’d been seated. “Oh, uh… I’ll just have…” He was slow on his feet, he realized, but he was also currently looking at the kid’s section of the menu without noticing.

YN rolled her eyes. “We’ll share the waffles. Thanks.” She grabbed bother hers and Harry’s menus and handed them back to Jackie, who gave her a soft smile before turning on her heels.

“What if I didn’t want waffles?”

“Sorry, did you want a kid’s Mac and cheese instead? I’m sure she’ll come back.” YN made to wave Jackie down but Harry quickly reached across the table and held her arm down.

She pulled it away without really even meaning to, it was just instinct. Then when she looked up at him, she already saw the apology burning the back of his tongue and she sighed. “Harry, you don’t have to apologize for touching me. I don’t like it that much with people I don’t really know but you’re…” She stopped there before she said something incriminating. Like that he was different. That she liked when he touched her, she just reacted that way because she was slightly afraid of the feelings it brought up when he did.

“Oh,” he paused, staring blankly at her, “okay.”

Rolling her eyes, she sat back against the seat of her booth and crossed her arms over her chest. “So, when do you plan on bothering this poor girl?”

He just stared at the table for a little while, seemingly lost in the train of thought he’d been in this entire time that she couldn’t quite decipher. Nothing about Harry was very easy to read, however. 

“Hello? Earth to Harry.”

His eyes snapped dup to hers and he shook his head clear. “Sorry, uh… I don’t know. Maybe this was a bad idea.”

“Oh, come on. We’re already here.”

He glanced around the busy dining room because the last thing on his mind was Jackie or what she knew about the case or… the whole entire case in general to be honest. All his thoughts had been infected by something he never thought he’d care about more than his job. 

Absently watching a little boy a couple tables away stuffing pancakes into his mouth, Harry spoke softly. “When I woke up this morning, we were…” His gaze slowly drifted back to hers and he saw in the way her eyes widened slightly that she knew what he was talking about. “And I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.”

She sucked in a breath of air and looked at literally anything besides his face because it felt as if she might catch on fire if she did. “I, uh…” She shook her head. Unsure what to even say to that.

“You don’t have to say anything, I just… If you don’t want to sleep alone again tonight I thought…”

Her heart fluttered so much she thought it might just fly right out of her chest, smack Harry in the face and then walk right out of the building. He… wanted to sleep with her again and she was… seconds away from agreeing.

Until, of course, Jackie turned up with their order of waffles and they quickly sat away from each other again, realizing for the first time just how much they’d leaned towards one another.

“Anything else I can get you?” She asked, setting down a spare plate with two containers of syrup and little pre-packaged things of butter.

“We’re good.” Harry answered.

Once Jackie was gone, neither of them touched the waffles at first. They both just stared at the plate, four waffles stacked on top of each other, as if it might do tricks. And then, finally, YN glanced up at Harry.

“I was actually just going to assume you’d let me share the bed again tonight.”

That smirk was back on his face as he grabbed for the spare plate and took his share of the food. “You do like to assume things, don’t you?”

“Sometimes… If it somehow involves annoying you then yes, I do. All of the time.”

“Trust me,” he poured an entire container of syrup over his waffles, “You assuming I want to sleep with you does not annoy me.”

The way he said that just… brought about very dumb, inappropriate feelings again. Dumb enough to get her to say what came out her mouth next.

“What about if I assumed you were looking at me earlier like you want to do more than just sleep with me?”

He froze, mid-chew and stared at the table for an agonizingly long time. Long enough for her to realize what the actual fuck she’d just asked him. But then he chewed again and looked up at her, swallowing before he spoke. “That wouldn’t annoy me either.”

“What… does that m-“

He cut her off, smiling as he dug back into his waffles, “It means… you might have assumed right.”

“Might have?”

He shrugged. “Yeah. Might have.”

They finished eating almost in silence. She asked about his stupid itinerary again, wondering how shitty of a day he had planned if they were going to sit in an office all afternoon, looking over files. And then he promised to make it less shitty for her, but never elaborated on what that entailed, so she was just left with her way too wild imagination.

He, of course, was wondering how he went from wanting to make her weekend hell to… wanting to ditch his plans entirely and just spend all his time with her instead.

Harry waited until Jackie returned with the bill to ask because by then, the diner had emptied out a bit and she didn’t seem as busy so he didn’t feel as bad.

“Here you go,” she set down the black envelope at the edge of the table, their emptied plates already having been picked up by a bus boy five minutes ago, “feel free to take your time.”

“Um, actually,” Harry began, pausing Jackie in her tracks, “If you don’t mind, we’re…” He glanced at YN, who silently edged him on. “Investigative journalists and we’re doing a story on the murders that happened here a few years back… we were wondering if you had any insight you could share?”

Jacking glanced apprehensively between the two and then over her shoulder like she was making sure no one, presumably her boss, was watching. Then she took a single step closer to the table. “I, uh… I know a little bit, yeah. What are y’all wanting to know?”

Harry shrugged. “Whatever you can tell us.”

She nodded, thinking it over for a moment. “Well, um… I don’t know if here’s the best place.”

“We’ll be down at the station all afternoon, if you want to talk there?” Harry offered.

“Oh, uh… I don’t-“

YN cut in. “Everything’s off the record. We don’t work with cops, we’ll just be there to go over the files, that’s all.”

Jackie held eye contact with YN for a moment, as if she was trying to gauge whether or not to trust them, but then finally nodded. “Yeah, sure. I get off at one, will y’all still be there?”

“Yeah, um… here, let me give you my number, just give me a text when you get there and I’ll let you in.” Harry grabbed a napkin and pulled a pen from his jacket pocket, quickly scrawling out his number before he handed it to her.

“Okay, I’ll uh, see you there, then.”

YN smiled when they locked eyes, hoping to give her one last reason to trust them before Jackie left, though the waitress couldn’t really be blamed if she didn’t show. And YN knew she had every right not to. They were strangers after all, and meeting at the damn police station wasn’t exactly ideal.

“Hopefully she comes.” Harry reached for the bill but YN’s hand quickly flew over his.

“You paid for the room and board. I can at least buy the waffles.”

He shrugged, letting her take the envelope. “Hardly a fair trade but okay.”

Rolling her eyes, she grabbed her card from her wallet and stuck it inside the envelope. “I offered to help pay for that too, in case you forgot.”

“I didn’t. Just don’t want you to.”

She met his gaze across the table, narrowing her eyes at him suspiciously as she replaced the envelope back at the edge of the bed. “And why wouldn’t you?”

“It’s not necessary.”

“But I crashed your weekend.”

“Not really.” He sighed, pushing back the flyaway hairs that had fallen onto his forehead.

She eyed him curiously for a moment. “So, what? You’ll take me sleeping with you as a form of payment, then?”

“If you’re offering, then sure. But otherwise, no.” He took one last sip of his water while a different waitress grabbed their check for them, waiting until she was gone until he continued. “Can’t you just accept that I don’t want any form of payment from you and just be satisfied with buying me the damn waffles?”

“So you don’t want to sleep with me then?”

“Is there a reason you keep twisting my words?”

Shrugging, she fought back a smile that desperately wanted to show itself. “Because it’s fun.”

That same unfamiliar waitress dropped off the envelope, smiling and telling them to have a good day before she took off again. YN replaced her card into her wallet and filled out the bill, leaving a decent tip for Jackie that she also hoped would convince her to come.

Once she was done and stuffing her copy of the receipt into her bag, Harry already started sliding his way out of the booth. “Let’s go. You’ve already made us late this morning, distracting me with that fucking towel.”

They made it to the station a little before noon, most definitely behind schedule, but Harry wasn’t really counting anymore. Especially when he held the door to the precinct open for YN and as soon as he got hit with a rush of her perfume, and he was considering taking a rain check on the entire afternoon. 

His momentary lapse in judgment didn’t follow him inside the station, however, as he got his head screwed back on straight before both him and YN approached the younger, male officer at the front desk.

It was a quick exchange as Harry caught him up on why they were there and the officer seemed to understand immediately, either having been the one Harry had talked to on the phone or someone had actually informed the poor guy who was stuck with desk duty. It wasn’t often Harry called ahead and found anyone once he arrived who knew what the hell he was talking about. So, needless to say, it was a breath of fresh air.

After they showed the officer their word ID badges to verify their identities, they were let into the area behind the desk and then led down a hall towards an open door on the lefthand side.

Once inside, there was another—albeit brief—sigh of relief when Harry saw all the file boxes already neatly placed on the large conference table in the middle of the empty, dimly-lit room. Then he counted them—five total—and realized it might take longer than he realized. 

“This is probably the first time ever I’ve been on a case and the police have actually cooperated with me.” Harry mused, mostly to himself, but the officer who’d led them back heard and, to Harry’s surprised, chuckled.

“To be honest, we hope you see something we haven’t. Folks in this town like to attach blame on people based on conspiracies.” The officer replied, to which Harry just raised a curious eyebrow at while YN made her way over to the table and began digging in.

Harry watched her for a moment, wishing they had put their heads together on the story a while ago instead of hiding ideas from each other in the name of competition. He could almost admit she might’ve been right when she tried convincing him it was a good thing she was joining him—that two minds were better than one. 

The officer cleared his throat, wrapping his hand around the doorknob, readying to leave them to it. “Anything else I can get you?”

Harry began shaking his head, and then remembered there was, in fact, one more thing “Actually, yeah, um, I was wondering if you still had the files of that Jane Doe you found in the woods, too?”

The officer hesitated a moment but then nodded, insisting he’d be right back with them. YN, on the other hand, froze as she sifted through a file, the fact that the buried victim had never been identified tugging at her heartstrings.

“I didn’t know she was never ID’d.”

Harry nodded, grabbing the singular box of files the officer returned with before kicking the door shut once he and YN were alone. “It’s pretty sad.”

“Yeah,” YN agreed absently, setting down the file in her hands and taking the box from Harry. “Might mean she was from out of town.”

Harry still stood near the doorway, tilting his head as he considered that idea for the first time. “Didn’t think of that, you’re probably right. So,” he began, coming around to the opposite side of the table, “You deal with that one, puny little box and I get all the rest?”

She just shrugged though, keeping her eyes glued onto one of the files for the Jane Doe. “I want to find out what happened to her… who she was.”

Even though she didn’t see, Harry nodded in understanding, letting go of any attempts to making their situation at all amusing. Because nothing about sifting through murder files was amusing, but it was his way of dealing with it. If he didn’t, his job would get a lot harder. But as for YN, he got it. Cold cases were always difficult to cover because they didn’t always figure anything new out, and it was even more seldom they actually made any concrete headway into the suspect. He wasn’t about to bring that up, though, not as she spread out a few papers on the table and got that look on her face. The concentrated, lip biting one he had shamefully been imagining this morning in the shower while he—

Yeah that was the very last thing he needed to be thinking about right now.

Most of their time was spent in silence as they skimmed through various documents. Sometimes they pointed out certain things that they hadn’t previously known about. Harry was particularly interested in the details about the break-ins themselves and found himself preoccupied with those files longer than any of the others.

But, as he expected, by one o’clock, they hadn’t found any huge breakthrough. They’d have to make copies of what they deemed important and go over the details later when they were actually writing their story.

And he didn’t know about YN, but it’d also help to clear his head if he wasn’t currently sitting across from her and practically counting every one of her breaths. He was having a shit time focusing on much of anything anymore.

Sighing, he checked the time on his phone. “You think she’ll actually show?”

YN shrugged, not meeting his gaze. “Who knows. Even if she does talk to us, that doesn’t mean she’ll agree to having any of it written down.”

“I guess.” Harry hung his chin in his palm, just watching her for a moment while he gave his eyes a break. When she finally realized he was staring, she narrowed her eyes at him.

“What?”

Shaking his head and hiding his stupid little smile, he said something that wouldn’t get him smacked, like telling her she was cute while she worked most definitely would have. “What do you think about those conspiracies?”

“I think,” YN began, a little more impassioned off the get-go that Harry realized she’d be, slamming the file she’d been skimming closed while she was at it. “It’s just bullshit. I think people think Cyprus knew there was something more going on and tried to bury it after the fact to cover his ass. But literally none of it seems fishy so far. I already skimmed through the police reports that were made when those girls saw the man in a mask. He even signed them. But, I mean… there’s only so much you can do, really, it’s not like he had much to go off of. And you know I’m not one to defend an officer.”

He considered all that for a moment, then shrugged. “I agree. I think it’s all just so people have someone to blame. And maybe he does share some of it, who knows? But, in the end, I don’t think he was the killer.”

“If you ask me,” YN huffed, looking down at the mess of paperwork they’d created, “this guy is long gone, and will probably never be caught. They couldn’t find a stitch of evidence.”

“Besides footprints.”

YN nodded, “Yeah, well, those were a pair of men’s size ten shoes, about the average size worn by American men. It’s also not much to go off of when they don’t have the shoes.”

“I’ll have to steal that bit of information when I write my story, thanks.”

She eyed him carefully, “Your story?”

He sat back in his chair, crossing his arms. “Yes, my story.”

“Lenny put us both on it. We’re co-authors.”

“We’ll see.”

“No,” she nearly shouted, “we won’t.”

Then he leaned forward, placing his elbows on the edge of the table in front of him, keeping his arms folded as he smirked at her. “It might cost you another plate of waffles, then.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“I like making you mad.” His smirk grew so big, she thought she’d have to smack it off of his face. “It’s cute.”

“So, I’m cute when I’m scared, cute when I’m mad… anything else?”

He thought that over for a moment then nodded almost intimidatingly slow. He held her stare and she couldn’t avert her gaze even if she tried because he was… looking at her in that same way again. The way he had when she was in that towel and just that look alone had her body reacting in very shameful ways. “I bet you’re also cute when you—“

His phone dinged then and she nearly jumped out of her skin as they both peeled their eyes from each other and stared at the screen. It was an unknown number and when Harry swiped to check out what the message said, he read it silently. But the look of disappointment on his face a moment later told her everything she needed to know before he even filled her in.

“She’s not coming.”

“What’d she say?”

He clicked off his phone and set it down. “That she’s not coming.”

Rolling her eyes, she grabbed another file from the box they’d been slowly doing some damage on, “I don’t think I’ve told you I hate you today.”

“Mm,” he hummed in disagreement, “No, I distinctly remember you saying that this morning.” 

“Well at least you know.”

“Yeah,” he held her gaze, “I do.”

She toyed with the edge of a manilla folder, something he definitely noticed in his peripheral vision, while she stared at him like she was gearing up to say something she didn’t exactly have the confidence to. He just waited patiently, though, averting his gaze back to the paperwork in front of him as he hid his smile because he already knew exactly what was going to come out of her mouth. And seeing her all flustered amused him way too much.

She cleared her throat after a moment and when he glanced up, she wasn’t watching him anymore. “So, um… what were you saying… before?”

His smile grew, knowingly. He was just surprised she actually wanted to circle back to that instead of just ignoring it. She had to have some inkling as to what he had been about to say before he was cut off. 

“Hm,” he feigned ignorance, “you’ll have to remind me.”

“Don’t play dumb, Harry.”

Nodding after a moment, he sat forward, bringing his elbows onto the table. “I don’t know if you’ll want to hear it.”

“Why not?”

“Because you might smack me.”

“When have I ever smacked you?”

He shrugged. “You might start now. It’s not very appropriate, what I was about to say.”

The amusement returned to him as she became very visibly flustered, shifting in her seat until she composed herself again. “I can’t even count on one hand the amount of times you’ve been inappropriate today alone.”

“Possibly. But what I was about to say might blow the rest out of the water.”

She finally huffed and threw up her hands and he considered for a moment that she might smack him for not telling her. “Harry, just fucking say it already.”

“If you insist.” To her surprise, he stood. Her stomach twisted into knots and her palms grew clammy as she watched him round the table, never taking his eyes off her. Then she found it hard to breathe when he pulled the chair out beside her and sat in it, scooting himself right up to her, closer than she was used to but not in a bad way. Close enough that his knee was touching her outer thigh and if she was distracted but that, it quickly got worse. He lifted his hand, then, going slow as if he was asking permission, and when she didn’t pull away, he reached over, gently sweeping his fingertips over her cheek as he tucked loose strands of hair behind her ear. He leaned forward, bringing them even closer as she did, once and for all, lose the ability to breathe. Then his voice was at her ear, soft and deep, giving her goosebumps. “I was going to say…” He toyed with her hair again, and she saw him smirk in her peripheral, “I bet you’re cute when you come, too.”

She swallowed hard, finally turning to look at him as his hand came down onto the back of her chair. THeir faces closer than they’d ever been before. “No… that’s not very appropriate.”

She just barely caught him glancing at her mouth. “Told you.”

She wasn’t sure where the confidence to say what she did next came from, maybe from how he was looking at her, but she also hadn’t really considered any consequences when she opened her mouth to say, “Does that mean you’ve thought about what I look like when I come?”

The smirk that had grown near permanent residence on his face deepened, showing off his dimples now that would have made her incredibly weak in the knees if she were standing. “And if it does?”

She watched him for a moment, actually considering her words this time and deciding that she would, in fact, enjoy the consequences of them. “Then I’d tell you to find out for yourself.”

He tilted his head. “Thought you weren’t interested?”

“I’m not.”

“No?” He inched his hand back to her face, drawing his fingertips down to her jaw, his eyes glued to her lips, not even trying to hide it.

“Not even a little bit,” she whispered. It was a very obvious lie and he knew it. If he could hear the inside of her brain, in fact, he’d hear nothing but her screaming at him to kiss her already.

Then he leaned in and just as her stomach flipped and her eyes fluttered shut, he stopped. She could feel his lips moving as he spoke again, which just irritated her because she really wanted him to stop talking already.

“Still not interested?”

“Harry,” she opened her eyes again and found him, watching her curiously, “This is why I hate you.”

She also felt him when he smiled. And then when he swiped his thumb across her cheek and buried the rest of his fingers in her hair. “That’s not very nice.”

She blinked and something dawned on her then as she put an inch of distance between them, “Are you messing with me right now?”

A crease formed between his brows as he glanced back and forth between her eyes, testing to see if she was being serious. “Messing with you?”

She swallowed, “Well, I thought…” she really didn’t want to finish her sentence in case he was, in fact messing with her. In case he was about to laugh at her and return to his seat again, then tease her for how easily she’d fallen for it the entire rest of their weekend.

“Thought what?” He tilted his head, eyes scanning her entire face. “That I was going to get this close to kissing you and not do it?”

She dropped her eyes, staring at a spot on his chest in obvious omission. And he did not like that one bit.

Closing the gap she’d created between them, he brought her attention back as he placed his forehead on hers. “I’m not messing with you and I am going to kiss you. I just needed to know if that’s what you want.”

Her stomach fluttered as she nodded and, smiling, he mumbled, “Okay, then,” before dropping his lips to hers finally. Softly at first, until she kissed him back and he tilted his head to deepen it, pushing her backwards a bit and making her giggle around his mouth. 

He came closer then, sitting on the very edge of his seat, one hand on her cheek, in her hair and the other one not even aware of its place on her thigh. She didn’t realize either, not with her mind distracted by the feeling of his mouth on hers. Too focused on his tongue making its way to her own, the way the pad of his thumb felt pressed against her skin, holding her in place, tilting her head back to meet him. 

But then the hand on her thigh squeezed, finally gaining both of their attention as she gasped into his mouth. Even so, he quickly pulled back for a moment, loosening his grip on her thigh.

“Sorry,” he mumbled breathlessly, but before he could retreat his hand, she folded hers over the top of it, holding him there. 

“Like I told you… it’s fine.”

She kept her hand on his until it was clear he wasn’t going to stop touching her, and as she slipped her hand away, he moved his further up her thigh. She followed the path he took, her forehead on his still, heart racing.

“You like it when I touch you?” He asked, quietly, still in that voice that… sent a wave of heat someplace it really didn’t need to be. Not if they planned on getting any work done.

She nodded, swallowing the nervous pit in her throat. It wasn’t because she didn’t trust him, the nerves came in a rush because she’d never been touched the way he was touching her right now. Had never been touched by him specifically like this before and it made her so fucking nervous.

He pressed forward then, realigning their lips as the kiss became something deeper. Less rooted in just messing around and… meaning something this time. Something she really didn’t want to think about but that didn’t really matter for long when his hand moved to spread her legs apart, allowing him to shift his knees between hers and bring himself closer still.

Then it was as if he devoured her, stealing all her breath, pinning her back against her chair and soaking up every one of the moans she let out, particularly the ones when he pressed his thumb against her and she made it loud and clear she wanted there to be less clothing in the way.

It was less than a second that his mouth lifted off of hers, allowing her to get a couple breaths in, as he did too, before he went back in for more as if he couldn’t get enough. And then she lifted her hands to the back of his neck, tangling her fingers in his hair and tugging, gently, and suddenly he was the one moaning, the sound deep in his throat, vibrating against her lips.

She tugged a little harder, then, mostly because her lungs were burning, begging her to stop and catch her breath but that was the very last thing she wanted, to stop kissing him. To stop feeling the fluttering in her stomach each time he made his touch known again. When he went deeper, gripped harder, explored further. The last thing she wanted him to do was stop.

But then there really wasn’t much of a choice.

A knock on the door sent them flying off of each other, as if they both just then realized where they were for the first time since their lips touched. Or maybe even before that. And they probably would have stayed in that little bubble for a lot longer than that, if not for the extremely untimely interruption.

They stared at each other a moment before Harry pushed away in his chair and stood, running a hand through his hair to make sure there wasn’t any evidence of what they’d been doing as he walked toward the door. Glancing over his shoulder to make sure YN was good, he opened the door, clearing his throat.

“Sorry, I, uh… was in the file room and found another box. Thought you might want it.” The officer from earlier handed the box over to a very disheveled, flustered Harry and he took it, nearly dropping it when his muscles threatened to give out on him, still reeling from what he’d just been doing.

“Oh, uh, thanks. Yeah. We’ll uh…” Harry nodded, attempting a smile. “Thanks.”

He heard YN stifle a laugh behind him but the officer didn’t seem to notice—or didn’t care enough—as he tipped his head and let them be once again. Carrying the box inside the room, he set it down on the table with the others, making his way back to her.

“Something funny?” He asked as he dropped himself into the chair beside her, keeping a safe distance this time while he went back to sorting through the files they’d laid out before… well before things got a teensy bit out of hand.

“Uh… uh… yeah… th-thanks, officer.” She mocked him, even lowering her voice a bit to sound like him, laughing while he bit back a smile because the very last thing he was giving her was the satisfaction.

“It’s your fault.”

“And exactly how is that?”

He turned his head toward her finally, nearly forgetting what he was about to say when he saw her smiling. She didn’t often and since he mostly saw her at work, he really couldn’t blame her. Most of her smiles were forced at work but this was most definitely real and he’d let her mock him all day if it truly made her that happy.

But then he snapped out of it. “Kissing me the way you did, how was I meant to think straight after that?”

“How I did? You were most definitely the one kissing me, not the other way around.”

“Mhm, so it wasn’t you pulling my hair then?”

She froze for a moment, every ounce of her features embarrassed by what she had done. Because as much as she liked and wanted him to touch her, she still was unsure about herself when touching him. “It was the ghost.”

He shook his head. “No, that was all you.”

Swallowing, she clasped her hands in her lap, facing forward in her seat and staring absently at the papers in front of her because she was about to break out in a sweat if she held his gaze for a moment longer. “I’m sorry, I-.”

“Why are you apologizing?”

“I don’t know.” She admitted. She couldn’t really blame it on not knowing if he liked it or not considering he was very vocal about how much he liked it. And she also couldn’t explain why she felt so embarrassed.

“You don’t need to apologize for touching me. I like it. Just like you do.”

She nodded, leaving it there, knowing it would take some warming up to before she felt comfortable touching him without overthinking it for a hour beforehand. After all, it had taken her almost the entire time they’d been making out for her to gain the courage to bury her hands in his hair in the first place. 

“So, um…” she began before she’d really thought about how to word what she wanted to say. To ask him. If that kiss meant something or if they were just simply fucking around. She told herself she wouldn’t care either way, but part of her still relentlessly hoped it had meant something. But she—and her fear of rejection—suddenly realized she didn’t want to know. 

“Yeah?” He watched her, waiting penitently as he tried reading into the expressions on her face. Tried to guess what she was about to say, but he really didn’t have much luck because she quickly sighed and faced the files once more.

“Nothing. We should probably get back to work.” 

They worked into the evening, making photocopies of all the files they wanted to look into further on their own well after six o’clock and definitely while both of their stomachs were grumbling to be fed as they listed off options for dinner and settled on pizza.

Before seven, though, they were all packed up and saying their goodbyes and thank-you to the officers on shift then heading back out into the cold, their eyes needing some time to adjust to the dark since the last time they were outside, it’d been daytime still.

“You hungry?” He asked after securing the box of files in the trunk of the rental car, making sure it was locked.

“Obviously.”

“Don’t obviously me.” He teased as he glared at her over the roof of the car, unlocking the doors from the driver’s side.

“Don’t be annoying then.”

“I’m not annoying.”

“Yeah,” she deadpanned, dragging her door open on the passenger side the second he unlocked it, “you are.”

She disappeared inside then and he rolled his eyes as he joined her, turning the ignition and making sure the heat was on before he responded. 

“If I’m annoying to you that is your own problem, not mine.”

She pulled her seatbelt on. “Have you considered just being less annoying?”

“Annoying is a very relative term. How am I supposed to know when I’m being annoying?”

“When I tell you that you are,” she stated, as if that, too, was obvious.

“Right because you’re not biased against me at all.”

She rolled her eyes at his sarcasm and wondered why they hadn’t both gone to law school the way they argued over literally nothing. Over whether or not Harry was annoying. But then she figured she was being a tad unfair simply because she was hungry.

Sighing, she changed the subject. “What exactly is on your itinerary for tonight, then? After we eat, obviously.”

“Don’t think you’ll like it much.”

She whipped her head around. “We’re not going out to that field again, are we?”

“You don’t have to go anywhere you don’t want to. But… no, not there.”

“Then?”

“Well, um, it’s not exactly legal, per se.”

She scrunched her brows in confusion and then swiftly realized what he was referring to. “You couldn’t go about that in a legal way?”

“Hell no, the cops would follow us around. Take anything we might find. I wanted to break in. At night.”

“You really wanted to break into a condemned building where an entire family was murdered all by yourself?”

He shrugged. “I don’t exactly believe in ghosts like some of us do.”

“Yeah, that’s not how it seemed last night.”

“Perhaps I was just trying to get you to sleep with me.”

Then she just did it. Smacked him. She didn’t think about it at all, didn’t even have time to consider being embarrassed or feeling as if she’d crossed a line. 

“Ouch.” He rubbed the spot like the giant baby he was. “Why are you always trying to hurt me?”

“I’m not always trying to hurt you,” she argued. 

“Maybe not physically,” he agreed, “but it did hurt when you said you weren’t interested in me.”

“Yeah, right.”

“I’m being serious.”

She held his gaze for a while, narrowing her eyes and trying to decide for herself if he was actually being serious or not.

“Actually, you’re just being annoying again.”

He shrugged, letting it slide because he was intentionally being a bit annoying. “I guess I don’t have to worry about that anymore though. Not if the way you kissed me was any indication of your very apparent interest.”

“If you don’t shut up and drive someplace that sells pizza, I’m going to let the ghost have you.”

They sat at the small dining table about a half hour later, sharing a large pizza straight from the box like they hadn’t eaten in days. She supposed the hours spent staring at tiny words worked up an appetite. 

The making out probably had something to do with it as well. And also the hours after that spent holding herself back from making out with him some more.

“So when are we going to the house?”

He wiped his greasy mouth on a napkin and swallowed. “Well, I also wanted to check out this local bar before. Bartenders, like waitresses, usually know things. And since our waitress was a bust…”

“Fine with me,” she clapped her hands together then, kicking off the dust from her fingers before she stood. “I’m gonna go get ready.”

He nodded, watching as she first made her way to her suitcase, digging around for a minute or two until she had what she needed and headed to the bathroom. Meanwhile, Harry finished off the last slice of pizza and then used the sink in the kitchen to wash up.

She got ready in front of the mirror, changing out of her jeans and long-sleeve and into the one and only dress she’d packed. She hadn’t been sure she’d need it, but she was now glad she had it. It was simple, a black sweater-type dress that fit loosely with a hem that just barely reached her upper thigh. If she moved the wrong way, however, there would definitely be a show, but she was comfortable and warm so that was all that mattered.

Working on her hair next, she brushed through it while using the blow dryer she’d packed, keeping the frizz down that would have otherwise been out of hand with the humidity. Once she had it at a decent enough point, she put on a tiny bit of makeup, just to look the part of someone going to a bar for fun and not to poke around about a murder case. 

Once she was finished, she gathered her old clothes and made her way back into the living room. The second she stepped within Harry’s sightline, his eyes were immediately drawn to her, to her bare thighs in particular. To the way one of her sage colored socks was bundled down around her ankle and the other was were it was supposed to be. To the way she walked like she knew he was staring, practically with his mouth hanging open, but didn’t even give him the light of day as she folded her clothes up back into her suitcase and grabbed her boots off the floor where she’d taken them off when they first got back with the pizza.

She still hadn’t acknowledged his existence when she made her way to the couch, boots in tow. At least not until right before she sat down, she finally lifted her eyes to meet his, smiling to herself at the way he stared and then quickly turned on her heel and sat down.

Before she got too far into doing up her boots, actually only making it until her left foot was in, Harry’s own shoes came into view. And then his legs, torso and eventually face as her eyes glazed up the length of him, sitting back into the couch and tilting her head back curiously.

“Can I help you with something?”

He just shook his head no and then gestured toward her one booted foot, the laces still astray. It took her a moment before she realized what he was doing, before he shifted his weight and bent his knee, waiting for her to give him her foot so he could tie up her shoes for her.

She knew better than to assume his intentions were as innocent as just that though, but she liked it anyway. She liked watching him as she sat back against the couch and lifted her foot up into his hold. Liked the way his eyes wandered as he placed the sole of her boot against his thigh and began working on the laces as slowly as he could manage without really paying any attention to what he was doing.

Her whole body hummed as his mischievous gazes lingered. “And here I thought you just wanted to tie my shoes for me.” 

His eyes that had most definitely previously been glued to the entire length of her bare leg, shot up to her face. “That is all I’m doing.”

“Right. Sure.” And then he went back to tying, keeping his eyes to himself which took every ounce of willpower he had. He didn’t make it very far though, and all that willpower was wasted when her hands slipped to the hem of her dress. His fingers froze on her boot as she gathered the material, shifting the hem of her dress higher and higher up her thighs and he had to swallow the pit that had formed in his throat while he watched. While she gave him something to look at. He felt what she was doing to him in places he really shouldn’t be, not if they were planning on sticking to the itinerary. 

To make matters worse, even though she kept the important bits hidden, he still had his imagination and it was running wild with the knowledge of what she was wearing underneath that dress. The black lace panties he’d picked out for her this morning. He was… he was seconds away from losing what little willpower there was left. But she seemed to notice that then, the way his eyes had darkened, growing hungry, needy, and she—gently—pushed into him with her left foot, the one he still held up to his thigh. It nearly knocked him off balance, but it definitely did the trick of snapping him out of it.

He blinked a couple times until his head was clear. “That was rude.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She shrugged, adjusting the hem of her dress while he finished tying her boot for her, shaking his head at her in disbelief. 

He put her left leg back on the floor and waited for the right one next. But he soon learned that, as she sat forward on the couch again to slip her foot into the other boot, she wasn’t quite done teasing him. Because she then looked up at him and her face was far too close to a very inappropriate area. One that was becoming very hard and uncomfortable in his jeans.

His reaction to her must’ve been written all over his face because she just smirked up at him and then sat back once more, lifting her right foot to his thigh.

“You know, if you wanted to look up my dress, you could’ve just asked.”

He tilted his head, considering that as he worked on her boot, pulling her sock up and adjusting it before he tightened the laces. “If I see anymore than what I just did, we’re not going to make it out of this house.”

The twisting in her stomach returned. Also because his eyes had wandered to the inside of her thigh again. She really wanted him to touch her—this time without her jeans getting in the way—so badly she nearly reached out to grab his hand to make him touch her. And she’d never wanted that so badly in her entire life; it almost scared her how much she wanted it now.

When he’d finishing tying her boot and moved to drop her foot, she kept her leg in place instead, pushing back against him. Once he realized that she wasn’t budging, he met her gaze with wide eyes, those vibrant green irises of his darkened once again.

They stared at each other for a moment, silently, before he moved his right hand to her ankle first, going slow to make sure that was what she wanted. And when she didn’t say anything, just held his stare, he knew.

So he went further, trailing his hand up her calf to the bend in her knee where he grabbed her leg with his other hand and made room for himself on the couch between her thighs, watching as she bit down on her lip when his knee pressed against someplace he imagined she really wanted his hands to be.

Instead, his left hand drew up the outside of her thigh, lifting her leg further onto his hip until he pinned it in place there, opening her up to him as he leaned down—gripping the back of the couch for support with his other hand—to trail his lips up her neck until he reached her ear.

“Are you going to show me what you want, or should I just guess?” She sucked in a breath of air at his words, not just because of them, but also because of that voice, the same one from before, the one that sounded so… so deep and and soft at the same time in way that made her feel it all the way to her core. And she wanted him to feel that too.

She reached for his right hand that was still holding him in place and he easily shifted his weight to give it to her, to let her guide him down to her leg again, taking him lower and lower until he was where she wanted him on the inside of her thighs instead. They held each other’s gaze as she slid his hand just a few more inches underneath her dress, her mouth parting at the feeling of his fingers pressed against her finally. 

He readjusted quickly, letting go of her leg and shifting his weight closer, making more room for himself, forcing her leg to bend at the knee which gave him much better access to what she wanted him to do. The roughness of his jeans grazing against the soft skin of her thighs each time he moved even the slightest bit made her head spin. The whole entire room spun, in fact, as she slipped her hand off of his and his touch remained where she wanted it, letting him take over. He leaned over her again, pinning her in place against the cushions as he brought his left hand down beside her head to support his weight now and then brought lips to hers, swallowing the moan she let out when he began rubbing his fingers over her.

“I would’ve guessed right, it seems,” he muttered, his thumb quickly replacing his fingers as they traveled south and pressed into her as much as they could with all that taunting lace in the way. He was glad for it though, because he could already feel how wet she was through the fabric. 

He knew she wanted more when she thrust her hips up toward him and he was not exactly in a place to deny her of that. But he did want to mess around with her just a little bit more.

Pressing their foreheads together to separate their mouths, he kept his lips close—but not quite touching hers—and pulled away slightly when she tried to reach for more. “What is it that you want me to do now, YN?”

She whined then, through an exasperated laugh that turned into a very desperate sound he nearly lost himself over. “Please, Harry, you know…” She breathed out, titling her head back and fluttering her eyes closed, whispering, “You know what I want.”

He nipped at a spot on her neck, pressing his lips against her skin as she lost all ability to breathe, and let his voice vibrate against her pulse, “Do I?”

“God, I hate you.”

He chuckled, the feel and sound of the noise he made giving her goosebumps. “I know you do.”

Without an answer from her, though, he decided to make the stakes even worse. Bringing his lips to her jaw, he tugged firmly on the lace and pulled her panties aside all in one smooth, swift motion, soon giving her nothing but his thumb as it circled agonizingly slow over that very sensitive bundle of nerves while she cried out at the new sensation of his skin against hers. Nothing at all in the way this time.

He kissed her again, needing to feel the way her sounds did against his mouth as if he’d die without it. And when he pulled back, he met her half-closed eyes, whispering breathlessly, “Show me.”

She held her breath for a moment after his demand before she slipped her hand back down to her body, finding his hand and folding her fingers over his own as she guided them down the length of her and then slowly pressed them inside of her. She wasn’t the only one making noise this time as he felt all of her for the first time. Her hand fell away and he buried his index and middle fingers in deeper, as far as they would go, his head spinning at her warmth and the way she was contracting her muscles around him. It took every ounce of self control to not replace his fingers with something else. 

“How long have you been this wet?” He asked, half under his breath, while she just shrugged, too boos watching his hand as is disappeared underneath the hem of her dress. He still wondered though, when exactly she’d gotten that way. Maybe it’d been when he’d first looked at her as he tied her boots, or when he’d finally touched her. When he’d asked her to show him what she wanted. Or maybe it’d been long before that, back when they were in the police station and maybe she’d just been waiting for him this whole time. Either way it happened, his fingers were slick with her and he ran them very quickly back up to that bundle of nerves, giving his thumb something to work with before he slipped back inside of her.

Then he watched her expressions change as he curled his fingers upward, gliding them across a spot that made her legs jerk as his fingers retreated, and then he quickly followed those same movements as he pushed his way back inside, keeping his thumb planted where it had been. His hair fell over his forehead in a disheveled mess when he leaned over her once more.

“Is this what you want? To come around my fingers?”

She nodded, her hand going to his forearm where she dug her nails in when he fucked her with his fingers once more, faster this time. And not stopping. The ungodly sounds she made got lost somewhere in his mouth again. And this time, she didn’t overthink it for a second as she brought her arms around the back of his neck, pulling him closer and digging her fingers into his hair, each tug a sign of how good he was making her feel with his hand between her thighs.

He was a constant, torturous wave of pleasure that had her body wriggling to get away, to stop herself from losing it—losing all control. Because he was bringing her right to the edge of that cliff with no signs of slowing down. Her hand was still wrapped around his arm, but it was listless now, simply holding on just enough to follow his movements each time his fingers dug up into her, still seamlessly hitting that same spot as before that was making her come undone faster than she wanted to. She wanted to stay like this for hours longer. Wanted to feel him for as long as she could. His thumb doing magic tricks and his fingers fucking her better than anyone ever had. And if he was this good with his hands, she couldn’t wait to find out what else he could do.

“Harry…” She whispered, a barely even audible sound but it made him breathless to hear her say his name like that. Telling him that she was close, seconds away from unraveling around him.

“I know.” His eyes found hers just before they fluttered shut as she let go. As he moved just a fraction of a bit faster. A bit harder. Her thighs pressed against him tightly—the friction of his jeans once again making it hard for her to breathe—but he didn’t budge even an inch to let her close them. He adjusted his knees further onto the couch to lock her in place when she began to pull away from his touch.

And then he sent her off the edge, her head bent over the back of the couch now, with his hand tangled in her hair, letting out everything stuck inside of her that he hoped the poor elderly neighbors couldn’t hear. He kept moving inside of her, mostly because he didn’t want to stop feeling the way she pulsed around his fingers and he couldn’t wait to feel that around a more sensitive part of his body whenever they got to that point. 

But for now, he let her come and then watched her closely to know when she had had enough, pulling his fingers from her as she practically melted into the couch. She felt the swipe of wetness against her thigh as he readjusted her underwear back into place and then fluttered her eyes open moments later when his hand lost all contact.

Because he wanted her to watch him as he sucked his fingers into his mouth, tasting her and then wasting no more time as he brought his mouth down to hers again, letting her taste herself too as he slipped his tongue past her lips.

He lifted his mouth after a moment. “I was right.”

He was positive she’d look just as dazed even if she did comprehend what he was saying. So, he chuckled, quickly explaining himself after guiding his lips to her ear.

“You’re cute when you come too.”

She shut her eyes again, laying her head back with her mouth open as she struggled to get enough oxygen in. “You’re welcome to be reminded of that any time you like.”

“Is that an invitation?”

She nodded without a single breath of hesitation. “Any time.” She reiterated.

“What about when you’re alone in your office?” He kissed his way down her neck, lips lingering on her pulse for a moment longer. Then he trailed his way back up to her ear, glancing at her face while he whispered, “Because I’ve thought about all the ways we can make your desk useful countless times.”

“Are you saying my desk is useless?”

He chuckled, his breath fanning out pieces of her hair which he quickly fixed, tucking it behind her ear as he then placed both hands on either side of her face and his forehead on hers, staring at her swollen lips while he spoke. “I think it’d be better utilized if I was fucking you on top of it.”

Her whole body shuddered as her lips curled into a pout like there was nothing more she wanted in the world than for him to do exactly that. But since they weren’t alone in her office, he settled with kissing her on a very uncomfortable couch in a possibly haunted air bnb instead.

They stayed that way for a while, which would’ve turned into a while longer than that if he hadn’t felt her hands slip to his jeans, fumbling to undo them.

He pulled away then, grabbing both her wrists to stop her from going any further and shook his head when she looked up at him, confused. Pouting again.

“Trust me, I want that more than anything right now,” he explained, just so she’d stop looking at him the way she was, like he was rejecting her. “But we have places to be.”

He held her wrists as he backed off of the couch and stood on shaky limbs, pulling her up with him, even though the state of her legs was far worse than his. So he wrapped her arms around his neck, holding on until she tightened her hold and brought herself closer, close enough to rest her head on his chest as she came out of that dizzying fog. And, sure, it could have been because he’d just had his fingers inside of her that caused her to cling to him but he was going to savor every last second of it. Because, if it were up to him, he would stay like that all night with her, but he knew as soon as she came to her senses, she was going to pull away.

“Harry?” She mumbled after a much shorter span of time than he would have preferred, her voice slightly muffled by his shirt.

“Hm?” 

“What are we doing?”

He knew exactly what she meant but he really wasn’t ready for her to come to those senses just yet. “Hugging?”

“No, I mean—“ The second she started moving away from him, he tightened his hold around her waist, keeping her in place.

“I know what you mean.”

It was quiet between them for a moment while she relaxed into him again because at least Harry seemed to be on the same page. 

“We’re…” he began quietly, eyes searching the kitchen behind her for something to focus on that might calm the bubbling anxiety in his chest. He wanted to tell her that they were finally doing what he’d wanted to do for a while, what he hoped she’d also wanted. That when they got home, she’d continue to want it there, too. And not just the sex but everything else, too. Nothing really did the trick of calming him down, though, and he lost his nerve. “We should probably go.”

She was the first to pull away and he let her this time, both their arms falling away as they held each other’s gazes. She seemed to almost be waiting for him to do something—or say something more. But he didn’t get the chance when a loud smack sounded from the kitchen, near the dining table.

Looking up from her eyes, he noticed what had hit the floor before she did. Even so, she still twisted around in his arms and they fell back to his sides, mostly because he was in a small state of shock at what he was looking at.

It was his notebook. Which had been sitting in the middle of the table. 

“Um…” He stared, wide-eyed at it, trying to come up with an explanation for what had just happened because there wasn’t one. No gust of wind had come through. He hadn’t left it sitting on the edge of the table. And the only other person in the house was YN and she surely hadn’t done that. 

“I told you.” She whispered, twisted back to face him although she still glanced around the room, slightly terrified that they really weren’t alone.

Especially after what had just transpired on that couch. 

“Maybe it’s best if we just go.” He stepped away from her and even though she spun back around, ready to yell at him from leaving her side, he was already making his way, carefully, to the dining table. Once he was close enough to grab his keys and wallet, he snatched them quickly and then grabbed her coat on his way before joining her in the living room again.

Handing over her coat, she quickly slipped it on and then her purse over that, wanting nothing more than to get out of there before something else mysteriously fell over. 

Once she was ready, he slipped his hand into hers, entwining their fingers, and led the way out to the car, hoping by the time they got back, he could forget that that had happened.

They only had one more night after all. It’d be fine. He just… didn’t currently want to be in that house for a second longer.

“Still want to go breaking into old, abandoned houses later?” She asked as he turned the heat up in the car.

“Of course,” he said with way too much confidence for a man that had definitely just been spooked by a ghost, “I told you,” he glanced over at her, smirking, “you’re cute when you’re scared.”

The bar was already in full swing by the time they arrived, which is why he had planned to come earlier but again, he was not about to complain for the reason why they were behind schedule.

YN led the way inside, wrapping her hand around Harry’s as she weaved through people, some already drunk and rowdy and others on their way to that point. As Harry glanced around, trying not to be replaced by the smell of tequila and body odor, he was slightly jealous of the people who were just there to have fun on their Saturday night. Who laughed so loud it drowned out the heavy drums of the rock music pouring into the room. He found himself especially jealous of the couple they passed on the way to the bar, who’s hands wandered as they made out against one of the pool tables.

He snapped back to reality when YN tugged on his hand as she made a quick bee line to the very last open seat at the bar. They were not there to have fun, he knew that. She was at the bar not for drinks, but to hopefully be able to talk to one of the bartenders. Still, he came up behind her, draping his arm over her shoulder and pretended otherwise.

Especially when he reached up with his free hand and swiped her hair out of the way before kissing a spot along her jaw and then brought his lips to her ear, feeling her tense against him. “We could actually have fun, too, you know.”

She smiled, staring down at the counter and letting herself get lost in the idea of them just being some random couple being a little too handsy at the bar. They could probably get away with it, too, but the smile slowly faded when she thought about how much the quality of their work would suffer all for a couple hours of drunken fun. 

And maybe Harry could afford that but she really couldn’t.

She turned then, glancing at him over her shoulder. All thoughts of telling him that they needed to stay focused wen right out the window when she realized how close their faces were. When her eyes darted right down to his lips and she remembered the way they felt and how much she wanted them on her again.

“What can I get ya?” A loud, female voice pulled them apart from each other and they both faced the woman on the other side of the bar with very guilty looks. Because they were most definitely seconds away from saying fuck it to the whole thing.

YN cleared her throat first, “Um… I’ll just have a water.”

“Make that two.” Harry added and the woman, who’s name tag read Sandra, quickly grabbed two glasses from under the bar and set them on the counter in front of YN, filling them both.

“Are y’all new in town?” She asked, passing their glasses over to them before she began wiping down the bar. 

Harry glanced down at YN briefly while sipping on his water, exchanging looks before she nodded at him. Silently letting him know now was the time.

“Yeah, well… we’re actually just in town working on a story about what happened here a few years back.”

The bartender froze for a moment, and then went back to wiping the counter. “I’m sorry that’s your first impression of this place. We’ve been trying to regain our reputation ever since.”

Harry nodded in understanding, setting his glass down. “Were you around back then?”

She sighed, folding her rag up neatly and absently. “Yeah, people stopped going out, just locked themselves in their houses. Some even moved out all together. I was out of work for a while. Can’t blame them, though. Freaked me out, too.”

“Did you know any of the victims?” YN asked, hoping she wasn’t pressing too far.

But Sandra just shook her head, “No… well, not back then, I didn’t. But the second family that was attacked, their eldest daughter found them. She had just came home from college for the weekend.”

Again, YN and Harry shared a look, their minds right on the same track as each other. It was Harry who spoke first, though. “Was her name Jackie?”

Sandra looked up at him with wide eyes, “How’d you know about Jackie?”

“We’re… pretty good at our jobs.”

“I’ll say.” The bartender luckily brushed it off instead of asking anymore questions. Sighing, she crossed her arms over her chest and averted her gaze from the two of them. “But, yeah, Jackie she was working here before all that. I hadn’t met her but I did later on when she came back to work and her shifts changed. We got close. She ended up getting a new gig at the diner down the street last year, but we still talk sometimes.” She paused, seemingly lost in bittersweet memories of their friendship until another thought came to mind, “She still lives in the house, not out of choice, though, she’s had a hell of a time trying to sell the place.”

“That must be…” YN shook her head, not even sure she could describe how it must feel being stuck in the house where your entire family was murdered.

“Hell,” Sandra finished and both YN and Harry nodded in agreement.

“Yeah,” Sandra continued. “She lived with me for a while but it got hard and she ended up moving back in. I think, even though something tragic happened, being in that house still keeps her connected to her family.”

They could understand that too. They were also both incredibly grateful the meeting with Jackie hadn’t worked out because neither of them would have known how to handle that.

“Anyway, I don’t really know much else. She doesn’t either, even though she tried for a very long time to find out who did it. It drove her mad before she finally gave up.”

“What made her stop?”

Sandra smiled sweetly then. “She met someone. It didn’t last long but she realized she was wasting her life away on something she may never find answers to.”

Something about the way Sandra spoke made YN think the someone Jackie met had been Sandra herself, but YN figured that would be prying a little too much into things that neither she nor Harry really needed to know about.

“You said you were writing a story?”

They both nodded simultaneously.

“I don’t think she minds talking about it anymore, she’s probably still holding onto hope that if she talks to people, some new bit of information will come up. But I was just hoping, if you mention her, you could leave her name out of it.”

“Of course,” YN assured, having already decided to not include Jackie in any part of their story other than what was necessary to give readers a full picture. But leaving out her name was something that didn’t even need to be said.

“Thank you for talking with us, it’s much appreciated.” Harry smiled at her and Sandra returned it.

“Sure. If you two want anything else, just let me know.” 

As soon as Sandra left, Harry tucked himself into the space between YN and the person sitting next to them, his back toward the bar as he balanced his weight on it and faced YN. “So that was…”

“Not much help.” YN finished off her water, looking particularly disappointed as she set her glass on the counter beside Harry’s hand.

“No, but… at least we know who Jackie is now.”

“Yeah but—“ She shook her head, dropping her eyes to her hands in her lap, giving herself a moment to breathe through her frustration. “We’re still no closer to finding out anything new.”

Harry leaned over, reaching out to gently tuck her hair behind her ear. “We aren’t here to solve the case, YN, you know that.”

“I know, it’s just…”

“You want to find out what happened to that girl.”

She nodded.

“If we can’t find out maybe just including her in the story is all we can do. And maybe that leads to someone else down the line figuring it out.”

She knew she had to be okay with that even if, at the moment, she really wasn’t. They still had time to read through the files more thoroughly though, maybe they’d find something useful after all.

Harry squeezed her shoulder and brought her attention back to him. “I’m gonna head to the bathroom really quick, I’ll be right back.”

She wanted to argue about him leaving her there, in a crowded bar in an unfamiliar town, but he kissed her cheek before he left and it, weirdly, settled her nerves. Three days ago she never would have considered Harry kissing her in any manner as something that would calm her down.

Watching him until he slowly disappeared, she wondered what they would do when he got back. If they were going to continue asking around or if having fun was still on the table because she was more than up for it now after everything they’d just learned about Jackie. 

Before she got too lost in her daydreams about what type of fun her and Harry could potentially get up to, there was a tap on her shoulder.

And when she turned, she really wished Harry was still standing next to her. 

“Where’d your boyfriend go?” The man from last night inched closer, a bottle of beer in one hand and a pool cue on the other as he leaned onto the bar where Harry’d just been.

“He’s in the…” she stopped herself short, “He’s not my boyfriend.”

The man lifted a brow, “Does that mean you’re single then?”

She kind of wanted to punch this dude, but she clasped her hands in her lap and tried to be civil. “It doesn’t mean anything. He’s not my boyfriend and I’m not looking for one.” 

“You sure?” 

She nodded, impatiently. “Can I help you with something?”

Then he made it obvious as his eyes fell down the front of her, lingering on her thighs as he smiled. “I’m sure there are many things you could help me with.” 

Her heart began to race then, losing the confidence she’d had a moment ago when she’d wanted to punch him. Now she just wanted to run. To get really far away from him. Especially when she glanced over and found not only his two other friends from the previous night but also a few other men, all glancing over their shoulders at her.

Then it got worse as he leaned into her, bringing his lips close to her ear as she froze up. “Like your dress, by the way. I’m sure it comes off easy.”

His voice and words made her cringe and she found herself rolling her eyes instead of being terrified of him and wanting to run. “Is that really your best pick up line?”

The way his smile grew then made her swallow the pit in her throat. “You really don’t want me to say what’s actually on my mind.” 

No… she supposed she didn’t. 

“Look, he’s not my boyfriend, but he’s got me taken care of, alright? So why don’t you just go back to your friends over there?” She nodded over at them and they all seemed to avert their gazes at once.

The man followed her line of sight over his shoulder before turning back to her. “They aren’t nearly as fun as talking to you is.”

She was just mad at this point, looking over her own shoulder to see if Harry was even close to being back yet but she didn’t spot his familiar mess of curls anywhere. Sighing, she faced the man again.

“Yeah, well I can’t say the same about you, so can you just leave me alone?” She raised her voice a bit, hoping that someone close by might hear and step in. Or at least be aware that she wanted nothing to do with this guy.

“That wasn’t very nice.”

“Jason!” A familiar female voice shouted over the music and the voices and both the man and YN turned to find Sandra. “I believe she told you to leave her alone.”

“Why you always ruining my fun, Sandra?”

The bartender glanced at YN as they shared a knowing look. “Yeah, well, your fun’s one-sided so piss off.”

Jason narrowed his eyes at Sandra, then looked at YN again, opening his mouth to say something but then he glanced over her shoulder and smiled. “I was just keeping her company till her boyfriend got back.”

“She does’t seem to be very interested in your company, Jason. None of us are, in fact.”

YN knew Harry was back before he even slid his arm around her waist and tucked himself close to her. Before he even said one threatening word to Jason. It was just his familiar presence and how much it calmed every inch of her body.

“Everything alright over here?”

Jason smiled at Harry but not in a very nice way at all. “Sure is.”

Harry also had to hold himself back from starting a fight. But it was Sandra who cut through the tension and stopped any punches from being thrown.

“Jason, go back to your game of pool before I kick every last one of you outta here for good.” 

That, he seemed to listen to. And, after rolling his eyes, he pushed off the edge of the bar, winked once at Harry and then made his way back to his friends.

“Sorry ‘bout him. He’s a jackass, but he’s harmless.”

YN wasn’t really sure about that, but she moved on from the whole thing quickly when Harry tightened his hold around her, reminding her that he was there as she looked up into his worried gaze.

“You alright?”

She sighed, nodding. “Yeah, he didn’t do anything. Just talked.”

Harry held her gaze for a moment longer, possibly to make sure she really was okay before he lifted his eyes to Sandra and nodded. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. Seriously.” Harry knew what she was implying. That when they wrote their story and mentioned this town that they wouldn’t talk about the select few assholes that lived in it. He knew it wouldn’t be fair to everyone else to do so so he nodded again and Sandra smiled apologetically at both him and YN before she took off.

“You wanna get out go here?” He asked.

“Jesus,” she practically jumped down from her seat, “I thought you’d never ask.”

After a lot of convincing that she was fine, Harry finally agreed to drive them to the old abandoned house instead of what he’d really wanted to do. Take her home and make sure she was safe. It had been a much more appealing idea than what he’d originally planned, but she insisted and, so, they soon found themselves parked across the street from the house on a quiet, dark street a little past ten o’clock.

“You sure about this?” Harry gazed over at the house and then turned to meet her eyes, almost hoping she’d change her mind. 

Instead of giving him a solid answer, though, she just unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned over the center console until she was able to reach his lips. Kissing him was both to get him to shut up and also a silent thank you for him having her back earlier. He hadn’t done a whole lot, but just him showing up when he did had been enough. 

He lifted his hand to her cheek and deepened it for a moment before she pulled away. “Let’s go.”

She was out of the car before he had even caught his breath and by the time he was shutting his door behind him, after he’d retrieved his flashlight from the glovebox, she was halfway across the street, seemingly not bothered by the creepy flickering streetlight above them or the eery sound of cicadas his ears still weren’t used to.

Still, he followed after her, catching up until he was beside her, cursing under his breath at both her and how cold it was.

“You’re not scared are you?” She asked as they squeezed past the broken picket fence and then up the cracked cement pathway toward the front door.

“No, but it wouldn’t kill you to slow down a bit.”

She shrugged. “It might.” Still, she paused and held her hand out for him to grab and even though he just glared at her for a moment, he eventually rolled his eyes and took her hand, allowing her to drag him up the front steps of the small porch.

There was still crime scene tape and a piece of paper taped to the door, informing anyone who was stupid enough to get this close that the house was condemned and trespassers would be prosecuted. Ignoring it, YN reached out and tried the handle. To her surprise, it actually turned and the door creaked open. 

She didn’t step another foot closer, though, just peered inside into the darkness that lay beyond.

“Oh, so now you’re scared?”

“I feel like that door should have definitely been locked.” She whispered as Harry clicked on his flashlight and took a step in front of her.

“Probably had people coming in here, they could have picked the lock. Come on,” he grabbed her hand as he stepped inside and she reluctantly went with him, grabbing his arm too in order to keep close to him.

The house was… dirty, yes, but also normal. Just a normal living room, a normal set of stairs. Most all the furniture had been broken and scattered everywhere either by whatever type of people had broken in or by the cops when they searched the place for evidence. 

Harry scanned the flashlight around the room. No matter how much of a normal family home it looked, it was still someplace that marked a horrific event and, so, it gave her the creeps.

It didn’t help that she was also thinking about their ghost back at the air bnb.

She kept close as Harry led them into the kitchen, which was in an equal state of disarray. The fridge doors hung open and the window above the sink seemed to be the only one that hadn’t been boarded up. It was also broken, and let in a whistle of wind that gave her goosebumps.

“I don’t think there’s anything in here to find.”

Harry glanced at her over his shoulder. “Don’t tell me you’re scared. I tried to get you to go back to the house.”

“I’m not scared, just… they didn’t die in the kitchen.”

Harry averted his gaze, a solemn look crossing over his eyes before he nodded and turned them around, heading back out to the living room and then up the creaking stairs.  

The first room they went into had been decorated for a teenage girl at one point. Harry flashed the light around the window, which wasn’t boarded up, and the closet, trying to find anything that might give a clue as to how the murderer got in, but there was nothing noticeable.

“You know there was that one guy,” YN began as they made their way out into the hall, closing the girl’s room door behind them, “who just walked around, checking any random door until he found one that was unlocked and that’s how he decided who he’d kill.”

“You’re talking about Richard Ramirez?”

“Yeah,” she confirmed as Harry opened the door to another room, only to quickly close it when he realized it was the bathroom. “Maybe this guy did the same.”

“That doesn’t account for the man those girls reported.”

She grew quiet, realizing he had a point. It couldn’t have been completely random, then. 

The next room they ventured into was a boy’s room and it hurt worse because he’d been young. Toys were still strewn across the bright red rug. Neither Harry nor YN said anything or touched anything while they looked around.

But then something caught Harry’s eye.

He wouldn’t really have noticed it in the daylight, he assumed, because he only did now with the shadow cast from the flashlight. But there was a tiny piece of fabric stuck to the window. 

He turned, flashing the light at YN to get her attention, “Come over here,” he whispered.

She joined him quickly and as soon as he put the light back on what he wanted her to see, she spotted it too.

“Might be how he got in.”

She shrugged, taking one step closer and looking out the window. There was a roof below this window, and there hadn’t been in the girl’s room. It was possible.

“Why the boy’s room though if he’d been stalking the girls?”

“Convenience?” Harry guessed.

But then something else came to mind. “When I was skimming the files, they said the boy was found in his parents’ bed. He wasn’t sleeping in here that night.”

Harry nodded, taking a step away from the window and pointing the light between them so he could see her face a bit better. “Makes sense.”

“He had to have been watching them for a few days at least, then, before he broke in. I just don’t understand why he stopped.”

“Maybe he just moved on to a different town. Police aren’t exactly known for communicating well over county lines.”

“And we just barely found out about this case a few months ago when Lenny went digging around. This could have happened somewhere else too and we just don’t know about it.”

“Then maybe we should do our own digging and see if we find anything.” Harry smiled, just glad that she was no longer so disappointed by not finding anything out. “But, first, we should get out of here because, and I’ll deny this if you ever tell anyone, I am actually a bit scared.”

Grinning, she reached down to grab his hand. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone who would believe you over me.”

Before he could argue, there was a sound that seemed to have come from down the hall, in the direction of the master bedroom. A sound that made her jump right into his arms, gripping his biceps as she held Harry as close as she possibly could.

Harry turned slightly, pointing the flashlight at the open doorway, praying nothing darted across the hall when he did. And after a moment, when nothing else happened, he leaned down to her a bit and whispered, “Maybe it was just the wind?”

“I don’t want to stay and find out.”

“Good idea.”

They got the hell out of there then, and although it was in a rush, they still tried to not disturb anything on their way out. And as soon as YN reached the bottom step, she took a very grateful breath of fresh air.

Harry wrapped his arm around her waist, clicked off his flashlight and led them back to the car. “Guess I won’t be telling anyone how you practically latched onto me back there, either, then.”

“I did not—!” She pulled away from his hold, but it was no use when he tugged her close and helped her past the broken gate again and onto the sidewalk.

“Yes, you definitely did.”

She just glared at him up at him while he chuckled. 

“Don’t worry,” she was positive he was mocking the way she’d said those words just five minutes ago, “I like the way you hold onto me when you’re scared… might have to provoke the ghost when we get back…”

Instead of ghost provoking, however, they both just silently went about their nightly routines. Once YN had finished washing her face, Harry barged his way in the bathroom and they fought over the sink as they brushed their teeth. 

Then while she grabbed her pajamas, Harry waited for her on the edge of the bed after plugging his phone into its charger and setting an alarm for the morning. They had to be packed up and out by nine, or else he’d be slapped with a fee, so there was no chance he was going to risk sleeping in.

She joined him after a moment and he never took his eyes off her while she set her pajamas down on top of the dresser and then turned to face him. His eyes fell to her legs as a smile crept onto his lips that made her weak in the knees.

He met her eyes when she crossed the short space between them, and right when she was within reach, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close. Yelping, she fell against his shoulder and smacked him there as she regained her balance and glared down at him.

“Asshole.”

He shrugged, “You like when I’m an asshole.”

She really couldn’t deny that. He seemed to like her when she was being one, too.

His hands slipped to the hem of her dress, then though and she forgot about why she’d called him an asshole in the first place when his fingers glided over her skin as they disappeared underneath her dress.

“Don’t need this on anymore, do you?” He asked, his eyes glued to her body, watching as the hem revealed more and more to him. Parts of her he’d been too busy earlier to really get a good look at.

“No,” she breathed out, goosebumps rising to her flesh when he gathered her dress onto her hips, then her waist, exposing everything from her belly button down to him.

He glanced up at her quickly and then gently tugged her closer, bringing his lips down onto her skin, just above the band of her panties, right where every fluttering, tightening feeling for him gathered.

He inched his mouth lower and his hands drew higher, taking her dress with him as he made feeble attempts at getting it off. It wasn’t until he pulled away that he made it a priority and slid it up over her chest, then her head before he tossed it to the floor in a pile.

Eyes taking all of her in and growing darker the longer he stared, he met her gaze briefly, whispering, “Beautiful,” before he put his mouth right back in that same spot.

This time though, as he kissed his way down, his fingers dug under the bands at her hips, tugging slowly until his mouth caught up and then he pulled all that black lace out of his way. 

She no sooner stepped out of her panties before he grabbed hold of her waist and spun them around, laying her onto the bed and he twisted and made his way up between her legs, kissing up the inside of her thigh as he went, until he made it to the top and she squirmed underneath him.

Glancing up at her, he found her propped up on her elbows, watching him as she took labored breaths. He realized then, though, even if she hadn’t yet, that sitting that way was going to be uncomfortable for her.

So, he lifted himself up and reached over her to grab a pillow from the top of the bed, placing it under her neck so she could relax and still be able to watch if she wanted. It was what he wanted, anyway, for her to watch while he devoured her.

“Better?” He asked.

She just nodded, and before he could adjust himself between her legs again, she reached around behind her, unclasping her bra and removing it all while he watched, practically drooling when he finally saw every last inch of her.

Smiling, he brushed a piece of hair from her face. “Like I said… beautiful.”

Then he went back to business, although he took a bit of a detour from what he had been doing previously as he began his descent down her body at her breasts, taking one hardened nub into his mouth and the other his free hand took care of. Her back arched into him just as her fingers dug into his hair.

But then he continued on, kissing his way down as her hands slipped from the back of his head and instead, gathered bed sheets in her fists while his mouth fell over where she wanted him the most.

He didn’t tease her for much longer as he pulled her apart and dug in, swiping his tongue across the bundle of nerves he’d already grown familiar with. She moaned instantly when he did, and then again as he carried on with his movements making matters worse for himself as the tightening in his jeans became nearly unbearable. He really couldn’t remember the last time he’d gotten this worked up over someone as fast as he was, but he really wasn’t going to question it now. Not when she brought her hand back to his hair and pulled.

He moaned against her each time she did, which only made her do it more because the vibration of his lips on her felt like heaven. He went slow, though, not wanting to send her over the edge just yet, not before he’d had a chance to get more than just his mouth on her.

“Normally,” he pulled back to catch his breath and she shuddered at the feeling of that warmth against her too, “I would definitely let you come but… I think this night will end much sooner than either is us want if I don’t get inside you as soon as possible.”

Laughing, she pulled him up until he was at eye level with her and then she kissed him while wrapping her legs around him, pushing his hips against hers until she could feel every last jean-clad length of him right up against her and he was moaning against her mouth this time.

“Guess you weren’t lying.”

“Unfortunately not.” He admitted, this time allowing her hands to undo both the button and zipper of his jeans not even bothering to tug them down his hips, just slipped her way underneath his boxer-briefs and wrapped herself around him.

His eyes fluttered shut as his mouth hung open and she quickly brought her lips back to his while she pulled him out, feeling her way up and down his entire length before guiding him toward her. He let her take control, mostly because he was enjoying watching her with her hand around him. Once she had him lined up, however, he eased his own way inside of her, both of them coming undone at the way the other felt. Her warm and slick and soft. Him hard and thick, stretching her out.

He went slow, for both of their sakes. Mostly hers though while she adjusted to his length until the crease between her brows soothed itself away and she tilted her head back onto the pillow and whispered, “Shit you feel so good, Harry.”

Inflated ego and all, he came down over her and pressed his hips into hers as far as he could go, burying every last inch of himself inside of her as she screamed out when he hit a particularly sensitive spot.

He stayed there for a moment, kissing his way up her jaw until his lips were at her ear. “However good I feel, just know you feel a million times better.”

That completely did her in. He could do literally whatever the fuck he wanted to her then and she’d let him without question. If he wanted to invite the ghost in to watch? Sure, whatever. She was his now.

And since she couldn’t quite think straight while he was saying those types of things in his current position, she just wrapped a hand around the back of his neck and brought his lips down to hers. Letting him know just how much of herself she was giving over to him.

He kissed her harder, deeper, muffling all her moans when he pulled himself out of her and then repeated it all over again until he picked up a pace she seemed to like. If the way she tried to lift off the bed as she dug her nails into his back was any indication.

Until, of course, she got closer and begged him to go harder. Something that would not allow him to last very long at all, but her wish was his command. She dug her heels into the backs of his thighs to get him even closer, to show him what she wanted and he obeyed, giving her everything he had until he was sweating and panting, until the headboard was most definitely banging against the wall behind it.

“I’m—“ was her only warning. Harry didn’t even slow down as both her words and her breath got caught in her throat because she was already coming, he could feel her around his cock while he watched her face, the way her lips parted and her brows furrowed in pleasure. He brought his lips to her cheek and kissed her while he slowed his pace because he was seconds away from unraveling himself.

And when she relaxed, he kissed her lips, halting his movements but staying buried inside her. She brought a hand up to the back of his neck again, letting him into her mouth while she wrapped one leg around his again and pressed her heel in.

“Your turn,” she whispered, pulling away from him only a centimeter or so. They held each other’s gazes while he realized what she was telling him to do. And then without having to be told anything more, he kissed her again and fucked her until he couldn’t hold on any longer.

Pulling out, it didn’t didn’t take much work until he came all over the front of her, moaning and dropping down onto his elbow above her as he worked out every last drop. And once he was finished, he ran his fingers through his mess on her stomach, all the way down to that bunch of nerves where he got her all worked up again.

“Sorry for, uh…” He couldn’t get the rest of the words out when she reached down, grabbed hold of his wrist and took his fingers into her mouth. He watched her for a moment, silently, as she licked them clean. “… the mess,” he finished.

She drew his fingers from her mouth, smiling up at him. “That’s okay, you’re going to be the one to risk running into the ghost to go get me a towel.”  

He’d probably risk just about anything to do what she asked, but he didn’t tell her that. “Will I?”

She narrowed her eyes him. “Yes.”

A smirk slowly crept onto his face as he began backing away from her. “And if I don’t return, what then?”

She shrugged, sitting up as he made his way off the bed, stuffing himself back inside his jeans and doing them up again. “Then I have the bed to myself, I suppose.”

He just looked at her then, silently for a moment, before he took a step back toward the bed and grabbed her ankles, pulling her toward him while she yelped. He ignored that though and brought her to the edge, her legs wrapping around his before he leaned over her, his hands on either side of her head as she laid flat against the mattress.

“We both know you’ll be sad if I don’t come back.”

Swallowing the pit in her throat, she glanced between both of his eyes before then staring at his mouth. Yes, she supposed she’d be extremely sad if he didn’t come back. So, quietly, she admitted, “You’d better hurry up then.”

“That’s what I thought.” He teased, but still stood and took all of his warmth with him as he quickly snuck out the bedroom door, closing it behind him because she was, in fact, still completely naked and they were definitely still convinced of the ghost.

He was back in a few moments, though, towel in hand and she hadn’t moved much but as he approached, she laid back on her elbows, letting him do all the work of cleaning her up.

He’d dampened the towel a bit with warm water that felt incredible as he wiped her skin clean, every inch he’d soiled. Lingering a bit when he brought the towel between her legs as he thought about how many more bad choices they could make in one night.

“We should get some sleep,” she warned and he looked up at her, wiping the towel back up to her stomach. “Gotta be up early, right?”

He nodded as reality sunk in. Folding the towel in half twice, he placed in on the bed beside her and then went to grab her pajamas off the dresser. He helped her into her shorts first, not bothering with her panties, and then grabbed her arms until she was sitting up so he could fit her shirt on over her head.

“Are things still going to be this way when we go back to New York?” He asked as she fit her arms into the sleeves and adjusted the shirt over her body. 

“Why wouldn’t they?”

He shrugged but then smiled when he realized he’d been worrying over nothing. She wanted the same thing he did. 

“Besides…” she perched herself back onto her hands, her eyes wandering over every inch of his upper body until she found his again, “we still have my desk to make useful.”

The next morning went by quickly… after they showered. That, of course, took a while. Took most of the morning, in fact, and they then had to rush to get out the door in time. But it’d been worth it. Having lazy morning sex with her underneath a warm stream of water was better than he’d imagined it be.

They made it out on time though, only by about a few minutes, and got breakfast on the road. On the drive back, they discussed the story and YN got out her laptop to begin writing notes for it. They still had some research to do and files to look over, but they mapped out a basic outline by the time they crossed over into New York.

“I really hope there wasn’t a ghost in that house.” Harry said as they crossed over the bridge into Manhattan.

“Well if there was, they got a pretty good show.”

Harry nodded, agreeing. “Yeah… four of them to be exact.”

“Four?”

“Yeah there was… this other time in the shower. Saturday morning.”

“Why were you even—“ She cut herself off then, realization hitting. Saturday morning is when they’d woken up all… over each other. And he’d been…? Jesus.

He smiled. “I don’t need to answer that, do I?”

“No, I got it.”

“Good. Still want me to fuck you on top of your desk?”

Rolling her eyes, she stared out at the skyline as it came into view. “Even more now.”

[sluttbuttsstuff]

For the prompts, 49 with doppio? >:3 Idk what it is about him I just look at him and think “oh you’re NEEDY needy, huh?”. Thank you so much, you’re a really good writer! :)

No problem buddy, thanks for the request! >:3

Warnings: not sfw, dubcon/noncon, abduction, dark themes, yandere, etc.

Also, my requests are still open, if anyone else is interested!

Enjoy!

Yandere prompt with Doppio, “You want me to fuck you…? Would that make you happy? Would it make you love me?” afab reader, dub/non con

All you wanted to do now was go home. You had had a long week at work, your parents were nagging you again, and to make things worse you had a headache that would not go away. After an exhausting day that began before the sun was out, and ended after the sun had set, you certainly deserved to do nothing more than go home, eat some junk food in your comfy pjs, listen to a podcast while you took a bath and pampered yourself, and maybe jerk off before bed. Unfortunately, you had a “girls night” tonight.

Your friends (your IRL friends at least) complained that you never went out with them anymore (nevermind that whenever you suggested doing something with them, or wanted to chat or text on the phone they were busy) and had forced you to go clubbing with them to celebrate the three-day weekend ahead. You weren’t much of a drinker, and really weren’t much of a dancer, so you had been given the purses to hold while you waited for them to be ready to go home.

You wrinkled your nose in frustration, glaring into the blurry screen of your phone looking at the late time: this was unfair. You were a hard worker, kind to a fault to those around you, and you deserved better than this. Sitting in a corner of a crowded club, everyone in the place having a great time except for you, tired and alone. At least in your apartment, you chose to be there, and at least no one actively ignored you: places like this just pointed out the flaws you hated about yourself more: you were bad with people, and easy to ignore.

Once one of your “friends” stumbled over to the group’s table, you left them with everyone's purse, mumbling you were going to the bathroom (you didn’t know if she heard you and you didn’t care) and left before anyone could stop you. You stumbled your way to the restroom in heels way too high for you to walk in, trying to clean yourself up and find a quiet place to text your goodbyes so your friends wouldn’t worry about your sudden disappearance. Leaning over the sink counter, you wiped a makeup smear off the corner of your lips, noticing a second too late someone behind you.

“Hey, there’s another sink-” You began to say to the blurred figure way too close to you, before a sudden eruption of pain hit the side of your head, and you were out in a flash…

The next time you regained consciousness was several hours later, but it was still dark when you opened your eyes, trying to remember what happened and where in the world you were. The stale cigarette smell, the unreasonably cold ac, the bedsheets starched so strongly that the sheets felt like plastic- this was definitely a motel. But where, and how long had you been here? As you began to sit up, you heard a surprised, timid voice.

“Oh, thank goodness! You’re awake, I was beginning to worry about you! Hold on, don’t move so suddenly, i’ll help you sit up.

Sure enough, as you started moving, your head lit up with painful throbbing that made last night’s headache seem like nothing in comparison. You grit your teeth and clenched your eyes shut, trying not to groan in pain.

“What the hell happened to me last night?” you grunted through your teeth, rubbing your temple as gentle hands helped slowly sit you up propped against cushions.

“Haha, you had a lot of bad luck last night, running into my boss. He was waiting for...an employee in the restroom and thought you were sent after him. He’s a bit paranoid, and he may have...accidentally clobbered you.” The voice apologized, gentle as he handed you what felt like a glass of water.

You forced yourself to open your eyes; it was still dark, but you could tell it wasn’t because of the time of day but rather a lack of light and closed curtains. You looked at..you looked at the person in front of you. Like whoever had attacked you last night, they had long pink hair, braided and side parted. Their eyes were green and wide, and they looked particularly juvenile with a crop top and freckles. They were on the smaller side, perhaps even shorter than you (hard to tell from while on the bed) and their eyes were crinkled in apprehension, like he was afraid you were going to hurt him.

“Erm, don’t worry though, I talked him out of doing anything too..extreme, after all I'm his right hand man! Besides, you seem like a perfectly nice person, I'd hate to see anything bad happen to you. Sorry, I'm rambling! Umm, do you want something for your headache? You were groaning in your sleep, I'm sure it doesn’t feel so good right now-” He went on and on, pulling out some painkillers to take with your water.

After thanking him, you were about to swallow the pill before pausing, looking at the strange man who’d taken you to a remote hotel after his boss had nearly killed you. Sensing your suspicion, doppio exclaimed, “Oh, don’t worry, they’re safe, name brand painkillers! Um, hold on, lemme just-” And he made a show of popping some of the pills you were holding into his mouth and swallowing, sticking out his tongue and opening his mouth to show you he’d ingested it.

Satisfied, and more importantly in a lot of pain, you took some of the pills yourself, much to the relief of the pink haired man.

“Oh good, thank you for doing that! I was so worried watching you asleep, you’ll feel much better now! By the way, my name’s Doppio, it’s a pleasure to meet you! Oh! And I know your name’s y/n because you had your purse and ID on you! Haha, sorry for going through your purse, I was just hoping to find any info on you that might be, you know, important.” he sat on the bed, scooching closer and closer to you.

You cleared your throat, unsure of what to say, and the watchful eyes of Doppio doing nothing to make you feel better.

“Well, um, thank you, Doppio. I appreciate you, um, saving me? Sorry for any inconvenience, I'll just, um-” You try to get up to leave, only for Doppio to place a hand over your leg.

“Don’t go! What, I mean, what if you hurt yourself? You probably have a concussion, and also you haven’t had breakfast? We could eat together and-” Doppio stammered, grabbing your hand and stroking it with his sweaty, cold fingers.

You had to stop him, before things got out of hand.

“Thank you, Doppio, it really was very sweet of you to take such good care of me, but I-”

“Please! You don’t understand, I mean-” Doppio fumbled with his words, clearly trying to make you stay at all costs.

“Doppio, i can’t stay here forever, i need to go home. My friends are probably worried about me by now.” You tried to press on, you didn’t want to upset the man with a powerful boss, but you felt increasingly claustrophobic with Doppio pawing at you.

“You mean those mean girls who left you with their purses all night? Why would you care about what they-” Doppio covered his mouth with both hands quickly, realizing what he just said.

Your blood ran ice cold; how did he know so much about them? Had he been watching you before the “incident”

Using his moment of weakness, you got up from the bed and tried to reach the door; it was time for you to go home, if not call the cops.

Doppio yelped, Throwing himself in front of the door before you could make your escape.

“Please, don’t be scared y/n! I didn’t mean to upset you, I only meant that I can treat you much better than your friends can. I mean, look at how good I've been for you so far?? I didn’t make you dance with me at the club, even though I really wanted to. I didn’t just have my fun against your will in the bathroom stall like the boss told me to do.I saved you from a concussion, or worse! I got you your own hotel room for the night, and didn’t take advantage of you or touch you while you were asleep! I want our first time to be special, after all! Isn’t that what you want?” Doppio pleaded, eyes wild as he tried to smile, trying to calm you.

You were anything but calm however, this guy was clearly obsessed with you, and had been for longer than just one night. Even if at first he had merely seemed like a pathetic “nice guy” you no longer had any pity or time to give him.

“Doppio, get away from the door and let me leave, now.” you demanded in your best authoritative voice. Doppio whimpered, this wasn’t how this was supposed to go at all, you were supposed to love him!

“You can’t! Boss and I won’t let you!” He cried, covering the door with his body. With no other choice, you slid out of your shoes and charged at him full speed. You managed to give him a good blow on the head, and threw him out of the way of the door. He cried, crumpled on the ground. If not for the fact that he had kidnapped you, you might have felt bad for hurting him like this, but you had to think of yourself at this moment.

As you finally unlock and pull open the door, heading towards freedom, you hear the strangest noise behind you.

“RingRingRingRingRing!” Doppio calls after you, in an unnatural, high pitched tone. You try to ignore it, you literally don’t have time for this, but with strength he had not previously displayed, Doppio grabs one of your arms, twisting it behind your back and up to his ear, holding it like a telephone.

There’s a trickle of blood, and one of his eyes is rolled back in its socket, but he calmly says, “Hello, this is Doppio,” Into your hand, as if he was having a normal conversation on the phone.

You scream out, doubled over by the pain in your arm, Doppio silent as he “listens” to his “Phonecall” oblivious to your suffering. Where did all this power come from? He was acting like an entirely different person, and frankly scaring you. Doppio nodded, pulling your hand closer into his ear and intently listening to nothing but air before “Hanging up and pulling you back into the motel room.

He threw you on the bed ( his arms felt much stronger, and more muscular for some reason) before crawling on top of you and pinning you down. You were too stunned, and frankly too scared, to come up with any means of escape, just weakly struggling to throw him off of you to no avail.

“Doppio, please-” You whispered, eyes blurry with tears.

“I talked to the boss, and he helped me figure out what to do. He wants our relationship to succeed after all!” Doppio exclaimed, additude reverted to how he’d first spoken to you. You were confused, you’d neither seen nor heard anyone in or around the room, who was he talking to and how?

“Boss told me that people like you need some discipline in order to be obedient, or you’ll walk all over me. If I can do that, then I can make you love me, and we’ll be happy together, isn’t that what you want?” Doppio told you, stroking your cheek.

“This is not okay, Doppio!” you yell, thrashing against both arms, “Let me go or i’ll-”

...

Wait a minute, both arms?

Then how was he…?

You look over to one side in shock, only to see a floating metallic and red arm holding you down, one on either side. You screamed, overwhelmed by a stalker and strange supernatural forces you couldn’t understand.

“Oh, you can see King Crimson's arms? Interesting, perhaps because of your near death experience with Boss, you can see stands now? Although, it would be bad if you developed a stand, what to do?...” Doppio pondered to himself, speaking apparent babble.

You cried, trying to wake up from this obvious nightmare with no luck.

“Awww, hey y/n, it’s okay, i’m not gonna hurt you! Not if you be good for me and Boss.” Doppio cooed, kissing your cheeks and forehead. “I talked boss into keeping you with us- you’re always so lonely at home, and never have a good time with others, right? You don’t have to lie anymore, I've been watching you for a while. Nobody else seems to, though, they’re too self-absorbed and stupid to realize how incredible you are!” He continued, oblivious to his words not helping, but hurting you.

“You’re perfect for me and boss, we can take really good care of you. Forget this lousy motel, we have mansions and villas all over Italy that we can take holidays to. We have billions of Lira from work, you’ll never have to lift another finger and we’ll pamper you to death. And best of all? You’ll never have to see your awful friends or family again! Isn’t it awful how they treat you? We can get rid of them, so they can’t hurt you!” He finishes, grinning ear to ear, but his eyes hollow and lifeless, staring unblinkingly into yours.

This guy was sick, there was no other word to it. You might have had issues with your family, and yeah your friends could be assholes sometimes, but you didn’t want them killed! What good would that do you, or anyone for that matter?!

Doppio seemed to read your thoughts, “Look, I know it's a lot to take in at once, but trust me. Boss and I have planned this out for a while now, and we’re always going to do what’s best for us, ok? So don’t worry so much, and please stop struggling? Boss warned me if you got too unruly he’d take over and finish what he started last night.

A wave of nausea slithered through you as you remembered, thinking how close you were to dying. You gave up, lying limp on the bed, praying for this to end.

Doppio smiled again, this one almost seeming genuine, and gave you the softest kiss to your lips. It was childish, almost, and he clearly lacked experience, but he gained more confidence from your lack of struggling. With the mysterious hands holding you (stands? King crimson?) his own hands were free to touch you. He started With your cheeks, your face, your hair, your neck, stroking you with feather-light touches, his fingers tracing each curve, digit and flaw like he was trying to memorize it all.

“Finally… I finally get to touch you like this… I’ve been waiting for so long, y/n. Do you know how long I've wanted to hold you?” He whispered, wrapping his arms around your neck, cradling your cheek to his. You didn’t know, and you didn’t want to, but Doppio told you anyway.

“I’ve been watching, waiting...for so long. Following you home from work, listening into your calls, finding your online accounts. I’ve known since I first saw you that you were the one for me, and now I get to prove it to you. I get to show you all the things I've been meaning to do to you. You’ll never be lonely again, not with me around. We’ll never be lonely~”

He giggled the last part, giddy with excitement, as he slid his fingers down your ribcage, your sides, fiddling with the bottom of your shirt. You wriggled, trying to fight him off again, only to your dismay Doppio giggled even harder at your reactions-perhaps because he knew you could never overpower him.

“Ohhh~ still so shy? Don’t be so uptight, y/n, you need to live a little! I know how much you want this; you complain about it all the time on your personal blog-” You could feel the blush on your cheeks heating up your face, desperate to make him shut up, “ How you want someone to have their way with you, to make you forget everything else in life. You’re desperate for someone to truly cherish and understand you; mentally and physically. You want me to love you? You want me to fuck you…? Would that make you happy? Would it make you love me?” Doppio rambled on and on, ripping your shirt off with strength he hadn’t had before.

You yelped, goosebumps forming on your skin as Doppio cackled, rubbing his face on your stomach, and into your cleavage poking out from your bra.

“Yes, let go for me! Show me every emotion, everything you’ve been holding back from me for so long- i need it, I demand it!” He snarled, splitting your nicest bra in half, and biting down on your neck, hard.

You screamed, legs kicking uselessly as the pain blurred your mind and you were operating purely on instinct. Doppio didn’t seem bothered in the least by it, you could still feel his laughter against your sore neck, as he sucked down on it, trying to bruise and mark you. His hands couldn’t help but find their way to your breasts, toying with them and squeezing them with admittedly little expertise. But he was a quick learner, making note of each little gasp and twitch according to how he touched you, and improving his technique from there. He twisted your nipples a bit roughly, already hard from the chilly air and sensitive to touch- you couldn’t help but moan a little in satisfaction. It had been awhile.

Doppio’s moans echoed yours, as he kissed his way down the crevice of your breasts, and licked each nipple in turn. You squirmed, not in fear or anger but pleasure, angry at yourself for letting this strange man win your body over so easily. Doppio kept his eyes on you at all times, studying your face to see how you felt. He’d had to watch you for so long from so far away, alone in your bedroom, or so you thought… it was time to use the knowledge he’d gained to make your body crazy for him.

You jumped at Doppio’s hands, cupping your groin through your pants, trying not to buck into his hands . It was getting harder and harder to deny him, though, why couldn’t you just-?

Doppio pulled your pants down to your ankles, taking your panties with it. He groaned audibly at the sight- your pussy was so wet and dripping, there was still a trail connected to your underwear.

“No, don’t-” You cried, snapping your legs shut, visibly scared at what was taking place again. Doppio was losing patience, crouching down and prying your legs open,

“Stop fighting me, y/n, you clearly want this!” He cried, eye twitching in annoyance. He managed to open your legs again, and buried his face into your pussy. He moaned, licking up a wet stripe against your labia, warm and puffy and so wet for him- he knew you would be, he knew you loved him.

Tears streaked down the sides of your face, this was so much and so intense. Your thighs clamped down on Doppio’s cheeks and neck, squeezing him as hard as you could. Not hard enough, apparently, as he just started giggling again through a full mouth and busy tongue “Ssho good, y/n, why have you been hiding thissh from mee~?” he moaned, tongue circling your clit. You flung your head back into the pillow, gripping the mysterious hands that held you for any source of strength or comfort.

Watching you whimper so pitifully with his head between your legs, obviously blissed out after being so needy and alone for so long, just did things to doppio. He loved the pained, fucked out expression on your face- you couldn’t even keep your eyes open as he snuck one, two fingers into your aching pussy. You whimpered so cutely, and it was all for him and him alone. Finally~

“Y/n, please, i can only hold back for so long, let me make sure it’s not painful… be good for me, please?” Doppio begged, grinding his hips into the mattress before he could help himself. Begrudgingly, you moved your thighs back just enough for Doppio to push them away, when he got a wonderful idea. King crimson, or what Boss had lent him of his stand to use, sensed his thought, and grabbed both your hands in one arm. Doppio pushed your thighs back and up, effectively bending your knees into your chest and displaying your pussy in such a beautiful way. You cried out, surprised by the sudden movements and embarrassed by how exposed you were, but there was nothing you could do about it. Doppio was just too strong.

The other free hand floated down, spreading your lips apart to give Doppio a nice view before pummeling two of his thick, strong fingers inside of you. You screamed, crying as the fingers curled directly into your sweet spot, massaging with robotic-like precision and speed. The sounds you were making were wet, animalistic, and you were quickly brought close to the brink.

“Perfect, y/n! Just like that, let yourself go! It makes me happy to see a side of yourself you never show anyone else- and you never will to anyone but me! Remember, I'm the one making you feel this good, right y/n? You couldn’t possibly find anything half as wonderful from anyone else but me! Me, got it?!” Doppio exclaimed, his voice cracking and becoming much darker, scarier. For a second, you could swear he looked like a different person entirely, wild, angry and dangerous- but you blinked and Doppio was just as before.

Doppio licked his lips, sweating and anxious, this was good enough to make you love him, right? This was what he had to do to make you happy? Boss’s words from before appeared in his head though, and he remembered how Boss had always been right before. Doppio trusted him, and was determined to win you over. Doppio let go of one of your legs-you seemed adequately distracted and restrained to get away from him- and unzipped his fly. In truth, he would’ve preferred to get all the way naked with you for the first time, so you could see and feel the real him as well, but clearly the two of you were too desperate and impatient for him to get fully naked. This time.

You whimpered at the sound of a zipper, feeling the fingers pull out of you. You heard the crinkle of a wrapped, and the muffled groan as Doppio probably rolled a condom onto himself, but you were too afraid to look. The strong floating hand, still wet with your juices, gripped your cheek and forced you to look at Doppio, staring you down with much more restraint and calm than he had been. Doppio kissed your cheek, then your lip, and pushed his warm cock achingly slowly, gently, into your waiting pussy.

You couldn’t help yourself from moaning, grabbing at the hands that held you, thrusting yourself onto Doppio’s hard and hot cock. He bit his lip, feeling you twitch and squeeze around him; he was trying so hard to be gentle for you, why were you still making things so difficult. He chuckled to himself, and motioned for King Crimson to let you go; finally you were beginning to relax and enjoy yourself, and he wanted to enjoy every bit of it.

Without thinking, you wrapped your arms around Doppio, holding him close to you. Your mind was a mess, your body even messier, you didn’t know what to think or do about your abducter/rapist fucking you so tenderly, and you were tired of fighting. So you let him fuck you, slowly and gently and way way emotionally. Doppio wiped away new tears you hadn’t realized were there, shushing you, “It’s okay, my sweet y/n. Just relax and let me do the work. Don’t fight it any more, just let go.” He whispered, pressing kisses into your lips and cheeks far too sweetly.

So you did, you relaxed and sank into the mattress, pulling Doppio down with you. He let go of your thighs, and held you tightly to him as he fucked-no, made love to you. He gradually picked up the pace, huffing and whispering words of admiration to you about your body, or how much he adored you. You took it all limply, the fight having gone out of you and desperate for comfort. The floating arms, which you had forgotten about, reappeared and stimulated your nipples and clit, bringing you closer and closer to the edge.

Doppio sped up as well, he knew this would have to end, but he wanted to make it last as long as possible. This was your first time together, after all. He wanted to make it special. Your legs wrapped around his waist, pulling him deeper and closer into you. You could feel the spongy head of his dick rub your inside so sweetly, you were starting to get addicted to the feeling. Doppio buried his head into your neck, mumbling nonsense as he pushed in deeper and deeper, faster and faster, as his restraint gave way to passion.

“Y/n I- I don’t know how much longer I can last, but-” He kissed you, as the stroking of your clit sped up. You groaned loudly, you were so close, “Just a bit longer, please~” You begged, biting your lip. Doppio took a deep breath, steeling himself as he was determined to make you come first. He pounded into you, urging you closer and closer, four sets of hands circling your body and drawing out noises and gasps from you out of your control.

“Almost there, please, almost~!!!” You cried, throwing your head back with a final sigh as you came hard and fast, your core heating up and washing over you as Doppio helped you ride it out with clit rubs. Your walls fluttering around him, the face that you made as you came from him, for him, it was too much and he quickly filled his condom inside of you, moaning even louder than you had as he thrust without abandon into your wonderful, most precious place. He didn’t want to stop, thrusting almost to the point of overstimulation, before he had to stop, and collapsed on top of you. He cooed and kissed his praises and thanks into your shoulder and skin, before he noticed the soft sound of you snoring. Poor thing, he chuckled to himself, you’d really worked yourself up.

He reluctantly pulled out, after indulging in 5 minutes of cuddling your sleeping body and listening to your heartbeat. Doppio cleaned the two of you off, and tucked you into the covers of the motel- now would be a good time to set up moving you into your new home. After all, The whole reason you were in the motel is because the moving company Boss had hired to move your things into the main base would take several hours to complete their job, and Boss didn’t want anyone seeing you or Doppio at home. Doppio ruffled your hair as you slept, pulling out his cellphone to check in with Boss and give him the full update he’d requested.

Tonight was going to be very busy.

[rainbowpacifiers]

A3! Act 12 spoilers - Sakuya’s journey + past (chapters 11-41)

Wanted to share the parts about Sakuya travelling to his hometown, so major spoilers for chapters 11 to 41 (though I will mostly skip the other members’ individual chapters, which is why this spans so many chapters lol). Will also be including some CGs / screenshots. THE HARUGUMI FEELS!!! 

Update: If you’ve read this before this update, I added another paragraph and screenshot at the bottom. 

So, Izumi has all members leave the dorm because they get forced to shut down activities through the efforts of Amadate Keiju (Hyakka’s founder, a member of the Fleur awards board of directors as well as the person who inspired Sakuya to get into acting). The Spring troupe members extend invitations to Sakuya to stay with each of them (so sweet!! ;___;), but he declines because Kasumi has offered a place to him. Sakuya plans on sleeping over for one night before going on a journey to his roots. 

Kasumi tells Sakuya he can stay with them forever (lol), but Sakuya has made up his mind, so Kasumi gives him stuff that will help him on his travels. Sakuya mentions that the other members were worried he might get homesick because this will be the first time for him since entering the troupe to be apart from the others for so long. But he wonders if there isn’t anything he could do to assure the others that he’s doing well. Kasumi suggests he send postcards to them, so Sakuya makes a call to the director (who’s staying alone in the dorms) and asks for everyone’s addresses.

Sakuya visits his aunt / relatives who paid for his school fees to thank them. Sakuya came to Tokyo after getting into Hanagaku, where he came to stay with the Yoshinagas. He wanted to do his best to be “acknowledged as a member of the family”, but his aunt made it clear that they only thought of him as a lodger. Sakuya felt lonely then, but he still thought that he had to express his thanks. Sakuya has been sending them money each month to pay them back for the expenses for the private school, but his aunt is doubtful that he earned it himself and calls it an inconvenience. She’s disappointed that Sakuya didn’t choose to attend a university after they spent so much money on his high school education. 

We find out that Izumi offered to back him up if he wanted to go to university (even if just a little). Izumi feels glad to have attended university, where she learned a lot and met all kinds of people. But for Sakuya, that place is Mankai Company, so he was fine with not going to university. He told Izumi that he needed to save up money to pay back the Yoshinagas, which would also enable him to pursue acting more freely (it’s not just about being in their debt financially - Sakuya thinks that them making it possible for him to attend Hanagaku also made it possible for him to come to Tokyo, spend time with Masumi and Banri at school and visit Veludo Way, which is how he ended up joining Mankai. That’s what he’s thankful for). 

Sakuya has chosen his way of life. His aunt tells him that he’s been paying them too much and returns the rest. The Yoshinagas only did the bare minimum, so there’s no need for him to feel so grateful. Sakuya hands her a flyer to their next performance and asks if he could send them tickets. His aunt has no interest in acting, but whether he wants to send them tickets is up to him. 

Sakuya travels to Hokkaido, where he used to live as a kid (he dreams of it twice before chapter 11) and sends each of the Mankai Company members picture postcards of the place where he used to take walks with his parents. While there, he also visits his old school, the one where the fire broke out and the actions of the theater members (the pirate/Amadate Keiju) inspired him to become an actor. In an earlier chapter, we found out that this was Amadate-san’s last tour as an actor. Sakuya meets Amadate Kabuto there (Hyakka’s top actor and Amadate-san’s adoptive son), who’s been trying to help Mankai Company take down his father.*

Sakuya finds out that Kabuto came to watch a recording of that pirate performance and is invited along. Sakuya thinks Kabuto came to watch the recording for sentimental reasons, but Kabuto explains that he wanted to confirm whether his father was responsible for the fire that broke out then (since he was also responsible for the one at the Mankai Theater). It caused Hyakka to become famous and be nominated for the Fleur Awards. Sakuya is shocked, but now, Kabuto is certain that the fire was an accident.

Sakuya heads to his old address where the old apartment building he used to live in still stands. Sakuya’s family used to live in apartment 101, but because 102 is the only apartment with a nameplate and he came all this way, Sakuya rings the doorbell there. It’s the landlord, who’s already lived there 15 years ago and remembers the Sakumas. He invites Sakuya in and tells him of Sakuya’s parents, how much they loved him and of the time when they explained the meaning behind Sakuya’s name.

Together with his last name, it becomes “sakura saku” - cherry blossoms bloom. Basically, Hokkaido is famous for having their cherry blossoms bloom last in Japan. When the long winters are over, they are a symbol of hope that spring has come through all over Japan. And like the cherry blossom, a special flower that everyone in this town is looking forward to blooming, they wanted Sakuya, even if he would be a late bloomer, to be able to bloom his dream in full bloom at the end. That was their dream.

Sakuya is overcome with emotion and while visiting the cape where he used to take walks with his parents, calls the director because he needs to talk to someone. He tells her that the landlord is letting him stay in the old apartment he used to live in and that the landlord also told him a lot about his parents. He tells her of finding out about his name and of finally, actually getting confirmation that he really used to live here, together with his parents. He tells her that he’s grateful to his parents for his name and that he is able to be an actor and meet people that he loves because of the name his parents gave him. He tells her that he didn’t think there would be anyone (left) who’d remember him or his parents and that he was lonely and upset that his parents left him behind. But all that is left is the gratitude he feels toward his parents. For him and his life, spring has come. Izumi, too, is thankful for having met Sakuya. She asks him to thank his parents for letting them (Mankai) meet Sakuya. 

At the same time, the other troupe members receive the postcards Sakuya sent them from his hometown. Chikage, realising Sakuya is homesick, calls for a family meeting (Citron was about to put in a call too, and Itaru was already checking his free days, but Chikage beat them to it lol). Together, the other 5 Harugumi members decide to fly to Hokkaido to pick up Sakuya. While in their rental car, they realise that they had no idea that Sakuya was from Hokkaido and that he doesn’t talk much about the time when he went from relative to relative. But he’ll always listen happily to stories about other people’s families - which actually makes it harder to talk about (for Itaru). 

They arrive at Sakuya’s old apartment but are met with the landlord instead. He tells them that Sakuya’s out for a walk and praises him for being a good kid. He’s glad that Sakuya has good friends. They tell him that they are Sakuya’s family.

They head to the cape, but don’t see him anywhere. An employee at a nearby store tells them that they just missed him. They enjoy the beautiful view and talk about how Sakuya used to walk here with his parents. The landlord has told them that Sakuya cried when it was decided that he would have to leave this place after his parents’ deaths. Tsuzuru can’t remember ever having seen Sakuya’s crying face; even when he was crying, all that remains in Chikage’s memories is Sakuya’s accompanying smile. But should Sakuya want to cry, Citron wants him to do it to his heart’s content. They call out to Sakuya’s parents:

Citron: Sakuya’s dad! Mom! Thank you for giving birth to Sakuya!  Tsuzuru: Your son is growing up splendidly! Itaru: Don’t worry about what comes next! (basically telling his parents that they will take care of him)  Masumi: He has a lot of family now. Chikage: Please come and see him anytime. 

They finally meet up with Sakuya at his apartment building. Their visit comes as a surprise to Sakuya, who promptly proceeds to break out in tears when Masumi welcomes him home. Sakuya’s place to come home to is the place where the 5 of them are, says Citron. Sakuya cries happily when Chikage tells him that they came to pick him up. 

The Spring troupe members stay the night in the cramped apartment and while everyone’s sleeping, Sakuya talks to his parents (in his head), telling them that the people currently sleeping there are his precious family and that thanks to them, he was able to find the place where he belongs and that he no longer feels lonely. He is glad that he was able to introduce them to his parents. 

_______________________

HARUGUMIIIII!!! ˚‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥᷄⌓˂̣̣̥᷅ )‧º·˚ I cried!! It was so sad and sweet! There might be more after that, but I haven’t continued reading yet. 

*Spoilers for act 12 plot: Before everyone left the dorms, Kabuto made contact with Syu and Reni and insisted on handing incriminating information on his father to Izumi personally. Izumi invited him to their dress rehearsal (so Kabuto wouldn’t get suspected), but Amadate-san still found out about it and had Mankai Theater burned down, thus making it impossible for Kabuto to hand over the data. Consequently, Kabuto left Tokyo to go into hiding and headed to Hokkaido.  After he and Sakuya have watched the video, Kabuto hands over a USB with the incriminating information he has gathered and tells Sakuya to give it to Izumi and to not let anyone know that they met. After meeting up with the other Spring troupe members, Sakuya tells them about meeting Kabuto here and hands over the USB for Chikage to go through. 

[restapesta]

oooh! “Just...come here. I need you close.”

hope you have a wonderful day! 🖤

Kash was dead.

Ian didn't know why Linda went out of her way to tell him. Why she actively sought out his phone number from Carl—had gone down to the police station to find him, first and foremost—then proceeded to text him the funeral arrangements.

No, Hello, just letting you know Kash has passed away. No explanation as to how he had died or why she was telling Ian. Just the time and date, a fucking invitation to a memorial?

Ian breathed in deep when he saw the message. He was sitting on the kitchen counter, just having returned from his jog, sipping on his morning coffee, legs crisscrossed like a child's. Mickey was still asleep in their room, the door slightly ajar because Ian was a panic freak, and the thought of anything happening to Mickey behind closed doors making his skin crawl.

An unknown number, the message ending with a simple —L. Carl texting him about the store owner asking for his phone number twenty seconds afterward, the incoming notification barely registered by Ian's blurring gaze.

He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to feel. He didn't know how to begin fucking comprehending the news he had just received.

Kash was dead.

Kash, the guy Ian had worked with as a teenager, his former boss, his fucking former fling, was dead.

This was nothing like when Ian found out Ned had died. Because when Ned died, Ian didn't feel this much fucking loss. He didn't mourn the man like he maybe should've—in fact, the only thing that death had done to him was become a catalyst to an inconvenient fight that ended in mind-blowing sex.

But this—this was different.

It wasn't true that Ian cared about every single ex-boyfriend, and every single dude he had once upon a time fucked.

Still, if he ended up receiving a phone call about Caleb or Trevor dying, he'd probably be fucking devastated. It didn't matter that they were exes and that he never loved them—they were still learning curves, poorly conceived friendships masked as romantic relationships.

But Kash hadn't been a friend. He hadn't been Ian's age while they fucked. They hadn't had the same understanding of it or the same endgame.

And Kash hadn't been like Ned, either. Ned was just a replacement for something Ian couldn't have at the time—something stable, like a fucking father, or a fucking boyfriend, the daddy issues so fucking evident now in Ian's eyes.

Ian couldn't even begin to describe what Kash had been to him.

The first guy Ian ever actively fucked. Somebody Ian considered important? Hadn't Ian conjured up a relationship in his mind with Kash at the time?

Hadn't he thought he was in love?

Ian knew he wasn't. Never had been. Never would have been.

Kash had been a blip in his life, but fucking damn it, it was a blip that made Ian wipe tears from his eyes as he left the phone next to him, screen lit, unable to stare at the message any longer.

He wasn't fucking crying over this. There was no way—Ian hadn't spared a goddamn thought about Kash since the day he fucking left. And each time he did, he was only reminded of the shit he used to do.

Because as Ian grew, he began to fucking understand what had gone down. It didn't take more than a few late-night talks with Lip, Mickey—and even Tami—to understand that the whole thing had been completely wrong.

Ian couldn't say the words out loud like Mickey could. He couldn't put them out there—it was like admitting something he yet wasn't ready to admit—but he heard them echoing in his mind loud and clear.

Pedophile.

As Ian hopped off the counter, the mug in his hands wobbled over until his numb fingers released them from his grasp. In a moment Ian couldn't even tell was happening, so surreal and out of reach, it clanged down onto the floor, the brown liquid spreading all around, hiding into the narrow indentations of the tiles.

He wasn't crying. Not over this. The quiet shuddering breaths escaping his body weren't over Kash or his death. They weren't.

But he couldn't stop. He couldn't stop seeing it. He couldn't stop playing the images of Kash touching him while they had been alone in the store. While he had still been a fucking kid with bangs Fiona would cut on her own whenever she deigned they needed a trim.

Only a few years older than Liam.

Only a few years older than Liam.

"What the fuck?"

Mickey's voice was closer than it should've been. Ian could guess that there were only a few feet of space between them, perhaps just the spill the imaginary divider.

Ian swiped at the tears. He swiped at the tears as he crouched down to pick the mug up, avoiding stepping into the coffee as he did. It didn't hide anything, he knew. It was obvious Mickey had heard him crying. Had noticed his wet cheeks and red eyes.

But what the fuck was he supposed to do? Now that he felt a tightness in his chest, and a metaphorical rope squeezing around his fucking throat? As if somebody was pushing down hard onto his lungs, the only thing able to possibly relieve the pressure being the sobs that wanted to spill over the swollen rims of his eyes?

"Ian, what happened?" Mickey asked. He was worried, that much was obvious. Ian couldn't look up to meet his eye because he knew what would happen if he did. Instead, Ian grabbed a rag from the sink, dowsing it with water and then squeezing it dry until it was ready to pick up the spill beside his feet.

"Kash? Fucking Kash died?"

Ian whipped his head around. Mickey was staring at Ian's discarded phone, the one with the chat still open. His hair was disheveled, pajamas ruffled, and Ian could only guess he had been awoken with the sound of Ian's mug crashing down.

"Ian, why are you crying over that goddamn groomer? What the fuck?"

Ian winced. Mickey never had a problem with saying the words. Lip did; each time the topic unintentionally came up, his expression tightened as if the word was swirling around in his mind but he didn't deign it appropriate to say. With Tami and their brief conversation about her teacher, she simply called herself naivé. A dumbass.

But Mick.

Mick never had a problem with saying it.

Kid-fucker. Groomer. Pedo.

Judging by the look in his eyes, Mickey could tell he made a mistake saying it now. Now as Ian mourned the way he had blindly lived through his fucking childhood, not understanding this shit had been wrong.

That what Kash, who was soon going to be lying six feet under, had done was wrong.

"Ian—"

"Not now, okay." Ian interrupted as he moved down to swipe at the coffee. His hands shook. "Just not now."

Mickey was kneeling before him in a second, in the same position, nibbling on his lower lip like he had no idea what to do.

Ian would've scoffed had his expression not seemed so vulnerable. Like he was looking for any possible way to relieve Ian's pain but found none. Like he had no fucking idea what to do but he wanted to do something desperately.

"Can you just," Ian pushed out, a chill raking his body as he released the goddamn rag, hand going limp. "Just come here, okay?"

It took a few seconds but it registered, nonetheless.

Mickey scooted over next to Ian, both of them now sitting down next to each other on their asses, no longer crouching down. They were plopped down on the floor of their kitchen, bare feet getting dirty with the remnants of the now-cold liquid. Mickey placed his chin on Ian's shoulder confidently, wrapping his arms around Ian's waist.

That was good. Ian tilted his head down, so it lay on top of Mickey's.

This was good.

Silence stretched out between them, their breathing syncing as Ian's heartbeat slowed.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

Not yet, Ian thought. Soon, but not yet.

"I just need you close."

They stayed there until the spill became sticky.

[cuddlesslut]

Part Five: Friends

Atsumu x fem reader, Suna x fem reader , Hinata x fem reader

A/N: ahh this took me so long to write sorry guys! Been having a tough few days. But we are back in the game. So This chapter is mainly the relationship between Hinata and YN! I love Hinata so much im actually thinking about making another series with him after this one is done. Let me know if y’all would be interested. I decided to put a little NSFW scene in but there is a warning.

Warnings: Angst, some fluff, Smut. And more Angst.

Part Four: Chance Encounters

Part Six: Promises

The night you spent with Hinata is no less than amazing. You don’t remember passing out, but your eyes open from your groggy sleep. It takes you a moment to register that this is not your room. Your eyes widened realizing you had stayed the night which was not something you’d had planned on. You take in your surroundings Hinata lays behind you and arm draped over your waist. Your heart speeds up as you understand how close he is to you, his face nuzzled close to your neck. You could feel his light snores. Oh my goodness! You screamed in your head IM IN A MANS BED! AND HES CUDDLING ME! You had never slept with anyone other than Atsumu let alone cuddled. So this was a lot to process. The hardest thing to understand was why it felt so nice in his arms. You quickly shook that thought out of you mind, you probably were just touched starved you rationalized. That’s why you lie to yourself when his grip on your waist tightens and he pulls you closer to his chest, saying it doesn’t make your heart flutter your just nervous.

“Good morning,” he smiles his voice gruff from sleep. “What time is it,” he questions seeing that you had already been awake for a moment.

“I’m not sure,” you admitt rubbing your head, a twinge of pain zinging threw you. You were slightly startled when he leaned over your body reaching for his phone on the nightstand. A heat creeped onto your cheeks at the proximity of your naked bodies only a sheet separating him from your sight. Although the tenderness between your legs showed that you two had been plenty close the prior night. Thinking of some the activities that transpired last night caused more embarrassment to consume you. You did things with this complete stranger that had taken you forever to work yourself up to with Tsumu. You body was sore from the multiple rounds the ginger had put you through, his stamina was insane, although you couldn’t complain he aimed to please. He laid back down in his spot next to you checking his phone.

“It’s about to be 9:30, he yawns rubbing the sleep from his warm chestnut eyes. You peek over at him getting a better look of his physique in the daylight. Your eyes widened because damn was he hot. He laid on his side propped up on one elbow as he stared at the screen of his device. Your eyes trailed down his exposed chest and abdomen his defined abs and pecks on full display for you. As you look farther down the blanket falls carelessly over his lap one leg peeking out. You raised an eyebrow at the little peek of a tan line you could see. You were broke from you trance as he asks you a question.

“You wanna go get some breakfast?,” your eyes widened “ I’d offer to cook but my fridge is still pretty empty and plus my cooking sucks I’d hate to make you suffer through that,” he chuckled. It was too much this is supposed to be just sex, and breakfast sounds to much like a date, too domestic. You sit up quickly holding the sheet to your chest.

“Ah no I can’t, i-I uhhh need to go,” you stammered looking around the room for your clothes.

“Hey, hey it’s fine,” he try’s to calm you seeing how anxious you are. “you stay right here I’ll go grab your clothes and let you get changed,” he said standing pulling a pair of boxers on. You nodded and steadied your breathing as he went to gather your outfit from last night.

“There you go that should be everything,” he laid the pile on the bed next to you, “uhh sorry about your underwear,” he smiled nervously reaching his hand up to rub the back of his neck. You looked down at the pair of torn lace panties siting at the top of the pile.

You returned an embarrassed smile, “it’s okay,” you assure him.

“Well I’ll be in the kitchen making some coffee, uh the restroom is right out the door to the left if you need it, uhh take your time,” he said excusing himself to give you some privacy.

You take a moment to breath before you start to dress yourself. It felt a little strange to not have on underwear but you guess it’s a small price to pay for the pleasure you felt last night. You won’t lie you definitely needed that stress relief. You quickly finished putting yourself together before exiting the room seeing Hinata standing there at the counter full of confidence for being in only boxers with coffee mug in hand you notice his smile that never seems to stray far from his face just as present.

“Would you like a cup,” he asked gesturing to the still half full pot of coffee.

You smile politely smile before shaking your head no. “Uh I need to get going I have class today, but ..” you trail off trying to figure out how to word what needs to come next. “umm look thank for the offer for breakfast and you know for last night,” he breaks into a big smirk at the mention of last night’s activities. “ but I’m not looking for a relationship so it’s probably best we leave it off here,” still smiling, yet not as big as before, he nods. You breath a sigh of relief.

“No worries I get it.”

“Well in that case, goodbye Shoyo, see ya,” you gave a small wave before exiting his apartment.

Hopefully, Hinata thinks to himself wanting to in deed see you again.

As much as you swore it was a one time occurrence you kept finding yourself back in Shoyo's bed. It was always the same you’d head to your bar, sit in your usual spot, order your usual drink and before long you’d see the orange haired man take his seat next to you. The first time you saw him after your lust filled night together was rather awkward. You were surprised when he sat to you and struck up a conversation like you hadn’t had a one night stand just last week. But the chatting was always so easy going you honestly didn’t mind having him around. Plus with him there less men were trying to chat you up. That second time you met him you told yourself you’d keep your pants on but a couple drinks and several laughs later you’d find yourself in his bed with the ginger in between your legs. You could never find it in yourself to be angry at yourself afterwards ,And while this started happening more frequently it was rare you’d stay the night like that first time. Usually getting an Uber home after getting dicked down. You couldn’t lie it was exhilarating being with Shoyo. Although if you were still pretty hammered Hinata would insist you stay not wanting something bad to happen on your way home. He’d offer you his bed while he opted for the couch. Eventually your routine changed you both swapped numbers and soon enough you weren’t meeting at the bar before heading to his place you weren’t needing the aid of alcohol to loosen you up before finding yourself in his bed... or his shower or really any surface in his apartment. You were both insatiable. In time you weren’t rushing away immediately after. Choosing to indulge him , you’ve come to realize that Hinata really enjoyed cuddling and aftercare. Always lighting up when you’d let him pamper you after a particularly rough or extensive session. He’d gladly spoil you after every round but you were still hesitant on to much intimacy. But occasionally you’d satisfy his want for cuddles. Although you’d deny it you rather enjoyed laying in his embrace feeling the rhythm of his heartbeat lull you to sleep. That was another change you no longer accepted him sleeping on the couch when you stayed overnight not wanting to be an inconvenience but also knowing he’d never allow you to take the couch you stopped him one night stating that you’d like him to stay. His eyes lit up as he pounced back into the bed.

But you stayed firm in the fact that you weren’t looking for a relationship and he assured you that he understood and was okay with the arrangement. And that’s how it’s been for the last two months. It had been seven months since your relationship with Atsumu had ended and you would have never guessed that in seven month you’d be in a casual friends with benefits relationship with Hinata. And that’s what you would call yourselves, Hinata was your friend and you his. You steadily got to know each other more and more about each other’s lives. You were a little concerned when you found out it wasn’t solely beach volleyball he played but you put your worries to the side volleyball was a big enough sport. Right? All in all you’d say slowly but surely you were getting happier. You found yourself thinking of you know who less, and some of the pain was starting to subside. Although that distrust was still there. You were still broken. As close as you and Sho got there was still part of you that couldn’t trust yet. How did you know he wouldn’t get bored of you just like the setter had. You weren’t ready to put yourself up to get hurt again. You wanted to trust Hinata he was an amazing guy so kind and understanding never pushing you past what you were comfortable with. He constantly looked out for you checking on you during some of your intense study sessions as you readied for finals always making sure you were taking care of yourself and not overworking. If you stayed over he’d always make sure to set an extra alarm so you wouldn’t be late for class or work. It meant so much to you how much he cared but you just couldn’t believe in it , you had believed that Atsumu cared about you yet that was a lie. Who’s to say this wouldn’t end up just the same. That’s why you wanted to just be friends, a small part still kept a window of hope open that one day it may be more but it wouldn’t be fair to Hinata to bring up any of this while filled with so much uncertainty.

NSFW below if you’d rather not read it skip the first three paragraphs.

You laid there breaths ragged as Hinata pinned you to the bed your legs pressed to your chest as he pounded into you relentlessly. This was his favorite position he loved being so close to you being able to see all of the pleasure in your face as he worked your body over, your tits bouncing to the rhythm he set.

“Sho,” you moaned your thoughts clouded as he built up yet another orgasm, this was your third one since you had stepped foot into his bedroom.

“What’s that baby?” He smirks as he see you struggle to form words. He loved making you like this. Eyes crossed as you gasped for air, craving the release he’d give you. “Fuck beautiful you know how much I love it when your so fucked out you can’t speak straight,” he laughed. You smile at him happy to provide him with what he likes. Hinata was getting lost in his lust. He freed one of your legs letting it rest against his shoulder as he grabbed his headboard for a better angle as he started drilling into you. A loud whimper ripped threw you. You felt so full as his cock reached so deep into you. You knew you were done for and Sho could tell as well , “ that’s it beautiful go ahead and cum for me, fuck your so gorgeous like this,” he groaned as he followed you into his own release spilling himself into the condom.

You laid there breathless. Hinata stood disposing of the used rubber, he exited the room going to grab a soft wet rag and a glass of water making sure to clean and rehydrate you before climbing back into bed and pulling you onto his chest. You both laid there for a while catching you breath, your head resting on his chest arm wrapped around him as you nuzzled further into him. You could feel his heartbeat start to stabilize. He trailed one his hand up and down your back in a very soothing pattern. It felt amazing honestly laying here with him was better than anything you had ever experienced with Tsumu.

You couldn’t see it but Hinata laid there with the goofiest grin as much as he loved sex with you this was his favorite part. Holding you in his arms so tight calming you while you are still so vulnerable. He wishes it could be like this all the time. That he could wrap his arms around you at anytime to hold you whenever he wants, to wake up to your beautiful bed head. He pushes those thoughts to the side as much as he wants you to be his he knows you aren’t ready and the last thing he’d want to do is rush you. You had told him a while back about your ex and everything he had put you threw and how betrayed you were by his actions. You never told him who your ex was and he didn’t ask it wasn’t his place you’d tell him if he needed to know and he knew that. He hated how much your ex had broken you but all he wanted to do was to do his best to fix the damage done. As much as he wanted to be able to call you his , he was happy to wait.

You were finally back to normal but you weren’t ready to leave his embrace. You decided to strike up a some casual pillow talk. You asked him about his day, how his morning run had went. He asked if you were excited about graduation seeing as it was only a month away. You told him about some annoying customers you had at the cafe this morning. You were smiling up at him laughing at the story story he was telling when his eyes lit up!

“That’s right I haven’t told you yet but I made it through try outs!” He boasted. “ I made the team!” You could see the happiness radiating off of him. For some reason you got an unsettling feeling in your gut. You put it to the side.

“THATS AMAZING SHO!” You yelled launching forward wrapping him in a tight hug. “What team?”

“I’ll be playing for the MSBY Black Jackels,” he grins. You feel everything slow down. The words are still processing in your mind. No it can’t be! Why? Why did it have to be his team! Out of all the teams in Japan why did Hinata have to go to the one who’s starting setter ruined you. Suddenly all of the thoughts and memories of Atsumu that had been hidden from you recently came crashing back to you. You wanted nothing to do with him. You couldn’t do it, for the same reason you had pushed away all of your friends and uprooted your life you couldn’t do this, you couldn’t let him back into your life you weren’t nearly ready for him to be in anyway connected to your life. All of the these overwhelming thoughts at were crashing over you were interrupted when Hinata asked his question. One you knew the answer to but couldn’t give to him.

“We have a game next week, would you come watch me play?” He smiled at you. You looked up at him saddness in your eyes. You quickly stood up gathering and putting on your clothes. Stammering for a response. Hinata sat up in alarm at your sudden actions he could sense something wasn’t right. He waits for you to speak seeing you try to form your words. Now fully dressed. You looked up at him his normally smiling face wasn’t there instead it was a face of worry.

“ I-I can’t Shoyo, I can’t go to your game,” you looked around grabbing your purse and phone, “I need to go Sho.” Hinata was now standing he was so confused everything was just fine what had gone wrong. Had he pushed you to far? Was inviting you to his game to intimate?

“Wait YN,” he said reaching for you he need to know you were okay.

“ I’m so so sorry Shoyo I just need to leave, I’m so sorry,” you said frantically looking into his eyes trying to truly express your sincerity in your apology. It wasn’t his fault. He was just excited about his dream and here you were ruining the moment. You always ruin everything you chastised yourself. With one last woeful look you were gone out the door. Hinata was left there in utter confusion. He let out a sigh before sitting back down on the bed letting out a groan of frustration.

You closed the door to your apartment with a thud finally allowing the tears you were keeping in to flow free. You kicked off your shoes before throwing yourself onto your bed. You let out a scream of frustration into your pillow as sobs over came you. The exhaustion of the day took you over and soon you were out like a light.

You woke up a couple hours later it was only around seven o’clock and your stomach was growling. This wasn’t going to be a good night. You look at your phone seeing several texts and a missed call from the ginger. You let out a groan, first you needed food and then you needed booze. You went to your bathroom taking a quick shower finally cleaning your post sex body. Before putting on a simple outfit. You slipped out your apartment door and out into the Tokyo night. You stopped at one of your favorite food stalls getting a small bowl of ramen to warm your tired soul. Normally you’d head to your Usual bar but you couldn’t there was the chance of running into Shoyo there and that’s not something you were ready for. You pulled out your phone finding a bar not to far out of your area, it had a sleeker vibe but maybe a little change would be good. So with that you head straight there. Its more crowded than what you were used to. It had a more lively crowd than you local bar. There were couples dancing and large groups of friends standing around and laughing. You head to the bar starting off with two shots straight back to back. Tonight wasn’t a night you wanted to go easy. You sat down at the bar nursing the drinking you had just ordered. You thought back to the incident with Hinata, he must hate you, you figured. He was always there for you yet one mention of you ex and you couldn’t even suck it up to be happy for him. You hated that. He deserved better than what you gave him. You were getting lost in your thoughts letting you mind go down a rabbit hole. Finally you looked up from your drink eyes scanning the bar. And that’s when it happens your eyes lock onto each other from the other side of the bar. It felt like all the air in your lungs suddenly evaporated. It felt unreal like you weren’t really seeing him standing there. He looked just as stunned like he had just seen a ghost. He snaps out of his first and when he starts to walk towards you it finally hits you that it’s really him. You finally breath and when you do his name leaves your lips.

“Suna,”

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[notdonesimpin]

Sorcery ~r.s.~

ceo!ryomen sukuna x gn!reader

warnings: sukuna in a suit??, fluff

synopsis: [request by @draconic-dumbass​ ] “two unlikely people bound together by what some call fate, but to them, it must be sorcery” OR the reader doesn’t take care of themselves and sukuna has to do it for them.

a/n:  For fic purposes, Sukuna has his own two armed body. I wanted a CEO!AU where curses don’t exist, okay? Sukuna’s just a man who looks great in a suit. The curse aspect isn’t really needed in the way it’s portrayed in the show so i don’t wanna think about it😣 don’t hate me.

The door opens as you peek your head in the hallway to see Sukuna roughly loosen his tie with a huff and unbutton the top of his shirt as he takes off his shoes. 

“Long day?” you ask.

“My assistant cried today if that tells you anything. They overbooked me, and didn’t realize it until this morning.”

Your eyes narrow, “What did you say to the poor thing? She didn’t cry for nothing.”

Sukuna throws his hands up defensively as he walks over to you with a teasing smile, “I didn’t say anything! Though, I wanted to say a lot. I think she got the message when I sent her home.” The last part came out in a mutter, but you heard it well.

You hit him in the chest, “This is why you can’t keep an assistant! You’re too aggressive. I liked that one, too.”

“Well, I had an amazing assistant for years, but they quit when their husband told them to focus on art. My days ran so smoothly, and I had a beautiful sight all hours of the day,” he says, wrapping his arms around you as he continues, “Was I too aggressive with you?”

“You could barely say a sentence around me when we first met, Ryo. Don’t get cocky.”

Before he could say anything else, there was a knock on the door and you moved to answer it.

“It’s just Nao. They’re being my other model for today! I can’t model and draw myself, so I needed an amazing stand-in. How about you rest for a bit and I’ll do Nao’s solo poses and get you when I need you?” you suggested as you opened the door.

“It’s been a while. Good to see you, Y/N. Sukuna,” Nao says, giving Sukuna a wave and you a small hug.

“Nao, don’t fuck up while I’m not there,” Sukuna jokes, turning around to walk towards the bedroom.

“I’ve been doing this longer than you. I think I got it.”

“Don’t take those clothes off! The more wrinkles, the better!” you call after him.

~

You softly shake Sukuna. “Ryo, I need you to model for me now.”

He groans, opening his eyes to see you beaming at him. “It’s not fair, your face makes it hard to say no.”

“Then get up, so I can finish for today!” you urge.

He follows you to the living area with sleepiness still extremely apparent on his face. 

“No wonder you chose him to be your muse for the King of Curses. He’s like The Walking Dead right now,” Nao laughs, earning a glare from Sukuna as you drag him to the spot you want him.

“You still haven’t told me anything about your art show,” Sukuna reminds you. 

“Hands in pockets please…” you gesture to your own pockets when you make the statement and Sukuna lazily complies as you continue talking and telling him what to do. “My theme is Sorcery. Take a step but don't step… There! I wanted to do three bigger panels for my main showcase. They have the King of Curses- AKA you- and the ruler of blessings- aka Nao but Nao is just modeling so I can shade the pose right and put myself in it. Then the middle panel will be them together. Look at the ground. Now, only bring your eyes up the look at me… Perfect! Stay still. Basically it shows two unlikely people bound together by what some call fate, but to them, it must be sorcery.”

~

You yawn, waking up the sound of Sukuna roaming around the penthouse. You check your phone to see the time. 4:36 A.M.

You suddenly find yourself wide awake and decide to get up and work on your rough sketches. 

You go out of your shared room, rubbing your eyes as you adjust to the light and walk to the kitchen.

“Where the hell is my…” Sukuna’s muttering comes to a stop when he sees you sitting at the island, drinking a glass of water as you wait for the coffee pot to get ready.

“Good morning,” you softly say with a yawn.

“Why are you up? Did I wake you?” Sukuna asks, buttoning the cuffs of the shirt and walking over to you.

“I need to work on the rough sketches anyways since my canvases come in today. I’m so behind,” you groan, “What are you looking for?”

“My passport. I swear I grabbed it from home before I came here.”

He watches you tie his tie for him as he tries to recall where it might be.

“It’s definitely at home on the kitchen counter. I saw it before I left. I meant to grab it for you. Sorry, Ryo.”

He tosses his head back in frustration, “Why is this penthouse so inconveniently located. I have to go in the opposite direction of the office and the airport to go home and get it.”

“You’re the one that said my apartment was too small to be my studio.”

“I know.”

“And that I should separate home from work.”

“I know.” He squeezes your cheeks to stop you from talking. “I don’t regret buying this penthouse for your work. You get an ocean view and you have an entire space to do your work. I’d buy you the entire building if you needed it.”

He lets go of your face and you say, “Okay, Mr. CEO. All you had to say was that you love me.”

He chuckles and pours two cups of coffee, handing you one of them. “This business trip is pretty short, so I should be back around afternoon or tomorrow night at the latest.” He checks his watch, “I should go, so I don’t be late with my detour.” 

He grabs his blazer off of the back of the chair, sliding it on as he walks towards the door with you right behind him. He slips his shoes on and turns to you, giving you a soft kiss.

“Be safe. I love you.” you say.

“I love you. Don’t overwork yourself while I’m gone.”

As soon as the door closed, you muttered: Sorry, Ryo. That’s exactly what I’m about to do.

~ 

A few hours later, you get a call from Sukuna and immediately answer.

“How’s the new assistant, Ryo?” you immediately ask.

He paused, glancing at the assistant beside him. “So this was your doing. I can’t say that I’m surprised. This one seems a lot more competent.”

“Don’t run him off. He knows how to run businesses well since he grew up with his father.”

“I got it. Mx. CEO,” he taunts, “How long have you been working?”

You glance at the time on your phone. 10:32A.M.

“Technically five hours but only been diligent for the past four hours. I finished my sketch for the King of Curses panel about an hour ago. So, I’ve just started drawing it on the canvas.”

“So, what I’m hearing is that it’s time to take a break and eat something,” He suggests, but you both know that it was a command. 

“I’m not going to pass out on you again, okay? I can take care of myself.”

“As you’ve proven on multiple occasions, you can’t. I’ve got to go. I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you.”

“I love you. Make good decisions!” You hang up and get back to work.

You didn’t know how much time had passed or how long you’d been actively moving around and working until your regular Wednesday at 11:30 alarm went off. 

Wait… Wednesday??? You’d only been up for a couple hours. How has an entire day passed without you even realizing it?

At the same time, you received a text from Sukuna: I have to stop by the office before heading to you, so I’ll take you wherever you’d like around one. 

“Shit!” you exclaim, typing back a quick response before rushing around the penthouse to clean and change your clothes.

Sukuna couldn’t know that you haven’t slept in the past 31 hours. 

By the time you cleaned up and got dressed, Sukuna was already at the penthouse, leaning against the kitchen counter and holding a glass of bourbon in his hands.

“Let me see your hands,” he requests.

You stick out your hands, trying to calm them down because both of you knew that you get really bad tremors when you haven’t slept in a while.

“I didn’t think you’d be back so early,” you softly spoke.

“Darling, I texted you. I guess it makes sense that you don’t remember since you responded with a jumble of letters,” he sighs, sticking his hands in his pockets as he shakes his head, “What am I going to do with you?”

“I just got really focused. I’m so close to finishing the King of Curses panel. I started the Ruler of Blessings panel as well… I gotta keep the ball rolling while it’s hot,” you explained.

“That isn’t healthy. How have you been painting? With the way your hands are shaking, you shouldn’t even be able to hold a paintbrush straight.”

“I was focused! And before you say it, I’m not tired, so I’ll just get back to work.”

He looks at you in amusement as you walk away. “Still as stubborn as ever.”

“I’ll stop after I finish the curse panel, okay?”

Before you could even get out of the kitchen, Sukuna had picked you up by your waist and started walking away.

“Ryomen Sukuna! Put me down!” you exclaim, “I told you, my feet stay on the ground!”

He laughs and continues walking, “I told you that if I want to pick you up, I will. If you think you’re heavy, then you’re wrong. You’re like a feather compared to what I lift at the gym, okay?”

You fall silent, letting him carry you all the way to the bathroom. He sits you on the counter and starts running the water for a bath. As you wait for the bath to fill up, he stands in between your legs, bringing his hands up to your face and lightly grazing underneath your eyes.

“They’re puffy…” he looks at you with a hint of sadness, “I understand that the art show is very important to you, but this is the third time in the past few months that I’ve had to physically stop you from overworking yourself. If you don’t take care of yourself, your art will suffer, too.”

“I know. There’s just a lot of big names coming this time. I really want it to be good.”

“It will be because you’re an outstanding artist,” he reassures.

You give him a small thank you as he turns to stop the water and you shed your clothes, getting in and closing your eyes and enjoying the warmth.

“You see how nice hot water feels?” You could hear the teasing in his voice.

“Yeah, yeah. Self-care or whatever.” 

Sukuna begins to wash your body for you, humming a soft tune and lulling you to sleep.  He finishes washing you up and takes you to bed, putting one of his shirts on you and crawling in beside you, letting you wrap yourself around him to steal his warmth.

He softly smiles to himself and gives you a soft kiss on the top of your head as he whispers, “Sweet dreams.”

[parvulous-writings]

Alex Law x Reader // SFW alphabet

Warnings: Very vague mentions of violence? If you squint?

Summary: SFW alphabet for Alex Law, from Shallow Grave. 

Notes: My asks box is currently open and empty! Please check out the pinned post for characters I write for! :) Enjoy! 

Not my gif

A - Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

Alex never really shows affection in the conventional or typical sense. He’s not particularly one for PDA, such as hugs in front of others or kisses in public. He’ll lay with you on the couch though, and of course sleeps by your side- in your bed or in his. There are a few instances when he’ll be affectionate in front of others- like if either of you are really upset, or if you’re watching a movie with Juliet and David. 

B - Best Friend (What would they be like as a best friend? Where does the friendship start?)

Alex can be a little bit annoying sometimes.Well, not sometimes. Most of the time. He tries to be nice, in his own Alex-y way. He would take the mickey out of you and joke around a lot, but despite this he would always be there to be a shoulder to lean on or just someone that listens to you. 

C - Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

He would never admit it to anyone else, but Alex actually really likes cuddles. Just curling up with you late at night, on the couch or in bed, in the dark, where you can run your hands through his hair and get away from the world. That’s his favourite type of cuddle. D - Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking, cleaning, ect?)

Alex is actually a pretty good cook! He’s alright a cleaning and keeping things in order, but his cooking is definitely the top of his domestic skills. He never was one to seek someone to settle down with, more the type of person to flit from partner to partner, sticking around for a little while before disappearing again. But he thinks that maybe things could be a little different with you, though he hasn’t ever brought it up to you. E - Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

Unfortunately he would most likely be incredibly blunt about it all. Every last detail. Why he no longer wishes to stay with you, his next steps going forward. If he’s feeling sappy enough he may offer you an apology, but you might not want to count on it, I’m afraid.  F - Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? Do they wanna get married?) He is... Unsure towards commitment, to be brutally honest about it. He is quite fond of the idea of you sticking around though, so at least that something in your favour, right?

G - Gentle (How gentle are they both physically and emotionally?) In more domestic environments likes date nights in the flat,he can be physically gentler than normal- he can be a little bit of a rough-houser so to speak, in everyday situations. On the emotional level, he tries to be gentle when he needs to be- during soft moments, or moments of tense arguments (when he isn’t losing his temper) but apart from that... He’s just Alex. H - Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it, and what are they like?) Like with cuddles, he really likes them. They’re quick, easy and show a fair bit of affection. If anything, you receive far more hugs than cuddles. It’s just a lot easier for the pair of you, since you’re both usually stuck around David and Juliet, and they don’t want to see constant PDA between the pair of you.  His hugs are usually warm, and show you all the love he can’t put into words.  I - I Love You (How fast do they say the “love” word?) Not quickly. Not quickly at all. To Alex, the L word means commitment, and that isn’t something he is entirely willing to jump into. It may take him a number of months before he finally admits the sheer amount of sentiment he holds for you.  J - Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What are they like when jealous?) Alex can get incredibly jealous. And when he gets jealous, he gets moody, angry and pissed off. Surprisingly quickly, in fact. He also gets rather.. Paradoxical. In public, he’ll be possessive and over-protective, whilst behind closed doors he;ll be distant and rather snappy. 

K - Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?) He adores being kissed, and giving kisses. His kisses are usually sloppy yet warm, endearing yet messy. He’ll often kiss you on the cheek or the temple. He’ll occasionally accidentally kiss your ear if he’s in a rush, though. If his feeling more risky, he’ll kiss your wrist or your neck, as a little hint hint. His favourite places to be kissed are under his jaw or the crook of his neck. 

L - Little Ones (How are they around kids?) He hates kids. He hates them with a passion. In his own words, he’d “pay to have them put down”. That’s all that can be said about this, really. 

M - Morning (What are mornings like with them?

Mornings can be pretty hit and miss- it usually depends on if he wakes up in a good mood. He’ll get you some breakfast- usually consisting of toast or cereal, with the rare show of eggs and bacon- and you’ll lounge around with him watching tv.

N - Nights (How are nights spent with them?)

Nights are usually really calm with Alex. He’ll cook dinner, talk with you about your day, and curl up with you on the couch to watch whatever is on tv, be it a movie like Evil Dead, or his favourite show, which he’ll often natter along with.  O - Open (When do they open up about themselves?)

Not often. If he ever opens up to you, it’ll be in the early hours of the morning, when the pair of you are close to sleep, and he thinks that you’ll soon fall into slumber and forget what he told you. 

P - Patience (How easily angered are they?) Usually, he’s fairly patient. But if he experiences to many inconveniences in one day, he will lose his cool. From this aspect, I suppose that he has about average patience, in this regard. 

Q - Quizzes (How much do they remember about you?) Alex doesn’t always remember a lot. I would say it’s not his fault, however it is. If you’re not actively doing something together, most of the things  that you say to him go in one ear and out the other. He doesn’t always mean for this to happen, he just gets so distracted, usually with the tv and crisps.  R - Remember (Favorite memory with you?) Well there’s two, actually.  The first is your first official date, which you spent at a local pub one Friday evening. Since neither of you had work the next day, you both got a little tipsy. Though some memories of the evening were blurry, he remembers your laugh, and how wonderful it was to him.  The second is a more domestic one, from a rainy day in October. You were watching Evil Dead together in the lead up to Halloween, and you both sat there making little jokes and quoting the film. He thought it was really sweet.  S - Security (How protective are they?) He’s fairly protective. Bearing in mind you’re both around David as the man slowly starts to lose his mind, he does grow more protective of you over time, not wanting David to lay a hand on you at all. He can be pretty protective, and he confronted David when he drilled god knows how many holes into the ceilings of every room in the flat. T - Try (How much effort do they put in?) It varies. Some days he can be very much a lazy slob, hardly talking to you beyond one word answers. Other days he’ll be here there and everywhere trying to please you and make you happy, to prove himself worthy of your affection. So overall, about average effort.  U - Ugly (What are their bad habits?) Apparently drinking your cereal milk out of the bowl is a bad habit, so there’s that. Also he frequently forgets to clean his hair out of the bath drain- though that is like one of the only chores he actually has to do.  V - Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?) Eh, so-so. He’s concerned with his hair- I mean, look how glossy it is! But apart from that, he wears fairly fashionable clothes, and only averagely concerned with his appearance, like most men.  W - Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?) Yes. Not that he would outwardly admit it, but yes. He wanders around the flat like a lost puppy trying to look for you if you’re away for more than a few days. The other two find it highly annoying. He doesn’t pay them any mind, though.    X - Xtra (Random HC) I don’t want to say that this man is a grown toddler at times... But this man is a grown toddler at times. And a bit of a drama queen. Okay maybe a lot of a drama queen. Y - Yuck (Things they don’t like either in general or a partner?) Buzzkills. If he’s around someone who he sees to be a buzzkill, or ruins his fun at all, he sees it as a total mood killer and gets quite grumpy. And by quite I mean very. He gets very grumpy around people who ruin his fun. Z - Zzz (Sleep habits)

He is a rather deep sleeper. He sleeps about nine hours on average, and snores a little bit. He also talks in his sleep sometimes, usually when he’s having a night terror. He also lays spread eagle in the bed, sometimes kicking you, other times smothering you in a hug, it’s a roulette sleeping next to Mister Alex Law.

[the-widow-sisters]

Just Wanna Stay

Summary: When Natasha and Yelena are invited to go to an Avengers party with all of the most richest and most powerful men in the country, Yelena is determined to stay home. Natasha does not really want to go either, but she feels like she should. Luckily, Yelena has a way of getting what she wants.

Word Count: 2035

  “I’m quitting life,” Yelena dramatically declared out of the blue, still dressed in her usual cargo pants, combat boots, and tank top combo with her hair pulled back in a ponytail despite the fact that Natasha had already told her to change at least five times already. It was a stark contrast to Natasha’s apparel which was currently a sleek black dress that stopped just above her knees and dipped down in a heart-shaped neck cut.

  Natasha rolled her eyes fondly, only slightly irritated with Yelena’s lack of cooperation. By now, she was mostly used to it, but it still could be terribly inconvenient sometimes.

  Yelena’s largest contributor to her belligerence was that she did not want to go to the party that the Avengers were hosting tonight. While Yelena wanted to talk to the team and keep making a good impression, she most certainly did not ever want to go to a hoity toity party with the richest, most influential people in the country.

  Personally, Natasha did not really want to go either, but she was much more accustomed to such things despite her discomfort. She always went despite her own dislike for them even though Clint, Steve, and the others assured her that it would be fine if she didn’t come a few times and took some time for herself.

  She especially did not want to go because of the way that creepy older men drooled over her every time she walked by them. It made her terribly uncomfortable and reminded her far too much of her younger years.

  It also reminded her of Dreykov and his disgusting ways.

  “Hey, does my breath smell bad to you?” Yelena questioned before just moving directly into Natasha’s face and exhaling deeply out of her mouth. Natasha quickly moved away from the blonde, choking a bit as she narrowed her eyes at the blonde. Yelena grinned widely and wickedly, her eyes sparkling with mischief, and Natasha coughed hard.

  “Oh, my— what did you eat?!”

  “Tuna fish,” Yelena told her as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, and Natasha swallowed hard, trying to keep the contents of her stomach in its proper place.

  “Is it that bad?” Yelena questioned innocently before covering her mouth and nose with a hand and breathing out. She quickly withdrew her hand from her face and wrinkled her nose a bit.

  “Oh, wow… That is pretty bad,” Yelena admitted sincerely, but Natasha could see the easily evident smirk on the girl’s face that the blonde was trying diligently to hide. Natasha just raised an eyebrow, completely unimpressed.

  “Get in there and brush your teeth. We’re supposed to be leaving in fifteen minutes and you aren’t even dressed!” Natasha told her, trying to force some semblance of sternness in her voice to make Yelena listen to her. Yelena just sighed dramatically and deeply before heading off in the direction of her bathroom.

  “Do I use the mouthwash after or before?!” Yelena called loudly after a few moments, and Natasha raised her eyebrows a bit as she looked through her things and ensured they had everything they needed to leave.

  “Do it both times! You’re going to need a double dose if you’re not going to smell like that crap that you for some reason voluntarily eat,” Natasha immediately replied to her, raising her voice so that the blonde could hear her.

  “You know what they say to little kids about trying new foods?! It applies to adults, too!” Yelena yelled from her place in the bathroom, a playfully condescending tone to her voice. Natasha just huffed, a smile tugging at her lips as she chose not to grace Yelena’s smart comment with a response.

  “Ey, whaddya fink Ah should wear?” Yelena questioned, her words barely articulated. Natasha looked over her shoulder, taking in the sight of the blonde with a toothbrush in her mouth and foam threatening to dribble down her chin as she held up two different pantsuits. Natasha sighed deeply, looking down at her own dress before looking over at Yelena’s options. Natasha finally pointed at the white pantsuit.

  “That one matches mine,” Natasha pointed at the one of her choice, and Yelena’s eyes softened for a moment before she quickly masked it with her typical impishness.

  “Too ba’, Ah did’n wanta mat’ wif you,” Yelena told her defiantly, her words even more difficult to understand as she worked diligently to keep the spit and foam in her mouth, and then she spun on her heel, heading back to the bathroom. Natasha rolled her eyes, easily seeing through her sister’s bluster.

  Natasha checked the time, and she quickly noted that Yelena would need to hurry if the both of them were going to leave on time.

  “Hurry it up!” Natasha called. “We’ve got to leave in about five minutes!”

  “I’m hurrying!” Yelena responded, her words more discernable despite her distance from the redhead. Natasha with slight irritation noted the fact that the girl’s tone was very much unhurried.

  After a few more minutes and a dangerously close deadline to leave approaching, Yelena came ambling out of the room before plopping down on the couch, a pair of shoes in her hand that she dropped on the floor near the furniture.

  Natasha hurried over to her quickly, aggravation starting to rise within her.

  “Yelena, come on, we’re going to be late if we don’t leave now!”

  “You know, that would be a true tragedy… Almost as bad as not going at all,” Yelena informed her, completely unbothered as she sunk down further in the cushions with a big grin on her face. Natasha sighed deeply before grabbing her sister’s arm and attempting to drag her to her feet.

  “Get up,” Natasha insisted, and Yelena groaned, letting her full weight rest on the couch as she fought her sister.

  “I know you don’t want to go, but—"

  “You don’t either. So let’s just not go,” Yelena proclaimed, and Natasha just stared at her, her light green gaze piercing Yelena’s. Yelena held her stare, maintaining the challenge and firmly refusing to move.

  After a long moment of staring at each other, Natasha quickly yanked her sister’s arm, trying to take her off guard and force her up. However, as soon as she tried it, Yelena repositioned her arm and threw Natasha on the couch, the blonde now standing up over the redhead.

  Natasha quickly started to get up, and Yelena dove for her, landing on top of the other woman full-force and trying her best to hold her down as she grabbed her with her legs. The two grappled with each other, Yelena trying to get a good grasp on Natasha’s arms so she could hold her in place.

  “Come on, you can do better than that,” Yelena taunted, her voice strained and Natasha found that the girl was starting to get the upper-hand on her.

  “I can. I just don’t want to break the coffee table,” Natasha pointed out, moving her head slightly in the direction of the table next to the couch where they were wrestling. Yelena breathlessly laughed in response to the older woman, still fighting her with all the strength she had.

  “You might want to consider wearing a pantsuit, too. It allows for significantly increased mobility,” Yelena said, her honey-green eyes locked onto Natasha’s. Natasha grinned a bit in spite of herself, finding that this was quite fun. It was very enjoyable to just wrestle someone that she trusted so much and knew would not hurt her.

  “Dresses are hotter,” Natasha easily shot back, and Yelena shook her head, a wicked smile coming onto her face.

  “Have you seen me in a pantsuit? People are like, ‘Is there something burning in here? No, don’t worry, it is just Yelena and her pantsuit,’” the blonde cockily proclaimed, poorly mimicking an American accent and deepening her voice, and Natasha laughed at Yelena, her grip weakening on her little sister.

  Yelena took advantage of the opening and pinned Natasha’s arms to the couch cushions. Natasha could not even really be angry as she just looked up at Yelena who had a wild grin on her face.

  “Ha! Pinned you!” Yelena victoriously proclaimed and Natasha just smiled softly up at her, feeling her chest warm with fondness and pride as she just gazed at her little sister. The both of them sat there for a long moment, their chests heaving from the struggle.

  Yelena seemed to sense the mood shift, and her victorious smirk faded just a little into something much softer and more adoring. Yelena loosened up a bit and carefully allowed herself to just lay her torso down on top of Natasha’s, releasing her hold on Natasha’s arms in favor of just relaxing on the redhead. Natasha brought a hand up, stroking Yelena’s back gently before bringing her other arm up to bring her closer.

  Suddenly, to Natasha’s surprise, her phone suddenly buzzed. Natasha moved her hand from Yelena’s back down to the pocket of her dress and withdrew her phone, tapping the screen lightly with her thumb.

  It was then that she was reminded of the party that the both of them had to get to. The fun they just had was plenty enough to distract her from going. After all, she would much rather hang around the house with her best friend than go out and spend time with a bunch of high society snobs.

  There on her phone was a text from Clint asking her if she was coming tonight or not. However, to her surprise, despite her insistence that she was going to come and bring Yelena, he had even added below it that he was perfectly willing to cover for her if she did not feel like going that night.

  Natasha just gazed at the text for a long moment, and Yelena turned her head to see what her older sister was looking at. Natasha activated the keyboard function but did not type as she just quietly considered what she was going to write and what would be her choice. Yelena carefully watched the redhead’s finger and Natasha could feel the hope radiating off of the Yelena.

  Natasha finally sighed a bit in resignation, typing on the phone with her thumb and informing Clint that they would indeed not be coming, and it would be greatly appreciated if he could cover for her. She could feel the smile spreading across Yelena’s face, and Natasha groaned as she repositioned underneath her sister’s weight and moved up further. Yelena’s chin was now laying on Natasha’s chest and Natasha could look her in the eyes.

  It made Natasha’s heart squeeze as she took in the pure adoration, idolization, and devotion in Yelena’s eyes. Natasha was almost sure that Yelena was not aware that her eyes were giving away that much emotion, but it was really nice to just see exactly what Yelena was feeling.

  “Well, are you happy now?” Natasha asked even though she knew the answer to her own question. Yelena smirked a little, narrowing her eyes, but all of the emotion was still within them as she adoringly stared at the redhead.

  “Very,” Yelena replied simply, and Natasha huffed a bit with laughter, shaking her head and looking away for a moment before gazing back down at the lovable little urchin sprawled out on top of her.

  “C’mon, let’s get up and change into something more comfortable if we’re staying,” Natasha started trying to make a move to get up, but Yelena latched herself around her more tightly. Natasha raised an eyebrow, staring at Yelena quizzically.

  “It’s too comfy to move, and if we go change, the spot will get cold,” Yelena protested, and she had that sweet pout that she had always been able to pull off so well. As soon as Natasha saw it, she knew that the blonde now had her wrapped around her finger. Natasha sighed deeply but she just chose to lay her head back and wrap her arms around the girl, enjoying the comforting pressure of Yelena’s weight.

  “Okay… But when your pants start riding up, you’re going to be stuck here.”

  “Eh, a small price.”

[artisqueer]

RetroBangBoy AU - My Time, Finale (ao3)

Word Count: 6.8k

Pairings: Jungkook x reader, OT7 x reader, ft namkook, namjin, taekook.

Warnings: Language, brief mentions of violence, death and alcohol.

“…oh yes, so pretty, Dear. Whoever receives this must be very special,” the old woman says as she wraps a small item for one of your classmates.

You peer over their shoulder to get a look. It’s a marbly bracelet. Each glass bead resembles a colorful beach stone, with one long pendant carved in the shape of a crescent moon. It's very pretty and must hold great significance. The classmate bows to the woman and turns around to leave.

Your eyes meet.

“Jungkook??”

His widened eyes match yours twice over.

Jungkook is on this trip too? But he’s a greaser…How did I not see this one coming!

  Field Observation #6: You are not doing a good job avoiding boy drama, Bighead.

 “Hi, big—I mean, Y/N…” Jungkook stammers. A camellia-hue blushes at his round cheeks as he moves aside for you to set your items on the counter. He drops his gaze down to his shoes and his long hair falls over his face.

The tone of surprise in your voice echoes in your ears. You cringe at yourself, hoping Jungkook didn’t notice and take offense. It just never occurred to you that Jungkook is the academic type. You round off the reasons in your head. He’s a greaser and rides in Joon’s motorcycle gang, you’ve never shared a class or seen him study, he’s always dressed like a punk and has skipped every school event ever, and, and… when you went on that date to the drive-in movie he never mentioned school. You get a flashback of him making out with the french fries and drinking two chocolate milkshakes. He had no interest in you at all.

Did he really keep this persona from you? That he’s so… cool?

The lady looks from you to Jungkook and back to you, very clearly enticed by the tension. You scramble out of the awkwardness, trying to make light talk. Jin made it so easy.

“How have you been? I didn’t see you on the bus earlier or else I would have—" you ramble on, quickly paying for your items.

“It’s OK. I tend to lay low. I was in the back…on the bus, I mean. Rode here with Tae, actually.” He rubs the back of his neck nervously.

The old woman slides a small card across the counter. “For the ring, Dear,” she gestures to the small ring in your hand and smiles at you both tenderly. “It’s from the future, so use it well.” She gives you a wink. (mood rings first appeared in 1970)

You tuck the small card into your jacket pocket along with your tangerines and slide the ring onto your middle finger. You both bow to the old woman and walk out of Yeongjusan House with your souvenirs in tow. Once outside, the ring changes color from amber to yellow.

“Oh, you rode with Tae? Is that…OK?” you pose curiously.

“What, because we’re into different subcultures?” he chuckles from behind his messy long hair. His voice is always so quiet speaking to you like if he used his full volume he could break something, or someone. “Pfft, Bighead really,” he continues, “I wonder how you even got nominated for this retreat.” He laughs as he runs away. You make to playfully hit his arm but miss as he pulls away with excellent reflexes, giggling behind his tiny travel bag while you gawk at the size of his arms. There’s no way. What do greasers, eat??? It’s like their muscles just pop out at the most inconvenient times, like right now.  

“I thought greasers and jocks hate each other. It’s kind of the point. Having different class backgrounds and all…” You kick some tall grass.

“That’s a stereotype, Bighead. Just because an ideology is popular in a group doesn’t mean we all believe it. Tae isn’t like most jocks, he’s…different.” Jungkook’s smile seems to be the only thing visible behind his shaggy rockabilly.

“So you guys are…friends?” You ask hesitantly.

“I guess,” he plays with his tattooed fingers. “He’s been helping me with a project, so we’ve been hanging out a lot lately. But,” he pouts, “my gang doesn’t really know.”

“About the project or Taehyung?”

“Well, both,” he laughs nervously, “it’s a bit complicated.” He rubs the back of his neck again, and you notice the pulsing veinery dancing from his knuckles up to his forearms. Damn.

He doesn’t seem ready to talk about it. You clear your throat and change the subject. “Well, we have half an hour before the next group activity. Want a tangerine? It’s grown locally! ” You chuck one to him and he catches it with both hands.

You settle on the hillside, a shady patch of grass overlooking the northern face of the island.

“So,” you say between peels of the tiny fruit, “what subject were you nominated for?”

“Physics. I don’t usually participate in school stuff,” he stares down his tangerine, “but I really want to see the caves.” He reaches in his pocket and pulls out a ribbon. You stop peeling to watch him gather his hair and tie it up. When did it get so long? Now you can finally see his big eyes.

“Huh? Caves?” you weren’t listening because you were distracted by his beautiful side profile. What is it with these nerds and their caves?

Jungkook returns your gaze. “Have you heard of the Bermuda Triangle?” he says with big round eyes sparkling. He gets up and approaches the flat rock next to you. With one swift motion, he jumps and lands on top of it, no hands. Core strength. He stretches his arms above his head and his shirt rides up a bit. From your position on the ground, a glimpse of the unobtrusive trail below his navel invites your mind to fantasies of a very different kind of field trip. He looks down at you sweetly, waiting for your reply.

You shake your head, “I’m more of a biologist. Educate me?”

He gestures for you to join him up on the rock. Though Jungkook made it look easy, the climb for you is much more grueling. He lifts you up with the strength of one arm until you’re shoulder to shoulder. You try to get breath into your lungs without seeming too obvious. Struggling, your nostrils flare and the wind picks up. It carries hints of his musk and sweat. You can’t help but inhale deeply until his fragrance fills you with assurance. Glancing down at your hand, you notice the ring is bluish-green but you can’t recall what the card said.

The bluish-green ocean on the horizon looks like the perfect backdrop for Jungkook’s physics lesson. He starts, “Eight years ago, ships started disappearing out in the western sea. First a small fishing boat, then a big cargo ship, it didn’t matter how big or how many people. They just, vanished. No bodies, no debris, no trace. No one could explain the missing wreckage, so the papers wrote about violent storms to give the families of the lost some closure, something to blame. Only, it would happen again, within the exact same coordinates…The Bermuda Triangle. I think I have a theory. It can be explained with physics, the magnetic field, more specifically. Some physicists believe there’s something special about the Bermuda Triangle’s location in the magnetic field. There are believed to be other places like Bermuda,” Jungkook looks from you to the coast, “and one of them is here.”

“You mean, the legend of the caves? Where the pirates disappeared? I thought it’s just a local myth…"

“There’s more to it than the legend.” He leans in and whispers, “The government’s studying it closely too.”

“What,” you chortle loudly, “the government is funding myth-busters?”

Jungkook’s face is serious af. “It’s not a myth, Bighead. The Republic of Korea started building a naval base here in 1933.” He points to the east. The tall glass building of the research facility can be seen from here, shimmering in unnatural contrast to everything else on the island. You squint.

  Field Observation #7: You definitely need specs..and to read more news.

 Jungkook continues, “They started planning a naval base on the island some years ago. Construction started in Gangjeong village right over there,” he points west to the ferry docks where you first arrived. “The base was designed to be a mixed military-commercial port so that it could handle ferries, cruise ships, and…warships and submarines.” 

“Why would they want a naval base here? It’s just a quiet little sanctuary…” you say as you both sit down on the rock.

He rests his arms over his knees. “That’s exactly what the local villagers said. They were strongly opposed to it. Many worried that the private lab was doing experiments hazardous to the environment. They organized many protests, but in the end, they could only slow down the process. The military moved in with force and built the complex anyway.”

“But that’s like, totally against everything this retreat is about. What about all these scientists working at the conservatory, aren’t they here to study wildlife and protect it?”

“Where do you think their funds come from, Y/N? The lab is backed by the military, which means everything they do is government research.”

“How do you know all this?”

“It’s the subject of my research.” He looks around again, the bun atop his head bobbing side to side. “That’s what Tae has been helping me with.”

“Jungkook, I don’t understand. What’s Tae helping you expose the lab for? What do you think they are hiding?” You stare down his side profile. He bites his bottom lip with his bunny teeth.

“It’d become very dangerous for you if you knew,” he reaches to fix your wind-tousled hair. “Trust me.”

  Field Observation #8: Don’t trust men, unless they are Jungkook.

 He gives you a warm, reassuring smile. “Let’s get going now, we don’t wanna miss the next activity.”

 ***

 The chaperones lead everyone down the hill for the next activity on schedule. The Butterfly House.

Jin has not returned yet, you’re starting to miss his chaotic antics. At the front of the crowd, Professor Choi is desperately trying to get the class’s attention. Several stern scientists are hovering on the side, waiting for silence so they can deliver the welcome introduction. Once it quiets down, two of the scientists give a run-through on the Butterfly House rules. Among them, it is expected that all students keep their touching to a minimum and especially, keep out of the restricted areas marked by red fence. Hunger strikes your tummy, and you wish Jin were here to cure it with his magic snack bag. A nudge to your rib sends you out of your daydream. You turn to your side. Jungkook has a giant butterfly resting on the tip of his nose. Its shimmery blue wings gently tilting up and down. Jungkook is still, afraid it will fly away. You giggle at the sight of him holding the breath in his cheeks.  

The class breaks off into groups to tour the facility.

“Good Afternoon, students. Welcome to our 30-by-15-meter glass atrium.” Your group leader reads off a script as student’s heads tilt back to observe the magnificent architecture above. “We are proud to receive you as guests of the first walk-through butterfly habitat in the eastern hemisphere. It first opened in 1957, so you are the first scholars to visit. Inside these walls, you will find some 500 free-flying butterflies of up to 25 different species. There are about 15,000 to 20,000 known species of butterflies found worldwide and many yet to be discovered. You may find swallowtails and birdwings, brightly colored, or camouflaged among the plants.  Some might be difficult to spot, as butterflies can be as small as 3 mm, but can also be as large as 304 mm….”

A small butterfly floats past the guide’s shoulder and rests on it. “Ah, a Sasakia charonda, the great purple emperor. Native to the Korean Peninsula, Japan, China, and northern Taiwan, and Vietnam. As we see, butterflies can be orange, white, black, and even purple. However, they cannot see how beautiful they look because butterflies can only see red, green, and yellow. The journey to becoming a butterfly is always an inspiring tale.” The guide struggles to find their place on the script.

You tilt your head back and stare in awe, the scale of technology here is incredible. Your biologist brain buzzes with millions of questions. How did they replicate a tropical rainforest like this in 1958? Are there places like this in Japan too, or perhaps the United States? The facility is lush with amazon trees and exotic plants. It’s so dense. Thousands of vines cover the floors and wrap around the trees. Layers of moss and countless species of flora and fauna lie in the shaded canopies. Vines dominating the taller trees cross overhead, reaching over through air to dominate the other side. Some climb so high they span the atrium’s glass ceiling, where the sunlight pours in strongest. An astonishing vision of Darwin’s theory of natural selection.

The guide has found their place in the script and begins reading. “There are, um, four cycles of the butterfly’s life. A butterfly starts out as an egg. Then it hatches into a caterpillar, called the larva. The larva goes into a cocoon called the pupa stage, and finally, emerges as an adult butterfly free to spread their wings and fly. We have a display with pupa ready to hatch, please follow me…” The students clamor excitedly after the guide, who disappears down the pathway in the thick greenery.

Yelps can be heard in the distance as students and chaperones alike encounter all sorts of buzzing insects. You duck below the low-hanging vines. One thing they forgot to mention is the climate control in here. Somehow, the air in the atrium is kept very humid to mimic that of the Amazon rainforest. After a while, the moisture in the air becomes nearly suffocating. Jungkook, however, seems to be doing just fine. Suddenly, he reaches for your hand and clasps it in his, clammy.

“Look, there’s Jin!” you almost yell. Your hands are torn apart as you run over to the fence. Jin is working on the other side in a glass office. His face is buried in an apparatus that looks something like an advanced microscope. Dozens of flasks, books, and petri dishes are strewn across the bench before him. He looks like he’s busy.

“This area’s off-limits. I don’t think we can interrupt him.” Jungkook tugs at your sleeve. You expel air and look back at Jungkook to find that the blue butterfly has returned. Right atop his head, it sits, flitting its wings as Jungkook scrunches his nose. The butterfly doesn’t budge.

“Looks like Morpho adonis.” The angelic voice comes from behind you.

Jungkook rolls his eyes with the butterfly still on his head.

“Jin! You looked really preoccupied. What are you working on over there?” you indicate the room guarded by the fence.

“Oh, just some plant cell assays. They think they discovered a new species of moss in a cavern, so I’m helping look at samples. It’s promising. I’m running the RNA against the ones from my own research. If it matches, the cave is likely the one they’ve been looking for, a habitable location for—well, uh it’s confidential. Sorry, you understand.” His smile is still so genuine even when he’s withholding secret government information.

Jungkook tenses at the mention of “caves”.

“Have you seen it?” he asks.

“Seen what?” Jin returns.

“The cave. Have you been there?” Jungkook’s hands are shaking a little, so you move closer by his side and take his hand.

Jin’s eyes follow the movements of your hands. Just like they did back at the library the first time you met.

“I haven’t, no.” He lies.

“Sorry Choco, I’ll have to join you again tomorrow. Professor Moon asked for my help and it seems like it's going to take the rest of the evening. I’m sure Jungkook will keep you company for dinner in my place?” He gives you another sweet smile, but it has a bitter undertone. Much like Namjoon, when he had seen you with Yoongi’s jacket on that weird day.

  Field Observation #9: Stop reading between the lines, they don’t like you like that.

 “Before you both go—Jungkook, I have something for you,” Jin rolls up the sleeves of his lab coat and steps back into the room before returning.

He holds his hands out and you both peer down at the delicate thing sitting in his palms.

“What is it?” Jungkook nudges.

“Juniperus shimpaku,” Jin beams, “a bonsai.”

You watch Jin place the small tree in Jungkook’s outstretched hands.

“Give it to Namjoon, as my peace offering. Tell him it grows near the sea, so it will prefer regular misting. The foliage is needle-like now because it’s young, but as it grows older it will get scalier. One of the best things about Shimpaku is its hard resinous wood…ideal for advanced sculptural techniques such as jin, shari and sabamiki.” Jin bursts into his signature windshield laugh.

This time you roll your eyes, but Jungkook giggles along.

“Uh, thanks I guess,” Jungkook accepts the gift. “But I don’t know why you don't give it to him yourself. Knowing Joon, he’s pretty old-fashioned. If you've pissed him off, he can be really petty and hold a grudge. He holds things in until it gets really heavy—”

At that moment, a loud engine bang is heard from outside the atrium. The glass walls shake and the birds in the trees fly away in droves of panic.

“What the hell was that?” you say, but nothing else happens. The disturbance was momentary. 

"Nothing to fear folks," one of the chaperones calls from a distance. "A small aircraft had to make an emergency landing nearby. Idiots over-estimated their weight capacity and ran out of gas. Carry on."

“Anyway,” Jin continues, “take good care of it until you can give it to him. Oh, and if you’re prone to Drosophila melanogaster with your regular houseplants, you might want to lay off drowning the soil...”

“Droso-whatagaster?” you both say.

“Fruit. Flies.” Jin sighs. “Now please, go before someone sees you here. I am restricted material!” He grins at you and waves you off.

On your way out, your hand finds Jungkook’s again. Less clammy than before.

“Thank you for visiting the Butterfly Habitat, we hope you’ll gain a greater appreciation for butterflies and their place in the world’s ecosystems. Before you leave though, remember to check your clothing for any hitchhikers and pose by the Heaven Lotus for a memorable photo!” the chaperones guide you out toward the Heaven Lotus, where Taehyung is snapping photos.

“Jungkook, are we still on for tomorrow?” Tae heavily eyes your locked hands before Jungkook lets it go. Jungkook nods. You both smile, ready for the flash. Click.

 ***

 Jungkook eats dinner with you at a Haenyeo House. Four bowls of jeonbokjuk (abalone porridge) to be exact. Afterward, you browse the framed black and white photos on the wall. They tell the story of the haenyeo (sea women), the island’s legendary sea divers. Since the 18th century, deep-sea diving for fish became the work of women until their workforce outnumbered the men. So much so, the island has become a semi-matriarchal society, where the head of the heterosexual household is the woman, not the man. You and Jungkook remark if that is possible here in 1958, then why not on the mainland? The villages here seems to be ahead of their time. Patriarchy and heteronormative standards are still dominant in most places and probably will be for many years to come. After digesting your abalone with more discourse about dismantling the patriarchy and capitalism, you and Jungkook go out on the beach.

The sun has already gone down, marking the first day of the retreat over. The only light source radiating from the campfires along the beach and the star-lit sky. The campfire nearest your sleeping tent is vacant. The question of sharing a tent crosses your mind.

“Arent you going to tent up with your assigned travel buddy?” you ask Jungkook.

“My what?” he sips from his flask then stares expectantly at you.

“Your travel…buddy??” It’s not a weird question, right?

“Where did you hear that? I can guarantee there's no travel buddy list,” he giggles into his flask.

“But, Jin said…” You reflect on the words as you stare into the fire.

Water shoots from Jungkook’s nose as he tumbles forward. “He said he was your assigned travel buddy?! Ahahaha—”

Apparently, there was no such thing. Jin made it up just to have a reason to be with you during the trip. What are you supposed to think now?

You’ve had a long first day, to say the least. Jungkook helps you relax. The night passes too quickly as you exchange stories under the stars. At some point, you pass out asleep and feel Jungkook place his jacket over your chest. He carries you into the tent. You roll over onto your stomach and splay like a starfish. Jungkook struggles to remove your shoes and get you into the sleeping bag. Then the darkness swallows you and you drift into a deep sleep. Whatever comes tomorrow can’t possibly top the day you’ve had.

 ***

 You wake the next morning to an empty tent and two layers of sleeping bag. The extra is not yours. Your back is stiff and you feel like your whole body has sunk two feet in the sand. After a little morning spruce, you find Jungkook having breakfast by the campfire. The bonsai tree sits on a rock in front of him and the souvenir bracelet rolls between his fingers.

“That’s a really nice souvenir!” you sit beside him.

“Thanks. It’s for, um, Namjoon actually. Ha ha. You think he’ll like it? Joon loves the sea but, he works so much. He’s studying part-time and can’t take advanced classes.” He scratches the back of his round head again.

“That’s lovely, Jungkook. I think he will definitely love it.” Jungkook is so sweet, you can’t help feel a little jealous after how aloof he was with you on your first date. “Oh, this is totally random but speaking of Namjoon, you haven’t heard anything from him, have you? Last time we spoke was kinda weird…I thought maybe he said someth—"

“Y/N. I have to tell you something,” he hesitates, lingering for permission.

“What is it?” you say. The morning wind on the beach is a little chilly. You fold your arms across your chest for some warmth.

“Do you remember that day? The day I was supposed to pick you up after work?” he fiddles with the bracelet.

Now it’s your turn to choke on your flask. Your stomach feels like it’s going to sink with all the emotions of that day returning. Jin completely avoided this conversation, but here goes Jungkook getting right into it.

“Yes, I remember it all too clearly,” you sigh. “I was on my way to the parking lot where I thought you were picking me up. I was walking by the court while the jocks were playing a game. Then the ball went out of bounds and hit me. I passed out and woke up after Yoongi, uh, resuscitated me. His hand was injured and he looked really mad. He still took me to Namjoon’s. Namjoon was acting all weird about it, but I still don't know why.”

“Well, that’s one version of it. But that’s not our version.” Jungkook explains.

“You see, I have um, I have a secret. The project I mentioned that Tae is helping me with, it’s a dangerous project. A few months ago, I discovered something while experimenting. I may have sort of opened a dimensional rift.” He waits anxiously for your response.

“What does that mean, Jungkook. You farted?”

“No! Haha. In quantum physics, there’s a theorem called the Casimir effect, it essentially says that if you conduct the right amount of energy through the right materials at the right time, you can open a door through space-time.”

“Time travel?” you question.

“Yes!!! Time travel.” He whispers. “I messed with it and got it right. That day you got hit with a basketball, it wasn’t the players' fault, it was me! Haha—.” He says it too happily for your taste.

“Hey!… I thought the jocks might have done it on purpose,” you pout.

“It was an accident, I swear to Namjoon! I haven't completely mastered control over this thing yet. That day I was running a bit late, so I thought, "why not?" . It worked obviously, but there was some, uh, glitching. It was not a clean jump. I injured some people when I jumped back, especially you. I'm really sorry. Only Yoongi and Namjoon knew about my jumping experiments then. Yoongi rushed there to stop me. It could have been a disaster, Y/N. But I figured out that I can do a cleaner jump if I have a stronger source of energy. The vacuum isn't it. ” his eyes are sparkly again.

You are quiet, thinking.

“So, let me see. You can travel through time using science, but you don’t have a good grip on the specifics yet. Yoongi, Jin, and basically everyone else knows about it now. You all got together while I was passed out and schemed a lie so I wouldn’t find out I got knocked by an experimental poltergeist. Am I understanding it correctly?”

He blinks. “That was easier than I thought.”

“Jungkook. You are so cool…”

He blushes, “I’d rather be dead than cool…”

“Since I’ve already been a victim of your jumping experiments. Can I know about the cave?”

Jungkook sighs. “I told you yesterday that the cave is like the Bermuda Triangle. Under ideal conditions, the cave can be a portal for time travel. The lab doesn’t know what conditions exactly, but I do. They aren’t up to anything good with it. If the lab got its hands on time portal capability, it would have the power to manipulate the past and future. Taehyung did some journalistic investigating on the lab. It's called Heaven, Inc. Before it got the military permission to colonize the island, they were just another underfunded private lab, doing shady work for shady leaders. Corrupt stuff. Tae discovered that the lab has already found the cave and they've closed it off. It’s not much time before they get the conditions right. Do you see why we have to intervene? Only we know about it. The cave would be weaponized. A weapon of dimensional shifting.”

“Jin can't know what he’s part of, right? I mean, he would never volunteer for something like that. He’s good…”

“I dunno, he definitely knows where the cave is. Tae and I have a plan. We’ll follow him to the cave and film it all. The video will be released to the papers and the government will have to shut down the complex.”

“That’s doesn’t sound like a good plan, Jungkook. It’s dangerous. They have the strictest enforcement here. What if they stop you?”

“Trust me, Y/N. They need a really big source of energy to open the portal. After my experiments, I think I figured out how it works, but I’ll need your help..." He looks at you with the same expression he’s had the whole time, “Can I kiss you?” Endearing and determined.

You are completely startled at the turn of confessions.“It's for science, right?” 

“For science,” he grins.

“Ok, I trust you.”

He lunges forward and kisses you passionately on the lips. Your eyes shut tight and butterflies erupt in your atrium. Not counting Yoongi’s resuscitation technique, this is your first real kiss. Jungkook’s hand comes up to hold your face. He brushes your cheek and lingers, savoring you as long as he can.

At last, you break. “Wow,” he pants, “thank you.”

“Hey?” you pant back, “this better earn us the Nobel Prize.”

 ***

 Taehyung joins you and Jungkook at 7 o’clock sharp, carrying several duffle bags. He sets them down and slicks back his hair. “The name’s Bond, James Bond,” he says with a deep voice. Jungkook ignores him, too deep in thought focusing on the surroundings. Tae turns to you for approval and flashes his adorable boxy smile. You are really about to embark on a covert operation with Taekook.

You squat behind the dense thicket, waiting. Jin passes by with a group of serious scientists. As usual, Jin looks too chippy first thing in the morning. He stands out like a sore thumb. The youngest in the group and the most enthusiastic. Still, he remains well-mannered and eagerly follows orders as they prep for their second day excavating the hidden site.

The three of you follow the group down to the north-facing coastline, staying out of view. The group you’re tailing disappears into a tunnel behind a glistening waterfall. You wait behind some big rocks. A branch cracks behind you and you spin around. Funny. You could swear you saw a glimpse of the big-breasted mathematician's ass hanging out of a tree. No way. You're probably still dazed from locking lips with Jungkook. There's no way Namjoon would ever be here. Then, Jin’s laughter emerges from the cave as he leads the group back out. He saunters past, delightedly chatting up the eldest scientist. You sigh. Poor Jin, he really believes this about some moss.

“Well, we found it.” Taehyung whispers. “That was easy.”

Too easy. An uneasy feeling settles in your stomach. Like right before you are about to lose something. You glance over to Jungkook who is contemplating the next move. Your lips are still tingling from his kiss. Was it real? During your first date, he seemed so aloof. Sure, he was always sweet and protective, but it didn’t mean anything. That’s just how Jungkook is.

 Yoongi’s old words ring in your ears,

“Listen, Dove, it’s just a random coincidence. It could have been anybody…”

Yoongi really meant it. He knew. They all knew.

 Taehyung holds the fence open for you and Jungkook to climb through. He leaves the duffle bags by the waterfall and only grabs the camera. He takes photos of the chain-link fence protecting the cave entrance. A sign reads “RESTRICTED ACCESS”. Inside, the cave is more like a tunnel. It's cold, dark, rocky, and slippery. Jungkook lights a match and asks you to stay while he explores the interior.

You stick with Taehyung as he takes more photos. “You knew about Jungkook’s experiments?” you probe.

“Sweetcheeks, I’ve always told you, haven’t I? I appreciate art.”

Jungkook runs back from the tunnel, excited. “Hey guys, come check this out!”

You both chase after him.

“Careful, it’s slippery in here!” he yells back through the darkness.

You reach a clearing lit by torches. There's a lot of industrial equipment. Looks like the scientists have come this far. Jungkook examines the mysterious gadgets laying around, one by one. Everything has the same logo, Heaven, Inc.

“Extensional tectonics,” Jungkook mumbles. He walks to the center of the clearing and looks at the wet floor. A man-made “X” marks the spot. “It’s here, inside the Manjjanggul Lava tube. This is the dimensional rift..."

In geology, a rift is a linear zone where the lithosphere is being pulled apart. They form over thousands of years, often at the central axis of most mid-ocean ridges. The new oceanic crust and lithosphere form at a divergent boundary between two tectonic plates. The Manjjanggul Lava tube tunnel is said to be one of the longest, measuring around 7.5 kilometers deep.

Extensional tectonics, as Jungkook said. The Manjjanggul Lava tube is the second Bermuda Triangle. Conditions just right for space-time travel, if supported with a powerful catalyst.

The kiss. The kiss was the energy. Jungkook is trying to manifest the kiss into the big energy he needs to open the portal. You must be…his catalyst.

A purple light begins forming in front of Jungkook as he stands still.

“Wait don't start yet, I need to get the video camera!” 

"Well Taehyung, I don't know how it starts only when it starts...and it's starting now!"

Tae runs to retrieve the equipment from outside.

You flinch as water drips on your head from lava rock on the ceiling. The walls of the cavern start vibrating on rhythms, like the pace of a butterfly’s wings or a human heartbeat. The ring on your finger blackens as a void opens within you, a creeping bad feeling. You push it down.

“What’s happening?” you move to the edge of the wall.

“It’s stopped. I felt stronger energy a few minutes ago. It’s gotten weaker for some reason…” he concentrates hard. “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”

“Jungkook—” you start to say. But Taehyung runs back.

“Has it worked yet? Did I miss anything?” he tosses the bags down and starts to assemble the video camera as quickly as he can.

“Wait, I feel something…” Jungkook plants his feet on the marking and holds his arms out in front of him like there’s an invisible wall there. An obscure purple cloud glows before him and the tunnel vibrates with more strength.

Tae starts filming. You flatten your bodies against the wall as more water drips from the shaking ceiling.

“I feel it.” Jungkook closes his eyes, eyebrows furrowed. He extends his arms farther out, pushing against the translucid wall. “It’s….happening…” he grunts as he puts all his might into the force. Blue and white hues emerge from the vortex developing at his hands. The walls of the cavern pulse even harder. You cling to the wall as you brace for the unknown.

Then, an echo of running footsteps down the tunnel gets louder. Indiscernible yelling and swearing as the heavy steps approach.

One deep voice penetrates the cave and spikes the walls harder than the supernatural force at Jungkook’s fingertips can.

“Stop!” Namjoon shouts.

“Choco! Get away from him!” Jin appears behind Joon. Your eyes nearly pop out of your head. Jungkook is not listening anymore. The force in his hands surges and cave walls begin to give way. Tae fumbles with the camera, desperately trying to capture the phenomenon as the tunnel shakes more violently.

Jimin approaches calmly, “I think we would all like to live, so let’s all hold hands and walk out of here in one piece…”

“I can’t leave,” Jungkook replies through the translucent shimmer. "We have to destroy this place."

Namjoon steps closer, cautious of the rocks beginning to crumble overhead.

“Jungkook, please. You are putting yourself in danger…” he pleads. The leader’s fear growing with each passing second until Namjoon breaks down and tears flow from his eyes. With that, the portal opens, rendering Jungkook helpless to its mystical aura.

Everyone is puzzled. Yoongi’s level voice is heard over the rumbling, “What just happened, why is it getting worse?” Jungkook doesn’t know, but his mesmerization with the portal overtakes him and he can’t hear the others anymore. A deep part of his conscious is already elsewhere, they’re losing him.

 Jungkook’s peaceful face shimmers with waves of violet and pink. His eyes wide open, soul entering into a new dimension while his body still hangs back. Grounded in something. Or someone.

Seokjin pulls you away, trying to get you out of the tunnel. Before he can get you very far, Namjoon grabs hold of your free arm. A massive pulse sends a long fissure across the floor, dividing the space in two. You’re being pulled in two directions, Jin on one side and Joon on the other. The tunnel begins to collapse. Hoseok yells for everyone to get out. You must pick a side or you'll die. 

A segment of lava rock falls, nearly crushing Taehyung who has dropped the camera. He runs to Jungkook but more rock falls, blocking him. You’re held on both sides. You look up from Namjoon’s chest. His cheeks are soaked in tears.

“You put everyone at risk,” he glares at Jin.

“Me?” Jin argues back, tugging you to himself. “Your greasers are to blame! You let Jungkook and Taehyung do something dangerous. They even brought Y/N to the cave. I made you all swear, did I not, to keep Y/N out of this! What Jungkook was doing was never safe! We had a choice to stop the lab from finding the portal key. I mocked up the plant samples to destroy the evidence and convince them this is not the place. No one was going to get hurt! But Jungkook, he made his choice. He chose to destroy the site altogether. He chose violence!”

You’re suddenly thrust away from the pair as Namjoon lunges toward Jin. He throws the first punch. Jin collides with the wall behind them. Joon makes for another hit but Jin headbutts him first, tackling the six-foot-tall man to the ground, which is now being pelted with falling lava rocks. You lose balance on the shaky floor and start to fall backward. Yoongi catches you in time and shields you from the debris, looking for a way out.

Was that true? Was Taekook’s plan all along to destroy the cave? Who is right? Who is trusted? You remember Jungkook's words. Trust me.

NamJin curse at one another as they wrestle to the ground. The leader of the greasers and the leader of the jocks. Peace was never an option, was it.

Suddenly, the pulsing hum stops and there is silence. From Yoongi’s embrace, you can still see Jungkook. One moment he is there, standing on the X mark. Namjoon reaches for him but in a moment that feels frozen, lasting longer than a moment should, a whirring noise slices through the cold air, then…Jungkook vanishes. ZAP.

All that’s left in Namjoon’s large hand, the moon bracelet. Only the sounds of heavy breathing and dripping water fill the void. Jin rises from the ground and catches his breath. He looks up at Namjoon in confusion. Still silence.

Namjoon is about to say something. Then ZAP… he vanishes through thin air. The bracelet drops to the wet ground and rolls toward you. What the fuck! Everyone looks at each other. What is happening?! A moment later, Yoongi follows. ZAP. Jimin. Taehyung. Hoseok. ZAP ZAP ZAP.

Only you and Jin are left.

 ***

 The following morning, your school formally announces the reported disappearance of six of its students, four of whom were not attending the retreat. Their names are printed in the paper, along with their photos.

Kim Namjoon. Min Yoongi. Jung Hoseok. Park Jimin. Kim Taehyung. Jeon Jungkook.

 All Heaven, Inc. facilities are shut down for further investigation. The remaining students are sent home early in the morning. Police recover the Heaven, Inc. lab equipment from the Manjjanggul Lava tube, but can't find a single trace of the missing students. Seokjin's father gets a lawyer for the other families and files a civil suit.

The long bus ride home is melancholic. You were up all night being questioned by the police, nothing you said was written down. The reporters will dismiss the truth and release their own narrative in a few months. 

The students had a secret party on a sailboat, they got drunk, had a dispute, forgot to tie it to the dock and drifted out in the middle of the night. No bodies were found. It was an accident. A simple mistake of rambunctious youth.

You and Seokjin remain quiet. Neither of you feel like talking. Six of your friends have just vanished. You fear the worst. You have endless questions. Where are they? Why did everyone but Jin jump? Did they make it through safe? Will they ever come back? What will their families do? The void inside only grows. Your racing mind exhausts and you lean your head on Jin’s shoulder. It’s big and sturdy and safe. Whatever happens from now on, at least you will have Jin by your side. You fall asleep.

 ***

 The sound of Professor Choi quietly nudging you awake causes you to jump, “Wake up, Dear. You are home.”

“Huh, what year is it?” You rub the sleep from your eyes and feel a cramp in your neck. There’s no other student left on the bus but you. The spot next to you empty, with all but a snack left on the seat. You pick up the wrapped choco pie and stare at it. No way. Did Jin get time warped? He couldn’t have he was with me…

“It’s 1958, Dear,” Choi laughs. “Don’t forget your belongings. I’ll leave you to it.” The professor walks off the bus.

 Jin got time-warped with the rest. This is not a dream. You are not dreaming.

 All seven of them...left you.

  Field Observation #10: It was a f*ckboy au after all. What did you expect, Bighead? 

 See you in 1985 :)

[nettles-bo-bettles]

Day 1: Best Friends

Maribat War Day 1: Prompt: Best Friends

Third Person POV:

Tim Drake and Marinette Dupain-Cheng have been best friends for as long as they can remember. It all started when they were five years old. Tim had been running around Gotham at night pretending to be Robin when he found Marinette scavenging a dumpster for food and perhaps clothing.

“Hi! What are you doing in a dumpster?”

“Oh...I’m looking for food and maybe new clothes if I can find any.”

“How come? Why in a dumpster?”

“Well, my parents died or left me before I was born...I’m not really sure but I’ve been a street kid all my life. I usually find everything I need in dumpsters.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t usually get to spend much time with my parents, they’re always busy but they let me do whatever I want and I usually got everything I need at home.”

“I’m sorry too, it’d probably be worse to have neglectful parents rather than dead parents.”

“It’s alright, I still got a roof over my head right? That’s why I feel bad for you. You don’t seem to have a roof over your head.”

“Yeah, I don’t but I’m used to it.”

“Hey! I got an idea! Why don’t you come stay at my house?”

“But wouldn’t that be intruding? And I don’t even know your name or anything about you.”

“Oh, I forgot about that. Well, I’m Tim Drake! My parents are Jack and Janet Drake, though, they’re always busy so you probably won’t see them around very often and I’m trying to figure out who Batman and Robin are!!!”

“I’m Marinette! I don’t know who my parents are or what my last name is and I think you’re pretty cool!”

Throughout the days Tim and Marinette spent together they grew closer, they were almost attached to each other by the hip. The only time you wouldn’t see the two together would be when they went to sleep, had to change or went to the bathroom. They named each other as best friends and swore to never leave the other’s side.

One day when Tim was sick and couldn’t go outside Marinette started wandering around Gotham again. Eventually it turned night and she started to head home, though, she got stopped by three adult men who looked to be drunk and in their mid-thirties, Marinette, at the time was 8.

The men were clearly about to rape her so she got into a fighting stance and got ready to teach them not to mess with 8 year olds, right before she punched the middle guy someone swooped in and knocked them all out. The mysterious person patted down the men, seemingly looking for something. Once the mysterious person found what it was Marinette discovered that this person was most likely only there for stealing valuable items from drunk men.

Although she was right the mysterious figure turned to her and looked her up and down, seemingly looking for signs of injury.

“Are you okay little kitten?”

“Uh yeah I guess I just stayed out too late, who are you?”

“I would’ve thought you would’ve known but I’m Catwoman, and you little kitten seem like you can be quite the feisty one.”

“Well I mean I was about to punch those guys but you got here before I got the chance.”

“How do you feel about me adopting you and you being my little kitten sidekick?”

“Um...I don’t want to leave my best friend. Can I talk to him about it first?”

“Of course little kitten, just meet back here tomorrow if your friend is okay with it.”

“Okay!”

And with that Catwoman left Marinette. Marinette walked back to her home and thought about what Catwoman had said. She went to her room and got ready for bed, contemplating about whether she would even want to accept her offer. A few minutes of thinking about it she decided that she did want to accept it and went to bed.

The next morning Marinette woke up and did her usual routine, grab an outfit for the day, take a shower, go to the bathroom, get changed and meet Tim out in the hallway.

“G’morning Tim!”

“Morning Bean!”

“So last night I ran into Catwoman and she wants to adopt me but I immediately remembered our promise so I wanted to run the idea through you before making a final decision about letting her.”

“I say go for it, we’ll still see each other all the time right?”

“Yeah!”

“Then go for it!”

“I will! I’ll let her know that you said that!!!”

They continued talking while walking down the steps and on the way to the kitchen for breakfast. Once in the kitchen they grabbed their usual breakfast foods, Marinette got her usual froot loops and Tim got his usual yogurt.

The day went on as usual until it was 8pm and it was time for Marinette to go back to the alleyway to meet with Catwoman. She grabbed a good amount of clothes and her favorite pair of shoes along with some slippers and put them in her backpack. She left and said goodbye to Tim, telling him that she’d see him the next day. Little did they know that they wouldn’t see each other until they were 15 due to Catwoman training Marinette to fight and to flirt for when Batman got a new Robin.

It was the day after Catwoman had adopted Marinette and Tim was waiting in his usual spot where he met with Marinette, however, she didn’t show. He went back inside, disappointed that his friend ditched him. He decided to try again the next day, and the next, and the next. This went on for three weeks before he decided to give up. Years passed by quickly and Tim was now thirteen and in the beginning stages of growing into an adult. One day he wandered around Gotham City and bumped into Bruce Wayne, the older man saw something in the young boy and decided to adopt him. Tim’s parents agreed to the adoption, though, they weren’t paying much attention.

When Bruce adopted Tim he told him about all of his nightly activities and asked if he would like to become Robin or to watch everything from the batcomputer. Tim chose to be Robin and Bruce gave him two years of training for it. Eventually it was time for Tim to go out as Robin for the first time and it ended up being against the Riddler. However, a few hours after the Riddler incident there was a robbery going down because of Catwomen who had broken into a jewelry store and stolen thousands of dollars worth of diamonds...at least that’s what she made them think. In reality she just wanted to see Batman and introduce her little kitten to Batman’s new Robin. And it worked. Catwomen’s new apprentice was going to use the tricks that Catwoman had taught her with flirting and everything but the minute she saw Robin she knew it was her old friend, Tim Drake. The one who she would trust with her life with no hesitation, the one she missed oh so much, the one that she would give anything just to see again.

“Long time no see Marinette.”

“I missed you so much, I thought I was never gonna see you again.”

“Me too, that day after you got adopted, and you didn’t show up I- I was devastated. And when you didn’t show up any time at a later date I just gave up all hope to see you again.”

“So...you’ve grown taller.”

“And so have you…”

“This is awkward so I’m uh- I’m just gonna go.”

“Yeah..OH WAIT!”

“Yeah?”

“Can we exchange numbers so we can still be friends?”

“Oh uh sure.”

The two teens exchanged numbers and went on their way, deciding that it was too awkward to continue being in the same place. Soon though, they ended up texting each other every night, they grew closer to each other yet again and the next time they met they ended up becoming inseparable.

One day, Selina decided to bring Marinette to the Wayne’s so she could meet her adoptive mother’s close ‘friend’. When they arrived at the Manor they were greeted by Alfred who welcomed them in. He led the women into the living room where Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson and Tim Drake stood. When the youngest of the Waynes saw Marinette he immediately ran up to her and hugged her.

“Um- Tim, buddy why- how do you know Selina’s adoptive daughter?” Dick asked his younger brother.

“Oh, we used to be best friends when we were little until I got adopted by Selina.” Marinette answered for him.

“Yup, she’s my best friend who also happens to be addicted to caffeine and an insomniac just like me,” said Tim with a grin on his face.

Dick and Bruce wanted to get to know Marinette better so everyone socialized for hours until eventually the Waynes had to kick Marinette and Selina out as they had to patrol Gotham soon.

~Time Skip~

It had been a year since Marinette and Tim got reunited and they were hanging out at Selina’s house and talking about everything and nothing at the same time. Soon, however, there was a knock at the door. Marinette opened the door to see who it was and surprisingly it was child services.

“Your name is Marinette Kyle correct?”

“Yes that’s me.”

“I apologize for any inconvenience but you’ll have to come with us because Selina Kyle is not fit for having a minor under her care. A couple in Paris, France has taken interest in adopting you so you will be moving there to be under their care for the next two years until you are a legal adult, you will then be able to move back here if you wish to do so.”

“Wait- WHAT?!?! YOU CAN’T DO THAT!!!”

“I’m afraid I can and it’s going to happen. Please come with me. And, young man if you could please inform Ms.Kyle of what has happened here.”

“I- but- she- she’s my best friend, my only friend you can’t take her.”

“Sir I’ve already explained everything please don’t make me do it again, now once Ms.Kyle arrives back home please inform her of what has happened here today.”

The man grabbed Marinette by the arm and took her with him, he drove to the airport and watched as she went into the plane.

After a long flight Marinette was finally in Paris. She got off the plane and the french couple who adopted her walked up to her and asked if she was Marinette. She said yes and they took her with them to their home, it was a bakery on the bottom floor and an apartment on the top floor. They took her to the room they set up for her, it was insanely pink but she didn’t say anything about it. A few days later she was enrolled in Francois Dupont Highschool, though she made many friends it wasn’t the same as Tim. Years passed and she moved back to Gotham, when she did, however, she couldn’t find her long-time best friend.

Eventually she did find Tim and they became closer than ever before, she met his other two brothers and his sisters and became their honorary sister. It was a few days before Wayne Gala and Tim still didn’t have a date, he told his coworkers who were going to be there that he would have a date but he still didn’t...until he got the best idea, ASK MARINETTE!! And so he did. He asked her to pretend to be his girlfriend for his coworkers and like the good best friend she is, she said yes.

They went to Wayne Gala pretending to be dating and managed to fool everyone, however, during the middle of the Gala when Bruce was introducing everyone, the Riddler decided to show up. He chose Tim to give his riddles to and told him that if he got any of them wrong that he would kill him. Marinette was just hoping that he was going to get them all right.

First Riddle, he got it correct.

Second Riddle, he got that one too.

Third Riddle, he got it again.

Fourth Riddle, and again.

He got them again and again and again. Eventually he was on the 15th riddle, the last one. At this point everyone was holding their breath. He answered it...but he got the answer wrong. It was wrong and before Marinette could even comprehend the fact that he got it wrong, Tim was dead. The Riddler had shot her best friend, he was gone, forever. Her best friend since she was five years old was gone. She would never get to make any more memories with him, all the time she had with him was over, she had too much to say and not any time to say it. He was gone.

[eideticmemory]

EVER SINCE NEW YORK IV | MATTHEW GRAY GUBLER

Description: I was messaged saying: “If you don’t write a young Matthew enemies to lovers fic featuring an obsession with sucking on boobs then what’s the point 😔.” So, here it is, folks! The ultimate College!Matthew fic. Cover by @timey-wimey-lovi​!

PART 4! Read Part 3 here!

SOUNDTRACK:

Let Me Know - Clear Eyes.

Friends - Ed Sheeran.

Perfect Places - Lorde.

Word Count: 4,551.

Rating: M.

Warning/Includes: Sexual intercourse, drinking, recreational drug use, a bit of angst.

Fall, Junior Year.

Tisch School of the Arts, 

New York University.

New York City. 

“We’re going out tonight,” Claire said, plopping down on your bed. 

“Oh? We are?” You replied, a notebook in your lap, and your back resting against the pillows.

“Yes. There is a welcome back party on campus tonight and we’re going.”

“I don’t feel like partying,” you sighed. “We just moved back in. There’s still so much left to do, to unpack.”

“Guess what? It’ll be here when we get back. And we’ll have all of tomorrow to decorate. But right now, we’re juniors, we’re thriving, and we’re gonna party!” She did a little dance, her red hair bouncing on her head. 

You giggled, “Fine. Only until midnight! Then, we’re coming right back.”

“Geez, grandma? Midnight? Make it one!”

“Fine, one-thirty.”

“I’ll take it,” she smiled. She hopped out of bed, and turned on her heels, finger guns pointing at you. “Wear that red tube top. Step all the way out, kid. I mean it!”

“Yeah, we’ll see.”

You wore the top. It looked good. Abnormally good. Insanely good. It hugged your body, and accented your breasts, little ruffles handing on the hem. You paired it with a loose pair of jeans, leather boots, and sparkly jewelry. Your hair was pulled out of your face and you applied light makeup. 

“Yes, ma’am!” Claire cheered when she saw you. “For someone who didn’t wanna party, you sure snapped.” 

“Hush,” you blushed. “I just wanna be prepared, y’know, in case we take pictures or run into people.”

Person. Singular. 

You anticipated a high chance of seeing Matthew tonight, and if it was true, it would be your first time seeing each other in person in two months. After week upon week of late night phone calls — full of dirty words, quiet moans, and soft goodnight wishes. With his timezone being three hours behind yours, the two of you set alarms on your phone to talk in the early hours of the morning. Until you fell into this routine of talking every night. First, helping each other get off — sometimes more than once. And then having a sleepy, giggle-filled conversation about anything under the sun. It regularly lasted until one of you fell asleep.

So, yeah. You were eager to see him. Even more eager to get back to his place. Get back underneath him. It’d been a week since you last spoke, both of you being too busy moving back to New York. You ached for him dearly. And you wanted his first reaction to seeing you again to be lustful, intense. The outfit was perfect.

Claire and you walked across campus, arm in arm, skin glowing under the lights, hair blowing in the breeze. The music was palpable, and you could hear it from miles away. The two of you stepped into the dorming building, giggling at the sight of familiar faces, the smell of alcohol and weed, the sound of bass. 

For most of the night it was easy to mingle. You carried a solo cup of alcohol from each room — vodka. Everytime you drank rum, you got horny. It was weird. You couldn’t turn a corner without bumping into someone you knew, be it a dancer, an actor, film student. Being a double major, and active on campus, you knew way too many people. And everyone seemed to be there that night. It took you a good hour to rotate amongst groups. 

“[y/n]?”

You turned around, a smile instantly appearing on your face. “Alex! Oh, my goodness! How are you?”

The dashing boy smiled at you, his hand on your shoulder. “Hey! I’m great, how are you?”

“I’m good, I’m good. I’m currently trying to have a good time despite being tired as hell.”

He laughed, “Well, I see you’ve got some good time juice there, so you’re halfway to freedom. Hey, I forgot to tell you — your performance in the nutcracker last Christmas was incredible. I, uh, I actually went to the spring ballet after that because I was so impressed.”

“Thank you,” you grinned. “I like to inspire people to experience ballet. It’s cool.”

“I was very inspired,” he nodded. “Hopefully we’ll have some more classes together this semester.” 

“Yeah! If not, you know how to reach me.” You bit down on your lip to keep from smiling too wide. He gave you a quick wink, and walked away. 

You instantly began looking for Claire, rushing around the dorm for anyone resembling your friend. You noticed her in the threshold of a room, shoulder leaned against the wall, her arms crossed. You walked up to her, “Claire! Claire, you’re not gonna believe who I just ran into. It was definitely not the reunion I was expecting tonight.” 

Claire was dazed, staring in front of her with a face solid as stone. You very rarely saw her like this, and it freaked you out right away. “Claire? Claire, dude, what’s wrong?” You turned your head to follow her gaze, and your eyes landed on the couch. 

People lined the cushions, and dead in the center was Matthew. His hair had grown out a lot, and he dressed differently. All button down shirts and khaki shorts. With that damn chain tucked in his collar. And beside him was a girl. Hair jet black, a matching black mini dress, paired with sandals. They were kissing. Hot. Heavy. His hand gripping her hair, the other on his thigh. When they seperated, she touched his lips and you felt yourself having a stroke. The giggled at each other and Matthew kissed her cheek. 

“It’s about one-thirty, right?” Claire asked you, her sight not moving. 

You gulped. There was an ache in your chest that made it hard to speak. But you took a deep breath, and release the words, “Yeah. Let’s go home.”

Claire walked around you, heading towards the exit, and you followed. The two of you walked home, silent, arms over each other’s shoulders. In the room, Claire dropped her stuff to the floor,  kicked her shoes off and sat on her bed. You rushed into the space, approached your nightstand and rummaged through it. 

“What are you doing, [y/n]?”

“I’m packing a bowl,” you replied, grabbing your herbs, a lighter and the bowl. 

“Right now? In here?” She gasped.

“Is that okay?”

She sighed, “Yeah. Come share.”

The two of you sat on her bed, thirty minutes later, laying against the wall with your heads staring at the ceiling. Your eyelids were lowered, red, and your breathing was slow. 

“I’m hungry,” Claire said, texting on her phone. “Do we have gummy bears? I want gummy bears. But haribo gummy bears. Not those knocks off we used to buy. And some soda. Soda would be so good right now. My mouth is so dry.”

You stayed quiet, eyes focused on the lights overhead. You couldn’t get the image out of your mind. Matthew. And that girl. Kissing. Touching. 

“Her name is Veronica,” Claire said. 

You turned your hear to her, “Huh?”

“Her name is Veronica,” she repeated. “Or Roni for short.” She rolled her eyes. “She, uh, she’s from Vegas. She went to school with...Gube, actually. They dated.”

“Oh...” you nodded. “Are you...are you okay?”

“I — I, yeah, I’m fine,” she shrugged. “It’s just...really inconvenient of him to go back to her right now.”

“Back to her?”

“They’re together. They’re dating. Apparently they got back together this summer.” 

You furrowed your eyebrows together, a thousand thoughts running through your mind at once. “What do you think about that?” Claire asked. 

“Uh...” You shrugged. “I’m surprised anyone actually touches that boy,” you laughed, the sound coming out broken and sad. 

“Yeah...well...Misty says Roni is a big one for Gube. That, um, necklace he wears? She gave it to him years ago. He never took it off.” 

You nodded, “Yeah,” your voice cracked. “Well, that’s...that’s some heavy fixation there.” 

“[y/n]...”

“I should shower. I’m gonna shower.” You went to get off the bed, but Claire grabbed your wrist. You turned to her, and she pushed your hair out of your face. 

“I’m really upset about this, kid,” she said. “Can you...can you just lay with me for a bit?” 

You sighed, gave her a small smile and leaned in to hug her. She held you close, placing one hand on your head and the other on your rest. And she let you rest your head on her chest, as you let silent tears roll down your cheeks. 

Monday morning, you got up at 5 in the morning. You spent 2 hours in the ballet studio, twirling and dancing until your feet went numb. When you returned home, Claire was still asleep and you took a quick shower. You tried on ten different outfits, applied makeup, spent a long time on your hair. You made breakfast, checked for any assignments, surfed social media. And still had an hour before class. 

You chose to walk around campus, locate all your classes, grab some coffee, and then you headed to your first class. Walking through the building, you sipped on your drink, moving absentmindedly roaming the halls. Suddenly, a hand reached out and pulled you into a storage closet. Your scream was cut short, and you jumped as the door closed behind you.

You looked up at see Matthew staring at you, a soft smile on his face. “Hey.”

“I’m going to class,” you muttered, turning to exit the room. But Matthew put his hand on the door knob to stop you.

“Wait, wait,” he pleaded. “Um, do I see you at the party —“

“Yep,” you nodded, not making eye contact with him. 

“So...then, you saw me at the party with—“

“Yep.”

“Okay...[y/n]...”

“I really have to go to class, so, thanks for the detour, but I’m leaving now.” You removed his hand from the knob and left the closet, not looking back. 

You walked into your classroom, swallowing to get rid of the weird feeling in your throat. You set your bag down and took a seat. You attempted to shake Matthew out of your mind, the smell of him, the sight of him, the tension of being so close to him. But it was hard. It may have been the hardest thing ever. 

“Well, well, well,” a voice called to you. “Guess I got lucky, huh?”

You looked up to see Alex, giving you a toothy grin and a look of pure joy. “Alex,” you breathed. “Hi. This is awesome, you’re in here?”

“Yeah,” he took a seat beside you. “Haven’t seen you much since freshman year. This is nice.”

“It sure is.”

So. 

Remember number eight on your list of atrocities against Matthew Gubler? 

Fucked his friend. While said friend was supposed to help Matthew with his project. 

Alex would be the friend. He was gorgeous and kind and so good in bed. You first met in a cinematography class freshman year, where he very boldly asked if you wanted to hang out some time. You smiled, said yes, and that led to the aforementioned sexual encounter. It only happened a handful of times, until the semester was over. Then you didn’t see each other as often.

But he was here now. He was here and he was flirting with you. You were flirting back. You were hurt and upset and confused and so fucking horny, you could burst. So, after classes, you reached out to him and asked if he could help you with a pre class assignment. He told you to come over. You did. 

You didn’t work on the assignment though. 

Starting off pretty hot and heavy, it was a few weeks of meaningless sex until he asked you out. Claire cheered when she heard the news, causing you to give her a confused look. “Why are you so happy that I have a date?” You giggled. 

“Oh...I just — Alex is cute! He’s great, I always wondered what happened to him. You said he was good in the sack and he was always sweet to you. I’m just, so glad you’re happy.”

You gave her a faux smile, “Yeah. I’m happy.” 

Alex’s friend was having a birthday party at his apartment, and Alex insisted you come. Said it was the only way he’d be able to have any fun when everyone got too drunk. You agreed, and when he picked you up that night, you were dressed in a purple romper and diamond earrings. 

“You look beautiful,” he whispered, leaning in to kiss you. 

“Thank you,” you smiled. “You look beautiful, too.” 

He held your hand as he drove to the apartment, as you got out the car, walked up the stairs, entered the living space. He introduced you to everyone you met, his arm around you proudly and your head nuzzled into his chest. 

Watching you across the room was a very irritated Matthew Gubler, who sat with Veronica on his lap and a beer in his hand. You didn’t notice Matthew’s presence for a long time, considering the fact that he was avoiding you, and you were more focused on Alex. 

While talking to Alex’s friends, you excused yourself to go to the bathroom. You strolled down the hallway, searching for the restroom. 

“[y/n]!”

You turned around, confused. Matthew marched up to you, his hands in his pocket, his face determined. 

“I have to go to the bathroom,” you told him, and continued to walk. 

He followed you. “So, you dating Alex now?”

“That’s not really your business, now is it?”

He grabbed onto your arm and pulled your body into his, hiding you two behind a corner. “No, but it bugs me.”

“It bugs you?”

“It bugs me. I don’t want you with Alex. Alex is a dick.” 

“Well, not to me—“

Matthew leaned down and kissed you, his hands tightened on your waist. He kissed you like he was starving, mouth open, breath heavy. 

You pushed him away, your eyes closed in shock and ecstasy. No, no, you thought. “Matthew—“

“Let’s leave,” he interjected.

“Huh?”

“Let’s leave. Me and you. Let’s go.”

“No,” you snapped.

“Why not?”

“Because, I’m here with Alex! And you’re here with...her, so, no. I’m staying here, with the guy I came with.”

“C’mon—“

“Matthew, no! No! Are you deaf? Are you dumb? Leave me alone, and go back to your girlfriend.” You suddenly didn’t have to pee anymore, so you returned to Alex and his group of friends. Matthew watched as you took a seat in Alex’s lap, and you pretended not to notice. 

There was radio silence for months. Matthew even removed you on snapchat, and for your sanity, you ignored it. You continued a casual relationship with Alex, and he continued to worship the ground you walked on. A vast change in pace from Matthew. Claire pushed for the Alex relationship hardcore, saying hi to him when came over, giving you guys time alone, tagging alone with you two to parties. 

But every once in a while, you thought about Matthew. When you saw a particular movie, or heard one of his favorite bands, right after you would have sex. And especially on Halloween. Over the summer, he told you all about his costume plans, party plans, and movie marathons he was going to have. And for some reason, like a clown, you just assumed you’d be with him when it happened.

By the time final exams were over, you and Alex considered yourselves exclusive. You strolled into the end of the year party, holding hands and laughing. You’d fallen into a good groove with his friends. They all liked you, you liked them, and you enjoyed their company. While sitting with them, one pulled out a joint, lit it and began to pass it around.

“Want a hit?” Alex asked.

“She’s pretty tiny. Can she handle it?” A friend said. 

You glared at her and took the paper between your lips, inhaling and holding a large amount of smoke. She watched in amazement as you exhaled through your nose, “Well...I stand corrected, princess.”

You took in a sharp breath of air.

And that was just the beginning of the spiral. 

You stayed in rotation of the weed for a long time, until your thoughts were nothing but a mess of words racing everywhere. Your eyes felt heavy, so did your body. And you couldn’t stop thinking about him.

You were wondering was there ever really a connection or were you just highly sexually compatible? Did Matthew ever have feelings for you or did he just want one thing? Why does kissing him and fucking him and just talking to him feel so different? How come when everything falls apart, you want Matthew? How come when everything is going well, you want Matthew? Need to talk to Matthew. Where’s Matthew? Where’s Matthew? 

“[y/n]!” Alex called. “You’re high as fuck,” he laughed. “What are you thinking about?”

Matthew. 

“Come here,” and he pulled you into a kiss. And when you pulled away, feeling nothing, nothing at all, you realized you needed Matthew. You needed to feel something. But Matthew wasn’t here. And you wish he was here. Where’s Matthew? 

Tears were springing to your eyes, but you quickly began to cough, distracting yourself with a new sensation. You rose to your feet, and exited the room, much to Alex’s disapproval. He watched you rush past him, his face laced with confusion.

Everyone you passed by looked like Matthew. Why did everyone look like Matthew? You missed Matthew. And this was unfair. You wiped at the tears in your eyes, but they were already gliding down your cheeks. They burned your skin and it made you cry more. You were blinded. And way too high to notice Matthew - the real Matthew - entering the hallway. 

His eyes were redder than red, a lot like yours. His movements were slow. But something told him to reach out for you. Like a magnet. And you fell into his arms. It took him a whole second to realize it was you, but he did. 

“[y/n]?” he whispered. “Oh, my God, [y/n]. What’s wrong? What happened?” His hands moved to cup your face, his thumbs wiping the tears on your cheek. 

“[y/n]!” Oh, no. Alex. “What are you doing? Where are you going?” 

At that point, you looked up at Matthew. Focused in on him. Said his name. But his attention had turned to Alex. And he was pissed. You could tell. 

“Wait, wait, Matthew, wait,” you pleaded. 

“What the hell did you do to her?” He shouted, holding you close. 

“Wait, Matthew, he didn’t—“

“Gube, let her go, dude!.” Alex snapped, reaching for your arm. 

And that sent Matthew through the roof. He released you from his arms and moved towards Alex, delivering a swift punch to his face. You’d never seen Matthew so much as cuss someone out, so this. This. This was hard to register. Nonetheless, you screamed his name, attempting to push both of them away from the brawl. But it was useless. 

Two guys had to step in and separate Alex and Matthew, pulling them to opposing sides of the hallway. And you had to decide who to follow. It wasn’t a hard decision to make. 

You kept a good 100 feet behind Matthew the whole time, watching him stomp his way to his residence hall. You knew exactly how to get into the building, but weren’t sure you should. You’d never seen him so angry. So red. So primal. 

But, Matthew. 

Oh, God, Matthew. What would you say? What would you do? Did he want to see you? Did he want to be alone? Was his roommate there? You paced for 20 minutes, freezing your ass off outside the dormitory. Your mind was made up when you found the side entrance and let yourself in, marching up the steps. Now or never. Now or never. And you needed to see Matthew now. 

You perched yourself in front of his door, paused, and proceeded to knock with full force. “Be home, be home, be home,” you whispered. 

He was home.

He came to the door, shirtless, his face bruised, his hair tasseled, and that stupid, ridiculous gold chain around his neck. And you’d never wanted to suck a dick so badly in your entire life. You instantly imagined grabbing him, kissing him, pulling him close. But you didn’t do that. You stood there, looking like an idiot, until he spoke. 

“What are you doing here, [y/n]?”

You hadn’t even thought about it. It just felt right to follow him. “I—I wanted...I wanted to make sure you were alright.”

He shrugged, “I’m alright.” His face was stern. Stoic. No emotion showed on his features and it made you sick.

“Oh,” you said. “Okay.” 

You stared at each other for a long time. You just wanted him to say it. Ask you to stay. Ask you to come in. To admit it. But he wouldn’t. So you had to walk away. 

“Okay,” you nodded, sadly, and ducked your head as you headed towards the exit. “Okay.” You sniffled, patting at your eyes as they watered. 

Matthew watched you go. His bottom lip caught between his teeth, his shoulders relaxing as he exhaled. “[y/n],” he called. 

You’d stopped in your tracks.

“You...you were pretty stoned at the party,” he told you. “Are you sober?” 

You turned your body to face him. You thought about his eyes. How red they were. How slow he moved. How you had both been utterly and totally high as hell. “I’m sober,” you said. Honestly. After all of tonight’s events, and the sheer shock of seeing Matthew, being so close to him again, you had sobered up. “Believe me, I’m sober. Are you?”

Matthew licked him lips, nodding as he sighed. He stepped out into the hallway, and pushed the door to his dorm open. He signaled for you to enter. 

You gave him a quick and sad smile, and you avoided eye contact with him as you stepped into the empty room. He led the way to his private room, and let you in, closing the door behind you. You kept your back to him, arms crossed over your chest. 

He sighed, “I’m—Veronica and I broke up. Actually, she broke up with me...again. So, y’know, it wasn’t much of a surprise, but—“

“Matthew,” you cut him off, turning to him. “I need a favor.”

He hesitated, then his voice was strong, “Anything.”

“I leave for home next week for Christmas break. And since, I can’t seem to figure out what the hell about you is driving me insane, Matthew Gubler, I’m going to need time. Space. If you need time and space. So, you need to make that decision.”

“Okay.”

“But right now, take your clothes off,” you ordered. 

“Okay.”

He stared at you lustfully, just like you wanted, his body moving on autopilot to remove his shorts and boxers. You mirrored his movements, and took off your dress, subsequently tossing your bra and panties onto the floor. He grabbed onto your body and kissed you, one hand tangled in your hair and the other gripping your waist. He pushed you back onto his bed, falling on top of you and kissing your neck. You held onto his torso as he made way to your collarbone, nibbling on it lightly. He pulled away and gropped your breasts, massaging them with his fingers. 

He was practically drooling over them, his eyes focused solely on your boobs. He leaned down and sucked on your nipple, while his hand slid down between your legs. He felt around your core, and slowly slid two fingers into you. You threw your head back, and moaned. 

Matthew kissed a trail from your breast to your hips. He began to kiss your inner thighs, kneeling down in front of you and pulling you up to his face. He pressed his tongue against  your clit, working his muscle in an up and down motion. You moved your hips against his face and his fingers, gasping weakly. You forgot how good his mouth felt, but this was huge, huge reminder. You gripped onto his hair and swore under your breath. 

He noticed your thighs tightening around his face, and increased his intensity and speed. Your back arched off of the mattress, you whimpered into your mouth, and your chest was heaving. You let out a long groan as you came on his face, your entire body tensing up. He withdrew his fingers from you, and licked up from your core to your navel to your breasts. He kissed your neck, then your lips. And he sucked his fingers clean, holding eye contact with you.

Overwhelmed, you pulled him in by his face and kissed him passionately. He grunted against your lips, rubbing his cock on your core. He pushed into you, his jaw dropping and his forehead against yours. You wrapped your legs around his waist and this encouraged him to thrust into you. Matthew held you in his arms, moaning into your ear as he moved his hips. 

You kissed his jaw, sucking on the skin until you felt it pulse between your lips. You could feel his muscles moving under your palms, and his cock striking a sensitive spot inside of you. It felt like you were crumbling, getting weaker by the second. But when you felt the chain hitting your chin, you wired back to life. You gripped onto the necklace and twisted it around your fingers, angrily biting your lip. 

As he slammed into you, you muttered a soft “fuck!” and yanked on the chain. It popped off of his neck, and it was cathartic. You moaned and threw it to a far corner of the room. You reached down and rubbed your clit quickly, panting as Matthew’s body began to tremble. He kept his gaze focused on you as you let him fuck you into another orgasm, and your hips rolled against his in an eager rhythm. 

“Oh, fuck!” Matthew exclaimed, pulling out of you just in time. He released himself onto your stomach, moaning and gasping for air. 

The mattress creaked as he laid down beside you, collapsing with a thud. The two of you stared at the ceiling, naked and breathy and covered in sweat. You rested your hand on Matthew’s chest, and he intertwined your fingers. 

The next week, you were headed to the train station to get home for Christmas. Not knowing what to say to each, Matthew and you hadn’t talked since last week. You sat in the back of an uber, your suitcase at your side, when your phone vibrated in your lap. You picked it up and recognized Matthew’s name flashing on your screen. 

You sighed, swiped to answer, and held the phone to your ear, “Hello?”

“I don’t want space.”

“I—“ You stuttered. 

“I want as little space as possible.”

You were stunned, quiet, ��Okay.”

The line went dead, and you set your phone down. You bit down on your lip. But the smile was still clear.

[PART 5.]

[ad1thi]

@starklysteve  rhae asked for some winteriron recs (read: i volunteered to spam rhae w buckytony fics because i adore them), so in no particular order, and based on my memory alone, here are some of my favourite buckytony fics!!

(please remember to leave kudos and comments!!)

American Memorial: @/spqr

“Pick up the shield,” Tony said. Understandably, Bucky told him to go fuck himself

Losing You (Is My Supervillain Origin Story):  @amethystinawrites

There are a lot of things that Bucky regrets. The list is, quite frankly, longer than he can handle on most days and, right at the very top, is lying to Tony about who killed his parents. Bucky has known even from before they started dating, but he simply can't bring himself to say anything — to ruin one of the few good things he has in his life. It's selfish and wrong, but Bucky just doesn't know how to tell Tony that he is the one responsible for Howard and Maria Stark's deaths.

So when he starts receiving anonymous emails, threatening to expose the truth to Tony and the rest of the world, Bucky is desperate enough to agree to the blackmailer's terms, even if it means breaking up with Tony. Bucky cannot, under any circumstances, let Tony find out about his parents from anyone but Bucky himself.

Too late Bucky realizes that there is much more to the blackmailer's scheme than just having Bucky break Tony's heart. Too late Bucky realizes that despite his best intentions, he will still end up losing everything — in a much more permanent way than he could ever have imagined.

Hindsight: @amethystinawrites

Ever since he was a little boy, Bucky has dreamed of becoming an astronaut together with Steve, and he can hardly believe their luck when both of them are picked for the Ares 3 crew — the third expedition sent to explore Mars. It is, quite literally, a dream come true.

Things get complicated when Bucky finds himself inconveniently attracted to their mechanical engineer, however. Tony Stark is funny, competent, and absolutely captivating, but considering NASA's strict non-fraternization policy, Bucky knows it's better to keep his interest to himself — at least until they return to Earth. He can wait.

Not once does Bucky consider the possibility that all of them might not make it back alive, or just how much he'll come to regret not acting when he had the chance.

Arsenal: @tangodancer91 (part of a series) (also my all time favourite buckytony series ever)

Two years after the Civil War that tore apart everything she’d bled to build, Toni Stark sacrificed herself for her newly-reinstated teammates and ended up stranded in the past. Freed of her name, her fortune, and her hostile ex-teammates, she built herself a life as an agent for the OSS, the American secret service, and, having nothing to lose, accepted a mission to infiltrate the newest player in the war: an organization that call themselves HYDRA.

Then, she met a young draftee with a dreadfully familiar face, and they clicked like she had never clicked with anyone before. By the time she realized she’d fallen for the man who’d cost her everything, it was too late, but she’d always been an all or nothing type of girl, and if she was damning herself, well then…might as well go all the way.

Yield: @aurumacadicus (this is an a/b/o verse fic)

All Bucky has ever wanted was to win the contest for Tony's hand in marriage. It's a bit harder now that he's down to one arm, but luckily his friends are willing to help make up the difference.

Barnes Family Motors Inc: @phlintandsteel-ao3 (this is an a/b/o verse fic)

In a world where alphas legally own omegas, Bucky is just a small time mechanic from Brooklyn who gets lucky in a poker game. Tony is an omega whose life is fraught with abuse, until his luck suddenly takes a turn for the better.

In the grand scheme of things they may only be able to make little differences in the lives of those around them, but that doesn't mean it's not worth making them. After all, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

The Long Con (don’t kid yourself): @phlintandsteel-ao3

When Tony finds out that Howard is thinking about changing the terms of Tony’s trust fund, he embarks on a not-so-elaborate scheme to prove that he’s totally settling down and not in continued need of Howard’s “guidance” until 25 instead of 21. Step 1: Get a fiance Step 2: ??? Step 3: Profit (Finally be free of Howard)

Unfortunately, Tony Stark is the worst con-artist ever, and may only be kidding himself..

Hot Mess:  @/niki

“Would serve him right if we had the world's most ill-advised one night stand.”

Imperceptions and Assumptions: @/NarutoRox

Afterward, Bucky would look back on their first meeting with fondness and a healthy dose of amusement. At the time, though, he’d mostly been confused - and more than a little embarrassed.

Bucky hadn’t paid much attention to the media in his early days, and hadn’t bothered really reading up on the team or anything, either, so when Steve had said ‘Tony Stark’, Bucky had just assumed.

The same way he’d looked at the three people who’d walked through the door - an imposing redhead in heels, a bored-looking brunette who dimpled when she saw him and Steve, and a sturdy-looking man wearing a slight glower - locked eyes on the man, and assumed him to be the infamous Tony Stark Steve wouldn’t shut up about.

It was Bucky’s first lesson when it came to Natasha Antonia ‘Toni’ Stark - never assume.

~

In which Tony Stark is actually Natasha Antonia 'Toni' Stark (which everyone knows) as well as Iron Man (which everyone does not know), assumptions are made, and there are misunderstandings.

From this prompt: How about a cross between my two favorite tropes? Nobody knows who iron man is other than Natasha/Antonia Stark's bodyguard but Bucky is in love with one or both of them

i know, you know (that i’m not telling the truth) : @imposter-human

psychic tony stark is called to work a routine case with detective bucky barnes; only, he seems to be more connected to the case than anyone thought

or, a psych au!!

the new romeo and juliet: @imposter-human

Bucky and Tony weren’t dating, because a firefighter and a detective couldn’t date (never mind that Tony hadn’t slept with anyone else since their thing had started, and he and Bucky hung out with an alarming frequency, and the whole precinct thought that they were an item). It didn't matter how many nights they spent together, how Bucky had a drawer of Tony's things and vice versa, they just couldn't.

It was a classic Romeo and Juliet situation, if Romeo and Juliet actively disliked each other on top of everything.

if found, please return to: @capnshellhead

Tony Stark shows up at Bucky's bar after a really tough break up and Bucky decides to look after him

gods of carnage:  @deathsweetqueen (part of a series)

On May 29, 1970, the Winter Soldier feels a burning sensation and looks down at his wrist to find a single name written in enduring ink: Antonia Margaret Stark.

HYDRA, fearing the defiance of their greatest asset due to a bond that cannot and will not be denied its due, immediately dispatches the Soldier, to locate, collect and deliver this newborn girl to HYDRA, which will become her new home, her new family and her entire world - to be raised as another one of HYDRA’s great warriors: their Engineer.

But the Engineer is a faulty asset. She thinks things that may get her killed one day. She wants things that she shouldn’t, that are not hers to want. She has a mind and body that belong more to herself than any handler, than any commander she may have.

And if she cuts her strings, when she cuts her strings, well, when you put sheep next to wolves, you ask for a bloodbath.

where i walk, you follow (where i burn, you burn):  @deathsweetqueen

At his father's command, Anthony Stark trades in his northern keep for a southern crown, wedded and bedded by Alexander of House Pierce, First of His Name.

Tony does his duty, becomes a wolf in name only, toothless and clawless, and a dark, gleaming ornament for the King, even if he would make himself a widower a hundred times over.

Honour demanded it of him, and so he did.

But it is Ser James Barnes, named the Kingslayer for his sins during the Rebellion, that draws his eye, gives him comfort in this pit of liars and monsters

So, what is honour compared to a good man's love? They are only human, and the gods have fashioned us for love.

[Fic by deathsweetqueen, Art by MassiveSpaceWren]

Cat Parenting (And Other Meet Cutes):  @singingwithoutwords (this is an a/b/o verse fic)

Of all the ways Bucky could have finally gotten a chance to speak to his crush, why did it have to be his cat getting Tony's cat pregnant?

Codename Heartbreaker:  @rinnwrites (part of a series)

Today was a day that, contrary to popular belief, Tony Stark had most certainly not been looking forward to. It was election day, or election night, rather, and the polls were closed, the results were in; Howard Stark was the next President of the United States of America.

or

Tony Stark Bingo - R3: Election Day

Fate Strings Not Required: @akira-of-the-twilight

“Hey doll,” a new voice said from Tony’s side.

Tony glanced at the person approaching.

Someone was working the rugged, bad boy look. The new guy rocked a leather jacket and blue jeans.

His blue eyes lit up with joy as he approached Tony. “Something wrong here?” The new guy gave the first guy--the one insisting he was Tony's soul mate--a once over then turned his full attention on Tony. “You’re looking a little stressed, anything I can do?”

Tony took the hint.

Tony wrapped his hand around the new guy’s elbow. He kept his touch light and breakable in case he’d misread the cue.

“Just some guy claiming to be my soul mate, babe.”

The new guy’s eyebrows rose to his hairline in surprise. He chuckled and gave the first guy a smirk. “Strange. Last time I checked we were soul mates.”

Siren’s Treasure: @akira-of-the-twilight

Prompt: I really love the idea of playboy!Bucky flirt of the seven seas first-mate to Captain Rogers, falling completely overboard in love with our Blacksmith-Inventor Inexperienced!Tony who goes from confident captive to shy woe-begone man in the presence of Bucky's fierce affections. Virgin!Tony wonders what a siren like Bucky could possibly want with him. Bucky wants to know what the fuck Logan thinks he's doing flirting with the man who stole his heart like sunken treasures. Happy ending please?

“Sirens killed your crew?” Steve repeated.

The dark haired man nodded. Just an hour ago the Avenger crew had found the man clinging to driftwood in the middle of the ocean. Now he clutched the flask of rum Bucky had given him like it was all that kept him buoyant during these tumultuous times.

The man—Tony—had already downed more than half the flask and was still sober. “Not exactly my crew, but close enough. Yeah.” Tony uncapped the flask and threw back a mouthful.

Steve frowned. “What do you mean by that?”

Tony shrugged. “I wasn’t captain of the ship.”

“So what were you?” Steve pressed.

Road hazards: @riotwritesthings

Steve and Bucky's BFF road trip is not going well. For starters, Steve couldn't even make it, and for some bizarre reason asked Tony to take his place. The fact that it’s only a couple days before someone is trying to kill them isn’t nearly as stressful as the fact that Bucky and Tony have never really had an actual conversation.

It’s hard to avoid someone when stuck in a car with them though, and if they manage to stay alive they just might learn a thing or two.

Once Upon a Wintertime: @iam93percentstardust (this is an a/b/o verse fic)

Look, Bucky knows that he’s fulfilling every cliché in the book right now. He knows that, as a bodyguard, he’s not supposed to fall in love with his client. But Tony’s good and sweet and so, so lonely and how could Bucky not? He thinks he’s got a shot after Tony breaks up with his boyfriend but on a trip across the country, he finds out that Tony needs a bondmate or the board will steal SI—and Ty’s already said yes.

little bird: @thxngam

Bucky laughs, and it’s loud and unbidden, a way he hadn’t laughed for years before, tugging his giggling omega into his lap. Tony quiets and nestles into Bucky’s chest like he was made to belong there, and Bucky has noticed several times that Tony is much smaller than he is, but he never quite noticed how Tony always seemed to curl into him as a reason for his size.

Tony nestles like a little bird.

Teenage Dream:  @anthonyed

Tony Stark develops a crush on the school's bad boy who is too cool to hang out with anyone. At least, it's what Tony thinks. He never considered that James Barnes is probably as lonely as he is.

(in the process of editing)

The Best Laid Plans (of Mice and Men):  @arboreal-elm-ash-oak

His Dark Materials AU

It was Annalise who noticed their small visitor first.

“Tony,” the spider daemon said softly, skittering up the collar of his dress shirt, two of her eight legs resting delicately against his cheek, “Don’t startle them, but I believe we have a guest. Look, by the coffee table.”

A Kitten and a Soldier: @/ThatDamnKennedyKid

Bucky hadn't heard from Rumlow in years - since the whole Winter Soldier fiasco in Siberia. They've been discharged for nearly six years, but when he gets a message that only says "I need your help" , he grabs his jacket and keys.

The Prince’s Bride: @hddnone

After Tony loses the love of his life to pirates on the high sea, not much matters to him. He agrees to wed Prince Justin Hammer to gain access to vibranium and shut himself away in his workshop until the end of time, but a group of ruffians kidnap Tony to take him to Hydra.

Tony's rescue takes on an unlikely form - the Dread Pirate Rogers, who killed the love of his life five years ago.

A Princess Bride AU

A Kind of Destiny: @weethreequarter

A chance meeting at a wedding brings together an American war veteran and the Prince of Wales. Little do they know, the wheels have been set in motion for a relationship which will change not only their lives, but the monarchy itself. Bucky and Tony strike up a friendship at Steve and Peggy’s wedding, a friendship that soon develops into more. But it’s not so simple: Tony is the Prince of Wales, and heir to the throne of Great Britain and the United Kingdom. Any relationship is played out in the press and public eye, and then there's that pesky issue of succession to consider too. But Bucky is no coward, and when he finds something he wants, he’s prepared to fight for it. And fight he will, at Tony's side, for their very own fairy tale ending.

[queenofcats17]

@loverofallarts12 commissioned me to write a shippy fic of Sammy teaching Henry how to play the banjo.

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

The clock had just struck six and Sammy could hear his heart pounding in his ears as he dashed from the projection booth down to the band room. Normally this would have been due to the exertion of running at top speed when he was unused to such activity, but today there was another reason. 

He was going to be alone in his sanctuary with Henry. Henry had asked Sammy a few days before if he would be willing to teach him how to play an instrument. Without thinking, Sammy had replied that he would. 

“Great!” Henry had said, flashing one of those bright smiles that consistently left Sammy tongue-tied. "How about we start after work on Friday?"

Sammy had agreed, of course, since he couldn't say no when Henry was smiling at him like that. 

As the days had passed, though, thoughts of doubt had begun to cloud his mind. As was often the case, his mind was proving to be his worst enemy. He would be alone in his sanctuary with Henry. Just the two of them. They would have to be sitting close as well for Sammy to properly teach him. Would he even be able to teach him? He couldn't imagine it would be easy for him to focus when Henry was so close. What if Henry noticed his strange behavior and asked what was wrong? What if he ended up blurting out the wrong thing?

"You wouldn't be this worked up if you'd just told him in the first place how you feel," Susie had told him when he’d expressed his concerns to her. She was right, as usual, but he wasn't going to admit it. He'd been harboring a crush on Henry almost since the first day he'd come to work at the studio and he wasn’t about to break and admit his feelings now. There were still too many factors that made it inconvenient and dangerous. 

So, here he was, worked up and flustered as he opened his sanctuary and prepared for Henry's lesson. Now, he didn't necessarily have to conduct the lesson in his sanctuary, but he far preferred it that way. It meant fewer interruptions, namely from Wally. He'd borrowed a music department banjo, one in better condition, for Henry to practice on while he would demonstrate on his own. 

As he sat down in his chair and began to tune up his banjo, he prayed he wouldn't have to be sitting here too long. He didn't think he could take any more of his mind bombarding him with all the ways that this could possibly go wrong.

Almost as if on cue, Henry's face appeared in the sanctuary doorway. "Hey! Hope I'm not late."

"I don't see how you could be," Sammy said, trying to ignore the warmth that bubbled up in his chest upon seeing Henry. "We didn't set a specific time."

"Good point." Henry laughed and ambled in. 

"Well," Sammy said once Henry was situated and had the borrowed banjo balanced precariously on his knee. "We should start with the primary chords. Watch me." 

He began to demonstrate the chords on his own banjo, thin fingers straddling the strings in graceful arches. 

Henry watched, attempting to copy the arrangement with his own shorter, thicker fingers. He wasn't terribly concerned with getting it right, however. 

You see, Henry had an ulterior motive behind asking Sammy to teach him. Yes, he did want to learn to play an instrument, but he also wanted to spend time with Sammy. And what better way to spend time with him than to watch him do what he loved most? Not to mention,  Sammy became almost a different person when he was playing music. All the anger and tension he carried seemed to melt away as he lost himself in the music. Henry could watch him play for hours. 

"Is this right?" He asked, trying to copy the c chord Sammy had been showing him.

"Not quite." Sammy set down his banjo, moving a bit closer. "Your middle two fingers should be closer together. Like this." Reaching out, he repositioned Henry's fingers. 

Neither noticed the way the other blushed at the contact, each too distracted by their own faces heating up. 

"Try it again. That should help," Sammy cleared his throat and scooted back. 

"Thanks." Henry smiled. 

.

The majority of the lesson proceeded like this, each attempting to remain calm and professional and pretend they weren't seconds away from breaking down into a blushing mess.

(Wally only ever interrupted once and had the good sense to quickly leave before he was yelled at.)

Henry hadn't made too much progress by the end of the night, but then again this was his first lesson. Sammy was just glad he'd managed to get through it without doing anything stupid. 

"Do you want to do this again next Friday?" He asked as he began to put the banjos away. 

"Yeah, sure," Henry replied. "But I think it would be better if tried it outside of the studio. Fewer distractions that way."

"That...would probably be better," Sammy conceded, trying to ignore the way his heart was racing at the prospect of seeing Henry outside of work.

"Great! You can come over to my place next week and we can get some dinner and then do the lesson." Henry hoped Sammy wouldn't notice his voice shaking.

Sammy nearly dropped his banjo. He swore, scrambling to keep the banjo from falling. 

"Are you alright?" Henry asked. 

"I'm fine," Sammy said, trying to stand up a bit straighter in an attempt to distract from his fumble. "That sounds....wonderful. I'll see you on Monday."

He then took the opportunity to flee before he lost whatever dignity he had left. Henry hung back for a moment, silently congratulation himself on the fact that he'd managed to actually ask Sammy to come to his house for dinner. 

From his projection booth, Norman just sighed to himself and shook his head. These kids.