#or the oven was just on for longer than it should’ve before I even put them in

[cr0wc0rpse]

I’m thinking about that lighthearted post that was about a person and their bf having the cooking vs baking divide and it was a fun post but I also saw a version with an addition with the tags (screenshotted, not tags from someone I follow) that said something along the lines of “baking being a ‘science’ is so stupid it all goes in the same bowl in the end” and I want to strangle that person. Baking IS a sort of science. Specific measurements and specific steps. I’d like to see you try to make macarons. Or cream puffs. Or doughnuts. Or brioche. Or anything sourdough. Mother fucker. Bitch.

[avatar-saiki]

The Demon Prince is Strange

Diavolo/reader, 4.6k words

Summary:

Inspired by the Halloween Prank Problems event

The thought of an all powerful demon willfully falling into a pitfall was amusing and unexpectedly attractive to me, so I had to write about it. Please enjoy a shy reader x Diavolo fic!

The Devildom Prank War, apparently an annual tradition wherein denizens were divided into two teams, End Masks and Dead Circus, set to play all sorts of ridiculous pranks on one another to begin celebrating the birth month of the rising Demon King.

Or at least… that’s what everyone kept telling you. You were fairly certain no such prank war occurred last year, but not a single one of them had slipped up or given you any indication that that wasn’t the case.

Even Luke, who was happily humming along to some unknown song while mixing cookie dough, had no trouble telling you all about these supposed pranks that happened last year.

“Did Satan see what Barbatos and I did yet?” he asked, looking up at you with his eyes so bright and full of excitement. “Oh tell me he did!”

Yeah, whatever was going on here you’d play along to the best of your ability.

“He sure did! You should’ve seen his face!” you said, unable to help laughing at the memory. “Oh he was so peeved. I think he spent hours trying to fix all the covers again. He might still be sorting through them all.”

Luke’s excitement dimmed ever so slightly, “Really? You don’t think he’s too upset, do you? Oh… maybe we should’ve thought of something else…”

“No, it was great!” you said, quick to comfort the little angel. “Honestly, it was so clever. You pranked him and didn’t hurt any of his books at all!”

He dolloped dough onto a sheet pan, a small bashful smile on his face. “Mm, that’s what I was hoping for! Something fun that wouldn’t make him mad.”

You nodded and reached out to take the pan, but he grabbed it and turned on his heel, stubbornly walking to the oven to place them inside without your help. It was a habit that would die hard, but how could you not want to help him when he always turned his face away from the heat before stuffing the pan inside and shutting the door quick?

It was so cute!

While the cookies baked, you and Luke made some smalltalk about pranks and what’d he’d been up to lately. Still shy and nervous around demons, it was something special to see how much he’d started to open up and learn to speak for himself. He even tried to gently ask what pranks the brothers might have planned, though he did backtrack quickly because he didn’t want to be accused of cheating.

It wasn’t like you really had much to tell him anyway yet, their pranks had only just begun.

You took a moment to jot down a few quick notes about the pranks you’d seen so far, still lost in how you might judge or grade any of them… some were more clever than others… some larger, some small. Some were-

“Cookies are ready!” 

You snapped the notebook shut and pocketed it, reaching for one of the cookies. “Yum, these look great, Luke!”

“I hope they’re good! I tried a new recipe and added a few extra spices to make them more complex,” he said with a proud smile, picking up one for himself.

“I’m sure they’re great,” you said, taking a bite just as he did, expecting something memorable and…

And…

His nose wrinkled and he turned to spit into the sink. “Ack! What… salty? Why did it taste so salty?”

You set the cookie down and covered your mouth, squeezing your eyes shut and attempting to swallow, but the longer it lingered on your tongue the dryer it felt.

“Wait! Let me get you some water!” 

A glass was passed and drained, washing the saltiness away much to your relief.

“Ah, thanks that helped,” you said, setting the cup down in the sink. “You didn’t get that recipe from Solomon, did you?”

“No!” His cheeks turned a rosy shade and he frowned at the pan of cookies. “I was so sure I put enough sugar in… I even added a few-“ He gasped and ran over to the pantry, pulling out the container of sugar.

“It’s salt! Someone switched the labels!”

“What, really?” You walked over, peering over his shoulder at the containers. “You sure?”

“Yeah, see! Taste this one,” he said, pointing to the salt jar.

“Ah… I dunno, I think I had enough salt for the rest of the week,” you said in a half-hearted joke, making him pout. “Alright, alright.” 

You picked up a spoon and scooped up a very small amount, tasting with only the slightest touch of your tongue expecting to cringe away again but it was sweet.

“Hey, you’re right! That wasn’t salt!”

Luke sighed and pushed the containers back, picking at the labels to switch them over again. “I guess the End Masks got me… I should’ve been more careful.”

Well, it could’ve been worse.

“I’ve mixed up salt and sugar before too, and no masked weirdo came messing around in my kitchen.” That made him laugh a little, but then he sighed. “I’m sorry… I wanted to make treats for everyone but it looks like they’re all ruined now.”

You glanced from the disheartened angel to the batch of salted cookies, a mischievous thought already forming.

“Well… you could still give them to the End Masks.”

“But they’re-“ He turned, realization dawning in his eyes. “Oh… that’s a great idea!”

“What’s a great idea?”

A sudden chill ran down your back, as it always did, at the newcomer’s voice.

“Oh? Did you bake cookies, Luke?” Diavolo asked, striding in with a regal and confident air that never quite matched his personality. “May I have one?”

“No!” Luke said quickly, rushing over to the pan. “I- I mean, no, sorry! These are no good, they’re for a prank!”

“Is that right?” His amber eyes fixed on you, his voice warm and honeyed as he stared into the depths of your soul. “Our impartial judge wouldn’t happen to be helping you cheat now, would they?”

“Of course not! I would never let them cheat!”

“I-I mean, uh…” You reached across your body to rub your arm, knowing full well he could see through lies.

It was the thoughts of what else he could see that made you uneasy.

“Does it clear me if I fell for the prank too?” 

You’d meant it as a joke, but Luke’s face fell again. 

“Sorry…”

Shit.

“No, that’s not what I meant!”

Before you could rectify your mistake in offending the little angel again, Diavolo’s boisterous laugh filled the room.

“You’re always full of such fun no matter where you go, aren’t you?” He turned, nodding for you to follow, “The sky’s nice and clear tonight. Why don’t we go for a stroll together?”

It wasn’t the first time he’d invited you to join him in something casual, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last, but…

You swallowed the instinctive fear rising in your throat, giving your best effort to keep your voice calm.

“Outside? With you?”

“Yes?” The question seemed to surprise him, but he chuckled again. “Unless you’re busy, though I can’t say I find it fair if the judge is helping our Dead Circus with our pranks…”

This fear caused by the soul detecting the presence of demons was one you’d felt since day one, and while it was something you’d become accustomed to, learned from and hell even relied on a few times to get you out of dodge, it was nigh impossible to just ignore it in the soon-to-be-freaking-demon-king’s presence!

“No, I don’t need any help!” Luke insisted, snapping you out of your stupor with a gleeful defiance. “Just watch, I’ll prank them all on my own this time!”

Just as demons instilled fear within the hearts of man, angels could so easily soothe it…

You breathed out a steady breath, embracing the smile Luke’s charm had given and met Diavolo’s gaze… 

Mostly.

Looking at his eyebrows was close enough.

“Sure, I could use a walk.”

Diavolo’s brief smile and Luke’s parting, ‘Have fun!’ sent you along your merry way, keeping your back straight and eyes forward.

Just don’t think about the way your knees seemed to shake with every step, the urge to flee rising the further you traveled from the little angel’s joy.

Diavolo walked ahead, leading you outside along the cobblestone path that joined many buildings together, making navigating through the cursed and winding trees much more feasible. So many had become lost to the forest before the paths had been laid down…

The thought made you shiver, so many things truly were destined to be unfriendly here. Diavolo seemed to notice and glanced back.

“Are you feeling cold? Would you like my jacket?”

“What?” You looked up at him, thoughts of Lucifer losing his shit that you’d take something from Diavolo- Lord Diavolo- so casually racing through your mind. “Oh, n-no, no! I’m not cold!”

His smile faltered slightly, and he let go of his lapel. “I see…”

Wait-

Could rejecting his kindness offend him?

Maybe this was one of the many gestures he’d wanted to make as a show of peace.

“It looks better on you anyway!” You offered awkwardly. “I, uh, I like the hat too…”

Yeah that sounded like the fakest compliment you’d ever-

“Really?”

His eyes illuminated in the night, and he reached up to remove the hat, sweeping it around in a well practiced bow. So quick and fluid, it happened so naturally you wondered just how dexterous a demon could be. The control they carried within themselves at all times was both impressive and daunting.

“Why, thank you,” he said, giving you a charming grin as he stood and returned his hat to his head. “I should remember to pass along your praises to Barbatos and Simeon, they worked hard to coordinate our team’s costumes for this year.”

“Did they?” You followed him naturally as he turned and began to walk again. You really had to stop overthinking so much. Instincts be damned, demons were nothing like they’d been portrayed in stories. “I had no idea.”

“Mhm, though I imagine Levi might’ve helped too considering he has some experience in costumes.”

“Ah, true! His cosplays are amazing, aren’t they? I had no idea he could sew when we first met!”

Diavolo chuckled fondly, “Yes the brothers can be so unpredictable at times, but so talented too. It amazes me even to this day all the fantastic things they can do.”

He almost sounded… envious. But how could a being so powerful envy anyone? “Well,” You briefly reflected on the many, many times Levi had also flooded various locations with impulse summonings of Lotan. “I wouldn’t say everything they do is fantastic.”

His laughter carried over the trees, stirring warmth in your heart. 

Something in it always reminded you when you were younger… less jaded… more carefree.

It was… nice.

“Very true! Though, I will admit our lives here have changed for the better since their arrival.”

The sentiment sparked your curiosity, but before you could ask he stopped again, his amber eyes taking your breath away.

“Your arrival has done wonders as well.”

“O-Oh I don’t know about that,” you said, ever quick to downplay your involvement in anything. “I haven’t really done anything…”

“Do you still believe that?” he asked, gaze unwavering. “Even after forming pacts with each of them? Traveling to all three realms?”

“W-Well most of those just sort of happened…”

His smile widened.

“Do you even discredit the ripples of change you’ve caused with the friendships you’ve made?”

“I-I…” 

You stared into his eyes, enraptured by their warm glow like a soft candlelight. So easily it could burn if one strayed too close, and yet…

“You can meet my eyes more easily now, does that mean you’re finally comfortable around me?”

You ducked your head in an instant and he chuckled, albeit more reserved this time.

“I suppose I spoke too soon,” he said gently, starting to walk down the path again.

You let him get a few steps ahead before mumbling, “Sorry…”

“Oh no, think nothing of it!” The ease of his response made you feel even worse, and you looked up to see him walking with his hand raised. 

“I… well, I can’t say I understand, but I can imagine well enough.”

That only stirred guilt in your heart. Were you really so shallow and naive to keep the kindest demon you’d ever met at a distance all for what? Fear of the unknown power?

“D- Lor-“ You bit the tip of your tongue, unsure what to say. As much as he’d encouraged you to say his name, Lucifer had always made it a point to show respect too.

And…

And you should show respect. 

He was the future Demon King, holding both the status and unfathomable power that came with the title.

Something in his eyes when he turned back to you felt almost as if one of those powers might be peering into your mind…

But still, he simply smiled and turned away yet again.

Keep that distance, no matter how he might tempt for familiarity.

“Why don’t we refocus on the task at hand?” His posture was straight, voice light and playful. “The End Masks have started making their moves so I’m sure it’ll make for an exciting day.”

So easily he appeared to change his moods, but did they really?

“You like getting pranked?” you asked, holding your wrist behind your back and following after him. “Really?”

“Yes, of course! It’s the one time each year everyone gets to go all out. In fact I—”

He paused with an arm outstretched and you stopped with him, instinctively looking around. 

“What? Is there something here?”

“Stay there a moment if you would,” he said, “we’re among the most likely of locations now… I wouldn’t want you to get caught in something with me.”

Right, that made sense.

“Okay, I’ll just wait here then…”

“Splendid!” He strode out, “Now if I had to guess, I think—“

The cobblestone gave way and Diavolo vanished from view, falling into the pit in the blink of an eye.

“D-Dia!” You cried out, running toward the pit’s edge and falling to your knees, anxiously peering in.

Logic said he was fine, but your heart said—

A low, rumbling laugh carried up from the pit, happier than ever.

“A pitfall! Classic!”

“D… Dia?” you repeated dumbly, searching the massive cavern for any signs of life. It was so deep, swallowing the moonlight just as easily as it’d consumed the young demon lord, nothing but a blank abyss.

“Phew.” Some scuffling down below and a few rocks teetering over the edge were all you could glean from the sight, the echoes of his voice reverberating upward. “And quite a deep one at that.”

Your legs gave out and you sat on the ground, holding a hand over your racing heart. 

He… he was fine.

Of course he was fine!

He was basically the new Demon King!

“Upsidasy!” You heard him call but hardly registered it, too focused on settling your heart in your chest.

Why the hell did you panic like that?!

The demon rose from up the pit, leaping out as if it had been nothing more than a minor inconvenience and landing at the edge with a flourish. He turned to brush dust off his shoulders, a smile on his lips. “Not bad! Not bad at all! That was deeper than last year’s and better concealed!”

You stared at him stupidly while he took off his hat and shook dirt from his coat.

“Are you… okay?”

Your heart simply refused to believe your eyes and mind, that was all.

“Mm?” He glanced at you, then held out his hands as if he could embrace the sky itself. “Never been better! I couldn’t let all that effort go to waste, after all.”

It was so strange… By now you should be used to rationality and intuition to be forever at odds, such was the way of the denizens of the Devildom. But this… this worry was…

“If I had to guess, this feels like the work of… Mammon and Leviathan?”

His voice was getting closer, but it felt so far away.

Why would you… worry for… the demon king?

He knelt down before you and reached out, gently tipping your chin up just enough for you to see his face. 

“More importantly,” he said, his voice growing softer, “you called me ‘Dia’ just now, didn’t you?”

Ice pierced your heart, stopping its panicked flutter in an instant.

Fuck.

You did.

You leaned away from him, trying to find your feet. “O-Only because I panicked!” 

He said nothing, offering a hand but letting you stand on your own before he rose and brushed the last bit of dust off his knees.

“Is that a nickname you wish to give me?”

Gods be damned, where do you look? The spooky trees? Your stupid feet? The massive demon standing before you?

Ugh, your idiocy just made you want to throw up.

“N-No it was just- it just came out easier that’s all. I wasn’t- I’m sorry, please I didn’t mean-“

He held up a hand, amused by your embarrassment. 

“I wouldn’t mind if you’d like to call me that once in a while,” he said, a gentleness in his voice.

Hell’s bells, first panic and now this. 

All this up and down was making your head spin.

“I don’t know if that’d be appropriate for me to do…” Lucifer would definitely lose it. Mammon might get upset thinking there was something between you two. And Levi… and Asmo… and… ugh.

“Then in private,” he said, eyes meeting yours with a fervor that left you speechless. “Promise me you’ll call me that in private.”

“I… uh…” You swallowed as if that might temper the heat rushing to your face. “Can I ask why?”

“Why?” he echoed as if surprised it was even a question. Then he smiled again.

“Why, because it’s the first time I’ve heard you willfully say my name.”

You opened your mouth to answer, but couldn’t find your voice, lost in eyes so warm it almost felt… comforting… to gaze upon them.

How quickly things could change, was this another facet of a demon’s charm?

“Think on it, at least,” he said, unperturbed as he guided you around the pitfall. “We should start heading back, the prank war’s nearly finished.”

“Yeah… sure.”

You heard yourself answer, but had it really been your voice? It sounded so strange in your ear.

Once you’d returned, your mind was less than focused while everyone piled into the banquet hall and began comparing (arguing) over who’s pranks were best and which tactics had been most effective. Your notes had been thorough, but it was so hard to choose. What was even the criteria for a winning team? The Dead Circus might’ve been more crafty, but End Masks had made up for it in numbers and size. 

Though…

Some felt more like traps and less like pranks if you thought long enough about it. 

Unless the trap was counted as a prank if one knew the target could escape it relatively unscathed? Ugh, this is why you hated being the judge. It was almost impossible to decide who won with so many different things to compare!

Among the sea of eager voices, Lucifer’s sarcastic suggestion at an overtime round was just the saving grace you needed. A costume contest with a well-delivered line, what could be better than that? Simple and to the point. Easy to pick from if they all stuck to the same rules, right? It even came with the added bonus of delaying the awkwardness of having to choose a winning (and indirectly losing) team!

But… of course nothing would ever be that easy.

Line by line, you couldn’t help laughing as each of your friends gave it their best. Some took it much more seriously than others, and a few made even your heart race. Apparently Seductive Speechcraft was within the rules as well, which seemed a little unfair.

Damn your sappy human heart!

But when it was Diavolo and Solomon’s turn…

Diavolo stepped forward proudly, large loose-fitting dragon onesie almost cartoonishly absurd on his figure. Its dragon hood draped over his head with felt eyes not nearly as fierce as the ones captured within its maw. Even the tail, long and plush, swished side to side in a dopey wag when he walked, making it so so hard to keep a straight face. 

It wasn’t at all what you’d expect from him.

“W-What’re you wearing?” you asked, trying to maintain composure and failing miserably.

“Mm?” he hummed, then gestured to himself. “I thought this onesie might be fun.”

“Huh,” Solomon walked beside him, dressed in his own plushie onesie of a wolf with a big fluffy tail. “Looks like we had the same idea.”

You pressed your lips together, fighting the urge to smile.

Of all the things they could’ve chosen-

The most powerful demon and human-

Side by side, wearing ridiculous-

Wait a minute.

“Well,” Diavolo tugged on one of the hood’s strings, making the dragon’s snout wiggle while giving Solomon a sly glance. “It’s all about how you present it, right?”

No, you’re overthinking it again.

“That’s true enough,” Solomon said with an easy smile.

“Here, I’ll go first…” Diavolo turned to you and raised up his hands, hooking his fingers like claws and letting out a low growl. “Trick or treat! Surrender to me, or I’ll smoke you!”

You blinked, still a little out of it and wondering just how intentional these onesies were.

“… Get it?” Solomon asked, looking at you with a smirk.

Diavolo growled again, clawing at the air. “Because I’m a dragon!”

A laugh slipped out, and you shook your head. 

“Okay I’ll admit, that was kind of cute.”

“Haha!” Diavolo crossed his arms and puffed out his chest. “I’m on fire!” 

The pure joy in his words made your heart race, but it nearly stopped when he caught your eye for a brief moment, almost as if he’d been waiting for it.

“And I’ll have you by my side.”

That candle’s flame, promising warmth and comfort if you would only reach out and-

Before you could make a fool of yourself again, sputtering nonsense or saying something even cheesier, Solomon cut in.

“I’m up next, then.”

Blessedly, his attempts at swaying your favor saved you from looking even more foolish in front of Diavolo, but all too soon it was time once again to choose a winner.

It should’ve been easier now, but picking an individual to win was even harder than picking a team!

It didn’t help that you’d become so fond of everyone in the past year… all for different reasons… 

But it wouldn’t be fair to judge by personal feelings…

Ugh, why did they always make you the judge? It was torture!

Stupid demons.

That was exactly why, wasn’t it?

Jerks.

“Just choose whomever you thought was best,” Lucifer said, voice calm but flirting on the edge of annoyance. “Sooner rather than later, if you don’t mind.”

“Right… well I…” You looked across the room, seeing so many eager faces and feeling oh so painfully human in this moment.

“I… think I liked D- Lord Diavolo’s best…” you said, managing to speak clearly while feeling heat slowly rise up your neck.

“WHAT?!” At least four brothers exclaimed while even Diavolo looked stunned.

“I… I won?” he said, pointing at himself in surprise.

“Congratulations, Young Master.” Barbatos said, ever prompt to praise.

Lucifer left your side to deal with the ramifications of loss among his family, and Diavolo strode over to your side with a toothy grin.

“The onesie was a good idea, then?”

“I…” You blushed and looked away. Oh gods, Asmo was sobbing. This would take some time to heal again. “It caught me off guard… I didn’t expect you to dress in something so…”

“So…” He leaned down, arms crossed and expression mischievous. “So, what?”

“Shall I begin packing up your things?” Barbatos interjected, and you looked at him confused.

“Packing my things? What for?”

Barbatos looked equally puzzled. “Why, to move in with the Young Master of course.”

“I… what?”

“Oh this’ll be so fun! There are so many empty rooms in the castle you could use! Actually, Barbatos, I want you to prepare them a room closest to mine if you would.”

“Certainly.” The demon butler bowed his head and turned on his heel, weaving around the scuffling and heading toward what you assumed to be your room to pack your things.

“Wait! I thought…”

Wasn’t the prize supposed to be for the teams?

Though… the Dead Circus all lived in different places…

And more often than not these contests usually ended with you staying where you always stayed anyway.

“It seems not only have I finally broken through your fear and heard you say my name, but now…”

His voice.

It was different now.

You looked up to see Diavolo had drawn himself to his full height, grinning down at you with eyes shining.

How could one possibly look so regal in a dragon onesie?

You swallowed, the tumultuous feeling rising again just as your stomach felt it might drop through the floor.

Power.

That’s how.

“I look forward to what new experiences living together for a year will bring.”

“I-I… didn’t think that was…”

He tilted his head slightly, questioning.

“I-It wasn’t a real prize, right? I mean… what kind of prize is that anyway? Living with me for a year? Wasn’t it a joke?”

His expression changed ever so slightly, unreadable.

Neutral.

Then he sighed and crossed his arms. “Well, that is what you agreed to, but I suppose I can’t force it from you if you’d misunderstood.”

Hah.

No demon would ever say that.

He looked up you followed his gaze, watching as Lucifer herded everyone out and scolded them for their embarrassing behavior and ordered them to clean up the messes that remained from theirs and the Dead Circus’ pranks as punishment.

“But,” His low voice drew your attention upward again, “we could come up with an alternative arrangement instead. Something to my liking of course since I am the victor.”

That sounded more like a demon.

“I don’t really know what else I have to offer,” you said in a lame attempt at a joke.

Diavolo, of course, laughed anyway and clapped a hand on your shoulder.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself!” He leaned down to meet your eye level, his voice dropping lower, “You have plenty.”

You swallowed again, eyes so warm but his voice sent chills down your spine.

This feeling would never truly go away, would it?

“But I will admit what I want most is your time,” he said, eyes drifting down along the curve of your neck, “there’s a compromise somewhere, I’m sure… but we can discuss it later.”

“Discuss wh—“

He straightened again, holding your shoulder firm. “Lucifer, I’ll be heading back with my prize now. Please see to it that Barbatos is able to find all their items for me.”

“Yes, yes.” Lucifer waved him off tiredly, “Do as you like.”

“Wait, I’m not sure I want—“

Diavolo squeezed your shoulder, his eyes gentle but wanting.

“Give me this one night, at least,” he murmured.

“I did say I’ll have you by my side.”

You swallowed, feeling yourself slowly give into the fire’s warmth, unsure just what exactly caused your knees to shake.

[this-is-for-no-one]

I broke up with Jake today. I did it at night in our rental home after work over the phone. I had to call him because he is in Arizona, training to be a flight instructor. It took me a while to gather the courage to press his name to call him. I knew that once I did, there was no going back. But I knew I had to, because I was certain of how I felt, and I couldn’t hold it in any longer. He was in the middle of taking food out of the oven with his roommates and I asked if he had time to talk. He stepped into another room and I started by apologizing for not talking to him much this past week, and that I didn’t mean to make him feel unappreciated and sad. He thanked me. I then proceeded to say how I’ve been reflecting on myself and our relationship since he’s been gone and that we need to have a deep conversation about the future of our relationship when he gets back. He took a pause. He asked me if I knew what I was going to say, I said yeah. He asked if I knew how I felt, I said yeah. He said well we might as well talk about it now. I said that I didn’t want to make him more stressed out while he’s there, and he replied with haven’t I basically already said it. I took a breath and started with referencing a time before he left when he had asked me if I had wanted to marry him. At that time, I had told him that I didn’t know. I went on to say that I think he was right in saying that I should’ve known by then if I had wanted to marry him or not. And I don’t, and he deserves someone who does. He deserves someone who can tell him and commit themselves to him where I can’t. That I’m wasting both of our time and just elongating the inevitable and hurting the both of us. He responded with how he thought it was selfish of him to put me in that place and knows that there are some people where it does take longer for them to figure that out. I told him it goes deeper than that, and that we aren’t compatible. How we have very different personalities, feelings, opinions, beliefs, and that they are too different in the long run. How I believe that we each deserve someone who is more like ourselves. He was quiet for a long time. I went on to say that I love him and care for him so much and I want what’s best for him and that it’s not me. I want to see him flourish and now that I’m not holding him back, he can. My thinking is that he can do whatever he wants and can take any opportunity he wishes. He said that he never felt like I held him back. I responded that I was really glad he felt that way. I said that I know this couldn’t have come out of the blue, and that I know he’s thought about it too. I brought up how we had an argument the day before he left and he said that maybe he should go to Alaska and leave my ass here. I reiterated that I knew he was also considering this possibility. He didn’t respond to that, instead he asked me what the plan is with the house. I replied by saying since I know he wants to leave Colorado, that he can and I’ll take care of the house. I’ll have to find a roommate since I can’t afford it alone, but that was the least of my concerns at the moment. I continued by saying I’m more concerned that he’s okay, even though I know this situation sucks and that it’s not okay. That I cared for him. I mentioned how that was a consideration, with talking to him and him being surrounded by people who can support him, rather than getting back here and him being alone in the house. He didn’t respond to that. Rather, I heard a change in his demeanor and he was eager to get off the phone. He said it’d be another 2-3 weeks. He told me he’d message me when it was time for him to come back and we’d figure out packing his stuff and him leaving. I said okay. He tried ending the call two times, and each time I had something to say instead. I told him that I appreciated him talking with me, and the second time I told him that he should focus on school, and I’ll focus on work, and that the next few weeks going forward we should have minimal contact. He agreed, said goodbye, then promptly hung up. I sobbed afterwards.

[eremiie]

a change of heart;

❥ nsfw | 6.1k words | eren x reader

❥ an annoyingly arrogant childhood friend has never seen the light of day in your eyes... until he does. eren jaeger was an anomaly that you thought you had figured out.

❥ content: cum play, choking, slight size kink, rough sex, unprotected sex

saying you liked eren was an understatement. you weren't fond of the boy— like at all.

it was something about him that you couldn't pinpoint, maybe it was the way he always had something smart to say back to you when you made the littlest comments, the way his eyebrows were always furrowed together as if he was constantly upset with you, the way he was just so aggressive— a handful if you must. you never liked the way he acted towards you, or anybody else for that matter so you never tried your luck at getting close to him.

or... maybe you didn't like that slight way your eyes widened when you first met him, or that run of his eyes over you on your first meeting. or was it the way you somewhat hoped to get into an argument with him just so you could bicker? something about your arguments thrilled you and sent a feeling you couldn't pinpoint through your body.

nevertheless, the bigger issue at hand was the fact that you couldn't seem to escape eren jaeger.

you were so unlucky and were deemed even unluckier when your mom happened to be the sweetest person on earth. she was the kind to bake a welcoming gift for the neighbors on your street, the kind to knock next door and ask in a sickeningly sweet voice for extra sugar for a recipe she was whipping up.

she'd done both of these things to your next door neighbor, which happened to be carla, carla jaeger.

once again, unluckily carla also happened to be such a sweet mom and you almost felt bad that she was blessed (cursed) with eren jaeger as a son. she was the type to bake something in return and gladly give you a small container of sugar that you would promise to bring back.

she'd done both of these things for your mom.

there advances were so continuous, and over the course of a couple years they became the most best friends imaginable, indulging in every mom-ly activity you could imagine together. this only forced you and eren to spend every unwanted second together.

you knew eren for only a couple years, yes, and you could still remember when his hair was just draped above his shoulders, an awkward length that you never failed to make weak jokes at just to see him get mad. but what you didn't know— or failed to realize that he would get even more annoying then the first time you met him.

maybe you were getting annoyed with the fact that his hair was no longer that awkward length and you couldn't throw the same lame jokes at him, because the length that it was at now? where it touched his shoulders and he threw it back into this awfully messy bun. maybe you were getting annoyed with the fact that now he was older and more occupied with the summer before college, you weren't forced to spend as much time with him, so you didn't see him much.

over these couple years though, your mom (being the doll she is) never failed to throw an annual barbecue that of course, carla always came to, not only did she come but they practically planned it together and had you and eren help out, unwillingly. they claimed it was an opportunity for you and eren to "actually get a long." because trust me— they knew about the tension between the two of you that they tried to break for years.

one of those annual barbecues seemed to be today, at the very minute, actually. you were standing next to eren, both of you with a tray of food in your hands as you awaited instructions, an irritated expression crossing both of your faces.

"okay, take those over to the buffet table you two, and then before you guys go crawl away to god knows where, one of you grab some utensils, napkins and plates and lay them down at the end of the table, and one of you turn on the speaker, guests will be flooding in soon." you chuckled at carla's comment. that's one thing you and eren had in common— the two of you almost completely hating this event if it wasn't for the good food. you would always sneak away to your room and eren would sit in your chair and mind his business while you'd lay on your bed doing your own thing. "and tell your mom i need her, _____!"

it was never an uncomfortable silence— no, as a matter of fact it wasn't always silent, lots of aimless arguments would arise and sometimes, eren would get really angry, but he never dared to leave the safety of your room rather than be surrounded by adults who claimed they'd known him since he was little.

"what?" eren asked you as you reminisced on the thought while the two of you began walking.

you glanced up at him, snapped out of your own head, him already peering down at you with furrowed brows and a slight frown on his face. "none of your business." that's not even what you meant to say but a smart retort was almost instinctive when it came to eren.

albeit your smart response he didn't send one back as he usually would, he just rolled his eyes and sat the food down on the buffet table, you doing the same. "i'll grab utensils and shit." you murmured in slight embarrassment from your quick comment eliciting no reaction. eren didn't look your direction, so you took that as a hint that he heard you as his body headed towards the direction of the old speaker that you knew'd be blasting old "parent" tunes.

you head inside, the smell of food grilling leaving your senses and the something in the midst of being baked filling them instead. you turned the corner of the dining room to enter the kitchen, your mom closing the oven after checking on the brownies baking. "hey, sweetheart, how's it going?" she asked you, smiling when she caught sight of you, all dressed nicely too, which was rare from your usual style; the black slip dress you wore coming mid thigh and lightly hugging your body. you were only wearing socks though, you didn't see the point in walking around in shoes when you'd just be retreating to the hole of your room and lounging around for as long as possible until your mom called you to help some more or to greet someone familiar.

"fine, me and eren just put down the last of the food already cooked. i'm about to set up cutlery and sh— stuff." your mom raised her eyebrow before nodding her head and watching you open up the cabinet at your feet to grab the grocery bag full of a new box of paper plates and napkins." all for the "save the turtles!" magnet your mom had pinned on the refrigerator. "hey, where are the plastic cutlery?" you asked, questioning its lack of presence in the plastic bag.

your mom turned her head towards you, from where she was wiping at her hands. "hm? oh! sorry, honey— i placed them in that cabinet up there because we had extras from that one family get together we had a couple weeks back.”

 ah, yes. you remembered that family get together. despite it being family, somehow carla and eren found their way into the gathering, and not to mention that being one of the last times you saw eren, and one of the most embarrassing times.

you see, the argument you had gotten in with eren that time was over him accidentally walking into your room in the middle of you changing for the event. you had yelled at him even though it was an accident, and that was one of the first times eren didn't try his hardest to win that argument, his face too flushed red, and his apologies and excuses seeming to not calm down your anger that hid your embarrassment.

but geez, for days after you were reminiscing on the drag of his eyes going down your back and over your ass before flickering back up to your eyes and only then realizing the situation at hand. you were just happy the encounter didn't make the next time you were seeing him, being now, too awkward.

your eyes drifted towards the cabinet above your head, the one your mom was eyeing at, and you sighed. "okay, thanks, and by the way miss carla wants you." your mom's eyes widened before she placed down the rag in her hands and scurried out the kitchen. you heard her speak a few words to someone but you weren't paying much attention as your fingertips began to reach upwards to pull at the cabinet doors. when it swung open a groan left your lips when you almost immediately spotted the brightest blue box of plastic cutlery at the top shelf.

"okay, _____... you can't reach that." you opted for climbing on top of the counter, and you did despite you wearing a dress, the fabric stretching as you propped yourself up on the surface, knees together while you used your hand to try and reach for the box.

your hand barely grazed it, but that didn't matter as eren's hands reached it for you, his back pressed against yours as he used his tippy toes and the stretch of his fingertips to knock the box down and grab it in the air before it could drop to the ground. the warmth of him behind you disappeared as he backed up and looked you over from your position on the counter. "if you couldn't reach it you should've had me get the stuff."

it was your turn to roll your eyes, heat rising to your cheeks before you climbed off the counter slowly and adjusted your dress. "shut up."

eren's arm came out to hand you the box. "since when did you start wearing dresses?" he asked abruptly, once again, those thick brows coming together in curiosity as you grabbed the box from his hands, stepping forward slightly.

"i've been wearing dresses, you're just too dumb to notice." your own gaze gave eren a once-over. he never dressed formally for any of these events like your mom made you. carla could never seem to get him into anything nice. plain black jeans with an almost too tight white shirt, and you could never fail to mention the key necklace draped around his neck that he once told you his dad gave him when you had asked "why do you always have that stupid necklace on?" he had gotten really defensive and only today you realized how insensitive that comment may have been considering the fact that he rarely saw his dad— as did you. you could only recall seeing the man twice, and at one time was at one of the barbecues. "i wore one... last time."

eren's eyes went up to the ceiling as he recalled "last time" realization dawning on his face, but before you could wait for his reply you were walking past him with your head pointed towards the ground as you told him, "you can go ahead and go up to my room, i'm gonna go put these down." and he watched you walk away before scratching his chin and doing just that.

you did what you had to do, placing down the cutlery and slipping past both your mother and carla before they could get you to do anything else.

when you opened the door to your room you were surprised to see eren sitting on your bed, shoes kicked off at the edge. you narrowed your eyes at him as he looked up from his phone at you. "what? your chair's broken." your eyes glanced to the chair that sat idle near your desk before you remembered— it was broken— no it wasn't broken, one of the wheels had just been screwed off and you nor your mom had the patience to fix it.

you lowered your suspicions at eren and merely nodded your head. you really didn't mind actually, the chair was eren's self proclaimed spot, he continued to sit their his self after the first barbecue, you never actually told him to.

"wow, i'm surprised you're not throwing a tantrum." he scoffed as you climbed onto your bed stomach flopping down next to eren who was propped up against your wall. your dress had ridden up in the slightest but you made no efforts to fix it, and you didn't make an effort to grab your phone either which was sat on your desk.

your arms held up your head, elbows on the bed as you looked up at eren with a raise of your eyebrow much like your mom. "you can get out." you half joked, eren looking down at you with lagoon green eyes.

"so you can leave me down to suffer with all those people? hell no, i'd surprisingly rather be up here with you."

you tilted your head at eren. "oh? why the change of heart?"

his stare sent a prickly sensation up your bare arms, and you turned over to your side so that your one arm propped up your head, your other draped across your waist. this was basically the first time you had a simple conversation without the two of you bothering each other, the first time you were somewhat amused by the words coming out of his mouth.

where was the old eren jaeger? this new eren jaeger couldn't help but think you looked... good, not to say he's never thought this before; the subconscious thought always in the back of his head, but now it was prevalent to him. the straps of your black dress so thin, and the way it hugged your body in the slightest was almost tantalizing. you didn't seem to be wearing a bra either, he could tell by the lack of support and straps. "huh?" you added when he didn't respond right away, eren's eyes snapping back up to your face.

he whipped up a quick response; "there wasn't a change of heart. you know i'm always up here... and you're tolerable today." he placed down his phone, interested in the conversation at hand. something was laced between your words, almost taunting, almost aware, more aware than you were earlier when the two of you had that encounter in the kitchen, more aware than you were when he accidentally walked in on you a couple weeks prior.

you felt confident today, you weren't sure if it was the mere maturity between the two of you that seemed to just decide to pop up today, you weren't sure if it was eren's new attitude, or if it was your attire that gave you the confidence you possessed. you always enjoyed you and eren's arguments, you loved seeing him riled, but today the snark to his own comments instead of him getting completely heated sent an even better thrill, if you could call it, down your spine. "hm, then it's not surprising you'd rather be up here with me, jaeger... and what makes me more tolerable today?"

eren let his eyes roll to the back of his head for a split second before deciding that the best response to that question would be no answer, lying wasn't healthy anyways.

"what? is it the fact that i started wearing dresses?" you mocked his earlier words, your hand flying up to create quotations in the air.

that was one reason.

"trying to get your little dick wet eren? that little blondie wasn't doing it for you, yeah?" you joked, but the way his eyebrow twitched and his eyes darkened, lowering as a very small smirk formed on his face told you maybe your joke was more than that to him.

he let out another small scoff, face turning away from you so his jawline was visible, the tiny brown hairs that wouldn't fit in his ponytail skimming his neck and forehead before he side eyed you, then turning his head back to you and not even noticing how he scooted forward as he brought his knee up for his arm to rest on. "little?" was all he could manage to get out. he wasn't gonna lie— your comments felt quicker today, and they were catching him a little off guard.

you flipped back onto your stomach before sliding your upper body and shuffling forward to sit back on your knees diagonal from eren. you weren't gonna lie— eren's comments felt quicker today, and they were catching you a little off guard. "did i lie?"

"yeah."

"i beg to differ."

eren's hand went to his thigh. even though his dick was on the other leg, semi-hard, he wanted to tease you with the leg closer, rubbing up and down the fabric of his jeans. "wanna see then?"

your eyes glanced down to his lap and widened, jesus— this was not the eren you knew, nor the eren you expected tonight. you let yourself fall backwards onto your pillows, grabbing one throw pillow and placing it over your face as you hid your true expression. although your voice was muffled you let out an "jaeger, stop! i'm supposed to hate you."

the bed dipped underneath you as eren shuffled forward until he was peering down at you again, grabbing the pillow with one hand, your hand flying up to grab his wrist, then his coming up to pry your fingers off him. after a small tussle he pinned your hand to the bed, grabbing the pillow and chucking it off the bed to see your face.

your lips were shriveled in an embarrassing smile and you turned your head away from eren, only then realizing the presence of his cold gold pendant tickling your chest, and how close he actually was, his thigh pressed up against your side, and his untucked hairs gravitating towards you. those green-blue eyes seemed even more intimidating up close, and the dangerous slight upturn of the corner of his lips didn't seem to help in you feeling small under him.

eren jaeger, an anomaly. who knew people could change right before your eyes.

"jaeger," you brought your other hand to his chest, pushing at his sternum with as much force as possible which didn't budge him, eren only grabbing your other hand with a low chuckle and placing it above your head, bringing both of your hands together and keeping them there with one wrist. you let out a soft whine of the word "move," that made eren's lip twitch before you brought your foot up to kick him.

"kick me and i swear, ______—" and so you did— well at least you tried, eren grabbing your ankle and holding your flailing limb. you guys looked insanely stupid, and it made your little whines turn into small laughs that seemed to be contagious as eren began to laugh too. your body went limp as you soon realized that eren was pretty strong, which the old eren wasn't.

he let go of your leg, dropping it to the bed on the other side of him so he was sitting between them. "i'll let go if you admit that you don't actually hate me." a small goofy grin was on his face and it made you reciprocate.

"nope," you popped the p, eren quirking his brow at you before letting his eyes wander down. he had you in quite a position; your legs on either side of him, your hands pinned together, and your dress scrunched up just enough so he could see the black underwear you adorned. you watched his eyes trail back up, stopping at your lips, his tongue sliding over his own before coming back up to your eyes. "but it's obvious you don't hate me."

eren let out a small laugh and your stomach churned— so did his. 

"nope," he popped his p just like you. "that's just some weird shit we were on when we were younger... you're not that bad." he hummed, leaning down a bit so he was hovering over your face, and god did he look amazing.

maybe he was right— maybe it was just one of those weird things that leave with age, and you were fine with it leaving, especially if it gave you the eren jaeger in front of you right now. your lips parted in effort for you to speak but you choked on your own words, not sure what to say. but you didn't have to say much because just like eren, you let your realization hit you on how he had you, how he looked, and your gaze stopped at his lips too. he took that as his cue— his face inching way too close, but not like you minded.

"the way you're looking at me doesn't seem like it, ______."

you squeezed your legs on his sides as you felt the fabric of his jeans rub against you from the proximity. "well, i—" he didn't let you finish his lips connecting with yours and you almost forget how to kiss for a moment, eren's lips being the only ones moving until he let go of your hands and you cradled his jaw, kissing him back just as fervently.

eren hummed against your lips in content, them beginning to move together as if the two of you were made for each other. something felt like it was lifted off your chest, and you really relished in the moment at hand. one of eren's hand coming up to your hair and pushing your head more towards him, the kiss becoming rougher while his other hand settled at your side gripping roughly as if you could run away any second.

you felt desperate, practically swallowing eren's lips up, him biting at your lip before pulling away for air. he looked down at you with a lustful expression, his lips parted and flushed red while his eyelids hung low. "finally, you shut up."

you looked up to the ceiling with a smile gracing your face. you didn't know if you were in shock at the fact that he could still throw quick comebacks after such an event or if you were in shock at what just happened. "you shut the fuck up— and come here," 

you lifted your head up to connect your lips back to eren's, your tongue sliding over his bottom lip, and he quickly got the hint, pushing you back down to the bed as he parted his lips so that your tongues could collide gently. the kiss was wet, and passionate, you could practically taste the lust that both of you were so oblivious about for years. you could taste how long he craved your lips on his and you almost wanted to apologize for leaving him waiting for so long.

eren's tongue licked around your mouth, doing all the work while you laid back and guided your tongue to follow his almost like a recited dance. his hips moved with yours, beginning to grind against you to relieve some of the ache in his dick, and he was glad you were wearing a dress. his hand on your hip grasped the black fabric and aggressively yanked it up, your hips lifting to help him out a little bit until your lower half was completely unveiled to him.

his mouth disconnected from yours so he could peer down at you. "fuck..." he muttered. his hand slid under your dress, smoothing over your stomach before nearing your breasts, looking back up to you as if to ask if what he was doing was fine. you gave him that confirmation and let your eyes drift close as his warm palm relaxed itself over your tit. the contact that his fingers made with you nipple as he moved his hand down to toy at it caused them to harden and you to whimper.

eren ducked down to your neck so he could kiss it, nibbling at the sensitive flesh which elicit your hand to fly to his messy brown locks. "yeah..." you sighed, elated with the feeling of him sucking at your skin, his tongue occasionally licking at the spot and his teeth grazing over it as well before he completely pulled off, hoping a distinctive hickey you would have trouble hiding from your mom would begin to appear sooner or later.

his hand slid back down to your side until it went over the curve of your back and trailed down your ass until it met your supple thighs. he grasped at your skin, the fat underneath his fingertips leaving his imagination to wonder what it would be like in between your thighs. he brought his other thumb to your plain black panties, pressing it against your clothed entrance just to get a feel and your head flew back so you were no longer watching him— eyebrows turning upwards and mouth parting as uneven breaths left you mouth.

you were so hot and bothered, you needed him now— any way you could take him.

"need you... right now, eren." you mumbled, your hand retreating between your dress to cup at your own breast.

eren looked up at you another smile playing on his lips, and he would be the death of you. "first name basis now that you want to be fucked by me?"

"oh my gosh, just hurry."

you brought your legs closer to your body as eren's hand came to the hem of the fabric that was the only thing separating you and him. he pulled it over your legs and down your feet tossing it to the side. when you didn't part your legs for him immediately he brought his hand to both of your knees and with some resistance parted them for you, the sight of your glistening cunt going straight to his dick.

you were so pretty to him, yet he didn't want to boost your ego any more so he held his tongue and untucked his lip from his teeth before stepping off the bed, grabbing your ankles and pulling your body to the edge of the bed.

your pussy fluttered as you watched eren fumble with the button and zipper of his pants. he stopped for a brief moment, groaning in annoyance before looking back to you. "i don't have a condom."

your hand flew to your forehead and you felt yourself squeeze around nothing at the thought of eren sliding into you without one. "you're clean right?"

eren scoffed. "yeah."

"okay well then hurry!" you repeated, eren going back to pulling his pants down until they were pooled at his ankles, as well as his boxers. his dick was finally exposed to you, and you stifled a moan when you saw it— pretty, hard, big and flushed red in anticipation for you not anyone else. he took himself into his hands and smeared his pre cum over his length while his head tilted back and his jaw dropped at the slight relief.

"this is about to be the best dick you've ever had." he half joked as he grabbed your hips and pressed at your entrance, leaning overtop of you again.

"we'll see about that, ja—" you couldn't even get the rest of your sentence out as you felt his tip slide more into you, a gasp leaving your throat, your walls clenching his tip causing him to let out a slight moan.

he stopped for a moment, bringing his hand up to steady himself on the bed. "eren, not jaeger."

he pushed in a little more, your hand flying over to your mouth muffling your, "eren!" which caused him to smirk. "shit... you—" a little more, your eyebrows coming together like his as he tried filling you up even more.

"me what?" he breathed out, pushing in a little more.

your back arched and your fingers came to wrap around his wrist beside your head for support. "it kind of hurts." you mewled out. of course you wouldn't tell eren this, but it had been awhile since the last time you had sex, prone to getting yourself off instead, and eren's size wasn't helping either.

"well..." he started, sheathing himself more inside you as your grip on his wrist tightened, and small pathetic half-whines left your throat. "you gotta take it." your eyes screwed even more shut as his words rang through your head. you were practically throbbing for him and you wanted this just as bad. "don't start something you can't finish." and with that the brunette let his length fill you up completely, ignoring your slight displeasure until he bottomed out, shushing you and letting his hand come down to rub circles on your clit to soothe you.

a sigh left your lips and your hand relaxed from eren's wrist. "okay."

"okay?"

"you can move." and eren wasted no time doing just that, his hips moving backwards and sliding against your walls causing you and him to groan at the same time.

when you were fully adjusted, and any discomfort you felt had drifted away, eren moved faster, almost fucking you how he wanted to in the first place. he lifted himself from the bed and put his hands on your hips, dragging you onto him as he pushed in and out of you, basking in your moans of pleasure and the feeling of your tight walls trying to consume him.

"yes," you said with gritted teeth as the way eren thrusted into you with purpose felt amazing and left you wondering why you didn't confess to your attraction to him sooner. "fuck, eren..." his hips stuttered from the way you sounded moaning his name. he wanted to hear it again, and again, wanted to hear it so many times that he could hear it when he fucked his fist to your pretty face. "like that, just like that."

"again." he demanded, and the low octave of his voice ordering you to repeat his name sent your head into a spiral. you grind against him, your wetness smearing on his abdomen. eren brought his hand to your hair again, pulling your body up off the bed and you winced at his tight grip as he continued to fuck up into you nicely. "i said again."

"eren," you repeated more like a plea. he pulled your head forward more, smashing his lips to yours again briefly, just wanting to feel more of you, wanting to feel you crave him.

"what do you want me to do?" he asked. he wanted you to tell him how bad you wanted him, how bad you wanted him to fuck you— and with the way his cock stretched you out so well, fucking into you with ease, like it's what he was made for, you were willing to do just that. "hm?"

"fuck me good, make me cum, eren, please."

"if i do you're gonna stop acting like a little brat when we're together right?"

"yes, yes, yes," you babbled not even realizing what he said that had you nodding your head hastily.

eren chuckled at the lack of hesitance in your response, softening his grip on your hair and letting your head fall back to the bed. "good girl." he murmured while slowing down his pace causing you to roll your hips into his as a silent plea to go faster. eren pushed your dress up some more until it was bunched up right to your chest, then having you pull off the straps to free your tits. he stepped out of his jeans and boxers, pushing you higher on the bed to create space for himself, not leaving you once, leaving your cunt fluttering around him as he did all these motions.

the little sad cries that would leave your lips begging him to hurry up so that he could fuck you again made you sound so stupid for him, so impatient and so dirty. eren didn't mind at all though, when he shifted himself up on your bed and pressed your legs to either side of your body so he could hit deeper, he complied with your wishes. "open your mouth." and you complied to his, parting your lips and sticking your tongue out, eren coming down to let his spit drop into your mouth, and the second his saliva came in contact with the muscle you squeezed his member from inside of you, he could feel you tighten around him and your eyes rolled to the back of your head as you swallowed. he watched your throat bob before wrapping his hand around your neck to create leverage for himself.

when you felt him drag himself out and back into you so forcefully, your body jolting as he continued the motion, fucking down into you. he was drilling that soft spot inside of you, and he didn't stop you when your hand trailed down below his arm to touch yourself, rubbing at your swollen clit while he drilled you. "you're gonna cum?"

you were too incoherent to form words, the nods of your head telling him enough. he was on the verge of coming too, but he wanted you to come first, he wanted to feel you pulse around his throbbing cock, spill your slick all over him. "shit, then cum all over me, _____. right on my dick, let me feel it." you let out a sultry moan, eren letting go of your neck going to grasp one of your bouncing breast the other grasping your thigh and pounding into you hard while you got yourself off with your middle finger.

small cries spilled out of your lips as your orgasm slowly approached until it finally did, your vision blanking out, pussy squeezing eren impossibly tight, and every nerve being pinched in your body. your hand unconsciously flew to your blanket, gripping the fabric tight as you moaned a drawled out sound resembling eren's name. you felt like you were the only person alive, like the guests downstairs didn't exist, like your parents weren't just outside your window along with them, not even like eren was there when your climax washed over your body, blurring your senses.

"fuck, fuck, fuck, yeah—" eren was having trouble holding back, but as soon as he felt your juices coat him, and the sound of his name from you he let go of your thighs and chest, pulling out of your wet heat and jerking himself to completion, hot cum spilling all over your lower stomach as to avoid your dress. "shit.." he panted, watching his seed sit idle on your pretty skin.

he felt hazy, almost in disbelief that he just fucked your lights out, almost quite literally as you hadn't opened your eyes since your orgasm.

eren took it upon himself to gather some of his cum with a swipe of his finger then prod at your swollen lips, you lazily opening your mouth to taste the salty taste of his cum. "good?" and you hummed, letting your head fall back to the blankets and closing your eyes.

eren tucked himself in, leaving to head towards your bathroom, and soon enough coming back to help you clean up. when you felt the warmth of something slide over your lower abdomen, you too out of it to open your eyes, you relaxed against the bed. eren adjusted your dress and slipped your underwear on for you, shaking your arm to wake you up. "your mom was out there. she was about to check on you when i walked out the bathroom. that would've been embarrassing."

you were too tired to respond, blinking at eren before picking yourself up and sitting up in front of him, his height allowing him to still be looking down at you even though you were on a bed. "i'm gonna head down cause i'll probably be leaving soon... i'll tell her you're sleep."

you nodded your head at eren before crawling to your bed and under the blankets, turning away from him. eren eyed you for a moment before coming forward and deciding to press a kiss to your ear, then grabbing his phone and slipping on his shoes. he grabbed the damp paper towel and threw it in your trash, shutting your lights and shutting the door quietly.

eren jaeger, an anomaly you thought you had figured out who happened not to be that bad after all.

maybe you did like eren— just a little bit.

[the7thcrow]

600 degrees

~

pairing: bang chan x (fem) reader

summary: you can’t cook. like, really can’t cook. good thing your cute neighbour is here to help clean up the mess.

word count: 5.1k

genre: neighbours au. strangers to lovers. the fluffiest of fluff, slightly suggestive.

warnings: a make-out session, bad humour, minho being a twat of a roommate, and tooth-rotting fluff.

rating: 14+

a/n: hi guys! hope you enjoy this one, it’s so much more wholesome and fluffy than what i usually write, but I'm pretty happy about it. don’t by shy to send me an ask or leave a comment. anything you have to say, I would love to hear. :)

...

..

.

“Fine. Since you won’t come, at least enlighten me on how you plan to keep yourself busy?” Minho asks, casually leaning against your kitchen island. He stares at you, with that familiar condescending smirk you’ve seen far too many times.

“I don’t know,” you state, rolling your eyes. Rising to your feet, you head over to your shared refrigerator, pulling a bottle of Sangria out of the fridge. “But I’m sure I’ll find something.”

“You know, if you want to drink, you could at least do it at the party.” Minho approaches you from behind, placing both his hands on your shoulders. “It’s a lot less sad that way.”

You slap his hand away, letting out a frustrated groan at the laughter he lets out from his own joke. “I get out plenty, quit acting like I’m some lonely cat lady,” you say, grabbing your favourite wine glass from the cupboard. “I like parties, I just don’t like Jisung’s parties. They always get way out of hand.”

“But Y/N,” Minho wines, picking up your freshly poured glass and taking a sip, earning himself a glare. “I never said you were a cat lady, just the lonely part.”

At that you snatch the glass away from his hands. Not wanting to deal with this torment any longer, you walk back to your comfortable, worn-in spot on the couch.

“You know I’m right,” he says, continuing despite the fact you begin to turn up the volume of the television. “And the only way you’re going to change that is by accompanying me to Jisung’s loud, out of hand parties.”

You turn to face him, raising your eyebrows. “Somehow, I doubt my soulmate associates himself with Han Jisung.”

“Well that can’t be right, because I associate myself with Han Jisung?”

“Shut up, Minho.”

Your roommate snickers to himself as he opens the fridge, taking a quick glance at everything - or for a better term, lack of anything - inside. “What are you even going to eat? There’s nothing leftover from last night.”

“I’ll make something,” you say. Frankly, you had expected the outburst of laughter, but that didn’t do anything to simmer down your growing annoyance.

“Make something?” Minho laughs, giving you an incredulous stare. “Y/N, I’ve lived with you for two years and I don’t think I’ve seen you cook anything once.”

“Hey, I can cook,” you return, wrinkling your nose. “But why would I, when I have you to do it for me?”

At this, it’s Minho’s turn to roll his eyes. “Yeah, okay, I take that back. I don’t want you to come, have fun curling up on the couch alone with your three cats.”

“They’re literally yours.”

“Whatever,” he says, opening your front door. “Just don’t burn the apartment down, alright?”

As he closes the door, you flip him off. At first, you aren’t sure if he saw, but you’re given your answer as his laughter echoes down the hallway, fading as he walks further away.

You scowl. Of course you can cook. Well, at the very least, well enough to make a meal for one on a saturday night. Minho didn’t know what he was talking about.

Minho. Your best friend and roommate for the last two years. Man, does the guy have a way of pushing your buttons. You love him, of course. In the weird, bickering, just short of volatile friendship sort of way the two of you had developed.

Still, you can’t deny that even with his painfully irritable nature, he is still a good friend. No matter how many times you say no, he always offers to take you anywhere he goes. He pushes you out of your comfort zone. He’s there to console you when a date goes bad, or you failed a test you studied hard for. He makes all his meals for two, just because he doesn’t want you to live solely off shitty take-out.

He’s your rock. Your platonic other half. Your closest companion.

Which means you are going to prove him wrong, and then rub it in his face as much as you possibly can. Of course, because that’s what friends are for.

~~~~

Then again, maybe you wouldn’t. Or, at the very least, it was going to be exceedingly more difficult now that your apartment was full of smoke.

Covering your nose with one hand, you take the tray of chocolate chip cookies out of the oven. If you can even call them that, as they now held a far closer resemblance to that of hockey pucks. Both in looks, and what you could assume in taste, as well.

Okay, you know chocolate chip cookies don’t really count as a decent meal, but they are the only thing you remember how to cook from when you lived at home. Or maybe you didn’t remember, based on the tray of failure sitting in front of you.

Then, to make matters even worse, your fire alarm starts going off.

“Shit,” you mutter under your breath. Now you are going to have to go to the front desk, let them know everything is okay.

Maybe Minho was right, you should’ve just went to Jisung’s stupid party and eaten something there. Putting all the other painful aspects of Han’s parties aside, Felix was his roommate, so the horderves were always excellent.

They were better than your hockey puck cookies, anyway.

Letting out a disappointed sigh, you open your apartment door, prepared to get a rough scolding from the lady working the front desk. However, you are surprised to find a man standing in front of you, his hand in the air, as if he were about to knock.

“Hi,” he says, awkwardly putting his hand back down at his side. He has messy platinum blonde hair, and soft eyes. He’s cute, and the realization quickly makes you recognize him.

“You’re my neighbor,” you say, pointing a finger at him. It’s not until he doesn’t respond immediately that you realize it was a strange thing to say. Obviously, he knows he’s your neighbor, and he might be a little offended you didn’t recognize him immediately.

Then again, the two of you had never really talked before. Everytime you would pass each other in the hall, he’d always give a polite nod and continue walking. Sometimes you’d try to say hello, or start a small conversation, but he always disappeared quickly. It had gotten to the point where you assumed he had some strange, unwarranted grudge against you.

So, it was safe to say that you were more than just a little surprised to find him at your door.

“Uh, yeah, I am. Are you okay? I thought I smelt something burning, and then I heard the fire alarm go off.” He asks, peeking behind you into your apartment, seeing if he can catch sight of any flames.

Instead, his eyes land on your tray of butchered cookies, and he… smirks?

“Oh,” he says, attempting to hide the smile growing on his face. “Having some cooking trouble?”

You stare at him for a moment, watching as his lips pursed together, stifling a chuckle. “Are you...” you begin, your jaw dropping slightly. “Are you laughing at me?”

“No,” he looks down at you, finally letting his grin free. “I would never.”

“Yeah, okay,” you frown, already not enjoying that sarcastic look on his face. You thought you’d be able to avoid that humiliating look considering Minho wasn’t here, but apparently not.

 “As you can see, it’s nothing. So if you’ll excuse me,” you continue, attempting to move past him. “I need to go get my neck rung by the lady at the front desk,” However, he doesn’t budge from his place in your door frame. You cast him a glare, which only makes his smile grow wider.

“Nah, don’t worry, I’ll go let her know,” he says, already turning to walk down the hall. You open your mouth to object, but he casts a glance over his shoulder, snickering. “You focus on cleaning up whatever those black lumps were supposed to be.”

You stand in your doorway, dumbfounded as your neighbor disappears down the complex staircase. Who did this guy think he was, openly laughing at your current predicament? Sure, if the roles were reversed, there’s no doubt that you would do the same. But that isn’t the point.

No. The point is that you are not impressed by the audacity of this stranger, and you are going to make sure that this distaste is known.

Grumbling to yourself, you dump the still smoking cookies in the trash can. It’s a shame, really. You’d thought you were doing so well, too. You thought this would be your chance to prove Minho wrong. Minho. Oh, he would be having an absolute hay day if he were here right now, and the thought only makes your scowl deepen.

“Well,” your neighbor calls from behind you, causing you to jump slightly. He reappears in the open door frame, sticking his neck inside, but not fully crossing the threshold into your apartment. “She’s not thrilled, but the alarm didn’t trigger the main system’s sprinklers, so you’re good.”

You let out a sigh of relief. “Thank God.”

The man smiles. “If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly were you trying to make anyway?”

An embarrassed blush casts itself over your cheeks. “Chocolate chip cookies,” you mumble, not meeting his eyes.

He lets out a burst of laughter, smiling widely. You can’t help but notice that he had a cute smile, dimples on both of his cheeks, eyes crinkled. Not that you were looking. Not that you cared, obviously.

“How’d you manage to mess up chocolate chip cookies that badly?”

“I don’t know,” you say, shrugging your shoulders helplessly. “You tell me.” You gesture towards the oven. Your neighbor smirks, walking inside your apartment. He bends down in front of your oven, before taking a look inside.

“Well, nothing seems to be wrong in there…” he starts, before glancing up at the set temperature. “Oh,” he states, before looking back at you, his eyes full of pity. “Oh boy.”

“What?” You ask defensively.

“The temperature. You forgot to convert it from celsius to fahrenheit. See?” He says, leaning away from the oven to give you a closer look. “So you thought you were cooking them at 350 degrees fahrenheit, when in reality they were at over 600 degrees.”

“Oh my god,” you say, smacking your palm against your forehead. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I don’t know,” the guy shrugs. “You could have burnt your apartment down, so I’d consider it a win. You’re lucky I got here on time.”

You cast him a scowl, although you can’t seem to relinquish the faintest hint of a smile creeping onto your lips. You know damn well you wouldn’t have started a fire, and that the man showing up really didn’t stop anything but an uncomfortable conversation with the front lady. You are also sure that he is fully aware of this too, which makes your smirk grow wider. Alright, you’ll play along.

“Right, what ever would I do without you?” you say sarcastically, causing your neighbor to playfully roll his eyes. He leans against your kitchen counter, relaxing slightly.

“Does my saviour have a name?” You ask, opening the fridge to take a look at what’s inside. You feel your stomach rumble, taking a glance at the clock to see that it was already past 9:00.

“It’s Chris,” he smiles, leaning over your shoulder. “So what are you going to eat, now that you’ve successfully butchered the easiest recipe known to man?”

“Hey!” You snipe. “That is certainly not the easiest recipe known to man.”

“Fine, fine,” Chris says, putting his hands up in defense. “Maybe not the easiest, but it’s definitely up there. But putting that aside, what are you going to eat? Because I genuinely don’t think I’ve ever seen a fridge so empty.”

You want to quip back at him, but he’s right. Minho usually does the grocery shopping, but because of Jisung’s party tonight he wasn’t planning on cooking anything.

“Good question,” you sigh, closing the refrigerator door before leaning your back against it. “Maybe I’ll just order some take out. I don’t think my pride can handle another failure.”

Chris smiles. “Or, I have an idea,” he says, his eyes glinting. He heads over to your apartment door, and for a moment you worry that he’s leaving.

No, you’re not worried. You’re curious. That’s all. You were curious whether or not he was leaving, nothing more.

When Chris returns, he has his arms full of ingredients. Spinach, penne, tomato sauce, cream, a variety of spices. The list goes on, and he stumbles slightly, almost dropping the surplus of food onto your kitchen floor. Imagining the mess, you rush over to help him, placing the load of groceries onto the counter.

“I don’t know if you couldn’t tell before,” you say, motioning to your overflowing counter. “But I really can’t cook. I have no clue what to do with any of this.”

“That’s no problem,” Chris smiles, already separating the food into different groups. “I’ll help you.”

“No, no, no. I can’t ask you to do that,” you say, waving your hands in protest. You step in front of him, squeezing yourself between his chest and the kitchen counter, preventing him from reaching any of the ingredients. “You’ve already dealt with the desk lady for me, and brought over all these groceries. You’ve done more than enough.”

He smiles, gently placing his hands on your shoulders and effortlessly moving you to the side. “Why would I bring you these groceries if I knew you couldn’t do anything with them?” When you don’t respond, he continues. “Seriously, it’s no big deal. Don’t worry about it. Just let me help you.”

You sigh in defeat, ignoring the way your heart begins to beat faster in your chest. “Alright,” you say, grabbing Minho’s cutting board from the cupboard. “Let’s do this, then.”

~~~~

An hour later, you find yourself sitting on top of your kitchen counter, Chris stationed by the stove working on the pasta sauce. You had genuinely tried to help in the beginning, you really did. But after Chris criticized your (awful) cutting technique, and said he didn’t exactly trust you to do anything else, you gave up.

Besides, you don’t have a problem watching him work. Over the last hour, you’ve come to learn that Chris is an absolute whiz in the kitchen. Moving from place to place, adding spices by intuition and nothing more. This wasn’t something you could have managed to make yourself in a million years, and it’s obvious that if you tried to assist him right now, you’d only get in the way.

Of course, you’ve learned a lot more about Chris in the last hour than just that. Where he grew up, his hobbies, what he was currently studying at the university. Music theory, as you’d learned. As cool as it sounded, Han had managed to tarnish your image of music majors, but you suppose you could give Chris a chance.

“It’s almost done,” Chris says, glancing over his shoulder to look at you.

“Thank God, I’m starving,” you reply, leaping off the counter to stand beside him.

“What, no ‘thank you, Chris?’ No, ‘what ever would I have done without you, Chris?’” He mocks offence, placing a hand on his heart.

“It’s not even done yet. I’ll thank you after I try it, I promise.” You laugh, rolling your eyes.

“Ah, so you’re only thankful if you like it. I see how it is,” Chris says, crossing his arms in front of himself, pouting his lower lip slightly.

“Guess so,” you say, crossing your own arms mockingly. Chris smiles, those cute little dimples of his dancing across his cheeks.

Then you feel it, that little jump of your heart. The faintest skip of a beat that you’d familiarized yourself with over the last hour. That little hint of anticipation that makes you decide that you are, even if only slightly, a bit interested in Chris.

After all, he’s funny and sweet. Can carry a conversation well, and to understate it, undeniably easy on the eyes. That’s more than enough to give him a chance.

Most of all, however, you like that little flare between the two of you. The sarcasm, the banter. It doesn’t feel the same as when Minho does it, slightly condescending and done purely to harbour your annoyance. No, this is different. It is a challenge. He wants you to quip back, to push further. To make him smirk, or laugh, or roll his eyes.

“Alright, fine then,” he says, taking the large wooden spoon and scooping up some of the pasta sauce. “Tell me if this is up to par, your majesty.”

You aren’t sure if he wants you to take the spoon, or let him hold it for you as you take a bite. You decide to take the gamble, gently moving your lips around the spoon, tasting the sauce. You glance up at Chris, a small look of surprise on his face. However, you don’t miss the flash of something behind his eyes. The faintest hint of affection, interest.

The sauce itself is delicious. A perfect blend of tomato, basil and cream. You hum contently, giving him a thumbs up.

“Chris, this is amazing,” you praise, admiring the small blush that sprinkles his cheeks.

“It’s really nothing,” he says, diverting his gaze and rubbing the back of his neck, shyly.

“No, seriously,” you say, taking the spoon from his hand and scooping some of the sauce up yourself. “Try it.” You hold the spoon out in front of him, and he raises his eyebrows slightly. Your gaze remains firm. A challenge.

Hesitantly, he takes the bite, not breaking eye contact as he does so. You stare at him, watching the way his lips move around the spoon, the intensity of his gaze. The action itself should be innocent, yet you feel a warmth rise to your cheeks.

Chris swallows, taking his lips off the spoon. For a moment, neither of you say anything. You can feel the change in the atmosphere of the room. The spark between you two being brought alight.

You swallow hard. “So?” You ask quietly.

“Yeah, it’s good. Very good,” he says back, his voice low and raspy. He goes to take the spoon from you, and his hand lingers a moment, his thumb trailing the skin of your knuckles.

You feel yourself lean in slightly, fully prepared to take the leap, when suddenly he breaks away from you, eagerly taking a few steps back. He looks away, placing a hand on his face, as if he were ashamed.

“Shit. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I know you’re seeing someone, we shouldn’t be doing this. I’m sorry,” he babbles, completely turning away from you.

You open your mouth to say something, but no words come out. Seeing someone? Where the hell could he have possibly gotten that idea?

“Seeing someone?” You ask, incredulously voicing your thoughts. You grab him by the shoulder, turning him around. “Why do you think I’m seeing someone?”

Chris still refuses to meet your eyes, instead focusing intently on the wall behind you. “The guy that lives here- Minho - aren’t you two?”

“Minho?” You gape, contorting your face in a look of pure disgust. “Ew, gross! No! Believe me, I am not dating Minho, I’d genuinely rather stick this spoon in my eye,” you exclaim, lifting up the utensil.

At that Chris finally looks at you, wearing his own look of pure confusion. “Wait, really? But whenever I hear you guys out in the hall, the two of you are always so… flirty.”

“Flirty?” You laugh at the ridiculousness of the statement. “If by flirty you mean he teases me literally every god damn second of every day, then yeah sure, I guess. But believe me, there is absolutely nothing romantic about that. Not in the least.”

Chris shakes his head, a smile forming at the corners of his lips. “Wow. I am such an idiot,” he sighs, a rediscovered lightness to his tone.

“No, no. Don’t worry about it,” you reassure him. “Anyone could make that mistake, I guess. It’s really no big-”

“No, it’s not just that,” he cuts you off. “That’s why I’ve never talked to you before now.”

“You never talked to me because you thought that me and Minho were dating?” You ask, slightly confused. Even if you were dating, you didn’t see why that would stop him from starting a conversation with you. “Why?”

“Well,” he sighs, his cheeks reddening further. “I thought you were pretty, and based on the way you always quipped back at him, clever and funny as well. I don’t know, it just felt wrong to try and build a friendship with you, knowing how I already felt a little....”  

You smirk, drawing yourself slightly closer to him. “A little what?”

His smile transforms itself from embarrassed to a sly grin of his own. “A little into you, I guess.”

“It really is a shame,” you shrug, trying to hide the excitement building in your chest. “Because here I was, thinking my cute neighbor had some irrational grudge against me.”

Chris leans in, so the two of you are only inches apart. You can feel the heat radiating from his skin, smell the strong fragrance of his cologne. Sharp with lemon zest and mint.

“We could always make up for lost time, you know,” he says, his eyes flashing with mischief.

That is all the invitation you need to break the space between the two of you. You press Chris’ lips against your own, placing one hand on his shoulder and the other along the line of his jaw. His lips are soft, you notice. Tender in the slow rhythm the two of you develop.

He runs his hands up along your figure. One of them finding itself locked in your hair, the other placed firmly on the curve of your lower back. Gently, he leads the two of you away from the stove, placing you so that your back is pressed up against the kitchen counter.

You run your hand down along his chest, reveling in the groan he let’s out as your fingers trail down his lower abdomen. The sound is electricity pulsing through you, charging the room and igniting the atmosphere around the two of you.

His lips leave yours, trailing your jaw before making their way down your neck. Each individual kiss is slow and sultry, sending a shiver down your spine. You take a deep breath to stable yourself, and it does not go unnoticed.

Chris smirks, shifting his gaze to meet yours. His eyes are dark, his pupils blown out with desire. “You know, if we keep this up, the pasta sauce is going to burn,” he says, letting his fingers trail along your collarbone.

“Let it,” you shrug. “I wasn’t hungry anyways.”

Chris laughs at this, leaning forward so his face brushes the crook of your neck. “Yeah, right,” he says, allowing his lips to dust your skin. Suddenly, he bites down, not enough to break through the skin, but certainly enough to leave a small mark.  

You laugh, running your hands in his hair, half-heartedly pulling him off of your neck. “Hey! That hurt,” you exclaim, only half serious.

“Sorry,” he grins, before crashing his lips into yours once again. The pace between the two of you is much faster now, each kiss more passionate. More promising. Your desire rings through you, clouding your mind in a hazy fog of lust. It is dizzying, just how much you want him at this moment.

You're certain he feels the same way, given in how tightly he grips your thigh, his breath ragged every time you break apart. It is messy. Greedy. The two of you so deeply wanting more. More of each other.

You’re about to ask if he wants to move this to the bedroom, when suddenly the apartment door swings open. It’s almost comical, how quickly you and Chris break apart, springing to opposite ends of the kitchen.

“I hate to say it, but you were right,” Minho calls as he walks inside, not yet glancing up from his phone screen. “Shit got out of hand. Someone managed to break the pool table, don’t even ask how, I don’t know either. Almost gave Felix an aneurysm. I swear the kid was about to cry, poor guy. Han had to shut everything down. So you really didn’t miss out on-” Minho stops as he sees Chris, a confused yet bemused expression crossing his face.

“Oh, hey Chan,” he says, causing you to give Chris a look.

“A nickname,” Chris mouths to you, as discreetly as he possibly can.

“What are you doing over here?” Minho asks him, crossing his arms and leaning against the door. He has that smug smirk on his face that makes you want to punch him.

“Oh, well…” Chris starts, casting you a glance. “Y/N made some food, and there was too much of it, so she invited me over.”

“Really?” Minho asks, caught off guard. He walks past you and Chris, staring at the pasta and sauce currently sitting on the oven burners. “You’re saying Y/N made this?”

“Well, yeah?” Chris says, feigning confusion. “Of course, I wouldn’t lie about something like that. Why?”

You have to stop yourself from laughing, looking at the expression of utter bewilderment on Minho’s face. Minho glances at you, narrowing his eyes, before sighing.

“Well then, I guess you proved me wrong on two things tonight, Y/N,” he says, grabbing a bowl from the cupboard.

“What are you doing?” You ask as he begins to scoop some of the penne into his dish.

“Oh, you said there was a lot,” Minho responds, raising one eyebrow. “Can I not have some?”

“Sorry, go ahead,” you say, still slightly flustered by the abruptness of his entrance. Minho finishes filling his bowl and takes a seat at the kitchen island. As he begins to eat, the room is filled with a rather tense silence. You and Chris share an awkward look, unsure of what to do next.

Minho looks up from his dish, glancing between the two of you.

“Yeah, okay,” he says, grabbing his bowl and standing up from his chair. “I’m going to go eat this in my room. Have fun you two.”

Before you can say anything, Minho disappears around the corner, down the hallway leading to his room. You turn back towards Chris. The two of you stare at each other for a moment, before bursting out into a fit of laughter.

“He’s a bit of a mood-killer, huh?” You say, grabbing two bowls from the cupboard, offering him one.

Chris nods in thanks as he takes the bowl from your hands. “Just a little bit,” he laughs, beginning to scoop some of the pasta into both of your dishes.

The two of you take a seat at your counter, spending the meal talking and laughing. Nothing else, the moment has passed, but that doesn’t bother you. You enjoy Chris’ presence. His quick humour and thoughtful conversation.

It really is something that you could get used to, you decide.

After you’re done eating, you walk Chris over to the door, handing him his surplus of spice bottles and leftover spinach.

“Thank you for doing all this, seriously. The food was delicious, you’re seriously gifted. And also, thank you for covering for me, I really didn’t feel like listening to Minho die laughing over the burnt cookies,” you admit.

“It’s no problem, really,” Chris smiles. He shifts all the spices over to his right arm, letting his free hand fall down to his side. Softly, he takes your hand in his, letting your fingers intertwine.

“Listen,” he continues, shyly looking up from your hands to meet your eyes. “If you’re not doing anything tomorrow, you’re welcome to come over for a proper dinner. You know, so I can show you what I can actually make when it’s not a last minute attempt at salvaging a meal.”

You smile a goofy, genuine grin. “That sounds good to me,” you say. Hesitantly, you lean forwards, planting a soft, innocent kiss on his lips.

As you break apart, he hums contently. “I’ll see you tomorrow then, thanks for today. You made my night, Y/N.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Chris.” You watch as he walks over to his apartment door, which is of course, only a few meters away from your own. When he disappears into his own apartment, you sigh, closing your own door behind you. You lean against the frame, letting out a shaky breath, your heart beating rapidly in your chest. It’s been so long since you’ve held any genuine interest in someone, you feel almost giddy.

That is until you see Minho, leaning against the corner of the kitchen wall, watching you with his cheshire smirk.

“Dinner tomorrow, huh?” He asks, walking into the kitchen and scooping himself the last of the pasta.

“What about it?” You retort, not giving in to that pestering look in his eyes.

“Oh, nothing. I’m sure it’ll be good, considering Chan clearly made this,” Minho says, shoveling some of the pasta into his mouth.

“I don’t know what you mean,” you say, grabbing two wine glasses from the cupboard.

“Save it, the lady at the front desk told me you almost set the apartment on fire,” Minho laughs as you pour the wine.

You let out a groan, handing him his glass. “God dammit.”

“Don’t blame her though,” he smiles, leaning back and taking a sip. “I wouldn’t have believed you could have cooked that anyway.”

You roll your eyes. “Yeah, maybe you’re right.”

“Had me fooled for a second there though,” he says, patting you on the head. “But more importantly, you like Chan huh?”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Right. Nice hickey, by the way,” he smirks, raising his eyebrows.

You pull up the collar of your shirt, casting him a glare. “Okay, maybe I do,” you shrug. “What’s it to you?”

“Nothing,” he replies, before taking a second to think. “Just please don’t fuck him or anything tomorrow. Walls are thin.”

You laugh, taking your glass of wine and flopping yourself back down on the living room couch.

“Shut up, Minho.”

~

thanks for reading loves <3

[theyscreamjade]

You know how a Black girl's hair is apparently "distracting" due to braids and stuff and the girls would get sent home or in trouble (Years ago, I read a story where a teacher got a pair scissors and snipped off a girl's braids, because she didn't like them. WTF, I would have punched that teacher). Can I have HCs of Bakugou, Midoriya, and Hawks whose baby girl got her hair done and is either sent home, in detention, or that stupid teacher putting their nasty hands on them.

Beautiful Black Hair

What’s up?! I’ve been out of it lately and I’m sorry! I seriously needed a break and I wanted to get a few things off my head. It’s been a hectic ass year. I hope you enjoy honey! Thank you for requesting!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

* Let me explain something to you, Bakugou expects each of his children to express their blessed ass hair.

* He doesn’t deny nor hates that melanin.

* And tell me why Bakugou would be the type to have that angry black father vibes too?

* The moment your child comes home early, I mean as hell. Mind you, she’s in kindergarten and he walks her to school.

* She walked home alone, sad and confused. You assumed she was either sick..or was having a bad day but when she pulls out a paper that the teacher had written saying her hair was distracting to the kids.

* Bakugou is livid. I mean he’s furious but he’s keeping his composure because he’d hate to scare his little angel.

* But this turns into motivation for Bakugou. She had a simple puffball on her head, he ends up taking her to a hair salon that knows how to do and treat natural hair while you were busy making dinner.

* She comes through the door with a unique hairstyle that even catches your attention that you make sure it’s fresh in the morning still.

* With a cute outfit, a fresh lunch, and a skip on her step. Your daughter was happily back in school, her dad even walked her into the school straight to her classroom.

* When the teacher's eyes pop at her hair, Bakugou gives her a look and says “Try that for a distraction.”

* No one bothers this man’s baby.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

* Your daughter is a free-natured spirit with gorgeous curls that were blessed with your and Keigo genes.

* He adores her with all his heart, she has his wings and everything. She adores her father more than she cares to even eat.

* Let me mention one thing though, as much of a chill guy he is. He worries like fuck about you and her. He’s a pro-hero after all.

* So, When your daughter was late coming home that day which she usually flew. He was pacing back and forth on your carpet while you called the school.

* He gasped when he heard her feet land at the doorstep as your daughter opened the door. He turned, ready to give her a lecture for going out and free-flying all over the place before he noticed her sad and tired face.

* She was filthy, her face looked as if she was cleaning. She had chalk on her shirt, her thigh-high socks had dirt on her knees and her once bouncy curls seemed frizzy.

* Keigo quickly rushed over and kneeled to her, right when she breaks down and tells how she was in detention because her hair was too ‘wild’ and distracting to the students during class because they wanted to touch it.

* Keigo softly comforts her, rubbing her back as she tries to speak about the things she had to do during detention like cleaning the chalk erasers, sweep the playground and help collect the balls from the practice of both soccer and basketball.

* Not only this infuriates Keigo, but you’re also nearly fuming that you almost forgot dinner that was in the oven which almost burns. Once she bathes, eats, and is finally sleeping. Keigo set out and proceeded to get shit straight.

* The next morning, Keigo was drinking his coffee casually as watched the news. He smirked as the teacher that treated his daughter so bad was being arrested for several charges.

* “Told you, I’d handle it.” He’d say while you watched the news in shock at your husband’s exposure of a terrible teacher.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

* Let me tell you about Izuku and you can fight me on this.

* Each one of his daughters are so fucking adorable, they’ve got his freckles, smile, and even his adorable and soft hair.

* God blessed you two with twins that act just like that makes things too freaking cute.

* So, each daughter’s hair are personally styled and done by you and their personal and favorite hairstyle is the basic two puffball up and the rest down look which are flawless because of their beautiful curls.

* With your daughters in only...DAYCARE! MIND YOU FUCKING DAYCARE! (They’re both three in this scenario.)

* You should’ve seen the damn confusion in Izuku’s face when he saw that he was getting a phone call from them while he was working. He stood up and exited the meeting as he answered. He heard a scream and froze. “Hello-“

* “Don’t touch my hair! Mommy said don’t touch it!” One of the daughters screamed as she tried to push away their hands. Izuku reacted fast and got in his car.

* He silently prayed that they didn’t call you because..you’d burn that damn place to the ground.

* A quick and near-death speed later, There he was. He walked to the entrance and opened the door without any authority at all.

* The way the teachers and even the kids jumped at the fact Izuku Midoriya, Hell Deku was inside the building. (Probably should’ve changed Izuku.)

* He walks to the office, opens the door, and smiles to see both of his angels rush for him. They both squeeze and hold his legs tightly, scared and excited to see their hero of a father save them again.

* “Mister Midoriya, I’m sorry about the scare. I didn’t know they called until you hung up...I was only fixing their hair because it was distracting the kids.” The headmistress tried to explain as the girls seemed to flinch at her presence.

* “Oh really? Well, you won’t have to worry about their hair being a distraction anymore...because they’re no longer coming here. Good luck with the press.” He responded bluntly as he scooped both of them up and carried them outside.

* Like he promised too, he laid all the tea out and they were promptly closed.

[winchesterfanatic1967]

Cuddling Is For Chicks

Pairings: Dean x Reader

Word Count: 1,219 

Warnings: None 

Request for @debs95love​ Can I request a one shot where Dean is really low for some reason, and the reader forces Dean in a cuddle session, at the beginning he doesn't want but he secretly enjoy it and he falls asleep in her arms. It could be really sweet and fluff and comforting? Please? Thank you so much if you decide to write this 😊😍

You were cooking dinner for the Winchester brothers, and an apple pie for Dean. They were on their way back from a nasty demon hunt that took longer than anticipated. You didn’t speak to Dean but Sam told you how brutal it was and there were many casualties.

You knew how tired they would be, so you figured cooking a nice meal would make them feel a little better. Pie always made Dean feel better. You just finished setting the table when you heard the door close. After a minute Sam and Dean entered the kitchen and to say they looked exhausted was an understatement. 

“Hey boys..” You say softly before hugging Sam, then moving onto Dean. Before you could wrap your arms around him he walked out of the kitchen. 

A look of hurt came across your face. “Don’t take it personally y/n, this one took a toll on him.”

“I made you guys dinner.”

“Thank you. I appreciate that.”

The two of you sat down and ate together, and Dean never returned to the kitchen. “I’m going to make a plate for Dean. Can you do me a favor and take the pie out of the oven when it beeps?”

“You got it.”

You made a plate for Dean as Sam cleaned around the kitchen. You grabbed a fork and a couple of napkins before making your way towards Dean’s room. You knocked a couple of times before you heard a soft, “Come in.” 

You opened the door and Dean was sitting on the edge of his bed in a black t-shirt and boxers. You gave him a small smile and he gave you more of a grimace in return. 

“I made you guys dinner, and I know you’re probably hungry. I made this up for you whenever you want it.” You set the plate on his nightstand. “I also have a pie in the oven for you. It’ll be done in a little while.”

“Thank you..” He said quietly and you sighed softly. 

You sat down next to him on the bed and placed your hand on his knee. “You can talk to me, you know. I don’t know what happened but I’m always here for you.”

He nodded a little before the room became silent. Your hand was still on his knee and you rubbed your thumb in small circles on it. “We found out Crowley was sending his minions out to kill innocent people to mess with our heads. I guess it’s been too quiet for him.” He started out slowly. “More casualties were involved than you could ever imagine. Parents, grandparents, he even had them possess kids..” He choked out as his eyes filled with tears and you felt your own well up. 

“I swear the next time I see that son of a bitch I’m going to kill him. I don’t care if we might need him later on down the road. This has been a long time coming.” He said as a tear slid down his face. 

You wrapped your arm around his shoulder and rested your head against his. “I know this is awful..and I know you feel like a failure. But you are a damn good hunter Dean. You’re the most selfless and caring man I’ve ever met. You always put others before yourself. You did the best you could. Crowley had you outnumbered and that wasn’t your fault. I should’ve come along to help.”

“No.” He shook his head. “You need to rest that knee. It was a good idea for you to stay home.”

“It wasn’t your fault.” You say again and his lip curls up slightly. 

“Something is always eating at me. What’s one more thing right?” 

“You need to stop blaming yourself for everything. The world is still intact because of you. It may not mean much to you but it means everything to me.”

“I know..I know it means something. I’m just so tired, sweetheart.”

“I know you are.” You say softly before laying down on the bed. “C’mere.” You say holding your arms open and he shook his head. 

“Come on. Lay with me.”

“Cuddles are chick flick moments.”

“You love chick flick moments.”

He shook his head, trying not to smile and you poked his side. He jumped and slightly glared at you. 

“Come here.”

“No.”

When he was distracted you grabbed his arms and tugged him on top of you. He let out an oof before a low chuckle left his lips. “You’re a pain in my ass. You know that?” He says before he wrapped his arms around you. 

You held him tightly against your chest and ran your fingers through his hair. “Just admit you like this. I know you do.”

“I don’t. I feel like a chick.”

You squeezed his side and he jumped. “Y/n, I swear to god.”

You did it again and this time he let out a small laugh. “Fine. Fine, I like this. Okay? Ya happy?”

“Very much so.” You giggled and went back to running your fingers through his hair, running your nails up and down his back, and every once in a while kissing his forehead. You could tell he was melting into your touch and enjoying this. 

The truth is, you were in love with Dean. You’ve been in love with him for as long as you can remember. “I’m sorry I ignored you when we first got home. You didn’t deserve that.” He mumbled into your chest. 

“It’s okay, I understand De.”

“I really don’t deserve you. You take care of me, and you take care of Sam. You feed us food that isn’t from a drive thru, you do our laundry and clean up after us, you even make me pie. I appreciate everything you do. More than you’ll ever know.” Before you could reply he gently lifted up your chin with his hand and looked at you lovingly. 

Your breath hitched in your throat as he leaned in slowly, giving you an opportunity to back out. You closed the gap between the two of you and pressed your lips against his. 

Your lips moved in sync with his and when you pulled away he had a look of vulnerability in his eyes. “Was that okay?” He breathes out slowly. 

“More than okay.” You whispered.

“I’m not good at feelings, or how to be a good boyfriend. But I’m willing to try. I’m so in love with you it scares me.”

“I’m in love with you too.” He kissed you once more before snuggling back into your arms and it warmed your heart. After a while of playing with his hair you noticed he was asleep. 

Your heart swelled in your chest as you kissed the top of his head, and slowly leaned over to shut his side lamp off. You got comfortable underneath the covers and he groaned a little, “Hmm?”

“Shhh. Go back to sleep De.” 

When he got under the covers you pulled him towards you again, and you were holding him in a spooning position. He melted underneath your touch once more and he was out like a light again not too much longer after that. You felt your eyelids getting heavier and heavier as you let the darkness take over.

[xgiannax]

If you're feeling up to it at some point I'd like to know if you could write where the reader tickles Bakugou out of curiosity and then he gets revenge ? Bonus for chase down tickles ^_^

Ugh yess I’m alway feeling up to writing for Bakubae❤️ here ya go love✨

“You’re holding it all wrong. Here, idiot “ Bakugou lightly scolded you wiping his hands on his apron, he positioned himself behind you and reached over grabbing your hands

“Fold your fingers under or you’ll chop them off” you smiled a little leaning back into his chest and allowing him to guide your hands as you cut the potatoes in front of you.

“You know, if you were gonna critique everything I do you could just cook it by yourself” You joked turning your head and kissing his cheek, a light red color dusted his face and he squinted moving his head out of your reach

“Tch, I just thought that you helping would make it go faster. Maybe if you weren’t so shitty- oof!” He grunted as you elbowed him in the stomach

“Finish it yourself since I’m so shitty!” You turned to push him away, instead he leaned down and kissed your nose, then lips to shut you up.

“Go find something for us to watch I’m putting these in the oven” you crossed your arms at him, but still did as told. You waited on the couch for him, eventually settling on a random action movie playing on the tv. He plopped next to you stretching his arms and wincing, favoring his back

“What’s wrong with your back?” He glanced down at you and shrugged

“I don’t know. Just sore” You slid down to the ground and pulled him with you, motioning for him to lay on his stomach “What are you doing?”

“Lay down, let me give you a massage” that same red from earlier appeared on his face and he glared at you, you leaned forward wrapping your arms around his neck and peppering kisses on his face. He groaned in annoyance and you smiled at his failed attempts to hide his own smirk

“Katsukiiii lay down!” You sang hugging him tighter

“Okay! Fine” He gave in pushing your face away to stop your kiss attack, he swiftly pulled his shirt over his head and laid on his stomach for you. You slid comfortably onto his lower back and began massaging the area you’d seen him rub before

“Does that feel okay, Katsuki?” He grunted in response and you felt him relaxing under your hands. You massaged him for a little while longer until your hands went lower and he jumped aggressively nearly knocking you over

“Ack!”

“Hm? Did I hurt you? I’m sorry-“ you went quiet for a second, slowly raising an eyebrow

“What is it? Why’d you stop?” He mumbled tiredly into the carpet, eyes still closed. You could tell he was avoiding looking at you and that only made you more curious, you reached forward again and latched your hands to the lower part of his sides quickly kneading. He cackled loudly kicking his legs out behind you

“NAHA STAHAHP!” His hands reached back for yours and you quickly caught them trapping them against his side with your knees, he tried to glare back at you but failed instead clenching his teeth to hide his smile

“Fuck-ahhahhahah!” He laughed desperately tensing up and wiggling when you scribbled your fingers up and down his bare back “I cahahant, stahahap!”

“Katsuki, you’re ticklish?!” You exclaimed stopping when his loud laughs turned silent, you slid off of his back and sat beside him laughing at his reaction

“That’s funny to you, huh idiot? Trapping me like that?” He growled and you squealed rolling out of the way, barely escaping his grip as he lunged at you

“W-wait! I’m sorry, I just wanted to see!” You called innocently over your shoulder

“Shut up and stop running, dumbass!” He chased you around your small apartment and you managed to escape him until he unexpectedly hopped over the couch, backing you into a corner

“No where to go now, y/n” he smiled evily and stretched his hands toward you wiggling his fingers, he hadn’t even touched you yet but the anticipation made you giggle instantly

“I said sorry! No, wait- the fohohooood!” Your sentence dissolved into loud laughter at the feeling of Katsuki digging his fingers into your stomach, all while laughing at your squeaks and the way you danced around to avoid his ticklish fingers

“The foods fine, you have bigger things to worry about- hey is your neck ticklish?”

“NO!” You said too quickly, sinking to the ground when he switched to tickling the sides of your neck and ears. Tears formed in the corner of your eyes and you fell in a giggling puddle on the floor, trying to kick him off weakly “Plehehehease!”

“Do you give, y/n?” You nodded breathlessly not able to get out a word through your belly laughter, he stopped and stared down triumphantly at you

“Hmm. You know this is your fault, you really should’ve known better than to try me”

“Hey Katsuki-is that smoke coming from the kitchen?” His head whipped around and he zoomed into the kitchen

“NOT MY FUCKING POTATOES DAMMIT”

[writingletterstothefire]

From your prompt list could I request #49 fluff w/ Bucky please? 💙

A/N: The more of these I do, the longer they get 😭😭 I hope you like it!!

Word Count: 1086

Warnings: jealousy, imagining choking someone out, the usual yk?

Prompt: “Is somebody jealous?”

Steve was similar, just less touchy. Steve was his best friend in the whole world, and Bucky trusted him with his life. So, when he saw the punk trapping you in a headlock and you responded by hugging him around his waist, Bucky barely lifted his head to look.

That spidey-kid Peter was too young for you, despite going red in the face whenever you smiled at him, so naturally Bucky didn’t care when you’d give Peter a kiss on the head after breakfast.

Tony had Pepper, Natasha and Bruce were smitten with each other, and Clint, when he stayed at the compound, was just constantly showing everyone pictures of his kids.

All of this was to say that Bucky did not get jealous. He was secure in his friendships, and even more secure in his relationship. He trusted you to remain faithful to him, and he would never look twice at anyone but you. Your relationship had a strong foundation of mutual love and trust.

But dammit, he was about to wring that skinny little slimy god of mischief if he put one more hand on you.

Loki had been staying at the compound for the past month, and Thor was insistent that he was rehabilitated and no longer under the influence of the Tessaract. Loki, the real Loki, was welcomed into the tower with a few wary glances, but he was mostly left to his own devices. He was allowed to train with everyone, but he would not be sent on any missions until it was abundantly clear that he could be trusted.

Or until Bucky murdered him.

Bucky thought of himself as a reasonable guy, for the most part. Chill, even, once Shuri had wiped Hydra’s mind control from his brain. But when he saw Loki blatantly flirting with you, he saw red.

Right now he was watching as Loki baked with you, and found any excuse to put his hand on your waist or hip as he moved around you. Every time Loki smiled at you, Bucky imagined wrapping his metal hand around the greasy god’s throat. Every time Loki reached up to wipe flour off of your face, Bucky wanted to rip his entire arm off.

Again, it should be restated that Bucky trusts you. It’s just that… sometimes you think too innocently of people. It wasn’t your fault, you just actively chose to see the good in people. It’s one of the things he loved about you. But this time, Bucky wished you’d pin Loki’s face between your hand and the counter.

It was clear that Bucky would have to intervene. If he didn’t, he’d spend the next month stewing in anger. He just had to do it as innocently as possible.

He did his best to look nonchalant as he rose from the couch and made his way to the kitchen.

“Hey, doll. Whatcha makin’?” Bucky kept his eyes trained on you, trying to ignore Loki’s presence entirely.

“We’re baking cookies! And we have a batch of brownies in the oven too, the extra fudgy kind that you like,” you replied, beaming at him. You had this special smile that you reserved only for when he walked into the room. Your lips stretched wide, and your eyes brightened and crinkled up. You looked at him like you were excited to see him, even if you’d seen him twenty minutes before. Bucky loved it.

“You’re the best, baby,” Bucky leaned forward to kiss you on your smiling lips.

You sighed into what you thought was going to be an innocent peck, maybe something that lingered for a few seconds. To your surprise, Bucky’s metal arm wrapped around your waist, pulling you to press your body against his. His other hand to reach up and cup your face, his thumb softly rubbing along your cheekbone.

When he finally pulled away, he smirked down at you, before turning his head to look at Loki, who seemed sufficiently uncomfortable.

“You know what? You’ve been so helpful, you can go, bud, I’ll help clean up. Thanks for keeping my little baker company.” At first glance, anyone would think Bucky’s grin was friendly. But you, and Loki, knew that his suggestion of Loki leaving was not up for debate.

You waited until Loki left the kitchen before crossing your arms over your chest and raising an eyebrow at your boyfriend.

“What?” Bucky asked innocently.

“What was that all about?” You asked, your tone half amused and half annoyed. “Loki is the best baking assistant in this tower. Everyone else, including you, has me do all the work and eats half my batter.”

“I’m sure Loki was looking to eat something else,” Bucky grumbled under his breath. He quickly snapped his head up to look at you. “Hey! I’m a helpful baker!”

You stared at Bucky for a solid minute, before a smirk fell across your face. “Wait a minute-”

Bucky’s eyes widened. “No, no-”

“I should’ve known-”

“No, I’m-”

“You’re-!”

“No!”

It wasn’t his most dignified moment. He may or may not have had his arms crossed and stamped his foot like a toddler. At that moment, he didn’t care. He just didn’t want to hear you say it.

“Is somebody jealous?”

God, he wished the floor would swallow him up.

“You are jealous!” you exclaimed, after he refused to respond. You wrapped your arms around his waist slowly. “Baby, look at me.”

He pouted like a child before raising his eyes to meet yours. “You trust me?”

Bucky nodded quickly, hurrying out an, “Of course I trust you!”

You smiled, leaning up to kiss him softly.

“Then you don’t have to worry about Loki. I promise you, he wasn’t flirting with me. I’m sure of it. Upon first meeting me, Loki was quick to assure me that mortals were ‘filthy little creatures with the lifespan of an ant’. He’s not interested in being anymore than a friend or teammate. And I only love you.”

Bucky leaned his forehead against yours, finally returning your embrace. “I’m sorry.”

“I know,” you smiled, “and it’s okay. Now, you promised to help clean up?”

Bucky groaned as you patted his cheek and called out a, “Get to work!”

[yungbud]

Dom x reader who disassociates when under a lot of stress or worries and how he deals with it

Zoned Out#

Word count:796

Tw?: Slight mentions of anxiety, disassociation etc. Mostly fluff

Your mouth hung slightly ajar, the world around you long since fading into white noise. It took you a second to snap back in and realize Sam had been trying to get your attention.

“Hm?” You ask, turning your attention towards her.

“Your hot chocolate?” She says, handing you the white cup.

“Thank you.”

 “Are you alright dear? Can I get you anything else?” She asks, grabbing a handful of mini marshmallows and popping them in her mouth one by one.

“No thanks. I’m fine, just daydreaming.” You say, lifting the cup to your lips and taking a small sip. You could feel yourself slipping away and you had to keep pulling yourself back. Your attention shifted from your cup to the tv as you struggled to help think of a movie to watch. It was hard to stay focused when there was so much to focus on, dom’s sisters speaking to each other over his parents conversation as his little cousin told you an unintelligible story. It all morphed together into one messy sound that you could barely decipher.

It didn't help that it felt like everytime you came forward you started worrying about something that was going on in your life, causing you to retreat into your mind once again. This year had been so stressful, turning what should’ve been a relaxing christmas vacation in England with Dom’s family into a hazy blur of anxiety. 

The room is packed with his family members, you begin to panic as you wonder why it feels as if you can’t breathe, before remembering you had simply forgotten to. Your breathing became heavy and deep as you tried to refill your lungs with air, hoping that this wouldn’t tip anyone off to your perpetual state of panic. The only thing worse than panicking in a room full of people is someone noticing and asking if everything’s okay, because its not, because you’re panicking and you can’t breathe and everythings going so wrong and it’s so loud you can’t think and it all dog piles ontop of eachother and you’re so worried you forget to breathe and all the sudden you’re breathing heavily and-

A hand on your back brought you forward as you started slipping away again, your eyes meeting Dom’s as you turned to see who it belonged to. You gave him a short smile, laying your head on his shoulder and hoping he wouldn’t ask why your breathing had become so heavy.

“Your hot chocolate warm enough?” He asks, you gave him a small nod, humming a short response 

“What do you think we should watch? ‘Cause I was thinking maybe Elf or The Grinch.” He says, his accent turning the th into an f. You thought about it for a second, weighing out the options before responding

“The grinch sounds good to me.”

“Okay, sounds good. Come with me, we’ll get you some whipped cream and make popcorn before the movie starts.” He says, leading you toward the kitchen. You found it easier to focus when you were finally away from the constant noise, taking a glance around the kitchen as Dom reached in the fridge for the whipped cream.

He sprayed some in his mouth, then in yours, before putting it on your hot chocolate. The whipped cream overflowed and began spilling out as you close your mouth, your hand coming down to catch it before it can reach the floor.

Dom put the popcorn in the microwave, the buttons letting out little beeps as he pressed them. Dom wraps his arms around you, pulling you into a hug as you wait. You nuzzle your face into his neck, inhaling his sweet scent and allowing it to calm you as you slowly sway back and forth in the middle of the kitchen. 

Doms head pulled back, his pretty green eyes looking into yours before your lips met in a slow kiss, the oven beeping causing your romantic little moment to end prematurely.

You hadn’t even realized it when it was happening, but Dom was keeping you distracted so you didn’t have time to wander off. You wondered if he even knew what he was doing, but regardless you were so thankful. 

You waited for him to finish pouring out the popcorn before pulling him into another kiss, pulling him close to you once again and leaving little kisses over his face after you pulled away.

“We can stay in here a little longer if you need to.” He says, kissing your forehead while his hand rubbed your back.

“I'm good now, I think.” You say, grabbing the whipped cream and spraying another spurt into each of your mouths before grabbing your hot chocolate and heading back out to enjoy a movie with his family.

[kylosgenesis]

Teardrops on Fire

Synopsis:

Steve Rogers is the last Alpha of the an almost extinct Lycan pack. With only less than 100 members left. Steve must produce an heir to ensure the species survival and reduce the chance of attacks from others. Omegas are rare, and betas have a hard time producing children. Steves reality is finally setting in as his obligation of producing an heir faces a major set back.

Reader is the last suitable omega to mate with Steve, due to the fear of her daughters fate in the pack, her mother kept her hidden from the pack after her own exile. Only her mother, and Bucky's family know of her existence. Bucky is Steve's right hand man, and the packs best warrior! He and the reader developed a friendship and bond over the years, but age forced them to become distant.

What happens when she presents and her first heat cycle comes? Her body is in excruciating pain and a strong fever quickly overcomes her body. Facing the fear of her daughters possible death, her mom calls on the only person who can save her at this point, Alpha Steve! Bucky and the alphas friendship will be tested. The reader will be faced with her love for Bucky or her duty to the pack.

Authors note: unbeta’d . Things will start getting really good in the next two chapters! So just hold on tight, and enjoy the ride. This chapter kinda short, and there is a lot of fluff! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 6: Runaway

You kept having the same nightmare every night! Ever since you came to Nat’s place, you woke up with a feeling of fear.

In your nightmare you saw Bucky covered in blood, but the blood wasn’t his. You never got a chance to see before you woke up in a cold sweat and chills. The first few nights nat didn’t notice when you’d sneak out.

You missed everything about the place you called home! You would run around the village, and just watch in the dark as lights light up through windows, and people got ready to start their days. It had become your little escape! Running reminded you of the wind on your face while hunting, and the adrenaline of a good catch.

On the 4th night you noticed Natasha was up when you walked over to the door. She knew how hard the transition was for you so she just let you do your thing.

You hadn’t seen Steve or Bucky since that day, you where glad you hadn’t had to face them yet, but it made you uneasy!

You still felt Bucky, sometimes he was closer other times more distant.

Returning home from your jog, you found a parked car! The sun still wasn’t fully up yet, so you wondered why someone might be here this early.

As you opened the Emerald door into Nat’s home. You where caught off guard by the smell of an alpha, it was significantly different from Bucky’s scent, but still strong, and commanding! Even though you missed Bucky’s smell, whoever this was had you waltzing towards the scent.

Steve was in the kitchen, the smell of freshly brewed coffee surrounded his already amazing smell. There was eggs on the pan, and bacon sizzling in the oven.

You looked around to try to find Natasha, but she was nowhere in sight.

You only knew Steve from the small glimpse of that day, and by spoken word.

You hoped he’d turn around and notice you before you had to say something. You kept your hands crossed around your body as you walked towards the counter.

As if on cue he turned! You noticed he no longer had a beird, and his longer locks had been trimmed into a neat haircut. He looked handsome!

You heard his trust clear ” Hey! ... Natasha had to go to the pub early, so I thought I’d surprise you with breakfast when you woke up.” He looked at your running clothes, and the lightly soaked hair strands in your face “ I see you beat me to the waking up part” he chuckled to himself.

You could tell he was nervous!

You fumbled with your ponytail and placed your hands over your chest again “ Yeah... I couldn’t sleep so I went on a run! I hope you don’t mind! “ You didn’t know if he was comfortable with the thought of you running around while smelling like Bucky.

But he let out a lighthearted smile “ Not at all! Im glad you’re making yourself at home.

The sound of a timer went off. “Ohhh shoot! I almost forgot...” He turned around pulled the tray of bacon out of the oven.

Everything smelled absolutely delicious! In your 20 years of life, you hadn’t had so many combined foods in your life. You where almost salivating by the time Steve placed a plate of food in front of you.

”I hope this is okay with you? ...you don’t have to ... I’m sorry... I’m really nervous right now!” He placed his hand behind his neck and scratched his head “ I’m Steve! We haven’t properly met”

“I know! I’ve heard about you a lot! Good to put a face to the man” you kept your stance lowered, still threading carefully with him. After all he was an alpha, and if he was anything like his father, looks could be deceiving!

You redirected your focus towards the food to avoid the awkward tension between you two.

“This looks absolutely delicious! You didn’t have to, I could’ve just...”

You looked up and saw his deep blue eyes staring at you, he looked like he was waiting for you to evaporate in front of him. He was attentive, but he also had a tenderness to him to him. You didn’t know why you relaxed! But you started eating, , and stole a few glances here and there.

“I wanted to...I thought maybe I could show you around? I don’t know if you’ve seen much of the place yet outside of early dawn. If you’d like?”

“I...” You wanted to! But your body kept telling you no. He wasn’t your Alpha, you wanted your alpha. It was hard for you to admit how much you missed Bucky. The last days of your heat where spent smelling like him. Your body reacted to his smell in ways you hadn’t experienced before.

But yet here was Steve. You had to admit he was extremely attractive! You caught yourself eyeing the muscles under his tight shirt, and his blue eyes where about to burn right through your soul.

You didn’t know if you where nervios around Steve because of who he was, or because he was making your heart skip three beats every time he looked at you.

“I would love to!” You tried to hide all your thoughts behind a genuine smile, whatever happened you had to make things work with Steve. Even if Bucky owned most of your thoughts, this was new, and exiting for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bucky’s POV:

He had been on a mission since that day! After he got to his house he immediately collected his things, and took off to the Wakandan pack. He hadn’t even settled in from his last mission, and he was already out on the road again. This time he had more on his mind, and more at stake.

He’d been helping the Wakandan’s build some watchtowers, and some safety points around their property, in order to adquiere a favor from the coven, he’d have to work for it. T’challa was more than kind to provide him a place to stay for the few days.

They where more technology advanced than their pack back home, T’challa’s sister Shuri had attended one of the best universities in the world. It wasn’t often that they allowed people like them in the human world. So when she came home after graduation at 16 she made sure she used her knowledge for good. It was thanks to her he was alive. His arm was a gift! He didn’t even know how to repay them for giving him a second chance.

They where sitting on the roof of one of the lookout towers, just taking a break, and enjoying the scenery. This place had been a great comfort to him after his accident. That’s why he was the one to come for a favor, and not Steve! He’d become family over the years, and the Wakandan’s treated him with as much respect as they’d treated their own Alpha.

Back in the day Shuri had expressed an interest in him! He felt bad seeing her face light up when he talked to her, back then he was too broken to let anyone in. So they just became really good friends, and eventually she outgrew her crush!

She was still the one person he could trust to tell anything to. That’s who’s shoulder he’d cried on the night he arrived under torrencial rain smelling like his omega.

“I don’t think you should go through with this!” Shuri was reading into his silence. She knew what had been bothering him since he arrived!

He thought he was doing what was best for his mate, but really he was running away from her. He didn’t know how to approach her. He had left his mate alone!

He wanted to be with her every day, his body called to her. He could feel her! Every night he dreamt of blood! He kept having a nightmare he couldn’t shake off. It scared him!

“I have to! It wasn’t supposed to be me!” He responded to Shuri, but still kept his gaze set on the horizon.

“Steve’s, a better fit for her!” He turned to face Shuri’s soft expression “I have nothing to offer her. I broke her heart once! I don’t wanna do it again!”

Shuri grabbed his flesh’s hand on hers

“Our ancestors believed if a mating happens its because it was predestined by the great gods... you mating her first was no coincidence my friend!”

“Its too late!” He lowered his gaze to his hand.

“White wolf! What did you do?”

She replied with shock in her voice.

He hesitated to answer as he pushed himself to stand up “ They agreed to undo the mating, and I already gave my blood on it. “ Shuri looked at him with concern.

“You already made a deal with the witches?... have you gone mad? You should’ve waited for me first, or T’challa. Those witches can be tricky.”

They both where avoiding the next part. They just walked in silence back to the main house.

“What did you sacrifice?” Shuri

finally asked. He was caught by surprise by her question.

“I don’t know yet! They didn’t say! They want to meet her first.”

He looked back at her as they paused in front of the house. The doors already opening In automatic to allow them easy entrance.

He didn’t go in, instead he just kept his gaze down. “I’m going home tonight! I’ll be back for the full moon. That’s when the ritual will take place!”

She was concerned for both of them, her pack knew the witches way too well! No magic ever came easily.

“Careful! They’re ancient magic users! You never know what kinda sacrifice blood magic demands”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You and Steve had been walking around the village for a while. You stopped at a small building, most rooms where empty but one had a few desks. Entering further you saw some kids drawings and the room came alive with so many colors. As you looked around you heard running come towards you. Steve didn’t looked scared so it didn’t alarm you when a set of boys no order than ten ran into the room, followed by a girl around half their age.

“Steve!” They ran and tackled him. He let himself be through down by the kids embrace.

You noticed a woman walk in after them, like Nat she had red hair, only hers was a lighter shade. Her eyes where blue and kind.

“kid’s, what have I told you about manners? ”

She put her hands on her waist, as she waited for the kids to answer.

“Sorry Mrs. Maximoff! ” they all responded simultaneously as they stood up from the floor, with Steve following along, shaking some dust off of himself.

“Come on Wanda don’t be hard on them! They’re just exited! “

Wanda looked at the kids, and Steve.

“You are all lucky Mr. Rogers is here! Now go to your desks, and finish those math worksheets I handed before lunch! “ the kids ran to the desks, and started working.

“I don’t know how you do it Steve, but they love you!” Wanda approached Steve with a smile. He took her in for a hug and then tuned to you.

“This is Wanda! She’s a teacher here at the school, and a close friend of mine” he smiled so much when he talked. It made you feel like you had knows everyone he’d introduced in a deep and personal way.

“Nice to meet you Wanda!” You went to shake her hand, but she immediately pulled you into a hug.

You had never had this much human contact, but you felt so welcome! The whole village had treated you with such kindness so far. You wandered if it was truly you or just cause you where with Steve.

“You like kids?” You asked while making small stalk

“Yeah! We don’t have a lot of them around anymore, but I like seeing them! They give me hope.. I guess?” He kept walking with you, hands tucked in his pockets “ I actually help teach from time to time! We have around 15 kids, all different ages! Trust me! It gets hard to handle them as they get older” he chuckled and looked at you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No one said anything about the bite scar on your neck. Even if they noticed, Steve shook it off easily, and changed the subject before it started.

“Can they smell me ?” You asked as you headed into the vintage looking building.

“They can!... it’s faded, but anyone that’s been around Bucky can tell!” he paused as he looked at you, hands placed over your shoulders. “ No one here will judge you for it! Bucky did what he had to do to save your life and where going to fix it I promise”

You nodded, as he opened the door and the room came to life in front of you. It was beautiful! The walls where filled of vintage art, the place had enough that room to orient yourself, but dark enough to relax. It smelled of chocolate and honey combined. You spotted Nat behind a bar, a collection of bottles behind her!

“Hey guys! How was the date?” Nat was drying a small glass, and winked at Steve as she spoke.

“It wasn’t a date Nat, I was just showing her around” he looked at you, shoulders hunched, and blush on his cheeks.

Nat had embarrassed him! You could see Nat’s satisfaction on her face as she lined up glasses in a row on a drawer.

You decided to make Steve feel better, by responding “It’s been wonderful! Everyone’s been very kind” Steve looked relieved!

“Nat, I thought you said you had a small pub, this place is huge!” You said as you tuned into a circle admiring every detail of the place. “It looks lovely!”

“Well it feel small once you get used to it!” She was juggling multiple tasks at once, reaching for a box over her head

“I got it!” Steve replied and jumped to her aid.

“Thanks, I don’t know why he insists of storing stuff up there. Just because he’s tall, doesn’t mean I’m tall! ” she stated back at Steve as he handed her the box.

“That’s Bucky for you!” Steve replied, thinking nothing of it.

Your eyes lit up at the mention of his name. Both Steve and Nat noticed how your expression changed.

“He helps run the place whenever he’s home! He’s one of my best bartenders... with him being out of town I’ve been juggling everything the best that I can”

“I think you’re doing great!” Steve replied

“And I think you should pick up bar tending as one of your hidden talents “ she replied back with a sassy attitude.

You looked around the place! It didn’t seem so bad, you had to find something to do to keep yourself busy.

“I could do it!” You spoke, both Steve and nat turned the heads towards you in shock.

“I mean” you stumbled with your words as you felt both their stares on you” ... I can help you here if you’d like? I’m a quick learner!” Natasha looked at Steve as if awaiting for approval.

Steve was a bit hesitant, but looking at your hopeful puppy eyes immediately made him want to make you happy. “I think that you’ll be a great idea!”

You made a little happy jump at the news.

“ You can join me tomorrow when I come open, and I’ll start you off on getting familiar with the place.” Nat was wiping her hands on her pants as she spoke. A smile on her face!

“Thank you Nat!” Steve leaned over the counter for a hug. You stayed close behind him.

“Well, it’s getting late so I’m going to take her back now! I hope it’s not a wild night for you” he told her as he turned to leave

Nat yelled back at him from behind the counter “ You just jinxed it!” as she threw a towel at him. He tossed it back playfully!

“See you at home, Nat! ” you waved goodbye.

As Steve tugged on the pub door to leave, it opened from the other side.

A fall frame came into view, and your heart missed a beat. Your eyes met Bucky’s for the first time since that day. After a few seconds, your heart tugged at your strings. He noticed Steve, and walked past you towards the bar.

@dottirose @tanyaherondale @iloveshawnieboi @marmite79 @austynparksandpizza @nerdgirljen @exposition-belongs-somewhere @patzammit @connie326 @blessedwedgie

[sleepless-stories]

A Shot In The Storm

Summary: A world where People are given scores rating the strength of their powers. There are myths of assassins who kill and target people who have no powers or have a large amount of power and who they deem too powerful. Logan and Virgil were in a happy relationship. Then Logan goes to get tested and it results in a score higher than anyone would've thought. This score leading to Logan's demise. Following Logan's death, caught up in grief Virgil begins to hunt those he believes to be responsible, and starts to kill them. 

Ships: Analogical

Warnings: Major Character Death, Killing/Murder, Kidnapping, Blood/Gore, Violence, Weapons (Knives, Guns), Torture, Threats, Governmental Conspiracy, Angst (Little to no comfort), Panic Attacks, Oxygen Deprivation, Grief/Mourning

As a Part of the @sandersidesbigbang Art for fic by @lickoutyourbrains  (Here) Beta Read by @5-falsehoods-phonated

Read On Ao3

__________________________

Virgil walked through the city, hood over his head as he walked. Passing the signs and billboards, advertising to get your power test rating, as he walked down the sidewalk. 

Go get tested today! Get your results Find your strength 

The tests were required by the state to be taken every year. If you were recorded not taking a test in a single year, you’d be brought to one by the city’s security, maybe even put in jail for a few hours. 

Every year Virgil had taken the test he just constantly scored in the low 20s, which wasn’t bad. Nobody ever scored over 40 afterall. Even with the score ratings going up to 150, not a single person scored that high ever, it was practically impossible. It wasn’t known why or how nobody scored that anywhere near 150, maybe powers declined in strength over the years. Some said that those who scored high had too much power, that they burned out, dying from all that power, or even went mad with power and tried to attack people and the city. Then those few rumored people who did end up scoring high, disappeared. They didn’t really exist. There were rumors… theories, that they did exist, and were taken out. That the city had contracted assassins to eliminate those who scored high, they were deemed too powerful, too dangerous to exist. Nobody really ever confirmed anything, they couldn’t… everything was rumored or conspiracies. 

Virgil shook his head, ignoring the billboards, and  pulled his hood more over his face, crossing his arms as cold breezes passed by him. The air felt heavy, humid, like it was going to rain in the next coming days, or hours, the darkened clouds just confirmed that.

Virgil walked through the crowds going to his boyfriend's apartment. He walked into the building getting into an empty elevator. Virgil looked at the button panel and pressed to go to the 5th floor. He stood silently as the elevator slowly took him up, making a humming noise as it ascended floors. Gladly the elevator went up, not stopping on any other floors. It dinged as it got to the floor, the doors slowly sliding open. 

Virgil sighed relieved, running a hand through his hair as he walked out then down the grey hallway lined with apartment doors. Virgil finally got to Logan’s apartment door, lightly knocking at it waiting for an answer. 

Logan opened the door in surprise, “Good morning, what are you doing here?”

“Just wanted to stop by, say hello… You don’t have work today, do you?” Virgil asked, he didn’t think Logan did… but he didn’t want to interrupt him and be in the way. 

Logan shook his head, stepping out of the way, “No, today is my day off. I’m just surprised at seeing you. I didn’t expect you to be coming.” 

“Sorry, I should’ve texted.” Virgil sighed walking in. 

Logan shook his head, shutting the door softly, “No need, you do have a key. You’re welcome over whenever you please.” 

Virgil smiled and stepped closer pulling Logan into a hug. 

Logan wrapped his arms around him hugging back. “It’s quite good to see you, though a nice surprise too.” 

Virgil laughed softly, pulling away, “So what were you doing today?”

“Ah, I was going to get a test in a few hours, got a letter in the mail summoning me to go.”

Virgil rolled his eyes, “I hate testing. Takes forever.”

“Yeah, I know how you feel,” Logan laughed. 

Virgil walked through the apartment towards the balcony and went out onto it. 

Logan followed him out and leaned on the railing. 

“When is it going to rain?” Virgil asked, looking into Logan’s stormy blue eyes. 

“Today, Evening maybe… tomorrow too,” Logan said softly, looking up at the sky. 

Virgil nodded, “Anything else to report, Mr Weatherman?”

Logan laughed, shaking his head, “Hmm, there will be clear skies. The rain storm might have thunder and lightning but it’ll pass quickly. After that there will be cloudless clear skies.” Logan smiled looking up at the clouds as he talked, “Bring an umbrella… though I know you already do that. Prepare for a heavy but short lived storm. After the storm there might be a rainbow. But everything will be bright and clear… the perfect weather.” Logan sighed and looked at Virgil. 

Virgil stood there smiling, staring at Logan, just amazed. “Thanks, I’ll make sure to remember that.” 

“You better, or else you might go out and for once not bring an umbrella.”

Virgil laughed, shaking his head, “if I forget an umbrella I’ll just think of a more creative way to stay dry.” He raised his hand up a bit, making a dome of air around them. He dropped it after a moment and just watched Logan. 

“Yeah… but just remember, umbrella.” Logan shrugged, pushing himself off the railing, walking back indoors. Logan walked into the kitchen with Virgil following behind him, “Tea?”

Virgil nodded softly, “Yes, thank you.”

Logan nodded and grabbed the kettle, he had one hand under it and the other resting on the side as he turned on the sink, carefully Logan took the hand off the side of the kettle manipulating the water to go into it. He started heating the bottom of the kettle as he grabbed mugs and tea bags, setting everything up as he waited for the tea to be done. 

Virgil sat down on the kitchen island as he watched Logan make the tea, “You’re just showing off,” he teased. 

Logan looked up, shaking head, “Yeah whatever, this is the quickest way though.”

Virgil shrugged softly, “Whatever you say.”

Logan laughed and looked at the kettle when it started whistling. He carefully put it down on the stovetop, so as to not burn any surfaces. He picked it up by the handle lightly pouring water into each mug then adding a teabag. “Want any sugar or anything?”

“Nah, I’ll just have it black… as always.” Virgil shrugged, getting the counters before going over to take his mug. 

Logan picked up his own mug smiling softly. “Alright,” he nodded. 

Virgil flicked his wrist, having a bit of air blow on the hot liquid cooling it off a bit. He smirked when it was a bit cooler, the steam no longer coming off of the top of the liquid. Virgil sipped it, leaning back against the counters. 

Logan stood leaning against the opposite counter staring at Virgil for a few moments just grinning with his own mug in his hands. 

Virgil glanced up, looking at Logan, “What’s up?”

“You’re just… Breathtaking.” Logan said and laughed.

Virgil blushed brightly looking at his tea. 

Logan looked at the time and sipped his tea. “I should get ready and go. Better to get the test sooner rather than have to go out and do it later on...” 

Virgil nodded, “I’d rather you not forget about it all together. It’d be better if you went now… I’ll just hang out around here while you’re out.``

“Oh are you?”

“Yes, I am…”

“And what will you be doing while I’m out?”

“...cleaning,” Virgil mumbled, though the whole apartment was absolutely spotless. 

“Mhmmm yes, cleaning. Well, you have fun ‘cleaning’ my apartment.” Logan laughed softly putting down his half full mug. 

Virgil put down his own, stepping forward hugging Logan. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Yeah, I’ll be back in an hour.” Logan nodded, grabbing his wallet, phone, and jacket. “Lock the door.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll lock it the moment you step out the door,” Virgil said as he picked up Logan’s mug, placing it in the microwave to preserve some of the heat of the tea. 

“Thank you.” 

“You’re welcome.” 

Logan walked over giving him a quick hug. 

Virgil kissed his cheek before pulling away. “Now go,” Virgil told him, laughing.

Logan rolled his eyes, “Yeah, yeah. It’s not like I’m always on time for everything.” Logan nodded, going to the door. 

“I’ll see you later.”

Logan waved before walking out the door. 

Virgil walked over, locking it behind Logan before looking around. He picked up some things, not doing much cleaning. Instead he decided to start making lunch for when Logan got back. 

__________

It had been over an hour now, Virgil sat on Logan’s couch, watching some tv while the lunch was in the oven. He jumped slightly when he heard knocks at the front door. Virgil walked over and checked through the little hole in the top of the door, smiling when seeing it was Logan. “Hey! You’re ba-” he paused when Logan stared at him with an expression one could only describe as horror. “Lo?”

Logan avoided looking at Virgil and walked inside, he sent a gust of air at the door slamming it shut, ripping the handle from Virgil’s hands. “I…”

Virgil winched when the door slammed but just locked it before turning to Logan and pulling him into a hug, “L… what’s wrong? How was the test?”

Logan shook his head softly, “one seventy.” he mumbled. 

Virgil looked at Logan confused, “What? What are you talking about?”

“My… my score… It's one seventy.” He said, looking at Virgil fully, and… afraid. 

“You got a hundred seventy? How… How is that even possible? The highest you could get is a hundred fif-”

“Two hundred… the highest score is… two hundred.” Logan replied. 

“How? But… you only scored a thirty seven last year… no. no. This isn’t possible. They said your score was wrong. Maybe you just got a seventy one.”

Logan shook his head as he pulled out a paper from his pocket with his test evaluation. On the paper in big red ink was written one seven zero.

Virgil took the paper shaking his head as he looked at it. “This doesn’t make sense… no. How? You should be tearing yourself apart right now from that much power.”

“I’m not sure… it doesn’t make sense, but I feel fine.” Logan told him, looking scared. 

Virgil took a deep breath, hugging him tight. “You’ll be alright.”

“But what about the as-”

“They’re just conspiracy theories… just theories. Nothing to be worried about.” Virgil pulled Logan to the couch and sat him down. He went to the kitchen, heating up the remaining tea before going back over to Logan and handing him the mug. “Just relax. Everything is going to be alright. Maybe their computers were malfunctioning, and they’re just going to call you back tomorrow to redo the test.”

“Virgil… This is my score, they don’t make mistakes.” Logan told him, his voice unwavering as he spoke. He sipped the tea looking down. 

Virgil shook his head holding his boyfriend. “Well it doesn’t matter, you’re safe.” he told him, taking a deep breath. 

Logan nodded, “Yeah, it’s ok. It’s just a score, it’s not bad. It’s high but not bad at all.`` Logan nodded. 

Both Logan and Virgil froze when there was a knock at the door. 

Virgil carefully got up walking to the door, he grabbed a large vase on his way to the door. 

There was silence. 

Virgil slowly opened the door, nobody was there, all that remained was a small card. Virgil kneeled down picking it up. He took a deep breath seeing the words. 

24 hours, your time is up

Virgil glanced back at Logan. 

“Virgil? What is it?” Logan asked softly, walking over to Virgil. 

“Um… Logan… everything isn’t going to be ok,” He whispered looking at Logan handing him the card as he stood. 

Logan glanced over the card, panic rising in his chest. “I….”

Virgil stared at him and stepped closer. 

Logan took a step back, “No! Wait… Virgil, go.”

“Lo, I can’t just leave you.”

“I said go!”

Virgil took a deep breath, “Logan, maybe it’s some prank.”

“Virgil, I have some time to get everything in order, maybe a chance to run. Go now.” Logan glared, “Or I’ll make you go, I can’t have you getting hurt at all.”

Virgil nodded, walking backwards to the door, “I’ll come back for you in a few hours,” Virgil told him as he stood in the doorway. 

Logan didn’t respond as he flicked his wrist slamming the door shut. 

Virgil took a step back quickly as the door came flying shut. He stood there staring at the closed door for several minutes before walking away down the halls and to the elevator, reluctantly heading home.

__________________

Virgil grabbed an umbrella before running back to Logan’s a few hours later. He arrived at Logan’s apartment quickly, using his key to open the door. 

Logan stood inside tossing things in a bag, his apartment a mess. 

Virgil shut the door, putting his umbrella down, “Lo?”

Logan turned around quickly, “Oh… you’re back. Um… I’m leaving.”

Virgil ran over and hugged him, “You’re running away?”

“I wouldn’t say it like that, but yeah.” Logan nodded, hugging back. “I love you.”

“I love you too… But you’re not going alone.” Virgil glared, stepping back. 

Logan nodded, taking a deep breath, “Fine… You could come with me, as far as seeing me off.”

Virgil nodded softly and hugged himself looking down, “Thank you…” 

Logan kissed his forehead before grabbing his bag and an umbrella, walking to the door. 

Virgil looked up and followed behind him, grabbing his umbrella before following him out of the apartment. 

They took the elevator down to the ground floor in silence, the air somber and heavy around them. Neither saying anything to one another. 

Virgil paused at the threshold of the building, the exit to outside. “It’s raining.” He mumbled looking out the glass then looking back at Logan. 

Logan nodded, “As predicted…” 

Virgil took Logan's hand as they walked out of the building, he opened the umbrella as they stepped out so they wouldn’t be soaked. 

Logan held his own umbrella over his head as he led Virgil towards the park, walking down the path of the park towards the other entrance. 

Virgil’s pace slowed as they walked closer to the other side of the park, his hand tightening in Logan’s. 

Logan looked down softly at Virgil and nodded, “It’ll be alright. I promise, my dark star.”

Virgil just nodded silently looking down towards the ground.

Logan slowed, stopping when they got to the park’s second entrance, their exit. 

Virgil looked up at Logan, staying by the park’s archway entrance. He stood holding the umbrella.

Logan smiled, waving before walking towards the street.

Virgil watched reluctantly as Logan crossed the street, watching him walk away through the rain. He stood there watching his boyfriend just leave... 

“Logan! Wait!” Virgil yelled, dropping his umbrella, running to Logan. 

Logan turned when he heard Virgil yell. He put an arm around him when Virgil practically collided with him.

“Please, don’t go.” Virgil whispered, wrapping his arms around Logan.

Logan shook his head holding his umbrella over them both, “I’ll be safe.” He replied softly.

Virgil nodded then leaned up, kissing him.

Logan held Virgil closer as he kissed back. 

Suddenly there was a bang. Virgil couldn’t react fast enough, he didn’t even realize what had happened before he pulled away from Logan, seeing pain in his eyes. Virgil ran one of his hands across Logan’s back and looked at it. His hand was stained red by blood. 

Logan stared at Virgil, his eyes tearing up as he mouthed that he was sorry. The umbrella he had been holding fell to the ground as he collapsed.

Virgil made sure to catch Logan before the other fell to the ground, practically lifeless. “Logan, no… please, you… you can’t die.” He pleaded, “Logan just keep breathing. Don’t you dare leave me.” 

Logan shook his head softly, “they’re real… I should’ve listened to you… all your conspiracy theories.” He whispered weakly.

Virgil shook his head, “stop that! This isn’t a fucking ‘I told you so’ moment!” He pulled out his phone, hands shaking as he called emergency services.

Logan looked up at the sky, rain falling on his face as he looked at the dark clouds. “I’m sorry.”

Virgil shook his head wiping away tears, “you’re not dying, not now.” He replied. He took one of Logan’s hands, squeezing it, “stay with me.” Virgil sighed softly when the dispatcher answered. Virgil quickly told them what was happening, only half making sense in his panic. Though he already knew it was too late, they wouldn’t arrive in time… professionals don’t miss, and Logan was dying.

Virgil finished his call and dropped his phone just holding Logan’s hands on his own. “I love you,” Virgil whispered as he squeezed Logan's hands.

Logan smiled weakly, “I love you too… but this won’t be the end…” He whispered. Tears slipped down his face, disguised by the rain pouring down on them. He knew he was bleeding out quickly, it was the end… a slow, painful demise. 

Virgil held Logan’s hands tight. He leaned down resting his forehead on Logan’s chest just listening to his heart, to the slowing beats. 

It was too late by the time the ambulance arrived, Logan died. The pavement stained with his blood as Virgil kneeled beside him refusing to go.

________________

He looked at his phone smiling, target acquired, scored 170. He packed his things quickly, grabbing his bag. He put his gear on, and slipped on his hood over the mask before picking up the bag. He got on his motorcycle to the location of the target. 

“Target on the move.” came over his communicator. 

He glanced at the GPS directing to the location of the target’s home, seeing the park right near it. He knew where the target would go, and would try escaping to. He drove quickly, stopping outside the park’s south entrance before driving around the back of one of the buildings. He grabbed his bag looking at the building’s back entrance. 

He went in starting to climb the stairs, getting to higher ground. He reached the 5th level of the building, walking down the hall. He paused at one door, breaking it in, and walked to the first window he saw once inside. “Perfect.” He whispered. 

He put his bag down pushing open the window before opening his bag. Inside was a large, dark red silenced sniper rifle with a small gold sword decal on the side. He simply took out the gun, setting it up, then pointing it out the window towards the park. 

Then… he waited. 

“Target spotted.” he said into his communicator after a few moments. 

He took aim, whistling quietly causing soundwaves to move in the direction of the target. He kept whistling as he fired. Watching the target and a civilian kissing before the target was on the ground. Hit dead in the back. 

He smirked, packing up the gun as he watched the civilian morn. Though the target was dangerous, if not now they would have been in the future. The target was too powerful, if they ever had a breakdown they probably could take out the city. He was just protecting it. 

“Base to Prince, Report.” a voice came from the communicator. 

“Target down, waiting for confirmation of death.” 

“Stay at location till confirmation, EMS on the way.”

“Copy,” Prince replied, finishing putting away the weapon and just sat back against the wall listening to the rain fall outside the window.

Sirens blared down the road after minutes, driving closer before stopping. Paramedics got out checking on the target. They spoke before picking up the target onto a gurney, they placed a blanket over the body covering the face putting the target into the truck as one paramedic tried to help the civilian out of shock. 

“Target cold.” a voice came through. 

Prince smiled, “I’ll make the report.”

The red and blue lights continued flashing outside reflecting off the wet pavement as Prince left the room and exited the building through the back, returning to base. 

__________ 

Virgil stayed seated by the pool of blood, long since soaked into the pavement. The body and paramedics, gone. He just sat there in sickening silence, covered in Logan’s blood. 

A car drove up beside him and stopped. Someone got out walking over to him slowly before dropping to kneel next to him.

“Virgil, the hospital called me… I heard what happened.” A voice said softly.

Virgil took a deep breath before looking at the other, a man with half his face covered in green snake scales, brown hair, an amber and yellow snake eye wearing head to toe black. Rage and mournful sorrow in his eyes. “He was shot…” he growled.

The man, Janus nodded and opened his arms to offer a hug.

Virgil simply shook his head pushing himself up to stand. “He was murdered… Everyone thinks it’s just a conspiracy, that these assassins don’t exist, but they do! They really do!” He yelled out into the empty night air. Taking a breath he shook his head, “I can’t let them take Lo from me that easily.”

Janus smirked slightly, standing. “Well I’m here to assist you as needed, I’m quite good at acquiring information. Plus, I could offer you a ride,” He told him as he took off his cloak, putting it over the rain soaked Virgil.

Virgil nodded, “Thank you.”

“But you’re not going hunting tonight, Spider, you’re going to rest and mourn.” Janus stepped forward pulling the other into a hug. 

Virgil hugged back starting to cry again. He was led into the passenger seat and buckled up. 

Everything was a blur, getting home to Janus’ house, going to bed in the guest room, waking up. 

Virgil was just now sitting at the kitchen table, feeling out of reality. The sun up and the clock reading 7:30AM. 

Janus walked over, putting cereal in front of Virgil, “Here, eat.”

Virgil nodded and took a deep breath and started to eat. “I… how am I going to hunt a myth?”

Janus smirked sitting across from Virgil, “I know someone, he’s a bit… out of it. But you might be able to get some information from him. He’s all about all those conspiracies and myths, just nobody believes him.”

Virgil nodded softly, “alright, where could I meet him?”

“Hmm well there are two potential places you could find him.” 

“And are you going to tell me then?”

“Well you’re not going to like it.”

“Janus, I don’t like anything right now…. My boyfriend literally got killed last night in my arms last night! I don’t really care much where I have to go.”

“Dark market, or The Underground.”

“Hmm so an illegal black market, or an underground nightclub of criminals.”

“Exactly, that’s why I was saying you wouldn’t like it-“

“I’ll go… could you bring me home though for right now? I need to get changed.”

“Fine… though I didn’t even expect you to agree. Do you want me to come with you? Or would you rather go alone?”

“I’ll go in alone, just tell me how to find him, and give me a ride.”

Janus nodded, “first, eat.” 

Virgil ate before Janus took him to the car and let him bring him home. 

Virgil got out of the car at his apartment and went inside. He went to his apartment quickly getting changed into a black leather jacket and dark jeans with combat boots that had purple laces. He hid his grey half heart necklace that he had shared with Logan, under his shirt before looking in the mirror staring at himself. He hoped this was good enough. He looked around and paused when he saw across the room on his chair was one of Logan's ties. 

Virgil held on to his chest as he went over picking up the tie, carefully tying it to one of his belt loops on his pants before heading to the door. 

Janus had gotten bored of sitting in the car, just waiting, and waiting… well it wasn't that long he probably waited like 3 minutes before he grew bored. Janus walked into the building and went to Virgil’s apartment. He got to the door grabbing for the handle, it seems someone forgot to lock the door behind himself. He shook his head sighing before walking inside.

Virgil jumped a bit when he saw Janus standing there in the doorway, “Hey.”

“Hmm hello, you look great. Though you’re missing something.”

“What? What am I missing?” Virgil asked, confused. 

 Janus guided him back into the bedroom and into the bathroom, pushing the grieving emo to sit on the toilet seat. “Makeup, we’re concealing your identity after all.”

“Why does my-”

“So nobody knows who you are, everyone conceals theirs. It’s so nobody will recognize you if they know you. Nobody who goes to The Dark Market or The Underground ever means good, and it's especially not good to be recognized.”

“Then I’ll wear a mask.” Virgil rolled his eyes. 

“Fine you can, with makeup too, and I have an idea.” Janus smiled, grabbing out Virgil’s makeup. He smiled looking at everything in the box. He pulled out a pair of bright violet contact lenses and gave them to Virgil, “Put them in.”

“Fine.” Virgil nodded, taking them. He stood up looking in the mirror as he put the contacts in. 

Janus pushed Virgil to sit down as soon as the contacts were in. He started adding some eyeshadow below Virgil’s eyes and some slightly above. After he took some eyeliner and made drips down from his eyes, like tear streaks. 

“Are you almost done?” Virgil asked impatiently. 

“Just shush. Just a few more things to add.” Janus smiled, taking some neon purple eyeliner and drawing some spiderwebs on Virgil’s face, “All done. You’re a new person.” 

“Yeah sure I am.” Virgil rolled his eyes, getting up. He looked in the mirror smiling, “Looks good, you didn’t do bad. So how do I find this guy?” He asked, finding a black mask and putting it over the lower half of his face.

Janus put away all the makeup before guiding Virgil out and back out to the car, “Well I’ll explain in the car, how does that sound.”

“Fine, as long as you think he could help me.”

“Well… help is questionable, he could just push you in the right direction.” 

Virgil nodded softly, “Alright.”

Janus got outside to the car and got in.

Virgil got in after looking over at him, “So… talk to me.”

Janus pulled out a box and handed it to him, “Well put this earpiece in, so I could talk to you as you're in there.”

“Alright, fine.” Virgil nodded, taking it out putting it in his ear. 

“But basically, I think our first destination should be The Dark Market, he's most likely to be there. He only visits The Underground at night, but that is never certain. If you’re lucky he’ll approach you… but that would also mean you could be in trouble. Just be smart, Spider.”

Virgil nodded, taking a deep breath. “Alright, but you’ll be right here, waiting in the car?”

“Yeah, of course. Now he looks a bit crazy, but I promise he's.. Relatively safe. He has rainbow hair, a choker with an octopus, and his eyes are lime green.”

“Alright, thanks for the description.” Virgil nodded. 

Janus nodded and parked, “Be safe, Spider.” he said and pulled out a knife, handing it to Virgil with the handle facing him. 

Virgil took it, putting it in his pocket before getting out of the car and walking inside. He walked into the dark building and descended the stairs. 

At the base of the stairs there was a large door and a man standing at it, “Business?”

“I’m searching for someone, someone crazy.” 

The man nodded, opening the door letting Virgil in, the door shutting behind him. 

Virgil glanced at the door before he looked around. He was surprised there were actually many people down here, there were booths and tables selling things, people walking around. Small rooms off to the side for some businesses. 

He took a deep breath and started walking through the crowds, the blacklights lighting up him and all around him. 

“Alright you inside?” Janus’ voice came from the earpiece. 

“Yes, I am. Where could I find him?”

“Left side walk down the aisle till you see a room with flags of octopuses and one that looks like blood splatter, above the door will be some green light.” 

“Alright.” Virgil followed the directions walking around. He saw the door and paused before walking up to it. He grabbed the handle but before he could open the door it opened for him. 

“Hello! Do you require my services?” A guy asked, grinning widely.

The guy looked exactly how Janus had described him, messy dyed rainbow hair, lime green eyes, an octopus choker; he looked a bit more normal than he would’ve believed if he hadn’t seen him. 

“Yes, a Serpent sent me, said you could... Assist me,” Virgil said, taking a step forward. 

The guy stepped out of the way nodding, “I’m Kraken, and you are?” he held out a hand to shake Virgil’s.

“Spider.” He greeted, shaking his hand. 

Kraken smiled, shutting the door behind Virgil then sitting down on a chair across the room, “So what do you require? Most don’t normally come to me for help, everyone sees me as some insane conspiracy theorist.”

“Well I believe your conspiracy to be true, after a myth killed my boyfriend.” Virgil replied taking a seat, he avoided eye contact with Remus, just looking around the room. 

The walls were littered with newspapers and images, with some sticky notes. There was a desk and a soft rug, the room actually seemed quite comfortable. The overhead lights were dim, some unlit candles sat in holders on the walls, and some rainbow LED lights lined the base of the wall. 

Remus raised an eyebrow in interest. “A myth killed your boyfriend? How’s that? Tell me everything!” Remus told him like this was some new gossip. He grabbed his notebook and a pen quickly to get ready to write everything down, he was intrigued. Nobody had ever come to him with information for his cause, to prove all the legends of the assassins and myths were real. So he was going to write down everything. 

Virgil told him everything, Logan’s score, the note, how they left, and how he had gotten shot dead in the street. He told him that he wanted information so he could go after the assassins, and find out who killed his boyfriend. 

Remus wrote everything down then went through his notes telling Virgil everything he could. He wrote things down, giving him copies of his notes. He fully wished to support Virgil. He had been wanting to find out if these assassins were real for years; he had dedicated his life to it and other conspiracies. Remus didn’t care that Virgil wished to kill them; he wished some of them would die himself, as long as Virgil proved their existence for Remus and gave him evidence that they were real. He had been after them for years since the day people showed up and took his brother, leaving without a word.

___

Janus had brought Virgil home and he went to his room looking over all the information Remus had given him instantly. It had seemed that Remus was able to identify a few people who might’ve been involved, one guy in particular was connected to the testing and another organization that Remus had suspected was the one that was in charge of the assassins. Virgil looked over at the time and decided now was as good of time as ever, he wanted his information, he wanted to avenge Logan.  He read the name and the address before leaving his house.

Virgil walked to the address and looked up at the house, it had been across town in a more suburban area. He walked into the yard and smiled seeing a light on, his target lived alone so the light could only mean that that was where they were. Virgil still wore his makeup from earlier with the mask he was wearing over the lower half of his face. 

He went over to the side of the house and grabbed onto the top of a window pulling himself up quickly, he almost felt weightless in the air as he pulled himself up and smashed the second story window getting into the room. 

“I’ve been looking for you.” Virgil growled seeing a guy sitting at a piano. 

The guy got up instantly startled and put his hands up, “Please! What do you want? I could pay you!” He responded quickly. 

Virgil walked over to him and pulled out the knife Janus had given him earlier, putting it to the guy’s neck. “I need information about who you work for.” He glared. 

The guy started in fear and relaxed almost noticeably for a moment, he quickly moved his arm and touched the knife before Virgil could fight back. The blade suddenly became dull and bendy, he had manipulated the structure of the knife. 

Virgil jumped back, dropping the knife when it became dull. 

The guy lunged forward reaching for Virgil’s neck. 

Without thinking Virgil suddenly pulled the air from the room, pulling it all around himself.

The guy gasped, falling to the ground in an instant, trying and failing to breathe. 

Virgil watched in surprise, his eyes wide. He let go of the air in the room, returning it to normal. 

The guy looked up at Virgil stunned, “You shouldn’t be able to-”

Virgil kneeled glaring, “If you don’t tell me what I need, I’ll cut off your oxygen. I’ll make you gasp for the air that isn’t there, and die. Now tell me!” 

The guy stared at him, looking in Virgil’s eyes to see if he was bluffing, but all he could see was pain and anger in Virgil’s eyes. “I’ll tell you… I’ll tell you,” he relented. 

Virgil smiled under his mask, “Good, I need information on the assassins, and the scores of the power testing.”

“I… No… I couldn't possibly-”

“Would you like to continue breathing?” Virgil threatened and pulled the air from the other’s lungs for a moment before letting him breathe again. “You will tell me.” 

The guy looked down in defeat before nodding, “Alright… ok… I will. What specific things do you need to know on the scores and the assassins.”

“Are the scores rigged, and how are they determined, and how are the assassins contacted?” 

The guy nodded, “Ok… I can’t tell you but I could give you paperwork on it.” He replied pleadingly. 

“I’ll accept that, and also tell me who is in charge of calling the assassins, who is in charge of the assassins, and who is in charge of the test scores.”

“I… I can’t… I can’t tell you.” The guy shook his head frantically, quickly printing out dozens of pages of paper off of his computer, “Here… that’s all the information you need!”

Virgil sighed and ripped the oxygen from the other’s lunges as soon as the papers were printed. 

The body dropped down to the floor, completely lifeless. 

Virgil let go of the air, the guy not needing it anyway. The dead don’t breathe afterall. 

Virgil walked over to the computer and printed out a second set of the papers from the computer before shutting it down. He grabbed all the papers packing them away before he left the room. Going back to his apartment in silence. 

Virgil got through his door before dropping everything, falling to the floor with his items. He pulled his knees to his chest, ripping off the mask, tossing it to the other side of the room. He… he had killed someone. 

He was a murderer…

That guy, he killed him. 

Virgil took deep breaths trying to calm down, trying to figure everything out. But it had all been so fast. He was just freaking out. He couldn’t breath, he couldn’t think. 

What had he done?

This… this was all for Logan, he was doing this for Logan. He just wanted Logan back, something that would never be able to happen. 

One thing pulled the fog from Virgil, for just a moment for him to get back to reality. 

Virgil’s phone rang. 

Virgil crawled to it, picking it up, “Hey…” He said weakly. 

“Virgil?” Janus’ voice came through, “Is everything ok?”

“I… I don’t think so. I… Killed someone.”

There was silence, sickening, dead, silence. Then Janus finally spoke, “Everything will be alright, I’m going to come over. We could talk about this. It’ll be ok.” Janus tried assuring Virgil, though it seemed to have no effects. 

Virgil just quietly made a noise of affirmation before hanging up. Virgil got up, going to the bathroom and taking a shower, cleaning himself up. Trying to relax in the scalding hot water, trying not to think.

By time Janus arrived Virgil was laying on the couch cuddled up under several blankets. He looked exhausted and scared. 

Janus walked over to Virgil; he sat down pulling Virgil into a hug in silence, not asking any questions. He just held him close and relaxed with him. Just to let him know, he wasn’t alone, he wasn’t going to be alone. 

Virgil cried in Janus’ arms letting himself be held and relaxing as much as he could. 

__________

Virgil got up the next day and went back out to The Dark Market, after getting ready and applying makeup. He walked in and to Kraken’s office. He went in sitting down, waiting. 

Remus came in after a few minutes, “Hello…”

“I have some information for you, and my next target.” Virgil said quietly. 

Remus grinned jumping up and down, “Yes!” he quickly plopped down in a chair near Spider, “Give!” 

Virgil sighed giving him the copies of the papers, “Next guy I’m after seems to coordinate the assassins. I’m getting closer…” 

“Hmm you work fast,” Remus smiled looking up at Spider from the papers. 

“Yeah I guess…” Virgil shrugged. 

Remus skimmed the papers a bit before putting them down, “do you want payment for this information?”

“No, this was my payment for the info you got me before, though the rest will cost you…” 

Remus nodded, “That’s perfectly fine, oh! And could I give you a flashdrive to get information for me next time. You could just download all the files from the next guy.” He suggested. Remus lunged across the room to his desk. He pulled out a flashdrive from a drawer then tossed it over to Spider. “Thanks!”

 Virgil watched him and nodded, “You’re… welcome.” He said and stood. 

“Could we be partners?” Remus burst out. 

“Um… What?” Virgil looked confused taking a second to process what he had just been asked. 

“Could we be business partners? You get the information, I pay you for it and look through it for you.”

“Hm fine… as long as you tell me what you see in the files.” 

“Of course!” Remus nodded enthusiastically. 

Virgil nodded and sighed leaving the room. He looked down at the flashdrive in his hand quietly as he left. 

Virgil had driven here himself today, Janus not with him. Though it was probably better… He didn’t want to have to use Janus as basically a taxi all the time. Virgil got into his car driving home. He’d go out tonight, for his next target. Everything was moving so fast, but he also felt so close, he was so close to catching the assassin who killed his boyfriend, or who sent the assassin to kill Logan. He was so close, and everything was happening so fast. But… what would he do when he found the person responsible? Would he kill them? Would he question them? Or… would he just let them go? What would he even do after? He didn’t have many plans. 

Virgil shook his head taking a deep breath as he parked. Looking up Virgil saw he was… he had gone to Logan’s apartment building. Where he’d never see Logan again. 

Virgil paused a moment before getting out of his car going into the building and up to Logan’s… what had been Logan’s apartment. He should be getting ready to go out again but, he was just... here.

The elevator dinged as it got to the floor. 

Virgil walked down the hall and to the apartment, somberly unlocking the door to the dead silent apartment. Everything was exactly like how it had been when they had left. It was just calm and quiet. 

Virgil walked through looking at everything, he should pack up everything… he couldn’t just let the landlord throw it all out. He’d get boxes… he’d get boxes and pack everything up. Just pack it up for Logan. 

Taking another deep breath he went into Logan’s bedroom. He walked around in the room looking at everything. He opened a box on the dresser smiling at the collection of ties adorned in the box. He placed it back down then sighed going over to the bed and laying down, relaxing.

He laid there for a little while before he sat up opening up the bedside drawer, inside was a book and… a box. 

Virgil tilted his head picking up the box and opening it. Inside the box was a black ring. Virgil gasped, dropping the box, letting it fall to the floor. 

Logan…. Logan was…. Going to propose? 

Virgil covered his mouth gasping, tears threatening to fall. 

Virgil quickly got up and left, he locked the apartment door before he raced down the stairs to his car outside, driving home. He didn’t know what he was going to do… but he’d figure it out. 

Virgil got to his apartment and started getting ready, ready to go to meet his next victim. 

He had left the ring box on the floor of what used to be Logan’s bedroom when he left. 

___

Virgil got out of his car down the street, walking over to the address. There was a car in the driveway… that was good. 

Virgil went to the side of the house and climbed up to the second story, he checked the window smiling when it opened up with ease automatically. He slipped into the building, hitting the floor silently. Looking around nobody was in the room, it was completely vacant. Virgil walked out of the room, going downstairs. There a man was sitting on a couch laughing at some mind numbing tv show with a near constant laugh track. Virgil went up behind him, pulling out his dagger and resting it on the man’s neck, “Good evening.” Virgil whispered. 

The guy went still, frozen in place, “Who are you? What do you want?” 

“Information, and for you to log into your computer.”

“My… my computer, why? You wouldn’t find anything there.” The guy said, his voice peaking in nervousness. 

“I believe I’ll find exactly what I need there.” 

The guy nodded softly, “My computer is in my office,” he said, not resisting.

“Lead the way.” Virgil pulled the knife away, putting it in its sheath. “Just know I don’t need a knife or any weapon to get rid of you, just your breath.” 

The man stood timidly as he walked down a hall, he pulled open a seemingly hidden door and walked into the secret room with Virgil trailing right behind him. 

Virgil  looked around curiously, this man had a hidden office… interesting. 

The man sat down at his desk turning on his computer then logging in. He logged in again to a screen that popped up after his desktop loaded up. 

Virgil grinned, “Thank you.” He said pushing the desk chair to the side and put in the flashdrive. He pulled up the computer files, pulling all the files from the computer onto the flashdrive.

The guy looked at Virgil in surprise, “I… you don’t want some specific ones? I… I could find them for you.”

Virgil smirked under his mask looking at the guy, “Why? Is something wrong? Are you worried about something? Is there something I shouldn’t see on here?”

“I.. um… no, of course not. Everything is alright.” The man replied looking a bit more anxious than before, “It’ll take you a long time to go through all those files.”

“It’s ok, I have someone going through them for me.” Virgil replied looking back at the computer, he opened up a browser checking before going into the guy’s emails and downloading all of them. “It’s ok, I’ll make it quick for you, nothing for you to worry about. I’ll end you quickly and… somewhat painlessly, it’ll all be fine in the end.”

“I… no ple-” the man spoke before he started choking on… air? No, it was a lack of air, as if all his oxygen suddenly left his lungs. He put his hands to his neck gasping only for nothing to be breathed in. His lungs left starving. 

Virgil stared at him as he stole the man’s breath away. He watched as the other fell over, turning purple from the lack of oxygen. It was as quick as he could make it.

He looked away after a few moments, turning back to the computer as he waited for everything to finish downloading onto the flashdrive, he hoped this information would get him… somewhere. 

As he waited, Virgil took the man’s wallet and found his phone too. This would hopefully all be enough to get everything he needed. 

The computer dinged when everything had finally finished downloading onto the flashdrive; he got everything. 

Virgil safely pulled out the flashdrive before he put everything in his bag escaping the house. He got into his car driving to The Dark Market, he would give everything to the Kraken now. He wasn’t going to wait.

When Virgil arrived he got out of the car, going to the doors of the market. He was let in easily, nobody around stopping him from having passage indoors. He walked directly to Kraken’s shop, knocking at the door. 

Remus stepped out yawning, “Oh! Spider~ What do you have for me?” Remus asked not hiding his excitement.

“Everything I could get from the guy’s computer. I also took his phone if that helps at all…” Virgil replied, holding out the flashdrive and phone. “Payment will be you telling me everything you find on those.”

Remus nodded, taking them happily, “Well I definitely will be able to pay. Hmm come to me here tomorrow night, I’ll get you something… Probably not everything though.” 

Virgil nodded, “Sounds good.” He said, stepping back. 

“You’re leaving already?” Remus asked softly. 

Virgil looked back at him, “Yeah… I’ll be back tomorrow, I need to try to sleep.” 

Remus nodded, “I know this is revenge, but don’t wear yourself out.”

Virgil nodded and walked away, going home. 

Remus sat at his desk, only a small lamp on, illuminating his desk and giving just enough light to see his keyboard. He wrote quick notes in a notebook about what he saw as he read through file after file of the documents on the flashdrive. 

He yawned as he opened a file named Associates, there were many codenames in the file. Curiously Remus clicked on one, Prince. Remus opened a document skimming through it, it had some normal information, name, age, birthday, record, history…. Name. Remus shook his head, slapping his cheek to wake himself up a bit. The name, it was Roman Royalentie… Roman. Remus quickly clicked out of the document, opening up some more documents in the folder, there was a list of past assignments, some reports made by Roman… and pictures. Roman looked… he looked older. Of course he fucking looked older, Remus hadn’t seen Roman since he was taken when they were children. Taking a deep breath Remus wrote down as much information as he could. He read through a document trying to find out where Roman was. On one document it listed where Roman was currently stationed, it was some high-rise in the middle of the city, if he could convince Spider to go there for him… maybe he could kidnap Roman or something. He needed to see Roman. 

Remus continued looking at the files about Roman for hours before he ended up passing out. 

______________

Virgil woke up the next day in the afternoon. He got up deciding… Maybe Kraken would have some information now? Though he was told to come back tonight… It was still daytime. He took a deep breath getting up and dressed, he would go now, if there was nothing… he’d just go back later. 

Virgil sat down in his bathroom putting on his makeup and mask before he left, going out to The Dark Market. To check with Kraken. 

Virgil arrived going inside the market he was let in and started walking to Kraken’s shop but paused. He went over to a stall tapping on a man’s shoulder. 

Said man turned around, his snake scales glinting off the dim light above them, “Spider…”

Virgil nodded, “Serpent.”

“Good to see you, are you… feeling any better?”

“Still too soon… but Kraken might have more information, I’m on my way now.”

Janus nodded, “I’ll accompany you.” 

“Alright.” Virgil nodded, walking, now mostly by memory, to Remus’ room. 

They both got to the door looking at each other for a moment before Virgil reached forward knocking on the door. 

No response. 

Janus looked a bit concerned and confused when there was no response, no crashing of objects inside, no yells of incomprehensible words, nothing… silence. Janus wouldn’t completely admit it but he… was concerned for the disaster that was behind the door. 

Janus pushed Virgil to the side before pulling a key out and unlocking the door in their path. He walked inside the room, relaxing a bit seeing that Remus was simply just sleeping at his desk. Papers scattered everywhere around him. Janus walked over tapping on Remus’ shoulder. “Kraken, wakey wakey.”

Remus jumped, opening his eyes looking around startled before relaxing. “Oh, hello there… Serpent ~ What are you doing here in my humble abode.”

Virgil stepped into the room shutting the door behind himself. 

Remus nodded, “Ah… only business I guess… it’s always business with you both, never any pleasure.” He flicked his hand at the candles around the room, they lit on fire with water that burned and illuminated like a flame. 

Janus shrugged walking to the far wall looking at the pictures and strings mapping together theories. 

Virgil sat down near Remus’ desk, “Any information?”

“Is it night-time?”

“I… I’m sorry, I know I came early, but I-”

“No… like I was genuinely curious, I wasn’t sure if it was night yet.”

“Oh… no it’s afternoon.”

“Ok… well I have some information, but I also have a request for you.”

“What is it?” Virgil asked suspiciously. 

“I… my brother.”

“Your missing, kidnapped, brother.”

“You… technically found him for me.”

“I... what?”

“The files… there was one marked Prince… My brother is alive, he’s one of the assassins. They took him, to use him to work for them… I… I want you to find him, and kidnap him. I need to see him.”

Virgil thought for a few moments before nodding, “Fine… where could I find him?” 

Remus quickly handed Virgil a notecard with an address and a picture he had printed out. “Thank you, I really, really owe you for this.” 

“Yeah, I’ll take you up on that… where should I take him when I get him?” Virgil asked, looking at the notecard. 

“Hmmm…” Remus sat back looking at the ceiling as he thought. 

“The Underground.” Janus replied, still looking at the wall of Remus’ evidence of conspiracies. 

“The Underground? The nightclub?” Virgil asked.

“Yeah, they have private rooms. Plus it’ll be easier to bring someone kidnapped into there, than getting past the security here.” 

“Fine.” Virgil nodded. 

Remus nodded thinking, “I could head over there soon and get a room, Serpent, will you be able to let them in the side entrance of the building?”

“Yeah, I think so.” Janus nodded to the Kraken, finally turning around. 

Virgil nodded, getting up, “I’ll go out now…” 

Remus nodded, thinking momentarily before pulling out a bottle from a drawer of his desk, “Here take this.” He said holding it out. Then looked in his drawer again. 

“What is this?”

“Sedatives… so he doesn’t fight you.” Remus replied then gave him a syringe. 

Virgil nodded slowly, putting both objects in his bag. “Um… thanks.” He said slowly. “I’ll meet you at The Underground. Serpent, I'll text you when I’m on my way over.” 

Janus nodded and waved to him watching Virgil leave before he looked at Kraken. 

Virgil drove across town, the skyscraper, to the address. 

Virgil arrived at the building getting out of his car, he sighed looking up at the building, he needed a way in. He looked around before deciding to go to the side of the building looking for another way. 

There it was. 

Virgil smiled walking to the service entrance, he blew open the lock using air before pulling open the door and going inside. He was cautious as he walked in, it was quiet. He pulled out his notepad looking at it, Roman should be near the 10th floor. Virgil looked up at the stairs taking a deep breath before beginning his climb.

Around the 3rd floor Virgil paused, there had to be an easier way up, this would take forever. He looked around before smiling. He could try jumping floors… Virgil took a deep breath and ran up some stairs before jumping, using the air to boost him and push him up. He practically flew to the next floor. He kept ascending the stairs quickly from there. 

Virgil finally stopped when he got to the 10th, he pulled up his mask before opening the door out of the stairwell and walking down the hall. He walked checking the note for whatever door he should find Roman down… well if Roman was here. Virgil ignored that thought. He finally got to a room smiling at the number, well if Roman is here… this is the place. 

Virgil walked into the room, taking the air away as he stepped in shutting the door. 

There was some choking to the side of the room.

Virgil quickly released the air going over to where the choking had been, on the floor there was a small guy, blue hair, glasses, weird patches of skin that seemed to be like a clearish blue green with yellow spots. This wasn’t Roman. Virgil kneeled down next to the guy. 

The other looked at Virgil, staring into his neon purple eyes. “Hello… I’m Patton.” He said, sounding slightly intimidated. 

“Where is Roman?” Virgil demanded quietly. 

Patton flinched slightly at the tone, “I don’t know who you are but I’m sorry. Roman isn’t around currently. He went out over an hour ago, I don’t know when he’s coming back.” 

Virgil sighed, annoyed looking at Patton, “Fine…” He shook his head thinking. Well… he could take this guy, if he’s lucky Roman will come for him, they were in roman’s room after all. “You’re coming with me then.”

“Sorry… but stranger danger?”

“I will take your breath away, and that is a threat.”

Patton stared at him before standing up, “Fine, but you really should be nicer.”

“Sorry being nice isn’t on my priority list this week.” Virgil rolled his eyes, he grabbed Patton’s arm pulling him out of the room. “Don’t run.” He whispered as he pulled him into the stairwell. 

Patton followed silently, not fighting his kidnapper. “I don’t plan to…”

“Don’t scream either.” Virgil replied as he picked Patton up going over to a railing. He held onto Patton tight as he jumped over the railing falling 9 stories before slowing himself down with the air around them to make them land softly on the first floor. 

Patton held on for his life, he didn’t even realize he was holding his breath till they landed. He was quite shaken from falling practically 10 stories. 

Virgil looked at Patton and decided that the guy probably wasn’t going to be able to walk on his own for a bit so he just carried him out of the building and back to his car parked near the side of the building. He put Patton into the car before he drove off to The Underground. 

Patton sat in the car and took deep breaths, trying to articulate his thoughts. Everything was ok… he was… relatively ok… He  was being kidnapped…but Roman would come, maybe… this might be a trap for him though, this guy did ask for Roman… who even was this guy? Where were they even going? “Excuse me… but who exactly are you?” Patton asked, breaking the silence. 

Virgil looked over at the guy confused, “Um… well you could call me Spider.” 

“Ok, Spider, could I ask you some questions?”

“No… I’d rather you not.”

“Ok, so where are you bringing me?”

“I… I literally just said no questions.” Virgil sighed, shaking his head. 

Patton sighed, pouting a bit as he looked out the window. He quietly sat there trying to braid his bangs as they drove. 

Virgil was amazed and grateful for the silence, he texted Janus as he got closer to the club. They arrived at the club quickly, parking in the back alley. He got out helping out Patton before he went over to a back door and knocked. 

Patton stood there looking around scared and anxious. He wasn’t sure what was going on, he had just been kidnapped… they had wanted Roman but took him… Patton snapped out of it when the door to the building opened up. There stood a guy with dark hair, snake scales running down half his face, the other half covered by a black mask, and a dark outfit. 

Virgil nodded to Janus smiling under his mask before he walked inside. His makeup began to glow in the black light, and neon, lit club. He looked over at Patton gesturing for him to come in too. 

Patton hesitated for a minute before walking inside the door, it shut behind him. He hugged himself looking around the room. He heard loud blasting music everywhere. It sounded like there were tons of people. The place was dimly lit even with the weird colored lights. He took a deep breath looking down then gasping when he saw patches of himself glowing blue from the blacklights, it was the patches of frog skin he had, they just were… glowing. He smiled slightly at that. 

Virgil looked at Janus, “Lead the way.”

“Who is this?” Janus glared, “Spider… this isn’t Roman.”

“I know this isn’t Roman, but he wasn’t around… this guy was in Roman’s room, so he came with me instead.”

Janus groaned running a hand down his face before putting his hands up in defeat, “Fine, fine. I’ll let Kraken deal with it. At least you have someone… lets just go down, now.” He said open up a door that led down some stairs. 

Virgil nodded and grabbed Patton’s arm, “Come on, let’s go.” 

Patton jumped slightly when he was grabbed, just a bit startled. “Oh… ok.” He nodded then started following Virgil down the dark stairwell. He was a bit scared of what was going to happen. It wasn’t like he had much combat training, he was just a medic afterall.

Virgil just followed Janus and held onto Patton, He couldn’t really see in the dimly lit basement that well, his eyes not adjusting yet. 

“In here.” Janus spoke up, opening up another door to a room that seemed to have some lights on inside. 

Virgil nodded, pulling Patton in front of himself then pushing him inside the room. Kraken had been sitting in a chair in the room, he instantly stood when the door opened, he was excited to see his brother. His face fell when he saw some other guy with Spider. “Who is that?” He asked, annoyed.

“This… is Patton… I couldn’t find Roman, but he was in his room. So I assumed Roman would come here to find Patton.” Virgil explained guiding Patton to another chair. 

Remus nodded softly, staring at Patton, glaring a bit at him. 

Patton wasn’t going to lie… he was intimidated. Also the weird green glaring guy looked quite like Roman. He waved a bit at him. 

Virgil sighed, taking a deep breath just relaxing a bit. 

Janus came over putting a hand on Virgil’s shoulder, “Everything ok?” He asked quietly so nobody would hear. 

“I… Yeah… I think I’m going to ask Patton some questions.”

Janus nodded, “That’s a good idea.”

Virgil walked over to Patton pulling up a chair next to him, “I have a few questions for you.”

Patton nodded looking up at Virgil, “Um… I could try answering them.”

“How is it chosen who you kill… How is it chosen how people are scored?” Virgil asked, trying to keep his voice from wavering. 

“I… We… I’m only a medic, I only know we score people based off of how their powers present. Hmm you must be at least a 50. But… I don’t know anything about how they chose who are taken out and how they are planned.”

“I’m a 15... thanks for no help.” Virgil sighed getting up. 

Patton looked confused, a fifteen? That seemed way lower than this guy should have… and this guy seemed so distraught that Patton couldn’t help him. “What’s wrong?” He asked after a moment. He recognized how the guy felt, darn empathy Roman would always say when he caught him crying, but this guy was clearly sad and maybe grieving. 

Virgil looked at him, “You all killed my boyfriend… as corny as it sounds, you killed the love of my life.” He said before he left the room. 

Patton sat there, what… his boyfriend… well he must’ve done something wrong right? He was probably a threat. Patton moved to get up when the scaled guy came over pushing him back to sit down. 

“You stay.” Janus told him. 

Patton nodded, not defying him. 

Janus looked over at Remus, “Get Spider.”

“Will do, boss.” Remus replied winking and saluted him before walking out of the room. 

Janus looked at Patton, “you look quite interesting.” he commented running two fingers down one of the spots of Patton’s skin.

“Frog.” Patton replied blurting it out before blushing in embarrassment “I… I’m a frog… You’re a snake, right?”

“I am… Good eye.”

Patton snickered a bit, “Like you have one snake eye.” He said quietly. 

Janus stood there looking unamused, though internally he was laughing. “Um… yes…” He nodded, stepping away. 

Remus came in with Virgil after a few moments, if Virgil’s makeup was a mess it was hard to tell with how dim the room was. 

Virgil came over sitting next to Patton. 

Janus went over to Remus, “Kraken, would you like to go stand guard with me by the door, wait for when Roman arrives.”

Remus instantly nodding eagerly, “Yes, definitely.” He smiled and waved at Patton. 

Patton waved back watching the snake guy and Kraken leave the room. Patton looked at Spider, “So you are looking for Roman? Is it because he is one of the assassins?”

Virgil looked over at Patton, “I… yes, and no.”

Patton nodded, “We call them the guardians, taking out those who are dangerous or hostile…”

Virgil tilted his head, “Guardians? But… what classifies them as those?”

“Well… I’m not exactly sure. Last guy Roman told me he took out he was out in the road, apparently he was about to go out and take someone out. Roman caught up to him when he was about to cross the road to his car. The guy was apparently kissing someone before Ro shot them. The other person was probably devastated, but the guy was really dangerous.”

_____________

Roman got back to his room a half hour later, he was humming softly as he walked in. Patton should be here by now. He had the alert that Patton came in. Roman looked at his computer pausing, the alarm went off 3 times? Someone came in after Patton then someone left. He quickly connected to security cams. 

Someone had left taking Patton with them.

Roman grabbed his jacket and knives. He checked the other cameras watching the guy jump down the stairs and go to a car. He had to find them, maybe he was lucky and Patton had his phone… though that would be a hilarious if the kidnappers let Patton keep his pho- 

Patton had his phone on him, and it was tracking him to some building across town. 

Roman laughed and shrugged he left the room taking the elevator to the ground floor then got into his car to drive to the building

Roman stopped, parking in some parking lot. The building seemed to be some random abandoned factory. He walked to what seemed to be the main entrance of the building, he opened the door pausing when he saw nicely painted black walls and lights. He saw a guard standing at the door right ahead… What was this place?

Roman cautiously walked forward, “I’d like to get in.”

The guard looked Roman over, “Password?” He smirked.

Roman stepped back surprised, a password… he didn’t know a password. He pulled out his knife putting it to the other’s neck, “I’d like to get in, my friend was abducted and taken here. So if you could, open the door.”

The guard looked at Roman and smiled, “Hmm you didn’t seem like you belong, but I see it now. Step back so I could open up the door.” 

Roman put his knife away taking a step back. 

The guard unlocked the door, opening it, “Go on in.” 

As soon as the door was opened the blasting music could be heard from inside, along with the sound of many voices. 

Roman took a breath before walking through the door, he became tense as it shut behind him. He shook his head and kept walking into the place. He looked around once he emerged from the hall, there were so many people. The blacklight lit up his clothing as he stood in the club. He looked over the crowd of people in the dimly lit, colored neon room. How would he find Patton here? Patton was… small. He ran a hand through his hair walking around the perimeter of the room. Patton had to be close. He turned smiling when he saw that instead of a wall there was a curtain, of course. Why would the kidnappers keep Patton in the main room when they could hide him elsewhere in the building. He walked through the curtains looking around, the area still had the same neon and black lights, but it was a small area. There was a door to outside, an alley, then two small doors to the sides of him, one was labeled stairs. Roman went and opened the unmarked door first, a storage and janitor closet. He sighed turning to the stairs, pulling out a knife he opened the door descending the stairs. At the bottom there was another door, he opened it up only to see two people standing there, each leaning against a wall of the hallway ahead. Roman stepped into the hall and held out his knife. “I’m here for someone, I do believe you have him.” He growled. 

Remus was the first to look up. “Roman!?” He asked, looking at Roman. 

“I… how do you know my name?”

“Do you not… you don’t recognize me?” Remus asked, a bit broken.

“No? Should I know you-”

“Remus! It’s me Remus! Your brother! Please Roro.” 

Roman paused, “Remus?” Roman paused before his eyes went wide, “Remus!” He dropped his knife to the floor before he ran over pulling Remus into a hug.

Remus hugged back tightly.

“Seems the whole family is huggers.” Janus mumbled, nodding softly as he walked away to let them have their catch up time. He went back into the room only to see Virgil extremely distraught.

Virgil stood near Patton taking deep breaths, his hands tangled in his own hair, he stood there kinda pacing a bit. 

Janus walked over looking at Patton skeptically before looking at Virgil, he placed a hand on Virgil's shoulder comfortingly, “Spider?” he whispered. 

Virgil looked up at Janus, focusing on him, “I don’t know what to do.”

“What do you mean?”

“Roman… he was the assassin who killed Logan.” Virgil whispered trying to keep himself calm. “He was the one who took Logan from me!”

Janus squeezed his shoulder slightly, “Virgil, take a deep breath.”

“How? How do I know what to do now? I… I-”

“Virgil, Roman is not your target.”

“Who is then!”

“Who contracts the assassins and picks the targets?”

Virgil paused, taking slow deep breaths, “You’re right… you’re right.”

“Don’t kill Roman, for Kraken at least.”

Virgil nodded, dropping his hands to his sides, putting them in his pockets. He looked to the side, biting the inside of his cheek as Janus talked, not wanting to look in his eyes. 

“Roman isn’t your target, if you kill him it’ll just mean yet another person to kill. The person who decided that Logan was to be killed is your target, not the assassin ordered to make the kill, he was doing as he was told.” Janus whispered. 

Virgil nodded softly listening to Janus, not saying anything. 

The door opened then, everyone looking over to see Roman and Remus walking into the room together. 

Roman saw Patton and ran over to him, He kneeled by his chair looking over him, “Are you alright? Is everything ok? Did they hurt you?”

Patton just smiled at seeing Roman, “No, I’m alright… I’m ok.” 

Roman nodded, smiling back at Patton. 

Janus got behind Virgil and wrapped his arms around Virgil hugging him and holding him back. “Everything is ok.” he whispered softly. 

Virgil nodded softly just staring at Roman not moving. 

Roman turned around and saw Virgil, recognizing him from the security footage. He stalked over glaring, “Why did you kidnap him?!”

Virgil looked away before looking at Roman glaring, “Why did you murder my boyfriend?!”

The room went dead silent. 

“I haven’t murdered anyone, I’m saving people by taking out threats-”

“He wasn’t a threat! He just got tested only to later get a note that he had 24 hours. He tried to leave! You shot him dead on the street! He died in my arms! He… he just wanted to get away… He wouldn’t hurt anyone…” Virgil sighed looking down, taking a deep breath. 

Janus’ arms tightened around Virgil to comfort him. He glared daggers at Roman as he stood holding the defeated Virgil. 

Roman stepped back in shock, “I… no… no. He had to have been bad, I wouldn't have… I wouldn’t have had to go after him otherwise.`` Roman started rambling. He ran a hand through his hair trying to think. No, he wasn’t a bad guy… he was doing good… right? He was protecting people and being a guardian of the city against those who posed a threat and/or were hostile. He wasn’t a murderer… He… he did kill people… but he was told it was to save people. He was saving people! His boss gave him orders and targets, but those targets they scored high… they couldn’t control themselves… they were a threat. They… they would have hurt people. He had always been taught that if someone scored over 60 then they were going to lose control, they would hurt people, they couldn’t control themselves and would end up hurting anyone and everyone around them. The guy this kidnapper was talking about scored 170… he probably was just hanging on right? He was going to lose control and probably would end up destroying half the city. 

Remus walked over, putting a hand on Roman’s shoulder. 

Roman flinched then looked at Remus, “I’m saving people… right?”

“You’re being played… lied to. I’ve researched plenty, recent information acquired in… ways. The only threat the people pose is to the organization and the city’s government. You’re sent to kill them because your bosses are afraid that these people will go against them, they fear revolt.”

Roman stared at him, “No… that can’t.” He shook his head and looked at Patton.

Patton looked back at Roman, “I don’t know… it… it makes sense. I don’t know...” He sighed looking down. 

Roman took a deep breath, anger overtaking his shock. “Fine…” He looked around the room, “Then… we are going after the man in charge. The true villain here.”

Virgil pulled himself away from Janus, walking towards Roman, “I’d love to, though I get to be the one to kill him.”

Roman stared at Virgil for a few moments, and glanced away, before he nodded “Sure.”

Janus sighed, “I’ll join you both. Who knows how emotional you both are right now. I might as well make sure you’re not doing anything completely stupid.” 

Remus started jumping up and down, “Ooooh! I want to come! I want to come!”

Roman looked at Remus, “No, I just got to see you again… I’m not losing you if something goes wrong.”

“Well same here Ro-Bro. I’m not losing you again, so I’m coming with!” Remus replied cheerfully. 

Roman went to argue Remus coming and tell him he couldn’t when Janus stopped him. 

Janus looked at Remus, “Fine, you could come.” He said then walked over to Patton, “Will you be coming with us, froggy?”

Patton looked around at everyone, “I don’t know… I’m not exactly someone who fights. I’m a medic and I-”

“We could always need a medic, in case someone gets hurt.” Janus encouraged.

Patton thought before nodding softly, “Alright… I’ll help.”

“Let’s go!” Roman growled and went to the door. 

“Where the hell are you going? Do you have a plan?” Janus asked immediately. 

“I… No, I don’t” Roman sounded a bit defeated as he responded. 

“That’s what I thought. Now how about we all sit down and chat, come up with a plan. Order drinks maybe?” Janus asked then looked around the room only to be met by all serious expressions and… and Remus. “Alright, no drinks then.”

Everyone found a chair and sat down, coming and sitting close by. 

Janus nodded looking at them, “Now come up with a plan.” 

____

Thunder erupted in the sky as Roman stood in front of the building with Patton; he nodded softly before walking inside with Patton. He scanned his ID walking in without any suspicions. 

Remus waited on the side of the building with Janus. 

Virgil stood on the roof of a building next door, his hood over his head as he looked up at the sky, dark clouds forming and coming overhead… a storm was coming.

Their plan was in action. 

Roman had Patton go to the side door as he went into the security office. He quickly knocked out the one guard in the room before turning off all the security cameras. Everything was going well so far… He took a deep breath before leaving the room. He went to the custodial closet grabbing some coveralls before going to the side door to meet Patton. 

Patton had the door open, Remus and Janus standing by him. 

“Here you both go, the top fashion of this building.” Roman smiled and bowed as he gave them the coveralls. 

Remus instantly started stripping right there to put on the new clothes. 

Roman turned around, heck no he wasn’t going to see that. 

Patton blushed brightly before covering his eyes. 

Janus rolled his eyes only taking off his cape before pulling the coveralls over his current clothes of a black shirt and black close fitting jeans. 

Patton uncovered his eyes after a moment, relieved to see Remus had his clothes on. 

Remus grinned and gave them all a thumbs up, “Alright!”

Roman turned back around and nodded, “Well… now we have to go upstairs, You both take the stairs, I’ll be taking the elevator.”

“Oh I’ll go with them!” Patton smiled.

Roman grabbed Patton’s arm, “It’s better if you come with me, we’re seen often here and it might seem odd for you to take the stairs when you never do.”

“But they don’t know where they’re going.”

“I don’t want you to get hurt.” Roman replied. 

Patton nodded, sighing and waved at Janus and Remus before going with Roman to the elevator.

Janus nodded to Remus and started quickly climbing the stairs. They were all going to meet up without Virgil, on the 15th floor. 

Roman got on the elevator with Patton, going to the 10th floor. They got off when the doors opened, Roman went straight to his room. 

Patton followed looking around making sure nothing bad was happening. 

Roman went into his room with Patton. As soon as the door was shut he opened a closet full of weapons and began pulling some out, tossing them in a bag. “Alright, let's go,” he said when he had filled the bag with a decent amount of weapons. He put the bag over his shoulder and went to the stairs with Patton following close. He sat down on a stair waiting for Remus and Janus to get there. 

Remus and Janus appeared minutes later arriving at the 10th floor. Surprisingly both were rather athletic. 

Roman stood up, “There you both are.” He nodded, opening the bag and showing them all the weapons, “Take what you want.”

Janus smiled looking into the bag. He took out some daggers and a bottle that seemed to contain poison, “I believe these will be perfect for me.”

Remus nodded, pulling out a whip and a few throwing knives, “These will be good for me.” 

Roman nodded, “Alright so 15th floor… it’s going to be hard to get inside, we need to get past some security.”

“That’s where I come in perfectly, were those people at the front desk allowed up to the 15th floor?”

“Umm yeah why?”

Janus smiled as his form changed into one of the secretaries at the building’s front desk. “Let's go.” He said ascending the stairs once more.

Patton looked at Remus giving him a reassuring smile before beginning to climb the stairs. 

They finally reached the top and opened the door, Remus staying behind in the stairwell waiting.

Roman went through the door with Patton and Janus, walking down the hall and to the second door. All of them stayed silent, tense with anxiety of being caught. 

Patton motioned for Remus to follow. 

Roman took a deep breath before walking through the door he smiled nodding at the security guards of the room. “Hello good men… good looking… sorry, sorry.” Roman said and sighed smiling. “I would like to go to the boss's office. 

The guards looked at Roman, one of them blushing slightly. One stepped forward, “Sorry, can’t let you in. Entitled Prince.” He glared. 

Roman rolled his eyes pulling a large glass marble out of his pocket, tossing it up and catching it a few times, “want to see a magic trick then?” He asked looking behind him to make sure the door was shut and everyone was behind it. 

“Fine, what is it? You going to pull a rabbit out of your ass or something? I don’t see a hat.”

“No, I would never abuse a rabbit by having it face you, it would die of fright. No, I was thinking of another trick.” Roman smirked. He cleared his throat and hummed a few notes on a scale before he bowed to the security guards, “Now, enjoy the show.” He smiled. He tossed up the glass marble then started singing. The room shook as he sang. 

The glass ball shattered, the glass flying at the security guards. 

Roman smiled, singing a bit higher, manipulating his soundwaves as he sang. The windows all around the room suddenly shattered. 

Remus came out the door smirking as he had wind that resembled fire swept through the room, no heat or burn coming with it.

Virgil saw the fire and the windows shatter, their signal. He turned around going to the opposite edge of the roof before running forward. He jumped at the edge of the roof using the air and wind to boost him and make him practically fly. Rain drops and wind hitting his face as he flew.  He dove through a shattered window, pushing himself past all the broken glass on the floor before he touched the ground. The room lit up with lightning seconds after he crashed in. Virgil stood up and smiled, nodding to Roman and Remus, “Let’s go.”

The door opened and Patton came out with Janus. “Alright, everyone be careful.”

Janus nodded looking at Patton as he shifted back to himself, “I’ll be making sure these idiots don’t get hurt, you didn’t bring medical supplies anyway.”

“I… I don’t use supplies… but thank you.” Patton smiled before walking across the room to the next door. 

Roma bent down taking the ID off one of the guards. He walked over scanning it on the door before opening it up. He nodded looking at everyone, “They’ll know we’re already here, no turning back.” He said before walking up.

Remus and Virgil walked behind Roman, Patton and Janus trailing a bit behind as they all went up the last set of stairs. 

The beginning of the end. 

When they got to the top of the stairs there was only one person sitting in the room. The room was large with white marble floors and grey walls. Most walls were completely covered in windows looking out to the city, rain hit against them rhythmically. Only one man sat in the room though, smiling at them from behind his desk, the boss, the contractor of the assassins.

“Good Evening.”

Roman stood in front of the group as everyone came into the room from the stairwell. 

Virgil glared and pushed Roman out of the way and pulled out a dagger, “You! Ruined my life!” He growled. 

The guy sighed resting his head on his hand, bored, “Hm what a shame. Killed someone you know? Well I’ll let you in on a secret, you’re not the first to come after me. But you won’t be the last, you’re as weak as the rest, why else would you be alive. You’re weak-”

Virgil glared, pulling all the oxygen from the room.

Patton made bubbles around everyone but Virgil to trap some air around them.

Virgil glanced back before looking at the man and walking closer, “You’re weak.” He got behind him and put the dagger to the guy’s throat. He released the air letting it flood back into the man’s lungs as he slit his throat slowly and painfully. 

But he was slow. 

The moment the man dropped his head on his desk dead, still bleeding out of the artery in his neck.

Then thunder boomed, a shot rang out through the room following the thunder. 

Virgil gasped in pain falling to the floor. 

Nobody knew what happened. 

Patton created a bubble around the room before running over to Virgil. 

Roman looked out the window seeing another assassin on the roof of a different building, they had taken their shot… and they hit their target. 

Remus slammed a hand down on the floor and water began to rise up along all the walls. 

Roman looked confused and walked over touching a wall only to not feel anything wet… instead it felt hard, like cement. He looked back at Remus confused before looking over to Virgil. 

Janus kneeled with Patton next to Virgil. He held Virgil’s hand tightly, “Hey, you can’t die!” He glared. 

Patton let go of the bubble around the room and took Virgil’s other hand, “I… I could help you.” He said softly, nodding as tears filled his eyes practically blurring his vision. 

Virgil shook his head, “I’m sorry… you can’t.”

“Serpent! Computer!” Remus called out. 

Janus sighed softly, pushing back Virgil’s hair, “Hold on.” He said.

Virgil nodded softly, “let everyone know what's been happening.” He whispered pained.

Janus got up going over to Remus looking at the computer. “I’m releasing everything.” He quickly opened up the files and the email of the computer. He signed in with an anonymous email as he put in all the major news media companies around them as the recipients. “Alright” he nodded, looking over at Roman who stood in front of the desk staring at the dead corpse in silence. Janus shook his head looking back at the computer as he started to fill the email with files. 

Patton pulled open Virgil's shirt to see the damage… he had a shot wound through and through, right near his heart it was a bit diagonal… it went through Virgil’s lungs and part of his heart… Patton took a deep breath holding Virgil’s hand, “I can’t save you… But I could make this painless… I’ll help you.”

Virgil shook his head, “No… No you don’t” tears rolled constantly down his cheeks, pain filling him. “Don’t… just stay here with me.”

Patton shook his head, he couldn’t stand seeing Virgil in so much pain… the least he could do was make his death painless. Patton took a deep breath holding Virgil’s hand tighter as he took on all Virgil’s pain, absorbing it into himself. He cried out in pain as he took it all, sobs coming from him. 

Virgil held onto Patton’s hand watching him sit in pain as the world began fading out all around him.

Virgil looked out a window watching the rain pour down, and lightning light up the sky, he watched the sky cry as his life faded away. 

____

Patton didn’t remember how they got to wherever they were, he felt out of it the whole time. He opened his eyes to see Janus sitting by him. He looked around, he was in a bed in a dark bedroom. The comforter was black… the room was kinda a gothic theme. “Where-”

Janus smiled softly, “It’s good you’re finally aware… awake. You’re at my home. I temporarily kicked out Roman and… Remus as his name appears to be.”

“Ok…” Patton nodded softly, taking a deep breath. “What happened?” 

“Well after Virgil.. Passed. You were in immense pain. We managed to escape, but it was hard. I decided we’d come here. Roman wouldn’t explain what was wrong, but he was quite distressed, I couldn’t let him come in and potentially distress you more. But I would like you to explain what you did… what happened?”

“I… I couldn’t stand seeing… Virgil? In pain. So… I took it away. It was so much all at once… I… I’ve never felt so much pain. Not just physical, but emotional. I could take away people’s injuries, and their pain. I would’ve died taking on his injury… so I took the pain on.” Patton whispered looking away, “I’m so sorry.”

Janus shook his head taking Patton’s hand, “Relax, it’s ok. You just went through all the pain of dying, relax. You were out of it for two days.”

Patton instantly moved to sit up when Janus’ hand rested on his chest holding him down, “I… two days! What… What happened? During the days I missed, what happened?”

“Well Roman is in hiding with Remus currently, I’ll call them back here soon. The testing sites have closed, the media is spreading select files from the ones I had sent them. Everyone is scared and confused. Nobody is exactly sure what is going to happen from here.” Janus explained softly, “I’ve kept you here at my home while you rested.”

Patton nodded softly, “Alright…”

“Sorry, this must be so much to take in.”

“A little…” 

Janus nodded, he was about to say more when a high pitched whistling. “Oh… That's the tea, would you like some?” He asked getting up. 

“Um sure, thank you.” Patton nodded, smiling.

“Alright, you stay there,” Janus told him. He left the room going into the kitchen, he pulled the kettle off the stove pouring the water into two tea cups with tea bags. He then picked them up walking back to the bedroom. When he came back in, Patton was sitting there just spaced out a bit. “Are you with me, Froggy?”

Patton flinched and looked up at Janus, “sorry, sorry.” He sighed.

“It’s ok, I didn’t expect you to wake up and be perfect.” Janus sat down next to Patton giving him a cup of tea, “Here you go.”

“Thank you.” Patton blew softly on the tea before sipping on it. 

Janus nodded, “You’re welcome, are you hungry at all?”

“Yeah… a bit.”

“That’s perfectly fine, I’ll go get you something to eat, anything specific?”

“Cookies?”

“Sorry, but that is a dessert not a meal.” Janus smiled as he left the room. 

______

Remus sat on his table watching Roman who was silently lost in thought, he hadn’t moved in 3 hours, 3 hours! Remus moved like every minute, no, every few seconds. But here his brother was, still like the dead for 3 hours. Remus was afraid, and intrigued. 

Roman was silent, his mind racing, thoughts coming and going. What was he going to do now? Was he really a bad guy? He was never a hero was he? What was he supposed to do? He didn’t know anyone… His whole life was a lie! The thoughts repeated over and over in his head, a constant spiral with no end, just an infinite loop. 

Yeah… Remus was bored of this, “Roman!” He called at him. 

Roman flinched looking at Remus, “I… uh… sorry I wasn’t listening, what’s wrong?”

“Um you’re what’s wrong… Are you ok? Relatively?”

“Well… No. But, I’m fine.”

“Ro… I’m too dumb to decrypt what you just said, so yes or no, you good?”

“Not exactly, no… Lots of thoughts.”

“Hmm well in that case I’d like to ask you questions, to fill my own empty brain with thoughts.”

“Uh ok?”

Remus smiled hopping up and down on his desk, he pulled out a notebook and a highlighter. “Ok! Question one, Is there a secret tunnel system under the city that the assassins used to get around?”

“What no?-”

“Next question!” Remus nodded. 

It went on for hours, Remus asking several questions, all related to conspiracies and theories that he thought of or supported. Roman sitting answering them in confusion. 

That was until Remus’ phone went off. 

Remus jumped up grabbing his phone and reading the text before breaking out in a grin, a grin in these grim times. 

Roman raised an eyebrow staring, “Is there something amusing?”

“Patton woke up!”

“He woke up?!”

“Yeah!”

“Could we go?” 

“Yep!” Remus jumped up grabbing his jacket and keys, “Let’s go.”

“Wait… do you own a car?”

“I own a unicycle…”

“How am I supposed to come with you if you only have a unicycle?”

“Now… Did I say that I only owned a unicycle? No, no I didn’t. I’m not crazy, I also own a motorcycle with one of those side carts. You could ride in that.”

“No… I’m not riding in that.”

Roman sat in the cramped motorcycle side cart glaring up at Remus from under the stupid helmet, because safety first. 

Remus smiled watching the road as he drove to Janus’ home, as he now knew his name to be. He happily parked in Janus’ driveway before getting off the bike, “Alright! Let’s go inside.” 

Roman grumbled as he got out of the cart and stretched out. He waited till they walked into the house before taking off the helmet. 

Janus stood at the door looking amused as he opened it, “You didn’t take the unicycle.”

“Why does everyone assume that is my only mode of transportation?!” Remus exclaimed, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. 

“Because you’re insane.” Roman replied, crossing his arms. 

“You can’t call me that! You’re my brother! We’re related! So you’re insane too then.”

“Well… I was an assassin, by your logic you are too because we’re related. But I don’t see you killing anybody.”

“Mmmm, fine.” Remus glared and pouted. “So how is Patton!”

Patton came out of the bedroom, “I’m ok… Just feeling better.” Patton smiled softly. 

Remus nodded, smiling. 

Roman waved slightly, “I’m glad you’re alright.” He said with a nod. 

Janus nodded softly, “He will be alright.”

“What do you-”

“He went through all the pain of death, he will be traumatized…” Janus replied, nodding to him. 

Roman nodded softly. 

Remus went over to Patton and sat down with him talking. 

Roman looked over at the two sitting, “I’m leaving… You’ll take care of Patton… Right? He’s my only friend.”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m not sure… I just need to get away.”

“Are you sure?”

“I need to… I’ll come back… But I don’t know when. I’m just confused, I’ve spent my whole life thinking I was doing good and being a hero. Now I don’t know what to think.” Roman sighed, running a hand through his hair, “I… I just need to go.” 

Janus nodded softly, “I understand. Could you wait a week? We’re holding a small funeral, could you wait and leave after that?”

“I could wait till then,” Roman nodded, agreeing.

“Thank you.” Janus flashed him a smile before walking away and going back over to where Remus and Logan were sitting. 

Roman stood there staring at the three before coming over after a few moments. He sat down listening to Remus and Patton talking. 

___________

It was raining, thunder cracking in the air. 

Janus stood with Remus, Roman, and Patton. Two coffins in front of them. All holding black umbrellas as they stared at the coffins and the holes they were to be buried in. 

Janus stepped forward sighing lightly placing a black rose on one of them, “Goodbye.” He whispered then glanced at the other coffin, “Thank you for being there for him.” 

Patton went over and placed a hand on Janus’ shoulder, he lightly put a yellow rose on the coffin and looked at the second. “The other is…”

“Logan… His boyfriend.” Janus said softly. 

Roman heard and slightly took a step back from everyone and looked at the ground. 

Patton nodded, “At least… they’re together. I know how much Virgil missed him.”

“You felt his grief?” Janus asked, looking at him surprised. 

“I felt all his pain, even emotional.” Patton nodded before stepping back. 

Remus stepped closer putting a daisy on the casket, roots, dirt, and all. 

Roman waited a moment before stepping forward he leaned over placing two white roses, one on each casket before stepping back. 

Janus lingered next to the coffins before looking at the cemetery attendant and nodded before stepping back. 

Remus stepped closer to Janus, “Ready to go?”

Janus took a deep breath, “Yeah…” He glanced back and nodded, “Let’s go.” 

Remus nodded and led the way to Janus’ car. 

Patton stayed next to Janus as he walked back. 

They all got to the car and Roman stepped away, “Thank you… all of you.”

Patton tilted his head, “What?”

“I’m sorry Patton, I’m leaving.” 

“Why?”

“I just… I have to, just for a while, I’ll try to come back.” Roman sighed. 

Patton ran forward into Roman, pulling him into a tight hug. “I’ll see you soon.”

“I’ll see you again Patt…” 

Remus walked over pulling Roman into a hug as soon as Patton let go, “I can’t believe I’m losing you as soon as I found you again.”

“I know… I hope to get to know you. But you know I have to do this.”

“Yeah… I get it. Figure everything out, then come back, we’ll be here.”

Roman nodded letting go of Remus, “Thanks for the motorcycle, But I took off the sidecar.” He smiled walking over to the motorcycle. 

“Yeah, whatever. I better get it back safe!” Remus called at him.

“Remus, it’s alright, if your unicycle tire pops I could always let you ride in my car.” Janus said getting into his car with Patton getting in the back seat. 

Remus sighed, “Alright, b- I’ll see you again.”

“See ya again.” Roman nodded. He put on the helmet driving away. 

Remus got into the car with Janus and Patton.

Janus took another glance at the cemetery as he pulled away and drove home. He was silent during the ride just watching the road. Everything was changing and different, it had taken only a week and he lost his best friend and gained new… friends… 

Logan and Virgil were buried. 

Roman left to figure out what he was doing and to take a step back from where he was lied to his whole life. 

Patton was staying with Janus. Remus had finished his life’s work of finding his brother. 

Now from here everything was ambiguous. As much as Janus didn’t like it, he didn’t have any plans anymore. 

Patton looked out the window during the drive, the signs of getting your powers tested torn down, testing sites boarded up. He was tense looking at everything he had always aided in not knowing what he was helping. 

Remus reached over taking Patton’s hand, “Just breathe… Everything's ok.” He whispered, smiling. 

Patton nodded, “Everything will get better?”

“By time Roman is back everything will have a new normal.” 

Patton nodded, “That’s good.” 

They arrived at the house. 

Janus got out then opened Patton’s door helping him and Remus out. “Let’s go inside, I'd rather not be soaked by the rain. 

Patton nodded and ran with Remus to the door. Remus picking the lock and running in. 

Janus took a deep breath looking up at the sky and closing his eyes for a moment before walking inside the house.  _______________________

Notes: Written using this short Fic Idea ________________ General Tag List @crazy-multifandomfangirl @aceawkwardunicorn @mistythegenderqueermess

[acnelli]

Coming Home

This is my little story for the HPRomione Discord Popcorn. @remedial-potions gave me the prompt “You can’t just keep pretending things are fine!” and I originally wanted to write some HBP angst, but then changed my mind and wrote this.

Up next is @dot-adsty and I give you the prompt “Flying higher than ever before”.

I also opened my Ask Box and accept prompts from this Prompt List.

Prompt: “You can’t just keep pretending things are fine!”

Ron comes home from a long Auror mission, and Hermione’s plans for the night don’t quite go as she imagined.

You can also read this story on AO3 and FFN.

*** *** *** ***

She had it all planned out.

Every little detail, every single thing Hermione needed to buy or prepare for tonight had been neatly written down in handy list form, categorized and sorted.

Around noon it actually looked like everything would be ready when Ron would come home from his Auror mission this late afternoon. Behind half of the points on said list, Hermione had added a green checkmark. The sight of her lists, especially when some of her tasks on it had been checked off already, always had something oddly satisfying.

To have enough time to prepare everything, she left work early today, stopping by the grocery store on her way back home to buy the last of the ingredients she needed for the roast she planned to make for dinner.

Cooking wasn’t really Hermione’s forte. When Ron was home and didn’t have to work ridiculous hours, the flat was always filled with the scent of some delicious meal or another, and on weekends they often enjoyed a cake or some cookies fresh out of the oven. In the last two months, she sure did cook for herself every now and then but she got to admit that these meals mostly consisted of pasta and sandwiches.

When she planned this day she first considered going with take-away, which she was sure, Ron would’ve been more than fine with. But then she quickly dismissed the idea, figuring that following the instructions of Mrs Weasley’s cookbook couldn’t be that hard. It might not win a contest but she was sure to manage something eatable, at least.

Before she went into the kitchen to start preparing the roast, Hermione observed their living room, mentally going through her list again.

On their couch table Hermione had set up the brand new chess set she bought last week while shopping with her mother. Hermione had discovered the set in the display window of a small, cosy shop she would’ve completely missed it if weren’t for the unusually bright colours catching her attention when she walked by. As soon as she had seen the chess set, she made her way inside the shop right away because it practically screamed Ron Weasley. While not exactly the same bright colour of the Chudley Cannons, the usually white squares and wooden game pieces were painted orange. If she wouldn’t have purchased it from a Muggle, it could’ve been easily merchandise of Ron’s favourite Quidditch team.

Hermione walked over to the couch table and placed two tickets for the next Chudley Cannons game this upcoming weekend onto the chessboard. A smile split her face when she thought about his reaction later. Over the past six months the Cannons actually showed some kind of potential to not end up at the bottom of the league at the end of the season, resulting in the tickets to have gotten a little harder to come by. At least, for top games and derbies.

She knew it was probably a little over the top, considering they had been separated for much longer than eight weeks over the last years, but the constant worry and the almost non-existent possibility to talk or write to him during these missions, increased her excitement for Ron to come home ten-fold.

Yes, Hermione definitely felt slightly ridiculous when she placed a giant red bow around the TV and put the fancy Muggle beer into the fridge, but Ron’s absence caused a restlessness she had to overcome somehow. It also didn’t help that the few letters she got from him made Ron sound mentally and physically exhausted. Even though she knew next to nothing about this mission, she could tell it affected him more than usual.

That’s why today was all about distracting Ron from work, and what would hopefully be the start of a long, stress-free weekend.

But, of course, it would have just been too perfect if anything went according to plan. Because one hour before Ron was due to arrive at home, everything started to blow up in Hermione’s face. Literally and figuratively.

While she tried to research a way how to fix overcooked meat, Hermione cursed herself numerous times for not doing a test run first. Hermione had plans for everything but when it came to cooking she was obviously rubbish.

I should have just ordered Pizza. Ron loves Pizza.

Giving up on the meat’s consistency she quickly decided that spices and a good sauce could somehow safe this. Just as she was about to add all kinds of spices, she heard the fireplace roaring to life.

Ron was here. And he was early.

Forgetting all about the roast, she bolted out of the kitchen and into the living room, almost tripping over one of the loosened bindings of Ron’s ‘Kiss the Cook’ apron she borrowed. And there he stood, shaking the floo powder out of his hair and off the Auror uniform.

When he looked up at her she didn’t waste another second and jumped into his arms. Something between a sob and a laugh escaped her when Ron hugged her close and she felt him kiss the top of her head.

Pulling back, Hermione took Ron’s face between her hands and tugged him down for a kiss. She waited far too long for this.

When they finally broke apart to come up for air again, Ron softly kissed her forehead. “Fuck, I missed you so much.”

“I missed you, too,” Hermione said, “And I have a surprise for you!”

“So, you cooking isn’t the surprise?” Ron grinned at her.

“Oh, shut up!”

“Do I have time for a quick shower before dinner?” Ron asked as he shrugged out of his cloak.

“You do. And please take your time.”

*** *** *** ***

Ron couldn’t decide if he was more amused or felt more sorry for Hermione as the 3-course-dinner turned into a small disaster.

With the soup, it had been rather easy. It was incredibly salty and he probably dehydrated this very second, but with a good amount of bread and large swigs from his beer, he was able to pretend he liked it quite easily.

But then Hermione served the main course. As soon as Ron took the first bite he wanted to spit it out right away. It was absolutely inedible and he wondered how he could pretend to eat something which wasn’t tasting like the sole of his trainers.

Very slowly he reached for his beer, figuring it would be easier if he swallowed the bite without chewing. Just as he was about to take a swig, Hermione gave up all pretence.

“Oh my God, this is a complete disaster,” she whined, spitting the piece of meat into a hand towel, “Ron, you can give up the act now.”

As he too spit the overcooked shoe sole out of his mouth, he couldn’t stop the chuckle escaping him, and reached for Hermione’s hand.

“Not all is lost,” he reasoned, a little bit surprised about her being so upset about this dinner. Hermione’s attempts to cook or bake usually made for a lot of entertainment for both of them. “There’s still dessert, isn’t it?”

“Yes, right! Dessert!” She jumped up from her seat and ran into the kitchen with a hopeful glint in her eyes.

“NO,” Ron heard Hermione cry from the kitchen and he immediately jumped up to join her, “No, Pig! No, no, no, no, no!”

As Ron got into the kitchen he saw Pig sitting in a bowl full of what looked like vanilla cream, happily hooting at Hermione who appeared to be on the verge of tears now. Of course, Pig chose this very moment to finish his bath in their pudding as he flew out of the bowl with wildly flapping wings, coating both Hermione and Ron with a good amount of vanilla cream; Hermione’s hair getting the worst of it.

Ron slowly lifted a finger and swiped some cream from his cheek, licking it off as he was wearing a thoughtful look. “That is pretty good, actually.”

“Oh, stop it!” Hermione let out a resigned sigh. “You can’t just keep pretending things are fine! You have some terrible weeks behind you, and then you come home to your girlfriend serving you food that makes you probably crave the tasteless snacks they feed you with on these missions. I should’ve just-“

“Oi!” Ron interrupted her, not quite being able to hide his amusement. “Stop the rambling, barmy woman.” He took her face in his hands and leaned down, so he was at eye level with her. “All I wanted for today was finally seeing you again, Hermione. You never before got upset about bollocking up some cooking. What’s the matter?”

“I- I just wanted to distract you from this mission and make this evening somewhat special, and by now, Pig most likely decorated the whole living room with our pudding.”

Ron simply kissed her. His hands went from her cheeks inside her curly hair, changing their angle a bit to deepen the kiss. As Hermione let her hands wander from his chest back to his shoulders blades and down to the hem of his shirt, Ron decided to make it very clear to Hermione that everything he really needed to feel better, was her. This mission forced Ron to see things he’ll have nightmares about forever, and the only reason he was able to power through all of it, was the prospect of coming home to Hermione. To her touch, to her kisses, to her ramblings about work, to the simple comfort of just having her beside him.

With one swift motion, he swooped her up in his arms. “For such a smart woman, you can be very daft sometimes, love,” Ron said as he walked out of the kitchen.

“I know,” Hermione sighed as she took advantage of her position in Ron’s arms, and left open kisses along the side of his neck and his throat.

Without bothering to clean up the mess in the kitchen and living room, Ron walked them straight to the bedroom, leaving behind a merrily hooting Pigwidgeon who hopped and danced on top of Ron’s new chessboard, coating it with the only eatable dish Hermione produced today.

[hello-everyfandom]

“Stay next to me then, so I can protect you.”

Warnings: Mentions of violence, war

Pairing: George Weasley x Reader

Words: 2.9k

Summary: Small snippets of your pregnancy with George Weasley

Part One: “I never said I was good at picking names, for all I care we could call them Bob.”

It was easy to fall in love with George Weasley. You had fallen in love with him as quickly as it was to pluck a flower from a meadow or quicker than a simple blink of the eye. You two were quite happy together, there was no doubt in your mind that George was your fellow, the man you wanted to spend the rest of eternity with.

A pop sounded rather loud and your head felt dizzy as you stabilized yourself after apparating out of the wedding. George placed a hand on your lower back and looked at you grimly, hearing the Death Eaters continue to rampage the wedding. The rest of the Weasley’s, besides a certain Ron, began popping in as well. 

George, rubbing soothing circles on your back, leaned and whispered, “Don’t worry, Love. ‘verything will be alright.” You looked back and nodded silently, clutching his arm.

“What will we do?”

“I expect they will come in and-” before Mr. Weasley could respond, multiple Death Eaters stormed the Burrow, pointing wands and yelling orders. Guests who remained and the Weasley’s were questioned rigorously. You had watched nervously, hands intertwined, until a Death Eater who you couldn’t place a name to, pulled you and George into the interrogation room. 

“What is your name?” He asked your boyfriend who answered confidently.

“George Weasley.”

“Blood status?”

“Pureblood.” George squeezed your hand without breaking eye contact with the man who looked at you with extreme loathing.

“Where is Harry Potter?”

“I don’t know.” George lied.

“Don’t lie. Tell us the whereabouts of Harry Potter, and perhaps we will leave your family unharmed.” 

“He said he didn’t know.” You hissed harshly, glaring at him.

He turned, “Name?”

“Y/N Y/L/N.”

“Blood status?”

“Half-blood.”

“Proof of magical blood?”

“My father was a wizard.”

“Was?”

“He’s dead. He died a few years ago.”

The Death Eater seemed to grin wickedly, “As I hear, you have no true proof of wizarding lineage. And no lasting connecting,” he licked his teeth, “to any magical being. Who did you steal your magic from?” his voice lowered in disgust, he nearly spat. 

“This is preposterous! She didn’t steal anyone’s magic, she was raised as a wizard!” George yelled, the veins of his neck popping out. His face began to turn red as his hand moved to his back pocket where his wand was.

“If there is factual evidence that can be proven, I will have to take her to the ministry to be fully detained.”

“Like hell, you will,”

“George,” you whispered, attempting to calm your boyfriend. “My father raised me alone, as a wizard. He worked in the ministry, you may look him up and I’m sure you will see my birth records.”

“Artifice and forgery are easy to construct, assuming that your birthright and blood status is correct, you still do not have any lasting relationships in the wizarding world. I’ll ask one more time, who did you steal your magic from.”

“I did not steal anything, I was born with it.” your voice slightly wavering.

“Then, I’m afraid,” his smile grew sickening and wider, “That we will have to interrogate you further at the ministry.” His hand reached and snatched your arm, beginning to bruise it with his fingers. George jumped up,

“She’s my fiancee!”

The Death Eater twisted to face him, “Lies!”

“No lies.” George looked at you pleadingly, “We just got engaged tonight, at the wedding. We’re to be married in months.”

The Death Eater sneered at you and dropped your arm, “And you would want to marry this filth?”

George gathered you in his arms, and snarled back, “It’s a wizarding connection, is it not?” and pulled you out of the interrogation room.

“George, they’ll wring you for that,” you whispered, eyeing the surrounding Death Eaters.

“They won’t if it’s true.”

“But, it’s not true. Darling, please, I’m afraid for you.”

“It may as well be,” George gathered your hands and kissed the knuckled, “We love each other, don’t we?”

“I love you with all my heart,”

“Then, why don’t we get married? Why aren’t we married right now?”

“Because...” you tried to think of a good excuse, but nothing came to mind. It was true. You loved George and he loved you and with the war thundering upon your heads.

“Exactly, so marry me, please,” George whispered again.

“Yes, of course, I’ll marry you, George.”

--

The day you told George you were pregnant you were terrified. Perhaps terrified is not the right word, but the only thing you could think of was the fear running through your veins. It wasn’t as if George’s excitement for a child had been a secret, you learned at the wedding he was quite ecstatic to begin a life with you. However, the fear came from the war. You feared for your unborn child being born into a world of prejudice, violence, and anger. But, as you sat down with George in your small shared apartment, you couldn’t shake the nerves that seemed to plague your mind.

“What is it, Y/N? You’re worrying me.” George asked.

“I need to tell you something,”

“Go on, then, love. I’ve never seen you so serious.” George chuckled humorlessly.

“I went to St. Mungos today.”

“What?” George jumped, holding your hands and scanning you for wounds or injuries, “Why? What happened? I knew I shouldn’t have gone into work today I-”

“George, please, calm down.”

“What’s happened? Has someone come into the apartment?”

“George-”

“Were you hurt? How did you get to St. Mungos? Did you-”

“George,” you cupped his face lovingly, “I’m pregnant.”

Silence. George’s mouth fell as his eyes widened.

“Please say something, Georgie. Now you’re scaring me,” you laughed, rubbing his cheeks with the pads of your thumbs.

“You’re pregnant?”

“Yes, Georgie.”

“As in, baby? In you? From sex?”

“That’s generally how they are made, darling.” you laughed. George’s face broke into a smile, his freckles seemed to glow as he jumped up from his seat and pulled you to your feet. 

“You’re pregnant!” He beamed, spinning you around. The nerves you had previously felt before had dissipated as George peppered your face with kisses. 

“We’re pregnant, George, we’re having a baby.” you felt tears well in your eyes as George pressed a long, loving kiss on your lips. 

“I am,” George laughed, “I am overwhelmed.”

“You’re overwhelmed? I have a baby growing in me!”

George spun you around once more, “You have a baby growing in you!” He turned and yelled into the apartment, “Fred! Fred get in here, you silly oaf! Get in here!”

You heard a loud thud as footsteps ran towards you. Fred, with shampoo in his hair and a towel wrapped around his waist, held his wand up in case of danger. You immediately shut your eyes,

“Fred, dear god, you could’ve put some clothes on!”

“I was in the bloody shower, what in merlin’s pants is going on? I’ve nearly cracked ‘m head open!”

“Fred, for god’s sake, shut the hell up!”

Fred looked around the small apartment living room frantically before looking at George. His eyes lowered to his twin’s hands on your stomach and his wide smile. He looked back and forth from George’s hands to your stomach before slowly looking up with a grin placed on his face.

“George, you did not.” He said.

“George, I did,” George replied, smiling widely.

“George,” Fred warned, “is she-is she pregnant?”

“She so is,” you answered.

“Oh my god! You’re! She’s. And You! Oh, I-”

“Fred,” you put your hands our warily, watching Fred begin to sway. Fred’s eyes rolled as his arms flapped and he fainted.

When Fred’s eyelids began to flutter, he managed to regain focus from the ground staring up at his brother and his wife’s worried faces. His hands flew to his chest and then down to his towel which he was glad was still there.

“Alright, I agree, we probably should’ve waited,” George turned to you,

“I’m surprised he didn’t just die on sight, ‘ve only just found out today.”

“Mate?” George pulled his twin’s shoulders so he was sitting up, “you doing alright? You had quite a fall.”

“You fainted, remember? Your towel fell off, but I-uh- closed my eyes.”

Fred looked back and forth before jumping up and slamming George in a death grip hug.

“More than alright! Bloody hell, we’re having a baby!” 

“Yeah, we are!” George hugged him back, 

“Ye-wait, we?” you asked.

“Yes, we! Get ‘ver here, Y/N! You little oven heater for our bun!” Fred reached his arms out, you laughed and backed away.

“How about, I’ll give you a hug when you’re all settled and dressed,”

Fred pointed, “She’s a smart one, she is?”

“The smartest.” George could feel the happiness swell in his chest, the pride he felt for his family, and the love he exuded for you.

By the time you were perfectly plump and showing, George seemed to fret over you even more. From making cups of tea to helping you get up, you never seemed to lift a finger. However, the smothering seemed to drive you slightly insane as all you wanted to do was lay on the couch and read a novel without George constantly on your shoulder.

“Love, I’m alright, you’re acting as if I am on bed rest.”

“Bed rest!” he exclaimed, “That’s a brilliant idea, come on then, go on to bed,”

You groaned, “George, that was a joke! Please, I’m perfectly content where I am. Now hurry on to work before Fred becomes cross with you.” you leaned and kissed him on the cheek before handing him his briefcase and nudging him out the door.

“Send me an owl if, bloody hell woman, stop trying to shut the door and- ouch! Y/N!” he yelled after you accidentally nicked his foot under the door.

“Love you, too darling! Have a good day at work!” you said before closing the door. 

For a while, the silence was quite nice until the silence became longer. You glanced at the clock worriedly at the kitchen table as late afternoon turned to evening. Fred and George were usually home by now, and of course, they could be restocking, but it was unlike George to be so late especially now when his wife was pregnant. You stirred your tea before sipping it lightly, not really paying attention to the flavors and more of your nerves. Your hand on your plump belly as you caressed it softly. 

“Daddy will be home soon, yeah?” you whispered.

As evening turned into night, you debated on sending him an owl message or even floo-ing down to Diagon Alley. Just as your hands reached for the parchment, the door burst open. Fred and George barged in with wands in hand, waving quickly to summon clothing and suitcases. 

“George!” you screamed as you ran towards him, “What’s happened? What’s going on?”

“We need to leave,” George said seriously, “Y/N, love, grab your wand and the things you need.”

“But-”

“Now!” George’s voice raised. You were not frightened by his yelling but rather the grim expression on his face. You hurried and gathered your wand and slipped on some shoes. Fred quickly packed any photographs and business papers for the shop as George moved clothing into suitcases. Your hands, quick and nimble, helped George’s shaky ones. You zipped the suitcase and snapped it shut before standing, a hand on your stomach.

“What’s happening, George?”

“The burrows been attacked, we need to go. Bill and Fleur are expecting us.” George looked around for Fred before his eyes softened at your worried face. George’s hands grabbed the back of your neck as he placed a soft kiss on your forehead. “Need to get you and the little one out of here. Fred?”

“Right here.” Fred popped next to George, suitcase in hand. “Alright, Y/N?”

“As alright as I can be.” 

You looked back at the seemingly empty apartment and grabbed hold on George’s hand as the twins whisked you away.

--

With the due date just weeks away, you struggled to do daily tasks. Frustration was key on your face as you listened to the Order of the Pheonix explain the battle strategies. Much to George’s despise, the baby would be due a month before the battle meaning, if you were completely healed and ready, could fight alongside the Order of the Pheonix.

“Y/N, stop it.”

“George, if you are going to fight, I am too,” you argued. It was exhausting arguing with George, even when you were younger. He seems to only hear out one ear and out the... well. 

“You’d have just given birth!”

“It would be a month after and-”

“This is not up for discussion, Y/N. I can’t lose you.” George sat on your shared bed, putting his head in his hands, “I can’t lose you.”

You sat next to him, wrapping your small arms around his broad shoulders, “You would never lose me. But, I have to do what is right, and if you are going to fight then I will too.”

“Then I won’t fight.”

“Of course you will, Georgie.” 

“No! We can stay here and we can stay with the baby-”

You shushed him softly and kissed his shoulders. “You know this is what’s right.”

His shoulders shook with a small cry, “Stay next to me then, so I can protect you.” George faced you, wrapping his arms around your pregnant figure, 

“I’ll never leave your side,” you leaned and kissed your husband.

As Fleur braided your soft hair and hummed a french tune, you leaned on her deep in thought. The smell of the salty sea and the sand made you think even harder.

“Fleur?” you asked,

“Yes?” she answered back. You turned from your position to face her beautiful face.

“I need to ask you something,”

“Vhat iz it, Y/N?”

“If...” you inhaled a shaky breath. “If anything happens to George or me during the battle...”

“Plez do not zalk like that, you and George will be fine.” Fleur pleaded, grabbing hold of your hand.

“I’m not oblivious to the war, I understand that there will be... casualties.” you swallowed, “but George and I plan to be there for the battle and...”

“You and Georgie will be okay.”

“Please, Fleur?” she stayed silent, tears in her blue eyes, “If George and I die, please, I. I don’t want my baby to...” you chocked up.

“Iz okay, Y/N. I understand.” She rubbed your arms comfortingly. “Bill and I will do anything for ze baby.” 

“Thank you.” your voice cracked as Fleur leaned and placed her forehead against yours. “Thank you.”

--

“Molly?” you called from the small sitting room.

“Yes, dearie?” she approached, wiping her hands on a towel.

“May I ask you a question?”

“Of course,” Molly sat on the edge of the couch where you laid. Your hands laid on your stomach, now huge and ready to burst. Molly reached and brushed the hair off your forehead and gave you a motherly smile, “How is my grand-child doing?”

“Other than a little finicky and particularly opposed to any sweets or anything I feed them, I think are doing quite well.”

“The little one’s picky, isn’t she? Wait until she meets her Grandmother, she’ll be stuffed with to the brim.”

 You laughed, “How are you so sure she’s a she?”

“Oh well, call it a mother’s intuition,” Molly waved her hand.

“I, well. My question was... well. You had seven children,”

“I knew this question was coming,” Molly placed her hand on your stomach and another on your arm, “It’s not as bad as you think.”

“Are you sure? I feel as though I’m ready to pop,”

“Truly, Dear, I will be there, George will as well.”

“I’m scared, I think, thas all,” you mumbled, looking at your pregnant belly.

“I understand, when I was pregnant with Charlie, I practically broke Arthur’s hand!”

“You should’ve seen her pregnant with Ginny,” George’s voice chimed in. You turned to see your smiling husband approach and kiss the top of your head. “Nearly tore our heads off,”

“Oh,” Molly blushed and smacked her son’s arm, “If only my sons weren’t acting like fools, then perhaps I would’ve been more lenient.” 

“We still haven’t decided on a name,” George said, “This one,” he pointed at you, “Likes the name Posy.”

“Posy is a wonderful name,” you defended, 

“I still think Herbert is a nice name,”

“I’m not doing this again, Georgie, we’re not naming our child Herbert!”

“Why not!” George argued. Molly watched in amusement as the two of you bickered, “We could call him Herb for short.”

“What if it’s a girl?”

“Herba.”

You groaned making George laugh. It was only until you groaned louder when he stopped. You gasped sharply and sat up, “Oh my-”

“The baby’s coming!” Molly yelled excitedly, helping you off up the couch. “Come on then George, don’t just stand around! Help your wife into the bedroom!”

George froze, his face blank. It appeared that fire lit in his face as he quickly grabbed ahold of your arms, steadying you as you breathed rapidly. “Don’t freak out,” 

“I’m not freaking out!”

“I’m not talking about you! I’m talking about me!”

“If I make it out alive after this, George, I’m going to punch you.”

George let out a loud laugh before helping you into the bedroom, “You sound like Mum.”

[laurenairay]

Decorating Disaster - J.Markstrom

Summary: what could go wrong with a little competitive holiday baking with your boyfriend Jacob?

Word Count: 1.7k

Warnings: some bad language, a lot of cute fluff, too much glitter…and he’s on the Flames. Sorry K 😅

A/N: fully in my winter holiday feelings! ❄️ This one is for @danglesnipecelly​ – I hope it warms your grinchy heart 😘

*

“Hey älskling, are you busy?”

You looked up from the magazine you were reading at the sound of your boyfriend’s voice, shaking your head with a smile. You’d only been reading it in the first place because Jacob had popped out to the grocery store – but now he was back…with multiple bags?

“What are you planning?” you asked, raising an eyebrow at his big grin.

“Nothing!” he said cheerfully, pecking a kiss to your cheek as he whirled past you into the kitchen.

Okay now you knew he was up to something.

“I don’t believe you in the slightest,” you teased, hopping up on the counter as he put the bags down next to you.

“You wound me!” he gasped, clutching dramatically at his chest, making you giggle, “I just thought we could do some baking together this morning,”

What?!

“Baking. You want to bake,” you said dryly.

“Yeah! It’s a fun holiday activity to do together!” Jacob grinned, ignoring your confused expression as he started to rustle through the grocery bags.

You put your hand on top of his to stop him. Seriously, what is he doing?

“J, you don’t even like baking. You purposely steered clear of the kitchen when I made pepparkakor with your mom last year. Why do you really want to do this?” you mused.

Jacob’s grin faded, and he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. Hah, you knew there was a real reason.

3…

2…

1…

“Tanny told the Flames about my last disaster baking attempt and they were all teasing me – I told them that I’d been practicing with you and I was way better than him now,” Jacob admitted.

What a little liar!

“But you haven’t been practicing with me,” you pointed out, trying to stop a grin spreading across your lips.

“Yeah I know…Tanny didn’t believe it either, and he said that I should prove it. Gio turned it into a team group challenge as bonding…but I need to do this!” Jacob sighed.

“So you want to bake…because of a dare?” you snickered, “to save a reputation that is a lie?”

Men. Seriously.

Jacob just grinned, nodding at you. And then that grin turned into a hopeful smile. Oh no. Absolutely not.

“Ohhhh no, count me out,”

“Please? There’s no way Tanny and the others won’t have help too!” Jacob pleaded, “I already know that Elias and Annica are planning on making cookies together!”

Damn those puppy dog eyes.

And if it would make Jacob feel better in front of the team…

“Fine, you ridiculous man. Let’s do some holiday baking,” you sighed fondly.

Jacob whooped and scooped you up off the kitchen counter in his arms, swinging you around in a circle, making you squeal. When he eventually put you back down on your feet, he pressed a firm kiss to your lips, making you lose your breath even more. Wow. Yeah, anything for him, if that was the reaction you’d get.

“Thank you älskling. This is going to be fun, I promise!” Jacob grinned.

“I believe that when I see it,” you giggled.

Now that this was a competition, rather than the fun activity he had initially suggested, you knew Jacob was going to be a nervous mess. There was no way this was ending well. But hey, it would be good teasing material, if nothing else.

“I thought we could do gingerbread men? That way we can get extra points for decoration,” Jacob suggested, “I would’ve said gingerbread people, but there was only the male stencil cutter at the store,”

Fair enough.

“Very strategic, I like it,” you teased.

To be fair, it was a good plan. And meant you could get more creative with it too. Jacob just blushed. “I picked up so many options at the store. Like, all of the decorating options. So there’s lots to choose from,”

“Let’s get the gingerbread going first – we can decide what decorations we’ll do when it’s in the oven,” you mused.

“See, this is why I need your help!” Jacob grinned.

You couldn’t help but grin back. So adorable.

“Alright, let’s find a recipe and get started…”

Making the actual gingerbread took so much longer than it should’ve done. It didn’t make things any easier that one of the ‘competition rules’ was that everything had to be filmed for judging by an impartial panel (aka coach, coach’s wife and the team nutritionist) – so there was way more pressure that you would’ve liked. Jacob almost didn’t sift the flour, would’ve resulted in lumpy batter if you hadn’t corrected him, and he very nearly put sea salt flakes in instead of sugar, which you only just about saved in time. Not to mention the pieces of egg shell he’d dropped in that you asked him to carefully take back out. Each time he looked a little more dejected at the mistakes he was making, but there was no way you were giving up on this. He wanted to do this together, so he was damn well sticking with it. Especially since you were in the competition video too – it was a matter of pride now.

Instead, you put his strong arms to good use in the mixing, which cheered him up a bit (and gave you some excellent eye candy, even if you were sure the video would catch you watching appreciatively), and in the end the dough didn’t turn out looking too bad. After cutting out the figures using the shapes that Jacob had bought, you put the gingerbread men on the trays and into the ovens. And you made sure to set a timer when they were finally in the oven. If they burnt at this point, you thought you would actually cry.

“Is it time to decide on decorations now?” he asked hopefully.

“Definitely!” you nodded.

Jacob grinned and quickly washed his hands before sitting down at the kitchen table, making you laugh. You washed your hands and joined him, Jacob pressing a quick kiss to the top of your head that made you blush.

“So the gingerbread men will need to be in the oven for 15 minutes, then we take them out and let them cool in the pans for 10 minutes, before turning them out onto those wire racks you found to cool completely,” you explained.

“And then we decorate?”

You rolled your eyes fondly at your boyfriend, nudging his shoulder, earning a nudge back. “Yes, then we decorate. Although with all of this stuff you bought, I have no idea where to start,”

Like, seriously. There were so many little packets of candy as well as tiny little piping bags of colourful icing (that must’ve come from a kit) – honestly way too much stuff – but just one look at Jacob’s face showed you that he had a plan. Oh this should be fun.

“I was thinking…the colourful chocolate buttons for their tummies, with the blue, green, red and yellow icings for their shorts which we can then pair with the matching edible glitter on top. And then gummy drops for the eyes, with a white icing smile?”

The hopefulness in Jacob’s voice meant there was no way you were countering any of that – and as it was, it all sounded like a great plan.

“Shall I do the icing parts, and then you do the placement of all the candy plus the glitter?” you suggested.

“Sounds like a plan!” he grinned.

The two of you washed up the mess that you had made so far while you waited for gingerbread to cook, only devolving into a water fight once, ending in some sweet slow kisses (that Jacob promised would be edited out of the video before it was shown to the team), and by the time the gingerbread men were cool enough, you could tell Jacob was getting impatient.

“Remember take it slow and steady – they need to look good so you win the competition,” you murmured into his ear, quietly so the camera wouldn’t pick it up.

Jacob blushed slightly but nodded, counting the candy into piles as you started the first of the icing. To be honest, they looked alright. Nothing was burnt, they were all the same size and shape, and they smelled amazing. So you were happy – they were going to taste good at least! And with your little line process with Jacob doing separate tasks to you, the decorating was taking on good shape.

But there was one thing that you were worried about. The edible glitter. Everyone knows that glitter is almost impossible to get rid of if it spills anywhere, and with Jacob’s track record, you were hesitant. But he was so excited about adding that extra winter magic to the gingerbread men that you ignored your concerns and let him get on with it. It would be fine, right?

Time to put your nerves to the test. Jacob yanked on the lid of the edible glitter, but it wouldn’t budge. As he gripped the vial and the cap with both hands, pulling as hard as he could, you felt a bad omen coming over you. But before you could say anything, the cap suddenly flew off of the glitter vial…

…and the glitter exploded everywhere.

You burst into laughter, burying your face in his shoulder at the astonished look on his face. Glitter was all over his hands, shirt, jeans, the floor and the poor gingerbread man. Holy shit.

“Oh my god,” he gasped, eyes wide.

You were still giggling as you sat upright, tears at the corners of your eyes. How did you not see this coming?

“We can still save this little guy,” you choked, picking up the figure and tapping the excess glitter off of him onto the table, “and luckily you bought so much glitter that we still have another couple of vials,”

“I’m not going to live this down, am I?” he sighed, although the laughter in his eyes made you feel better.

“Probably not, that’ll probably make some kind of bloopers reel at the very least,” you grinned, “But it was only the first one, so there’s plenty of time to make up for it!”

Jacob just grinned back at you, pecking your lips in a kiss before standing up. “I’ll go wash up, and we can try again?”

“Sounds good to me,” you nodded.

Even if your gingerbread men didn’t win the competition, even if the team teased Jacob for the glitter explosion, you wouldn’t trade these memories for anything. This was going to be a holiday time to remember forever, you just knew it.

[tooyoungngolden]

Finally finishedddd!!! And here’s the fic that actually killed meeee!!

Warnings: daddy kink, choking (but not really?), spanking.

———————

Prompt:

Y/N and Harry have been arguing for a couple days, they both find new ways to make up for their arguments.

________

Y/N shoves another tray of cakes into the oven, slamming the door shut once they were placed down with a loud huff. The noise she makes borders on a small growl and her very well-loved kitchen, shivers in response to the noise she makes. Sighing, Y/N turns away from the oven and bends over the kitchen counter, her head resting in her palms. These are not the sounds she usually uses in the kitchen, never banging and huffing around. The kitchen had always been Y/N’s happy place, its somewhere she smiles without realising it, where she sways her hips along to Harry’s music while foods sizzle in pans and delicious smells flood their home.

Today, Y/N is anything but happy. Today, Y/N’s face is pinched up into a scowl rather than the smile she usually wears in the kitchen. No music plays in the background and even if it did Y/N was in absolutely no mood to dance around. Not a single word works its way past her lips.

She’s wasting time, she knows she is- there's papers that she should be grading- her student do need them back after all- but instead, she’s in the kitchen. Baking. Angrily. Any chance she had of focusing on her work was long gone though, it was the second they started fighting.

“Oh, I could kill him!” Y/N growls as she snatches up the mixing bowl she had just finished using, she looks down at the bowl, debating if she wants to clean them again. She shakes her head, deciding to get another set out of the cupboard by the sink. She has several sets for this exact purpose- well, not this purpose, - so that she can keep baking for special occasions like Christmases and their birthdays. Harry had always made sure she had loads of baking equipment that she could use.

Y/N drags another set of bowls out from the cupboard and places them on the side to start mixing up another batch of cake batter. This time she decides to use dark chocolate because she knows that Harry prefers milk. He’d always preferred milk over any other type of chocolate.

It’s not very often that they fight, it’s not, but when they do... they can be ridiculous, sometimes their fights only last hours, sometimes days. Y/N’s not even sure where Harry is right now, she thinks he might be at the gym, or the studio. They’re usually the places that he goes when he storms off, it’s a way for clearing his head- like the kitchen usually is for Y/N.

When Y/N’s phone vibrates on the other side of the kitchen counter, she snatches it up only to realise that it’s a notification from her emails letting her know that one of her students had asked about one of their assignments. Not one single message from Harry, he’s just being stubborn now, not texting her to even at least let her know where he is and when exactly he plans on coming home. To be fair, Y/N’s being the exact same, she hasn’t messaged Harry all day either, and she sure as hell isn’t planning on being the one to cave first and message him. She throws her phone back down on the counter and moves back to the bowl of cookie batter, she picks up the bowl and starts pouring the batter into the cases, waiting to put them in the oven.

Y/N decides that since she’s done everything else from scratch she might as well make the frosting for the cakes from scratch too, it’ll take her longer, not that the actual frosting will take long to make, but it’s more time that she doesn’t have to think about the argument with Harry. The fact that it only takes her about 10 minutes to make the frosting, frustrates her to no end and she slams the spatula down on the counter. It’s not really fair, her kitchen or the spatula hadn’t done anything to her and here she was, taking her frustrations out on her kitchen.

She’s in the middle of frosting the first batch of cakes when the front door opens. Y/N feels her spine stiffen and she turns her body just enough that she’s can’t see him coming down the hallway. She can tell that it’s Harry, the sound of his keys hitting the glass bowl in the hallway and shoes coming off and hitting the floor sounds exactly how he usually does.

Y/N takes a glance over her shoulder, listening out for Harry in the hallway, she can hear him coming, he’s walking slower than he normally would, he doesn’t stop or say anything when he walks into the kitchen.

Anger wells up in Y/N’s chest, the silent treatment that they’ve had going on for the last couple days had reached it limit, for her, anyways.

“Are you kidding me?” Y/N shouts as she spins away to look at Harry, her jaw tight as she clenches her teeth, her fists clenched by her side. “Not a single word?”

Harry, earphones in his ears, just stands there looking at her for a few seconds. Just like Y/N thought, he was at the gym, his gym bag sat at his feet, a towel around his neck so Y/N’s going to assume that he showered. Of course, he looks amazing, standing there all sexy with his tight shirt, his muscles bulging out of his gym shirt. God damn Harry Edward Styles for being so attractive when all Y/N wanted to be was mad at him.

Before Harry pulls his earphones out, he shakes his head, “You didn’t say anything either Y/N,” he growls in response,

“And how exactly would you know,” she counters, he’s not wrong, she didn’t. “Maybe I did, how would you know when you had your earphones in!”

Harry blinks at her, shaking his head again, “You didn’t though, and I was only listening to some music,”

“That’s...” she huffs again, “That’s not the point!” she clenches her teeth together again, fists clenching tighter against her legs, “And where have you been?” she questions back.

Harry looks down at his gym bag, and then back up at Y/N as though the answer should’ve been obvious,

“The gym,” he grunts back, “I’m going to get changed,”

“And I suppose it would’ve killed you to pick up the phone and at least text me, or even call?”

“It’s not like you called or texted me either is it Y/N!” Harry yells back, “You didn’t seem that interested in knowing where I was either,”

Harry’s right, Y/N knows he’s right. He's not right about Y/N not wanting to know where Harry was, she wanted to know that. Y/N was very interested in knowing where he’d been for the last couple hours, she was just being stubborn and wouldn’t text him first. It was silly, she knows that. It was silly and immature, but Y/N sure as hell not going to admit that.

Y/N doesn’t know when she does it, hasn’t got a clue why she picks one up but her hand reaches for a frosted cupcake and all of a sudden, she’s shoving it in Harry’s face. Harry gasps as the cupcake crumbles to pieces and falls to the floor by his feet. Crumbs fall down the front of his t-shirt, the caramel frosting that Y/N had decided on smeared across his cheek and down his chin.

With the remains of a cupcake falling down his front, Harry just stands there, his mind not quite grasping what Y/N just did, he’s half confused, not sure on what just happened and how the hell he’s supposed to respond. He reaches up to wipe the frosting off his face but his hand never touches his skin to get rid of the sticky mess.

Y/N has absolutely no idea what the hell made her decide to do that, she can’t take it back now, she’s not sure she would either. Harry’s reaction is so funny that Y/N doubles over, laughing. She can’t help it; she shouldn’t be laughing. It was immature of her but she couldn’t help herself, and Harry didn’t look like he was seeing the funny side of the situation.

“I’m... I’m so-” Y/N stutters, she can’t decide if she should wrap her arms around herself or cover her mouth to stop the giggles coming out. “I’m sorry, Harry! I don’t know what... I’m so sorry!”

Licking his lips, Harry can taste some of the caramel frosting that she decided to use, he nods slowly making his way closer to Y/N. He's slow approach makes Y/N back up in the kitchen, she not sure what Harry’s response is going to be.

“Harry, no, I...” Y/N isn’t even sure how exactly she would explain what she just did, it also doesn’t help that she’s still laughing. “It was funny! A little funny, you would’ve done the same thing!”

It takes Y/N’s back hitting the counter top on the other side of the kitchen for her to realise that Harry had backed her so far into the kitchen. Harry nods again, a sarcastic little nod and a smirk makes its way onto his face. He reaches behind Y/N, and before she can even realise, a full measuring cup of flour is being poured over her head, falling into her hair and down her shoulders.

“OH!” she shrieks,

Harry crosses his arms again, smirk still on his face, “See? I can be funny, too.”

Now as well as cupcake crumbs being all over her kitchen floor there a whole cup full of flour. And instead of the genuine laughter that was coming out of Y/N, Harry’s laughter wasn’t funny.

For the exact same reason that Harry didn’t fine it funny, Y/N doesn’t either. She can’t even remember why she found it so funny when she squished the cupcake into Harry’s face. Now, instead of just being angry at Harry, Y/N was now seething, and instead of going about the whole argument in a mature way she looks all along her counter top for something that she can throw back at Harry. There’s left over cupcake batter in one of her bowls on the counter top, just sitting there, waiting for her to pick it up, right next to where Y/N was standing.

Y/N scopes up a handful of batter and ties to fling it at Harry, only for her hand to be grabbed mid-air, most of the cake batter lands up on the floor,- alongside the flour and crumbs- Harry does however need to jerk to the side to miss getting what’s left of the batter in his face. He gets some, but instead of getting it all, he only gets a small spatter of batter along his cheek, joining the smeared frosting.

“What the hell has gotten into you today!” Harry asks, shaking his head, trying to remove some of the batter from his cheeks.

“You!” Y/N exclaims, pulling at her hand to try and get out of Harry’s hold, “You’ve gotten into me!”

“Yeah,” Harry grumbles as he drops Y/N’s wrist and steps away from her, “You wish.”

A gasp works it’s way up Y/N’s throat. She’s not sure if it’s because of what Harry said, the way he said it, or even the way he let go of her and backed up. She all of a sudden doesn’t like anything of what’s happening and wants Harry to hold her. A second ago she was trying her hardest to be out of Harry’s grip, but now, she’d give anything to be back in his arms again. To hell with this argument, she doesn’t care who’s right or wrong, Y/N just wants this to be over.

Harry’s whole attitude has shifted too, it’s subtle, but it’s there. He’s eyes have softened and his lips are now turned down slightly into a frown instead of pressed hard against each other in a straight line. He’s entire posture, instead of trying to get away from Y/N, seems ready to either try and comfort her, or to seek comfort from her.

They stand there, staring at each other- Harry’s face covered in frosting and cake batter, and Y/N covered in flour and batter dripping from her hand. All of a sudden Y/N’s throwing herself into Harry’s arms, or Harry’s lunging at her. Either way, their both a complete mess and all over each other.

Messy hands and all, Y/N gets a tight grip on Harry’s hair and pulls him closer to her, her legs move up and wrap around his, lips locked into Harry’s. It doesn’t even matter that they’re making each other messier with the flour, batter mix and frosting getting everywhere. Y/N would spend all day every day like this, if she could.

“Oh my god,” Y/N groans, already breathless, “you taste amazing Harry”

“Mmh,” Harry grips Y/N ass and lifts her up so that her legs can wrap around him completely, “cause’ your baking is amazing,”

Y/N laughs into their kiss, “Not what I meant,”

Harry laughs back lightly, “I know, it’s the truth though,”

Y/N, no longer in the mood for their arguing just shrugs her shoulders, allowing Harry to pick her up and drop her onto the kitchen counter. She complains at this, as all of her measuring cups, pans and bags of ingredients go crashing to the floor.

“My cakes!” She shouts, “watch my cakes.”

Harry nods as he begins dragging Y/N’s top up her body, only stopping to answer when it’s over her head and being dropped onto the floor.

“I can see your cakes,” he growls back, voice heated. “Now stay still,”

A small whimper falls from her lips, goosebumps rise all over her skin, even with the whole house being nice and warm with all of the baking she’d done the whole day. Y/N can’t help it, not with the way that Harry’s talking to her. Harry drags his fingers down her front, they graze over her nipples through her bra and she arches into his touch, the whole of her body coming alive.

Harry leans down, licking at the skin above her bra, Y/N can feel how wet she’s becoming. Her whole core tingling, wanting Harry to touch her. Harry reaches up behind Y/N and unclips her bra, it falls lose around her tits and Harry yanks it down her arms, it swiftly joining the clothes in the floor. Harry starts sucking at her nipple, the skin rolled between his lips, his teeth lightly nibbling on her nipple, just hard enough to have her arching back into his touch and her core clenching and flooding with wetness.

Y/N reaches down and grips Harry’s top, pulling him up so she can slam her lips against his, a moan makes its way past Harry’s lips as Y/N works her way down his neck, kissing and nipping at his skin. There’s already pretty little red spots appearing where Y/N was nibbling at his skin.

Harry lets put a little whimper of his own, Y/N pulling him closer so that she can grind down on his leg. Trying her hardest to get some form of friction against her core.

“Fuck,” Harry groans right into Y/N’s ear, “Y/N… I’m gonna fuck you… right here in your kitchen…”

Of course he is is, Y/N wants him too. And she sure as hell isn’t going to argue with Harry if he wants to fuck her now.

They’re close enough now that Y/N slips her hand down the front of Harry’s joggers, hand automatically searching for his cock so she can wrap her fingers around him. She finds it quickly enough, hand gripping him as Harry’s sucks his own marks onto her skin. He loves marking her up, always loves seeing his marks against her skin.

Y/N’s fingers work over Harry’s head, his eyes widen and his mouth goes slack, whimpering his groans against the skin of Y/N’s neck. She grins in response to his actions, a little laugh making its way out between her lips. Harry’s own lips curl up into a smirk when he looks at her,

“You think your funny, don’t you?” He asks, Y/N just shrugs in an answer, “I think you’re a brat.”

Harry reaches up and tugs on the hair at the base of Y/N’s head, pulling her head up so that they are eye-to-eye, Harry bends down and sucks on her neck, nibbling at the skin there. Obviously leaving more marks that Y/N will more that likely flush over later.

“Harry… daddy” Y/N groans, it sounding more like a whine to her and Harry’s ears, “I...”

“You what, Y/N?”

There is not one single response that Y/N thinks is an appropriate answer to what Harry is asking, she also knows full well that she can do more for Harry than just sitting on the counter and kissing at his neck, but as soon as she tries to slide off the counter to get down of her knees Harry grips at hips to keep her sat on the counter.

“Where do you think you're going?” Harry asks as soon as she tries to move of the counter top, “I thought I told you to say still?”

Without even waiting for Y/N to respond, Harry’s yanking her leggings down her legs- with enough force and strength that Y/N has to lean back and grip the counter top so that she doesn’t fall off- to be dumped on the floor in the same manner as her top and bra. Harry bends down and bites up her thigh, being less that gentle about what he was doing, his nibbles were probably also going to leave marks. Harry reaches her panties and noses her through the cloth, breathing in deeply, he moans in response to her scent.

“You smell so good baby,” Harry groans into the skin of her leg that meets her thigh, he pulls her panties to the side and runs his tongue up her centre to her clit, Y/N whines, her head falling back, hitting the cupboard behind her head. Harry’s still kneeling on the floor, head still buried in Y/N core, tongue running up and down, trying to taste as much of her as he can. Harry lifts his head slightly and smirks at Y/N, a small chuckle leaving his lips at how close he was able to get her to the edge in only a short amount of time, Y/N grins back, sliding her hand down her body and into Harry’s hair, she pulls, tugging him back up her body so she could slam her lips back against his, she let his tongue explore her mouth, tasting herself on Harry’s lips she slowly slides her way down the counter so she was standing next to Harry.

The second Y/N’s feet hit the floor, the second before she can sink down into her knees and get Harry’s delicious cock in her mouth, his turning her around and shoving her over the counter, bending her down so that her ass is sticking out. He lands a quick slap on her left ass check,

“Don’t even think about moving pet,” Harry growls as he bends down to bite at the back of her neck, Y/N groans, her pussy one again flooding with so much wetness that she’s pretty sure she can feel it leaking down her thighs.

“Don’t wanna” Y/N whines back at Harry as she attempts to stand up, she doesn’t get very far before Harry’s pushing her back down- holding her there this time- and landing two more smacks to her ass, he growls, really not in the mood for her to be disobedient right now.

“Stay fuckin’ still. I mean it Y/N,”

There’s already bright red marks blooming across her cheeks where Harry had decided to spank her, he doesn’t mind though, clearly loving the marks that he’s leaving against her beautiful pale skin. Y/N whimpers as Harry runs his hands over the marks,

“See baby, all you had to do was listen.” He coos, she knows he’s not sorry at all, “Just listen, and then daddy wouldn’t have had to spank you,”

She knows he’s right. He probably has been all along, this however, is probably the only situation she would agree with him,

“Know daddy, didn’t wanna though,” she murmurs back to him.

“I’m fully aware of that fact pet,” Harry murmurs, hand gently runny over her soft ass. “Are you gonna listen now?” He questions, still holding her down with his other hand.

“Yes. Please,” she whines back, pushing her ass out into his hand,

Harry lowers his hand down so his fingers are running against her core, she whines, pushing her hips back further so his fingers push harder into her.

“Oh god,” Y/N whines again when Harry moves his fingers down to push against her opening, “Harry…”

Harry responds by shoving his fingers into her, pulling another whine out of Y/N mouth, this only makes Harry moves his fingers in her faster, already bringing her close to that edge she was so close to earlier.

He keeps it up, shoving his finger in and out of her, working his way eventually up to two. Y/N whines and groans, trying her hardest not to buck down against his hand- which is difficult considering the fact that every few thrusts of his fingers, Harry deliberately drags his fingers against that stop inside of her that almost makes her come.

“Fuck! Fuck!” Y/N almost screams, “Right there! Please daddy! Right there,” Y/N turns her head to the left, Harry sees this and gives her what she wants. Kissing her hard enough that she doesn’t even realise that he’s removed his fingers and is working on shoving his cock inside of her.

She screams into the kiss, eyes snapping open and she’s stretched around his huge cock. Harry keeps her still, still kissing her as he begins thrusting away at her opening, working his way almost the whole way out before his shoving his cock all the way back down to the base. She whines, tears working their way into her eyes- she’s never felt this good.

“Good pet?” Harry groans in her ear, hand working his way up to grip and her throat, he squeezes lightly, not enough to cut off her air, just enough that she’s fully aware that his hands around her neck.

“Holy fuck-“ she whimpers back, “god yes daddy.”

Harry snaps his hips faster, he can feel how wet she is, practically dripping down her legs. This makes Harry groan, realising that his release is fast around the corner.

“Come on baby, come for daddy,” he reaches down, using his fingers to rub at her clit while still pounding away at her, chasing his own release so they can come together.

Y/N comes, her whole world shattering as she creams on Harry’s cock, he quickly follows, shoving so hard inside of her it lifts her of her feet, he comes inside. He comes so much that it flows out of her, joining the mess that was already on her thighs from her own juices.

——

They end up on the floor, both curled around each other, sitting amongst the cake crumbs, batter, flour and all of Y/N’s baking equipment, all of it waiting to be picked up and placed back into its rightful places in her kitchen.

“Didn’t hurt you did I?” Harry whispers a few minutes of them laying together, Y/N runs her hand down his stomach, he’d taken his shirt off considering the fact it was covered in all kinds of baking ingredients.

“No,” Y/N grins up at him.

“Good, Y/N… I… I’m so sorry… I should-“

“No Harry! Please, it was my fault.” Y/N interrupts his talking, “It really was my fault,”

She stops talking, their quite with each other- calm. For a few moments, they just lay there, wrapped around each other. Y/N snuggling down closer into Harry’s chest and they do absolutely nothing. She hopes their down fighting now, she definitely is.

“Hey, Y/N”

Y/N turns her head, looking Harry in the eye, she nods in response, waiting for him to ask his question.

“Do you?... do you remember why we were fighting?...” he asks, face scrunched up as if he’s trying to think of something.

Y/N pulls the exact same face, racking her brain trying to remember what had caused all of this. “No. No I don’t.” She states, almost like a question.

“Yeah.” Harry murmurs, his eyes widening and a small smile working it’s way on his face, “me neither,”

They sit there, looking at each other, matching looks on each of their faces. Suddenly, they burst out laughing. Both grinning like absolute divs at each other. They both decide that they should get up and get clean. Y/N turns the oven off, the cakes that were in the were probably most definitely ruined by now- she’d make new ones anyways, this time with milk chocolate instead of something else so that Harry will eat them. They both walk naked up to the shower, Harry insisting that she should get clean and dry before they go and clean the kitchen.

“Hey Harry?” She murmurs, bending up to kiss the corner of his mouth, he hums in response. “We should solve all our problems like that from now on,” he laughs, head thrown back slightly, eyes creasing. He smack her ass and she squeals in an answer. Her ass till sore from the spanking that Harry gave her earlier. She speeds up, almost running to the bathroom to get in the shower, her and Harry’s laughter fills the house, the argument they had long forgotten.

——————

Doneeee!!! Cannot believe that I sat there and wrote this for you guys! Hope you guys enjoy this one!- maybe a little bit more😉- than my other ones! Ask for something! Anything, I’ll try my hardest to write something we both enjoy!

Be nice and treat people with kindness!

Love, Dari🌻