#or the parking lots I frequent double shrug

[babygirlispunk]

Summer Fling - PART TWO

Pedro Pascal x f!Reader

Summary: lady luck is on your side on a night out with your friends and a chance encounter fuelled by liquid courage giving you a sense of DeJa'Vu.

Warnings: 18+, age gap, alcohol consumption, mentions of hard drugs (reader not consuming), a forced kiss (not from ped), swearing and female degrading words.

Word count: 3.2k

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It had been two weeks since New Years. You still couldn't believe what had happened, that you had your New Years kiss with him. You play over and over again how intense it was. The feeling of his lips, nose, hands and body imprinted on your brain. His taste, his smell, those eyes...

You tried not to become obsessive over it but it was hard when you had never experience a kiss like that before. Something so simple but now your expectations had risen tenfold.

The kicker was that you had even made it onto celebrity news briefly, solidifying that it really happened. Turns out there were some people in the crowd that had taken pictures and videos of you and Pedro but to your luck you were unidentifiable and didn't have to deal with any online harassment.

Not wanting to upset yourself you didn't read the comments and gossip articles, knowing the internet can be cruel. Though Syria did take it on for herself to read some and show you the nice ones. For the most part people were just curious about who you were, if you and Pedro had any history and a lot speculation about your age.

Despite being in your later 20's, there was some people bashing Pedro for getting with someone much younger than him. It annoyed you a little. There may have been a 20 or so year age gap, you were both adults having a harmless fun pash. Hopefully this wouldn't put a stain on his career.

"These girls acting like they wouldn't be over the moon if they were in your positions." Syria reassures you. "I literally seen a 14 years old thirsting over him. 14. Years. Old!"

You chuckle at her frustration. "Who cares, they'll forget about the whole thing in a couple days."

"He's still in Australia, by the way...." she sing songs.

"Have you been stalking him?"

"Someone's got to." she shrugs and you give her a playful shove on the shoulder. "There's always a chance you could bump into him again."

Rolling your eyes, you get back to your show on the TV and Syria continues scrolling through her phone.

The weekend had rolled around and your friendship group has a night out planned. You all meet up in the CBD and make your way together to a hidden rooftop bar that you all frequent. It's popular enough that there's a good amount of people but low key enough that you're not packed like sardines.

it's edging close to 9pm and the sun is setting over the horizon. Lingering heat from the summer sun is simmering in the air and you thank yourself for choosing to wear a simple, short, halter neck dress and a pair of heel boots while dancing along with the live DJ.

Double parked with glasses of your favourite alcohol, taking sips of each as they spill a bit while you move along with the music and getting buzzed. You're giggling and smiling ear to ear with Syria and Nicola as the dawning sky turns to night.

"Shots, we need shots!" shouts Syria running over to the bar followed by Nicola. You follow suit chugging the last of your two drinks so you can join in with the shots.

You place your empty glasses on the bar and watch as the bar tender pours into the shot glasses for your group. You focus on the bottle and see the bold 'Vodka' text written on the bottle's label and begin contemplating whether you are willing for the night to turn wild or not. Though Nicola doesn't give you a choice and shoves the glass into your hand.

'Cin cin' is chanted out in your group and you all simultaneously throw your heads back, swallowing it whole. Another glass is shoved into your hand.

"Cin cin!"

Another gulp and you feel your throat burning followed by the warming sensation travelling down your chest.

"God that's awful" coughs out Nicola, her face screwed up and disgusted from the vodka.

"Gets the job done quicker and cheaper." Syria calls out.

As everyone hangs around chatting loudly over the music, you feel a soft brush rubs along your back and something familiar invades your senses. A scent. That sweet musky scent. Where have you smelt that before? You try to focus on the familiarity but the Vodka is working its way to your brain quicker than you can comprehend.

Before you can look around your hand is snatched by Syria, Nicola and a few other girls as they lead you back on to the dance floor. The more you move the more you feel the mixed alcohol taking effect over your body. The girls are all dancing close together, hanging off each other and sharing affectionate hugs and kisses on the cheek as you drunkenly announce your love for each other. You know your group is gathering some attention, like second nature you can feel eyes burning into you no matter what state of mind you are in. Feeling a little on edge.

Some guys close in on your friends just as you feel a pair of hands slither their way onto your waist. It feels icky and you can feel your body stiffening.

You spin around to see some guy with blonde hair around your age giving you a sloppy smirk. Through blurry vision you see his blue eyes but his iris's are blown out. Without much warning he goes down to kiss you, taking you by surprise as your eyes stay open in shock. His grip hardens on your waist and forces his tongue into your mouth, pressing his face into yours and that's when you can taste it. Whatever drug he had can consumed chars your mouth and the vile taste makes you want to vomit.

Placing your hands on his shoulders, you firmly push him off you releasing the kiss he looks at you dumbfounded.

"What the fuck man?" you almost spit out the words as the taste lingers and you wipe his saliva from your mouth. "You taste like shit!"

"Its just coke you bitch." his words are slurred.

All you can do is give him your most confused and disgusted face till he turns around and walks off with his mate towards to the toilet, probably off to have another bump. You check on your friends and they seem to be more successful with their hook ups.

Eager to be rid of the bitter taste you get to the bar and order a water and chug it but is useless. You order another drink along with another shot of vodka instead in hope the alcohol can burn the taste away. Another body joins next to you as you wait for your drink to be made. You peer in your peripheral vision to make sure its not the same guy but you see brunette hair and internally sigh in relief.

He orders a drink as well, waiting beside you.

"Hey there." The guy next to you says in an American accent.

You turn your attention to him, everything a blur you only just make out a nice side smile accompanied by a dimple on his right cheek. His energy was different right off the bat, much calmer and nicer, but you couldn't be bothered with a potential repeat like before.

Your drinks is placed in front of you, tapping your card to pay, sculling the shot and lever yourself off the bar. "Sorry not interested."

Drink in hand, you head towards an empty booth to catch a breather. As you pass the guy, your nose is again engulfed by that smell. He must've been the one who passed you earlier. Not thinking much of it other than just a guy with nice cologne you plop yourself down on the seat to people watch. Well the best you could in your state and in dim lighting.

Sipping your drink and looking around, but like a sniffer dog following a scent hot on its trail, your eyes fall back on the intoxicatingly good smelling guy. He moved his way on to a table, sitting on a stool talking to his friend across him. His blurry silhouette starts to become more detailed the more you stare at him.

The messy brown hair, the glasses, puppy eyes, hooked nose, pouty lip... firm arms...

(Highly recommend listening to Glue - BICEP for the next part, for the vibe and bonus points if you listen to the Nelly Furtado remix *chefs kiss*)

The brunette peers your way mid conversation and you lock eyes. You're not sure if its the weighty bass of the song the DJ is playing that makes your heart beat heavy, the sweat from the hot summer air causing goosebumps to form along your skin or the buzz of alcohol but you feel a lightheaded-ness consume you as realisation sets in.

And judging by his face, a subtle eyebrow raise and a cheeky smile he's trying to hold back, he knows you realised too.

You scull the rest of your drink for that last bit of liquid courage, jump out of your chair and bee line to Pedro, his eyes never leaving you.

"Actually I'm very interested. Wanna dance?" you blurt out and shove your hand out for him to grab, slightly embarrassed that was the first thing you could think of saying to him and his friend giggles near by. But that embarrassment quickly subsides as he smiles wide, making his eye crinkle slightly.

"I'd love to dance." He excuses himself to his friend and they nod back. Placing his hand, entwining your fingers together it sends an electrical jolt through you that makes you inhale deep.

You lead the way to the dance floor gently pushing your way through people to get to the middle. You swivel on your heel to face him and a sense of DeJa'Vu overwhelms you. The loud bass-y music pounding around you, the crowded space, eyes locked and your crazy beating heart, you're almost frozen on the spot because you can't believe this is happening again. Like as if you've dreamed up this fantasy to relive the euphoric feeling that was New Years Eve.

Pedro starts dancing to encourage you out of your frozen state. He starts bouncing and flailing his hands around making you giggle and you start to dance more rhythmically. He looked goofy but you really appreciated his self-confidence to not care how he was dancing.

Dance lights are flashing rapidly making it look like everything is in slow motion and as your moving around you can really feel all the alcohol you had consumed, warming you up and giving you a new sense of confidence and cheekiness. Pedro starts moving more rhythmically and grabs your hands, bringing them to his mouth and kisses them.

Letting the music take over you both, like magnets, you're pulled together connecting bodies once again intensifying the vibe and the yearning at your core. His hands pull yours around his back so you're hugging him and his placed his arms around your neck. As he leans in for the kiss, you take the opportunity to be playful.

Turning around but not losing the space between you two, you lean your back on him. You keep dancing but purposefully rub your ass against him and his hands are quick to slide down your arms onto your waist firmly flushing his body to yours as you feel something growing against your backside.

Pedro dips his head into the crook of your neck, planting kisses along it making you rest your head on him, staring at the starry sky. He moans your name into your ear and lowers his left hand to the hem of your dress, circling your upper thigh, building a pulse down below and making you hum excitedly.

The fact he remembered not just your face but your name as well made you want you to kiss him so bad but you were having to much fun playing with him and instead pressed harder against him.

"Mierda.." he breathes out and nips at the skin of your neck, sliding his righthand from your hip to your breast and groping a hand full. "Putting on a show for your friends are we?"

Your eyes snap forward not realising how into it you were to see Syria and Nicola and a few other friends a little ways ahead of you. Most look confused but Syria is excitedly throwing a double thumbs at you with a cheesiest smile her cheeks can handle and mouthing 'get in' to you.

You burst out laughing, maybe a little too hard, struggling to keep control of yourself and nearly toppling over. Maybe you shouldn't have had that last drink.

"Why don't we take a break, get some air. I think that alcohol is catching up to you." He hooks an arm around you for balance and leads you away from the dance floor back to the high table.

He places himself on the stool and gestures you to stand between his legs and you follow. Head heavy and dizzy you slump your forehead in his neck and nuzzle in, inhaling a deep breathe of his scent. You are met with a warm embrace as he wraps his arms around you and you feel like you could fall asleep right then and there.

"I didn't think I'd see you again."

You slowly raise your head up to look at him through heavy lids. "Me either... Honestly I didn't believe it happened untill seeing myself plastered on the internet."

"I hope you didn't read what they had to say." he looks at you a little worried, brows pinching together and enhancing his puppy eyes.

"Nah, I just tried to ignore it."

"Good girl."

Such simple words but they sounded like music to your ears. Music that reverberated in your body making you feel like your body belong to him and couldn't go a second longer away from his touch.

Closing in your face to his, you ghost your lips over his, so close his moustache tickled you lip. He moves a hand to your jaw line and strokes your cheek, you're not sure why he's holding back now, especially after essentially dry fucking on the dance floor.

"I just need to make sure before I completely give in to you... how old are you."

You snort. "You ask me that after feeling me up?"

"I know... My publicist was concerned when those pictures got out and she reminded me the legal drinking age is 18 here. Even 21 is too young for me."

He's looking at your lips and you can see he's struggling to hold back. You know he knows you're old enough for this to not be weird but you give him peace of mind.

"I can assure you I am older than that. Nothing questionable going on here." You reassure him with a smile and within a second his lips are planted on yours, his hand gliding its way to the nape of your neck to pull you in.

As soon as it begins, your kiss ends, being interrupted by a gyrating voice you've heard before. "Hey man, sorry to jump in but are you Pedro Pascal?"

You both turn to face the male. Its the coke guy from before. He squints at you still cut from your previous interaction and you just roll your eyes.

"Yes I am." He gives the guy a courteous smile but keeps a firm hold on your hip bringing you in close hoping the guy takes the hint that he is preoccupied right now.

"Sick I thought so, my girlfriend is massive fan and I have her on facetime right now, can you say hi to her? Her names Jenna." He stammers, chewing aggressively on a piece of gum.

That asshole.

Pedro politely grabs the phone screen being shoved in his face and talks to the girl on the other side. You look at the guy straight in the eyes and notice a glistening sheen form on his forehead not sure if its from the drugs or he's shitting himself. He's eyeing you back begging you not to do anything but if you where her, you would want to know if your boyfriend was a cheating dog.

"Hey Jenna..." you say into the phone and his mouth drops and he goes pales. "As a girls girl, you deserve to know that your boyfriend is a cheating coke head."

You hear a shocked gasp come from the screen and funnily enough Pedro turns the phone to face you, amusement in his face.

"Yeah, he forced a kiss on me earlier-" You feel Pedro's fist clench on your hip, "-and then called me a bitch when I pushed him away."

The poor girl looks devastated and begins apologising profusely.

He turns the phone back on to himself. "Don't apologies darling, dump his a-" Before he can finish the phone is snatched from his hand, the guy frantically hangs up the call and looks at the both of you pissed off.

"Who do you think you are? And you're just some slut hooking up with this old man."

Pedro's body shifts beside you and before it escalates you place your hand on his should holding him down on the stool before turning your attention back to the asshole looking at him dead in the eye.

"Fuck off mate." you spit it out, doing your best to get him to back down. After a few seconds he finally backs seeing you hold your stance and Pedro's angry face, brows pulled together and tight lipped.

As he storms off, you notice some people around you had notice the commotion and were staring. Some were already taking pictures and videos because of who was involved.

You felt guilty that you had drawn attention around Pedro when he was flying under the radar and enjoying the night. You look at him and he realises that his night out has ended as it was likely people would start crowding around him.

His friend shuffles over to him and they start exchanging words.

'...probably go'

'right...'

'...do you need'

'be fine...'

'...stay'

He manoeuvres you so he can get off the seat, you expect this to be good bye.

He dips his head to your ear. "I have to go before I get horded. I'm not expecting anything from you but would you like to come back to my hotel with me and we can get to know each other without the distractions?"

No matter the situation, he was still polite as ever.

You nod your head a little too vigorously and it makes him chuckle, giving you his hand to take. All eyes on you two, you make your way to the elevator with your head down and Pedro using his body the best he can to shield you from onlookers.

Once the elevator doors closes, he lets out a big sigh. Leaning against the metal wall he pulls you in to rest against his chest and you do so diligently. Using his nose, he nudges your head to move aside and give him better access to your neck to peck at, arms hugging you securely making sure you're not going anywhere and leaving him this time.

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check out my recs list for stories written by people with actual talent ♡

A/N: can't believe part one got to 200 notes wha wha what!? ily a milly

Tags: @mingeniee @onlyrealjoy @pedro-pedrito-pascalito

[27dragons]

New Year Countdown: Dec 14

I don't think canon!Dream would lower his dignity enough to participate in a snowball fight, so it's a good thing this is an all-human AU.

Dec 14 - Dreamling - Tattoo/Florist AU - Snowball fight

It was after the first big snow of the season that Hob was shuffling his way to work -- those seasonal centerpieces weren’t going to arrange themselves -- that he passed a group of people having a snowball fight in the park and stopped to watch.

He was startled when he recognized the staff of the tattoo shop from across the way. Matthew, the piercer, was easy enough to believe. But Lucienne, who kept the books, had always struck Hob as rather severe. And Hob would have thought that the owner and primary artist, Dream, was far too posh and elegant to be caught participating in such a childish activity.

But there he was, the frequent subject of Hob’s fantasies over the past year, scrambling in the snow and pelting his employees with snowballs and practically frolicking. He wasn’t laughing aloud the way the others were, but he did look quite pleased with himself as he gave Matthew a face full of snow.

Without thinking about it, Hob scooped up his own double-handful of snow, took aim, and let fly.

Pfaf! It impacted right on the side of Dream’s face.

The whole group of them paused and turned to look at him.

Hob grinned and shrugged. “Couldn’t help myself,” he admitted. “Or is this a private snowball fight?”

Dream slowly, with dignity, scraped frozen fluff out of his ear. “You have surprisingly excellent aim, Hob Gadling.”

Hob refused to let himself thrill to the fact that Dream knew his name. “I wasn’t always a florist,” he said, affecting an air of mystery.

“Well then,” Matthew said brightly, “have at you!” and flung a snowball that caught Hob in the chest, exploding upward to catch the underside of his chin and then dripping down into his shirt.

After that, it was all out, no holds barred, take-no-prisoners-and-show-no-mercy war.

When they finally stopped, faces flushed from the exertion and breath steaming in the freezing air as they panted, they were all so coated with snow that they looked like a cluster of snowmen.

“I have to say,” Hob said, as the group of them made their way along the path toward the shops, “that wasn’t what I expected to see this morning.”

Dream’s mouth twitched toward a smile. “It is a tradition of sorts. Our greeting to the winter season and the first snowfall of the year worthy of the name.”

“It was fun,” Hob said. “Count me in for next year, too.”

“Yes?” Dream glanced at Hob, then looked up the path toward Lucienne and Matthew, who’d gone ahead and were bickering about something or other as they walked. “If you are not very busy, come to the Dreaming with us for a bit to warm up before you open. We have hot chocolate waiting. Or tea, if you prefer.”

“I’d like that,” Hob agreed. “I’d like that a lot.”

[masterjedilenawrites]

Old Friends

Boss & Cody | 1.5k words

Content: silliness, cursing, brief sad/dark moment

Inspiration (from @rosemarynightmares): I haven't even consumed any Delta Squad material, but solely the writing on this blog made me love them all and...I think Boss and Cody would get along.

Boss slid into the booth, the familiar squeak of the red vinyl seats bringing a small smile to his face. It had been a while since the last visit to this diner, but the place forever stayed the same. He liked that. A constant among the variables of the galaxy.

Usually he was the one running late, but today it was Cody. Only just a little. The battalion commander slipped into the opposite side of the booth an appalling five minutes after their set time.

"Unacceptable," Boss shook his head, ahead of any potential apologies. He could never resist an opportunity to rag on the otherwise disciplined man. "I'll have to write you up for this."

"Feel free to add that illegally parked speeder outside to your report, too," Cody threw back at him, casting a knowing look over the menu.

"It's not blocking any exits," Boss said defensively. "Besides, not my fault they decided to tear up half the parking lot. What are they working on anyway?"

Cody shrugged, scanning the menu despite probably having memorized it by this point. The two of them had been coming to this diner for years, ever since their first deployment. It wasn't frequent, every few months or so, just to catch up and commiserate. But it was enough to have an established routine.

"Maybe I'll try one of the salads this time," Cody said predictably, as he always did. Boss knew he'd pretend to seriously consider the thought, but would ultimately tell the waitress he wanted the double-patty bourbon burger, with extra cheese.

"But seriously, are they just fixing the parking lot or are they building something?" Boss was still stuck on the unexpected construction job outside.

Cody glanced up for a moment, knowing Boss needed time to wrap his head around big changes. "From what I hear, apartments."

"Apartments?"

Cody nodded and returned his gaze to the menu. "100 floors, about 2000 tenants, mid-range pricing. They're laying the foundation next week."

Boss frowned at the news. He didn't like the sound of that at all.

"Now why would they go and do a thing like that? This is the flattest part of the planet. Barely any high-rises around. And it's quiet. 2000 tenants is not quiet."

Cody stifled a laugh. Boss was turning more into a crotchety old man by the day.

"Welcome back, boys," the waitress approached with her customary greeting. She was a middle-aged pink Twi'lek, kind but not overly friendly. She took their orders, kept their sodas refilled, and would only make one comment about being "safe out there" when they left. Just how they both liked it. Civvies were either prying into their business as soldiers, or ignoring them all together. This little diner on the outskirts of town provided the perfect sanctuary between the two.

"Glad to be back, ma'am," Cody nodded.

"The usual again, Commander?"

"Yep. Doubly-patty bourbon burger. Extra cheese. Side of fries."

Cody looked proud of himself as he recited each part of his order. This was his "cheat" meal, the one time he allowed himself such greasy, fatty food.

"And for you, Sarge?"

Boss was still frowning on his side of the table, but didn't skip a beat in getting his order in.

"Fish 'n' chips with a side of slaw."

He, too, got the same thing each time.

"And two diet cokes," the waitress filled in for them as her pencil scratched against the notepad. Why she bothered writing it down was always a mystery. Apparently they all were just going through the motions. She took the menus and scurried away, leaving the two soldiers in a brief but comfortable silence.

"Where you heading next?" Cody was the first to break the silence, always interested in what little details Boss was allowed to share about his squad's more covert operations.

"Devaron. SAR. Some sort of animal ravaged the temple," Boss said gravely.

Cody nodded. He'd heard something about that. "Terrible business," he muttered.

"Yeah. Likely no survivors. Do you remember what unit was stationed there?"

"One of the ARF troops, I believe," said Cody, just as the waitress returned with their sodas. Cody chewed on the straw while he tried to remember more. "Trauma? Commander Trauma."

Boss slurped his own drink and said no more on the subject. They'd been trained not to dwell on that part of the war, so when it did come up, there wasn't much they knew how to do to process the losses.

"The squad's all good?" Cody changed the topic. It did the trick.

Boss launched into a whole tirade about the most recent shenanigans he'd been dealing with from his team. Apparently it'd all started with some maintenance projects from Fixer on a mission the week before, and things quickly fell apart from there.

"So this fool's got half the ship in pieces, no one can find anything they're looking for, we're tripping over wires and shit. The 'fresher's out of commission so we're having to use the village's community center just to take a dump. Of course we got Scorch whining like a baby left and right. And don't even get me started on Sev...."

Boss trailed off as their food was delivered, giving him a chance to calm down as he focused on shaking out some tartar sauce for his fish.

"Wait, Sev?" Cody was chuckling throughout the whole story. He always got a kick out of a good Delta Squad tale. As well as the increase in colorful language from Boss as he got more worked up. "I thought Scorch was your troublemaker?"

"Oh no. Scorch does all the dumb shit, Sev convinces him to do it. That's the difference between a clown and a comedian for you."

Cody snorted as he leaned in for a bite of his burger. "So what happened?"

"He got Scorch to make some comment to the village elders about one of their superstitions, so the dumbass ends up getting pulled into the river and half the village is around him trying to purge him of his sins or some shit. And Sev's just feeding into it. Oh yeah, he was born on a full moon, Father Pak," Boss slipped into an imitation of the gruff sniper's voice. "He says weird things in his sleep all the time. Shit like that. As if I don't have the senator calling me every ten minutes for updates on the bomb situation, which I can't answer because Fixer won't fix the kriffing ship!"

Cody was silently laughing, his stomach almost hurting from the spasms he was trying so hard to control. He shook his head as his friend was finally able to take a breath and a bite of food.

"But let me guess," Boss glowered up at Cody's shaking. "Your boys are doing just fine aren't they? Perfect little angel soldiers, always do as they're told. Making their mommy so proud."

"You're just jealous I'm the better boss," Cody couldn't help a self-satisfied smirk.

Boss flicked a strand of cabbage at him.

"Speaking of dysfunctional units... You oughta meet Sergeant Hunter."

"Yeah? And what unit's that?" Boss didn't actually sound that interested. He was busy trying to wipe a spot of fish batter grease that had somehow made it on his blacks.

"Clone Force 99. Experimental unit. I've been sending them out on some random missions, getting their feet wet. They're wicked good, mind you, but they do have some growing up to do."

Boss continued to wipe at his lap but then looked up once the silence settled in, finding Cody giving him a meaningful look.

"I'm not the GAR's super nanny, you know" he bemoaned.

"Super nanny?"

"A dumb show the boys watch," he quickly brushed it off, not wanting to admit he was the one who was caught up on every episode. "Point is, you can't keep throwing every unruly shiny you come across my way. I thought you were the better boss here, anyway."

"And yet, it's still your name for a reason," Cody pointed out, downing the last of his soda. "You took all of Scorch's pep and fire and turned him into the best demolitions expert in the Republic."

"It'd sound more impressive if he hadn't burnt his kriffing eyebrows off," Boss grumbled under his breath.

"Fixer? A hopeless cause, now he's your second-in-command. And Sev? Well... still not sure what his deal is, but sounds like he's working out."

Boss only grunted.

"I'm only asking you to talk to the Sergeant about his team, that's all. You don't have to adopt them."

"Fine," Boss relented, throwing in his napkin on the table as an added show. "Just invite him to the next luncheon, then."

Cody's comms link started going off. The two men exchanged an understanding look. "Luncheon" was officially over.

"I think I will," Cody smirked, quickly scooping up his helmet and starting to shimmy out of the booth.

Boss gave him a two-finger salute as he fished out some credits to pay for his meal.

"Good luck with the SAR, Sergeant."

"Until next time, Commander."

~ ~ ~

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[sodamvelvets]

“it’s not you i want- part two”

bae joohyun x fem reader, park sooyoung x fem reader (platonic)

highschool!au (everyone is 18) + fake dating

warnings: swears, a nonconsensual kiss, violence

summary: your feelings become muddled as your best friend’s plan begins to come to fruition, just not in the way either of you expected. 

word count: 11,504

part one | part two

a/n: apologies for taking longer than i intended to with this part, i ended up rewriting a lot of it, but i think it was for the better. thank you everyone for your kind reception to the first part, and for waiting so patiently. additionally, i’m sorry about the length  the original 7k word count i projected was heavily off, whoops. regardless, please enjoy ;)

Frustration fills you as you sulk to class, Sooyoung by your side and matching your every stride, and for once, she’s not the cause of your bad mood. Theoretically, you should be fairly pleased right now, there are only a few days left until your project is over, and better yet the end of your relationship with Sooyoung, but even those manners can’t manage to cheer you up, your thoughts too focused on tomorrow’s volleyball game, the first of a tournament that could eventually take you to regionals if you win all your matches. However, this doesn’t seem likely to you based on your teammates’ frequent blunders and overall incompetence during practice lately. Unlike you though, Sooyoung seems optimistic, reminding you often that the number of practices has doubled over the last week, leaving the team stretched thin and exhausted, which is why much to your displeasure, she’s canceled practice today. 

“Seriously, Y/N?” Sooyoung calls to you as you purposely quicken your pace, an exasperated sigh escaping her lips as she jogs to keep up with you. “You know it was the right call.”

Still, you ignore her, not even acknowledging her presence until you’ve reached your classroom and headed to your seat, carelessly dropping your bag on the floor, but still remaining standing as you turn to face your best friend with crossed arms. “We’ll see if that stays true tomorrow.”

Sooyoung grins, and you can’t tell if it’s because you’re finally talking to her again or she’s just that sure of herself. “It will,” She assures. “Hey, have you asked her to the game yet?”

You fight back the urge to groan. Sooyoung has only become more determined over the past week and a half, especially after your study session with Joohyun, which after much pestering from her end, you had recounted to her in its entirety, well mostly. Your skin still warms at the memory of Joohyun’s lips on your cheek and while it might be important for your best friend to know, you thought it best to keep it to yourself for now as you remained unsure of Joohyun’s intentions. Plus, the fresh memory of last weekend and the transformation of Sooyoung’s dejected grimace to a hopeful smile when you had tentatively brought up the reason for her break up was still ingrained in your mind, the moment repeating itself tortuously every time you considered telling her. 

“But ‘I think so’ means there’s some part of her that’s unsure about whoever she likes,” A soured expression crossed Sooyoung’s face before she continued optimistically. “That means I still have a chance.”

“That’s one way to look at it, “ You shrugged, ignoring your internal guilt for your doubtfulness as you concerned yourself with watching Sooyoung’s two younger sisters, Jiyeong and Minji, both of who were spitting images of your best friend and just as devious, while they played with the family dog at the nearby park, their elated squeals cutting through the humid spring air as they chased poor Haetnim in circles. 

You had always enjoyed babysitting Sooyoung’s siblings with her, having a well-known soft spot for the two that often resulted in them convincing you to buy treats for them, and the pair of Melona wrappers in your hand made no exception to that, much to Sooyoung’s scolding. 

“You’re such a downer Y/N,” Sooyoung groaned, poking your side, but the upwards curl of her lip told you she didn’t mean it.

“I try,” You deadpanned, prodding her back. Your eyes widened. “Shit! Minji!” You shouted after the younger girl as she lobbed something (that you could only hope was mud) at an unsuspecting Jiyeong, resulting in a loud cry as you ran after a giggling Minji trying to catch her before she could get into more trouble, while Sooyoung followed behind you, laughing the whole time. 

“Y/N?” Sooyoung snaps her fingers at you, and you blink at the recollection, bathing in it. It felt nice, the mundaneness of it all, like everything was normal again. You promise yourself to savor the feeling. “Did you hear me? I asked if you-”

“No,” You reply shortly, cutting her off, your gaze flickering to the doorway to see if Joohyun is coming. “Not yet.” You can practically feel your best friend roll her eyes as she lets out an irritated sigh.

Bae Joohyun. Aside from Sooyoung and your volleyball team, she’s become your other problem lately. You’ve gotten to know the older girl quite well over the past two weeks, even better than how you previously knew her after your library study, and you’re not completely sure how but she’s managed to get you to open up too, something she seems fairly proud of, especially so when you told her you hadn’t made a friend since Seulgi. Truthfully, you’re surprised at how different Joohyun is from how you perceived her, she’s nowhere near as mature and reserved as you once believed, but rather bold and playful given the chance. She’s told you more about herself than you ever knew there was, and you’ve vowed to remember every part, from her favorite color being purple, to her hatred of coffee and chicken. 

You feel almost guilty for not knowing this side of her already, despite orbiting in the same circles for a brief period, you never made an effort to get to know her, much to Sooyoung’s disappointment. You didn’t talk with her much you realize, not because you didn’t like her, but simply because you weren’t interested, you had a feeling she would be just another passing figure in Sooyoung’s life, so why bother with the formalities and fake conversations if they wouldn’t matter in three months. You never ignored her completely though, in fact occasionally during the times when Sooyoung would invite you along on a date with her and Joohyun in an attempt to get you to talk with the brunette you’d carry out short conversations, most of which were meaningless and all of them painfully uncomfortable. Looking back on it now, you regret not being more amiable. 

But none of those moments were relaxed like the moments you have now. It’s nice having someone besides Sooyoung to share your life with. Yet it’s somehow also stressful, what was once a rarity now seems to be a commonality, the weird, inexplicable feeling you get around her during your average conversations to your most intimate moments. You’re not sure what it means, after all, you’ve only been truly in love once and your baseline idea of love doesn’t quite feel the same. This time it’s different, instead of a simple sense of euphoria, there’s now a constant buzzing deep in your chest too, and warmth in your heart. You don’t know what to call it currently, but you know you can’t tell Sooyoung about it, so you’re left alone to ruminate in your own thoughts, and the only thing you’ve become certain of is that it’s impossible not to get lost in everything about Joohyun. At least, you finally understand, just a bit, why everyone around you is so in love with her, and why Sooyoung is trying so hard to get her attention back. 

“Why haven’t you invited her yet?” Sooyoung questions, reminding you of her original inquiry. 

“I forgot,” You say honestly. “I’ll do it today.”

Sooyoung nods, accepting your answer, and the two of you begin talking about random things until Sooyoung obnoxiously clears her throat, motioning behind you. Rolling your eyes, you lightly punch her in the shoulder, before turning around to see Joohyun. She’s dressed more casually than usual today, wearing a loosely fitting sweatshirt and high-waisted jeans with her hair down in mused waves, a large contrast to her typical button-up blouse or knitted sweater. You can’t help the smile that briefly appears on your face as she approaches the two of you, her expression unexpectedly blank. 

“Hi,” Joohyun looks between you and Sooyoung, who’s moved her hand to wrap around your waist. Joohyun’s jaw visibly clenches. “Sorry for interrupting,” she says, her voice taut.

You frown, tilting your head. Recently, you’ve started to notice the small things about Joohyun, like how she smells nearly everything she touches or constantly tucks her hair back while talking, and it certainly hasn’t escaped your attention that recently she’s become tense around Sooyoung, acting almost if she was upset by something your best friend was doing, or maybe it was you. The thought makes you deflate slightly. 

Beside you, Sooyoung smirks, seeming to observe Joohyun’s reaction as well. “It’s fine, we were just finishing up.” Unexpectedly, your best friend’s lips are suddenly pressed against yours, and you’re barely able to register it before she pulls away, wearing a sickening grin on her lips. Your eyes immediately go to Joohyun, who’s staring at the two of you in disbelief and something else you can’t quite decipher. You find yourself numb to the anger you should be feeling, more consumed with worry as Joohyun’s gaze meets yours, and you swear you see a glimmer of hurt in her brown eyes before it’s gone, replaced by neutrality. 

“No problem,” She says, her tone pleasant. “Let me know when you’re done,” She calls, walking away to go meet Jisoo. 

“What the hell Sooyoung!” You exclaim, the shock wearing off as you pull out of her grasp, struggling to keep your temper from flaring now that Joohyun is gone. “Why would you do that?” 

But Sooyoung doesn’t hear you, she’s far too caught up in celebrating Joohyun’s reaction to care about your annoyance. “She’s totally jealous.”

“Sooyoung, do you hear me?” You hiss, grabbing her chin and forcing her to look at you, but you let go as soon as you notice your classmates’ eyes on you. “Why would you do that?” You repeat, evening out your voice. 

The pleased grin Sooyoung wears fades at your words as her lips turn upward in an uncharacteristic sneer. “Why would I do that?” Sooyoung echoes, more mockingly than seriously. “You know exactly why, and I don’t see why you would suddenly care about it now. What, do you like Joohyun too?”

You're sure she didn’t mean the last part, but you still turn away unable to look your best friend in the eye. “No,” You reply firmly. You can’t like Joohyun. You can’t betray Sooyoung like that.

“Then what’s the problem?” 

You glance at Sooyoung, shaking your head and breathing out deeply. It occurs to you how badly you’d like to slap Sooyoung and truthfully it takes everything in you not to, as you force yourself to ignore the nagging voice in your head telling you to strike back for once, but as usual, you manage to control yourself, focusing on the calming thought that in three days this arrangement will be over. There’s no point in arguing with Sooyoung when you’re so close to the end. You can acknowledge the problem you have was not with this kiss itself, but the effect of it. Still, you push down that thought, silently choosing to keep your word and continue with Sooyoung’s games, hoping that after you can fully resolve the seemingly ever-growing pile of issues with her. 

“You should leave,” You mutter finally, biting your tongue to prevent the temptation of saying anything more. 

“Why?” Sooyoung asks incredulously, practically bristling. 

“You just should,” You say, your gaze shifting to the back of Joohyun’s head as Jisoo mutters something to her. “Please,” You add flatly. 

Sooyoung stares at you, and you can tell she’s trying to figure something out, perhaps why you’ve chosen to be so cordial, but eventually, she gives up and leaves. You let out a huff of air as Sooyoung disappears into the hallway, sighing as you make your way towards Joohyun, and nodding gratefully to Jisoo as she quickly excuses herself upon your arrival. 

“Hey,” You greet, sitting down next to Joohyun. She doesn’t look at you, and admittedly you’re hurt by this, but you choose to ignore it as you continue. “I'm sorry about my, uh, girlfriend.”

“It’s fine,” Joohyun insists. “I don’t care, remember?”

“Right,” You say, ignoring the feeling that she said that more to console herself than you. “Well even if that’s how you feel, I’m still really sorry, and if there’s anything I can do to make it up to you let me know.”

“How about a date?”

You choke. “Sorry?” 

“I’m joking,” Joohyun says with a laugh, poking your stomach. “Free tickets to your game would suffice.”

You dip your head to hide your flustered state, before sinking a little further into your seat, cursing the universe and its way of making unwanted conveniences materialize. “I can get you two,” You say finally. “But don’t let anyone find out or my coach will kill me,” You add lightly, a soft smile crossing your lips.

Joohyun grins. “Well, we can't have that can we?” 

“No, we can’t.”

Joohyun’s mood seems to improve greatly after that, especially when your teacher announces they’re leaving early and you can have the rest of the period as a free block. Soon enough you find yourself accompanying Joohyun to lunch, your fingers thrumming gently against the metal of the cafeteria bar and tapping out an uneven beat while you watch Joohyun distractedly reach for a pre-prepared meal as she chatters in your ear about relatively meaningless things. 

Unwilling to interrupt her, you gingerly take hold of her slim wrist, feeling her almost unnervingly soft skin briefly tense at your touch before she relaxes, glancing at you with an inquisitive look that makes your breath catch in your throat and your hand quickly jump to the back of your neck. “That one's chicken,” You mumble abashedly, looking anywhere but the brunette. “It’ll make you sick.”

Joohyun tilts her head, eyes squinting subtly as the corner of her mouth curves upwards before she wordlessly grabs a different packaged lunch. “Not chicken,” She declares proudly, holding it out for you to inspect. 

“Not chicken,” You agree, an adoring smile subconsciously appearing on your lips before you turn away, browsing for your own lunch until eventually settling on an unpopular soup and rolling your eyes when Joohyun begins to playfully berate you for your choice, only stopping when you lightly hit the crown of her head, prompting a melodramatic yelp but nothing else. 

“Aren’t you going to go be with Sooyoung?” Joohyun asks as you hover behind her, absentmindedly picking at the plastic wrapping on your spoon while she finishes swiping her meal card. 

You puff your cheeks, paying for your food and peering over at your usual spot where your best friend waits with the rest of your teammates, the empty seat next to her clearly meant for you, despite your earlier spat. Common sense tells you it would be best to sit with her, to resolve any tensions and keep up your charade, but the way your heart cracks when you notice the glimmer of hope in Joohyun’s eyes at your hesitation leads you in another, less rational direction. 

“I’m sure she’ll be fine without me for one day,” You say, and the beaming grin Joohyun gives you is immediately worth it as you allow the older girl to take you by the arm, and lead you to the school’s senior longue, where a handful of other people appear to be waiting for her and a few others, the only one currently there that you recognize is Jisoo, who seems surprised yet also pleased to see you.

“Y/N,” She greets with a nod, a smirk plastered on her lips, her amused gaze meeting Joohyun’s and causing you to glance between the two as Joohyun only shakes her head, drawing out an unexpected chuckle from Jisoo before she delves back into a conversation with the girl on her left, leaving you confused and looking to Joohyun for clarification.

“Don’t worry about it,” She says, pulling you down to the ground where you take a seat, back against the wall, a millimeter of space between you and Joohyun. 

Admittedly you feel out of place as you eat your lunch, unable to remember the names of any of Joohyun’s friends, save for Roseanne, the blonde who showed up later, but you only knew her from hanging around Joohyun so much, recognizing her to be Jisoo’s girlfriend that you’d met twice before at a group study and you’d gotten on well enough with her. Still, you opt to only listen as the brunette talks with her friends, watching her reactions with interest and every once in a while you’ll politely chime in when Joohyun pushes you to, but for the most part, you’re content to just silently follow along and observe. Eventually, Jisoo and Joohyun’s friends disperse, heading back to their classes, leaving the three of you behind, having no interest in returning to your classroom to carry out the rest of your free block.

“I like having you as my partner,” Joohyun says softly after a few moments of silence, and you can’t help but notice Jisoo watching you two in the least subtle way possible. 

“I do too.”

“You’re not going to ditch me when this is over, right?” Joohyun asks, gaze meeting yours, and although her voice is laced with a joking tone you can tell it’s all but that. “We’ll still talk?”

“Of course,” You say. “I’ll never leave you.”

Joohyun nods in contentment, leaning into your side, her head moving to rest on your shoulder as her hair tickles your cheek and for once, you register, your body doesn’t go rigid at someone else’s touch. However, that doesn’t mean you’re not surprised when her arm hooks around yours, clutching it as her eyes flutter shut, a soft sigh escaping her lips. 

“Tired?” You murmur softly in question, looking down at the smaller girl as she turns to hide her face in your neck. 

You can feel Joohyun’s lips curve into a smile. “A little.”

You swallow, ignoring the sudden chill you feel. “We have a bit left, you can take a nap if you want?”

“Will you wake me up?” She mumbles.

“I will,” You say, offering her your pinky which she takes with a laugh. “I promise.”

You begin to feel wary as you notice Joohyun’s chest rising and falling slower while she sinks into a deep sleep, and you’re suddenly hyper-aware of the girl sitting across from you. You’ve always felt off around Kim Jisoo, not because you didn’t get along with her, but because you always had an odd sense that she knew more than she let on. Like you, she’s clever and perceptive and her smirks and glances begin to replay in your mind as you watch her type something into her phone. You can’t help but feel leery, an inkling of paranoia filling you as you wonder if perhaps she has figured Sooyoung and you out or at least come close. If anyone were to figure you out, it would be Jisoo, and the realization doesn’t exactly console you. 

“You two would make a good couple,” Jisoo hums suddenly, making you jump. Her stare is fixed between you and Joohyun, her trademark analytical look back on her face and you’re sure she’s judging you, but for what you’re not sure. “I approve.” 

Your eyes widen. “I don’t like her in that way,” You say adamantly, ignoring Jisoo’s arched brow. “And I have a girlfriend,” You hastily add on, cringing at how your last sentence came out as more of an unconvincing afterthought than anything. 

“Right,” Jisoo chuckles, and you swear there’s a hint of knowingness in her voice as she continues. “But if you didn’t.”

You open your mouth to respond but you falter, realizing you have nothing to say and Jisoo seems to take that as an unspoken answer, going back to what she was doing as if nothing had happened, as if what she’d said wasn’t threatening to unravel the very thin veil you’d crafted between yourself and a forbidden thought you had long ago, pushed away into the deepest dredges of your mind. 

But if you didn’t. The words ring in your head. If you weren’t fake dating Sooyoung, and if up until recently you weren’t so sure Seulgi was the only one for you, if you had just gotten to know Joohyun without your best friend’s hovering and constant check-ins, then what? What would your life be like? You look to your side, at Joohyun, whose gentle breaths brush against your neck. You reach to push a strand of her hair aside and when you look up, Jisoo is once again watching you.

“I-” You begin, but Jisoo interrupts you. 

“I know,” She says. 

You’re unable to hide your shock in time and Jisoo notices it donning an enigmatic smile, for a moment you contemplate playing dumb, but you know there’s no point. “How?” You ask finally.

Jisoo tilts her head, looking at you like the answer is the most obvious thing in the world. “Because,” She gestures between you and Joohyun, “You never look at Sooyoung the way you look at her.” 

An hour later, you’re walking down the halls towards the exit, your bag hitched on your shoulder as your own thoughts consume you. Joohyun didn’t wake up until you tenderly shook her awake just minutes before the end of the day, and the tired grin she gave you was enough to make your heartbeat quicken. You’d half expected Jisoo to blurt out your secret then and there, but true to her word she said nothing, and you hoped she’d keep her promise as she drove home with Joohyun. In a way, it’s freeing knowing that someone else knew of your charade, but at the same time, you feel guilty, the weeks of deceit catching up to you in one single stride as you think of Joohyun. You don’t like lying, even if it’s for the sake of your best friend. You resolve to tell Joohyun everything once everything is over, and the weight on your consciousness feels subtly lighter. 

“Hey! Y/N!” A voice, which you’re easily able to recognize as Sooyoung’s, calls from behind you, followed by heavy footfalls and eventually a hand on your shoulder. “Why didn’t you stop?” She huffs, not exactly out of breath, but clearly a little affected by the exertion. 

You raise a brow, unamused. “Do you really want me to answer that Sooyoung?” 

“No, ” Sooyoung sighs, going silent and allowing a growingly palpable tension to settle in between the two of you. “I’m sorry,” Sooyoung says a few beats later. “About earlier.” 

You glance at Sooyoung for a moment, before looking away, not responding as you continue to walk, twirling the keys to your car on your finger in thought. Truthfully, you’re no longer upset with her, at least not as much as you were previously, but you’re still hurt. You’ve come to the conclusion that over the past month, Sooyoung has changed into someone you no longer know, her obsession with Joohyun taking up her life and leaking into yours as she drags you along in this stupid plan, and you can’t help but wish you hadn’t let yourself get into this. And maybe you’re naive to think this, you realize as you notice Sooyoung beginning to leave, but you can’t help but hope that in two more days it will all go back to normal. 

“Hey, Sooyoung?” You call, causing her to turn around. “I’m sorry too.”

Sooyoung smiles softly. “Thank you.” 

///

Your fingers run over the hem of your volleyball uniform, anxiously fidgeting with your shirt before you take a deep inhale, beginning to stretch out your legs and arms. You notice that more people than usual line the stands today as you glance over to the crowd and despite your growing unease, your gaze instinctively skims through it, searching for the comfort of a certain brunette, but much to your disappointment, you’re unable to spot her. 

“Feeling alright?” Sooyoung asks, her words startling you out of your distracted state as she places a consoling hand on your shoulder making you tense and she quickly lets go of you with an apologetic look. 

You reach for your neck. “Yeah,” You say unconvincingly, and your best friend arches a doubtful brow. “You?”

Sooyoung shrugs, her eyes falling towards your teammates, an unimpressed hum escaping her as you witness Seungwan overshoot her serve. “Could be better,” Sooyoung remarks, crossing her arms.

You shake your head. “I’m sure we’ll do fine.”

“Hey,” Sooyoung peers at you, her lip quirked upwards. “Since when are you the optimistic one?” She teases, nudging your side.

“You’re insufferable,” You groan, rolling your eyes and letting out a huff while you try your best to appear unaffected by her provocations, but after years together it’s hard to hold back your amusement around Sooyoung and the smallest of laughs manages to worm its way out of you. 

“See? You don’t really think that,” She declares, attempting to hug you but you push her away and she feigns insult, grasping her arm theatrically. 

“I definitely do,” You assure her flatly.

“Sure,” Sooyoung concedes, although her tone is still playful. “By the way,” She starts casually after a few beats of silence. “Have you seen Joohyun?”

“No,” You resist the urge to frown, the reminder of Joohyun breaking you away from the normalcy of the moment, and tearing you back into the reality of your stress-filled charade. It’s bittersweet, how you find your heart aching for a time one month ago when your relationship with Sooyoung wasn’t so strained and centered around someone else. But at the same time, you also find yourself realizing that you could never let go of your precious memories with Joohyun, a twinge of yearning making itself known at the mere thought of losing her. You grimace, it reminds you of how you felt when Seulgi told you she was leaving. 

“But I thought you invited her?” Sooyoung asks, shoulders slouching. 

“I did,” You reply, looking over to the crowd again and you’re almost embarrassed by how hopeful you are that you’ll find the girl that is quickly becoming your favorite person, or, you peek at Sooyoung, second favorite. 

“She’s over there,” Sooyoung murmurs, elbowing you and jutting her chin towards your left.

You follow her directions with a raised brow, spotting Joohyun alongside Jisoo. She laughs at something, the amusement reaching her eyes while she joyously claps her hands, and even from afar her presence relaxes you. As if sensing your stare, Joohyun’s dusky eyes suddenly meet yours, her smile widening as she waves softly at you, eagerly pointing at her shirt which you see has your school logo on it and sending you a thumbs up. You sheepishly return the gesture, before her attention returns to Jisoo, who is pointing at Sooyoung and whispering something into Joohyun’s ear, the brunette reacting to whatever was said shyly and ducking her head. Inexplicably, a burning flash of nausea sweeps through you, leaving you momentarily shaken, before you recenter yourself.

You turn to Sooyoung, expecting her to celebrate Joohyun’s acknowledgement and you’re confused to be met with an inquiring expression, her gaze flickering between the two of you, but she seems to shrug it off, an easy-going grin returning to her lips, and you find your unknowingly tense shoulders loosening. 

“Did you see that?” Sooyoung asks, an ecstatic tone to her voice that reminds you of the energized way her younger sisters speak to you. 

“Yeah,” You blink. “I did.” 

But you don’t get to say anything else as your coach calls you and Sooyoung over, the two of you sharing a glance before jogging off to meet them and the rest of your team, your anxiety returning as you remember with a grimace what’s at stake. 

The game goes well enough, with your team winning by a sliver of a point difference, something you’re not too pleased by but accept nonetheless, after all a victory is a victory, and you’d be lying if you said you played your best, your eyes frequently wandering towards Joohyun in between sets, effectively distracting you a few times and garnering you a few blunders as well as ugly stares. But the worst part of it all you realize with a grimace as Sooyoung trots up to you after the match wearing a wide grin, is that you have to admit that she was right, or at least acknowledge it. For once it seems, Sooyoung made the right decision by canceling practice yesterday. 

“I told you,” She teases, jostling you playfully once the two of you have started cleaning up the remnants of your match, your teammates having been dismissed earlier with the rest of the crowd as you and Sooyoung took responsibility for what was left. You’re slightly disappointed to notice that Joohyun hadn’t stayed behind, but you brush it off, telling yourself you shouldn’t care, but even the voice in your head doesn’t seem too confident. 

“Whatever,” You roll your eyes, not wanting to give Sooyoung the satisfaction of admittance to defeat, but that seems to spur her on even more, her mockery only increasing while you ignore her unamusedly, until finally you take your water bottle and squirt her in the face with it, which manages to shut her up as she sulks soaked through the rest of your duties, while you on the other hand, suddenly feel quite cheerful, even beginning to hum softly under your breath. 

“Are you sure?” Sooyoung asks you five minutes later, her hesitance clear after you’d told her she could leave without you.

“Yeah, it’s fine Sooyoung, you go ahead.” You urge, lifting your jersey pointedly with a crinkle of your nose. “I don’t think I can wait until I get home to take this off, I’ll be seconds behind you.”

Your best friend seems to contemplate this before letting out a defeated sigh. “Alright,” She says, hoisting her bag over her shoulder. “Just let me know when you get home.”

“Will do,” You promise, watching her as she leaves, before you split off towards the corridor to the locker rooms, stopping to turn off the massive rows of lights illuminating the gymnasium first and securing the doors behind you.

You twirl the keys on your finger as you walk, your steps echoing through the empty halls and your thoughts begin to drift off, more specifically to Joohyun and the sickening feeling you’d gotten when she had smiled at Sooyoung, even just remembering it makes you feel unwell. You grit your teeth, looking up to the ceiling and taking a deep breath. 

A long time ago you’d felt that same feeling when Seulgi had convinced you to go out with her to a concert, her begging words impossible to say no to and while you’d enjoyed it, the night was forever tainted in your memory by the exact same rumbling discomfort in your chest you’d felt earlier, because coincidentally, Seulgi’s ex, Lisa Manoban was there too, and watching them reunite left you queasy as they reminisced and discussed commonalities you and Seulgi didn’t have, like her passion for dance. You’re not a jealous person, that had always been Sooyoung’s role (and her ongoing scheme proved it), but for the first time in your life, you felt truly jealous, even if only for an unreasonable second as you’d later find that you got on quite well with Lisa who you recalled had semi-jokingly told you to her call if you and Seulgi broke up. 

But that situation was different from today. You were dating Seulgi, and for a moment your insecurities got the best of you, but with Joohyun? You were just friends, not to mention that you two had only begun regularly talking two weeks ago even if it felt like a lifetime with the amount of things she had coaxed out of you so easily, things that had taken your own best friend over a decade. Joohyun was special to you, in a way you’ve never experienced before, but so was Sooyoung, so why were you so annoyingly jealous of her, when in reality you should be happy for her, pleased that at least this stupid plan was coming to some form of fruition. But Jisoo’s comments from yesterday echo in your head once more, and you curse the girl. 

For the first time, you allow yourself the tantalizing admittance that maybe you like Bae Joohyun before you rapidly lock the thought away in a box and shove it under a metaphorical rug in your mind, cringing at yourself and feeling guilty for even formulating such a taboo notion, thinking of your loyalty to Sooyoung and hastening your stride, focusing on doing what you had to do and going home, where hopefully you can forget everything, but those musings quickly fade as you notice someone lingering outside the changing area, your eyes narrowing and body tensing but when the person turns to you, you relax as you’re met with the very girl who has your brain tying itself in knots.

“Joohyun?” You call, managing to compose yourself before you speak, confusion lacing your tone as you approach her. “How long have you been here?” 

“A bit,” She shrugs looking at you with a smile that makes your chest seize up, your earlier revelation returning to you and you swat it away, reminding yourself of Sooyoung, which seems to ground you.

“And what if I hadn’t shown up?” You can’t help but tease. 

Joohyun crosses her arms, tilting her head. “I would’ve found you eventually,” She answers confidently.

You bite your lip, secretly quite charmed by her as you attempt to mask how flustered you feel. “Right then,” You mutter under your breath, suddenly taken by the sight of your shoes, and Joohyun appears to be entertained by your behavior. 

“I wanted to talk to you,” She clarifies, sparing you from yourself and you think you catch a hint of nervousness in her voice. “If that’s okay?”

You swallow, forcing yourself not to read too much into Joohyun’s request and centering yourself. “Is there something I should be worried about?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Okay,” You concede, “Do you mind if I change first?”

Joohyun suddenly coughs. “Not at all,” She mumbles.

You're surprised when she follows you into the locker rooms, having expected her to wait outside, but admittedly you don’t mind the company, once again drawing comfort from her. However your jaw locks when you’re greeted with another unexpected shock, but unlike Joohyun, it’s wholly unwelcomed as your narrowed gaze falls upon your least favorite teammate who stares back at you with a grin.

“Jennie,” You greet tersely. “What are you doing here?”

“Sorry Kwon,” Jennie replies, knowing the use of your last name irks you. “I just came back to get something I left behind,” The younger girl looks between you and Joohyun with a smirk that makes you feel uneasy, and you sense Joohyun shift uncomfortably beside you. “Well, I’ll leave you two to it!” Jennie declares cheerily with a wave before walking off and you find yourself holding your breath until you hear the door slam shut. 

Silence settles between you and Joohyun, neither of you wanting to address what just happened, and you too tired and figuring she wouldn’t care, begin to change right there. Joohyun seems to watch you intently as you pull your uniform shirt over your head before she registers you’re observing her reaction curiously. She rapidly turns her gaze away with a choked apology. You think she’s blushing but you ignore the thought, continuing with your routine until you’re done and tapping her shoulder to let her know she can look again, but when she turns she just stares at you. 

“You’re very pretty, you know?” The brunette breathes out suddenly with a hum and for a moment she appears to be dazed by her own words as if she hadn’t meant to say them aloud, but she seems to shrug it off and it’s clear her usual self-assuredness has returned as she reaches to cup your cheek. Her touch makes your skin prickle and your thoughts short circuit.

“Surely that’s not what you wanted to tell me,” You manage to respond eventually, albeit unsteadily.

“What if it was?” Joohyun challenges before she shakes her head, dropping her hand. “Sorry,” She sighs, glancing beyond you. “You’re right. I wanted to ask you something.” Joohyun pauses for a long second, “Just promise me you won’t lie.”

“I promise,” You say, but there’s a seriousness in her tone that makes you shift your weight, highly aware of a building sense of anxiety in your stomach, and you’re certain that whatever her question is is going to change things between you two, and you can only pray it won’t end negatively, your heart not able to even take the thought of losing Joohyun as you begin to brace yourself

Joohyun chews her lip, a fleeting look of hesitation crossing her face and she takes a deep breath, her expression evening out as her eyes bore into yours. “Why are you pretending to date Sooyoung?”

For a moment you’re stunned, your thoughts halting in place as you’re unable to process anything, and everything seems to spin rapidly around you. You feel ill, struggling to hold yourself up while a sickening wave of nausea surges through you, everything incoherent as you force yourself to speak. “What? That’s-” You choke on your words as even more panic rises in your chest. “That’s not-” You squeeze your eyes shut, your head pounding. 

“Y/N,” You can feel Joohyun grip your shoulder, steadying you. “You promised not to lie,” She reminds gently, her voice sounding far away yet you can still recognize an underlying hurt in it that makes you crack.

“I’m sorry,” You manage to murmur, opening your eyes but refusing to meet her gaze and your mind begins to straighten out as you calm yourself, shame still searing through you. “I’m so sorry,” You repeat, hoping Joohyun knows you’re apologizing for everything, every lie and every millisecond of deceit. “I just wanted to help Sooyoung.”

There’s a long beat of silence, and you force yourself to glance at Joohyun, who remains frozen, until suddenly her arms are wrapped around you pulling you into a hug, her fingers running through your hair while you continue to utter a stream of apologies and you’re certain it’s not real, that you’re imagining it in place of how she really reacted, until you hear her whisper against you, “It’s okay, I forgive you.” 

An overwhelming sense of ease washes over you as you squeeze her back, and for the first time in weeks, you feel relieved, overjoyed to no longer have to lie, the guilt washing off of you. “How did you know?” You ask minutes later, and Joohyun shocks you by laughing, the air around you instantly lightening. 

“I didn’t,” She answers honestly, pulling back from you, her hands still resting on your shoulders. “I just had a feeling something was off and Jisoo told me to act on it,” Joohyun grimaces. “I promise I wasn’t expecting it to work out how it did.”

“Shit,” You groan, thinking back on the past couple of weeks, and realizing while you and Sooyoung’s act might have been believable for those who didn’t truly know you, it was painfully suspicious to those who did, and as short as the period was that Sooyoung and Joohyun had dated, they still shared some level of intimacy that would’ve allowed Joohyun to notice the oddities in Sooyoung’s behavior, which even you realize, was much different from how she usually acted in relationships. It was foolish to ever think you had a chance with someone as perceptive as Joohyun or even Jisoo mingling with you, and it occurs to you, in an almost satirical way, that Jisoo, although pushing Joohyun in the right direction, had kept her promise and not told Joohyun.

“Can I ask you one more thing?” Joohyun questions.

“Sure,” You say, registering that it doesn’t matter anymore now that Joohyun knows, you can tell her anything and in a way, it’s freeing.

“Why did Sooyoung want to do it?”

There’s a beat of silence while you wrack your brain for an elegant answer before you give up, realizing there is none. “She wanted to make you jealous,” You respond simply, and in hindsight, you cringe at your best friend’s poorly formed plan. “She thought you’d get back together with her if you saw us dating.”

The older girl hums thoughtfully. “Well, at least one part of it worked.”

You snort at her, thinking she’s making a joke, the thought of Sooyoung’s scheme working is quite amusing to you, but when you look at her, expecting her to let out a chuckle, you realize she’s being genuine. “You’re serious? Then why aren’t you with her?”

“I wasn’t jealous of you,” Joohyun laughs, staring at you incredulously. “I was jealous of Sooyoung.”

“Oh,” You say dumbly, your mind making the connection, and suddenly Joohyun’s past behaviors make more sense to you, the kiss on the cheek, her discomfort around Sooyoung, the joke about the date, and it makes you go numb, overwhelmed by it all, yet you also buzz with elation. Your own buried feelings break through the chains you had long since latched them in, breaching the surface and you know you can no longer hide them anymore, maybe if they were for anyone else, but when it comes to Bae Joohyun, you know it’s impossible. For once, you’re certain of something, and that’s that you like Joohyun, a lot. 

“Y/N, I like you. I know I said I didn’t care, but I do care, a lot,” Joohyun says, reaching to hold your chin, a vulnerability in her dusky eyes that you’ve never seen before and she shakes her head, smiling awkwardly. “You don’t have to like me back though, I just wanted to tell you because-”

 “Joohyun,” You cut her off tenderly, the pain in her voice is too much for you to let her continue. “I like you too.”

Joohyun appears shocked at first, her expression wide-eyed before it transforms into a delicate grin, her fingers shifting to gingerly stroke the messy hairs hanging in your face to the side, and she leans closer to you as your mouths nearly brush against each other, her hand moving to gently trace the shell of your ear. “Can I kiss you?”

Your breath catches in your throat, blood pounding in your ears as you manage a nod, and she leans in, pressing her lips to yours. They’re plush and soft, drawing you in deeper as both you and her pour thousands of unspoken words into your kiss, your heart thundering, while you allow yourself to get lost in her alluring scent and overwhelming touch. Everything within you seems electrified as you move against each other, Joohyun’s arms wrapping lovingly around your neck, the weeks of your denial and her building jealousy finally forcing its way out of the two of you and molding itself into something new, beyond the simplicity of love and passion. Nothing else existed, nothing else even mattered, except for Bae Joohyun, and she knew, drawing you in further and further, to get more and more lost in her sweet taste and soft skin as her fingers teasingly sweep up and down your abdomen, leaving trails of burning fire in their wake. A gasp escapes you, but Joohyun smothers it, pressing closer to you with a spur of intensity that sends you reeling, the only coherent thought on your mind being of her.

“You’re the one I left her for,” Joohyun says breathily as she finally pulls away from you, resting her forehead against yours, her brown eyes sparkling with adoration. 

“What?”

“I couldn’t be with her knowing I liked someone else,” She murmurs, caressing your cheek. “You’re the reason why I broke up with Sooyoung.”

“Sooyoung,” You echo, the once far away thought of your best friend coming rearing back as a feeling of panic rises in your chest causing your legs to collapse, your body unexpectedly slipping from Joohyun’s comforting grasp as you sink to the ground, head in your hands. “She’s going to kill me Joohyun,” you whisper. “She’s going to hate me.”

“She won’t hate you Y/N,” Joohyun says, sitting next to you and moving your head to press against her breastbone as she begins to draw soothing patterns on your back, whispering honeyed words into your ear and patiently guiding your sporadic breathing back to normal. 

“How am I going to tell her?” You ask.

Joohyun looks down at you, her expression not exactly hopeful. “I don’t know, but she’s your best friend, she’ll understand,” Joohyun assures. “It will work out.”

You nod slowly, choosing to believe her words as you lean further into her, trying to forget your problems and focusing on Joohyun’s assurances, which you repeat to yourself even a half-hour later, as you arrive home and pull your phone out to text Sooyoung with a pang of guilt, leaving her message on read when she questions what took you so long.

“She’ll understand,” You mumble to yourself half-heartedly, already beginning to think of how you could ever explain this to your best friend. 

///

Your parents aren’t home, having gone out to a corporate party that would last well into the night when Sooyoung shows up at your doorstep. Her hair is slick with rain, matted down and stringy as small drops of water drip off her, and when you blink you’re reminded of a night that was so long ago, yet somehow feels so fresh despite the immeasurable changes that have occurred since now and then. When Sooyoung was standing on your porch soaked and shaking and you pulled the newly heartbroken girl into your arms, murmuring consoling words into her ear as you held her tighter than you’d ever held her before. But this time isn’t like that you register, observing the blankness in Sooyoung’s brown eyes and you resist the urge to step back when you catch the angered twitch of her lip.

Possibilities for her fury begin to run through your head, recalling the way she had looked at you with gentle worry just two hours ago, a clear cut contrast to the venomous way her gaze bores into yours now, but you realize there’s no point in sifting through possibilities. There’s no point in pretending to be ignorant or remaining in denial. You know why she’s here. Possibilities didn’t matter anymore, not when you had a definite involving the now shared center point of both your lives, Bae Joohyun, and you knew that this was the last straw. You and Sooyoung were two moons fighting for one orbit, and the only ending was disaster and collision, a deadly finale of an explosion you saw coming from kilometers away barrelling towards you. No Joohyun, you thought, her comforting words returning to you, things would not be okay. And suddenly only two questions remained within you, how had Sooyoung found out, and how would you tell her? 

You clear your throat. “Hey.”

But Sooyoung doesn’t bother to greet you back, instead, slipping past you as a growing dread begins to fill your stomach, and leaving you to silently close the door behind her and follow her into your kitchen, watching cautiously as she reaches into one of your cupboards for an empty glass, her familiarity with your home becoming less comforting and more haunting. 

“Did you know that Bae Joohyun kissed someone?” Sooyoung asks suddenly, her tone chillingly casual as she turns on your faucet. 

Your breath catches for a moment taken aback by her bluntness, before you manage to make it even out, still keeping an arm’s length distance from the older girl as you lean against one of the counters, forcing yourself to meet her gaze and not allowing yourself to be intimidated. Your jaw sets as you look into her rage-filled glare. “Really?” You ask, choosing to play dumb and buy yourself more time, foolishly hoping you can figure out a way to deescalate your impending doom, but the choice only makes the bubbling guilt within you rise as you realize your deceit, and you can feel bile rising in your throat. 

“Really?” Sooyoung mocks, arching a brow. “I just figured you would know,” She looks to you for an answer, sipping her water, and placing it down painfully slow but you remain silent, feeling more sickly by the second. “Since there’s this picture,” She continues. “And the person in it looks an awful lot like you.” 

Dazed by her revelation, you blink as your mind splits itself into multiple directions, before it hones in on a single passing moment finding your answer. Jennie Kim. She must’ve snuck back and caught you and Joohyun. You swallow, and for the first time, your resolve flickers, eyes widening briefly before you regain control of your appearance, but not fast enough to escape Sooyoung’s notice as she abruptly grabs your wrist, forcing you closer to her. “Was it you?”

You grit your teeth as Sooyoung’s nails dig into your skin, looking her dead on and you know you can’t lie to her, even if you did she’d see through it. “It was,” You admit, forcing your voice to reamain steady while your lie collapses around you, filling you with shame. “It was me.”

“I fucking knew it!” She exclaims with a harshness that you’ve never heard before. Sooyoung releases her grip on you, her hands jumping to hold her head as she starts to pace the room, seething and throwing volleys of insults your way while you observe, taking it quietly until she turns on you, her expression dark as she laughs. “You’re the one she left me for.” 

“You just figured that out?” You bite back, unable to hold your tongue any longer, your meekness cracking, choosing for once, to not let Sooyoung push you around so easily. 

“You don’t deserve her,” Sooyoung states. “And when she realizes that, she’ll leave you too, just like Seulgi.” 

The words are like a slap to the face, your insecurities on full display and flooding you with humiliation that rapidly transforms itself into a fit of raw, unfiltered anger you’ve never felt before. “And you think you deserve her?” You challenge, tilting your head. “After all you’ve done is treat her like an object, acting like she was just another trophy to add to your collection and not a real person! At least I have the decency to see her as a human being and not as you called her, ‘a future celebrity’ for you to show off!”

Sooyoung bristles, scoffing cruelly. “You are such a fucking liar Y/N. I never did any of that.” 

“Never did that?” You echo incredulously. “Then what do you call trying to manipulate her into loving you again with a fake girlfriend? Is that not treating her like an object?” 

“Oh quit acting so high and mighty,” Sooyoung sneers, pressing a finger into your chest “You agreed to help me!”

“Because you’re my best friend!” You shout, pushing her away from you, glowering and suddenly every tightly wound string within you finally snaps, breaking apart like a ball of rubber bands as weeks worth of resentment rushes from you, oozing through your blood and turning it cold. “All I ever wanted was for you to be happy Sooyoung,” You breathe, exasperated. “And I thought this would help, but it only made everything worse. I know I agreed, but the difference between you and me is that I regret it every day and I swear I will spend my life trying to make it up to her if I have to. But you?” The rage in your voice only seems to grow. “You’re a selfish brat that doesn't give a single shit as long as you get what you want!”

Hurt seems to flicker in Sooyoung’s eyes as you finish speaking, but only for a split second as they abruptly quickly turn dark, dangerous almost, and you’re stumbling backward as she shoves you hard, seizing you by your shoulder as you make impact with the countertop behind you and punching you square in the jaw, your head whipping to the side with a groan. Sooyoung seems to recognize the gravity of what she’s done as she releases you, her expression bewildered as she backs away leaving you to prop yourself up. The metallic taste of blood begins to fill your mouth and you wipe your lips staring at Sooyoung with a similar look of shock, and suddenly she no longer looks like the Sooyoung you know. You tenderly reach to rub your aching jaw, the hit not having been hard enough to cause serious damage, you note thankfully, but the pain is still agonizing.

And it occurs to you that you were wrong. Things between you and Sooyoung will never be the same, or at least not in the way you wanted, even if you were to forgive her right now. You always thought she needed you, and she did, but in a way that was different from how you needed her. Maybe it was your fault, for choosing to remain blind to the growing fracture of your relationship, you were no longer the two young girls who begged their mothers for extra sweets, but rather two strangers divided, and perhaps it was meant to be like this. Perhaps you never followed the same paths you thought you did. There comes a point when something is too broken to be fixed, too poisoned to be cured, and is that not where you are now? The shattered pieces of your relationship are too small, fine, and fragmented to possibly find them all, nonetheless glue them back together. No, it could never be the same. 

“I’m so sorry,” Sooyoung finally utters, her voice cracking. 

But you ignore her because for some inexplicable reason you don’t care anymore, you’re numb to the pain in her tone. All you can think of is yesterday. Yesterday when you promised Joohyun you’d always be there, and you know that no matter how much you may want it, you can’t have both Joohyun and Sooyoung. You have to choose. And as you look at your best friend for the first time without clouded vision, you can finally see that you don’t know her anymore, and you haven’t for months, maybe years. 

You look at Sooyoung with a grimace. “Get out.” 

///

Joohyun’s delicate arms wrap around your waist, her body leaning against your side with her head resting in the notch of your collarbone as you watch the final ribbons of daylight begin to retreat over the pink and orange dappled horizon, your appearance content. The two of you blissfully stand amongst the slowly dispersing crowd on the plush fields behind your former school, a palpable jubilance dancing through the air while your classmates linger around you, some of them beginning to split off towards their own celebrations while others stay to talk. Not too far away from you, your own family sits alongside Joohyun’s chatting cheerfully, and you smile at the sight.

“They’re probably talking about when we’ll get married,” Joohyun jokes, her gaze clearly having followed yours as you wave to them. 

You glance at her amusedly. “You think?” 

“Definitely,” She sighs. “I can already hear them asking me tonight,” Joohyun pauses, clearing her throat in preparation to imitate her mother. “Joohyun,” She mocks, and you struggle to hold in a laugh at her awful impression. “Now that you’ve graduated don’t you think it’s time to settle down?”

“But mom,” You play along. “I’m only eighteen!”

Joohyun pinches you, making you yelp. “I don’t sound like that,” She chides, her expression serious as she tries to be intimidating, but the affection glimmering in her eyes only causes you to grin dopily. 

It’s almost strange how blissful you feel around Joohyun, the feeling only having exponentialized over the past four months you’ve been dating. Bae Joohyun, you’ve concluded, is what makes you complete, and you’re determined not to let her go. But amongst the pleasurable moments, there also laid the darker ones, where with a panging ache, you remember your former best friend.  

You haven’t talked to Sooyoung since that night, and there’s been no need for you either, not after you quit the volleyball team. You felt guilty, leaving them during your final tournament of the year, but you couldn’t face her, not after everything that happened, and especially not when word spread that you/d “cheated” on Sooyoung with her ex. You humiliated her, and you knew that if she didn’t hate you before, she surely did now. But truthfully, even without your best friend at your side, you’re happier than you’ve ever been. There are some emotions you can’t describe, and the way you feel about Joohyun is just that. 

Joohyun is everything to you and you haven’t told her yet, but you think you love her. And although you’re sure she knows it already, you still want to tell her so desperately, but the words are caged within you, because when you try to say it a haunting insecurity begins to swallow you, overwhelming you with a lingering fear that she’ll leave, just like Seulgi, that this is all an intricate yet delicate illusion that will crumble with a single misstep. But Joohyun always assures you it’s not, and when she cups your cheek and gazes at you with the same adoration you look at her with, it’s hard not to believe her, and suddenly you find the words are caught in your throat for a different reason. 

You remember calling her after Sooyoung had left, and the unbridled fury in her eyes as she saw the bruise forming on your jawline, swearing to you that she’d go kill Sooyoung there and then and you knew she would. But you begged her to leave the girl alone, to just let it go, and with reluctance she did, holding you close until your parents returned home with a barrage of distressed questions, none of which you answered. Despite what Sooyoung had done to you, you still wanted to protect her as much as you yourself didn’t understand it.

Many times you’ve realized, while lying wide awake late at night, staring mindlessly into the emptiness above, that as much as you despised Sooyoung, in a way you loved her too, and like anyone you love, a piece of her would stay with you forever. For a long time, your life was closely intertwined with Park Sooyoung’s and you knew that you’d forever treasure that, yet you also acknowledged the bitter ending, where the connection between you two began to waver and decay even as you forced yourself to remain ignorant to the fact, hoping that if you just pretended it was okay, it would turn out that way. 

For many months you’d hated her for everything, clinging in a macabre way to the stabbing thoughts of how she had used you or the pain she’d inflicted on you until one day you suddenly didn’t care anymore. You just felt tired, your resentment had drained you, and your exhaustion began to affect the lives of the people you loved, including Joohyun, as you went about things half-heartedly, your bitterness clear even if you never acted on it, and that was when you recognized it wasn’t worth it. So you just let go of it, and in your own way, you forgave Sooyoung too, remembering your own wrongs, as you came to the conclusion that the blame couldn’t be placed on one of you but both. Both of you had harmed each other in your shared desperation to reach your own goals, so you simply chose to focus on the happier memories you had with Sooyoung, which admittedly made your chest pang dully, but the poisoned space she had left your heart with was finally starting to mend itself slowly with your own acceptance and Joohyun’s nurturing touch. 

“Y/N?” Joohyun calls to you tenderly, gently grasping your chin and turning your face to look at her own, subtle concern flickering across her features. “Are you okay?”

You nod, smiling softly. “Of course.”

“You sure?”Joohyun questions, arching a brow, her gaze searching yours. 

“Yeah,” You hum, carefully untangling yourself from her grasp to face her, moving to press your lips against hers in a brief kiss as you reach for her hand, remembering a moment, months ago when you had promised you wouldn’t leave her and just like then, you hold out your pinky. “I promise.”

Joohyun shakes her head, the corner of her mouth curling upwards as she wraps her finger around yours before placing her arms around your midriff and pulling you into her. “You’re starting to rack up a lot of promises to keep Y/N,” She says with a teasing lilt.

“Really?” You ask breathily, still very much so affected by Joohyun’s closeness. “In that case, I also promise to never break a promise.” 

The older girl rolls her eyes at your words, pretending to be unimpressed by your sentimental behavior, but you can feel her hold on you subtly tighten, telling you how she truly feels as you contentedly lean into her, your head resting atop hers, each of you bathing in the other’s presence, however, the sound of someone clearing their throat behind you rapidly startles you out of your bliss, effectively cutting through your delicate moment with Joohyun as she looks over your shoulder, her jaw tensing.

“Joohyun?” You murmur, confusion lacing your voice as you remove yourself from her, turning to see what’s upset her and suddenly your posture stiffens, your gaze leveling with the familiar face of your former best friend, her stance mirroring yours despite her having sought you out. Joohyun protectively steps to stand beside you, her hand moving to the small of your back and her eyes saturate with resentment as she glances between you and Sooyoung.

“Y/N,” Sooyoung greets curtly, glancing over at Joohyun, and you’re quick to catch the flicker of sourness in her expression, your nearly two-decade friendship not forgotten as you easily read her, and you’re sure it’s mutual. “Joohyun,” She adds hollowly. 

 “Sooyoung,” You address her cautiously, your voice surprising you with its steadiness, a stark contrast to how you feel internally because no matter how much you’ve missed her, you’re still clouded with a wariness of her, remembering the taste of blood on your tongue.

“I wanted to say congratulations,” Sooyoung speaks calmly, but her fingers anxiously running through her hair betray her neutral appearance. “To both of you.”

You’re taken aback by her admittance, your mind already analyzing the possibilities of her intentions while you observe Sooyoung’s features, which seem to be emotionless, with an arched brow. But she gives nothing away, clearly having recognized her earlier mistake.

“Thank you,” Joohyun replies politely, surprising both you and Sooyoung as you peer at your girlfriend with widened eyes, noticing, however, that as she finishes speaking her lips are pressed together. 

You nod, shaking yourself out of your stupor as you lamely add, “Congratulations to you too Sooyoung.” 

Sooyoung stares at you for a long second, as if she’s committing this moment to memory, before she excuses herself, walking away from the two of you. Your chest aches, because when you blink you see a million memories, reminding you of what feels like a far off dream, and for just for a second you remember a time that seems so long ago it can’t possibly be real, when Sooyoung and you weren’t so far apart. And you’re so desperate because you can feel her slipping, and you know today is your last chance to grab hold of her once again before she floats away forever. But you can’t seem to yell out to her, your heart cracking one last time over Park Sooyoung, the girl you once considered your closest friend turned stranger, as you finally realize the inevitable, your rose-tinted fantasies crumbling into ashes. 

Your chapter with Sooyoung is over, and there’s nothing you can do to extend it, there’s nothing you can do to fix it, no matter how many times you’ve relentlessly combed over hundreds of solutions, playing them out in your head despite secretly knowing the answer. You don’t mourn the loss of the perfect world you wanted with Sooyoung and Joohyun, but instead, you embrace your new reality, accepting that you were fortunate enough to have grown up with Sooyoung, and the only thing you can hope for is that she’ll eventually be okay, just like you will be, as you allow her to walk away, one final time.

“Sooyoung,” You call, and when she looks back at you, a thousand unspoken words travel between you two, and for the second time in your life, you see her cry, tears pricking in your own eyes. “Good luck.” 

Sooyoung bows her head at you with a soft grin, and for a moment, it’s only you and her, soaking in bittersweetness together, the past versions of yourselves swirling around you and you can practically hear your shared childish laughter in your ears before it fades, you and Sooyoung standing at the start of two divided paths, your grasps on each other slipping. 

“You too,” She answers and the connection is severed as she glances between you and Joohyun one last time before continuing on, and with one final pang of your heart, you watch her fading form disappear into the crowd.

You turn to your girlfriend, your mouth upturned in a melancholic smile that you’re sure better resembles a grimace, and Joohyun reaches to you, her thumb gingerly brushing away the remaining teardrops on your cheek. “I’m proud of you,” She whispers, pulling you into a hug that slices through your resilient facade, and the sobs you’ve been holding in for weeks suddenly escape you, your body quivering in Joohyun’s firm grasp.

But each pained whimper that leaves your lips carries a portion of the immense weight you’ve been sustaining on your shoulders and lightens the pressure on your tired soul. It’s almost therapeutic, as all your compartmentalized emotions flow from you freely, dispersing into the air and by the time you let out your last cry, you feel anew. 

“I’m sorry,” You laugh, embarrassed, into Joohyun’s shoulder, shifting to look her in the eye, and wiping the wetness from your face. “I didn’t mean to cry.”

Joohyun shakes her head, her arms remaining around your waist. “Don’t apologize for that Y/N,” She rests her forehead against yours as she chuckles softly and this time she reaches for your pinky. “I have one more promise for you.”

“Yeah?”

“Promise me you’ll never apologize for crying.”

You stare at Joohyun for a moment, savoring the presence of the person you love, and not for the first time, it occurs to you, that while Joohyun might be the most beautiful human you’ve ever seen, what makes her so enthralling to you isn’t her looks but her caring and delicate deposition, and while you adore her confidence, you know that hidden under it lies a gentle girl with a timid touch who wants to be cared for as much as she cares for you. 

“Of course,” You say, and she doesn’t know it, but when you speak, you’re silently making her another promise, to always treasure her, and make sure she feels your adoration, a new determination to never let her go filling you, and suddenly the words you’ve wanted to say for so long are finally ready. “I love you,” You breathe out.

Joohyun beams, tightening her grip on you, and you yelp as she takes you by surprise, the older girl is shockingly strong as she lifts you into the air, twirling you for a brief second before placing you down, your body overwhelmed with affection. “I love you too” Joohyun murmurs, her expression pure bliss as she begins to repeatedly place feather-light kisses on random parts of your face, making you giggle.

She stops when she feels you reach to caress her cheek, and you watch her intently, her eyes practically glimmering while she leans into your hand with a soft sigh, and you can’t resist the urge to surge forward and press your lips against her, capturing them in such an intimate kiss that it makes you swoon, pouring all your love for her into it until you’re sure it’s tangible and you’re completely lost in everything that is her.

When you pull apart, Joohyun’s smile is wide, though you’re sure yours is wider, and you’re suddenly certain that loving Bae Joohyun is the easiest promise you’ve ever made. 

[ashes-writing]

born to be my baby pt two | stranger things ; s.harrington

tag list babes || req rules / fandoms+characters || send a req? || masterlist

CHAPTERS ; 

one can be found by clicking. stranger things masterlist is here.

AUTHORS NOTES;

so this story also has me in a chokehold now along with my gareth emerson one. i have major plans. this is going to serve as my foray into writing the actual canon events -as close as I can, maybe with changes as needed. This came to me almost the second I hit post on the first part so I figured that since I was up and it was on my mind I might as well get it out.

You guys have seriously blown me away because I never post anything with any intent beyond getting it out of my head, so all the comments/likes/reblogs/reblogs with tags are just ahhhhh.. I'm so blown away every single time because it means the world to me.

SUMMARY;

-- You were born to be my baby And baby, I was made to be your man and sooner or later, we'll get there.

PAIRING;

Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader

( beyond female parts, outfit / personality / hairstyle descriptions given, reader is pretty much a blank slate.. to the best of my ability.)

WARNINGS;

swearing, mutual pining, friends to lovers with a kind of slow burn but not too slow. Upside Down and it's unholy terrors will be making appearances in this but things will be changed to fit my personal narrative as needed. Eventual filth maybe? Angst, so much angst and pining, ugh.

TAGLIST;

@aurumbelis @allelitesmut @aries-arcade @cole22ann @chieflawyerpastatoad @ebonybloom @hcloangcls @heyaitsklaudia @hoeshii @hotgirlsshareaccounts @icequeen1371 @krys-orion @letsbedragonstogether @louderfortheback @musichealsscars @oflavenderandevie @secretsicanthideanymore @scoobiessnacks @suits-and-smirks @thechoiceslookgrimm @untitledarea are the only people present on my taglist currently. If you'd like to be added, click the link up top or let me know, I'll add you.

OTHER STUFF;

Reader is the same age as Steve. Both are 18+ here. Reader has her own place / is independent from her family, thus making this also a found family fic eventually (ie, the gang adopts her, haha). The Upside Down / events will occur here BUT BUT.. no deaths most likely and things miiight be changed if needed.

– later that night

“Carol and Nicole are still bitchy, I see.” you muse as Robin laughs and shrugs. “Mhm. They still think they run Hawkins too.” and you laugh about that. “Yeah, I got that vibe from Carol earlier. They were saying shit about Steve working in Scoops Ahoy, I think? Then they noticed me and started that whole fake nice thing they’re soooo good at.” you turn into the parking lot behind the bar and pull into the parking space with a big yellow 02 spraypainted in between the lines. 

Robin’s gazing at the building hesitantly. You giggle softly. “Look, I know it looks sketchy but.. The guy who owns the bar actually gave me a huge deal? Especially when I told him I’d do most of the legwork in painting and stuff in my unit. He takes off like, ten or fifteen percent of the rent? And he didn’t ask too many questions when I came in to look at the place, so.. I’m not complaining, honestly.” you take a drag of your cigarette and thump it out of your window, stepping on it when you get out of your car, crushing it beneath your shoe. You shut the car door with your hip and Robin shuts the door on her side. “Aren’t you gonna lock the car?” she asks.

You palm your face and double back, opening the door and locking it, then reaching across to do the same with her door. She’s lingering close, shuffling her sneakers against the pavement. You catch up to her and the two of you make your way up the back stairwell quickly. Not quite quick enough, as you happen to come in on the tail end of a fight that spills over into the little hallway, one of the bikers who frequents the bar settling in a drunken heap at your feet. You smush yourself against the wall and Robin does the same and the two of you make a break for it.

“Is it always like this?” Robin asks as you turn the corner and start up the second flight of stairs that it takes to get to your apartment. She spots the bright red door from the top of the stairwell and smirks, nodding to it. “Your door, I’m guessing?”

You laugh and nod. “Gus, he’s the owner. Said he’s gonna let everybody paint the  door whatever color they want. Gonna let ‘em do their own thing because he can’t be bothered to hire anyone.”

“And that one contractor in town only takes on high paying jobs. Apparently, he’s the one who put in Steve’s pool. I know because he came in and asked Steve how the heated pool was.” she’s telling you all about it as you unlock your door. Robin steps in behind you and her eyes are darting around as she grins. “Yeah, this is definitely your apartment.”

“Oh yeah?” you purr as you reach down and slip a finger down into the back of the heel you’re wearing, lifting your foot to let it settle on the floor. You take off the other heel and flex your toes, glaring at the shoes. “I am.. Not entirely sure those were the best purchases I’ve ever made.”

Robin’s snickering because you’ve got Richie Sambora front and center on the wall over your second hand couch. “Richie? Of all the men you could’ve put here, you have Richie Sambora?”

“Look at him!” you gesture at the framed print. Robin laughs when she turns and finds herself faced with a piece of leopard print cloth you’d gotten from the general store downtown and tacked up as a curtain to separate your bedroom and bathroom from the front of the apartment and the clear beads tacked over the top of it.

“Oh that. That’s where the magic doesn’t happen. Yet.” you laugh and wave a hand at the area dismissively as you start to take out the groceries you’d stopped to get on the way back from picking up Robin in preparation for the weekend ahead of you both.

“Wow, since when do you cook?”

“Robbie, c’mon.. Since we were eleven, at least. Remember?” “I remember a lot of visits from Hawkins Fire.” Robin retorts, making you pout. “Yeah?” you poke out your tongue, “Well, I got into it, it’s actually kinda relaxing. Still set shit on fire though, bite me.” you pout a little as you admit it to her.

“I thought so.”

“Hafuckingha, Robbie.”

“You’re painting a wall red?”

You glance over at Robin as she peeks into your bedroom and bathroom. You laugh and nod. “Mhm. I found some of that peel and stick leopard print drawer liner, that’s gonna go up too.” you drag a hand through your hair, “Unless I buy a huge frame and frame it.”

“Woman, what the hell?” Robin gestures to the chair sitting at your crowded vanity that’s loaded down with clothes. You laugh. “Gotta fix the hanging rod in the closet, apparently, it was not equipped or prepared for my clothes. I uh..Err.. I may have a problem?” you laugh it off sheepishly. You flip the light switch and Robin turns in a circle in the small bedroom that’s mostly taken up by your king sized mattresses. The bed frame pissed you off so it’s currently propped on the wall next to the bathroom door. She nods to the door. “That’s the bathroom, huh?”

“It’s tiny.” you warn as she disappears inside. Robin calls out through the closed door, “It’s the size of a closet!”

“I know!” you laugh as you flop down onto the bed, taking off the stockings you’d worn with your outfit for the day. After that, you took off the earrings and all your bracelets, the necklaces and your leather jacket, tossing the jacket at the chair. You’ve just started grabbing your favorite satin pajama shorts and the matching top and robe when Robin steps out. “I’m glad I’m not claustrophobic.”

“That’s what I said. But..” you step into the bathroom to change and take off your makeup, the door cracked so you can still talk, “It’s my space. At least now I don’t have to deal with Bob and Melanie and their excuses. Now they don’t have to bother making excuses, either. It works for everybody. Honestly, I’m surprised, “ you wet a black washcloth and pour some astringent into it, squishing until there’s a bit of foam coming through the rag, “That they said they’d help out with money if I need it?”

You step out of the bathroom and into the bedroom and Robin’s made herself at home, flopped across the bed, reading one of your issues of Cosmopolitan. “They did, huh?”

“Yeah, when they won that money and we moved, they really surprised me, they were very free with the money.” you shrug it off, grimacing. “Anyway, that doesn’t matter. How’s Hawkins High? What’s been going on since I left. I mean, I was shocked when I found out they were opening a mall here.” 

Robin laughs, raising to sit. “Yeah. Well, the highlight of the moment is the mall. It’s still boring as hell. Oh.. That note I said I’d give Tammy?”

You smile, your face lighting up only to fall when Robin frowns. “I didn’t.”

“Why the hell not, woman?”

“Well I mean… We don’t exactly live in a friendly place for… ya know.. My kind.”

You sigh and nod. “Yeah, makes sense I guess. Did you at least talk to her?”

Robin cringes and you groan quietly, shaking your head. Robin pouts. “I tried, okay? I tried.”

“Yeah, I know. Didn’t she move to Tennessee or something to try singing?”

“She did.” Robin laughs and you cringe about it. “Why, I’ll never know. I know you were in love with her but like.. Your girl could not sing.”

“Yeah, she really couldn’t.”

“Okay, so what about new prospects?”

Robin shrugs. “I’ve been busy between work and school and band.”

“Yeah.” you smile, nodding.

“So what’d you and Steve talk about earlier during your smoke break?”

You shrug. “Nothing, really.”

The lights flicker and the two of you share a look, your breath catching in your throat. You hate blackouts, the dark in general. And you hate it so much more when there’s bad weather as the cause. “I hope this storm doesn’t get as bad as they were saying on the radio on the way in.”

“Me too.”

The sounds of rowdy hard rock music and laughter and swearing drifts up through the floorboards and when the power goes out entirely, you can just faintly hear the patrons of the bar below raising hell about it. Thunder rattles the window and you and Robin jump a little.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’ve got candles and a flashlight.” the two of you make your way out into the kitchen and living room of the apartment and you find your flashlight and the box of matches. You and Robin go around lighting as many candles as you can and sink back down on the couch with the box of pizza you’d brought on the way sitting on the table in front of the sofa. And the topic of conversation turns back to school and people you knew or people Robin’s met in your absence.

“There’s a guy who lives in Forest Hills. He’d love you so much, holy shit, I mean.. You’re probably just his type. His name is Eddie.”

“Wait.. Eddie Munson, right?” you ask, laughing softly.

“Yeah! Wait, when did you meet him?”

“Well, you know I’ve always been nocturnal. We used to uh.. Wander around at night when everybody else was asleep. He’s sweet but like.. That spark isn’t there.”

“You mean the spark you feel around a certain dingus?”

“Hey, whoa.. He’s pretty, okay? Let’s not..” you take a bite of your slice of pizza and swallow it, “Let’s not go saying anything that serious. Besides, isn’t he dating that girl? Norah, Nelly… Nancy, that’s her name…”

“No, that ended last year. She’s dating some guy named Jonathan now.” Robin takes a bite of her pizza and shrugs. You laugh. “Then he’s got girls on top of girls on top of girls. Y’know I’m not his type.”

“Yeah, that’s what I told him earlier when he was asking a thousand questions.” Robin’s kind of giggling when she says it, searching your face for a reaction of some kind. You bite your lip and you try to stay quiet, you try to act casual, but in the end, your curiosity wins out. “What’d he ask?”

“I knew it!”

“Hey, I’m just curious what he’s asking about me.” you shrug it off and finish the slice of pizza up to the crust, sitting the crust in the box to grab another piece. You take a bite and wait.

“He was asking who you were. Then I told him and he remembered? And he was asking if you were dating anybody, stuff like that.” Robin’s smirking when you nearly choke on your pizza, reaching out to hit you between the shoulders. “Don’t die on me, he’s just a mere dingus.”

“Ha ha.” you gasp the word out, laughing. “What’d he remember?”

“More than I would’ve ever given the guy credit for noticing, truth be told.” 

“Such as?”

“The red cardigan you always wore? The way it covered your fingers? You doodled on your test papers, too. He remembered that.”

You giggle. “Yeah, I think that day the teacher let us grade each other’s papers, he got mine. I covered the one side in leopard dots and little hearts and stuff.”

“You’re not over him, are you?”

You shrug. “Maybe? Maybe not? I..” you trail off, biting your lip as you try to figure out the answer for yourself because you’re not really sure yet. “I dunno, to be honest. I mean I thought I was over him but then I saw him today and even in that stupid fucking uniform.” you fan yourself and Robin pretends to gag.

“He’s not that bad. I got the feeling when we talked the little bit we did talk earlier while we were smoking out back of the mall that he’s kinda like… Lonely?”

Robin groans and palms her face. “Be careful, you know how those guys are. I know he’s not that bad, but.. He is a dingus.”

“I know how they can be, but like… I dunno” you lean back into the sofa and let out a dramatic sigh. Robin nods to the Richie Sambora picture and laughs. “You kinda have a type.”

“Huh?”

“Well, Richie kinda has the hair situation Steve’s got going on. So do half of these other guys you have hanging up all over, come to think of it.” Robin’s teasing you and you pout, sticking your tongue out at her. 

“So he was asking about me, huh?” you mumble, mostly to yourself. Robin laughs and whacks you with one of the throw pillows you’d covered in black velvet fabric. “Hey! It was just a question, I’m not thinking about doing anything…”

But you kind of are. You just don’t know what exactly.

Friends. Maybe you could try being the guy’s friend. He certainly seemed like he needed those if the shit Carol was whispering to Nicole about him earlier were anything to go by.  

“I know that look, ___. You are.”

You shake your head, despite knowing damn well that yeah, maybe you are. “Maybe you could cut him some slack too?” you give her the smallest pleading look. “He just looked down earlier? Not himself, I dunno. Like Steve was always a mile a minute, Mr. Smooth talker and tonight he just… Wasn’t?” you look at her and she grumbles. “Fine. I’ll try.”

You smile a little.

“You.. do not go diving headfirst though, alright?”

You nod. Her advice makes sense.

“Yeah, yeah. Okay.”

“I mean it.” Robin repeats, firmer.

“Okay, alright! I swear. I’ll even pinky promise.” you hold out your pinky, linking with Robin’s.

–( steve’s house )

The phone rings and it cuts through the combination of big empty house and loud noisy mind. When he picks up and he hears the pop and hiss of static from the Camp Knowwhere payphone, Steve chuckles and grins. “Henderson, hey buddy.”

“Hey! How’s it going?”

“It’s going, man. You know me, always busy.” Steve says it, but in reality, he’s flipping through old yearbooks. He spots the picture of you in the 83 year book and he’s biting his lip. Trying to figure out which version of you he prefers. He remembers you a lot better now than he realized. He actually had a little bit of a crush on you at the beginning of the year, but then Nancy Wheeler caught his eye and he just kind of shoved that out of his head.

Carol always used to pick on you and it always used to piss him off.

To be fair, it always bothered him when Carol would start picking on anyone, but he remembers you specifically because it was one of the first times he ever voiced how it made him feel before he could stop himself from saying it.

“Steve?”

“I’m here, Henderson. Just ah..” he laughs and stands, pacing the living room with the phone in his hand and the cord near to wrapping his tall and muscular frame. “Just looking through yearbooks.”

“Ah, so you miss Hawkins High already, hm?”

“No, no. I was looking for a girl. I saw her earlier today in the mall? She used to live here but she moved or something and now she’s moved back.” he rubs his forehead. “Anyway, I just wanted to see something.”

“Uh huh, sure.”

“It’s not like that, Henderson.”

“Sure. You’re Steve Harrington, buddy. I know you. I know it has to be something. Did you talk to her? What’d she say?”

“Hey, whoa.. How about you tell me about how camp’s going so far, huh? I wanna hear all about it.”

Steve falls back against an expensive sofa and reclines his legs over the back of it. Laughing as Dustin starts to tell him about his camp girlfriend Suzy and the fact that they’re letting them build robots and they’re going to launch rockets on the last day. And Steve is smiling, laughing. Listening to Dustin because he feels a lot less lonely.

He has somebody to talk to right now, when his mind just won’t shut up.

He can talk to Dustin and the house doesn’t seem so big or so empty. And the kid’s fast become like the little sibling he never got to have.

He’s hesitant to tell Dustin this, of course, but it goes without saying.

As soon as he hangs up with Dustin, he’s flipping through the annual again, looking for a sneaky candid. Anything else that’ll give him another glimpse of you. And towards the back, he finds it. It’s a picture of you and Robin at a school carnival, in the face painting booth. The smile on your face makes him smile a little and as soon as he realizes it, he slams the yearbook shut and places it back into the cardboard box.

[boldlyvoid]

Breakable Heaven | Chapter Eight: LDSK

18+

Summary: a lot can happen in 2 days.

Warnings: LDSK plotline, canon typical violence, gun violence (y'all know), Hotch verbally and physically assaults spencer, Haley goes into Labour

Word Count: 5k

Masterlist

Looking at all the information in front of her, she felt a little overwhelmed. This wasn’t what she was expecting for her first big case with them, especially not when Spencer was about to fail his gun qualification... She was still so mad at him, that she didn't even kiss him goodbye before he got on the plane.

Franklin Park Des Planes 

3 shootings in two weeks

6 shot all in the abdomen, 1 fatality 

1st - married father of 3, died outside a shopping mall parking lot

9 days later - Miller, Parks @ community centre 

4 days later (today) - Middleton, Murray, Reilly @ Franklin Park 

No link between victims, using frangible rounds which fragment on impact and make ballistics comparisons basically impossible. 

1 patient has an in-tact bullet lodged in his spine.

Her notes from the briefing were even more intense.. 

Long Distance Serial killer - never before caught with a profile 

Always male, frequently have law enforcement or military experience and they always contact the police or the media - For both credit and to relive the experience 

Underkill /= Sadistic Killer?

Smart, resourceful, paranoid sociopath? 

Does he aim to wound or because it’s the biggest spot on the target? Is he unable to take the kill shot with skill or willpower?

She sighs, overwhelmed as all hell and Penelope can see it on her face. “Wanna talk about it?” 

“The case or my love life?” She turns to her with an unimpressed glance, miserable regardless of what she picked. 

“I’m sorry we caused that,” she keeps her voice down even though it’s just the two of them. 

“It’s fine,” she waves it off and looks over her shoulder to the flight path, “they’re getting ready to land soon, is there anything I should be doing right now?” 

“Uh,” Penelope looks around at all her paperwork. “Can you use those computers over there to go through the men in Des Planes with honourable and dishonourable discharges or past police work and pinpoint the weird ones?” 

“On it,” she wheels over to the other desk and starts imputing the perimeters, searching through everything to the best of her abilities. 

She connected a few dots, matching current police officers to their former military files and double-crossing it with their shift changes and ordering in cellphone pings for them over the last 3 weeks. No one was a perfect match, but she did notice one thing. 

She called Gideon as soon as he was at the Des Planes hospital, even though she didn’t want to talk to him, this was of his concern. “What do you have?” Is how he picks up. 

“Each shooting happens between the first/second shift changes, is it more likely for him to be coming off the first or doing it before the second?” 

“Good question,” he thinks it over. “It’s most likely going to be before, so he can look into said shooter without anyone knowing it’s him… thanks for the tip.” 

And like that, he hangs up. 

“Is Gideon always so dry?” 

“Most of the time, yeah,” she shrugs it off. “I think it’s easier for him to not take it home if he’s a grouch all the time.” 

“He told Spencer not to date me?” She finally lets it slip. “And he said he wasn’t were just fucking… and I told him I’m over it now that he’s explained why but like, I’m still so pissed?” 

“Understandably,” Penelope sympathizes. “I didn’t think he’d hold back once he got a girlfriend, I thought he’d be screaming it from the rooftops…” 

“Cause he’s been single for so long?” 

She nods, “yeah, and he deserves to have someone love him. Really love him.” 

“Believe me, I do,” she can’t help but blush. “It's almost scary how much I love him.” 

“I know he loves you, too. Ever since the banquet I knew you two were going to end up together,” she shimmies with glee. “It’s so nice to see two smart young people with such different lives come together and fall in love and sneak around and pretend they’re not.”

She laughs, “it’s stressful when it’s happening to you… but then again you know what that’s like.” 

“I’ve never had a secret boyfriend?” Penelope looks confused. 

“Derek?” Andy points out. “You two are made for each other.” 

“No, no, I’m afraid you’ve fallen victim to my fabulous acting skills,” she sighs, covering her eyes and spinning in her office chair. “We’re simply ships passing in the night.” 

“Uh-huh,” she doesn’t believe it for a second. “Just promise me I can be the maid of honour at your wedding?” 

—

The morning of day 2 was weird. 

She woke up alone at her house, made her own coffee, she even kissed Haley’s tummy and said goodbye to her before she drove off by herself. 

She spent last night on the phone with Spencer, the team had the night off as they, unfortunately, waited for another shooting to happen. The more victims, the more clues, that was the most disturbing part of the job to her. Just waiting for people to die. 

Not long after they woke up, the 4th shooting happened. 3 people were simply having lunch when the shots rang through the courtyard, wounding them all. 

They made it to the hospital in time, all 3 people would live but at what cost? The damage done to their bodies and minds will last a lifetime, but it was Andy’s job to catch this guy and help ease that pain a bit. Let it not be for nothing.

She spends a lot of her day calling her dad, well, Agent Hotchner, with the information she’s gathered. They knew so far, that the slug they removed from a survivor's spine matched to an M4 version of the M16 rifle… it’s an intense weapon that requires a lot of skill. This man was indeed trained, skilled and aiming for the stomachs for a reason. 

Today they were re-enacting exactly how the shooter was able to do what he did during the 3rd shooting, in broad daylight, in the middle of a park, without a single person noticing him. They figured he parked in a homemade handicap spot, sat in his trunk and shot the 3 easiest targets at the time before speeding out. 

Garcia had a secondary feed streaming to her bat cave from every angle of the park, watching the team set up and move around. Andy’s eyes stayed mostly on Spencer. 

He was with Derek in the field, pretending to be the father and son playing football before the father was shot. He had a camera in his hands, detailing his view of the situation at hand to further examine if that witness could tell them anything more. So far, they had nothing. 

Gideon and JJ are in the trailer on site, watching the same feed as them and on speakerphone with Penelope. She heard every order, she knew everything that was happening and then suddenly she didn’t. 

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me,” JJ’s voice rumbles down the line. “Look at this,” she’s clearly talking to Gideon and the squad leader. 

“Contact with the media,” Gideon responds and then they head feet shuffling out of the room followed by silence. 

Penelope starts searching, finding the Des Planes news coverage as they described the re-enactment and told the public that a member of the police department was the shooter. 

Just before the reporter can sign off, JJ is walking up behind him with anger beaming from her eyes. “FBI. We need you to reveal your sources.” 

“I know my rights,” he scoffs. “I’m not telling you anything— hey!” 

Gideon grabs his arms and twists them behind his back, reaching for a set of handcuffs. 

“We believe this is an act of terrorism, and under the patriot act, we can detain you for as long as we need to,” JJ informs him. “Now, who is your source.” 

“I don’t know, really!” He gets defensive. “All I have is the phone number that called in the tip.” 

“Watch this,” Penelope turns to Andy with a smirk. Her phone rings then and she taps the connect button, “yes sir.” 

“Garcia, we need you to run a number for us, 847 555 5843.” 

“on it,” she says while typing away, pulling up screens and transferring information, she worked faster than Andy’s eyes could even follow. “It’s a police-issued work phone… give me a minute to pull up the system. McCarty. Scott McCarty.” 

“Thanks,” Gideon hangs up almost as fast as he called and her eyes were back on the screen. 

No one is moving. There isn’t a fallback order, nothing. “Shouldn’t we tell them the shooter is possibly there?” 

Penelope shakes her head, “starting a commotion could make him start shooting.” 

Minutes feel like hours as she watches in fear, the worst anxiety she’s ever known creeps up her throat as she watches Spencer carefully. She feels almost weepy, far too in love with this man to be doing this kind of job with him.

“How do you do this?” She whispers. “How do you sit here and listen to terrible things happen every day?” 

“Kinda have to,” she reminded Andy. “But I cope with these,” she teaches forward and grabs a little purple stuffed owl to hand to Andy. “They bring me comfort and joy, and whenever something happens, like when someone dies and I feel like if I did something sooner, it would help… I buy one of these and I put them here so that they can help me save the next person.” 

“But what if it was Spencer?” She whispers again. 

“It won’t be,” she tries her best to assure Andy, rubbing her back gently. “Derek's got his back.” 

And that he did. As soon as the SWAT team moved in for McCarty, who just so happened to be playing the fake unsub, Derek pulled Spencer to the ground. 

“Get down!!” Derek basically got on top of Spencer, shielding his head with his arm as he watched the SWAT guys take down the unsub. 

Just when it seemed safe, just when he let Spencer sit back up, a shot rang through the open field. McCarty was shot between the eyes. From where? No one knew. Everyone simply hit the deck while SWAT raised their weapons and started looking around. 

“oh my god,” Andy covers her mouth as she gasps, “he was there!!” 

Penelope immediately pulls up traffic footage for the area, watching every single car that was going slightly above the speed limit, swerving or just looking sketchy. She flipped between screens while Andy moved to the other side of the office, she logged back onto her set of computers and began looking into everything about Scott McCarty. 

His recent contacts, shift schedules, his wife, her MSN account, and their digital footprint was small but from what she saw, he was just a normal man. Now deceased for no reason other than the unsubs inability to share the spotlight… that was it. 

She called her dad quickly, it rang and rang until finally, he picked up. “I think I figured it out,” she leads. 

“What?” 

“He shot McCarty because he took his lime lite, he shot a cop between the eyes in broad daylight, I don’t think he’s a cop… what if he’s an EMT? He wouldn’t have contacted the media if he’s the one picking the victims up?” 

“Hero Homicide,” he confirms her theory. “Check into all medical personnel between the Des Planes and Arlington Hospitals, if he’s switching jurisdictions then he might have gotten fired and moved to another hospital. This is a fantastic lead, Andy.” 

“Go get him, dad.” 

—

They watched Gideon and the surgeon that removed the slug from one of the victims argue behind glass. In the small observation room together, Gideon accused the extremely narcissistic man of a murder charge. 

Doctor Landman was one of those doctors who believed he was god, that no one was in better hands than his own. He wasn’t the most talented, he was so arrogant they turned him down for chief of surgery, he fucked all the nurses and even some of the doctors and drove a hot red car.

He was a douch. 

“My guess is Dr. Pate is going to corroborate Landman’s alibi,” Hotch explained as he led Spencer down the hall towards the OR. apparently, this woman was sleeping with him at the time of the last shooting. 

“You don’t think Landman’s the shooter? 

“Richard Angelo wanted to be a hero because in his everyday life he was a nobody. Landman’s a surgeon. He has power and recognition— 

“Yeah but you know surgeons are a different breed. They’re the stars in their field and Landman is definitely not one of them,” Spencer scoffs quickly. 

“Excuse me, I’d like to speak to Dr. Pate?” Hotch asks the first person in a white coat he sees. His badge was open and in front of the man so he knew it was important. 

Cautiously, the man looks him up and down, “yes sir. I’ll go find her for you.” He turns immediately and walks away, unable to give them a view of his name tag for a follow-up. 

Spencer notices how weird that is but he lets it slip. Everyone must’ve been on high alert knowing a shooter was somewhere in their town. Who knew when the hospital was next on his to-do list, right? 

“The motivations of hero homicide are excitement, power and respect, and even though Landman’s not a star, he still gets respect. Racing against the clock to save someone's life is exciting."

"Maybe it's not exciting enough," Spencer mumbles, "that’s… thats why he shoots three people at the same time." 

"But he can only operate on one at a time," Hotch adds, making him think harder. "It wouldn’t be any more exciting…. At least not for Landman and not in the OR."

"Policemen and ER personnel are on the exact same 24-hour shift schedule," Spencer comes to the same conclusion Andy had on the phone. "The unsub wasn’t shooting on shift change because there are fewer cops on the street. He works the second shift in the emergency room!"

Hotch takes out his phone and hits buttons to no avail, “sir, you can't use a cellphone in a hospital.” A nurse announces as she hears the dial tone. 

Hotch migrates over to her, Reid in tow. “Excuse me, for a moment, please?” 

She follows him around the nurse's counter and watches him take his badge out once more. “We’re FBI agents, and we believe that one of your staff members might be the sniper.” He uses a calm and delicate tone with her, talking at her level with words she would get outside of his profile. 

Her eyes widen but she keeps her composure. 

“Now the man that we’re looking for works the second shift, and he would’ve transferred from Arlington in the past two weeks.”

“We haven’t hired any new personnel in two months.” 

“Are you sure?

“Yeah.” She’s very certain. “I’ve got patients who need me,” she goes to walk away from him, not interested in being fear mongered into giving him information. 

Aaron places a gentle hand on her arm, “he’s vain, rude, arrogant, he works out, he shows up to work late, he blames others for his mistakes,” he lists on and her expression falters. 

She looks away as she falls deeper in thought, she knows someone who fits that exact description and her heart sinks to her stomach. “Oh, my god. It’s Philip Dowd. he’s— he picks up shifts at Arlington.”

“Is he here today?” He keeps his voice calm so that she will follow his lead. 

She looks around, beginning to panic, “oh, my god?” 

“It’s okay,” Aaron soothes her gently. “Your patients need you to stay calm. Tell me, is Dowd working today?” 

She nods, swallowing sharply to hold in her fear. 

“Do you see him?” 

She looks around carefully, Spencer follows her eyes as a second measure. “no.” 

“Go tell Gideon,” Hotch taps Spencer on the shoulder and then he’s off. 

Running around the nurse's station like a chicken with its head cut off, barely looking where he’s going, “Reid, easy.”  Hotch reminds him and he slows slightly. Not wanting to cause panic in the hospital by proxy. 

He starts walking calmly towards the doors as the same man they talked to before comes barreling in removing his M16 from under his doctor's coat. Before Spencer has time to react, Dowd hits him in the nose with the butt of his gun, knocking him to the floor. 

He loads the weapon, ignoring Spencer’s passed-out form as he aims for the one and only security guard in the OR. he makes the man drop his gun, he grips him by the uniform and holds him as leverage. His first order of business is to shoot out the control room, insuring not a single message could be sent out and sending the OR into lockdown mode. 

The lights drop to an ugly yellow, alarming everyone inside as they seek to cover. Hotch is quick to pull his gun, pointing it at Dowd. 

Dowd points right back, only his weapon is much larger and much more powerful. “Nobody moves and nobody dies.”

—

Haley never normally called Penelope… she normally called Aaron or Anderson, but never Penelope. 

The name pops up on her screen, Andy sees it from over her shoulder, she’s on line 3, so Andy picks up. “Haley?” 

“Oh, thank God,” she sounds panicked, her breathing heavy and laboured, “my water broke and I can’t get ahold of Jess and Aaron is god knows where, I need you, Andy. I need you, please?” She’s crying, scared and in pain. 

“I’m on my way, you stay put and don’t hesitate to call 911 if you feel you’re not safe! I’m coming!” She waits for Haley’s string of “okay, okay,” and hangs the phone up. 

Penelope heard all of it in her ear, “you go, I’ll tell Aaron when I can.” 

“Please, make sure they get out of there safe,” she takes a moment to be scared, too. “Jack can’t lose his dad before he even gets to meet him… a-and—

“Spencer will get to hear you tell him you love him again, I promise, now go!” Penelope shoos her and she’s off. 

Her heels click and clack as she runs down the long hallway, knowing if she got to the other side of the building the elevators where she’s parked in the garage will be closer. And just her luck, the doors open as she comes barreling towards them. 

“Hold it! Hold it!” 

The man keeps his arm in front of the door, she attempts to slow down but only stops when she hits the elevator wall, “sorry, sorry,” she tries to catch her breath. “Garage, my moms in labour.” 

He hits the button for her, “you’re Hotchner’s kid, right?” 

She nods, still winded from running, “yep. That’s me.” 

She starts digging through her purse, looking for her keys and finding them all the way at the bottom. The man watches the whole time, he looks familiar but she has no idea who he is. He doesn’t say much more until the doors open on his floor, “good luck, and congrats!” 

“Thanks,” she presses the close doors button so the elevator will go faster, she really needed to get her ass moving. 

It was Haley’s first baby, and while it was a boy, she was concerned that he would come fast. There were so many wives' tales that boys took forever, they would stay in there as long as possible and their labours were always long… but Haley’s been on the edge of labour for so long, there was no knowing with this one. 

She’s on auto-pilot as she drives home. Her mind is in a million different places, she can’t even imagine missing her own kids' birth, her dad was probably losing his mind… and how was she going to tell Haley that Aaron was in the same hospital as an LDSK…

—

Within seconds, Aaron's gun was unholstered, off the safety and pointed at Dowd. 

Aaron stared him down, sandwiched between their aim was the poor guard, shaking and sweating while he stared at Aaron with pleading eyes. 

“It better be a headshot,” Dowd eggs him on. “I got this on full auto. Anything less, I go down squeezing the trigger.” 

Aaron lowers his weapon and places it on the counter. Dowd knocks the unarmed guard to the floor, moving over to Aaron to take his weapon. He calls Spencer up from the floor, “come on, up. Double time!” 

Spencer nervously rushes over, falling behind Hotch in fear. 

“Take your partner's gun and place it on the counter.” 

“He’s not armed,” Hotch answers promptly, but down hesitates to believe him. “See for yourself.” He pushes Spencer towards him, 

“Hands on your heads,” he insists before he pats him down. “Okay,” he believes him when he feels nothing. He beckons the guard closer, making him cuff the two agents and then himself with zip-ties. “Get down on the ground.” 

Spencer sits in seconds, Aaron slowly moves, unwilling to diminish his dominance. 

“Now what kind of agent doesn’t carry a gun?” Dowd laughs at him. 

“I’m a profiler,” Spencer can barely meet his eyes, shaking in fear. 

He was never going to see Andy again. He was doing the one thing he promised he wouldn’t do to her, only two days after she asked. He was going to die, he was going to let her dad die, and he wasn’t going to be able to do anything to help. 

“They sent you to figure me out?” He gets angrier. 

“We did, thats how we found—,” Spencer bites back. 

“Shut up, Reid,” Hotch cuts him off with a stern voice. 

“No, no, don’t shut up,” he’s interested in what Spencer has to say. “What do you think you know about me, boy?” 

Spencer hesitates, unsure what the best approach could be when Hotch comes in, “go on, genius. Tell him. Tell Him!” He gets angrier. “But remember, get it wrong and he’s going to kill you.”

Spencer's gaze flip-flops between the two men, horrified as Dowd nods in agreement, “yeah.”

He swallows sharply, unable to do that. Frozen in fear. 

“Okay, then,” he turns the gun to Hotch. “You’re the boss, you tell me. Who am I? What’s my plan?” 

“I know you shot 11 people in broad daylight and left us nothing,” he complains, mirroring the same narcissism as him but not in a competitive sense. It was a way that he would be able to relate, to compare to himself and maybe, hopefully, loop Hotch into his plan. 

“You excited a cop in front of the FBI and got away clean and I know your plan is to go down in a hail of bullets.”

“And?” He wants more. 

“I know you’re the smartest man in every room and no one’s ever known it. People feel threatened by you and try to sabotage you every chance they get. You’re not a bad person, you helped save all your victims afterward. The first guy wasn’t even your fault?” His shoulders raise, and his face scrunches like he has a sour taste in his mouth. “If the paramedics weren’t so fucking incompetent you’d have a perfect record.” 

“It took those guys 13 minutes. THIRTEEN!” He screams. As riled up as Hotch was trying to get him. 

“You’re gonna want to barricade the door,” he keeps his voice low but his brows raised, antagonizing him. 

Spencer turns to him with fear, “what?” 

“Shut up,” he spits back at Spencer, something he’d never normally do. That’s when Spencer got it. “Have me and the kid do it. Let them see that you’ve got two FBI agents in here doing your bidding.”

“Yeah right, let you give them a signal?” He tries to stay one step ahead of Hotch, but he can't. 

“What signal?” He gets visibly fed up. “They knew you were in here and armed and they sent me in with the gunless child who can’t shoot his way out of a wet paper bag. What can I tell them?” 

Dowd snaps back into it, holding the gun up so he can look at Hotch through the site, “what is this? Some kind of profiler trick?” 

Hotch stares him down, not faltering for a second. 

“I mean,” Dowd lowers his weapon just slightly. “The barricade is a good idea… but why the hell do you want to help me?” 

Hotch laughs, “oh, I don’t. I’m just sick and fucking tired of this. You know he’s sleeping with my daughter?” He points at Spencer, his anger building. “He pretends to love her but he’s just doing it to build his way up through the FBI, hanging off me and my reputation like a leech and now look where we are?” 

Dowd laughs, “this loser?” 

“Tell me about it,” Aaron huffs.

“So you want to help me?” 

“I don’t want to help you, but when they come storming in here for the cop you killed you’re going to go down fighting and a lot of us are going to die in the crossfire. They sent me in here, I figure why make it easy for them?” 

“Oh, thats good,” Dowd loves it. 

“Mhm,” he nods, smirking at him. “And you wanna know why they took away boy genius’s gun?”

“Why?” He wants a good laugh. 

“He failed his qualification 2 days ago!” He lets his frustration out, and it's that simple lie that leads Spencer to believe this is all plan… 

“Twice a year I’ve gotta hear him whine about re-qualifying and every year I try and help him and you know how he repays me? By spending more time shooting into my daughter and then telling people he doesn’t even love her! He’s a sick little fuck, it serves him right to go out like this.” 

“You think you’ve got it rough?” Dowd’s anger builds again. “These people done nothing but undermine me since I got here.”

“Put them next to the barricade,” Hotch says it like it’s nothing, but it’s far from nothing. He’s moving all the civilians out of the way. “That way when they blast their way in here, both our problems are solved… that kinda thing could ruin a cop's career.” 

“You are one sick mother fucker,” Dowd shakes his head with glee. 

“how do you think I found you?” Hotch smiles. “We’ve walked the same path, been dealt the same cards, walked all over, kicked when we’re down. It’s our turn to show them who they’ve been messing with.” 

His ankle gun.

Hotch wasn’t fully pat down, he still had a weapon. He was dropping clues for Spencer with each mean word he said against him. Andy must’ve told him about their session shooting the other day, how she told him to be able to protect her father at all costs, even if he didn’t have a gun on himself. There would always be another one on Aaron.  

“Let's do this,” he smirks and then looks past Aaron with his gun held up, “I want all of you against this wall. NOW!” He points by the door and they all flee like moths to light. Huddling close in fear as they sit back down on the ground. 

Once everyone is where they are, Aaron speaks up again. “Can I ask you a favour?” 

“Like?” Dowd spins back to him, guards down fully now. He trusted Aaron. 

“I figured the chances of my getting out of here are pretty slim, so, can I just beat the shit out of him while I still have the chance?” He motions to Spencer.

Dowd laughs, “be my guest.” 

Aaron stands, towering over Spencer, he mouths, “left,” and begins to kick him. “You stupid, arrogant, know it all.” Each word gets him a kick. It hurt, he pushed through it, nonchalantly unclipping the holster and taking the small revolver from him. 

He kicks him a few more times for good measure, “fuck you! Fuck you for ruining my life, my family!! My daughter's innocence!” That one felt too real. 

“Fuck you,” he takes a deep breath and pulls back. Huffing slightly he slumps back down. “Thanks, Phil.” 

Laying on his side, cowering in pain, Spencer keeps the gun out of his sight. 

“I think he got the message,” Hotch announces and Dowd smiles at him, big and wide when the shot rings out and the blood starts to trickle down his face. 

He drops to his knees and then faceplants, dead in a pool of his own blood. Spencer did that. He shot him. He saved the day. 

“Oh my god?” He turns to Hotch as he runs to the door. 

“Hold your fire!! Federal Agent, hold it!!” He waves his hands, getting the civilians out of the way again. “I’m so sorry, I’m sorry.” He apologizes to everyone. The nurse he talked to earlier runs into his arms, sobbing. 

The whole room lingers with fear. 

By the time he sees Hotch again, he’s sitting in the back of an ambulance holding the small revolver in his hands. “Hey, Spence.” 

He smiles at him, “you don’t have to say anything. I know you didn’t really mean it.” 

He takes a seat beside Spencer and wraps his arm around him, “whether we like it or not, we’re family now. I need you to know that as long as you mean the world to Andy, you mean the world to me too. I wouldn’t let you die and I’m thankful you got the memo.” 

“I couldn’t let you die either,” he manages to laugh, “even if I lived, she’d murder me. And no offence, sir, but she’s scarier than you.”

“That’s how I raised her to be,” Aaron assures him with a sweet smirk. “I’m really glad that out of all the guys in the world, she picked you.” 

Spencer gives him a sweet smile, “so can I call you dad?” 

“Don’t push it,” Aaron pumps him with his shoulder. 

They sit in silence at the end of the ambulance, leaning on the bumper and taking a second to relax. Their blood pressure went down, breathing settled, and adrenaline went down… they both felt tired and ready for a nap on the plane ride home. 

When Aaron's phone rings, it’s Penelope’s name on the ID. “Hello?” He answers softly. 

“Sir, how are you?” She asks anxiously. 

“Okay… what’s up?” 

“um. Well—

“Penelope.” 

“Jack was born…” 

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BH

@elhotchner 

[blackhakumen]

Mini Fanfic #1099: Double Beach Date Day! (Super Smash Bros Ultimate X Street Fighter)

1:56 p.m. at Smash Beach.........

Luigi: (Sighs in Relaxation as He Sits Next to Chun-Li Under the Umbrella Together) Summer has finally arrived~ And today is a perfect day for it too.

Chun-Li: (Giggles Softly) We still have a few more weeks aheads before Summer actually starts.

Luigi: We do?

Chun-Li: Yeah. The 21st I believe?-

?????: PREPARE TO EAT MY DUST, SAMMY!

Luigi and Chun-Li turns to see they're significant other, Daisy and Samus, quickly running side by side one another.

Samus: ('Scoffs') Please. As if I'd lose to a Mayflower like you.

Daisy: (Gives Samus a Comical Glare) I told you not to call me that anymore!!

Samus: Oh, right. Forgive me, Ms. Sunflower Daffodil Mayflower. (Forms a Competitive, Wise Cracking Smirk on her Face) I'll do better in calling your name right next time.

Daisy let's out an loud, irriated groan as she and the Bounty Hunter continues to race one another through the beach barefooted.

Chun-Li: Are they racing? In the middle of the beach?

Luigi: ('Sigh') Looks like it. Samus must've said something to triggered Daisy into challenging her again....

Chun-Li: (Turns to Luigi) Were they always competitive to one another?

Luigi: Kind of. Daisy would usually try to one up Samus by challenging her to a lot of things: arm wrestling, push-ups, sparring, twerk-offs-

Chun-Li: (Snickers a Bit) Twerk-offs?

Luigi: Yes. Even twerk-offs. And Sammy managed to beat her in all of them, without even trying most of the time!

Chun-Li: Can't say that's too surprising considering the years of training and being a Bounty Hunter did for her.

Luigi: True, but Daisy's no slouch either. One time, I saw her carried Dedede all the way back to the mansion from the park.

Chun-Li: Impressive. Say, is it also true that she sent Bowser flying to the moon once? I remembered Sammy telling me that a while back.

Luigi: (Happily and Proudly Nodded) Oh yeah. With one slap across the face! (Takes his Phone Out From his Swimming Trunks' Pocket and Shows Chun-Li a Video of Daisy Bitch Slapping Bowser to the Blue Skies) See?

Chun-Li: (Amazed by the Clip Shown to her) Incredible.....(Looks Up at Luigi) How was she able to do that with someone as big as Bowser o-or Dedede even?

Luigi: None of us seem know how that's possible actually. (Smiles Brightly) All I know that it was more than enough to get Bowser scared of her 24/7 and I couldn't be any more proud of her!~

Chun-Li: (Giggles Softly) I can see that!~ You got yourself a pretty strong princess if I do say so myself~

Luigi: ('Sighs Dreamingly') Yeah~ She's amazing compared to me.....

Chun-Li: (Frowns a Bit Worryingly) What do you mean by that?

Luigi: (Shrugs) Well, I mean....She's so strong, brave, and confident at everything she does. (Frowns a Bit) Meanwhile, I'm still the wimpy, lesser known Mario Brother who gets scared easily.

A beach sudden fell over to the duo's sitting spot which causes Luigi to let out a shriek before quickly jumping onto Chun-Li's arms.

Yoshi: I'll get the ball, Li-Fen! (Runs Over to Luigi and Chun-Li) Sorry about that. (Picks the Ball Up From the Sandy Ground) The ball got you scared there, dad?

Luigi: ('Sigh') It did.... (Smiles Sheepishly) B-But I'll be okay!

Chun-Li: (Smiles as Well) Now thar I'm here. Your dad's in good hands.

Yoshi: (Smiles Brightly) Neat. (Rubs Back to Li-Fen With the Ball in his Hands) Thanks, Ms. Chun-Li!

Luigi: (Turbs to Chun-Li While Frowning Again) You see what I mean?

Chun-Li: (Puts Luigi Back Down to his Seat Next to her) There's nothing inherently wrong with getting startled and scared from time to time. You just can't let it be too frequent.

Luigi: (Nodded in Agreement) You're right. That's one of the few things I'm still working on admittedly.

Chun-Li: I could help you ease your nerves s bit by inviting you to meditation session with Foxy and I, someday this week.

Luigi: You'd.....do that for me?

Chun-Li: (Happily Nodded) Of course!~ Not only you're a dear friend of mine, but I see a whole lot of potential in you that has yet to be fully realized and I and everyone else of group of friends, wanna dp whatever we can to help you reach it.

Luigi: (Almost at a Loss For Words) Ms. Chun-Li....

Chun-Li: (Giggles Softly) Just call me Chun-Li, Weegie!~ Like I said, we're friends, aren't we? It's high time we start treating each other as such.

Luigi: (Stares at Chun-Li For a Brief Second Before Nodding in Agreement and Determination) R-Right! I'll give your meditation session a go, Chun-Li. Just.....don't tell Daisy about the comparison talk, okay? The last thing I want is for her get worried about me all day.

Chun-Li: (Simply Nodded) I will. But ONLY if you promise me to start believing in yourself more often. You have people in your life who loves you and are proud of what you've accomplished thus far and that's more important than what anyone else thinks.

Luigi: (Heart Begins to Melt in Genuine Happiness) You're absolutely right. (Gives Chun-Li a Hug) Thank you, Chun-Li.

Chun-Li: (Happily Hugs Luigi Back) Bù kèqì~

Samus: (Starts Panting a Bit as She Finally Arrives at Luigi and Chun-Li's Seat Spot) Looks like......I beat you.....yet again, Mayflower!......(Let's Out a Satisfied Sigh as She Sits Down Next to Chun-Li and Wipes the Sweat Off From her Forehead) Ohhh I'm awesome.....

Chun-Li: (Giggles Softly) Indeed you are, 'hon~ (Gives Samus a Kiss on the Cheek)

Daisy: (Crawls her Way to LuigI. While Panting More Than Samus Does) I.....told....your....cheating butt....not....to CALL ME THAT! (Let's Out a Sigh of Utter Defeat as She Looks Up at Luigi While Laying on his Legs) Hi, sweetie.....

Luigi: (Smiles Softly at his Princess) Hi, dear~ Sammy won again, didn't you?

Daisy: As in she cheated? Then yes. Yes, she did.

Samus: (Smirks Teasingly at Daisy) Oh don't be such a sore loser, Mayflower. I beat your ass fair and square.

Daisy: (Angrily Shakes her Fist at Samus) Quit calling- (Puts her Fist Down in Defeat and Exhaustion) Ah screw it. I'm too tired to be mad right now........

Luigi: (Gives Daisy a Reassuring Smile) At you're still a winner in my heart.

Daisy: (Heart Melts in Pure Happiness) Thanks, sweetie~ (Happily Hugs and Snuggles Onto her Man in Green) You're a winner in my heart too, in the sweetest way possible!~

Luigi: (Chuckles Lightly) Don't I know it~ Thabk.you for everything you've done for me so far. (Turns Samus) You too, Sammy.

Samus: (Smiles Brightly at Luigi) No problem, Weeg. So what you and Chuns here been talking about while I was whipping your loser Girlfriend's butt as usual?

Daisy: (Comically Glares at Samus) I get it, you're victorious! Get over ittttt!!!

Luigi: (Chuckles Some More) It was nothing too special.

Chun-Li: (Smiles Brightly) Just how cool you girls are is all!~

@keyenuta

@albion-93

@cyber-wildcat

@ma-lemons

@caleb13frede

[kingsuckjin]

Company Policy -JJK

- Pairing: coworker Jungkook x reader

- Genre: established relationship? Sort of

- Rating:18+

- Words: 5k

- Summary: Eight months. Eight months you have regretted breaking off being fuck buddies with your hot coworker. You were so afraid of being caught with him but now that you’ve had time to think, would it really be so bad as long as you could have him all to yourself again? Does he even like you anymore? Has he moved on? All you know is it’s been eight months since you’ve had sex, he’s been all you could think about. Now he’s looking pretty hot at this office party.

- Warnings: pining, explicit content, public sex, they fuck on a coworker’s desk, public sex, unprotected sex, vaginal fingering, heavy dirty talk, brief mention of oral sex and a ton of other past sexual acts like thigh riding and hair pulling, kind of jealous tattooed kook, not voyurism but someone else is there at some point, and finally a dash of fluff.

- A/n: This post is a commission for the ARMY for AAPI Justice and Advocacy Event. Please click >here< to find more resources and consider donating to the cause! Thank you so incredibly much to the donor @lcksndkys​ for donating and commissioning this, you are an absolute angel, I hope you know that. I might’ve gotten a bit carried away and wrote a few thousand more words than planned, but you deserve it. 

“Morning,” 

“Morning.” Was the greeting between you and Jungkook every morning when you stepped into the elevator, coffee in hand.

That was it, that was all you ever said to each other anymore. His smell always floated around the confined space making your mind flashback to what once was before you quickly pushed it away from your brain.

Neither of you ever said anything about it, it was like it had never even happened and sometimes you wonder if it even had or if your brain had made up everything that had happened eight months ago from your frequent dirty thoughts of your coworker. It felt like a lifetime ago. The familiarity of him, his smell, his smile, his voice along with the cold distance, avoidance to even look at you, and the constant wonder of him having someone else made you a little sick at your stomach.

You had decided to break things off… as if either of you were any more than fuck buddies. You knew that if anyone at work had ever found out about the two of you, you’d most likely both be fired. No banging other employees was a pretty strict policy there and you remembered the two nice ladies that were fired last year for it, you remembered it because your boss had made such an example of it.

You had been more than paranoid when you and Jungkook were boning for a whole month, you both had been so secretive even going as far as to have each other park down the street from your houses when the other came over. It didn’t help that you lived with your sister and didn’t want her to know you were sneaking someone in the house and screwing them. It also didn’t help that his roommate worked there too and didn’t get along at times. It didn’t seem like all the effort to sneak around was worth it at the time, but now you felt like you had a mistake.

As you took your seat behind the reception desk and began to put away your things for the morning, you just kept stealing glimpses of him doing the same at his cubicle. Every morning he would put his black messenger bag under his desk, turn on his computer, and roll the sleeves of his white button-up shirt up to reveal one very tattooed arm. His wavy hair was usually put back into a half ponytail for professionalism and probably so he could see, but there were always strands that managed to escape his hair elastic throughout the day. It was painful mentally at times having a view of him but trying not to look, it was painful knowing he wouldn’t look back at you anymore. You could still feel what it was like when he had glanced at you and smiled at you, your heart sped up at just the thought. 

“Ugh why are you always here so early, you leave before I even wake up.” his roommate,Jimin, had walked in, looking great as usual but a bit tired in the face. He was lingering around Jungkook’s desk with his things still in hand.

“I like to be prepared, unlike you.” Jungkook joked back with a smile but you knew it was just more than a joke, Jungkook really didn't care for Jimin, he was a bit too spiteful towards him sometimes.

He had always come in early, you both were typically the first ones here besides the janitor. You had to be, your boss liked you here nice and early to greet everyone as they walked in.

“You coming to the thing tonight? The boss is letting us have booze.” Jimin asked him.

You felt like you really shouldn’t be paying attention to the conversation so you went back to sipping your coffee and getting ready to start the day.

“Hey.”

It nearly scared you to death as you rummaged through your bag under the desk for your chapstick. Your body jolted up to see Jimin leaning one arm on the reception counter.

“What?” you asked in confusion, wondering what he was now doing hanging around you with such a sly smirk.

“Well good morning to you too. Are you going to the party tonight? Boss is having a thing to celebrate meeting our yearly product sales goal.”

“I… haven’t thought about it, why?” you were honest, it didn’t mean anything to you.

“I know we have this policy, but you should think about going with me.” he gave you a wink that made you raise your eyebrows in surprise. “We could come here and have a few drinks and a good time, then we could go back to my place and-”

“How about we don’t? We could just not do that.” you gave him a very fake smile.

Sudden loud coughing erupted through the room making you both look over at the source.

Jungkook was doubled over with his coffee still in his hand.

“You good?” Jimin asked him casually and Jungkook gave a thumbs up to show he was fine, even though his big eyes were slightly teary before holding up his coffee cup to signify he had strangled on his coffee.

“Anyway, if you’re worried about someone saying something about us, you could just come separately and we could just see what happens…”

“I’m not worried because there is no us, Jimin. I’ll come, but let’s not see what happens, and let’s not even speak.” 

“Your loss. At least I’ll have Jungkook there with me.” Jimin responded along with a shrug to your savage words before walking away.

You looked over to Jungkook to make sure he hadn’t died because he was no longer choking, you just wanted to make sure he was still breathing but your eyes were met with his. He was giving you this gaze before he raised his eyebrows at you with a slight momentary smirk, it all only lasted less than a split second before he adjusted his black tie and turned back around to face his desk. 

How could he be so casual with a look like that at you? How could he be so casual with everything that had happened between you? You had no idea what that look was about but it had your brain so frazzled. It could’ve been nothing, but it was the most interaction you’ve had with him in so long, all it had done was remind you how starved for him you were.

You looked down at your desk feeling your face get a little warm.

Images of that very shirt he was wearing right now, being unbuttoned rapidly with those tattooed fingers in some dark, sketchy hotel room ran through your mind. 

“I wish you knew how much I’d go through to be this close to you, to be inside of you.” The memory of his words and hushed voice into your skin gave you goosebumps.

The same man who had said that now sat right over there, not even having tried to flirt with you in the past eight months as you sat here and wondered why you do this to yourself. 

Did he still feel that way or had he just meant it at the moment? There were plenty at the moment things that he had said that would flood into your mind just to hurt you when you saw him.

You glanced at him throughout the day as you often did.

You avoided each other on your lunch break, stepping around each other to get to the vending machines in the break room.

You ate at your desk alone while he ate with Jimin in the break room.

Things were the same as they had been, the look he had given you earlier meant nothing, maybe nothing that had happened in the past meant nothing to him too.

Maybe it was all just fun like you both had planned for it to be, if so, why were you still so stuck on it? Why were you stuck on him? You told yourself it was just because he was attractive, the most gorgeous man in the office, but there were just these little things about him you couldn’t get over. The way he stretched and grunted in the morning, you knew the way he liked his coffee, you knew his parents’ names. You had both shared so much of your lives for an entire month almost constantly until you ripped it away from yourself so stupidly. You had both agreed to delete each other’s numbers, but the truth was, you still kept his name in your phone with little hearts by his name. You needed this to end, you needed to stop being so hung up on him because he wasn’t with you. You decided to go to this thing tonight and at least hope for some answers, if you failed to get any you would do your best to stop thinking about him.

------------------ 

You had talked yourself out of this more than five times already, but you had gotten dressed and ready and made the drive over.

You now sat in the office parking lot just picking lint off of your black dress, not looking forward to how awkward this might be. In your years of working there, you had mostly just kept to yourself… until the thing with Jungkook happened.

“Are you nervous? You look nervous” he gave you a little smile from across the table from the coffee shop. He had asked you to get coffee after work and he could see right through you

“A little.” You had admitted.

“Don’t be shy, it’s just me. It’s just Jungkook, we work together every day.”

“Don’t be nervous.” You found yourself saying out loud to yourself as you gazed out your windshield at the building. “I shouldn’t be. I work with him every day and nothings going to happen anyway.” You hurt yourself a little with the last part. You put a lot more care into how you looked tonight than you wanted to admit.

“It’s just a stupid office party,” you grumbled to yourself before unbuckling your seatbelt and getting out of the car, if it was horrible or boring then you could just go home.

-----

You didn’t know what you had expected, but it wasn’t this. You had followed the signs to the floor that had held a large meeting room, but it didn’t look like a meeting room now.

It was just a room full of people with a snack table and alcohol. The room was dimmed but there were some cheap party effects lighting things happening. People were laughing and talking over some pop music that wasn’t eardrum-bustlingly loud but you still had to strain to hear over. You spotted a lot of coworkers you saw every day, more that you didn’t know from different departments though. You kind of just went and stood by a wall with your eyes searching faces, not stopping too long on any just in case they might think you were staring at them. Before you had left you wondered if you had been too dressed up, but now you were glad for your little black dress as you saw what the others were wearing. Everyone looked so nice and not at all what you were used to them wearing. 

While your eyes were going over who was talking to who, you found him.

In the corner of the room on the opposite end, talking to some girl you had only seen a handful of times. She was touching her hair and smiling at him. He looked so dressed down in his ripped black jeans and a black t-shirt. His tattoos were freed as you had always liked seeing and his hair wasn’t being held back. You had seen him like this multiple times, but had anyone else? He had always looked so good like this, so himself. 

Just seeing his hair down reminded you of all the times you had grabbed at it while moaning his name. Seeing him in those black ripped jeans reminded you of all the times he has made you ride his chiseled, hard thighs until you came multiple times. 

You felt like you had been kicked in the heart as your brain went back to the present moment and saw her placing a hand on his shoulder.

He laughed at something she had said but took a step back out of her grasp smoothly before giving her a small wave. A few more words were exchanged before she apprehensively walked away from him, heaving him alone to stand at the wall on the other side of the room.

Your eyes darted away from him and over to the snack and drink table, you weren’t planning on getting any, but you wanted to make it look that way.

You felt nervous, he looked good and at least one other person had noticed. You told yourself that the lady who had just spoken to him didn’t know him as you did, she probably just saw a hot guy dressed in black with tattoos… just like you had when you both had started whatever happened. He was more than all of that, to you especially now after you had a lot of time to think about it all.

Although you didn’t want your eyes to, they had darted to him for a split second to see he had his phone out… until he looked up from it at you.

He had seen you, he had seen you looking at him from across the room, but he didn’t react. Instead, his eyes went back down to his phone, and yours went back to the table.

Your phone buzzed in your bag and you decided to fish it out thinking it could help you look busy.

“Hey, it’s Jungkook. I see you :)”

Your heart nearly jumped out of your mouth as you read the text. 

He hadn’t deleted your number just like you hadn’t his.

You felt his eyes watching you but you didn’t look up. He was waiting for your reply, but you just stood there dumbfounded that he had just sent you a text from across the room.

“I know.” you had nervously typed different versions of this reply over and over only to erase each time before settling on the most simple reply.

“You look good.” it had taken him no time to reply in comparison to you. You stood there in shock and lost as to what to say to him. You were taking too long because he sent a second text.

“I know that dress. I remember it.”

You had been hoping he would. You had worn this dress on the first night you both had ever done anything. You made out in his car after your coffee date. He had just kept telling you how pretty you looked even with his hand in your underwear. It was hard to resist him from even the first date, you had no idea how you had made it eight months now.

“You look nice too, you always have.” You typed and sent it quickly before you could change your mind.

You watched him run his inked fingers through his hair as he read the text. You could swear you saw a flash of a smile on his face before his thumbs went to work on his phone.

“I miss you.” Popped up on your screen.

Part of you felt like crying a little. You felt his eyes on you once again and you looked up away from your phone to see that your feeling had been correct. You were sure your mouth was open as you locked eyes from across the room. Your phone vibrated again in your hand.

“We should talk.”

“Hey, gorgeous!” Jimin stepped in front of you making you lock your phone. “I know you said let’s not talk but-“

“Then why are you talking to me?”

“How could I not? You’re the prettiest one here.” He smirked but you could smell the alcohol on his breath. You couldn’t help the roll of your eyes.

“Oh hey! I’ve been looking for you!” Jungkook now walked up with a smile at you. “You found her for me and didn’t even know I was looking, thanks, man.” Jungkook seemed to be thanking an equally confused as you Jimin.

“Sorry to bother you about work stuff at a party, but I forgot to earlier. I need the contact info to a client I’ve been working on to sell more products to. It’s wild, it’s like I went to the bathroom one day and the info to this big buyer just kinda… disappeared I guess. So weird, almost like someone has it out for me.” Jungkook gave the fakest joking laugh you had ever seen and Jimin looked a bit wide-eyed. “Anyway, You’re the receptionist so I know you have the contact info for everyone anyway so I was wondering if you could maybe help me out and get it for me? It’s kind of really important and I need it ASAP. Already asked the boss and he said it was cool.” 

Jimin had just kind of slinked off silently, but you knew what Jungkook was doing.

“Yeah, Uh of course.” You nodded.

He tilted his head in the direction of the door before you followed him out.

He led you towards the elevator in absolute silence and even as he pushed the button for the floor you both worked on he said nothing.

You were beginning to think he was wanting your help. And then you thought about it more in the silent ride and you felt so stupid. Of course he was wanting your help, he had never said he actually didn’t, not even when Jimin had walked away.

“I can’t believe that asshole sabotaged me like that. My roommate sabotaged my sale.” He mumbled before scoffing as the elevator door opened.

“I-I’ll help.” You said but he passed right by your desk.

“I’m glad you said that.” He replied as he walked over to Jimin’s cubicle.

“What are we doing?” You finally asked.

“Depends…” he raised an eyebrow as he looked back at you. “What do you want me to do?” 

You swallowed the lump of nervousness in your throat to speak as you looked into his mischievous-looking dark eyes.

“Whatever you want I guess.”

He lifted you in almost an instant and sat you on Jimin’s desk.

“You know he’s always liked you, right? He would tell on us if he ever found out. You were willing to risk it, right here right now?” He dared.

Instead of speaking you grabbed a fist full of his t-shirt and tugged him down until his lips met yours.

God did you want it. You have wanted for eight long months. You were willing to risk everything after so long without his lips on yours.

You were still nervous but his kiss brought it all back for you and how natural it felt.

“Fuck me.” You pleaded against his lips.

“You need it? Tell me you need it.” His lips moved to your neck as he ran a hand through the back of your hair.

“Ah, fuck I need it. I haven’t fucked anyone since you.” It slipped out of your mouth and got a second your body went rigid.

“Me neither.” He nipped at your neck.

The second thing he had done tonight that had stunned you.

“Wait.” You stopped him and he backed up to look at you.

“I missed you too. Not just… not just this, I missed you. I don’t know if you feel the same but-“

“What did you think I meant by I missed you? I didn’t just mean the sex or your body. I meant you as a person.” 

“I-why didn’t you just say?” You wondered out loud. 

He dropped to the floor on his knees between your legs.

“Cause you dumped me.” He let out a snort “you told me to delete your number, which surprise, I didn’t. You wouldn’t look at me. Plus this went two ways you know. You didn’t contact me either.” He stated as he looked up at you while ghosting his fingers over the skin of your thighs as he spoke.

“I dumped you?” You were surprised by this news. You know neither of you had had the relationship talk before.

“I mean, I like to think we were together.”

“Then we should be again,” you decided. You were tired of wanting him and not having him and something told you that he felt the same.

“I think so too,” he whispered, inching his lips closer and closer to yours before smashing into them.

His hands squeezed at the meat of your thighs before trailing them up the sides, up under your skirt, and hooking them in your panties. Your tongues whipped together in each other’s mouths. You managed to move so that he could get your panties down, but he only pulled them to your knees. He grabbed your hips and pulled you closer to the edge of the table, so close you thought you might fall off if he wasn’t right there between your legs. 

His fingers now slowly ran from your inner thighs to your folds. As soon as he touched you, you unlocked your lips from his and let out a shaky breathed whine.

“I can tell you missed me. You're so wet for me,” he whispered so quietly just for you to hear even though no one else was in the room.

You did your best to stay quiet as his fingers teasingly and slowly ran over your clit and back down to your cunt.

He lifted his slick fingers to his mouth and you watched with a slightly open mouth as he let them slide past his lips and then out of his mouth altogether, coming out more glossy from his spit.

“I missed the way you taste”

His even more wet fingers that now teased at your pussy were making you want to grab his hand and force it to do something more. You were practically shaking under even the slightest of his touches. You were nervous for someone to walk in at any given moment and all he was doing was drawing things out and letting his fingers kill precious time playing in your folds.

“I'd love to make you cum right now with my mouth” he pressed a kiss onto your neck where his face had been camping out while his fingers tortured you. “But I know how that makes you scream and we have to be very…” another kiss to your neck “very” his fingers finally slowly slipped into your cunt “very quiet.” his whispers tapered off to quieter and quieter, so much so that your shaking breaths felt loud between the both of you.

You were doing your best not to break out into full-blown moans so that maybe if someone walked in you could play it off as just talking or something else, as long as no one heard your moans on the way up the both of you could have time to look normal. 

His fingers curled inside of you with his palm grinding down onto your clit slowly.

“Oh God.” you breathed not knowing how you were supposed to survive this. He was all you wanted for months upon months and now that you had him here, tattooed hand knuckle deep in your pussy, his lips on your skin saying nothing but filth, you felt like you couldn't even let go as much as you wanted to, but you were trying.

His hand sped up its movements as you could feel how hard he was now in his jeans against the inside of your thigh.

Your lips squeezed together but it couldn’t stop the small whimpers he forced out of you. You could hear him breathing in your ear along with the wet sounds of your pussy. You were close but so scared. Doing this out in the open was such a thrill but it also made you paranoid. 

“Cum for me. I hear the way you’re whining, you’re so close I know it. Just cum for me. Cum around my fingers, no one will know.” 

You couldn’t stop it now.

You grabbed a hold of his shirt and forced his chest harder against yours, you wanted him closer, impossibly close as you came undone, clenching around his fingers rhythmically as each wave of pleasure pulsed through your body. 

He let out a little moan at the sound and feel of you coming. 

“I missed that too.” He whispered to himself before pulling his fingers out of you slowly.

He reached between you and you felt him quickly yet nervously fiddling with his button and zipper with his hand that wasn’t soaked in your wetness.

He made a show about taking his thick, veiny cock out of his pants and rubbing your juices from his hand over it. 

In seconds he was back in your ear.

“Can I fuck your brains out?” The whisper was soft, his voice was sweet but the words themselves were as hard as his dick he still stroked in his hand.

“You're always allowed brains out.” You whispered back “just do it.” 

You felt his head run over your folds teasingly as he continued to play with you and himself.

“Do you still think about me fucking your brains out?” He asked. You could hear how much wetness had spread from you to his cock with each pump of his hand.

“Every time I need to get off.” You admitted. “So give it to me so I don’t have to keep wishing anymore.” 

He pushed into you slowly, letting out a deep sigh and throwing his head back for a moment so you could see his perfectly sculpted throat.

You missed how full he made you feel while he was inside of you. 

He pulled out almost entirely, the head of his cock was the only thing left inside of you, pushing on your g-spot before the thrust back in hard. This was the way he fucked, pulling out almost entirely so his head hit where you needed it. You had experienced guys that just flopped around, but he knew you, he knew your body, he paid attention, he had a very special handcrafted way to get you off over and over until you were shaking.

One of his hands grabbed your hip while the other went to your clit to play with using his thumb.

“You miss this, baby?” You miss my dick between your legs?” His lips brushed with your parted and panting ones as he spoke.

You let out a whimper as you focused on your second orgasm, his hips were not letting up and neither was his lips that whispered pure filth.

“Want me to cum inside of you, make you not want to forget me and who you belong to? Right here on Jimin's desk.” 

Your eyes squeezed shut and you clutched at the fabric of his shirt as you were once again thrown into pure pleasure.

You couldn’t help it this time. The way he touched you, the way he felt inside of you, his grunts and words were all too much.

“Please, fucking cum inside of me, I want it all fuck you feel so good.” You cried out way too loudly. 

“Oh my god, fuck.” He breathed through pants as his hips pounded into yours. You felt him release inside of you. Your walls clenched around him upon hearing his long deep guttural moan. 

“I haven’t cum like that in…” he panted before letting out a little chortle of laughter “well in eight months.” 

“So,” there was a loud voice in the room making your heads turn and your stomach’s sink. “You fucked on my desk.” Jimin looked beyond angry as he sat in an office chair across the room with his phone in his hand, pointing it at the both of you. You had no idea when or how he had come in, but you knew you were both beyond physically fucked.

Jungkook had already scrambled to pull out of you and zip his pants back up as you jumped off the desk, pulled your underwear up, and smoothed out your dress.

“That's fine, I have you both on video. I really liked you y/n. Jungkook, Looks like I’m moving out.” he stood from the chair and headed towards the direction of the elevator. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to speak to our boss about this. He probably won't be too happy to see you two are breaking company policy.” 

“Fuck company policy and fuck you! You were an awful friend, roommate and you've always been jealous of me!” Jungkook yelled at him back.

“Not anymore, jobless.” Jimin turned back to give Jungkook a smirk before he stepped into the elevator.

With that, you were both just left there.

“I… I am so so sorry…” Jungkook began apologetically and just as stunned as you were.

“Don’t be, we’re too good for this job anyway, we can find new ones. It looks like you need a new roommate now though.” 

You watched his face as a small smile grew on it.

“Yeah, looking for someone prettier and nicer, maybe someone willing to be my girlfriend? I don't know though, I don’t want to make too many demands.” 

“Well I could meet all of those demands.” you played along. “We won't have to sneak around anymore.”

“Yes, please, yes. I uh- don't want to ruin the cute moment, but I think we should get out of here before Jimin brings the boss up.”

“Oh fuck, right. Uhh, we should probably just never come back too. Let’s just grab our stuff from our desks and make a run for it.”

“Let's go. You know, this is simultaneously the best, worst, most exciting, and most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to me,” he said and you couldn't help but laugh and agree.

Maybe the both of you had made a big mistake, but perhaps there could be good that came from it. You had him back and honestly you didn’t feel too bad about trading your dumb job with its dumb company policy for him.

[jishyucks]

It's the Thought that Counts ‣ njm

‣ genre: implied f2l, fluff, pining, female reader

‣ wc: 1.3k

‣ summary: In which you're Jaemin's plus-one to a wedding and questions start to run through your head rent-free

‣ an: (pretend Jaemin and Jaehyun are cousins in this)–idk if this is cute, but it was cute to me (◕‿◕), it's lowkey cliche but who doesn't like cliches... anyways, gonna start writing 'shorter' scenarios so I can post more frequently, enjoy!!

There was no denying that you’d rather be at home binge-watching a kdrama right now instead of attending a wedding. But because Jaemin had asked you to be his plus one ever so cutely, you couldn’t help but give in to his pleas before he could even begin his nearly endless tangent about why attending weddings was somehow significant to other events in life.

You had nothing against weddings, in fact, you’ve watched the Crazy Rich Asians scene so many times you can’t even count every single time you did, but it was the formality that made you not want to go. Though it was understandable why it was a formal occasion, you wished you didn’t have to care so much about what you wore just to go. Yet here you were, sitting in the passenger’s seat of Jaemin’s car all glammed up to go to his cousin, Jaehyun’s, wedding

“The guys are going, too, so not everyone will be complete strangers,” Jaemin mentioned, “I wanna see your reaction to them in suits and ties.” He turns into a parking lot in front of a venue that was completely packed. You could see other guests making their way into the building, smiles plastered effortlessly on their faces. You figured that this wouldn’t be that bad, especially because of how joyful the occasion was.

Jaemin pulls into a free parking spot, double-checking his reflection in the mirror, “Why didn’t you tell me my hair is all weird?”

You shrugged, “I didn’t think it looked bad.” And it was true, Jaemin looked good no matter how he was styled, but you swore to yourself you were not going to admit that out loud. Especially not to Jaemin.

You hear him huff before reaching up to fix tufts of his hair to look neater. He pats it down before nodding in satisfaction and turning to you, “Are you ready?”

“Yeah, especially since it took you long enough to fix your hair,” you joked. Pulling the car door handle, it pops open, allowing you to slip out easily. Jaemin follows in pursuit, dusting off his suit as he stands up.

“Ya! Na Jaemin!” You look around almost instantly, trying to pick out who called your best friend from the fairly large crowd of people. After a short while of searching, you finally identify them. Among those entering the wedding’s venue, you find the one and only Lee Jeno waving his arms shamelessly to catch yours and Jaemin’s attention, “Over here! Jaemin! Y/N!

You smiled and waved back, trying not to laugh obnoxiously at how ridiculous Jeno looked. As you and Jaemin begin making your way to him, you could see Mark and Chenle join Jeno at the curb, waving along.

“You guys look handsome as always,” you compliment, wondering why Jaemin wanted to see your reaction as if you’d be laughing your ass off at the sight of boys in suits.

Mark beams, “You look beautiful, as always.”

You miss Jaemin throwing a look at Mark before turning to you, “Hey, you didn’t say that to me…” You turned to find Jaemin looking back at you with a pout and a puzzled set of eyebrows, “Don’t I look good?”

You feel your heartbeat quicken in pace at your friend’s wish for a compliment, “Only a little.” A lie. He looked the most attractive out of basically everyone present, but you knew that if you did end up telling him that he looked handsome as hell, it was you who was gonna be losing your shit and not Jaemin. Jaemin would use this opportunity to tease you, and any boosted attention from Jaemin was basically someone asking to be punched in the gut (and hard).

Ignoring the stank glare Jaemin gave you for your reply, you turn back to Mark, Jeno, and Jeno, “Anyways… Where are the others?"

“Inside getting seats,” Chenle replied, “I guess we should go in and join them.” The rest nodded, all turning towards the building and following the other guests through the many entrances. You stuck by Jaemin’s side, who had suddenly gone quiet at the sight of all of his relatives and family friends

“Jaeminie! Is that you?” Out of nowhere, an older boy approaches your small group on the way to the main ceremony area. Jaemin motions for you all to go ahead of him, “Wait! Who’s this? Your girlfriend?” Before you could leave Jaemin’s side to follow the other three, the curious look Jaemin’s relatives had been giving you stopped you in your tracks. He was talking about you.

Jaemin abruptly chokes on air, brows raising in a slight panic. His attention shoots towards you, eyes wide at the assumption, “Oh! Nononono, this is my–uh–really good friend, Y/N!” He laughs awkwardly and turns back to his relative. Did you notice the way his ears turned red?

You would be lying if you said that that hurt a bit, but it was true. You nodded, “Nice to meet you!”

“Y/N this is my cousin, Youngbin,” Jaemin introduces, “Well, Youngbin, nice talking to you, but we really need to get to our seats before they’re gone.”

“No problem,” he smiles, “My mom’s holding my seat, I just had to go find something.” Jaemin nods before maneuvering you towards the actual ceremony area, leaving Youngbin without hesitation.

“I’m sorry about that,” he mumbles, “He’s always been really blunt and stuff.” You two spot the others sitting closer to the front but still in the middle seats.

“It’s okay, Jae,” you say, “It happens.”

Jaemin could only respond with a smile before you both were settled in a spot together between Donghyuck and Jisung.

“You two look cute~” Donghyuck whispers into Jaemin’s ear. There was a hint of a joking tone lining his words, yet Jaemin could sense he was serious.

“Hyuck, shut up,” he whispers back, poking his thigh, “My cousin already mistook her as my girlfriend and she looked offended.” The guests were quickly getting settled, meaning that the ceremony was about to begin.

“You do look like a couple, though, not gonna lie,” Donghyuck shrugs and shifts away into Mark’s side before Jaemin could even attempt subtly poking at him again.

“Yeah, whatever,” Jaemin mumbles. I wish.

The ceremony soon begins, shutting up any ongoing. conversation within the room. Everything went as planned. It was just like they were in movies or shows or books. The groom’s reaction to the bride’s entrance was your favourite part; the reactions of the guests to the bride was a beautiful experience too.

Throughout the entire ceremony, you couldn’t help picture how your wedding would be like or how you would want it. Yes, it was somewhat selfish thinking about yourself during the joyous occasion of another, but there was no stopping your active mind, especially since you were currently attending a wedding.

Would it be better for there to be many guests or only limited to close family and friends? What about the colours? A theme? Which of your friends would you choose as the maid of honour? Where would want it to be?

You let your thoughts run free while miraculously still paying attention to the emotional ceremony. At one point during the vows, you felt a tear threaten to fall, but you sucked it back in.

If someone had been able to read your mind, they were probably drowning in countless of your questions to yourself. It was then the final question had somehow overshadowed the previous ones.

At that moment, the minister spoke with his chest, “You may now kiss the bride!

Watching the two newlyweds lean kiss, you feel yourself unconsciously turn your head up to look at Jaemin, who had been completely stuff throughout the wedding.

Who would your groom be?

As the guests all begin to clap for the couple at the front of the room, your eyes settle on Jaemin, heartbeat skyrocketing.

Jaemin was already looking back at you. And little did you know, he was asking himself who his bride would be.

[nugnthopkns]

dance me to the end of love (iii)

word count: 4.3k

warnings: fem!oc, cursing, potential percy jackson & the olympians spoilers, alcohol consumption, motion sickness and vomiting

series masterpost: here

a/n: this took me a hot sec to finish but here it is! there's a dumb little latin joke in here but that's just because i'm a nerd lmao

Ryan is certainly giving Bette a run for her money in the best friend department.

Magdalene has no intentions of usurping her best friend, but Ryan is quickly becoming the person she talks to most frequently. It started on social media but quickly moved to regular texting, both of them being twenty-five and capable of communicating through more normal channels. The text thread between them isn’t indicative of their newfound friendship – it looks like they’ve been friends since high school. At any given moment at least three conversations are going on, and Magdalene regularly sends him random updates throughout the day. Ryan likes hearing about any interesting artefacts she encounters at work so she keeps mental notes to tell him during their frequent phone calls.

Despite talking to him almost constantly, Magdalene hasn’t seen Ryan since they grabbed lunch at Barn Owl nearly two weeks ago. The lake house trip is a couple days out, and she’s been busy trying to get all her ducks in a row. At work, the current project is coming to an end and Magdalene will be sad to see it go – it’s the first thing she’s been on from start to finish. She’s got a neighbour coming to spend time with Caligula while she’s away so he doesn’t get too upset. Though the days are passing by in a haze as she tries to get ready, Magdalene is excited to get away for a little bit. It’s been a few years since she’s left Denver for more than a night, electing to skip on Bette’s previous vacation invites, and it will be nice to slow down. Life is moving at a comfortable pace, but having some time to pause and breathe will keep Magdalene from feeling too overwhelmed.

Halfway through her last day of work, Magdalene gets a text from Ryan that makes her nearly double over in laughter.

Julius Caesar walks into a bar and says to the bartender “I’ll have a Martinus please!” The bartender replies “Don’t you mean a Martini?” Caesar shakes his head and says “If I wanted double I would have said so.”

It takes her a minute to catch her breath, which piques June’s curiosity. Magdalene recites the joke and her boss rolls her eyes and shakes her head, but does let out a chuckle.

June didn’t think it was funny, but I did. Thank you for making today infinitely better. You riding with us tomorrow?

Magdalene tucks her phone back into her purse, determined to remain focused for the last few hours, and misses the reply telling her that Ryan won’t be riding with Bette, Tyson, and herself, but rather with Cale and his girlfriend to leave enough space for all the gear getting brought. She doesn’t see it until she’s walking across the parking lot to her car and it fills her with a sadness that doesn’t make much sense. He’ll be there for the entire week, so does it matter that he’ll be in a different car for the four hour drive? Magdalene has a sinking suspicion about why she’s upset, but she pushes it down. There’s no space in your life for a relationship right now, she reminds herself as she unlocks the door to her apartment. Caligula is waiting patiently at the door and distracts her thoughts from the handsome man with the kind smile that’s been all she can think about recently.

The cat is incredibly perceptive and knows the regular routine is going to change, making him particularly clingy. He follows Magdalene as she finishes packing, meowing and begging for pets, and she considers bailing on her friends. Caligula has mild separation anxiety and Magdalene doesn’t go away often partly because of it – though another reason is her homebody nature. Only the thought of seeing Ryan keeps her from hanging all her clothes back up.

“Don’t worry little boots,” she coos, “I won’t be gone long. Maria is going to check on you while I’m away, and I’ll be home before you know it.”

It seems ridiculous to speak to her pet as though it’s a child, but Magdalene knows Caligula comprehends what she’s saying. He’s always been smart, and the two of them share a bond that’s hard to explain. She picks him up, puts him in the pocket of her hoodie, and they spend the rest of the night packing and dancing along to the radio.

☼☼☼☼

Bette forgot to mention that the road to the lake house is winding, and Magdalene spends the entire ride with her head between her knees. Motion sickness is something that unfortunately plagues her during journeys longer than a couple of hours and she wishes she would have thought to take anti-nausea medication before leaving the house. Tyson tries to crack a joke about her being a bad passenger, but his girlfriend swats his arm and passes her friend a water bottle with a concerned smile. The two of them speak in hushed tones, almost certainly for Magdalene's benefit, and she does her best not to throw up on the floor of Tyson’s car. After what feels like two decades the vehicle rolls to a stop at the end of a gravel path.

“Mags, we’re here,” Bette says softly, praying that her friend will begin to feel better after stretching her legs and feeling firm ground underneath her.

There’s an unintelligible groan from Magdalene, but she rises out of the car and stumbles into the house. Tyson and Bette insist that she rest and they’ll handle the unloading of the car, so she crawls into one of the empty beds and falls asleep as soon as her head touches the pillow. It’s a dreamless slumber, one fuelled by the pure exhaustion of battling illness while travelling, and when she awakes hours later Magdalene feels oddly refreshed. Her energy level is still relatively low, but she knows that intaking food won’t be an issue.

Padding down the stairs as quiet as possible in an effort to not break the peaceful atmosphere, Magdalene is met with a quiet house. She’s utterly confused – she didn’t sleep long enough to miss dinner and judging by the way the sun is low in the final car full of people should be arriving any minute. For a moment she thinks the group left her in the mountains alone, but then the sound of a trunk closing breaks the silence.

“I fucking told you bro, you should have let me drive!”

Ryan’s voice echoes in Magdalene's ears and her heart skips a beat. She didn’t realize how much she had missed him or how excited she is to see him. Despite everything inside of her saying she should run into his arms Magdalene stays put in the kitchen, running the tap to get a glass of water. She focuses on the mountain on the other end of the lake, framing the setting sun and creating a postcard ready photo. The camera app on her phone is open and angles for the best shot are found. Ryan tumbles through the door a second later, arms filled to the brim with luggage and bags of food.

He drops them the second he sees her, running up behind her and lifting her off the ground. “Mags! Cale almost hit a deer!”

The shock of Ryan’s onslaught of affection catches her off guard, and Magdalene shakes her hand, forcing the picture to turn out as nothing but a blur.

“No hello?” She laughs as Ryan lets her feet touch down on the wooden floor. “It’s the least you could give me after destroying my chance of getting a National Geographic worthy picture.”

He smiles but doesn’t let his hands drop from their perch on her waist. “There’s six more days for you to nail it. I’ll even help if you ask.”

Other bodies enter the house then, causing Magdalene to slink away from Ryan’s touch even though it was the last thing she wanted to do. They’re simply friends, and she doesn’t want Bette to get any ideas. The last thing Magdalene needs on her plate right now is her best friend forcing her to paint a custom denim jacket with Ryan’s number across the back. “I can’t believe you almost hit a deer,” Tyson sighs in disbelief.

“It wasn’t even close,” Cale grumbles, picking up his bags and stomping off to find a place to claim as his own the next couple of days. A petite redhead follows after him, giving a small wave to those in the kitchen before scurrying away. When she asks, Ryan tells Magdalene the girl’s name is Livy, and that she’s Cale’s girlfriend from back home.

Everyone shrugs at his moodiness and disperses. Bette and Tyson stay in the kitchen to make dinner, Ryan goes to claim the final room, and Magdalene slips outside to sit on the patio furniture. The sun has dropped drastically in the past five minutes, causing the air to chill. She wraps her arms tighter around her legs and watches a pair of birds fly over the lake below. It’s so peaceful, a complete one-eighty from the insanity of her life in Denver, and Magdalene thinks about never leaving. She knows it’s impossible, but as she closes her eyes and listens to the quiet laughter of her friends inside the idea seems like a pretty good one.

The sliding door creaks open and Ryan goes through as quietly as possible. He tosses a sweater in Magdalene’s direction as he walks over, plopping down beside her on the small couch.

“Thanks,” she mumbles, slipping the fabric over her head. “I didn’t realize how cold it had actually gotten.”

He smiles in response and shuffles his body a little closer to create extra warmth. Magdalene leans into him, trying to appear casual even though her heart is beating rapidly, and pulls on the strings of the sweater Ryan gave her.

“So, are you excited for this week?”

It’s more awkward than she thought it would be – seeing him in person again, especially since they’ve been texting almost constantly, and the words kind of stick in her throat.

“Honestly? Now that I’m here I am, but I was a little leery about taking time off,” Ryan explains, detailing how he’s trying to improve some aspects of his two-way play and is worried his progress will plateau. Magdalene understands and shares her own worries about taking time off work even if her boss encouraged it.

After catching up quickly and running out of things to say, the pair of them sit in silence watching the sun set until they’re called inside for dinner. It’s nice to just exist, especially with Ryan beside her, and Magdalene feels her heart sink as they separate and he goes to make sure Cale isn’t actually mad at him.

☼☼☼☼

It storms the first two days at the lake house, forcing everyone to stay inside. Tyson complains about how he has less time to drive the boat that came with the property but the others take it in stride. Magdalene spends most of the time reading for pleasure, something she hasn’t been able to do much of the past few years, and Ryan joins her for large chunks of the time. It turns out that he too is an avid reader, and the two of them discuss their favourite novels and series while the other four play board games.

“So you’re telling me you wish Annabeth would have joined the Hunters of Artemis?” Magdalene shrieks in shock, almost knocking the wine out of her glass as her arms flail in disbelief.

“I think it made sense for her to,” Ryan defends.

“But she’s perfect for Percy!”

He sticks to his guns. “I’m not saying she isn’t. I just think that at the time the offer was presented it was the most logical choice. You can’t tell me you haven’t thought about what would have happened if she did.”

She ducks her head in defeat because she had imagined it, on many occasions in fact. When reading the series for the first time in middle school Magdalene had desperately hoped Annabeth would choose the Hunters over Camp Half-Blood, gaining the family she herself never was privy to. They return to reading quietly beside each other, occasionally knocking elbows when trying to turn a page.

Tuesday brings sunshine and clear skies, which means Tyson is trying to corral everyone into the boat as soon as they’re up. Magdalene tries her hardest to get out of it but her pleas fall on deaf ears.

“You’ll be fine, stop being such a wimp,” Cale jests. She knows that he’s just anxious to soak up some sun, but the words hurt more than Magdalene would have liked them to.

Livy swats her boyfriend across the chest. “Enough! If she doesn’t want to come she doesn’t have to.” The smaller girl sends her a kind smile before speaking low enough that only Magdalene can hear her. “I know your book is just getting good and you look like the kind of person who needs alone time to function properly. Enjoy yourself.”

Seemingly excused from the day’s festivities, Magdalene gives a sheepish wave before climbing the small hill to the house. Ryan meets her halfway and is appalled when he hears of her plans.

“Nope, I don’t think so. You’re not leaving me alone to be the ultimate third wheel!”

He has her off the ground and over his shoulder in a millisecond, jogging lightly to catch up with the rest of the group. Magdalene’s laugh bounces off the tree lined shore, and she’s too busy having fun shrieking at Ryan to complain about being forced to spend all day on a boat away from her book. Tyson peels away from the dock before she can regret tagging along, and Bette tugs Magdalene to the bow.

The two girls chat quietly, giggling and sipping on the mimosas they made earlier. Magdalene isn’t a huge day drinker, but Bette makes sure there’s more orange juice than champagne to make her feel less guilty. Livy joins them a while later after becoming sick of the boys and their shenanigans. It’s nice to hang out with a group of girls that aren’t competing for the top spot in a class, Magdalene decides, and she revels in the stories they tell of going to hockey games and babysitting the children of players so they can catch a break. Twinges of jealousy creep up at the wonderful family dynamic the Avalanche seem to have, but she stomachs them. She reminds herself that other people deserve to have support systems and excuses herself from the conversation.

Magdalene slides into the free space beside Ryan, and without thinking he wraps an arm around her shoulder. It feels so natural that she wonders if it’s how he greets all his friends, but the looks of shock and Tyson and Cale’s faces say otherwise. After a bit more cruising they find a small bay to anchor in for a while. The sun had climbed to the middle of the sky and is unbearably warm, leaving everyone no choice but to jump into the water to cool off. Magdalene does her best to float peacefully a short distance away from the group but is somehow brought into a splashing war because the teams aren’t equal.

Eventually the constant barrage of water chills her to the bone, and Magdalene swims back to the boat. She watches from the sidelines and cheers for her old teammates with a towel wrapped snugly around her. Ryan breaks from the group too, insisting it isn’t fair to have teams on unequal strength. Once dry, he picks up the baseball cap he brought and places it delicately on Magdalene’s head.

“Your cheeks are starting to go pink and I don’t want you to burn,” he explains, passing her a bottle of sunscreen as well.

“Thanks Ry.”

They muse about the idyllic beauty of the scene in front of them until everyone rejoins them. For reasons unbeknownst to Magdalene Tyson is in a rush to get back to the house, which leads to him driving very fast and a little erratically. The contents of her stomach threaten to come up but she holds them down, tightening her grip on the leather seat. A wave crests and Tyson hits it head on, causing the boat to lurch and rock. Magdalene knows it’s going to happen before it does and leans over the side to save a mess from being created. All the alcohol and food she’d consumed throughout the day is no longer in her body, and heat creeps up the back of her neck. She’s embarrassed – what twenty-five year old gets sea sick?

“Are you okay?” Ryan asked, not bothering to hide the concern in his voice.

She tries to smile but it comes out more like a grimace. “I just, uh, get motion sick really easily.” Bette passes her a water bottle and she drinks it quickly, eager to get the taste out of her mouth.

Ryan lets Magdalene curl into his side the rest of the way home, and rubs comforting circles on her back to ease her discomfort, doing his best to ignore the stares from his friends.

☼☼☼☼

The trip comes to an end much more quickly than Magdalene would have liked. Tomorrow morning they’ll pack up and drive back to Denver, returning to their normal hectic schedules. Cale and Livy are heading back to Alberta for the rest of the summer, and Bette and Tyson will be going for a visit as well. She’s heard Ryan mention going home in passing, which most likely means he doesn’t have plans to stay. Magdalene will be all alone in Colorado, but she’s used to it. The only issue being friends with professional athletes is that they leave. She’s been dealing with the loss since Bette and Tyson got together years ago – having them around as her support system most of the year and then them disappearing for a couple of months.

Not wanting to think about how soon she’ll be alone, Magdalene heads outside and starts a campfire. It’s a skill she picked up as a kid and it has come in handy over the years. The newspaper crinkles under the flame from the lighter, and soon the kindling is burning well. Everyone else is still inside, cleaning up from dinner and preparing for one last night in paradise. She places a few blocks of wood in the fire pit once there’s a good enough flame and curls up in a chair, lost in thought about what comes next. There’s rustling from somewhere behind her but she pays it no mind, assuming it’s a small animal wandering through the forest.

“Can I offer you some company?” a voice says softly, waiting for a response. The movement wasn’t a raccoon but in fact Ryan, and Magdalene gestures at the chair beside her with a smile.

He passes her a glass of white wine, which she takes with an appreciative hum. They sit in silence for a moment, admiring the beauty of the setting sun. “I’m going to miss it,” Ryan sighs, leaning back in his chair and extending his legs.

She nods. “Me too. It’s so quiet up here. Denver gets too loud sometimes.”

“Tell me about it. I’m not just going to miss the lake though, it’s also lounging around and not having to worry about hockey. And you.”

The ending comes out rushed, and Magdalene isn’t sure she heard him correctly. “Me?”

Ryan looks at her like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “Yes you. Why wouldn’t I? You’re funny, smart, and catch all of my West Wing references. There’s no one who gets me quite like you, even back home.”

It takes her by surprise. They’ve only known each other for a few months, and only really started associating after the party at Bette and Tyson’s. There has to be somebody who knows him better than she does. When she voices her opinion Ryan just scoffs, saying that people treat him as one-dimensional because he plays hockey. Somehow the conversation shifts to Magdalene, and when she lets it slip she gets lonely in Denver without her friends, Ryan asks the question she’s been dreading.

“So why don’t you get a boyfriend?”

“I can’t just get a boyfriend because my friends are gone,” she laughs, but there’s an edge to it, like she’s unsure of where this will go and how to question the follow ups.

He rolls his eyes. “I know that, but like, I don’t know, wouldn’t it be nice to not be alone all the time?”

It would be, Magdalene thinks, but she just shrugs. “I guess I’m not looking for a relationship right now. I just finished school and for the first time in a long time I can focus on myself.” She leaves out the part where Ryan gives her butterflies and that if he asked she’d probably jump headfirst into a relationship with him.

The topic is dropped then because Tyson comes out of the house screaming about the night is going to be wild because it’s their last together for a while. Magdalene and Ryan share a look of mild panic, but both of them are itching to have fun with friends so they raise their glasses in salute before finishing them in one gulp.

Magdalene drinks more than she should and wakes in the morning with a killer hangover. It seems that no one else is better off though, all stumbling around looking for Advil and coffee like it’s going to be their last meal. Packing up takes a bit longer than expected, but they’re still out before the official checkout time. There’s a bit of discourse on who Magdalene will travel home with. Bette wants her in Tyson’s car, no doubt to talk about how close her and Ryan seem to be, but Cale offers to bring her with them. His reasoning is that Ryan is driving him and Livy directly to the airport, and having the front seat could be good for her motion sickness. It’s ultimately Magdalene’s choice and the idea of having more time with Ryan before he leaves is too enticing to pass up. She bids her other friends goodbye, promising to come over for dinner before they fly out, and climbs into the cab of Cale’s truck.

Once again she’s a less than ideal passenger, but this time it’s because she sleeps the entire way back to Denver. The drinking took it out of her and coupled with the queasiness in her stomach from the winding roads sleep is the only thing that makes sense. So much for extra time with Ryan she thinks as she wakes up in the airport parking lot.

“Sleeping beauty has risen!” Ryan chuckles, “Why don’t you get out and stretch your legs for a sec? We have the parking spot for another fifteen minutes.”

Magdalene does as suggested because truthfully her joints are a little stiff, and finds Cale and Livy grabbing their bags from the back. She hugs them goodbye and wishes them safe travels, which Cale returns with a warning not to get into too much trouble before heading for the entrance. Once both of them are safely inside the confines of the airport, Ryan and Magdalene get back in the vehicle and finish the last leg of the trip.

She directs Ryan to her apartment complex, and he mentions that he’s never been in this area of the city. “That’s because you have no need to be around a bunch of university kids,” she laughs. Once they pull into the parking lot, he offers to help her take up her bag. It’s only a small suitcase Magdalene could definitely handle herself, but she wants him to come up, to prolong her time with him.

Magdalene’s keys jingle in the lock as the door opens. Ryan follows her in and shuts the door carefully, not wanting to disrupt the aura of peace that permeates the space. From what he can tell, the average size apartment is the perfect reflection of Magdalene – packed full of books and plants and feels very put together despite the owner being only twenty-five. After their shoes find a home on the boot rack and the coats they brought for the drive home are hung in the closet she leads Ryan into the living room. There’s a soft purring by his feet, and Ryan looks down to see an animal. He never pegged Magdalene as someone to keep pets.

“Who’s this?” he asks, bending down to pet the small white cat.

“That’s Caligula.”

A puzzled look graces Ryan’s features. “Who?”

“Caligula,” Madalene giggles. “You can call him little boots if you’d like. He’ll respond.” She picks up the animal when it comes to her and scratches gently behind its ear.

“Why would you name your cat something dumb like Caligula, and why does it respond to little boots?”

It’s then the woman realizes that not everyone understands the reference. “Caligula was the third emperor of Rome,” she explains, “But his real name was Gaius. He gained the nickname Caligula as a child and it just stuck. It translates to little boots in Latin.”

Ryan is in awe of Magdalene for what feels like the millionth time. Of course someone as smart as her would have a crazy name for a pet and have the knowledge to back it up. He feels his chest tighten with affection but he wills it away. She isn’t looking for anything right now, he reminds himself. Magdalene’s self-professed inability to reciprocate his feelings is frustrating, but Ryan knows he’d wait forever for her.

☼☼☼☼

additional notes: catch some extra content here!

taglist: @scrunchmakar @marcoscandellas @toplinetommy @ricohenrique @lovethepreds @cutiesara23 @hockeyallthetime @stlbluesbrat21 (add yourself to the taglist!)

[sunshineandbnha]

Unexpected - Denki x reader (Valentine’s Day)

Word count: 3,978

Warnings: none, aside from a case of “Did not edit, just finished this this morning”

A/n: HOW DID THIS END UP SO LONG?? I swear, I started it with the idea and intention that it would be 1.4k or 1.9k words. How did I accidentally write two thousand more words? Anyway, I hope this is a good valentine fic for Denki boy. I thought of it due to a prompt on tumblr. If I can later remember who it was who made it, I will edit this and have a link to that post.

Edit: Found it. The prompt was made by @love-me-a-good-prompt

~

When was it you started to look at him differently?

"Hey!"

You looked over your shoulder to find Kaminari making his way past several students in the cafeteria to get to you. You turned your body to face him. Though, you felt awkward about still holding your lunchtray, as if it was a barrier between you and him.

"Do you got a date for tomorrow?" he asked with a grin.

Your heart gave a weep at the reminder of Valentine's day. As if the hearts and commercials all over the place weren't enough. "What do you think?"

"Just checking." He dashed to get his lunch tray he had set down, and sped walked to your side as you picked a table to sit at.

Kaminari had been your friend for several months. One day you had simply overheard him talking about a manga, the same one you had read, and you jumped into the conversation. After that, the both of you became easy friends, and frequently had lunch at the same table.

"Why would you even ask?” You slid into a seat at the table. “You know there's no one I'm really interested in."

"Except for fictional characters," he added while getting into his own chair across from you.

"Yeah. Unfortunately they aren't available for me to ask out."

He leaned back in his seat. “We’re really missing out on these things. I thought by the time I was in high school training to be a cool hero, I would have tons of girls who like me by now.”

“And I, for some reason, thought I would magically manifest a special someone. But that’s clearly not happening anytime soon.” You stared down while absent mindedly stirring your food.

He suddenly sat straight and looked at you with a twinkle in his eyes. The kind that told you he had an idea. "What if we did all of that classy Valentine's day stuff together?"

"I think you meant cliche."

"Banana, ba- ... oh wait, that's not how the saying goes."

You let out a large laugh and nearly choked on your food.

"Something with tomatoes or potatoes," he continued with a wave of his hand as if throwing away the topic. "Well, what do you think? You wanna do it?"

"You just want the chocolate, don't you?"

"No! I would never!" He waved his arms around. "... Well, that too."

"I knew it!" You lifted your fork/chopstick of food into air in triumph. "Just make sure you get my favorite chocolate once White Day rolls around."

"Sure thing!" He gave a thumbs up. "I'm sure I can get enough money by then!"

"You've been using all of it on manga and snacks again, haven't you?"

"What else would I use it on?"

"Okay. Just don't use the money for my chocolate on manga."

"If I did, It would be a great manga and be worth a lot more than some chocolate. Actually, that should be a thing. Instead of getting girls chocolate, get them manga! And we should get manga too. ... So, are we doing it?" he asked when he paused long enough to think.

"I don't know,” you shrugged while taking another bite.

He slammed his hand on the table. "But you said it like you did! I just agreed to get you chocolate next month!"

"I was saying if I agreed. If I agreed then you would have to get me chocolate.” You internally laughed at his response.

Kaminari slumped in his chair. "Okay, but my point is, how long have we been single? And it doesn't look like it's going to change anytime soon, so I was thinking why not we experience some of it while we're still in high school?"

"Hmmm," you tapped your finger against your lip. "Well, you have a point. And I guess I got nothing better to do tomorrow."

“So it’s a yes?” his eyes lit up.

“I guess so.��

“Yes!” He jumped up and some heads turned towards him. “I got a—!”

You hastily pulled him back down and got a hold of his ear. He yelped in pain before you shushed him. The attention he had gained was beginning to die down after doing that, much to your relief. You released a small puff of air, grateful that you didn’t feel like you were in a spotlight anymore.

“Kaminari,” you whispered into his ear, an edge present in your voice, “Don’t go announcing it to the world, especially if it’s not an actual date. Do not ruin it for me.”

You let go, and he got out of the awkward position of being pulled half way onto the table. Thankfully, he hadn’t landed in his food when you pulled him down. He settled back in his chair and rubbed his ear.

“Okay! You can count on me!”

 Maybe it was a bad idea to suddenly agree when that meant you had to make chocolate for him that night. You already had some chocolate you bought from the store for family and friends. One of those giri chocos was originally going to be his, but now you would have to actually make him honmei choco if you were going to have the whole Valentine's Day experience. You considered skipping on that for a brief second, but you had already agreed to do it. Plus, you weren't sure if you would ever get to do this during high school at this rate. And you wanted to at least have done it once.

You'd have to run to the store to get better quality chocolate, a cute wrap for it, and a heart shaped mold. In order to save time, you went directly to the nearest store after school. It would save time, which you didn't have much of it. You didn't know how long it would take to make them, and you wanted some extra time in case you make a mistake and had to do something over again.

It was more crowded than you thought. You also didn't realize how many stares you would get just for being in your U.A. uniform. Thankfully, everything you needed was there and you made your way to the counter to pay. As you were weaving your way through the people, you thought you saw another student. You did a double take. Uniform. Pink skin. Ashido.

You tried to duck and hide, but it was too late.

"Oh, hey!" She waved you down and ran to you. A bag of purchased goods was hanging from her arm. "What are you doing here? Are you getting last minute giri choco too!"

“I, uh.”

“Hey, isn't that stuff to make chocolate? Wait a second… OMG! Who’s the lucky person!”

You nervously held the items close to you. This was why you didn't want her seeing you. "No one, really. I'm just... making it for the experience." You put a smile onto your face and did your best to make the last half of the sentence sound cheery.

It wasn't technically a lie. You just hoped she bought it. Because if she kept prying and learned it was for Kaminari, you would never hear the end of it.

"Okay. Can I have some when you're done?" She joked and bumped your arm with her elbow.

"Only if I didn't eat it all first." You internally high fived yourself for the quick reply.

"Okay. Well, see you at U.A." She waved before dashing out the door.

"Bye!" You watched her go. When she was out of view, you exhaled a breath you didn't know you were holding.

 You stood nervously in the park. You wore a Valentine Day themed outfit you had put together, with the help of some ideas from the internet. It was 5:45 pm, the time you agreed on meeting. You had honestly expected him to be slightly late. Though it did nothing to make your feel less jittery.

There were quite a few people who also had the same idea of going to the park. Some friends playing Frisbee. A family walking by. And some couples. You scanned the area for him, multiple times, but still couldn't see him.

Why were you even so worried? This was your friend. It’s not like it was an actual date with someone you liked. If he forgot or something, you could just chew him out later. Then that 'what if' situation made you sick to your stomach and you forced yourself to stop thinking about it.

"Hey!"

You head turned up within a split second and you saw him. He wore a dark blue button up shirt. This plus his smile and hair... somehow made him look nice. A smile spread on your face, yet your nerves didn't completely calm down just yet.

"Hey!" You greeted back.

"You look nice," he commented.

"You too." You nodded. "So, what were you planning on doing first?"

"I thought we'd walk around here first, then go to this one restaurant. And after that we can wander around shops." he shrugged.

"Okay, sounds nice." You began walking side by side with him.

Your brain tried to sabotage the moment by beginning to make you feel awkward. You did your best to push it away. But were you supposed to be walking in silence? Or talking?

"You wanna hold hands?" He offered.

"Hmm," you joking held your finger to your lip in deep thought. "I think no."

"Oh, come on!" He acted upset, but there was a big grin on his face.

You laughed and he joined in. A few more jokes were thrown back and forth as you passed trees and other people. Though within a seemingly short amount of time, the conversation hit dead end. You pulled on your sleeve and look in any direction but him.

"Okay, this is getting boring,” he said. “Can we go to the restaurant now?”

"Lucky for you, I think we're almost at the end of the park, and I'm hungry."

“Yes!” he cheered. “They always make walking through the park look more fun in the movies.”

“Yeah,” you agreed with a laugh.

Kaminari led you to the place he picked out. Well, more like he tried to go there, then got lost and had to give up on relying on his memory. He made the brilliant move of pulling out his phone, setting the location on his map app, and he following it. But you both realized that he had gotten the point where you going mixed up with your location.  This resulted in having to backtrack and ignoring your growling stomach as it took even longer to get there.

Finally, you found it. You entered through door with him. Inside were tables placed around a large circle. The conveyor belt had several plates of food with different types of sushi and other dishes. The chiefs in the middle of the circle conveyor worked hard to keep the food coming. Almost every table was filled.

“Aw, man. We should have gotten here earlier,” Kaminari grabbed your hand. “C’mon.”

You both ran until you spotted a free table and slide in. It took a second to catch your breath after the sudden sprint. Sitting in the chair, you looked around more closely. It was a nice place. There were people chattering, some clanking of plates, and mouth watering food slowly passing by you. You reached up to begin to grab one, but then you stopped yourself.

"Wait, am I paying for myself or where you...?"

"You can have whatever you want. My treat," he replied with a ish eating grin. Probably meant that he thought what he just said was very cool.

You laughed to yourself and picked one and he did the same. It was good. You were pleasantly surprised, though you weren't sure why. Maybe it was because he had only learned of the restaurant while looking up ones online to take you to. And it was only yesterday that you agreed. Then again, you had made honmei choco the other night...

You suddenly remembered something and nearly choked on your sushi roll.

"You okay?" Kaminari said, unfortunately dismissing any hope you had that he didn't notice.

"No, I'm good. I just need to make a phone call. One second." You excused yourself and walked outside while pulling out your phone.

It was an uncomfortable change to suddenly be greeted by the chilly February air. Was it really that cold when you  were with Kaminari? You dialed your mom's number and resisted the urge to pace.

As soon as you heard the other end being picked up, you began. "Mom, I need you to get something for me. If you look in the kitchen, somewhere on the counter is where I left a bag of chocolate for Valentine's day. Can you bring that to me?" You had been so busy trying to get ready and be on time, that you had accidentally left the honmei choco you made.

"Uhh, okay. But where are you? It’ll be awfully hard to give it to you if I don’t know where you are."

"In a little bit I should be..." you tried to think of a good point to meet up, "near Takoba Municipal Beach Park. Probably close to that one gazebo. I'll text you that so you don't forget after I hang up."

"Okay. I hope you appreciate this. I really don't feel like going all the way out there to give you something you forgot."

"If I could go back and un-forget it, I would. Thank you. Bye."

With that, the call ended. You took a deep breath to calm your heart, which seemed to think forgetting chocolate was a catastrophic event, and went back inside.

When you caught sight of Kaminari again he was dunking a chunk of seaweed and fish into soy sauce, before shoving it into his already full mouth. He stopped  and paused upon seeing you. He chewed and swallowed as quickly as he could and finished by the time you sat back down.

"So, what was that about?" he started it off as a joke, but his voice seemed shaky for whatever reason.

"I just forgot something and asked Mom to go get it for me." Technically wasn't a lie.

"Oh, okay." He began eating more. He started counting the plates and you could see his face pale a tad.

"Is everything alright for you?"

"Huh? I mean, yeah, everything's great." He smiled at you.

You shrugged and focused your gaze on the conveyor belt. A particularly delicious looking morsel. It was clearly more expensive, with a nice layer of tuna in it. You reached out your hand, considering getting it when you saw Kaminari flinch at your action.

You turned to him. "Do I need to pay for my own meal?"

"No, no," he tried to retain the coolness he built up, "I can pay."

You sighed. "No, you are not going broke because of expensive fish."

"But, that's not-"

"What? It's not cool? Denki- oops.” You realized you accidentally used his given name.

His face turned the slightest bit pink, though you hardly even noticed in your own embarrassment. “That’s fine. You can call me Denki. We’ve known each other long enough.”

“Thanks,” you nodded and continued, “Denki, you are my friend," why did the word 'friend' leave a different taste this time 'round? "and I don't want you doing something stupid because you think it makes you look cool."

He struggled to make a comeback and ended up blurting out, "Doing something stupid that makes me look cool defines me."

"Look, let's split the bill between us, that way you pay for some of mine, but you don't spend up the money for the chocolate you promised me."

"Wait, you didn't care about me, you just wanted to make sure you still got chocolate." He faked an offended expression.

You exhaled a laugh. "Yeah, sure. Whatever makes you feel better. As long as you agree."

"Fine."

"But don't purposefully buy more just because I'm offering to pay half."

"Can't make any promises~"

"You little-"

Eventually, you became full enough, or rather reached the maximum to what you were willing to pay. Then you left. You blinked when you stepped out. You hadn’t expected it to become this dark. Kaminari began walking off, probably to some store or the mall, but you grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Is it alright if we stop by the beach?"

His eyes lit up, like the stars in the sky. "Great idea! That'd be much more romantic."

You expected to roll your eyes, but what you found was your face growing warm and your mouth being lost for words. Thankfully, he didn't notice and just started running for the beach, pulling you along. Buildings loomed over you in the dark, until they finally cleared and the beach came into view. The sea seemed to become the night sky. It gently washed over the sand in a rhymic pattern. The sound of it filled your ears and your senses listened. A sense of calmness washed over you.

You both walked up to the gate that separated the beach from the road. Kaminari leaned against the metal gate, resting on his arms. The two of you stared at the view in a comfortable silence.

“Wow, this is nice,” he commented.

“Yeah.” There was a weird feeling, somewhat reminiscent to a flutter or squeeze, in your chest. Something that made the moment seem more magical. You could almost feel this feeling rising and beginning to climb up your throat.

More silence, then a movement caught your attention out the corner of your eye. Your mom was waving to you and held a small bag that slightly reflected in the small amount of light there was.

“One second, I need to go get something,” you let him know and ran to your mom. “Thank you so much.”

“Just don’t make this a habit,” she handed it to you. Then she glanced to where Kaminari was and squinted. “Is that your date? Is that why you were making chocolate?”

“No,” your voice came out more unsure for some reason, “well, I… was just making that for myself. This is just giri choco.”

“Okay.” She shrugged. “Don’t stay out much longer.”

“I won’t.” You quickly ran back. “Hey,” you greeted him.

“Hey. What was that about?”

“Noting important,” you shrugged and leaned on the gate. “Oh, and here.” You held the bag out to him, trying to act cool and nonchalant, but you knew you had a big smirk on your face.

He gasped and snatched it out of your hold. He wrestled with the bag, trying to get it open. Once he succeeded, he looked inside. A big smile spread across his face and he pulled it out. He held a large chocolate heart on a stick, almost like a lollipop. You thought that would be fun to make. Of course, now that he held it, you could see all the tiny imperfections. Like where a small air bubble had been, or how some chocolate had gotten on the stick. But Kaminari didn’t seem to care at all. He stared at it in awe. Like he had just been given something he wanted for years.

“Wow! Wait, did your mom just give this to you? Did you forget?” he looked over to you.

“What, no, I would never…” you laughed nervously. “But I did make it. You better like it, or else,” you joked.

“I’m sure I will! Wow. You made this?”

“Yep. Last night.”

“Thank you!” He took a bite out of it and began happily chewing.

You smiled. Your eyes locked onto the gazebo on the beach. It looked really nice. The thought of you being in it made you want to go even more. Currently there was a couple there, but then they walked out and started going down the beach. Your eyes lit up.

You looked to Kaminari, tugged on his sleeve, and pointed to the now empty location.

He grinned. “I think I know what you’re thinking and I think we should do it too.”

With a couple of small laughs you both hurried down to the beach was fast as you could. The sand made you slow your pace into a walk, but you didn’t mind. The sea air on you felt refreshing, chilling your skin. The moon was beautiful and the water reflected slivers of the moonlight that danced.

"It looks really nice." You smiled.

"Yeah... wanna hold hands?" He offered his free hand to you.

To your surprise, this actually sounded nice. And to your greater surprise, you accepted. Your hand slipped in his perfectly. Almost like it found its home. The second you skin touched, it was like electricity ran through you and jump started your heart. You were about to ask if he was using his quirk, but quickly realized that it didn't feel exactly like electricity. But the strange feeling in your heart continued. You couldn't tell if it felt nice or if you wanted it to go away.

Your feet kept sinking in the sand until you reached the pier and had to get used to walking on concrete again. You made your way to the roof on the end of the pier, hand in hand. You stood by the edge. Staring at the water.

Kaminari took the last bite. “That was delicious.”

“Thanks.”

“So…” he looked around. He put the stick back into the bag and placed it in his pocket. “Wanna dance?”

Instead of your usual joking reply, you felt flustered, but shyly accepted. He pulled out his phone and started some music up. You put your hand in his and the other on his shoulder. He held you by the waist. You tried to regulate your breathing and calm down. The two of you began spinning in time with the music. He twirled you around. You even did that one move you would see in movies. When you’d spin out, like a door opening, while still holding his hand. The he’d pull you back to him. It all felt simple, and fun.

Right as the fourth song was ending, you had an overwhelming urge to ask him something. “Umm,” then you stopped yourself when you realized exactly what it was you actually wanted to ask. But why did it feel like it was rising out of your throat, desperately wanting to be said.

“Yeah?” he looked at you. His yellow eyes made you feel like melting, an effect they never had up until that point.

“I… it was nothing.”

“Really?”

“No.” You cursed yourself for automatically saying the truth.

 “Then what is it?” He looked at you more intently.

Your mind was doing somersaults trying to figure out what to do or say. “Date, please,” you blurted out.

“Huh?”

“Well, um.” You really wished you had kept your mouth shut. You stared down and said in the most quiet voice possible, “I think maybe I kinda like you and maybe, kinda, want to go on a real date with you. Maybe? If you’d be fine with that, maybe.”

“Wait,” he stepped back as if in surprise. “You. Want to date… me?”

Your face was burning to the point you wanted to stick into the water like an ostrich. “Yes?”

He threw his arms in the air and jumped around. “Yes! I got an actual date! I’m finally dating someone! They said I couldn’t do it!”

“You don’t need to announce it to the whole world.” You laughed.

“Well, you are m—”

“I swear, if you say finish with ‘my world’ I will knock you over the head.”

He let out a big laugh. “Why? You don’t want to be my world?”

His laughter was contagious. “No, it’s cheesy, and this literally just happened a minute ago.”

You both started to walk back, and hardly even noticed when your hands slipped perfectly into one another.

[nitannichionne]

August's Angel (Henry Cavill/August Walker Fanfiction) Chapter 8: Finally

Chapter 8: Finally

Week 16

At 16 weeks, the baby is about the size of an avocado, about four inches long and weighing about four ounces. In the next few weeks, the baby will double body weight and add inches to body length. The legs are much more developed, and the head is more erect. The patterning of the scalp has begun, though hairlocks aren't recognizable yet. The heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as s/he develops.

The 16th week of pregnancy has a lot of exciting changes. The top of the uterus is about halfway between the pubic bone and your navel, and the round ligaments that support it are thickening and stretching as it grows. Less nausea, fewer mood swings, and "glowing" skin contribute to an overall sense of well-being. Baby movements can be felt, sometimes in flutters often called quickenings, or actual movement. Either way, these movements will grow stronger and more frequent. This wouldn’t be a bad time for baby name lists, and now, baby is ready to listen to anything you say or narrate.

"You okay?" she asks as we enter the office.

"Yeah." I feel like the first day on a mission, a touch anxious but mostly excited. I have been reading up on this, and yet, I feel unprepared even though I went last month. Correction-popped up last month. I hope to be better this time at the doctor's, different, but not sure how. But this is no mission, this is life.

“Nice ring!” one of the nurses gasps as she weighs her for our sixteen week checkup

“Thanks,” she beams. “he surprised me with it last weekend.”

“You’re positively glowing!”

“Really?”

“You’re radiant, sweetheart,” I put in. I mean it. She glowed when I started rubbing her belly, but the ring and our time together helped, too. And thank goodness, she finally gave permission to move into the master bedroom with her. That took a few weeks, but I must thank our baby for that. First there was stretching that caused her discomfort, so I rubbed her. Now there is movement every time my voice is heard. The baby is definitely on my side, our side in the long run. “The baby responds well to me.”

“Knows his daddy’s voice?”

I quirk an eyebrow. “Her daddy’s.”

“Oh, you want a girl?”

“Definitely.”

When we went into the doctor, he was happy to see me again. It had been a month, and our first visit was bumpy to say the least.

“Well, looks like you two have worked things out,” he smiles at the ring. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” we say in unison.

“Here ya go,” the doctor smiles, handing her a cup.

She smiles and heads to the restroom.

“How is she?”

“Better,” I nod.

“Are you two sexually active?” he asks. “It’s good for you both and for the baby, you know.”

“We’re getting around to that,” I say slowly. “Morning sickness is gone, and I’ve been rubbing her belly. She was stretching.”

“Oh, good, you might want to put lotion on her to help with stretching skin,” he nods as she returns. “Sex makes labor easier, reduces stress, improves connections between you two, all good. There are websites that help with positions and which trimesters are best for them, but I also have pamphlets here.” He goes into a drawer and pulls a couple out, handing them to me.

“Thank you.” I nod as she goes still.

“Next time we see each other, we will do a blood test and the ultrasound,” he nods. “We should be able to tell if it’s a boy or a girl. You might want to start thinking about names.” He rolls his eyes and chuckles. “Sometimes that takes as long as the pregnancy.”

“You’re off today?” I ask her in the car.

“Yes,” she shrugs. “I wasn’t sure what tests were coming today. I thought the blood one was today.”

“No worries, sweetheart,” I say, concentrating on the road. “I’ll just take you home.” What she doesn’t know is I took the day off, too. It was my first real appointment with her, no surprises or anything. It turned out to be pretty standard from what I read, but the idea of an ultrasound next month had me excited. I park and walk around to open the door for her. This is something she was getting used to. I help her out of the car and smile at the fact she does not need it right now, but I want her to know I’m ready to do it when she does.

She turns to go and realizes very quickly that I’m following her. “August?”

“Hmm?”

“You’re staying for lunch?”

“Actually I took the day off from the office, I can work from home if need be,” I say with a small smile. She looks nervous, and my heart lurches. “It’s our first appointment together, angel.”

“You came to the last one—”

“Unannounced,” I frown at her. “This actually means something to me, you know.” I study her. She reminds me more of a woman at the end of a date, trying to decide to invite me in. Well, I live here. I take a deep breath. “Maybe this is a bad idea—”

“No!” She takes my hand, looking into my eyes. “No. I’m sorry, I was just surprised, is all…pleasantly surprised, August.”

“Surprised that I took a day off to be with you, stay if you need me?” I can’t keep the edge from my voice.

“The first trimester was a bit rough, and I was alone,” she admits. “I got myself all in the frame of mind that I was going to be alone--”

“Angel?”

“Hmm?”

I take her hand in mine and kiss her ring, then her palm, and place her hand against my cheek. “Please get out of it. You’re killing me.” I whisper.

“I will,” she says a bit breathlessly.

I take her hand in mine and lead her inside. “How about a nice bath?” I suggest, feeling a little weakened by admitting how I was feeling. “I read it’s relaxing as long as the water isn’t too hot.”

“That sounds good,” she smiles.

“I can make lunch,” I offer.

“You?”

“Hey, I know my way around a kitchen,” I tell her. “The cold stuff is in the refrigerator, right?”

She can’t help but giggle at me. “How about we make lunch together later?” she counteroffers. “I’m really not that hungry.”

“You may be later,” I tell her. “How about we make dinner together?”

“That sounds fun,” she smiles. “Maybe try a recipe? Just got a new magazine.”

“Sounds good,” I tell her. “Go on up and take a quick soak.”

“Okay.”

I almost pat her backside as she goes up the steps, and tense inwardly at the feeling of uncertainty. This has to stop. I decide to follow her and change into shorts and a tank top, getting into the mindset of a day at home in the middle of the week. I draw a bath for her, checking the temperature with a thermometer from the medicine cabinet.

I head downstairs and pull out chicken breasts, sautéing them as I slice vegetables for a huge Mediterranean salad, one of her favorites. I finish in no time, and set the bowl in the refrigerator. I look at the clock. Oh, no, she is supposed to be out, already. A soak is supposed to be twenty minutes!

I race up the steps to find her asleep in the tub. “Angel,” I shake her gently. “Angel!”

“What?” She wakes up slowly. “What—”

“It’s been almost thirty minutes.”

“Okay—”

“You should be out in twenty.”

She starts to laugh at me. “Auggie—”

“Angel—”

“I’m alright, the baby is alright,” she assures. “I got in at the right temperature. I saw you check.”

I open my mouth to say something, but nothing comes. “Still, you can catch a chill. Come on, out.”

She rolls her eyes as I get a bath sheet. She stands with ease and I realize that I may have to help her in and out in the future. She steps out onto the mat and I wrap her instantly, rubbing her arms.

“Auggie, you’re flipping out,” she chides in singsong.

“Okay, I’m flipping out,” I repeat flatly. A shiver goes through her, and I close my arms around her for added warmth.

“Did you cook?”

“Just made salad, added chicken.”

“Smells good.”

I smirk. Not hungry, huh, I want to say, but keep drying and warming her. “You called me Auggie.”

“Yes?”

“You-you used to call me that, sometimes.” I hold her close, resting my chin on her shoulder.

“Yeah,” she chuckles.

“I hated it.”

“And now?”

I kiss her shoulder. “I love it.” I nuzzle her cheek with my own and she surprises me by turning around. She places her palm on my cheek, and I stare into her eyes. Please, Angel, you’re killing me. I need you.

And as if she understood—maybe she did—she reaches up and kisses me, really kisses me. She nibbles on my lips, she licks them as if her tongue was a balm and I bring her closer, molding her to me as I open my mouth to taste hers, kissing her as she did me. My hips move instinctively, trying to find that sweet spot of warmth between her thighs, and I start walking us both to the bed as I kiss and taste her the way I used to, the way I yearned to.

I guide her body down to the bed, and gently move the towel away from her, little by little, kissing every inch of skin it had hidden. She smells of lavender, but it has no calming effect on me. I want more.

Her breasts are definitely bigger than I remember, her hips are, too. She looks a little anxious and I kiss her forehead, her eyes, her nose and mouth before trailing down her neck to the valley between those swelling mounds. I gently use my tongue to test her sensitivity. She’s very sensitive, her breast swelling not from just milk but arousal. I tamp down the joy of knowing that precious difference, and take the whole nipple in my mouth, sucking gently while using my tongue to circle and flick the tip. Her sighs are music, her soft moans creep down my spine into my groin and again, my hips move, telling my brain to hurry, but another part says I shouldn’t.

Ah, I remember this, I think thirstily as I kiss my way down her body, planting a few chaste kisses on her womb before I go between her legs. My kisses lead me to her lips and I snake my tongue out between her folds, using strong slow licks to divide and expose her. She gasps at each one, her hips moving in time with me. You want this too, I want to say, but I’d rather show than tell. I lap and suck her, enjoying her sounds as I greedily taste her juices, her silent invitation. Taking it. I crawl over her, still licking my lips as I hold her eyes with my own. Eyelids hooded, and lips parted, she reaches out to me and I gather her close, grateful that she isn’t too big for me to be on top, because I need this position just now.

“Auggie!” She gasps as I push the head of my cock inside. She is so damn wet, that I tremble with control, trying not to give into my need to ram her. I work my way into her in short thrusts, panting with her as we unite, and when I am inside a moan escapes us. Utter relief. Utter need.

She is wet and tight, her walls seeming to pulse around me, and I am throbbing with need. Her fingertips dig into my biceps and I begin working her slowly, agonizing not to come inside her, and needing her release as permission.

She arches, and I feel her squeeze, but not hard enough, not hard enough. She moans, wrapping her legs around me, and I bring her knees higher. I slip in deeper, and I am thrusting hard out of pure instinct. She cries out, but she pulls me closer. We share ragged kisses, panting and moving. She’s moving with me and her gasps and groans grow louder. “Ah…ah…..”

“Angel!” I cry out, feeling her body clasp mine in every way, clinging to me and pulsing around me as my pant against her neck. I collapse her, but come up on my elbows, my head bowing as I thrust the last of my orgasm into her. She nudges my face to hers and captures my mouth in a kiss that brands me, a kiss that tells me this will not be the last time.

We lay there quietly for I don’t know how long. We catch our breaths and hold on to each other. I feel like taking a nap, but the afternoon light from our window keeps bothering me. She sighs, running her fingers up and down my back and it makes me drowsy. We may have nodded off, not sure.

I awaken fully when she shifts. “Oh, I’m sorry—”

“No, that’s okay,” She is glowing now, her hair in disarray and her eyes bright, a smile in her eyes. “But…”

I go still. “But, what?”

“You said something about salad?”

“Hungry now, are we, Angel?” I joke and she laughs with me. “Coming right up.”

@mistress-of-ward @nuggsmum @messyinsomnimaniac @jencanbeyouryengeralt @sweetdreamsofgelato @mary-ann84 @omgkatinka @the-soot-sprite @viking-raider @keanureevesisbae @henryobsessed @summersong69 @sunshine96love @michelehansel @thelastsock @tumblnewby @tenaciousneckpartypainter @rn7rocks @daydreamin83 @ruthoakenshield @musicartmayheminmyheart @kaatelyynn-blog-blog@forallthebrokenheartedthings @alphacancrii @liquorlaughslove @designerwriterchic @tamychm @nikkilynn303 @circesgirl1 @xoxohannahlee @pixie88@fckdeusername @maan24 @kaatelyyynn​ @october505​ @absentmindr​ @introvertedmouse​ @sassy-pelican @griscka75 @kebabgirl67 @its-carlerr @cherry-piee @starstruckkittyangel @lyrarodriguez

[fukurodaze]

dump shot

pairing: third year!shirabu kenjirou x first year manager!reader (female) genre/s: PURE FLUFF, meet cute type beat! word count: 2.9k taken from this request by anonymous <3: “Shirabu x Manager! reader where reader is Karasuno's manager and she's seen pining over him and later the two end up in an accident outside the gym (before or after the games) where they find themselves locked somewhere”

for reference, this is set when hinata and the first years are in their second year, so ennoshita is karasuno’s captain. shirabu’s also the captain of the shiratorizawa vbc!

lowercase intended!

when shirabu kenjirou throws a dump shot, he is the coolest person in the room. it’s two words that come out of your mouth, groans of frustration coming from your team, and a faint smirk on the almond haired boy. 

“so cool...” you mutter under your breath, watching the practice match between your team and shiratorizawa at their gym. you get goosebumps.

it’s not your first time seeing the third year. you had watched shiratorizawa’s match with karasuno in the prefectural spring high finals, and though your eyes were glued onto the then first-year setter, kageyama, you would, at times, find your eyes stopping at the magenta number 10 jersey. you would later find out his name was shirabu kenjirou, and that you would come to develop an almost baseless crush on him, hopeless at best.

another rally starts, this time with shiratorizawa on match point, an already dragged out 32-31 on the scoreboard. it’s the third set on a friday night, yet the match is already scraping past seven pm and you don’t know if your body can take any more of the anticipation. 

and when the magenta jerseys spike a mean straight shot, your hands ball up with whitened knuckles at the bitter taste of a lost game. you run up to the boys with yachi, handing them drinks and towels, telling the second years “you did well” and the third years “that was a good one.” you glance at the first years, some of your friends, and give them a soft smile, as if telling them that you’re going to have to get used to this feeling, because it will happen. lots.

but loss is as temporary as victory when you see the boys mingle with each other, friendliness growing as the new first years dissolve tensions between teams. you even see kageyama bump into hinata and goshiki’s conversation, the sight of it new and endearing. 

yachi taps you on the shoulder, “i’m going to be picking up the bibs, can you collect the balls and put them in storage?”

shiratorizawa’s storage room looks more like a shed. it’s also much further than you think, and even darker than you knew storage rooms to be. it looks like an entire sports supply factory outlet rather than a high school unit. 

the large basket of volleyballs rolls weirdly on its wheels, knocking left and right as you try to drive it through the doorway. it makes a bit of a fussy sound when you bump into the basket of footballs, and as the footballs begin to fall out of their containers, you close the door in an attempt to keep them inside. 

"here they are,” you hear from the corner of the room, behind shelves upon shelves of equipment. your body freezes up dramatically, as if dreading the awkward interaction with the unknown person. hurriedly, you pick up the scattered soccer balls, attempting to take up to five at once to no avail, only causing more sounds of balls hitting wooden floors. 

“hello?”

you hesitate to answer. you only continue to put back all the footballs in their place and park the basket of volleyballs in some random corner of the shed before reaching for the door, only to find it doesn’t budge.

“aren’t you karasuno’s manager?”

you turn around to find the one person you wouldn’t want to see you like this. like every high school cliché, shirabu kenjirou is standing right behind you when you turn back, a pair of training shoes hanging off of his left hand. you nod and bow slightly, unsure what to do.

“i, uh, wanted to put the balls back here.”

“but why are you here in the shed?” his voice is softer, you notice, probably because he realises he’s talking to a girl, but his words remind you of how he’d talk to his team during the match.

“i just wanted to help clean up and stuff, like, uh, a token... of appreciation for this practice match?” god, your palms sure are getting sweaty. 

“this shed isn’t the place we put our frequently used equipment. we usually put our volleyballs in the room in the gym. it’s the one with the double doors. how come you came so far here?”

you shrug slowly, feeling nice and stupid for not noticing the actual storage room’s large double doors and instead wandering off to carry a basket of volleyballs past three other gyms and a few questioning looks from the shiratorizawa basketball team to this single-doored, large building. 

“i’ll just bring them back to the gym now-” you come back to the basket of volleyballs you had just left against a random wall as shirabu pushes on the door’s nonexistent handle. you think it’s all about to end until a muttered curse falls out of the third year’s lips. you look to him in confusion.

then he curses again, this time stopping himself midway as your gaze meets his, voice getting softer again. “did you close the door?”

“yes...?” 

“it’s not supposed to be closed,” shirabu sighs, “there’s a little metal rod that falls into a hole in the ground on the other side, and it falls in pretty easily if we close the door, so we can’t really get out right now.”

oh shit.

“i’ll just call- oh my god, i forgot my phone.” your tone is fast and apologetic, considering you had closed the door in the first place. “i’m sorry-”

“don’t be, you didn’t know before.” shirabu sits on a pile of thick and colourful gym mats, elbows on knees. the shoes he was holding are now behind him. “this school might be big, but it’s also damn old.”

shirabu has no idea what situation he’s in right now. frankly, he’s kind of panicking. but he tells himself not to panic, especially when karasuno’s new manager is right there (and she’s pretty cute, not gonna lie - is she a second year?). shirabu would probably be shouting and pushing the door by now until his voice ran hoarse, but surely, there is no use for that. 

“so, uh, how are we going to get out?” you shove your hands into your tracksuit jacket, stepping in front of the boy. you’re guessing it’s going to be a bit before you two can get out, so you might as well try to talk to him without a three meter gap in between him and you.

shirabu shrugs, and a look at you tells you that you can sit next to him on the pile of gym mats. “i think we’re just going to have to hope someone notices we’re gone.”

“i think they have to,” you chuckle, “you’re captain. would be kinda crazy if they didn’t notice you were gone.”

the conversation dissolves into awkward silence as the stranger you once pined over is literally right next to you, dried sweat and all, a light laugh leaving his lips.

“what’s your name?” the question is simple, obligatory, even, for introductions, but you swear you feel your heart skip a beat.

“l/n f/n,” you reply, and he says his name in return. you want to say you know, as you’ve already referred to him as captain of the volleyball club, but you settle with silence and a smile. he seems to like it.

“you’re karasuno’s manager, right?” 

“yeah. i’m a first year, but i have a brother in karasuno.”

“oh really? is he in the volleyball team?”

you shake your head, “no. he’s in the basketball team, actually, but he’s friends with some of the third years in the team. he’s the reason i got dragged to the spring high prefectural finals last year, actually.”

you hold your hands together, clasping them to evaporate your nervousness. shit, this is shirabu kenjirou you’re talking to, don’t mess it up!

shirabu leans back on his arms, looking up in reminiscence. he sighs, “spring high, huh? you probably saw my tosses back then.”

you can’t seem to wipe the smile off your face, the excitement of getting to talk to the third year getting to you, “i remember you from that game the most.”

“damn, then you’d probably also remember how my toss was bad enough for even ushijima-san to get blocked-”

“i think you were really cool, actually.”

shirabu stops in his vocal tracks. there’s no way she means that, he thinks.

“you’re just saying that.”

“well, of course i’m saying it. you wouldn’t hear it otherwise.” your feet kick themselves against the soft pile of gym mats, “but trust me, coming from a karasuno student, you were really cool. your entire team was, too, but, you know.”

at this point, you think you’re just embarrassing yourself. what if he thinks you’re some kind of weird fan? a naive first year? some wannabe manager who didn’t quite understand volleyball to its core? it seems like the conversation loves to come back to silence, and you don’t know how to break the ice.

“thanks,” shirabu mentions, tone higher, as he stands up and off of the gym mats. you feel a weight lift beside you, and in your floor-focused eyes, you see his shoes walk to the basket of volleyballs. 

shirabu bounces the ball once, and then once again, before you see his shoes in front of yours. you look up. 

“we have time. wanna toss?”

“i’m not that good at overhead passes...” you resist, knowing all too well from pe classes that your fingers don’t have the same kind of magic shirabu’s or kageyama’s have - or anyone in the men’s volleyball club, really.

shirabu only shrugs, “it’s fine, y/n-san. it’s just me. i don’t think you can even be that bad anyways.”

okay, maybe hearing him say your name was enough to persuade you. but still, the possibility of losing your pride in front of shirabu keeps you glued onto the gym mats. 

you purse your lips, trying to hide the overwhelming grin spreading on your face. you try to say a word, but you can’t seem to make anything out when teeth and raised cheeks do nothing but make you feel like this hopeless crush isn’t so hopeless after all. and so you nod.

he stands a few feet away from you, tossing the ball at what seemed like the perfect angle for your height only for you to miss it every two good tries.

“see? you’re not bad.” you think he’s lying through his teeth at best.

“i drop, like, every toss you give. this is not not bad.” you slouch, catching the ball this time instead of attempting to toss it. 

“well, that’s because you’re just doing it wrong. you hit the ball with the top of your palm every time. of course it’s going to come flying down.”

“okay, captain of the shiratorizawa volleyball club...” you tease, and you think it’s all fun and games until he comes to stand right in front of you, taking the ball. 

“put your hands up.”

you do as he asks.

“they should be about this far from your head,” he puts down the ball to adjust your arms, and then your hands, “it’s supposed to feel like there’s a nice place for the ball to rest in your hands.”

his hands are cold and rough when they lightly press on yours, shaping your hands and your elbows the way he does it on court, “your elbows and hands should make a triangle.”

he lets go of your arms, and you keep your arms the way he left them. he tosses the ball to you, and the only thing you feel is the sturdy feeling of fingertips on fabric.

shirabu catches the ball when you toss it back, “see? not bad.”

he doesn’t miss it when your eyes light up at his praise, and he makes a mental note to himself to not get distracted next time shiratorizawa has a game with karasuno. or maybe he will; who knows - maybe seeing you might make him look at his job with more vigour and passion.

“how do you do it?” you stare, “i mean, not that i haven’t seen, but-”

your words are cut off when he sets the ball onto the wall and back in one quick motion, his hands like cradling the ball with care on every push and touch. maybe it isn’t backed by an ace spiker or a team of five, but there’s a quiet power in what he does.

volleyball might be a team sport, but you’ve only been focused on this one setter all afternoon. even worse, he’s from the opposite team. 

he holds the ball and bounces it as he looks back at you, “when i got into shiratorizawa, you have no idea how much time i spent doing this.”

he exhales, like a weight has been pulled off his chest, feeling quite nice at your visible reactions. he throws the ball at you, exclaiming “toss!” only for you to catch it square above your head. you whine. then he laughs, and you laugh too, because you've never seen him laugh. 

“it paid off, then,” you say, coming to sit back down on the pile of mattresses. he sits next to you again, but closer this time. it’s like your stomach performs a somersault, and you absolutely love it.

"i guess,” he mutters, “maybe next time i’ll show you the dump shot you seemed to like so much.”

you can only bury your face in your hands, remembering the way you exclaimed ‘so cool...’ at his actions about an hour ago. you mumble, “was i too loud?”

he laughs again. you like the sound of it. “no, it was good.”

“it was nice to know one of karasuno’s managers looked at me more than kageyama,” his tone is stagnant, but you can hear him grinning, “that wouldn’t be considered betrayal, would it?”

you take it upon yourself to look him in the eye, and you tell him, with a small voice, “maybe it’s just something about you.”

you hide your face in your hands again, and you hear the setter laugh once more. you wonder if he laughs this much with his teammates. 

just as your embarrassment starts to settle, there’s a knock on the wooden door, “y/n? are you here?”

you recognise it as the second year, yamaguchi’s, voice, and you call back out, “yeah?”

“alright, wait up, i’ll just unlock the door...” his voice turns from muffled to surprise after the door opens, seeing you sitting so close to none other than shiratorizawa’s setter.

“i’m so sorry it took this long for us to realise you were, uh, gone,” yamaguchi scratches the back of his head, “but at least you had some company.”

yamaguchi gives the setter a prompt bow, and shirabu does the same.

“anyways, y/n, the bus is waiting,” the boy motions, and you nod, looking at shirabu. 

you wave at shirabu and start to leave the shed when he grips the sleeve of your tracksuit jacket. 

“are you free on sunday?”

you stop in your tracks, “yeah, i am.”

“i can show you my dump shot then. and there’s also a cute café nearby campus, i heard, so, we can go there after?”

you swear your heart melts at his words, “that sounds good.”

you can feel yamaguchi’s curious stare at both of you, but you don’t mind. “i’ll give you my number, then?”

you search through your pockets for something to take note with, “i don’t have a pen and paper... or my phone...”

shirabu sighs, “me neither, uhm...”

“oh, well. just tell me your number and i’ll memorise it.”

“are you sure?”

“yeah,” you smile, knowing that you’re not that good at memorising things but you know you’d keep his number dialed in your head. as he says out his string of numbers, you make sure to remember it all by the time you get to your bag. 

“see you sunday, then.” he waves once more.

“i’ll text you!” you’re left to ponder what the hell you’re going to wear in two days to your date with shirabu kenjirou. 

first date with shirabu kenjirou. is it a date? maybe you’ll know it on sunday. 

when you step out of the shed, yamaguchi only grins as he walks you back to the bus, amused at witnessing one of his underclassmen set up a date with shiratorizawa’s third year setter and captain. 

“on monday, tell us some of shiratorizawa’s secrets,” yamaguchi jokes as you two walk across campus. you glare at your upperclassman, and he only follows it up with a shake of the head and “no, no, just kidding! just have fun on sunday.”

“thank you,” you say quietly as you two approach the bus, “and thank you for unlocking that door at the shed back there.”

“no problem,” yamaguchi replies.

after announcing a small apology to the rest of the team when you enter the bus, you almost run to yachi when she shouts from the back that she’s already got your bag, with you practically grabbing it to take out your phone.

“woah, y/n! are you alright? do you have your stuff?”

you don’t answer, only putting down the numbers you drilled into your head five minutes ago, naming the contact “dump shot” and sending him a quick hello in text.

yachi asks again, “y/n?”

now you snap out of it, and nod before thanking her for bringing your bag. you can’t stop the uncontrollable smile on your face.

yachi stretches her arms out and smiles back, glad that her underclassman seems enthusiastic about this volleyball thing too. “i’m so ready for the weekend. i’m just going to sleep in and rest all day.”

you nod, slouching lazily into the bus yet with unknown excitement in your veins at the thought of spending a day with the boy you’ve only ever seen from afar until tonight. 

“i’m so ready for this weekend too.”

[arminhug]

hello, pumpkin || annie leonhardt x reader: chapter two

series masterlist

。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・✫

BIRTHDAY GIRL

Annie and I never established that we were friends until her eighth birthday.

In the blossoming spring warmth, I nestled myself in the corner of the bench in the playground’s garden. It was an unspoken fact that nobody really played in the garden; it was a quiet haven for a few of us to read or enjoy solitude, yet it had also become a spot where I waited for Annie every day, and almost every day, had she not been sent home or busy with other obligations, Annie joined me, sometimes speaking, sometimes not. I didn’t mind; I just loved to be in her company.

On this particular day, Annie stood before me, and despite her being the same height as me, her air always made her seem much bigger and powerful.

“My dad says this is for you.”

She handed me a white envelope into which I fervently tore, revealing a gaudy invitation card.

“It’s your birthday on Saturday?” I quizzed.

“No, my birthday is today. But my dad said it was too short notice to invite you to my house today, so you can come on Saturday.”

At this news of Annie’s birthday, I immediately leapt to my feet and braced her in a hug. “Happy birthday! What cake are you having? Are you going to hand out sweets to your class?”

Annie did not hug me back but did not resist. “I don’t like cake, and I don’t like anyone in my class.”

I gasped. “How can you not like cake? Also, who’s going to be at your party if you don’t like anyone in your class?”

“Cake is too heavy and sweet.” She responded monotonously. “Also, you’re the only one coming; it’s not a party, my dad just knows I have a friend now and wanted you to come. You don’t have to.”

Unlike Annie, I didn’t actively avoid the other children in my school. I was still invited to many class birthday parties, I spoke amiably to my peers and I could name a few schoolchildren whom I could consider a friend— yet Annie, the stoic, ash-blonde girl confessing she saw me as a friend elicit such joy within me, I can still remember the feeling to this day if I think about her enough.

“So if I’m your friend, I have to get you a present, right?” I had reminded her of the title that she gave me moments ago.

“No. I don’t want a present.”

“Yes you do, everyone wants presents!” I retorted. “What do you like best in the world?”

“Cats.”

I sat down, sulking. “I can’t get you a cat, Annie. What else do you like?”

Silence.

“Mummy and I can make you something.” I continued, desperate to find something that I could give to my friend. “She’s really good at baking. Do you like cookies?”

“No.”

“Cupcakes?” I refused to give up.

“No! Cupcakes are tiny cakes, you know I hate cakes.”

“Brownies?”

“No.”

“Doughnuts?”

This time, Annie turned away, not meeting the question with a monosyllabic “no”.

“Doughnuts! Annie, I’ll make you lots of doughnuts, okay?”

Annie still refused to look me in the eye. It never bothered me, but I had gathered that she was more inclined to refuse eye contact when she was upset or shy. Before I had the chance to attempt to pry into which flavour of doughnut she would have liked, the bell signalling the end of recess rang. I leapt to my feet and pressed a chaste kiss to Annie's cheek.

“See you later, you doughnut!”

She shoved me towards my line with no malice in the action. “Whatever you say, pumpkin girl.”

“Earth to (y/n)? You’ve been glazed over for the past five minutes. What’s so exciting about the window?”

I blink, snapping out of the saccharine memory of Annie’s birthday. Four pairs of eyes are fixed on me, and I animate myself, taking the doughnut from my plate and shrugging. “I was just thinking,” I respond.

“You sure? Not looking at any hot dudes?” the only other female at the table, Sasha, suggests. Her hazel eyes flicker suggestively over to the group of men kicking a ball about in the park over the road from our favourite local café, which has baked goods to die for (or so Sasha and Connie, the food fanatics of my friendship group claim. I won’t argue—the doughnuts are heavenly.)

“Yeah, c’mon, (y/n)! There are three dashing fellows right here, why do you need to stare at those losers?” Connie chimes in, gesturing to himself and my other two male friends, Jean and Marco.

“Yeah, you wish. My type isn’t idiots,” I playfully smack Connie’s head, the growing stubble brushing my fingertips as I find any way to bring the subjects away from men that I would apparently find attractive.

“On all seriousness, what is your type? We’ve never seen you have anyone about.” Jean interrogates. Great.

It took me a while to figure out that I’m likely not into men. I never quite knew why I got so uncomfortable when middle school brought an array of boy bands that prepubescent teenage girls loved to swoon over, and why I could never answer when somebody asked me who was the hottest, but at the age of sixteen, when I realised my heart was racing upon seeing two women kiss in a film my friends and I had watched, it hit me like a freight train that I was definitely attracted to women.

I chose not to indulge anyone in this knowledge; realistically, I know I don’t have too much to worry about. Sure, my parents aren’t screaming about supporting gay rights from the rooftops, but I know that they have no prejudice towards the community, and my four closest friends would accept me no matter what — hell, Marco told us he was gay when we were fifteen and sixteen years old over a game of Mario Kart and we embraced his queerness with open arms.

So what’s the big deal? I think to myself.

“Does it matter? I’m too busy to date. These university decisions are killing me!”

“Simple,” Jean interrupts, pointing the straw of his ridiculously large iced coffee in my direction. “You come to Marley with Marco and me. Good university, far enough away from your parents, and you get your favourite friends with you for the ride!”

Jean and Marco are one class above Sasha, Connie and I, and decided that Marley University, a small, public school that gained a decent reputation despite it being so new, was the place for them. It was hard to say goodbye once they left school, but the holiday breaks came frequently, and soon enough, they were back for Easter, helping their three younger friends decide on which school to go to.

“Tempting, but probably not. I can’t get over the English department in Sina,” I responded dreamily.

“Yeah, and the crazy entry requirements. You’d have to be a robot to get those grades! Just come to Marley with us, I’m sure the English stuff is fine there, too!” Sasha whined, poking at my hand. I take another bite of my nostalgic treat, shaking my head.

“Guys, I love you all, but I can’t make such an important decision based on my friends. You understand, right?”

“It’s fine, (y/n),” Marco interrupts, his familiar comforting smile gracing his freckled face. “We’ll come to visit you up there, right?”

“Nope. Four of us, one of you. She is coming to Marley.” Jean retorts.

“Jesus, fair enough. I’ll book the plane tickets now!” I tell him sardonically. He elbows me jovially in response and stands, coffee in hand. “Right, we can finish our drinks and snacks on the way outside. It's too nice to be spending it indoors.”

Ignoring the protests from Sasha and Connie, who forlornly protest that they haven't had the chance to order a baked good after their main courses, the majority of the group tail towards the double doors, leaving the duo no choice but to begrudgingly follow suit. The late March sunshine is glorious, beaming down on my face, much like the day twelve years ago I was daydreaming about. It suddenly hit me that today, March 22nd, Annie would be turning twenty years old. This newfound knowledge makes my stomach drop and I cannot control the grief coursing through my being.

It's ever so odd how I can remember every detail about my childhood friend; every memory we shared together, her favourite colour, (black, which I insisted was rather morbid for an eight-year-old, so I coaxed her into putting blue as a second favourite) how on Sunday mornings her father would always pick her up from my house after a sleepover at 10 am sharp to take her to karate, even though she had told me in confidence that she much preferred kickboxing. I couldn't tell you many facts about any other childhood friend who I lost to time; it's only Annie. Every detail of the girl who made my infancy etched into my heart, refusing to leave.

As I force myself back into the present moment, I am aware that maybe Annie was more than just my best friend.

But I was so young. How could I have truly differentiated between innocuous childhood affection and romantic yearning?

“Marco?” I punctuate the spring silence before I can even stop myself. “How did you realise your first crush?”

Marco raises his eyebrows. “Jeez, it was so long ago. I was eleven and I was having a sleepover with my friend. We were on his bed playing Minecraft on his laptop, but I wasn’t even paying attention; I was just admiring his face, how he was so engrossed in the game. My heart was racing because I realised I wanted to kiss him, but I didn’t even think it was biologically possible to like the same sex, so I brushed it off. Now I look back…” he laughs awkwardly, before looking me in the eye, his tone suddenly earnest. “Why, what’s up? Anything you want to talk to me about?”

I stop in the street, completely oblivious to the speed of modern day life around me. Suddenly all I care about is how my stomach leapt when I saw her pallid figure walk through the double doors, into the garden, how I found any excuse to hold her hand, how obsessed I was with the topography of her curved nose, icy eyes, lips stark against her pale skin.

“How do you know for sure you’re gay if you’ve only ever had a crush on one person in your life? Somebody who you haven’t spoken to in eight years?”

。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・✫

[forevercaroline]

French court

I was going to have these characters be a side plot in the fic Forbes but as I was writing I decided to make a whole new story with these characters. Also I was talking with @iamcarito and she mentioned that Lexi would be like Megan Markle and the ideas just started flowing from there. I wrote this yesterday. I had mentioned to @austennerdita2533 and @karinanic that I was going to have a Lexi and prince romance. Also tagging @delenastvd.

Xxx

Henri peppers Lexi neck with kisses as her arms go around his neck and she rides him. The white sheet falling off her pooling on his thighs. He thrusts up one last time and her screams of ecstasy full the big bedroom, he soon follows. She slumps down on his bare chest and leaves a sweet peck on his neck.

“It’s moving day. My prince.”

“Did you ever think you would be here?”

Lexi snuggles her head into his neck and he wraps his arms around her slim waist. “Here meaning naked in bed with the prince of France no, moving into the French palace no, or being engaged to the sexy prince of France no.”

“Engaged to the sexy prince, did I only become sexy after we got engaged.” Lexi can feel him laugh laying on him.

“Sexy the moment I saw you.” She leans up and leaves a kiss on his lips he smiles into the kiss.

The double doors for their suite open and it’s Henri’ mother the queen mother Catherine de’ Medici who like her son has blonde hair that she usually pins up. “Oh good your up and decent this morning.”

The blonde lovebirds share a look this a frequent occurrence. A few times they have been in the middle of sex when she barges in. The doors do not have a lock but guards posted outside the door but the queen mother is allowed in any room and especially her children’s quarter’s being their mother. Doesn’t matter how old or if one son is the king she will barge into their quarters morning day or night.

“What do you want mother?” As Henri has one arm on Lexi hiding her nudity behind him and pulling the blankets up to cover them.

“Charles found out about your engagement and is not pleased. He demands to see you in the throne room.”

Lexi bites her lip she has never been in the throne room, There are a lot of rooms in this palace she has not been in. Mostly she just stays in Henri’s suite, she has walked through the great hall, the ball room, and seen Henri’s older sister Claude’s room but that was only because her and Claude were going out together and Claude did not like her outfit so she dragged Lexi to her room and throw a short black dress at her and told her to change while she looked for a pair of heels.

Before Catherine leaves she tells her blanket covered naked son. “Henri please do not irritate your brother.”

Henri cracks a little smile and glances down at equally naked Lexi. “I Promise mother.”

Xxx

Before they enter the throne room Henri holds out his hand and smiles down at Lexi assuringly she smiles up at him while she places her purple tipped nails in his outstretched hand his thumb runs over her princess cut engagement ring there are three rows on each side all diamonds the two outer rows are white diamond and the middle row is yellow diamonds. Leading up the big raised yellow diamond in the middle. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

They enter to find Charles having a meeting with his spies and generals. Out of the corner of his eye he spots them. “Everyone out I need to have a word with my brother. If you see Nicole send her in too.”

Charles is shorter then his brother Henri but not by much. Where as Henri is tall blonde and has scruff and looks sexy, Charles is shorter, shaggy brunette hair and is clean shaven. Henri has a more gentle looking face he is fun loving where as Charles has a little bit of an evil face meaning that if something goes wrong people look to see if Charles did it because his face does not look innocent, he is a good king it’s just his face makes Lexi uncomfortable. Although that might have been done by their one and only encounter a year ago. The big difference between Henri and Charles is the crown upon Charles head.

“I am told you proposed to this woman last night.” He gestures to Lexi who scoffs at him.

Henri squeezes her hand to give her strength and to silently tell her he has this.“Yes I proposed to Lexi last night and she accepted we are going to move her into my suite later today.”

He doesn’t even look up from the map on the table to tell them. “I did not approve a proposal there for you two are not engaged nor did I approve of her moving into the palace.”

Lexi mouth drops open she is speechless this is not happening.

“Charles, Lexi and I love each other and want to get married.”

“You want to marry a commoner?”

Henri rolls his eyes the promise he made to his mother running through his head. He takes a breath and Lexi squeezes his hand to give him the strength he gave her earlier in this conversation. “Yes. I do not care if Lexi’s parents own a boutique in Paris or she is a heiress. We’ve been together for a year and a half but we knew the moment we saw each other that we had been looking for each other and we finally found each other.”

Charles looks up at the blonde couple and a small smile spreads across his face and he sticks his hand out. “Nicole.”

“My love.” Nicole is Charles fiancé, she has long brunette hair and brown eyes in heels she is the same height as Charles.

Nicole looks at the blonde couple first at Henri with love in her eyes then at Lexi with daggers in her eyes. Charles looks back at the blonde couple. “Your dismissed.”

Both blondes are pissed they were engaged this morning and just because Charles the king didn’t give his approval they not only can not get engaged but she can not move in with Henri. They get to the doorway when Henri turns around a wicked smirk on his face. “Brother why not this afternoon we play a game of tennis.”

Charles looks at his brother even though there is space between them they are looking each other dead in the eye. “What game are you playing brother?”

“ You’ll just have to accept and see.”

The older of the two looks back at the table full of maps and papers then at his blonde taller brother. “I accept.”

Xxx

“I love you Henri and I want to marry you but I do not see this ending well.”

Henri lifts the passengers side of his black Bugatti eb 110 he leans in and tells her. “Trust me.” He leaves a kiss right below her ear.

Once he is in the drivers seat she looks over at him as he puts the luxury sports car into drive. “I trust you.”

With one hand on the steering wheel he entwines his other hand with one of hers and kisses the back of her hand. “We will be married even if we have to disobey the king of France.”

Lexi loves Henri not just with her whole heart but she feels it in her bones this is the man for her. The way his smile can not only make her smile but make her feel like everything is going to be ok. From their first meeting they have had this connection. Henri was walking down the streets in Paris and walked past her mothers boutique and saw Lexi in the window fixing a mannequin. He was totally enamored by her beauty he almost walked into a guy walking towards him. Henri came into the boutique to find out what her name was and that night they had their first date and they’ve have been together ever since.

They pull onto the street where her apartment is and Lexi looks around. “Charles said I couldn’t move in and all my stuff would not would not fit in this car.”

He pulls into the parking lot of the apartment building. As he shuts off the car he tells her with a smirk on his face. “Well what Charles doesn’t know won’t kill him. And if it does your looking at the new king who wants to live with you.”

Lexi comes around to his side of the car and leans up and pecks him on the lips. “How did I become so lucky to fall in love with such a sexy, clever, ambitious and lovely man.”

He shrugs as he smiles down at her. “I have no clue but I fell in love with someone who is insanely beautiful, just as ambitious and clever as I am.”

“Well don’t we make a good match.”

“I think so.”

Xxx

They put all her stuff in the moving van that Henri had ready outside. They return to the palace and Henri orders the guards to discreetly put her stuff in his suite.

When they go out to the tennis court in the back of the palace they see Charles, Nicole and Claude. Lexi kisses Henri for good luck. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Lexi takes a seat next to Claude, Nicole is glaring daggers at her, Lexi is ignoring her. Both brothers pick up a racket before they start Claude stands up and goes over to the net. “Shake hands.”

Claude is older then both of them so they come to the net, Claude like her brother Charles has brunette hair that she usually wears up and curly. “Any wager between you two?”

“Now that you mention it sister yes. If I win I would love to marry Lexi but I know you will not grant that so If I win I want the king to accept that Lexi is going to move in with me.”

Charles glares at his brother and Claude looks at him. “Charles?”

“If I win Henri gives up this dream of marrying Lexi and gets serious.”

Henri and Claude share a look why is Charles so against this marriage he is getting married himself and his fiancé Nicole he met in a barn one of the times he ran away from court because it was to much pressure. Plus before he became king he was a party boy in Spain. He came back to France to be taught how to be a king by their older brother Francis before his death.

“Deal.” Both brothers shake and Claude goes back to her seat. “Go.”

She leans over and tells Lexi “Someone needs to keep the peace of this game might as well be me.”

“Aka Leith was busy and you were bored.”

Claude glances over at her and smirks “I hope Henri wins just so we could have a chance to be sisters. And I don’t say that to everyone.” She lowers her voice and leans in closer even covers the side of her mouth. “I didn’t tell Nicole we could be sisters and they are getting married.”

Lexi leans in to Claude. “Thank you for the compliment I hope we get the chance to be sisters too and that Henri wins. Also have you been clubbing behind my back with Nicole?”

Claude lets out a little laugh “Never your the only woman in this palace that enjoys sex and clubs as much as I do.”

They turn back to the tennis match and Henri scores a point Lexi cheers and Charles side eyes her she stops. Charles scores and Nicole smiles and claps her hands. After a couple more rounds the game is tied 5-5. Henri serves the ball and Charles almost misses it but hits it in the last second, Henri nearly missed the ball but hits it.

Claude is getting bored watching them play tennis. “Ok next point wins.”

“Don’t worry Henri you’ll find another woman you never had a problem finding one.”

“How does Nicole stand you at least my fiancé loves me.”

All everyone hears is Charles’ angry yell a racket hit the ground and him charging at his brother. All three ladies jump up from their seats and run over to the brothers who are now actually fighting each other well Charles is trying to strangle Henri who is trying to hold him back.

“Charles!” It takes Nicole and Claude to get Charles off Henri. Lexi checks him out and he picks up a tennis ball and weighs it in his hand. “Henri no don’t add injury to insult, he is still the king and your brother.”

“He will never let us marry more over he wants us to break up.”

Lexi swallows and pulls her hand away from his hand with the tennis ball. She turns around so she doesn’t have to see he throws the ball and it hits Charles straight in the nose he cries out because his nose is broken.

“Henri!” Claude looks back at Henri who says “Looks like I won brother.” She then looks back at Charles who is holding his bleeding nose and shooing Nicole’s hands away from his broken nose.

Claude notices Charles getting ready to pounce on Henri again. “Lexi get Henri out of here.”

“Come on Charles we need to get your nose looked at.”

As Charles passes Henri if looks could kill Henri would be dead ten times over.

Xxx

Lexi gets Henri back to their suite she closes the door and leans against it while he sits in on the chaise in front of the fire place there are boxes of her stuff all over the big bedroom. “Your mother said don’t irritate him you promised. And now you broke his nose. He is going to hate us.”

Henri puts out a hand and she walks over and places her hand in his he guides her to sit on his lap. “I know I promised but he called you a peasant and said that I’ll have no problem finding another woman.”

She lays her head on his shoulder and kisses his neck. “Dinner is going to be real fun.”

He nods as he moves his hand up her back.

Xxx

Just as Lexi predicted dinner was awkward Catherine sat at one end and Charles who had to get his nose reset so it can heal properly. Is sitting at the other end. Henri decides that the best place for him to sit is right next to Charles and across from Nicole with Lexi next to him and across from Claude and Leith.

“Henri don’t you have something you want to say to Charles.”

“Your right I do.” Lexi and Claude share a look they know this will not end well. “Charles I’m sorry, I’m sorry for breaking your nose. The soup we are eating tonight is supposed to help keep people strong. More importantly I am sorry people pity you and think your a weak king.”

Lexi rubs her forehead so close. Charles yells out in anger pins Henri on the table soup is spilt and he is choking his brother. Lexi, and Claude are trying to get Charles off Henri. Catherine stands up from her end of the table and looks at the mess her children have made. “Enough!”

[seasonsofeverlark]

Pumpkin Pie and Cheese Buns

Author: @evestedic​

Prompt: Hard working coming home for thanksgiving. Stops at the store on the way to pick up the dessert she didn’t bother to make no one will notice anyway and runs into their ex lover. Tries to leave fast but has to take the walk of shame back to grab the cranberries too. Arrives home not just with the cranberries and pie…  [submitted by anonymous]

Rating: T

____________

“God damn it!” Katniss was not happy. 

It was Thanksgiving, which meant she was being forced to spend time with people she didn’t even know.

Why?

Because they’re family, Katniss.

She could hear her Aunt Martha’s voice. 

Why should she care that her cousin was getting married?

Or that her nephew had gotten into college? 

Or that her godfather was slipping her a 20 buck bill while winking an eye at her? 

She wasn’t a total bitch, so she bore with it, but this was people she saw one fucking time per year! 

If it wasn’t for Thanksgiving, she was sure she wouldn’t see them again as they never even called. Nor did she.

But, be that as it may, Prim loved big gatherings and the attention; she was, after all, quite cheerful. Her father also bore with it, although better than her. 

However, who knew? This year her mother was coming with her new boyfriend. 

Ugh, puke… 

And that was why she was there, November the 26th, coming back from work and on her way to Aunt’s Martha’s house. 

Katniss was not happy. 

She had already left the store not five minutes ago, but something kept nagging at the back of her head while she accommodated the bags in the back of her car. 

Of course, being who she was, she had forgotten dessert. The pumpkin pie with maple whipped cream. Sighing and fuming, she went back to the absolute chaos of the aisles. If she arrived at her aunt’s without dessert…well, she would rather face a biblical plague. 

After perusing the dessert stand and seeing everything was completely wiped out‒not even crumbs were left‒she gave up and thought about getting some canned peaches and cherries.  That’s when she heard it…   

“Is that you, Katniss?” 

That voice. 

She had loved it at one point. Now, it was just nails on a chalkboard. 

Turning around, she set her eyes on a huge blonde guy; he had a perfect gym advertisement body, a smirk on his face, and his arm around a blonde girl with the same perfect gym advertisement body. 

“Cato.” 

“Buying for Thanksgiving?”

“No, just came because I was craving some peaches.” 

“Oh.”

Seriously? It was the most direct sarcastic answer ever, and he had actually believed her? 

Katniss rolled her eyes and was about to turn around when the Barbie clone spoke. 

“Is this the one, babe?”

“Yes, baby, that’s her.”

“Oh, I thought she’d be…I don’t know, prettier?”

“She never wanted to put in the effort, baby.”

“She is standing right here. And if working out turns you dumb, I’m glad I didn’t do it.” 

Katniss had gone out with Cato for two years when they were nineteen. Back then, he had been a kind guy, funny and perhaps a bit silly, but very nice, normal. He had asked her out after a college party, and she accepted; the rest was history. 

However, after one year of being together, he began frequenting the campus gym and suddenly started to change. All he could talk about were diets, exercise, and protein. Katniss was all in for a healthier life; hell, she knew if she kept on eating Greasy Sae’s food every other night, she was going to clog her arteries by the time she was 35, but Cato was relentless. He got rid of all of her comfort food and she had been forbidden to eat chicken and meat ever again. Only turkey and fish were allowed, vegetables, no dairy or eggs, no sugar! She was going crazy; Katniss had reached the obscene point of hiding in the bathroom to eat a Snickers bar, only to quickly brush her teeth and rinse with Listerine at least thrice so that her boyfriend wouldn’t taste any trace of chocolate when he kissed her. It was that night when she knew she couldn’t do it anymore. She no longer recognized the guy she had agreed to date or herself, for that matter. So, Katniss decided to end it right then and there. She skipped her next class and went to their dorm only to find him banging the very same Barbie girl who was in front of her in the canned aisle right now. 

Quickest breakup ever. 

He had said it was her fault for not ‘putting in the effort,’ and she hated him for it. 

“Jealousy doesn’t fit you, Katniss. Well,” Cato gave her a once-over, “I doubt anything does. Have you gained weight?” 

“If I have, that wouldn’t be any of your fucking business. What are you doing here? Came to buy something for dinner? I think there’s a celery and mineral water pack on sale.” 

“Still salty because I chose someone better?” Cato shamelessly licked the girl’s ear, making her giggle in an obnoxious way that made Katniss want to gag. 

She didn’t have to stand here and watch this; she-

Was that a hand on her waist?

“Hey, sorry I took so long. I literally had to wrestle this from an old lady.” 

That voice. 

Peeta Mellark was holding onto her waist and smiling that charming smile that could probably tame a wild animal, while proudly presenting a ham to her.

“Um…” Eloquent as always. 

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t know you were with friends.” 

“Yeah, no…Not my friends.” 

“Aren’t you the baker guy? You’re slumming it with the bakery employee?” Cato laughed while Barbie‒Katniss really couldn’t care less about her actual name‒looked at Peeta appreciatively. 

“I haven’t introduced myself,” Peeta said, extending his right hand but not letting Katniss’ waist go. Cato immediately took it, flexing his bicep as he did so, but his expression faltered when he shook Peeta’s hand. “Peeta Mellark, owner of ‘The Cake Lair’. Have you guys ever been?” 

Katniss was confused. 

It wasn’t as if she and Peeta were actually friends. They had talked, yes. She simply loved the pastries he sold, and because of how she had raved about his cheese buns, well…the double entendre put her in an uncomfortable position, but he had only laughed and thanked her for the compliment, as he had, in fact, baked those himself. 

Peeta always made sure to set aside at least two cheese buns for her prior to the end of the day. 

And okay, yeah, they had exchanged numbers and texted from time to time, but nothing deep. It was always things about the weather, the cheese buns, or how Prim was. Did that qualify as being friends? 

Katniss was awful at being a good friend, hence why she only had two: Gale and Madge. Her sister and father didn’t count; they were family. 

Shaking her head, she returned to the present to find that arm still around her and Cato’s face getting red. 

“Just let go, dude.  You’re about to pop a vein.” Peeta chuckled. 

Katniss directed her gaze at their hands; she could see they were both squeezing the hell out of each other. Cato probably thought he could scare Peeta off with his muscles, but he clearly hadn’t seen Peeta shirtless on a hot day, hauling 100-pound flour sacks onto his back as if they were light cargo. Peeta was strong, like ‘I could iron clothes on your stomach’ fit; he just didn’t flaunt it, and Katniss appreciated that.

Cato huffed and let go, and Peeta smiled once more and winked at Barbie, who was giggling like an idiot. 

“So, we should be going soon if we want to make it, Katniss. You know how Aunt Martha gets if we don’t get the groceries in time for her.” 

So yeah, she had told him about her hellish weekend to come last week, but Katniss didn’t think he would remember. 

With his hand still on her waist and her still not shrugging it off, they made to pass Cato and his doll, but, of course, the bodybuilder felt the need to use the sole neuron in his brain. 

“You know you’re just a replacement, right? I mean, she went and looked for the next guy that kinda looked like me because she clearly can’t forget me.” 

Tuck your thumb over your middle finger to make a proper fist. If you wrap your fingers around your thumb, you’re likely going to break it. 

Her father’s words and the boxing lessons came back in a flash, and before Peeta could hold her back, Katniss pivoted on her left foot, momentum aiding her, and connected her first with Cato’s jaw. She wasn’t an expert boxer or anything of the sort; she just liked the exercise, and she was strong. But Katniss must have been lucky enough to hit the sweet spot because Cato dropped to the aisle floor, unconscious. 

“Babe!” Barbie girl screeched, and suddenly, two more gorilla-looking guys were coming to her aid. 

Friends of his, no doubt. 

“Tell your boy toy, next time he wants to bully me to think twice, lest he finds himself beaten up again by a woman,” Katniss spat at the blonde girl. 

“You did this?” A broad and tall black guy asked. He was actually pretty scary, but Katniss held her ground and managed to nod. To her surprise, he chuckled and sort of bowed to her. “He’s an ass. I bet he had it coming. We’ll take care of him.” 

“Thresh! He’s your friend…” Barbie girl actually had tears in her eyes. 

“He’s not. We’re just in the same weightlifting class. And don’t cry; he’ll come to soon. Finnick, help me bring this idiot back.” 

“You must have a mean right hook, hon,” the guy with reddish hair and perfect teeth told Katniss. 

“I do.” She jutted out her chin proudly; her dad had taught her well. 

“Nice to know you have it all sorted out. Katniss, should we go?” Peeta was pulling her a bit, and she let him, both soon finding themselves out in the parking lot, having decided to leave behind the cans and the ham. 

Once they were in front of her car, Katniss did something she rarely did. 

“I’m sorry I cost you your ham.” 

Peeta seemed surprised, but he simply smiled. “That’s okay. There are a lot of hams left, actually; I just needed an excuse to walk up to you.” 

“Why did you do that?” 

“That guy was an ass, and I know you could’ve handled it on your own, but…,” he leaned in a bit and whispered, “doesn’t it feel good to let him know you’re with someone much better now?” 

Katniss couldn’t help it, she laughed. “You’re full of yourself, Mellark!” 

“Hey! I’m a catch, I tell you. Owner of his own bakery, hard-working; I know how to cook and bake, and I’m easy on the eyes, too.” 

“Not to mention, tons and tons of humility.” 

“That, too.” He smiled, and Katniss rolled her eyes, but she really didn’t feel angry with him. She hadn’t needed his help, but he had offered it freely without expecting anything in return. “So, I guess this is where we part ways.” 

“What are your plans for tonight, Peeta?” Katniss suddenly asked, and he was surprised as well. 

“Uhhhh, not much. Bake something? Eat it while watching TV, nothing exciting.” 

“You can come to my Aunt Martha’s, if you want. Prim would love to see you, and this way I can repay your ‘act of kindness’.” 

“Really? You sure it wouldn’t bother you?” 

“If it did, I wouldn’t have asked.” 

“Sure, I’d love to.” 

“Okay, but before that, there’s something I need you to do for me.” 

“What is it?” 

“Can you drive? My right hand is killing me.” 

                                                °•. ✿ .•°

“Why couldn’t you just buy it?” Katniss whined.

“Because I actually enjoy baking. You should know this already.” Peeta chuckled as he handled the mixer. After a few more turns, it seemed everything was ready. “I just need to flour the containers now.” Peeta patted his hands on his apron and went back to the pantry. 

Katniss took her chance. 

She slowly inched her hand forward, her eyes not leaving Peeta’s back, just in case. 

Two more inches and-

“I swear, Katniss, if you’re reaching for that dough I won’t make any cheese buns for a week.”

“You wouldn’t dare!” she exclaimed, shocked. That wasn’t fair! Peeta hadn’t even turned around, but he knew what she had been about to do. 

“Try me, love.” He then approached the table again, watching a grumbling Katniss cross her arms. “You know you can’t have raw dough while pregnant.”

“That’s a stupid rule. I bet it’s invented. How did women manage centuries ago, then?” 

“Oh, I don’t know. They sometimes died intoxicated, so no biggie.” Peeta was serious now. 

“I wouldn’t die over a bit of dough…” She said it under her breath, but he heard.

Peeta sighed, and Katniss felt a pang of regret. Damn him. “Katniss, do we really have to discuss this again? It’s Thanksgiving, and I’d bet my bank account Aunt Martha would come down here and force you to go to the party if you weren’t so-” 

“Go on, finish what you were going to say.” Katniss knew she was so big she might be in need of her own postal code. 

“-tired. You’re carrying twins, and that’s not an easy feat. The only thing she asked for was the pumpkin pie with maple whipped cream.”

“Every fucking year.” 

“She indulges during the holiday.”

“Why not just get one from the bakery?”

“She wants it fresh.” 

“Why doesn’t she come down here and get it herself?”

“You really want your Aunt Martha here? Right now? Today?”

“…No.” Why did Peeta have to be so logical? 

“I know you’re crabby and your feet are probably swelling. Let me put this in the oven, and then I’ll massage them with some of that lavender cream your mother gave you.” 

“And a bath.”

“A massage and a bath, you got it.” 

Peeta, of course, fulfilled his promise and left Katniss so relaxed she fell asleep and didn’t even notice her husband had gone and come back from the Everdeen’s annual Thanksgiving gathering. 

By the time she opened her eyes, he was sitting next to her, reading a book. 

“Hey…did you all get a proper rest?” Peeta put a hand on her belly, smiling. 

“I think so, yeah; they just started moving.” 

“I can feel. Here, let me help you up.” Peeta’s strength was no joke. He could single-handedly lift her up, yes, even when she felt like a whale, and prop her on the bed so she could sit comfortably. “That okay?” 

“Yes, perfect.” 

“Happy anniversary, love.” He presented her with a huge cheese bun, making her laugh.

“Peeta, just because we fucked for the first time four years ago today, doesn’t mean it’s an anniversary.”

“For me it is! Come on, I bet you didn’t think we’d end up doing it in the bathroom that night.” 

“I seriously didn’t.”

“But here we are, and that’s all that matters.” 

Her husband really was the cheesiest person alive, but she secretly adored that part of him. 

“Shut up and let me enjoy my cheese bun.”

“Your wish is my command.”