#really quick from like. yesterday. i was cold and sleepy so i laid down with a sketcbook next to me

[slavhew]

only able to draw by tricking my brain into thinking thats not what we're about to do

[fairyoftbz]

serre-moi fort | j. changmin

🐈 pairing: bf!changmin x fem! reader 🐈 word count: 2.2k 🐈 genre: fluff, domestic!au 🐈 tw: none, maybe the overuse of nicknames (?) 🐈 synopsis: while changmin goes out for a run, you decide to do some self-care and unfold the hammock dusting on the side of your house. 🐈 a/n: part 4/14 of my french project!! with my baby boi changmin!! i am sorry if i still haven’t written your request or i take too long to finish it, but the inspo hasn’t been really present 🤕🥺 i’ll make sure to write more!!

╰☆☆☆☆╮

A yawn escaped from your mouth as you blocked the light out of your eyes with your elbow, feeling extra sleepy as your alarm clock hadn’t rung off yet. What a great mistake you did by accepting your boyfriend’s idea of starting to wake up early, you should have refused last night. You groaned as the annoying sound of an alarm finally rang, blindly searching for your phone on the bedside table. Changmin stirred on his side of the bed, turning to the side in great search of your body. Once he found it, he let out a sigh and kept his eyes closed, warm mouth resting against your exposed shoulder. Your hand settled on his forearm wrapped around your middle and you pecked his cheekbone, closing your eyes as you enjoyed the quietness of the morning for a while.

Changmin sat up after a few minutes, head heavily following the rest of his body. He stared at you still lying on your side, his hand gently rubbing your knee and he offered you a gentle smile when you opened your eyes to look at him. You mimicked him as he stood up, yawning as his hand rubbed his abs while making his way towards the kitchen. You deeply sighed as the birds started chirping, helping you slowly and start the day tranquilly.

Once you stood up, you went and opened the windows, letting the pale light and the fresh morning air from outside invading your room. The sky was still gloomy as it had just stopped pouring, the light fog due to the rain lingering around your neighbourhood, progressively disappearing as it rose in the sky. You wrapped your cardigan around your shoulders and joined your boyfriend in the kitchen, a hand gently stroking the back of his head, playing with the spiky, shorter hair. Changmin smiled at your display of affection and turned around to kiss you on the cheek.

“Are you eating this before going for a run?” you asked as you observed him spreading butter and honey on two toasts, only to find him shaking his head with a smile. “I was planning on bringing the toasts to my baby back in bed, but it seems like it’s too late,” he said, and your face fell, making your boyfriend giggle. “Oh, I didn’t know, Changmin. We’re so rarely together, I didn’t want to miss an opportunity of being with you,” you said, and he giggled, circling his arm around your shoulders. “It’s okay, Y/N. Let’s have breakfast together now that you are up,” he suggested and you nodded, kissing him on the lips as he handed you the plate he prepared for you.

Changmin sat across from you, a banana and a protein shake in front of him. He never liked eating a lot before going on a run, he hated working out feeling nauseous or having a heavy stomach, hence the super light breakfast. You, on the other hand, had worked out yesterday, and since you only did it every other day, it was your rest day today. Changmin only had the weekend to go for a run since his work was keeping him extremely busy. Living this kind of life wasn’t the best when it came to personal life, but he was passionate about his job, so it was natural for him to make sacrifices.

“I’m going, babe. I’ll be back in over an hour,” he said while standing up, winking at you as he placed everything in the dishwasher before disappearing back in your shared bedroom.

He appeared a few minutes later, all clad in black gym equipment with a rain jacket from his favourite football (soccer) team. He walked up to you, the plastic of his shoes squeaking on the tiled floor and kissed your forehead as you were drinking the rest of your orange juice.

“Have fun and be careful!” you said as he walked out the door, waving at you from the kitchen window as he walked past it.  

Weekends weren't only meant for fitness activities, it also meant self-care for you. So, after brushing your teeth and changing into your home clothes, you decided to grab a book and go read outside. The temperature was quite chilly since it was still quite early, but the cold couldn’t reach your body as you were wrapped into Changmin’s long black hoodie. You walked across the living room and opened the sliding glass door, shutting it behind you as you put down your book on the wooden table.

Walking to the side of the house, you found the hammock you had decided to randomly buy while browsing the web, and it was one of the best purchases you did for your house after the pillow made for taking baths. You unfolded it and cosied it up a bit by adding some pillows and two extra blankets, comfortably lying in it after taking your book from the table.

You had forgotten how fascinating this book was, getting back into the story as soon as you read the last sentence of the previous chapter. Not even noticing your surroundings, the neighbour’s cat casually yet carefully walked across your small garden and meowed before disappearing under the fence, but you didn’t hear it. Your hand dangling outside the hammock, grabbing some petals of the flowers planted under you and playing with them between your fingers, carefully reading the story as you were close to finishing the book you had started a few weeks ago.

Slamming the book shut after reading the last sentence, you sighed and wiped the tear that threatened to fall from your eye and rested the book on the floor. Crossing your arms on your chest, you observed the light blue sky before sinking deeper into the hammock, the wind acting as a gentle caress as it blew on your face. Resting a foot on the floor, you gave a quick swing to the hammock before replacing your limb under the blankets, feeling it move side to side as you closed your eyes. The slow shift rocking you like a baby in their mother’s arms, and you fell back asleep right here, face tucked into your boyfriend’s hood over your head.

The neighbour’s cat came back a few minutes later and gently licked your hand dangling off the hammock, careful of not waking you up. It sat near the glass window, its whines stopping as you weren’t responding, too deep into Morpheus’ arms to come back to reality.

The three-coloured creature ran off as soon as the front door shut close, Changmin heavily breathing as he had just stopped his sports watch. Looking around the house, he wiped the sweat pearling off his forehead with his sleeve as he called your name, a smile forming on his lips as he saw you on the patio.

Just like you did an hour and a half ago, he slid the glass door open and closed it without making a noise, gently talking to the cat as it came to him, tail raising in the air while walking towards the sweaty man. Approaching you with the cat on his heels, he admired your sleepy face as your fist was resting against your cheek, pushing up the skin under your eye in a cute way. He brought the blanket further up to your chin and delicately kissed your forehead, the action making you shift.

“I’m home, sweetheart. I’m gonna take a shower and I’m yours, okay?” he whispered, and you lightly shifted in your sleep, repositioning yourself in the hammock. 

Changmin gently pushed it to make it rock slowly, earning a muffled groan of happiness from your mouth. He beamed at your behaviour and told the cat to stay outside as it tried to come in with him, the animal letting out a frustrated noise but sat in the grass anyway.

Once your boyfriend reappeared from his shower, you were still comfortably tucked inside your new bed. With the towel around his shoulders, he was quick to toss it in the laundry bin and pull out the hairdryer. The muffled sound didn’t even make you move, the cat staring at your boyfriend as he quickly dried his hair in the living room. It had come closer just the time he went back to the bathroom to put the dryer away, stifling a laugh as the cat’s position. It was calmly sat on the patio, its wide, green eyes staring up at you as you slept. 

Changmin chuckled at the innocence of the scene in front of him, the kitty suddenly looking away from you as he opened the window door. It only moved when he neared you, pacing under the fence like there was no tomorrow. He shook his head at the cat’s silliness and threw a glance at your sleeping figure, trying to think of a way to join you without waking you up.

You felt a presence near you as an arm delicately lifted your shoulders and upper back, careful movements moving around you. Lazily opening an eye, you noticed your boyfriend all fresh out of the shower, who was trying to get into the hammock without waking you up. Changmin miserably failed as you sat and you stood up despite his protests for you to stay in the hammock, lazily waiting for him to sit comfortably. You smiled when he reached out his arms for you to come and lay on top of him, his leg falling off the hammock as you comfortably laid back, your warmth kept and increased by your boyfriend’s body and hot shower.

“Hold me tight, please,” you whispered as you felt him giggle under you, arms securely wrapped around your figure. Changmin made sure that you were well hidden under the blanket before starting to balance the hammock again, closing your eyes as the comfort lulled you back to sleep. “I’m right here, love. I’m not going anywhere,” he whispered against the crown of your head before kissing it, weakly smiling as his calm heartbeat helped you fall back asleep.

Changmin delicately plucked out a flower under the hammock and played with it for a while before pushing your hair away from your ear and slid it on top of it. Smiling at the pretty view of you sleeping with a flower on your head, he held you closer to him, as if it were possible. He stifled a yawn as his workout tired him out, his chin resting against your head as it was his turn to doze off.   __

You softly sighed and opened your eyes, a chest slowly rising and falling under your ear. You recognised your boyfriend’s fragrance as you hoisted yourself higher in his hold, delicately kissing the side of his neck. It was later in the day, you had no idea how long you had been sleeping for, but you were rid of any tiredness and felt at peace. 

Changmin seemed to be quietly sleeping, his arm protectively wrapped around you as the other hung off the hammock. Something fell on his stomach from your head as you shifted, only to discover a flower with a smile. You stared at your boyfriend for a while and couldn’t stop smiling, but this delicate, romantic moment got ruined by the not-so-sophisticated grumbling noises coming from your stomach. 

Trying to extricate yourself from the hammock without waking your boyfriend up, you felt his hand catching your wrist, his eyes slowly opening with a soft smile drawn on his face.

“Where are you going?” he asked, his voice deeper than it normally was. “I’m going to make us something to eat,” you spoke, and he sat up, motioning you to come closer. You obeyed and he reached out for something stuck in your hair, only to find a yellow petal of the flower he had placed in your hair while you were napping. You smiled at the sweet gesture and he got up as well, kissing your temple as he slightly limped and whined.

“Argh, I forgot to stretch,” he muttered as he made his way to the kitchen, wincing then hissing at his sore leg muscles. Shifting his weight on his hands resting against the kitchen counter, you compassionately rubbed his back as you got out a pan from a drawer. “I was too excited to come to cuddle with you, you seemed so peaceful that I completely forgot to stretch,” he said while wrapping his arms around your waist, earning a smile from you.

He peppered your cheek with kisses every time you moved around the kitchen, making a healthy brunch for the two of you. Once you were almost done, he let go of your waist to set the table, grabbing your shoulders and guided you to sit down to take the reins. Then, Changmin placed everything in the plates and served one to you, walking to his seat with his own.

You ate in silence, his hand linked with yours, the sun shining brighter than before as you finished eating. Changmin kindly rubbed your shoulder, whispering to go back outside while he cleaned and washed everything. You played with the cat for a while, giggling as you manage to place the flower on top of his head, the creature weirdly moving its head to get the thing off him.

Changmin laughed as he joined you on the patio, drawing his chair closer to yours and you kissed his cheek as he sat down.

Smiling to each other, you came nearer and delicately pressed your lips against his, feeling him grin in the kiss as he wrapped his arm around your shoulder blades. Once you pulled away, he rested his forehead against yours and whispered the words you loved coming out of his mouth.

“I love you."

[crab-instruments]

Dust in the Wind Part 8 (tbb)

Master <Part 7 Part 9>

Pairing: Hunter x Secret Jedi! Reader (GN)

Rating and warning: General audience, panic/stress (minimal)

Words: 1.5k

a/n: haha well we don't have time to unpack all that finale, so here's an update of this instead. Fresh off the press and yeeted to tumblr. I'm thinking the next update will have some cool stuff. I hope.

Image credit in the notes

When your eyes opened, you laid there for a bit, taking in the events of yesterday and what some sleep had done to clear the mind. You must have slept well, not even remembering the dreams you had or stirring when others got up, as only Hunter and you were left in the bunks. This was based on assumption by reaching out using the Force, at least, as you hadn’t moved an inch yet.

Being with the Batch had made it easy to settle back into your ‘old life’ or maybe just who you really were, a force user. You were becoming more comfortable, but if you were being honest with yourself, that was a scary thought. It would make leaving so much harder.

You slowly started to move, careful to keep quiet, putting your feet on the cold metal floor. The ship buzzed and hummed through your feet, accentuating the dull pain in your muscles, but the pain had an odd nostalgic feel, something you would be used to after a mission.

Echo, Crosshair, and Wrecker were all out in the main cabin as you approached, all still sleepy, though the sniper was better at hiding it.

Echo handed you a cup and you presumed he said something along the lines of ‘mornin’ but your brain was still fuzzy, not used to the amount of sleep you got. You looked at the contents of the cup; caf that had a stale smell to it and enough water to have your reflection look back at you. Still, you drank it all in one go and then turned to back to the Clone who gave it to you. “Thank you, that was the worst caf I’ve ever had, and I’ve never been more grateful for it.”

Echo chuckled; a small smirk spread across his face. “I see you slept well. Surprised to see Sarg still in bed.” You cocked your head, not sure what he was getting at.

“He is usually up first, not able to sleep when people start waking up,” Wrecker filled in.

“It might have something to do with having more people sleeping comfortably,” Tech had walked from the cockpit. “He has said that when there’s more resting heartbeats around him, he is calmer. He was worried about Maxis so possibly having them closer helped him relax.” Tech had kept his voice even when speaking, but it still felt like there was a hint of something.

“What are you—”

“I came back here to let you know we will be landing soon, and someone should wake Hunter.” He turned around before you could address what you wanted.

Echo had grabbed another cup of caf and handed it out for you to take. “Maxis, would you mind? I have a few other things to do and you’re closer.” You squinted your eyes in skepticism at the Clone for a moment, before taking the cup and walking back to the bunks, making a mental note to corner those two and figure out what they were scheming.

Once you crossed the threshold of the room, you slowed down in front of where Hunter was laying. He had fallen asleep on his stomach, his arms under his pillow, and his face turned away from the wall. No bandana in his hair, you could see how thick his locks are, almost a little envious. Really, it suited him, and he knew it. You lowered yourself to the floor, taking a moment to just study his sleeping face. So calm and handsome, in this state you couldn’t see how much the war had taken its toll on him. It was something you could get used to—

“Mesh’la, staring is impolite.” You would never… ever… admit what his sleepy morning voice did to you in that moment. His voice startled you, sloshing some caf onto the floor. He hadn’t yet opened his eyes when he addressed you, but they stared straight through you now.

Say something! “Um… sorry, I didn’t mean… We just… We’re going to be landing soon.” Smooth, about as smooth as this caf.

Hunter chuckled, amused at the effect he had on you in that moment. Slowly he sat up, swinging his legs carefully over the side of the bunk. You had stood up and took a step back to give him space but were still more or less frozen.

“Is… one of those cups for me? Or do you just really enjoy the dirt caf…”

“Oh, right.” You held out the cup, certainly not loving every second he touched your hand. Holy kriff, you needed to get a grip on your life, or you were going to lose your mind. “Uhm, I’ll just…” you looked back to the doorway but then back at him. “Wait, mesh’la?”

A look of surprise took over Hunter’s face for a hot second before a smile took its place. He shook his head, and responded, “It’s Mando’a, I’ll have to teach you some day.” He stood up and walked past you to the main cabin, obviously still avoiding giving a real answer.

“But that doesn’t… what does it mean?” Hunter had already weaved his way through the ship, leaving you wondering. Maybe I’ll ask Tech about the best way to learn a new language.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Under the ship, you checked and cleaned the landing gear. It had seen better days and probably hadn’t even been washed since the Republic. You worked meticulously, finally able to show more of what you could do now that you didn’t have the possibility of needing a quick escape. The soreness that swam through your muscles sang loudly while you focused, it was clear you needed a break.

Two shadows, one much larger than the other, closed in on the area. Omega didn’t need to crouch all that much as she approached, Wrecker waiting by the side of the ship. “Hey Maxis, you should take a break. Wrecker and I were about to go get our Mantell Mix. It’s a tradition, we get some after every mission.”

You stopped working for a moment. “I didn’t really… I wasn’t a part of the mission. But—”

“You protected the ship from four troopers, I’d say that’s enough to get some Mix.” Wrecker said, with a bit of pride.

“Ah yeah, I guess. Let me put this piece back on and we can go.”

Crawling out from the ship, you wiped the dirt of your pants. Something about Ord Mantell always stuck to you though, but that was a part of its charm. Or that’s what you say to convince yourself. You had explored the market a bit, to pick up supplies and replacements for maintenance, but never really experienced it.

As Omega led the way, you asked, “what exactly is Mantell Mix?”

“Only the best treat in the entire galaxy,” Omega looked back at you, very excited.

“Well, when you mostly have rations, anything would be a treat. Very low bar. I think I’m more concerned about the name, Mantell Mix. A mix of what? Grime and overpriced goods?”

“I think adventure and a hint of sweetness is more like it.”

You chuckled. “Always good at the positive spin, Omega. That’s a good quality.” She beamed.

Once the food was acquired, you could only eat so much of it before deciding that Omega had lied about the ‘hint of sweetness’. But you did your best to show gratitude in being included.

The three of you decided to wander around the open-air shops. You ended up looking at some unrefined gems on display. Not something you would usually stop to look at, but something about the display caught your attention. A crystal, somewhat clear but had a red hue, stuck out.

“See something you like?”

“What… is this?” You pointed to the crystal. “And where did you get it?”

“Ahh, I’m not sure. I travel and trade quite a bit, unfortunately, and don’t remember much about every piece. But if it is to your liking, you should have a closer look.” The owner had a creepy facial expression, you were unsure if they were trying to just sell the item or if they had other motives. But what other motives could they have?

You reached for the crystal but could only hold it for a second due to the extreme pain and pressure you felt from it. Another force echo. Luckily, you pushed yourself out of it quick, only getting a brief glimpse of the horrible feeling, but it stuck to you, sitting heavy on your shoulders. A reminder of the past.

It was a kyber crystal, a synthetic one specifically. This one had been used by a Sith or an apprentice of one, having such a dark and evil aura around the force echo. It made you sick and scared. Suddenly, it felt like all eyes were on you, walls closing in. Fear crept into your mind.

“I’m s-sorry, I have to-… to go.” You swiftly made your way back to the Marauder, leaving Omega and Wrecker behind. The corner you hid in after your fight with the troopers felt like the perfect fit for you at that moment. You curled up in a ball as tightly as you could and hummed to yourself.

It took a while, but everyone made their way back and Hunter was discussing about their next mission that would take place in a few rotations.

Part 9

________________________________________________________________

Notes:

Mando'a: I assume if you're reading this, you know, but here's a link anyway.

Synthetic Lightsaber/Kyber crystal: One of my favorite things I learned about lightsabers is that the Sith used synthetic crystals and synthetic crystals are normally red, leading to the Sith having mostly red lightsabers. I don't know if that's still considered canon anymore, but for me it is. Image credit

Tag List: @rintheemolion @xxspqcebunsxx @salamidraws @lokigirlszendaya

If you want to be added to the tag list, just ask in the most convenient way for you or by faxing me a picture of a crab

[kanene-yaaay]

Go to Sleep

Kanene’s note: Gosh, having a schedule is weird. I just wanna post everything I already wrote and ramble non stop about it asdfgtyujkigfdo. XD

Well, this was suppose to be a drabble, but it’s very long so sdftyujikgfred. I hope you like it!

Warnings, fun facts, random things and stuff:

* This characters don’t belongs to me! They all belong to Thomas Sanders from the serie Sanders Sides.

* This is a SFW tickle fanfic. If you don’t appreciate this kind of content, please, look for another blog. There are a plenty of fabulous arts in this site!! ^w^)b

* This is Lee!Virgil with Ler!Roman. Around 1.500 words.

* Sorry for any spelling, pontuation and grammar mistakes! Any and every advice is very very welcome! \(-w-)/

* Listen a bit to the birds today. Changing the way you think is not a bad thing. Drink water, sleep, eat and love!

[~*~]

Roman growled, missing by a few inches the button of his thunderous, infuriating alarm before finally hitting it. Staring and blinking lazily at the numbers his brain struggled to discern and recognize, only to confirm it was really time to wake up and start the day. He grabbed his pillow and squeezed it with all the strength he could muster, rolling from one side to other on the mattress, trying to wake up his body as quick as his mind and almost falling from the bed a reasonable number of times during the process.

 He got up, yawing, stretching and humming as the first lyrics of the day stuck on his head, hand rubbing at his eyes as he followed the kitchen’s direction with slow steps and tired sways on the beat of the song.

 Two dark, wide eyes stared right back at him, their owner completely frozen on the spot with his hand inside the cabinet, probably already holding some sort of a snack. Roman also stopped mid-step, gears running inside his mind, gaze locked on the other, his brow progressively furrowing.

“Virgil,” he began, voice slightly hoarse “What the heckty heck are you doing up? It’s barely seven in the morning!” Virgil only stared back, slowly closing the cabinet’s door, as if afraid the movement would startle the other. Roman proceeded to get some eggs and other cold ingredients from the refrigerator for the breakfast, his words growing more awake and vivid as they spilled with no filter or whatsoever from his lips. “You got an early shift again or something? Those are absolutely hellish. A bunch of people exhausted, tired and glaring at you as if you are the holder of all their problems and their solutions can only be achieved by being insufferable pieces of- Urg. I can’t believe they would give you one right after you got the night one. Damn, I didn’t even see you arriving here yesterday!”

 He turned his attention back at the other, looking for a kind of frustration in the place of the still startled, wide gaze which continued to be directed at him. Virgil nodded slowly, stepping away and putting some physical distance between him and the confusion on Roman’s features.

 Then, between the strings of sleepiness that clouded his brain, it clicked.

 Suddenly more details on the other’s behavior started to become clearer: the way Virgil’s hair was messier than his usual ““style”” (Roman scoffed mentally, thinking that if he rolled his eyes any harder they would never come back to his normal place again), his wary, yes, but way too much slow movements, the way he seemed to be unable to stop blinking at every millisecond and, above it all, the final piece of the puzzle.

 Virgil wasn’t wearing his pajamas.

 “YOU DIDN’T!” Roman gasped, as if Virgil’s life choices were a personal attack. “YOU DIDN’T GET ANY SLEEP LAST NIGHT!!” A turn of heels and he was again fixating his glare on the other, his free hand accusingly pointing in his direction, receiving an annoyed hiss as immediate answer.

 “Shut up!” Virgil snarled, practically growling back at him. “It’s fucking seven am don’t be so freaking loud.”

 “Don’t change the subject! Why didn’t you go to sleep?”

 The one being questioned just snorted, half amused. “Bold of you to assume I’d ever sleep in my whole life.”

 “That is it.” Virgil didn’t even have the time to wonder the meaning of his friend’s sentence before the aforementioned picked him up, resulting to a not very contained shriek escaping from his lips and his hands not much gracefully – or gently, although since they were keen on just jumping on each other out of nowhere to play fight Princey would be fine - meeting his friend’s face.

 “Roman! What the he-”

 “Did you just SLAP me? My beautiful face?! Before my own beautiful eyes??” Virgil Storm always got, even if he would never admit this out loud, surprised with Roman’s capacity of doing a series of offended incoherent noises which evolved to words before being carefully metamorphosed in weird noises all over again, and in the end still managing to form comprehensible sentences. His surprise did nothing to quell the grumpy snark immediately flying from lips, though.

 “And I’m going to do it again if you don’t let me go in this exact instant.”

 “You go and try to help and that is the acknowledgement you get,” The one wearing pajamas with little crows printed on it huffed, mumbling in a lower tone as he noticed the sharp gaze being thrown in his direction. “fucking unbelievable.”

 “I still can hear you, Princey. You’re literally carrying me.”

 “I sTiLL cAn HeAr yOu-OW! Ow! Ow!” The sentence was interrupted when the sleep deprived one punched Roman’s shoulder. “You’re insufferable, you know that?”

 “Let me fucking gAAH!” In a way his wish was granted, one could say as they watched his protest being cut as Storm was impolitely tossed on his bed, Roman quickly following his friend on the mattress, arms hugging him from behind, and physically preventing him from escaping his current soft predicament. “Prince, you’re dead.”

 “Shhh, no talking. We’re sleeping.”

 “We are not. You are being a pain in ass and I am about to defenestrate you.” Despite his fervent protests, his sharp, flaming glare began to lose its heat, his body not doing any actual effort to free himself from the other’s – strong, good - grip, muscles starting to relax against the great warmth involving him in a comfortable and secure blanket.

 “Sure, sure, mister Grumpy Pants, you can do that when you wake up.” He tightened a bit his hold around Virgil, yet being the most careful as possible, actively ignoring the annoyed hiss his friend gave him. His hoodie was really fluffy at the touch, slightly remembering his stuffed animals he frequently hugged to sleep.

 For a moment, everything was pleasantly quiet. The one with smudged makeup, since he hadn’t time to get it off before being trapped by his roommate and best friend, felt the tiredness becoming sleepiness as the seconds went by.

 …That was until an electric sensation shot across his spine, leading him to almost jump in the same place 

 “S-stop nuzzling me!”

 “Hm? Oh sorry.” Virgil pressed his lips tightly closed, preventing the wobbly giggles to escape as Roman speaks, not realizing how close his mouth was from the base of his neck, every breath sending tickly shocks across every nerve. “You’re just too much sooooft.”

 Roman opened an eye when realized that no snark remark from the other followed his words, the figure in his arms shaking too much to be asleep. A frown painted his feature as he readjusted the position of his hands, trying to get a bit more of balance to look at Virgil’s face when suddenly a high-pitched yelp escaped, cutting the air and immediately catching their attention.

 “Did you just squeal?” He questioned as his glare assumed a playful shine seeing a blush spread on his now frozen friend.

 “It was NOT a squeal! It was a yelp.” Virgil’s words came so fast that they almost tripped on themselves. Roman snorted, a smile taking over his face. “Get off me!” and, in the moment the one wearing a hoodie tried to pry his hand from the spot on his right side where it was resting, the pieces finally clicked in the right place and his smile quickly submerged, giving space to a smirk.

 ‘No WAY Doctor Doom and Gloom is ticklish!’

 However, the red lover only blinked as the true personification of innocence and naiveness, his hand firm in its place, fingers starting to slowly move, light pokes being delivered on the sensitive skin. “But why that, Knight Mare? It’s cold and all I could ever want is just to hug my bestest friend!”

 “You already hugged me, now go aWAY!” His voice trembled in the last second, the exact moment his thumb experimentally scratched the spot right under the lowest ribs, leading a surprised squeak to leave Virgil’s mouth.

 They both stared at each other, gleaming, filling their wide eyes.

 “No.” Virgil said, trying to squirm away but finding himself stuck between Prince and the wall. Roman didn’t even attempt to hide his smug grin, anymore. This was going to be so much fun

 “Don’t you dare! Don’t you freaking dare!!” His friend only laid down again, now carefully, yet firmly, pulling him one more time against his chest, growling playfully. Years and years fighting for the Tickle Monster title on his family, battles and battles against Remus only sharpening his skills, which showed by the way his fingers seemed to find every single weak spot on Virgil’s skin, wiggles, scribbles, pokes and scratching exploring everywhere. “No! Nononono! You fucker, you moron, you bitch, you-” A few chuckles cut his curses as he one wearing pajamas squeezed his side a couple of times, the tip of his fingers also teasing his ticklish stomach. “Roman!!”

 “No, no, my so dear, so ticklish, friend. Roman is no longer here, this is…” He paused for a dramatic effect, basically beaming at the giggly giggles and wiggly wiggles from the other. He shoved his face on his neck, the next words vibrating almost as bad as the spidering on his ribs. “The Tickle Monster!!”

[kindahoping4forever]

Do You Hear What I Hear? // Ashton Irwin

Day 2 of Hoe For The Hoe-lidays! Thanks to everyone who read/shared/yelled at us for yesterday’s offerings and if you missed out, all stories posted so far are linked in the event masterlist below. Cass has already posted her 🥵 Cal blurb for the day over on @cal-puddies​​ so be sure and check that out too!

This might be my fav that I’ve written for the week and I’m excited to hear what y’all think! 

Warnings: Sneaky, sleepy, sweet Boyfriend!Ash lovin’ on Christmas morning. Unprotected sex within an established relationship. 

Word Count: 1585

Hoe For The Hoe-lidays Masterlist

Masterlist // Taglist and Ko-Fi linked above

Let  me  know  what  you  think!

"Baby…" He whispers, voice cautious, reprimanding. “What if someone saw you?!”

You invite yourself into his bed and despite his hesitation, he instinctively wraps his arms around you, pulling you close against his chest. "Ash, it's the middle of the night, no one's awake to see me. And I missed you," you reassure him, voice muffled against the waffled fabric of his shirt.

When you called your mom to confirm plans for your Christmas visit, you can't say you were surprised to hear her casually but pointedly mention that your room was ready and they'd also cleared out the guest room for Ashton.

Your parents had always been old-fashioned and while you often found it endearing, lying in bed by yourself instead of snuggling your boyfriend in the early morning hours of Christmas had you questioning that sentiment.

After hours of tossing and turning, you impulsively made your way to the guest room, impressing yourself with how well you remember from your youthful days of sneaking around which floorboards are the creaky ones.

He presses his lips to your forehead. "Missed you too, baby. Hard to sleep without you," he confesses. "Can't remember the last night we weren't in the same bed, can you?"

You answer as you burrow yourself further into his side and he quietly chuckles at how unintelligible it is. He gently pokes you and you squeak, peeking out at him. "I said probably not since your last tour and that was over a year ago," you point out. "Even the nights I manage to get back to my place, you end up coming with me. For such an intellectual, you really don't know how to take a hint."

Ash gives an offended "hey!" and grabs you by the waist to roughhouse with you; in your playful scuffle, the legs of his silk pajama pants ride up slightly and your cold skin brushes against him. "JESUS woman, your legs are ice, what the fuck?!" He whisper-shouts in disbelief.

You pull a face at him. “I’m wearing shorts because I’m used to sleeping next to your radiator ass so technically my ice legs are your fault. Thus it’s your job to warm me up, dude,” you declare.

Even in the dark you can see the grin spreading across his face. “Oh, I’ll warm you up,” he mutters under his breath. You giggle as he brushes his hand across your face to kiss you slowly and softly. He murmurs against your lips, “Thanks for coming to see me.”

“Couldn’t let you spend the night alone, 'specially not on Christmas," you coo. You turn to your side to snuggle into him and smirk to yourself when you’re greeted by his stiff cock poking your ass. “Mmm, here I was thinking you were being sweet but it turns out you’re just happy that now you won’t have a blue Christmas.”

You feel your hair blow off your face as he exhales a laugh. “I was asleep! Give me a break,” he chuckles, nudging you forward. “And not to place blame anywhere besides nature, but you have been wiggling around quite a bit since you got in here.”

You shoot a pout over your shoulder. “I’m trying to stay warm, it’s cold!”

“Then wear pants! Oh my god,” he snickers into your shirt, pulling the neckline over with his teeth just enough for him to kiss the back of your shoulder. “Nice work on the blue balls joke by the way: subtle, holiday themed, good stuff.”

You grin as you grind against him, enjoying the sensation of him hard between your cheeks. “Oh but baby, there is nothing funny about this,” you sigh, feeling yourself get more and more turned on with each roll of your hips.

Ashton’s touch feels searingly hot in the cold air as his hand glides across your neck to tilt your chin for a kiss. It’s slow, needy and sensual, just like all your favorite morning encounters with him. His hand sneaks underneath your long sleeve tee, dancing across your stomach before shooting up to tug at your nipples. You continue moving against him until you can’t help yourself any longer and you reach behind you to squeeze him through his pajamas.

He groans into your mouth and nibbles gently at your bottom lip. “You sure, baby?” He asks quietly.

You stroke him through his pants, eyes clouding with arousal. “They won’t be awake for hours,” you promise him. He first makes a displeased noise when you stop touching him, then a hungry one when he sees you stripping off your bottoms. He pulls himself out of his pants while you settle back in.

He moves in closer behind you and you lean into him, reaching between your legs to grab his cock; you grind on it a little more, coating him with your wetness before pushing him slowly inside you.

You twist slightly so you can capture his mouth in a kiss, hoping to muffle the satisfied sighs you're dying to make. He sinks in further and further and by the time he's buried inside you, you're panting into his mouth and his hands are back under your shirt, gripping your breasts maybe a little rougher than intended, you just feel that damn good he doesn't know what to do with himself.

"Feel so full from this angle, fuck," you whisper, choking back a whine.

Ash begins to move and you both quietly gasp at how intense it is. After a few thrusts, he adjusts your legs slightly, bringing one back over his, opening you up more. "Too tight like that, baby, was gonna be over way too quick," he explains gruffly.

He rocks into you and you whimper at how deep he's able to hit now. "Not gonna be very long for me regardless, babe," you admit, sliding your hand inside his sleeve to dig your nails into the skin of his forearm.

"Oh yeah? All the sneaking around get you going?" He teases, dragging your earlobe between his teeth.

You start moving your hips along with him, hoping the extra movement doesn’t increase the noise level too much. “Honestly, maybe,” you giggle. “How’s it feel knowing I’m willing to blow up an entire holiday for your dick?”

“You said you missed me,” he protests in mock offense. A small pinch stings your ass and you giggle even more. “Thought you wanted to cuddle, turns out you were trying to get laid.”

“You’ve spoiled me, can’t even go one night without having your cock put me to sleep,” you reply cheekily, clenching around him just to hear his reaction.

The strained groan that results satisfies you more than you anticipated. “Gonna get us both in trouble,” he huffs, grabbing on to your leg for leverage as he pumps into you faster. “Can’t have the whole family knowing what their precious baby girl is really up to.”

Your hand trails down your body to find your clit and you massage it briskly, in time with his thrusts. “Your baby girl now,” you reply. Your remark gets a belabored growl out of him as you expected but it's your own moans that ring out through the stillness of the bedroom.

Ashton shushes you, hand flying to cover your mouth; if you’re being honest, both of these things only turn you on more and his hand muffles another series of cries. “Come on, baby, need you to cum for me before you wake everyone up,” he encourages you, grunting himself as he feels your pussy flutter.

You try your hardest to keep your whines in but he hits your spot in exactly the way you need and a few escape your lips as your body tenses and you pulse around his cock; you feel his hand clasp tighter over your mouth and you swear it sends another wave of tremors through you.

His breath is frantic and heavy against your skin as he fucks you through it; you’re squeezing him so tightly you’re surprised he’s still able to move inside you. He buries his face in your hair, weakly murmuring your name as his rhythm stutters and he fills you with cum.

You reach up to stroke his hair and he lazily pecks along your neck as you both come down. The mood is quiet but affectionate as he quickly helps you clean up but you’re a little surprised he doesn’t object when you climb back under the covers with him instead of heading back to your room.

“Wanna sleep in here with you,” you explain, sighing in relief as his arms envelop you once more. “I’ll leave before anyone’s up, don’t worry.”

“Whatever you think, baby,” Ash responds sleepily, squeezing your shoulder.

“Oh now that you got it in, you don’t care what happens anymore? I see,” you tease, playfully pushing a cold foot under his pant leg.

He snorts. “You snuck over to come on to me, icy girl,” he shoots back. “Lucky for me, at least there’s one part of you that’s still warm.” He pinches your inner thigh, just in case you didn’t get his point.

You gasp in mock horror, “Disrespecting your own girlfriend in her family home on Christmas?” You jab his side repeatedly until he pins your wrists to your chest and kisses you sweetly.

“I’m glad we got to have our own little holiday,” he whispers. “Merry Christmas, baby.”

You smile as you snuggle into him, eyes feeling heavier by the second. “Merry Christmas, Ash.”

————-

Taglist issues again so my apologies if you get notif’d more than once (or not at all)

@mymindwide​​ @suchalonelysunflower​​​ @pxrxmoore​​ @loveroflrh​​ @ghostofmashton​​ @sexgodashton​​ @feliznavidaddycal​​  

@castaway-cashton​​ @ashtonlftv​​ @cashtonasfuck​​ @megz1985​​ @ashdork-irwin​​ @angelicfluffs​​ @findingliam-o​​ @youngbloodchild​​  @irwinsbetch​​ @everyscarisahealingplace​​

@wiildflower-xxx @metalandboybands  @realisticnotes  @makeamovehemmings @golden166​ @burstintocolor

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@lovelybonesetc​​​ @xsongxbirdx​​​ @justhereforcalum​​​   @ashtonangst​​

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@irwindoll​​​ @cheekysos​​​ @carrielfisher​​​ @lukedorkyhemmings​​​ @creampiecashton​​​ @lovelywordsblog​​​

@trix-arent-for-kids​ @uh-huhh-honey​ @tobefalling​ @aladyofalbion​ @likehuhdude​

@curlycalums​​​  @cxddlyash​​​  @reddesert-healourblues​​​

@fedorable-killjoys​​​  @iamcalumswhore​​​   @i-like-5sos​​​   @Too-et-moi215

@photochic18  @kouska901 @Indermeow  @dantord

[punkcupcakestyles]

Love Song

Part 16

Catch up!

In which one of them says the “L” word.

TW: Hi, this chapter contains references to DV. If you don’t feel like reading it, that's fine, your wellbeing is a priority. However, if you would like to read some of this new chapter, you can skip it, as references are only made in the first part directly under the “read more”, which is marked with a ++++ for you. Once that bracket ends, it is TW-free. 

****

Are Harry Styles and Sofia Welsh a thing?

Surely, you must be asking this yourself…

++++

Harry was still asleep when I woke up. He was sleeping on his belly, with his back turned to me, and I scooted closer to him, brushing my fingers over the light red marks I had left on his skin. So, last night had happened, and those marks were there to prove it. 

I laid on my back and stared at the ceiling, trying to come up with all of the ways I was different that morning. We had sex, which was new, and then took a shower together and fell asleep in the middle of kisses and giddy laughs, which wasn’t so new. My body was the same, except for the slight pain on one side of my hips, and the ticklish memory of Harry’s lips on my skin. My mind was fluttery and anxious, but that wasn’t Harry’s fault.

It was mine.

One thing was different: Harry knew.

What had happened last night? I was desperate for Harry to stay. I felt like my heart would break irreparably if he walked away. A desperate, exaggerated feeling, no doubt, but it felt so real at that moment, so overwhelmingly true, that nothing else mattered. So I told him about my mom and my aunt, about my family. I had told him I needed a hiding place…

What comes next?

Harry rustled in his sleep and I found myself holding my breath before I could even realize, watching as he turned to lie on his back. It seemed like he was going to wake up at any minute now, and I still hadn’t chosen the feeling I should focus on. 

On one hand, I felt excited and giddy, the memory of the previous night vividly replaying in my mind. Last night, he was mine, he had stayed and I had slept in his arms; I also felt guilty and ashamed, tied up to a story I hadn’t chosen for myself. 

If I closed my eyes, I could see him, moving in all of his fury. I could hear the screams and the lies. I could never shake away the feeling that it was all my fault. I should have done something earlier. 

“Fuck,” I moaned, already feeling the ghosts as they circled me. I could see him, blazing up like a pure fire that wanted to burn everything that it could find. I could see her, making herself small, waiting for whatever was coming her way. Neither of them could see me. 

“Sof?” I heard Harry’s voice, but it sounded far away, more like a whisper making its way through a tangle of darkness. If I searched for it, if I reached for it…Harry looped one arm around my waist, and he must have thought that I was having a nightmare, cause he let his body wrap around mine to keep me warm and close. Safe. “It’s ok,” he whispered and I could hear his voice clearer now, even if it was sleepy. “I’m here, baby.”

I think he did it out of reflex, because his eyelids were still heavy with sleep, struggling to open, even when it was still dark around us. I quickly turned around, burying my face onto the crook of his neck and smiling when his hug became tighter and his fingers tangled in my knotty hair. 

He still smelled fresh from the shower and his skin was cold to the touch, so I sighed as I kissed his shoulder and neck, and I felt comfort when his lips met mine in a lazy, soft kiss.  

“Were you having a bad dream?” He asked, once sleep had faded away. I could see the outline of his face and could feel the touch of his fingers as he brushed them up my waist and to my back. It was soothing, but the ache was still there, bringing me down and suffocating me. 

“No,” I said with a raspy voice that I could barely recognize as mine. I cleared my throat and blinked away the tears that were brimming my eyes so he wouldn’t notice them. “I was awake. Sorry for waking you up.”

“It’s ok.” I could hear the smile in his voice, which was tinted with a sweet hint that settled underneath my skin and made me feel warm, my own heart forgetting about rhythm and beating. “Are you ok?”

“Now that you’re awake, I am.”

“Good, baby. I’m here for you,” Harry whispered. He brushed his lips over my forehead and pressed a soft kiss there, one that told me more than words could. “Wanna tell me what happened? You were so tense.”

“H..." I hesitated. How did I explain it to him? How did I tell him what I had done? That I didn't regret it? “Do you really want to know?” I asked him. I pushed myself away from him, rolling away from his arms to sit on the bed. He did the same, sitting by my side as he propped himself up on the pillows. This wasn’t how I imagined the morning after, and I bet it wasn’t like he had imagined it either.

“Yes!” He said, which was exactly the answer I was dreading. “You don’t have to, Sof, but you can always tell me if something’s upsetting you.”

“I...I didn’t want you to go yesterday. I wanted you to stay,” I said, trying to earn myself some time to articulate my thoughts. “So I told you some things that I’ve never said to anyone before. And I’m feeling guilty and afraid of what you might think.”

“Ok,” he said, which was not nearly enough, but it prompted me to continue. 

“And I feel the desperate need to tell you that my dad wasn’t always bad, that I had a pony, and on Fridays, I could eat way too much sugar. I don’t want you to think…” I stopped because I needed to gulp back my tears. My mom and I, we’re strong people.”

“I know.”

“And I don’t want you to think any different about me.”

“Why would I, Sof?” Why would he? Because I kept telling myself that I did what I had to do, but I’m lying. At that moment, all I felt was rage, not survival. I wanted to hurt him, make him suffer for what he had done, even if just a bit. I wanted to kill him. But I didn’t. “C’mere,” Harry said, and his fingers found mine and squeezed them lightly as he laced them together. So I obeyed and breathed him in as he pulled me into a tight hug. “You’re safe, I promise.”

“I know.”

“Good,” he breathed and his body noticeably relaxed, even though I don’t think either of us even had realized he was holding his breath in. 

If anything, it made the butterflies in my tummy rise and flutter. 

****

Kacey Musgraves and Harry Styles reunited yesterday, on the last date of her Oh, What a World: Tour II, to sing “Space Cowboy” from her hit album Golden Hour. The heartfelt performance was received with cheers from the audience. At the end of the song, Styles praised her former tour partner, calling her one of his favorites. It was a breathtaking moment.

Eagle-eyed fans, however, also noticed a special guest that was not announced, and that tried to blend in with the crowd: Styles’ on-and-off rumored girlfriend Sofia Welsh-De la Rosa was seen in the crowd during the duet performance, along with her agent and some friends. Does this mean a confirmation of the romance? Not quite, as she stayed to enjoy the concert even after he left the stage and was nowhere to be seen during the closing party. Was it just a coincidence? Is Welsh a stalker? Fans have been weighing in on Twitter, but the question remains: If Sofia Welsh gets ghosted, what hope do I have? Below you’ll find some of the most relatable comments…

****

It all started innocently, sitting next to him on the couch to cuddle while he reviewed the plan for his next single. It was all laid out in an e-mail, with wardrobe ideas and stage mockups. A glimpse of his screen was enough to catch my attention, as I saw what looked like a fisherman island and a couple of lively-looking fishes. 

“What’s the song about?” I asked him, peering up at him as my head rested on his shoulder. I had to ask, there were fish involved!

“Well...you. It’s about you.” Harry smiled and I saw him blush a little while he avoided looking me in the eyes.

“No, really, tell me!”

“It’s about you, Sof. What makes you think I’m joking?”

“Why would you write a song about me? Is it about how annoying I am?” I grinned and I propped myself up with one hand, so I could look him in the eyes while we talked. It was funny, ‘cause I knew about the song, he had told me the night of our date, which seemed like ages ago. But now, my brain was going into overdrive, and I stared at him as he leaned closer and let his lips brush over a kiss over my forehead. 

“It’s about how much I like you,” he said, and this time, he met my eyes while I stared at him stupidly. 

“Is that the surprise you told me about? I would’ve thought you had pulled it from the album after everything that’s happened these last few weeks.”

“I did try, but Jeff told me to go fuck myself.” I didn’t know if he was joking. The quick smile on his lips disappeared as Harry looked at me. “And I wrote them for you, it’s only fair you get to listen to them.”

“Can I? Listen to it, I mean...” 

“As long as you don’t tell Jeff to pull it from the album, I think we can do that.”

“I promise I won’t.”

The few seconds he took to look for the song seemed like an eternity, that I spent with my heart pounding in my ears and my eyes fixed on his phone screen. There were tons of songs there, and while some had a proper title, most were named with just a word or a date. I watched him go to a list called FL, and there, he scrolled down to the bottom, before pressing play on a song named “Adore You”. 

As the first few notes started to play, I went quiet and let Harry pull me into a cuddle. Once again, I was lying next to him, with my head resting on his chest, and I could feel the steadiness of his heart, and the warm touch of his fingers as they pressed to my waist. 

“Walk in your rainbow paradise…”

His voice was rich and soothing and it made my heartache in a way I didn’t know it was capable of. I listened to it, focusing on the words and the melody. I wanted to decipher every bit of it, every intention, every hint, tear it apart, and build it up again second by second. 

Harry was smiling when I looked at him, almost shyly and apologetically, like telling me how sorry he was for putting me in the spotlight. 

But I loved it. 

“Play it again”, I whispered when the song came to an end, as I looked up at him. Harry smiled in satisfaction, a little cocky grin, as he put the song on repeat. He then shifted on the couch, sitting up so I could straddle him. His hands went to my back and held my waist as mine looped around his shoulders.

“Did you like it?” Harry managed to ask between my kisses, lips pressing softly to his own, his cheek, his jaw, his nose. 

“I did. I loved it,” I giggled as I looked for his neck to kiss him there. I wondered how many times we would listen to the song before I was satisfied. Many, I had to guess. 

“Good…” Harry smiled and broke the kiss apart to look at me in the eyes. “I love you, Sof.”

I froze, stopping my frantic mission to kiss every available inch of his body, and I slowly brought my hands to my lap, as I looked at him, forgetting how to breathe. 

“You don’t have to say it back,” Harry breathed with a light laugh. “I know you have feelings for Sam, so it’s ok if you have to think about it. I just wanted to let you know… I’m yours if you want me, Sof....and even if you don’t.”

“What…” I started, but words kept failing to form in my lips, just as much as they failed to organize coherently in my brain. There was so much I wanted to say, many things I could tell him, but instead, I pressed myself to him, hugging him tight to my body until our breaths mixed, and it wasn’t too clear whose heartbeat was louder. 

“It’s ok. It’s ok, Sof, you don’t have to say anything,” Harry whispered reassuringly, so I did the only thing I knew I could do, I kissed him. 

Right then, it was easy to see how everything had changed from the night before, or even a few minutes ago. Now his touch felt different, filled with the memories of the night before. He knew my body better than I did. It was his to explore, to taste, and touch, and he did so. Everything, including the kiss, was slow but intense, soft and sweet but so fucking hungry.  

“I love you, Sof.” I kept replaying it in my mind, with all of its letters, one by one. Like a gospel, a moment of prayer to calm the soul. 

Harry made his way down to my collarbones, and he trailed his kisses down to the valley of my chest, where he stopped, and let his fingers curl around the cups of my bra to push it down. The warmth on his breath rose goosebumps all over my skin and I moaned quietly as he wrapped his lips around my nipple and sucked on it. It felt so good, but still, anticipation was boiling in my tummy, demanding more. I wanted to feel his tongue, his warm breath, the drowned moans. I wanted them to echo down my body until I had no more choice but to cry out in pleasure. It was a delicious, bubbly feeling that clouded my mind, only leaving space for Harry.

I was so sensitive, all raw skin and prickly nerves, the slightest touch sent a shiver up my spine and made me arch my back and moan.

I was too aware of the light touch of his hand brushing down my stomach and sliding underneath my panties. I could see a flash of a smile before he went to pay attention to my other nipple, sucking harder on it as he grazed his finger around my clit. 

“Fuck,” I moaned, trying to relax as the sharp pain of my soreness took over my senses for just a second. But it didn’t escape Harry, who stopped right away to look at me with a worried glint in his eyes. 

“Are you sore, Sof?” He asked, and to my despair he pulled his hand away, placing it on my leg instead with a light squeeze. 

“A bit,” I said, almost apologetically. “But we can still do it.”

“It’s ok,” Harry smiled. “There’s no rush. We can just kiss.”

“We’re going back to L.A. tomorrow, and you’ll be off to London by the end of the week, so at least I’m in a rush. I’ve already wasted a lot of time.”

“So, what are you suggesting? That we should fuck non-stop now?”

“Yes!!” I laughed. “You should fuck me.”

“I want you to enjoy it,” Harry said and he hugged me closer to his chest. The sentiment was appreciated and I had no doubt he actually meant it, but that didn’t mean I had to make it easy for him. His tummy tightened as my fingers brushed over his tanned skin, the slight swell of his pecs, the muscles on his abs, and a low moan escaped his reluctant lips as I shifted on his lap, and rolled my hips for him. He was getting hard, maybe because of all of the feverish kisses we had shared, and I felt the sharp bite of his nails as they dug on the round of my ass. “So it feels good for you. It kinda hurts my ego if you don’t.” he smiled. His hands pressed tightly to my hips, stopping me from making any movement. “And I owe you one from last night.”

“I enjoyed last night, it was perfect.”

“Really?” Harry asked, his smiling lighting up his cute face when he looked at me. “I always thought our first time was gonna be fucking special, like a hotel in Paris looking at the tower, or something like that.”

“You thought about our first time?”

“I did, it got me through the nights,” he said. His touch had no urgency other than to feel me close and feel the warmth of my skin under the tips of his fingers. 

“Good to know I’m on your mind, then.”

“All the fucking time, didn’t you listen to the song?”

So engulfed we were in each other that we had missed the sound of the door opening or that of the soft steps that followed it.

“H, why did you change rooms? Listen, man, if I have to listen to Diana nag me because of you...oh, fuck! I’m sorry,” a male voice exclaimed, going from very confused and slightly annoyed to sincerely apologetic. I scrambled to the couch to cover myself with the pillows, while Harry remained seated, calmly looking at his friend. 

Jeff was holding what seemed like a bakery paper bag, and 4 tall coffees. He set them down on the little table in front of the couch and cleared his throat while he clearly avoided looking at me. Without saying a word, Harry stood up and walked to the room, and came back after he had dressed, and holding a shirt he offered to me. It only took him seconds, but it felt like an eternity, and Jeff and I were awkward enough to make it evident. 

“I thought you had left for L.A., Sof. Diana told me you did,” Jeff said, now that I had put on the shirt, and he was free to look at me. He sat down on one corner of the couch and picked up Harry’s phone to stop the music. The room felt too silent without it.

“I decided not to go.”

“Good,” he smiled. Both of us were looking at Harry, as he smiled at me. He was our only connection, after all, and I had a nagging feeling that Jeff did not like me all that much. “Does Diana know?”

“That I stayed?”

“With Harry, yeah,” Jeff pressed.

“I haven’t told her, no.”

“Ok, we might want to do that,” he smiled too kindly. I would have felt overwhelmed by the, how does the song go? Oh, yes, bad moon a-rising feeling of his words, but at that moment, Jeff leaned over the table and started fixing breakfast in front of us: buttery and flaky croissants, little pastries filled with chocolate and raspberries, cinnamon swirls and avocado and eggs toast. The sugary and buttery smell took over my well-intentioned anxiety. It kept me on top of things most of the time, never too surprised when things went wrong. 

“How many people did you invite for breakfast?” I asked him. 

“Well, Diana is coming. Yesterday she told me you were leaving and that you guys were probably moving on, so I told her to meet me this morning.”

“Moving on from what?” Harry asked his friend as he picked two croissants and offered me one. Mine had red stripes, so I guessed it must’ve had some kind of strawberry or raspberry filling. He picked a chocolate one for himself and set it apart on the table, grabbing a cup of coffee first. 

“I’m gonna take a wild guess, and say you, they’re moving on from you.”

The croissant was still warm and I held it in my hand like it was a war grenade, ready to blow off. Could I eat it? The short answer was no. The long answer was more complicated than that, but it also ended in a no. My tummy grumbled, it had been long since the last time I had really eaten or felt hungry, so it took me a couple of seconds to realize what was going on around me, like the fact that both Harry and Jeff were looking at me as if I was fucking crazy. Perhaps I was. 

“Are you having a meltdown over a croissant?” Harry asked, and the mocking hint that laced in his voice stung. Oh, he didn’t understand. 

“I’m on a diet, and I need to be because otherwise, they might not give me the role.”

“They already did, that’s why you’re training like a crazy person.”

“They can still say that I don’t look good in a latex suit, because who fucking does? And take the role away from me,” I tried explaining, as I leaned over the table to put the croissant down and pick a black coffee.

“They won’t,” Harry said as he picked it up back again and offered it to me. “I promise. You’re the queen right now, and everyone’s in love with you. And if they choose to take the role away from you, they’re assholes anyway,” he continued, with a sweet smile on his face. I took the napkin and leaned back on the couch as I took a bite out of the croissant.

“Good,” Jeff exclaimed, reminding us that we were not alone in the room. “Now, do we talk about Sofia wanting to move on, or do we just ignore it?”

“I, uh, I don’t want to move on.”

“Ok, so I’ll talk to Diana,” Jeff nodded. “I’ll do it soon, so you guys don’t have time to change your fucking minds.”

“Thanks, Jeff,” I smiled at him. He didn’t like me, oh, not at all, but he wasn’t doing it for me. So he shrugged, and took a pastry for himself, to eat it with his coffee. 

Maybe we had said Diana’s name too many times, because there she was, closing the door behind her. She couldn’t see me, but I saw her, with her green dress with white flowers on. She was holding a plastic bowl of fruit and a holder with 3 tall coffees and she walked into the room and towards us without noticing me. When she did, a frown etched between her brows, and her eyes danced from Harry to me.

“You didn’t leave. Good, we need to talk.” Diana said as if nothing could surprise her anymore. She walked to me and picked up the piece of croissants I had left in my hands and put them down on the table, before she sat down next to Jeff, with a bright, satisfied smile on her face. “You can’t eat that. Actually, we might need to go even more strict. Dior wants you for their new campaign and Rihanna is wondering if you’d like to model some underwear. I said yes to both.” She waited for the ovation. I could see that she was holding herself from clapping in excitement. But we all remained silent, and she slowly calmed herself down, looking at me as if I was the one that didn’t understand, which was a fair assumption; I didn’t understand. 

“It means people know you can sell, Sof. We can ask for more money. We can ask you to be one of the top earners in the Marvel Universe. The top earner in every other movie you make,” she said, giddily. “Now, Dior wants you to shoot their campaign with one of their most iconic dresses. It’s a size zero, and they’ll stretch it to a size two, a tight one. So, we need to cut down a bit.”

A bit. 

“Why don’t they just stretch it a little more?” Harry asked. 

“Because it’s an iconic dress, I just said it, Harry,” Diana snapped. 

“That’s bullshit, Diana,” Harry said, and even though he was smiling, there was a hint of anger in his voice. He was annoyed and he didn’t feel like hiding it. 

“Oh, you think you know what us women…”

I couldn’t take it. I knew I should have said something, perhaps side with Harry and tell Diana that I wasn’t interested, but it was all too much. So I did what I know how to do best: I got up and left, walking to my room to hide from both of them and closing the door behind me. I sat on the corner of the bed and let out a shaky sigh. I wasn’t alone for too long. Harry entered the room and he cautiously walked to me and sat down by my side. The bed wobbled a little and I looked at him for a second before going back to look down to the floor.  

“Are you ok, love?” He asked. 

“I just started having sex,” I said. 

“I am aware,” he replied. 

“So, all of this talk about my body...it fucking sucks, especially because you’re there and you can listen to all of it, and…”

“And what?”

“Realize I don’t look good in a catsuit.”

“Do you want to see me in a catsuit? I don’t think I’d look good either,” He offered, and I laughed, despite everything, because that was the thing about Harry, he made everything better. 

“Would you put on a catsuit for me?” 

“I’d do anything for you, Sof...Come with me to London, let’s forget about this whole thing.”

“I can’t, H. I have to train and follow this diet, and be camera ready.”

“I promise I’ll keep you busy,” he said.

“Yeah? How?”

He did exactly what I expected him to do, he kissed me, his fingers pressing softly to the back of my neck, while his tongue swept my bottom lip. It was a lavish kiss, slow and intense. It made me forget that there were people in the other room, and to shift on the bed until I was sitting on his lap, with my legs on each side of his body. His hands started their journey on the upper part of my back, under my shirt, and he ran the tip of his fingers down the length of my spine. Every inch of skin he touched set on fire and reminded me how alive I was and all that I was capable of feeling because of him. 

“Please,” I muttered against his lips as his fingers got to the round of my ass, and he dug them and kneaded on my skin. 

“Please what?” He smiled. 

“Please whatever you want…”

“You need me, baby?”

“I need you, I want you…”

“Can you be quiet for me?” 

“Yes, I can try. Please.”

****

The plot thickens: Harry Styles and Sofia Welsh were seen leaving his hotel in Nashville together, where the singer was staying after he performed in Kacey Musgraves’ concert. The stars, who haven’t confirmed the status of their relationship, went out to grab lunch with a group of friends, including Musgraves herself, and then left for the airport together. 

This outing comes as a disappointment for Logan Lerman fans, who have started shipping him with the actress, as they are both set to work together in Amazon’s new show...

[harvestleaves]

Parent’s Nightmare

Prompts: @parkshan820​:Hey I was wondering for your out of breath series (which I love by the way) if you could write about T.K’s first asthma attack when he was young and how Owen would react? I would love to see that 😀

anon: Maybe you could do a story about TK's first asthma attack? Like when he was a kid? You mention it briefly in your first story and I thought it would be cute to see! We'd get Little TK!

A/N: Owen’s been kind of a shit dad this season to TK, so here’s me pretending he’s not an ass for a few minutes.  Also, this is my reasoning as to why TK finds hoodies comforting.  You can also read this on Ao3 here!

Rating: G

Word Count: 1,660

Every time Owen saw TK gasping for air, it reminded him of the first attack he’d ever seen.  It was back in October of 2000, almost one full year before 9/11 and, up until that fateful day, Owen was sure that watching TK wake him up in the middle of the night unable to breathe was the scariest moment of his life.

October 2000

Six-year-old TK grinned as he wormed his way out of his mom’s arms to throw himself towards where Owen was talking with one of the other firefighters in the house.

“Dad!”

Owen raised an eyebrow when he heard TK’s voice and smiled when he got a sudden armful of his son, nodding to Gwyn when she handed him TK’s overnight bag before she headed out.

“TK, hey kiddo.  How was school?”

“It was okay.  We get to go to the Bronx Zoo for our field trip next week!  I hope we get to see the tigers!!  Mommy said you can come and chap-chap...help watch,” TK grinned, bouncing in place from the excitement of the upcoming trip.

“Mommy said I was gonna chaperone?!  I’m sure I can do that for my favorite son,” Owen smiled as he peppered kisses over TK’s cheeks.

“Daaad!!  I’m your only son,” TK laughed at the kisses, squirming away to try and avoid the kisses before his laughs started turning into coughs, causing him to wince as he caught his breath.

Owen immediately stopped his movements, his brows pulling together in concern as he watched TK’s coughing fit calm down, gently rubbing over his son’s back.

“You okay kiddo?  That was some coughing fit.”

TK nodded with a painful swallow as he finally got his breathing under control.

“Yeah, I think I choked on spit.  It was yucky,” TK said with a wrinkle of his nose after a moment of thought.  Though to be honest, he knew it was from laughing too hard, the same issue happening whenever he was laughing too hard or running with his friends at recess.

“If you’re sure,” Owen sighed softly, knowing his son wasn’t a good liar, but he trusted him to let him know if he wasn’t feeling too well.

“I’m sure dad!  What’s for dinner?” TK asked curiously, hoping that changing the subject would be enough to get Owen off of his case.

Surprisingly for TK, it worked when Owen responded with “pizza,” knowing that the kid would be pleased with the suggestion of his favorite food.

“Really?  Yes!” TK grinned, bouncing excitedly for a moment before quickly controlling himself, not wanting to set off another coughing fit.

“Can I go watch a movie until dinner?” TK asked his dad hopefully, knowing they were probably going to get a call soon anyways with how busy the city seemed to be that day.

“Sure kiddo, you can watch Aladdin with the probie,” Owen smiled as he led TK up the stairs to the common area, smiling as his kid ran over to his favorite firefighter, Luca.

“Luca!” TK grinned as he practically launched himself into the man's arms, letting out a sigh of content at the hug he received.

“Hey kiddo, I heard you’re staying the night.  I take it you’re excited?” Luca asked with a smile as he reached down to ruffle TK’s hair, looking up at Owen when the older man smiled fondly at them.

“Yeah!  Dad said we can watch a movie until dinner!” TK nodded as he pulled back from the hug before jumping onto the couch, not noticing his dad pull Luca to the side.

“Hey Cap, what’s up?”

“Hey, probie.  It’s probably nothing, but Ty was coughing earlier after I made him laugh.  But it wasn’t a normal cough.  They were really wheezy and he sounded like he couldn’t catch his breath.  It’s probably just a cold, but could you keep an eye on him?” Owen asked, hoping he didn’t sound too overprotective.  He knew kids were germ magnets, and he didn’t want to worry too much, but there was a small part of him that had a gut feeling something was really wrong.

“Sure, of course.  You know I love that kid like a little brother.  Plus, I got my EMS certification yesterday.  If anything goes wrong, I’m ready,” Luca smiled, patting Owen reassuringly on the shoulder before he sat on the couch with TK, smiling as the kid snuggled up to him.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Four hours later, and stuffed full of pizza, TK collapsed onto the couch again next to Luca, stifling a small yawn as the twenty-one-year-old laid a blanket over him.  “You want to head to bed kiddo?  You seem sleepy.”

“Noooo, we were gonna watch ‘nother movie,” TK whined softly as he rubbed his eyes, blinking tiredly up at Luca again before he pressed his face against the other’s chest to hide a yawn.

Hiding a laugh, Luca nodded before he turned on Hercules, letting TK snuggle close when he felt the kid shiver.

“Are you cold still?  Hold on,” Luca pulled away from TK for a moment to tug off his hoodie and handed it to TK, smiled when the kid pulled it on, the sleeves falling over his hands as he pushed the hood back off of his head.

“Thank you,” TK yawned, his hair sticking up in multiple places as he snuggled back up to Luca, the firefighter awing softly as TK fell asleep halfway through the movie, scooping him up in the blanket to carry him to Owen’s bunk, setting him down next to the older man, who was sitting up reading.

“Thanks, Luca.  I think you’re his favorite,” Owen smiled as he tucked the blanket around TK.

“Trust me, if Matt and I were ready for kids, We’d adopt TK in a heartbeat,” Luca smiled, reaching down to ruffle TK’s fluffy hair before heading to his own bunk to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~

It was two in the morning when TK woke up.  Though it didn’t immediately register to him what was wrong until he tried to take a deep breath and it caught in his lungs, causing him to start coughing, eyes wide as he reached up to clutch at his chest, the breath completely knocked out of him.

Looking around wildly, his gaze fell on his dad and he shook Owen’s arm desperately to try and wake him up.

“D-dad,” TK blinked back tears as he managed to get the word out, hoping it was loud enough as he leaned forward, just barely catching the scent of Luca’s cologne on the hoodie, the smell soothing him ever so slightly as he squeezed his eyes shut.

Owen jolted awake at the shaking to his arm and sat up, his eyes darting around in panic to see what woke him up before he heard the ragged wheezing coming from his son.

“TK!  Ty, look at me kiddo, are you having trouble breathing?” Owen asked, his voice sounding much more frantic than he’d wanted it to as he helped TK sit up, turning the light on above the bunk to get a better look at him.

TK was paler than normal, his eyes wide with fear as he looked up at his dad, mouth wide as he gasped for breaths that weren’t coming.  “D-dad.  C-can’t br-breathe,” he managed to choke out, tears welling up in his eyes as the panic finally settled in.

Owen almost smacked himself at how long it took him to get out of the bed after propping TK up against the wall, but for a brief moment, he was paralyzed.   Completely unable to do anything except watch as his son suffocated in front of his eyes, the scariest moment of his life since becoming a parent.

His legs were on autopilot as he located Luca’s bunk across the room, turning the light on above him as he shook his shoulder.

“Luca!  Probie, wake up!  Tyler can’t breathe.”

Luca’s eyes shot open at those words and he sat up, grabbing for his stethoscope next to the bunk and looping it around his neck as he got up and made his way over to TK.

“Sit behind him.  Put his back against your chest,” Luca commanded Owen as he sat down gently in front of TK.

“Hey kiddo, your dad said you’re having a little trouble breathing, can you lean forward for me?” Luca said, his voice immediately dropping to the gentle voice he saved for children and animals, in that order.

TK blinked a few times before he nodded and let Luca listen to his lungs, his shoulders heaving with every gasping breath he took.

“He’s wheezing.  Everything is pointing to an asthma attack, but we won’t know until he gets looked at.  Can you carry him down to the ambulances?”

“Asthma?  TK doesn’t have asthma,” Owen frowned as he looked down at his son before nodding and moving to pick him up, holding him close as he followed the paramedic downstairs and to the ambulance.

“Alright TK, your dad is gonna set you down and we’re gonna take a little ride to the hospital.  Can we take the hoodie off so I can put some stickers on your chest?” Luca asked gently as he started to grab the supplies for a breathing treatment.

TK shook his head rapidly at the idea of removing the sweatshirt.  “N-no.  S-safe,” he choked out before coughing again, tears starting to fill his eyes.

Luca’s eyes softened before he nodded knowingly.  “It makes you feel safe?  Okay kiddo, we can keep it on for now, but lemme just stick these to you really quick,” he explained, getting the monitors onto TK before slipping the mask over his face for the breathing treatment.

“Don’t worry kiddo.  We’re not going anywhere.  You’re gonna be just fine,” Owen whispered softly to TK as he sat next to the gurney, holding his son’s hand tightly, worried that something worse would happen if he let go or looked away.

[whump-town]

The Slow Crawl Back to Normal

This is the really long fic I wrote to connect the episodes in season five following Foyet’s attack. As there is a whole month between the episode 5x01 “Nameless, Faceless” and 5x02 “Haunted”. So, naturally, I can’t stand to let all the possible whump go unwritten. However, I am not amused with the material I have produced. I did write is so it is to your own discretion that you read it. Good luck

Word Count:  7870

Getting into all of this, there had been a level of expected conflict. Seven people, six of which are heavily conflicted with a broad spectrum of emotions about one of the others. Luckily, Reid’s managed to procure a little of that attention (mercilessly, really).

That doesn’t stop them, entirely.

Emily Prentiss blinks once, twice at the bulging supply bag in Penelope Garcia’s hands. The two stare at each other from where they stand. A distinct air of mischief in the room, the lightest thing to ghost through all day. And Emily lets herself immerse fully into that hope. Into its ease. “I thought I said only the important things,” she chides softly.

Garcia looks down at the bag in her hands and frowns. Setting it down beside Hotch’s leg, Garcia opens it with a distinctly sassy motion. “It is only the important things,” she defends. She opens the bag to allow Emily to look in and as she pulls it open Emily can smell Hotch. His soap and detergent soaked into the old beige sweater sitting at the top of the bag. Even in the thick cabin socks tucked into the spare spaces. “I had to pack his winter clothes,” Garcia explains. “He gets cold easily, you know that.”

Hotch does stay relatively cold most of the time. Which is how it’s so effortless for him to stay tucked under all the layers of his suits. Emily is glad someone thought of that in the face of all this madness. The paper-thin, rough blankets the nurses are allowing him now aren’t going to be very much help. They’ve all shared a room with him before. He requires several layers of blankets to sleep.

Something green catches her eye and without thinking, Emily reaches in. “What’s--” Emily moves the sweater aside and Garcia swiftly shuts the sides of the bag around Emily’s hand.

Garcia glances at Hotch and then back to Emily, whispering loudly, “that is his underwear. You can’t look at them.”

Emily tries to hide her amused smile. It’s cute, alright? Big bad Aaron Hotchner having his modesty protected by Garcia. “Alright,” Emily backs down, pulling her hand back away from the bag. “Did you bring me anything?” she asks.

Garcia nods, smiling once again bright in place. “I come with…” Garcia turns to the shoulder bag she has, pulling it around to her front. “Books!” She spreads out the pickings and Emily realizes these are Hotch’s books. Because one, even the books that are essentially just decoration they’ve been sitting on her shelves for so long, she still knows their titles. And two, the books are old classic romance novels. Pride & Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, and Jane Eyre. She would never seek out these sorts of books on her own.

There’s also the additional proof that she’s seen them in his boxes. He’s been in his current apartment for months and he’s still hardly put away a thing that doesn’t get immediate, daily use. She’d been there to help him move and had refrained from commenting on the fact that he buckled the coffee maker into the front seat so it wouldn’t fall over. Which had forced her to sit in the back seat (which might have been punishment for making fun of his “dad” jeans). So, she’d also opened his other boxes to help along the unboxing process and quickly sidetracked so she could bully him for his library.

“You’re a lifesaver,” Emily says, taking them with a grateful smile and presses a quick kiss to Garcia’s cheek. “What would we do without you?” Emily thumbs through the old novels distractedly and wonders what she’s going to learn from these books. Never mind, she already knows: that H0tch is an old boring romantic.

Which is also cute but she refuses to acknowledge that for too long.

“How is he?” Garcia asks.

Her tone is so hopeful that it makes Emily’s throat tight. The truth is grim. And her duty is to the truth but Garcia is all of the light of this job. Her hope and smile is always what greets them when they come home. In the times in which she falls, they’ve found themselves bathed in the darkest nights. Not a star in sight. Clouds hovering overhead. There is so much to consider and no time to dwell.

Emily never has to answer her.

“Sir!”

His head turns sluggishly to them, eyes moving around the rest of him as he takes in everything. Slowly, they slide back to them but he doesn’t ask where he is or what happened. He looks them both over. Typical Hotch behavior to take stock of a situation and then do little visual check-ins to comb them over for injuries. Even though he’s the one laid up in the hospital. “Hello,” he hoarsely greets. His pale lips curl up, a soft smile he has afforded only her. He can always do that one little thing for Penelope Garcia. But he can’t hold it for long and with a tired sigh, his lips fall to his more natural grimace. His blinks are slowing in rate, his eyelids already dropping again.

Although, yesterday, the doctor had been sympathetic to his situation today she is not. She’d allowed him to forgo from taking stronger doses of morphine and sedatives so that he might fight his body and stay awake long enough to say goodbye to Haley and Jack. The three different states of panic he’d worked himself into were enough not to allow her to make that mistake again.

Today, as drowsy and inactive as he has been, he has remained calm. Only waking once in a state of panic early this morning, writhing in pain and crying out softly for Haley.

“Garcia was just dropping some stuff off,” Emily informs him. “Some clean clothes so you can change out of this gown.” But she’s Emily Prentiss and she can’t stop there. “Not that I’m sure the nurses don’t love seeing your ass every time you go to the bathroom.” She looks far too pleased as she remembers-- “Oh and she was totally bragging about being able to go through your underwear drawer. She was just showing me a pair of your boxers when you woke up-- Ow!” Emily is taken by complete surprise when Garcia hits her.

Garcia red in the face vehemently denies this false claim. “I would never do that, sir! I did have to look inside the drawer but I promise I tried to keep my eyes closed so I wouldn’t see everything! I hardly saw anything at all! Just--”

“Garcia. Garcia?”

She comes to a stuttering halt, face still very flushed.

“I know you wouldn’t,” Hotch clarifies with a tired sigh. “Prentiss just has a flair for tall tales.” He says this under his breath, his eyes falling shut. It takes him a long moment but he manages to blink them back open. A few rapid shallow blinks as he forces himself to stay awake just a little longer.

Emily scowls down at him but she can’t really be mad. Not him, not when he’s like this. “I do not have a flair for tall tales,” her voice turns to a childish taunt near the end. Finishing it off with an eye roll and softly knocking the back of her hand against his.

It earns her a sleepy little huff and just the faintest smirk.

Garcia feels a little better having seen this demonstration. As the one left searching hospitals for news on him, half expecting someone to eventually break the news of his death to her, she’s relieved. No one has given her good news in two days. She hadn’t been able to leave the office yesterday in time to make visitor’s hours. All she knew is what Morgan had told her from yesterday: that he was agitated and weak.

Weak. Her boss? No. Her Aaron Hotchner is strong and brave and maybe a little sad but he doesn’t deserve this.

“Garcia?”

She looks up, taken aback by how softly her name comes out of his mouth. “Yes, sir?”

“Thank you for finding me.”

Tears gather in her eyes and she steps around Emily to squeeze his hand. “Of course, sir.” Then leaning down to kiss his temple, she adds. “Just in case though, I’m going to put a tracker in your underwear. I can’t have you all running off on me, okay?”

He makes one of those signature Hotch grunts, a soft noise that comes from the back of his throat.

“I love you, sir.”

If he finds anything in his boxers, he’ll consider that a lie.

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

Aaron Hotchner may be sedated and spending roughly 75% of the last three days hazing in and out of sleep but he’s not stupid. He’s been a profiler for the better part of a decade, longer really, and he didn’t just bat his eyelashes to work his way up to Unit Chief. “You’re angry,” he says.

Dave and Emily have been shouldering the majority of his visiting hours. Everyone has stopped by (even Reid, though it was two in the morning and that was an unapproved meeting) and continues to stop by but seemingly out of duty rather than because they want to see him. Not that Hotch can really blame them. He’s seen himself in the mirror, he’s not looking too hot.

Today is Dave’s day and he’s been with Hotch since seven-thirty this morning. Long enough to watch Hotch sip at some apple juice and neglect the chicken broth he was supposed to have for lunch. His lack of appetite is starting to become a problem and that is what Hotch assumes Dave is frustrated with. Reasonably, Hotch does know he needs to try a little harder but apple juice got boring two days ago and he’s not really a fan of room temperature soup.

Looking up from his Sudoku, Dave sighs. An obvious tell. He straightens the spine of his book. “I’m not.”

Hotch grunts, so he is mad. They’ve had this conversation enough over the years for Hotch to be able to tell.  If Dave weren’t mad he would have spent more time clarifying he’s not mad at Hotch, not denying it. Rightfully, Dave always assumes first and foremost that Hotch thinks he’s mad with him. Which is fair because, right now, Hotch is fairly certain Dave is mad at him.

The sound of his grunt makes Dave look up and Dave finds himself looking at the side of Hotch’s head. The younger man avoiding his gaze. Fuck. Sighing, Dave places his pen in the middle of the pages and puts the book down. Way to go, Dave chides himself. Now he’s going to have to backpedal. Might as well call Emily now and tell her to come in and sit here with him. But that would only make matters worse. Then Hotch would have damning proof Dave is mad at him.

“I’ll-- I’ll try harder,” Hotch whispers, scratching dully at one of the bandages wrapped around his forearm. “I will.”

Dave leans forward in his chair, head hitting the palms of his hands with a groan. Does this nonsense ever get easy? “I”m not mad at you, Aaron.” He rubs at his face, around his eyes until he can sit back up. He’s not mad at Aaron, really. He’s fucking livid with George Foyet. With Hotch’s landlord who Derek has been on the phone with for the last two days arguing about nothing and everything. He annoyed with this hospital and the stupid rules but he’s not mad at Hotch.

Dave can tell Hotch doesn’t believe him. “Aaron,” Dave calls softly. He reaches out and puts his hand on Hotch’s thigh, pushing a little to get his attention. “I promise I am not mad at you, alright? You’re doing great.” That’s not really proof. In all honesty, now Dave’s thinking about how all this could have been avoided. If he’d just left Hotch in Seattle all those years ago. Someone would have taken him, surely, he was too good for that office but if Dave had left him for someone else they wouldn’t be here.

Haley and Aaron might still be married.

“If I was mad at you,” Dave asks, “would I have asked Derek to bring you better soup and popsicles?” He forces himself not to react when Hotch glances over after hearing popsicles. “Those little plastic ones that you like--” Dave knows the name but he’s baiting him.

“The colorful ones?”

Dave nods, “yes, those.” He��s not sure what kind of soup Derek’s bringing, likely just whatever is offered at whatever takeout place he stops at. But they are getting the popsicles. They had been the only thing in Hotch’s fridge. Garica had been appalled by this when she told him.

“It was empty, Rossi! Old coffee creamer, a half-gallon of oat milk, and popsicles. That’s it.”

Hotch hums under his breath, turning his head into the pillows. The only positive side to being sedated is that he doesn’t think about Foyet. There are nightmares but he can’t remember them. By the time he wakes someone’s already at his side, walking him through the steps of calming down. He can’t even remember what upset him-- or even if it was Foyet. The attack is fuzzy, lacking the hard edges of memory, but he does know this is temporary.

Soon, two days from now, if not tomorrow, they’ll lift him off the hard drugs. Rest will come second to recovery and he’ll remember.

But for now, he sinks into the thoughtless, dreamless slumber.

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

Technically, this is day two in recovery and he should be up on his feet being forced to walk the long empty halls every hour or so. Core strength isn’t built overnight but as Hotch is learning, it can be killed that quickly. For now, they let him rest as his first twelve hours here on the unit were full of rapid downs. He’d nearly pulled stitches having a nightmare and saying goodbye to Haley and Jack did a number.

Sitting by his side, JJ finds herself thinking about the hours she wasted. Where was her conviction? That gut instinct everyone else seems to run on? She’s known him for years, longer than Emily, and yet she hadn’t thought anything of his phone going to voicemail. Nearly a decade of working by his side and she knows, she knows he always answers. No matter the time, no matter what he’s doing-- grocery shopping, trying to shower, or feeding Jack.

If she calls, he answers.

Her guilt means nothing. It’s just some cruel tactic she’s deployed to distract her from what’s really bothering her. He’s alone. JJ had made those calls to the marshalls. She’d packed Jack’s bag, throat tight as she stacked his little shirts into his even tinier suitcase. And now they’re gone. Already ghosts that Foyet will not be able to find.

That Hotch won’t be able to find.

Her voice is small and trampled but she can’t stand the silence. “Sometimes I forget how he used to be.” It surprises her to hear her voice just as much as it does Emily, who sits on Hotch’s other side, a book loosely held in her lap. She knows Emily’s silence is shock and not just her ignoring JJ. Emily is just one of those people whose silence is often more telling their words-- the same is true for Dave and Hotch.

It’s under that attention that JJ now finds herself a little shy if not stubbornly selfish. Suddenly, her desire to speak is gone. The memory she bathes herself in is her own. To share it makes it lose its depth and the warm familiarity of Aaron. But on Emily presses. She waits silently for JJ to find her voice once again. And JJ decides that she’s being silly. Wistful if not a bit melancholy, which there is no need to be. Aaron Hotchner is alive. Steadily he breathes, he aches, and he lives right between them.

She looks down at the thin white blanket lazily dragged up over Hotch’s hips. Conjuring the image of that Aaron Hotchner from so long ago. Young and smiling with suits that didn’t really fit his long legs. “He was one of those fairytale romancers,” JJ says. She smiles at the look of horror and shock on Emily’s face. This, for that face, is why JJ had begun. They each have this version of him, totally unique to them, that they get to have in these moments. He is not the same man to JJ as he is to Emily. “You could tell he believed in love. He was so--”

Emily is sitting forward in her chair. The book she’d brought lays face down on the bed, inches from Hotch’s limply curled fingers. On he breathes with his trembling crescendo exhales and raspily choked inhales. Oblivious to them.

“He was so enraptured by Haley,” JJ confesses softly, looking to him now. Attempting to manifest one of his smiles from his thin, pale lips. “But mostly,” she finally confesses, “he was so… boyish.” Emily makes a surprised sound, flinching back a little as she considers this information. JJ finds herself watching Emily’s every expression. She wonders who it is that Emily knows as Aaron Hotchner.

JJ smiles as she continues, humored. She’s thrilled by this idea that there might be more to him. That if she tells Emily about her Hotch, Emily will tell her own version. And now, in her hands, she’ll have a larger idea of him. More. She wants more of him so that maybe less might be stolen.

“Once,” she admits, “I told him about the girls from my liaison classes.” It was years ago. So long she needs a moment to really remember the whole thing. Specifically for those little moments and flashes in his eyes. The blush on his cheeks when he laughed and looked away. How he’d shaken his head. “The girls down there are just… they were in awe of him.” She smiles, “and how could you not be? He is handsome and has great manners.”

Emily smirks, rolling her eyes. “Just having manners makes him better than the apes down the hall.” True. Half of the men that work in the building with them are creeps. It seems as if the only half-decent men in Quantico work on their team. Everyone else is more than questionable.

JJ nods in agreeance.

“...Em’ly?” Hotch groans. His eyes are pinched shut in pain. “ ‘m gonna be sick,” he mumbles. He swallows thickly, loud enough for JJ to hear.

Emily gets up in a flash, nearly tripping over her own legs. “JJ raise the head of the bed up,” she instructs.

JJ freezes for only a moment. She hasn’t spoken to Hotch since yesterday when he woke up and they figured out Foyet was targeting Haley and Jack. He’s been asleep every time since. Now, there’s panic in his eyes. As she raises the bed, he grabs her hand. His fingers wrapped tightly around her wrist. Enough to make her stop.

“Wait, wait!” He pants softly, breathing hitching as he writhes uselessly. His chest is on fire, only making his stomach churn more. A few seconds pass and he realizes that he’s going to vomit regardless. “Okay,” he says tightly.

JJ glances at Emily but continues on.

Hotch makes a pained sound, moving his hand from JJ’s wrist. He doesn’t open his eyes, just presses his hand into his stomach. The cramp of his churning stomach more severe than the agitated stitched across his abdomen. “I need the--” his hand wraps around the bucket but Emily keeps holding on.

It’s just water, JJ notes. Being a mother has numbed her to bodily fluids so she doesn’t mind vomit.

Emily doesn’t flinch either. The first time she had. It had taken them both by surprise. Now, for about the fourth time, she just shakes her head. Offering the comfort she can think to-- rubbing his back as tears stream down his cheeks. She already knows they’re going to threaten an NG tube, a longer stay, or something. They always have something to say nothing to help. He’s maxed out on pain meds and still in pain.

They want him to drink something other than water to get his blood sugar back up but hasn’t managed to keep anything down since they started giving him the juices.

Breathlessly, Hotch falls back against the pillows. A light sweat had broken out over his face. “Sorry,” he groans, twisting slowly. His hips are stiff and chest tight but he needs to ease the ache in his stomach. Everything hurts and he can’t get comfortable.

“He can’t keep the apple juice down,” Emily mumbles as she passes JJ with the bucket. JJ follows her to the bathroom to the side of the room. Out of the corner of her eye she glances back at Hotch, watching him. Whether he simply doesn’t care if he’s being watched or hasn’t the presence of mind to consider it, she knows what she sees is a direct reflection of how he feels. No guards. No shields. Just his pale face and weak body leaning heavily into the pillows around him. Lips drawn in a grimace. Pained.

JJ tears her eyes away from the scene. She can’t stand it. Emily must be so strong, JJ thinks, to sit in here with him. To do what she does without blinking. If she weren’t so lost in thought-- stuck circling this stupid idea of all the ways she just keeps failing Hotch-- she would have come up with the idea earlier. However, it takes the sight of Hotch paling even more and grimacing to spur it.

Emily guides the apple juice back into his palm, despite the fact that he turns his head from her.

“Why don’t you water it down?”

Emily frowns, “what do you mean?”

JJ extends her hand and Emily hesitantly gives her the bottle. “Toddlers,” JJ says, “can have juice, right? But it can be a bit much. You have to dilute the juice with water. It can ruin their little teeth but mostly it can spike their blood sugar.” JJ takes the little pink cup Hotch has been sipping water out of and pours a significant bit of the apple juice out. Then she takes the bottle and fills the rest with water. Taking a sip… it’s about the same ratio she’d give a toddler. “You’re still drinking the apple juice, you’re just not going to upset your stomach.”

Hotch hasn’t been throwing up the water so it’s obviously an apple juice problem.

And, sure enough, he keeps the diluted apple juice down. It provides the extra benefit of forcing him to drink more water too as he has to finish at least, one bottle of apple juice a day.

JJ needn’t worry too much about the self-imposed diagnosis of her relationship with Hotch because he, sincerely, considers her a hero for that idea.

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

Hotch wakes from a nap he can’t remember falling asleep to take. His fingers are loosely wrapped around a popsicle. It’s long since melted into an overly sugared blue slush but there is only about a third of it left or what he guesses is about a third. As the palm of his hand is protected by a paper towel that was, at some point, wrapped around the popsicle but now just hinders his ability to see what’s left.

“What times is it?”

“Five thirty.”

Hotch flinches, looking over to his left and finding Morgan and Reid. When he’d asked the question he’d meant it for JJ or Dave. Both of whom are sitting on his right side, his currently favored side. He finds himself self-conscious of this blindness. How weak, stupid even, he must be to miss either of them. Reid is sitting in a bulky wheelchair. Each of either man’s movements measured out by the soft, plastic thunk of round game pieces being moved along the bored.

They’re playing checkers and he hadn’t even noticed them.

“Why does he always do that?” JJ asks no one in particular. She glances at Hotch with an eye roll of exasperation before adding, “always rounds up the time like a little old man. It’s 5:16. That’s hardly 5:30.”

Hotch swallows thickly around his confusion. It takes a whole minute for him to understand but, graciously, JJ has already moved on to another topic. Speaking to Dave now as she searches for something in the bags sitting at the table by his side. She’d meant Reid and his, admittedly, strange habit of significantly rounding up the passage of time.

She pulls out a little bowl, it’s lid fogged with steam, and sets it down. Even though it’s small enough for her to hold in one hand, Hotch’s stomach churns at the thought of having to eat it. Next comes another bowl. “Derek brought you soup,” she says to him. “Rice too but that’s just more so you have options.”

Vaguely, he can remember receiving his popsicle. JJ’s words filling in a memory. Derek had arrived in a flurry of white take-out bags. Emily and Garcia had been around at the time and he’d been only slightly up for small talk. Which they had been strangely understanding about. To the point, Emily hadn’t overwhelmed him with the options. She’d simply wrapped a napkin around the base and given it to him. Already open.

“Do you know which you’d like?”

He can feel himself working into a cold sweat. Overwhelmed with just a simple question. He looks at JJ and then at the rice and then the soup. He’s not sure what the right answer is. Over the last three days, that’s mostly what he’s learned. Though his body craves nothing, not food, and rarely even the need to use the bathroom, he knows it’s supposed to. His eating habits are now watched and, never once in his life, being the type of person to yearn strongly for foods he’s floored. He never knows what they want to hear.

Sure, he’s craved things. An oreo in passing or a specific brand go chips. Preferred a dipping sauce for fries but…

“The soup,” Dave says. He sees that look in Hotch’s eyes, the cast-off-- no one’s home-- look. “It’s your favorite,” Dave takes the soup from JJ’s hand, watching closely as Hotch comes back. He blinks slowly, taking in what’s happening, and nods. Hotch doesn't have a favorite soup but they don’t need to know that.

Hotch looks down, blankly, as Dave gently takes the melted popsicle from his hands. He feels… a strange attachment to that popsicle. Though melted he almost wants it still.

“Eat your soup,” Dave encourages replacing the popsicle with a spoon.

Hotch’s fingers curl slowly around the thin metal. He’s officially at a stage in his life where fine motor movements like this require heavy thought. Pure devotion. He can not think, breathe, or speak while doing these sorts of things. So, eating his soup is going to be far more difficult than he’d like it to be. Neverminded how humiliating his lack of coordination is.

And they’re all here.

His mouth opens, the words I’m not hungry forming but come with no sound. He shuts his mouth and swallows thickly. Again, his stomach twists with a strange vengeance. It’s just clear, brothy soup. Soup. So, why does it feel like his entire chest is pulsing with anxiety?

He flinches when a hand wraps around his own. Obscuring the view of the spoon, of his hand and he knows he can only fight off the tremble for so long. He drags his eyes up, forces himself to keep that hand steady. JJ is touching him but she’s not looking. “Would the rice be easier?” she asks.

White, tasteless rice. Unseasoned. Just rice.

He can’t make words pass across his lips but there must be something that his face betrays because without a word JJ puts the lid back on the soup and puts the rice in his lap. It’s closer than the soup had been. When he looks up, no one’s watching. Morgan and Reid are turned so he’ll see them if they turn to watch. JJ and Dave are settling down to their own respective tasks. JJ snacking on a piece of garlic bread and Dave kicking his feet up on the edge of his bed. No one's watching.

Swallowing thickly, he moves slowly. All of his attention goes to this task. The spoon grazes the top of the lid but no one looks at the sudden clink of the metal hitting the container. He glances up once more time before forcing the spoon into his mouth. He nearly misses but no one sees. A single grain falls back onto his lap. The white rice nearly lost in the sea of the other white blankets.

Though, none of them aware, tomorrow is going to be hard on them all. For today, he remains pliable. Succumbing easily to sleep and to their request. He flinches but he lacks the strength to get too far away. So he remains in his bed, watching them from behind hooded eyes and deep, sedated breaths. Tomorrow he will find the strength for defiance.

“Not too much,” JJ says, after a few minutes. He manages only about five bites and the spoon never has more than a pinch of rice but it’s setting heavily on his stomach and he’s done. “Done?”

Heavy and warm, he nods. He feels her take the spoon from his hands and lift the rice away.

“Hotch?”

It feels like only a second has passed but when he pulls his heavy eyes back open there’s only JJ. Reid and Morgan having left and Dave too, apparently. He hums, mouth too dry to form words.

“Can you finish this juice off for me?” She doesn’t wait for a reply, just places the nearly empty bottle into his palm. He’s tired and so he doesn’t fight the tender way she pushes his hair back from his face and places a kiss on his temple. She knows there are only a few more hours left before his guard slips back into place and he fights her every move. But, for now, she can appreciate that he doesn’t fight her help so long as it’s minimal.

There’s a straw in the juice so he only has to lift his arm a little to get access to the juice.

“Hello,” Emily steps into the room, smiling the whole way.

JJ glances at Hotch but he’s glaring down at the apple juice.

“JJ,” Emily greets, “you’re relieved of your duties. Hotch is safe with me.” Emily tosses her bag on the end of Hotch’s bed, right beside where his feet are. “Don’t worry about us Jayje, we're gonna watch movies.”

JJ glances once more to Hotch, satisfied he’s back to taking tentative sips from his apple juice. Okay. She needs to sleep and catch up on laundry. She’s leaving him in good hands. Nothing to worry about. Reaching out she touches his leg, getting his attention. “Behave.”

He nods and returns back to his own head, looking down at his lap.

It goes without saying that Emily is the one who needs to be doing the behaving.

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

He goes home far too early.

If the nightmares leave him paralyzed, the wounds ooze-- Surely, he is not healthy enough to go off on his own.

He’s a body caught in the loop. Just a capsule for time, each second measured out on his paling skin. Every minute, each hour-- the blood trickling down over his ribs. Slipping into the grooves of skin and staining his once white t-shirt. He breathes but he is not living. With no thoughts, no feelings is he even a thing at all? Just a body that remains where he was left five days before to watch the sunrise from his window and set on the other side of his house. Every day. For five days.

On the sixth day, as the sun sets over the top of the house-- noon-- there’s a knock at his door. The calendar on his fridge wrestles softly with the breeze coming in from the window Derek Morgan left open in the kitchen. Their names with their own smiling stickers and color-coded which had meant to be for Aaron alone wave pathetically with each coming breeze. It was meant to be a way to keep track of passing days and who would be coming to terrorize him every day. Garcia had hung it up and wrapped his fingers around a black sharpie, smiling when she added he could even use it to mark off the days until his hopeful return to the BAU.

The knocking on the door grows silent and breathily, Hotch whimpers out in relief. He can’t think, doesn’t want to, and is glad that today, not unlike the last five days, whoever it is has wisened up and chosen to leave him alone. All he wants is silence and pain. The only things he knows for sure are real.

As the nurse had watched them go, she spoke those same words over and over. Monitor. He’s meant to be monitored and watched.

Unless the shadows that warp into George Foyet-- and not just him but Hotch’s father, long and tall, and Carl Arnold and his cackling, taunting observations, and beasts and ghosts from his nightmares. Unless those monsters count, he’s been alone.

Outside his apartment door, David Rossi and Emily Prentiss argue loudly. Enough to stir the rest of the apartment complex’s occupants but none dare stick their heads out to inquire on the trespassing. They all know of the agent nearly killed and none want to get mixed up in that (that is, the few that remain).

“There.”

Emily looks up from her side bag and Dave from where he’s leaning, unhelpfully, looking in as well. For a moment, all Emily can do is stare down at the slightly ajar door. Slowly, her eyes lift to Garica and then back to the door. “You scare me,” Emily says as her face is split by a wide, proud grin. “That, though, was the sexist thing I have ever seen in my life! What are you hiding from us, Penelope Garcia?”

Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear Garcia shrugs modestly. Honestly, she’d learned a lot about picking locks from her brothers but, most of what stuck came from Reid and a phase he went through two years ago where he decided to learn how to pick every lock he could get his hands on. She’d picked up a thing or two, as well.

All the cheer dissipates quickly.

“Stay here.”

Emily glances at Garcia but neither disobey Dave’s order. Fearful of what they might find, really.

Dave pushes his way into the room, hit with the thick scent of heavy settling. Distinctly dusty scent. “Aaron?” He steps around a pair of discarded sweatpants, a puddle of dark grey fabric on the carpet. “Shit--” Dave winces as the sight of blood seeped into the fabric of Hotch’s shirt. “Aaron,” he cups Hotch’s cheek, shaking him.

Hotch groans, peeling his eyes open. Despite the deep panic settling in over his chest, his heart beating so hard that he can’t tell the difference between the rate at which his chest aches from the stab wounds and the pace of his heart. He shoves blindly at the arms grabbing at him. His mind chanting-- Foyet, Foyet, Foyet, Foyet--

“It’s me, Aaron!” Dave pins Hotch’s arms to the bed, startled by the ease at which it takes. “It’s okay, it’s okay!”

It’s not. It’s not okay. Hotch can see him, right now. George Foyet looms just behind Dave, knife poised in hand to kill. It’s not okay and nothing ever will be again. But… they can try, can’t they?

“We’re so sorry, sir.”

Hotch leaning heavily into Emily as Rossi crouches on the bedroom floor, making the best of the little light Hotch can take. He can’t sit up by himself, his head spinning and eyes burning, but with Emily’s right arm wrapped around his hips and Dave’s hand bracing his chest he manages to stay put. Mostly, numb to movement and their voices. He just… exists without thought.

Garcia is full of anxious movement and her constant shifting and rocking is hypnotic. It draws his shaky awareness to her. He’s nearly unaware of the cold air blowing against his bare chest. “Garcia,” he croaks. He feels himself wilting, shaking in Emily’s grip. She shifts their bodies and he remains upright, despite how far he’s pulling them down.

She perks up, “yes sir?”

“You don’t have to apologize to me.”

That doesn’t feel true. Not at all, not even a little.

They left him. For once in all the years that they have known him, they listened to him, and what made them think that was okay? They’d disregarded his orders in the field and pushed his buttons just to get a rise out of him. All for that disobedience to be thrown to the side the moment that he got home. He’d wanted to be alone and they fucking listened. Why did they listen?

There is a certain distortion that spoken word carries, impervious though is the thought. A fact only discovered through effect, is that there will never be the right word to express a thought. As it passes through the lips, it warps as all soft, loved things do. The teeth gnarl and grind and the face betrays meaning and the thought, as gentle as a butterfly's wing, with churn to dust right before the eye. Until nothing but the ash is left behind and there is only the fragment of an idea.

“I--I need help.” His words, the rocks on the boldface of a mountain, come crashing into the way of oncoming traffic. He means them feverishly, without reasons and no hesitation. No brakes, no way to stop. He’s nothing more than the stampede of tragedy as smoke fills the air, tires screeching as smoke plumes above. He, the rock, and them, the cars he collides so blindly with. “I’m, I’m afraid of what I’ll do if I’m alone.”

They are there in every moment, every breath. Overstimulated, he needs the breath of silence that passes between his own thoughts. A whirlwind of the fiber of his being lit on fire. He hadn’t known the loud thrum of the world in so long and he needs them to overpower it. He needs them to speak over the electric hum of the light bulb that hangs a fraction too low and swings with its loose wires. As the seconds tick by and the sounds kill him, he needs them gone. He needs nothing more than his thoughts and the hum and he doesn’t have the words anymore. No way to tell them that it’s all too much and entirely not enough.

That he hates how JJ touches his elbow when she’s near him. He’s certain that if she doesn’t touch him, if Garcia doesn’t ghost smiles his way, or Dave fondly knocks gently into him that he will find he doesn't exist. Nothing more than the air that he pulls lazily into lungs that no longer wish to function. Aaron Hotchner will simply cease to be and he’s no longer capable of deciding if that is what he wants. Still, his bones crave for the gentle stroke of a hand against his own. For someone to grab him by the sides of the head and kiss him until that dark pool of warmth settles once again in his stomach. To feel, in its full, love and hatred.

Please, someone, break down his so firmly built walls. Impose themselves. Force their love into the cracks Foyet’s knife has left. Anything.

It’s clear the line they walk with him. Waves lapping at his nerves. Left to perpetually guess at when they need to override his wishes and when they need to step back. It’s Hotch so it’s not easy work.

“You look good like this.” Dave smiles at the sleepy, inquiring glare Hotch sends his way but it’s hard to look intimidating while exhausted and with a head full of messy hair. Which is ink-like on the pillow, spread out in every direction. It makes Dave wish he were the type of writer that dabbles in the art of another world and, more than that, he wishes to create a character like Aaron Hotchner. So that he might force at least one version of this stubborn man to trust the love his team so willingly provides.

But men are often far more complex than what David Rossi is patient enough to put to paper so he is stuck in this world. With the grumpy asshole that he calls a close friend glaring up at him from underneath a hand-knit several toned green blanket, pulled all the way up to his chin and balled there in his fist. A gift from Garcia.

“I bought you a heating blanket,” Dave says, spreading the thick, soft material over Hotch’s long body. “Mmm,” he notes in disappointment when he finds the blanket just a little too small to cover all of his friend's long body. Which isn’t entirely surprising, nothing is ever simple with Aaron Hotchner. However, heated blankets? That’s rather simple.

Dave smiles, contently, as he cranks the blanket up. Turning the heat to the max and watching its immediate effect-- Hotch’s dark eyes drooping and his mouth falling limply from its scowl.

Garcia made him the green blanket he loves so dearly. She’s recently gotten really into knitting. Though, she’s not very good. The blanket she made Hotch is her best yet even if it’s somehow crooked. It’s a dark, dark green and Hotch has used it every night since Garcia gifted it to him in the hospital. He’s very partial to it.

Content (already falling asleep) Dave feels alright leaving Hotch in the living room while he makes some dinner. Of course, as soon as Dave has rolled up his sleeves and is trying to get some vegetables chopped up Emily has to go bothering him. Dave may not have raised children but he swears to deal with the two of them, is exactly like it. He’s seen the way children do one another. Going to brother the peaceful one to entertain themselves.

“Emily,” Dave fuses, placing a hand on his hip. He quickly drops it when he realizes he must look exactly like his mother had when fussing with him. “Leave him alone,” he finishes.

Emily acts offended, throwing her arms in defense. “I wasn't doing anything!” But they all know damn well she’s still going to go bother Hotch.

She’s stuck in this apartment and hasn't brought anything to entertain herself. Besides, he’s her friend. The whole point of him is to entertain her. That’s what friends are for. “Scoot,” she orders, glancing over her shoulder at Dave. He’s chopping vegetables, probably choosing to ignore them.

Obediently, Hotch pulls himself up. Scowling at her, not heated but just because that’s his face at this point, as he does as she requests. “I’m not sharing my blanket,” he mumbles assuredly. Mostly because he knows she doesn’t want the blanket anyhow, he just needs something to say.

Emily sits down beside him, hip-to-hip, it’s a snug fit. “Here,” she reaches around him and places a pillow in her lap, motioning for him to lay back down.

He’s already moving to obey when he grumbles, “why can’t you sit somewhere else?”

She rolls her eyes and Garcia grins at them. “I want to sit with my friend,” she answers. “Is that a crime?”

He hums, “no but it’s annoying.”

There had been a time when Dave had been jealous of the natural relationship between Hotch and Emly. Despite having known Hotch the longest, Dave can see that his friend is just easily comfortable with Emily. The oddness of that companionship is undeniable but he craves for the proximity they allow one another. So guarded except for when it comes to one another. But Dave has, also, come to terms with the fact that Hotch is just… odd.

Emily may be able to command Hotch to do things. As she had just moments ago when she’d gone into the living room and pulled his head into her lap. Dave wishes he could have that comfort. The sleepy way that Hotch had only minimally fought her until he’d settled down and caved to her. But Dave has what even Emily doesn't. Though he may allow Emily into his personal space he only wants Dave when he wakes up screaming from nightmares. When he needs help.

The same way that only Garcia can tuck blankets snugly around him. JJ can argue about how much food he’s eating and get him to eat more. Only Morgan can offer him help when he’s too tired to walk. Reid is the only person allowed to hold his hand. They take what they can get and pride themselves on what little that yields.

“What if I was bitten by a zombie?” Emily asks. “Would you handcuff yourself to me so we could be together?”

Dave quirks an eyebrow at that, shaking his head but continuing with his current task in the kitchen.

Hotch’s low response is inaudible but he hears Emily’s huff of indignance. “That’s not ridiculous, Hotch! I would handcuff myself to you! That’s love, you ass. Garcia would do it.”

Dave looks up, watching Garcia nod from the chair on the other side of the room. She’d been knitting silently, the clack of the plastic needles hypnotically drawing in comfort into the somber apartment. She doesn’t even stop knitting to look and conform with a serious nod that she would, in fact, handcuff herself to them if they were zombies.

Emily doesn’t seem to have learned her lesson with the zombie question. “What about if I was a worm? Would you let me live in your suit pocket?”

Dave hears Hotch’s zero hesitation reply-- “No.” He smirks but says nothing. Hotch adds, “I’d leave you on a pear tree.”

Emily frowns, “I don’t like pears.”

“I know.”

Garcia huffs a laugh but clamps her hand over her mouth when Emily shoots her a glare.

“Dave,” Emily calls. “He’s being mean to me.”

Dave shrugs, “I told you to leave him alone.” And as frustrated as he could let himself be he can’t. Lowly, he can hear Hotch replying to everything asked of him. The soft chuckle he lets out when Garcia says something to him and he can see the little grin in his voice when he speaks to the two of them.

Just give it some time, Dave assures himself. Before he knows it, they’ll have Hotch back. All of him and things will go back to the way they always are. They just need to decide if they’re really ready for that.

[inthelonelycoolbeforedawn]

Billy's never seen the point of New Year's celebrations. Sure, he takes advantage of the parties and booze. Kisses whichever girls are clinging to him at midnight, makes a big show of it like he does everything else. But as far as he's concerned, changing one digit on the calendar changes fuck all.

He tells Steve that when they're sitting in Steve's living room, sharing a joint and drinking more than Billy's drank since before; Dick Clark's New Year's special providing background noise and fodder for mocking.

"I don't know," Steve says, and his face scrunches a bit like he's thinking hard. "I think it does, like, mean something. Starting over and shit."

Billy's tempted to say that getting possessed and almost killed by an interdimensional nightmare monster made of people you murdered brings more meaning to 'starting over' than an arbitrary date on a calendar. But he doesn't want to discuss that tonight.

Instead he snorts and shoves his shoulder against Steve's. "How high are you?"

Steve shoves back, and giggles, then insists, "I just - I can't explain it, okay? But it means something."

"If you say so," Billy says.

On TV, the countdown to midnight begins.

"Billy!" Steve sits up excitedly.

Billy tilts his head a bit and tries to ignore the butterflies fluttering from his stomach all the way up to his chest as Steve moves in closer.

"I've got an idea," Steve says. He sits back again, beaming, practically bouncing in his seat. "Something special to ring in the new year. Because New Year's is special. And you're special."

"And you've had enough," Billy says. He reaches for Steve's beer and takes a swig to hide his disappointment. Steve's become his best friend over the past few months and, he reminds himself, that's more than he ever dared to hope for. More than he deserves.

He can be happy with that.

*****

Billy squirms in the sleeping bag laid out on Steve's floor. He can't see the clock from here but he knows it's much too early to get up.

He tosses and turns a bit, trying to get comfortable. Listens to Steve doing the same on his bed, sheets rustling every time he moves, until a sigh and a quiet "You awake?" tell him Steve's given up on sleep too.

"Yeah," he says.

Steve peers over the edge of his bed, hair sticking up in messy tufts, so beautiful Billy wants to admire him forever. "You want to get going? I was gonna wait and leave a bit later but it doesn't matter. We'll get there sooner, that's all."

Billy doesn't know what kind of plan Steve had come up with that could be switched to the early morning hours of New Year's Day but he's curious. He rolls the sleeping bag down to his waist and sits up.

"Sure, why not?" he says.

They head out still wearing yesterday's clothes, the same clothes they slept in. Their footsteps crunch on the frosty grass, loud in the silence of the night. Frigid air burns Billy's nose and lungs, and he shifts his weight impatiently waiting for Steve to unlock the car.

The roads are completely empty at this hour. As they pass through sleepy small towns, pass seemingly endless stands of leafless trees and snow-dotted fields, Billy feels like he and Steve have the whole world to themselves.

He's almost disappointed when Steve finally pulls into a small parking lot and turns off the ignition.

Through the windshield he sees a vast stretch of water, the few streetlights in the area sparkling off little waves. A streak of pink on the horizon hints at daybreak.

It's not the ocean, not even close. It chokes him up anyway, so that he has to try a couple times before he can speak.

"Where are we?"

"Lake Michigan," Steve says, unbuckling his seatbelt. "Come on."

They get out of the car and walk down towards the water, stopping partway across the strip of beach.

Steve starts to speak, the words pouring out as if he's afraid he won't be able to continue if he stops. "Okay, so, around here we have this tradition. And I kind of wanted to do it with you because last year was so - you know. I thought it could be like a way to start over. You know, like we were talking about last night. New year, new start, all that shit?"

"Uh-huh," Billy says. "And what's this tradition?"

Steve smiles nervously. "A swim." He points to the lake and adds unnecessarily, "In there."

It's so unexpected Billy almost laughs. He wants to say are you crazy? and no fucking way.

Because he can't stand cold water now. He's slept with extra blankets since leaving the hospital. Hasn't gone outside without wearing at least two layers. Wonders, sometimes, if it's the Indiana winter making him shiver or if the shadow's lurking, preparing to strike again.

He knows if he says no Steve will understand. Steve won't force him into anything.

It's his decision to make.

He reaches for Steve's jacket and pinches a bit of the fabric. "Gonna need to lose some clothes if we're going swimming, pretty boy."

"Really?" Steve says. "I mean, you really want to?"

"Really," Billy says.

They undress quickly, tossing their clothes into a messy pile. Billy's already shivering.

"Ready?" Steve says.

Billy summons up his old cocky grin. "Race you."

He takes off running across the frozen sand. Steve catches him easily, and laughing, they plunge into the lake together.

Billy's laughter turns to shouts as freezing water splashes around his legs and licks at his scars. Chunks of ice bob around them and Steve's yells mingle with his as they wade in deeper, stopping when the water reaches their shoulders.

"Gonna go all the way?" Steve says.

Billy manages a grin around his chattering teeth. "Thought you'd never ask."

They duck under the water.

Billy surfaces with tears streaming from his eyes, his breath coming in short gasps. He feels Steve's hand slide into his and he grips it like a lifeline.

"Happy New Year," Steve says, sounding equally breathless, and kisses him.

It's just a quick press of lips against lips, but there in the icy waters of Lake Michigan, a soft winter sunrise glimmering on the horizon, Billy feels alive for the first time in too long.

From the way Steve's looking at him, he thinks maybe Steve does too.

Hand in hand, they slog back to shore. Pull on their clothes and get in the car. Steve turns the heater to full, and Billy glances at him in the sudden quiet.

"So," he says. "This tradition of yours - this New Year's shit - "

"Yeah?" Steve says.

Adrenaline's still singing in Billy's veins. He wants to ask Steve if he meant it, if it really is the start of something new, or if he just got caught up in the excitement.

"Steve." He pauses to run his tongue over his bottom lip, gathering his courage. "Can I kiss you?"

"Yeah," Steve says, and leans in. "Please, Billy."

Billy kisses him tentatively at first. They get their arms around each other, and Steve brings one hand up to rest in Billy's wet curls, guiding him in closer. Billy touches his tongue to Steve's; lets out a little moan when he licks into his mouth, and another when Steve sucks gently on his lower lip.

His shivers aren't from cold anymore.

They kiss until they're forced to part, just far enough to catch their breath, gazes still locked. Steve lets go of Billy's hair to lay his hand on Billy's chest, over his heart.

Billy tucks a few damp, dark brown tendrils behind Steve's ear, letting his fingers linger there as he basks in the sunshine of Steve's smile.

"Next year - " he says; and his heart leaps at the thought of next year, and every year, with Steve "- we'll do this in Cali."

[cuddlepilefics]

Whumptober Day 23 – Shiver

Fandom: Stray Kids

Sickie/Little: Felix (3-4 years old)

Caregiver: Stray Kids (mostly Chan and Changbin)

 It had recently started to snow and coming from Australia, Felix had never seen snow before. Yesterday the little had spent the entire afternoon sitting in front of the window watching the snowflakes float by, sadly they‘d always melt upon touching the ground. He was to wake up to a surprise though, as over night a thick blanket of snow had gathered. Seungmin was the first one to wake up and notice what had happened, smiling to himself as he imagined how excited their little would be when he woke up.

One by one the members woke up shuffling into the kitchen for a morning coffee. It was their day of and they had no hurry to have breakfast. Seungmin and Hyunjin had decided to make waffles for the group and were now bickering in the kitchen while Chan and Changbin went to wake Felix. He had gone to bed in headspace and was the last one still asleep. The rest of the group laid the table and chatted about their plans for the day.

 Chan‘s POV.:

Everyone was up already except for Felix. He had regressed yesterday and got really excited over the snowflakes falling outside. I could imagine he‘d still be in headspace today so Changbin and I went to wake him up. Sure, a bit extra sleep couldn’t hurt but the snow might melt over the afternoon and I wanted him to have a chance of playing in the snow for the first time. Sneaking into his bedroom, I opened the closet to pick out a cozy outfit, while Changbin sat down on the edge of the bed. He stroked Felix‘ back quietly calling his name. Our dongsaeng stirred, blinking sleepily up at Changbin. It was truly adorable. “Hey there, baby. Time to get up, breakfast is ready“, he said gently, peeling the blanket away from our whining little. “Sweetie, Jinnie and Minnie made waffles and you know what happened over night? It snowed! There‘s snow outside, baby. Don‘t you wanna play in the snow after breakfast“, I added, sitting down next to Changbin. The mention of snow caught Felix‘ attention and he quickly shook of his sleepiness, getting excited and almost jumping out of bed. “Easy Lixxie, you need to get dressed first“, Changbin laughed and I handed him the clothes I had picked out before leaving the bedroom, allowing Changbin to dress Felix, while I laid out gloves, a scarf, a beanie along with a thick coat and a pair of boots for after breakfast.

When we met again in the dining room, the little was bouncing with excitement, having caught a glimpse of the snow outside. Jeongin laughed along, trying to get him to sit at the table: “Lixxie, we‘ll play after breakfast but you need to sit down to eat.“ Setting the plastic plate down on the table, Jisung added some colorful sprinkles on top of little‘s waffle. “There you go, cutie“, he beamed at Felix as the little dug in happily.

We enjoyed our meal, Felix‘ excitement being contagious and getting everyone in high spirits. The little struggled to sit still and as soon as they were done, Changbin got him ready to go out and play while we finished eating and cleared the table. “Binnie, Binnie quick“, the little bounced. “No baby, first we need to make sure your warm“, the older replied, wrapping a large scarf around the younger‘s neck. He struggled with the gloves because the the little was fidgeting impatiently and he needed to shush him frequently. When the little was all snug in his thickest winter-clothes there was no stopping him anymore and Changbin quickly grabbed a coat of his own before following him outside. Chuckling we got ready ourselves and went to meet the pair at the park.

They had already begun building a snowman and being of no interest to the little at the moment, Hyunjin and Jisung got into a snowball-fight. Constantly getting hit by snow, Minho and Seungmin soon joined them while Jeongin took out his phone, taking pictures. While Changbin helped Felix to put the individual parts of the snowman together, I picked up two small rocks and handed them to the little to use as the snowman‘s eyes. With a bright smile the little added a face to their sculpture and looked at me while pointing at it: “Look Channie, look!“ – “I can see it, bub. That‘s really an impressive snowman you two built there“, I laughed and the little clapped his hands excitedly. He giggled hugging Changbin before running off to play with the rest of our members and soon all of us were caught up in a rough war of throwing snowballs.

We might have gotten carried away a bit, so after about an hour I breathlessly called for a time-out. A shivering Felix ran up to me and almost tackled me to the ground. “H-h-yung, t‘s s-so m-m-much f-fun“, he cheered, teeth chattering. “Aish sweetie, let‘s get you somewhere warm“, I hugged him, taking notice of his soggy clothing. “N-n-no, w-wan-na p-play“, he shivered. “Hey, we‘ll continue playing later, yeah? You‘re all soaked, we need to get you some dry clothes“, Changbin tried to convince the whining little. “Hyungies are getting cold too. We‘ll warm up a bit and then go out again“, Hyunjin promised while Felix raised his gloves to his face. Cupping the freezing fabric over his nose he caught two small sneezes before sniffling quietly. “Baby, you‘ll get sick from being in the cold for too long“, I frowned picking him up. He kept whining but I could feel him getting tired too as he wasn‘t fighting me as hard as I expected. “We‘ll have some hot cocoa when we get home, yeah?“, Seungmin offered earning a smile and a nod from the little. Felix put his head down on my shoulder and shivered, allowing me to carry him back to the dorm. On the way there, I could feel him starting to get sleepy. Apparently, he had tired him out and was only now starting to feel it.

Jisung opened the door for us and after kicking my shoes off I took Felix straight to the bathroom. He was shaking in my grip and I got worried he might be hypothermic, considering how tired he seemed. After helping him to peel the wet fabric off, I ran him a warm bath and while waiting fir the tub to fill, I tried to stroke the goosebumps away. He shivered pathetically when the warm water touched his skin. A few minutes later, Jeongin came in with a fresh set of clothing, having chosen the thickest sweatpants he could find and one of my large hoodies. The little was still a bit shivery when he climbed out of the tub and I tried to get him dried and dressed as fast as possible.

Sniffling, he made grabby hands for me and I picked him up placing him on my hip. “Tired baby?“, I cooed and he nodded, resting his head on my shoulder afterwards. He might be getting ill, if the sniffles were something to go by and I felt guilty for not checking if he was cold earlier. When I placed the sleepy little onto the sofa, Changbin followed suit carrying Felix‘ favorite blanket and stuffie. He wrapped the little tightly in his blanket, only leaving one arm free so he could hold on to his stuffie. I sat down next to Felix, stroking his back gently. The strokes triggered another shiver and he whined quietly. “Are you still cold, honey?“, I frowned. He was about to answer when his breath hitched and I only received a short nod before he ducked his head with a sneeze. “Aish, seems like someone has caught a cold….“, Seungmin cooed walking in. He was holding a sippy cup filled with warm cocoa and took a seat on Felix other side, offering the cup to him. Dropping his stuffie the little grabbed for his sippy and started sucking on it gently. Shivering, he sunk against my side while still trying to drink from his sippy but he was to tired and struggled to hold it up. I took the cup from his weakening grip and shifted slightly to have him lay against my chest. Whining loudly, he made grabby hands for his drink again till he realized I was going to feed him and snuggled up against me. Felix often liked being bottle-fed and had most likely slipped even younger at this point. I didn‘t mind as I didn‘t really want him to go out again later.

He soon nodded off, having finished two thirds of his cocoa, only pulling away a few times to sneeze. I picked him up bundled in his blanket and carried him to our room, tucking him into bed and making sure he‘d be warm before leaving him to nap undisturbed.

[littlemisslol-fic]

Varigo Week 2020 baby!! Much love to @alistairwrites for setting this up!!!

Day One: Cozy/Soft

There was something about mornings that Hugo’s always hated. He’s not sure if it’s the light, or the rude awakenings he’d experienced as Donella’s lackey in a time that seemed forever ago, or even the consistent feeling that he’d never slept enough. It’s hard to pin exactly what the worst part of it, was, but one thing remained a constant.

 Mornings were the worst.

 Hugo pries green eyes open with a groan, slumping that little bit deeper into the plush bed underneath him. His mouth cracks open in a large yawn, stretching out with languid limbs like a content cat, hands reaching towards the ceiling. One of his hands comes down to rub at the bleariness in his eyes, pulling at pale skin in an attempt to wake himself up. His vision swims for a second, the stone ceiling above blurring in a sudden mess of colours. A sudden shock of cold metal against the skin of his face perks him up, the blond shaking himself to stare at the hand that he’d been rubbing at his eye with.

 A simple, golden ring stares back at him.

 Oh. Oh right.

 A sudden, giddy feeling fills Hugo at the sight of his new wedding ring, the polished gold shining in the early morning sunshine. The warmth of the bed suddenly seems all the more cozy, soft and warm and welcoming in a new way. His surroundings, still blurry without his glasses, slowly fuzzes into focus; the ornate bedroom they’d tumbled into after the reception was aglow with the morning sun, light bouncing off high ceilings and stone walls; every flat surface of the walls covered in drapery and fine paintings of kings gone by and battles won. Yesterday’s wedding had been a flurry of activity, of frantic servants and staff all scrambling to make it perfect for Hugo and-

 A small snuffle sounds to Hugo’s left; he finally notices the slight weight on his chest with a small grin.

 Varian, still fast asleep, burrows his face into Hugo’s shoulder with a sleepy noise, grumbling as the morning light filters through the windows. His hair is mussed and wild, looking like a crow’s nest from their busy night. Hugo can’t help but grin as he looks down at his new husband, something soft and simple as he leans down to press a kiss to the crown of Varian’s head. Varian snuffles again, a hand unconsciously coming up to lay right in the center of Hugo’s chest. From there Hugo can see the matching ring on Varian’s finger, a simple golden band that glitters.

 His chest fills with warmth at the sight of the ring, Hugo idly reaching his own hand up to link their hands together, tangling their fingers so he can see both rings side by side. Varian murmurs something at the small movement, unconsciously kissing at the junction of Hugo’s shoulder and his neck. The blond can’t help but laugh at that, leaning down to press another kiss to his boyfriend’s hair. There’s something warm that settles in his chest at the movement, a fuzzy, soft heat that curls around his heart and squeezes tight. Hugo breathes deeply at the feeling, basking in the moment- the light, the softness, the warmth of Varian here with him-

 “You’re lucky you’re cute when you sleep,” Hugo murmurs, “Of I’d be waking you up to go get breakfast.”

 Varian answers with a snore.

 Hugo laughs again, settling back into the pillows. Something in him was still so shocked that this was his life- five years ago he’d never thought he’d be married to the man of his dreams, curled up on a luxuriously soft bed together in the early morning without a care. Hugo hadn’t thought it possible for him to be this content, this at ease with where he was in the world. He had a job he loved, a purpose beyond figuring out where his next meal would come from, and the promised future of a forever with Varian at his side; it was all laid out in front of him ready for the taking. Hugo had never been so excited to see a new day before, never thought towards the future without that impending sense of dread, never-

 “What’re you thinking ‘bout?”

 Varian.

“Nothing, Sweetcheeks.” Hugo grins, looking down at his new husband. “Just something from the library is all.”

 Varian blinks at him, the sleep still thick in his gaze. Hugo wants to coo, to cry, to mess up his hair even worse than it already is- Varian looks like a tired puppy this early in the morning, and it’s adorable.

  “Stop lying.” Varian mumbles, shoving his face into Hugo’s chest with a yawn. “I hate when you do that.”

 Hugo reels back as much as he’s able, meaning mostly just a small lean of his neck and shoulders, looking at Varian with a sense of offense. “How did you even-”

 “Your nose does a little crinkle when you lie.” Varian answers without looking up, content to close his eyes and settle down again, laying on top of Hugo like a particularly boney blanket. “And you stare right between my eyes instead of actually looking at me.”

 Hugo… can’t help but laugh. “You got me,” He mutters, leaning his head to prop his cheek against Varian’s head. The blond is quick to wrap an arm around his husband- and oh, by the Maker is he never going to get tired of that- and tugs Varian closer to him. The shorter man goes willingly, curling closer and hugging Hugo tightly. They stay like that for a few minutes in silence, quietly basking in the other’s presence, before Varian peeks up to look Hugo in the eye.

 “Really, what were you thinking about?” He asks again, “You had your thinking face on.”

 Hugo snorts, kissing the crown of Varian’s head. Varian smiles up at him with a dumb look on his face, utterly besotted. Hugo’s had that look directed at him before, even from Varian more times to count, but gods does it still set Hugo’s heart racing to see it.

 “I’m just thinking about last night.” He grins in his most sultry voice, “Was it good for you too- ahk!”

 Varian snatches a pillow and whaps him with it, cutting Hugo off with a cry of protest. Hugo takes the beating like a champ, letting Varian bap him with the pillow a few more times before the younger calls it quits.

 “You’re an ass.” Varian grunts, flopping back down onto Hugo’s chest like he hadn’t done a damn thing wrong in his life. Though, if you ask Hugo he’d defend that stance.

 “Yeah, but I’m your ass,” Hugo smirks, letting his arm wrap back around Varian’s waist loosely. Varian pushes into the touch, hugging tighter. The shorter alchemist grabs at Hugo’s hand, the one with the ring, and intertwines their finger the same was Hugo had done previously. Varian pulls their hand close to his lips, pressing a long kiss to where their rings touch before settling back down into their nest of pillows.

“Yeah,” Varian says with a smile, “You are.”

 Hugo feels himself melt a little at that, hugging his husband tightly. The morning sun continues to shine through their windows, catching off the golden bands on their fingers, on Varian’s eyes, on the shining floors of their bedroom. It’s like a beacon, calling Hugo forwards into the future. A new life, a new start, with the man of his dreams and a purpose he loves. It’s here, in the softness and the warmth and the comfort of this new beginning, that Hugo pauses and thinks:

 Maybe mornings aren’t that bad after all.

[agentnolastname]

Pairing: Agent Mason X Iris Decker (MC)

Summary: Iris wakes up with her head still on Mason's chest for the very first time ever. Since then, something just changed between the two of them.

Song Inspo: Fallin' All In You // Shawn Mendes

Taglist: @mrs-raleighcarrera @bisexualdumbassstuff @anotherbeingsworld @starrystarrytrouble (please tell me if you want to be added or removed from this taglist;;)

Note: this is a self-indulgent fluff fic and this is just how i picture mason in a deep relationship with the detective ;-;

***

The rays of sun wakes Iris up from her sleep. Moaning a little, she attempted to shift to her left, only noticing that there's something heavy on her back. Her eyes immediately opened, landing on the man that is laid beneath her, his arm resting over her waist and his other arm perched on his eyes blocking any of the light that passes through her blindless window. Iris blinks once, and then for a couple more times trying to figure out if this is still a fragment of her dream. Only to realize that this is indeed reality when the man groans.

"You're still here." She says, still lying on top of his naked chest, their bodies hidden under her thick white duvets. Mason just nods slightly and pulls her tighter into his embrace. "I thought you never stay the night on a fling's house?" Iris asks reluctantly, afraid of what he will answer, too.

Especially when this isn't the first time they slept together. She's afraid that this night is no different than the others, except for the fact that he didn't leave her alone in the morning.

Maybe he was just too tired to get up today.

And what if he is? She shrugs, holding her thoughts inside her head. She decided to dwell into the comfort that wraps them despite the silence that looms over.

A few minutes passed before Mason finally wakes up completely, only lifting his arms a little to meet her gaze, "You should really put blinds on that goddamn window." He says, the snark in his voice present despite the unusual softness of it.

"I just keep on forgetting. I love the sun."

"I don't." Mason shrugs and pulls the duvet until it covers them together, blocking the bright lights, his now free hand landing on her hair as he plays with it softly.

"It's my room though. So you can say your complaints all you want but I won't be blocking my window, sunshine." She says, smirking as his lips curves into a frown at the nickname. "It's not like you are always gonna sleep here anyway."

"What if I am?"

With that, both of their expressions suddenly becomes serious. Iris felt her breath hitch at the sudden statement. They're just there staring at each other, unmoving. Until Mason groans and looked away.

"This is why I hate emotions."

"What? I haven't even said anything yet." Iris says, taking his face in her hands and moving his gaze back to her. "And what about staying and emotions, hmm?" She teases, wide grin plastered on her face.

"Are you expecting me to answer that?" Mason scowls. "You're smart, figure it out."

"So are you gonna sleep here later or?"

"Sure." With that Mason leaves a quick peck on her lips before he stands up, carrying her out of the bed. "Come on, I'll drive you to the station."

"You're driving my car?"

"What else? Hurry up."

With that, he stopped in front of the shower and dropped her gently to her feet, leaving her to get ready. In after just a few minutes, Mason is driving her to the station.

***

"You done yet?" Mason strides inside her office holding a cup of cold coffee in his hand.

"You drink coffee now?"

"No, it's obviously for you." Mason says frowning and taking the seat in front of her, placing the coffe down on her desk.

"Thank you, I needed this caffeine boost." She says as she sips from it immediately. Mason's eyes landing on the paperwork stacked on her desk. "Yes, I have to finish all of this tonight. Yay me for being a procrastinator." She says sarcastically making Mason's lips curl into what seemed like a contained smile.

"Take a break for now, you've been at it the whole day." Mason says leaning back on the chair. The statement made Iris sigh as she drops her pen. She ducks her head on the table.

"I feel so sleepy already."

"If you need some help, you just gotta ask, sweetheart." He says, voice concerned and void of his usual teasing.

"Are you offering?"

"Me doing paperwork? No way." Mason scoffs and folds his arms. "How about you do these at home instead? It's late, and the chairs suck."

Iris sighs as she brings her head up again, looking at Mason in front of her.

"Help me carry them then?"

"Sure."

***

They take turns in the shower. Iris went first and once she's done, Mason went next, changing into the shirt Iris offered him despite it being colorful and not to his liking. He lit a cigarette for a while before he went out of the shower, only to see Iris peacefully sleeping with her head perched on the stack of papers. A smile creeps up Mason's face as he approaches the figure.

He sits on the floor beside her and just watched her sleep for a few minutes, before he decided to carry her into the bed. Iris stirs from her sleep a little, but she didn't wake up. Mason gently places her into the bed and slide beside her, tucking her into his embrace.

The night was young, yet Mason finds himself drifting to sleep to the comfort her heartbeat brings him.

***

The next morning, Iris wakes up to an empty bed. She kept her eyes close, afraid that everything that happened yesterday was a dream. She closed her eyes tighter, remembering what happened yesterday.

Mason staying through the night and him driving her to work. He brought coffee for her to drink when he fetched her to work. And she remember going back home with Mason on her side. The last thing she could recall is the way she fell asleep and the feeling of someone carrying her to the bed and snuggling her to sleep. She knows that for sure, it's him. Mason always had this mysterious scent she could always recognize.

She sighs, thinking of whether all of yesterday was her fever dream.

My brain could not be making that up.

She shrugs finally giving up and opening her eyes. Only to see Mason's back facing her. He sat on the floor, her portable work table in front of him.

"Mason?"

"Awake so early, sweetheart?" Mason asks, facing her. One of his hand holding a pen and the other holds one of her case files.

It was then that she noticed that it's only three in the morning. And is he filling the paperworks?

"You don't have to do that." She says groggily as she stands up, approaching the man. "Come on, let me continue it."

Mason drops the pen and moves back instead of shifting aside. "What?" He asks when Iris raises a brow at him. "My lap is a lot more comfortable than the floor."

Iris shrugs as she sits on his lap, she yawns and takes the pen in her hands, realizing that Mason almost had finished most of her paperworks.

"Didn't know you had this in you, Sunshine." Iris teases as she leans back on his chest. "Thank you."

"Words are empty. I can think of plenty of ways you can thank me, Sweetheart." Mason says suggestively earning a chuckle from the woman between her arms.

"Sure, but let me finish this and rest a bit first. My stamina's not as big as yours."

"Oh, believe me when I say I know."

They shared a chuckle before Iris continues doing the remaining paperwork. Mason just watched her, hands wrapped around her waist and his chin perched upon her shoulders.

Just like that, they started a new daily routine together, and it's sure to last for a long time.

END.

[animefan-overran]

Staying at Home (Originalshipping)

***PART TWO**** (SMUT RATING: MODERATE) "Wakey, wakey," Red whispered as he shook Green gently. "You've been asleep for a while, Green you really overworked yourself yesterday."

"Hmmm, hmm, what? where? huh?" Green woke up in a quiet frenzy at the sound of Red's voice. 

"Hi, sleepy head! Feeling hungry? Charizard and I whipped you up some oran berry pancakes and moomoo milk to properly thank you for taking care of me yesterday. That soup you made was absolutely delicious, and it definitely warmed up my cold." Red offered Green an award winning smile.

 Green slowly rubbed his eyes, and spotted Charizard coming around the corner with a short-stack in hand. "Char" Charizard beamed as he set the still hot pancakes in front of Green.

"Thanks, Charizard, you're a real one," Green picked up his fork, and started shoving the sweet flapjacks down his mouth. The warm burst of oran berry mixed with the fluffiness of the pancake made Green smile. Red had a natural talent for cooking, he didn't even need a recipe to make anything, unlike Green, who had to follow recipes to a tee because his sense of taste was poor. 

"So, I see you broke your fever then," Green asked, obviously knowing the answer. 

Red nodded "Yeah, so that means if you want, we can go training later today." Red offered. 

"Yeah... sure" Green hesitated picking up his glass of milk "It's just..." 

 "Just what?" Red faltered, his expression puzzled at the sudden shift in Green's tone. "It's just that..." Green downed a huge gulp of milk "ahhh... yesterday when I dropped off the soup in your room, you were talking in your sleep,"

 "I was?" Red asked "What did I say? I can't even remember what I was dreaming about, I was so sick." Red laughed. 

"Yeah..." Green continued "Well, you sounded pretty distressed. You were saying that you had to tell me something. Apparently, I was trying to leave, but you were telling me not to," Green paused to let Red register what he was saying. "Anyway, the last thing you said was that you were sorry, although I have no idea what you would be sorry for…” Green shrugged in defeat  “We're best bros, you can tell me anything. You know that right? I mean, I know it could've been a fever dream, but if you need to talk about anything, I got you." 

Green studied Red’s body language, hoping to find any anomaly that could help him decipher his rival. Red stared out into the window "Hm, now that you mention that, I can remember a little bit of what I was dreaming. You were mad at me for over training, and not looking out for myself. You decided that I wasn't worth your time anymore, and I just wanted to tell you that I was sorry you had to spend your whole day taking care of me... not very profound, but I did feel really bad yesterday."

 Green reached over for Red's chin and guided Red's head so they were face to face. "Red, you realize that I didn't have to stay yesterday, but I did it because I care about you, and when you care about someone, you would do anything for them," Green scooted closer to Red, and used his hands to cup Red's face "You see, Red, you are the closest friend that I have ever had in my life. I cannot imagine my life without you, so why would I ever leave you, or get sick of you?"

As if by  instinct, Red and Green were moving closer and closer to each other until their lips were barely touching."Green," Red whispered "I'm kind of scared... I've never,"

"never...?" Green was caught on Red's every word.

 "Never... felt this way before" Red trembled at the sheer proximity between him and Green. Never in his life had he been this close to anyone, let alone his best friend and greatest opponent. 

Green brushed some of Red's hair out of his eyes "Oh yeah, how do you..." before Green could even finish his sentence, Red had already crashed his lips onto his. The kiss started out sweet and passionate, however, within seconds, the kiss grew more fierce and powerful. Back and forth, their tongues fought for dominance until the two boys finally pulled out, fighting for air. "I gah, I didn't know you felt that way about me," Green smiled at Red as he gasped for air. "I was personally feeling the same way for a while about you, but I was too scared to initiate anything." Green timidly stated.

"Really?" Red questioned "It just came over me in the moment, and it felt right, so I went for it. However, I always took you for the go getter type of guy Green. I guess maybe not when it comes to love..." Red deduced bluntly as he scratched the back of his neck, still quite nervous from his current circumstance.

 "Well, I guess that's the difference between the two of us." Green concluded. "So, are you still up for training today?"  Green stared at Red’s form, and waited for his rival’s answer. 

Red’s expression was mildly stoic at first, but gradually developed into a lecherous leer, within seconds of hearing Green’s suggestion. "I know I said I was up for training but…  we could just stay here," Red lowered his voice with each word, scooting in closer to Green who was now leaning back further onto the couch. Green gulped in astonishment at Red’s sudden yet firm actions, not sure if this was the best thing for them to be doing. Yes, he definitely had feelings for Red, but a small part of Green had their friendship in its best interest. What would become of this friendship if they were to wander further down the current course of events? Being anything more than friends was risky business for any friendship, and Green was doubtful of such uncertainty. 

Red sensed Green’s concern for the situation reading the auburn haired boy like a book. Slowly, Red turned Green’s head so that he could whisper in his ear “Green, death comes to us all too quick. Sometimes, you need to risk something good, in order to achieve something better, even if you could end up with nothing. It’s scary, but that’s life. Don’t let me take this risk alone,” Red muttered lightly, as he brought his face in front of Green’s once again. Green’s gaze bore deeper into Red’s eyes, searching for any hints of hesitation, but came up empty handed. He released the breath that he had been holding in for the past thirty seconds. At that point, any reluctance Green felt had been stripped away from his mind.

 Green nodded as his shoulders instinctively dropped to a more relaxed state.“You know I can’t leave you alone,” Green shook his head laughing.  

Red smiled, as his eyes grew dark with passion for the boy in front of him. “Well, Green does mean go right?” he said darkly while unbuttoning the redhead’s shirt. As he spoke, he slowly started to top Green, his ending position coming to a straddle. Red made quick work of his lover’s shirt, and soon enough, his lips found their way to the chiseled yet boyish chest that was once hidden underneath it. Red started to leave love bites in every place he could. 

"Hmmmm, Red please. Stop teasing," Green whined. 

"Patience is a virtue, Green," Red tsked, as he marked Green all the way down to the buckle of his jeans. This action continued for only a couple of minutes, a spell that seemed to last for a lifetime to Green’s perception.

 "What will it take to make you go faster?" Green asked eagerly, trying his best to hold back his ever growing craving for the brunette on top of him.

"There's nothing you can do Green, so I suggest you just enjoy yourself. I want to thank you for being such a good friend to me, and now even more than a friend." Red said in a playful yet serious tone.

Green nodded and decided to heed Red's command. Afterall, he would be lying if he said he did not kind of like the side of Red that took his time. Even on their adventures, Red was always one step behind; so as with sex his mind thought in the same relaxed manner. Nevertheless, Green wondered just how long he could last under Red’s graceful yet unwavering foreplay. Right now, the ever growing problem in his boxers needed Red in the worst way possible, and patience was a limited resource in Green’s restless mind. Red paused for only a moment before he started to lick the outline of Green’s abs, which elicited a variety of pleasurable sounds from him. Red smiled as he watched Green squirm underneath him. He took a sense of pride in the fact that he could pull Green’s strings, and render him powerless in the heat of the moment.  

"You're such a beautiful person, Green. I just want you to know that by the time we're done here." Red unzipped and pulled down Green's pants and boxers, only to reveal Green's very excited member. Red traced carefully along a vein that was popping out on the side of the shaft. Green started to twitch a little, but didn't say a word. Red just smiled as his hand took grip, and started pumping up and down. 

"Mmmmmm, Red. This is better than in my dreams... um not that I've dreamed about this before..." Green blushed at this sudden burst of information.

"I better be better than your dreams," Red growled. "I'm usually not the jealous type, but I want to be the very best here, you know?" Red's grip got harder, and his pace quickened.

 "Ohhhhhhh, trust me... AHHHHHHHHH.... you ARE RED!!! YOU ARREEE!" Green panted, nearing his climax. Just when Green was about to give in, Red replaced his hands for his mouth, and shoved Green as far back into him as he could.

"Ahh Red, I..." Green went silent as his eyes rolled back into his head. And with that, Green was out and coming down. Red put Green's pants back on, buckled his belt, and laid on top of him, as the couch was too small for them to lay side by side.

 "Red," Green was finally able to say something "That was amazing, I'm sure you are the best in all of Kanto" Green mused while running his fingers through Red's hair. "However, someday, I'm gonna be better than you," Green taunted.

"Hmm, maybe in those naughty dreams of yours," Red winked.

****END OF PART TWO****

[hanniiesuckle17]

The Morning After

Noir Reaction

A/n: Not requested but god damn these boys need attention and Tumblr content! Stan Noir I’m working my way towards stanning!

Warnings: Swearing probably?, brief partial nudity?

Seunghoon:

The smell of coffee drifted into your room. Slowly you opened your eyes to reveal Seunghoon still in a deep sleep. Your head lay on his bare chest and his arms were wrapped tightly around you. Coming to the conclusion your roommate must be awake you carefully removed yourself from Seunghoon’s iron embrace and replaced yourself with a pillow. Throwing on some sweatpants and a t-shirt you walked out into the living room.

“So,” Your roommate started handing you a cup of coffee. “How was it?” Sipping the hot beverage you looked at her over the brim of the cup. "I don't know what you are talking about." She laughed, setting down the glass mug. "Oh please. You have a fucking hickey on your neck!" Your hand flew to the side of your neck and a blush crept up your cheeks. “We’re we loud or something? I’m sorry.” She laughed and shuffled back over to the coffee maker for a refill. “No, I’m just giving you a hard time.” A moment of silence passes before she spoke again. “But really how good in bed is he?”

You opened your mouth to speak but your bedroom door opened. Turning you saw your boyfriend sleepily buttoning up his shirt and walking over to you. His blonde hair was a mess and clothes were slightly wrinkled. “Hey, I’ve got to head to the studio, but I’ll still see you for dinner right?” He said giving you a quick kiss on the cheek. Seunghoon smiled as you nodded and placed a quick kiss on the lips before heading out the door. Looking over, you saw your roommate staring at you. “Oh shut up.” “I didn’t say anything! But, holy shit...You are really lucky.”

Yeonkuk:

Waking up in Yeonkuk’s arms was incredible. You looked over at the man next to you and you let a small laugh escape from your lips. He snuggled further into your shoulder and wrapped his arms tighter around your body. “Yeonkuk,” You whispered. An incoherent sound surfaced from the sleeping man. “We have to get up. You’ll be late!” With sleepy eyes, he rolled over and reached for his phone, looking at the time. 

He shot up throwing the covers- and you-across the bed. You laughed as he hopped around trying to scramble and pull his clothes on. “Shit!” He said almost falling over. You watched as the lean man struggled to find the rest of his clothes which were sprawled all over the room. Once fully dressed he looked back at you still sprawled out lazily on the bed. 

“Are you busy tonight?” He asked with an out of breath smile. Shaking your head you watched your boyfriend walk back over to you on the bed. “Not for you,” With a smile, he leaned down and kissed you. “Can I come back after practice?” Yeonkuk whispered in your ear. “I’ll still be at work, but I’ll leave the key under the mat for you.” The two of you smiled and kissed each other once more before Yeonkuk rushed out the door hoping not to be too late to practice with the boys. He crossed his fingers and prayed they didn’t notice he was wearing yesterday’s clothes.

Junyong:

Rolling over you felt an empty space beside you. Immediately, you sat up looking around the bedroom. Did Junyong leave already? His phone still lay on the nightstand and his clothes were still on the floor. “Junyong?” You called out. Taking your robe from the hook on the wall, you wrapped it around yourself. Opening your bedroom door, you heard water running from the bathroom down the hall. 

A smile spread across your face as you knocked on the door softly. You heard singing over the sound of the shower running. “Junnie?” Slowly you opened the door and looked at the steam covered mirror. The sweet sound of his voice was filling the tile-covered room. He was singing a random song but it sounded so wonderful coming from his lips. Slowly, you slipped off your robe and let it drop to the ground. Pulling back the curtain you saw Junyong facing away from you rinsing the suds from his hair. 

You let your fingers graze over the muscles in his back. He flinched at the touch before turning to see you. “You scared me,” He said wrapping his arms around your waist bringing you under the water. “I like it when you sing.” He smiled and captured your lips with his. The cold tile of the shower felt nice against your back as Junyong pressed you against the wall. His lips trailed down to your jaw and you couldn’t help but giggle. “Stop laughing at me god damn it!” Junyong said with a laugh before kissing you again.

Yunsung:

You woke up to the feeling of soft kisses trailing down your neck to your shoulder. With a tired smile, you reached behind you tangling your fingers in Yunsung’s hair. “Morning,” He whispered in a raspy voice that sent shivers down your spine. “How are you?” You asked playing with his tangled locks. “I’m great,” He said pulling you tighter to his chest. “How are you?” His lips grazed your ear as he spoke. 

“I’m a little sore, but nothing I can’t handle.” He turned you over to face him and pushed a strand of hair away from your face. “Hey,” You smiled. “Hey,” He grinned from ear to ear. “Do you have a schedule today?” When he shook his head you couldn’t help but smile. “I’m all yours for the day.” Pressing your lips against his, you gave him a passionate kiss. His hands wrapped around your body, pulling you on top of him. “Oh, are we doing this again? Okay,” Yunsung said with a smirk before returning to your lips.

“How about I shower, and then we order some food?” You said snagging the corner of your lip between your teeth. “How about I join you?” Yunsung said as he watched you get up from the bed. “Maybe,” You said already halfway to the bathroom. Yunsung laughed and threw off the covers. “Yah, Y/n,” He said as he followed you into your bathroom, that signature smile of his filling up his face.

Siheon:

You knew the members would be awake soon. Siheon stayed sleeping off the hangover and last night's endeavors in his bed. His shifting made you freeze your movements as he rolled over onto his stomach. His breath slowed once more and you let out a breath you hadn’t realized you had been holding. Last night both of you got drunk. You had liked Siheon for a while but you didn’t want this to ruin your friendship.

You pulled your shirt over your head and started searching the room for your socks. “Y/n?” Siheon sat up in bed clutching his forehead making you freeze. “What are you doing here?” No words left your mouth, your throat closing up in embarrassment. He took in your disheveled state and then looked down at himself. Siheon groaned and laid back in bed his hands covering his face. “Siheon, I’m so sorry. I’ll leave before the boys get up. We can just forget this ever happened.”

“What? No!” Siheon shot up, almost reaching out to you. His response shocked you, stopping your hand from turning the doorknob. “Fuck-Y/n, come back.” Hesitantly, you shuffled over to the bed and stood in front of your friend. Even first thing in the morning with bed head and bags under his eyes he looked amazing. Gently he took your hands in his. “Y/n, I like you. A lot. I just didn’t want our first time to be like this.” He said looking up at you. Once he saw the smile creeping onto your face he pulled you back into bed, wrapping you up in his embrace. 

Hoyeon:

Drowsily you opened your eyes to the sound of shuffling in the dimly lit room. Soft morning light sent a cool haze across your bedroom. Your eyes fell onto Hoyeon who was quietly trying to slip his jeans back on. You watched the muscles in his back work as he pulled the fabric up. You couldn’t look at your best friend the same way after last night. Looking at the time you saw it was about four in the morning. 

“Hoyeon,” You said sitting up, pulling the sheets with you to cover yourself. He jumped at your voice and muttered something under his breath. “Where are you going?” Your voice came out a little raspy having just woken up. He let his hands fall to his sides. “I didn’t know if you wanted me to stay,” He whispered back to you. “I figured you would want to forget it ever happened and-” “Hoyeon,” He stopped and looked back at you. “Would you toss me my shirt?” You said clutching the sheets to your chest.

 He picked up your shirt from somewhere on the ground and tossed it to you as asked. Slipping the baggy fabric over your head, you pulled it down over your thighs. Getting out of bed, you walked over to the man standing before you. His eyes tracked your every moment. Gently you wrapped your arms around his neck and pressed your lips to his. You could hear his intake of breath and then slowly his hands rested on your hips. You smiled at the sound he made when your fingers tangled in his dark hair. You pulled away only enough for him to rest his forehead against yours. “Hoyeon, let’s call this our day one.” He smiled and kissed you again.

Siha:

An alarm blared through the dark room waking you up. The man beside you groaned and shoved his face back under the covers. With a lazy smile, you got up, shivering at the cold morning air on your naked skin, and walked to the other nightstand to turn off his phone. Quickly Siha fell back asleep. You grabbed a random t-shirt from your closet and put on a new pair of underwear. 

Tiptoeing into the living room you quietly closed your bedroom door. The sound of your bare feet padding across the wood floor softly echoed in your apartment. Checking the time on the microwave you sighed. “Of course you would normally get up at 5:30 in the fucking morning, Siha.” You whispered to yourself. Thankfully, he had a day off today. He must have simply forgotten to turn the alarm off. You couldn’t blame him for forgetting you thought smirking. 

Now fully awake, you poured yourself a bowl of cereal. Siha hadn’t woken up yet so you decided to make him breakfast. An hour later, you were setting up a tray with coffee, fruit, and an omelet. Carefully, you carried the tray into the bedroom and set it on the dresser. Sitting on the side of the bed you looked at the handsome sleeping man. Softly you ran a hand through his dark locks. “Goodmorning,” You whispered as he turned over. He smiled and pulled you down to give you a kiss. “I made you breakfast.” He giggled and kissed you again. “I don’t deserve you.”

Minhyuk:

You wake up to soft giggles coming from beside you. Turning over you see Minhyuk with messy bed head playing with one of your stuffed animals. He was sitting up against the headboard, a fluffy gray stuffed bunny was in his hands. You quietly watched your boyfriend play with your stuffed animal. Minhyuk spoke softly to the toy, probably trying to entertain himself while waiting for you to wake up.

“Little Bunny, should we wake up my baby?” He asked in a serious voice. “No, we should let her sleep.” He responded back to himself in a cute high pitched voice. You couldn’t take it anymore, it was too precious. You sat up and pressed a lingering kiss on his lips and cheek, letting a hand play with his soft hair. “You are too fucking cute.” You whispered against his lips. He smiled into the kiss and pressed his hand to your cheek.

You let gravity pull you back down onto the bed and smile as Minhyuk presses loving kisses all over your skin. “Good morning,” he said softly against your skin. Warmth radiated off his bare skin as he hovered over you. “Morning,” Wrapping your arms around his neck you brought his lips back to yours. “What time is it?” You asked softly. “Almost ten.” He giggled rolling onto his side. “You want to order in?” You whispered as his fingers danced across the bare skin of your back. “Yeah, that would be awesome.”

Daewon:

You felt an arm wrap around your waist, waking you from your sleep. Slowly blinking your eyes adjusted to the light coming through the blinds. Memories resurfaced from the night before and you couldn’t help but smile as Daewon held you tighter to his chest. You pry yourself from his grip and quickly throw on some shorts and a shirt that was on the ground. 

Picking up the rest of the clothes on the ground you toss them in your washing machine to clean them. When you return to your bedroom Daewon is sitting up and blinking sleepily in the bright morning light. You can’t help but giggle at the sight. “Why did you leave?” He asks as you sit on the edge of the bed. “I wanted to let you sleep.” He pulls you by the wrist to lay on top of him and he buries his face in your hair. “No, you’re mine. You can’t leave.”

You laughed and played with a piece of his hair. “Okay.” The two of you lay in silence enjoying the morning and each other’s company. “Last night was really nice,” he said breaking the silence and rubbing your back. “Hey! Just nice? I think I performed a little better than just ‘nice’.” You said sitting up, a smile on your face. His hands rested on your thighs straddling his waist. “You know what I meant!” He said with a bright blush flooding his cheeks.

Requests are open! Just send an ask!

Masterlist

[metalvsflesh]

Tiny Body Entry 1

I don’t know how to identify entries in my head. When I was big a few days ago I could do it without thinking. Now it’s like I can remember how to do it but when I start it doesn’t happen. Also, I can’t make entries in my head anymore, so papa got me a book to write in. 

It has some pages already written in, but only a few, so I just started writing on the soonest blank page. I want to read them later. Writing is a lot easier with tiny hands. Doing many things is a lot easier with tiny hands. I never knew this before, because I was big and had big hands. Mikhail says my writing is ‘more lejabull’ now. That’s a good thing, because that means people can read it easier.

Right now we are all sitting on the couch, listening to music. I think papa fell asleep. Mikhail is laying on the ground and staring at the ceiling. I don’t know why. When I asked he said a lot of big words that I didn’t understand, so I don’t know.

Papa is very nice to sit with. I liked hugging him when I was big because I like hugging, so I hugged him when we sat down and I think I like it more. When I was big I had to be gentle because papa was so small, but now that I’m tiny papa does not feel small and so I can hug him really strong and he won’t break because he’s made of metal and metal can’t be hurt by flesh. He is also very warm and there is a lot of him to hug. It feels nice to be able to hug him strongly. I’ve been told stronger hugs means you love people more, so I’ve always felt bad that I couldn’t give strong hugs. Only gentle ones. 

I want to hug Mikhail but he keeps rolling away from me when I try to hug him. I don’t think he wants to be hugged. I think he’s cold and not warm so he feels nervous about hugging because warm hugs are better than cold ones, but I think he would be good at hugging. He had a funny way of hugging when he was a big computer. He’d throw a bundle of chords at you with his magic and wrap you up like a taco and pull the chords really tight. The first time he did it to papa after we found him again, he dislocated papa’s shoulder. He couldn’t control his magic was before, so he accidentally hurt people a lot of the time. As papa is able to repair him and teach him how to use them like he has with me, he’s starting to get better.

Papa cooked soup and grilled cheese before we went to bed last night. It smelled nice, papa’s food always smells nice. My food smells okay but papa’s always smells nicer. Mikhail was always standing by him and smelling everything papa was using to cook. Papa usually doesn’t like people being close to him when he’s doing stuff. I think that’s why he started to show us how to ‘set’ a table, which was a lot like setting a food tray, but with extra steps and lots of fancy things like napkins and round yarn things. Papa called them ‘doilies’ (he woke up and told me how to spell that). They were very pretty, but very large and it was really confusing how to set them up. Papa said his grandparents (the parents of his parents - papa has a lot of family he never told me about before, I found out yesterday) used to have him set the table when he was little, and it had to be exactly like this, otherwise they couldn’t eat dinner. He said that’s why he never eats at the dinner table, it’s too much stuff to do, when he could just eat somewhere else and use less steps.  He said he wanted to teach us how to set a table, though, since we needed something to do.

I now understand why papa eats in weird places in the house, there’s a lot of steps to setting the dinner table. Too many. My arms felt funny at the end, papa told me that was soreness. I didn’t like it. I wish we could have just eaten on food trays, but now we don’t have to set all the spots because they’re already set, you just need to set the ones you used once you’re done. It took a long time and Mikhail almost broke a cup, but I’m really quick so I caught it before it hit the ground. 

Papa brought over the soup in a big pretty bowl and the grilled cheese on a pretty plate and told us to take a seat. Papa sat on the end of the table, and I sat next to him on one side, and Mikhail sat on the other end on my side because he wanted to be funny. Papa looked a little sad, so I don’t think he was as funny as he wanted.

Papa took my bowl and put some soup in it. I forgot that flesh bodies need to eat, and since I was now in a flesh body, I had to eat, so I was very confused. Papa explained why he was serving us though, so I wasn’t confused for long.

I like the taste of candy canes, but I like the taste of grilled cheese better. I started leaking from my eyes when I ate it after papa explained how to ‘choo’. I was scared, but then I remembered what crying is. Mikhail said it was normal to do that, and papa agreed, so I didn’t worry about it. Papa told me that crying was unpleasant, so he understands why I was scared. I ate most of the grilled cheese. Papa couldn’t eat a lot of his food because his stomach hurt, so I ate most of his and one more. Mikhail really liked the soup and ate most of that.

After, I taught Mikhail clean the dishes as papa laid down on the couch. Mikhail isn’t good at cleaning dishes. There was a lot of dishes so we just had to rinse them and then put them in the dish washer. Mikhail kept putting them in the wrong places and lost a fork in the drain. It was funny, but I was worried about the fork. Papa got it out. We listened to music, and papa went someplace else. I thought he was in his room and fell asleep, but he came out with clothes he had us pick out earlier and said he would wash them, and told us we had to go to bed.

I was excited. I’ve never experienced sleep before, or sleepiness. I heard people have dreams when they sleep, and I wanted to have a dream. Papa had us take turns in the bathroom changing into different clothes. Mikhail got upset because he didn’t want to change, but I went first and so he was less scared, and papa promised to go to bed when we went to bed, so Mikhail changed. Papa helped us get into bed and I asked him how to sleep. He said a weird bunch of words that didn’t make sense, and Mikhail told him to go to bed. Papa gave us hugs and we said good night and he turned off the light and left.

Mikhail explained that, to sleep, all you have to do is get comfortable and it will just happen. When I asked him how he knew, he said that he got bored and programmed a sleep simulation function in his systems a while back and so he knew how it worked. I think he was lying, because I’ve never seen him sleep. But I got comfortable, as he said, and waited.

I don’t remember falling asleep, sleeping, or what made me wake up. It was very strange, not being able to remember so much time, but I did remember that sleeping felt very nice. I know why papa likes sleeping so much, now. Blankets are very warm when you are a human, as well as very soft, and smell very nice. Mikhail didn’t wake up for a long time, and papa always likes sleeping for a long time as well, so I went back to sleep. I remember that. It was like turning off a light. I thought, ‘I’m going to sleep now!’ and closed my eyes, and then I woke up. Sleeping is fun. I like sleeping.

This morning, when I woke up the second time, I decided I wanted to check on papa. Mikhail was just laying in bed. He said he didn’t want to leave because it was warm and he liked feeling warm. I ran to papa’s room, but he wasn’t there, so I went around the house trying to find him, and eventually found him in the living room when I checked it again. I think he was someplace else before, so when I checked the first time he wasn’t there. He was looking at a present he had wrapped and looked sad.

I asked him why, and he said that he wanted to send the gift we made to Miss Maggy, but every time he thought about putting it in the mail, he suddenly felt very tired and worried. I remembered he felt that way when he was trying to send Dr. Hole Yard his present, too, so I said he was probably worried Miss Maggy might not like his present, and was tired because he needed more sleep. I told him it was a good present and that he should send it and not worry.

He put it back in his room and then started doing a bunch of stuff. I wanted to help him, but he just said I should draw something and listen to some music. So I did. Mikhail just laid on the ground.

An hour ago, papa brought me this book I’m writing in, then sat on the couch. I hugged him and then he fell asleep, Mikhail is still laying on the ground, and I started writing. I think I’ll read the other pages in this book, then maybe write about the up stairs. 

We have an up stairs. I didn’t know before yesterday. It’s fun to run around in, but very dusty. I think I’ll dust it for papa to make him happy, and maybe he’ll send the gift to Miss Maggy.

[404gendernotfound]

Living with a Hybrid Part 8 (Hybrid!Taeyong x Reader)

Summary: Your first time waking up with Taeyong clinging to you after exchanging kisses yesterday night. He is still a bit shy but gets more confident throughout the day. You’re talking about him even at work and as you finally come home you can’t wait to spend time with your favourite boy.

Contains: fluff

Warnings: none

Wordcount: 3,9 K

A/N: For all of you who have been wondering if the story is gonna end soon since the main couple got together now: I’m not planning on ending it this soon. It could be that there are 5 more chapters, it could be that I’ll still write 10 or more. I’ll have to see if I can still keep up with the flow of the story and if it will be better to not drag it too long and just end it at it’s best. So you can still look forward to a lot of cute moments with Taeyong and to get a look at the readers family and past.

Enjoy!

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

________________________________________________________________

As I woke up the next morning I had to shuffle out of Taeyongs grip without waking him since I needed to get ready for work. His shift at the pancake shop didn’t start before 9 am so he still could sleep some time before he needed to get ready. I stretched and walked into the bathroom to shower and then get dressed. As I came back out of the bathroom I saw a sleepy hybrid sitting on the bed looking in my direction.

“Did I wake you?”, I asked and he shook his head.

“The bed was too cold without you”, he mumbled in a shy voice and I saw his cheeks blush slightly.

My heart skipped a beat and I walked over to the bed to take my place next to him. I sat down and Taeyong instantly laid his head down on my shoulder.

“You could still sleep some time. You don’t always need to get up whenever I leave for work”, I explained.

“But I want to see you out every morning”, he whined and looked at me with his puppy eyes.

How could I say no to this cutie? It was too adorable to know that he voluntarily wanted to wake up with me just to say goodbye for the day. I ruffled through his hair and he began to giggle quietly.

“You’re too cute for your own good”, I whispered and softly kissed his head.

I got off the bed and walked over to the desk to grab my things and put everything in my bag. Taeyong was watching me from the bed and waited until I had all the things I needed before he left the bed to see me off. I would just grab something to eat on my way from the bus to the office. As I was finished with putting my coat and shoes on, Taeyong stood at the doorstep and waited for me to step closer. I took a step forward and looked up at the sleepy hybrid that was a bit taller now since we weren’t standing on the same level. He looked like he wanted something. It was written all over his face but he seemed to be too shy to ask for it.

“Is there something you want?”, I asked and saw his cheeks turn pink.

“Can I give you a goodbye kiss?”, he asked looking to the floor and playing with his shirt.

“Of course”

Taeyong stood there hesitating while his tail was swinging behind him in excitement. It seemed like he was too shy to make a move after what happened yesterday. He just looked at me and I could almost see the anxiety in his eyes. I felt like I had to save him from the embarrassment. I leaned in and placed a quick kiss on his soft lips. As I moved back and looked at him I saw that he was satisfied now. I took one of his hands and squeezed it.

“I’ll be on my way now. I’ll see you later, Taeyongie”, I said before I let go of his hand and walked to the door.

“Text me when you arrive at work”, he added as I opened the door.

“I will. See you”

“Bye”

I closed the door and walked to the elevator with a bright smile on my face. I wasn’t sure what the thing between the two of us was right now but I was really happy to know that Taeyong somehow seemed to feel the same thing as I felt. As I arrived in the lobby I received a message from Taeyong. Was he already missing me?

Taeyongie 🤍: Get back home safe

I had to smile at his text.

You: I will. Now get some more rest before your shift starts <3

It took some time before he texted back. I was already sitting in the bus as my phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and looked at the display.

Taeyongie 🤍:  But I can’t sleep without you here…

You: Oh Taeyong…then watch some TV and eat some breakfast

Taeyongie 🤍:  Ok

There was a long pause before his next text arrived.

Taeyongie 🤍:  I can’t wait to see you again later <3

Reading his text made me wanna turn around and go back home right this instance. The bus arrived at the stop near the office and I got off walking into the direction of the bakery. After I got myself a sandwich and a croissant I walked over to the office. I quickly texted Taeyong that I arrived there and then entered the building. As I arrived my co-worker Jenny walked in with me.

“Good morning Y/N”, she said and smiled at me.

“Good morning Jenny”

“Have you heard about the new amusement park they’ll open on Saturday?”, she asked excited as if she couldn’t wait for my answer.

“No I haven’t. Tell me about it”

“They said there will be a lot of cool rides and a big Farris wheel where you can look over the whole city on its highest point.”, she explained excited.

“That sounds really nice. Maybe I can take Taeyong with me”, I mumbled more to myself than to her.

“Taeyong? Who’s that? Your boyfriend?”, she asked with a raised brow and a smirk on her face.

What should I say? He wasn’t really my boyfriend. At least we didn’t exchange our feelings really so it wouldn’t be good to assume that he was my boyfriend. I could just tell Jenny the whole story but that would take too much time. So I just decided to tell her to least I could.

“No. He’s a hybrid. He lives with me”

“Oh...wait! Since when do you have a hybrid?”

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you later.”

I walked to my office and got straight to my work. It wasn’t as much work as yesterday meaning that it could be that I might get to go home early if I finish everything quickly. The mountain of work got a lot smaller when it was lunchtime. I felt like going to the canteen today even though I didn’t go there most of the time since it was noisy and all the co-workers where gathered there talking about god knows what. As I arrived there I got myself something to eat and sat down at a table with Jenny and some other people from our department.

“Hey! You left your office to eat for once”, she laughed and playfully hit my shoulder.

“I felt like socialising with you guys today”, I laughed and smiled at the others sitting at the table with us.

“So. You still need to tell us about that hybrid of yours”, one of them said and I sighed.

Jenny could never keep anything to her. She’s one of those people you can’t control what comes out of their mouth and sometimes information slips that wasn’t supposed to be said. I wasn’t mad at her since I didn’t mind the others knowing that I was living with a hybrid since I knew that they were pretty tolerant towards hybrids.

“That’s a really long story”

I started to tell them that I found him injured on the street about a month ago and took him in. I also told them about Haechan and Louis Green and what happened. I didn’t tell them about everything in detail since they just needed to know the basics. My co-workers looked at me some with a sad face and some really curious.

“So that means that you own that hybrid, right?”, Jenny asked and I shook my head.

“No. He lives with me but he doesn’t belong to me. He is officially still adopted by Louis Green”

Whenever I had to say that mans name my stomach turned and I had the feeling as if I had to puke any moment. Thinking about the bruises Haechan and Taeyong had caused my that bastard didn’t make that thought any better. I was just glad that they were healing on their own pace, mentally and physically.

“Does that mean that he will always count as that guys family?”, one of them asked.

“Actually, I never really thought about that. But now that you mention it, it might really be like that. I’ll have to call the adoption center and ask them if it is possible to undo an adoption.”

“Will you adopt him then?”, Jenny asked.

“I don’t know. If he wants me to I’ll gladly do it. But I won’t force him. It’s his decision. I don’t even know if he wants to stay with me forever. Maybe it’s better if I don’t adopt him.”

“You literally saved his life. I wouldn’t know anyone who would want to ever leave their saviour after something like this. Talk to him about it. I’m sure he’ll be very happy”, she said and pat my shoulder.

“Maybe you’re right.”

“Can we see a picture?”, one of them asked and I smiled.

“Sure.”

I showed them my wallpaper that showed a selfie that Taeyong and I took as we were chilling on the couch. His hair was messy on the picture and his cheeks slightly pink as he shyly looked into the camera. A loud “Aww” sounded through the room and everybody looked at our table. I apologised for the noise and looked at my co-workers angrily.

“He looks really cute. I bet he is a really good boy. Does he purr?”, she asked excited looking at me with hearteyes.

“Yes he does. He is very clingy but I don’t mind that. He is the cutest. Whatever you think is cute double that and you have Taeyong.”

Jenny giggled and continued to look at my phone.

“You should have told us earlier. It would be nice to meet him if that was possible”

“Well, he is really shy around strangers so I don’t know if that is a great idea right now but maybe some time in the future when he gets more confident around other people.”

It was really nice to talk someone else than Johnny and Mark about hybrids and they all seemed to understand me. We talked a bit more before the break was over and we got back to our desks to finish our work. I really was able to finish my work early. I brought my finished tasks to the boss and then went to pack my stuff. It was only 3 pm now meaning that I was able to finish 2 hours early. I was really happy that I now get to spend more time with my favourite boy on this beautiful Friday afternoon. I decided to surprise Taeyong at home. I quickly went food shopping on my way before I walked into the apartment building. I walked a different way to the elevator just to make sure that no one at the pancake shop could see me coming home already. As I arrived at the apartment, I put away the groceries and began to bake cookies. I knew that Taeyong loved the cookies I backed and I always love watching his happy face whenever he gets to eat them. As I was done with the dough and had put them in the oven, I decided to research if it was possible to undo an adoption. After reading articles and old cases for what felt like an hour, I found out that it was possible under certain circumstances like violence towards hybrids and that we just had to add it to our case. I instantly called our lawyer telling him that it would be the best if all the hybrids that had been affected by Louis Green should be spoken free to go in court so that they could go on and live a normal life without still knowing that they were legally still a part of his family. He added it to our file and assured me that he would do everything to win this case. After the call ended I heard the front door open. I put away my laptop and walked towards the corridor. As he stepped in and took off his shoes, I already heard his voice.

“Y/N?”, he said confused that I was already home.

I walked out of the kitchen and smiled at him as he looked at me. A huge smile formed on his face and he walked towards me instantly going for a hug. I hugged back and this time nuzzled my head against his neck.

“I’m home”, I mumbled against his neck and couldn’t help but place a quick kiss on his beautiful skin.

“I-I s-see t-that”, he stuttered and I couldn’t help but giggle at his sudden shyness.

I loved seeing how he always changed from the confident man to the shy boy whenever I did something unexpected. I moved so that I could look at him. His cheeks were pink as always. I reached out to pinch his cheeks and smiled.

“You know. Pink really suits you”, I teased and winked at him which just darkened his blush.

“Don’t make fun of me”, he said pouting and looked at me with puppy eyes.

“I’m serious. Pink is a great colour on you.”, I said and stroked his cheeks with both of my hands.

He just smiled at me and closed his eyes enjoying my affection towards him. His arms were now placed around my waist still keeping me as close as possible.

“You know. I really enjoyed work today since I got to talk about my favourite thing in life during lunchbreak. My co-workers were all delighted after I told them about the pretty hybrid I live with. They instantly wanted to meet you in person since you are so adorable”, I told him about today and saw his eyes open slowly.

“Y-you c-can’t talk about m-me like t-that”, he stuttered and looked down shyly.

“Why not?”

“Because it’s not true”, he mumbled quietly and let his head hang low.

“Hey…”

I placed my hand under his chin and softly pressed it up so he had to look at me.

“It’s true. You are beautiful, Taeyong. It doesn’t matter whatever people called you in the past. Have you even looked at yourself properly? Your eyes are the prettiest I have ever seen. You blush whenever something unexpected happens and try to hide your face even though it’s the cutest thing on planet earth or even the universe. Your fur is smooth and shiny just like your hair and I always want to run my hands through it whenever I see you. You are clingy but not in a bad way. And most important of all, your personality is even more beautiful. You are the sunshine in person. Everything I said about you is nothing but the truth.”

While I complimented him I noticed tears building in his eyes. Before they could leave and run over his beautiful face I pulled him closer and placed a kiss on his lips. This was the first time he wasn’t shy enough to kiss back. Our lips moved in the same pace and fit perfectly as if they were made for each other. My hands wandered from around his neck into his hair and softly pulled on it. The kiss ended after some time with both of us slightly panting and leaning our foreheads against each other. I smiled at him and watched his mouth curl upwards, too.

“I’m not just saying this because I really like you. I’m saying this because that’s how I feel about you and you should feel just the same about yourself. You are beautiful, Taeyong”

“T-Thank you. I’m sorry. I promise I won’t think badly about myself again”

“You don’t have to promise that to me. Promise it to yourself. You have to be able to love yourself before you can love someone else”, I added and cupped his face with one of my hands.

“I’ll try”, he whispered and closed his eyes.

“I know. Don’t pressure yourself. I’ll be by your side whenever you need me. Don’t worry about that.”

I placed one last kiss on his lips before we separated from each other and walked into the kitchen. I looked after the cookies while Taeyong quickly changed into something more comfortable. As he came back into the kitchen I almost dropped the backing tray. He had startled me as he walked behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist placing his head on my shoulder. He was normally too shy to do something like this which was why I was so surprised about his behaviour.

“Be careful. Don’t hurt yourself”, Taeyong said and tightened his grip on me.

“Sorry. I was just surprised. These have to cool before we can eat them so let’s just go to the couch and watch something, ok?”, I suggested and looked at him over my shoulder.

“OK”, he whispered and then turned me so that we were facing the direction of the living room.

He didn’t move from behind me the whole way into the living room. It was difficult to walk with a hybrid clinging to my back as if I would disappear any moment he loosened his grip on me but I wasn’t gonna complain. As we arrived in front of the couch Taeyong released me and sat down on it patting his lap.

“You want me to sit on your lap?”, I asked and he nodded.

I could tease him now and just sit down on his lap facing him with my legs on both sides of his thighs but that would probably be too much. It would be nice to see him all flustered but I think it probably was too early to do something like this. I sat down on his lap and instantly had his arms wrapped around my waist again.

“You are especially cuddly today, aren’t you?”, I laughed happy and moved a bit so I was almost laying on top of him.

“Can’t I cuddle you whenever I want?”, he asked and looked at me.

“Of course you can”, I answered and reached up to playfully ruffle his hair which made him giggle.

We watched a bit TV and stayed in silence until Taeyong began to talk.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure. I’m all ears”

“When the trial is over next month…uhm…what will happen then?”

I was confused by his question. What did he mean with what will happen? It sounded like it was depressing him. I looked up at him over my head and saw his face. Worry was written all over it.

“What do you mean?”, I asked back.

I needed more information to answer his question.

“I mean…will you make me…yours?”, he asked hesitating and getting quieter with every word spoken.

This question made me even more confused. What did he mean by “making me yours”? After a short while of thinking something from an article about hybrids popped into my mind. It was about hybrids falling in love with humans. The text said that they would want to be as close as possible, in real life and legally meaning that the closest of being with a human was through the adoption since it was still forbidden for hybrids and humans to marry, which in my opinion was total bullshit. As this realization hit me I turned around and looked directly at Taeyong.

“Did you just ask me to adopt you?”, I asked excited since that could mean that this was almost like asking someone to marry you in the human world.

“Y-Yes. I mean you don’t have to if you don’t feel that way but-“

Before he could end his sentence I had already pressed a finger to his lips making him shut up. I didn’t need any more words from him to know my decision. There wasn’t even any thinking needed to know what I was gonna say.

“Taeyong. There is no way I would say no to adopting you. See I couldn’t imagine being without you anymore so don’t even think that I don’t feel the same way as you do. And actually…I was gonna ask you sometime soon if you wanted me to adopt you since you’d be free after the trial.”

I send him the happiest smile and saw him return an even happier one. He then hugged me and pressed his forehead against mine.

“I like you”, he said, his words filled with love.

“I like you, too”, I answered and nuzzled my nose against his.

God I loved this boy so much. I could melt in his arms right at this moment. The softness his voice had as he said these words warmed my heart and made me fall in love with him even more. We separated again and I pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before I stood up to go to the kitchen.

“I’ll get the cookies, just a sec”, I said and almost ran to get the kitchen to grab what I baked earlier.

I placed them on a plate and walked back to the couch. This time I placed myself next to Taeyong so I could cuddle against him while we watched TV. Taeyong wasn’t used to being cuddled against like this. I noticed that because he didn’t know where to place his arms. I helped him and placed his one arm around me and took the other and intertwined our fingers. He looked down at me and then kissed my head like I would always do whenever he cuddled against me. Just this little copying me in this situation made my heart beat faster and I could hear Taeyongs heartbeat fasten too. As we were watching TV and eating the cookies from the plate a commercial about the new amusement park in town was screening. I remembered Jenny at work telling me excited like a child how amazing the park would be and it actually sounded like something perfect for tomorrows Saturday.

“Hey. What do you think? Wanna go to that opening tomorrow?”, I asked still munching on my cookie.

“I don’t know. I’ve never been to an amusement park”, he said which made me sit up and look at him in shock.

“Then we definitely have to go. You will love it. There are a lot of fun rides, you can buy lottery tickets and win things like cute keychains to huge stuffed animals and there is a Ferris wheel with a view over the whole city. It will be fun”

“DID YOU SAY STUFFED ANIMALS?”

Now I knew that this was a brilliant idea. His eyes sparkled and his tail whipped from side to side excitedly.

“Yes. Stuffed animals. We could take the boys and Haechanie with us. That would be fun, don’t you think?”

He nodded without losing that sparkle in his eyes. I could already imagine Taeyong running around with a stuffed animal in his arms pressed tightly against his body while he walks around with wide eyes taking in all the new sensations and eating pink cotton candy. Only the image in my head made me smile like an idiot. This was going to be the best day ever.

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